EFFECTS OF CAREER GUIDANCE AND CAREER COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES ON STUDENTS VOCATIONAL MATURITY

This study investigated the effects of career guidance method and career counselling method on student’s vocational maturity. The main purpose of the study is to find out which of the two purposed techni1ques will best facilitate the development of vocational maturity among secondary school adolescents in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Two research questions were raised to guide the study and one hypothesis was formulated. The study was a quasi-experimental design of pre-test and post-test two experimental groups. The instrument used was an adopted inventory used by Kuti in 1979. The inventory was named Career Development Inventory (CDI). The validation of the instrument was re-established with reliability co-efficient of 74, 76 and 80 respectively in the sub-scale A, B, C. Treatments were done in two different schools. Career Guidance Technique (CGT) was used in school A, while, Career Counselling Technique (CCT) was used in school B, Career Development Inventory (CDI) was used as measure of vocational maturity at pre-test and post-test. Based on data collected and analysed, the results revealed general improvement in the students’ vocational maturity after treatment. The study also revealed that Career Counselling Technique (CCT) improve vocational maturity better than Career Guidance Technique (CGT). But both (CCT) and (CGT) help in the improvement of vocational maturity of students. Vocational or career guidance and counselling programme should be made compulsory in all secondary schools in Ekiti State.  Article visualizations

Characterization of secondary radioclimatic variables for microwave and millimeter wave link design in Nigeria

A reliable radio propagation data is required in other to propose a well-founded model for radioclimatic study in any area. The two major types of radio propagation data needed are the primary and secondary propagation data. The primary data include temperature, pressure and relative humidity or water vapour pressure, while the secondary radioclimatic data are radio refractivity gradients, geoclimatic factor (K-factor) and the effective earth radius factor (k-factor). In this paper, analyses of the secondary data are carried out instead of the usual primary variables in order to deduce the influences on the Terrestrial line-of-Sight (LOS) based on 5 years data (2009-2013) obtained from five different regions of Nigeria (Akure, Enugu, Minna, Jos and Sokoto). The k-factor values at the surface across the study locations are higher than the prescribed value of 1.33 by the ITU. The same trend could also be observed for the geoclimatic factor K. The overall result will be a very good tool for microwave wireless link design in Nigeria

Dimensions of Organisational Culture in Quantity Surveying Firms in Nigeria

The functionalist paradigm of organisational culture (OC) views culture as a variable subject to conscious manipulation and control in order to solve organisational challenges. Therefore, this paper provides information on how OC is a solution to the challenges in Quantity Surveying firms (QSFs).  This was achieved by eliciting the dimensions of OC in forty two QSFs in Lagos, Nigeria, which are the business, people and external environment dimensions. The paper concludes that OC is a relevant solution to the identity and management related challenges in QSFs. Specifically, the paper informs on the implications of business and people dimensions of OC as a solution to the identity challenges, as well as on the implication of the external environment dimension of OC to the management challenges. Based on the findings, practical implications and recommendations were directed at the management and employees QSs in QSFs and Quantity Surveying researchers

Changes in Inventories, Capacity Utilisation Rate and Inflation Dynamics in Nigeria

The paper empirically examined the relationship existing among current inflation, expected future inflation, changes in inventories, manufacturing capacity utilisation rate, output gap, labour income share and trade openness in Nigeria using the annual time series data spanning from 1981 to 2015 by employing the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Model.   Stationarity, co-integration and causality tests were conducted on all the variables of interest in the study. The Block Exogeneity/WALD test result in the study confirms that changes in inventories and manufacturing capacity utilisation rate are exogenous variables while current inflation rate, expected future inflation, labour income share, output gap and trade openness are endogenous variables. The study finds that there is bi-directional causality running from current inflation to expected future inflation which implies that the anticipation of inflation can itself be the cause of inflation in Nigeria.  There is also bi-directional causality running from current inflation to output gap indicating that current inflation granger causes output gap in Nigeria. There is also bi-directional causality running from manufacturing  capcity utilisation rate to expected future inflation indicating that expected future inflation granger causes manufacturing capacity utilisation in Nigeria. The policy implication of the findings of the paper is that the policy makers should take into account the likely influence of changes in inventories, expected future inflation, manufacturing  capcity utilisation rate,output gap,labour income share and trade openness on domestic prices of goods and services in formulating trade and economic policies in Nigeria. Keywords: Changes in inventories, labour income share, inflation dynamics, manufacturing capacity utilisation rate, output gap and trade opennes

Availability and Utilization of Equipment/Materials in Senior Secondary Schools Biology Practical Activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study assessed availability and utilization of biology equipment/materials in Ekiti State Senior Secondary School Biology lessons. The study specifically examined the extent to which school location affects the availability and utilization of Biology laboratory materials for practical activities.The study adopted the descriptive research design of the survey type. The population of the study comprised of 19,603 Senior Secondary School II (S.S.S2) students and 378 Biology teachers in all 189 Public Secondary Schools in Ekiti State. The sample for this study were 490 respondents, comprising 450 Students and 40 teachers randomly selected from 18 secondary schools using multi-stage sampling technique. Three set of instruments tagged ‘Biology Teacher Activities Questionnaire (BTAQ)’, ‘Biology Student Activities Questionnaire (BSAQ)’ and ‘Biology Equipment/Materials Checklist (BEC)’ were used for the study. The three instruments BTAQ, BSAQ and BEC were validated by experts. Also the reliability of the three instruments BTAQ, BSAQ and BEC yielded reliability coefficients of 0.87, 0.79 and 0.68 respectively. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages and means were used to answer research questions while the inferential statistics involving t-test statistics was used to test the hypothesis, the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance.The findings of the study showed that facilities for Biology practical activities were available in schools moderately. It was also found that the utilization of available facilities for Biology practical activities in schools was moderate. It was found that there was no significant difference between availability and utilization of materials for practical activities in rural and urban schools. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government in collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should ensure that resources are provided in the laboratory for effective teaching- learning process. Also, periodic seminars and workshops should be organized for Biology teachers in order to enhance their effective utilization of facilities for Biology practical

