Development of an Online Bus Ticket Reservation System for a Transportation Service in Nigeria

The use of bus traveling is a large growing business in Nigeria and other countries; the manual use of bus reservation is presently very strenuous and also consumes a lot of time by having to stay on a long queue. For this reason, an efficient system is to be proposed in this paper to ease the issue of bus reservation amongst indigenes within the country. The system is a web – based application that allows visitors to check bus availability, buy and pay bus ticket online. In this paper, the proposed bus reservation system was developed using Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Structure Query Language (SQL), Ajax, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and JavaScript. Keywords: Bus Reservation, Queue, Efficient

Quality attribute of plantain (Musa paradisiaca) sponge-cake supplemented with watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) rind flour

Open Access Journal; Published online: 07 July 2019his study is aimed at supplementing Watermelon rind flour (WF) into cakes production with Plantain Flour (PF). Six cake samples were produced from the composite mixture of PF and WF in varying proportions of 100:0, 90:10, 80:20,70:30, 60:40 and 50:50. The composite flour of plantain-watermelon rind was evaluated for proximate, functional and pasting properties while the cakes were assessed for proximate, texture and sensory qualities using laboratory standard methods. The water absorption capacity (WAC) of the composite flours has a significant (P < 0.05) increase as the volume of WF increases from 0 to 50%. Cake produced from PF substituted with 50% WF has the highest value of protein (10.58%). The substitution of 10% of WF showed the highest score rating by the panelist in overall acceptability (7.60). This study has provided the recipe for the formulation of quality cake with PF and WF that could be acceptable by consumers

Improved distance metric technique for deriving soft reliability information over Rayleigh Fading Channel

This paper presents an improved Distance Metric (DM) technique for deriving soft reliability information over Rayleigh fading channel. We compared this proposed DM technique with the conventionally used DM technique in the literature. The conventional DM method derives the soft reliability information from the output received symbols while the proposed DM method derives the soft reliability information from the Channel State Information (CSI) which result due to variations in the channel gain. Performance analysis of these DM methods are verified over flat Rayleigh fading channels, and on time-varying frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels using rectangular M-QAM and OFDM systems respectively. Also, two channel estimation techniques are used to derived the CSI assuming different normalized Doppler frequency and frame length size. The performance of the conventional and proposed soft reliability derivation methods are documented through computer simulations assuming Koetter and Vardy, Reed-Solomon (KV-RS) soft decision decoding algorithm as the Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme. From the computer simulation results, the proposed DM method offers significant improvement in Codeword Error Rate (CER) performance in comparison with the conventional DM method with no significant increase in computational delay and time complexity.Keywords: CSI, cubic estimators, DM, fading channels, KV-RS decoder, LMMSE, OFDM, R-matrix, 16QA

The Effect of Marketing Strategies on Corporate Performance of Estate Surveying and Valuation Firms in Kaduna Metropolis of Nigeria

The issue of marketing management has been of little concerned to most real estate surveying and valuation firms in Nigeria in the time past probably because of the limited number of firms jostling for work then. Many of them were of the erroneous opinion that marketing was not more than mere letting or selling of properties and which does not require more than either placing of advertisement in the newspapers or hanging of “for sale” or “to let” boards on such properties to sell or let. It was this erroneous belief which was responsible for the property industry being lagged behind in performance when compared with most other industries especially the consumer goods and service industries. This study is set out to examine marketing strategies being adopted by estate surveying and valuation firms practising in Kaduna metropolis and how such strategies impact their corporate performance. To achieve the objective of the study, structured questionnaires were administered on estate surveying firms operating within the metropolis and the retrieved questionnaires were subsequently analysed with the aid of simple statistical techniques. The study revealed that there is a positive relationship between marketing strategies adopted and corporate performance of the firms. The study recommends the practising estate firms should employ aggressive marketing strategies at driving their products and services with a view to making their existence more known

Utilization of maternal health services and its determinants among mothers attending primary health care clinics in Kwara State, Nigeria

Objective: There is unacceptably high maternal mortality with about 800 women dying from pregnancy or delivery complications around the world daily. The study assessed the utilization of Maternal Health Services and its determinants among mothers attending primary health care clinics in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria.Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study and data was collected through the use of a pre-tested semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire from 400 participants, using multistage sampling technique. The level of significance was pre-determined at p-value &lt; 0.05 at a confidence level of 95%.Results: A total of 387 (96.8%) utilized at least one session of antenatal care (ANC) during their last pregnancy, 310 (77.6%) utilized health facilities for delivery while 48 (12%) delivered at home. Only about 68 (17%) utilized postnatal services. Women with secondary education were two times more likelyto deliver in health facility compared with those with no education (AOR=2.337,CI=1.178-4.637), whereby those who attended ANC more than four visit were two times more likely to deliver in health facility than those who attended less than that (AOR=2.398,CI=1.410-4.077).Conclusion: A higher education status and more than 4 ANC visits positively influenced utilization of health facility for delivery.Keywords: Utilization, Health Services, Mothers, Delivery, Primary Health Car

Estimates of genetic variances and relationship among traits associated with stem borer resistance in maize (Zea mays L.)

