Identity and Access Management System: a Web-Based Approach for an Enterprise

Managing digital identities and access control for enterprise users and applications remains one of the greatest challenges facing computing today. An attempt to address this issue led to the proposed security paradigm called Identity and Access Management (IAM) service based on IAM standards. Current approaches such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Central Authentication Service (CAS) and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) lack comprehensive analysis from conception to physical implementation to incorporate these solutions thereby resulting in impractical and fractured solutions. In this paper, we have implemented Identity and Access Management System (IAMSys) using the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) which focuses on authentication, authorization, administration of identities and audit reporting. Its primary concern is verification of the identity of the entity and granting correct level of access for resources which are protected in either the cloud environment or on-premise systems. A phased approach methodology was used in the research where it requires any enterprise or organization willing to adopt this must carry out a careful planning and demonstrated a good understanding of the technologies involved. The results of the experimental evaluation indicated that the average rating score is 72.0 % for the participants involved in this study. This implies that the idea of IAMSys is a way to mitigating security challenges associated with authentication, authorization, data protection and accountability if properly deployed

Integrating Antenatal and Postnatal Pregnancy Services to Hospital Management System

Antenatal and postnatal processes and services is a component of Hospital Management Systems that has been given very little attention. Most healthcare institution carries out the antenatal and postnatal processes manually and keeps records of the whole processes on paper. In most cases in most hospital, records kept on paper and files get missing or misplaced leading to the loss of important records of clients which would have been very helpful for future pregnancies and clinical diagnosis. Report generation and statistical figures are difficult to generate with the manual based system. Data errors, security, and privacy are another problems associated with the manual system. In this paper, the antenatal and postnatal services were incorporated into the Hospital Management System of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto with a view to reducing the issues and inconsistencies encountered with the manual procedure. Dreamweaver, PHP, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, HTML and MySQL are the technological tools used to automate the incorporated antenatal and postnatal services in the system. The usefulness of the proposed system was evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire and some clinical users. The experimental evaluation shows that the developed system is beneficial to the clinic and the general public based on the result obtained in this study. The results also demonstrated that the developed system can fit into the antenatal and postnatal routine of many hospitals with little or no modification

Assessment of ICT Teachers’ Competence to Implement the New ICT Curriculum in North Eastern Nigeria.

This study assessed the competence of ICT  of rural and urban secondary school ICT teachers for the implementation of ICT curriculum in North Eastern Nigeria. The study looked at the competence of applying ICT technical literacy on the six components of teachers work in the secondary schools. All the one thousand, seven hundred and forty four (1,744) secondary school ICT  teachers from the six states of the North Eastern Nigeria participated in the study by responding to close ended questionnaire. The instrument sought information on ICT teachers’ policy, curriculum, pedagogy, technology, administration, professional development competences and obstacles to ICT teachers’ competences. Data was analyzed through grand mean, standard deviation and percentage. Results reveal that the competence of ICT teachers on policy, curriculum, pedagogy, technology, administration and professional development is low. Obstacles to ICT teachers competences were identified as lack of hardware, software, and financial resources, lack of electricity in most rural schools and insufficient information and experience from teachers in ICT applications. It was recommended among others that  ICT should be incorporated in the professional  development of teachers and ICT curriculum should be robust enough to enhance teachers job performance in schools. Keywords: ICT Curriculum, Teachers Competences, Curriculum Implementation, Secondary Schools

Epidemiological study and potential of late PCR for diagnosis of schistosomiasis in North Western region of Nigeria

