Male Involvement in Family Planning: A Qualitative Survey of the Barriers and Facilitators amongst Married Men in Sokoto metropolis

Background: Although large families are desired in Nigeria, women tend to want fewer children than men but are often unable to limit or space childbirth due to gender dynamics within relationships. Studies have identified men as a significant barrier to the use of  contraceptives by their wives. The study explored married men’s knowledge and perception on family planning (FP), involvement in FP, barriers and facilitators of male involvement (MI) in FP in Sokoto Metropolis.Methods: A qualitative study was done among married men in Sokoto Metropolis in November 2017. Four focus group discussions were conducted among thirty-two men grouped based on educational status and age. Data was transcribed verbatim and a content analysis on emerging themes was done.Results: All the participants were aware of FP and most of them said that it is beneficial to everyone in the community. Most of the  participants perceived that FP is an issue for both men and women. All the participants said that men should be involved in FP. The barriers to MI in FP mentioned were lack of knowledge on FP and poverty while increasing awareness on FP, religious leaders and traditional rulers championing FP, and making FP free were the facilitators suggested.Conclusion: The participants said that FP is beneficial to everyone in the community and men should be involved in FP. Traditional and religious leaders should be made the champions of FP in their various communities to improve acceptance and utilisation

Hepatorenal toxicity studies of sub-chronic administration of calyx aqueous extracts of hibiscus sabdariffa in albino rats

Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn has been reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects. Subchronic effects of calyces aqueous extracts of H. Sabdariffa were studied in albino rats. Twenty four (24) albino rats were randomly divided into six (6) groups of four rats each. Group A, was fed with growers mesh and distilled water as control. Groups B to F were administered orally with the aqueous extract at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5g /kg body weight respectively and the treatment period was 28 days. A decreased in weights of the animals were observed at all dose levels. The activities of liver maker enzymes (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase) and direct bilirubin increased significantly (p0.05) increase in concentrations of total protein and albumin were observed in comparison to the control. The renal indices, urea, uric acid and creatinine in the treated groups were significantly increased compared to the control but a significant decrease (

Pattern of Residential Water Demand Analysis for Maiduguri Metropolis, North-Eastern Nigeria

This study investigated the projected 50-year water demand of Maiduguri township from 2006 to 2056. The impact of socio-economic factors on water consumption pattern of the population was also assessed. Data were collected from 200 households using structured questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The results show that on an average, a household in Jere and Maiduguri consumes an estimated 421.85l L/day while areas worst hit are new layouts and those covered by the phase 2 water treatment plant (yet to be completed). In addition, it was found that, gender, education, household size and income were statistically significant predictors of water demand. Furthermore, the results revealed that in 2006, the combined population of Jere and Maiduguri was 749,123, which was later projected to be around 3,618,579 by the year 2056. Similarly, water demand was estimated to rise to approximately 154,443 M3/day by the year 2056 to meet the water demand of the growing population. However, in 2006, the combined water supplied from Maiduguri water treatment plant and all the functional boreholes (public boreholes) stands at 31,973M3/day while in 2016 it rose to 43,811 M3/day. The increase was due to additional supplies obtained from boreholes provided by some Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in some locations across the two areas. It is noteworthy that water supplied in the year 2016 to the population was grossly inadequate to meet the household water demand. Therefore, with the projected water demand of about 154,443 M3/day by 2056, it is recommended that all existing water supply schemes including the proposed phase 2 of the Maiduguri surface water treatment plant designed to cover West end, Wulari, Bulunkutu and Maduganari areas to be completed to increase the supply. Service boreholes in newly established layouts should be put to operate at full capacity including the additional ones drilled. Also, the Dala Alamdari mini water works constructed by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is operated below its installed capacity due to poor management to be enhanced

Water quality assessment and mapping using inverse distance weighted interpolation: a case of River Kaduna, Nigeria

