Trust realisation in multi-domain collaborative environments

In the Internet-age, the geographical boundaries that have previously impinged upon inter-organisational collaborations have become decreasingly important. Of more importance for such collaborations is the notion and subsequent nature of trust - this is especially so in Grid-like environments where resources are both made available and subsequently accessed and used by remote users from a multitude of institutions with a variety of different privileges spanning across the collaborating resources. In this context, the ability to dynamically negotiate and subsequently enforce security policies driven by various levels of inter-organisational trust is essential. In this paper we present a dynamic trust negotiation (DTN) model and associated prototype implementation showing the benefits and limitations DTN incurs in supporting n-tier delegation hops needed for trust realisation in multi-domain collaborative environments

Dynamic trust negotiation for decentralised e-health collaborations

In the Internet-age, the geographical boundaries that have previously impinged upon inter-organisational collaborations have become decreasingly important. Of more importance for such collaborations is the notion and subsequent nature of security and trust - this is especially so in open collaborative environments like the Grid where resources can be both made available, subsequently accessed and used by remote users from a multitude of institutions with a variety of different privileges spanning across the collaboration. In this context, the ability to dynamically negotiate and subsequently enforce security policies driven by various levels of inter-organisational trust is essential. Numerous access control solutions exist today to address aspects of inter-organisational security. These include the use of centralised access control lists where all collaborating partners negotiate and agree on privileges required to access shared resources. Other solutions involve delegating aspects of access right management to trusted remote individuals in assigning privileges to their (remote) users. These solutions typically entail negotiations and delegations which are constrained by organisations, people and the static rules they impose. Such constraints often result in a lack of flexibility in what has been agreed; difficulties in reaching agreement, or once established, in subsequently maintaining these agreements. Furthermore, these solutions often reduce the autonomous capacity of collaborating organisations because of the need to satisfy collaborating partners demands. This can result in increased security risks or reducing the granularity of security policies. Underpinning this is the issue of trust. Specifically trust realisation between organisations, between individuals, and/or between entities or systems that are present in multi-domain authorities. Trust negotiation is one approach that allows and supports trust realisation. The thesis introduces a novel model called dynamic trust negotiation (DTN) that supports n-tier negotiation hops for trust realisation in multi-domain collaborative environments with specific focus on e-Health environments. DTN describes how trust pathways can be discovered and subsequently how remote security credentials can be mapped to local security credentials through trust contracts, thereby bridging the gap that makes decentralised security policies difficult to define and enforce. Furthermore, DTN shows how n-tier negotiation hops can limit the disclosure of access control policies and how semantic issues that exist with security attributes in decentralised environments can be reduced. The thesis presents the results from the application of DTN to various clinical trials and the implementation of DTN to Virtual Organisation for Trials of Epidemiological Studies (VOTES). The thesis concludes that DTN can address the issue of realising and establishing trust between systems or agents within the e-Health domain, such as the clinical trials domain

Political Activities in Ado - Ekiti during Colonial Era

This paper examines the political activities of the people of Ado-Ekiti during the colonial period. It shows the lifestyle in Ado-Ekiti prior to the advent of colonialism when the family compounds were known by the names of the ancestral chieftaincies. The study highlights the nature of the British military officers, the role played by Captain R. L Bower who clamped down on Ekitiparapo war chiefs up till 1894. The control of Ado-Ekiti fell on Mr. G. E. Humphery in January 1st 1913 as the first British political officer of Ekiti District. Basic facilities were provided, native court was established at Oke Barracks, and religious activities were introduced (Islam and Christianity 1894 and 1897 respectively). By 1940s, modern political activities have been extended by politicians took politics to places like Ado-Ekiti. The political activities engendered the grass root development and promoted peace and development in the area of study. Data for this research was obtained through oral interview, focus group discussion complimented with secondary sources obtained through conference proceedings and journal articles. Keywords: Nigeria, Colonial Administration, Politics, Ado-Ekiti, Religio

The Interplay between Politics and Education in Nigeria: Any Symbiotic Relationship?

