Employees’ attitudes and efficiency of Human Resource Management practices: Evidence from Nigeria

Available evidence shows that employee attitudes are increasingly important for organizational success and competitiveness. This study examines how employee attitudes are related to efficiency of human resource management practices. Using structured questionnaire, a survey of 1,940 ?rms operating in the industries in Nigeria was randomly sampled. The findings of this study indicated that attitudinal dimensions such as commitment Trust, employment relations and self motivation are significantly related to efficiency of HRM practices. Keywords: human resource management practices, employees, attitude,

Development of e-SIWES Portal: A Web based Platform for Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) Management

We developed the e-SIWES portal in order to enhance the manual task of carrying out SIWES activities such as registration, dissemination of information, filling of log book for students’ day-to-day activities and supervision/assessment by lecturers and industry based supervisors. The portal is web-based and allows all tasks to be carried out using the personal computer and the Internet. We digitized the SIWES logbook and assessment forms for filling by students and grading by the supervisors electronically. This will allow supervisors to be assigned immediately the students commence their industrial training and facilitate their monitoring in real-time. With the e-SIWES portal, important messages can be broadcast to all students at once and on a prompt and regular basis

Interrelationship between Body Weight and Body Size Parameters in Chinchilla and New Zealand White Rabbit Genotypes in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Traits of economic importance in rabbit when measured provide attributes that may be used as selection criteria by livestock breeders. This study was carried out to determine the interrelationship between body weight and body size parameters and to develop linear equations for predicting body weight using some body size parameters in two rabbit genotypes. Chinchilla and New Zealand White rabbit genotypes were selected for this study, with each breed having 20 does and 4 bucks making a total of 48 rabbits (precisely breeders). The animals were intensively managed and body weight, body length, ear length, heart girth, head length and tail length were measured on weekly basis. Body size parameters were correlated and regressed with body weight of each genotype and results were compared. At the end of the twelve-week study period, body weights were 2.074±0.280 kg and 2.130±0.240 kg for Chinchilla and New Zealand White rabbit genotypes, respectively. Body size parameters considered were positively correlated with body weight for both genotypes. Ear length, heart girth and head length only were significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with body weight for Chinchilla, while body size parameters were found to be significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with body weight for New Zealand White rabbit. Linear equations were developed for predicting the body weight from these body size parameters in each genotype. We observed that heart girth proved to be the best predictor for body weight in New Zealand White and Chinchilla rabbit genotypes, having a coefficient of determination (r²) of 0.529 and 0.547, respectively. Keywords: Body dimensions, Breeds of rabbit, Bucks, Does, Prediction, Selection criteri

The Role of Health Education on Breast Cancer awareness among University of Calabar Female Undergraduates

The study sought to determine the role of health education on breast cancer awareness among University of Calabar female undergraduates. To achieve the purpose of the study, three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Related literature was reviewed, while a survey research design was adopted for the study. Appropriately develop and validated instrument: Awareness and Breast Cancer Disease reduction Questionnaire was validated with acceptable reliability indices. The research instrument was administered to 152 University of Calabar female undergraduates. The resulting data was analyzed using chi-squared (X²) statistical technique. The results showed that breast cancer awareness significantly affect individual’s knowledge of the symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer, as well as their practice of breast self-examination. Most importantly the result showed that Health Education has a positive significant role in the reduction of breast cancer. In conclusion, it was recommended among others that more of this kind of study should be carried out regularly to educate student about their health, and health education as a subject be adopted as a core subject in our schools curriculum. Also Government and Non-governmental organizations should organize seminars, health awareness talk shows and campaign on other health related issues. Keywords: Health Education, Breast cancer awareness, Breast-self examination, Symptoms and risk factors

The Effect of Serial Correlation in Estimating Dynamic Panel data Models

There are several methods of estimating dynamic panel data models in the context of both micro-economic and macro-economic data.  This paper investigates the performance of five different estimators of dynamic panel data models (the random effect model).  A  Monte Carlo experiment was conducted when individual, N is large and time dimension, T is finite and the error component model is assumed to be serially correlated. The bias and Root Mean Square Error criterion were used to access the performance of different estimators under consideration. We find that the Anderson-Hsiao using lagged differences as instrument (AH(d)) performs better when the time dimension is small (T=5), Anderson-Hsiao using lagged levels as instrument (AH(l)) performs better when T is moderate(T=10) and the first step Arellano-Bond estimator (ABGMM1) outperforms all other estimators when T increases to 20, this confirms the work of Kiviet (1995)  and Judson-Owen(1996) that no estimator has been found to be appropriate choice in all circumstances. For a dynamic panel data with large time dimension we suggest that the first step Arellano-Bond Estimator (ABGMM1) Estimator is appropriate.  The result shows that the bias of the first step Arellano-Bond estimator (ABGMM1) estimate is severe with small time dimension and the ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) are also bias when T is small.  It was discovered that the effect of serial correlation is negligible irrespective of the order. Keywords: Autocorrelation, Dynamic Panel data, Econometric models, Generalized Method of Moment (GMM), Moving Average

