An Empirical Analysis of Factors Influencing the Career Choice of Undergraduates in Secretarial Option of Business Education Programme in Nigeria Universities

Secretarial occupation has always been an enviable profession.  This is because it is recognized to the extent that no office or establishment can function without the services of secretaries. As indispensable as it is, it has been observed that not many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities opt to study secretarial education. This study is necessitated by the low preference many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities have for secretarial education. This trend is posing a lot of threats for the future of the secretarial profession in the 21st Century, Nigeria. The objective of the study, therefore, was to investigate the determinants of secretarial option among business education students in Nigeria universities. The survey research design was adopted for the study.  Three research questions were raised to guide the study and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.  The entire one hundred and eighty (180) 200 level students of accounting, marketing and secretarial education from some selected Nigerian universities offering business education programme were used for the study. One hundred and sixty nine copies of questionnaire, representing 94% which were properly completed were retrieved and subjected to statistical analyses. Weighted Mean was used to answer the research questions. Weighted mean of 2.5 and above was used as benchmark for agree while weighted mean of less than 2.5 represented disagree category.  Simple regression was used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed among others that the society perceives that secretarial profession is still feministic and therefore attracts low prestige among men in the society as compare to other professions.  Based on the findings, the study concluded that secretarial option of business education in Nigeria universities is still very unpopular to the society, prospective students and business education undergraduate students. In view of this, the study recommends that the Association of Business Educators of Nigeria (ABEN), Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) and National Association of Professional Secretarial Staff of Nigeria (NAPSSON) in collaboration with the guidance and counselors  should make adequate and sustained publicity in the primary and secondary schools across the nation in order to increase the awareness of both the society and students on the benefits of secretarial education to the society and the practitioners with the intention to popularize the profession. Key words: Career choice and secretarial educatio

An evaluation of safety risk factors during installation and dismantling of tower cranes in construction sites

The construction industry plays a central and significant role in the economy of any nation. One of the major reasons for ineffective project delivery in the Nigerian construction industry is the improper assessment of risk factors. The industry however is currently facing a lot of challenges which include constant increase in the rate of accidents on construction sites which could be dueto ineffective safety management as construction companies are usually interested in maximizing their profit in order to secure funds for new investments, and cover possible expenses associated with the occurrence of risk factors during construction. Installation anddismantling of tower crane had been previously looked at as a general safety issue until, recent research showed that about 69% of accidents related to tower cranes in Korea from 2001-2011, occur during installation and dismantling process. In view of this, this paper aimed at evaluating safety risk factors during installation and dismantling by determining their probability of occurrence and degree of impact with a view to establishing the most significant ones. This is why a well-structured questionnaire was designed to collect data with respect to their probability of occurrence and degree of impact using a 5 point Likert scale. Responses from the administered questionnaire and interactions were collated, interpreted and analysed using descriptive statistics (mean) and results presented in tables. Results showed that abrasion (wear and tear of components such as bolts, nuts, or pins) is the most probable factor with a mean value of 3.63. Fracture of a wire rope during dismantling had the highest degree of impact with a mean valueof 4.63. The research concluded that fracture of a wire rope during dismantling and abrasion (wear and tear of components such as bolts, nuts, or pins) are highly affecting factor on safety during installation and dismantling. Adoption of a preventive maintenance strategy or routine check on the tower crane parts and components could help minimize the probability of occurrence and impact of the safety risk factors on site. Keywords: Accident, Hazard, Safety risk, Tower crane, Probability, Construction industry.&nbsp

Distributed information consensus filters for simultaneous input and state estimation

This paper describes the distributed information filtering where a set of sensor networks are required to simultaneously estimate input and state of a linear discrete-time system from collaborative manner. Our research purpose is to develop a consensus strategy in which sensor nodes communicate within the network through a sequence of Kalman iterations and data diffusion. A novel recursive information filtering is proposed by integrating input estimation error into measurement data and weighted information matrices. On the fusing process, local system state filtering transmits estimation information using the consensus averaging algorithm, which penalizes the disagreement in a dynamic manner. A simulation example is provided to compare the performance of the distributed information filtering with optimal Gillijins–De Moor’s algorithm

Pharmacognostic, elemental and acute toxicity study of Fadogia agrestis root

An aphrodisiac is a type of food or drink that has the effect of making those who eat or drink it more aroused in a sexual way. Aphrodisiacs can be categorized according to their mode of action into three groups: substances that increase libido (i.e. sexual arousal), substances that increase sexual potency (i.e. effectiveness of erection) and substances that increase sexual pleasure. Fadogia agrestis (Schweing. Ex. Hiern), Rubiacea (Hausa: Bakin gagai; English name: Black aphrodisiac) is an erect shrub 1-3 feets high. Fadogia agrestis is a medicinal plant widely used for its reported antibacterial and aphrodisiac activities. The aim of this work is to carry out pharmacognostic standardization and safety profile on Fadogia agrestis root. Chemomicroscopic, physicochemical, elemental, phytochemical and acute toxicity studies were carried out using standard methods. The results obtained also provided scientific basis for the use of in folklore medicine. Chemomicroscopic characters present include; cellulosecell wall, lignified cell wall, tannins, starch, calcium oxalate and cutin. The physicochemical parameters evaluated include: moisture content (7.0%), total ash (10.5%), water soluble ash (4.1%), acid insoluble ash (8.33%), ethanol extract (15.0%), and water extractive value (12.0%). The quantitative phytochemical analysis showed that alkaloids (84.0 mg/g) was the highest phytochemical detected in the stem bark while the lowest was saponins (4.0 mg/g).LD50 of both extracts was above 5000 mg/kg and did not cause mortality in all the tested rats. The results of this investigation may be useful for deriving doses that are safe for human consumption of F. agrestis root.&nbsp