Information Technologist (The) https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict <p><em>The Information Technologist: An International Journal, of Information Communication Technology (lCT)</em> is a referred Journal by Nigerians and foreign renowned Scholars who have distinguished themselves in the field of Library, Information, and Communication Technology (lCT).<br />Essentially the journal concerns itself with the pervasive impact and the changes in the basic character of library and information operations and services occasioned by the use of technology.</p> <p>The journal deals mainly with the publication of the results of empirical research in the field of Library, Information Science, Communication and Information Technology as they affect Developing Countries. The journal is also devoted to articles of high quality on the theoretical aspects of its area of concern. <br />Book reviews, letters to the editor, news items and other brief communications are also welcome.</p> <p>This journal has been positively evaluated in the Scientific Journal Impact Factor Journal List Evaluation Process with a score of <strong>SJIF 2022 = 6.129</strong> (Scientific Journal Impact Factor Value for 2022).</p> The Association of Information Professionals of Nigeria en-US Information Technologist (The) 1597-4316 The Association of Information Professionals of Nigeria Influence of technology utilisation on staff job effectiveness: Case study of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276198 <p>The study investigated the influence of the use of information technology on job effectiveness using Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo as a&nbsp; case study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The study´s population consisted of four hundred and seventy- seven (477) members of staff of the University who use information technology in their daily work. The sampling technique was total&nbsp; enumeration. The research instrument was a questionnaire consisting of 19 item statements with some open-ended questions&nbsp; implemented to characterise internet, e-mail, PowerPoint and computer use practices in the work context. The data collected was&nbsp; subjected to statistical analysis using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software. Descriptive statistics tools such as&nbsp; frequency count, and cumulative percentages were used to describe the demographic characteristics of respondents and answer the&nbsp; research questions. The study findings show that the use of the internet, e-mail, PowerPoint and computer had a positive impact on staff&nbsp; job effectiveness. The findings further revealed cyber security, adaptation and training and technical issues to be major concerns. The&nbsp; test of hypothesis on the use of technology and job effectiveness however, found a weak positive relationship between the frequency of&nbsp; internet use and job effectiveness which suggests that other factors are more significant in determining job effectiveness. The regression&nbsp; model significantly predicted job effectiveness indicating that internet use frequency is a statistically significant predictor, but&nbsp; not the sole determinant of job effectiveness. The study recommended that measures should be put in place to address the concerns.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> Ayoku A. Ojedokun Damilare Omideyi Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 1 14 Comparative analysis of availability and awareness of electronic information resources by undergraduate students in public and private university libraries in South-South, Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276199 <p>This study comparatively examined the availability and awareness of electronic information resources by undergraduate students in&nbsp; public and private university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. It adopted a comparative research design, with a population of 8,563&nbsp; undergraduate students, comprising 6,039 from three public universities and 2,524 from three private universities. The sample of study&nbsp; was 428 undergraduate students selected with the use of simple and proportionate stratified random sampling techniques, which&nbsp; represented 5% of the study population. Data for the study was collected using self-structured questionnaire, which was duly validated by&nbsp; three experts, and subjected a reliability test using Cronbach Alpha formula, which yielded a reliability coefficient index of 0.79. The&nbsp; data collection process yielded a response rate of 95% response rate, from 405 successfully completed and returned copies of the&nbsp; questionnaire. The data collected were analysed quantitatively using mean scores and standard deviations to answer the research&nbsp; questions, while the two (2) hypotheses were tested using t-test analysis technique at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that electronic information resources are more available in private university libraries than public university libraries in South-South Nigeria. It&nbsp; also indicated that the level of awareness of electronic information resources by undergraduate students in both public and private&nbsp; universities was highly encouraging. It found that availability and awareness of electronic information resources by undergraduate&nbsp; students in both public and private university libraries are hampered by inadequate competent IT resource persons, poor funding of&nbsp; university libraries, high cost of subscription to e-resources, library staff indifference attitude in assisting undergraduate students, poor&nbsp; user education/library orientation, lack of advanced searching skills, etc. