Analysis of Secured Cloud Data Storage Model for Information

This paper was motivated by the existing problems of Cloud Data storage in Imo State University, Nigeria such as outsourced data causing the loss of data and misuse of customer information by unauthorized users or hackers, thereby making customer/client data visible and unprotected. Also, this led to enormous risk of the clients/customers due to defective equipment, bugs, faulty servers, and specious actions. The aim if this paper therefore is to analyze a secure model using Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) base 64 algorithms for storage of data in cloud securely. The methodology used was Object Orientated Hypermedia Analysis and Design Methodology (OOHADM) was adopted. Python was used to develop the security model;the role-based access control (RBAC) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance security Algorithm were integrated into the Information System developed with HTML 5, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) version 3 and PHP7. This paper also discussed some of the following concepts;Development of Computing in Cloud, Characteristics of computing, Cloud deployment Model, Cloud Service Models, etc. The results showed that the proposed enhanced security model for information systems of cooperate platform handled multiple authorization and authentication menace, that only one login page will direct all login requests of the different modules to one Single Sign On Server (SSOS). This will in turn redirect users to their requested resources/module when authenticated, leveraging on the Geo-location integration for physical location validation. The emergence of this newly developed system will solve the shortcomings of the existing systems and reduce time and resources incurred while using the existing system.

An Assessment of Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Regions of Lagos, Nigeria

This paper explains various factors that contribute to saltwater intrusion, including overexploitation of freshwater resources and climate change as well as the different techniques essential for effective saltwater intrusion management. The impact of saltwater intrusion along coastal regions and its impact on the environment, hydrogeology and groundwater contamination. It suggests potential solutions to mitigate the impact of saltwater intrusion, including effective water management and techniques for managing SWI. The application of A.I (assessment index) serves as a guideline to correctly identify wells with SWI ranging from no intrusion, slight intrusion and strong intrusion. The challenges of saltwater intrusion in Lagos and the salinization of wells were investigated using the hydro-chemical parameters. The study identifies four wells (“AA”, “CMS”, “OBA” and “VIL”) as having high electric conductivities, indicating saline water intrusion, while other wells (“EBM”, “IKJ, and “IKO”) with lower electric conductivities, indicate little or no salt-water intrusion, and “AJ” well shows slight intrusion. The elevation of the wells also played a vital role in the SWI across coastal regions of Lagos. The study recommends continuous monitoring of coastal wells to help sustain and reduce saline intrusion. The findings of the study are important for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners who are interested in addressing the challenges of saltwater intrusion along coastal regions. We assessed the SWI across the eight (8) wells using the Assessment Index to identify wells with SWI. Wells in “CMS” and “VIL” has strong intrusions. A proposed classification system based on specific ion ratios categorizes water quality from good (+) to highly (-) contaminated (refer to Table 4). These findings underscore the need for attention and effective management strategies to address groundwater unsuitability for various purposes.

Safety evaluation in mice of the childhood immunization vaccines from two south-eastern states of Nigeria

Objective:To check the effects of the vaccines on the hematopoietic system and weight of mice after immunization.Methods:The study was done with the Expanded Programme on Immunization vaccines donated by the Ministries of Health of Abia and Imo States of Nigeria.The vaccines were collected from the cold-chain stores and transported in vaccine carriers to the cold-chain facility in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital within 3 hours of collection.They were used to immunize a total of 160 mice.The Ethics Committee of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital,Nnewi of Anambra State,Nigeria approved the protocol.Results:Mice body weight changes test showed that the mice all had increased body weight at Days 3 and 7 post-immunization and none died during the 7 d post-immunization observation.The percentage weight gains of the mice compared with the control were 69%.70%,64%.63%,65%and 68%for oral polio vaccine,diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus.bacillus CalmetteGuerin,measles,yellow fever and hepatitis B vaccines respectively collected from Imo State.The mice immunized with oral polio vaccine,pentavalent.bacillus Calmette-Guerin.measles,yellow fever and hepatitis B vaccines collected from Abia State had 123%.114%,121%.116%,142%and 119%weight gain respectively compared with the control.Leukocytosis promoting toxicity test showed that none of the vaccines was able to induce proliferation of leukocytes up to ten folds.Leukopenic toxicity test showed that all the vaccines had an leukopenic toxicity test value higher than 80%of the control(physiological saline).Conclusions:The vaccine samples tested were safe and did not affect the hematopoietic system adversely.The storage conditions of the vaccines in the States' cold-chain stores had not compromised the safety of the vaccines.

