Evaluation of Access to Public Water Supply in Two Major Cities in Nigeria

Abstract The issue of access to portable public water supply in the last three decades has been a topical issue of high interest to several individuals, co mmunit ies, organizat ions and governments. In the face of dwindling and depleting water resources, there is the general concern of how people will have unhindered access to portable water supply. This paper against this background examined differences in public perception of access to portable water supply on the basis of some socio-economic and demographic factors such as gender, socio-economic background and marital status. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in public perception based on gender while there were no differences on the basis of marital status and socio-economic background. The imp lications of these findings for water resources management was discussed and recommendation made as to how access to public water supply can be easily guaranteed and sustained over time

) Socio-Economic Factors, Occupation and Family Size as Predictors of Public Perception of Water Resources Planning in Oyo State

Abstract: The study investigated the effects of five socio-demographic variables (age, gender, occupation, family size, and socio-economic background) on public assessment of water resources planning in Oyo State. It employed a sample size of 210 respondents (101 males and 109 females) spread over six local government areas in Oyo State. It used a questionnaire in obtaining information from the respondents. The data obtained was analysed using frequency counts and multiple regression. The result showed that the five variables when taken together had a low positive relationship with public assessment of water resources planning (R=0.182). The observed F ratio is significant at 0.05 alpha level which signifies that the R2 value of 0.033 is not due to chance. In essence, 3.3% of the variance in public assessment of water resources planning in Oyo State is accounted for by a linear combination of the give demographic variables. However, occupation stood out as the best predictor of public assessment of water resources planning while the rest never contributed positively to the whole prediction. The result poses critical issues that need to be fully considered if the planning of water resources in Oyo State is to be effective and meaningful

Eliminating the Racial Disparity in Classroom Exclusionary Discipline

Advocates call for schools with high suspension rates to receive technical assistance in adopting “proven-effective” systematic supports. Such supports include teacher professional development. This call is justified given evidence that good teaching matters. But what types of professional development should be funded? Increasingly, research points to the promise of programs that are sustained, rigorous, and focused on teachers’ interactions with students. The current study tests whether a professional development program with these three characteristics helped change teachers’ use of exclusionary discipline practices—especially with their African American students. Exclusionary discipline is when a classroom teacher sends a student to the administrators’ office for perceived misbehavior. Administrators then typically assign a consequence, usually in the form of suspension (in-school or out-of school). The My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTP-S) aims to improve teachers’ interactions with their students when implementing instruction and managing behavior. MTP-S helps teachers offer clear routines, implement consistent rules, and monitor behavior in a proactive way. The program also supports teachers in developing warm, respectful relationships that recognize students’ needs for autonomy and leadership. Teachers are paired with a coach for an entire school year (sustained approach), they regularly reflect on videorecordings of their classroom instruction and carefully observe how they interact with students, and they apply the validated Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS-S) to improve the quality of their interactions (rigorous approach). In the current study, a randomized controlled trial found that teachers receiving MTP-S relied less on exclusionary discipline compared to the control teachers. Specifically, MTP-S teachers issued fewer exclusionary discipline referrals to their African American students. This is the first study to show that programs like MTP-S that focus on teacher-student interactions in a sustained manner using a rigorous approach can actually reduce the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline with African American students. More broadly, the findings offer policymakers direction in identifying types of professional development programs that have promise for reducing the racial discipline gap

Calibration of Hybrid-Maize Model for Simulation of Soil Moisture and Yield in Production Corn Fields

Model calibration is essential for acceptable model performance and applications. The Hybrid-Maize model, developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a process-based crop simulation model that simulates maize growth as a function of crop and field management and environmental conditions. In this study, we calibrated and validated the Hybrid-Maize model using soil moisture and yield data from eight commercial production fields in two years. We used a new method for the calibration and multi-parameter optimization (MPO) based on kriging with modified criteria for selecting the parameter combinations. The soil moisture-related parameter combination (SM-PC3) improved simulations of soil water dynamics, but improvement in model performance is still required. The grain yield-related parameter combination significantly improved the yield simulation. We concluded that the calibrated model is good enough for irrigation water management at the field scale. Future studies should focus on improving the model performance in simulating total soil water (TSW) dynamics at different soil depths by including more soil water processes in a more dynamic manner

