Innovations

Background: The advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have taken over the world. We seem to be facing an uncertain global economy and slow revenue growth, contributing to a pervasive sense of job uncertainty and mass layoffs. This uncertainty has led to increased anxiety and aversion towards technology among many individuals., Objective: This psychological model attempts to assist individuals experiencing job uncertainty or job loss by promoting holistic development and reducing technology aversion. It further aims to foster an understanding of the crucial role mental health plays in influencing behavior and physiological symptoms., Methods: The intervention consists of a pre-and post-intervention module that would work on four levels of an individual’s functioning: cognitive, physiological, self-care, and behavioral. The structured model includes 8 sessions in total, each designed to enhance psychological resilience by focusing on diverse aspects of self-development., Results: The anticipated outcomes of this intervention are improvements in mental health, holistic development, reduced anxiety related to job uncertainty, and a more positive attitude towards technology. By addressing various dimensions of an individual's life, the model aims to build resilience and support overall well-being., Conclusion: This mental health support model offers a comprehensive approach to mitigating the negative impacts of job uncertainty. By fostering cognitive, physiological, self-care, and behavioral development, it aims to equip individuals with the tools needed to navigate economic challenges and embrace technological advancements by providing a different perspective.   

Background: Orthodontic interventions frequently necessitate therapeutic extraction of premolars to achieve optimal dental occlusion. Adequate management of post-operative analgesia is crucial for patient comfort and adherence to orthodontic treatment protocols. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ketoprofen are routinely employed for analgesia following these procedures. However, a comprehensive comparison of the efficacy and safety of different ketoprofen delivery systems—oral capsules versus transdermal patches—remains limited.Objective:To systematically evaluate and compare the analgesic efficacy of oral ketoprofen capsules versus transdermal ketoprofen patches in a cohort of orthodontic patients undergoing multiple premolar extractions. Additionally, the study aims to assess patient compliance and document any adverse events associated with each therapeutic modality.Methods:This study will employ a randomized, crossover design involving orthodontic patients scheduled for therapeutic premolar extractions. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either oral ketoprofen capsules or transdermal ketoprofen patches during one treatment phase, followed by a washout period, and then crossover to the alternate treatment. Pain intensity will be quantified using validated pain assessment scales, and patient adherence will be evaluated through self-reported compliance measures. Adverse events will be systematically recorded and analysed.Results:The primary endpoint will be the comparative assessment of analgesic efficacy between the two ketoprofen delivery methods, as determined by changes in pain scores. Secondary endpoints will include rates of patient compliance and the frequency and severity of adverse effects.Statistical analysis of pain relief scores and pain intensity scores demonstrated similar trends for both oral ketoprofen capsules and transdermal ketoprofen patches. Over the three postoperative days following extraction of premolars in all four quadrants, there was a gradual increase in pain relief scores and a gradual decrease in pain intensity scores observed with both formulations. Conclusion:This investigation aims to elucidate the relative therapeutic benefits and safety profiles of oral versus transdermal ketoprofen in the context of post-operative pain management in orthodontic patients. The findings of this study suggest that both oral ketoprofen capsules and transdermal ketoprofen patches provide effective analgesia following orthodontic extractions. However, patients reported greater comfort and satisfaction with the transdermal patch due to its oncedaily application over three days,compared to the more frequent dosing regimen of oral capsules. Furthermore, the transdermal patch showed advantages in terms of better patient compliance, fewer systemicadverse effects, and reduced incidence of gastric discomfort and burning sensation.  

The present study investigates the efficacy of EEG signal analysis in gauging human mental stress across distinct attention stages. The primary objective is to discern EEG-based markers and employ appropriate classification methodologies capable of delineating brainwave patterns based on their intensity or frequency, thus facilitating the identification of varying mental states crucial for enhancing human-machine interaction. The research endeavors to classify three distinct mental states—relaxation, neutrality, and concentration—utilizing an Emotiv headset equipped with four EEG sensors (TP9, AF7, AF8, and TP10). A dataset comprising sessions of one-minute duration for each attention category was compiled, encompassing data from five individuals. To refine and assess various techniques, an array of feature selection algorithms was employed initially on a pool of 2100 features. Subsequent application of diverse classifiers, including Bayesian Networks, Support Vector Machines, and Random Forests, enabled the reduction of the feature set to 44 critical factors, resulting in an overall classification accuracy of 87%.

As a result of stakeholders increased demand for information about firms’ efforts in preserving the environment for the current generation and generations to come, companies have keyed into disclosing environmental information even though this form of disclosure is not mandatory. This paper examined the effect of firm characteristics on environmental disclosure of listed non-financial companies in Nigeria.  Ex-post facto design was adopted and secondary data sourced from forty-five (45) out of a population of one hundred and eight (108) listed non-financial firms in Nigeria from 2013-2022. Firm characteristics (independent variable) was proxied using firm age, firm size, profitability, leverage and Institutional ownership while environmental disclosure (dependent variable) was measured using environmental disclosure index (EDI). Series of diagnostic tests such as skewness and kurtosis, Shapiro-Wilk test, histogram of residuals, pnorm and qnorm were used to test normality of the data while correlation matrix and VIF statistics were performed to test collinearity and multicollinearity issues amongst the independent variables. Link test was used to test for model misspecification while Hausman test was conducted to choose between fixed and random effects model to use. Following these procedures, the fixed effect model was adopted for the analysis. Result shows that firm size, firm age and profitability have a positive and significant effect on environmental disclosure of the studied companies. On the other hand, leverage has a negative and insignificant effect on environmental disclosure of sampled companies while institutional ownership has a positive but insignificant effect on the environmental disclosure of the studied companies. The study concludes that firm characteristics drives environmental disclosure of listed non-financial companies in Nigeria. The study recommended that stakeholders should demand environmental accountability from companies and enforce this accountability by punishing the companies that are not environmentally sensitive. This punishment can be in form of non-patronage as well as withdrawal of investment from and services from companies that are not environmentally accountable. When this is done, Management of listed non-financial companies in Nigeria will take environmentaldisclosure seriously so as to earn legitimacy status from stakeholders.