Background: Schistosomiasis is considered the most common and widespread parasitic infection with significant socio-economic and public health concern worldwide and continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in developing and underdeveloped countries, including Nigeria. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with infections by S. haematobium and S. mansoni in three states of North-western Nigeria, and to develop and evaluate Linear-After-The-Exponential- Polymerase Chain Reaction (LATE-PCR) LFA for the detection of S. haematobium and S. mansoni in urine and stool samples. The latter was performed to establish and enhance accurate diagnosis of Schistosomiasis infection. Materials and Methods: Conducted in two phases. The first phase of the study was a cross-sectional survey, conducted between September, 2011 to September, 2012. Participants were selected based on simple random sampling. Structured questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic information, and other associated determinant factors of the participants. Stool samples were examined using microscopy and formol ether concentration techniques while urine samples were examined using Filtration concentration techniques. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 statistical software. Simple and multiple logistic regressions and chisquare test were used to explore the relationships between associated risk factors. Statistical significant was taken at the 5% level. The second part of the study involved development of LATE-PCR dipstick method to establish and enhance accurate diagnosis of S. haematobium and S. mansoni infection .Primers and probes targeting for, were designed for the two species specific amplification. The LATE-PCR LFA parameters were optimized and detection of PCR products was performed on 2% agarose gel electrophoresis, the nitrocellulose membrane was coated with biotinylated anti-mouse IgG (control line), anti-FITC (target line) and assembled as lateral flow strips. Results: Based on the 2451 participants, the study showed an overall prevalence of infection with S. haematobium to be 61.2% while the prevalence with Schistosoma mansoni parasites was 54.7%. The majority of the respondents were males (85.5%). Among the school children the highest prevalence of infection was detected in the 10-14 years (68.4% ). In Univariable analysis, children who belonged to low income household were 1.43 times highest odds of being infected with S. haematobium [ COR: 95% CI, 1.02, 2.00) p-value 0.042) as compared to those belonging to household families with monthly income of >USD 500. S. mansoni showed no significant association between income and risk of infection. Other factors that were found to be associated with S. haematobium infection in univariate analysis includes marital status whereby being single had more odds of getting infection compared to married respondents with (COR 1.97 (95% CI, 1.41:2.76; P=0.001). In final established multivariate analysis model, risk factors that remain significantly associated with Schistosomiasis infection include age group, snail contact, rented house, pit latrine system, Open space toilet and hands contact with water from the river. For S.haematobium infection risk factors were age group 5-17 (AOR,2.10 :95% CI,1.29,2.06,P=0.001), 18-29 years (AOR,1.37;95% CI: 1.08,1.74, P=0.007), Snail contact (AOR: 1.34,95% CI: 1.07,1.67,P=0.009), Rental house (AOR,1.61, 95% CI: 1.17,2.19: P=0.001), while for S. mansoni the main risk factors in the final established multivariable analysis model were Snail contact (AOR,1.44,95% CI:1.09,1.70, P=0.006), Pit system (AOR,0.68,95% CI:0.56,0.84,P=0.001) and lastly open space defaecation (AOR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.06,1.51,P=0.009). The study findings revealed that age group, snail contact and defeacating in an open space was some of the major determinant risk factors for both species of schistosomiasis, it was thus therefore recommended that policy decision makers should intensify effort towards creating awareness through health education for prevention and control. The LATE-PCR LFA detected schistosoma DNA as low as 1 fg/μl of parasite DNA in urine and 1 ng/μl of DNA in stool samples.. The amplification reaction showed to be specific without any cross reaction with DNA from other intestinal microorganism Conclusion: The prevalence of schistosomiasis recorded in this study was extremely high and requires effective control and management strategies. Adult age group exposed to fishing and farming occupation, crossing river bare footed, snail contact, and rented house are some of predisposing factors identified for S. haematobium and S. mansoni infection in North-western, Nigeria. LATE-PCR LFA developed in this study provides a valuable alternative for the detection of S. haematobium and S. mansoni infection in the study area to speed up diagnosis in addition to the conventional method currently used

Choosing a Better Delay Line Medium between Single-Mode and Multi-Mode Optical Fibers: the Effect of Bending

Optical fiber cables are materials whose core is made of silica and other materials such as chalcogenide glasses; they transmit a digital signal via light pulses through an extremely thin strand of glass. The light propagates and is being guided by the core which is surrounded by the cladding. Light travels in the optical fiber in the form of total internal reflection in the core of the fibers. The flexibility, low tensile strength, low signal loss, high bandwidth and other characteristics of optical fibers favors it for use as a delay medium in many applications. Another favorable characteristic of optical fiber delay lines is are their relative insensitivities to environmental effects and electromagnetic interferences. The immunity of optical fibers to interferences and their less weight added advantages to it for use as delay medium. Single-mode and multi-mode are the two most popular types of optical fibers. Single-mode fibers have good propagation and delay properties with a minimal loss that allows the signal to propagate in a large distance with insignificant distortion or attenuation. The percentage of power transmission of single-mode fibers is found to be higher than that of the multi-mode fibers. It is, therefore, a preferred type for use as a delay line. In this paper, relative studies of the two optical fibers modes, and the results of power input/output measurement of the two modes are presented with a view to coming up with a better type for use as a delay medium

