Enhancing Election Monitoring and Observation using E-Messaging Tools

Election monitoring and observation are an integral part of an electoral process. They help to enhance the transparency and credibility of elections as well as the acceptance of results. Challenges faced by election monitoring and observation organizations include: the need for coordination and cooperation among observer groups; the need for follow-up on recommendations made after an election; the need to develop technologies appropriate for assessing e-voting technologies; and the need to develop commonly shared criteria for assessing democratic elections. In addition, challenges peculiar to Nigeria include: difficult terrain, poor Internet coverage, poor electricity and political instability bringing about insecurity. In this paper, we present contemporary e-messaging tools and initiatives that will help to address these challenges and thereby enhance the efficiency of election monitoring and observation missions

MACBenAbim: A Multi-platform Mobile Application for searching keyterms in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Computational biology and bioinformatics are gradually gaining grounds in Africa and other developing nations of the world. However, in these countries, some of the challenges of computational biology and bioinformatics education are inadequate infrastructures, and lack of readily-available complementary and motivational tools to support learning as well as research. This has lowered the morale of many promising undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers from aspiring to undertake future study in these fields. In this paper, we developed and described MACBenAbim (Multi-platform Mobile Application for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics), a flexible user-friendly tool to search for, define and describe the meanings of keyterms in computational biology and bioinformatics, thus expanding the frontiers of knowledge of the users. This tool also has the capability of achieving visualization of results on a mobile multi-platform context

Institutional Repositories: Features, Architecture, Design and Implementation Technologies

Europe is the leading continent in terms of active adoption and use of Digital Libraries – particularly Institutional Repositories (IRs). Africa has not done poorly in this area with a steady increase from 19 repositories in 2008 to 46 in January, 2011 but there is need to raise awareness and channel efforts towards making IRs easily accessible to Africans through ubiquitous channels such as hand-helds and mobile devices. This paper reviews the features, architecture, design and implementation technologies of IRs. In addition, it highlights viable research areas that can be pursued by African researchers in the field of Digital Libraries. It also encourages research efforts to focus on areas that will be beneficial to Africa

Insights from computational modelling and simulation towards promoting public health among African countries

One of the problems associated with some African countries is the increasing trend of road mortality as a result of road fatalities. This has been a major concern. The negative impacts of these on public health cannot be underestimated. An issue of concern is the high record of casualties being recorded on an annual basis as a result of over-speeding, overtaking at dangerous bends, alcohol influence and non-chalant attitude of drivers to driving. The aim of this research is to explore and adapt the knowledge of finite state algorithm, modeling and simulation to design and implement a novel prototype of an advanced traffic light system towards promoting public health among African countries. Here, we specify and built a model of an advanced wireless traffic control system, which will help complement existing traffic control systems among African countries. This prototype is named Advanced Wireless Traffic Control System (WPDTCS). We developed this model using an event-driven programming approach. The technical details of the model were based on knowledge adapted from the Finite State Automation Transition algorithm. It is expected that the AWTCS will promote the evolution of teaching in modeling, simulation, public safety by offering trainees an advanced pedagogical product. It will also permit to strengthen the collaboration of knowledge from the fields of Computer Science, Public health, and Electrical Engineering. Keywords: public health, public safety, modelling , simulation, pr

A Review of Models for Evaluating Quality in Open Source Software

Open source products/projects targeting the same or similar applications are common nowadays. This makes choosing a tricky task. Quality is one factor that can be considered when choosing among similar open source solutions. In order to measure quality in software, quality models can be used. Open source quality models emerged due to the inability of traditional quality models to measure unique features (such as community) of open source software. The aim of the paper therefore is to examine the characteristic features, unique strengths, and limitations of existing open source quality models. In addition, we compare the models based on some selected attributes

DEPLOYMENT AND USABILITY EVALUATION OF MOBILE ACCESS TO INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY

An Institutional Repository is essentially a web application that is capable of capturing, preserving and disseminating the intellectual output of a University or research institution in dig ital formats. The advent of the Mobile Web has ushered in a new wave of mobile devices - with multi-touch facilities and thus there has been a shift from Web access to Mobile Web access. This has brought about the need to make web applications accessible via mobile devices. This study investigated the usability of the core functionalities of an Institutional Repository on various mobile devices. The work did not try to create a mobile version of the repository but rather test the existing web application on various mobile platforms. To achieve this, the core functionalities of the repository were modelled using Unified Modelling Language (UML). In addition, an Institutional Repository was built and deployed for Covenant University by leveraging on open source repository software – EPrints. Furthermore, the core functionalities of the Institutional Repository were tested on five different mobile devices. Finally, the usability of the Institutional Repository on the various mobile devices used was evaluated by identifying the usability attributes; designing a questionnaire based on those attributes and then analyzing the results with SPSS software. The results showed that overall the current web version of the repository had a good usability score on the mobile devices used