EFFECTS OF GROUP GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES ON STUDENTS’ VOCATIONAL MATURITY IN EKITI STATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS, EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated the effects of group guidance and counselling techniques on students’ vocational maturity. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the Group Career Guidance (GCG) and Group Career Counselling (GCC) techniques will enhance the vocational maturity of secondary school students. To achieve this objective, quasi experimental of pre-test, post-test design was employed. 120 students were selected from senior secondary school class two (SSS 2) through purposive sampling method. The selected students were grouped into two. The groups were exposed to GCG and GCC respectively in their various locations. The groups were tested twice, that is, before and after treatment. The finding revealed that the two techniques are effective in the improvement of students’ vocational maturity

Towards Reducing the Burden of Global Environmental Related Health Problems in the 21st Century

Environmental health issues are major risk factors in the global burden of disease. This paper therefore focuses on the most important link between health and environment. It discusses the most important environmental threats to health in the 21st Century especially in the low and middle income countries. It reviews the burden of disease from unsafe water supply, hygiene, sanitation, outdoor and indoor poor pollution toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It examines the contributions of personal hygiene to reduce the burden of environmentally-related health problems, comment on the consequences of environmental health problems on human health and explain the future global challenges to reduce the burden of disease in the community. Towards the most cost-effective ways of reducing the global burden of environmental related health problems, it was therefore recommended that there should be a reduction in the air pollutants to enhance health status of the inhabitants through the use of improved stove or gas for cooking at homes.  There is need to focus on investment in low-cost environmental sanitation, improve water quality for human consumption and inculcate the hand-washing habit to reduce the burden of food-water borne infections. Keywords: millennium goals, environment, environmental-health problems, burden of disease, sanitation, pollution

Experimental Analysis for Lubricant and Punch Selection in Shear Extrusion of Aa-6063

Shear extrusion is a forming process which is based on combined backward cup-forward rod extrusion. This extrusion process is attractive due its potential to achieve severe plastic deformation thus enabling texture and microstructural control of materials. Furthermore, the economic potential of shear extrusion for mass production and production of complex shapes provides for numerous applications in automotive, transportation, aero-space and other industries. However, a trending challenge in the use of this method for complex shapes is the design and selection of tools to achieve a high quality product. This paper focuses on deep study of shear extrusion of AA-6063. The process was studied experimentally using variables which affect the forming load as well as the quality of the product. It is concluded from the load-displacement and stress plots that a punch with large diameter and small punch land is desirable for easy forming of the material during shear extrusion. Analysis of the effect of lubricants on deformation load and stress shows that palm oil lubricant remains the best lubricant of the four lubricants examined since its gives the minimum load obtained during shear extrusion

Disruption in Brain Phospholipid Content in a Humanized Tau Transgenic Model Following Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a risk factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy typified by immunoreactive tau aggregates in the depths of the sulci. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms involved have not been largely explored. Phospholipids are important molecules which form membrane lipid bilayers; they are ubiquitous to every cell in the brain, and carry out a host of different functions. Imbalance in phospholipid metabolism, signaling and transport has been documented in some neurological conditions. However, not much is currently known about their roles in repetitive mTBI and how this may confer risk for the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases. To address this question, we designed a longitudinal study (24 h, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post-injury) to comprehensively investigate mTBI dependent brain phospholipid profiles compared to sham counterparts. We use our established mouse model of repetitive mTBI that has been extensively characterized up to 1-year post-injury in humanized tau (hTau) mice, which expresses all six human tau isoforms, on a null murine background. Our data indicates a significant increase in sphingomyelin, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and derivative lysoPE and lysoPC at acute and/or sub-acute time points post-injury within the cortex and hippocampus. There was also a parallel increase at early time points in monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids. Omega-6 (arachidonic acid) to omega-3 (docosahexaenoic acid) fatty acid ratio for PE and PC species was increased also at 24 h and 3 months post-injury in both hippocampus and cortex. The long-term consequences of these early changes in phospholipids on neuronal and non-neuronal cell function is unclear, and warrants further study. Understanding phospholipid metabolism, signaling and transport following TBI could be valuable; they may offer novel targets for therapeutic intervention not only in TBI but other neurodegenerative diseases

Modeling and Simulation of PV Arrays in a Low Voltage DC Microgrid

Photovoltaic (PV) arrays are a popular energy source in standalone microgrids due to their small size and ease of installation. A PV cell, which is the fundamental component of an array, is an electronic device composed of semiconductor material that converts light energy into electricity through the photoelectric effect. Light is absorbed by the semiconductor and the energy is transferred to the electrons which allows them to flow freely through the material as electric current. Due to the variance in sun light on a given surface throughout the day, a solar panel by itself cannot be relied on like a back-up generator. Modeling of the system is necessary is to ensure proper operation prior to installation. The nonlinear single-diode model for a PV array providing primary power to a low-voltage dc microgrid is explored in this work. The incremental conductance maximum power tracking (MPPT) technique is implemented to force the PV system to provide as much power as possible throughout the day. Dynamic simulations are performed in Simulink with both ac and dc loads