Cybercrime and Digital Forensics: Bridging the gap in Legislation, Investigation and Prosecution of Cybercrime in Nigeria

The advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) opens new avenues and ways for cybercriminals to commit crime. The primary goal of this paper is to raise awareness regarding gaps that exist with regards to Nigeria’s capabilities to adequately legislate, investigate and prosecute cases of cybercrimes. The major source of cybercrime legislation in Nigeria is an act of the National Assembly which is majorly a symbolic legislation rather than a full and active legislation. In perusing these avenues of inquiry, the authors seek to identify systemic impediments which hinder law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and investigators from properly carrying out their duties as expected

Complementing privacy and utility trade-off with self-organising maps

This research received no external funding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evaluation of the role mobile-phone agricultural solutions play in the emergence of a knowledge society in the Ghanaian agricultural sector

Thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, April 2014In today’s world, the notion that knowledge has become the most vital resource in the transformational growth of societies is one that is pervasive. The significance of knowledge in modern societies has been overemphasized by several international bodies; most notable the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank. Ghana's desire to craft an economy where knowledge and information would play a significant role is visible on paper in The Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) policy document. But, in order for Ghana to achieve its ICT4AD objective of transforming its society into a knowledge economy, it is imperative that it analyzes how effective existing ICT agricultural solutions are in the emergence of an agricultural knowledge economy. This research seeks to evaluate the role mobile-based agricultural solutions play in the emergence of a knowledge economy in the Ghanaian agricultural sector. It further aims to point out areas where this mobile based solutions fall short, and also provide ideas on how this gap could be bridged.Ashesi University Colleg

State of the Art on Vehicular Engine Exhaust Emissions Standards and Regulations: a Review

The burning of fossil fuel introduced massive quantities of pollutants leading to many adverse effects on human health. Therefore, regulations to reduce or eliminate exhaust gases and pollutants emissions from fossil fuels began to be issued worldwide in the 1970s. Automotive emissions issue has been strictly regulated since 1980. Therefore, this article reviewed some significant countries' vehicular emission standards for diesel and gasoline engines. The review began with an overview of considerable diesel and gasoline exhaust emissions, how they are generated, and their impact on the environment and human health, then surveyed the emission standards and regulations for motor vehicles in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, China, India and Nigeria. This section discovered that most countries have modelled their regulatory standards using the European and US regulatory models. Since Countries like Japan and Europe have already been following the worldwide harmonised test cycle (WHTC) to rectify the differences in present emission standards followed by different countries, more concerted research is needed for evolution to a shared universal emission standard implementable worldwide so that other countries may introduce the same shortly. Policies to discourage growth in personal automobile use are also potentially most significant. Thus, the review herein has been discussed to have better insight into the status of existing vehicular emission standards, which may be helpful for future improvisation and implementation of vehicular emission standards in Nigeria

Insolation Levels Using Temperature Model for Sustainable Application of Photovoltaic Technology in Some Selected Locations of Nigeria

The need to balance between energy security, economic development and environmental protection through technology is becoming enormous. Nigerians are experiencing lack of adequate meteorological data such as monthly average of incoming solar radiation and clearness index except for few locations. While, photovoltaic technology applications depends solely on the availability of insolation data and efficient energy appliances. Therefore, twenty one (21) locations were considered within the North-western Nigeria for the estimation of global solar radiation (kWh/m2/day) using sunshine hours based on Angstrom correlation model. It was achieved through derived empirical constants based on the 30 years long term average of ground insolation measurement and 10 years long term average of sunshine hour’s measurement. The measured and estimated values of insolation were tested using coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of residual mass (CRM) and high percentages of the R2, low value of RMSE and positive value of CRM close to unity shows remarkable agreements. The difference between the monthly variations of average mean daily insolation of the locations was also shown to have no significant difference based on One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). It is concluded that, the insolation data can be used in the design of solar installations for the locations and in locations with similar climatic conditions for sustainable application photovoltaic technology in Nigeria. Key words: Nigeria, Estimation, Insolation, Sunshine hours, Photovoltaic technology