A Brief Essay on the Organization of Knowledge outside Libraries

It is a given, today, that the internet as a platform has been used to index more documents than the world’s libraries put together. Additionally, majority of the documents that were previously stored on the shelves by libraries in the past are now part of these online collections. In this paper, a brief review of early attempts at the organization of knowledge outside of the libraries based on Rayward (1994) was carried out with a view to linking the past to the present. What exactly was the motivation for the establishment of the office of publicke addresse by Samuel Hartlib and John Dury, and the information bureau suggested by Leibniz? Is there any commercial motivation behind Paul Otlet’s Mundaneum? With the understanding that the most capitalized internet service organization (Google) today is involved in reference services similar to those proposed by Hartlib, Dury, and Leibniz, is the end in sight for knowledge organization within the library?Ope

Research Support and Open Access: Notes from Nigeria

This paper examines the research environment in Nigeria in relation to the developing trends in the global research community and specifically regarding research funding by government as a viable way of ensuring access to research result. The paper is devoted to examining the support available for research and researchers and exploring the concept of open access to research articles by scholars in Nigerian institutions. Also, the paper examined the level of mobile device and Internet penetration in Nigeria. Using the conceptual approach, the paper started with a brief background and proceeded to examine research support in Nigeria. The remaining sections are on the World Wide Web and information sharing, Internet access in Nigeria, open access scholarly publications, and suggestions and conclusions, which synthesized the thoughts in the preceding sections. This paper argued that the current rate of mobile device and Internet penetration can only be seen as a benefit if access to scholarly work is freely available to all. The paper concluded on the need for increased funding for research by the Nigerian government as well as both for-profit and not for profit organisations within the country as a way to achieving any developmental objectives set by the government.Ope

‘PSYCHO-PHILOSOPHICAL LEADERSHIP’: DEVELOPING CRITICAL MINDSET FOR EFFECTIVE PASTORAL MINISTRY IN AFRICA

Many issues of concern have been raised by different scholars about leadership and human endeavours in Africa over ages; issues pertaining to relationship, communication, attitude, position, power, politics, policies, influence and the likes. The demand of leadership is so enormous, task-full and delicate. The various attempt of different scholars across the globe to determine what leadership should be or should look like had led to many propounded theories, styles, principles, and techniques of exhibiting leadership. Many scholars and a host of others had written and or researched on leadership in various aspects which could be regarded as areas involving pro-activeness of leaders; attitude; qualifications of leaders; qualities; problems of leadership; theories of leadership; styles of leadership; philosophy of leadership and contemporary issues in leadership. All of their positions cannot be undermined in leadership discuss, especially in Africa and beyond; although none of these aforementioned and other scholars had written directly on psycho-philosophical leadership. The researcher’s drive on embarking on this work rested on his observation of some problematic issues that devastate the Church in Africa as a result of inadequate or proper inquiry into the problem and a logical approach to resolving such issues. The desire to see pastors in Church in African become inquiry-based and problem-solving leaders is the motivation for the work. Hence, the thrust of this paper is to present psycho-philosophical approach to leadership; intimating pastors as leaders on the necessity of developing critical mindset without undermining the Spirit of God in handling critical issues that are devastating the Church in Africa so as to ascertain efficacy of pastoral ministry through inductive-thinking, critical and deep-thinking; as well as raising the consciousness of pastors as leaders to the fact that pastoral call is not a call to lazy or myopic exhibition but that which requires thorough inquiry and problem-solving approach. The real power of leadership lies in the ability of the leader to think deeply and productively.  Article visualizations

Development of preservative-treated cross-laminated timber and lignin-reinforced polyurethane-adhesive for glued laminated timber

Interest in the use of mass timber in building and construction is growing worldwide, this is due to the structural integrity and reduced environmental footprint of timber-based structures. Concerns associated with the biological and environmental degradation of mass timber necessitate the development of adequate protection strategies to ensure the durability of these products. Preservative treatment is a proven technique that increases the durability and performance of wood in-service and can also be applied to large-sized timber panels such as cross-laminated timber (CLT). Therefore, this study focused on investigating the feasibility of treating prefabricated 3- and 5-layer CLT panels with Copper-azole type C (CA-C) and micronized copper azole (MCA) preservatives. Further, we studied the effects of panel layup and thickness on the preservative impregnation in CLT. Based on the experimental results, we found adequate preservative penetration and retention in the treated 3- and 5-layer CLT panels, particularly in CA-C treated panels. Also, the lengthwise layup shows better treatment results in both CA-C and MCA-treated panels. In addition to the preservative-treatment of CLT panels, this dissertation covers the development of lignin-reinforced polyurethane adhesive (PUR) for bonding glue-laminated timber (Glulam). Herein, the glulam were fabricated and bonded using lignin-reinforced PUR at different wt% (1, 2, and 3) and tested for shear strength, wood failure and delamination. The lignin-treated PUR samples showed improved adhesion properties via high shear strength and reduced delamination compared to the control specimens. Thus, the lignin-reinforced PUR adhesive shows great potential as a bio-based and environment-friendly wood adhesive for producing glulam used in structural applications

