Paleo-environmental deduction from pebble morphometry and textural studies of sandstone deposits of Isuochi and Environs, Anambra Basin, South Eastern Nigeria

Textural analysis and pebble morphomentric were carried out on the sandstone deposits of Isuochi area in Anambra Basin, in an attempt to  reconstruct the paleoenvironment of deposition. Field observation shows that the sandstone samples, collected from various locations were  analyzed for sieve analysis, while two hundred fresh quartz pebbles that are greater than 2.00mm in diameter were collected for pebble  morphomentric. Morphomentric parameters include; elongation ratio, flatness index, oblate index, and maximum projection sphericity were computed. Bivariate plots of Maximum Projection Sphericity against Oblate Prolate Index show that about 69% of the pebbles are of fluvial origin,while 31% is surf, bivariate plots of Flatness Index against Maximum Projection Sphericity show that about 57% is of fluvial origin, while 43% show surf; these imply that the associated pebbles are of fluvial origin. Bivariate plots of sandstone textural parameters such as skewness against standard deviation also suggest that the sediments are more of fluvial origin while multivariate parameter shows partly shallow marine  environment. Keywords: Pebble Morphometry, Oblate-Prolate Index, Paleoenvironment

The Effect of Information Communication Technology and Financial Innovation on Performance on Nigerian Commercial Banks (2001 – 2013)

This study examined the Impact of Information and Communication Technology and financial innovation on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria, using conveniently selected eleven Commercial Banks in the country. The study used the banks’ annual data and Central Bank of Nigeria facts book over the period 2001 to 2013. The study applied ordinary least square (OLS) in its analysis to ascertain the impact of E-Banking services and ATM on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The findings of the study indicate that an increase in banks’ profitability performance increases commercial banks’ Return on Equity (ROE). Investments in e banking services and ATMs do not really improve banks’ performance. The study recommends among other things that more emphasis should be on corporate governance and policies that will increase proper and efficient utilization of financial innovation gadgets rather than simply acquiring additional investments. Keywords: e-banking, Information Communication Technology, and Automated Teller machine

The Effect of Information Communication Technology and Financial Innovation on Performance on Nigerian Commercial Banks (2001 – 2013)

This study examined the Impact of Information and Communication Technology and financial innovation on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria, using conveniently selected eleven Commercial Banks in the country. The study used the banks’ annual data and Central Bank of Nigeria facts book over the period 2001 to 2013. The study applied ordinary least square (OLS) in its analysis to ascertain the impact of E-Banking services and ATM on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The findings of the study indicate that an increase in banks’ profitability performance increases commercial banks’ Return on Equity (ROE). Investments in e banking services and ATMs do not really improve banks’ performance. The study recommends among other things that more emphasis should be on corporate governance and policies that will increase proper and efficient utilization of financial innovation gadgets rather than simply acquiring additional investments. Keywords: e-banking, Information Communication Technology, and Automated Teller machine

Revisiting Efficient Multi-Step Nonlinearity Compensation with Machine Learning: An Experimental Demonstration

Efficient nonlinearity compensation in fiber-optic communication systems is considered a key element to go beyond the "capacity crunch''. One guiding principle for previous work on the design of practical nonlinearity compensation schemes is that fewer steps lead to better systems. In this paper, we challenge this assumption and show how to carefully design multi-step approaches that provide better performance--complexity trade-offs than their few-step counterparts. We consider the recently proposed learned digital backpropagation (LDBP) approach, where the linear steps in the split-step method are re-interpreted as general linear functions, similar to the weight matrices in a deep neural network. Our main contribution lies in an experimental demonstration of this approach for a 25 Gbaud single-channel optical transmission system. It is shown how LDBP can be integrated into a coherent receiver DSP chain and successfully trained in the presence of various hardware impairments. Our results show that LDBP with limited complexity can achieve better performance than standard DBP by using very short, but jointly optimized, finite-impulse response filters in each step. This paper also provides an overview of recently proposed extensions of LDBP and we comment on potentially interesting avenues for future work.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Author version of a paper published in the Journal of Lightwave Technology. OSA/IEEE copyright may appl

Effectiveness of Treatment Outcomes of Public Private Mix Tuberculosis Control Program in Eastern Nigeria

