FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

Advances in the financial system have been acclaimed to improve economic growth, drawing from theories of the latter. This study set out to test this hypothesis with respect to financial institutions and markets in the two largest economies of Sub-Saharan Africa. Economic growth for both countries is measured by gross domestic product annual growth, as the explained variable. Financial development is measured by institutions and markets. The dependent variable by financial institutions includes money supply, bank branches, interest rate spread, and bank capital to asset ratio. For financial markets, market capitalization, traded value excluding top 10 traded companies to total traded value, market turnover, and stock price volatility. Data is obtained from the World Bank for both countries. Two models are developed, one for each country. For analysis, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test, and autoregressive distributive lag are employed. The results indicated that of all variables considered only money supply (financial depth by the institution) had a significant, yet negative influence on economic growth in Nigeria. No dimension of financial development is related to output in the long term for South Africa. The study inferred that financial development in both countries is yet to advance sufficiently to make desired effect on economic growth. Expansion of financial institution market and institutions in the form of exchange growth scheme (for small and medium businesses) and rural bank branching was recommended by the study

ARIMA Modeling of Nigeria Crude Oil Production

This study discussed the ARIMA Model for crude oil production in Nigeria from January 2006 to March 2015. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that the quantity of crude oil produced determines the quantity to be either refined and sold or exported as crude which is the main stay of the Nigerian economy. Having a pre knowledge of the quantity of crude oil that may be produced with adequate budgeting can help the country have a viable economy. Multiplicative SARIMA (1,1,1)(0,1,1)12 model was proposed as the best model to be fitted to the crude oil production data. The forecast values from the fitted model agreed with the actual values therefore suggesting that the model could be used for forecasting future quantity of crude oil that may be produced in the country. Keywords: ARIMA model, Seasonality, Differencing, Crude oil Production

IP Tunneling and Stateless DHCPv6 Implementation in an Enterprise Network

IPv4 has so many limitations such as limited assignable addresses, complex subnetting structure, and inefficient employment of NAT among others. It is because of these shortcomings of IPv4 that IPv6 protocol was introduced. IPv6 increases efficiency in routing and packet processing, promotes a simplified network configuration, supports new services and adds to the improvement QoS by reducing latency during packet transfer. There is therefore a need to move to the IPv6 platform. However, such a process is not automatic but deliberate and requires dealing with the current complexities of the IPv4 network. Tunneling is one of the common ways of transiting from IPv4 to IPv6 and vice versa. In this paper we simulated an IPv6to4 tunnel using cisco packet tracer and GNS software. It was shown that tunneling is a possibility and an effective step to preserving IPv4 infrastructure investments towards migrating from IPv4 to IPv6

Treatment patterns and outcomes in patients with Pancoast tumors: a national cancer database analysis

Background: Pancoast tumors represent 5% of non-small cell lung cancers. Complete surgical resection and no lymph node involvement are important positive prognostic factors. Previous literature has identified neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment, followed by surgical resection, as the standard of care. But many institutions choose upfront surgery. Our goal was to identify the treatment patterns and outcomes in patients with node-negative Pancoast tumors using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Methods: The NCDB was queried from 2004 through 2017 to identify all patients who had undergone surgery for a Pancoast tumor. Treatment patterns, including the percentage of patients who received neoadjuvant treatment, were recorded. Logistic regression and survival analyses were used to determine outcomes based on different treatment patterns. Secondary analyses were performed on the cohort who received upfront surgery. Results: A total of 2,910 patients were included in the study. Overall 30- and 90-day mortality were 3% and 7% respectively. Only 25% (717/2,910) of the group received neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment prior to surgery. Patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment experienced significantly improved 90-day survival (P\u3c0.01) and overall survival (P\u3c0.01). When analyzing the cohort who received upfront surgery, there was a statistically significant difference in survival based on adjuvant treatment pattern (P\u3c0.01). Patients in this group who received adjuvant chemoradiation had the best survival, whereas patients who received adjuvant radiation only or no treatment had the worst outcomes. Conclusions: Patients with Pancoast tumors receive neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment in only a quarter of cases nationally. Patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment had improved survival compared to patients who had upfront surgery. Similarly, when surgery is performed first, adjuvant chemoradiation treatment improved survival compared to other adjuvant strategies. These results suggest underutilization of neoadjuvant treatment for patients with node-negative Pancoast tumors. Future studies with a more clearly defined cohort are needed to assess the treatment patterns being utilized on patients with node-negative Pancoast tumors. It will be beneficial to see whether neoadjuvant treatment for Pancoast tumors has increased in recent years

Design and Implementation of an Iris Biometric Door Access Control System

Over the years, security has soared in importance as concerned individuals, companies and organizations continue to implement measures to improve the security of lives and properties. Door-access control is a physical security system that secures a room or building by limiting access to specific people and keeping records of such accesses. The significance of iris technology among others, for security and access control applications are numerous. In terms of physical security, iris technology is already making inroads into the access control market because of the reliability of its authentication process. In this paper, the researchers present an aspect of the system relating to the design and construction of an iris biometric door access control. The system was developed as a means of getting into a specified area by securing the door and limiting access. The database created contains the particulars of those allowed access in order to work in tandem with the mandatory iris authentication process. The implemented design worked satisfactorily

Effects of Household Waste Generation, Disposal and Management on Farmers’ Health in Owerri Metropolis of IMO State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effects of household waste generation, disposal and management on farmers' health in Owerri metropolis. It specifically ascertained the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, identified the types and sources of waste in the study area, examined the waste disposal and management methods in the study area examined the effects of inappropriate waste disposal and ascertained the appropriate waste disposal methods used in the study area. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and eight farmers from the three Local Government Area in Owerri metropolis. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics tool such as mean, frequency, percentage, and mean scores. Results show that waste is majorly generated from markets and residential homes. Waste disposal methods were mainly burning, landfills and open dumping. Its effects includes destroys the beauty of the environment, blocks gutters and drainage system, pollutes the environment among others. Subsequently, appropriate waste disposal methods in the study area includes burning of waste (29.17%), placing of bins at appropriate places (16.07%). The study recommends amongst others that waste management environmental agency should make waste dumps or receptacles accessible to residents, public campaigns should be embarked upon to educate the citizens on ills of dirty environment

Cloud Computing and Internet of Things: Issues and Developments

Cloud computing is a pervasive paradigm that is growing by the day. Various service types are gaining increased importance. Internet of things is a technology that is developing. It allows connectivity of both smart and dumb systems over the internet. Cloud computing will continue to be relevant to IoT because of scalable services available on the cloud. Cloud computing is the need for users to procure servers, storage, and applications. These services can be paid for and utilized using the various cloud service providers. Clearly, IoT which is expected to connect everything to everyone, requires not only connectivity but large storage that can be made available either through on-premise or off-premise cloud facility. On the other hand, events in the cloud and IoT are dynamic. This paper aims to provide an understanding of cloud and IoT. In addition, the paper discusses current trends in terms of industry activities. It also examines the prospects of cloud and IoT trends in cloud application management. This will be of benefit to prospective cloud users and even cloud providers