Manpower Planning Model for Personnel Planning Process: A Bane or Boon of Unbounded Uncertainty and Bounded Rationality

Although there have been a substantial number of critical dissections in recent years on how to improve the manpower planning process, most of them have been based on piece-meal rather than on a holistic, systemic inquiry. This exploratory systemic formulation of an innovative framework aimed to organize and steer the manpower planning process in the face of bounded rationality, unbounded uncertainty is almost non-existence or elusive. There are other related issue, such as wicked problems, complexity, and conflict that is also examined. A systemic inquiry is essential because the links connecting these problems to one another and to the planning process are not as clear as many imagined. Among other things, our paper suggested that the potential for improving manpower planning process is an opportunity to take up the challenge of examining and exploiting arrays of methodologies that can assist stakeholders in manpower planning to circumvent the otherwise opaque, inflexible mathematical models of analysis currently employed. Keywords: Systemic, Uncertainty, Rationality, Manpower planning, Mathematical model

A Transportation Model For Demand Responsive Fleet Operation In A Manufacturing Firm

We study the problem of determining the number of vehicles needed to provide a demand responsive transit service with a predetermined quality for the user in terms of waiting time at the stops and maximum allowed detour. We propose a probabilistic model that requires only the knowledge of the distribution of the demand over the service area and the quality of the service in terms of time windows associated with pickup and delivery nodes. This methodology can be much more effective and straight forward compared to a simulation approach whenever detailed data on demand patterns are not available. Computational results under a fairly broad range of test problems show that the model can provide an estimation of the required size of the fleet in several different scenarios

Compensation for expropriated community farmland in Nigeria: An in-depth analysis of the laws and practices related to land expropriation for the lekki free trade zone in lagos

In Nigeria, the recurring impoverishment and other negative socioeconomic impacts endured by landholders affected by expropriation are well-documented and call into question the Land Use Act’s (LUA) effectiveness in protecting local land rights. The World Bank’s Land Governance Assessment Framework found that, in Nigeria, “a large number of acquisitions occurs without prompt and adequate compensation, thus leaving those losing land worse off, with no mechanism for independent appeal even though the land is often not utilized for a public purpose”. Such negative outcomes may be due to a number of factors, including corruption, limited capacity, and insufficient financing as well as Nigeria’s weak legal framework. According to a recent study of compensation procedures established in national laws of 50 countries, Nigeria’s compensation procedure lags behind many of the countries assessed because the LUA mostly fails to adopt international standards on the valuation of compensation. This article examines Nigerian expropriation and compensation procedures in more detail by combining both an in-depth legal analysis of Nigeria’s expropriation laws as well as survey and qualitative research that indicates, to some extent, how expropriation laws function in practice in Nigeria. Based on our legal assessment, surveys, and interviews with both government and private sector officials involved in the LFTZ, we found that the Nigerian government failed to comply with international standards on expropriation and compensation, both in terms of its laws and its practices in the LFTZ case. This article expands our conference paper written for the UN Economic Commission of Africa Conference on Land Policy in Africa, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November of 2017. Under Nigeria’s LUA, affected landholders are not granted the right to participate in expropriation and compensation decision-making or otherwise be consulted on matters affecting their land and livelihoods. In 2004, the LUA enabled the Lagos State government to set aside 16,500 hectares of expropriated agricultural land from Lagos coastal communities to develop the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ). Following the expropriation, the Lagos State Government (LSG) and Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited signed a Memorandum of Understand (MOU) with nine affected communities in 2007. The MOU is a legally binding document that promises compensation, alternative land, jobs, healthcare, and educational opportunities to the communities affected by expropriation. However, our research suggests that the MOU has not been fully honored. According to a survey of 140 affected households conducted in August 2017, the government still had not paid sufficient compensation to all affected communities or had not yet provided them with suitable alternative land, jobs, equity shares and other entitlements promised by the MOU. While there are several reasons why the MOU has not been honored, this article mainly focuses on the failure of the LUA to establish binding obligations on government officials to compensation, resettle, and reconstruct the livelihoods of affected landholders. This article argues that the LUA must be reformed so that, whenever land is expropriated for development projects, the government and private sector entities (i.e., acquiring bodies) have a legal obligation to provide sufficient and prompt compensation, alternative land, jobs, equity shares, and other entitlements to affected landholders. Moreover, the LUA should obligate the government and acquiring bodies to follow a transparent and participatory process when expropriating land and compensating communities so that, if properly enforced, the reformed LUA can mitigate the risks commonly associated with expropriation, including landholder impoverishment, displacement, food insecurity, and conflict

