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Are Men’s Reproductive Health Problems and Sexual Behavior Predictors of Welfare?
Get PDFThe study examined men’s reproductive health problems and sexual behavior and their implications for men’s welfare in Nigeria. It used the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data set of 2013. The analysis used only male recode files, representing 17,359 males. The dependent variable is the computed wealth index, which was selected as proxy for welfare condition. Analysis involved univariate and multivariate levels. The findings indicated that 49.3% of the respondents currently have more than one sexual partner. The total lifetime sexual partner index identifies 70.2% of the men interviewed have had at least two sexual partners in their lifetime. It revealed that men who experience reproductive health challenges, such as sexually transmitted infections and genital ulcer, are 44% and 93%, respectively, less likely to enjoy good welfare condition. It also indicated that men in urban area are 7.256 times more likely to enjoy good welfare condition compared with their rural counterparts. There is a negative association between total lifetime sexual partnerships and exposure to good welfare. The study concludes that social workers, marriage counselors, other health personnel, and policy makers need to focus on the practice of multiple sexual partnership and reproductive health diseases as major determinants of men’s welfare. The authors suggest that the index of welfare should include reproductive health issues and indicators of sexual behavior. Also, there is need for the establishment of specialized reproductive health care services and centers that are accessible to all men for effective servicing of reproductive health needs of men in the country
CASHLESS POLICY AND BANKS’ FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA: : empirical assessment
Get PDFThis study examined cash less policy and the financial performance of banks data for the period 2007 to 2016 for five variables representing about fifty (5 was generated from the Central Bank of Nigeria Economic Reports and Nig Corporation Annual Reports. The study used Augmented Dickey Fuller stationary state of the variables. It also employs the descriptive statistics a multiple regression method to analyze the data generated. The empirical find less policy largely determined the financial performance of banks in the Nige indicated by the coefficient of determination. The volume of Automated Tell and Point of Sales (POSVL) were found to increased banks financial pe statistically significant. Web based Technique volume and bank size w statistically significant on the financial performance of banks. The study there ATM centers/outlets should be opened by banks through the influence of the C in order to enhance the success of the cash less policy. Point of Sales sho business transactions by investors, the government and the general public at l would further deepen the penetration of the cashless policy
Structural dynamics of microbial communities in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated tropical estuarine sediments undergoing simulated aerobic biotreatment
Get PDFCoastal sediments contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be candidates for remediation via an approach like land farming. Land farming converts naturally anaerobic sediments to aerobic environments, and the response of microbial communities, in terms of community structure alterations and corresponding effects on biodegradative activities, is unknown. A key goal of this study was to determine if different sediments exhibited common patterns in microbial community responses that might serve as indicators of PAH biodegradation. Sediments from three stations in the Lagos Lagoon (Nigeria) were used in microcosms, which were spiked with a mixture of four PAH, then examined for PAH biodegradation and for shifts in microbial community structure by analysis of diversity in PAH degradation genes and Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. PAH biodegradation was similar in all sediments, yet each exhibited unique microbiological responses and there were no microbial indicators of PAH bioremediation common to all sediments
The Rise of Internet of Things and Big Data on the Cloud: Challenges and Future Trends
Get PDFHuge growth in the scale of data generated through cloud computing has been led to Internet of Things (IoT). Fog computing has been recently adopted to improve some features of cloud computing and makes cloud computing more attractive to users. Furthermore, it comes to improve some parameters such as latency, security and load network. The combination of cloud and fog computing is seen a new progress in distributed computing and the appropriate platform for the data. Fog computing is defined as a new paradigm that works at the edge of the network to improve the quality of the network. In this paper, the use of fog computing in cloud computing is reviewed in this work. The characteristics, architectures and discussions and the relationship is further elaborated. Additionality, recommendation for further research is discussed
Evaluation of the Structural Performance of Lateritic Soil Stabilized with Cassava Peel Ash (CPA) and Cement
Get PDFThis study presents the result of experimental investigation on the evaluation of the effects of
Cassava Peel Ash (CPA) on the index and structural properties of lateritic soil of A-7-5 (AASHTO
Classification) and SP soil (USCS classification) respectively. The study was in two phases, firstly with the
addition of CPA only by weight of dry soil and secondly with the addition of 5% cement with the CPA by weight
of dry soil. The CPA additions were performed using 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% increment by weight of dry soil
thoroughly mixed. The results of the treated soil showed that the index properties: plastic limit and the
maximum dry density (MDD) decreased as the CPA addition increased whereas the liquid limit, plasticity index,
Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) increased as the CPA content
increased. It was also discovered that the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) increased up to 4% of CPA
addition after which was a reduction. This implies that CPA possesses the potential for use in the modification/
stabilization of lateritic soils. Thus the use of CPA in road construction works can be said to have two major
advantages – as an effective agricultural waste management and the improvement of road construction soils for
better road performance
Awareness and Perception of Plagiarism of Postgraduate Students in Selected Universities in Ogun State, Nigeria.
