Kumi University

The acquisition of skills has been globally recognised as a legitimate tool towards employment creation and the sustained economic development. The study examined the role of skill acquisition on employment generation in Nigeria with respect to the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). The analysis of the data was based on descriptive statistics in terms of tables and simple percentages, whereas the objective was verified at a significance level of 5% using the Generalised Linear Model (GLM). The outcome showed that the involvement in ITF programmes and relevance of skills were significant in terms of employment creation that were positively and statistically relevant with coefficient of 0.3641 and 0.1445 respectively, whilst technical proficiency, soft skills, and industry alignment were significantly not relevant with coefficient of 0.131, -0.1655 and 0.580 respectively. The research falls to the conclusion that formal attendance at skills acquisition schemes like the ones adopted by the ITF, has a significant positive impact on the employment opportunities, creation of entrepreneurial possibilities, and income generation of the beneficiaries. Nevertheless, bottlenecks of poor facilities, little connections with the private sector, and poor alignment of industries still hinder the best results. The research thus suggests that the government and other stakeholders ought to enhance the institutional capacity of the ITF by providing sufficient funds, frequent review of the curriculum and the close working relations with industries. Moreover, after the training programmes like business start-up grants, mentorship programmes, and access to microfinance programmes are to be institutionalised to translate the learnt skills into long-term self-employment and inclusive national development.

Indian rainfed agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate change and other factors, including topography, land size, and soil management practices. Consequently, optimizing cropping patterns is crucial for enhancing resilience and profitability. The study employed the MOTAD model to explore alternative cropping strategies for crop-livestock dryland farms under varying climatic risks. The research focused on western Tamil Nadu, a drought-prone region in south India’s rain-shadow zone, where agrosilvipastoral systems incorporating Cenchrus ciliaris grass and Acacia spp trees support livestock rearing. Based on a survey of 180 farmers, a representative six-hectare farm was optimized across different risk levels. The results revealed that under optimal cropping patterns, high-risk farms have a maximum of 60% area allotted to silvipasture, about 26% for profitable black gram, and only 9 and 6% to the sorghum and horse gram, respectively. This strategic land allocation adjustment significantly improves farmers’ net returns compared to existing practices, offering insights into risk-informed farm planning for enhanced sustainability.

The growing interest in Chinese loans from African nations in recent years has generated robust debate among scholars in international relations. One perspective argues that the loans from China are a debt trap for African nations. According to another viewpoint, Chinese loans are useful for infrastructural development in Africa, compared to loans given by the Bretton Woods Institutions, where they are tied to many anti-development conditions. The paper is situated within the context of the later perspective to deconstruct the debt-trap diplomacy thesis on China’s loans in Africa using secondary sources of data and content analysis. This study reveals that Africa’s preference for Chinese loans has been attributed to China’s willingness to engage in Africa’s ambitious plans for infrastructure development. Also, China’s hands-off approach extends to issues of governance in Africa, emphasising that only Africa can solve their governance problems and not making it a prerequisite for loans when compared to the Bretton Woods Institutions that do not detach their interest from their loans to African nations. Furthermore, China treats African nations as partners in progress, contrasting with the treatment they receive from the Bretton Woods institutions. Finally, this study suggested that Africans actively shape the discourse surrounding Sino-African relations. African perspectives are overshadowed by Western narratives of Sino-African ties. African scholars should actively offer an Africa-focused analysis of these relationships to put African concerns front and at the centre of every discussion.

Identity, a cornerstone of human existence, often manifests through affiliations such as religion and ethnicity. In Nigeria, the instrumentalisation of these identities for specific gains has frequently fuelled violent conflicts. Nigeria's history is replete with instances of ethno-religious and political violence, resulting in significant losses of life and property. This research examines the historical roots and expressions of ethno-religious violence in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Specifically, it investigates the 2004 Plateau State Conference, a deliberate effort to address and mitigate this violence. The articulated objectives of the conference are analysed. To understand governmental responses to the ethno-religious tensions, the study explores the emergence and functions of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA), established to foster grassroots engagement and maintain peace. Furthermore, the research considers the contributions of faith-based organisations in offering religious perspectives on conflict resolution. The study also addresses the role of commissions of inquiry and the deployment of security forces in response to these violent episodes. Findings indicate that the indigene-settler dichotomy remains a primary driver of conflict in Jos. The theoretical framework of Peacebuilding Theory is applied to analyse the ethno-religious contestations within Jos. This study relies on secondary data, utilising online resources to access relevant scholarly books, journals, and other materials, all of which are appropriately cited. As a means of addressing ethno-religious violence, the study recommends that religious and ethnic organisations actively cultivate opportunities for increased intergroup interaction and understanding.

