RELEVANCE OF REAL ESTATE EDUCATION TO PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Attempts to define a common body of knowledge for real estate education have generated a lot of debate in recent years. Some people see estate management as an academic discipline, while others see it as an environmental discipline. This study therefore seeks to research into complaints over the quality of estate management graduates being sent into the labour market yearly, the shortfalls of the current curriculum and effectiveness of the current teaching techniques. The target population was the stakeholders comprising practicing estate surveyors, lecturers and final year students in the Department of Estate Management of three federal tertiary institutions. Two sets of questionnaires were administered in addition to in-depth interviews. The study found out that young graduates of estate management are deficient in valuation, agency, feasibility and viability appraisal, and property management. The study recommended th

Comparing the effectiveness of two different dosage regimes of oral nifedipine in the treatment of preterm labour

Objective: To compare the effectiveness and side effect of two different dosage regimes of oral Nifedipine in the treatment of preterm labourMethods: A double blinded randomized controlled trial in which 86 pregnant women with preterm labour were randomized to receive either the low or high dose regimen of Nifedipine for tocolysis. Low dose of 10 mg of oral Nifedipine then 5mg every 15min for 1hr 10mg 6hly for 48hrs, while the high dose was 20 mg of oral Nifedipine followed by 10 mg every 15 minutes for 1hr then 20mg 6hourly for 48 hours. The primary outcome was defined by mean uterine quiescence time and fetomaternal side effect were compared between the groups.Results: The mean uterine quiescence time for the low dose and high dose regime were comparable 13.60±11.69 hours versus 12.16±8.90 hours (P = 0.747) respectively, there was no statistical significance difference. None of the patients in both groups needed rescue treatment. Forty patients (93%) versus 41 patients (95%) (P = 0.506) of low and high dose respectively where able to achieve uterine quiescence within 48hours, there was no statistical significant difference. Maternal headache was higher in the high dose compared to the low dose but not statistically significant {19% vs 5% (p = 0.08)} None of the women in both groups had fetal heart rate abnormality.Discussion: The high dose regimen of oral Nifedipine for tocolysis does not have any advantage over the low dose regime in terms of effectiveness for tocolysis and infact low dose had a lower maternal side effect. Key words: Nifedipine; preterm labour; treatment

A Study of Valuation Clients Perception on Mortgage Valuation Reliability

The effect of overvaluation and undervaluation cannot be over emphasized in any economy. Valuation opinions are very crucial to the operations and business dealings of the clients that seek valuer’s advice in decision making. Wrong opinion of value has caused strain in many business dealings. This paper studies the perception of clients on reliability of mortgage valuation in Nigeria. A sample size of 50 lending institutions was randomly chosen representing 57.5% of the target population in Lagos State, the study area. The study used descriptive statistic to analyse the data. The study reveals that clients are of the opinion that valuations produced by valuers were not reliable. This is as a result of the experiences they were having with large disparity between the final opinion of values of those properties on default mortgage that were foreclosed and the final sales price. The study therefore concludes that the estate surveyors and valuers in the country owe their clients a duty of care by presenting accurate and reliable valuation reports since other stakeholders of the real property investors depend on these reports for their investment decision

Monte Carlo Study of Some Classification-Based Ridge Parameter Estimators

Ridge estimator in linear regression model requires a ridge parameter, K, of which many have been proposed. In this study, estimators based on Dorugade (2014) and Adnan et al. (2014) were classified into different forms and various types using the idea of Lukman and Ayinde (2015). Some new ridge estimators were proposed. Results shows that the proposed estimators based on Adnan et al. (2014) perform generally better than the existing ones

Determinants of mortality in Nigerian children with severe anaemia

Background. Severe anaemia (haemoglobin concentration <50 g/l) is amajor cause of paediatric hospital admissions and deaths in the tropics.Objectives.To examine the pattern and predictors of mortalityamong severely anaemic children.Methods. A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among children with severe anaemia at the Children’s Emergency Room of the University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Sociodemographiccharacteristics, clinical features, laboratory findings and co-morbidities of the survivors and those who died were compared by logistic regression analysis.Results. Of the 1 735 children admitted, 311 (17.9%) had severeanaemia, with a case-fatality rate of 9.3%. The presence of respiratorydistress (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1 - 3.6, p=0.031); acidosis(95% CI 1.8 - 2.7, p=0.010); coma (95% CI 0.1 - 0.3, p=0.001);hypotension (95% CI 2.0 - 4.2, p=0.020); and bacteraemia (95% CI 3.1- 3.9; p=0.008) were the significant independent predictors of deathwith regression analysis.Conclusion. Early recognition with prompt and appropriate anticipatory intervention is essential to reduce mortality from severe anaemia

