The Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Teaching and Learning of English Language in Nigeria

The importance and impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on English language learning in Nigeria cannot be overemphasize as it has been acknowledged globally that the integration of ICT in language learning has become indispensable in modern day learning environment. This is because of the major role it plays in the advancement and development of the frontiers of knowledge in language learning. This is more so when the world is fast becoming a global village where the use of modern technological gadgets to improve language learning has become imperative. This paper examines the importance and use of ICT in language learning and highlights some of the prospects from the plethora of using ICT for optimal performance. Some of the problems which include no internet facilities, erratic power supply, overcrowded classrooms, lack of computer knowledge and so on facing the use of ICT in language learning in a developing country like Nigeria are also discussed. Teaching of computer courses, provision of internet facilities in schools, regular supply of electricity are some of the recommendations made to improve language learning through ICT. Keywords: Language, multimedia, gadgets, foreign language teaching (FLT), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Nigeria

Hierarchical age estimation using enhanced facial features.

Doctor of Philosopy in Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2018.Ageing is a stochastic, inevitable and uncontrollable process that constantly affect shape, texture and general appearance of the human face. Humans can easily determine ones’ gender, identity and ethnicity with highest accuracy as compared to age. This makes development of automatic age estimation techniques that surpass human performance an attractive yet challenging task. Automatic age estimation requires extraction of robust and reliable age discriminative features. Local binary patterns (LBP) sensitivity to noise makes it insufficiently reliable in capturing age discriminative features. Although local ternary patterns (LTP) is insensitive to noise, it uses a single static threshold for all images regardless of varied image conditions. Local directional patterns (LDP) uses k directional responses to encode image gradient and disregards not only central pixel in the local neighborhood but also 8 k directional responses. Every pixel in an image carry subtle information. Discarding 8 k directional responses lead to lose of discriminative texture features. This study proposes two variations of LDP operator for texture extraction. Significantorientation response LDP (SOR-LDP) encodes image gradient by grouping eight directional responses into four pairs. Each pair represents orientation of an edge with respect to central reference pixel. Values in each pair are compared and the bit corresponding to the maximum value in the pair is set to 1 while the other is set to 0. The resultant binary code is converted to decimal and assigned to the central pixel as its’ SOR-LDP code. Texture features are contained in the histogram of SOR-LDP encoded image. Local ternary directional patterns (LTDP) first gets the difference between neighboring pixels and central pixel in 3 3 image region. These differential values are convolved with Kirsch edge detectors to obtain directional responses. These responses are normalized and used as probability of an edge occurring towards a respective direction. An adaptive threshold is applied to derive LTDP code. The LTDP code is split into its positive and negative LTDP codes. Histograms of negative and positive LTDP encoded images are concatenated to obtain texture feature. Regardless of there being evidence of spatial frequency processing in primary visual cortex, biologically inspired features (BIF) that model visual cortex uses only scale and orientation selectivity in feature extraction. Furthermore, these BIF are extracted using holistic (global) pooling across scale and orientations leading to lose of substantive information. This study proposes multi-frequency BIF (MF-BIF) where frequency selectivity is introduced in BIF modelling. Local statistical BIF (LS-BIF) uses local pooling within scale, orientation and frequency in n n region for BIF extraction. Using Leave-one-person-out (LOPO) validation protocol, this study investigated performance of proposed feature extractors in age estimation in a hierarchical way by performing age-group classification using Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP) followed by within age-group exact age regression using support vector regression (SVR). Mean absolute error (MAE) and cumulative score (CS) were used to evaluate performance of proposed face descriptors. Experimental results on FG-NET ageing dataset show that SOR-LDP, LTDP, MF-BIF and LS-BIF outperform state-of-the-art feature descriptors in age estimation. Experimental results show that performing gender discrimination before age-group and age estimation further improves age estimation accuracies. Shape, appearance, wrinkle and texture features are simultaneously extracted by visual system in primates for the brain to process and understand an image or a scene. However, age estimation systems in the literature use a single feature for age estimation. A single feature is not sufficient enough to capture subtle age discriminative traits due to stochastic and personalized nature of ageing. This study propose fusion of different facial features to enhance their discriminative power. Experimental results show that fusing shape, texture, wrinkle and appearance result into robust age discriminative features that achieve lower MAE compared to single feature performance

