Investigations of the effects of different computer input methods on man–computer interaction

The development of interactive man-computer systems is a design process wherein various alternatives must be considered from different points of view. In order to make design decisions, information guidelines are needed. Among the requirements are those for different input methods of computers. This thesis has the objective of providing information and guidelines on how different input methods affect man–computer interaction. The objective is reached through a number of stages: a review of literature; the development of a framework for investigation; deriving and testing experimental hypotheses, and discussing and presenting information for future researchers and designers. [Continues.

Two major ruminant acute phase proteins, haptoglobin and serum amyloid A, as serum biomarkers during active sheep scab infestation

Two ruminant acute phase proteins (APPs), haptoglobin (Hp) and serum amyloid A (SAA), were evaluated as serum biomarkers (BMs) for sheep scab–a highly contagious ectoparasitic disease caused by the mite Psoroptes ovis, which is a major welfare and production threat worldwide. The levels of both APPs increased in serum following experimental infestation of sheep with P. ovis, becoming statistically significantly elevated from pre-infestation levels at 4 weeks post-infestation. Following successful treatment of infested sheep with an endectocide, Hp and SAA serum levels declined rapidly, with half lives of less than 3 days. In contrast, serum IgG levels which specifically bound the P. ovis-derived diagnostic antigen Pso o 2 had a half-life of 56 days. Taking into account pre-infestation serum levels, rapidity of response to infestation and test sensitivity at the estimated optimum cut-off values, SAA was the more discriminatory marker. These studies illustrated the potential of SAA and Hp to indicate current sheep scab infestation status and to augment the existing Pso o 2 serological assay to give disease-specific indications of both infestation and successful treatment

Texting and Relationship: Examining Discourse Strategies in Negotiating and Sustaining Relationships Using Mobile Phone

Mobile telephony along with the Internet has enabled and enhanced new forms of human interaction by providing users with easy ways of reaching, and communicating with their loved ones regardless of distance or geographical locations. The medium has also not only become very essential to the society, but indispensable to individuals, families and social groups (Hoffman, et al, 2004). Texting has shown a great deal of promise to remain indispensable to people‟s communication needs across their life span. This paper examines how mobile phones support intimate personal and romantic relationships in digitally emergent places, particularly Nigeria, and argues that texting is an active and effective medium of interpersonal communication for enabling and sustaining social and romantic relationships. Applying the appraisal framework and discourse analysis, the study shows that texting is culturally motivated and provides some of the emotional support needed in personal relationships; texting is also used to express romantic feelings both within and outside of marriage. Especially among dating and married couples, texting is sometimes used in an attempt to resolving conflicts. Data for this study comprise 217 text messages obtained from texters at different levels of heterosexual relationships, namely formal personal friendship, courtship/dating and marriage relationships. Fifty couples were interviewed to identify the specific essential roles of texting in their relationships as they form and develop, and the tendency of such roles to continue across the couples‟ life span. Keywords: texting/text messages, discourse, communication, relationship, friends, couples, courtship, marriage

Community vaccine perceptions and its role on vaccination uptake among children aged 12-23 months in the Ileje District, Tanzania: a cross section study

Introduction: Underutilization of vaccines still remains a challenge in many regions across the world. Ileje district is one of the districts in Tanzania with consistently low pentavalent vaccine uptake (69%) and with drop out of 15%. We determined the vaccination completion with regard to Oral Polio virus, Measles, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, and pentavalent vaccines and its association with community perceptions on vaccines. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study in Ileje district from October to December 2013. We sampled 380 mothers using a multistage random sampling technique. We analysed data using EPI INFO. We summarized descriptive variables using mean and standard deviation and categorical variables using proportions. We conducted bivariate and multivariate logistic regression to identify factors influencing vaccination uptake, statistical significance was assessed at 95% confidence interval. Results: Mean age of the mothers was 27 years (SD 6.5 years) while that of their children was 16 months (SD 3.6 months). Fully vaccinated children were 71.1% and partially vaccinated were 28.9%, 99.2% were vaccinated with BCG vaccine and 73.4% were vaccinated with all OPV vaccine. Predictors of vaccination completion included negative perception on the vaccine provider-client relationship (AOR 1.86, 95%CI1.03-3.35), Perceived satisfaction with vaccination services (AOR 2.63, 95%CI 1.1 - 6.3). Others include child being born in the health facility (AOR 13.8 95% CI 8.04-25.8) and younger age of a child (AOR 0.51, 95%CI 0.29-0.9). Conclusion: improving quality of vaccination services, promoting health education and sensitizing community on health facility delivery will improve child vaccination completion in the districtPan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