No full textPlagiarism undoubtedly constitutes a seemingly imperceptible threat to the growth of genuine
global scholarship. The understanding of various perspectives of the phenomenon is critical to
finding a lasting solution. It is against this background therefore, that the study investigated
awareness and perception of plagiarism of postgraduate students in selected Universities in Ogun
State Nigeria. Survey research design was used while adopting stratified and random sampling
methods to select 338 respondents from federal, state and private Universities for the study. The
findings revealed average level of awareness of plagiarism among postgraduate students, level of
training influenced their level of awareness; pressure to meet deadlines, inadequate writing skills
and lack of knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism were found to be responsible for the malaise.
The study also revealed a significant positive relationship at r = 0.294 and p < 0.05 implying that
as awareness increases, the positive perception of plagiarism would also improve. However, it
revealed a significant difference in perception of plagiarism at f(2,327) = 25,000 and p < 0.05
implying that what postgraduate students perceived as plagiarism differ across the types of
institution. The paper concluded that plagiarism is a heinous academic crime which negates the
main objective of research to discover new facts and expand the frontiers of knowledge. The paper
recommended the intensification of awareness and sensitization programmes on plagiarism by
various institutions; that the National Universities Commission should enforce the use of Turnitin
in all Nigerian Universities and the introduction of information ethics as a compulsory course of
study in the tertiary institutions
Performance Analysis of Clustering Based Genetic Algorithm
Get PDFIn this work, performance analysis of Clustering based Genetic Algorithm (CGA)
proposed in the literature has been undertaken. The proposed CGA on which the
performance analysis of this paper is based involve the use of two centroids based
clustering technique as a new method of chromosomes selection at the reproduction
stage in a typical Genetic Algorithm. Population Control and Polygamy mating techniques
were introduced to improve the performance of the algorithm. Results obtained from the
determination of optimal solutions to the: Sphere, Schwefel 2.4, Beale and another known
optimization functions carried out in this work shows that the proposed CGA converges
to global solutions within few iterations and can also be adopted for function optimization
aside from the route optimization problem previously reported in Literature
Starch composition, glycemic indices, phenolic constituents, and antioxidative and antidiabetic properties of some common tropical fruits
Get PDFBackground
Studies have supported the protective effect of high fruit consumption in the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Methods
Thirteen fresh tropical fruits were sourced for and the fruits juices were extracted, freeze dried, and then reconstituted for analysis. The sugar, starch, amylose, and amylopectin contents as well as glycemic indices, antioxidant properties, and the ability of the fruits to inhibit starch-hydrolyzing enzymes were determined. Also, the phenolic constituents of the fruits were characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector.