Effective tuberculosis treatment has been shown to have significant effect on the control of tuberculosis. Completion of treatment of active cases is therefore the most important priority of tuberculosis control programmes. Descriptive statistics with a retrospective cohort study design used to analyze secondary data set (2007-2010) of patients accessing TB-DOTS treatment in two facilities (Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH and Department of Health Services Tuberculosis and Leprosy  Control Unit Nnewi North Local Government Area (L.G.A.) Secretariat, DHSTLCU ) as public health facilities and other two facilities ( Immaculate Heart of Catholic Church Hospital, IHCCH  and Diocesan Anglican Communion Hospital, DACH) as private health facilities in Nnewi North L.G.A., Anambra State. Gender of patients were male: female 54%(1016 patients) : 46% (883 patients) and 53%(63 patients) : 47%(56 patients) in public and private health facilities respectively . Using WHO (1996) standards the health facilities adjudged as efficient were: in 2007, private facilities using the indicator  of treatment failure rate; private facilities using the indicator of death rate;  public facilities and private facilities using  the indicator of transfer-out rate ; public facilities using the indicator of  treatment completion rate. In 2008, effective health facilities were: private health facilities using the indicator of failure rate; public and private health facilities using the indicator of transfer-out rate; private facilities using the indicator of treatment completion rate. In 2009, effective health facilities were public and private health facilities using indicator of treatment failure rate; public and private health facilities using the indicator of death rate; public and private facilities using the indicator of transfer out; public and private facilities using the indicator of treatment completion rate. In 2010, effective health facilities were: private health facilities using the indicator of  cure rate; private facilities using the indicator of death rate ; public and private facilities using the indicator of transfer-out; public facilities using the indicator of treatment completion rate. In conclusion, private health facilities were more effective than public health facilities  by the several indicators over the four year period.  Future research is needful to use primary and secondary data sets in assessment of TB control program effectiveness; technical efficiency assessment using non-parametric statistics will assess the validity of assessing effectiveness using only the WHO standards; identify centre-specific factors associated with poor treatment outcome; institutionalizing a reward system for effective TB-DOTS facilities will engender healthy competition in the Public Private Mix for sustained effectiveness; the Monitoring and Evaluation tools especially the treatment card for data capture should be improved upon for comprehensiveness of patients socio-economic history. Keywords: Tuberculosis, Effectiveness, Treatments Outcomes, Public Private Mi

Sentimentality or speculation? Diaspora investment, crisis economies and urban transformation

This article explores political and moral economies of diasporic investment in urban property. It challenges uncritical policy discourses on migrant investment that romanticise transnational family and entrepreneurial networks by assuming diasporic social embeddedness, mutual trust, risk-reduction and socio-economic benefits, often founded in neo-liberal assumptions. The article elaborates alternate starting propositions emphasising the conflicting interests and predatory business practices that characterise informalised state governance and episodes of crisis. It stresses the importance of understanding changing regulatory regimes over finance and urban property. Migrants’ desires need to be scrutinised in relation to those of a range of other actors who cannot be assumed to have convergent interests – including relatives, investment advisors, money transfer companies, estate agents, property developers. The article takes the case of hyperinflationary Zimbabwe, where remittances from the displaced middle classes not only provided essential familial support, but were also materialised in urban real estate, contributing to inflated property prices and a residential construction boom in the capital city. Diasporic investors were vulnerable to fraud due to the combination of effects of fantasies of successful return to dream homes and irregular regimes for remittances and property. But there were notable speculative opportunities for those with government connections. New diaspora suburbs and homes that have transformed the landscape of the Harare periphery stand as material testimony to the intersection of emigré sentimentality and the speculative informalised economy of the crisis years

The role of zoonotic and parasitic agent in bioterrorism the need for biosecurity and biosafety standard and compliance in Nigeria

As a result of new world era of terrorism in 21st century; terrorist have employed different types of weapons to kill and maim people in soft targets. The risk posed by biological agents as a weapon needs evaluation both historical and technological for a better understanding. From historical and technological point of view biological agents are more dangerous and more devastating than other weapons of warfare. The relative ease of production and readily available sources of acquisition coupled with the technical know-how encourages the proliferation of biological weapons. This paper focuses on the role of biological agents (zoonoses and parasites) in bioterrorism the need for biosafety standard compliance to further reduce threat on biosecurity in Nigeria and Africa in general. The threat and antics of bioterrorism is very important and must be taken seriously by all nations.Keywords: Biosecurity, Zoonotic, Parasitic agent, Bioterrorism, Biosafety, Nigeri

DETERMINATION OF THE CALORIFIC VALUE OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE IN ENUGU, NIGERIA AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION

The work aimed at determination of calorific value of  municipal solid waste in Enugu, Nigeria and its potential for electricity generation. Random truck sampling was used according to American Society of Test and Material (ASTM)  in the collection of samples at Ugwuaji landfill site, Enugu, Nigeria and calorific value was determined using oxygen bomb calorimeter. Enugu has a present  population of 882,178 and the amount of municipal solid waste  generated in Enugu was  estimated to be 420 tonnes daily and this resulted in waste generation rate of   0.48kg/capita/day. The average composition of the municipal solid waste  was 39% putrescible, 11% paper, 21% plastics, 5% textile, and 2% metal, 3% glass and 19% others. The average moisture content Volatile matter content, Ash content and Fixed Carbon Content  of  the waste stream were 38.28%, 47.48%, 2.58% and 13.25% respectively.  The gross calorific value was obtained   as 5655837600kJ/day which is equivalent to 1571066kWh/day .This energy is equivalent to about 2.16% of the total annual Electricity used in Enugu and would result in an annual saving of US$ 560 Thousand in case of utilization, giving an alternative to the unsteady supply of electricity and ensuring a hygienic, clean and aesthetically friendly environment. The results of this research show that energy recovery is a feasible option as part of an integrated solid waste management plan in Enugu, Nigeria. However, it is recommended to perform a detailed economic analysis before making a decision on such option

Maternal and fetal outcome after a prolonged latent phase of labour

Context: Prolonged latent phase of labour is reportedly associated with labour dystocia and neonatal morbidity. There are few published work on prolonged latent phase and none from this environment. Objective: To determine if prior labour ward admission with prolonged latent is a predictor of labour dystocia and neonatal morbidity. Methods: The course and outcome of active phase labour in One hundred and twenty-eight patients with a prior prolonged latent phase was compared with 896 patients who went into active phase labour without a prolonged latent phase. Relevant data was retrieved from the departmental obstetric data bank.Outcome measures: Labour augmentation, Caesarean section and instrumental delivery rates, Apgar scores and neonatal hospital admission. Results: Labour augmentation and Caesarean rates were higher and labour was longer among the cases than controls. (50.5 vs 36.4%: P=0.0001, 27.3 vs 7.0%: P=0001 and 7.6 vs 6.2 hrs: P=0.0028 respectively). Blood loss at delivery was more and neonatal hospital admission was more frequent among the cases than controls.Conclusion: Prolonged latent phase of labour is a predictor of labour dystocia and neonatal morbidity.Keywords: outcome, maternal, fetal, prolonged latent phase of labourTropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Vol. 22(2) 2005: 171-17

A blinded clinical study using a subepidermal moisture biocapacitance measurement device for early detection of pressure injuries.

This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of subepidermal moisture (SEM), a biomarker employed for early detection of pressure injuries (PI), compared to the Gold Standard of clinical skin and tissue assessment (STA), and to characterize the timing of SEM changes relative to the diagnosis of a PI. This blinded, longitudinal, prospective clinical study enrolled 189 patients (n = 182 in intent-to-treat [ITT]) at acute and post-acute sites (9 USA, 3 UK). Data were collected from patients\u27 heels and sacrums using a biocapacitance measurement device beginning at admission and continuing for a minimum of 6 days to: (a) the patient developing a PI, (b) discharge from care, or (c) a maximum of 21 days. Standard of care clinical interventions prevailed, uninterrupted. Principal investigators oversaw the study at each site. Blinded Generalists gathered SEM data, and blinded Specialists diagnosed the presence or absence of PIs. Of the ITT population, 26.4% developed a PI during the study; 66.7% classified as Stage 1 injuries, 23% deep tissue injuries, the remaining being Stage 2 or Unstageable. Sensitivity was 87.5% (95% CI: 74.8%-95.3%) and specificity was 32.9% (95% CI: 28.3%-37.8%). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.6713 (95% CI 0.5969-0.7457, P \u3c .001). SEM changes were observed 4.7 (± 2.4 days) earlier than diagnosis of a PI via STA alone. Latency between the SEM biomarker and later onset of a PI, in combination with standard of care interventions administered to at-risk patients, may have confounded specificity. Aggregate SEM sensitivity and specificity and 67.13% AUC exceeded that of clinical judgment alone. While acknowledging specificity limitations, these data suggest that SEM biocapacitance measures can complement STAs, facilitate earlier identification of the risk of specific anatomies developing PIs, and inform earlier anatomy-specific intervention decisions than STAs alone. Future work should include cost-consequence analyses of SEM informed interventions