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among&nbsp; other measures, that management of both public and private universities should improve the funding of university libraries to enhance&nbsp; subscription to more relevant electronic information resources, prioritize employment of highly IT competent and savvy staff in order to&nbsp;&nbsp; mprove upon availability and provision of electronic information resources in public and private university libraries, embrace collaborative subscription of electronic information resources, and improve user education/library orientation programmes through&nbsp; quality planning and execution in order to create better awareness of available electronic information resources to undergraduate&nbsp; students.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> Priscilla O. Osiebe Ishioma Nwanapayi Iwegbue Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 15 28 Effect of human resources development on organizational growth: A case study of Fidelity Bank PLC, Abuja https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276200 <p>The Effect of Human Resources Development on Organizational Growth is important so that organizations can achieve its goals and&nbsp; objectives. As a result, the concept of human resource development has emerged as a strategy to improve the competence of the&nbsp; employees and for enhancement of organizational effectiveness. Specifically, four specific objectives and research questions guided the&nbsp; study. The study adopted the survey method research design. The target population consisted of eight hundred and twenty two (822)&nbsp; employees of Fidelity Bank Plc from different branches in Abuja. The study had a sample frame of five (5) respondents per each branch of the 12 branches. The study used self-development structure questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The data collected were&nbsp; analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics techniques (Spearman’s rank order correlation method and multiple regressions), this&nbsp; was carried to find out if there is a relationship between human resources development and organizational growth of Fidelity Bank&nbsp; Plc. The multiple regression analysis was used to find out the effects of the independent variables. Human resources development&nbsp; (training and development, performance appraisal, team work and communication) on the dependent variable-organizational growth. It&nbsp; is on the basis of the findings that the researcher recommended appropriately.&nbsp;</p> Emmanuel Ameh Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 29 43 Application of computer-based forecasting to control turbulent market forces in a globalized economy https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276201 <p>This work is on the application of computer-Based forecasting to control situations in a turbulent market, more especially now that the&nbsp; entire world is globalized. In the process of doing this research, secondary data was mostly used, mostly sourced from the internet and&nbsp; published reports. The method developed in this project involved using forecasting methods to show when the market becomes chaotic&nbsp; and then using it to advice reputable agencies on what to do to avert stresses on the market floor. The work revealed that forecasting is&nbsp; very fundamental in running businesses effectively. In a highly unified business world we live in today, it is highly impossible to control&nbsp; demand and supply without forecasting. It was detailed that without forecasting, almost every business in the globe today will go under.&nbsp;</p> John Paul Enebeli Fergus Uchenna Onu Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 45 53 Business intelligence data quality challenges and related best practice recommendations – A focus on Nigerian based SME's https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276202 <p>This paper aimed to accentuate concerns related to the quality of data that would typically constitute business intelligence for Small and&nbsp; Medium Enterprises (SME’s) domiciled in Nigeria. Additionally, it proposed best practice recommendations to address the accentuated&nbsp; concerns. To determine relevant data quality concerns, reference is made to generically acknowledged data quality dimensions. These&nbsp; dimensions are widely regarded as aspects of data which necessitate assessments required to arrive at data quality judgements.&nbsp; Particular attention is paid to data quality dimensions that pertain to structured data, given the invaluable role that structured data plays&nbsp; in every profit-oriented establishment. To ensure that the determined data quality concerns are relevant to the experienced peculiarities&nbsp; of Nigerian based SME’s a thorough literature review is conducted on data quality related challenges faced by Nigerian SME’s. The&nbsp; findings from the literature review informs a systematic comparative analysis of twenty-five text files – which suggest best practice recommendations for addressing the related data quality challenges. The findings suggest that in order for the proposed best practice&nbsp; recommendations to be adequately applied, Nigerian based SME’s must be sensitized on the importance of data capture, as well as pay&nbsp; attention to quality aspects of any data captured. Furthermore, it is revealed that key stakeholders of Nigerian owned SME’s must&nbsp; undergo capacity building exercises to improve their proficiency levels in the use of related digital tools required to capture and maintain&nbsp; business intelligence related data at its optimum quality.