Computer self-efficacy, anxiety and attitudes towards use of technology among university academicians: a case study of University of Port Harcourt Nigeria

The 21st century also called ICT literacy includes not only the traditional concept of literacy, but it also encompasses the ability to incorporate new technologies into teaching and learning. The paper focus on computer, self-efficacy, anxiety and attitudes towards use of technology, as it influence the behavioral intention of the university academicians to accept and use ICT for teaching and learning. The University of Port Harcourt Nigeria was use as a case study, and 100 questionnaires were administered and collected. The technology usage by the academic staff shows that 74% are willing to use ICT once or more a day. 51% of the respondents said that the use of ICT is voluntary. Three null hypotheses were stated. The findings shows that the Uniport academic staff had medium computer anxiousness, they have moderate computer self efficacy and high attitudes towards use of technology. Therefore, as attitudes towards use of technology increase, computer self efficacy also increase and this cause a gradual decrease in computer anxiety. The most influential construct is attitudes towards use of technology. This was determined by the regression analysis and the hypotheses. The knowledge gained from this study is beneficial to university administrators, academic staff and the Nigerian ICT policy makers

Design of a Data Warehouse Model for a University Decision Support System

Data Warehouse (DW) can be a valuable asset in providing a stress-free access to data for reporting and analysis. Regrettably, building and preserving an active DW is usually associated with numerous hitches ranging from design to maintenance.  Research in the field of data warehousing has led to the emergence of vital contemporary technologies to aid design, management, and use of information systems that is capable of conveying a Decision Support System (DSS) to organizations. Nevertheless, in the face of persistent achievement and evolution of the field, abundant research is still left unturned across many diverse areas of the data warehousing. The objective of the paper therefore, is to design a DW database model for a University DSS using a dimensional modeling and techniques. A proposed DW database model with specific focus on modeling and design has been realized in this study.  The researchers have demonstrated on how a DW database model can be realized using the dimensional modeling and technique. Keywords: Data Warehouse, Modeling, Decision Support System, Decision Making

Modelling and Simulation of a Decision Support System Prototype Built on an Improved Data Warehousing Architecture for the School of Postgraduate, MAUTECH, Yola – Nigeria

A Data Warehouse (DW) is constructed with the goal of storing and providing all the relevant information that is generated along the heterogeneous databases of an organization. The development and management of precise and up-to-date information concerning academic staff, department, faculty, student’s academic record etc. is critically important in the management of a university. This study has become necessary because, data warehousing is a new field, a small number of investigations has been done regarding the features of academic data analysis and report. At present, data warehousing is among the best solution for gathering and maintaining data for decision making.  Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a DW prototype model for the School of Postgraduate Studies’ (SPGS) programmes of Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTEC), Yola. The objective of the study is to model and simulate a decision support system that is capable of querying the prototype DW database model to generate reports as output in order to help administrative decision making of the SPGS MAUTEC, Yola. The study has provided relevant literatures in relation to the subject matter. In the methodology, a secondary, field and case study research were conducted. The software engineering development methodology considered was the “Realistic Waterfall Model”. The findings of this paper provide a DW prototype database model using a dimensional modeling technique and the graphic user interface tool for reports and analysis. The researchers have demonstrated their understanding on the subject matter and as a matter of fact, possible future work has been suggested from where we stopped. Keywords - Data Warehouse, Modeling, Simulation, Prototype and Decision Support Syste

The Use of ICT in Education: Focus on Nigeria

The use of ICT in educational settings is a catalyst for change. The paper has sought to explore the role of ICT in education as we progress into the 21st century. The first phase focuses on the conceptual framework of the use of ICT in education. In this model the dependent variable is education and its sub variables are educational level of teachers and students which is directly affected by the independent variables which are the use of ICTs, ICT infrastructure and staff development. The second phase is the pilot study to answer two major questions: (i) Is ICT mandatory or voluntary at your institutions? (ii) What are the greatest barriers to using ICT to you as an academician? The results show that majority of the academic staff (86%) responded that ICT is mandatory. However, the survey revealed that most of the part-time lecturers ticked the use of ICT as voluntary. Some of these part-time lecturers in the cadre of professors, responded to Q32 as (do not fit my program). Actually in their dispensation, lecturing was done using the chalk board only. The research confirms that two major barriers affect the use of ICT; they are lack of time to use ICT the systems and training opportunities. Respondents on these are 38% and 32% respectively. Based on these findings, the paper recommended that, all employed teachers in Federal, State and Private institutions should undertake mandatory training and retraining on ICT programmers. The government should develop ICT policies and guidelines for the application of ICT in education

