Analyses of Information Systems Students\u27 Applications of Two Holistic Problem Solving Methodologies

The importance of task analysis skills in the fast changing world of Information Systems cannot be over-emphasized. One of the objectives in this research was to analyze how effectively students could learn and apply two problem-solving methodologies in the analyses of two types of tasks to enhance effective decision making. The reference or tested methodology chosen was Systems Thinking, since it has been applied in a variety of settings or domains for many decades already. The second methodology (Goldratt\u27s thinking processes) is relatively new, but has been applied in the analysis of constraint problems, especially in manufacturing, banking, healthcare, etc. After receiving the appropriate trainings, the subjects in the study were assigned two types of tasks or problems in information systems. The first task was verified by a group of experts to be dynamic, while the other was less complex (more static) in nature. The subjects in the study were master\u27s degree students in Information Systems at a major university. The students were divided into four groups; with two professors administering the training to the groups in a format that sought to minimize confounding. Several hypotheses were generated and tested. It is believed that educators and managers could enhance their understanding of the dynamics of the two methodologies in the analyses of tasks of varying degrees of complexity

An audit of Ear, Nose and Throat diseases in a tertiary health institution in South-western Nigeria

Introduction: This study is aimed at determining the pattern of ear, nose and throat diseases and their relationship with socio-demographic factors with auditing intent in a tertiary hospital in South-western Nigeria. Methods: Medical records of patients managed at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria from 2006 to 2010 were reviewed for all essential clinical data. Results: There were 2641 (52.8%) males and 2360 (47.2%) females. Two thousand and fifty (41%) patients had age ≤15years old. Sixty three percent of the patients were Christians, 37% were Muslims and less than 1% had other religions. There were more patients in lower occupational classes than those in the upper classes. The average number of patients with ear, nose and throat diseases managed per month was eighty three. Patients with ear diseases were 3136 (62.7%), the nose diseases were 1153 (23.0%), the throat diseases were 479 (9.6%) and head/neck diseases were 233 (4.7%). Conclusion: This study showed that otitis media, obstructive adenoid, foreign bodies in the ear and throat infections were the common ear, nose, throat disorders seen in patients aged ≤15years whereas, hearing loss, rhinosinusitis and tumors were the common disorders of ear, nose and throat seen in patients aged 16 years and above. Although these disorders are not yet considered to be of public health importance, they contribute significantly to the existing burden of health problems in our environment. Therefore, there is a need for improved public awareness on ear, nose and throat diseases.Pan African Medical Journal 2013; 14:1, 1-

The Impact of Load Shedding on The Cost of Living: A Zambian Perspective

In this paper, we assess the impact of Zambia Electricity Supply Corporationrsquos (ZESCO) power rationing (load shedding) on the cost of living of the Zambian people. We also assess whether the businesses and households have capacity to resort to alternative sources of energy in the time of crisis. Our results show that, although the rationing does not last for 24 hours in most places, the duration that businesses and households stay out of power is long enough to impact negatively on the livelihoods of the Zambian people and consequently itrsquos Economy. nbs

Application of soil water assessment tool (SWAT) to suppress wildfire at Bayam Forest, Turkey

Authors would like to thank the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) in TURKEY and the EU INTERREG IV "Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme 2007-2013" framework that funded this project. In addition. we would like the staff members of the Kastamonu Regional Directorate of Forestry. Yasar Cakiroglu, Muzaffer Buyukterzi and Hidayet Kavi for their generous help and support.Aim: Readily available water resources are a key for wildfire suppression. Hydrologic models are a practical and essential tool for understanding the processes of hydrology and managing water resources, but have not been utilized as frequently for wildfire suppression. The goal of the present study was to use the Soil WaterAssessment Tools (SWAT) model to determine whether the stream water could be managed sustainably in wildfire suppression at the Bayam Forest District in Kastamonu Province, Turkey. Methodology: As an input file, the SWAT model used soils, land-uses, weather data and morphology of watershed based on the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The model was applied for period 2001-2013 in order to predict the water budget of the study area and major streams within the studied district. Results: The analysis of the hydrologic water budget indicated that 70% (573.8 mm) of the annual precipitation (822 mm) was lost as evapotranspiration in the basin, whereas 19%, 34% and 47% of the remaining total water yield (234.6 mm) contributed to streams via surface runoff, groundwater flow and lateral flow, respectively. Interpretation: Overall, the result of SWAT model indicated to a certain degree promising findings on the availability of stream water and optimal placement of water reservoir for the use of wildfire suppression

Epidemiology of bacterial Septicemia among children under five in Mbita Subcounty, South Nyanza, Kenya