Education takes actual visible form in educational systems.  They either are the work of states or are approved and supervised by them.  No educational system can escape from the political community in which if operates.  The system must reflect what the political community wants it to do.  The system can set formally to change the community only if the community includes change of this kind among its aims.  No doubt every educational system contains some germ of true education and is therefore likely to have side effects unexpected by and unwelcome to its sponsors.  To this end, this paper takes a critical look into the influence of politics on the educational system in Nigeria.  What good has emanated from the supposed symbiotic relationship between education and politics?  What harm has politics unleashed on education?  And what steps need be taken to straighten issues?  Answers to the aforementioned and allied questions are the main focus of this write-up. Keywords: Politics, Education, Community, Symbioti

Studies on Heavy Metal Accumulation in Plant, Insect and Soil in a Public Dumpsite in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State

Studies on heavy metals’ accumulation in plants, insects and soil was carried out in a municipal dumpsite located in Ado-Ekiti. The concentrations of five heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu) in the samples was evaluated for the bio-assessment of environmental heavy metal pollution. The concentration of heavy metals in the plants, soil and grasshoppers from the waste dumpsite in Ado-Ekiti was found to be proportional in the order Cu > Co > Ni >Pb>Cd. It was noticed that Lead and Cadmium were undetected in all the samples of soil, insect and plant screened hence suggesting no immediate threat of poisoning. However, there were considerable levels of Copper, Nickel and Cobalt in the plants, insects and soil with the soil having the highest amount of cobalt and the grasshopper having high amounts of copper detected. Heavy metal pollution of the environment, even at low levels, and their resultant long-term amassed health effects are among the leading public health concerns all over the world. This study therefore recommends the prevention of any form of farming on dumpsite soils, wastes’ segregation at the point of generation and the use of geo-synthetic clay liners as protectors so as to prevent leachate percolation into underground soils

HEAVY METALS AND SOME PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN SOIL OF MAJOR DOMESTIC DUMPSITES IN AKURE TOWNSHIP, ONDO STATE, SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

Heavy metals and soil physicochemical parameters were identified as environmental pollutants in some major domestic dumpsites in Akure city of Ondo state. The pH of the domestic dumpsites ranged from 7.07 to 7.69 with a mean value of 7.33. the organic carbon for the domestic dumpsites ranged from 0.46% to 1.18%, while the organic matter was between 0.80% and 2.05%. the concentration of Zn, Fe, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr in µg/g in the domestic dumpsites A and B ranged between 360.00-441, 169.60-547.20, 37.20-102.00, 18.80-80.00, 2.36-2.95, 11.00-19.20 and 18.00- 42.20 all in µg/g respectively. Also, the contamination pollution index of Zn, Fe, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr all in the domestic dumpsites A and B ranged between 2.57-3.15, not detected, 1.03-2.83, 0.32-0.94, 2.95-3.68, 0.31-0.55 and 0.18-0.46 respectively. Pearson correlation indicated that Zn, Fe, Ni and Pb were highly significant (p<0.01)

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urban Crime Pattern and its Implication for Abuja Municipal Area Council, Nigeria

This study examined the spatio-temporal analysis of urban crime pattern and its implication for Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria; it has the aim of using Geographical Information System to improve criminal justice system. The aim was achieved by establishing crime incident spots, types of crime committed, the time it occurred and factors responsible for prevailing crime. The methods for data collection involved Geoinformatics through the use of remote sensing and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for spatial data. Questionnaires were administered for other attribute information required. The analysis carried out in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment especially for mapping and the establishment of spatial patterns.  The results indicated that the main types of crime committed were theft and house breaking (42.9%), followed by assault (12.4%), mischief (11.3%), forgery (10.5%), car snatching (9.05%), armed robbery (8.5%), trespass (5.2%) and culpable homicide (0.2%). In terms of hot spots the districts recorded the following: Garki (27.62%), Maitama (25.7%), Utako (24.3%), Wuse (20.9%) and Asokoro district (1.4%) respectively with most of the crime committed during the day time. Many attributed the crimes to mainly high rate of unemployment and poverty (79.1%). Consequently to reduce the crime rate, the socio-economic situation of the city must be improved through properly constructed interventions scheme in areas known to quickly generate employment such as agriculture, small and medium scale enterprises, mining and tourism.

