A Comparative Analysis of Nigerian and United States Secondary School Administrative Structure, Practices, and Problems

This study, which portrays the administrative structures and practices in the secondary schools in Nigeria and the United States, might shed some light on the things both countries have in common and their differences. Nigeria and the United States share educational, economic, political, and social interests

Analysis of Traffic Flow at Signalized Junctions in Uyo Metropolis

Traffic flows at three signalized junctions in Uyo metropolis were considered and the data used for the analysis were collected during peak periods (morning and evening) for three consecutive days. The performance measures of congestion such as the average queue length, arrival and saturation flow rates as well as the average waiting time of vehicle per cycle have been calculated for a better understanding of the traffic situation in the city by motorists and proper vehicular logistics. With the random nature in which vehicles arrive and depart, we assumed a Poisson arrival process and deterministic (constant) service time with the service rate $\mu=1/s$ which incorporate both the stochastic and deterministic components of delay estimation. Using the concept of the Canadian delay model in Hellinga and Liping (2001), we obtained the overall delay given an observation interval. An estimate of the mean overall delay which is the average time a vehicle could be delayed at any signalized junction in Uyo metropolis is approximately 63s

Use of Mobile Phones for Research Among Undergraduates in Two Polytechnic Libraries in Imo State, Nigeria.

The study is titled ‘Use of Mobile Phones for Research among Undergraduates in two Polytechnic Libraries in Nigeria. The study seeks to establish if students who make use of the polytechnic libraries studied do use their mobile phones for research purposes, their reasons for preferring to use their mobile phones to traditional/conventional information resources as well as the constraints they encountered when accessing information. The survey method was adopted in data collection. The validated questionnaire were administered to the respondents within a period of week. Findings show that undergraduate students who use the polytechnic libraries studied make use of their mobile phones for research occasionally. It was revealed that lack of current/ relevant resources in libraries, saving of time and cost of travelling to other libraries for research, low level of satisfaction derived from available resources as well as lack of internet facilities in libraries are reasons why they make use of mobile phones for research. Also, high cost of downloading online resources, incompatibility of software/format of online resources as well as insecurity of sites which causes damages to the phones were identified as constraints students encountered when using mobile phones. The following were recommended in line with the findings of the study: use of anti-virus software, installation of internet facility in libraries, use of compatible phones/ software, saving of downloaded resources as well as use of mobile phones that are user friendly. The bottom-line of the paper is that the use of mobile phones has helped to improve students’ access to current and reliable information resources in tertiary institutions

Prediction of Heart Disease Using Machine Learning Models

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) stands as a formidable global health threat, claiming the lives of over 17 million individuals annually, according to the World Health Federation. According to data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiac disease shows a significantly higher annual fatality rate when compared to any other disease. This research aims to develop and assess predictive models for heart disease using three distinguished Machine Learning algorithms: Decision Tree, Gaussian Naive Bayes, and RandomForestClassifier to understand what characteristics makes one most likely to from suffer Heart Disease. The dataset comprises a comprehensive set of features pertaining to the health and lifestyle of patients, with 19 columns and 308854 rows. Three different models were deployed, and the random forest classifier performed the best with accuracy of 92%. We conclude that machine learning models have great potential in aiding the diagnosis of patients with heart disease. Major determinants of the likelihood of heart disease include features such as BMI, weight, and green vegetables consumption. This machine learning model when implemented will help practitioners easily diagnose patients at risk of heart disease and help them spot underlying characteristics that put patients at risk of heart disease

