Evaluation of CD4+ T Cells in HIV Patients Presenting with Malaria at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Nigeria

CD4 count is an important immunological marker of disease progression in HIV seropositive patients. This study was carried out to determine the effect of malaria or fever of unknown origin on the population of CD4+ T lymphocytes of HIV seropositive patients attending the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. 36 subjects were selected for this study. Ongoing history of fever was used as a case definition for malaria and malaria was confirmed from microscopic examination of thick and thin film of blood sample obtained from the patients during presentation with fever. The CD4 count was evaluated during presentation of fever and post-fever using flow cytometry. There was significant decrease in CD4 count of the patients. However, upon classifying the patients into 2 groups - those that returned to the clinic after a week and those that returned after a month - a significant increase in CD4 count was noticed in the group that returned after a week, while a significant decrease was noticed in the group that returned after a month (at p value of 95%). Further classification of the patients based on presence of malaria parasite, and body temperature resulted in varying effects on CD4 count post-fever (in the general group, 27 were positive for malaria parasites. Of these 27, there was an increase in CD4 count in 9 (33.3%). However in the group that returned after a week, all 6 (100%) that were positive for malaria parasites showed increase in CD4 count. Five (26.3%) of the 19 patients that had body temperature within the range of 35.5-37.4^o^C showed an increase in CD4 count, while 7 (41.2%) the 17 patients that had body temperature of 37.5^o^C and above showed an increase in CD4 count. The results led to the conclusion that while some components of the immune response to malaria could strengthen the immune system of HIV seropositive patients by increasing their CD4 count, other components will suppress their immunity by decreasing their CD4 count, accelerating the progression to AIDS

Automatic Electrical Appliances Control Panel Based on Infrared and Wi-Fi: A Framework for Electrical Energy Conservation

-Today, proprietary home automation targets very specific applications which operate mostly on a cable based infrastructure. In contrast to that, our implementation builds on a wireless platform for the automatic control of house hold electrical appliances. The nodes gather sensor readings in a home and transmit them to a central automation server. There, the readings are matched against a list of script statements. When there is a match, a specific action is performed. An important property of the system is that the control of all home appliances is done by means of the ubiquitous Infrared and Wi-Fi wireless technologies. This way, the co-operation between manufacturers is not a necessity in order to connect devices to the home automation network

Disputes Resolution among Residents of Tenement Properties in Lagos, Nigeria

Low incorre earners in Lagos metropolis have peculiar taEte for a type of residential property, popularly referra:J to as face-rr&l-face-you. The type of property uwally consEis of many units rooms flanking a central passage Tenants with different orientation and background cohabit, and conflicts frequently occur armngEi them This paper examines the cau89S of conflicts that are comrmn armng Eitenants of tenement type of residential accomrmdation in Lagos matropolis In w doing, queEiionnaires coupla:J with direct ob&:;rvation and interviews were adminiEiera:J on total of five hundra:J r~ondents randomy 83/ecta:J from five zones in the Eiudy area The Eiudy found a number of factors causng the conflicts and recommends creative problemwlving Etrate;;;i es, armngEJ. others, for managing wch conflicts armngEi occupiers of tenerrHJt hou::x:;s in the Eiudy area

Nomadic Base Station (NBS): a Software Defined Radio (SDR) based Architecture for Capacity Enhancement in Mobile Communications Networks

In this research work, the problem of congestion that leads to dropped calls at GSM cell sites and drastic reduction in network capacity is addressed. We designed a novel GSM base station architecture named Nomadic Base Station (NBS) which is based on Software Defined Radio (SDR) architecture and simulated the LNA for its receiver front-end. The NBS receiver LNA selects and amplifies GSM signal bursts operating at 900MHz and 1800MHz Radio Frequency Band. The later stages translate the Radio Frequency (RF) signal to Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal. This implements the SDR technology by digitizing the IF signal into bit streams that can be processed on generic Central Processing Unit (CPU) using custom written signal processing software

INFLUENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON EMPLOYABILITY AS PERCEIVED BY LECTURERS OF UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, NIGERIA