Economic Efficiency of Yam Production in Oyo State of Nigeria

This study estimates economic efficiency of yam growing farmers in Oyo State of Nigeria using stochastic frontier production function. The empirical application used farm level data collected from 120 farms following 2007/2008 growing season. The results indicate that farm size, hired labour, yam set and equipment are the major factors that influence changes in yam output. Farm specific variables, such as farming experience, diversification and extension, were the significant factors influencing inefficiency among yam producers. Predicted economic efficiencies range between 0.0094 and 0.876 with a mean economic efficiency of 0.594. Based on these results, sample yam producers could increase their output by 40.6% through better use of available resources

Economic Efficiency of Yam Production in Oyo State of Nigeria

This study estimates economic efficiency of yam growing farmers in Oyo State of Nigeria using stochastic frontier production function. The empirical application used farm level data collected from 120 farms following 2007/2008 growing season. The results indicate that farm size, hired labour, yam set and equipment are the major factors that influence changes in yam output. Farm specific variables, such as farming experience, diversification and extension, were the significant factors influencing inefficiency among yam producers. Predicted economic efficiencies range between 0.0094 and 0.876 with a mean economic efficiency of 0.594. Based on these results, sample yam producers could increase their output by 40.6% through better use of available resources

Power aware routing algorithms (PARA) in wireless mesh networks for emergency management

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) integrate the advantages of WLANs and mobile Ad Hoc networks, which have become the key techniques of next-generation wireless networks in the context of emergency recovery. Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are multi-hop wireless networks with instant deployment, self-healing, self-organization and self-configuration features. These capabilities make WMNs a promising technology for incident and emergency communication. An incident area network (IAN) needs a reliable and lively routing path during disaster recovery and emergency response operations when infrastructure-based communications and power resources have been destroyed and no routes are available. Power aware routing plays a significant role in WMNs, in order to provide continuous efficient emergency services. The existing power aware routing algorithms used in wireless networks cannot fully fit the characteristics of WMNs, to be used for emergency recovery. This paper proposes a power aware routing algorithm (PARA) for WMNs, which selects optimal paths to send packets, mainly based on the power level of next node along the path. This algorithm was implemented and tested in a proven simulator. The analytic results show that the proposed power node-type aware routing algorithm metric can clearly improve the network performance by reducing the network overheads and maintaining a high delivery ratio with low latency

Protective Effect of Hesperetin on Nicosulfuron-Induced Testicular Oxidative Stress in Male Wistar Rats

Nicosulfuron is a post-emergence herbicide used to control weeds while hesperetin found in citrus fruits has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antioxidant properties. This study was designed to investigate the ameliorative properties of Hesperetin on Nicosulfuron-induced reproductive oxidative stress in male Wistar rats. Twenty-four male wistar rats weighing 200 ± 20g were assigned to different groups, each with six animals. Group A serves as the control group and were administered distilled water only. Group B received 25 mg/kg body weight (B.W.) Nicosulfuron. Group C were co-administered with 25 mg/kg B.W. Nicosulfuron and 100 mg/kg Hesperetin while animals in group D received 100 mg/kg B.W. Hesperetin. All treatment lasted for 14 days. An increase in the percentage of sperm with abnormal morphology (23.07%) in the group exposed to Nicosulfuron was observed. Sperm motility, testicular Ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels were reduced significantly in the Nicosulfuron-treated group by 20.33%, 48.11%, and 41.10% respectively. Also, GST, Catalase, and SOD activities were significantly down-regulated in the Nicosulfuron-treated group. Furthermore, as compared to the control group, the Nicosulfuron-treated group had significantly higher activity of testicular acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), MDA, and NO levels. However, co-treatment of Nicosulfuron and Hesperetin significantly ameliorated the Nicosulfuron-induced changes in sperm morphology, motility; testicular ascorbic acid, GSH, NO levels; SOD, CAT, GST, ALP, and ACP activities. The result from this study indicates that Hesperetin, due to its antioxidant properties, protects against testicular oxidative stress induced by Nicosulfuron exposure