Scalable and Energy Efficient Software Architecture for Human Behavioral Measurements

Understanding human behavior is central to many professions including engineering, health and the social sciences, and has typically been measured through surveys, direct observation and interviews. However, these methods are known to have drawbacks, including bias, problems with recall accuracy, and low temporal fidelity. Modern mobile phones have a variety of sensors that can be used to find activity patterns and infer the underlying human behaviors, placing a heavy load on the phone's battery. Social science researchers hoping to leverage this new technology must carefully balance the fidelity of the data with the cost in phone performance. Crucially, many of the data collected are of limited utility because they are redundant or unnecessary for a particular study question. Previous researchers have attempted to address this problem by modifying the measurement schedule based on sensed context, but a complete solution remains elusive. In the approach described here, measurement is made contingent on sensed context and measurement objectives through extensions to a configuration language, allowing significant improvement to flexibility and reliability. Empirical studies indicate a significant improvement in energy efficiency with acceptable losses in data fidelity

THE ABORTION DEBATE: AN AFRICANIST ETHICAL APPROACH

: The prevalence of abortion is of central concern to all societies in the world including traditional African societies. It is perturbing that, virtually in all countries; the phenomenon overtly presents itself and the need to legalize it or not continues to elicit responses and very strong arguments in defence or against. Given this, my aim in the work is to meticulously explicate the abortion controversy and evaluate the reasonability or illogicality from the parameters of the African value system. My discovery reveals that there seems to be no place for abortion in the traditional African societies as clearly manifested by the ethos of ‘dos and don’ts’ and values that characterized African ontological environment and world-view. As a method, I approached and analyzed the abortion controversy by subjecting them to the Bini ethical standard. Furthermore, the work examines the nature of abortion and the real dangers that come with it. I argued that procuring abortion for whatsoever reason(s), as may be upheld by the consequentialist ethicists and some feminist thinkers is inadmissible and morally prohibited. I concluded that the argument― that mothers have right over their body, perhaps a way of justifying abortion, is simply a relative position and an outright manifestation of some western radical propaganda for global feminism

Capital Adequacy and Financial Performance of Banks in Nigeria: Empirical Evidence Based on the Fgls Estimator

The study examines the degree of significance of the capital adequacy ratio in influencing the financial deeds of Nigerian banks by applying the feasible GLS estimator technique on the pooled panel model for the period of 2007 to 2015. Empirical evidence supports the overriding impact of capital adequacy in enhancing the financial deeds of Nigerian banks. Nevertheless, the impact of the estimated capital adequacy is below 30%. The policy stance of the empirics holds thus that depositor’s money in the banking sector has not been absolutely assured. Hence, the deposit money banks might not be able to fulfil their liabilities and risk. In light of the findings, we suggested a constant reassessment of the least amount of capital required of banks by the CBN

The effect of garlic and ginger phytogenics on the shelf life and microbial contents of homemade soursop (Annona muricata L) fruit juice

The preservative effects of garlic and ginger was compared with that of sodium benzoate in assessing the shelf quality of locally prepared soursop juice. The soursop juice without treatment (T1) was used as the control while others in four replicates were separately treated with 50 mg/ml garlic (T2), 50 mg/ml ginger (T3), mixture garlic and ginger in equal proportion of 50 mg/ml each (T4) and 10 mg/ml (T5) sodium benzoate respectively. The microbial counts ranged from 3.0×104-1.27×106 cfu/ml juices with the untreated recording the highest concentration of contamination compared with the treated juices of which sodium benzoate had the least microbial contamination. The microorganisms consistent in all the treatments were Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus sp., Acetobacter sp., Klebsiella sp., Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida tropicalis while the distribution of Streptococcus sp., Klebsiella and Penicillium sp., and Proteus sp were sporadic. Marginal decreases in pH values were observed in the stored soursop juices across treatments. The results obtained showed that the treatment of freshly prepared soursop juices with sodium benzoate, and a mixture of garlic and ginger improved storage span and reduced health risks of infection and/or intoxication from their consumption. KEYWORD

The Challenges of Higher Education in Nigeria Vis-À-Vis Hegel’s Model of Development: a critical analysis

This work takes a critical and cursory look at the term ‘education’ as well as the challenges of higher education in Nigeria. The paper explicates these issues from Hegel’s model of development. It argues that education is imperative for the development of any nation and underscores the relevance of man to his social-cultural milieu. It insists that the current problems or challenges bedeviling higher education in Nigeria is a systemic one, especially given the long, total neglect by the Nigerian political institution. The article concludes that Hegel’s view of society as containing intrinsic or inner contradictions; exemplified by the dialectic of history—portrayed by the triadic movement could not be sustained when x-rayed vis-à-vis the enormous problems plaguing higher education in Nigeria. However, the view of the paper is that though the challenges are not insurmountable, determined and pragmatic efforts must be made by all stalk-holders to address the ills bedeviling Nigerian education sector

An Actionable Knowledge Representation for Popular Fundamental Investment Strategies