&nbsp;</p> Umeoniso Joshua Osah Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 55 78 Assessment of human resource utilization in The Nigeria Civil Service (A Case Study Of Otukpo Local Government Council of Benue State) https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276203 <p>This study examined the assessment of human resource utilization in the Nigeria Civil Service, focusing on the Otukpo Local Government&nbsp; Council of Benue State. The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of human resource management practices within the council and&nbsp; identify factors influencing human resource utilization. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including surveys and hypothesis&nbsp; testing. Questionnaire was use to gather data from employees of the council. Demographic characteristics, job status, educational&nbsp; qualifications, and years of service were analyzed to understand the profile of respondents. Findings revealed significant variations in&nbsp; human resource management practices, with organizational culture, leadership style, and resource availability emerging as key factors&nbsp; influencing human resource utilization. Hypothesis testing confirmed the influence of these factors on organizational effectiveness.&nbsp; Recommendations include developing a comprehensive human resource strategic plan, enhancing transparency in recruitment&nbsp; processes, investing in training and development programs, fostering a positive organizational culture, implementing performance&nbsp; management systems, and continuous monitoring and evaluation. By implementing these recommendations, the Otukpo Local&nbsp; Government Council can optimize human resource utilization and contribute to the overall development of Benue State.</p> Adah Augustine Ochiga Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 79 95 Promotion practices and job performance of library staff in the Public University Libraries in the North Central Zone of Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276204 <p>This study was carried out to determine the relationship between PromotionPractices and Job Performance of Library Staff in public&nbsp; university libraries in the North-Central Zone of Nigeria. The study was guided by one objective, one research question and one&nbsp; hypothesis. A survey research design was employed for the study. The population for the study was 983 and a simple random sampling&nbsp; technique was used to draw a sample of 284 respondents from 13 public university libraries in the North central Zone of Nigeria. A self&nbsp; constructed questionnaire titled Motivation Practices and Job Performance of Library Staff Questionnaire (MOJPLSQ) and interview were&nbsp; used as instruments for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts and pretested for reliability using Pearson&nbsp; Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) with a correlation co-efficient of 0.87 which showed that the instrument was reliable. A total of 284&nbsp; questionnaire were distributed and 263 was retrieved. Data collected for the study was analyzed using descriptive and inferential&nbsp; statistics. Percentages and mean values were used to answer the research question while the Pearson Product Moment Correlation&nbsp; (PPMC) was used to test hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance.The findings of the study showed that promotion practices have a positive&nbsp; relationship with job performance of library staff in public university libraries in the North-Central Zone of Nigeria. Therefore, the&nbsp; study recommends among others that library staff should be well motivated with the use of all the promotion practices so as to&nbsp; boost their morale for efficiency and effectiveness in their job.&nbsp;</p> Bridget Demekaa Victoria Iwalewa Bamidele Okereke Juliet Nnenaaya Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 97 103 Use of online search engines and students’ information seeking behaviour of undergraduates in College Of Health Technology, Calabar, Cross River State https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276205 <p>This study examined the use of online search engines and students’ information seeking behaviour of&nbsp; undergraduates in College of&nbsp; Health Technology, Calabar, Cross River State. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. Survey research design was&nbsp; used. The population for the study constituted 971 final year students with a sample of 486 final year students from the total population&nbsp; selected using purposive and accidental sampling approach. The instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation&nbsp; while the structured questionnaire titled “Online Search Engines and Students’ Information Seeking Behaviour Questionnaires&nbsp; (OSESISBQ)” was used for data collection. The data collected was analyzed with (One-Way ANOVA) and independent t-test. All hypotheses&nbsp; were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a significant influence of use of internet search&nbsp; engine (Yahoo, Firefox and Chrome) on students’ information seeking behaviour and use of internet search engine significantly influence&nbsp; students’ information seeking behaviour in terms of their gender. From the result of the study, it was recommended among others that the authorities of College of Health Technology, Calabar and the library management in particular should make internet&nbsp; connectivity more and readily available to students irrespective of their gender status. This in retrospect will eliminate the discrepancy&nbsp; emanating as a result of genderdisparities towards seeking information.&nbsp;</p> Emmanuel Ubi Omini Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 105 113 Entrepreneurship education and social capital on nascent entrepreneurial behaviours: the mediating roles of entrepreneurial passion and self-efficacy https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276206 <p>Entrepreneurship education and social capital have been addressed in entrepreneurship literature. However, the intervening mechanism&nbsp; under which these two factors influence nascent entrepreneurial behaviours remains underdeveloped. Using the data of 623 graduate&nbsp; students in North-Central Nigeria, this study investigates the influence of entrepreneurship education and social capital on nascent&nbsp; entrepreneurial behaviours, and examines the mediating roles of entrepreneurial passion and self-efficacy (ESE). The results indicate that&nbsp; entrepreneurship education and social capital promote nascent entrepreneurial behaviours through the intervening mechanisms of&nbsp; entrepreneurial passion and ESE. The results suggest that entrepreneurial behaviours must be developed through psychological&nbsp; mechanisms, including emotion and cognition. This study also provides practical implications regarding how to promote students’&nbsp; entrepreneurship.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> Godwin Ichukwu Adah Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 115 128 Consequences of job stress on polytechnic library staff in North Central Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276207 <p>This research work assessed the consequences of job stress among library staff in selected polytechnic libraries of North-central Nigeria.&nbsp; The study adopted descriptive survey design the study used purposive sampling to select three polytechnic libraries in the zone. The&nbsp; study also used structured questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. One hundred and thirty eight (138) copies of questionnaire were distributed to the respondent and one hundred and twenty four (124) of them returned. This represented a return&nbsp; rate of ninety percent (%). The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics o frequency tables and means scores. And the&nbsp; decision rule in the analysis was based on the value of the criterion means of 2.5; where an item means score above or equal to the criterion means where adopted and otherwise rejected. In addition, the findings of the study revealed that Job stress had the following&nbsp; consequences on the polytechnic library staff in the zone; low productivity and turn over, lack of skill development, decrease in work pay&nbsp; and production, absenteeism, lack of proper presentation of work done, sleep issues, health deterioration, depression and tiredness,&nbsp; functional inconsistency and job dissatisfaction and so on and so forth.&nbsp; </p> Matthew Omadewu Adejoh Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 129 140 Combination of IoT and situational awareness for the achievement of effective security outfit https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276208 <p>In this paper, we reporteda progress on the research towards the complementing of IoT infrastructure into an already existing situational&nbsp; awareness (SA) system of security provision. IoT here serves as an additional enhancement / new knowledge to an old known&nbsp; engineering security infrastructure of SA.High Technologies, such as smart wrist watches, smart phones, home appliances, metropolitan, corporate, and entertainment apps, now have over two billion users and counting. These intelligent entities’ capabilities enable&nbsp; machineries to interact with each other, without the necessity of a user acting as an intermediary, giving rise to the name "Internet of&nbsp; Things." All of these contemporary approaches, however, result in a massive volume of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured&nbsp; data, resulting in a rise in data capacity, as well as a wider range of storage and processing systems.The goalof this research is to&nbsp; showcase how a blend of IoT and situational awareness could help in making security of places, homes and offices easy and seamless. It&nbsp; is herein proven that the blend of IoT and situational awareness would always provide the best, efficient security.