Multi-Modal Biometrics: Applications, Strategies and Operations

The need for adequate attention to security of lives and properties cannot be over-emphasised. Existing approaches to security management by various agencies and sectors have focused on the use of possession (card, token) and knowledge (password, username)-based strategies which are susceptible to forgetfulness, damage, loss, theft, forgery and other activities of fraudsters. The surest and most appropriate strategy for handling these challenges is the use of naturally endowed biometrics, which are the human physiological and behavioural characteristics. This paper presents an overview of the use of biometrics for human verification and identification. The applications, methodologies, operations, integration, fusion and strategies for multi-modal biometric systems that give more secured and reliable human identity management is also presented

Beijing Declaration and Women’s Property Rights in Nigeria

In Nigeria, women have suffered various forms of discrimination and oppression during property sharing, especially in terms of land for economic purposes and other physical assets. The challenge has been that, in patriarchal societies, like Nigeria, women are regarded as subservient to men and are never considered in property sharing. Rather, the woman is often regarded as part of the property to be shared especially during the loss of her spouse. Most disturbing is that, though statutory law and international laws have affirmed women’s rights to land and other property, women are often denied access and ownership to property due to unfavorable customary practices. This paper examines women’s property rights in Nigeria. In doing so, it looks critically into Nigeria’s compliance with the 1995 Beijing Platform of Action. It also identifies some factors such as customary and statutory laws as responsible for the discrimination of women vis-à-vis their rights to property and inheritance. In addition to these, it concludes that, the 1995 Beijing Declaration is yet to be fully integrated and domesticated in the national legislations that protect women and their rights to property. In carrying out this research, secondary sources were consulted. Recommendations were made bordering on equality between men and women and gender-sensitivity in legal institution

Analysis of Traffic Flow at Signalized Junctions in Uyo Metropolis

Traffic flows at three signalized junctions in Uyo metropolis were considered and the data used for the analysis were collected during peak periods (morning and evening) for three consecutive days. The performance measures of congestion such as the average queue length, arrival and saturation flow rates as well as the average waiting time of vehicle per cycle have been calculated for a better understanding of the traffic situation in the city by motorists and proper vehicular logistics. With the random nature in which vehicles arrive and depart, we assumed a Poisson arrival process and deterministic (constant) service time with the service rate $\mu=1/s$ which incorporate both the stochastic and deterministic components of delay estimation. Using the concept of the Canadian delay model in Hellinga and Liping (2001), we obtained the overall delay given an observation interval. An estimate of the mean overall delay which is the average time a vehicle could be delayed at any signalized junction in Uyo metropolis is approximately 63s

Food safety behaviour of household food preparers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Food borne illnesses still remain a public health challenge in developing countries. This study examines the Food safety behaviour, here conceptualised simply as a wholistic measure of food safety knowledge and practices, of household food preparers in AkwaIbom State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional data was collected, using a structured questionnaire, based on a multistage sampling procedure resulting in a total of 457 respondents. Specifically, the study estimated the prevalence, margin and intensity of food safety behaviour of household food preparers. As a precursor to measuring prevalence, margin and intensity, twenty nine (29) food safety knowledge items and twenty two (22) food safety practices, a total of 41 items were used as the basis for obtaining a food safety behaviour index, fsbi. This food safety behaviour index is, summarily, a measure of a household food preparers’ food safety knowledge and practices expressed as a proportion of all the food safety knowledge and practice items. The mean fsbi, 0.64, was used to dichotomize household food preparers into well behaved and poorly behaved. The margin and intensity measures are based on the proportion of the household food preparers that are poorly behaved. Additionally, a fractional probitregression was estimated to determine the factors affecting the food safety behaviour of household food preparers in the study area. The results, of the percentage prevalence, show that, given the mean fsbi as critical index, 52% of household food preparers are poorly behaved. A disaggregated mean, another measure of prevalence, reveals that the mean fsbifor poorly behaved and well behaved household food preparers is 0.32 and 0.65 respectively. The mean margins, 0.07 and 0.04, are the figures by which the fsbi of household food preparers that are poorly behaved and all households respectively could be increased to ensure household food preparers are all well behaved. The intensity values, 0.02 and 0.01 indicate that the gap between the poorly behaved and well behaved is wider when the mean proportionate margin is expressed as a function of the total number of households that poorly behaved than the total number of households. Output from the fractional regression reveal that a household food preparer who is educated and confident in safety labels is 0.8% and 6% times more likely to be well behaved than one who is not. It can be concluded based on results that even though the margin between well behaved and poorly behaved is not so intense, much is still left to be desired as regards the overall prevalence of food safety knowledge and practices of households in the study. Keywords: Food Safety, Prevalence, Margin, Intensity, Fractional Probit Regression

