Resident's Compliance With Colonia Planning Regulations In Periurban Area Of Ibadan, Nigeria

The present planning standard in Nigeria is with a colonial footprint. The study examined resident’s compliance with planning regulations in peri – urban of Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted while both primary and secondary data were sourced. Using a multistage sampling technique, two peri-urban local Government areas (Ido and Oluyole local government) in Ibadan region were identified and two settlements (Apete and Odo Ona Elewe) were randomly selected from each selected LGAs. A total of 7,170 houses from Apete (3,500) and Odo Ona elewe (3,670) were enumerated and 3% (215) sample size was taken. Observation checklist was used to assess the level of compliance with the planning regulations. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (chi square) were used to analyse the data at P ≥ = 0.05%. The study revealed that about 75.3 % of the respondents were aware of the planning regulation, while only 58.6% complied with the building setback regulation. The study concluded that planning regulations have not been given adequate attention. Therefore, planning standard relating to building should be strictly enforced

Managing High Runoff Discharge in the Urbanized Basins of Asa River Catchment Area of Ilorin, Nigeria

Incidence of flood has been on the increase in Ilorin for sometime; and this exemplifies the problem operating in most urban centres in Nigeria. Increase in runoff production in an urbanized catchment is a function, among other factors of to increase in percentage paved area brought about by deforestation activities and poor environmental attitude of the people. This study examines the relationship between runoff discharge and basin characteristics in Ilorin. Data used were collected directly from the field over a period of one calendar year. Rainfall data were collected in each basin using a standard rainguage of 20cm orifice while basin discharge was collected twice daily (8.00am and 6.30pm) using fabricated staff gauge graduated in centimeter. Basin morphometric attributes were computed from topographic map while landuse map was prepared from satellite imagery. Soil samples were collected and analysed for particle size distribution. The result obtained indicates that basin size and landuse have profound influence on the explanation of discharge in the basins. The study thus, recommends a number of options to efficient basin management in the city. Keywords: Managing; High runoff discharge; Urbanized basin; Asa river catchment; Ilorin; Nigeri

Agroforestry farmers’ perception of climate change in Ibadan, Nigeria

This study assessed the perception of Agro forestry farmers in Ibadan,Oyo state, Nigeria to climate change (rainfall and temperature) using questionnaires and interviews. Multistage sampling technique was used to draw agroforestry farmers from the population. A total of 120 respondents were selected from eleven (11) communities in Ibadan. Data collected on perception to climate change was coded and analyzed using stata. Result showed that 84% of the Agroforestry farmers perceived a change in rainfall onset with 48% perceived late rainfall onset, 32% early rainfall onset and 4% perceived fluctuation in the onset of rainfall. For rainfall cessation, majority (78% ) of the agroforestry farmers perceived a change in rainfall cessation in the last 20 years. About 48% perceived early cessation of rainfall while 30% of them perceived late cessation. As to the duration of rainfall, 83% of the respondents perceived a change, while 8% do not perceive change and 8% do not know if there is any change. It was also revealed that education level and farming experience of the farmers as well as extension visits are significant factors affecting the farmers perception on climate change.This study shows that the agroforestry farmers in Oyo state have a good understanding of the changing climate. There is therefore need for planned adaptation strategies to enhance resilience of the farmers to climate change and variability. Key words: Climate Change, perception, agroforestry, adaptatio

Analysis of Independence of Available Infrastructure on Geographical Location of Public Secondary Schools in Ondo State, Nigeria

This paper has attempted to study the availability of infrastructural facilities in public secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria. Six local government areas (LGAs) were randomly selected with due consideration to the geo-political set-up of the State. Quantitative methods of analysis that were used include both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistical techniques were tabular presentation and bar chart while the inferential statistical technique applied is chi-square analysis. The inferential statistics revealed that enrollment of students in secondary schools depends on gender and on Local Government Area. Also, the level of equipping of laboratories, availability of information technology facilities,  portable water supply and supply of electricity depend on Local Government Area while availability of library in secondary schools is independent of Local Government Area. Conclusively, much still need to be done in the area of infrastructural development in public primary and secondary schools in Ondo State towards the achievement of the vision 20: 2020 goal of Nigeria as one of the 20 most developed economy of the world in terms of education. Keywords:  education, infrastructure, information technology, chi-square, enrollment

