Dynamic load balancing of parallel road traffic simulation

The objective of this research was to investigate, develop and evaluate dynamic load-balancing strategies for parallel execution of microscopic road traffic simulations. Urban road traffic simulation presents irregular, and dynamically varying distributed computational load for a parallel processor system. The dynamic nature of road traffic simulation systems lead to uneven load distribution during simulation, even for a system that starts off with even load distributions. Load balancing is a potential way of achieving improved performance by reallocating work from highly loaded processors to lightly loaded processors leading to a reduction in the overall computational time. In dynamic load balancing, workloads are adjusted continually or periodically throughout the computation. In this thesis load balancing strategies were evaluated and some load balancing policies developed. A load index and a profitability determination algorithms were developed. These were used to enhance two load balancing algorithms. One of the algorithms exhibits local communications and distributed load evaluation between the neighbour partitions (diffusion algorithm) and the other algorithm exhibits both local and global communications while the decision making is centralized (MaS algorithm). The enhanced algorithms were implemented and synthesized with a research parallel traffic simulation. The performance of the research parallel traffic simulator, optimized with the two modified dynamic load balancing strategies were studied

An open interface for parallelization of traffic simulation

In this paper, we present the implementation of a parallel road traffic simulation using the concept of Lane Cut Points (LCPs) in the Spider programming environment. LCPs are storage buffers inserted into lane data structures at the road network partition edges. Vehicles enter a partition at the edges from an LCP and exit a partition edge into an LCP at the end of every simulation step. Spider, a parallel programming environment, which runs on PVM, coordinates the execution of the parallel traffic simulation

Feeding habits, Overweight, Obesity and Hypertension and Associated Factors among Polytechnic Students in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria

Overweight and obesity is a risk factor to chronic non-communicable diseases. This study assessed level of overweight/obesity and blood pressure among students of a higher institution in Southwest Nigeria. This cross-section study involved 300 students of a public higher institution in Ado-Ekiti, Southwest, Nigeria. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on personal characteristics, feeding pattern and lifestyle of the students. Body Mass Index (BMI) was categorized into normal weight (BMI<25) and overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 25). Waist circumference and waist-hip-ratio (WHR) were classified as normal and at risk. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg. Chi square test was used to establish relationship between variables at 5% level of significance. The mean age of the students was 22.25 years and 62.8% were above 20years. Monthly allowanceless than ₦30000.00 was received by 64.4% of the students, 47.3% skipped breakfast meal, 96% consumed carbonated soft drinks and 37.1% did not engaged in physical exercise. Prevalence of general obesity was 17.1% (BMI≥25); 7% and 15.5% were at risk of abdominal and central obesity respectively. Students in systolic pre-hypertension and stage I hypertension were 33.3% and 3% respectively whereas 15.5% and 2.4% were in diastolic pre-hypertension and stage I hypertension respectively. Female gender, monthly allowance less than ₦30000.00 and adolescent stage were associated with obesity. Older age, male gender and monthly allowance less than ₦30000.00 were associated with BP. Nutrition education is recommended for this population group

A 20 year retrospective analysis of medicolegal deaths in a tertiary hospital setting in Nigeria

Objective: To determine and classify the various types of medicolegal deaths as seen at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all the medicolegal deaths seen in the Department of Histopathology, (UBTH, Benin City over a 20 year period (January 1990-December 2009) as recorded in the autopsy registers of the department.Result: A total of 5035 autopsies were done during the period, 89% of which were coroner cases. Four thousand, four hundred and eighty‑one coroner cases representing 12.5% of all bodies received by the mortuary during the period were studied. The male to female ratio was 1.9:1, with an overall mean age of 38.3 years. The ages ranged from 1 day to 101 years with a peak incidence in the 25-44 years age group. A total of 553 children and 3928 adults were involved. The commonest indication for coroner’s autopsy was sudden unexpected natural deaths (SUNDs) which accounted for 65.5% of the cases. Other causes of death were accidents, homicide, suicide, and undetermined causes representing 28.6, 5.0, 0.5, and 0.4%, respectively. Commonest cause of SUND was cardiovascular diseases with complications of hypertension being the most common CVS disease (26.9%). Road traffic accident was the commonest form of accident causing death (88.7%). Public enlightenment and health education about routine medical screening will help to reduce causes of natural deaths.Conclusion: This study shows the pattern of medicolegal autopsies in UBTH and this preliminary data will provide a baseline for future research and help in formulating policies to help in reduction of preventable causes of death.Keywords: Accidental death, homicide, medicolegal death, road traffic accident, sudden unexpected natural death suicideNigerian Journal of Clinical Practice • Oct-Dec 2013 • Vol 16 • Issue

Developing A Property Information System for the Effective Management of 777 Housing Estate Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Given the acute shortage of housing in Nigeria, most states governments’ have been making attempts to reduce the housing deficit through direct public housing construction. The 777 Housing Estate is one of such estates currently under the control and management of Borno State Housing Corporation. The efficient management of these housing estates is dependent on the availability of good, reliable and timely information, which is not feasible under the current manual method of record keeping by the Borno State Housing Corporation. This study essentially developed a Property Information System using GIS techniques. It involved the scanning of the layout plan of the study area and then geo-referencing in ArcGIS 10.2 using GPS coordinates of reference points obtained from prominent positions within the Housing Estate. All housing units and other features within the Housing Estate were digitally delineated (digitized). Records of tenancy of house owners were extracted from their personal files domiciled at the Borno State Housing Corporation to create an attribute database, which was later, integrated with the digitized house parcels. In addition, a digital camera was used to capture the passport photograph of each house owner and hyperlinked to the digitized house parcels to create a robust and reliable GIS-based property information system. Since the system is comprised of both spatial and attributes data for each housing unit in digital form, it is possible to edit, maintain, rectify and keep property records up-to-date with minimum efforts. The system created was able to support query analysis to aid the effective and efficient management of the 777 Housing Estate by the Borno State Housing Corporation. It is recommended that the Borno State Housing Corporation (BSHC) should establish a GIS unit that would see to the computerization of all its analogue data into digital formats. Keywords: Housing, Records, Database, Information system, Managemen