Several researchers have studied the water quality of the upper and lower stretches of River Kaduna with little on the middle stretch of the river. Besides, no work has ever been done on mapping the water quality of the said river. Hence, the middle stretc h of River Kaduna was monitored for 12 months starting from June, 2016 to May, 2017, covering both rainy and dry seasons in 15 sampling locations to generate data for water quality mapping. However, eight water quality parameters were analyzed namely; temp erature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen and total phosphorus using standard methods. Rainy season results were separated from dry season results and were used in mapping the wa ter quality of the river for both seasons using ArcGIS 10.5. It was concluded that the water temperature of the river was within the permissible limit set by U.S. EPA during both seasons while the other water quality parameters apart from turbidity and pH deteriorated more during dry season. In addition, COD and total phosphorus were found to be the only parameters that never met the requirement set by U.S. EPA throughout the sampling period irrespective of the sampling location and season. This is because the least measured concentrations of COD and total phosphorus were 35.34 mg/l and 0.109 mg/l, respectively. It was recommended that farming activities at the river banks should be banned as the fertilizers used by farmers easily drain into the river and in crease the phosphorus and COD concentrations. Key words: River, Kaduna, Interpolation, GIS Map, Water Quality

Assessment of the Effects of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) on the Output of Dry Season Rice Farmers before and after Scheme Participation in Sokoto State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effects of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) on the output of dry season rice farmers before and after participation. A multistage sampling technique was used to select farmers for the study. Data for the study were collected from 250 farmers using structured questionnaire. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the showed that the age of the majority of the farmers fall between the ages of 30-39 years, married and had one form of education or the other. Based on the findings, the main source of information (46.8%) regarding the awareness of GESS programme was the district heads and majority (94.4%) of the farmers were registered with the scheme. About 40% of the farmers registered with the scheme because inputs provided by the scheme are supplied to only register farmers at a subsidized rate. The result of t-test analysis showed a significant difference (

Transverse slab reinforcement design of concrete bridge deck: A review

This paper reviews the current design practices of transverse slab reinforcement design in concrete bridge deck, which consist of concrete deck slab on wide concrete T-beams. The conventional bridge design method results in the provision of excessive transverse steel reinforcement in the concrete bridge deck slab due to the fact that, the slab is assumed to bear the applied vehicular loadings alone without considering the contribution of the wide T-beam flanges. Thus, the design which is based on bending and failure proved to be too conservative. Through critical review, issues regarding some design approaches were discussed. It has been found that, designing the deck slab in transverse direction would enable the vehicle wheel loads to be supported by the wide T- beam flanges and performance enhancement can be achieved by compressive membrane action resulted from the natural stiffness of the wide girder flanges. The presence of this membrane forces provides a punching shear capacity, which is far beyond the flexural design capacity for the new bridge deck system. This capacity would result in substantial reduction of the transverse reinforcement within the slab

Optimal Thermal Distribution by using Inverse Genetic Algorithm Optimization Technique

Optimal arrangement of components on printed circuit board (PCB) has become a basic necessity so as to have effective management of heat generation and dissipation. In this work, Inverse Genetic Algorithm (IGA) optimization has been adopted in order to achieve this objective. This paper proposes IGA search engine to optimize the thermal profile of components based on thermal resistance network and to minimize the area of PCB. Comparison between the proposed IGA and the conventional GA (FGA) performances are extensively analyzed. Unlike the conventional FGA, the IGA approach allows the user to set the desired fitness, so that the GA process will try to approach these set values. A reduction in the overall computational time and the freedom of choosing a desired fitness are the major advantages of IGA over FGA. From the simulation results, the IGA has successfully minimized the thermal profile and area of PCB by 0.78% and 1.28% respectively. The computational time has also been minimized by 15.56%

Simulation of Hydrodesulphurization (HDS) Unit of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited

This research was carried out to simulate the Hydrodesulphurization unit using ASPEN HYSYS with the aim of removing impurities such as Sulphur, Nitrogen and Oxygen in raw Kerosene. The simulation is based on conditions and parameters (mass flow rates, temperature and pressure readings) obtained from the Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC). After the successful completion of the simulation, total removal of impurities was achieved as the concentration of sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen in mole fraction present in the treated Kerosene stream was approximately zero. The treated Kerosene composition indicated 0.0021, 0.3342, 0.3322 and 0.3315 mole fractions of n-C13, n-C14, n-C15 and n-C16 respectively. Key words: Simulation, Hydrodesulphurization, Aspen Hysys, Impurities