Repercussions of the Coalition Government’s Austerity Policy on Community Safety across Merseyside

This article explains the depth and breadth of financial cuts endured by community safety organizations across Merseyside. The article provides a robust explanation of how cuts to funding impacted on the delivery of public safety priorities under the coalition government (2010–15). This study implemented a mixed-methods approach which entailed in-depth consultations with the major community safety stakeholders within the region. Results reveal that over the course of the immediate past parliament, Merseyside Local Authorities within the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) and the police force area had to restructure staffing and service provision extensively in order to deliver efficiency savings of over £650 m. Budget cuts have had severe repercussions not just in terms of stakeholder’s capability to provide key services but also for the morale of their staff. We project a further 33% cutback in funding over the course of the current parliament though subsequent more favourable Government announcements suggest a more modest figure of up to 15%. This undoubtedly will result in the further streamlining of public services with potentially serious ramifications for levels of public safety

AN EFFECTIVE HEALTH CARE INSURANCE FRAUD AND ABUSE DETECTION SYSTEM

Due to the complexity of the processes within healthcare insurance systems and the large number of participants involved, it is very difficult to supervise the systems for fraud. The healthcare service providers’ fraud and abuse has become a serious problem. The practices such as billing for services that were never rendered, performing unnecessary medical services and misrepresenting non-covered treatment as covered treatments etc. not only contribute to the problem of rising health care expenditure but also affect the health of the patients. Traditional methods of detecting health care fraud and abuse are time-consuming and inefficient. In this paper, the health care insurance fraud and abuse detection system (HECIFADES) was proposed. The HECIFADES consist of six modules namely: claim, augment claim, claim database, profile database, profile updater and updated profiles. The system was implemented using Visual Studio 2010 and SQL. After testing, it was observed that HECIFADES was indeed an effective system for detecting fraudulent activities and yet very secured way for generating medical claims. It also improves the quality and mitigates potential payment risks and program vulnerabilities.

Application of Synthetic Storm Technique for Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Slant Path Ka-Band Rain Attenuation Time Series over a Subtropical Location in South Africa

As technology advances and more demands are on satellite services, rain-induced attenuation still creates one of the most damaging effects of the atmosphere on the quality of radio communication signals, especially those operating above 10 GHz. System designers therefore require statistical information on rain-induced attenuation over the coverage area in order to determine the appropriate transmitter and receiver characteristics to be adopted. This paper presents results on the time-varying rain characterization and diurnal variation of slant path rain attenuation in the Ka-band frequency simulated with synthetic storm techniques over a subtropical location in South Africa using 10-year rain rate time-series data. The analysis is based on the CDF of one-minute rain rate; time-series seasonal variation of rain rate observed over four time intervals: 00:00–06:00, 06:00–12:00, 12:00–18:00, and 18:00–24:00; diurnal fades margin; and diurnal variation of rain attenuation. Comparison was also made between the synthesized values and measured attenuation data. The predicted statistics are in good agreement with those obtained from the propagation beacon measurement in the area. The overall results will be needed for an acceptable planning that can effectively reduce the fade margin to a very low value for an optimum data communication over this area

Comparative Study of the Influence of the Home Background on Student\'s Achievement in Mathematics in Bensihangul Gumuz Regional State of Ethiopia.

The purpose of this study was finding out how the various home environments in which students live affect the development of their ability to continue with school academic success. It sought to establish if there was any relationship between the home front and the students' academic achievement. Within these environments, measurable characteristics would be the home background. Socioeconomic differences were conventionally indexed by such demographic variables as household income, parents' education, occupation, and the social status. The study was carried out X-post facto and the methods the researchers used were statistical correlation and ANOVA. Results showed that the home and its environment could predict academic achievement. The regression analyses showed no significant difference in the attitudes of students from different homes towards the learning of mathematics. The study made useful suggestions and recommendations for policy making. African Research Review Vol. 2 (1) 2008: pp. 94-10

Development of a Compact and Accurate Auto-Update Digital Clock with Real-Time Location Display using Organic Light Emitting Diode and Crystal Oscillator

Research has been going on for a lengthy time on digital clocks but with restraints to auto-updating based totally on location. The objective of the paper is to produce a portable and accurate auto-update digital watch (clock) that shows the real time and the current location of the user with the aid of crystal oscillator to generate clock pulses which interfaced with the GPS modules with organic light-emitting diode (OELD). The system was able to automatically update the co-ordinate of locations whenever the user moves from one place to another, It also auto-update time whenever the battery is removed and reinserted or when switched OFF and then switch ON after sometime. It also eliminate the stretch associated with time adjustment whenever the battery is down and replaced or when the watch is switched OFF and then ON. It performed satisfactorily and as a result, the system can be adapted and integrated to the new technology of modern watch as it can be adopted by the user to locate his/her position at any point in time

Dividend Policy and Shareholders’ Wealth in Nigerian Quoted Banks

In 2008, the global financial meltdown was partly responsible for the bearish movement of stock prices in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This shows that more than a single factor could be responsible for the movement of prices of quoted stocks. Company performance and information about the introduction of new technologies are among the factors that have significantly affected the market value of shares in the past. Therefore, this paper examines empirically, the implications of adopted dividend policies on the value of shareholders’ wealth and the extent to which dividend policy affects the market value of shares in quoted banks in Nigeria. The paper focuses on the situation before and after the financial meltdown. Correlation results of dividend paid in 2007-2010 and their corresponding market value showed that payment of dividend by quoted banks is relevant to their market value and the amount paid as dividend affects the value of their share. The paper also provides insight into the implications and effect’s of policy decisions as it affects dividend payout and dividend retained for further growth on shareholders’ wealth

