Managing Stress At Work

Stress is a reality and an inevitable part of our lives, especially at work, and to be free from stress or to have a stress free life is not a possibility. However, people need to be aware of its existence and its side effect as well as learn to live with it without suffering its effects. This paper examines the concept of stress, its nature, its consequences in the organisation, and how it could be managed both at the organisational and individual levels. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 111-12

A Study of Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Administrators in Kano State, Nigeria

This paper was concerned with studying the job satisfaction of secondary school administrators in Kano state, Nigeria. Survey design was used and a random sampling was used to select the study sample of 421 subjects used for the study. The Job Descriptive Index was used to collect data. Five hypotheses were raised in the study and the data collected was analysed using t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings of the study showed that there was no significant difference in male and female; public and private; rural and urban administrators' level of job satisfaction. Also, the study found that there was a significant difference in the level of satisfaction with years of experience as well as with age, marital status, school size and educational qualification.African Research Review Vol. 2 (2) 2008 pp. 94-10

Proximate and Elemental Analysis of Cowpea, Kidney and Sweet Cowpea Beans Sold in Kawo Market, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Beans are one of the most popular and essential foods in Africa, especially in Nigeria they are highly recommended for its numerous health benefits and nutritional values. The objective of this paper is to assess the proximate and elemental compositions of three (3) varieties of beans (cowpea, kidney and sweet cowpea beans) marketed in Kawo, Kaduna State, Nigeria using standard procedures and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The results from this study indicated that the highest results obtained for proximate and elemental analysis in the four (4) samples with the exception of fibre in sweet cowpea beans (2.082%), were found to be: moisture (13.250%), protein (21.420%), Lipids (1.025%), ash (4.814%) in kidney beans while in the case of elemental analysis, the highest concentrations (88.0mg/kg) of Zn was found in (Cowpea bean), (52.5mg/kg) of Mg in sweet cowpea, (75.0mg/kg) of Cu in cowpea beans while Fe (99.5mg/kg) and Ca (99.5mg/kg) were found in kidney beans. All the beans samples analyzed for proximate and elemental analysis from Kawo market are highly nutritious, hence good for human and livestock consumption

Introducing a Manipulated System of Drainage Basins of a Developing Countries

As a natural open system, in a drainage basin, there is water flow and balanced channel characteristics. In a manipulated channel system, however, according to Mrowka (1974) and Schumm (1977), the water flow is made under control that induces dynamics in channel characteristics. In this paper, attempt is made to uncover how channel project is caused, nature of the new forms of channel cross-sectional area, shape, sinuosity, and gradient, as well as flood-plain characteristics. It also covers the peculiar transformation evolved as drainage basin system is changed to channel project. Consequently in the paper, two tasks involved were explained. These are significant channel re-construction, and redirection of stream flow as relates to developing water terrace in the savanna zone of Nigeria with the increased channel project dated back 1970s (Olofin, 1980). Specifically, the paper drew considered the physical characteristics of the natural channel of River Suka in North Central Nigeria and the manipulated system or the new face of the drainage basin project of the Kano River, Nigeria used to structure the Tiga dam that involved downstream channel adjustments Keywords: drainage basin, channel, river, dam, downstrea

Implementation of Patient Safety Culture Survey in Jombang Islamic Hospital

Patient safety is the indicator of healthcare service quality. To improve patient-safety culture in hospital, conducting a survey is important to determine which dimension should be managed. Jombang Islamic Hospital (Rumah Sakit Islam Jombang) has an established Patient Safety Team since 2011, but the patient-safety culture is still low because only three incidents were reported in 2015. This study aims to measure patient-safety culture in hospital to identify the factors that need to be improved in hospital unit. This was a descriptive analytic study. Primary data were collected in 2016 using an Indonesian-translated version of Hospital Survey on Patient SafetyCulture (HSOPSC) questionnaire. The HSOPSC measures 12 patient safety dimensions. The respondents were 117 Jombang Islamic Hospital staff members who work in hospital unit that gives a direct medical service. Questionnaire's final response rate was 91%. The overall average positive response in Jombang Islamic Hospital was 68%, slightly higher than the average positive response for the AHRQ database report in 2016 (65%). Pharmacy had the lowest positive response (54%), while Obstetric and Operation Room had the highest positive response (83%). The dimension that received the highest percentage of positive response was ‘Teamwork within units’ that reached 94% and the lowest was ‘Staffing’ with only 34%. This study concludes that the staff members feel positive toward patient-safety culture. It is important to give an intervention to hospital unit and dimensions that received low percentage of positive response in order to achieve better healthcare service quality. Keywords: HSOPSC, hospital dimension, patient safety culture, surve

Optimisation of Internal Model Control Performance Indices for Autonomous Vehicle Suspension

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have grown in popularity and acceptability due to their unique capacity to reduce pollution, road accidents, human error, and traffic congestion. Vehicle suspension is an important component of a car chassis since it affects the performance of vehicle dynamics. As a result, enhancing suspension performance and stability is critical in order to achieve a more pleasant and safer car. Although there are several suspension control methods, they all suffer from fixed gain characteristics that are prone to nonlinearities, disturbances, and the inability to be tuned online. This research provides a comparison of Internal Model Control (IMC) performance metrics for vehicle suspension control. The IMC approach was tuned using the Genetic Algorithm and the Particle Swarm Optimisation algorithms. The performance of each of these schemes was analysed and compared in order to determine the approach with the best performance in terms of AV suspension control. The performance of the system response was compared to that of the traditional IMC. According to the comparison analysis, the optimized IMC systems had lower IAE, ITAE, ISE, rising time, and settling time values than the traditional IMC. Furthermore, there were no overshoots in any of the controllers

