67 research outputs found
Community structure and timing of sexual activity among adolescent girls in Nigeria
No full textFunding: This research was supported by funding from the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), awarded to OS. CARTA is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center and the University of the Witwatersrand and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Grant No. G-19-57145), Sida (Grant No:54100113), Uppsala Monitoring Center, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and by the Wellcome Trust [reference no. 107768/Z/15/Z] and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, with support from the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.Studies have linked the timing of sexual debut to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmissible infections, including HIV. Current understandings of sexual debut among Nigerian adolescents focused on the roles of individual and familial characteristics. We leveraged the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data to examine how community features like affluence, ethnic diversity, and women empowerment may be associated with the timing of sexual debut among adolescent girls. The sample comprised 7449 adolescent girls who were usual residents in 6,505 households and 1,352 clusters or communities. Statistical associations between community characteristics and the onset of sexual debut were assessed using a two-level mixed-effects parametric survival model with Weibull distribution. We found that community affluence [aHR:0.43, 95%CI: 0.30–0.62] and community ethnic diversity [aHR: 0.63, 95%CI: 0.42–0.94] are associated with a lower hazard of sexual debut among adolescent girls. We also observed that women that married within the observation period had an earlier sexual initiation than those who were unmarried. The results disaggregated by marital status further shows that higher community level of women’s employment [aHR: 2.45, 95%CI: 1.38–4.38] and women’s education [aHR:1.85, 95%CI: 1.03–3.33] were associated with a higher hazard of sexual debut among unmarried adolescent girls but not married adolescent girls. Higher community affluence [aHR:0.40, 95%CI: 0.27–0.60] was also associated with a lower hazard of sexual debut among unmarried adolescent girls but not married adolescent girls. Our results illuminate the associated factors of the timing of sexual debut among adolescent girls that moves beyond individual characteristics to community characteristics.Peer reviewe
MEASURING WEBSITE PERSONALIZATION AFTER FACEBOOK DELEGATED LOGIN
No full textGiven the amount of information on the Internet and the competition between sites over users¿
attention and dollars, many websites today are personalizing their content, in order to provide users
with a more tailored experience. While in many cases, content personalization is highly beneficial
to the user, personalization can also indicate a compromise in user privacy, stemming from the use
of information the user did not explicitly provide and, in some cases, can involve the manipulation
of content to the user¿s disadvantage, as occurs in cases of price discrimination. While before, users
only had to be concerned about information being used about their computers and their browsing
and search histories, in recent years, a new source of detailed user information has emerged, social
media. The social media site, Facebook, provides the opportunity for users to connect their social
identities to many websites using Facebook¿s social login button. When users connect to sites
through the social login button, information from their profiles is shared with the websites. Given
our knowledge of how sites use other user information for personalization, we must be similarly
concerned with understanding how information coming from social media sites can be used by
third-party sites for personalization.
Unfortunately, the tools and techniques for detecting this type of personalization are underdeveloped,
and no studies of social information based personalization have been conducted. In this
paper, I make four contributions towards addressing this area of research. First, I develop a process
to collect the page source data from websites, that is necessary for detecting personalization, and
develop a large corpus of such data for 235 websites that allow Facebook social login. My second
contribution is an algorithm for identifying content changes on websites that result from a user
being logged in through Facebook. Third, I develop a taxonomy of social information based personalization,
and identify four types of personalization that can occur as a result of using Facebook
social login. I create dummy accounts that simulate user features on Facebook, and find evidence
of Facebook-based personalization on numerous sites. Given the existence of personalization, the
final contribution of this paper is a theoretical examination of techniques for reverse engineering
Facebook-based personalization on websites
Measurement Validity of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire in Coronary Artery Disease
No full textPatient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), such as the Seattle angina questionnaire (SAQ), are widely used to directly elicit perceptions of health status and quality of life (QOL) in individuals with coronary artery disease (CAD). The SAQ has been used in clinical and epidemiological studies to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment interventions, compare population groups, and inform quality improvement for CAD management. However, there is limited investigation of its measurement validity between groups and over time.
The overarching goal of this research is to evaluate the validity of the SAQ in individuals with CAD between groups and over time. Specifically, the objectives are to (1) examine the factorial validity of the SAQ in a Canadian population of patients with CAD, (2) assess if the SAQ construct is equivalent across subgroups and over time and (3) test and adjust for response shift (RS) effect in the SAQ subscales over time. Data for this research were obtained from the Alberta Provincial Project on Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) registry, a comprehensive, longitudinal inception cohort of all adult Canadians who received cardiac catheterization in Alberta, Canada. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to investigate the underlying factor structure of the SAQ. CFA revealed that the factorial structure of the original 19-item SAQ, with five subscales, was inconsistent in this cohort. Instead, a 16-item Canadian version of this SAQ (SAQ-CAN), which includes four subscales, was found to be a better fit for the data and was a more valid and reliable instrument to measure QOL in CAD patients. Multigroup-CFA of the SAQ-CAN provides evidence supporting the equivalence of the underlying latent construct across sex, age, angina type, and treatment groups cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a sample of patients with CAD. Finally, the longitudinal structural equation model revealed the presence of small RS effects in the treatment-related experience subscale of the SAQ-CAN, which attenuated longitudinal changes on the SAQ-CAN subscales when not accounted for. In conclusion, this study proposes the use of SAQ-CAN as a valid and reliable instrument for assessing differences and temporal measures of QOL in individuals with CAD
Analysis of the force to contain a constant-cross-section flow channel in pouch samples
No full textPouches with frangible seals are used for on-demand and precise mixing of two or more
ingredients. The seals reliably and temporarily separate these ingredients until combining them is
required for a reaction. The study evaluates the range of forces required to maintain a complete
seal with sufficient pressure on a wax-printed lateral flow assay which is inserted into the pouch.