Dietary diversity of households in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study analysed the dietary diversity of households in Akwa Ibom State. Cross-sectional data was collected using a multistage sampling procedure resulting in 457 respondents. Specifically, the study determined the prevalence, margin and intensity of dietary diversity of households based on three critical indices. Additionally, a fractional probit regression was estimated to determine the factors affecting the dietary diversity of households. Based on three critical indices (0.67, 0.87 and 0.59), 90%, 62% and 95% of the population respectively have sufficiently diverse diets. The disaggregated mean prevalence (given the three critical indices) indicates that the difference, in number of food groups consumed, between households with less than diverse and sufficiently diverse diets are five (5), four (4) and eight (8) respectively. The mean margin indicates that, at the minimum, policy may seek to increase the number of food groups consumed by households with less than diverse diets by two food groups. The intensity of the margin at critical index 0.59 is 0.17, showing that the margin of dietary diversity is most critical in this context. Results from the fractional probit regression unveil that education, household income, access to home garden, access to other farmland and ownership of livestock are significant in explaining the probability of households being dietary diverse. Keywords: Dietary Diversity; Prevalence; Margin; Intensity; Fractional Probit Regressio

Reversible Blockade of Complex I or Inhibition of PKCβ Reduces Activation and Mitochondria Translocation of p66\u3csup\u3eShc\u3c/sup\u3e to Preserve Cardiac Function after Ischemia

Aim Excess mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) play a vital role in cardiac ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury. P66Shc, a splice variant of the ShcA adaptor protein family, enhances mROS production by oxidizing reduced cytochrome c to yield H2O2. Ablation of p66Shc protects against IR injury, but it is unknown if and when p66Shc is activated during cardiac ischemia and/or reperfusion and if attenuating complex I electron transfer or deactivating PKCβ alters p66Shc activation during IR is associated with cardioprotection. Methods Isolated guinea pig hearts were perfused and subjected to increasing periods of ischemia and reperfusion with or without amobarbital, a complex I blocker, or hispidin, a PKCβ inhibitor. Phosphorylation of p66Shc at serine 36 and levels of p66Shc in mitochondria and cytosol were measured. Cardiac functional variables and redox states were monitored online before, during and after ischemia. Infarct size was assessed in some hearts after 120 min reperfusion. Results Phosphorylation of p66Shc and its translocation into mitochondria increased during reperfusion after 20 and 30 min ischemia, but not during ischemia only, or during 5 or 10 min ischemia followed by 20 min reperfusion. Correspondingly, cytosolic p66Shc levels decreased during these ischemia and reperfusion periods. Amobarbital or hispidin reduced phosphorylation of p66Shc and its mitochondrial translocation induced by 30 min ischemia and 20 min reperfusion. Decreased phosphorylation of p66Shc by amobarbital or hispidin led to better functional recovery and less infarction during reperfusion. Conclusion Our results show that IR activates p66Shc and that reversible blockade of electron transfer from complex I, or inhibition of PKCβ activation, decreases p66Shc activation and translocation and reduces IR damage. These observations support a novel potential therapeutic intervention against cardiac IR injury

Implementing a Web Based On-Demand Mentorship Platform for Young Entrepreneurs

Over 90 percent of startups fail after the first five years of kick-off in many developing economies like Nigeria due to the lack of entrepreneurial experiences, understanding of the environment and relevant insights required to handle peculiar challenges that come with running a startup company. Entrepreneurs and founders of startup companies can, therefore, improve the longevity of startups and mitigate the degree of startup failures if they can be equipped with the required knowledge and capacity. Such capacity can be harnessed from years of experiences gathered from trying, making efforts, succeeding and failing. However, entrepreneurs and founders, who are starters or lack substantial experience, may contribute to the failure rate of startups. This, nevertheless, can be addressed by taking advantage of those who have already gathered substantial experiences. These are referred to as mentorship in this study. Thus, a sound relationship between an experienced entrepreneur (mentor) and a starter entrepreneur (mentee) can enable the transfer of knowledge that mitigates the failure rate of startups. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the development of a web-based mentorship platform, where experienced entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs meet and transfer knowledge. The platform is meant to give young entrepreneurs a leverage such that they harness the already existing experiences of experienced entrepreneurs, such as their failures, successes, methods, leadership styles and efforts. This will foster mentorship relationships, quick-finding help, and knowledge-sharing such that the failure rate of startup companies in Nigeria is reduced

Managing the personal and organisational values of Higher Education Professionals in an African Development Institution

