Lecturers’ Awareness and Readiness towards the Adoption of Open Educational Resources for Teaching in Tertiary Institutions in Niger State, Nigeria

This study investigated attitudes and self-efficacy towards the utilization of interactive whiteboards (IWB) among university lecturers in North Central, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was employed for the study and 315 participants were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Four research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study and a 20-item questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was subjected to both validation and reliability checks. Data obtained from the administration of the research instrument were analysed using descriptive statistics of Mean and Standard Deviation for research questions and inferential statistics of z-test for research hypotheses. A decision rule was set, in which a mean score of 2.5 and above was considered agreed, while a mean score below 2.5 was considered disagreed. Findings revealed that lecturers’ attitudes and self-efficacy towards the utilization of interactive whiteboards (IWB) were positive with a mean score of 3.02 and 2.70 out of possible 4.0. Also, gender as a moderating variable had an influence on lecturers’ attitude and self-efficacy towards utilization of interactive whiteboard. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that lecturers in tertiary institutions should be encouraged to adopt Interactive Whiteboard in order to enhance their teaching. This can be achieved through the provision of enabling work environment that supports the use of information and communication technology in the teaching and learning process

Utilization of Agricultural Information and Knowledge for Improved Production by Rice Farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria

The main objective of this study was to examine the utilization of agricultural knowledge and information by rice farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 80 respondents. Primary data was collected with the aid of a well-structured interview schedule. The data collected was analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study revealed that rice farmers in the study area have a variety of information needs including information on pests and diseases management practices, mechanical land preparation and planting, use of farm machines, improved storage methods, and agricultural credit/loan. Key sources of information used by the respondents were friends and relatives and radio. Access to and utilization of agricultural information and knowledge on improved rice production cultural practices were generally high among the respondents as the ground means were both 3.23. The result of the linear regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between farm size (b=0.802, t=12.104; p#0.05. Also, the result of the correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between respondents’ access to extension services and utilization of agricultural information and knowledge (r=0.259; p#0.05)

An investigation into the impact of international trade in the growth of Nigeria's economy

International trade has become an inevitable activity in today’s world. A country such as Nigeria generates a substantial portion of its revenue through the exportation of oil and agricultural produce. Likewise, through importation the country is able to satisfy the domestic needs for mechanised and technological products which it lacks the capacity and technical know-how to produce. It is based on this premise that this study conducts an investigation into the impact that international trade (through import and export channels) has on Nigeria's economy. Through the Johansen Cointegration test on data from 1971 to 2012, this study finds a long run relationship existing between international trade and economic growth in Nigeria. The Ordinary Least Square results suggest that export is positively associated with economic growth while imports connotes otherwise. The Granger causality test finds a unidirectional causation running from GDP to Import. However, the test failed to find a mutual correlation between Export and economic growth. This study therefore suggests that export promotion strategies should be put in place in order to encourage local farmers and producers to increase production which in turn will stimulate exports and enhance economic prosperity in Nigeria

E-PAYCHEQUE FRAMEWORK WITH CONTACT ELECTRONIC CARD AND FINGERPRINT BIOMETRIC FOR CASHLESS SMART CAMPUSES

Identity theft in financial transactions is a very rampant problem among students in most institutions of learning. Currently, in order to minimize financial theft, most schools dole out paper based “paycheques” to students, which usually contain the name, personal identification number (PIN) and the value of money deposited by the students to the cashier. However, anybody bearing the PIN of another student can conveniently assume the identity and defraud the legitimate owner. This often generates a lot of rancor among students and it is a major concern for management especially in the high schools. In this work, we developed an e-Paycheque framework for secured cashless campuses. To be recognized on the web application within the framework, each student must possess a Smart ID card that is preconfigured with their unique fingerprint template and the value of deposited cash for transaction purposes. Since no two humans have the same fingerprint, financial transactions will only be possible for the legitimate owners of cards on the platform. This will in no small measure curb identity theft with respect to financial transactions on the campuses and also fast track the pace of achievement of the cashless policy in Nigeri

An Intelligent Foreign Exchange Robot (i-FOREXBOT) Development with Scale Conjugate Gradient Neural Network.