Sequence stratigraphy of Niger Delta, Robertkiri field, onshore Nigeria

Deposits of Robertkiri field, in the central offshore area of Niger Delta, comprise a 4 km thick succession of Pliocene to Miocene non-marine and shallow marine deposits. A sequence stratigraphic framework for Robertkiri field strata was constructed by combining data from 20 well logs and a seismic volume spanning 1400 km2. Major sequences, hundreds of meters thick, define layers of reservoir and sealing strata formed during episodic progradation and retrogradation of deltaic shorelines. These deposits progress upward from fine-grained prodelta and deep water shales of the Akata Formation through paralic sandstone-shale units of the Agbada Formation and finally to sandy non-marine deposits of the Benin Formation. The Agbada Formation is divided into six third-order sequences starting at the first seismic reflection that can be mapped across the seismic volume. The Agbada Formation under Robertkiri field is complexly deformed across a succession of major, cuspate, offshore-dipping, normal faults, and associated antithetic faults and rollover anticlines within down-dropped blocks. Thickening of intervals between some reflections across major faults and away from the crests of adjacent rollover anticlines suggest syndepositional displacement. Relationships between major faults and the thickness of transparent seismic facies that comprise lower parts of the seismic record suggest faulting was associated with movement of undercompacted shales within the Akata and lower Agbada Formations. Robertkiri field is located along the proximal margin of the Coastal Swamp I depobelt, a subbasin within the Niger Delta clastic wedge formed by margin collapse into underlying undercompacted shale. Accommodation and sequence development in this setting is controlled by both structural faulting and sea level fluctuations. Upsection, sequences become thinner, more laterally uniform in thickness, less structurally deformed and contain less growth strata. Erosion along sequence boundaries becomes progressively shallower and broader, as accommodation under Robertkiri field declined and more sediment was bypassed basinward. Incisions along the base of older sequences (>100 m) is greater than 3rd order sea level falls reported to occur during the Miocene, which suggests that there were local areas of tectonic uplift within this dominantly extensional setting

Compliance with epidemic-prone diseases surveillance and response guidelines among health officers at surveillance units in South-West Nigeria

Introduction: Although compliance with surveillance guidelines is crucial to epidemic diseases control, determinants of use of these guidelines in Nigeria are poorly documented. We assess health workers compliance and factors associated with the surveillance and response guidelines for epidemic-prone diseases in South-West Nigeria.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 199 disease surveillance and notification officers in Oyo state were interviewed using a questionnaire on knowledge of disease surveillance and performance of surveillance activities. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and multiple logistic regression at P= 0.05.Results: Most surveillance units submitted disease outbreaks reports (81.48% at the health facility and 100% at the local government level). Timeliness and completeness of weekly reporting were 94% and 95% respectively. a quarter (25.9%) adhered to national case definitions guidelines. About 85.7% did laboratory case confirmation while 2.6% did facility level data analysis. Predictors for six months reporting activity include attending a training on surveillance and reporting (OR=7.92; CI=1.65–37.92), fund adequacy (OR=27.81; CI=7.68–100.60) and knowledge of surveillance dataflow (OR=4.80; CI=1.64–14.10).Conclusion: In addition to provision of adequate financial and laboratory resources, surveillance activities would benefit from continuous training on surveillance data flow.Keywords: Epidemic-prone diseases, case definitions guidelines, surveillance and response

An AI-Based Model for Texture Classification from Vibrational Feedback: Towards Development of Self-Adapting Sensory Robotic Prosthesis

This paper presents a novel method of tuning vibration parameters to elicit specific perceptions of texture using vibration artefacts detected in EMG signals. Though often used for prosthetic control, sensory feedback modalities like vibration can be used to convey proprioceptive or sensory information. Literature has shown that the presence of sensory feedback in prosthesis can improve embodiment and control of prosthetic devices. However, it is not widely adopted in daily prosthesis use, due in large part to the daily change in perception and interpretation of the sensory modality. This results in daily parameter adjustments so that sensory perception can be maintained over time. A method therefore needs to be established to maintain perception generated by modalities like vibrations. This paper investigates modulating the vibration parameters based on how the vibrations dissipate in the surrounding tissue from the stimuli. This is with the aim of correlating dissipation of vibration to specific perceptions of texture. Participants were asked to control vibration motor parameters to elicit the perception of three different grades of sandpaper, provided to them for reference. Once the vibration parameters were chosen a CNN algorithm identified and categorized the artefact features along equidistantly spaced EMG electrodes. Participants were asked to repeat this experiment on three separate days and on the fourth was asked to complete a texture identification task. The task involved identifying the texture of the sandpaper based on their previously chosen parameters and compared the results to tuning against an AI-based algorithm using the dissipation of the vibration artefacts

Correlating Vibration Patterns to Perception of Tactile Information for Long-Term Prosthetic Limb Use and Continued Rehabilitation of Neuropathic Pain