This study assesses the Effects of Tax Revenue and External Debt on Economic Growth in Nigeria. The research design adopted for this study is Ex post facto research design. The study relies mainly on secondary data gathered from various issues of statistical bulletin of the Central bank of Nigeria,the budget office of the federation (BOF) and Office of the Accountant General of the federation. The data consist of annual time series from 2006 to 2022. The study adopts External Debt from World Bank Group of Creditors (WBGC) as proxy for external debt and Value Added Tax (VAT) as proxy for taxation. The data collected were analyzed using Simple and Multiple regression analysismethods of Ordinary Least Square techniquewith the aid of SPSS.Test of statistical adequacy, such as the t-statistic, F-statistic, adjusted R-square, Durbin-Watson were executed to find the relative acceptability, significance of the variables and the dependability of model estimation factors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis. The study revealed that Tax Revenue and External Debt have positive andsignificant effect on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria. The study concluded that there is significant effect of Value Added Tax on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria. Also there is significant effect of External Debt from World Bank Group of Creditors on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Nigeria. It was recommended that: Value Added Tax (VAT) needs an economic and constitutional reform like empowering state and local governments to engage in VAT collection, administration and usage autonomy. The Nigerian government should concentrate on inward financing of her economic growth by utilizing mostly domestic debts than External Debt from World Bank Group of Creditors.  

Predators are known to express rhythmic patterns in behavior and habitat use to optimize foraging success; these rhythms usually vary with abiotic conditions, including diel, lunar, or tidal cycles. We tagged 20 Grey mullets (Mugilcephalus) with depth and accelerometer loggers in June 2022 within a robust tidal river channel to examine the effects of these cycles on the use of space, activity (acceleration), and swimming depth, and recaptured tags in May 2023. Spatio-temporal solid variation reflected diel, tidal, and lunar cycles. Specifically, at nighttime, the used space was much higher than during the daytime, suggesting that foraging is highly nocturnal, peaking with flood tides and the Full Moon phase. The diel and tidal cycles model with 50% KUD for core space use indicated that mullet explored larger areas nocturnally than in the day. Space use was also found to increase due to flood tides. The interaction of diel and tidal cycles in the model explained more variation (45.2%) than the fixed factors (7.5%) in driving mullet activity and habitat use. The leading model explained 15.8% of the variation and contained the lunar cycle and an interaction between the tidal and diel activity cycles. The activity levels were highest in the full moon and lowest in the First Quarter and Waning Gibbous phases. And, as by proportion, the Fish ID represented a more important source of influence on activity with respect to the months, with the influence ranging from Rc = 0.9% to Rc = 2.3% for them, respectively. The most important source of influence on activity was the interaction of the diel and tidal cycles, with Rc = 8.0%. A third model was used to test swimming depth, including the top model of interacting effects of tidal and both diel and lunar cycle; the explained variance was 36.0%. At this hierarchical level, the variable Fish ID accounted for more variation in the model than the variable Months (Rc = 9.0% and Rc = 7.2% respectively). The second largest significant effect on swimming depth was the interaction of diel and tidal cycle: Rc = 29.4%. These findings highlight the complicated interplay of environmental factors on mullet behavior, and by noting that this could lead to spatiotemporal heterogeneity of predation pressure, they indicate the need to understand such dynamics. The gained knowledge would place this fish in the overall knowledge of ecology and fish behavior in changing estuarine environments and help current-day conservation and management policies.  

The global prevalence of depression affecting over 300 million individuals highlights its profound impact. Characterized by energy loss, appetite and sleep changes, concentration difficulties, and feelings of worthlessness, depression correlates with rising suicide rates, particularly in countries like Nigeria ranking 13th in mortality due to suicide. This study in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria, surveyed 315 residents using self-worth and respect as facets of dignity, alongside depression and suicidality assessments. Statistical analysis revealed dignity as a significant predictor of both depression and suicidality, indicating an inverse relationship: higher dignity associated with lower risks. Understanding dignity's role in psychological health could inform new psychotherapeutic interventions crucial for addressing these complex mental health challenges.

Studies show that relapse or uncontrolled return to drugs among patients diagnosed with substance related disorders following competent treatment has been a severe problem. This has remained a major challenge to substance abusers and the treatment teams. The objective of this research aimed at accessing the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Predictors of Relapse Tendency among Substance Use Disorder Patients in selected Rehabilitation Centers in South-West, Nigeria. The predictors included Body Mass Index, Gender, Impulsivity, Stigma and Religiosity. The study is a cross-sectional survey design targeting 177 inpatients receiving treatment for substance use disorder at two selected rehabilitation centers in South-West, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was adopted as it gives more freedom with selection of patients. The Study was investigated by adopting the Advanced Warning of Relapse Scale (AWARE), the barratt impulsiveness scale short-form (BIS-11 sf), the perceived stigma towards substance users scale (PSAS) and The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS). Data collected was analyzed by statistical software (SPSS version 25) using linear regression to test the hypotheses. Research discovered impulsivity to be the only predictor of Relapse Tendency [R2 = .327, F(1,175) = 84.919, p<.001]. Study suggested that Impulsivity is a significant predictor of Relapse Tendency among patients with substance use disorders therefore making it risk factor to be considered during treatment. There is need for more focus to be placed on the psychological variables that could be a risk factor towards Relapse while still maintaining the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual view in treating Relapse.