THE IMPERATIVE OF A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CRIME DNA DATABASE IN NIGERIA

The evolution of DNA sequencing and analysis has had an extensive impact on criminal justice in many jurisdictions because it provides an opportunity for crime laboratories to develop distinct personal profiles required to identify crime suspects. This is connected with Locard’s principle of exchange that perpetrators of crime usually leave traces at the crime scene and take traces from the crime scene along with them. DNA evidence has led to the arrest of previously unidentifiable perpetrators of the crime and the exoneration of wrongfully convicted persons.  The functionality of DNA technology in criminal justice depends on the existence of a comprehensive DNA database. However, obtaining DNA samples from suspects has been challenged as a bio-invasion of the suspect’s right to privacy and cause of citizen stigmatization. DNA analysis is also susceptible to unscrupulous manipulations in forensic science laboratories. To avert potential legal challenges, countries with comprehensive DNA databases have evolved extensive regulatory frameworks to oversee the collection and retention of DNA samples of suspects. The collection of DNA samples in Nigeria for crime solving is still at a very elementary stage and a national DNA database does not exist. This paper aims to undertake a comparative legal analysis of relevant case laws as well as legislations in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, United States of America and South Africa to advance the argument that it has become imperative to put in place a regulatory framework that will control the collection and storage of DNA samples as well as dictate the conduct of forensic laboratory scientists. A national DNA database is vital to combat crime but it must be subject to a regulatory framework

WATER RESOURCES USE, ABUSE AND REGULATIONS IN NIGERIA

The evolvement processes of water laws in Nigeria, as well as their efficiency in the sustenance of surface water resources, were studied. A cursory look was also taken into the mode of access to water resources by households in Nigeria. This was done vis-à-vis the governmental effort at providing potable water for its teeming population as well as the Land Use Act of 1978, which vests absolute control and ownership of all water resources, ground and surface, in the land owner. About 47 million Nigerians still rely, exclusively, on surface water sources to meet their domestic needs. Yet, pollution discharge into the surface water by individuals and industries go on unmitigated, unregulated, and unpunished due to weaknesses in the existing laws. The involvement of the scientific community in the regular calibration and monitoring of surface water quality as a tool for managing the surface and groundwater resources, among other things, would be an advantageous tool for curbing the pollution menace

Study of Auto Purification Capacity of River Atuwara in Nigeria

The aim of this paper was to study and predict the self-purification capacity of River Atuwara. This was done primarily by measuring the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) downstream of a pre-selected pollution discharge point on River Atuwara and then predicting the same using the modified Streeter-Phelps equations. Other data gathered from each of the 17 sampling stations on River Atuwara and used in the analysis included Biochemical Oxygen Demand, (BOD), pH, stream velocity, stream depth and distance. Predicted DO deficit trend lines were first fitted by retaining the original re-aeration coefficient component, k2, of the modified Streeter-Phelps equation (USGS equation) and subsequently by substituting it with Atuwara reaeration coefficient model. It was found that the latter displayed better predictive capacity. Results also demonstrated that the auto-purification capacity of the river which is already limited by the relatively low DO saturation level is further threatened by the wastes being discharged into it at varying intervals. Some of the wastes which are non-biodegradable and acidic were also found to be interrupting the auto-purification processes of the river. Water from River Atuwara requires treatment before it can be considered safe for consumption by its current users

Applicability of Cyclomatic Complexity on WSDL

Complexity metrics are used to predict the quality of the any software systems because they quantify the quality attributes. Web services, a new type of applications, have been providing a common standard mechanism for interoperable integration of disparate systems and gaining a great deal of acceptance by different types of parties that are connected to the internet for different purposes. In this respect, quality of the web-services should be quantified for easy maintenance and quality of services. Further, the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) forms the basis for Web Services. In this paper, we are evaluating the quality of the WSDL documents by applying the Cyclomatic complexity metric, a well known and effective complexity metric, which is not used to evaluate the quality of WSDL till date