Evaluation of Mental Health First Aid within a workplace context.

Background: Evidence suggests that Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) benefits organisations and employees. However, there has been no systematic investigation of the impact of MHFA on direct recipients and the organisations that adopt MHFA. Aims of thesis: The thesis aims to [1] evaluate the effectiveness of MHFA on help-seeking behaviour amongst employees and direct recipients, [2] explore participants’ experience and the impact of MHFA on workplace culture and relationships, [3] understand the active ingredients and mechanisms of action in MHFA that improves help-seeking behaviour for mental health difficulties. Methods Design: An embedded mixed methods design comprising a two-arm clustered Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) comparing MHFA and usual practice, a qualitative evaluation, and theoretical mapping of MHFA onto the Behavioural Change Wheel (BCW). Sample: The participants were mental health first-aiders and other employees who have received MHFA directly or indirectly, working in randomly allocated UK clusters. Measures: Standard measures of participants’ help-seeking behaviour, helpseeking intentions, mental health and well-being, self-efficacy levels, and use of health and social services were used to assess the impact of MHFA. Procedure: Employees within these organisations were assessed via online completion of measures at baseline and 6 months post-intervention. A purposive selection of participants was interviewed. In addition, a consensus approach was taken to retrospectively map the MHFA intervention to the associated elements of the BCW. Results & Discussions: The study found that MHFA does not encourage formal help-seeking behaviour and identifies contributing factors to a preference for informal help-seeking avenues outside the workplace through qualitative interviews. Also, the thesis identified key components of health behaviour change, such as problem-solving, action planning, and social support as active ingredients in MHFA. However, there were inconsistencies in the practical 2 application of the MHFA interventions. The study suggests that more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of MHFA interventions on direct recipients and to explore the factors that contribute to mental health help-seeking. Utilising the COM-B model and TDF in future studies can help identify the changes required to facilitate actual help-seeking behaviour in a bid to improve MHFA intervention

Exchange rate variation and fiscal balance in Nigeria: a time series analysis

Exchange rate remains one of the principal determinants of a nation’s external balance and fiscal status of most emerging economies. How better its fluctuation is managed has a long way to go with the performance of major macroeconomic variables in a country. It is behind this backdrop that this paper tries to examine the effects of exchange rate fluctuation on fiscal deficit crisis in Nigeria between 1980 and 2008. The period is so chosen as it covers the range of time that witnessed the greatest fluctuation’s in the external value of the nation’s legal tender (naira). The regression analysis reveals that exchange rate has impacted negatively on fiscal deficit over the period under consideration. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test reveals that all the time series variables employed are non-stationary at levels; both the intercept and deterministic trend. Appropriate policies are therefore recommended on how best to reposition the economy in the face of continuing devaluation of naira

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ADOPTION AND UTILIZATION BY LIBRARIANS IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated how librarians working in various university libraries in Kwara State, Nigeria, adopt and use artificial intelligence. The study raised four research goals as well as four research questions. A descriptive survey method and random sampling techniques with 450 randomly selected librarians from Kwara State Universities, Nigeria, were used for the research. Five research assistants were trained on how to contact respondents and secure their consent before distributing the structured questionnaire designed by the researcher, who assisted in the tool distribution process. The researcher was able to retrieve 410 copies of the 450 questionnaires that were given to the respondents. However, the rate of return was 91%, which is a respectable amount. A self-designed questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the respondents, and a simple percentage was adapted for data analysis. The results showed that there was little adoption of AI in university libraries in Kwara State, Nigeria. The research also reveals that security scanning devices at the entrances and exits of university libraries are the most prevalent AI systems, while other AI systems such as bots, chatbots, face recognition, touch recognition, RFID technologies, humans, AI classification tools, machine-readable catalogs, and not smart AI features are still missing from the Kwara State University libraries. A self-designed questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the respondents, and a simple percentage ratio was adapted for data analysis. The findings revealed that AI has received minimal attention in university libraries in Kwara State, Nigeria. According to the study, the most common AIs are security scanning equipment at university library entrances and exits, followed by robotics, chatbots, face recognition, and touch recognition. RFID technologies, humanoids, AI classification tools, machine-readable catalogs, and AI smart features are still lacking in Kwara State\u27s university libraries. The results of this study also indicate that librarians in a university library are aware of the many ways in which artificial intelligence can be applied to provide services. The results of the study indicate that obstacles to adoption include significant disruption caused by artificial intelligence in traditional library services, a lack of skills and a need for training prior to adoption, irregular power supply, and a lack of adequate infrastructure for adoption, among other problems. The study recommended the need to organize training for librarians to enhance their skills in using artificial intelligence to provide services, and the university administration and libraries should commit and provide the necessary support for the adoption of artificial intelligence by providing the necessary infrastructure to ensure its rapid implementation

ADOPTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO IMPROVE LIBRARY SERVICE DELIVERY IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Due to the increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in developed countries, this paper examines the adoption of AI for effective library services in academic libraries in Nigeria. The paper defines artificial intelligence while chronicling its history. He also identified the advantages of adopting artificial intelligence in academic libraries, which include ease of use, endless functionality, and the ability to perform complex work, among others, and the challenges faced by library management towards adopting artificial intelligence, which include financial uncertainty, job loss, and technological defects, among others. The paper concluded that adoption of AI in academic libraries sets a new level of efficient and effective library service delivery, but adoption in developing countries such as Nigeria is low due to some identified challenges. The paper recommended that government and library management should come together to suggest the way forward for academic libraries in terms of meeting the latest standard for the use of AI in libraries; library staff must undergo training and retraining in the use of artificial intelligence in providing library services, among other things

Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of a Portable Motorized Pineapple Juice Extractor

A motorized Juice extractor was designed, fabricated and its Performance Evaluation was carried out to determine the best extracting operating factors for the prototype. The two operating factors used for evaluating this machine are extraction speed (S) at three levels (i.e. S1=565 rpm, S2=478 rpm and S3=380 rpm) and Feed rate (F) at three levels (i.e. F1=0.5kg/min, F2=1.0kg/min and F3=1.5kg/min). Each of these factors was replicated thrice, which resulted into 3X3X3 factorial experimental design. In addition, the performance parameters used for evaluating this prototype are the Extraction efficiency 14 ?f"> (%), Extraction losses 14?l"> (%) and Extraction capacity 14C?x"> (lit/hr). The performance evaluation results obtained from this experimental design shows an optimum Juice Extraction Efficiency, 14?f"> =87.50%, Juice Extraction Capacity 14C?x"> =26.70lit/hr with Juice Extraction Losses, 14?l"> =12.50% at S3F2 operating factors (i.e. S3=380 rpm and F2=1.0kg/min). The optimum output of this prototype was compared with that of manual extraction method which was evaluated to have manual Juice Extraction Efficiency, 14?fm"> =97.00%, manual Juice Extraction Capacity 14 C?xm"> =5.25lit/hr and manual Juice Extraction Losses 14 ?lm"> =3.08%. Hence, this prototype was rated to be five times faster than human method of extracting juice from fruits. Although, the extraction losses of this prototype was observed to be slightly higher than that of manual extraction method. This suggests there is need to further improve on this prototype for higher extraction efficiency, 14?f"> (%) close to that of human beings. Keywords: Feed rate, Extraction losses, Extraction Efficiency, manual extraction efficiency, performance parameters, Operating factors, proto-type and fruit pulp

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and microbial load of naturally preserved smoked African mud catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) and microbial load of naturally preserved smoked African mud catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) were examined. The experimental design was Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with the treatments been the variously preserved C. gariepinus catfish (garlic, ginger, garlic-ginger homogenate preserved and the control without spices). PAH and the microbial load were determined using standard experimental procedures. All PAH values were within internationally recommend value for human consumption, the aerobic mesophilic counts of unpreserved smoked catfish was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than other preserved smoked C. gariepinus (2.51 ± 0.01- 8.98 ± 0.02 log cfu/g); while garlic-ginger preserved smoked catfish product had the lowest aerobic mesophilic counts (2.48 ± 0.01-8.92 ± 0.01 log cfu/g) during the period of the experiment. Similar trends were observed in the mould fungal, Staphylococcal, coliform, Salmonella and Shigella counts. However, Staphylococcal counts, coliform count and Salmonella and Shigella counts were not detected in the samples at the onset of the experiment. The preserved smoked fish are good and safe for human consumptions when stored at ambient temperatures (25-36oC) for 56 days. The combination of garlic and ginger provide a much stronger antibiotic effect than the individual ingredients