Physiological Response Of Laying Birds To Neem (Azadirachta Indica) Leaf Meal-Based Diets: Body Weight Organ Characteristics And Haematology

A 12-weeks feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of Neem (Azadirachta indica) leafmeal (NLM) on body weight gain, carcass and organ characteristics and haematological values of laying hens. The leaves were harvested, chopped to facilitate drying in the sun until they became crispy but still greenish in coloration. The Sun-dried leaves were milled using a hammer mill to produce the leaf meal. Four layers diets were formulated to contain the NLM at 0%,5%, 10% and 15% dietary levels respectively and were used to feed 120 Shikka brown layers already 10 months in lay. The birds were divided into 4 groups of 30 each and randomly assigned to the 4 treatment diets in a completely randomized design (CRD). NLM did not show any appreciable difference in weight gain between the birds at 0% and those at 5%, 10% dietary levels. Carcass weight, dressed weight, liver, heart and gizzard weights were significantly (P<0.05) increased at 5% dietary level of NLM. There were no significant difference in Hb and PCV between birds on O% and 5% treatment diets. However, these differed significantly (P<0.05%) from those of birds on 10% and 15% treatment diets. There were variations in the differential WB count , marked lymphocytopenia adversely affected the total leucocyte counts in the birds on 5%, 10% and 15% treatment diets. The results of this study suggest that laying birds could tolerate 5%- 15% dietary levels of NLM without deleterious effects

Family Factors Influencing Work-Family Conflict Among Married Women Medical Professionals in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria.

The study investigated the family factors influencing work-family conflict among women Medical professionals in Obio-Akpor, Rivers State. A sample of 1,007 married women Medical professionals (Medical Doctors, 459; Nurses, 477; Pharmacists, 48; Medical Laboratory Scientists, 23) was used for the study. Stratified sampling technique was used to compose the sample. Four research questions were answered and four hypotheses were tested in the study at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument used for data collection was “Work-Family Conflict Scale” (WFCS). The instrument was validated by experts in Educational Psychology, Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest via Pearson product moment correlation. The correlation coefficient obtained was 0.61. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANOVA and t-test were used to test the null hypotheses. It was found that family size, family structure, occupational status as well as family income significantly influenced work-family conflict of married women professionals. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that married women professionals should be helped by counsellors through seminars and workshops in identifying various sources of work-family conflict to which families are susceptible. Keywords: Family factors, Work-family conflict, Married Women Medical Professionals.

Python Coding amongst Undergraduate Student Teachers in a Nigeria Post-Secondary Institution: An Exploratory Study

This study explored coding errors, determined how preservice teachers in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) debugged coding error and investigated reasons for the errors. This was with an intention to assess preservice teachers learning and understanding of python programming in OAU. The study adopted exploratory research design with the population of all undergraduate students in Faculty of Education in OAU. Out of the population, 10 preservice teachers were interviewed to understand the nature of the study. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. The study findings revealed four major errors committed in python programming by student teachers in the university. The finding further categorized approaches adopted by the students in debugging python programming errors into seven. Amongst these seven, ‘help from friends and internet’ were predominant while the least was ‘doing it again’. The undergraduate students’ teachers advanced six reasons for the errors often faced while learning programming. The paper concluded that undergraduate student teachers confront errors while learning python programming. It was strongly recommended that the pedagogy of computer programming should be taught inhouse to improve programming learning among undergraduate student teachers