Results
The starch, sugar, amylase, and amylopectin contents were 3.01–3.89 g/100 g, 35.34–60.91 g/100 g, 0.84–1.46 g/100 g, and 1.68–2.86 g/100 g, respectively, while the glycemic indices were 28.01–68.34, with African star apple (28.01) having the lowest and watermelon (68.34) the highest. Furthermore, the fruits exhibited high antioxidant properties as exemplified by their DPPH, ABTS+, OH, and NO radical scavenging abilities. Likewise, the fruits also demonstrated α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory property with Soursop (IC50 = 18.52 μg/mL), guava (IC50 = 19.77 μg/mL), and African star apple (IC50 = 20.86 μg/mL) showing the highest inhibitory potential among the 13 fruits. Similarly, the same trend was followed for α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.
Conclusion
The fruits' low glycemic indices, strong antioxidant properties, and inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities could be possible mechanisms for their use in the management and prevention of type-2 diabetes
Microbial communities in sediments of Lagos lagoon, Nigeria: elucidation of community structure and potential impacts of contamination by municipal and industrial wastes
No full textEstuarine sediments are significant repositories of anthropogenic contaminants, and thus knowledge of the impacts of pollution upon microbial communities in these environments is important to understand potential effects on estuaries as a whole. The Lagos lagoon (Nigeria) is one of Africa’s largest estuarine ecosystems, and is impacted by hydrocarbon pollutants and other industrial and municipal wastes. The goal of this study was to elucidate microbial community structure in Lagos lagoon sediments to identify groups that may be adversely affected by pollution, and those that may serve as degraders of environmental contaminants, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Sediment samples were collected from sites that ranged in types and levels of anthropogenic impacts. The sediments were characterized for a range of physicochemical properties, and microbial community structure was determined by Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. Microbial diversity (species richness and evenness) in the Apapa and Eledu sediments was reduced compared to that of the Ofin site, and communities of both of the former two were dominated by a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU) assigned to the family Helicobacteraceae (Epsilonproteobacteria). In the Ofin community, Epsilonproteobacteria were minor constituents, while the major groups were Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes, which were all minor in the Apapa and Eledu sediments. Sediment oxygen demand (SOD), a broad indicator of contamination, was identified by multivariate analyses as strongly correlated with variation in alpha diversity. Environmental variables that explained beta diversity patterns included SOD, as well as levels of naphthalene, acenaphthylene, cobalt, cadmium, total organic matter, or nitrate. Of 582 OTU identified, abundance of 167 was significantly correlated (false discovery rate q≤ 0.05) to environmental variables. The largest group of OTU correlated with PAH levels were PAH/hydrocarbon-degrading genera of the Oceanospirillales order (Gammaproteobacteria), which were most abundant in the hydrocarbon-contaminated Apapa sediment. Similar Oceanospirillales taxa are responsive to marine oil spills and thus may present a unifying theme in marine microbiology as bacteria adapted for degradation of high hydrocarbon loads, and may represent a potential means for intrinsic remediation in the case of the Lagos lagoon sediments
Drying methods alter angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory activity, antioxidant properties, and phenolic constituents of African Mistletoe (Loranthus bengwensis L) Leaves
Get PDFThis study investigated the most appropriate drying method (sun drying, oven drying, or air drying) for mistletoe leaves obtained from almond tree. The phenolic constituents were characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector, while the inhibitory effect of the aqueous extracts of the leaves on angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) was determined in vitro as also the antioxidant properties. Oven-dried extract (kidney [276.09 μg/mL] and lungs [303.41 μg/mL]) had the highest inhibitory effect on ACE, while air-dried mistletoe extract (kidney [304.47 μg/mL] and lungs [438.72 μg/mL]) had the least. Furthermore, the extracts dose-dependently inhibited Fe2+ and sodium nitroprusside-induced lipid peroxidation in rat’s heart and kidney. Also, all extracts exhibited antioxidative properties as typified by their radical scavenging and Fe-chelating ability. Findings from this study revealed that oven drying is the best of the 3 drying methods used for mistletoe obtained from almond host tree, thus confirming that diversity in drying methods leads to variation in phenolic constituents and biological activity of plants