Omission of Triple Bottom Line Reporting: Cause of Corporate Entities’ Environmental Neglect in Nigeria

The study critically looked into the ways in which social and environmental provisions in Nigeria can be improved upon and the body that should be socially responsible. Is it the government or the corporate entities? This paper selected six companies that are quoted in Nigeria Stock Exchange, taking two from each sector, and examined the content and quality of the concerns demonstrated in their 2013 Annual Report and Accounts for Social and environmental issues in Nigeria. Special attention was placed on the similarities or differences among the companies in their social and environmental care. This paper discovered that social and environmental issues in Nigeria had been grossly neglected by the corporate entities. They hardly reported on it in their annual reports. Even where there was reported on the social and environmental issues, it is always in the Chairman’s speech. The main conclusion of this paper is that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of the new business model and that it is increasingly recognized that the role of the business sector is critical. As a part of society, it is in business’ interest to contribute to addressing common problems. Strategically speaking, business can only flourish when the communities and ecosystems in which they operate are healthy

Knowledge, perception and preventive practices of COVID-19 among Primary Health Care workers in Ogun State, Nigeria

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the COVID-19 knowledge, perception, and preventive practices among primary health care workers in Ogun state.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 339 primary health care workers in Ogun state using self-administered questionnaires. Knowledge of COVID-19 was graded as good with a minimum score of 75% while perception was graded as good with a score greater than the mean scores. Preventive practices were categorized as good with minimum scores of 75%. Associations between knowledge,  practice, and categorical  variables were assessed using the chi-square test with the level of significance set at p < 0.05Results: The mean age of respondents was 42.30 ± 8.73 years. The major source of information on COVID-19 was health training (99.7%). A total of 50.7% had good knowledge of COVID-19 while 42.8% had a good perception of COVID-19. The majority (92.9%) had good COVID-19 preventive practices. Length of years in service was significantly associated (p=0.024) with knowledge of COVID-19.Conclusion: About half of the health care workers had good knowledge of COVID-19 while the perception of COVID-19 was poor. However, preventive practices carried out among the healthcare workers were good. Efforts should be made to further improve the knowledge and perception of primary health care workers as they play a vital role in the delivery of health care services in the state

Comparative training needs’ assessment of actors within the Ecological Organic Agriculture value chain in Northern Nigeria

Inadequate technical know-how, increased demand for labour, costly certification and access to international markets are amongst major constraints faced by practitioners of ecological organic agriculture (EOA) which constitute major restriction for the organic systems in attainment of sustainable agricultural development in developing countries. The current study in a bid to addressing these issues assessed the training needs of EOA practitioners in Northern Nigeria, with a view to identifying core areas where interventions are required. Purposive sampling procedure was used in selecting one state from each of the three (3) zones in Northern Nigeria, viz; Yobe state in North-east, Kebbi state in North-west and Niger state in North-central because these states are prominent in practicing organic farming in Northern Nigeria. Simple random sampling procedure was then used to select fifty-one (51) farmers, fifty-two (52) extension agents and fifty-two (52) marketers across the states, giving a total of one hundred and fifty-five (155) respondents sampled for the study. Data was collected with aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistical tool while ‘Response Mapping’ of mean score was used for comparative analysis of actors’ training needs. Results showed that majority of the respondents were male {farmers (92.2%), extension agents (82.7%) marketers (76.9%)}. Mean age of farmer was 53.9 years, while those of extension agent and marketers were 39.0 years and 40.1 years, respectively. EOA actors mostly sourced information through training/workshop, NOAN and TV. Response mapping of training needs indicated that ‘composting/vermin composting’, ‘Biological method of Pest and Disease control’, ‘Bio-fertilizer’ and ‘Bio-rotation method of Pest and Disease management techniques’ were EOA components where actors mostly needed training. The study concluded on an urgent need for gender mainstreaming and young farmers’ involvement in organic agriculture. Similarly, concerned stakeholders need to organize capacity building and training workshops/seminars for practitioners covering all identified areas of training needs to enhance their skills and technical capabilities in the practice of organic agriculture

Corporate Image: A Strategy for Enhancing Customer Loyalty and Profitability

Organizations are nowadays concerned with managing their corporate image. There is a strong positive correlation between people’s perceptions of a company and pro-corporate supportive behaviour. In this study, past researchers on corporate image were incorporated to create a platform for framework which identifies the variables of relationship between corporate image and customer loyalty cum profitability. The study utilized descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation and linear regression to investigate the impact of corporate image on customer loyalty and profitability within the Nigerian service industry (banking). The study adopted the research instrument of self-structured questionnaire which was in line with the reviewed literature and focused on the main variables in the study. It was found in the model parameters that physical environment, service offering and customer loyalty have significant impact on the level of profitability. Thus, we can rightly conclude that the level of satisfaction among customers tends to affect the service offerings and customer loyalty which has a direct link with corporate profitabilit