Applications of Re-Engineered Productivity Award Model in the Measurement of Water Supply System Performance in Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to measure performance and identify operational strategies for improving water supply systems in Nigeria. Water has remained the most crucial element in the environment as mankind significantly depends on it for their existence. Performance metrics framework for productivity of water supply system (WSS) in Nigeria has thus far been underestimated hence the need for user friendly approach to effectively assess critical activities of the system. A re-engineered productivity award model (RPAM) adopted in this study consists of 10-point core measures that control overall performance of the WSS as well as other supportive measures for the realization of set goals of the system. The application of the model recorded a score of 44.08% which is an inducement to placing WSS on the threshold of significant achievement of strategic goals. This suggests possible adaptation of the model and improvement effort which has the capacity of addressing identified barriers to its implementation. The capacities of the strategic adaptive framework include creation of competitive platform for recognizing stakeholders who have greater influence in higher productivity solutions in water supply systems

Ensuring good governance through parliamentary control of administrative agencies: A critique

Parliamentary institutions are central to most systems of government but their role within the structure of government varies from one country to another. Not only are there differences in terms of their specific powers, but also in measure of  power/influence exercised within the framework of normative rules or legal system of  a nation to guarantee good governance. The objectives of this paper are to overview parliaments around the world vis-à-vis their control of administrative  agencies, especially in Britain and United States of America and to highlight the forms of control that the Nigerian National Assembly exerts on the administrative  agencies. The writers rely on published and unpublished materials such as  textbooks; articles in journals, conferences and work shop documents, law reports; newspapers; magazine; and internet facility. The paper concluded that the  parliamentary control of administrative agencies depends largely on the type of  parliamentary system being practiced either uni-cameral or bi-cameral legislature or even presidential or parliamentary. It is suggested that care must be taken not only to ensure that the electorates choose their proper representatives to National or State Assembly, but there should equally be good electoral laws to ensure that, the choice of the people are not defeated as a result of electoral fraud because the failure or success of a state depends largely on the nature of its legislators.Key words: Legislature, Good Governance, Oversight, Impeachment, Investigatio

Facilitating Community Development through Institutional Engagements: Reflections from 2016 Nigeria IACD Conference

This article reports on recent experiences of the conference/workshop management team and the host (Kwara State University - KWASU) of the fourth meeting of the Nigerian members and potential members of the International Association for Community Development (IACD) and the third National Community Development Consultative Conference/Workshop, held in Malete, Kwara State Nigeria from 11 to 14 October 2016. In reviewing the meeting and conference/workshop, the following sub-topics were used for organizing the contents of the article: community development and institutional engagements in Nigeria; IACD National Association in Nigeria; conference/workshop theme and overview; participations/state representatives and conference streams; keynote addresses; conference mobile learning workshop; conference/workshop assessment; and conclusion. The article also draws out implications of the conference/workshop for community development practice and professionalism in workplace settings within national contexts with mandatory institution supports. Finally, brief perspectives of the next Nigeria IACD conference to be held in Kano State are also provided. Keywords: Community Development, Institutional Engagements, Nigeria, IACD-Nigeria Conference 201

From Crisis to Co-creation: Analyzing the Effect and Economic Rejuvenation Strategies in Palm Oil Processing in Irele Local Government Area

The study examined effect and economic rejuvenation strategies in palm oil processing during and post COVID-19 in Irele Local Government Area, Ondo State. Multistage sampling technique was employed in the selection of 215 respondents for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and responses were collated and analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Findings revealed that threshing of bunch was the most tedious activities experienced during palm oil processing and that COVID-19 affected the operational activities of palm oil processing as the lockdown hindered major operational activities of palm oil, as well as caused a total pause of operational activities of palm oil processing. In addition, the gross margin during COVID-19 in 2020 was N435,000.00 and the post COVID-19 gross margin in 2023 was N565,000.00. Regression result indicated that household size (p< 0.001), processing experience (p< 0.001), labour (p< 0.05) and threshing cost (p< 0.001) have positive coefficients and are statistically significant factors that contributed to profit in palm oil processing. The study therefore recommended that farmers should be encouraged to form co-operative societies to solve the problems of inadequate information and cultivation knowledge as well as give the avenue for earnest government intervention measures in case of any outbreak or crises

Energy research in Nigeria : a bibliometric analysis

Abstract: The scant supply of energy in Nigeria in relation to its energy demand has triggered interest in the scientific investigation of various energy research. This study reports on the bibliometric analysis of energy publications from Nigerian researchers from 1974 to 2019 (45 years) from the Elsevier Scopus database. The analysis includes publication types, languages of publication, institutions of authors and collaborators. Based on the analysis, the number of publications has increased in the 45 years period. With significant changes being from the period 2006–2015 by an average of 113 publications per year, to an average of 326 publications per year from 2016 to 2019. The contributions of institutional energy publications by region showed that the South-Western States region had the highest number of publications. A global map showing energy collaboration at international level Nigerian-authors mainly co-author energy publications with South Africa, Malaysia, the United States and the United Kingdom institutions. The publications are mainly in solar energy, wind energy and biomass energy and surprisely less in gas and hydro energy which are the main sources of electricity generation in Nigeria