CHALLENGES OF QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TECHNOLOGY TEACHER EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract This paper looked at the challenges facing quality assurance in science and technology teacher education and then proffered solutions to these challenges. The paper particularly addressed what quality assurance is and the need for it in the science and technology education sector of this country. It further identified the period of pre-service training, quality assurance and standard agencies, production of inadequate number of qualified teachers, inadequate funding, inconsistency in education policies, low professional status of teachers and non-availability of instructional materials as some of the major challenges militating against assuring quality in teacher education in Nigeria. The paper therefore recommended tenure elongation, empowering quality assurance and standard agencies, heavy investment in education, making teaching profession attractive, involving stakeholders in policy formulation and integration of ICT in the teacher education. Nigeria has in the past witnessed a number of strategic steps taken by various governments towards achieving great educational goals for the country. All these were aimed at securing a better future for the people through rapid economic, scientific and technological development. These steps have been taken because government is fully aware of the truism that education is a vehicle of social transformation, national integration and development. As laudable as these goals may be, the system has suffered setbacks which prompted Lawal (1992) to observe that education in Nigeria is yet to satisfy its role in nation building. He argued that the Nigerian education is not succeeding in facilitating required employment opportunities, retention, motivation for the nation's economic selfreliance policy and it fails to provide scientific and technological development. The inability of the Nigerian education to pave way for scientific and technological development for nation building economically is attributed further to what Udoh (1995) observed, that the crises in education in this country is making the certificate issued by our educational institutions not to be recognized by the outside world. Now, while these assertions are true about our institutions, it is incumbent on us to direct our search lights on the implementers of government policies in the schools to facilitate economic and scientific development. That is for the teachers to find out if there might be grey areas in the practice of the profession. It is stated in the National Policy on Education (NPE), (2004) that teacher education shall continue to be given major emphasis in all educational planning and development since no education system may rise above the quality of its teachers. However, teacher education today is going through rough times in terms of manpower deficiencies, management, infrastructure, policy, leadership in capabilities, students' lack of interest in their studies, underfunding by government, teachers not going for in-service training, government, teachers not going for in-service training, and conferences. Jack of parents' involvement in the stake of education among many other problems

PEMBER I AN ST ATUS ???NON-MEMBER OBSE RVER STATE??? KEP AD A P AL ESTIN A OLEH PBB D AL AM UPAY A PENYELES AI AN KONF LIK DE NG AN IS R AEL DITINJ AU D ARI SEGI H UKUM INTERN ASIO N AL

2013Penelitian ini bert ujuan: (1) untuk m engetahui ked uduk an Palest ina \ud pasca pemberian status ??? non -me mber observer st at e ??? ditinjau dari hukum \ud internasion a l dan (2) untuk mengetahui apakah pemb er ian st atus ??? non - \ud me mber observer stat e ??? kepada Palestina oleh PBB dalam upa ya \ud pen yelesaian konf lik dengan I srael dapat meningkat ka n st atus Palestina \ud menjad i ???per manent me mber ??? di P B B . \ud Penelitian ini merupakan jenis p enelitian yur idi s -normatif dengan \ud menggunakan metode pen e liti an kepustakaan (lib ra ry research) yaitu \ud dengan mempela jari bahan bacaan, berupa teor i -teo ri yang berasal dari \ud buku-buku ilmiah, lapora n -laporan, jurna l -jurnal huk um, media cetak, d an \ud media elektronik atau internet, serta bahan kepustakaan lainn ya yang \ud berhu bung an deng an objek p e rmasa lahan. \ud Hasil pen e liti an ini menunjukkan ba h wa dengan ada n ya pemberian \ud st atus in i, semakin mempertegas posisi d a n eksist ensi Palestina sebagai \ud sebuah negara dalam hukum inte rna sional. Hal ini akan membuka ruang \ud bagi Palestina untuk ikut menjad i bagian dalam b ada n -bad an PBB, dan \ud juga tela h membu ka pelu a ng bagi Palestina untuk menjad i b a g ian dari \ud ICC yang diharapkan n a ntin ya d apat di gunakan sebag ai kekuat an \ud Palestina untuk menuntut I srael atas pelanggaran In ternasi onal yang Israel \ud laku kan terhadap ked aulatan Palestina. Pember ian st atus ini dapat \ud dimaknai seba g ai seb uah lang kah a wal yang pos itif dalam usaha \ud Palestina menjadi ???permanent me mber??? di PBB. Memang pemberian \ud st atus ini bukanlah men jadi suatu jaminan hukum. Dalam hukum \ud internasion a l belu m ada ketentuan khusus yang mengatur secara je las \ud bah wa negara ya ng memperoleh sta tus ??? non - me mb e r observer st at e ??? akan \ud secara lang sung dan mudah menja d i ??? per manent me mber ??? di PBB apabila \ud mereka mengajukan keanggotaan. Namun, secara politik, pemberianst atus ini pada dasarn ya dapat dimak n ai seb agai seb uah dukun gan kuat \ud ya ng telah d idapatkan o leh P ale st ina dari mas yarakat internasion al

Evaluation of the Sensitivity and Specificity of three Rapid Test Kits Used in the Detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) in Public Hospital Niger State, Nigeria