For a complete seal between the layers, red dye was used to indicate fluid seepage between
patterns of wax barriers on the flow strip.
In the experiment described, test forces were placed on the burst pouch such that it acted directly
on the dyed filter pad. With each force applied, observation of dye leaching into the surrounding
liquid indicated whether the seal was intact during the flow test. Data obtained from 50 tests of
the force on the filter pad was tabulated and plotted on a histogram.
The experiment’s result showed that the forces between 0.3N and 0.5N were the optimal for
creating a complete seal between layers in the pouch sample. Forces that were lower than 0.3N
resulted in dye leakage because the applied forces on the filter pad did not make a complete seal.
Forces applied higher than 0.5N resulted in dye leakage only after the applied force was removed
from the filter pad
A survey on the use and impact of information technology in quantity surveying service delivery in Nigeria
No full textThe construction industry has recently witnessed a paradigm shift from traditional paper-based method of service delivery to electronic information exchange using Information Technolog (IT), at least in the western world like UK. It is now evident that the adoption of IT can enhance construction productivity and improve communications for effective decision-making and coordination among construction participants. The ability of the industry to avail itself of technology depends on the level of usage by construction participants including the Quantity Surveyor (QS) who plays a major role in the management of project success determinants, such as cost, time and quality. This research therefore evaluates the level of adoption of IT by QS in Nigeria and its impact in discharging their professional obligations to achieve improved service delivery. A review of the relevant literature using published sources was conducted to identify the current state and use of IT in the industry in various parts of the world. In order to assess the level of adoption of technology by QS in Nigeria and to evaluate its impact on their service delivery, data collected through questionnaires administered to practicing professionals were analysed and subsequently ranked using their mean item score (MIS) and the Kruskal Wallis H test. The research revealed that despite the average to high awareness of the importance of IT in improving service delivery and productivity, QS in Nigeria are still reluctant in using these technologies mainly due to the high initial cost of acquisition; lack of infrastructures to support its use and security concerns such as the susceptibility of IT system. It is concluded that the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors should act as a champion in raising the awareness of IT among its members and the Government should provide an enabling environment for its importation and usage
Prediction of HGI of South African coalfields a comparative application of ANN SVR and LSTM models
No full textEmotional Deprivation and Alcohol Abuse as Predictors of Dating Violence Among Young Adults in Lagos State
No full textDating violence is a significant public health concern, particularly among youths, where emotional and behavioural factors may contribute to the escalation of such behaviours. This cross-sectional study investigates the influence of emotional regulation and alcohol abuse as well as sex on dating violence among young adults in Lagos State, using a sample of 486 participants. It was hypothesized that young adults who are male will be more likely to engage in dating violence than females and emotional deprivation and alcohol abuse will have an independent and joint influence on dating violence among young adults. The results revealed a significant influence of sex on dating violence (t = 3.197; df (485); p <.05). Furthermore, male young adults were more likely to engage in dating violence than their counterparts. Additionally, alcohol abuse was found to have both independent and joint predictive effects with emotional deprivation on dating violence (R² = .310, F (2,484) = 108.49, p < .05). The study suggested that parents and caregivers should consciously pay attention to both the physical and emotional needs of children. The study also advocates for comprehensive programs by governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent and minimize alcohol abuse among young adults in Lagos state and for those experiencing dating violence, the study encourages seeking help and speaking out, emphasizing that victims are not to blame and that support is available. Additionally, perpetrators of dating violence are encouraged to seek help to improve their behaviou
Predicting the hardgrove grindability index using interpretable decision tree-based machine learning models
No full textThe Hardgrove grindability index (HGI) is a crucial indicator for assessing the grindability of coal, and accurate prediction of HGI is essential for improving the production efficiency and economic benefits of the coal industry. This study employed six decision tree-based machine learning models to predict the HGI values of 129 coal samples, with hyperparameter optimization performed using Optuna, and model interpretability analyzed using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). The results showed that the optimized natural gradient boosting (NGBoost) model outperformed all other models, which achieved the highest performance on the test set with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9715, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.1507, and a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 1.4735. SHAP analysis further revealed that volatile matter (VM) contributed the most to the model's predictions, while pyrite (FeS2) had the least contribution. This study provides an efficient machine learning approach for accurate HGI prediction, offering excellent predictive performance, interpretability, and application value. © 2024 The Author(s
Predictive modelling for coal abrasive index Unveiling influential factors through Shallow and Deep Neural Networks
No full textTechnology for Teaching and Learning: A Case Study of Afe Babalola University
No full textAbstract Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) is the first University in Nigeria that had introduced Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities into teaching and learning. The purpose of this work was to examine the learning tools employed in the modern teaching and learning as practiced in Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), the problems and the challenges in the application and make recommendations to improve the effective application. The authors, who are teachers in various departments of the university and used the facilities to teach, collected data through personal observations, responses to structured questionnaires and personal interviews. ABUAD had a variety of ICT facilities which had improved teaching and learning in ABUAD. In spite of these facilities, the training programme, the technical support provided and the positive effect on teaching and learning, not all the lecturers have put them to effective usage for varied reasons. These were reviewed and recommendations were made to improve usage. JEL classification numbers: D8
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