Anecdotal evidence, personal experience and existing literature suggest that staff members of development organisations experience a conflict between their personal and organisational values arising from the neo-liberal paradigm that underpins their activities. If not addressed, such conflicts can affect staff members’ commitment to institutional goals, encourage them to work at cross purposes and create a dissonance between the goals set by the organisation and the results it actually achieves. This study explored how Higher Education Professionals working for an African development institution experience this conflict and whether they consider the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue as a potential way of managing the conflict. In this study, the conflict of values was discussed with regard to the commercialisation of higher education. The research adopted a case study approach and spanned a period of one year. It involved a group of 11 purposively selected Higher Education Professionals, who were invited to go through three stages of the study. In stage 1, participants were asked to complete a semi-structured questionnaire on how they experience the conflict, if any, between their personal and organisational values and how they have attempted to address any conflict. Stage 2 was an open discussion and dialogue in a workshop, based on the theoretical propositions that guided the formulation of research questions. The Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue was adopted for the discussion in stage 2. In the third stage of the study, participants were individually interviewed to obtain their perspectives on how useful the regular use of the dialogue modelled in stage 2 could be in addressing the conflict, if any, between their personal and organisational values. The data collected during this study was analysed thematically to obtain answers on: (a) whether Higher Education Professionals in the research site experience the conflict between their personal and organisational values; (b) how Higher Education Professionals in the research site experience the conflict between their personal and organisational values; (c) how they have attempted to address the conflict; and (d) whether they consider the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue as a potential way of addressing any such conflict. The findings of the study revealed that 7 of the 11 Higher Education Professionals that participated in the study reported some form of conflict between their personal and organisational values. They claimed to experience this conflict in complex and dialectical manner as shown by the themes that emerged from the study: Core academic values versus consumerism; Equity versus sustainability; Quality assurance versus profit motive; and Good Governance versus role differentiation. The study revealed that for cultural reasons, most of those who experienced the conflict avoided addressing it. Most of the respondents stated that they experienced the conflict in a procedural rather than substantive manner. The findings also suggest that, unless carefully managed, addressing the conflict between personal and organisational values can be sensitive and challenging, especially in the African context, where the articulation of personal values that might conflict with organisational values is problematic because of deeply held cultural values about hierarchies. It was, therefore, proposed and confirmed by the study that, as opposed to simply persuading staff members to adopt different values, adopting an instrument or way of working such as the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue can be useful in proactive conflict management. The result of the study revealed that all the research participants interviewed considered the Bohm-Isaacs model of dialogue as a useful way of managing the conflict between personal and organisational values, especially if used proactively. Although this study suffers from the lack of generalisability which is characteristic of case studies with a small number of participants, it is hoped that it will help to create an environment for proactive management of values conflict in the institution where the research is based

Towards the Enhancement of Population and Family Life Education for Nigerians

A ZJER article on population and family life education in Nigeria.The thrust of this paper is to highlight the strong relationship that exists between population/family life education and the quality of life for Nigerians. It observes that Nigeria’s population is increasing exponentially and this has affected several aspects of her national life. Reflecting on the numerous health problems like vesico vaginal fistula, recto vaginal fistula, ante partum and post partum haemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labour that come with unwanted childhood pregnancies, as well as increased cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and wide spread prostitution, the paper emphasizes that Nigerian students need more information on human sexuality now as future adults of the country. It therefore prescribes specific curricular contents of population and family life education and recommends a cooperative effort by home, school, church and community to provide selected learning experiences and guidance for young people in and outside schools concerning the need, interests, problems and goals that arise out of human psycho-sexual development primarily as related to love, marriage, parenthood and family life. The basic assumption here is that good families make a good society

Analysis of Empirical Relationship among Agricultural Lending, Agricultural Growth and Non-Performing Loans in Nigerian Banking System

Increasing levels in Non-Performing loans (NPLs) which has remained an area of great concern contributed to issue of declining agribusiness activities in Nigeria in the 1990s and thereafter. The study examined non-performing loans relationship with agricultural lending and agricultural productivity from 1980 to 2015 in Nigeria. Time series data obtained from CBN were analyzed using, Granger causality test, Pearson correlation, and co-integration as well as error correction models. The empirical analyses revealed that, bilateral Granger causality existed between loans and advances granted to agricultural sector and non-performing loans in Nigeria. Also, growth in GDP has a positive and significant correlation with NPL in Nigeria. In the long run, NPL is positively related to agricultural productivity, growth in the GDP and value of loans and advances offered to agricultural sector. Whereas, in the short run, NPL reacted significantly to the negative influence of interest rate and positive impact of GDP growth rate. The adjustment coefficient of 52% was discovered for the NPL long run equation in Nigeria. It is recommended that short and long- term banking reform policies be adopted to reduce fluctuations in NPLs in the banking system and efforts should be geared towards increased participation of specialized financial institutions as to accelerate investments in agriculture sector