A Critical Examination of Induction and African thought System

Induction as a method of science is formulated from simple observation of particulars and their series interconnectedness and order from whence general laws are derived The highpoint of induction is centered on particular instantiation which informs the heart of the general conclusion These being the case one will wonder if this kind of culture or way of reasoning can be replicated in African thought system especially when it is common knowledge that the particular individual in African worldview is not seen nor heard but lost in the general scheme of things How then can the individual be a basis for a general consensus about the truth of a matter This inquiry informed the thrust of this wor

Plural Society and the Challenge of Democratic Practice in Nigeria

Against the backdrop that democracy is a near impossibility in a plural or multi-racial nation, this work sets to examine the place of democratic consolidation in a plural society like Nigeria. It reveals that though more desirable than other types of government, democracy is exclusivist in nature and promotes diversity; thus, it can either encourage or discourage ethnic violence and mistrust depending on how certain factors are handled. This work concludes that despite the problems facing Nigeria’s attempt at democracy, the system, if properly modified and harnessed, has high hopes of ensuring a more peaceful environment. Hence, the study recommends that Nigeria needs to fast-trade concrete solutions to the country’s crises through political restructuring and democratic consolidation. Keywords: Plural Society, Democracy, Minority Consideration, Majority Power, Nigeria’s Democracy, Democratic Consolidation. 

Evaluating Managerial Skills for Business Education in a Technological Age

Having witnessed the extraordinary development of information technology in recent time, one needs to critically examine some systematic changes it triggered in Business Education. This will go a long way in determining whether Business Education is still relevant in accomplishing its goals such as provision of managerial skills for economic sustainability. Based on the above, the researchers thought it reasonable to evaluate the managerial skills acquired through Business Education in present day technology. The researchers‟ findings revealed that Business Education still has the unique and significant potentials in providing managerial skills needed in handling personal affairs, as well as management of business and skills for gainful employment, but calls for improved provision of needed personnel and equipment such as computer for training the would be managers

Enhancing the use of Web 2.0 Technologies in Higher Education: Students’ and Lectures’ Views

Learning quality enhancement with Web 2.0 tools needs good implementation framework and lessons from best practice. However, there is not much research on what constitutes best practice in the implementation of Web 2.0 in learning activities. This research seeks to fill this gap by seeking the views of students and lecturers on increased adoption of Web 2.0 social tools in learning activities. The research reports on the quantitative and qualitative study carried out in UK. This research reveals that improved learning experience with the use of Web 2.0 tools in higher education is positively related to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, prior knowledge, motivation to use, social factors, facilitating condition and performance expectancy

Information Theoretic EEG Analysis of Children with Severe Disabilities in Response to Power Mobility Training: A Pilot Study

Studies have shown that self-initiated locomotion in infants and young children is paramount to developing motor skills, social skills, and visuospatial perception. Because children with multiple, severe disabilities are often not able to produce movement on their own due to limited motor control, access to a power mobility device may be vital to their overall development. This study extends data analysis from an exploratory study, and investigates the use of information theoretics in providing objective measures to characterize changes in electroencephalograms (EEG) as a result of power mobility training, and relates these changes to observed rehabilitation outcomes. Three subjects with multiple, severe disabilities participated in the 20-week study. A single subject, A-B-A-B study design was employed where each baseline (A) and intervention (B) phase lasted 5 weeks. Various conditions were included in both phases: No Interaction 1, Passive Mobility, and No Interaction 2. EEG data were collected under each condition for 5 minutes, sampled at 128 Hz. During B phases, the subject trained for 45-60 minutes with the power mobility device as well. All three subjects showed similar changes in activation in the frontoparietal recordings, likely due to the visuomotor, attention, and memory requirements of power mobility training. The emergence of a centroparietal network was also observed in one subject. Furthermore, a theta increase and alpha decrease in power for one subject may have been the result of increased alertness and anticipation, while a decrease in theta and increase in alpha power for the other subject may be associated with an increase in cognitive performance. Additionally, all subjects demonstrated rehabilitative growth that correlated well with trends seen in the EEG metrics. All three subjects also exhibited more significant change during the intervention phases compared to the baseline phases. This suggests that power mobility training may be responsible for consistent and objectively quantifiable changes in cortical activity that may be correlated with improvement in subjective measures of cognitive gains

