Imperatives of Computer Base Test (CBT) on Performance of LIS Students: A Case Study

Abstract The paper espouse the fact that paper pen test (PPT) is slowly replaced by computer base test (CBT) introduced over five decades ago in most tertiary institutions. It itemized the benefits and challenges of CBT. The focus is to assess the performance of students of LIS in a Nigerian university who pioneered the project. Factoring incorporated courses, necessity for the incorporation of CBT, influence of CBT on student performance and the challenges of CBT on these students performance anchored the thrust of the paper. The study was quantitative; questionnaire was used to collect data that is guided by the objective of the study. A total of 267 students participated. The study revealed that CBT incorporation is still at pilot level and that the pencil pen test stills prevails in the study area, however, since CBT incorporation, it has put to rest the claim that drudgery was one of the reasons for its utilization. Results show that its incorporation has encouraged students to be thorough and improve their technical skills. Challenges hinges on funding of the project, training of personnel and students must be prioritized for sustainability

Plant Waste Hydrolysis by Extracellular Enzymes of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum: Effect of Ammonia Pretreatment

Aspergillus niger (ANL301) and Penicillium chrysogenum (PCL 501) cultured in basal media with cellulose as sole carbon source yielded extracellular enzymes which partially hydrolyzed sawdust and sugarcane pulp into simple sugars. Pre-treatment of sawdust by ammonium hydroxide steeping increased the yield of simple sugars. The reducing sugars released from the pretreated sawdust by the crude enzymes of A. niger (ANL301) and P. chrysogenum (PCL 501) were 3.58% and 7.02% of the total hydrolysable sugars respectively. This is in contrast to the 0.92% and 1.02% of the total hydrolysable sugars released respectively by the enzymes of A. niger (ANL301) and P. chrysogenum (PCL 501) from the non-pretreated sawdust. Enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane pulp by the crude enzymes was not significantly affected by ammonia pre-treatment. Reducing sugars released from non-pretreated sugarcane pulp by the crude enzymes of A. niger (ANL301) and P. chrysogenum (PCL 501) were respectively 4.17% and 5.08% of the total hydrolysable sugars

Conceptualizing a model for Continuance Use of Cloud Computing in Higher Education Institutions

Resource management optimization is a key concern for educational establishments. Cloud computing as the next generation in computing technology has emerged as the main standard of service and resource delivery. As cloud computing has grown into a mature technology being rapidly adopted in many education institutions across the world, retaining customers of this innovation has become a challenge to the cloud service providers. Current research trends on cloud computing have sought to study the technology’s acceptance or adoption; however, little research attention has been given to the continuance use in an organizational setting. To fill this gap, we established a positivist quantitative-empirical study to investigate the antecedents of cloud continuance use in higher education institutions. Accordingly, drawing on prior literature in organizational-level continuance, this research developed a conceptual model that extends and contextualizes the IS continuance model. We structured our model based on the TOE framework, integrating the established theoretical lenses of the IS success model and the IS discontinuance model to explicate cloud computing continuance use in the context of Higher Education Institutions. To test this model, using a non-probability purposive sampling method, data was collected from the decision-makers of universities that have adopted cloud computing service. We used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) to analyze the data. The findings of a preliminary study, conducted through a survey with ICT decision-makers, and based on the proposed conceptual model, indicate that the research instrument is both reliable and valid, and so point the way towards further research. The paper closes with a discussion of the research limitations, contributions, and future directions

Widespread plasmid resistance genes among Proteus species in diabetic wounds of patients in the Ahmadu Bello university teaching hospital (ABUTH) Zaria

Plasmids have been known to play a major role in the dissemination of antibiotics resistance genes in a microbial population. In this background, 148 Proteus species comprising of 97 Proteus mirabilis and 51 Proteus vulgaris were isolated from diabetic wounds. Seventy-six strains had varied multi-drug resistance (MDR) pattern encoded on transferable plasmid gene with a very high frequency (2 x10-4 to 4 x 10-2 per donor cell) by conjugation. 34% of the strains lost the antibiotic resistance plasmids marker after sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) mediated curing. The rest of the plasmid markers were non transferable. The results indicated that plasmids carry varied dissemination of antibiotics resistance markers to distant recipient cells, indicating clonal transfer among bacterial strains

The Value of Legal Terminology for the Romano-German Legal System Countries

The problems of terminology are relevant for any aspect of human life. In the field of lawmaking, the significance of this problem corresponds to the significance of laws in society. Thus, the primary aim of the article is to investigate the place of legal terminology in the countries of the continental system of law. To accomplish end, this survey attempts to substantiate that legal terminology in this legal system is of significant importance for the formation and application of legislation. To do so, a comparison is made with the construction of the legal system in the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal system. Based on the result, Russian law is classified as a continental legal family. At the same time, based on an analysis of the key areas of development of economic legislation, a tendency has been revealed for the penetration of Anglo-Saxon legal institutions into the Russian legal system. The conclusion is formulated on the need to ensure the unity of legal terminology in legal texts. This is of particular importance when borrowing foreign legal institution

Chloroquine prophylaxis associated with high prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum Pfcrt K76T mutation in people with sickle-cell disease in Benin City, Nigeria