The Impact of ICT on Career Counseling Services: A case Study of Nigerian Secondary Schools

Information and communication technologies (ICT) will need to be fully integrated into the delivery of careers services as the world is now in the global era. Such integration would not only have the potential to achieve more but would also increase the flexibility of services and enhance their quality. Career choice is an  important  decision  a  person  needs  to  make  in  his  life  time.  Unfortunately, many young people find it uneasy to make appropriate career choice. The  paper  focused  on  the  usage  of  career  counseling  services  in  selected public secondary schools in Nigeria. It sought to find out how students and teachers utilize  career  counseling  services,  students’  expectations  in  career  counseling services  and  how  school  principals  support  career  counseling  services.  Simple random  sampling  was  used  to  select  380  from 34  public  secondary  schools  from  the  sample  population.  Four-point Likert scale questionnaires were used to obtain data for the study. The findings revealed that the students use career counseling services to take career decision and aspiration, gather career information and select and take subjects that match their career interest. Secondary school teachers use career counseling services to guide students to make appropriate subject choice that match their career interest and help them with their career challenges and plans. This paper recommends that career counselors should integrate use of ICT, through the use of chat rooms, email and social networking. In other words several choice of career could be show to the students on DVD and CD Video. They should also be exposed to TV and radio Chat on Career choice.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v1i1.70

The history of UTAUT model and its impact on ICT acceptance and usage by academicians

This paper started with the review of the history of technology acceptance model from TRA to UTAUT. The expected contribution is to bring to lime light the current development stage of the technology acceptance model. Based on this, the paper examined the impact of UTAUT model on ICT acceptance and usage in HEIs. The UTAUT model theory was verified using regressions analysis to understand the behavioral intention of the ADSU academic staffs’ acceptance and use of ICT in their workplace. The research objective is to measure the most influential factors for the acceptance and usage of ICT by ADSU academic staff and to identify the barriers. Two null hypotheses were stated: (1) the academic staff of ADSU rejects acceptance and usage of ICT in their workplace. (2) UTAUT does not predict the successful acceptance of ICT by the academic staff of the Adamawa State University. In summary, our findings shows that the four constructs of UTAUT have significant positive influence and impact on the behavioral intention to accept and use ICT by the ADSU academic staff. This shows that university academic staff will intend to use ICT that they believe will improve their job performance and are easy to use. The facilitating conditions such as appropriate hardware, software, training and support should be in place by the management. In the Adamawa State University, EE and SI are found to be the most influential predictors of academic staff acceptance of ICT and use among the four constructs of UTAUT. The greatest barriers are time and technical support for staff. Knowledge gained from the study is beneficial to both the university academic staff and the Nigerian ICT policy makers