&nbsp;</p> John Paul Enebeli Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 141 151 School library services and students access to information resources in secondary schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276209 <p>This study examined school library services and students access to information resources in selected secondary schools in calabar&nbsp; municipality, cross river state, Nigeria. Two research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Survey research&nbsp; design was used with a population of 2, 262 secondary school students from six selected secondary schools in calabar municipality, cross river state, Nigeria. A sample of 453 students were selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. For appropriate&nbsp; data collection, a structured instruments entitled “Students Access to Information Resources Questionnaire (SAIRQ)”. The instrument&nbsp; was validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation and one in Library and Information Science, University of Cross River State,&nbsp; Calabar and the reliability test was established with Split-half reliability method. The research data was analysed with One-Way Analysis of&nbsp; Variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that there is a significant influence of audio-visual service on students access to information resources in selected secondary schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State and current awareness service significantly influence&nbsp; students access to information resources in selected secondary schools in Calabar Municipality. It was concluded that the variables under&nbsp; study was found to enhancing the students’ access to information resources. Therefore, the study recommends among others&nbsp; that school authority should make accessible audio-visual services in their libraries through display of collections and regularly be&nbsp; updated. This will enable students and teachers be better informed of the latest information materials available in the library and also&nbsp; meet up with global best practices and be relevant in their various field of study (word count: 250).&nbsp;</p> Emmanuel Ubi Omini Florence U. Emmanuel Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 153 162 The mediating role of information literacy and information sharing during pandemic https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276211 <p>The global COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of effective information management and dissemination in&nbsp; crises. This study explored the mediating role of information literacy and information sharing in a pandemic, investigating how&nbsp; individuals' ability to access, evaluate, and use information influences the sharing relevant and reliable information within communities. Information literacy and information sharing during the pandemic can encourage informed decision-making, positive behaviour change&nbsp; and maintenance of trust.</p> Pauline Oghenekaro Adeniran Luke Oyovwevotu Philomena Omoyemi Mike-Raji Janet Oyidiya Igwe Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 163 171 Modern technological designs and their effectiveness in healthcare delivery https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276212 <p>Technological developments in healthcare have saved countless patients, it could save more lives. It is continuously improving our quality&nbsp; of life. Technology in the medical field has had a massive impact on nearly all activities and practices of healthcare professionals -&nbsp; Electronic Health Records replacing our old paper and file method. First, the evolution of technology is beneficial to humans for several&nbsp; reasons. At the medical level, technology can help treat more sick people and consequently save many lives and combat very harmful&nbsp; viruses and bacteria. The invention of the computer was a very important point. Improving quality of life is one of the main benefits of&nbsp; integrating new innovations into medicine. Medical technologies like minimally-invasive surgeries, better monitoring systems, and more&nbsp; comfortable scanning equipment are allowing health professionals and patients to spend less time in recovery and more time enjoying a&nbsp; healthy life. As healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges to improve quality, reduce harm, improve access, increase&nbsp; efficiency, eliminate waste, and lower costs, innovation is becoming a major focus once again. The healthcare industry is on the brink of&nbsp; massive change.&nbsp;</p> John Paul Enebeli Chinagolum Ituma Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 173 181 Awareness, skills and use of cloud based storage system among librarians in university libraries in Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276213 <p>The study explored the awareness, skills and use of cloud-based storage systems among librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. Four&nbsp; research objectives, questions, and three hypotheses were raised to give the research a focus. The researcher adopted a descriptive&nbsp; survey design. The population of the study is 183 librarians engaged in the Federal, State and Private university libraries in Delta and Edo&nbsp; States, Nigeria. The census sampling technique was used for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit data from the&nbsp; respondents. The data were analysed using mean, standard deviation, frequency count and percentage. To test hypotheses 1 and 2, the&nbsp; Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used while for hypothesis 3, Multiple regression was used. The study found that the&nbsp; level of awareness of cloud-based storage systems among librarians in university libraries in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria, is high.