Medical Morbidity Profile of Adults in a Rural Community in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria: A Cross Sectional Survey

Introduction: People in rural communities are exposed to the risk factors for non-communicable disease as those in urban areas. Correct interpretation and management of symptoms are important in primary care especially in rural communities where diagnostic facilities are not readily available. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in a village in Enugu South Local Government area of Enugu State. Thorough medical history was taken from all eligible participants who gave their consent. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Results: Data from a total of 1019 (64.7%) out of 1576 participants were analysed. Fever was by far the most common presenting complaint 580 (56.9%) of all participants and 67.9% of medical complaints seen in the clinic. This was followed remotely by musculoskeletal problems and neurological problems 15.6% and 3.8% of the participants respectively. Across all age groups, febrile illness was more than non-febrile illness except in those 65 years. Generalized body pains 74 (7.3%), back pains 55 (5.1), headache 33 (3.2%) and abdominal pains 24 (2.4%) were the commonest symptoms presented by the participants. About 15 (1.5%) of the population surveyed had had trauma/surgery in the past. This was twice the number who presented to the clinic with symptoms related to injury and trauma 7 (0.7%). Conclusions: Fever and musculoskeletal pains are the dominant medical complaints presented by adults in a rural community clinic. This may be related to the season of the year and the occupation of the population studied.

A comparative laboratory diagnosis of malaria:microscopy versus rapid diagnostic test kits

Objective:To compare the two methods of rapid diagnostic tests(RDTs)and microscopy in the diagnosis of malaria.Methods:RDTs and microscopy were carried out to diagnose malaria. Percentage malaria parasitaemia was calculated on thin films and all non-acute cases of plasmodiasis with less than 0.001%malaria parasitaemia were regarded as negative.Results were simply presented as percentage positive of the total number of patients under study.The results of RDTs were compared to those of microscopy while those of RDTs based on antigen were compared to those of RDTs based on antibody.Patients' follow-up was made for all cases.Results: All the 200 patients under present study tested positive to RDTs based on malaria antibodies(serum)method(100%).128 out of 200 tested positive to RDTs based on malaria antigen(whole blood)method(64%),while 118 out of 200 patients under present study tested positive to visual microscopy of Lieshman and diluted Giemsa(59%).All patients that tested positive to microscopy also tested positive to RDTs based on antigen.All patients on the second day of follow-up were non-febrile and had antimalaria drugs.Conclusions;We conclude based on the present study that the RDTs based on malaria antigen(whole blood)method is as specific as the traditional microscopy and even appears more sensitive than microscopy.The RDTs based on antibody(serum)method is unspecific thus it should not be encouraged.It is most likely that Africa being an endemic region,formation of certain levels of malaria antibody may not be uncommon.The present study also supports the opinion that a good number of febrile cases is not due to malaria. We support WHO's report on cost effectiveness of RDTs but,recommend that only the antigen based method should possibly,be adopted in Africa and other malaria endemic regions of the world.

Healthcare waste management in selected government and private hospitals in Southeast Nigeria

Objective:To assess healthcare workers' involvement in healthcare waste management in public and private hospitals.Methods:Validated questionnaires(n = 660) were administered to randomly selected healthcare workers from selected private hospitals between April and July 2013.Results:Among the healthcare workers that participated in the study,187(28.33%) were medical doctors,44(6.67%) were pharmacists,77(11.67%) were medical laboratory scientist,35(5.30%) were waste handlers and 317(48.03%) were nurses.Generally,the number of workers that have heard about healthcare waste disposal system was above average 424(69.5%).More health-workers in the government(81.5%) than in private(57.3%) hospitals were aware of healthcare waste disposal system and more in government hospitals attended training on it.The level of waste generated by the two hospitals differed significantly(P=0.0086) with the generation level higher in government than private hospitals.The materials for healthcare waste disposal were significantly more available(P=0.001) in government than private hospitals.There was no significant difference(P = 0.285) in syringes and needles disposal practices in the two hospitals and they were exposed to equal risks(P =0.8510).Fifty-six(18.5%) and 140(45.5%) of the study participants in private and government hospitals respectively were aware of the existence of healthcare waste management committee with 134(44.4%) and 19(6.2%) workers confirming that it did not exist in their institutions.The existence of the committee was very low in the private hospitals.Conclusions:The availability of material for waste segregation at point of generation,compliance of healthcare workers to healthcare waste management guidelines and the existence of infection control committee in both hospitals is generally low and unsatisfactory.