Improved Colorimetric Determination of Reserpine in Tablets Using 4-Caboxyl-2,6-dintrobenzene diazonium ion (CDNBD)

Purpose: To develop a simple, rapid and improved colorimetric method for the assay of reserpine in tablets Method: The method is based on the aromatic ring coupling of reserpine with 4-carboxyl-2,6-dinitrobenzene diazonium ion with the consequent formation of an azo adduct. Optimization of reaction conditions and validation were carried out and the method applied to assay of reserpine in tablets. Result: Reserpine coupled readily with CDNBD and optimization of experimental conditions showed the reaction to be completed in 10 min at room temperature. A 1:1 drug to reagent stoichiometric ratio was obtained for the azo adduct formed. The adduct exhibited a bathochromic shift with respect to the drug and pronounced hyperchromic shift with respect to the reagent. Sample analyses were done using a colorimeter at 470 nm. The assays were linear and reproducible over the concentration range of 2.25 -24 µg/mL. The new method was successfully applied in the assay of reserpine in tablets with a performance similar to the official (USP) spectrophotometric method (p > 0.05). This method represents a profound improvement on the previously reported colorimetric method for reserpine. Conclusion: The method developed is rapid and could find application in in-process quality control of reserpine. Keywords: Reserpine, colorimetry, 4-Caboxyl-2,6-dintrobenzene diazonium ion (CDNBD), diazo coupling > Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Vol. 6 (2) 2007: pp. 695-70

The Need for Residential Tenancy Databases in Nigeria

Bad tenants can be a real problem for not paying rent on time or leaving properties in a mess. Lodged information about bad tenants in tenancy databases assists estate agents and landlords make more informed decisions. The study examines the need for residential tenancy databases in Nigeria. Often times, details on a tenancy application form may not be enough to make an informed decision about whether or not the applicant will be a good tenant. The study employed study focus groups using semi-structured face-to-face interviews to gather data among ten principals of estate surveying and valuation firms in Ikeja, Lagos on the one hand; ten prominent local estate agents; five prominent practicing lawyers, ten landlords of multi-tenanted properties and forty tenants within Baruwa/Ipaja neighbourhood in Alimosho Local Government Council area of Lagos State, on the other hand through purposive sampling method. The survey was carried out between September and December, 2013. Data were analysed using tables, percentages and ranking. The study showed that landlords, estate agents and lawyers ranked ability to guide and guard against loss of income to all participants in the real estate business as first and paramount reason for the call for tenancy database. The need to minimize capital loss to landlords was ranked second with ensuring a reduction in overhead expenses by landlords as third. However, public feelings about landlord’s rights on control of building use and character or emotions have no strong weight since for any business venture to be sustainable, a balance of power to a certain level, must exist between the investor and the product consumers

A comparative study of some robust ridge and liu estimators

In multiple linear regression analysis, multicollinearity and outliers are two main problems. When multicollinearity exists, biased estimation techniques such as Ridge and Liu Estimators are preferable to Ordinary Least Square. On the other hand, when outliers exist in the data, robust estimators like M, MM, LTS and S Estimators, are preferred. To handle these two problems jointly, the study combines the Ridge and Liu Estimators with Robust Estimators to provide Robust Ridge and Robust Liu estimators respectively. The Mean Square Error (MSE) criterion was used to compare the performance of the estimators. Application to the proposed estimators to three (3) real life data set with multicollinearity and outliers problems reveals that the M-Liu and LTS-Liu Estimator are generally most efficient..Keywords: Ordinary Least Squares, Ridge Regression Estimator, Liu Estimator, Robust Estimator, Robust Ridge Regression Estimator, Robust Liu Estimato

Modeling the Grade Point Average (GPA) System in Nigerian Universities

We proposed a mathematical model that captures students’ academic progress via the GPA evaluation system. Our purpose is to understand the effect of failing a course (carryovers), low grade point and probation on the overall academic progress (CGPA) of students. The model is analyzed for the existence and stability of the student progress free equilibrium (SPFE) state. Stability analysis revealed that the model is locally asymptotically stable under certain conditions on the model parameters. A quantitative analysis using numerical experiments with the Maple software was also carried out. From the result of this work, there is a direct relationship between high grade point and high GPA and low grade point and low GPA. Students with high CGPA on a consistent manner tend to graduate in the fourth year while students with low grade and failing courses graduate in the fifth or sixth year. The GPA system goes hand in hand with the semester and course credit system, hence the need for students to understand the functionalities of the impact of the credit system on his overall academic progress. Keywords: Mathematical Model, Course credit system, Semester system, Grade Point Average (GPA) system, Student Academic Progres