&nbsp; Also, it was shown in the study that the extent to which librarians possess skills for cloud-based storage systems in university libraries in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria, is high. Another finding revealed that the extent to which librarians use cloud-based storage systems in&nbsp; university libraries in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria is high. It was established from the findings that the purpose for the use of cloud&nbsp; storage systems includes easy migration from one software to another, facilitating inter-library loan and resource sharing, and storing&nbsp; library records/files, among others. It was recommended that training should be provided regularly in the university libraries of Edo and&nbsp; Delta State, Nigeria to impact the required skills on the use of cloud-based storage systems and data privacy policies and security&nbsp; measures should be ensured to prevent cyber threats, data breaches and other security vulnerabilities.&nbsp;</p> Nelson Edewor Hannah O. Ogoyibo Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 183 195 Comparative assessment of information literacy competence of graduating students in selected Federal, State and Private Universities in Southern Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276214 <p>With the sophisticated development of Internet applications and social media platforms, there is a continuous and unhindered flow of&nbsp; information across the universe, including the spread of fake news. This necessitated the need for individuals’ possession of information&nbsp; literacy (IL) competence, which are set of knowledge and skills for creating, accessing, evaluating, communicating and using media and&nbsp; information sources in ethical ways. As significant users of all forms of information sources, graduating students of selected federal, state&nbsp; and private universities were studied to ascertain their level of IL competence. The survey research method was adopted with a 20- item achievement test and questionnaire as data collection instruments, which were validated and pilot-tested with an average reliability&nbsp; score of r=0.87. Findings revealed that the IL competence level of the graduating students was poor at just 30% and the test of hypothesis&nbsp; with ANOVA revealed no significant difference in the IL competence level of the students in federal, state and private&nbsp; universities in Southern Nigeria. It was also found that courses on use of library and information technology, guidance from library staff,&nbsp; departmental trainings and seminars were major instructional avenues that could not enhance the IL competence level of the students.&nbsp; This is in addition to challenges of overcrowded classes, course clashing, students’ attitude to instructions and general pattern of&nbsp; instructional delivery. These findings that hinged on poor IL competence has implications in this era of information explosion and the&nbsp; spread of fake news. The paper concludes that IL competence is necessary for all in the digital era and recommends that educators factor&nbsp; IL training in compulsory courses like “Use of Library, Study Skills and ICT” and or possibly create another general studies course&nbsp; on IL instructions in Nigerian universities.&nbsp;</p> Kingsley N. Igwe Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 197 207 Algorithm in geo-spatial distribution and mapping of distributed renewable energy systems in Zimbabwe https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276215 <p>The rapid adoption of renewable energy is crucial for achieving sustainable development and addressing the growing energy needs of&nbsp; developing nations like Zimbabwe. This project focused on developing a geospatial application to analyze and visualize the distribution of&nbsp; renewable energy systems across Zimbabwe. By integrating a comprehensive dataset of solar, wind, and micro-hydro power stations,&nbsp; the application offers an interactive map that provides detailed insights into the spatial distribution of these energy sources. Key&nbsp; functionalities of the application include hotspot analysis to identify regions with high concentrations of renewable energy capacity,&nbsp; clustering analysis to uncover patterns and optimize the placement of new installations, and network analysis to assess the connectivity&nbsp; and efficiency of energy distribution networks. The application was developed using Python and various libraries such as Pandas,&nbsp; GeoPandas, Folium, and NetworkX, and features a userfriendly graphical user interface (GUI) for ease of use. The system underwent&nbsp; rigorous testing, including unit testing, integration testing, and system evaluation, to ensure its accuracy, reliability, and performance.