Survey on Social Media Network Participation, Impact on Biology Students’ Performance in Senior Secondary Schools in Minna Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria

This study looks at social media network participation. its evident impact on performance on senior secondary School students in biology, the study was aimed at identifying social media network sites and their usage among students, how students networked and participated on social media networks, time invested by students on social networks, the effects of social media networks participation on student's academic performance within the context of the social learning and the axe and gratification theories. To achieve the objectives of the research, the study used a mixed method approach which involved the survey of students in jour senior secondary schools and interviews of heads of the schools. The study revealed that majority of respondents used social networks for chatting for downloading videos, music and listening to music. In addition, majority of respondents experienced negative effects such as, late submission of assignment, less study time and poor performance in biology and addiction problems due to the heavy participation on social media networks Furthermore. there was a high addiction rate among students in the usage of social media network., Nevertheless, there were few cases where other students experienced improvement on their performances as a result of participation on social media networks. Recommendations generated from the research studies were: students should reduce their exposure to social media and pay more attention to their studies, students, especially those willing to record huge academic success should guide themselves against the use of social media and the government, schools and other well to do individuals .should encourage hard work by rewarding successful students through Scholarship schemes and other incentives

Evaluation of neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) in type 2 diabetic patients with diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a devastating chronic microvascular complication that represents the major cause of end-stage renal failure leading to the development and progression of diabetic syndrome. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate serum neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) in type 2 DM with diabetic nephropathy. Methods: Eighty (80) type 2 diabetic patients with DN and apparently healthy controls were respectively recruited. Blood samples were collected and tested for serum NGAL, creatinine, albumin, fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c. Creatinine and albumin were analyzed using Abbot autoanalyser, HbA1c was analyzed using fine care system and serum NGAL using the ELISA method. Estimated GFR (eGFR) was calculated using the modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) formula. Statistical analysis was performed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) software version 20.0. Student t-test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s correlation were used for comparisons and correlation of data respectively with level of significance set <0.05. Result: The mean values of the serum NGAL, FPG, HbA1c, BMI and eGFR in both DN group and control group were found to be 3.72±2.62 vs 1.08±0.78μg/ml, 7.06 ±3.46 vs 4.08± 0.39mmo/l, 6.73±1.08 vs 4.71 ±0.39%, 27.33±5.29 vs 25.08±3.65ml/min/1.73m2 and 76.57 ±11.20 vs 118.23 ±12.11ml/min/1.73m2 respectively. The study found a high and significant difference in the mean values of the DN group compared to the control group. A positive and significant relationship was observed between serum NGAL and eGFR and duration of diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Serum NGAL could therefore be used as a biomarker to diagnose DN even earlier to incipient nephropathy, NGAL, Diabetes nephropathy, eGFR, Microalbuminuria, Glycated haemoglobin

Ex vivo recovery and activation of dysfunctional, anergic, monocyte-derived dendritic cells from patients with operable breast cancer: critical role of IFN-alpha

Background Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in initiating effective cell-mediated immune responses, but are dysfunctional and anergic in breast cancer. Reversal of this dysfunction and establishment of optimal DC function is a key prerequisite for the induction of effective anti-cancer immune responses. Results Peripheral blood DCs (PBDCs) and lymph node DCs (LNDCs) generated in vitro from adherent cultures of peripheral blood monocytes (PBMs) and lymph node monocytes (LNMs), respectively, using the 4 cytokine conditioned medium (CCM) (GM-CSF+IL-4+TNF-α+IFN-α) or 3 CCM (GM-CSF+IL-4+TNF-α) demonstrated a significantly higher degree of recovery and functional capacity in a mixed lymphocyte DC reaction (MLDCR, p < 0.001), expressed significantly higher levels of HLA-DR, CD86, compared with 2 CCM (GM-CSF+IL-4) or medium alone generated DCs from PBMs and LNMs (p < 0.001). The PBDCs generated with 3 CCM or 4 CCM showed a significantly (p < 0.001) enhanced macropinocytotic capability (dextran particles) and induced increased production and secretion of interleukin-12p40 (IL-12p40) in vitro (p < 0.001), compared with PBDCs generated from monocytes using 2 CCM or medium alone. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of PBDCs generated with 4 CCM demonstrated enhanced secretion of IL-6 but not IL-12p70, compared with control DCs unstimulated with LPS (p < 0.001). Conclusion Dysfunctional and anergic PBDCs and LNDCs from patients with operable breast cancer can be optimally reversed by ex vivo culturing of precursor adherent monocytes using a 4 CCM containing IFN-α. Maximal immunophenotypic recovery and functional reactivation of DCs is seen in the presence of IFN-α. However, 4 CCM containing IFN-α generated-PBDCs, do not produce and secrete IL-12p70 in vitro