Performance Evaluation of Palm Kernel Shell Adsorbents for the Removal of Phosphorus from Wastewater

Studies were carried out on Palm Kernel Shell, an agricultural waste available in large quantity in Nigeria, to evaluate its ability to remove phosphorus from wastewater. The adsorbents, which were prepared from Palm Kernel Shells (PKN), were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Batch mode experiments were conducted to study the effects of adsorbent dosage and contact time on phosphorus adsorption. Equilibrium and Kinetic studies of the process were also carried out. Results obtained show that, FT-IR spectrum of the activated carbon displays a number of absorption peaks, reflecting the complex bio-mass structure and a variety of functional groups which explains its improved adsorption behaviour on the colloidal particles. SEM shows the spherical shape of the carbon particles with a wide range of sizes, EDX indicated the constituent elements in the adsorbent in which C and O were found to be the most abundant. Equilibrium data fitted well to the Freundlick and Langmuir models but the data were best described by Langmuir Isotherm model at the temperature of 313 K. Pseudo second order best described the kinetics of the adsorption process. Removal efficiency (E%) of 97% was attained within 120 minutes at 50 g/l adsorbent concentration, pH6 and 0.2mm particle size of the adsorbent.

Age hardening process modeling and optimization of aluminum alloy A356/Cow horn particulate composite for brake drum application using RSM,ANN and simulated annealing

Most conventional ceramic based aluminum metal matrix composites(MMCs) are either heavy,costly or combination of both. In order to reduce cost and weight,while at the same time maintaining quality,cow horn particles(CHp) was used with aluminum alloy A356 to produce MMC for brake drum application and other engineering uses. The aim of this research is to model the age hardening process of the produced composite using response surface methodology(RSM) and artificial neural network(ANN),and to use the developed ANN as fitness function for a simulated annealing optimization algorithm(SA-NN system) for optimization of age hardening process parameters. The results show that ANN modeled the age hardening data excellently and better than RSM with a correlation coefficient of experimental response with ANN predictions being 0.9921 as against 0.9583 for the RSM. The SA-NN system optimized process parameters were in very close agreement with the experimental values with the maximum relative error of 1.2%,minimum of 0.35% and average of 0.71%.

Detection of microbial antigenic components of circulating immune complexes in HIV patients:Involvement in CD4^+ T lymphocyte count depletion

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of microbial antigenic components of circulating immune complexes amongst grades of CD4 T lymphocyte counts in HIV sero positive and seronegative participants.Methods:Polyethelene glycol(PEG-600) and buffering methods of precipitation and dissociation of immune complexes was used to generate immune solution from sera of 100 HIV sero-positive and 100 HIV sero-negative participants.These were categorized into 3 grades based on CD4 count:】 500 cell/mm,200-499 cell/mm3 and 【200 cell/mm3.The immune solutions were assayed using membrane based immunoassay and antibody titration, along side its unprocessed serum for detection of various microbial antigens and or antibodies. CD4 T cell counts were estimated using Patec Cyflow SL-3 Germany.Results:Antigenic component of immune complexes of various infectious agents was detected in 99 and 70 HIV seropositive and HIV sero-negative participants,respectively.In group A,there were 10 HIV positive participants,including 4(40.0%) had circulating immune complexes(CICs) due to Salmonella species only:1(10.0%) due to Salmonella-Plasmodium falciparum(P.falciparum),SalmonellaP. falciparum-HCV and P.falciparum antigens,respectively.In group B,45(45.4%) HIV seropositive participants with CICs had CD4 T lymphocyte count between 200-499 cells/mm^3.Out of these,20(44.4%) had CICs due to Salmonella species only:9(20%) due to Salmonella-P. falciparum.In group C,there were 44(44.4%) HIV sero-positive participants,including 3(6.8%) due to Salmonella species only:24(54.4%) due to Salmonella-P.falciparum:2(4.5%) due to P. falciparum only.Conclusions:In HIV sero-positive participants,presence of heterogeneity of Salmonella species-P.falciparum antigens was highly incriminated in CD4 count depletion but not homogeneity of malaria parasites antigens.Malaria parasites antigens only were incriminated in CD4^+ count depletion amongst HIV sero-negative participants.Before taking any decision on the management of HIV-1-positive individuals,their malaria and Salmonella paratyphi status should be assessed,but not malaria status alone.

Coag-Flocculation Kinetics of <i>Mucuna sloanei</i>Seed for Phosphorus Removal from Waste Water

Mucuna sloanei (MS) an environmentally friendly biomass was used as a coagulant for treatment of phosphorus containing waste water. The study evaluates the coag-flocculation efficiency of MS and its functional kinetic parameter response to varying pH and dosage of the waste water effluent. Coag-flocculation reaction order α, coag-flocculation rate constant K, and coagulation period τ1/2 were determined. The maximum coag-flocculation performance (97.4%) is recorded at rate constant, K of 1.24 × 10-4 l/mg·min, dosage of 400 mg/l, pH of 8 and coagulation period τ1/2 of 0.100 min while the minimum (61%) is recorded at K of 3 × 10-5 l/gm·min, dosage 100 mg/l, pH of 2 and τ1/2 of 8.900 mins. The results confirm that MS coagulant is an effective coagulant obeying the theory of fast coagulation in the conditions of the experiments.

