Peer-reviewed international research papers published open-access with EOI assignment and global indexing across engineering, computer science, environmental science, social sciences, and more.
Cemeteries are haven for lifeless bodies of humans since at expiration of life; human corpses become waste and require proper way and place of disposal like any other waste. Though cemeteries play significant role of housing the dead and other benefits, cemeteries have their downside which includes its contamination potentials to ground water. The present study examined the impact of cemetery on the physioco-chemical properties of water in Port Harcourt metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria. The study leans on quantitative research paradigm while the research design is quasi experimental research design. Primary data was obtained through direct observation by the researchers, and water samples collected at designated points within the study area. To delineate our sampling area, concentric rings of 100 meters apart up to 400 meters radius was introduced to get settlements around the cemetery area from which water samples were collected from thirteen points for laboratory investigation. Findings from the study revealed that the physioco-chemical properties of water do not change as one move away from the cemetery area. The values of all the parameters examined were within the WHO limit even though there was evidence of elevated value of lead and acidity. Although, the presence of Lead, ,elevated pH and COD in the water around the cemetery area may not have resulted from the cemetery, there is need to treat water in this area to bring up the pH and Lead to WHO desirable levels for portable water since water acidity and Lead in drinking water can affect man’s health adversely. Key words: Cemetery; Death, Acidity; water contamination, Land-use, Locational impact;
Most power system apparatus are placed outdoor and are often exposed to atmospheric pollution. Due to the existence of different pollutions in the atmosphere, insulating feature of the insulators maybe reduced over time which can result to insulation breakdown and in some cases lead to unexpected outages and damages to expensive equipment of power system (such as transformers, protection relays, and etc). Majority of these pollutions are as a result of human activities in addition to air pollutions and climate change. These impact negatively on the surface of the insulator and cause pollution of insulator surface and other power system equipment. This paper examined effects of air pollution and installation breakdown of insulators in distribution system of Port Harcourt. Different pollution indices (ESDD, NSDD and DDG) were used to estimate the contamination severity for a twelvemonths period. The result of the findings shows that from June 2018 the pollution level was very heavy and gradual decreases to light pollution level at May 2019.
Electoral data management as one of the most essential ingredients of democracy, its conduct has remained a challenge to democratic governance not only in Nigeria but also almost all over the world. Nigeria’s electoral process has since the first one in 1922 during colonialism to the last in 2015 has been characterized with fraud such as imposition of candidates, rigging, stuffing ballots, violence etcetera. This paper reviews the features of what is and what is not democratic governance as well as election process. An attempt is also made to describe the dimensions as well as challenges of electoral malpractice in Nigeria’s quest for democratic governance in the fourth republic. The paper argues violence, legitimacy crises, corruption and other vices cannot be unrelated with electoral fraud. It concludes by recommending and suggesting strategies that would tackle challenges of electoral process thereby having viable democratic governance in the country.
This study aimed at investigating the effect of Problem Solving on conceptual and procedural understanding of pre-service mathematics teachers on the graphs of linear functions. The study employed mixed method approach. A pretest-posttest equivalent group design was used. Twenty four regular second year pre-service mathematics teachers participated in this study as Intervention Group( IG) and twenty four pre-service mathematics teachers participated as Comparison Group(CG). Pre-service teachers’ conceptual and procedural understanding was diagnosed using Conceptual Understanding Diagnose Test (CUDT) Procedural Understanding Diagnose Test(PUDT) and interview. Cronbach’s alpha values of the internal consistence are 0.747and 0.749 respectively for CUDT and PUDT. Data were analyzed using the paired samples t-test, the independent samples t-test for quantitative part and narrative was used for qualitative data. Findings of the study depicted that there was statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest in conceptual and procedural understanding in IG, but there was no statistically significant difference between the pre-test and posttest results for CG. Similarly, results obtained from the independent samples t-test revealed that the two groups were almost equal in pre-test results, but the IG outscored the CG in the posttest. This means the IG developed more conceptual and procedural understanding on linear functions and graphing as compared to the CG. It further implies that instruction in graphs of linear functions needs to be supported with appropriate use of problem solving method in order to improve pre-service teachers’ conceptual and procedural understanding on the graphs of Linear Functions. Key words: Problem Solving method, Conceptual Understanding, Procedural Understanding,
The existence of disconnected and overlapping research findings on who is vulnerable poor continue to mingle in minds of researchers, policy, and decision-makers as well as households in various communities. As a result of the misconception of who the vulnerable poor are, government and international development agencies, have initiated and are implementing varied social protection policies and programmes to help the poor and vulnerable households. Most of these vulnerable poor have had specific research studies conducted on them by independent researchers both in public and private research institutions with mixt results. Findings from such research seemed to be all skewed toward policy design aimed to address the causes of household vulnerability to poverty and not a strategic prescription that dives to the root cause of household vulnerability to poverty. This article established the attempts given by the government to understand the concept of cash transfer programmes and its policy implications towards addressing households’ vulnerabilities to poverty. We established and further, examined the causes of household vulnerability to poverty and, we try to propose strategies within the social protection broader realm to address and prevent future causes of household vulnerability to poverty.