&nbsp; The results demonstrated that the application met the specified requirements and performed effectively in real-world scenarios. The&nbsp; analysis revealed significant insights that can aid policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers in making informed decisions to enhance&nbsp; the planning and management of renewable energy resources in Zimbabwe. This research underscores the potential of geospatial&nbsp; analysis in promoting sustainable energy development. By leveraging data-driven insights, it facilitates targeted interventions and&nbsp; optimized resource allocation, contributing to the broader goal of achieving energy sustainability and addressing climate change&nbsp; challenges. Future work can expand the system's capabilities by integrating real-time data, advanced analytics, and broader geographic&nbsp; coverage, further enhancing its utility and impact.&nbsp;</p> Silence Chiota Lincon Nhapi Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 209 222 An intelligent dynamic time efficient throttled load balancing algorithm for cloud computing environments https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276219 <p>Load balancing in cloud environments guarantees favourable response time, execution time, efficient resource utilisation and balanced&nbsp; traffic and workloads for the servers. Cloud computing service providers are prone to lose clients when clients experience high response&nbsp; time or delayed responses on their requests. This is due to inefficient use of artificial intelligence contributing to suboptimal load balancing algorithms in cloud computing environments leading to poor service delivery to cloud users. This research aims at building an&nbsp; intelligent load balancing algorithm as an improvement of throttled load balancing algorithm. The proposed algorithm considers servers’&nbsp; availability, time remaining to complete task processing in servers, and processing requirements for received tasks to determine optimum workload distribution for servers, resource utilisation, execution time and response time. The proposed load balancer receives&nbsp; requests, determine the best server to process the task depending on service’s load requirements, server’s availability and processing&nbsp; properties. If the determined server is available, it receives the service, else, the service is queued with a tag of the server to service the&nbsp; task. If the server that is not the best at servicing the task is available, the task will be queued only if the time to wait for the best service&nbsp; plus processing time on best server is less than the time it takes to process the task on the server that is available but not the best for the&nbsp; task. Java programming language was used to implement the proposed algorithm in a cloud simulation platform. This research makes&nbsp; use of CloudAnalyst which is a CloudSim extension, to conduct experimental comparisons between the proposed algorithm and existing&nbsp; load balancing algorithms. This research observed that balancing the load in a Throttled load balancing algorithm improves resource&nbsp; utilization at the expense of response time and execution time. The proposed algorithm outperforms throttled, round robin and equally&nbsp;&nbsp; distributed load balancing algorithms in terms of response time, and execution time.</p> Solomon M. Kasirori Arthur Ndlovu Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 223 231 Analysis of gender and use of social media for research: The case of social science lecturers in Federal Universities in South East Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276221 <p>The study investigated the correlation between the use of social media for research and scholarly research outputs of social sciences&nbsp; lecturers in federal universities in South East Nigeria. The study was done with a view to finding the extent of use and possible differences&nbsp; by gender on the use of social media and research outputs among the respondents, the effects of such differences and the&nbsp; way forward. Three purposes of study, corresponding research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Population of the study&nbsp; consists of all the academic/teaching staff working in the faculty of the social sciences in all the federal universities in South East Nigeria.&nbsp; Sample for the study include all the 459 academic staff in the faculty of the social sciences. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Out of the 459 distributed, 354 useful copies ( 77% return rate). Research questions were analyzed using&nbsp; Multiple Regression while the Hypotheses were tested using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. Major findings include a significant&nbsp; relationship between extent the use of social media and research outputs of lectures. Moreover, male lecturers use social media more than their female counterparts wchich increased their chances of having more research outputs. Many challenges on the use of social&nbsp; media for research were reported based on which recommendations include provision of adequate power supply and internet&nbsp; connectivity, regular training on the use of social media for research and increased research collaboration between male and female&nbsp; lecturers.