Emotional consequences of hate incidents: experiences of a South African cohort

The consequences of hate incidents are far greater than transgressions without an underlying bias motive. The powerful emotional and psychological effect observed in victims of hate rests in the perpetrator attacking the identity or an unchangeable characteristic of a victim. Within South Africa, these effects are compounded by the country’s legacy of discrimination and oppression; thus, the potential consequences of hate victimisation within this context extend beyond the emotional. This justifies differential retributive and restorative measures following such incidents; however, legislative and policy frameworks to respond to hate victimisation are only in the beginning stages. The scarcity of empirical research on hate incidents and their consequences in South Africa renders this investigation the first of its kind. The researchers aimed to determine the demographic and situational variables that put individuals at a higher risk for experiencing emotional consequences as a result of hate victimisation. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression modelling were used to analyse data (n = 409, Mean Age = 31.5). Results indicate a higher vulnerability of emotional consequences if a victim is exposed to economic consequences, if the offender is known to the victim, and if the victim identifies as Black African. Sex and type of incident (hate crimes, hate speech, and intentional unfair discrimination) showed no significant relationship with emotional consequences. The results enable greater insight into victim experiences of emotional consequences and motivate prioritising psychosocial health care, targeted interventions, and relevant legislative and policy frameworks for victims and communities affected by hate incidents.College of Human Science

Distribution and status of the African forest buffalo Syncerus caffer nanus in south-eastern Nigeria

AbstractAlthough not categorized as threatened on the IUCN Red List, the African forest buffalo Syncerus caffer nanus is declining across its range. In Nigeria its distribution, abundance and status are virtually unknown. We conducted interviews with experienced hunters, and field surveys (linear and recce transects), to study the buffalo's distribution and ecology in the montane forests of Cross River State. General linear modelling indicated that the number of individuals varied significantly across survey areas and habitat types but not with the survey period, and there was no study area × study period interaction. Buffalo were found most commonly in mature and secondary forests. Given the species' scattered distribution, fragmentation of its habitat, and the relatively low numbers observed, Nigerian populations require a separate, regional categorization on the IUCN Red List

Spatial Variation of Throughfall in Two Tree Plantations in Abeokuta, South-Western Nigeria

Abstract This paper determined the variability of throughfall in two tree plantations on the campus of University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, South Western Nigeria. It involved the use of experimental plots consisting of Tectona Grandis and Gmeliba Arborea. Gross precipitation and thoughfall were measured and determined for a month. The data obtained was analysed using simple descriptive statistics such as means, percentages and frequency counts. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between gross precipitation and throughfall under each tree plantation. Results show that Tectona plantation had more throughfall throughout the period of study than that of Grnelna plantation. Also there is a strong relationship between gross precipitation and throughtfall in the two plantation. The implication of the results for the management and use of water resources in the study area were discussed and recommendations made as to how water trapped through interception can be better managed

Development of a Scalable Edge-Cloud Computing Based Variable Rate Irrigation Scheduling Framework

Currently, variable-rate precision irrigation (VRI) scheduling methods require large amounts of data and processing time to accurately determine crop water demands and spatially process those demands into an irrigation prescription. Unfortunately, irrigated crops continue to develop additional water stress when the previously collected data is being processed. Machine learning is a helpful tool, but handling and transmitting large datasets can be problematic; more rural areas may not have access to necessary wireless data transmission infrastructure to support cloud interaction. The introduction of “edge-cloud” processing to agricultural applications has shown to be effective at increasing data processing speed and reducing the amount of data transmission to remote processing computers or base stations. In irrigation in particular, edge-cloud computing has so far had limited implementation. Therefore, an initial logic flow concept has been developed to effectively implement this new processing technique for VRI. Utilizing edge-cloud computer nodes in the field, autonomous data collection devices such as center pivot-mounted infrared canopy thermometers, soil moisture sensors, local weather stations, and UAVs could transmit highly localized crop data to the edge-cloud computer for processing. The edge computer Following the implementation of an irrigation strategy created by the edge-cloud computer with a machine learning model, data would be transmitted to the cloud (requiring transmission of only minimal model parameters), resulting in a feedback loop for continual improvement of the global model on the cloud (federated learning). VRI prescription maps from the SETMI model were used as the training data for training the machine learning model