Combating Rural Feminine Youth Poverty in Nigeria’s Democratic Governance

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and has such a great ethnic, cultural and religious diversity. The Nigerian paradox has continued to baffle the world because the poverty level in the country contradicts the country’s immense wealth as over 70 per cent of the population wallow in absolute poverty with no food, clothing or shelter (Obayelu and Ogunlade, 2006). The general picture, however, is of a country struck by poverty, maladministration and increasing internal conflicts. Poverty is painful. The poor suffers physical, emotional and moral pains (Deepa et al, 2000). The poor lives without fundamental freedoms of action and choice that the better-off takes for granted (Sen, 1999). Poor people often lack adequate food and shelter, education and suffer health deprivations that keep them from leading the kind of life that everyone values. They also face extreme vulnerability of ill-health economic dislocation and natural disasters and they are often exposed to ill-treatment by institutions of the State and Society and are powerless to influence key decisions affecting their lives. According to This Day (2007), above one million eight hundred thousand Nigerians stood up against poverty as part of a global call. A record 38 million people world-wide observed the anti-poverty call, eclipsing the 23.5 million figures for 2006

“Keep It 100”: A Handbook Promoting Equitable Outcomes for Black University Students Through Mentorship

Black and racialized students attend Canadian universities with the intent of achieving academic success. However, instances of overt and covert racism negatively impact Black and racialized students’ academic success and retention rates in university programs. Lee (1999) and Sinanan (2016) suggest mentorship as a key strategy towards increasing academic success and retention rates among Black students. This handbook proposes mentorship strategies for use by university educators and administrators to help build beneficial relationships with Black and racialized students that lead to improved learning outcomes. Specifically, this handbook proposes what Quach et al. (2020) have identified as mentee-focused mentorship. Mentee-focused mentorship centres on the needs of Black students and recognizes the layers of systemic racism that exist in universities. This project provides educators and administrators with an understanding of concepts related to systemic racism, anti-racism, intersectionality, critical race theory (CRT) and CRT-informed practices. Personal stories from Black students collected from the academic literature are presented alongside points of reflection for educators and administrators. Points of reflection are provided with the intent that readers will meaningfully consider their positions of power and the strengths in students’ non-academic identities

Rural Household Food Security and Coping Strategies in South- West, Nigeria: A Gender Differentials Perspective

Food insecurity remains a thorn in the flesh of most rural communities of Nigeria. Very few government efforts have succeeded in solving the problem of food shortages in rural Nigeria. Most of the previous food insecurity studies focused on rural farming communities without regard to gender issues. Focus on gender differentials in the knowledge of technologies for coping with food security has not yet been properly addressed Study data were collected with structured questionnaire and observation technique from 126  farm household and analysed using descriptive, food poverty line, and coping strategies use index.  Reduce the quantity of meal taken, reducing the number of time to eat, withdraw children from school, borrowing  money from friends and relations, occupation diversification, planting of food crops on a smale scale of land, purchasing food item on credit, sales of asset such as land, borrow money from bank, attending parties are the coping strategies used by the respondents, it was observed that there are more male headed household than female headed household in the study area,  and that  there are no significant sex differentials in the use of strategies to cope with food insecurity in south west nigeria, but men have more control of the use of productive resources. Keywords: Food security, Coping strategies, Gender Differentials, Rural household in South west, Nigeria.

Non-PLL Direct Power Control for a Single-Phase Grid-Connected Three-Level Inverter

The growing demand for clean, reliable renewable energy generation has led to the widespread adoption of solar energy as a source of electricity. Technological advancement aiding to reduce the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, as well as improvement in power electronics and control strategies for solar PV systems have also contributed to the growing popularity. For grid-connected solar systems to adequately meet future demand and grid requirements, the system must be reliable, and not affected by instability or distortions on the power grid. In this thesis, a control strategy for single-phase grid-connected inverters that can synchronize to the grid without a phase lock loop (PLL) is proposed. The PLL is an important device that is relied on for the synchronization of solar PV systems to the electrical grid. However, the PLL has an inherently complex design and its performance is often negatively affected if the grid voltage has poor quality. In addition, eliminating the use of PLL for synchronization can avoid the issue of slow dynamic response, higher harmonics, and increased computation complexity. The real and reactive power of the single-phase, three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter is controlled by using a direct power control (DPC) strategy. A novel method of computing the power components of the single-phase inverter is proposed and this technique further improves the precision of the power components calculated by compensating the frequency and phase deviation compensation. Finally, simulations are carried out by using MATLAB/Simulink to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Comparative Analysis of Poverty Level Among Rural and Urban Farmers in Ekiti and Ondo States

The study was carried out to investigate the poverty level differential among rural and urban households in Ekiti and Ondo states of Nigeria. A total of 180 households, were randomly selected, from nine Local Government Areas of the two states.  A structured interview schedule was used in eliciting information from them. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts Mean, Standard Deviation and inferential statistics (Foster-Greer-Thorbeck, FGT). The Foster-Grear-Thorbecke (FGT) measure showed that 78% and 57% of the rural and urban farmers from the two states were poor respectively. Based on the poverty line of N5668, the depth of poverty is 0.3889 and 0.1875 for the urban dwellers. For the rural dweller, the severity of poverty is 0.2613 and 0.0856, and this showed that there was a higher level of poverty among households in the rural areas than the urban areas of the study area

