Poverty Reduction in Nigeria Using Information Technology

According to a UNDP Report (1998), about 54% of Africa’s population is estimated to live in absolute poverty. Currently in Nigeria, rapid change and vigorous development in information technology (IT) is occurring, changing Nigerians’ way of life, as well as the country’s economic strength, national power, and international competitiveness. The status of a country or nation in the global political and economic framework depends on the general rule of the development and progress of IT. With development and innovation going hand in hand and knowledge becoming one of the most important factors in determining standard of living, most advanced economies and companies today are those that play the knowledge card as a tool to drive development. Therefore, in this paper, the authors examine the categories, causes, and effects of poverty and how poverty reduction can be achieved in Nigeria with information technology (IT).

Design and Implementation of Students’ Information System for Tertiary Institutions Using Neural Networks

This paper identifies the causes associated with delays in processing and releasing results in tertiary institutions. An enhanced computer program for result computation integrated with a database for storage of processed results simplifies a university grading system and overcomes the short-comings of existing packages. The system takes interdepartmental collaboration and alliances into consideration, over a network that speeds up collection of processed results from designated departments through an improved centralized database system. An empirical evaluation of the system shows that it expedites processing of results and transcripts at various levels and management of and access to student results on-line. The technological approach for the implementation of the proposed system is based on open source solutions. Apache is used as Web server extended with PHP for server side processing. In recognition of the confidentiality of data contained in the system, communication networks are protected with open-ssl library for data encryption and role-based authentication. This system increases efficient service delivery and benefits both administration and students.

Developing Environmentally Responsible Business Strategies

This paper reports on a 3 year-long PhD level research study carried out by the author in the development of Environmentally Responsible Business Strategies (ERBS). Although ERBS has taken a long time to develop, it is maturing into an approach used by many organizations in practice. This paper reports on the major elements that form part of ERBS: the business architecture, Green policies, processes that create waste and emissions, enablement of efficient use of resources, metrics for monitoring the greening of the organization, and implementation of environmental strategies. The ERBS is made up of five phases: 1) Green Business architecture, 2) Green Process mapping, 3) Creation of organization specific ERBS, 4) Implement reengineered processes and employ ERBS, and 5) Improve continuously to monetize emissions. This paper further provides a review of environmental challenges and understanding of the contribution of computing to the environmental strategies of a business and its sustainable management.

The Impetus and Catalytic Role of Green ICT for Business Benefit

The monetized catalyst and impetus for the adoption of Green ICT by business are explored in this paper. For a business to significantly reduce its environmental footprint through the use of Green ICT, a strategic transformation of business is required. Such a transformation includes changes to business models, a redefinition of business processes, a realignment of information exchange, and integration of unified communication. Without the right impetuses and catalysts, a strategic transformation of a business may take a long time or, at worst, may not occur because of incumbency, cost, and risk. Like other strategic changes, the implementation of Green ICT is likely to be achieved through a series of tactical changes aligned to an overall strategy. However, such an incremental tactical approach requires consistency and persistency in taking advantage of many small business opportunities to implement Green ICT. Such an adoption of Green ICT is only likely to occur because of the business benefits achieved. Any catalyst and impetus for the adoption of Green ICT must provide tangible (monetized) benefits to a business, as well as prevent adverse outcomes.

Reengineering a Green Business

A green environment is a social as well as business issue. Business enterprises, as a large part of the global community, are obliged to make endeavours toward an environmentally sustainable operation that reflects their corporate social responsibility. One of the effective approaches of making business operations more environmental friendly is to undertake business process reengineering with the strategic focus on green perspective. This paper discusses the reengineering of a green business from its process viewpoint. This reengineering of business processes is undertaken in the context of five areas of green business characteristics (necessary, effective, efficient, agile, and measureable) and their corresponding life cycles. This analysis paves the path for an in-depth research agenda for developing and operating green business processes in organizations. The framework is explained with five key phases namely, 1) examining business processes with green process characteristics, 2) integrating business processes with the environmental standards, 3) green business process redesign, 4) training programs development and change management, and 5) performance monitoring and process improvement. The paper concludes with a suggestion of the framework validation and future research directions.

