Ciprofloxacin Susceptibility Pattern in a Secondary Health Care Facility in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Antibiotic resistance is a major challenge in management of infectious diseases globally, and particularly in developing countries. There are few studies that have analysed the impact of such abuse on the development of bacterial resistance in Nigeria and sub Saharan Africa. To this end, we retrospectively analysed ciprofloxacin susceptibility patterns in a secondary healthcare facility in Northwest Nigeria over a four year period. Three hundred and thirty six pathogens isolated from 370 patients were analysed in this study. The common pathogens isolated from wound infections were Staphylococcus aureus (29, 7.84%), Pseudomonas spp (10, 2.7%) and Proteus spp (7, 1.89%). In stool samples, Proteus (11, 2.97%), Escherichia coli (8, 2.2%) and Salmonella (6, 1.62%) were the most commonly isolated organisms respectively. While for urine samples, isolates were S. aureus (105, 28.37%) followed by E. coli from urine samples (62, 16.76%). During the study period, we observed there was a high degree of resistance to ciprofloxacin among Proteus spp (50%), E. coli (41.3%), S. aureus (20.6%), Klebsiella (20%) and Pseudomonas (20%). Government and stakeholders need to urgently develop antimicrobial stewardship programmes that will address the issue of antibiotic resistance in the country

On Robust Estimation through the Use of Auxiliary Information by Ratio and Regression Estimators

The ratio and regression estimators that make use of auxiliary information for achieving higher efficiency is applied to education data. Education is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it paves the way to a successful and productive future. It provides the potentials for an individual’s intellectual growth and productivity in the society. The objective of this paper is to estimate the ratio of pupils to classroom in Nigeria’s public primary schools as well as to estimate the total pupil population in Nigeria’s public primary schools using the ratio and regression estimators. The data of annual enrolment into public primary schools and the number of classrooms in 2014 were obtained from Universal Basic Education Commission.  Furthermore, the sampling design used is stratified random sampling with equal allocation. Two states were selected from each geo-political zone; making a sample of 12 states The results of the ratio estimator revealed that the estimated national pupil-classroom ratio is approximately 54 and the confidence interval shows that the ratio may lie between the inter 43 and 65 approximately. Similarly, total pupils population is estimated at 20,298,309 and the confidence interval shows that the total population may lie between the inter 16,084,553 to 24,512,065 approximately. The ratio and regression estimators will save time and cost to give reliable estimates. Similarly, using the regression estimator total pupils population is estimated at 20,412,402 and the confidence interval shows that the total population may lie between the inter 16,210,204 to 24,614,600 approximately. Based on this analysis, it is therefore recommended that effort should be intensified to improve the pupil-classroom ratio nationwide and to increase pupils’ enrolment. Key words: Bias, Enrolment, Coefficient of Variation, Confidence interval, Ratio estimation, Regression estimation Robust estimates, Standard error, Variance Abbreviations: EFA - Education for All, UBE - Universal Basic Education, SRS – Simple Random Sample, UNESCO-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizatio

Split-plot Central Composite Experimental Design Method for Optimization of Cake Height to Achieve desired Texture

In many industrial experimental situations, the levels of certain factors under investigation are much harder to change than others due to time and/or cost constraints. An appropriate approach to such situations is to restrict the randomization of the hard-to-change (HTC) factors, which leads to a split-plot structure. This work designs and conducts a split-plot central composite experiment for optimizing cake height using oven temperature(Factor A) as the HTC factor, amount of flour (B), baking powder (C), and amount of milk (D) as the easy-to-change (ETC) factors. A second-order split-plot central composite design (CCD) model was fit to the generated data and analyzed using generalized least squares (GLS). A stationary point, which gives optimum cake height, was then determined. The results show that main effects of oven temperature, flour, baking powder, and milk were highly significant on the cake height . Their quadratic effects were also significant except that of the flour. The flower/baking powder interaction effect was significant. The fitted model  accounted for about 95% of the total variability in the cake height data. The observed optimum cake height was ̂ at a stationary point: A . This study has established the potentials of response surface experiments in optimizing products in food industries. Keywords: Experiment, split-plot CCD, Cake height, Design, Stationary point.&nbsp

Compendium of Computational Tools for Power Systems Harmonic Analysis

Harmonic analysis comes into limelight at this contemporary world as a result of proliferation of non-linear loads producing waveform distortions in power systems. It has apparently outshined other important phrases such as power outage, power factor and so on which are known for their devastating impacts. The emergence of distorted waveform has adverse effects which could be slow or rapid damage of key apparatus and equipment, namely power transformers, electric motors and other sensitive computer as well as communication facilities. In fact, it is very easy to assess the menace of power outage or power factor since both the utility and consumers keep watchdog on their billings/operating costs in case of power factor or the economic losses when there is outage. Unfortunately, the detection of harmonics could only be analysed using high-tech power systems harmonic analysers and there is a need to provide stakeholders in the industry compendium of computational tools for fast harmonic analysis. Thus, the harmonic data acquired were used to train an artificial neural network (ANN) implemented on MATrix LABoratory (MATLAB 8) software platform to facilitate accurate prediction of harmonic distortions

Bio-Inspired Algorithms for the Design of Multiple Optimal Power System Stabilizers: SPPSO and BFA

