Reflections of a Doctoral Research on Knowledge Management (KM) through an Afrocentric lens in a Nigerian Oil Corporation

This paper focuses on the reflections of a doctoral research that evaluated the challenges of the adoption and implementation of a knowledge management (KM) initiative through the experiences of the knowledge champions. The African/Nigerian socio-cultural view was used to explore the narrative accounts of the knowledge champions. A case study research was carried out using qualitative approaches. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used in data analysis. The findings demonstrated the ability to ground KM adoption within a socio-cultural specific context helped in making sense of the organizational KM experience. The paper serves as an academic expression to the current generation of KM researchers and practitioners of African/Nigerian descent and takes time to reflect on African/Nigerian socio-cultural realities in KM adoption. The use of African psychology steps outside of the limits of Western KM theory to evaluate the KM experiences in this organization. As such, it holds the promise of bridging a research gap that validates African/Nigerian indigenous KM practices in organizations

Electrodeless electro hydrodynamic printing of personalized drug dosages

There is compelling evidence that variability in drug efficacy in individuals depends on their genetic fingerprints. These observations have given rise to the concept of personalized therapy whose ultimate goal is to develop medicinal agents designed for each niche of the population and individual patients according to their genetic background. The drawback in current pharmaceutical technologies is that most processes are designed to target large population and are unable to meet the demand of small-scale manufacturing of tailored therapeutics with diverse range of physical properties. One of the major challenges lie in developing efficient and cost effective methods of manufacturing personalized treatments. Noncontact drop-on-demand (DOD) systems (i.e., drops are formed only as required) appear to be the most promising platform technology for small-scale manufacturing of personalized treatments. As a digital technology, DOD dosing is able to deposit precisely controlled amounts of material at exact locations without waste, rendering it especially attractive for use with expensive pharmaceutical products. It would provide the capability to form an individual dosage unit by printing a vast array of predefined amounts of therapeutics arranged in a specific pattern on a carrier substrate to achieve a desired drug release profile. However, current DOD methods developed for chemically and thermally stable, low-viscosity inks are of limited use for pharmaceuticals due to fundamentally different functional requirements. In this dissertation, a recently developed DOD method for gentle printing of personalized medicines is presented. To eliminate adverse effects of electrochemical reactions at the fluid-electrode interface, the fluid was infused into an electrically insulating nozzle to form a pendant drop that served as a floating electrode capacitively coupled to external electrodes. A short voltage pulse was applied to the electrodes to stretch the drop into a liquid bridge that broke up creating a sessile drop on the substrate which could be post-processed into a final dosage form. Versatility was proved in experiments on fluids spanning over three orders of magnitude in viscosity and electric conductivity. This method can be used for printing fluids of different physical properties in pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biotechnology applications. Model for pendant drop and scaling analysis which captured the essential physics of electrodless electrohyrodynamic drop dynamics is presented. This analysis describes the characteristics of the operating regimes and provides critical design guideline. To demonstrate the capability of electrodeless DOD for printing personalized dosages, assembled unit dosages were prepared by precisely loading porous hydroxy methylcellulose film matrix with controlled drops of model drugs dissolved in lowly volatile polyethylene glycol carrier. Dissolution tests were performed following United States Pharmacopeia (USP) protocol, and the drug release data was analyzed to identify the underlying drug release mechanisms from the assembled unit dosages. Data showed that the DOD method met the reproducibility requirement critical for content uniformity and that the porous film rapidly disintegrated resulting in instant release of drug which could be useful in fast orally dissolvable medicinal film dosage forms

Street littering in Nigerian towns: towards framework for sustainable urban cleanliness