Cloud has severs as store house of abundant information available in various electronic forms. In ages, the increase in the performance of computers in handling large quantity of text data led researchers to focus on reliable and optimal retrieval of information already exist in the Big and huge resources. Though the existing search engines, answering machines has succeeded in retrieving the data relative to the user query, the relevancy of the text data (data mining and classification) is not appreciable of the huge set. It is hence binding the range of resultant text data for a given user query with appreciable ranking to each document stand as a major challenge. In this paper, we propose an hybrid approach to access relevant documents for a given query finding the most appropriate boundary to related documents available on web and rank the document on the basis of query rather than customary Content based classification. The experimental results will elucidate the categorization with reference to closeness of the given query to the document.
Fourier analysis amounts to finding the Fourier coefficients of the signal in question and then substituting these Fourier coefficients into the general complex or the trigonometric Fourier series expression,from the properties of the signal been analyzed can be deduced.Through this analysis, it was found that the saw-tooth wave form consist of a continuous sine series(tool for audio compression). And in the same manner the triangular wave form was analyzed and found to consist of discrete sine series.Throught this work I have used the complex exponential method to evaluate the the coefficients and then used the trigonometric approach to authenticate my results. At the end of this work I have also used Fourier analysis to analyze how well do the half and full wave rectifier diodes valve converts A.C to D.C. Hopefully enough by the end of this work the reader can be able to analyze a signal or an electronic gadgets such as the diode-valve or the like by the use of Fourier analysis and predict with precision their behaviour by just looking at the final expression,also called the design equation.
Job satisfaction is important in every profession which brings physical, mental and spiritual satisfaction in life. Nurses are the crucial part of health care setting. They are the heart of hospital. Job satisfaction is very important to perform duty well and provide quality care to the level of patient’ satisfaction. Satisfaction is the fundamental concept which includes various patients’ past experience with nurses, satisfaction with care, future expectations from nurses and their social, moral and ethical values of individuals according to their society (AsimaFarman, Kousar et al. 2017).
This study is focused on the optimization of spatial configuration, requirement, interrelationship and design in performing spaces such as theatres, halls, auditoriums, etc. through design guidelines, codes and standards and research studies to analyze the various criteria for performing art spaces for specific or multipurpose use as well as how it relates to users of the facility. This body of work is inculcated in the proposed design of a center for performing arts for Port Harcourt city, rivers state, Nigeria as a result of underdevelopment of such spaces for performing arts form, hence the prospect of a center for performing art for Port Harcourt city would revitalize the state and project it on a global platform through clearly defined spaces intended to house performing arts forms for both performers and spectators while generating revenue for the state government amongst other benefits, this is necessary in sustaining the art forms and cultural heritage of the people of Port Harcourt city while seeking to strike balance between the culture of the people and the international standard of performance spaces through articulate and architectural approach using design elements. In the course of this study, elements from existing performance spaces as that for which this study is being planned will be explored through research analysis and case studies, as guide for the development of this research; however, caution and careful considerations will be given as to the conclusion and recommendations for this research with respect to environmental factors. Finally, the expected outcome of this research work will be a guide to a purpose-built center for performing arts that is indigenous through architectural approach for optimizing and enhancing spatial configuration and circulation in public space such as a center for performing art. Keywords; space, performing arts, design element, architecture, spatial configuration
Although significant progress towards elimination of malaria, it still remains a major health challenges in several tropical regions where it thrives in nations with a weak healthcare system. Significant increases in investment have resulted in the creating of new tools to combat this parasitic disease. Some of the newest tools require expensive and complex technologies that are not available to national malaria programmes. However, malaria control or reduction of mortality and morbidity to be possible infected person must be identified early of the illness. This goal can be achieved when people that leave in malaria affected environment have quick, good medication and reliable diagnostics. In this study, an Artificial Neural Network classifier algorithm was developed for the early diagnosis of malaria. The program was developed with Anaconda Spyder 3.7. Test run shows that the program can effectively predict malaria as part of the said early diagnosis.