Background & objectives: High mortality and morbidity in sickle-cell disease has been associated with malaria infection especially in countries where chloroquine is used. Chloroquine resistance has been associated with the emergence of Pfcrt mutant genes. This study aimed at comparing the prevalence rate of Pfcrt T76 mutation in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from infected individuals with sickle-cell disease and sickle-cell trait. This study was carried out in Benin City between the months of April and June 2006. This period is marked with high transmission rate of malaria. Methods: The genotype of the subjects was screened using haemoglobin electrophoresis system and the P. falciparum. Pfcrt genotyping was carried out using PCR–restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).Results: Four hundred and twenty-four subjects comprising of 207 haemoglobin AA, 136 haemoglobin AS and 81 haemoglobin SS typed individuals were enrolled for this study. No significant difference existed in the prevalence rate of malaria in the three groups (p >0.05). However, the prevalence rate of Pfcrt K76T mutant gene was higher in the haemoglobin SS genotyped individuals than the haemoglobin AA and AS subjects (p<0.05).Interpretation & conclusion: An uncontrolled use of chloroquine has been incriminated as the major cause of chloroquine resistance in Nigeria. Therefore, rapid intervention measures are needed as a matter of urgency to curb the up rise in the prevalence of the chloroquine resistant genes in our environment

Joint testing of genotypic and gene-environment interaction identified novel association for BMP4 with non-syndromic CL/P in an Asian population using data from an International Cleft Consortium

Non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) is a common disorder with complex etiology. The Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 gene (BMP4) has been considered a prime candidate gene with evidence accumulated from animal experimental studies, human linkage studies, as well as candidate gene association studies. The aim of the current study is to test for linkage and association between BMP4 and NSCL/P that could be missed in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) when genotypic (G) main effects alone were considered.We performed the analysis considering G and interactions with multiple maternal environmental exposures using additive conditional logistic regression models in 895 Asian and 681 European complete NSCL/P trios. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that passed the quality control criteria among 122 genotyped and 25 imputed single nucleotide variants in and around the gene were used in analysis. Selected maternal environmental exposures during 3 months prior to and through the first trimester of pregnancy included any personal tobacco smoking, any environmental tobacco smoke in home, work place or any nearby places, any alcohol consumption and any use of multivitamin supplements. A novel significant association held for rs7156227 among Asian NSCL/P and non-syndromic cleft lip and palate (NSCLP) trios after Bonferroni correction which was not seen when G main effects alone were considered in either allelic or genotypic transmission disequilibrium tests. Odds ratios for carrying one copy of the minor allele without maternal exposure to any of the four environmental exposures were 0.58 (95%CI = 0.44, 0.75) and 0.54 (95%CI = 0.40, 0.73) for Asian NSCL/P and NSCLP trios, respectively. The Bonferroni P values corrected for the total number of 117 tested SNPs were 0.0051 (asymptotic P = 4.39*10(-5)) and 0.0065 (asymptotic P = 5.54*10(-5)), accordingly. In European trios, no significant association was seen for any SNPs after Bonferroni corrections for the total number of 120 tested SNPs.Our findings add evidence from GWAS to support the role of BMP4 in susceptibility to NSCL/P originally identified in linkage and candidate gene association studies

Interactions and potential implications of Plasmodium falciparum-hookworm coinfection in different age groups in south-central Côte d'Ivoire

BACKGROUND: Given the widespread distribution of Plasmodium and helminth infections, and similarities of ecological requirements for disease transmission, coinfection is a common phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the tropics. Interactions of Plasmodium falciparum and soil-transmitted helminths, including immunological responses and clinical outcomes of the host, need further scientific inquiry. Understanding the complex interactions between these parasitic infections is of public health relevance considering that control measures targeting malaria and helminthiases are going to scale.METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in April 2010 in infants, young school-aged children, and young non-pregnant women in south-central Côte d'Ivoire. Stool, urine, and blood samples were collected and subjected to standardized, quality-controlled methods. Soil-transmitted helminth infections were identified and quantified in stool. Finger-prick blood samples were used to determine Plasmodium spp. infection, parasitemia, and hemoglobin concentrations. Iron, vitamin A, riboflavin, and inflammation status were measured in venous blood samples.PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multivariate regression analysis revealed specific association between infection and demographic, socioeconomic, host inflammatory and nutritional factors. Non-pregnant women infected with P. falciparum had significantly lower odds of hookworm infection, whilst a significant positive association was found between both parasitic infections in 6- to 8-year-old children. Coinfected children had lower odds of anemia and iron deficiency than their counterparts infected with P. falciparum alone.CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that interaction between P. falciparum and light-intensity hookworm infections vary with age and, in school-aged children, may benefit the host through preventing iron deficiency anemia. This observation warrants additional investigation to elucidate the mechanisms and consequences of coinfections, as this information could have important implications when implementing integrated control measures against malaria and helminthiases

Knowledge management in forensic accounting: the future trends

Nowadays, Information System (IS) plays major roles in organizations to support the business processes, decision making and provide support on competitive advantage strategies for the employees and managers. These functions are significant since the business processes become more diverse and involve a large amount of transactions. Due to the diversity of the business process, information safekeeping on financial records is very crucial for managing the organizations knowledge. Thus, financial crime is not as visible as conventional crime hence detection is usually difficult. It is basically the work of the Auditors or Investigators to carefully process the information gathered from a company’s database to an evidence to be presented at the law court while investigating the financial crime. This paper covers related study on the usage of information technology in supporting and facilitating financial crime investigation in order to produce substantial evidence suitable for use in the law court. The study and directions for future research on knowledge management in forensic accounting also included in the paper