The King’s New Clothes in the Eyes of the Beholder: Developing a Measurement Scale for Attitude Towards Corruption.

This study investigates the validity and reliability of a developing scale on attitude towards corruption. It correlates this scale with existing and related behavioural measures, both ethical (money ethic, work ethic and corruption perception) and non-ethical (organisational commitment and job satisfaction). Survey data was obtained from 1833 respondents in Nigeria. Findings confirm the 20-item measure as a multidimensional construct loading on 4 factors with a reliability coefficient (0.62) and with evidence of construct validity. Significant relationships were also found between attitude towards corruption and both the ethical and non-ethical behavioural measures investigated. Some further research directions were suggested

Profiling Corruption Perception in Africa: the Role of Religion, Gender, Education and Age

This study investigates attitude towards corruption and the role of gender, religion, education and age using a Nigerian survey data. It also seeks to establish how attitudes towards corruption relates to some other reported ethical measures such as Islamic work ethics, money ethic and corruption perception. Over 3800 questionnaires were administered with 1833 or about 48% response rate. Results revealed no significant gender differences in corruption but women reported being more religious. Also Christians rated the incidence of corruption as higher than Muslims although the sample size skews significantly in favour of the former. Older and more educated people also rated corruption incidence higher

Counter-Terrorism Strategy Against Boko Haram and Human Rights in Nigeria

The activities of the Boko Haram insurgent group have drawn significant and tremendous attention and scrutiny, and this is looking increasingly likely to continue unabated, bearing in mind the in-fighting which has broken out inside the umbrella of the insurgent jihadists, and posing convoluted challenges with the death of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram faction. This thesis is interesting because it is considering the activities of the revolutionary group from the outlook or standpoint of Human Rights, an aspect that appears not to have drawn attention proportional to its significance. Majority of the existing studies on the subject considered the security dimensions, with minority concentrating on the impacts of the insurgency on domestic and regional economy. Without doubt, the savagery and viciousness of the group, were paramount and ostensible in all the studies, however, a very minority of the studies, at least yet, have addressed the subject at an in-depth or profound human rights breadth. In the light of this lacuna in literature, therefore, this thesis addresses a huge gap in literature. The activities of the Boko Haram insurgents have adversely affected the national security in Nigeria for over a decade. Boko Haram's operations have been ongoing with much sophistication, leading to loss of lives, property, and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria and its neighbouring states, particularly in Chad and Cameroon. International law has responded to the fight against terrorism through the United Nations Charter and a series of international law instruments. International human rights instruments have also been brought to the fore in the fight against the insurgency's continuous rise. The Nigerian government has employed policy strategies and legal frameworks such as the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 and 2013 and numerous countermeasures directed at addressing the insurgency of Boko Haram. Human rights appeared to be implicated in the process, either in the form of failure to protect citizens from Boko Haram operations or violations of human rights in the course of the implementation of measures to check insurgencies. The thesis addresses the counter terrorism strategy engaged against Boko Haram through the optic of human rights law, as well as international law connected with counterterrorism. Human rights are addressed in a binary form, in the sense that the thesis addresses human rights violations perpetrated by Boko Haram, a designated terrorist organisation, as well as human rights concerns that emanates from the Nigerian government efforts to deal with the organisation. This thesis makes an original contribution to academic studies through applying the law in the specific context of Nigeria. Through the doctrinal method and policy-oriented approach, the thesis investigated the measures put in place by the government to implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 on counterterrorism. Thus, by the doctrine of erga omnes, states are obligated to protect human rights by preventing the spread of insurgency. Therefore, the thesis investigated the rights that are violated in the course of activities of terrorists; and how the government has used the law to address the challenges of the spread of the activities of Boko Haram. It gave an analysis of the extent to which Nigeria's counterterrorism strategies complies with the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 1373, international instruments on human rights, and Sections 33-46 of the 1999 Constitution on human rights. Therefore, the thesis proffered proposals on how best the measures addressing terrorism can be made to comply with human rights instruments

First-Principles Modeling of Pt/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Capacitors Under an External Bias Potential

We study the electrical properties of Pt/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 capacitors under the action of an external bias potential, using first-principles simulations performed at constrained electric displacement field. A complete set of band diagrams, together with the relevant electrical characteristics (capacitance and built-in fields), are determined as a function of LaAlO3 thickness and the applied potential.We find that the internal field in LaAlO3 monotonically decreases with increasing thickness; hence, the occurrence of spontaneous Zener tunneling is ruled out in this system.We discuss the implications of our results in the light of recent experimental observations on biased LaAlO3/SrTiO3 junctions involving metallic top electrodes.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A simple variational method for calculating energy and quantum capacitance of an electron gas with screened interactions

We describe a variational procedure for calculating the energy of an electron gas in which the long-range Coulomb interaction is truncated by the screening effect of a nearby metallic gate. We use this procedure to compute the quantum capacitance of the system as a function of electron density and spin polarization. The accuracy of the method is verified against published Monte-Carlo data. The results compare favorably with a recent experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Command system study for the operation and control of unmanned scientific satellites, task III - Command system interference Third quarterly progress report, 1 Jan. - 31 Mar. 1965

Effects of CW and modulated interference on baseband of AM and FM demodulators used for control of unmanned scientific satellite

NOViSE: a virtual natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery simulator

Purpose: Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is a novel technique in minimally invasive surgery whereby a flexible endoscope is inserted via a natural orifice to gain access to the abdominal cavity, leaving no external scars. This innovative use of flexible endoscopy creates many new challenges and is associated with a steep learning curve for clinicians. Methods: We developed NOViSE - the first force-feedback enabled virtual reality simulator for NOTES training supporting a flexible endoscope. The haptic device is custom built and the behaviour of the virtual flexible endoscope is based on an established theoretical framework – the Cosserat Theory of Elastic Rods. Results: We present the application of NOViSE to the simulation of a hybrid trans-gastric cholecystectomy procedure. Preliminary results of face, content and construct validation have previously shown that NOViSE delivers the required level of realism for training of endoscopic manipulation skills specific to NOTES Conclusions: VR simulation of NOTES procedures can contribute to surgical training and improve the educational experience without putting patients at risk, raising ethical issues or requiring expensive animal or cadaver facilities. In the context of an experimental technique, NOViSE could potentially facilitate NOTES development and contribute to its wider use by keeping practitioners up to date with this novel surgical technique. NOViSE is a first prototype and the initial results indicate that it provides promising foundations for further development