Mass communication undergraduates’ perception of their communication competence for employability

This study evaluated the perception of mass communication undergraduates with regard to their communication competence for employability.The population sample includes 2015/16 final year mass communication undergraduates of four Nigerian tertiary institutions, namely; Lagos State University (LASU), University of Lagos (Unilag), Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) and Lagos state Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).The method of research was survey.A five point Likert scale was adopted.A total of 452 questionnaires were administered but only 405 were usable.Descriptive analysis shows that more than half of the respondents were in moderate range in their general communication competence.The result shows that majority are mostly moderate in the four communication competence contexts (public, meeting, group and dyad) as well as receivers (stranger, acquaintance and friend) contexts. The paper includes; introduction, literature review, methodology, results and discussion as well as, implication and conclusion and recommendation for further studies.The study also discovered that communication apprehension affect communication competence.Therefore, the finding has unlocked the prospect of further studies in this area among mass communication undergraduates in Nigeria for the purpose of assessing their level of communication competence vis-a-vis communication apprehension with implication for employability. However, this paper is limited to the communication competence of the respondents

Smart city technology based architecture for refuse disposal management

Many modern cities are currently encumbered with various challenges among which is the need to promote the culture of environmental sanitation for healthy living. However, advances in information communications technology have given birth to the concept of smart city, which is rapidly being applied to address some of the challenges being faced in such cities. This paper presents the development of an architecture based on smart city technology, for refuse disposal management in communities. A proof of concept prototype was implemented for the proposed architecture using Arduino UNO microcontroller board, proximity sensor, breadboard, refuse bin and a personal computer. The proximity sensor was interfaced with the Arduino board to capture dataset that correspond to the five different positions calibrated on a refuse bin. The dataset was shown to be of good quality since the graph of the mean voltages against the distances is similar to the proximity sensor characteristic graph. To determine the appropriate classifier for realizing the pattern classification unit of the prototype, an experiment was performed using the acquired dataset to train five different variants of the K-NN classifier. The 1-NN classifier was nominated for the prototype because it is simple and it gave higher values of accuracy, precision and recal

Financial Structure and the Profitability of Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

Finance mix is a major factor that affects the liquidity and the going concern of a business enterprise. After an idea has been conceived by an entrepreneur, there is need to also analyse the capital required for startup and means of financing the project. A good combination of sources of finance is expected to boost the profitability of an organization, but if not properly mixed, could have a negative effect on the profitability of the organization. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effects of financial structure on the profitability of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. This study employed the use of secondary data. The Spearman’s Rank correlation and regression techniques were used for analysis, using the STATA Package for a sample of 25 manufacturing companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the period 2008-2012. The study showed that equity has a significant positive relationship with the profitability of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study recommends that managers should place greater emphasis on the facilitation of equity capital and policy makers should encourage manufacturing companies by reducing the cost of debt

Assessing the Connectedness between Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Financial Performance of Listed Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

This research examines the nature of relationships that exist between corporate governance mechanisms (board composition, audit committee, board size and corporate governance disclosure) and financial performance (return on equity, profit margin and return on asset) in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Secondary data from the audited financial statements of the fifteen listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria were employed. The test of hypotheses and other analysis of data were done using Pearson Correlation and regression analysis generated from SPSS, version 17. Findings from the study revealed that insignificant but positive relationship does exist between board composition and the performance of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Evidence also exist that corporate governance disclosure level has a positive and significant impact on the ROE. This study therefore suggests that board of directors and stakeholders of oil and gas companies in Nigeria should pay more attention towards enhancing the independence of their audit committees and the extent of their corporate governance disclosure in order to enhance their level of profitability

DEPRESSIONARY EFFECT OF PROXIMITY OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES TO WASTE DISPOSAL SITES IN NIGERIA (A Case Study of Solous Landfill Site)

It is important to know if and to which extent proximity to waste disposal sites or treatment plants depresses residential property values for many reasons. Whether as a measure of the impact of the sites on health and general welfare of the resident, or to ascertain the degree of monetary depression that would be suffered by property investors or even for future planning, it is imperative to know how these sites impact on the lives of the residents. Past studies have researched these impacts using a variety of hedonic models and Marginal Implicit Pricing, however, this study takes a special focus on the resident’s perspective based on the linear proximity to waste disposal sites. 260 questionnaires were distributed to residents within 1km to the site and Estate Surveyors in the area. The correlation between respondent’s profile and opinions are analyzed and it revealed that the site has major impacts on the residents perceived quality of life, security and total outlook of the area. It also showed that there is a negative correlation between the distance from landfill and the perceived quality of life of residents