Embracing the future of engineering education in Nigeria: teaching and learning challenges

There has been a wide advocacy around the adoption of better teaching methods for Engineering Education in Nigeria, more especially with the advent of information and telecommunication technologies. However, compared with what was applicable, about 40 to 50 years ago, little has changed in the country in relation to classroom teaching and learning, use of teaching aids, and laboratory works among others. The general concept of the Nigerian education system and the role of engineering in the educational system are examined in this paper. It also examines the present Nigerian engineering teaching style and outputs, some of the challenges being faced by engineering education in Nigeria especially in relation to teaching and learning highlighted. The work proposes some changes that would make engineering education better in Nigeria while showing that sustainable engineering education development for the future engineering education lies in a modified teaching-learning approach guided by real-world problems.Keywords: engineering education, teaching methods, dynamic curriculum, learning challenge

Characterization of Propagation Path Loss at Vhf/Uhf Bands for Ilorin City, Nigeria

Path loss exponent, standard deviation and building penetration loss are used in all distance path loss models. Once these data are known for an environment, coverage planning and propagation analysis could be done easily. Many countries across the world, such as Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and the USA have already published their propagation data, mostly, the path loss exponent for their various cities. However in Nigeria, these data are not available. In this work, measurements were conducted at 203.25 MHz and 583.25 MHz frequencies along ten routes in Ilorin City in Kwara State of Nigeria. Least squares regression method is used to fit the measured data with log-normal propagation path loss model to characterize the path loss parameters. Results of the experiment indicate that the path loss exponent for Ilorin City varies from 1.4 to 4.94 with an average value of 2.80. The work further investigates the behaviour of the TV signals in the same environment in terms of standard deviation and building penetration loss across the routes, and some selected building structures

Recent Trends on TV White Space Deployments in Africa

In this paper, we presented the effects of Television White Space (TVWS) on digital divide in Africa. The trends in digital divide are found to be wide in most African countries, which are characterized with low internet penetration. Perhaps this is expected because over 60 % of people in Africa reside in the rural area and these areas are characterized with low literacy, poverty level and limited telecommunication infrastructure supports. There have been research efforts and regulations towards the secondary use of TV frequencies. However, findings indicate that there are limited opportunities for such system in Europe: This is due to high internet penetration in Europe, but the situation may be quite different in other part of the world like in Africa. Therefore, the TVWS could be used to provide affordable universal access in rural Africa. The paper also presents some benefits developing countries in Africa will incur from utilizing the TVWS solution. Also, recent trend in the deployment of TVWS and experiences got from African countries that embrace the solution are presented.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i3.1

Aplikasi Model Proportional Hazard Cox pada Waktu Tunggu Kerja Lulusan Jurusan Matematika Fakultas MIPA Universitas Sriwijaya

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk (1) menentukan nilai peluang dari waktu mendapatkan pekerjaan per-tama lulusan, (2) mengetahui bagaimana pengaruh beberapa karateristik terhadap waktu mendapatkan pe-kerjaan pertama lulusan dengan menerapkan model proportional hazard Cox. Subjek penelitian terdiri atas 35 orang lulusan Jurusan Matematika, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, Universitas Sriwijaya yang lulus pada tahun 2012. Karakteristik-karakteristik yang diamati adalah usia, masa studi, IPK, skor TOEFL, pendidikan orang tua, pengalaman organisasi, dan pengalaman kerja. Hasil dari penelitian ini memperlihakan bahwa peluang tertinggi bagi para lulusan untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan pertama adalah mulai awal bulan ketiga sampai akhir bulan keempat setelah wisuda, yaitu sebesar 0,31579. Karakteristik yang berpengaruh sig-nifikan terhadap waktu mendapatkan pekerjaan pertama adalah pengalaman organisasi. Model terbaik yang terbentuk adalah ℎ , = ℎ0 exp(−0,979 6) dengan nilai rasio hazard sebesar 0,376. Hal ini berarti bahwa lulusan yang memiliki pengalaman organisasi memiliki peluang 0,376 kali lebih besar untuk mendapatkan pe-kerjaan pertama setelah wisuda