Purpose: The assessment of HIV rapid test kits commonly used was evaluated for optimum performance on the suspected patient. This study aims to determine the sensitivity and specificity of rapid test kits used in public hospitals in Minna, Niger State. Methods: A total of 300 gold positive and gold negative samples were analyzed. Three rapid test kits (Determine, Stat-Pak, and Uni-Gold) were tested against gold standard serum using the method provided by the manufacturers of these kits. Results: Determine kit gave result sensitivity of (100%), specificity (96.5%), while Stat-Pak sensitivity was (99%), specificity (98%) and Uni-Gold sensitivity (100%), specificity (99%). In all Uni-Gold has the highest performance followed by Stat-Pak and lastly, Determine, but the differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: This evaluation provides evidence for reliable rapid test kits for HIV testing in Nigeria. However, the claim by the manufacturers that their kit was 100% sensitive and 100% specific remains doubtful which may be a market strategy. Therefore, it is pertinent on a routine basis to evaluate the rapid test kits in circulation to re-validate their performance before usage for accurate HIV testing

The Utility of Orthographic Design for Different Users: The Case of the Approved Dagbani Orthography

This paper presents a critical assessment of the utility of the orthography of Dagbani (a Gur language of Ghana) in the documentation, linguistic research, and literacy acquisition of Dagbani. While written literature on Dagbani dates to over a century, it was only in 1997 that the only known documented orthographic rules of the language, the Approved Dagbani Orthography (ADO), was put together. Its stated goal was to address inconsistencies that existed in the orthographic rules at the time. It has since largely served this goal and has remained a resource for linguists engaged in language documentation and linguistic research as well as adult and young learners acquiring literacy in Dagbani in formal and informal settings. The paper discusses the influence of the orthography in the understanding of aspects of Dagbani linguistics and the challenges that remain with its use in modern-day multimodal communication. It shows that while the ADO has impacted literacy, documentation, and research on Dagbani linguistics, aspects of the design of the orthography have limited its potential impact and have given room for the emergence or maintenance of co-orthographic practices used for electronic communication and in the documentation of names in non-native official circles.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

Dagbani tongue-root harmony : a formal account with ultrasound investigation

The aim of this dissertation is (i) to contribute to understanding of [ATR] harmony patterns with a formal account of Dagbani [ATR] harmony using the theory of Headed Spans (Span Theory) and (ii) to answer basic empirical questions about the relations between tongue-root phonological features and the articulatory gestures involved in producing vowels with these features. In Dagbani [+ATR] harmony, there are three vowel triggers: the high front vowel /i/ triggers progressive assimilation of [+ATR]; the mid vowels [e] and [o] trigger regressive assimilation. Mid vowel triggers predictably surface in domain-final open syllables while /i/ is contrastive. I account for [+ATR] harmony using the theory of Grounded Phonology and the interaction of height-based markedness constraint hierarchies. In addition to the basic harmonic patterns, Dagbani [ATR] harmony is constrained by a height similarity condition limiting the trigger and target to vowels of the same specification for [±high]. Within Span Theory, this is argued to be a restriction on height featural combination in a [+ATR] span. A unique part of the formal analysis is the account of direction-specific consonant opacity. Having challenged previous harmony theories, the account here demonstrates the relative strength of Span Theory and supports the assumption that intervocalic consonants are targets of vowel harmony features. The second goal of the dissertation is achieved with an ultrasound imaging study testing the hypothesis that there is a direct mapping between tongue-root features and the articulatory positions of the tongue in producing vowels with different tongue-root feature specifications. It further investigates whether such a mapping also reflects which of the values of the feature [ATR]/[RTR] is dominant in a language. The results of 5 experiments show that in addition to the tongue-root position distinguishing [+ATR] from [-ATR] vowels, the dominant [+ATR] feature has a tongue-root position anterior to the neutral tongue-root rest position while the recessive [-ATR] vowels have a variable tongue-root position. The results support a direct mapping between the phonological feature [ATR] and the articulatory gestures that produce it.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat

Proportional Integral Differential (PID) Controller

Piezoelectric ceramics are used in many areas of applications. One of such areas of applications is in controlling electronic devices for accuracy and improved precision. Piezoelectric ceramics however have the problem of inherent high resonance frequency resulting in the piezoelectric ceramic suffering from hysteresis and delay in response to input parameters. PID controllers have been used in providing improved control and response to the piezoelectric ceramic so as to overcome the problem of hysteresis as well as the inherent high resonance frequency and slow response of the piezoelectric ceramic. However, PID controllers have the problem of overshoot as a result of sub-optimal selection of PID tuning parameters. PID controllers also take a long time in adjusting to changes due to error. This paper presents a firefly algorithm based PID controller (F-PID) for minimizing the effect of hysteresis in piezoelectric ceramics and also improving the response of the PID controller

Age estimation via face images: a survey

Abstract Facial aging adversely impacts performance of face recognition and face verification and authentication using facial features. This stochastic personalized inevitable process poses dynamic theoretical and practical challenge to the computer vision and pattern recognition community. Age estimation is labeling a face image with exact real age or age group. How do humans recognize faces across ages? Do they learn the pattern or use age-invariant features? What are these age-invariant features that uniquely identify one across ages? These questions and others have attracted significant interest in the computer vision and pattern recognition research community. In this paper, we present a thorough analysis of recent research in aging and age estimation. We discuss popular algorithms used in age estimation, existing models, and how they compare with each other; we compare performance of various systems and how they are evaluated, age estimation challenges, and insights for future research