Filling a blank on the map: 60 years of fisheries in Equatorial Guinea

Despite a scarcity of pertinent information, it has been possible to reconstruct time series of marine fisheries catches for Equatorial Guinea from 1950 to 2010 using per capita fish consumption and population numbers for small-scale fisheries, catch rates and number of vessels for industrial fisheries and discard rates to estimate the discarded bycatch. Small-scale fisheries, industrial large-scale fisheries, domestic and legal and illegal foreign fisheries and their discards are all included. Total catches were estimated at 2.7 million tonnes over the time period considered, of which 653 000 t were caught domestically compared to 187 000 t reported by FAO. This shows that fisheries have more importance for Equatorial Guinea's food security than the official data suggest. In contrast to what is suggested by official figures, fisheries were shown to be strongly impacted by civil and political unrest; notably, they declined overall because of civil and political conflicts, socio-demographic dynamics, and a growing role of the newly discovered oil resources, which directly and indirectly threaten the food security of the people of Equatorial Guinea

Development of an Improved Convolutional Neural Network for an Automated Face Based University Attendance System

Because of the flaws of the present university attendance system, which has always been time intensive, not accurate, and a hard process to follow. It, therefore, becomes imperative to eradicate or minimize the deficiencies identified in the archaic method. The identification of human face systems has evolved into a significant element in autonomous attendance-taking systems due to their ease of adoption and dependable and polite engagement. Face recognition technology has drastically altered the field of Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) however it has challenges of high computing costs for analyzing information and determining the best specifications (design) for each problem. Thus, this study aims to enhance CNN’s performance using Genetic Algorithm (GA) for an automated face-based University attendance system. The improved face recognition accuracy with CNN-GA got 96.49% while the face recognition accuracy with CNN got 92.54%

Utilization of electronic books (e-books) by Higher National Diploma (HND) students in Nigerian Library School: The Federal Polytechnic, Nekede experience

The study focused on Utilization of Electronic books (e -books) by Higher National Diploma (HND ) students in Nigerian library school using the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria as case study. The survey method of research was adopted for the study with the questionnaire as the major instrument for data collection and the data collected were analyzed using simple frequency tables and percentage. Findings show that utilization of e -books is becoming popular among Higher National Diploma students in Nigerian library school because of the inherent advantages associated with it. In spite of the limitations to effective utilization of e-books, it is  recommended that students in higher institutions in Nigeria should be encourage to be ICT compliant so as to enable them take advantage of the benefits associated with electronic books since it can be accessed any time irrespective of location.Key Words: Utilization, Electronic, Books, Students, Nigeria, Library, Polytechnic

Knowledge of Webloging among Library Science Students: The Federal Polytechnic Nekede Experience

The study focused on investigating the knowledge of weblogging among library science students in Federal Polytechnic, Nekede. The study used descriptive survey research design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 115 students among the final year students. A structured questionnaire was developed and used for data collection. Descriptive statistics (mean, frequency and percentage) was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study clearly indicate that library science students have knowledge of weblogging even though they only blog to access current news/information instead of utiliz ing the platform to keep others informed. It was recommended that librarians already working in libraries should endeavour to be ICT compliant as this will help to reposition them for effective services and promoting their library.Key Words: Knowledge, Webloging, Library, Students, Polytechnic, Neked

Uric acid levels in patients on antituberculosis drugs in the Southwest region of Cameroon

Objective/background: Antituberculosis drugs (ATDs) efficiently combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis either through direct molecular interactions or its metabolites. However, a variety of adverse effects have been reported, leading to frequent interruptions of treatment. In order to investigate possible metabolic disturbances resulting from antituberculosis treatment, the uric acid level of patients on ATDs was measured in the Southwest region of Cameroon. Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study involved 96 tuberculosis patients on ATDs and 32 controls who were neither on ATDs nor any other treatment that could increase uric acid levels. The hospital records of consenting participants were reviewed for medical history and questionnaires were issued. About 2-mL venous blood was collected and analyzed using spectrophotometer to determine uric acid levels. Results: Hyperuricemia was observed in 56/96 (58.3%) of the studied group as compared with four of 32 (12.5%) in the control group (p <0.001). Our results indicated that treatment duration was significantly associated with hyperuricemia (p = 0.0016), while gender (p = 0.1275) was not. Conclusion: Hyperuricemia is associated with ATDs, with treatment duration being a significant factor. The disorder should be closely monitored, especially during the intensive phase of treatment