The current time is the digital age and hardly any aspect of human endeavour can be effectively carried out without Information communication technologies (ICTs) including education. ICTs are now at the centre of education reform in line with the technological development of the 21st century. The aim of this study was to establish Effect of Incorporation of Vision and ICT Policy Plan into Strategic Plans on ICT Integration in Secondary Schools in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya. This study used the systems theory developed by Pelgum and Plomp (1993) and adopted the mixed methodology. The target population included all the secondary schools in Eldoret municipality which were selected through stratified sampling method. The head teachers were purposively sampled, however, 5 subject teachers and 10 students were randomly selected in each of the 10 sampled schools. Structured questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data. Reliability and validity of the instruments were assured through carefully developed instruments and comprehensive sampling techniques. The data collected was qualitative and quantitative in nature hence analyzed by use of both descriptive and inferential statistics and presented using tables and charts. The study found out that for an effective integration of ICT in education to be realised, schools ought to have a clear vision, a well-developed ICT policy plan and schools’ vision on ICT role in education being known and accepted fully by all teachers, teachers knowing the contents of the schools’ ICT policy plan. This study would be useful to education policy makers in adopting effective ICT integration strategies.
One of the problems faced today is the lack of access to safe drinking water, especially in countries or areas where living conditions are poor. In this study the objective is to propose the biosand filter technique in the treatment of water for consumption in the Nhamitanda area, using cheap materials easily accessible to suit the living conditions of families. Therefore, the efficiency of intermittent PVC biosand filter in the removal of turbidity, electrical conductivity, pH, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, total dissolved solids, nitrate, nitrite, total hardness and total coliforms was evaluated. The values recommended by the Mozambican Legislation and WHO in relation to the Regulation on the quality of drinking water were adopted. As a result it was found that the evaluated technology presents efficiency in the removal of all analyzed variables, concluding that the biosand filter as solution For treatment, it is a suitable solution, provided the use of disinfectant in the first days of operation to ensure the safety of users, since no analysis has been performed during this period, and the complete removal of contaminants present in water is not guaranteed.
The main focus of this study is to explore the problems and issues related to cash management in the perspective of customer as well as banking industry of Pakistan. We have analyzed the previous research regarding customer issue and cash management through descriptive approach. We have taken all Pakistani banks private/public that are specialize in their own field. From the Babylonian era to current century, as all the history of Pakistan’s bank is differentiated. The banking sector of Pakistan is flourishing since 1948 with the very first Pakistani bank “State bank of Pakistan”. All the economy is based on banking industry. State bank of Pakistan monitors and regulated all the financial institution and channelize the depositor money. Pakistani banking sector has been growing and innovating new tools and technology even from privatization to nationalization and then again privatization. This report has focused on issues faced by all commercial banks regarding cash management. The basic aim of the study is to explain the main issues of cash management in banking industry and also describe the all terms which are being used in every branch of banking sector which can low the operating expenses with dynamic customer services for long. KEY WORDS: Cash management, Issues, Banking Sector, Customer, issues
This paper explores the connotations of performance appraisal (PA) as visualized by scholars and its application in organizations. It is a concept that traces its beginnings to the epoch of the Industrial Revolution, and assumed the trappings of a systematic approach that appeared to offer interchange, parity and suitability in the assessment of workers and institutions. It completely overhauled the erstwhile methods of compensation of workers that linked rewards to output in a manner that appeared irrational, uninformed and haphazard. Performance appraisal gained universal acceptability, and affected the planning processes and ambitions of virtually every institution globally. Currently, performance appraisal has come under closer analysis, and many scholars have questioned its methods, seeking to expose its seeming inherent weaknesses that make it unsuitable as a good standard for evaluating efficiency in establishments. These critics contend that PA is subject to human influence, and is often used by supervisors at workplaces, to promote the upward movement of those they adore, while they thwart the progress of those they abhor. On the whole however, PA appears to remain the most widely accepted staff and organizational assessment tool, despite the recent introduction of a new assessment method called performance management.