This study investigated the perception of university lecturers on influence of higher education on employability across the variables of gender, length of service and faculty. Sixty lecturers from five out of the eleven faculties in the University of Ilorin, Nigeria responded to three hypothetical scenario formulated to measure their perception. Findings of the study revealed that respondents perceived that science-oriented faculties have higher levels of influence on employability. Specifically, the faculties of science and technology and agriculture were ranked highest in this direction. However, the responses from the sample revealed no significant difference in their perception based on gender and length of service. These findings underscored the need for higher education to take an overtly focus on its academic provision in such that the demands of global labour market is taken into account. Thus, there is the need to rejuvenate university lecturers through induction programmes that would update and equip them on the global expectations on employability of youths

A novel, low-cost, portable PID sensor for detection of VOC

A low cost portable photoionization (PID) sensor was successfully designed and manufactured. Unlike existing commercial PID sensors, our device provides two outputs, one associated with the total chemical components and a second that provides some level of compositional information. We believe that this makes this sensor system more useful than a standard PID, with a similar, if not lower, cost point. Our PID sensor was tested with gas concentrations down to 2 ppm isobutylene. These results indicate that the limit of detection will be well below 1 ppm. Further detection tests were carried out with ethanol, acetone and isobutylene, which showed similar sensitivities. Compositional measurements were also undertaken and the results presented shows our sensor can discriminate successfully between low concentration isobutylene and 2-pentanone

A novel, low-cost, portable PID sensor for the detection of volatile organic compounds

We report on the design, fabrication and verification of a portable, low cost PID. Unlike commercial PID sensors, ours provides two outputs. One output correlates to the total chemical components and a second that provides some level of compositional information. We believe that this makes this sensor system more useful than a standard commercial PID, at a similar cost point. Our PID sensor was tested with gas concentrations down to 2 ppm isobutylene. The results presented indicate that the limit of detection will be well below 1 ppm. Compositional analysis was also carried out and the results presented shows our sensor can successfully discriminate between low concentrations of 2-hexanone, isobutylene, propanol, 2-pentanone, 2-octanone and 2-heptanone

Organisational Learning and Learning Organisations: A Literature Review

The survival of any organisation, particularly one that is profit oriented, depends to a large extent, on how well it can accept and adapt to environmental changes, and do better in terms of its operations. This conceptual paper reviewed some extant literatures on organisational learning and learning organisations with a view to answering the following question: First, how do you identify a learning organisation when you see one? Secondly, what is the conceptual difference between organisational learning and learning organisation? Thirdly, what are those impediments that deprive organisation from becoming a learning organisation? Fourthly, what benefits do organisations derive from being a learning organisation?  Furthermore, it attempted to pinpoint some examples of learning organisations in Nigeria and USA. The contributions of the different approaches to the study of organisation learning and learning organisation are analyzed, and some areas are suggested where the transfer of analytical concepts may improve understanding. Accordingly, this paper supports the proposition that organisation learning culture has direct influence on organisational innovativeness, which is directly tied to long-term organisational success. It is recommended, therefore, that any organisation that wants to remain competitive should focus on becoming a learning organisation. The authors further recommends that more empirical research is required in the construct to investigate whether there are indeed organisations that can truly be called learning organisations or the construct is just a misnomer. Keywords: learning organisation, organisational leaning, knowledge transfer, competitive advantag

Youth Entrepreneurship Education and Sustainable Economic Development: A Conceptual Review

This paper investigates the effectiveness of entrepreneurial education in repositioning the Nigerian youths for sustainable economic development. The major objective of the study is to investigate the roles of key entrepreneurship development education variables such as knowledge-based economy and enterprising culture on economic development variables such as creativity and problem-solving skills that focuses on repositioning Nigerian youths for sustainable economic stability. The research adopts the review of secondary data. The findings shows that entrepreneurship development education that targets the youths is a powerful tool for empowering the economic strength of a nation and as such, it is recommended that University education curriculum should focus more on educating Nigerian youths on the benefits of becoming acclaimed entrepreneurs