Election Gifting and the Ordeal of Democracy in Nigeria

Over-time, researchers have failed to show how citizens share, if not all, a part of the blame in Nigeria's failing democracy. Through election gifting, the community of voters in Nigeria have been selling their commonwealth to politicians who should not be anywhere close to power. Using secondary sources of data and relying on Robert Dahl’s theory of democracy, the paper argues that since the people are the custodians of the political mandate in any democracy, they should be held accountable when there is a problem. The paper further identifies the history, effect, scope, and predisposing factors of election gifting in Nigeria. This paper focuses on the fact that the non-evaluative and clientelist approach to democracy are the reason for the sad realities in Nigeria and concludes that only the engagement in a civil society can revive Nigeria’s failing democracy

Simultaneous Quantification of Ciprofloxacin, Quinine and 3-hyrdoxyquinine in Human Plasma using a HPLC Method

Malaria has been shown to strongly predispose patients in areas of malaria endemicity to bacteremia with severe outcomes, thus justifying the use of antibiotics in combination with antimalarial therapy in patients with severe malaria. This study describes a High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) method for simultaneous determinations of Ciprofloxacin (CPN), Quinine (QN), and its major metabolite, 3-Hydroxyquinine (3-HQN), in human plasma. Following a simple precipitation with acetonitrile, chromatographic separation was achieved on a reversed-phase Agilent Zorbax (CN) column (5 µm, 150 X 4.6 mm i.d) using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: potassium dihydrogen phosphate (pH = 2.8; 0.02 M) (42:58, v/v). Retention times for CPN, 3-HQN, IS and QN were 2.7, 3.3, 3.6 and 4.9 minutes respectively. The limits of detection and validated lower limits of quantitation were 30 and 70 ng/ml for both QN and 3-HQN while the corresponding values were 50 and 100 ng/ml for CPN, respectively. The new HPLC method here developed, when compared with previous methods for the analysis of either or both drugs is simple, rapid, selective, reproducible and costeffective. It is also suitable for conducting a simultaneous therapeutic monitoring of quinine and ciprofloxacin in patients when concomittantly administered as demonstrated in five healthy volunteers

Psychoactive substance use and level of risk among a geriatric population accessing three primary care facilities in Nigeria

We aimed to assess the prevalence, correlates of psychoactive substance use including misuse of prescription medications and its associated harm among a group of elderly patients attending three primary care facilities in Benin-city, Edo state, Nigeria. The WHO ASSIST was administered to assess for psychoactive substance use and level of risk of some elderly participants. Lifetime prevalence and current prevalence of substance use was obtained. Among participants, 12.7% demonstrated moderate risk to alcohol use while 2.9% demonstrated high risk to its use. Fifteen percent (15%) demonstrated moderate risk to stimulant use while 1.2% demonstrated high risk to its use. Twentyeight percent (28.3%) demonstrated  moderate risk to opioid analgesic use while 0.6% demonstrated high risk to its use. Male gender was associated with a higher risk of tobacco use, alcohol use and stimulant use. Female gender was associated with a higher risk of sedative use. Only 3(1.7%) of these participants had received   previous treatment for a substance use disorder. Keywords: Elderly, primary care, substance use, prescription medication, level of ris

POWER SYSTEMS OPERATION IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERING LOSS MINIMIZATION AND VOLTAGE STABILITY ENHANCEMENT

The challenge of energy and power losses during electrical energy transmission from generation plants to users is a major problem that cannot be over-emphasized. These Losses are inevitable because they are inherent in the conduction of electrical energy through physical means but can be minimized. This paper presents a VSC-PSO method for optimizing the power system operation by simultaneously minimizing the loss and enhancing the voltage stability which are the objective functions. The optimal power flow (OPF) was performed on IEEE 30-bus system with Newton Raphson algorithm implemented in MATLAB simulation software. The simulation results showed that the VSC-PSO approach performed more excellently with concurrent consideration of line loss reduction and voltage stability improvement when compared with other methods in literatur

Self-reported psychological distress and its relationship with religiousness of Nigerian physicians: A multicenter study

Physicians are prone to psychological distress, and this has been poorly studied in association with religiousness. As a result, the prevalence of psychological distress among physicians and its relationship with religiousness was investigated. The study was conducted at two neuropsychiatric centers, and two teaching hospitals in the South-South and South-West regions of Nigeria. Demographics and practice-related characteristics of 231 physicians were collected in addition to report on psychological distress using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, and a religiousness measuring scale, Ironson–Woods Spirituality/Religiosity Index. Chi-square and t-test analyses were done using SPSS version 19. The prevalence rate of significant psychological distress among physicians was 19.05%. The physicians’ specialty of practice fell short of statistically significant association with religiousness (X2=9.02, p=0.06). There was no significant association between physicians’ state of health and religiousness. Psychological distress is fairly common among physicians and shows no relationship with religiousness