Prosthetic limbs (and orthotic devices) have been used as a paradigm for the treatment and rehabilitation of neuropathic pain, such as phantom limb pain. Long-term adoption of the devices for the continued use in rehabilitation remains low in part due to reduced embodiment and the high cognitive load associated with controlling the device. Previous research has shown that incorporating sensory feedback in prostheses can provide proprioceptive information, increase control and manipulation of objects, and improve embodiment. However, feedback experienced by the user varies daily and requires constant parameter adjustments to maintain accurate and intuitive sensory perception, further preventing long term adoption. Work therefore needs to be explored that correlate feedback modalities to perception of tactile information, such as texture and pressure. The work presented in this paper begins to explore this by utilizing a deep-learning algorithm to classify the dissipation of vibration artefacts found in the EMG signals of able-bodied individuals to specific texture patterns. Four texture patterns were applied to 7 participants using two vibration motors and repeated 3 times. In post processing, a RNN network identified the artefact features along equidistantly spaced EMG electrodes and correctly classified unseen data from each participant

Acute and Sub-acute Toxicity Profile of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Nymphaea lotus Linn (Nymphaeaceae) in Wistar Rats

Purpose: To evaluate the acute and sub-acute toxicity profile of the aqueous leaf extract of Nymphaea lotus L in Wistar rats.Methods: Acute toxicity study was performed by administering a single oral dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight of the extract to 5 rats while distilled water was given to another 5 rats (control), and the animals were observed for 14 days. Thereafter, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg doses of the extract were administered to different groups of 5 rats each daily for 28 days while control received distilled water. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed and the serum obtained was used for the assessment of haematological and biochemical parameters. Histological examination was also performed on the liver and kidney of the rats.Results: The concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (42.56 U/L), aspartate aminotransferase (126.01 U/L) and alkaline phosphatase (183.33 U/L) significantly decreased while creatinine (0.64 mg/dL) and chloride ions (94.50 mmol/L) were significantly elevated (p < 0.05) compared to those of control following the extract treatment. Haematological parameters were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from those of control except white blood cell count (7.80 × 109/L), lymphocytes (5.20 %) and monocytes (2.72 %) which were significantly elevated (p 0.05) in the 100 and 200 mg/kg treated groups. Histopathology did not reveal any sign of lesions or pathological changes in the organs that could be attributed to treatment with the plant extract.Conclusions: These results suggest that the aqueous leaf extract of Nymphaea lotus may be safe for use at the doses tested.Keywords: Nymphaea lotus, Toxicity, White Blood Count, Alkaline Phosphatase, Histolog

Prevalence and determinants of diarrhoea among infants in selected primary health centres in Kaduna north local government area, Nigeria

Introduction: Despite efforts toward the prevention and management of diarrhoea, associated mortality among infants has remained high in Northern Nigeria. This study was designed to determine the prevalence and identify determinants of diarrhoea among infants in Kaduna North Local Government Area (KNLGA), Nigeria. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey 630 mothers of infants attending three primary health care centers were interviewed. Data was collected on socio-demo graphic characteristics, infant care practices, infant diarrhoea history and mothers knowledge of causes, symptoms and management of diarrhea. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and logistic regression tests at 5% level of significance. Results: Mothers' mean age was 27±5.5 years and 46.1% had secondary education. Infants' mean age was 22.4± 12.8 weeks and 50% were females. Prevalence of diarrhoea in the two weeks preceding the study was 21.1%. Only 11.7% of mothers had poor knowledge of diarrhoea. About 76.3% of mothers always washed their hands with soap after cleaning infants' perineum. Majority of infants (84.6%) completed age appropriate immunization while 31.6% were exclusively breastfed. Infants whose mothers sometimes (OR=2.32; 95% CI: 1.4-3.87) or never washed (OR=2.64; 95% CI: 1.19-5.82) their hands with soap after cleaning the infants perineumand those with incomplete age appropriate immunization (OR=1.87, 95% CI: 1.2-2.896) were more likely to have diarrhoea. Conclusion: Promotion of hygiene and nutrition education for mothers particularly on proper infant feeding practices, hand washing practices and complete immunization of infants is needed to address the diarrhea determinants

Incidence and reasons for leave against medical advice among orthopedic and trauma patients at the university college hospital Ibadan

Background: Leave against medical advice (LAMA) of hospitalized patients is an adverse clinical event in which a patient chooses to leave the hospital before it is medically advisable to do so and it negatively affects the treatment outcome. Because of this, the study was designed to determine the incidence of and indications for LAMA among orthopedic patients who presented at the accident and emergency department of the university college hospital, Ibadan.Methods: This was a prospective hospital-based study determining the incidence of LAMA among orthopedic patients who presented at the accident and emergency department of the university college hospital, Ibadan between September 2019 and March 2020.Results: A total of 289 patients with orthopedic conditions presented within the study period and about 12.46% of these LAMA. The male to female ratio observed in this study is 2:1. The age range was between 8 and 93 years. Trauma from motorbike and motor vehicle accidents accounted for over 80% of the etiology. The most important factor influencing LAMA is financial constraints (63.9%) and LAMA was signed mostly by the patients (25%).Conclusions: LAMA among orthopedic patients in Ibadan is mostly due to financial reasons, therefore, factors that will reduce the cost of management such as the accessibility to health insurance schemes will significantly reduce the incidence of LAMA among orthopedic patients in Nigeria.