An aspect of solid waste management that has become almost intractable to local authorities in Nigeria is street littering. In a study carried out across the country in April/May 2008, this paper tried to expose some of the major factors that contribute to street littering. Six thousand subjects living along 120 streets (6 streets per town) were interviewed in 20 towns in the six geopolitical zones of the country. Data was collected for a period of five days and were focused on several questions bordering on street littering (why they littered, what they littered, where they littered, etc.), and their personal information (age, sex, income status, educational levels etc.). Data was analysed using univariate and multivariate models. Results showed that the litter problem was quite intense in all the streets surveyed. The level of education, age and income of subjects were major determinants of their littering habit. We also found that subjects littered the streets for several reasons (absence of bins, inefficiencies of local authorities, ignorance, weak legislation, anger, stress, etc). Finally, the study presented a framework for a sustainable urban cleanliness in the country.Key Words: attitude, behaviour, cleanliness, littering, street, sustainable

Information for the Control of the Spread of HIV among Women in Nigeria- The Role of Public Libraries

HIV has been widely recognized as a pandemic defying decades of global efforts at producing a cure. At the inception of the disease, women were not as much affected as men. In recent times however, women are gradually becoming the “endangered species” as a result of the increased infection rate as well as the high mortality rate of women as a result of HIV/AIDS. In the absence of a cure coupled with the inadequate medical facilities and services being experienced in Nigeria, the best way to control the spread of the disease is information for its management and prevention. The public library is charged with the responsibility of making information available to the right people and at the right time, irrespective of their status, age, religious or educational background. This paper therefore examined the different reasons why women should be made the target of HIV prevention strategies and interventions. It also discussed the role of public libraries in curbing the spread of HIV among women and highlighted the different ways through which the women can be reached using different innovative information services. Keywords:HIV/AIDS, information, women, public librarie

Automation in Academic Libraries: An Evaluative Study of Two Nigerian Libraries

Automation is expected to embrace all the aspects of library operations, and these services fully made accessible online to library users. A lot of academic libraries are in different phases of automating their services. Most Nigerian academic libraries have not been able to automate all their operations due to varying factors. Thus library users are still unable to experience the ease of service expected through automation. The need to identify the aspects of library services and identify the factors impeding automation prompted this study. The study is significant to LIS study, Policy, theory and literature as it adds to literature on automation in Nigerian academic libraries. The design of the study was descriptive survey research. This study evaluated automation in the University of Uyo and Covenant University libraries. The structured questionnaire was used to collect data from all Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals working in these academic libraries. Data obtained was analysed using SPSS 15.0. The findings revealed that LIS professionals have a high degree of awareness of library automation in academic libraries. It was also discovered that only cataloguing and OPAC services have been partly automated at the University of Uyo Library, and although the ILS being used is web-based, the OPAC is not yet launched online. Conversely, all aspects of library services have been automated at the Centre of Learning Resources, Covenant University. In addition, it was also observed that the factors affecting the implementation of automation in academic libraries vary from one institution to the other. It was therefore recommended that Library and Information Science professionals should be encouraged to start experimenting with all the various modules embedded in the Library Management System for other library operations. It was equally recommended that they consult with other academic libraries with the same needs and brainstorm to identify how to meet the needs for more effective automation of library services

Motorable roads and transportation system in the agricultural zones of imo state, Nigeria: the missing factor in food production and distribution

Amidst the abundance of fertile agricultural land, it was observed that the availability of food has remained a major problem in many African nations. The agricultural zones of Imo State, Nigeria were used as a case study. A sample of 600 rural dwellers was used to find out the missing factor in food production and distribution. The result showed that lack of adequate transportation systems and infrastructure are responsible for the shortage of food. Also the youths have drifted to the urban areas leaving the rural areas to the mercy of the aging population who do not have enough strength to sustain the traditional farming system. It is recommended that motorable roads especially farm to market roads be constructed. Also modes of transport that can go into the farmlands like “Kekenapep”, buses, taxis should be made available to ease the problem of transporting improved seedlings and agricultural products. Improving the water transportation, providing credit facilities as well as development of markets and agro-allied industries will go a long way to improve the production and distribution of food in Nigeria. Keywords: Motorable roads, Transportation development, Agricultural zones, Rural areas, Food security

Sanitation Indicators in the Rural Communities of the South-Eastern Nigeria: Additional Evidence of Policy Failure in Rural Development

