Veritas University

Abstract Background Immunotherapy has transformed cancer management. Patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors frequently experience concurrent pain and sleep disturbances that affect quality of life, treatment adherence, and overall survival. Nursing interventions addressing both symptoms remain poorly defined. Methods This scoping review searched the Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and CINAHL for updates from 2019 to 2025 following PRISMA-ScR guidelines; ten studies were included (randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and observational studies for all cancers. Results Nurse-led interventions included education, physical therapies (massage, reflexology, acupressure), behavioral approaches, and digital platforms (telehealth, electronic patient-reported outcomes). The patients achieved moderate short-term pain reductions, significantly improved quality of life, enhanced treatment adherence, and reduced emergency department visits by up to 45%. However, only 2/10 studies used validated instruments to measure sleep quality, and none designed primary interventions specifically targeting sleep disturbances in immunotherapy patients. Long-term sustainability of pain interventions was questionable, with most effects attenuating beyond eight weeks except for psycho-educational approaches. Conclusion Future research should develop integrated, nurse-delivered interventions addressing pain and sleep as interconnected symptoms, with extended follow-up periods and enhanced accessibility across diverse healthcare settings. Validated instruments to measure sleep quality should be employed.

The performance of chemically modified corn stalk waste as a low cost and environmental friendly adsorbent for the removal of copper (ii) ions was examined using batch process. Factors prompting copper removal including initial copper ion concentration (0.2 – 1.0 g/l), adsorbent dose (0.5 – 10.0 g), contact time (30 – 150 min) and pH (2 – 11) at constant temperature of 30 oC were studied. The adsorption process was quite fast and equilibrium was establish before 100 min. Maximum adsorption of 70% for copper (ii) ions was found to occur at pH 8. The equilibrium data obtained were analyzed and the results showed that Langmuir isotherm with R2 value at 0.99 best described the adsorption equilibrium data. The maximum adsorption capacity for the adsorption process calculated from the Langmuir isotherm was found to be 66.2 mg/g. This high value of the adsorption capacity indicated that the corn stalk waste can be used as a potential alternative for the removal of Cu (II) ions from wastewater.

Phishing attacks are considered to be one of the most widespread cybersecurity threats, and attackers are becoming more successful by using advances in the field of artificial intelligence and natural language generation, in order to deceive consumers via email, SMS, and web. The existing rule-based and heuristic methods of detection cannot keep up with these dynamic and context-sensitive attacks, hence a high false-negative rate. The given work carries out a critical evaluation of the methods of artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP)-based phishing detection, and concentrates on the deep learning, explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods. It was selected using IEEE Xplore, Scopus, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library, and ScienceDirect according to the PRISMA guidelines and 45 primary studies published between 2017 and 2025. This paper discusses preprocessing techniques, feature extraction techniques, machine learning, deep learning architectures, hybrid detection models, and explainability mechanisms of phishing detection. The findings indicate that hybrid systems incorporating convolutional neural networks, recurrent models, and transformer-based embeddings are able to perform better than traditional classifiers and are able to achieve over 95% accuracy when using various communication channels. Nevertheless, the majority of high-performing models remain opaque and, therefore, cannot be used in controlled cases. This research reveals the following gaps in research: poor cross-platform generalization, inadequate semantic resistance to paraphrased phishing messages, and a lack of explainability incorporation. The article gives a systematic overview of the current methodologies and gives future research directions in explainable, scalable, and adaptable phishing detection systems.

The phenomenon of religious conversion to Islam has grown steadily across various societies. However, whilst much attention has focused on the personal and spiritual dimensions of conversion, less has been said about the divergence between converts of conviction (those who embrace Islam owing to deeply held personal beliefs) and converts of convenience (those who convert due to external pressures and strategic interests, or to enter into a marriage with an existing Muslim). This paper examines the complex motivations behind conversion to Islam, particularly in Western, Korean, and Southeast Asian contexts. It proposes a theoretical framework to distinguish between faith-driven and circumstantially driven conversions. More explicitly, the study aims to: (a) map the range of motivations shaping conversion; (b) analyse how both converts and born-Muslims interpret sincerity, intention, and authenticity; and (c) evaluate the social, ethical, and theological implications of convenience-based conversions. Whilst acknowledging the difficulty of placing individuals into the categories of ‘conviction’ or ‘convenience,’ intention remains a central element of the Islamic tradition. This study adopts a qualitative interpretivist approach based on unstructured interviews with converts and born-Muslims, seeking to deepen understanding of the diverse trajectories of conversion, the influence of socio-political forces on religious identity, and the responsibilities of Muslim communities in engaging with both sincere and nominal converts. The findings indicate that although both conviction and convenience exist, extensive grey areas persist, particularly regarding ‘cultural Islam’ and the performance of rituals shaped more by personal habit or social custom than by deep religious commitment.

The study examined the impact of political leadership on infrastructural growth towards Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) growth in Nigeria. The study’s specific objectives were to ascertain whether political leadership has an impact on the infrastructural growth of transportation, health, education, social and urban infrastructures in Nigeria. Survey design was adopted; thus, the study used a structured questionnaire to gather the primary data. The instrument has 4 4-point “Likert” scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree for positively worded items. Data from the survey were analysed by obtaining the mean and modal scores. The t-test was conducted, while estimation was done using SPSS statistical packages. Outcome of the investigations show that political leadership has impact on all the investigated structures and that political corruption is linked to all the decay in infrastructures and inadequacy of the infrastructures to sustain SMEs in Nigeria, the study concludes that all forms of growth in infrastructures of any country, Nigeria inclusive, depend to a large extent on the capacity of its leadership to facilitate, entrench, and sustain good political governance. Recommendations from the study include, among others, that political leaders in Nigeria should make infrastructural growth and SMEs sustenance a compelling part of their promises, upon which the populace should demand performance.