Template Matching Based Sign Language Recognition System for Android Devices

An android based sign language recognition system for selected English vocabularies was developed with the explicit objective to examine the specific characteristics that are responsible for gestures recognition. Also, a recognition model for the process was designed, implemented, and evaluated on 230 samples of hand gestures.  The collected samples were pre-processed and rescaled from 3024 ×4032 pixels to 245 ×350 pixels. The samples were examined for the specific characteristics using Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF, and the Principal Component Analysis used for feature extraction. The model was implemented in Android Studio using the template matching algorithm as its classifier. The performance of the system was evaluated using precision, recall, and accuracy as metrics. It was observed that the system obtained an average classification rate of 87%, an average precision value of 88% and 91% for the average recall rate on the test data of hand gestures.  The study, therefore, has successfully classified hand gestures for selected English vocabularies. The developed system will enhance the communication skills between hearing and hearing-impaired people, and also aid their teaching and learning processes. Future work include exploring state-of-the-art machining learning techniques such Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for large dataset to improve the accuracy of results. Keywords— Feature extraction; Gestures Recognition; Sign Language; Vocabulary, Android device

Parametric Modelling of Impact of Unemployment on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between unemployment figures in Nigeria and gross domestic product using curve fitting regression model. The following models of regression analysis were examined to determine the most suitable one to the data collected: linear, quadratic, cubic, exponential, inverse and logarithmic. Our findings revealed that the pattern of relationship between gross domestic product and unemployment is significant in all the models considered. This implies that there is significant relationship (negative or positive) between unemployment and gross domestic prodution (GDP) in the country. Also, the best model that fits the data in terms of the relationship between the two variables is the linear model because the quadratic variable is not significant in the quadratic model. The order of the next models are logarithmic, inverse and exponential models; the cubic variable and the quadratic variable are not also significant in the cubic model. Keywords: Unemployment, Domestic, linear, inverse, logarithmic, exponentia

Individual differences in perception and response to experimental pain in a young Nigerian population

Background: Pain is a protective sensation that alerts an individual to injury from the environment. Experience of pain is characterised by robust individual differences and complex environmental and genetic factors lead to individual variations in pain. Studies of experimental pain are free from the confound of disease progression, but can be highly relevant to clinical pain states. The aim of this study is to evaluate individual differences in perception and response to experimental pain among young Nigerian population. Methods: One hundred and thirty apparently healthy subjects (age 12 to 20 years) were used. Pain was accessed using cold pressor test and ischemic pain models. VAS and VRS were used to access pain catastrophizing. Data were presented as mean ± SD. Differences and statistical significance between the means were determined using t test. Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The results showed significant differences among the study population in experimental pain threshold and tolerance. Conclusion: The study proved that there is variation in perception and response to experimental pain among secondary school students in Zaria, Northern Nigeri

Irish dental practitioners perceived barriers to the care of patients with special healthcare needs and the effect of postgraduate training

Inequalities in oral healthcare service provision to people with special health needs have been reported in the Republic of Ireland. These include higher unmet dental treatment needs and longer waiting period to access routine dental treatment than the general population. Aim: The aims of this study were to determine the groups of patients with special needs which pose a challenge to manage in the dental surgery and to examine perceived barriers to the care of these patients. We aimed to determine whether postgraduate training in the management of these patients increases the practitioners’ frequency of treatment and their desire for further training in this area. Methods: A questionnaire was used to survey 326 randomly selected dentists from the Dental Council’s register of dentists. Questionnaire and information sheets explaining the purpose of the survey, confidentiality and anonymity of the responses were posted to the dentists. Results: The results showed that children with intellectual disability posed the biggest challenge for dentists to manage in the dental surgery. Behaviour management issues and the degree of disability were perceived by many dentists as factors that would have high effects on their willingness to treat patients with special needs. Dentists who have postgraduate training in the management of patients with special needs were significantly more willing to treat these patients and to seek additional training in the future. Conclusion: There are links between the training and the willingness of practitioners to undertake dental treatment or patients with special healthcare needs