On the Lorentz factor of superluminal sources

We investigate the properties of features seen within superluminal sources often referred to as components. Our result indicates a fairly strong correlation of r ～ 0.5 for quasars, r ～ 0.4 for galaxies and r ～ 0.7 for BL Lac objects in our sam- ple between component sizes and distances from the stationary core. The assumption of free adiabatic expanding plasma enables us to constrain the Lorentz factor for su- perluminal sources. Our estimated Lorentz factor of y ～ 9-13 for quasars, 7 ～ 7-11 for galaxies and y～ 4 - 9 for BL Lac objects indicates that BL Lacs have the lowest range of Lorentz factors.

Otitis Media in Children: Review Article

Otitis media is one of the most common infectious diseases of childhood. It is not uncommon for clinicians to miss the diagnosis of the acute form especially in younger children. Late and missed diagnoses result in poor management and increased risk of complications. This review highlights the epidemiology, presenting features, diagnosis, treatment and complications of otitis media.

Design of Pilot Plant Packed Column for the Dehydration of Water from Ethanol-Water Mixtures

This use of biomass-based adsorbent has been explored for the column study of the adsorptive dehydration of water in ethanol-water mixtures. The column study was carried out using enzyme modified corn starch and the breakthrough curve parameters were used to design the packed bed column. The effect of flow rate on the breakthrough curves revealed that adsorption efficiency decreased with increased inflow rate. The empty bed contact time (τ) of the pilot plant packed column was 35.35 min while the breakthrough time is 40.78 min. 66.7% was the fraction of capacity left unused for the pilot plant from the design.

Adherence to Drug Medications amongst Tuberculosis Patients in a Tertiary Health Institution in South East Nigeria

Tuberculosis remains one of the major health problems in many tropical countries. An estimated eight to ten million people develop overt tuberculosis annually worldwide as a result of primary infection, endogenous reactivation or exogenous re-infection. About half of all patients with TB do not complete treatment and this contributes to prolonged infectiousness, drug resistance, relapse and death. This study is aimed at assessing the adherence of TB patients to anti-TB medications as well as the factors influencing drug adherence in a tertiary health care institution in South-Eastern Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 217 TB patients in Nnamdi Azi-kiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. Information was obtained using a self-administered and interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents is 36.1 ± 13.3 years. More of the respondents were females (58.1%), while 41.9% were males. It was observed that 74.2% had never failed to take their anti-TB drugs while 24.2% agreed they had failed to take their drugs. The major reasons for failure to take drugs were no money for transport to collect new drugs and forgetfulness by 32.7% of the respondents respectively. The factors which influenced drug adherence were educational qualification, average monthly income, ill-health as a financial burden and receiving HIV drugs

Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Nkporo Group(Campanian-Maastrichtian),Anambra Basin,Nigeria

Integration of sedimentologic and sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the Nkporo Group has provided the basis for a basin-wide framework for prediction of potential source,seal and reservoir rocks in the Anambra Basin,Nigeria.Lithofacies and biostratigraphic data show that the Nkporo Group in the Anambra Basin contains three main facies associations(fluvio deltaic facies,estuarine central basin/shallow shelf facies and estuarine channel fill facies) that determine the reservoir containers,flow units and seals.The units are arranged to form two stratigraphic sequences represented by the Nkporo Shale-Owelli Sandstone and Owelli Sandstone-Enugu Shale successions,respectively.The transgressive systems tract in each sequence comprises coarse grained fluvio deltaic sandstone and an overlying open marine black carbonaceous mud rock.The highstand systems tracts comprise delta front deposits with average porosity,permeability and net-to-gross values estimated in the ranges of 30%,3000 md and 0.9,respectively.The fluvio deltaic and delta front facies which are encased in organically rich estuarine central basin/shallow shelf mud rocks are likely the potential reservoirs.Trapping capacity is enhanced by the presence of several N-S trending normal faults,and other microstructures related to the post-Santonian tensional regime in the Benue.The new information presented in this paper on potential seal,source and reservoir lithofacies within the Nkporo Group should serve as a useful contribution to the geological modelling of reservoirs within the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene succession in the Anambra Basin.