Surrogates of Relationship Marketing and Bank Customer Retention: A Study of University Lecturers in Southeast Nigeria

The influx of banks in university campuses across Nigeria has motivated the need to unearth the most potent dimension(s), tool(s), or driver(s) of relationship marketing that significantly influence lecturers who are bank customers to retain patronage with a bank operating within a campus. The study was guided by a research schema which was the basis for the formulation of five conceptual hypotheses. Five relationship marketing tools – communication, commitment, trust, promise fulfillment, and social bonding – where all explored to determine their predictive power on a bank customer retention. A structured questionnaire was designed on a five-point like scale. Data collected were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC). Statistical support was found for all the dimension of relationship marketing as predictors of bank customer retention. However, commitment, trust, and promise fulfillment are the strongest or most potent predictors of bank customer retention, while communication and social bonding are weak predictors of bank customer retention of lecturers within university campuses. Hence, this study posits the Commitment-Trust-Promise Fulfilment Model of Relationship Marketing, thereby challenging Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing. Key recommendations, with their concomitant managerial implications, include: first, banks operating within university campuses should make adequate budgetary provision for the purpose of executing a sound relationship marketing programme for its bank customers who are university lecturers; second, training and retraining on a constant basis in the area of relationship marketing (with strong focus on commitment, trust, and promise fulfillment) can be conducted for the marketing staff of banks operating within the university campuses

Impact of PEDDA and Cooperative Learning Approach on Students’ Conception of Energy and Society in Senior Secondary School Physics in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria

The study investigated the impact of PEDDA and Cooperative Learning Approach (CLA) on students’ conception of energy and society in senior secondary school physics in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. The study employed quasi experimental research design. The population of the study comprised all the 6,138 SS2 physics students in 32 public secondary schools in Onitsha Education Zone of which 315 students were sampled using simple random sampling technique specifically with replacement. Four public schools or groups were used for the study. Two groups were taught using PEDDA while the other two groups taught using CLA. The instrument for data collection was Conception Test on Energy and Society (CTES) consisting of 20 multiple choice questions. The reliability coefficient of 0.82 for CTES was determined using Kudder-Richardson twenty (K-R 20) formula. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the two research questions while ANCOVA was used to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that male and female students’ conception when taught energy and society using PEDDA and those taught using CLA is significant in favor of CLA group. Thus, the study recommended that physics teachers should adopt PEDDA so as to enhance students’ conception. Keywords: PEDDA, Cooperative Learning Approach, Gender, Energy and Society DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-22-13 Publication date: August 31st 201

Security Challenges as Threats to National Unity in Nigeria: Causes, Prevention and Treatment

Every country on earth is faced with the problem of security challenges in her process of national development; it is not peculiar to Nigeria. But the security challenges confronting Nigeria is capable of disintegrating the Country and even metamorphose to civil war. The experiences of Nigerians during her civil war from 1966 to 1970 called for caution and academic intervention in other not to cause disaffection, disunity and human suffering. This paper seeks to probe into the etiology of security challenges in Nigeria, draw a nexus between security challenges and national unity and seek for prevention of these causes of security challenges in Nigeria. This paper is aimed at enhancing national unity, good governance and sensitizing Nigeria as a regional power. Key words: Security Challenges and National Unit

BUILDING SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY POLICING; CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY IN NIGERIA

This study sought to determine ways effective public support could be harnessed for community-policing project in order to assist the police to maintain security and work harmoniously with the public. Specifically, it sought to find out the extent the public is aware of the existence of community policing security project, its perceived effectiveness, possible challenges and likely support it requires to function as well as the envisaged implications for national security in Nigeria. A sample of 1000 Adult citizens drawn from Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo States in south east Nigeria using stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used for the study. Data was collected with the use of a 25-item Questionnaire titled. “Questionnaire on building effective support for community-policing for National security in Nigeria” (QBESCIN). This was complemented with focus group discussion sessions with police officers in the selected states. The instrument was validated by experts and appropriately tested for reliability. Percentages were employed in analyzing data. Findings among other things revealed that majority of the respondents are to a large extent aware of the existence of community-policing project even though certain related challenges such as resistance to change, lack of information/publicity, poor public-police relations etc seem to confront its viability. Correspondingly, it was unanimously agreed by respondents that community policing needed moral, financial, motivational and enlightenment support to work effectively. The implications for national security were identified in form of the need for better police-public relations, public mobilization and participation etc which are deemed strategic for effective performance of the police. These findings and implications were discussed and appropriate recommendations made on how community-policing could be used to support police operational effectiveness in south-east Nigeria

Evaluation of Gender Difference Influence: Effects of Games on Acquisition of Science Process Skills in Junior Secondary School South East Nigeria

The relevance of instructional games has made it an important instructional approach for the teaching and learning of science especially at junior secondary level. The present study was focused on gender difference influence: effects of games on acquisition of science process skills in junior secondary school south east Nigeria. The quasi-experimental design was used for this study. The population of this study consisted of the entire Junior Secondary School, Basic Science students one (JSS 1) of the thirty-five (35) public secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone. The sample for the study was one hundred and sixty (160) Basic Science students and four Basic Science teachers from co-education secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu state. Stratified random sampling was employed to obtain the schools used for the study. The instruments used for the study was the Test of Science Process Skills Acquisition Test (TOSPSAT). The instruments were given to four (4) experts in science education, two (2) science educators (measurement and evaluators) and two (2) experienced integrated teachers for face and content validation.  The reliability of TOSPSAT was done using Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (K-R 20). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for testing hypotheses at P<0.05 level of significance.  The students taught using game teaching approach had higher mean science process skills acquisition scores in all the skills studied than those taught using conventional method. There was a significant difference in the mean science process skills acquisition scores of subjects exposed to games than those exposed to conventional method. Male and female students exposed to games scored higher in all the science process skills studied. There was no significant difference found in the mean science process skills acquisition scores of male and female students exposed to games. The interaction effect of instructional methods and gender on mean science process skills acquisition scores was not significant. The findings of this implies that students, teachers and curriculum planners should adopt the use of games in teaching and learning processes. Keywords: games, science process skills, gender difference DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-15-06 Publication date:May 31st 202

Impact of Psychological and Sociological Empowerment on Innovative Work Behaviour of Accounting Lecturers in Public Universities as Moderated by Gender

This study examined the impact of psychological and sociological empowerment on innovative work behaviour of accounting lecturers in public universities as moderated by gender. Three research questions and two hypothesis guided the study. The study adopted a correlation survey design. The study was conducted in 3 public Universities in South East Nigeria which offer Accounting Education in their degree programmme. These universities include; University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU). The population of the study is 125 respondents which comprises of 45 female lecturers and 82 male lecturers from Accounting departments in the 3 federal Universities. This study utilized a 15 item structured questionnaire titled “impact of psychological and sociological empowerment on innovative work behaviour of accounting lecturers” (IPSEIWBAL Questionnaire). The instrument has Four (4) sections. Section 1 contains personal data of the respondents such as Gender and Years of Working Experience. Section 2 – 4 were constructed to reflect the specific purposes of the study to elicit data from the respondents. The sections 2-4 had same response options which are, Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. The questionnaire was face-validated by three experts in the Department of Accounting, one each from the three Universities. Cronbach alpha method was used to test the internal consistency of the items, which gave a reliability coefficient of 0.85. Data collection was carried out by the researchers with the help of three research assistants. Data collected from the respondents was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS- 27.0). The statistical tools for data analysis was Pearson Moment correlation coefficient to answer each of the research question and interpreted as follows:0.90–1.00=Very High Correlation; 0.70-0.89=HighCorrelation;0.50-0.79=Moderate Correlation; 0.30-0.49=Low Correlation; 0.00-0.30=Very low/Negligible Correlation. The hypothesis for the study was tested at 0.05 level of significance using regression ANOVA.The study concluded that innovative work behavior of accounting lecturers is influenced by psychological and sociological empowerment. The study recommended that Universities should create a supportive environment to promote the professional development of younger and junior faculty, which will result in higher levels of psychological/sociological empowerment and work engagement and thus results to greater productivity for universities. Keywords:Accounting Education, Accounting Lecturers, Psychological Empowerment, Sociological Empowerment and Innovative Work Behaviour. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/16-3-09 Publication date: April 30th 202

Novel imidazole based ionic liquid as anti-corrosion additive for aluminum alloy: Combined experimental, DFT/MD simulation and soft computing approach

The anti-corrosion effectiveness of novel 1‑butyl‑3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroindate ionic liquid ([C4MIM][InCl4] (IL)) for aluminum-silicon-titanium (Al-Si-Ti) based aluminum alloy in 1mole (M) potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte at 303–343 K was explored in the current study. To realize this, standard methods such as weight loss, electrochemical investigation, density functional theory (DFT)/molecular dynamics simulation (MD-simulation), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and scanning force microscopy (SFM), were employed to scrutinize the anti-corrosion successfulness of [C4MIM][InCl4] for aluminum alloy in KOH solution. From our findings, the ionic liquid mitigated the corrosion of Al-Si-Ti aluminum alloy, and the inhibition efficiency (IE%) is enhanced with improved ionic liquid concentration. The inhibition efficiencies obtained at 0.8 g/L [C4MIM][InCl4] concentration were 88.46%, 82%, and 82.35%, for gravimetric, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) procedures, respectively. PDP result disclosed [C4MIM][InCl4] performed like a mixed-type inhibitor of a cathodic predominance. The SEM/SFM examination proved that the ionic liquid developed a shield coat on the metal alloy surface. The thermodynamic probe disclosed [C4MIM][InCl4] molecules fastened onto Al-Si-Ti aluminum alloy surface by physisorption mechanism and best fitted the Frumkin adsorption isotherm model. The DFT/MD-simulation procedure confirmed the adsorption configuration and orientation of [C4MIM][InCl4] molecules in gas and aqueous phase which is in harmony with the experimental discovering. Simulated neural network (SNN), and the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) were deployed for a robust training, forecast and modeling of the interactive effects of the input parameters and the expected feedback, Herein, training via the ANN and ANFIS designs without (GA), as well as computing the statistical indices such as the mean squared error (MSE), hybrid fractional error function (HYBRID%), absolute average relative error (AARE), Marquardt's percentage standard deviation (MPSED%) and r-squared (R2) were employed to appraise the models capability. The optimal IE% forecasted was 88.4842% and 89.0643%, for the ANN and ANFIS, respectively. Based on the numerical values of the ANN and ANFIS parameters calculated much acceptance was accorded to the ANFIS model over the ANN due its high degree of precision and robustness. The aftermath of this study furnishes additional information on systematic plan of corrosion mitigation, and proffer useful instructions for the logical use of [C4MIM][InCl4] as anti-corrosion additive for Al-Si-Ti aluminum alloy threatened by alkaline solution