Introduction A human represents wholeness of biological, psychological and social nature and below impact of psychosocial stress preserves the homeostasis of the organism manifests a complete biopsychosocial response is therefore necessary in professional practice to be taken psychoneuroendocrine immunological approach in treating certain somatic and psychological. Objectives Determining emotions, various types of aggression in people who have experienced a heart attack and is currently under the influence of chronic psychosocial stress of moderate intensity. Methods The examination was conducted on an outpatient basis on 14 subjects aged 51 to 72. age of male and female who experienced a heart attack. Applied: Azingerova aggression scale, PSQ stress test, Zung anxiety scale, Zung depression scale. Results The respondents show a stress reaction at the level of moderate stress (30-60) with dominant feelings of: fatigue, tension, dissatisfaction, overload. Anxious symptoms are at the level of mild to moderate (45-59). Depressive symptoms are at the mild level (50-59). They have higher values on the aggression test. In both sexes (male and female) they have the highest values in self-aggression. Somewhat lower is verbal aggression while emotional aggression has average values. In the female gender, aggression is the lowest through physical force, while the use of aggression through physical force is occasional for men. Both sexes show little aggression towards objects around them. Conclusions In people with somatic diseases, in the case of a heart attack, emotions are high an important factor for their stability, especially the negative ones, and therefore it is necessarily needed an integrative approach to treatment, taking into account the mental state as a whole especially when they are in a state of psychosocial stress. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

It is of great importance to facilitate the risk assessment process in construction projects because risk assessment is a requirement in most legislation and safety standards. A great majority of construction SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are not familiar with risk assessment concepts and methods. In particular, SMEs are very likely to have difficulty finding the qualified personnel or time to carry out a proper risk assessment. The method introduced in this paper has some distinct features. The method introduces a new method of risk assessment, replacing the traditional definition of probabilities with control levels because they are easier to implement and yield more accurate risk scores. The method was practically applied on 22 construction SMEs. From the practical application, it was observed that the method was found to be user friendly and the SMEs found it easy to update their risk strategies during various construction stages in their projects. The proposed risk assessment method introduces a powerful and practical control level strategy which would develop a safer, healthier and more competitive workplace for construction SMEs.

Kawasaki disease (KD; MIM611775) is a systemic vasculitis syndrome with unknown etiology which predominantly affects infants and children. Recent findings of susceptibility genes for KD have suggested up-regulation of Ca2+/NFAT pathway as one of the main pathophysiological processes in KD. In this study, we focused on ORAI1, a gene for a channel involved in store operated Ca2+ entry located on 12q24 where positive linkage signal was seen in our previous sib pair study of KD, and conducted a genetic association study. By re-sequencing 17.4kb of ORAI1 region for 94 subjects, we identified 37 variants with minor allele frequencies larger than 0.05. After selecting 9 tagging SNPs which represent 37 variants we performed an association study using 730 KD cases and 1315 controls. As a result, one tagging SNP located within exon2 showed nominal association (rs3741596; OR = 1.19, 95%CI 1.02~1.40, P = 0.028). The same trend of association was observed in an independent case control panel (1813 KD cases and 1097 controls, OR=1.22, 95% CI 1.06-1.40, P = 0.0056) and a significant P value was observed in a meta-analysis (OR = 1.21, 95%CI 1.09~1.34, P = 0.00041). Furthermore, we also found a rare 6 base-pair insertion polymorphism which cause elongation of proline repeat within N-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the ORAI1 protein was overrepresented in KD cases (rs78448924; OR = 3.91, 95%CI 1.30~11.80, P=0.010). These data indicate altered ORAI1 function confers susceptibility of KD and further highlight importance of the Ca2+/NFAT pathway in the disease pathogenesis.

본 논문에서는 로봇의 팔을 기본 센서로 사용하여 별도의 센서 없이 사람을 따라다니는 햅틱 기반 로봇을 제안한다. 로봇 팔의 관절 각각에는 움직임을 생성하기 위한 모터가 있으며, 로봇 팔에 힘을 가하여 움직이면 각 관절의 각도가 변하면서 모터에서 그 각도를 출력 신호로 내보낼 수 있다. 따라서 사람이 로봇의 팔을 잡고 당기거나 밀면 로봇에서는 그 움직임을 각도로 읽어들이는 촉감 인터페이스로 활용할 수 있다. 구현된 로봇은 사람이 팔로 로봇 팔을 잡아끄는 움직임을 측정하여 움직이며 사람이 손을 잡고 이끎으로서 사람을 따라다닐 수 있다. This paper proposed the implementation of haptic-based robot which is following a human by using fundamental sensors on robot arms without additional sensors. Joints in the robot arms have several motors, and their angles can be read out by these motors when a human pushes or pulls the robot arms. So these arms can be used as haptic sensors. The implemented robot follows a human by interacting with robot arms and human hands, as a human follows a human by hands.