An Error Correction Model Analysis of the Determinant of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Nigeria.

This study used Granger causality and then error correction model to investigate the determinants of foreign direct investment inflow to Nigeria during the period 1970 – 2009. The results show that causality runs from government policy, fiscal incentives, availability of natural resources and trade openness to FDI without reverse or feed back effect. The parsimonious result of the error correction model reveals that past foreign investment flows could significantly stimulate current investment inflows. Also, while inadequate natural resources reduce the inflow of FDI, fiscal incentives, favorable government policy, exchange rate and infrastructural development are found to be a positive and significant function of FDI in Nigeria. Market size (at lags 2 and 3) and trade openness are positively signed while political risk is negatively signed. These variables, however impact insignificantly on FDI. Thus, fiscal incentives, favorable government policy and infrastructural development are positive predictors of FDI inflows and should be used as policy instruments. In the light of these findings, recommendations such as government, improving on the country’s market size through its monetary and fiscal policy and revitalizing the agricultural sector for extraction of raw materials were made.foreign direct investment, error correction model, determinants of FDI, natural resources, fiscal incentives, trade openness

Soundness and unsoundness of banking sector in Nigeria: a discriminant analytical approach.

This paper set out to determine the factors that discriminate most in the classification of banks into sound and unsound position using method of discriminant analysis. Data used were sourced from the annual report of the Nigerian deposit and insurance corporation. The findings revealed the order of severity of institutional factors that could lead to bank distress. The none performing loans to total loans contributed about 53.4% of the total discriminant scores while capital to risk weighted asset contributed 19 percent to the group separation of the discriminant function. Others, gross loan to deposit ratio (with 14.34%), average liquidity ratio (with 9.25%) and insured deposit to total deposit (with 3.76%) made little discriminating contributions while the rest of the variables made insignificant contributions. Thus, by this reason of contribution, the 25% non scientifically determined (and subjective based judgment) component weight attached to asset quality in the CAMEL rating should be increased to at least 1/3 (30%) of the total weight components since its components are found to dominate the discriminant score.Soundness, Unsoundness, Bank Distress, Non Performing Loan, Capital to Risk Weighted Assets, CAMEL, Discriminant Analysis

Effects of NIOMR smoking kiln and oven on the crude protein, minerals and vitamins of catfish Clarias gariepinus

The effects of two different preservative methods, NIOMR Smoking Kiln and Oven drying on Crude Protein minerals and Vitamin of clarias gariepinus were studied. Clarias gariepinus were obtained from the fish farm of African Regional Aquaculture Centre, Aluu, Port Harcourt. The crude protein, minerals and vitamins of the fresh fish were determined immediately while two other batches were separately dried using oven at 50~'C for 30minutes and NIOMR Smoking Kiln at 70~'C for 3 hours. Result of the crude protien of fresh fish was 21.84 ~c 1.10 which increased to 59.53 ~c 1.88 and 35.41 ~c 1.00 in both NIOMR smoking and oven, respectively. This means that, there was a significant different in both dryers on the crude protein. This will improve the knowledge and capacity of rural women and agricultural communities on the appropriate processing method for fish. The mineral and vitamins of oven dried and NIOMR Smoking kiln were analyzed. The vitamin content of both the fish, dried and smoking kiln shows no significant different except in vitamin A which was significant (p<0.05).There was significant different (p<0.05) in the mineral content of the two different drying method except in sodium, Potassium and Phosphorus of the drying method. This result indicates that the two drying methods have effects on the nutritional quality of catfish

SOCIAL MEDIA MILITATES AGAINST DEVELOPMENT OF SELF DISCIPLINE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Social media have without doubts added to the on-the-spot interaction among people at close ranges and among those at different ends of the world. The success of modern day business, education and socialization of all sorts give much credit to the use of social media. However, the rate at which young adults love and use social networking is raising a concern. Indications abound that with their cell phones always connected to the Internet, they seem to be on the verge of addiction to the use of social media. So this article evaluates how much the simultaneous use of social media and receiving lectures has helped young adults in Nigerian universities improve their studies, develop their personalities and grow in emotional intelligence and balance. The article would more importantly study the long-term effect of the alleged youths’ addiction to social media on the struggle to develop self-discipline. Related literature on the topic under study would be explored to have a feel of scholarly opinions. Sampling interviews would equally be conducted on phone among some Nigerian university students. Theoretical framework on Internet addiction would be applied to find out why young adults could lose their bearing by, in spite of the benefits of, the use of social media. Suggestions would be made based on the process of the development of self-discipline and focused personality and their benefits in facing life challenges that would surely come.&nbsp