Substituents Effect on the Kinetics and Mechanisms of Formation of Copper (II) and Nickel (II) Complexes of Some Β-Diketones

Chelates of β – diketones (R1COCH2COR2) with transition metals have been found to possess a wide range of properties and application, some of which are dependent on the substituents (R1 and R2).  Copper(II) and Nickel(II) complexes of β – diketones in which R1= C6H5 and R2 = C6H5 (dbm), R2 = CH3 (bza) R2 = CF3 (tfpbd) and R1 = C4H3S, R2 = CF3(tta) were synthesised and characterised using UV, IR, elemental analysis and magnetic susceptibility. The probable influence of the substituents on the kinetics and mechanisms of formation of the complexes were investigated with the aid of a Thermostated Schimadu 1800 uv-visible spectrophotometer. The reactions were studied at wavelengths characteristics of each complex. Results show the six coordinate copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes have probable distorted octahedral geometry while the four coordinate Ni(dbm)2 is tetrahedral. The kinetics data suggests an influence of the diketonate substituents on the copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes in solution is in the order C6H5 > CH3 >CF3 > C4H3S and CF3 > C6H5 > CH3 > C4H3S respectively. Solvent influence (k-1) was constant in the range 0.007 – 0.008 for fluorosubstituted complexes and least at 0.004 – 0.005 mol-1s-1 in the alkyl substituted complexes. The steady state approximation gave solvent independent rates k1k2 at 25oC, in the copper(II) complexes, k2 is greater than k1 (k2 > k1) , with k2 constant while in the nickel(II) complexes, the values of k2 was less than k1 and ascribed to rate determining and varies with the nickel(II) - ligand systems studied. Keywords: β-diketones, Copper II and Nickel II Complexes, Substituents effect, Kinetics

Time scale Hardy-type inequalities with ‘broken’ exponent p

In this paper, some new Hardy-type inequalities involving ?broken? exponents are derived on arbitrary time scales. Our approach uses both convexity and superquadracity arguments, and the results obtained generalize, complement and provide refinements of some known results in literatur

Performance Evaluation of Software using Formal Methods

Formal Methods (FMs) can be used in varied areas of applications and to solve critical and fundamental problems of Performance Evaluation (PE). Modelling and analysis techniques can be used for both system and software performance evaluation. The functional features and performance properties of modern software used for performance evaluation has become so intertwined. Traditional models and methods for performance evaluation has been studied widely which culminated into the modern models and methods for system and software engineering evaluation such as formal methods. Techniques have transcended from functionality to performance modeling and analysis. Formal models help in identifying faulty reasoning far earlier than in traditional design; and formal specification has proved useful even on already existing software and systems. Formal approach eliminates ambiguity. The basic and final goal of the performance evaluation technique is to come to a conclusion, whether the software and system are working in a good condition or satisfactorily

Opportunities for technologically driven dialogical health communication for participatory interventions: Perspectives from male peer navigators in rural South Africa

There is increasing interest in the potential to deliver participatory dialogical HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention interventions via digital platforms, though the majority of mHealth interventions have been didactic in approach. We undertook 10 in-depth interviews with male Peer Navigators (PNs) who had been extensively trained and working on a larger intervention promoting young people's sexual and reproductive rights, in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Interviews focused on their, and their peers', use of technology in their everyday lives. Data were transcribed and translated, and subjected to thematic analysis. PNs described structural barriers to the use of technology, including poor connectivity, high data costs, and erratic electricity. They primarily used Facebook and WhatsApp for communication and highlighted how reading messages asynchronously was important to overcome connectivity challenges. PNs shared how groups were primarily for information sharing, they also discussed 'sensitive' issues online. Privacy was a concern, especially for conversations, and there was recognition of how confidentiality could be breached. It was also felt that WhatsApp could potentially support greater openness in discussions. We reflect on the potential for online interventions to support dialogical health communication, highlighting how dialogical health communication may be enabled through information provision, the asynchronous communication enhancing the potential for reflection, and greater participation in discussion by those who are shyer. Despite this potential there remain important risks around privacy of discussions and how to implement these approaches online