Prenatal care coverage and correlates of HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa: insight from demographic and health surveys of 16 countries

Background: Prenatal screening of pregnant women for HIV is central to eliminating mother-to-childtransmission (MTCT) of HIV. While some countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have scaled up their prevention of MTCT programmes, ensuring a near-universal prenatal care HIV testing, and recording a significant reduction in new infection among children, several others have poor outcomes due to inadequate testing. We conducted a multi-country analysis of demographic and health surveys (DHS) to assess the coverage of HIV testing during pregnancy and also examine the factors associated with uptake. Methods: We analysed data of 64,933 women from 16 SSA countries with recent DHS datasets (2015-2018) using Stata version 16. Adjusted and unadjusted logistic regression models were used to examine correlates of prenatal care uptake of HIV testing. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Progress in scaling up of prenatal care HIV testing was uneven across SSA, with only 6.1% of pregnant women tested in Chad compared to 98.1% in Rwanda. While inequality in access to HIV testing among pregnant women is pervasive in most SSA countries and particularly in West and Central Africa sub-regions, a few countries, including Rwanda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia have managed to eliminate wealth and rural-urban inequalities in access to prenatal care HIV testing. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the between countries and sub-regional disparities in prenatal care uptake of HIV testing in SSA. Even though no country has universal coverage of prenatal care HIV testing, East and Southern African regions have made remarkable progress towards ensuring no pregnant woman is left untested. However, the West and Central Africa regions had low coverage of prenatal care testing, with the rich and well educated having better access to testing, while the poor rarely tested. Addressing the inequitable access and coverage of HIV testing among pregnant women is vital in these sub-regions

Pattern of Blood Component Request and Utilization in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Background: Blood transfusion being a life‑saving procedure plays a vital role in the management of patients in the clinical practice. The challenges of inadequate voluntary blood donors and poor storage facilities made availability of sufficient safe blood difficult in developing countries. All efforts should therefore be put in place to ensure judicious use of the available blood by separating each unit of blood donated into components and giving individual patient only the required blood component rather than giving whole blood. Aim: This study was conducted to look into the pattern of blood components request and utilization in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria to assess its effectiveness in reducing blood wastage. Materials and Methods: This is a hospital‑based retrospective study. Blood Bank registers for blood component request and utilization were analyzed over a period of 20 months. Units of blood products requested and units used were considered during this period with emphasis on request to transfusion ratio. Results: Highest blood product request was from pediatrics ward. Total blood product request for male was higher than for female. Highest blood product request was packed cell with request to transfusion ratio of 1.01, followed by fresh‑frozen plasma, request to transfusion ratio 1.0 and platelet, request to transfusion ratio 1.14. Conclusion: Appropriate blood product request maximizes utilization, minimizes wastage, thereby increasing efficiency of the blood bank staff by reducing the unnecessary workload of cross matching, issuing of blood and wastage of reagents

Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Tri-Nano Additives on Wear Rate of Mild Steel during Machining

Wear is an indispensable and recurring problem in engineering materials and it depicts its function on the long run. However, alternative method of retooling the materials at reduce cost was the main focus in this research work. Nano additives of 50 kg each palm kernel, coconut and egg shells were used as carburizer and energizer. Sixty (60) pieces of 100 x 20 mm AISI 5130 mild steel and four (4) boxes of 200 x 150 x 100 mm were charged into furnance of about 2,500oC max capacity. The tri-nano additives of palm kernel, coconut and egg shells were mixed at percentage ratio of 40:40:20. The elemental compositional analyses of the samples were checked before and after the case-hardening using spectrometric analysis machine. Each of the samples was soaked at a temperature of 950, 1000, 1050, and 1100oC for 60, 90, 120, and 180 minutes holding time. The obtained treated samples were subjected to elemental analysis, hardness and wear test using the spectrometer, vicker hardness tester and Rotopol-V wear testing machine. The best core and the surface hardness obtained were 117.9 and 140.9 HR compare to the control with 103.6 and 110.9 HR. The minimum wear rate of the sample was 1.22× while that of the control was 2.03× . The results gave a clear distinction decrease in wear rate and increase in hardness. This showed best economical and environmental friendly way to optimize the property of AISI 5130 steel which can be applied to any other grade of steels