Multimedia technology: a vital instrument for music composition

Music composition over the years has continued to be a much dreaded course of study by so many Nigerian students of Music in tertiary institutions. Through the interview conducted in this study, it was discovered that the students’ fear of the course stems from its abstractness or rather as a result of the erroneous belief that it is a very complex area of specialization to venture into, in music pedagogy. This study is aimed at disabusing the minds of the students of music from this xenophobic wrong impression and by creating an enabling mind-set and interest in music composition through this expository study on the multimedia technology as a vital instrument in music composition. A simple observation and comparison of the old manual system of music composition/notation with the new computer-assisted multimedia system reveals that the computer-assisted multimedia method is much better in terms of facility as well as performing numerous tasks than the old system and it is therefore recommended for compositional and notational purposes. Participation, interview, observation and literature review were the research methods employed for this study.Keywords: Multimedia, Technology, Music, Compositio

Implementation Of Strategic Management: The Challenges And Implications For Organizational Change

Creativity and innovation is the new game plan inherent in strategic management. Only the discerning organizations can manage the changes and vagaries through the implementation of effective strategic management. This article examines the concept of strategic management and its implication for organizational effectiveness in line with the trend of globalization. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 95-11

Larval aggregation and competition for resources in populations of Lucilia sericata and Phormia regina

Blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are commonly used to estimate the post mortem interval of unattended death when this interval is greater than 48 hours. This estimate utilizes the developmental biology and behaviour of these first arriving insects. Female blow flies typically engage in aggregated egg laying, resulting in larval feeding masses once the eggs hatch. These masses often vary in density and species composition and have the potential to impact fitness through different species interactions. This research studies the effects of temperature, density, species interactions and mechanisms of coexistence of two forensically significant blow flies Lucilia sericata Meigen and Phormia regina Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The density and developmental temperatures experienced by the larvae during development was manipulated in the presence of conspecifics (chapter 2) and hetero-specifics (chapter 3) in the laboratory. Several life history traits were measured; survival, development time and adult body size. The results of this study indicated that the life history traits measured exhibited plasticity with varying temperature, blow flies had decreased survival and adult body size at high developmental temperatures. Blow flies had increased survival and adult body size with density at 15℃ decreased adult body size with density at 25℃ and decreased survival and adult body size with density at 35℃. Phormia regina had higher survival when developing with in the presence of Lucilia sericata at 25℃ and 35℃. Both blow flies had larger adult body size while developing in the presence of each other at 25℃ and 15℃ perhaps due to the presence of compounds secreted during larval feeding that aid in digestion and increase nutrient availability

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Energy Consumption by Nigerian Households

Master's thesis in Global Development and Planning (UT505)To actualize the SDGs by 2030, it is imperative to assess the successes of nations (especially developing ones) in achieving the set goals. One of such goals is guaranteeing access to dependable, friendly and inexpensive energy for all. Although energy is an essential need of every household, many households in Nigeria are deprived of contemporary energy access. This study aims at ascertaining the prevalence of energy deprivation, the determinants of energydeprivation, energy choices and intensity of energy consumption in Nigeria