Synthesis and characterization of silver–zinc oxide nanocomposites for humidity sensing

Abstract This study synthesizes hybrid of silver (Ag) and zinc oxide (ZnO) from their bulk salt to form Ag–ZnO nanocomposites for application as a humidity sensor. The Ag and ZnO nanoparticles are synthesized using chemical reduction method, followed by co‐mixing and calcination to yield the nanocomposite. The synthesized nanoparticles are characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, and EDX to establish their morphological, structural and elemental composition. Sensing measurements were performed in a controlled proton‐type humidity chamber using saturated solutions of KOH and K2SO4 as dehumidifier and humidifier respectively. We sintered and subjected to direct current resistance (Ω) and sensitivity measurement as a function of relative humidity (RH). Crystallinity pattern showed reflections from face centered cubic Ag and ZnO nanoparticles. The XRD peaks of the Ag–ZnO were attributed to the heterostructure and it agrees with SEM images showing Ag–ZnO isotopic and Ag–ZnO anisotropic under varying conditions. The study finds that sensitivity increases with relative humidity at a 10%RH interval. Ag‐ZnO sensor exhibits a higher sensitivity of 687Hz/%RH in comparison to ZnO nanosensor which has a maximum sensitivity of 324Hz/%RH. The increase in sensitvity of Ag‐ZnO can be attributed to the high surface area of absorption present in porous ZnO shell and the electrical capability of Ag core in transducing the water vapour absorbed into electrical signals. The Ag‐ZnO and ZnO sensor exhibits a fast response and recovery time of 54s and 73s, low hysteresis of 3.76%RH and 5.2%RH respectively. The result of the variation in resistance against relative humidity (RH) reveals a greater significant factor (SF) of 5.25 for Ag‐ZnO and 1,88 for ZnO. The hybrid of Ag‐ZnO nanocomposites proves to be a better humidity sensor and can serve as replacement for many other materials for humidity sensor currently in circulation in the market

In vitro and in vivo antioxidant potentials of Alchornea floribunda leaf extract, fractions and isolated bioactive compounds

Objective: Alchornea floribunda leaves are widely used in ethnomedicine for the management of immuno-inflammatory disorders. We investigated the in vivo and in vitro antioxidant activity of the leaf extract, fractions and isolated compounds of A. floribunda.Materials and Methods: The ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol leaf extract was subjected to several chromatographic separations to isolate compounds 1-4. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectrometry. Oxidative stress was induced with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Further analysis on the isolated phenolic compounds were done using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity tests.Results: The ethyl acetate fraction at 200 mg/kg produced significant (

Impacts of some divalent cations on periplasmic nitrate reductase and dehydrogenase enzymes of Escherichia, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species

The impacts of Hg2+, Cd2+ and Zn2+ on the activities of periplasmic nitrate reductase (NAP) and dehydrogenase (DHA) enzymes of three organisms isolated from soil and sediment-water interface were analysed in liquid culture studies. NAP and DHA activities were estimated from nitrite and triphenyl formazan were produced respectively after 4h incubation at 28 ± 2oC. Hg2+ completely inhibited NAP activity in Escherichia and Pseudomonas spp at all the concentrations (0.2 – 1mM) while progressive inhibitions of NAP activity were observed in Escherichia and Pseudomonas spp with increasing concentrations of Zn2+ and Cd2+. Both metals were stimulatory to NAP of Acinetobacter sp at 0.2 – 1mM. Apart from stimulation of DHA activity by Zn2+ (0.2 – 1mM) in Escherichia sp, Cd2+ (0.4 -1.0mM) in Acinetobacter sp and (1.0mM) in Pseudomonas sp, all the metals progressively inhibited DHA activities in the three organisms. In Escherichia sp, the activities of the two enzymes were negatively correlated on exposure to Zn2+ (r = -0.91) and positively correlated (r = >0.90) on exposure to Cd2+ and Hg2+. Based on IC50 values of the metals for the DHA and NAP enzymes, the most resistant of the three organisms were Escherichia sp and Acinetobacter sp respectively. Quantitatively, NAP with its lower IC50 values than DHA was a more sensitive toxicity measure for Hg2+ in all the organisms. The sensitivity of microbial metabolic enzymes to the toxic effects of metals varies with the type of enzyme, metal and the microorganism involved