Campus realities: Forecasting user bandwidth utilization using monte carlo simulation

Adequate network design, planning, and improvement are pertinent in a campus network as the use of smart devices is escalating. Underinvesting and overinvesting in campus network devices lead to low network performance and low resource utilization respectively. Due to this fact, it becomes very necessary to ascertain if the current network capacity satisfies the available bandwidth requirement. The bandwidth demand varies from different times and periods as the number of connected devices is on the increase. Thus, emphasizing the need for adequate bandwidth forecast. This paper presents a Monte Carlo simulation model that forecast user bandwidth utilization in a campus network. This helps in planning campus network design and upgrade to deliver available content in a period of high and normal traffic load

Climate Change and Global Security in the 21st Century: A Geo-Political Assessment

This study examines climate change and global security in the current 21st Century from the geo-political perspectives. Applying the specialist realist approach based on authentic first-hand environmental data and relevant literature, the study observes that climate change is caused by both natural processes and reckless human activities which defied standard environmental norms in the global climate system. Across the world, climate change has devastated the natural environments, settlements, human economic activities, and the built-up social facilities. These events led to food insecurity, joblessness, loss of wealth, political instability, migration overseas, emergence of diverse crimes, reinforced terrorism, and deadly civil-military wars which currently disrupt the viable global orders of stability, security, and peaceful human co-existence. Based on its findings, the study suggests viable measures to restore and sustain global security in climate change mitigation, prevention, and eradication, sound environmental maintenance, adequate supplies of food, jobs, and vital social benefits to the people, surface vegetal resurgence, crises resolution, and improved experts’ services in agro-industrial, housing, transport, construction, recreation, evacuation, and military sectors. The realization of these global security measures requires the robust cooperation of sovereign authorities and international agencies. Keywords: Climate Change, Global Security, Causes, Impacts, Assessment, Prevention. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/9-2-0

Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of AmpC and ESBLs producing clinical isolates at a tertiary health care center in Kano, north-west Nigeria

The increase in production of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) and Amp C beta lactamase among clinical isolates in our hospitals is of utmost importance. Failure to detect these enzymes in many of our hospitals has greatly led to treatment failure and uncontrolled spread of multi drug resistant pathogens. It was for this purpose that the present study was conducted to determine the prevalence, distribution and susceptibility pattern of Gram negative bacteria producing ESBLs and Amp C beta lactamases in the largest tertiary health care provider in Kano, North-West Nigeria. A total of 75 ESBL and 10 AmpC producing bacteria were involved in the study which were obtained from a study involving 500 Gram negative clinical bacterial isolates from various hospital wards over a period of 9 months from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, Nigeria. Isolates were screened for ESBLs and AmpC using Double Disc Diffusion Method and Amp C Disc test respectively. All confirmed ESBL and Amp C producing isolates were tested for susceptibility to sixteen (16) different antibiotics by the Disc Diffusion Method (DDM). The prevalence of ESBLs was high in Shigella spp. (1/2 or 50%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (10/50 or /20%), and E. coli (47/247 or 19.3%) while Amp C producers were detected more in Klebsiella pneumoniae (4%) and E. coli (2.8%). Of the specimens screened, distribution varies between ESBL and AmpC producers, but more prevalent in urinary tract pathogens in both. Highest prevalence of ESBLs and AmpC producers was recorded in intensive care units and surgical wards. ESBL and AmpC production in the hospital is not sex dependent statistically, thought higher in males (52 and 60%) than in females (48 and 40%) for ESBL and AmpC respectively. ESBL and AmpC producers were both sensitive to Imipenem, Nitrofurantoin and Levofloxacin and resistance to Amoxycillin, Ceftazidime and Tetracycline. The study indicates the occurrence of ESBL and AmpC producers in our tertiary health provider, widely distributed in various clinical samples, wardsand sexes and are multi drug resistant posing serious threat in managing life threatening infections.Key words: prevalence, distribution, ESBL producers, Amp C producers, antibiotic susceptibilit

Patterns of antibiotics susceptibility of isolates and plasmid analysis of Staphylococcus from surgical site infections in Nigeria