Assessment of multipath and shadowing effects on UHF band in built-up environments

Ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands are radio frequencies in the range of 300 MHz and 3 GHz. These bands are used for television broadcasting, mobile cellular systems, Wi-Fi, satellite communications and many others. Effective communication link in the UHF band requires direct line of sight between the transmitters and receivers. However, this is not always the case in built-up areas where diverse obstacles such as large buildings, trees, moving objects and hills are present along the communication path. These obstacles result in signal degradation as a result of shadowing (blockages) and multi-path, which are two major causes of signal losses. Path loss models are used in predicting signal losses but, the accuracy of these models depend on the fitness between the model's predictions and measured loses. In this work, the multi-path and shadowing effects on signal impairment were investigated through the use of empirical and semi-empirical path loss models analysis in built-up environments. Electromagnetic field strength measurements were conducted using four television transmitters at UHF bands along four major routes of Osun State, Nigeria. Experimental and simulation results indicated that the empirical models provide a better fit than the semi-empirical models. It was also found that the poor performance of the Knife Edge Model which is a semi-empirical model was traced to the bases of its formulation, which assumed point like knife edge for all obstacles on the path of radio propagation. The work therefore recommends that network planners employ empirical models found suitable for their kind of terrain when faced with coverage planning and optimization.Keywords: Path loss models, Radio propagation,  Terrain feature

Prediciting Size Effects and Determing Length Scales in Small Scale Metaliic Volumes

The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the behavior of metallic structures in small scales. Structural materials display strong size dependence when deformed non-uniformly into the inelastic range. This phenomenon is widely known as size effect. The primary focus of this study is on developing analytical models to predict some of the most commonly observed size effects in structural metals and validating them by comparing with experimental results. A nonlocal rate-dependent and gradient dependent theory of plasticity on a thermodynamically consistent framework is adopted for this purpose. The developed gradient plasticity theory is applied to study size effects observed in biaxial and thermal loading of thin films and indentation tests. One important intrinsic material property associated with this study is material length scale. The work also presents models for predicting length scales and discusses their physical interpretations. It is found that the proposed theory is successful for the interpretation of indentation size effects in micro/nano-hardness when using pyramidal or spherical indenters and gives sound interpretation of the size effects in thin films under biaxial or thermal loading

Towards the Design of a Synchronous Virtual Learning System

The field of education has undoubtedly been affected by the penetrating influence of information and communication technology, characterized by improved access to the internet, and the increasing use of computing devices. However, education in Africa generally and specifically in Nigeria and other developing countries still face a 21st Century challenge in making education available and accessible to all. To this end therefore, this paper presents a conceptual approach, as to how tailor made e-learning services could be realized and integrated with a real time video conference server and any existing learning management system in order to facilitate a synchronous virtual learning environment in making education accessible and available to both remote students (distance learning students) and onsite users in Universities and other related educational institutes. It proposes a functional framework to exemplify educational services such as file sharing to enhance collaboration, a digital resource center for retrieval of both free and paid relevant academic resource. A conference room for real time classroom participation which learning platform should provide in order to enhance both teaching and learning performance of course instructors and their students respectively is also proposed. It provides an operational design which describes how custom made e-learning portal integrated with an Open source Video Conference server could be realized, in facilitating a synchronous virtual learning service. Furthermore, it proposes a Virtual Learning Network architecture to show how both remote and onsite students could optimize quality network access in realizing these electronic learning services

2-All­yloxy-5-nitro­benzoic acid

The mol­ecule of the title compound, C10H9NO5, is approximately planar, with the mean planes of the nitro, carboxyl and all­yloxy groups rotated by 8.1 (3), 7.9 (3) and 4.52 (18)°, respectively, from the plane of the benzene ring. Bond lengths in the aromatic ring are influenced by both electronic effects and strain induced by ortho-substitution. In the crystal structure, centrosymmetrically related mol­ecules are paired into dimers through strong O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds