E-Health Technologies in Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals for Africa Healthcare System

The challenge of quality and equitable health services provisioning in Africa is daunting. Advances in e-health technologies hold great potential to revolutionalize health systems in Africa. This paper examines the African health systems challenges and the potential in e-health technologies in enabling the attainment of the African health Millennium Development Goals. An e-health research, innovation and partnership strategy is proposed towards this end. Some implications are posited and conclusion drawn

Enhanced Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Algorithm for Intelligent Home Networks

Internet of Things (IoT) has been seen playing a tremendous change in the Information Technology (IT) environments, and thus its importance has also been realized and played a vital role within Intelligent Home Networks (IHNs). This is because IoT establishes a connection between things and the Internet by utilizing different sensing devices to implement the intelligence to deal with the identification and management of the connected things. IHNs use intelligent systems to perform their daily operations. Meanwhile, these networks ensure comfort, safety, healthcare, automation, energy conservation, and remote management to devices and users. Apart from that, these networks provide assistance in self-healing for faults, power outages, reconfigurations, and more. However, we have realized that more and advanced devices and services continue to be introduced and used in these networks. This has led to competitions of the limited available network resources, services, and bandwidth. In this paper, therefore, we present the design and implementation of a Novel Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (NoDBA) algorithm to solve the performance bottleneck incurred with IHNs. The proposed algorithm deals with the management of bandwidth and its allocation. In the proposed algorithm, this study integrates two algorithms, namely; Offline Cooperative Algorithm (OCA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to improve Quality of Service (QoS). PSO defines the priority limits for subnets and nodes in the network. Meanwhile, OCA facilitates dynamic bandwidth allocation in the network. The Network Simulator-2 (NS-2) was used to simulate and evaluate the NoDBA and it showed improved results compared to the traditional bandwidth allocation algorithms. The obtained results show an average throughput of 92%, average delay of 0.8 seconds, and saves energy consumption of 95% compared to Dynamic QoS-aware Bandwidth Allocation (DQBA) and Data-Driven Allocation (DDA).   Keywords: IHNs, Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation, PSO, OCA, Qo

Impacts of Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) on Rural Dwellers in Nigeria: A Study of Isan-Ekiti

This study examined the reality of the impact of Agricultural Development Programmes on rural dwellers in Nigeria, using the people of IsanEkiti, Oye Local Government Area of EkitiState as case study. Therefore, it investigated if the programme has brought about increase in the production of foodstuff, income level of farmers,improved seeds, provision of pesticides, and fertilizer for farmers. The research method employed a survey study which involved the administration of questionnaire as the research instrument. A total of seven hundred and seventy three questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics involving percentage frequency distribution, pictorial representation, graphical illustrations and regression approach. The study hypotheses were tested using multiple linear regression analysis and the empirical result reveals that Agricultural Development Programmes have significantly increased food production in the locality through increased provision of pesticides and improved seeds to farmers, establishment of new infrastructure and provision of fertilizers. The analysis of the evidence from the result however reveals that accessibility of credit by farmers has no significant effect on increased Agricultural productivity. The study therefore recommends that government should increase its effort in the area of Agricultural credit financing

An appraisal of blood pressure control and its determinants among patients with primary hypertension seen in a primary care setting in Western Nigeria

Background: Achieving guideline-recommended blood pressure is imperative in reducing the rising tide of uncontrolled hypertension and its attendant sequelae, which are major causes of morbidity and mortality globally. The aim of the study was to describe the pattern of blood pressure control and identify the factors influencing blood pressure control among patients with primary hypertension seen at family medicine clinics of FMC, Abeokuta.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study. A systematic random sampling technique was used in selecting 360 hypertensive respondents over four months. Data were collected through a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 was used to analyse data.Results: Blood pressure was controlled in 167 (46.4%) of the respondents. The independent predictors of blood pressure control were female gender (p = 0.001, OR = 2.494, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.477–4.214), regular use of medication (p = 0.001, OR = 2.900, 95% CI = 1.508–5.577), regular clinic attendance (p < 0.001, OR = 3.512, 95% CI = 1.772–6.960), and absence of diabetes mellitus (p < 0.001, OR = 7.357, 95% CI = 3.190–16.966).Conclusions: The rate of blood pressure control among the hypertensive respondents was low. Multiple independent predictors of controlled blood pressure call for a team-based approach as well as multiple approaches including education of patients, expansion of a community-based health insurance programme and intensification of treatment efforts when managing hypertensive patients.Keywords: blood pressure control, family medicine clinics, primary hypertensio

Perspectives of health care professionals on artificial insemination of donor semen: appraising their knowledge and perceptions: a single institution study in Nigeria

Background: Artificial inseminations of donor semen (AID) involve use of heterologous donated semen for conception in infertile couple when indicated or in a single woman desirous of pregnancy. Its practice often requires regulation to address possible ethical and legal issues which may arise. In formulating acceptable guidelines/policies, the perspectives of health professionals and the participants should be considered. Therefore, we sought to explore the knowledge and perception of semen donation for artificial insemination among health professionals.Methods: A cross sectional study conducted on consenting health workers in a single health institution using a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge and perception on artificial insemination of donor semen (AID). Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied to the data collected with a statistically significant value of <0.05.Results: One hundred and twenty-one health professionals completed the questionnaires. The mean age of the respondents was 27.58±5.5years. Sixty of the respondents were males while 61 were females. Eighty-four of the respondents (69.4%) demonstrated good knowledge of AID while 37 (30.6%) had poor knowledge. Cadre of health professionals and marital status influenced the knowledge of respondents. Perceptions on AID varied among the respondents mostly influenced by psycho-social factors and possible legal disputes on third party reproductive process. None of the male respondents has ever donated semen and willingness to donate semen was low; with anonymity preferred by the willing donors.Conclusions: Substantial knowledge gap of AIDS existed among health professionals which were influenced by cadre and marital status. Psycho-social factors and possible legal disputes influenced their perceptions of AID

Comparative Analysis and Performance Characteristics of Bio-Additives Induced Fuel Blend

Global demand for efficient transportation and energy dissipation in industries that use engine-powered equipment is enormous and largely supplied by liquid fuels derived from petroleum that power internal combustion engines (ICEs). Since the demand for jet fuel and diesel is anticipated to surpass gasoline consumption in the near future, low-octane gasoline components will become more widely available. As a result, low-octane gasoline components are expected to become more readily available, as demand for jet fuel and diesel is expected to outpace gasoline consumption in the near future. Experimentally, the effects of organic fuel additives (OFAs) on the performance of internal combustion engines were investigated. The findings compare plain, commercially available, neat gasoline samples to pure ethanol and fuel samples injected with OFAs. The development of various fuel blends; the analysis and characterization of fuel samples, including blended fuel samples; and the experimental investigation and comparative analysis of the engine performance powered by the various samples and blends of gasoline on the TQ TD115 MK11 testbed for single-cylinder engines were carried out in the study. The study demonstrated that the nanoadditions were superior to pure ethanol and undiluted gasoline in terms of performance. and showed that pure ethanol has a high torque value at lower speeds, but at speeds greater than 3000 rpm, D-NA outperformed ethanol additives and neat gasoline in terms of torque. At lower speeds, pure ethanol also had a high brake power value, but as speeds increased, samples containing D-NA outperformed ethanol additive and neat gasoline in brake power. Pure ethanol in a concentration of more than 3 has a high brake thermal efficiency value at lower speeds, but as speeds increased, samples containing D-NA outperformed ethanol additive and neat gasoline in terms of brake thermal efficienc