Individual investors consistently underperform relevant investment benchmarks. Consequently, a considerable body of literature of fundamental investment strategies targeted towards this audience emerged. Several online platforms provide operationalizations of these strategies in the form of stock screeners. However, each platform must use its own interpretation of the strategy as no central knowledge repository exists. Arguing that ontologies standardize the concepts relevant to a domain and enable knowledge sharing among domain users, this paper seeks to explore that viability of an ontology as a knowledge representation method to represent fundamental investment strategies. Our efforts herein go beyond representing the concepts and inter-concept relationships that are descriptive of fundamental investment strategies, as we also demonstrate that ontologies using SWRL rules can deploy these strategies as stock pickers (also referred to as stock screening). We use the CANSLIM strategy as a case, modeling and executing it on simulated data using our ontology and SWRL

Comparative Analysis of Channel Estimation Techniques in SISO, MISO and MIMO Systems

The ever-growing need for high data rate, bandwidthefficiency, reliability, less complexity and less power consumptionin our communication systems is on the increase.Modern techniques have to be developed and put in place tomeet these requirements. Research has shown, that compared toconventional Single input Single output (SISO) systems, MultipleinputSingle output (MISO), and Multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) can actually increase the data rate of a communicationsystem, without actually requiring more transmit power orbandwidth. This paper aims at the investigation of the existingchannel estimation techniques. Based on the pilot arrangement,the block type and comb type are compared, employing theLeast Square estimation (L.S) and Minimum Mean SquaredError (MMSE) estimators. Pilots occupy bandwidth, minimizingthe number of pilots used to estimate the channel, in orderto allow for more bandwidth utilization for data transmission,without compromising the accuracy of the estimates is takeninto consideration. Various channel interpolation techniques andpilot-data insertion ratio are investigated, simulated and compared,to determine the best performance technique with lesscomplexity and minimum power consumption. As performancemeasures, the Mean squared error (MSE) and Bit error rate(BER) as a function of Signal to noise power ratio (SNR) ofthe different channel estimation techniques are plotted, in orderto identify the technique with the most optimal performance.The complexity and energy efficiency of the techniques are alsoinvestigated. The system modelling and simulations are carriedout using Matlab simulation package. The MIMO gives theoptimum performance, followed by the MISO and SISO. Thisis as a result of the diversity and multiplexing gain experiencedin the multiple antenna techniques using the STBC

Original Article The effect of grower feed diet supplemented with Ganoderma lucidum against some enteric zoonotic parasites of pigeons (Columba livia)

We report a preliminary study on the effect of grower feed diet supplemented with mashed Ganoderma lucidum against some enteric zoonotic parasites of wild rock pigeons (Columba livia) in Benin City, Nigeria. The pigeons were fed ad libitum with supplemented and non-supplemented grower feed diet in sawdust-floored squared wooden cages (45 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm) at room temperature for 21 days. They were sacrificed at days 14 and 21 for profiling of their zoonotic enteric parasites. High prevalence (77.7%) of Cestodes (tapeworms) and low prevalence (12.3%) of nematodes were recorded in the control pigeon fed non-supplemented grower feed compared to those on diet supplemented with Ganoderma. Cestodes (Helminths) such as Hymenolepsis carioca, Amoebataenia cuneata, Raillietina tetragona, Raillietina serrata, Inermicapsifer spp., Hymenolepsis spp., and a species of nematode (Ascaridia columbae) were identified in the gastrointestinal tract of the experimental pigeons. A few species (< 8 %) of Trematodes yet to be fully identified were also observed. The low population of helminth parasites and overall weight decrease of pigeon fed with diet supplemented with Ganderma lucidum recorded during the study suggest improved removal of digestive microbes, intestinal health, and gastrointestinal motility. These findings were aimed at contributing to the already existing knowledge on the use of feed additives, probiotics and supplementations in poultry farming.KEYWORDS: Ganoderma lucidum, pigeon (Columba livia), helminth, zoonotic parasite, cestode, nematod

Development Of An Electronic Fare Collection System Using Stationary Tap-Out Devices

The peculiar nature of emerging economies means that established technology must be developed with the constraints and limitations of these locations in view. This paper presents the development of an Electronic Fare Collection system using Contactless smart cards. Electronic fare collection system are commonly integrated with public transit networks such as the bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) services in major cities worldwide. However, in deploying such systems in an emerging economy like Nigeria, unique consideration has to be given with regards to power management, robustness and availability. The system developed consists of a mobile tap-in device connected to a bus, a stationary tap-out device to be situated at a specific bus stop and a web server on the cloud for coordination and off site monitoring. The stationary tap-out device used consists of a proximity card reader (or an RFID reader) connected to a computing unit linked with a display, outdoor power provision (source) and data transmission capability. A program was developed to capture data from randomly applied proximity cards (or RFID cards) and to transmit same periodically to a remote location for use by the system. The system developed is able to sustain itself for a long period of time from available power supply, it also proves robust enough from a software and hardware perspective. Lastly its availability is proven even when data transmission capability proves erratic