There has been a significant increase in resistance of common bacterial isolates from surgical site infections in our community resulting in prolonged hospital stay, disability and deaths of patients. In this vein,we surveyed the antibiotic susceptibility profiles of aerobic bacterial isolates from postoperative wound infections and determined whether resistance in Staphylococcus aureus was genetically mediated. A total of 161 isolates were obtained from 153 swab samples of infected wounds using cultural, morphological, and biochemical characteristics. The predominant bacterial isolates were: S. aureus (53.4%), Escherichia coli (23.0%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (11.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.0%), and species of Klebsiella and Proteus 3.7% each. On the whole: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella and Proteus showed similar antibiotic susceptibility patterns viz: 66.7-100% for ciprofloxacin, 66.7-100% gentamicin and 50-80% augmentin; and less than 50% for amoxacillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, cloxacillin and chloramphenicol. S. aureus showed percentage susceptibility of 50-100% and Staphylococcus epidermidis (50-100%) for cloxacillin and augmentin, and less than 60% for amoxacillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, gentamicin and chloramphenicol. Multi drug resistance (MDR) of S. aureus strains to at least three classes of the antibiotics used was about 70.5%. Four out of the 11 MDR S. aureus strains were found to harbor plasmidswith varying molecular weights that ranged from 3.114 to 6.509 kb. One of the multi-drug resistant isolates still exhibited resistance even after curing. This showed that other genetic elements may also be involved in theacquisition of these forms of resistance other than plasmid elements.Key Words: Postoperative –Wounds-Aerobic bacteria-Staphylococcus aureus

Drivers and Barriers to eLearning Adoption by Academic Staff in Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

eLearning is the utilization of electronic technology and media for teaching and learning. This type of pedagogy has become a main stay in higher institutions in developed countries. Despite its advantages over traditional methods of teaching as found in the literature, only few have made it requirement for teaching or have adopted it their pedagogy. As such, this paper seeks to uncover the drivers and barriers to eLearning adoption by academic staff in Bayero University, Kano one of the Second generation universities in Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional approach was adopted for this study which involved 187 respondents (179 retrieved). Data was descriptively analyzed using SPSS version 27. Majority of the respondents reported to have a Master degree as their highest level of qualification. Also, more than half of the respondents(58.1%) strongly disagreed that the management is aware of the benefits of eLearning while more than one third of the respondents stated that they intend to use eLearning if given the opportunity. Furthermore, nearly half of the respondents strongly disagreed that eLearning increases workload, and more than half of the respondents representing (59.8%) strongly agreed that eLearning eases work and more than one third of the respondents (45.3%) believed that access to ICT is a facilitating factor in adoption of e-leaning among academic staff in Bayero University, Kano. In this regard, the university management need to encourage staff to use eLearning including provision of supportive infrastructure and personnel.&nbsp

Face-to-face, online, or hybrid learning in post COVID-19 recovery? Scrutinizing Nigerian students’ Preferences

The shifting from face-to-face interaction in a formal classroom to digital learning outside the classroom in the recent education system has made a great change in our learning habit. As the online learning mode has become more prevalent in around the world including Nigeria due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is particularly crucial to re-examine students’ opinions and preferences about the teaching modes. Now, a crucial question that may exist is will schools and universities keep at online learning in post COVID-19 pandemic recovery? In responding to the question, the present study scrutinizes Nigerian university students’ standpoints either to prefer online or face-to-face learning activities at the time after the global pandemic recovers. A survey design is adopted by using an online questionnaire distributed to 153 students of several departments at a university in Nigeria. The results depict that 51% of the students are in favor of studying in an online learning mode. However, it is further found that only 19% of the students prefer to have a full online learning activity after the pandemic ends. Moreover, this study reveals that the majority of the students (69%) are supporting hybrid learning system which is the combination between online and offline learning activities. The rest (12%) agree with face-to-face learning activities in classrooms. These results contribute to offering fruitful insights and policy recommendation for Nigerian Ministry of Education to design specific rules and guidelines in which schools and universities are desired to offer blended learning activities for students in post pandemic recovery

Isolation and Characterization of Stigmasterol and Bis-(5, 7-diacetyl-catechin-4’-α- rhamnopyranoside) from the Stem bark of Neocarya macrophylla (Sabine) Prance (Chrysobalanaceae)

Neocarya macrophylla belongs to the Chrysobalanaceae family and is extensively used in folk medicine as an antibacterial, antivenin, antiasthmatic, anticancer, analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent. This study was aimed at isolation and characterization of compounds from the stem bark of Neocarya macrophylla.  Pulverized plant material was exhaustively extracted with methanol using maceration method and concentrated invacuo with the aid of rotary evaporator at 40oC to afford a reddish brown crude methanol extract (ME). The methanol extract was successively partitioned into hexane, dichloromethane, ethylacetate, n-butanol and aqueous fractions. Stigmasterol was isolated from the hexane fraction and a catechin glycoside, Bis-(5,7-diacetyl-catechin-4’-α- rhamnopyranoside) was  isolated from the ethylacetate soluble fraction using a combination of silica gel column, gel filtration (sephadex LH-20) and preparative thin layer chromatography. The structures of the compounds were established on the basis of chemical tests, spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with reference spectral data.Keywords: Neocarya macrophylla, phytochemical, stigmasterol, Bis-(5, 7-diacetyl-catechin-4’-α-rhamnopyranoside)

