Implementation of XpertMalTyph: An Expert System for Medical Diagnosis of the Complications of Malaria and Typhoid

The dearth of medical experts in the developing world has subjected a large percentage of its populace to preventable ailments and deaths. Also, because of the predominant rural communities, the few medical experts that are available always opt for practice in the few urban cities. This consequently puts the rural communities at a disadvantage with respect to access to quality health care services. In this work, we designed and implemented XpertMalTyph; a novel medical diagnostic expert system for the various kinds of malaria and typhoid complications. A medical diagnostic expert system uses computer(s) to simulate medical doctor skills in diagnosis of ailments and prescription of treatments, hence can be used to provide the same service in the absence of the experts. XpertMalTyph is based on JESS (Java Expert System Shell) programming because of its robust inference engine and rules for implementing expert system

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Community-associated Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Healthy Women in Zaria, Nigeria

Purpose: An investigation of the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from healthy women to ten commonly used antimicrobial drugs was carried out as a basis for a guide for empirical antimicrobial treatment using urine samples. Method: The samples collected from healthy women volunteers in Zaria were cultured and screened for S. aureus using standard microbiological procedures. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was investigated using disc diffusion technique. Result: A total of 54(36%) S. aureus isolates were isolated from 150 urine samples collected. Of the 54 isolates, 16 (29.6%), 15 (27.8%) and 23 (42.6%) were from married but not pregnant, pregnant and single women respectively. The isolates were highly susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, ofloxacin, sparfloxacin and pefloxacin in both groups (married and single). The differences observed in all the antimicrobial drugs tested for both groups were not statistically significant (p>0.05). A total of 34 (63%) of the isolates showed multi-drug resistance and only 6 (11%) were susceptible to all the antimicrobial drugs tested. Conclusion: This observation calls for measures to reduce the reservoir of antimicrobial resistant organisms in healthy populations. Keywords: Antimicrobial drugs, community-associated, susceptibility, Staphylococcus aureus, healthy women.Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp. 929-93

An Investigation of the effect of VAT on Revenue Profiles of South-Western Nigeria.

The problem with public finance in developing countries like Nigeria has been that the amount of revenue generated from tax and non-tax sources in recent years have not been sufficient to meet increasing expenditure of States and local Governments. The study therefore examines the effect of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the income profiles of State Govenment in South-Western Nigeria.The choice of South West Nigeria was based on its being a non-oil producing state except Ondo state. Secondary data from the approved budgets of five out of the six states that made up South Western Nigeria were used for the study. Osun state was excluded because it shares the same characteristics with Ekiti State .Panel regression method was employed since the sample contains data across States and for the periods 2002 to 2011. Fixed effect (FE) , Random effect (RE) and Hausman-test based on the difference in fixed and random effect estimators were conducted. The study concluded that the panel estimates indicate that Random effect is best fit . From the random effect estimates, VAT is positive and significantly (?=0.7318<.05 ) related to revenue profile of States. It is recommended that Governments, policy makers should concentrate efforts at ensuring that more VAT is generated by developing strategies of poverty alleviation as VAT is a consumption tax which is a function of real income in the hands of the people.Increased consumption will increase the revenue input from  the state into VAT component of the federation account . Keywords: VATable persons, Vat Component, Revenue Input

Development of Web-based Interactive Map Using Object-Oriented Programming Concept

The program incorporates an interactive map which responds to origin and destination selection, by analyzing the relative positions of both locations and creating real-time routes on the road network to display to the user the required path from the origin to the destination and the approximate distance/time required. System design is based on the Model- View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, and the application has been developed using Adobe Flash CS3 (with ActionScrip

What are the Determinants of Working Capital Requirements of Nigerian Firms?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of working capital requirements of thirty non-financial firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2004 and 2011. Panel data methodology was employed and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) used as estimation technique. The Working capital requirement (firm’s net working capital deflated by total assets) was used as dependent variable. Regression results reveal that five explanatory variables- firm’s leverage, size, industry classification, return on asset and operating cycle are significant factors that determine the firms’ working capital requirements for the period under study. The outcome of this study supports the findings of some previous studies and is also consistent with financial theory. Keywords: Working Capital Requirements, ROA, Leverage, Size, Pecking Order, Nigeria.