This paper describes an on-going work on the development of an intelligent foreign exchange forecast and decision support engine tagged i-FOREXBOT with an ultimate target of online deployment. FOREX market is a complex domain and an ability to forecast future price movements based on past data is highly fundamental to profitable trading by the practitioners. In order to assist traders to achieve minimal loss and high profitability, there are existing automated FOREX prediction robots which are based on technical data. Analysis using technical data involves the adoption of graphs and reoccurring patterns of price movement to forecast currency pair rate. Despite some positive results that have been recorded with this approach, technical analysis and the robots that are based on them only give scanty meaning to the market movements. The optional approach to market prediction being adopted by traders is fundamental analysis. In this method, the impact of fundamental data (such as cash flow, geopolitical factors, economic indices, government policies and news) on price movements are considered for trade forecasting. However, there are currently very little research efforts that focus on automation of FOREX prediction using fundamental data. Therefore, in this work, we are developing an online FOREX robot based on artificial neural network (ANN) and fundamental data to forecast the exchange rate of Great Britain Pound (GBP) and US dollar (USD) pair using six fundamental indices. The preliminary experimental results of the scale conjugate gradient ANN engine we developed is very encouraging and the platform promises to be a good and reliable tool for accurate exchange rate prediction when it is fully developed and deployed

Physicians’ Knowledge of the Glasgow Coma Scale in a Nigerian University Hospital: Is the Simple GCS Still Too Complex?

Objective: The Glasgow Coma Scale, GCS, is a universal clinical means of quantifying the level of impaired consciousness. Although physicians usually receive undergraduate and postgraduate training in the use of this scale in our university hospital we are aware of studies suggesting that the working knowledge of the GCS among practising physicians might not be adequate. Methods: We carried out a questionnaire-based survey across all specialties and levels of training of physicians in active patient care in a Nigerian university hospital. Results: Of the 100 physicians sampled, 98 correctly spelled out what the three-letter abbreviation, GCS, stands for. Ninety-three percent also conceded it to be an important clinical rating scale. However, only 55–89% of the participants correctly identified the three respective clinical variables, (eye opening, verbal response, and motor response), of the GCS. More particularly, the participants’ ability to itemize and correctly score all the respective components of each of the three clinical variables ranged from 0 to 35% across specialties and levels of training. Performance was best for the four-item eye opening variable and, worst for the six-item motor response variable. Conclusion: In our university hospital, practising physicians’ working knowledge of the GCS is inadequate and is dependent on the degree of the complexity of each of the three clinical variables of the scale

Kinetics and thermodynamics of bleaching process in aqueous solution using sodium hypochlorite

The kinetics of bleaching process of oxidation of typical dye with a bleaching agent - sodium hypochlorite in aqueous medium was studied. The kinetic runs were executed using spectrophotometer to changes in concentration under pseudo first order whereby concentration of NaOCl was in large excess compared with the concentration of dye. The factors affecting the reaction rate that were studied include the concentration of dye and oxidant, temperature, ionic strength and pH of the bleaching reaction medium and the presence of a variable valence metal ion The result shows that the rate of oxidation increases with increasing in temperature, ionic strength and pH. Increasing in substrate and oxidant concentrations also increase the rate of oxidation. Higher observed rate constant k1 was obtained in the presence of Fe(III)ion. The Arrhenius activation energy for the oxidation in the absence and presence of Fe(III)ion are 56.21 kJmol-1 and 51.21 kJmol-1 respectively. The result of thermodynamic parameters such as the lowering of activation energy (Ea) and the higher value of second rate constants k2 in the presence of Fe (III) ion provide further support for Fe (III) ion enhancement of rate of oxidation

Catalyst-Free Expeditious Synthesis Of 2-(4-TERT-BUTYLPHENYL)-3-Sustituted Quinazolin-4(3H)-One Derivatives

Quinazoline and quinazolinone derivatives are well-known bioactive heterocycles owing to their therapeutic diversity and extensive medicinal application in drug design and pharmaceutics. A series of 2-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-3-substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives, 2a-q was herein synthesized from benzoylational conversion of anthranilic acid to 2-(4-tertbutylphenyl)-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one, 1 which was the first precursor which was subsequently transformed to the targeted 2,3-disubstituted quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives, 2a-q by reacting with some cheap and readily accessible amino-containing moieties via an ameliorable pathway. The catalyst-free synthesis was successfully achieved by careful reaction optimization study using solvent choice and reaction temperature variability as key parameters. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR, UV, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and DEPT-135 as well as analytical data. The data obtained were consistent with the proposed structures of the compounds. This targeted quinazoline motifs might pave way for new bioactive template from future drug development