A Holistic Decision Framework to Avoid Vendor Lock-in for Cloud SaaS Migration

Cloud computing offers an innovative business model to enterprise for IT services consumption and delivery. Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the cloud offerings that attract organisations as a potential solution in reducing their IT cost. However, the vast diversity among the available cloud SaaS services makes it difficult for customers to decide whose vendor services to use or even to determine a valid basis for their selections. Moreover, this variety of cloud SaaS services has led to proprietary architectures and technologies being used by cloud vendors, increasing the risk of vendor lock-in for customers. Therefore, when enterprises interact with SaaS providers within the purview of the current cloud marketplace, they often encounter significant lock-in challenges to migrating and interconnecting cloud. Hence, the complexity and variety of cloud SaaS service offerings makes it imperative for businesses to use a clear and well understood decision process to procure, migrate and/or discontinue cloud services. To date, the expertise and technological solutions to simplify such transition and facilitate good decision making to avoid lock-in risks in the cloud are limited. Besides, little investigation has been carried out to provide a comprehensive decision framework to support enterprises on how to avoid lock-in risks when selecting and implementing cloud-based SaaS solutions within existing environments. Such decision framework is important to reduce complexity and variations in implementation patterns on the cloud provider side, while at the same time minimising potential switching cost for enterprises by resolving integration issues with existing IT infrastructures. This paper proposes a holistic 6-step decision framework that enables an enterprise to assess its current IT landscape for potential SaaS replacement, and provides effective strategies to mitigate vendor lock-in risks in cloud (SaaS) migration. The framework follows research findings and addresses the core requirements for choosing vendor-neutral interoperable and portable cloud services without the fear of vendor lock-in, and architectural decisions for secure SaaS migration. Therefore, the results of this research can help IT managers have a safe and effective migration to cloud computing SaaS environment

Preliminary Context Analysis of Community Informatics Social Network Web Application

Preliminary context analysis is always part of the feasibility study phase in the development of information system for Community Development (CD) purposes. In this paper, a context model and a preliminary context analysis are presented for Social Network Web Application (SNWA) for CD in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The context model helps CD facilitators to visualize how SNWA fits into the wider information system for CD and also shows the essential context factors that must be considered in order to tailor the SNWA for CD purposes. Furthermore, the preliminary context analysis used case study research method to provide answers to pertinent questions concerning the situated context of use for the niche SNWA. In all, the context model and context analysis are useful for setting research agenda for the development and diffusion of niche social network for local CD purposes

An Audio-Driven System for Real-Time Music Visualisation

Computer-generated visualisations can accompany recorded or live music to create novel audiovisual experiences for audiences. We present a system to streamline the creation of audio-driven visualisations based on audio feature extraction and mapping interfaces. Its architecture is based on three modular software components: backend (audio plugin), frontend (3D game-like environment), and middleware (visual mapping interface). We conducted a user evaluation comprising two stages. Results from the first stage (34 participants) indicate that music visualisations generated with the system were significantly better at complementing the music than a baseline visualisation. Nine participants took part in the second stage involving interactive tasks. Overall, the system yielded a Creativity Support Index above average (68.1) and a System Usability Scale index (58.6) suggesting that ease of use can be improved. Thematic analysis revealed that participants enjoyed the system’s synchronicity and expressive capabilities, but found technical problems and difficulties understanding the audio feature terminology

Predictive Power of School Based Assessment Scores On Students’ Achievement In Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) In English And Mathematics

The study investigated the predictive power of school based assessment scores on students’ achievement in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) in English and Mathematics. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. A sample of 250 students were randomly drawn from ten (10) schools out of twenty (20) Junior secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The instrument used for data collection was titled “Students Academic Record Inventory” (SARI). The instrument involves the students SBA score for JS1, JS2, JS3 and JSCE scores in English and Mathematics. The data generated were analyzed using multiple regression. The result revealed that the combination of the SBA scores significantly predicted students’ English and Mathematics achievement in JSCE, and there are relative effectiveness of SBA scores in students’ English and Mathematics achievement. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made including that school-based assessment should be encouraged and made compulsory for every secondary schools especially in core subjects which include English and Mathematics. Key words: Predictive power, school based, assessment, achievement

Utilization of Buffers for Performance Evaluation of Local Area Network Protocols

This paper discusses the performance of traffic flow over Local Area Networks (LAN) utilizing buffers to avoid any irrelevant traffic that clusters the network using sniffer pro. The study applies buffer technology to filter out unnecessary information so the system captures only required information packets. Buffers that capture the protocols are identified. These are. Address Resolution Protocols (ARP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). The study identified to the user/analyzer of an Ethernet technology, how to isolate a cluster network problem, monitor network performance, and offer tips on how to correctly assess and fix network problems. The study provides detailed analysis of threshold gauges, errors, broadcasts, multicasts, packets, and many other facets of dashboard graph configurations thereby ensuring a successful network analysis. The study concludes by providing solutions to poor network performance affecting one user, several users, or an entire network