Prevalence and susceptibility pattern of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates among healthy women in Zaria, Nigeria

Multi-resistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MMRSA) has been commonly reported to be one of the commonest causes of nosocomial infections worldwide. Also, recent reports describe methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) carriage in persons in the community. The study investigated its prevalence in urine of healthy women and its susceptibility pattern to other antibiotics. Urine samples collected from healthy women volunteers in Zaria were cultured and screened for S. aureus using standard microbiological procedures. The isolates were then subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using disc diffusion technique. A total of 54 (36%) S. aureus isolates were isolated from 150 urine samples collected. The prevalence rate for married and single women was 31% and 46%, respectively. Of the S. aureus isolates, 37 (69%) were methicillin-resistant. The MRSA were highly resistant to ampicillin 100%, cephalexin 100%, clindamycin 92%, vancomycin 89% but had low resistance to pefloxacin 35%, ofloxacin 27% ciprofloxacin 27%, sparfloxacin 24% and gentamicin 16%. All the 37 (100%) MRSA isolates showed resistance to at least two antibiotics tested while 33 (89.2%) were multi-drug resistant

Implementation of Wi-Ap; An IEEE 802.11b/g Based Electrical Switch Module With Web Enabled Interface for Electrical Appliances Control

The aim of this research study is to design and implement a Wi-Fi-based control panel for remote control of lights and electrical appliances with a web functionality that allows for wide area control via the intranet or Internet. This eliminates the inconvenience of moving from one switch to another for analog operation of light fixtures and appliance in home, office and campus environment. The wireless technology we adopted is IEEE 802.11 (2008) b/g, also called Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) which operates in free band and is easily accessible. Wi-Ap (Wi-Fi Automated Appliance) control system contains a web portal which allows for management and control purposes via the intranet or Internet. We built a standalone Wi-Ap console that allows the wireless switching on and off of any appliance(s) that is(are) ) plugged into it. The prototype we built was tested within the Electrical and Information Engineering department, Covenant University, Nigeria intranet and the test achieved our aim of remote appliances control from a web portal vial the intranet

Accounting for Watershed Management Services in the Forest Reserves of Osun State, Nigeria

The role of forests in watershed productivity has been a subject of serious concern at various forums. The significance of forests in watersheds is evidenced by the prevention of siltation of water bodies as well as maintenance of water quality. In Osun state-Nigeria, the main services carried out by the watershed is domestic, industrial and community water supply, not much of navigation is possible. Thus, it was aimed to evaluate the contributions of forest reserves of Osun state-Nigeria to watershed management. Primary and secondary data were adopted in the study. The relationship between decline in forest holdings and water supply was examined; the contingent valuation of forest contributions to watershed was undertaken; and the mean WTP was extrapolated over the population to arrive at the total value of watershed service of forests as a guide to determining the accounting value to take for depreciation or accretion. Results showed that there was a strong relationship between both variables. Furthermore, the mean value of WTP is ?3,623.29 and the total value is ?12.40 billion. This value provides a basis for accounting for annual costing of services consumed. It was concluded that deforestation has adverse effect on watershed services and its value will enhance accountability and well informed decisions towards sustainability. Keywords: Accounting, Watershed, Forests, Contingent Valuation

Prevalence of community-associated multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among healthy women in Abuja, Nigeria

Antimicrobial resistance has become a great public health problem worldwide and multi-drugvresistance Staphylococcus aureus has been widely reported. This study determined the pattern of resistance to ten commonly used antibiotics. Urine samples collected from healthy women volunteersin the Abuja were cultured and screened for S. aureus using standard microbiological procedures. The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was investigated using disc diffusion technique. A total of 60 (40%) S. aureus isolates were isolated from 150 urine samples collected. Of these, 19 (32%), 22 (36%) and 19 (32%) were from married but not pregnant, pregnant and single women, respectively. The isolates were highly resistant to ampicillin (91.7%), clindamycin (78.3%), cephalexin (75%), methicillin (71.7%) and vancomycin (68.3%) but had very low resistance to gentamicin (3.3%), ciprofloxacin (3.3%), ofloxacin (3.3%), sparfloxacin (3.3%) and pefloxacin (10.0%). A total of 43 (71.7%) of the isolates showed multi-drug resistance and only 3 (5%) were susceptible to all the antibiotics tested. Multi-drug resistant S. aureus is highly prevalent in the urine of healthy women investigated in Federal Capital Territory. This calls for effective measures against irrational use of antibiotics

Determinants of capital structure: A study of Nigerian quoted companies

This paper examines the determinants of corporate capital structure of thirty-five firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2006 and 2012. Panel data methodology was employed and pooled Ordinary Least Squares was (OLS) used to estimate the coefficients of six firm-specific determinants. Results reveal that the three leverage ratios (Total Leverage Ratio, Long-Term Leverage Ratio and Short-Term Leverage Ratio) are negatively and significantly related with profitability. Firm size and asset tangibility are however, positively and significantly related with leverage proxies. The outcome of the study shows that Nigerian firms rely heavily on the use of retained earnings (internal source) and where funds raised are insufficient, they then seek for external source. This is in line with financial theory and provides evidence in support of Pecking Order Theory. Key Words: Capital structure, Leverage, Pecking order, Static trade off, Nigeri