Background: Septicaemia is a major cause of mortality and morbidity, especially in sub-Saharan Africa leading to complications marked by bodily inflammation referred as sepsis. This is a systemic disease associated with presence of pathogenic microorganisms (viral, parasitic and bacterial) or their toxins in the blood. Bacterial septicaemia is the most fatal and prevalent in hospitalised cases. Globally, 76% of children under five years die due to septicaemia. In East Africa a mortality rate of 40% have been reported. In Kenya, South Nyanza regions have reported higher morbidity and mortality cases among children. We hypothesis that apart from immunosuppressive diseases, septicaemia could contribute significantly to this prevalence in the region. Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 248 children whose guardian consented and a detailed sociodemographic questionnaire was administered. Bacterial isolation and characterization were done using the automated BACTEC 9240 system. Results: The mean age of the participants was 27.9 (SD ±20.7) months. The majority (30.6%) were aged between 1 to 12 months, 50.8% were males, 58.9% had body temperatures above 37.6 OC while only 8.1% were HIV seropositive. The mean white blood cells (WBC) of the participants were 17720.9 (SD 8929.1) cells/ml with 5.2% had leucopenia. A total of 84 of the 248 (33.9%) of the children had septicaemia with the majority (28.6%) caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli each at 13.1%. Bacteria that were reported singly included Salmonella Paratyphi B, Citrobacter freundii, Gemella morbillorum, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Lactococcus lactis cremoris, Pantoea spp, and Pseudomonas putida. In multivariate regression analysis, female gender (OR 0.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.4 to 0.9), co-infection with malaria (OR 2.7; 95% CI 1.1 to 6.7) and gastrointestinal disorders (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.3 – 7.3) were independently associated with bacterial septicemia infection. Conclusion: Significantly higher proportion of the children in this region are infected with septicaemia. Majority of the cases were caused by Gram positive bacteria. Age and other c-infection contribute significantly to septicaemia infection in this region. Rapid testing and etiological characterisation of children with suspected symptoms of septicaemia is key in this region in order to institute appropriate treatment and management. Keywords: bacterial Septicemia, Epidemiology, Children under five, South Nyanza, Kenya DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-10-06 Publication date:May 31st 202

Suicide Behavior among Guyanese Orphans: Identification of suicide risk and protective factors in a Low-Middle-Income-Country

Objective: Suicide is the leading cause of death among youth in Guyana, a low- and middle-income country (LMIC), which globally ranks first in female adolescent suicides over the last decade. Worldwide, Guyana has experienced the largest increase in youth suicide, despite focused public health efforts to reduce suicide. Further, youth in Guyana, who are clients of the orphanage system and have faced early childhood trauma, may have an additive risk for suicide. Guided by an ideation-to-action theoretical framework for suicide prevention, the goal of the proposed research study is to describe and identify risk and protective factor correlates of youth suicidal behaviour among those at highest risk for suicide – orphans who reside in a LMIC institutional setting. Methods: In a preliminary sample of 25 orphan youth, one licensed psychologist and two social workers administered the DSM-5 Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure and Behavioural Assessment Schedule for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC-2) during a semi-structured interview. Results: Nine of the 25 (36%) orphans reported a previous suicide attempt. Youth who endorsed suicidal behaviour had clinically elevated interpersonal relations scale scores when compared to youth who did not. Conclusions: Interpersonal skills may be protective for youth at highest risk for suicide

Performance of RIS-Aided Nearfield Localization under Beams Approximation from Real Hardware Characterization

The technology of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) has been showing promising potential in a variety of applications relying on Beyond-5G networks. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can indeed provide fine channel flexibility to improve communication quality of service (QoS) or restore localization capabilities in challenging operating conditions, while conventional approaches fail (e.g., due to insufficient infrastructure, severe radio obstructions). In this paper, we tackle a general low-complexity approach for optimizing the precoders that control such reflective surfaces under hardware constraints. More specifically, it allows the approximation of any desired beam pattern using a pre-characterized look-up table of feasible complex reflection coefficients for each RIS element. The proposed method is first evaluated in terms of beam fidelity for several examples of RIS hardware prototypes. Then, by means of a theoretical bounds analysis, we examine the impact of RIS beams approximation on the performance of near-field downlink positioning in non-line-of-sight conditions, while considering several RIS phase profiles (incl. directional, random and localization-optimal designs). Simulation results in a canonical scenario illustrate how the introduced RIS profile optimization scheme can reliably produce the desired RIS beams under realistic hardware limitations. They also highlight its sensitivity to both the underlying hardware characteristics and the required beam kinds in relation to the specificity of RIS-aided localization applications.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, journa