The current world continues to witness more wars, violence and acts of terrorism than needed peace, joy, leisure time, justice, equity, compassion and hospitality. Conflicts and lack of hospitality can often lead to a humanity's population explosion in places other than people homelands, refugee crises, the enabling of street children, drug smuggling and human trafficking increases, especially when it comes to women and children. Since it is the sacred duty of governments of nations, churches, non-governmental organizations, religious bodies and well-meaning persons and groups to seek ways to ameliorate conflicts and wars, and suggest recipes that promote peace, wellness, hospitality, this essay historically, theologically and pastorally, discusses aspects of peace (šālôm / eirēnē) in the Holy Bible. In addition, it takes as a case study the peaceful and missionary activities and journey of Mother Mary Charles Magdalene Walker (MMCMW), RSC, the Foundress of the Religious Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ) in Africa. Can humanity, "today" as a community, families, schools, institutions, universities, political parties, religious communities, leisure centers, clubs, professional associations, towns, villages and individuals learn anything from the Bible about peace and how can it contribute towards reconciliation, wellness, unity, justice, truth, and peace-building? Above all, what can Africans and non-Africans learn from the early peaceful and holistic missionary activities of Mother Mary Charles Magdalene Walker, RSC? These are some of the questions that this essay attempts to inexhaustibly address with suggestions at the end towards a more peaceful and hospitable contemporary world.

Purpose: Low market value which recently led to delisting of some companies from the Nigerian Exchange Group can be linked to companies’ ownership structure, board structure or financial structure. This study examined the effect of board characteristics on the market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria, focusing on board size, composition, independence, gender diversity. foreign membership, turnover, and staggered board structure. The study also controlled for the effect of firm size in determining the relationship between board characteristics and market value. Methodology: An ex-post facto research design was adopted because the study heavily relied on the secondary data extracted from the annual reports of twenty-one (21) listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria, from which sixteen (16) firms were selected as the sample covering the period of 2014-2023. The data were analyzed using the fixed effects panel regression model, chosen based on the Hausman test. Findings: The findings of the study revealed that the board turnover and staggered board have a positive and statistically insignificant effect on the market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria, while the board composition, board independence, board gender, and foreign board membership have a negative and statistically insignificant effect on the market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The board size and firm size were found have a negative and statistically significant effect on the market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. It was also found that firm size controls the relationship between the board characteristics and the market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study concluded that board characteristics can be used as a predictor of market value of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that firms in the consumer goods sector should maintain an optimum board size and prioritize board quality over quantity. Companies should consider adopting a staggered board structure in their articles of association since it appears to have a positive effect on market value. Furthermore, independent directors' activities should be closely monitored to ensure they are not compromised. The competence. experience, and contributions of women and foreign directors should be periodically evaluated to identify and bridge any resource or knowledge gaps. Finally, future research should employ larger samples and longer timeframes to further explore the dynamic relationship between board turnover and firm market value.

Abstract The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement 2018 and its Protocols are some of the most notable efforts by the African Union to improve economic integration in recent times. These instruments are timely because Africa has remained the weakest continent in the area of trade, investments and economic integration. Although, African States have previously concluded agreements to harmonise the domestic trade and investment policies for economic integration, it is expected that the Protocol to the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area on Investment 2023 (Investment Protocol) will have a more far-reaching impact. However, to achieve this, the available dispute settlement mechanisms must be adequate and perceived to be legitimate given the backlash against traditional investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS), particularly investor-State arbitration. Accordingly, this article makes proposals for reform of ISDS rules and mechanisms for the Investment Protocol and concludes that these are crucial for economic integration in Africa.

Nigeria is endowed with vast natural resources and significant gas reserves, and is often called a “province of gas.” In spite of the huge gas reserves available, the country prioritises crude oil over gas, leading to inefficiencies and waste in the gas sector. Although gas flaring and venting are globally recognised as harmful and wasteful practices, they have persisted in the country for over six decades due to various challenges. This unhealthy situation has resulted in unreliable gas supply to the power sector and raised questions about the adequacy and efficacy of the legal and regulatory framework for domestic gas protection and utilisation in the country. With the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, the legal and regulatory landscape has been transformed to provide for an efficient, effective, and commercially viable petroleum industry that enhances gas protection and utilisation. Relying on the doctrinal legal research methodology, the paper sought to analyse extant laws, regulations, and institutions responsible for domestic gas protection and utilisation in Nigeria, with a view to ascertaining their adequacy and efficacy. The analysis provided core insights and revealed that although the current framework is laudable and quite adequate, certain inherent flaws could undermine its objectives and hinder effective gas protection and utilisation. With comparative insights from Indonesia, the paper recommended statutory reforms and effective implementation of laws and regulations. By reforming the legal framework and implementing laws effectively, Nigeria can fully unlock its gas potential and promote a more efficient and sustainable gas sector.