&nbsp;</p> Felicia N. Ugwu Charles O. Omekwu Chioma Clarista Onoh Harriet Uche Igbo Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 233 248 Development of virtual reality model for visual field examination https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276225 <p>In this research, a VR model was designed to determine its validity for testing visual field which is the basics for diagnosing medical&nbsp; conditions like Alzheimer disease, Glaucoma and Growth in the brain, in patients. Presently, the equipment used for Visual Field Testing is&nbsp; bogus and tiring to the patients. Sometimes the test results are not 100 percent accurate. The aim of the study was to develop an&nbsp; improved Virtual Reality (VR) model for visual field examination (VFE). The objectives were to: Survey the existing domain of Virtual Reality&nbsp; Environment (VRE) in order to come up with VRE requirements framework. Design an Android application for visual field&nbsp; examination using the Unity Game Engine. Implement the proposed virtual world using VR Google cardboard, C-Sharp, Unity and&nbsp; Android phones. Evaluate the metrics of success of the software solution. 100 volunteers were randomly selected for the visual field&nbsp; examination. The volunteers comprised of 50 males and 50 females, all within the ages of 10 to 16 years. Ultimately, the result from our&nbsp; model showed that the system could be used to evaluate the visual field of patients. This makes the model a potential equipment that&nbsp; would be used to reduced the screening time of patients in the hospitals.&nbsp;</p> Tariuge Tebepah J. Bunakiye Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 249 253 Undergraduate law students’ perception of the availability and use of library information resources and services in Federal Universities in South East, Nigeria https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276227 <p>This study examined law students’ perception of the available law library resources and services and the extent of utilization of their&nbsp; resources and services in federal universities in south east zone. Four research questions guided the study and four null hypotheses were&nbsp; tested. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Two law libraries were selected.for the study-the law library&nbsp; of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) and that of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus Law library (UNEC). The population consisted of&nbsp; 1770 of registered undergraduate law students of NAU and UNEC, second year students to final year students. Sample size of the study&nbsp; was 177.Accidental sampling technique was used. The instrument for data collection was four-point rating scale questionnaire which&nbsp; contained 63-items in four clusters. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and obtained a reliability co- efficient value of 0.89, 0.86, 0.85 and 0.77 for clusters B1 to B4 respectively, with an overall co-efficient value of 0.84. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The&nbsp; findings revealed that law students from NAU and UNEC agreed that library resources and services were available in their various&nbsp; institutional law libraries while the extent of utilization of library resource and services were low utilized.Law students from NAU and UNEC significantly differ in their mean ratings of the availability of library resources and library services offered to them in their various&nbsp; institutional law libraries. Law students from NAU and UNEC significantly differ in their mean ratings on the extent they used library&nbsp; resources but did not differ significantly in the extent they use library services offered to them in their various institutional law libraries. Practical Implication: The inability of the law library management/law librarians to equip law library students with the basic skills needed&nbsp; to explore the resources and services in the law libraries will result to ineffectiveness of the programme. Effective utilization of law library&nbsp; resources and services by law library students will help them perceive the library as the ultimate solution to their information needs. They&nbsp; will invariably hold the library in high esteem and make conscious efforts to benefit from available library resources and services.&nbsp; High extent of utilization of law library resources and services by its students will enable them upgrade in their academic performance. The availability of library resources and services in the desired format, quality and magnitude is a measure of the readiness of academic&nbsp; libraries (law libraries) to meet the information needs of their law library students. It was, therefore recommended among others that the&nbsp; law services provision of the librarians should be extended to assisting undergraduate law students in retrieving their needed information. This will go a long way in enhancing their continued use of the law library resources and services in their respective law&nbsp; libraries.&nbsp;</p> Bethel Chizoba Omekwu Anthonia Echedom Charles O. Omekwu Felicia N. Ugwu Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 255 273 Implementation of an IoT-based antipoaching wildlife monitoring system https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276243 <p>Poaching, veld fires and not limiting to timber theft all collectively pose significant threats to endangered species, vegetation and animal&nbsp; habitats worldwide. This dissertation explores modern technologies used to prevent poaching majorly focussing on IoT-Based systems.</p> Ronald Munashe Mawoyo Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1 275 284 Editorial https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ict/article/view/276120 <p>No Abstract</p> Evarest C. Madu Copyright (c) 2024 2024-08-14 2024-08-14 21 1