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of education in National development. This study investigated the role of education in national development using the four schools (School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Vocational and Technical Education, School of Sciences and School of Education) of the College of Education, Igueben, Edo State, Nigeria as a case study in relation to its challenges and prospects. The population of the study comprised of 600 persons made up of staffs and students for the year 2019/2020 academic session. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 120 students and 40 lecturers. This was based on proportional representation. The instrument used for the study was a -18 items question titled (QREND) and adopted a four point Likert-scale of measurement namely: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD).A validated questionnaire with reliability co-efficient of 0.83 was used. The reliability of the instrument was established through test-retest method. Data collected was analyzed using the arithmetical mean .The cut-off point for decision was 2.5 based on the rating scale. The decision rule was that any item with a mean score above 2.5 would be accepted. While items whose mean score falls below 2.5 would be rejected. Based on the findings, the study reveals that, poor government allocation, corruption, inadequate funding, politicization of education amongst others, play a significant role in limiting the contribution of education to national development. The study also confirms that the effect of inadequate funding is responsible for poor teaching and learning, inadequate infrastructural facilities etc., and therefore made useful recommendations. One of such is that Government should heed to UNESCO’S 26% allocation to education. Keywords: Education, National Development
Nigeria has been experiencing an overwhelming insecurity ranging from armed banditry, ethnic militias, armed robbery, militancy and insurgencies, Kidnapping/abduction, piracy, Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and trans-national crime. These criminalities are leveraged by the vast ungoverned spaces. Governance coverage is not wide spread and not decentralized from urbanised areas to areas at the fringes and so they experience insecurity. The areas now become safe sanctuaries for armed group and insurgents who continue to attack and depredate rural communities hence the limited governance in those areas. Governance that embraces prioritizing security sector with primacy of taking a centri-fugal approach to development is much distant away from the realities in Nigeria. The study adopts the theory of failed/ungoverned space as theoretical underpinning which argues that states should be internally and externally sover¬eign, legitimate and capable of delivering public goods, including security, welfare, and development to their citizens and spaces within its territorial confines. Areas excluded from the state ‘net’ are likely to descend into anar¬chy and violence by allowing non-state vio¬lent actors to settle, plan logistics, engage in crime to generate funds, recruit, train and operate therein. The exploiters of the ungoverned spaces are Boko Haram insurgents, Niger Delta Militants, Kidnappers, Armed Robbers, Herdsmen militia and Bandits, Smugglers, Human Traffickers, Pirates and Trans-national criminals. The drivers of insecurity in ungoverned spaces include Forest Reserves, State failure, Socio-Economic Factors, Religious Extremism, Niger Delta Agitation, Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and Porous Borders. The study concludes that Nigeria has the requisite wherewithal to take control of these hitherto ungoverned spaces for the security and welfare of the citizens hence the expediency to prioritize development at the fringes.
The incorporation of acoustic comfort and strategies into public library design is discussed in this paper. For decades, one of the main goals of acoustic theory and experiments has been to solve architectural acoustic issues. Recent contributions by the soundscape approach have highlighted wider beneficial goals that acoustic designers can follow, such as encouraging ecological reasoning about the acoustic system and its understanding as a whole. Using references from the literature, this paper illustrates the application of architectural acoustics and soundscape methods into the field of architectural architecture education, stressing the importance of unique design circumstances and aural teaching strategies in learning contexts. According to the findings of this study, the incorporation of Acoustic comfort can be accomplished by architectural design rather than active means, and the literature review discusses all methods of achieving Acoustic comfort or Architectural Acoustics. This research would look at potential noise sources as well as steps or technology that can be incorporated into the architectural design of a public library to improve acoustic comfort. HVAC, atmospheric noise from outside the lecture room, low sound insulation construction materials, and so on are examples of noise sources. Keywords Acoustic design, soundscape, architectural acoustics, education, acoustic comfort.
The Rivers State government saw the need and through Arcus Gibbs, a South African firm in 2008 prepared a masterplan for the area called Greater Port Harcourt City. The interest was to build a thriving city, economically vibrant and diverse, a world class city, a garden city whose citizens enjoy an enviable quality of life, a sought-after tourist destination, a model city, an inspiration and a monument to what can be achieved through determined and coordinated effort” (Rivers State Government, 2008). Currently, the success and level of implementation of the said master plan has not much been recorded. It is therefore the aim of this paper to ascertain and discuss the explanatory factors that are responsible for the pace of implementation of the Greater Port Harcourt City Master Plan (GPHCMP). This triangulation mixed method study in order to sieve out the elements of both qualitative and quantitative data utilized stakeholders mapping as a strategy to get meaning information. Stakeholders were therefore grouped into three: primary, secondary and tertiary, taking into consideration their adjudged importance and influence. The communities (Mbodo-Aluu, Omagwa and Igwurutali) stood as primary stakeholders and so community stakeholders consultation / engagement and in-depth key informant interviews were conducted. The findings revealed the explanatory factors for the success and level of implementation of the Greater Port Harcourt City Master Plan which are; commitment and capacity of the planning agency, poor stakeholder involvement in the implementation process, economic downturn, bureaucracy in land allocation and policy inconsistencies in governance.