Sperm activation in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and the effects of environmentally relevant pollutants on sperm fitness

In externally fertilizing fishes, multiple factors of the spawning environment may affect the sperm viability, and thus the fertilization rate. In this thesis, the sperm activation effect of osmolality of non-electrolytes and electrolytes activation media, pH and ion channel inhibitors on Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, and the effect of environmentally relevant pollutants (cadmium, malathion and rotenone) on sperm fitness (motility and morphology) were investigated. Seminal fluid samples collected from male fishes (200-250g) were subjected to activation treatments, then analyzed for sperm motility using motility score, and motility variables using Hobson sperm tracker for straight line velocity (VSL), beat cross frequency (BCF) and percentage of motile cells (MOT). For the ion channel inhibitors and pollutants, the effect on sperm motility variables of VSL, VCL (curvilinear velocity) and LIN (linearity) were determined. Multivariate analysis was also carried out to determine the effects of ion channel inhibitors and pollutants on sperm subpopulations. The effects of pollutants on sperm morphology were observed using microscopy techniques, namely, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Sperm motility was initiated when the sperm were exposed to hypoosmotic electrolytes and non-electrolytes solution. We also found that sperm show optimal activity at pH range of 6-8 which depicts that the effect of pH on sperm motility is negligible. Lanthanum (calcium channel blocker) and flunarizine (sodium-calcium exchanger pump blocker) were found to inhibit sperm motility at 25 and 5 µM, respectively, suggesting that both ion channels play a significant role in sperm activation in O. niloticus. In contrast amiloride, ouabain and quinine showed no effects on activation, indicating that epithelial sodium channels, sodium-potassium ATPase and voltage gated potassium channels respectively are unlikely to have major roles in sperm activation or motility. The spermatozoa of Oreochromis niloticus were uniflagellate with clearly differentiated oval-shaped head, midpiece and flagellum. Sperm exposed to hypoosmotic shock showed swelling of the midpiece and sleeve structure. The pollutants showed dose- and time-dependent effect on sperm motility of the fast linear sperm subpopulation. Sperm morphology was not affected. Sperm motility was inhibited at 0.44, 0.03 and 0.063 µM, cadmium, malathion and rotenone respectively. Both cadmium and malathion exerted effects very quickly after exposure. The effect of cadmium, which can exert toxicity by calcium antagonism, is consistent with the effects of calcium channel blockes and further supports an important role for calcium in sperm activation and motility. Malathion had effects at relatively low, environmentally relevant concentrations, suggesting the presence of functionally important acetylcholinesterase activity in sperm, and also the presence of activation cytochrome P450 activity. Rotenone, a well known mitochondrial poison, affected motility only after 15 min of pretreatment. The alteration of sperm trajectories in fast linear spermatozoa subpopulation by pollutants at submicromolar concentrations as demonstrated in our study implies potentially serious consequences for fish populations in polluted environments. Furthermore the results indicate that fish sperm motility as assessed by CASA could be an ecologically relevant, sensitive, and ethically acceptable method for toxicity testing in environmental risk assessment.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGovernment of MalaysiaGBUnited Kingdo

Hearing evaluation of nigerian prison inmates: a cross-sectional survey

Background: Prisoners, due to confinement are isolated from contact with the society and access to many of the facilities, including medical care. This study aimed to evaluate the hearing threshold of inmates of Kaduna convict prison. Method: It was a cross-sectional study of prison inmates at the Kaduna convict prison between April 2017 and February 2019. Ethical approvals were obtained from relevant bodies and all consented inmates aged 18 – 55years in the Kaduna convict prison were enrolled. Equal number of control matched for age and gender were enrolled from the communities in Kaduna North Local Government Area. Data were collated using a structured questionnaire. A diagnostic Pure Tone Audiometry was performed to assess their hearing threshold. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 was used for analysis. Results: Four hundred and thirty inmates and equal number of control group were enrolled. The mean age for the inmates and controls were 30.2±7.5 and 30.4±8.02 years respectively. There were 383 males and 47 females in both groups. Among the 860 ears of the inmates, 238(27.7%) ears had hearing loss while in the control group, 95/ (11.1%) ears had impaired hearing. Conductive hearing loss was the commonest among the inmates 111(46.6%) while sensorineural was commoner among the controls 57(60.0%). The mean pure tone average among the inmates was 25.6±11.3dBHL and 26.1±11.2dBHL on the right and left ears respectively while in the control group, it was 18.4±7.8dBHL on the right and 17.9±7.9dBHL on the left. Conclusion: This study revealed that hearing loss was more prevalent among prison inmates than in the general population. In majority of the inmates, the hearing loss was mild, conductive and mostly affecting all the frequencies