The study tried to examine the conditions or rural sanitation in the South-East region of Nigeria. The objective is to investigate the prevailing situation of sanitation indicators as a way of evaluating national policy outcomes in the sector. Copies of a well-structured questionnaire containing pertinent questions on socio-economic and key sanitation variables were distributed to 1062 subjects in rural communities of the five South East states of Nigeria. After collation and analysis, results showed that the problem of rural sanitation in the region is poorly understood: policy-makers have consistently focused on the improvement of water supply and public toilets at the detriment of other sanitation variables. Consequently, the study recorded poor results on personal hygiene (25%), disposal of household refuse (49.9%), water treatment before drinking (4.8%), anal cleaning with leaves/grass after toilet (18.3%), non washing of hand after toilet (55.5%) etc. The high willingness expressed by subjects to improve their sanitation (88%) shows that the major problem of sanitation in the area remains that of promotion rather than administration. These poor results on sanitation indicators in the region , the vanguard of rural development in Nigeria, have come as an additional evidence to the long list of failures recorded in the implementation of rural development policies in Nigeria.Key Words: development, failure, indicators, policy, rural, sanitatio

Electrochemical deposition of CdTe semiconductor thin films for solar cell application using two-electrode and three-electrode configurations: a comparative study

Thin films of CdTe semiconductor were electrochemically deposited using two-electrode and three-electrode configurations in potentiostatic mode for comparison. Cadmium sulphate and tellurium dioxide were used as cadmium and tellurium sources respectively. The layers obtained using both configurations exhibit similar structural, optical and electrical properties with no specific dependence on any particular electrode configuration used. These results indicate that electrochemical deposition (electrodeposition) of CdTe, and semiconductors in general, can equally be carried out using two-electrode system as well as the conventional three-electrode system without compromising the essential qualities of the materials produced. The results also highlight the advantages of the two-electrode configuration in process simplification, cost reduction and removal of a possible impurity source in the growth system especially as the reference electrode ages. Keywords: Electrochemical deposition; two-electrode system; three-electrode system; CdTe; thin-films; solar cells

Investigation of the Effects of Varying Copper Concentrations on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium

The effects of varying Cu concentrations on the mechanical properties of pure Al has been investigated. Seven samples of Al-Cu alloy systems with copper concentrations 0.0%,2.5%,5.0%,7.5%,10.0%,12.5% and 15.0% by wt% labelled A, B,C,D,E, F, and G respectively were fabricated and subjected to hardness, tensile strength, yield strength, and ductility tests, optical microstructural examinations were carried out on each of the samples. Results showed that the tensile strength and hardness of the Al alloy samples increased with increase in copper concentration for all the samples, while the yield strength increased progressively from samples A to E and remained constant for samples E to G. However, the ductility of the samples decreased with increase in copper concentrations. The microstructural examinations of the alloy samples revealed a decrease in the grain boundaries of Al-Cu alloy samples with an increase in copper concentrations. This resulted to an increase in the hardness, tensile strength, yield strength, and decrease in ductility as copper concentration increased. It can be concluded, that the mechanical properties of Al can be altered with a systematic increase in copper concentration within the experimented samples

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF OPEN ACCESS INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

This paper analyzed the growth of open access institutional repositories in Nigeria over the last 10 years. OpenDoar website is a directory of all open access institutional repositories in the world. It is a quality-assured global directory that enables the identification, browsing and search for repositories. OpenDoar was analyzed to get statistics of institutional repositories in Nigeria based on such parameters as: Type, Status, software, total number of records, subject covered and content uploaded. The study revealed that over the last 10 years (2009-2019) a total of 25 open access institutional repositories have been created. Findings also show that a total of 68,610 items have been uploaded in the 25 open access repositories in Nigeria since their creation till date with University of Nigeria, Nsukka having the highest upload of 23,367 items. Dspace software was found as the preferred Software for most of the repositories. The study also revealed that most of the institutional repositories are multidisciplinary. The study recommended among other things that Institutional repositories should be made a prerequisite for Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation and funding should be made available to set up functional Institutional repositories in Nigeria