5 Making a Case

The first Libyan demonstration occurred on February 15, 2011. By the same day, there were media reports that civilians were in imminent danger of being killed by the Libyan army. The United Kingdom (UK), France, and Lebanon proposed “Resolution 1973,” which was subsequently adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on March 17, 2011. They achieved the proceeding by invoking the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P)–a doctrine that postulates that sovereignty is not absolute. Thus, the committee of nations led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) validated the war in Libya–allegedly publicizing and citing “humanitarianism” to overlook Libya’s sovereignty. The action and inaction of NATO based on Resolution 1973 was criticized as loosely worded, verbose, and hastily proposed under the guise of taking “all necessary measures” towards protecting Libyan lives. However, suspicions grew over NATO’s silence on the part of Resolution 1973 that provided for mediation and calls for a ceasefire. That is the part of the resolution that asserts that before considering the adoption of the R2P doctrine amongst warring factions (rebel groups and constituted Libyan army) within sovereign states like Libya, mediation and ceasefire options must have been exhausted. Hence, Hugh Roberts argues that a sober understanding of the Libyan intervention will only come to light through future work on those (which may include but are not limited to the international media) that manipulated the information (Roberts 2011, 8). In a similar argument, Maximilian Forte indicted Western powers of using media as a propaganda to

Investigation of Methods and Motives for Water Theft in A Suburb Township

Theft of water from water urban authorities is fast growing to a level of severe concern with the perpetrators moving several steps ahead of water utility companies. Consequently, counter-measures that are in tandem with the ever-changing business environment are greatly desired to empower water utility companies with effective methods to prevent the ever-growing water theft challenges.  To ascertain the significance of the methods used to steal water, a study was undertaken in one of the suburbs of Blantyre in Malawi. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit data on the methods used for stealing water and the motivations behind the thefts.  The results indicated that the most prevalent method for stealing water was bursting pipes followed by vandalizing. Poor service was the most compelling reason behind water theft from the water utility company. The severity indices for the constructs used to steal water in this study can be used to design intervention frameworks for water utility companies. Additionally, iso-theft-index maps can be produced for suburb areas where water utility companies have water distribution networks to guide surveillance operations. Keywords: water theft methods, non-revenue water, challenges, Malawi DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-8-04 Publication date:August 31st 202

Efficiency of Accounting Information System and Information Security Investment Impact on Firms Performance: A Review

Accounting Information systems should be kept safe and protected at any moment because it contains a very sensitive and confidential information. It has become vital for firms to secure their information securely as a threat to information is rapidly increasing in malicious attacks on the firms’ IT infrastructure in which it could affect business continuity. Also, penalties of inadequate security could make firms suffer substantial fiscal loss. As information technology is playing a major role in our businesses and organization today, the rate of security threats also increases, firms are encouraged to invest in a comprehensive and strong IT security set- ups to protect and safeguard the accessibility, integrity, confidentiality of accounting information from vulnerable of threat because it can cause substantial financial consequences, losing of customers, and impairment of good will amongst others. Thus, the drive of this research is to evaluate the impact of firm’s investment on information security and accounting information system efficiency on the performance of firms which indicated that a good internal control ensures reliable financial report for decision making, in which the qualitative method of data collection was used which the previous literature was reviewed and other secondary data was also used for the purpose of the study. From our findings, we discovered that unceasing investments on information security procedures lessens the risk of attack from cyber threats and failure of information system.  The researchers therefore commend businesses and organizations to take a vigorous method to information security plans and control. Also, to regulate the IT menace of some security occurrences, it is essential for firms to progressively invest in diverse security technologies considering the significant information technology related and non-information technology related security investment factors, and it is vital for businesses and organizations to know the impact of information security investment on performance. Keywords: Accounting Information System, Firm performance, Investment, Security Technology. Abbreviation AIS - Accounting Information System IT - Information Technology