Conformational rearrangements upon start codon recognition in human 48S translation initiation complex

Selection of the translation start codon is a key step during protein synthesis in human cells. We obtained cryo-EM structures of human 48S initiation complexes and characterized the intermediates of codon recognition by kinetic methods using eIF1A as a reporter. Both approaches capture two distinct ribosome populations formed on an mRNA with a cognate AUG codon in the presence of eIF1, eIF1A, eIF2–GTP–Met-tRNAiMet and eIF3. The ‘open’ 40S subunit conformation differs from the human 48S scanning complex and represents an intermediate preceding the codon recognition step. The ‘closed’ form is similar to reported structures of complexes from yeast and mammals formed upon codon recognition, except for the orientation of eIF1A, which is unique in our structure. Kinetic experiments show how various initiation factors mediate the population distribution of open and closed conformations until 60S subunit docking. Our results provide insights into the timing and structure of human translation initiation intermediates and suggest the differences in the mechanisms of start codon selection between mammals and yeast

ASSESSMENT OF COMMERCIALIZATION LEVEL AND TRENDS IN MARKETING INITIATIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE SMALLHOLDER FARMING DEVELOPMENT IN THE EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

Transforming farm produce to cash is the primary objective of anyone going into farming as an occupation but the reality on ground is that most of these farmers are not linking up with their desire results due to inadequate market or no market in some instances. This paper investigates the reasons farmers are not getting their farm produce sold into profiting, Socioeconomic characteristic of the farmers in the area and to know their level of commercialization level at which they operate in the selected area. Well-structured questionnaires were used to elicits data from 120 respondents that were purposively selected because of the location of the smallholder farmers in Tyefu in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A commercialization index was used in measuring the commercialization level, Descriptive statistics were used in describing the socioeconomic characteristics and in profiling the challenges of marketing in the study area. Results revealed that the area has more male with 68.3% while female farmers were 31.7%,. Further, 65.8% of the farmers were married with the mean age of 61-65years having the highest percentage of 38.3%. The farmers are doing well in maize production at 5% and 10% level of significance. Profiling the challenges faced by farmers in the study area indicated that bad road network and storage facilities are parts of the major problems they are in area. The commercialization level was measured as 0.45 indicating that smallholder farming is a lucrative venture in the study area. There is future for small farms as they are the integral part of productions in Nigeria. Government and policy, makers must assist the smallholder farmer with various aids in grants, this will attract many people to farming and there will be more food supply and more profits will be made by the individual farmers

Comparative analysis of selected optimization algorithms for mobile agents’ migration pattern

Mobile agents are agents that can migrate from host-to-host to work in a heterogeneous network environment. A mobile agent can migrate from host-to-host in its plan with the statistics generated on each host through a route known as migration pattern. Migration pattern therefore is the route the agents use to travel within the plan from the first host to the last host. However, there is a need for a comparison between the commonly used optimization algorithms in developing migration patterns for mobile agents with respect to some evaluation metrics. In this paper, the three techniques firefly algorithm (FFA), honeybee optimization (HBO) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) were used for developing migration patterns for mobile agents and their comparison was done based on migration time, time complexity and network load as metrics. PSO is discovered to perform better in terms of network load with an average of 242.3905 bits per second (bps), time complexity with an average of 41.2688 number of nodes (n), and migration/transmission time with an average of 4.203462 seconds (s)

Determination of a spark ignition engine's performance parameters using response surface methodology

combustion engines are concerned, emission is the important parameters for which the other design and operating parameters have to be optimized. This paper studies the use of RSM (Response Surface Methodology) to optimize the performance parameters of a 4-stroke spark ignition engine. In this work, a description of the facilities developed for conducting experimental work on the test engine experiment was conducted. Theoretical evaluation, experimental evaluation, prediction of performance parameters using RSM and statistical evaluation of SI engine were performed. The study also explained how to build an analytical model for the complicated problem. The development of the incombustible gases concentration (part per million-ppm) as a function of engine speed (rpm), loading condition (%) and operating time (seconds) was done via 23 factorial designs of the experiment (DoE )and RSM. The results obtained from HC, CO and NOx emission models showed that the engine speed, loading condition and time were found to have significant influence on the emission. The HC, CO and NOx emission models have also proved positive response from the regression analysis of actual and predicted responses. In the error estimation with 95% confidence interval the equations are within the ranges. Thus, the response surface methodology provides useful informatio