Student performance prediction based on data mining classification techniques

The process of predicting student performance has become a crucial factor in academic environment and plays significant role in producing quality graduates. Several statistical and machine learning algorithms have been proposed for analyzing, predicting and classifying student performance. However, these classification algorithms still posed issue in terms of the performance classification. This paper presents a method to predict student performance using Iterative dichotomiser 3 (ID3), C4.5 and Classification and Regression tree (CART). The experiment was performed on Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (Weka). The experimental results showed that an ID3 accuracy of 95.9% , specificity of 95.9%, precision of 95.9%, recall of 95.9%, f-measure of 95.9% and incorrectly classified instance of 3.83. The C4.5 gave an accuracy of 98.3%, specificity of 98.3%, precision of 98.4%, recall of 98.3%, f-measure of 98.3% and incorrectly classified instance of 1.70. The CART results showed an accuracy of 98.3%, specificity of 98.3%, precision of 98.4%, recall of 98.3%, f-measure of 98.3% and incorrectly classified instance of 1.70. The time taken to build the model of ID3 is 0.05 seconds, C4.5 is 0.03 seconds and CART of 0.58 seconds. Experimental results revealed that C4.5 outperforms other classifiers and requires reasonable amount of time to build the model.Keywords: Student performance, ID3, C4.5, CART, classification, Education data minin

Perception of farmers on agroforestry systems adoption in Akinyele Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed farmers’ characteristic variables and perception towards the adoption of agroforestry practices in Akinyele Local Government, Ibadan, Oyo State. Multistage Sampling Technique was used for the study. Five Wards which include Ijaye /Ojedeji, Ajibade/Alabata/Elekuru,  Akinyele/Isabiyi/Irepodun, Ojo Emo/Moniya and Ojoo/Ajibode/Laniba were randomly selected from the Local Government Area. Ajeja, Alabata, Akinyele, Moniya and Idowu oko areas were selected from each of the Wards, respectively while ten (10) farmers were selected from each of these areas. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage distributions as well as correlational studies were used to analyse the collected data. 34 % of the respondents were involved in the practice of agroforestry according to the study. The correlation (r value) at (p< 0.01) also shows that there is a significant association between respondents’ characteristic variables such as age, educational and marital status and adoption of agroforestry practices, while age, sex, marital and educational status are significant on agroforestry perception. It is recommended that awareness  on benefits of agroforestry should be raised in order to create needed awareness and its importance, adequate technical supports should be  provided for farmers interested in practicing agroforestry and also the efficient use of available farmlands of all types of landholders should be  ensured. Keywords: Farmers’ characteristic variables; Perception; Adoption; Agroforestry practices

Productivity and profitability of citrus nursery operation in Abia State, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to provide insight on productivity and profitability of citrus nursery operation in Abia State, Nigeria. Data such as socio-economic features of the nursery operators, quantities and prices of inputs and outputs of their operation were obtained through multi-stage sampling techniques from 54 citrus nursery operators. Costs and returns analysis, productivity models and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data from the survey. It was shown that majority of the operators were male with average age of 47.98years, year of education of 11.35years and household size of 5 persons. The variable cost of nursery operation was 92.84% of the total cost (N637,117.56) while the fixed cost was 7.16% of the total cost. The revenue from the sales of citrus seedlings was N1,140,856.69 therefore the gross and net margin of the ventures wereN503,739.13 and N454,580.08 respectively. In addition, rate of return on investment was 66.24%. The total factor cost and value of citrus output was N686,276.63 and N1,140,856.69 respectively hence the productivity index of citrus nursery production was 1.66. Results of the regression indicated that costs of labor and planting materials had negative significant while household size, years of experience and access to credit had positive significant effects on the profitability. In conclusion, Citrus nursery operation is dominated by middle - aged, educated, experience with moderate household size. It has good return on investment (ROI) with productivity above unity but high costs of labor and planting materials reduces profitability while household size, years of experience and access to credit enhanced profitability. It was recommended that youth education about gains of citrus nursery production business should be advocated considering its viability and profitability to reduce unemployment and government should prioritized extension of necessary assistance such as inputs subsidy and access to credit to the nursery operators

Design and development of a unified subscribers’ SIM registration platform using top-down approach

Compulsory SIM registration in Nigeria started in 2008 in response to several mobile crimes being perpetrated by fraudsters and also to improve service delivery. The decentralized systems currently in use in the country lack flexibility to register heterogeneous SIM cards and encourage multiple registrations. This work, the “design and development of a centralized, unified subscribers‟ SIM registration platform” therefore seeks to address these loopholes. The work employs top-down design approach using HTML, PHP, JAVASCRIPT, CSS, and MySQL as development tools. The new system surpasses the existing one as it is able to register all SIM cards of the four (4) major telecommunication operators in Nigeria and verify if a SIM had already been registered thus bringing stability, flexibility, and single platform for all. It is recommended that SIM card availability/sales on the road side should be stopped or such SIM cards be denied access to network until they are properly registered.Key Words: Multiple SIMs, SIM registration, status verification, NCC, Subscribers

Farmers’ knowledge and attitude towards the adoption of agroforestry practices in Akinyele Local Government Area, Ibadan, Nigeria

This study presents farmers’ knowledge and attitudes towards the adoption of agroforestry in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. A multistage random sampling technique was used to administer the questionnaires to a total of 50 respondents. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The demographic factors analyzed showed that the majority of respondents were males (60.8%) and possess married (54.2%). Majority of the respondents (66%) do not practice agroforestry and possessed low knowledge of agroforestry practices. Respondents’ attitudes towards the practice were inadequate. Furthermore, knowledge of agroforestry was found to influence the willingness to adopt the practice, attitudes towards agroforestry practice also influence its adoption in the study area. Based on the findings, this study recommends that extension agents and other stakeholders should intensify effort to pass down adequate knowledge on the practice and advantages of agroforestry to farmers in the simplest form it can be well understood, to improve their attitudes and increase their rate of adoption of agroforestry practices. Keywords: Farmers, Knowledge, Attitude, Adoption, Agroforestry and Akinyele LG

Sensory, chemical and nutritional evaluation of flour blends for preparation of stiff dough

One of the nutritional advantages of flour blend is to promote the nutritional composition of indigenous crops for food application. This study utilized, African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) and unripe plantain (Musa paradisca) to create flour blends at different ratios of 100:0 (GAB), 90:10 (ORE), 80:20 (TAM), 70:30 (MFY), 60:40 (MED) and 50:50 (KSK). These blends were subjected to calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium; pasting; anti-nutritional factors and colour using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The blends were made into pastes [stiff dough (amala)] and subjected to sensory evaluation. Nutritionally derived essential elements such as calcium (0.01-0.02), iron (0.08-0.35), magnesium (0.11-0.18) and potassium (0.83-1.30) contents increased with increase in the addition of African yam bean flour. Composite flours showed improved chromaticity in the unripe plantain flour. The peak (1733-4205), trough (1609-3199), breakdown (124-1007), final viscosity (2246-4901) and setback (63-1703) decreased while peak time (5.07-5.90) and pasting temperature (79.80-83.70) increased as African yam bean flour increases. MFY blend from blends performed best in overall acceptability but there was no significant difference (p>0.05) among other samples. Results from this study have further shown the possibility of enhancing the nutritional composition of stiff dough (Amala) using African yam bean and unripe plantain flours