Damping intra-area and interarea oscillations are critical to optimal power flow and stability in a power system. Power system stabilizers (PSSs) are effective damping devices, as they provide auxiliary control signals to the excitation systems of generators. The proper selection of PSS parameters to accommodate variations in the power system dynamics is important and is a challenging task particularly when several PSSs are involved. Two classical bio-inspired algorithms, which are smallpopulation- based particle swarm optimization (SPPSO) and bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA), are presented in this paper for the simultaneous design of multiple optimal PSSs in two power systems. A classical PSO with a small population of particles is called SPPSO in this paper. The SPPSO uses the regeneration concept, introduced in this paper, to attain the same performance as a PSO algorithm with a large population. Both algorithms use time domain information to obtain the objective function for the determination of the optimal parameters of the PSSs. The effectiveness of the two algorithms is evaluated and compared for damping the system oscillations during small and large disturbances, and their robustness is illustrated using the transient energy analysis. In addition, the computational complexities of the two algorithms are also presented

Iron Ore Tailings as Partial Replacement for Fine Aggregate in Concrete Production – Review

Normal River sand is one of the major components of concrete, generally termed fine aggregate. A large volume of sand is needed annually for construction work globally. Mining or extraction of sand from the river bed, ocean beds, beaches, and inland dunes is accompanied by several problems such as; lowering of the water table, sinking of bridge piers and erosion of river bed and instability of river bed on the environment, etc. To decrease these environmental impacts and the cost of conventional fine aggregates, alternative materials like mining waste have been studied by several researchers to replace partially fine aggregates in concrete production. Iron ore tailings (IOT) are one of the mining wastes obtained from the beneficiation process of iron ore concentrates. This paper presents an overview of the work carried out on the use of IOT as a partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete and its effects on the workability, mechanical, and durability properties of concrete

Giant multinodular infantile fibrosarcoma: a case report

Infantile fibrosarcoma is a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma seen in children usually less than 2years of age. Few cases of giant infantile fibrosarcoma have been reported in literature. We report a rare case of a giant multi-nodular infantile fibrosarcoma in the left anterolateral chest wall in a 7-year-old boy. The tumour was said to have been recurrent twice for about 6 years. At presentation patient was evaluated and was commenced on 6 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with vincristine, adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (VAC) regimen to alternate with Ifosfamide/Etoposide (IE) regimen with very good response. Thereafter, had a wide local excision of the tumour and then had 4 more cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy. His 6months follow up showed no evidence of tumour recurrence. Infantile fibrosarcoma is said to be chemo-sensitive tumour with very good response, though surgical excision is the main treatment of choice and overall it is said to have a good prognosis

Position and Trajectory Tracking Control for the Ball and Plate System using Mixed Sensitivity Problem

This paper presents the position and trajectory tracking control scheme for the ball and plate system (BPS) using the double feedback loop structure (a loop within a loop) for effective control of the system. The inner loop was designed using linear algebraic method by solving a set of Diophantine equations. The outer inner loop was designed using   sensitivity approach. Simulation results showed that the plate was stabilized at 0.3546 seconds, and the ball was able to settle at 1.7087 seconds, when given a circular trajectory of radius 0.4 m with an angular frequency of 1.57 rad/sec, with a trajectory tracking error of 0.0095 m, which shows that the controllers have adaptability, strong robustness and control performance for the ball and plate system.           

An Election Energy Threshold Based Multi-Hop Routing Protocol in a Grid-Clustered Wireless Sensor Network

Owing to the limited energy of sensor nodes (SNs) in a wireless sensor network (WSN), it is important to reduce and balance the energy consumption of the SNs in order to extend the WSN lifetime. Clustering mechanism is a highly efficient and effective mechanism for minimizing the amount of energy that SNs consume during the transmission of data packets. In this paper, an election energy threshold based multi-hop routing protocol (mEEMRP) is presented. In order to minimize energy consumption, this routing protocol uses grid clustering, where the network field is divided into grid clusters. SNs in each grid cluster select a cluster head (CH) based on a weight factor that takes the node location, node’s residual energy (RE) as well as the node’s distance from the base station into consideration. An energy efficient multi-hop routing algorithm is adopted during the transmission of data packets from the cluster heads (CHs) to the base station (BS). This multi-hop routing algorithm uses an election energy threshold value, T­nhCH that takes into consideration the RE of CHs as well as the distance between CHs. Simulation results show a 1.77% and 10.65% improvement in terms of network lifetime for two network field scenarios over Energy Efficient Multi-hop Routing Protocol (EEMRP)

A Review on Critical Data Transmission in Wireless Body Area Networks

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) assemble multiple transceiver nodes in, on, or around a patient's body to transmit physiological signals to the sink node and further send it to the medical personnel via a medical server. WBANs a sensor network that is characterized as energy-dependent. Due to this finite nature, the deployment of intelligent utilization is needed. Quality of service (QoS) is another area that needs rapt attention to receive exactly what was sent from the source node to the destination node and throughput. Critical data transmission is characterized by abnormal data status that requires an urgent response from the medical personnel without delay to save the patient's life. In this review article, we propose a review of critical data transmission in wireless body area networks. However, most past articles in this line focus more on energy-efficient, security and privacy, quality of the links, throughput, network maximization, and so on. None of them looks into the direction of transmitting critical data directly to the sink node without multi-hopping of the physiological signals between intermediate nodes, which wastes the time of transmission to save patient life. This disparity between these scholars motivates us to fill the gap between them. This review article briefly discussed the state-of-the-art critical data transmission in WBANs alongside the WBANs architecture and implementation. Furthermore, a pragmatic approach to determining the threshold's degree of critical data index sensed during transmission was also considered