The underperformance of most Nigerian companies with their key performance indicators on the downward trend and the experience of a lower return on investment unlike their counterparts in developed climes cannot be downplayed. While studies on information systems implementation on firms’ financial performance are yet to consider other financial indicators like ROA and ROE, studies in Nigeria have not yet discovered the role big data analytics capability can play in scaling up their performance. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between big data analytics capability and firm performance of money deposit banks in Nigeria. Objectively, the study attempts to ascertain the type of interactions that exist between big data analytics capability and company’s performance when firms make investment in big data analytics and also in the development of capability for the use of the analytics. The methodology used was the event study methodology which is often used in information systems research. The duration of the study would be three (3) years. Using social media analytics principle, fifteen (15) banks whose shares are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange will be used. The study intends to use Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. Linguistic tools would be used to solve the complexity and ambiguousness of natural language. The source of data will be social media networks, feeds, blogs, online forums, corporate documents website. The study will use the architecture, CROSBI, as the platform for data collection, cleaning, and analyses for the study. Statistical techniques, computational linguistics and data learning techniques would also be used to find relationship between big data analytics capability and firm performance in the area of their stock price, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Return on Investment (ROI), and other key performance indicators such as customer churn and staff turnover.
The global challenge of Youth unemployment has drawn consideration attention from various Governments, stakeholders and other players in diverse sectors. Notably, there has been a continuous stream of scholarly publications suggesting various approaches to curb the ever-growing trend of the unemployment. As a response to reverse the rising challenge of unemployment among the youth, Kenya has instituted programs aimed at boosting chances of their employment through the State Department of Youth Affairs. Consequently, the primary motivation of the present paper was to explore how allocation of resources has impacted on productivity in the Department. In order to answer the research question, the study was underpinned by the theoretical perspectives of Resource Based Theory. Descriptive research design was used to aptly describe the relationship between the study variables. A sample size of n = 53 respondents was drawn from a target population of N = 226, which comprised of Top management, County management, Field management and support staff. Data was collected by self-administered semi structured questionnaires. The results from a simple linear regression analysis show that resource allocation significantly predicted productivity. The study findings will expand the knowledge of how resources allocation can have an influence on the productivity of organisations, particularly in the context of Public sector.
Termite reworked soil are common occurrence in Nigeria but unwanted in farmland and in the vicinity of structure especially those constructed with wood. The study investigates engineering properties of termite reworked soil as compared to earth material for the construction of farm structures. Three termite hills from three locations (Federal Polytechnic Bida, Bangaie and Gbanchita) were chosen. Samples were collected into empty cement bags using pick axe and shovel; the samples were air-dried and analyzed physically to determine soil texture, consistency limits, moisture content and bulk density. The mechanical properties performed were water absorption ratio, shear strength, compressive strength, specific gravity and permeability, chemical properties such as soil pH, nitrogen phosphorous, potassium, organic carbon, sodium, copper, calcium and magnesium. The results of these tests showed that, the values of the physical properties of termite reworked soil were higher than those of the earth material and properties such as shear strength, compressive strength and specific gravity values are higher in termite reworked soil than earth material. However, water absorption ratio is significantly lower in termite reworked soil than earth material, while the bulk density showed no significant difference for the two samples. The result therefore showed the importance of reworking soil by termite as indicated by it's improved engineering properties and better performance in terms of stability and durability than earth material used locally for the construction of farm structures.
Decision making is one fundamental part of management and managers make decisions that affect the operations, quality and success of their organization. Decision making process consists of eight steps namely: problem identification, identifying decision making criteria’s, allocating weight to criteria, developing alternatives, analyzing alternatives, selecting an alternative, implementing the alternative and finally evaluating decision effectiveness. Decision making is an essence activity of manager. Despite that fact most the time managers make most of the decision, it is also important to participate employees in decision because it affects their performances which in turn reflect the effectiveness of an organization. So employee’s participation in decision making is an important ingredient to strengthen an organization and create sense of ownership/ empowerment among serving an organization. Furthermore, it reduces unnecessary burden on managers. Key word: Decision making, employee participation
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