PREDICTING STUDENTS«¤?? GRADE SCORES USING TRAINING FUNCTIONS OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

The observed poor quality of graduates of some Nigerian Universities in recent times has been traced to non-availability of adequate mechanism. This mechanism is expected to assist the policy maker project into the future performance of students, in order to discover at the early stage, students who have no tendency of doing well in school. This study focuses on the use of artificial neural network (ANN) model for predicting students«¤?? academic performance in a University System, based on the previous datasets. The domain used in the study consists of sixty (60) students in the Department of Computer and Information Science, Tai Solarin University of Education in Ogun State, who have completed four academic sessions from the university. The codes were written and executed using MATLAB format. The students«¤?? CGPA from first year through their third year were used as the inputs to train the ANN models constructed using nntool and the Final Grades (CGPA) served as a target output. The output predicted by the networks is expressed in-line with the current grading system of the case study. CGPA values simulated by the network are compared with the actual final CGPA to determine the efficacy of each of the three feed-forward neural networks used. Test data evaluations showed that the ANN model is able to predict correctly, the final grade of students with 91.7% accuracy.ª¤

Traditional soups in Nigeria: A review of six botanicals

Ethnobotanical investigations by workers have revealed the use of juvenile leaves of Cissus populnea L. (ogbolo), Sesamum indicum L. (eeku),Gongronema latifolium Benth. (Madunmaro), Mangifera indica L. (Mongoro), Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. (Odunkun) and Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. (Araba) for preparing soups in Nigeria. In spite of this, the consumption of these traditional soups seems to be abandoned and only consumed during scarcity of commonly used vegetables such as Corchorus olitorius L. (Ewedu). Certain traditional soups are associated with particular Nigerian ethnic groups. As examples, Gongronema latifolium to Igbo people of southeast Nigeria, while Sesamum indicum to the Yorubas and Hausas, southwest and northern Nigeria respectively. For ethnomedicinal purposes Cissus populnea and Sesamum indicum soups enhance sexual performance in men as well as production and cleansing of sperm. Mangifera indica soup is used as anti-anaemic; Gongronema latifolium soup forms part of a recipe for the management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Ceiba pentandra soup is used for treating diarrhoea disorder. Despite the therapeutic and nutritional benefits of the soups, their consumption is gradually waning due to erosion of traditional  knowledge and deforestation of medicinal plants occasioned by increasing urbanization. This review documents the therapeutic uses and pharmacological effects of six medicinal plants used as traditional soups, with the view that an awareness of their health benefits could lead to a resurgence of their consumption in diet

Survey of ethno-science practices in field pest management of farming communities in Ebonyi state, Nigeria

No Abstract. IJOTAFS Vol. 1 (2) 2007: pp. 193-19

A multicentre point prevalence study of antibiotics utilization in hospitalized patients in an urban secondary and a tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria : findings and implications

Objectives: The understanding of antimicrobial utilization patterns is pertinent to successful implementation of the National Action Plans on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). There is, however, limited information on antibiotics utilization in Nigeria. This study was undertaken to build on existing information and provide direction for appropriate interventions including Antibiotics Stewardship Programs (ASP). Method: A Point Prevalence Study (PPS) was conducted in two public urban health facilities in Lagos, Nigeria using a design adapted from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Global-PPS surveys. Results: The prevalence of antibiotics use was 80.6% administered mostly parenterally (83.1% of total prescriptions) with concerns with extended surgical antibiotics prophylaxis. The mostly used antibiotics in the secondary hospital were parenteral metronidazole (32.4%), ceftriaxone (27.5%), and amoxicillin + clavulanate (8.2%) while the mostly used in the tertiary hospital were ceftriaxone (25.3%), parenteral metronidazole (19.1%), and amoxicillin + clavulanate (9.3%). There was an appreciable lack of specific functional capacities, policies, and processes to promote appropriate antimicrobial use in both hospitals. Conclusions: There is high rate of antibiotics utilization in these facilities with lack of institutional frameworks and processes for ensuring appropriate antibiotic use. The study provides the information needed to improve future antimicrobial use in hospitals and reduce AMR