The end justifies the means: examining the Nigerian society in the light of Machiavellianism.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.From the sentiments espoused by Machiavelli in The Prince, it is is clear that he believed that politics and conventional morality cannot go together. For him, acquiring power and retaining power is the objective of politics, and should as such be the uppermost or ultimate concern of anyone engaging in politics. Being that since Nigeria gained its political independence in 1960, Nigerian politicians have consciously and overtly pursued the business of politics as if the primary goal of politics is the acquisition and sustenance of power by any necessary means, many scholars and observers of the Nigerian society have described the Nigerian political scene as a classic case of Machiavelli’s political philosophy as articulated in The Prince. This thesis then focuses on the proposition that the Nigerian political scene presents a classic case of Machiavelli’s political philosophy as articulated in The Prince. The choice of this area of research is informed by the need to provide a co-ordinated response to the myriad of challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation, as many believe that the seeming playing of politics in the Machiavellian way by Nigerian political elites is partly responsible for the socio-political and economic problems in the country. Consequently, the underlying argument of this thesis is that Nigerian politics can be seen to be characterized by the guiding principle “the end justifies the means” articulated by Machiavelli in The Prince. Key to the argument is the examination of the Nigerian political scene, Machiavelli’s ideas in The Prince, the Italian society of his time, the circumstances surrounding his writing of The Prince, as well as the various interpretations of the book. Notwithstanding that Machiavelli and the ideas he expressed in The Prince are interpreted in various ways by various scholars, it is generally believed that the ideas cannot be isolated from the political situation of his city-state, Florence, and Italy back then. Though Florence or Italy of Machiavelli’s era is quite different in culture and civilization from contemporary Nigeria, findings from the thesis indicate that the two political situations are similar in terms of human nature, lack of national cohesion, and application of violence and cruelty in socio-political activities. Also, many Nigerian politicians and even citizens at large consciously or unconsciously practicalize Machiavelli’s views in The Prince and there exists some form of connection between practising such In response to the findings, the thesis concludes with some practical suggestions on how Nigeria may get over its political problems, which among others include the need for change of structure of the Nigerian federation and mentality on the part of all Nigerian citizens

Development of an Infrared Thermometer with SMS Feedback

The non-contact infrared thermometer is an essential medical device in hospitals for measuring a patient’s surface temperature while preventing the transmission of infection from one person to another. While taking such measurements, it is crucial for physicians to have the values sent to their mobile phones for reference purposes. The aim of this study was to develop an infrared thermometer with Short Message Service (SMS) feedback. The thermometer was built using an infrared sensor for contactless temperature measurement, a microcontroller for data processing, a liquid crystal display for user interface, and a GSM module to enable the transmission of SMS text alerts. The performance of the prototype was tested by comparing temperature readings against a commercially available certified infrared thermometer across 20 adult subjects in a controlled setting. The results showed strong correlation (R=0.976) between the readings from the developed thermometer and reference device, demonstrating comparable clinical accuracy in detecting temperature fluctuations. However, a small fixed bias of 0.2- 0.4°C was observed in the prototype readings due to calibration differences. Overall, this study successfully demonstrated a proof-of-concept infrared thermometer integrating contactless sensing and wireless transmission of temperature data via SMS. The prototype achieved accuracy comparable to commercial thermometers, indicating feasibility of creating a low-cost, mobile-connected infrared thermometer using this approach

Access to microfinance facilities among agriprenuers in Abia State, Nigeria

The study evaluated the level of access and use of microfinance by farmers in Abia State, Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was adopted using a list of 2018 microfinance beneficiaries generated from Bank of Industry’s database and other agricultural enterprise lending institutions (LAPO, First Bank) Bank of Agriculture). A total of 150 respondents were chosen from a sampling frame of beneficiaries of microfinance programme, and administered with a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and ordered logit regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that majority of the farmers had moderate access to microfinance facilities and that consumer microfinance loan was more readily available to the respondents with a mean of 1.94. The coefficients of the multiple choice questions on ordered logit regression analysis estimated significant factors influencing credit access as marital status and distance to microfinance source is long (+ve at 5% each), educational level (-ve at 5%), loan repayment period and inconsistent policy (-ve at 1% each). Others are; livevestock production, medium scale, small scale, local source of finance and commercial source of finance (=ve at 1% each) and long bureaucratic process (-ve at 10%). Further analysis on constraints to access to microfinance revealed that distance to microfinance source, no internet facilities, lack of co-operate affair commission registration and inconsistent policy were the most importatnt constraints militating against access to microfinance by agriprenuers in the study area with mean scores ≥ 2.5. The results therefore call for policy direction to ensure speedy procedures/ requirements to encourage farmers to access loans and more liaison offices for microfinance institutions should be established at locations closer to the farmers.Keywords: Microfinance, Access, , Ordered logistics regression model, and Constraint

The design of ultrasensitive immunosensors based on a new multi-signal amplification gold nanoparticles-dotted 4-nitrophenylazo functionalised graphene sensing platform for the determination of deoxynivalenol

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDA highly dispersive gold nanoparticle-dotted 4-nitrophenylazo functionalised graphene nanocomposite (AuNp/G/PhNO2) was successfully synthesised and applied in enhancing sensing platform signals. Three label-free electrochemical immunosensors for the detection of deoxynivalenol mycotoxin (DON) based on the systematic modification of glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) with AuNp/G/PhNO2 was effectively achieved. General electrochemical impedance method was employed for the sensitive and selective detection of DON in standard solutions and reference material samples. A significant increase in charge transfer resistance (Rct) of the sensing interface was observed due to the formation of insulating immune-complexes by the binding of deoxynivalenol antibody (DONab) and deoxynivalenol antigen (DONag). Further attachments of DONab and DONag resulted in increases in the obtained Rct values, and the increases were linearly proportional to the concentration of DONag. The three immunosensors denoted as GCE/PDMA/AuNp/G/PhNH2/DONab, GCE/Nafion/[Ru(bpy)3]2+/AuNp/G/PhNH2/DONab and GCE/Nafion/[Ru(bpy)3]2+/G/PhNH2/DONab have detection range of 6 – 30 ng/mL for DONag in standard samples. Their sensitivity and detection limits were 43.45 ΩL/ng and 1.1 pg/L; 32.14ΩL/ng and 0.3 pg/L; 9.412 ΩL/ng and 1.1 pg/L respectively. This result was better than those reported in the literature and compares reasonably with Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) results. The present sensing methodology represents an attractive alternative to the existing methods for the detection of deoxynivalenol mycotoxin and other big biomolecules of interest due to its simplicity, stability, sensitivity, reproducibility, selectivity, and inexpensive instrumentation. And they could be used to develop high-performance, ultra-sensitive electrochemiluminescence, voltammetric or amperometric sensors as well

Prevention of Care of Catheter-Associated Infections in Long term Care

The incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in long-term care settings ranges from 1.5 to 3.3 per 1,000 catheter days for adult. Over 380,000 nursing home residents are hospitalized due to infections each year. Staff education using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) practice guidelines showed knowledge gained. The use of an evidence-based practice guideline developed AHRQ has been shown to significantly reduce the rate of CAUTI in the long-term care residents. The clinical practice problem was a CAUTI rate higher than the national average in the long-term care facility of interest due, in part to inconsistent nursing practice. The practice focused question addressed whether an educational program regarding evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for CAUTI would improve the knowledge of the nursing staff. The educational program on catheter insertion, maintenance, and removal was provided to 48 staff nurses by nurse educator. The validated AHRQ knowledge scale results were analyzed using paired sample t-test showing a statistically significant increase in knowledge from pretest (M=73.15, SD 11.65) to post-test (M=90.41, SD = 5.35), t (8) = -2.345, P=0.006. The expected positive social change is that increased knowledge on the use of AHRQ best clinical practice guidelines for preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infection will result in reduced rate of infection among residents, better health outcomes, and improved quality of life. Other long-term care facilities can replicate this project, enhancing transferability of this education to improve the quality of geriatric nursing care practices

Developmental and Communication Disorders in Children with Intellectual Disability: The Place of Early Intervention for Effective Inclusion

The paper attempts to discuss the place of intervention in the developmental and communication disorders of children with intellectual disability for the purpose of providing effective inclusion programme. The definition of early intervention was stated, areas affected by children communication disorder such as language comprehension, fluency, articulation, morphology, pragmatics among others was examined. Guidelines required for providing early intervention and the benefits of early intervention to the child were highlighted. Keywords: Development, Communication disorder, Early Intervention, Inclusio

Strategies for enhancing social skills of individuals with intellectual disability: A systematic review

Individuals with intellectual disability who suffer from comorbid mental health problems are likely to experience difficulties in socialising. Deficits in social skills are also associated with challenging behaviours and self-injury. This paper presents global evidence from a systematic review of literature on such issues as ‘interventions’; ‘social skills development’, and ‘individuals with intellectual disability’. A thorough search of various bibliographic databases identified 1 124 academic papers. Ten papers met the inclusion criteria for in-depth analysis concerning the use of interventions to develop social skills among individuals with intellectual disability. The study revealed that the social skills of individuals with intellectual disability had been fostered using different strategies, such as classroom-based intervention, emotional intelligence training, use of a peer network intervention, computer games of emotion regulation, and puppet play therapy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that various aspects like communication, bridging the gap in social skills deficits, emotional recognition and regulation, and adaptive behaviour were fostered using the identified intervention strategy. This review revealed that social skills interventions appeared modestly effective but may not be generalisable to school settings or self-reported social behaviour for individuals with intellectual disability. It is also necessary to increase the sample size in future studies to draw generalisable conclusions

Outcomes Comparison of Enculturating Advance Directives Process at a Health System

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires organizations to comply with the Patient Self-Determination Act by having processes that inform patients about their rights to execute an advance directive (AD) and engage in shared decision-making. The aim of this study was to compare AD data from a previous study (1999–2002) to a postenculturation (2011–2015) of a structured process for documented patient’s preferences. Second, to conduct a descriptive, bivariate analysis of the enculturated structured ADs process during 2011 and 2015. This descriptive, comparative analysis included 500 random patients from four hospitals, and the enculturated descriptive analysis included 302 patients from six hospitals. Comparisons showed less no ADs and a greater institutional ADs post compared with pre (p \u3c .05). Fifty-four percent of patients from 2011 to 2015 had an AD, and none of them had resuscitative measures when Do-Not-Resuscitate status was ordered. This enculturated process which includes education for health-care professionals and the community facilitates optimal patient, family-centered care

Razina albumina u miševa invadiranih protozoonom Trypanosoma brucei.

Urine albumin levels were evaluated in mice infected with Trypanosoma brucei using urine strips (Medi-Test Combi 9, Macherey Nagel, Neumann-Neander-Strabe 6-8, D-52355 Duren). The urine albumin level in some of the infected mice began to increase from the 6th day post-infection, and by the 12th day all infected mice showed a high level of albumin in urine which progressively increased with time. There was a high level of significance (F=161.9025, P<0.001) with mean urine albumin levels being significantly higher in trypanosome-infected mice (1.9302) than non infected control mice (1.4771) As infection progressed there was also a significant increase (F=152721, P<0.001) with mean urine albumin levels increasing with time. It was concluded that urine albumin could be used to indicate trypanosomosis.Razina albumina u miševa invadiranih protozoonom Trypanosoma brucei određena je aproksimativnom metodom s urin trakom (Medi Test Combi 9, Macherey-Nagel, Neumann- Neander-Strabe 6-8, D 52355 Duren). Razina albumina u nekih invadiranih miševa porasla je šestog dana nakon invazije. Dvanaestog dana nakon invazije primijećen je porast u svih miševa. U invadiranih miševa utvrđena je statistički značajna razlika u odnosu na kontrolu. Autori smatraju da se koncentracija albumina može pouzdano koristiti u dijagnostici tripanosomoze