Cassava mosaic disease (CMD), caused by different species of cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMGs), is themost important disease of cassava in Africa and the Indian sub-continent. The cultivated cassava speciesis protected from CMD by polygenic resistance introgressed from the wild species Manihot glaziovii anda dominant monogenic type of resistance, named CMD2, discovered in African landraces. The ability ofthe monogenic resistance to confer high levels of resistance in different genetic backgrounds has ledrecently to its extensive usage in breeding across Africa as well as pre-emptive breeding in Latin Amer-ica. However, most of the landraces carrying the monogenic resistance are morphologically very similarand come from a geographically restricted area of West Africa, raising the possibility that the diversityof the single-gene resistance could be very limited, or even located at a single locus. Several mappingstudies, employing bulk segregant analysis, in different genetic backgrounds have reported additionalmolecular markers linked to supposedly new resistance genes. However, it is not possible to tell if theseare indeed new genes in the absence adequate genetic map framework or allelism tests. To address thisimportant question, a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) map of cassava was developedthrough genotyping-by-sequencing a bi-parental mapping population (N = 180) that segregates for thedominant monogenic resistance to CMD. Virus screening using PCR showed that CMD symptoms andpresence of virus were strongly correlated (r = 0.98). Genome-wide scan and high-resolution compositeinterval mapping using 6756 SNPs uncovered a single locus with large effect (R2= 0.74). Projection ofthe previously published resistance-linked microsatellite markers showed that they co-occurred in thesame chromosomal location surrounding the presently mapped resistance locus. Moreover, their relativedistance to the mapped resistance locus correlated with the reported degree of linkage with the resis-tance phenotype. Cluster analysis of the landraces first shown to have this type of resistance revealedthat they are very closely related, if not identical. These findings suggest that there is a single source ofmonogenic resistance in the crop’s genepool tracing back to a common ancestral clone. In the absenceof further resistance diversification, the long-term effectiveness of the single gene resistance is knownto be precarious, given the potential to be overcome by CMGs due to their fast-paced evolutionary rate.However, combining the quantitative with the qualitative type of resistance may ensure that this resis-tance gene continues to offer protection to cassava, a crop that is depended upon by millions of peoplein Africa against the devastating onslaught of CMGs

The design of a web – based integrated library system with internet security solution

Developing countries like Nigeria face series of defects in developing, managing and securing an Integrated Library System (ILS) in tertiary institutions and Secondary Schools where they are mostly needed. ILSs face issues such as non – interactive, speed, cost, unavailability of experienced users and programmers and also the negligence on security that makes most ILS vulnerable and unsafe for users. As case study, this paper used a well-known tertiary Institution in the Western part of Nigeria, where their library system is about to be automated and Integrated. Authentication software, commonly known as Web Access Management (WAM) servers was used to govern the access given to the users and to licensed Electronic content. Due to the failure of protection for the system against infectious data been transmitted within the LIS, this study envisages these impediments and resolve for the design and implementation of a Web based Integrated Library System with internet security solution (Kaspersky Internet Network Security). In conclusion, the designed Web-based application implements a robust and extensible platform, capable to manage various functionalities needed by both the students and Librarians in a remote and safe manner.Keywords: Integrated Library, Web, Internet Security, WA

Review of chorionic Villus sampling in prenatal diagnosis

Advances in biotechnology with the introduction of the ultrasound scan and the application of polymerase chain reaction has made fetal medicine an interesting field of study. The fetus can now be easily assessed and its genetic constitution determined with relative ease and degree of accuracy, in the process referred to as prenatal diagnosis. Invasive prenatal diagnosis continues to be gold standard in pregnancies at increased risk of congenital abnormalities with chorionic villus sampling being one of the principal methods of prenatal diagnosis. Although not widely available in most developing countries, chorionic villus sampling is the procedure of choice for prenatal diagnosis with the principal advantage over others, of its being done in the first trimester. This review summarized the historical perspective, timing , route and methodology of sampling, looks at the complications and draw backs of the procedure and also examines the controversial aspects of the procedure. Its utilization is advocated in developing countries. KEY WORDS: Prenatal diagnosis (PND), Chorionic villus sampling (CVS), Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). [Nig J Clinical Practice Vol.5(1) 2002: 45-51

PROXIMATE AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF PEANUT CAKES FORTIFIED WITH MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF POWDER

The high-calorie ingredients used in the production of cakes has made older age group to desist from eating cakes because of the detrimental effects in the human body. A substitution approach using moringa leaf powder in peanut cake to address this effect was utilized. The moringa leaf powder was added in succession of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 w/w% to fortify peanut cakes. Standard methods were used to assess the proximate analysis and sensory evaluation of the blends. The proximate analysis showed an increased protein (13.83 - 16.68%), fat (0.86 – 4.55%) and crude fibre (1.24 – 2.23%) contents with increased addition of moringa leaf powder; while there was an observed decrease in the carbohydrate content. Among the fortified samples, the cake blend with 2% moringa leaf powder addition was the most preferred in its quality index of taste, touch, mouthfeel, look and colour. In conclusion, based on the analyzed nutritional indices, fortification of cakes with moringa leaf powder will enhance protein and crude fibre contents as it brings down the carbohydrate content in cakes