Essays in Development Economics

The first paper examines the crop composition effects in 50 African countries from 1960 to 2013. The paper aims to assess the effects of climate extremes and other non-climate-related factors on major agricultural outputs across African countries. The estimation results, using fixed effect regression and ordinary least square both individually and jointly for all African countries, shows that climate extremes are not altogether bad news as it increases hectares planted of some crops. The policy recommendations for the paper are for crop mix and/or substitutability of crops owing to relative changes in the climate-and non-climate-related factors, effective fertilizer policies and increasing agricultural workers productivity in the African countries. The second paper contributes to the policy debate on the role of political institutions as an intervening factor for the relationship between natural resource abundance (of different types) and growth performance in African countries. Using panel data econometrics for 28 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1960 to 2012, the research finds that good quality institutions can aid economic growth, and natural resource endowments are beneficial in the selected countries and not a curse. The research culminates with discussions on improving executive constraints, political participation and political openness, as these are intrinsic in the institutional measure adopted, in other to optimise the benefits of natural resource endowments. The third paper compares the results of Datta and Reimer (2013) which is based on 100 countries over 17 years with a similar but expanded analysis of 43 African countries over 22 years. Using various econometric techniques and model specifications, the paper finds a statistically significant reciprocal relationship between income and malaria using both database. This research further finds that income is the largest driver of the negative reciprocal relationship between income and malaria using both database, and lastly that the magnitude of the effect of income on malaria is higher using the Datta and Reimer (2013) database than in the database of 43 African countries. The research culminates with recommendation on increased economic growth for the African countries and effective distribution of insecticide-treated nets in countries where malaria is rife

Telecommunication Services Provision in Nigeria - Consumers’ Perspectives on Information Provision, Advertising and Representation of Services

This study examined mobile telecommunication users’ perception of service providers, with regard to information provision as well as advertising and representation of services. The study was conducted in Ibadan – a Nigerian municipality. The objective was to determine whether information provision and advertising and representation of services will significantly impact the perception of the telecom users. Using convenience sampling technique, 626 respondents were selected among the consumers of four telecommunications service providers - MTN, GLO, AIRTEL, and ETISALAT. Data was collected with a 5-point Likert scaled structured questionnaire developed from the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) consumer code of practice regulation for telecom operators in the country. Descriptive statistics was used to group the observations. Findings showed that subscribers of MTN and GLO perceived their respective providers negatively with regard to providing required information as well as the representation of their products in advertising. It was recommended that NCC should be more proactive in gathering primary data from the users in order to be able to understand the situation and level of compliance with their various regulatory documents. Service providers were also advised to ensure that consumers’ desires are met in order to continue to be in their good books.Ope

The Nexus Between Total Quality Management, Job Satisfaction and Employee Work Engagement in the Food and Beverage Multinational Company in Nigeria

Adopting total quality management (TQM) program in an organisation may have consequences not only for organisational outcomes but also for employee work behaviour. Therefore, this study investigates the conceptual and empirical link between TQM practices, job satisfaction, and employee work engagement. Cross-sectional survey design, quota, proportionate and simple random sampling were used to draw 300 participants from the study population, out of which 190 responded and n = 183(61%) usable responses to the questionnaire designed for the purpose from employees of a food and beverage multinational company in Lagos metropolis were obtained. Regression and correlation analyses were used to analyse the study data. Significant positive relationship was found between dimensions of TQM practices (leadership and management support, employee participation, training, reward and recognition, and customer focus), job satisfaction and employee work engagement. After controlling for sex, age and experience, job satisfaction and TQM practices construct jointly and independently predicted employee work engagement. Also, job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between TQM practices and work engagement. The implications of soft TQM implementation on employee job satisfaction for achieving highly engaged workforce are discussed

Studies on the Catalytic Properties of Partially Purified Alkaline Proteases from Some Selected Microorganisms

Aims: The research was done to study the conditions enhancing catalytic activities of alkaline proteases from Vibro sp., Lactobacillus brevis, Zymomonas sp., Athrobacter sp., Corynebacterium sp. and Bacillus subtilis.Methodology and Results: The proteolytic enzymes were purified in 2-step procedures involving ammonium sulphate precipitation and sephadex G-150 gel permeation chromatography. The upper and lower limits for the specific activities of proteases from the selected microorganisms were estimated at 20.63 and 47.51 units/mg protein with Zymomonas protease having the highest specific activity towards casein as its substrate and purification fold of 3.46, while that ofLactobacillus brevis protease was 8.06. The native molecular weights of these active proteins ranged from 30.4 to 45.7 kDa with Athrobacter sp. protease having the highest weight for its subunits. The proteolytic enzymes had optimum pH range of 8 to 10 and temperature range of 50 to 62 ºC accounting for the percentage relative activity range of 75 to 94% and 71 to 84 % respectively. The activities of Lactobacillus brevis and Bacillus subtilis proteases were maximum at pH 9 and 10 respectively. Lactobacillus brevis protease activity was maximum at temperature of 62 ºC, while beyond this value, a general thermal instability of these active proteins was observed. At above 70 ºC, the catalytic activities of Corynebacterium sp., Vibrio sp., Zymomonas sp. and Arthrobacter sp. proteases were progressively reduced over a period of 120 min of incubation, while Bacillus subtlis and Lactobacillus brevis proteases were relatively stable. Effect of metal ions was investigated on the catalytic activity of protease from the microorganisms. Lactobacillus brevis,Zymomonas sp., Arthrobacter sp., Corynebacterium sp. and Bacillus subtilis protease activities were strongly activated by metal ions such as Ca+2 and Mg+2. Enzyme activities were inhibited strongly by Cu2+ and Hg2+ but were not inhibited by ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA), while a slight inhibition was observed with K+, Na+ and Fe2+.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The outcome of this present study indicated useful physico-chemical properties of proteolytic enzymes that could be of biotechnological use in enhancing enzyme catalytic efficiency

製品デザインに対する感性価値認識と視覚解釈的評価の比較文化的相違に関する研究-日本とナイジェリアを事例として-

筑波大学 (University of Tsukuba)201