Phycoremediation of water contaminated with arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) from a mining site in Minna, Nigeria

This study was designed to remediate water contaminated with heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium and lead) using two green macroalgal species, Spirogyra and Cladophora. The results obtained from this study indicate that both macroalgae can be employed to adsorb and detoxify any of the three heavy metals from aqueous solution. However, it was also discovered from the study that Cladophora adsorbed and detoxified more of the cadmium and lead than arsenic as the organism had removal efficiency for cadmium and lead as 88.78% and 94.85% respectively meanwhile for arsenic it was only 23.10%. On the otherhand however, Spirogyra adsorbed more of arsenic than cadmium and lead as the organism had a record of 82.76% of arsenic compared to the 28.97% and 47.43%absorption forcadmium and lead respectively. It is therefore concluded based on the results of the present study that reclamation and reuse of water from public or industrial wastewater, or even from water contaminated as a result of precious metal mining is a huge possibility through the application of phycoremediation, using different species of micro and macroalgae. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.373530

Efficiency Driver in Nigerian Airports: A Bootstrap DEA–Censored Quantile Regression Approach

This paper reports on the use of a novel two-stage approach for assessing the efficiency of 30 major Nigerian airports from 2003 to 2013 based on bootstrapped data envelopment analysis (DEA) and censored quantile regression. In the first stage, bootstrapped efficiency estimates are computed. They enable bias correction and testing for significant differences in efficiency levels among airports. Subsequently, bootstrapped DEA results are combined with censored quantile regression to assess the impact of contextual variables—related to the airports’ ownership, location, and network connectivity—on different efficiency percentiles. The results reveal that the intensity of significant impacts regarding airports’ contextual variables may vary between high-/low-efficiency airports. Policy implications are derived accordingly

Can Panax Ginseng Aqueous Extract Improve Chilled and Cryopreserved Bull Spermatozoa?

This study was to evaluate the influence of Panax ginseng aqueous extract on chilled and frozen-thawed bull sperm quality. Samples of semen were acquired from four bulls through the use of an electro-ejaculator. Extension of the semen was done with tris-egg yolk diluent which was augmented with 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 mg/mL Panax ginseng aqueous extract. Diluted chilled portions of the semen were chilled for 6 days at 5 ̊C whereas the frozen semen was cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Results revealed that in chilled and frozen-thawed semen, the control group, T1 and T2 recorded higher percentages in terms of sperm motility and viability in all three groups evaluated compared to others, while the high dose of Panax ginseng aqueous extract in T6 and T5 recorded the lowest percentage. Moreover, the values of sperm morphology for chilled and frozen-thawed semen were not significant among the groups. The results of chromatin stability of the present study showed that T2 and control were higher than for other groups. In conclusion, the low dosage groups (T1, T2 and T3) which were received (0.25 mg/mL, 0.5 mg/mL and 1 mg/mL, respectively) from Panax ginseng aqueous extract were not significant as compared with the control group while high-dosage groups (T4, T5 and T6) which were received (2.5 mg/mL, 5 mg/mL and 7.5 mg/mL, respectively) from Panax ginseng aqueous extract were highly decreased spermatozoa characteristics