The Application of Machine Learning Technique for Malaria Diagnosis

Healthcare delivery in African nations has long been a worldwide issue, which is why the United Nations and World Health Organization seek for ways to alleviate this problem and thereby reduce the number of lives that are lost every year due to poor health facilities and inadequate health care administration. Healthcare delivery concerns are most predominant in Nigeria and it became imperatively clear that the system of medical diagnosis must be automated. This paper explores the potential of machine learning technique (decision tree) in development of a malaria diagnostic system. The decision tree algorithm was used in the development of the knowledge base. Microsoft Access and Java programming language were used for database and user interfaces, respectively. During the diagnosis, symptoms are provided by the patient in the diagnostic system and a match is found in the knowledge base.

A Bio-Inspired Concept for Information Security Modelling

Bio-inspired models for information security were designed to demonstrate the performances by which biology achieves security. Existing research focuses on borrowing partial ideas from biological systems to resolve some facet of information security in a network environment, such as intrusion detection and fault tolerance. This work uses the bio-inspired concept of the body system to demonstrate an information security model that makes use of the immune system. The white blood cells (leucocytes) produce the antibodies (lymphocyte) that fight against all antigens (foreign materials) and kill them. The skin layer of the body contains keratin that prevents microorganisms from penetrating the body. The authors relate the processes in biological systems to information security using mechanisms of the immune system in molecular biology as the key paradigm. Theory of set and algebra were used to describe the relationship between the immune system and the information security model. A simple simulator was developed to demonstrate the operation of the designed bio-inspired model. Although the simulator was tested with assumed data, the work offered insight into how the immune system of biology can be adapted to design and implement a more secure information security system.

Strategic Management of Innovation Focusing on Confluence of Continuity and Change

Production of world-class products and services amidst inevitable changes in business situations calls for a continual balance across current and future areas of focus. While innovation is accepted as an imperative, managing innovation effectively now, more than ever before, calls for a dynamic strategy to manage the resultant diverse forces that are in play at any point of time. The continuity forces, represented largely by elements denoting stability, such as an assured market base, access to technological and financial resources and availability of human capital, need to be balanced constantly versus change forces, represented by agents such as technology changes, environment changes and customer preferences. Literature survey indicates that successful organizations have demonstrated capabilities in adopting effective strategies to meet these different conditions. The attempt is to present the patterns and trends of research on both continuity and change management aspects, particularly in the context of management of innovation. While it has been possible to highlight only some of the exemplary work, the paper identifies significant gaps in research in this context and suggests a practical framework to address this issue.

Green Enterprise Architecture Using Environmental Intelligence

This paper discusses Green Enterprise Architecture (GEA), which is an extension and application of Enterprise Architecture in the environmental domain. A GEA makes strategic use of the green IT systems otherwise also known as CEMS – Carbon Emission Management Software – that results in an all-encompassing approach to the greening effort that incorporates carbon data, information, processes, and knowledge in the organization’s decision making. This paper highlights the significance of such a strategic approach to carbon control in practice. The challenges associated with implementing Green IT in organizations can be handled through a carefully construed green IT systems architecture that will not only enable implementation of dedicated system for carbon measures but also facilitate upgrade and integration of existing suite of ERP applications that incorporate carbon measures.

Green Digital Enterprise and Chaos Theory in Tourism Development

This paper examines how eco-tourism can be regarded as a change agent in the tourism economy in developing countries. By using conceptual contributions from chaos theory, the authors illustrate how eco-tourism might give competitive advantage, using South Africa as the empirical setting. Destinations focusing on chaos theory when organizing their efforts within eco-tourism may be able to tailor make services to well-defined market segments through the use of tacit knowledge. Future research may benefit from using untraditional approaches found in the business literature.