Dynamic load balancing of parallel road traffic simulation

The objective of this research was to investigate, develop and evaluate dynamic load-balancing strategies for parallel execution of microscopic road traffic simulations. Urban road traffic simulation presents irregular, and dynamically varying distributed computational load for a parallel processor system. The dynamic nature of road traffic simulation systems lead to uneven load distribution during simulation, even for a system that starts off with even load distributions. Load balancing is a potential way of achieving improved performance by reallocating work from highly loaded processors to lightly loaded processors leading to a reduction in the overall computational time. In dynamic load balancing, workloads are adjusted continually or periodically throughout the computation. In this thesis load balancing strategies were evaluated and some load balancing policies developed. A load index and a profitability determination algorithms were developed. These were used to enhance two load balancing algorithms. One of the algorithms exhibits local communications and distributed load evaluation between the neighbour partitions (diffusion algorithm) and the other algorithm exhibits both local and global communications while the decision making is centralized (MaS algorithm). The enhanced algorithms were implemented and synthesized with a research parallel traffic simulation. The performance of the research parallel traffic simulator, optimized with the two modified dynamic load balancing strategies were studied.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Hepatoprotective effects of ethanol extract of Caesalpiniabonduc against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in Albino Rats

The present study was carried out to evaluate the Acute toxicity, hepatoprotective and in-vivo antioxidant activities of ethanolic extract of Caesalpinia bonduc leaf on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver damage using Swiss albino rats . The ethanolic extract of the plant of C. bonduc were suspended in 5 % tragacanth and then administered orally at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight for fourteen days before intraperitoneally injection of Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) at dose of 2 mL/kg body weight. The plant extracts at 250 and 500mg/kg b.wt showed a remarkable hepatoprotective and invivo antioxidant activities against carbon tetrachloride CCl4 – induced hepatotoxity judged from the serum marker enzymes .The CCl4 induced significant increase in aspartate amino transferase( AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), alkaline phophatase (ALP), total bilirubin, and malondyaldehyde (MDA) with a reduction of total protein, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase . Treatment of rats with different doses of plant extract (250 and 500 mg/kg b.wt.) significantly (P< 0.001) altered serum maker enzymes and antioxidant levels to near normal levels. The study suggests that C. Bonduc specifically chloroform and ethyl acetate fraction may be good sources of natural antioxidant and hepatoprotective substance.Keywords: Ceasalpiniabonduc, hepatoprotective, intraperitoneally , antioxidan

WORKING TOOLS AND EMPLOYEES’ MISBEHAVIOUR IN PUBLIC TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA

The main thrust of this study was to investigate the nexus between working tools and employee misbehaviour in public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the effect of accessibility of working tools, such as medical and laboratory equipment, office stationery, office furniture, office accommodation and power supply, on employee attitude to work in University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. The study hypothesised that the independent variable (working tools) has no relationship with the dependent variable (employee misbehaviour). General strain theory was adopted as theoretical framework for the study. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design and a quantitative method of data collection and analysis. The instrument for data collection was a 30-item questionnaire. Data were elicited from 361 respondents who were conveniently selected from twelve (12) departments in the University of Calabar. The respondents were selected from various faculties, departments, units, and centres in the University of Calabar. The data generated were analysed using statistical methods such as linear regression and simple percentage analysis. Findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between working tools and employee misbehaviour in the University of Calabar. Thus, the study recommended, among others, that the University of Calabar management should ensure that working tools such as medical and laboratory equipment, office stationery, office furniture, office accommodation and power supply are made available to employees at all times, as this will build a positive mental picture of the working environment for the employees which will in turn reduce the tendency for organisational misbehaviour or misconduct such as absenteeism, insubordination, truancy, dereliction and abandonment of duty, among others. Article visualizations

Predictors of Examination Integrity among Secondary School Students: Framework for Proactive Actions Against Examination Malpractices

This study focused on determination of predictors of academic integrity during examinations among secondary school students. The population consisted of 300,000 final year secondary school students in South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria out of which a sample of 3000 students (1720 females and 1280 males) were selected through multistage proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Analysis of data collected with the aid of Examination Integrity Questionnaire (EIQ) that was adopted and validated by the researchers showed significant influence of students’ gender on academic integrity during examinations with female students having higher mean score on examination integrity. Moreover, Study Habits, Examination Ethics, Examination Anxiety, Moral Background, Examination Attitude and Past Experience were significant predictors of examination integrity of students. Past experience was the strongest predictor of students’ examination integrity. However, there was no significant impact of Age on students’ examination integrity. These findings have implications for preventive actions against examination malpractices. For instance, proactive actions should be targeted at improving students’ study habits, examination anxiety, moral reasoning, attitude towards cheating or examination ethics and subjective norms before they sit for school examinations. This proactive action framework based on the Modified Theory of Planned Behaviour may be more effective in curbing examination malpractices than the extant practice of administering punitive measures after examination ethics violations