General anesthesia, sleep and coma

In the United States, nearly 60,000 patients per day receive general anesthesia for surgery.1 General anesthesia is a drug-induced, reversible condition that includes specific behavioral and physiological traits — unconsciousness, amnesia, analgesia, and akinesia — with concomitant stability of the autonomic, cardiovascular, respiratory, and thermoregulatory systems.2 General anesthesia produces distinct patterns on the electroencephalogram (EEG), the most common of which is a progressive increase in low-frequency, high-amplitude activity as the level of general anesthesia deepens3,4 (Figure 1Figure 1Electroencephalographic (EEG) Patterns during the Awake State, General Anesthesia, and Sleep.). How anesthetic drugs induce and maintain the behavioral states of general anesthesia is an important question in medicine and neuroscience.6 Substantial insights can be gained by considering the relationship of general anesthesia to sleep and to coma. Humans spend approximately one third of their lives asleep. Sleep, a state of decreased arousal that is actively generated by nuclei in the hypothalamus, brain stem, and basal forebrain, is crucial for the maintenance of health.7,8 Normal human sleep cycles between two states — rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep — at approximately 90-minute intervals. REM sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements, dreaming, irregularities of respiration and heart rate, penile and clitoral erection, and airway and skeletal-muscle hypotonia.7 In REM sleep, the EEG shows active high-frequency, low-amplitude rhythms (Figure 1). Non-REM sleep has three distinct EEG stages, with higher-amplitude, lower-frequency rhythms accompanied by waxing and waning muscle tone, decreased body temperature, and decreased heart rate. Coma is a state of profound unresponsiveness, usually the result of a severe brain injury.9 Comatose patients typically lie with eyes closed and cannot be roused to respond appropriately to vigorous stimulation. A comatose patient may grimace, move limbs, and have stereotypical withdrawal responses to painful stimuli yet make no localizing responses or discrete defensive movements. As the coma deepens, the patient's responsiveness even to painful stimuli may diminish or disappear. Although the patterns of EEG activity observed in comatose patients depend on the extent of the brain injury, they frequently resemble the high–amplitude, low-frequency activity seen in patients under general anesthesia10 (Figure 1). General anesthesia is, in fact, a reversible drug-induced coma. Nevertheless, anesthesiologists refer to it as “sleep” to avoid disquieting patients. Unfortunately, anesthesiologists also use the word “sleep” in technical descriptions to refer to unconsciousness induced by anesthetic drugs.11 (For a glossary of terms commonly used in the field of anesthesiology, see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.) This review discusses the clinical and neurophysiological features of general anesthesia and their relationships to sleep and coma, focusing on the neural mechanisms of unconsciousness induced by selected intravenous anesthetic drugs.Massachusetts General Hospital. Dept. of Anesthesia and Critical Care, and Pain MedicineNational Institutes of Health (NIH) (Director’s Pioneer Award DP1OD003646)University of Michigan. Dept. of AnesthesiologyNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant HL40881)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant HL65272)James S. McDonnell FoundationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant HD51912

Global Governance Behind Closed Doors : The IMF Boardroom, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, and the Intersection of Material Power and Norm Change in Global Politics

Up on the 12th floor of its 19th Street Headquarters, the IMF Board sits in active session for an average of 7 hours per week. Although key matters of policy are decided on in the venue, the rules governing Boardroom interactions remain opaque, resting on an uneasy combination of consensual decision-making and weighted voting. Through a detailed analysis of IMF Board discussions surrounding the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF), this article sheds light on the mechanics of power in this often overlooked venue of global economic governance. By exploring the key issues of default liability and loan conditionality, I demonstrate that whilst the Boardroom is a more active site of contestation than has hitherto been recognized, material power is a prime determinant of both Executive Directors’ preferences and outcomes reached from discussions. And as the decisions reached form the backbone of the ‘instruction sheet’ used by Fund staff to guide their everyday operational decisions, these outcomes—and the processes through which they were reached—were factors of primary importance in stabilizing the operational norms at the heart of a controversial phase in the contemporary history of IMF concessional lending

A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria

Background Depression is common in primary care and is often unrecognized and untreated. Studies are needed to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing evidence-based depression care provided by primary health care workers (PHCWs) in sub-Saharan Africa. We carried out a pilot two-parallel arm cluster randomized controlled trial of a package of care for depression in primary care. Methods Six primary health care centers (PHCC) in two Local Government Areas of Oyo State, South West Nigeria were randomized into 3 intervention and 3 control clinics. Three PHCWs were selected for training from each of the participating clinics. The PHCWs from the intervention clinics were trained to deliver a manualized multicomponent stepped care intervention package for depression consisting of psychoeducation, activity scheduling, problem solving treatment and medication for severe depression. Providers from the control clinics delivered care as usual, enhanced by a refresher training on depression diagnosis and management. Outcome measures Patient’s Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), WHO quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) and the WHO disability assessment schedule (WHODAS) were administered in the participants’ home at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Results About 98% of the consecutive attendees to the clinics agreed to have the screening interview. Of those screened, 284 (22.7%) were positive (PHQ-9 score ≥ 8) and 234 gave consent for inclusion in the study: 165 from intervention and 69 from control clinics. The rates of eligible and consenting participants were similar in the control and intervention arms. In all 85.9% (92.8% in intervention and 83% in control) of the participants were successfully administered outcome assessments at 6 months. The PHCWs had little difficulty in delivering the intervention package. At 6 months follow up, depression symptoms had improved in 73.0% from the intervention arm compared to 51.6% control. Compared to the mean scores at baseline, there was improvement in the mean scores on all outcome measures in both arms at six months. Conclusion The results provide support for the feasibility of conducting a fully-powered randomized study in this setting and suggest that the instruments used may have the potential to detect differences between the arms