Comparative Analysis of Fresh and Smoked Catfish Marketing in Ekiti and Ondo States of Nigeria

The study aimed at comparing fresh and smoked fish marketing in Ondo and Ekiti states, Nigeria, using a total of 120 respondents randomly selected from the two states. The study revealed that most catfish sellers were female, married and young, literates with more than ten years of marketing experiences. About 49.17, 33.33 & 17.50 percent of them were involved in marketing both fresh and smoked catfish, fresh catfish and smoked catfish respectively through direct sales to consumers and retailers. The marketing of both fresh and smoked fish is profitable, however, smoked catfish marketing is found to be more profitable than fresh catfish marketing. Though the variable cost of processing and marketing smoked catfish (N537.60) is higher than that of fresh catfish (N262.50), the return on investment of smoked catfish (0.60) is higher than that of fresh catfish (0.48). This however shows that, the marketing of smoked catfish is efficient and worthwhile in the long run when compared to fresh catfish. The study recommends; introducing more smoking kilns and guarantee minimum price policy for catfish production; effective utilization of catfish associations for credit accessibility and scale up production and capacity building of farmers in smoking kiln utilizatio

Gender Assessment of Computer and Internet Usage among Student Teachers in Ekiti State Tertiary Institutions

The study investigates the usage of computer and Internet resources (IR) among 240 student teachers randomly selected from the Ekiti State University and College of Education Ikere, using a validated questionnaire. Data analysis involves the use of frequency counts, percentages as well as Likert-type scale. Findings show a high level of awareness of online resources among the student teachers; however, the men were more informed than the women. The Ekiti State University students, irrespective of gender, have access to the use of most internet resources than their counterparts from the college of education. Smart phones and computers from Internet café were the major sources of access to IR while Networking, Music and educational resources recorded the highest usage of IR. The majority of the students are not versed in computer usage as they access to it in the classrooms and homes. The significant challenges of internet resource usage witnessed, (irrespective of gender) are; inadequate power supply; lack of computer skills among teachers; poor internet connectivity, lack of skilled manpower and financial constraints. The study recommends the need to review the educational curriculum and integrate Computer and Internet usage into the teacher’s education. The Ekiti State Government and voluntary Organizations should extend the distribution of computers to the higher institutions in the state. The female student teachers should be encouraged to increase their usage of internet resources. Students from the college of education should be encouraged to utilize internet resources to enhance their performance in the classroom and global economic transformation. Keywords: Gender, Internet Usage, Internet Resoources, Student Teachers

Development of a twin screw extruder

Abstract: The aim of this study was to design, construct a multi-purpose twin screw extruder and evaluate its performance. All parts of the extruder were constructed using locally available materials and was made suitable for both batch and continuous production. The extruder essentially consists of the hopper, barrel, variable screw speed and temperature control, electrical motor and replaceable dies to give different sizes and shapes in the final products. It could also handle feed materials of different rheology. Performance evaluation of the extruder was done using cocoyam flour, varying feed moisture content (FMC) and screw speed (SS). Both the FMC and SS were observed to significantly affect all performance indicators (expansion ratio, residence time, throughput and functional efficiency) of the extrusion process. The availability and efficient access to this equipment would encourage the development of locally made extruded products. Through effective utilization, it is expected that the extruder would expand the production and processing of extruded foods

Giant coronary sinus aneurysm and multiple coronary artery aneurysms in a pediatric patient

Giant coronary sinus aneurysm is extremely rare in pediatric population. It was first reported in 1983 by Ho SY et al. Cerebrovascular accident, shock, myocarditis and severe myocardial dysfunction requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are also very rare presentations of Kawasaki disease. Such rare cases are often misdiagnosed at first as septic shock. Kawasaki disease should be considered in all children presenting with toxic shock. This article reports a rare case of giant coronary sinus aneurysm that also had unusual presentation of Kawasaki disease with cerebrovascular accident, shock, myocarditis and severe myocardial dysfunction requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. In our patient, Kawasaki disease was initially misdiagnosed. It was retrospectively diagnosed when cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed to evaluate coronary sinus aneurysm.peer-reviewe

Impact of germination on the techno‐functional properties, nutritional composition, and health‐promoting compounds of brown rice and its products:a review

Rice is a popular grain and forms part of the daily diet of people throughout the world. However, the consumption of rice and its products is sometimes limited by its high glycemic index due to its high starch content, low protein content and quality, and low bioavailability of minerals due to the presence of anti‐nutritional factors. This has partly stimulated research interest in recent times toward the use of bioprocessing techniques such as germination as cheap and natural means to improve the nutritional quality, digestibility, and health properties of cereals, including rice, to partially achieve nutrition and food security in the developing regions of the world. This review highlights the impact of germination on the nutritional quality, health‐promoting properties, and techno‐functional characteristics of germinated brown rice grains and their products. The review demonstrated that germinated rice grains and their products have improved nutritional quality and digestibility, modified functional properties, and showed antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐diabetic, anti‐obesity, anti‐cancer, and anti‐cardiovascular activities. Germination appears to be a suitable bioprocessing method to improve the nutritional quality and bioactive constituents and modify the techno‐functional properties of rice grains for diverse food applications and improved global nutrition and food safety