Investigating nuclear transport proteins as secreted cancer biomarkers

Previous studies in our laboratory using microarray gene expression analysis identified members of the nuclear transport protein family as significantly upregulated in cervical cancer biopsies compared to normal cervical epithelial tissues. These results were validated at both mRNA and protein levels, and similar upregulation observed in oesophageal cancer. Recent mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of cancer cell secreted proteins identified elevated levels of 13 members of the nuclear transport protein family in the secretomes of transformed, cervical cancer and oesophageal cancer cell lines. The nuclear transport proteins have functions in many cellular processes including proliferation, mitosis, maturation of RNA, activation of the actin cytoskeleton and restructuring of the nuclear envelope. In addition, they are required for the nuclear import and export of numerous cargo proteins such as transcription factors, oncoproteins and kinases, which often display deregulated activity in cancer cells. The aims of this study were to 1) independently validate the MS data showing elevated levels of the nuclear transport proteins in the secretomes of cervical and oesophageal cancer cell lines, 2) investigate the diagnostic potential of members of the nuclear transport protein family using cervical and oesophageal cancer serum samples and 3) identify the potential binding partners of Kpnβ1, a key member of the nuclear transport protein family, in normal and cancer cells. This study investigated the levels of endogenous expression and secretion of 8 members of the nuclear transport protein family; Kpnβ1, IPO5, IPO7, TNPO1, CRM1, CAS, Kpnα2 and Ran in a normal epithelial cell line (hTERT-RPE1) in comparison to transformed (SVWI38 and CT-1), cervical cancer (HeLa and CaSki) and oesophageal cancer (WHCO5 and KYSE 30) cell lines using Western blot analysis. Our data revealed differential endogenous expression in the cell lines. An analysis of the secretomes of the cell lines showed that all 8 proteins assayed were secreted at elevated levels by the transformed, cervical cancer and oesophageal cancer cell lines compared to the normal cell line. These results validate previous MS data generated in our laboratory. To investigate whether members of this protein family can be detected in the serum of cancer patients, ELISA for Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS proteins were performed using commercially available ELISA kits. The results showed significantly elevated levels of Kpnβ1, CRM1 and CAS in the serum of cervical cancer patients compared to the non-cancer controls. Serum levels of Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS were elevated in the oesophageal cancer patients compared to the non-cancer controls. To investigate the diagnostic potential of these proteins, logistics regression analysis was performed. Our results showed that CAS was the best performing individual candidate biomarker in discriminating between cervical cancer cases and non-cancer controls. It had the highest AUC (0.85±0.03) and highest sensitivity (55%) at 95% specificity compared to those of Kpnβ1 (AUC=0.77±0.04 with 35% sensitivity at 95% specificity), CRM1 (AUC=0.64±0.05 with 20% sensitivity at 95% specificity) and Kpnα2 (AUC=0.51±0.05 with <10% sensitivity at 95% specificity). The combination of Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS as a panel of biomarkers had an improved AUC of 0.89 with a sensitivity of 100% at 60% specificity. In discriminating oesophageal cancer cases from the non-cancer controls, CAS (AUC=0.86±0.03 with 56% sensitivity at 95% specificity) similarly performed better compared to Kpnβ1 (AUC=0.62±0.05 with 15% sensitivity at 95% specificity), CRM1 (AUC=0.75±0.04 with 32% sensitivity at 95% specificity) and Kpnα2 (AUC=0.73±0.04 with 21% sensitivity at 95% specificity). The combination of Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS as a panel of biomarkers had the highest diagnostic capacity with an AUC of 0.90 and 84% sensitivity at 86% specificity. These results suggest that individual members of the nuclear transport protein family have potential as diagnostic biomarkers for both cervical and oesophageal cancers, with a combination of Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS being the best predictor. Our investigation aimed at identifying the binding partners of Kpnβ1 in normal, cervical cancer and oesophageal cancer cell lines using immunoprecipitation coupled to mass spectrometry (IP-MS) identified 100 potential Kpnβ1 binding partners in hTERT-RPE1 normal cell extracts, 179 in HeLa cervical cancer cell extracts, 147 in WHCO5 cell extracts and 176 in KYSE30 oesophageal cancer cell extracts. Venn Dis JavaFX-based Venn and Euler diagram software was used to identify common and unique Kpnβ1 binding partners. 38 proteins were identified as common binding partners of Kpnβ1 in normal and cancer cells and 56 common binding partners of Kpnβ1 in the three cancer cell lines. Of these, 18 proteins were found to be unique to the three cancer cell lines and of these, 10 could be linked via protein-protein interaction mapping using STRING bioinformatic analysis. These include nucleoporin 214 (Nup214), Prem RNA 3'-end-processing factor FIP1 (FIP1L1), cell division cycle and apoptosis regulator 1 (CCAR1), cleavage and polyadenylation specific factor 7 (CPSF7), ribosomal protein L7 (RPL7), ribosomal protein L10 (RPL10), ribosomal protein L13A (RPL13A), ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6), ribosomal protein S4, X isoform (RPS4X) and Ras-related nuclear protein (Ran). Among these, FIP1L1, CCAR1 and CPSF7 have not been previously described as binding partners of Kpnβ1. In conclusion, elevated levels of nuclear transport proteins in the extracellular environment of cancer cells and in cancer patient serum samples suggest that they have potential as diagnostic biomarkers for cervical and oesophageal cancers, with a combination of Kpnβ1, CRM1, Kpnα2 and CAS being the best predictor. In addition, this study shows that Kpnβ1 interacts with several different proteins in normal and cancer cells, with some of the interactions unique to cancer cells presenting as novel binding partners for further investigation