Prevalence of HIV-infection among under-5 children with protein energy malnutrition presenting at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria

Background: HIV infection is a major health problem worldwide. It is  associated with Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) among under-5 childrenwith attendant high morbidity and mortality.Objective: To determine the prevalence of HIV-infection among children presenting withvarious subtypes of PEM.Methodology: Children suffering from PEM aged below 5 years admitted into the Paediatric units of UDUTH, Sokoto between October 1st, 2010 and April 30th, 2011 were tested for HIV infection using ELISA tests and HIVDNAPCR. Nutritional status was determined using the modified Wellcome Classification and socioeconomic classification was by the scheme developed by Oyedeji,s. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 statistical package. P-value . 0.05 was considered significant.Results: One-hundred under-5 children (64 males, 36 females) with PEM were studied. The mean (±SD) age was 19.8&#177 9.2 months and the majority were aged 12.0-23.9 months. Twentyseven of the 100 children withPEM had HIV-infection giving a prevalence rate of 27%: 59.3% in males and 40.7% in females. Among the HIV-infected children, the 24.0 . 35.9 months age group was the most affected (53.8%). Infected and non-infected children were comparable in terms of age (χ2=7.35, p=0.12) , gender (χ2=0.36, p=0.55) and socioeconomic (χ2=3.01, p=0.25). Themode of transmission was maternal to child transmission in all cases. The highest prevalence of HIV infection was found among marasmus subgroup (65%). Twenty-two (81.5%) of the 27 cases were discharged home, whilefive patients died giving a case fatality rate of 18.5%.Conclusion: HIV infection is common among under-5 children with PEM with no age, gender or socioeconomic predilection. The clinical type of PEM most often affected is marasmus.Key words: Protein-energy malnutrition, HIV-infection, Under-

Medication knowledge and beliefs in patients with major depressive disorder at a tertiary health facility in north east Nigeria

Background: Achieving positive clinical outcomes with antidepressant drug therapy depends on patients having adequate knowledge and positive beliefs about their prescribed medication.Objectives: To assess medication related knowledge and beliefs about medicines in patients with major depressive disorder.Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from December 2018 to March 2019 at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri, Nigeria. Patients who agreed to participate in the study (n=151) were interviewed with patient knowledge about medication and belief about medicine questionnaires.Results: About 82.8 % of the patients had suboptimal knowledge of their medications. Over half (60.3%) of them had strong beliefs regarding the necessity of their prescribed medications. Almost half (47.7%) of them also had strong concerns about the potential harm and adverse effects of their medications. The odds for strong beliefs regarding the necessity of their prescribed medication were about 8 times greater in patients with primary level of education than those with no formal education (p=0.026, OR=8.00) and 4 times in married people (p=0.024, OR=4.77).Conclusion: Patients with major depressive disorder in this study had suboptimal knowledge of their medication and an appreciable number of them had strong beliefs regarding the need for their medications. However, about half of the patients also had strong beliefs about the potentials of their medications to cause harm. The odds to have strong beliefs on the need for medication were positively associated with disease severity, being married and increasing level of education. Interventions aimed at improving medication knowledge and addressing negative beliefs about medications are therefore recommended.Keywords: Medication knowledge, Medication beliefs, Major depressive disorder, Nigeri

Obstacle Avoidance Scheme Based Elite Opposition Bat Algorithm for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are intelligent vehicles that operate in an obstacle environment without an onboard human operator but can be controlled autonomously using an obstacle avoidance system or by a human operator from a remote location. In this research, an obstacle avoidance scheme-based elite opposition bat algorithm (EOBA) for UGVs was developed. The obstacle avoidance system comprises a simulation map, a perception system for obstacle detection, and the implementation of EOBA for generating an optimal collision-free path that led the UGV to the goal location. Three distance thresholds of 0.1 m, 0.2 m, and 0.3 m was used in the obstacle detection stage to determine the optimal distance threshold for obstacle avoidance. The performance of the obstacle avoidance scheme was compared with that of bat algorithm (BA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) techniques. The simulation results show that the distance threshold of 0.3 m is the optimal threshold for obstacle avoidance provided that the size of the obstacle does not exceed the size of the UGV. The EOBA based scheme when compared with BA and PSO schemes obtained an average percentage reduction of 21.82% in terms of path length and 60% in terms of time taken to reach the target destination. The uniqueness of this approach is that the UGV avoid collision with an obstacle at a distance of 0.3 m from nearby obstacles as against taking three steps backward before avoiding obstacl