Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN): An Overview

The plethora of research and development efforts on Wireless Sensor Networks is an indication that the technology has emerged an active research area in recent times. In this paper, a review of this intelligent technology is undertaken. Its working mechanisms, merits, challenges, transmission technologies, simulating tools and applications are considered. The paper concludes with a clear conviction that a sound knowledge of the basics of this technology is a sine qua non to research and development of the technology

The phytochemical contents of telferia occidentalis (fluted pumpkin) and the effect of its aqueous extract on blood glucose and enzymatic antioxidant of stress induced Rats

Background: Oxidative stress plays a major role in the development of chronic and degenerative diseases. The human body counteracts oxidative stress by producing antioxidants in situ or acquiring them through food. Objective: To determine the phytochemical content of T. occidentalis and the effects of its aqueous extract on some parameters in stress induced Wistar rats. Methods: The phytochemical content of the leaves was analysed using standard methods. Twenty adult male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups of 5 rats each (3 test groups and 1 control group) and acclimatized for 3 days. Persistent stress was induced using water immersion induced stress from the 4th to the 17th day. The stressed control group received animal feed and water only, while other stressed groups received animal feed, water and graded dosages of T.occidentalis for 14 days. Blood samples were collected before and after for biochemical parameters. The data obtained from the study were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0. Two way Analysis of Variance was performed and means were separated using Duncan’s new multiple range test. Significance level was set at p<0.05. Results: Flavonoid content of T.occidentalis was 32.60±0.20mg/100g, while alkaloids and carotenoids recorded 496.49±1.37mg/100g and 28.79±0.38mg/100g, respectively. The group treated with T.occidentalis showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in blood glucose when compared to the stress control. The group treated with the extract showed an increase (p<0.05) in catalase activity but a decrease (p<0.05) in malondialdehyde among the treatment groups of rats compared to the stress control group of rats after 14 day treatment period. Conclusion: This study has proven that Telferia occidentalis is safe for consumption and is an effective tool in stress management

Factors Influencing Antenatal Haematinics Prescription Behaviour of Physicians in Calabar, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Routine iron and folic acid supplementation in pregnancy have been proved to be effective in reducing the prevalence and morbidities of anaemia. However, there is limited data regarding the prescription habits of physician obstetric care givers.AIM: This study set to investigate the attitudes and factors which influence the practice among physicians in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).MATERIAL AND METHODS: A questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was conducted among randomly recruited physician offering antenatal services between August and September 2015. Systemic sampling was used to select 70 doctors in the departmental duty roster. Data were presented in percentages and proportion. Chi-square test was used to test the association between variables. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. The mean age of the respondents was 30.26 ± 6.67 years. All the respondents routinely prescribed haematinics to pregnant women but 34.3% of them did not prescribe to apparently healthy clients in their first trimester. Only 30% and 11.4% of them prescribed it in the postnatal and preconception periods respectively. Brands that contained iron, folate and vitamins as a single capsule were mostly favoured, and information about brands of drugs was mostly provided by the pharmaceutical sales representatives. Younger doctors were more likely to offer haematinics with nutritional counselling compared to older respondents. However, there was no significant relationship between haematinics prescription and sex (p = 0.3560), Age (p = 0.839), current professional status (p = 0.783), and client complaint of side effect of medication (p = 0.23). Oral medication was mostly utilised.CONCLUSION: Effort to effectively control anaemia in pregnancy should involve re-orientation of physician obstetric care providers especially about prenatal and postnatal medication and counselling

Understanding Customer Complaint Behaviour for Sustainable Business Development

This study investigates the nature and strength of key factors influencing customer complaint behavior (CCB) in the organized road transport industry in Imo State, Nigeria. Using questionnaire in a survey, 348 respondents drawn from the customers of seven organized road transport firms. The study reveals, principally, that all the six hypothetical constructs (situational, demographic, psychological, service-provider, purchased-service factors, and industry condition) have a significant impact on customer complaint behavior. Further, among the twenty-three antecedents evaluated, a gender of respondents and the size of the company are not significant predictors of customer complaint behavior. A new model of customer complaint behavior for sustainable business development in capacity building is proposed with critical attention to the customers’ identified critical areas of service failure while consolidating on the identified factors influencing patronage of the organized road transporters. The role of government in providing and enforcing effective regulation is also emphasized

Evaluation of antioxidant activities and haematological effects of Asystasia gangetica leaf extract in monosodium glutamate-treated rats

This study evaluated antioxidant activities and haematological effects of methanol extract of Asystasia gangetica leaves (MEAG) on monosodium glutamate (MSG) treated rats. Forty-two male Wistar rats randomly distributed into 7 groups (n=6) were used for the study. Groups 1-3 were the normal control, MSG control, and positive control respectively whereas groups 4-5 were the extract controls, and groups 6-7 were the curative groups. All the treatments were administered orally and standard analytical methods were used for analyses. The results showed that MEAG is a rich antioxidants source and contains phenolics, flavonoids and beta-carotene in high concentrations. The extract showed concentration-dependent increases in ferric reducing antioxidant power, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and nitric oxide radicals scavenging activities but relatively lower than their respective controls. The MSG administration caused significant (P<0.05) reductions in the glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities but significantly (P<0.05) increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in the MSG control rats. The MSG administration also caused significant (P<0.05) reductions in the haemoglobin (Hb) concentration, packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts of the MSG control relative to the normal control. Treatment with MEAG significantly elevated GPx, SOD, and CAT activities; haematological indices and significantly reduced MDA levels in the extract controls, and curative groups treated with a high dose of MSG. These findings show that methanol extract of A. gangetica leaves is rich in antioxidants that could prevent oxidative stress and improves the haematological profile of MSG treated rats

Renewable Energy Potential Estimation Using Climatic-Weather-Forecasting Machine Learning Algorithms

The major challenge facing renewable energy systems in Nigeria is the lack of appropriate, affordable, and available meteorological stations that can accurately provide present and future trends in weather data and solar PV performance. It is crucial to find a solution to this because information on present and future solar PV performance is important to renewable energy investors so that they can assess the potential of renewable energy systems in various locations across the country. Although Nigerian weather provides favorable weather conditions for clean power generation, there is little penetration of renewable energy systems in the region, since over 95% of the power is fossil-fuel-generated. This is because there has been no detailed report showing the potential of clean power generation systems due to the dysfunctional meteorological stations in the country. This paper sought to fill this knowledge gap by providing a machine-learning-inspired forecasting of environmental weather parameters that can be used by manufacturing companies in evaluating the profitability of siting renewable energy systems in the region. Crucial weather parameters such as daily air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, and rainfall were obtained from NASA for a period of 19 years (viz. 2004–2022), resulting in the collection of 6664 high-resolution data points. These data were used to build diverse regressive neural networks with varying hyperparameters to find the best network arrangement. In summary, a low mean-squared error of 7 × 10−3 and high regression correlations of 96% were obtained during the training