Oil pollution in Nigerian waters and the need for a national contingency plan

The purpose of this paper is mainly to highlight the causes of marine pollution by oil on the Nigerian coastal waters which inclusively are deliberate operational discharges from cargo ships and tankers, and the exploitation and exploration of marine and submarine resources for oil and petrochemicals, especially exploitation of the seabed. The situation is worsened by sabotage induced oil spills. Also to deliberate on ways and means of finding a proper and an effective solution to prevent damages to properties, lives, amenities, and the environment, or at least reduce the effects to the barest minimum. The formation of contingency plan as a dictated precedent to protect the marine environment. This includes: component of a contingency plan, supporting studies, contingency plan activation, equipment to be used, -the containment and clean-up operations. The paper also takes a serious view of the establishment of a sound pollution policy common to all of -the Nigerian coastal waters, backed up with a scientific pollution management approach with -the associated legislations and result oriented projects implementation. General conclusion is -that, by establishing well balanced and practical occupational marine pollution policy, with the backups legislations, scientific management approach and projects implementation, Nigeria serious membership of IMO, full participation in most of -the international conventions, the implementation of the international rules and regulations and the updating of -the National Maritime Legislation, the Nigerian Marine industries can substitute expensive sophistication by a highly pollution conscious society/staff who will be in a position to use basic pollution rules coupled with common sense to enhance Marine environment pollution prevention. This will ensure pollution free ports, beaches and clean marine environment or at least reduce pollution to the lowest minimum with the subsequent economy advantage for Nigeria

Comparing the Performance of Alternative Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models in Modelling Nigeria Crude Oil Production Volatility Series

Communication in Physical Sciences 2019, 4(2): 87-94 Authors: A. E. Usoro, C. E. Awakessien and C. O. Omekara  There is no gainsaying the fact that crude oil production remains a major factor to the Nigeria economic growth given its significant contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product. Preponderance of the researches in the oil sector dwell more on oil prices, with less focus on the volatility of crude oil production. What cannot be overemphasized in oil sector is the production volatility effect which is mostly caused by unstable production quantity due to certain nation’s economic, social, political factors. In this paper, volatility of crude oil production was considered, and different Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models were fitted to Nigeria crude oil production volatility series. Data for the work were monthly crude oil quantity data from January 2010 to August 2019 (NNPC ASB) from which the crude oil production volatility was measured. The suggested GARCH models included GARCH (0,1), GARCH (0,2), GARCH (1,1), GARCH (1,2), GARCH (2,1) and GARCH (2,2). Using Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and Schwarz’s Information Criterion (SIC), GARCH (1,2) and GARCH(2,1) competed favourably. The MSE of forecast revealed GARCH (2,1) to perform better for the forecast of crude oil production volatility. Further findings will reveal other alternative models as the crude oil production pattern changesin the future

Rural Entrepreneurship in Nigeria: Lessons From Scientific Management

This article focussed on the lessons that can be garnered from the tenets of Scientific Management. We undertook an X-ray of the tenets of Scientific Management and how these tenets can be adopted to ensure the success of emerging entrepreneurs in the rural areas. Many rural entrepreneurs fail within a short period of start-up, yet these entrepreneurs are a sure springboard for the development of these rural areas and nation as a whole. It was observed that many causes of the failure of these entrepreneurs could have been taken care of through the adoption of the tenets of Scientific management such as a sound knowledge of the business proposed and capacity building. Key recommendations were that: Government should provide an enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship; provide sources of capital and build a repository of information on businesses.Key words: Rural entrepreneurship, scientific management

Occupational Stress and the Job Effectiveness of Federal University Lecturers in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, Nigeria

This study focused on Occupational stress and its effect on the job effectiveness of lecturers in federal universities in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states of Nigeria. The Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The stratified random sample size was 584 lecturers. The study utilized a questionnaire titled Workload Stress Scale (WSS) and Job Effectiveness Questionnaires (JEQ). The hypothesis was tested using the multiple regression analysis. The analysis results indicated that stress from factors – workload, facilities, career development requirements and organizational climate significantly joint predict job effectiveness of lecturers while inter-personal relationships and funding were not significant predictors. Recommendations made included that universities should ensure that bench mark standards of National University Commission for facilities are adhered to. Also, infrastructural facilities maintenance culture should be consciously inculcated into the members of the university community by management. (137 words) Keywords: Occupational stress, federal university lecturers, job effectiveness, Akwa Ibom state, Cross River