Assessing Local Community Participation in Tourism Planning and Development in Erin-Ijesha Waterfall Osun State, Nigeria

The basic element of tourism planning and development is to encourage the local communities’ participation as it is central to the sustainability of tourism industry. Many literatures have suggested a number of roles local communities could play in tourism development but failed as to how the locals themselves feel about this. This paper therefore focuses on Erin-Ijesha community participation in tourism development by examining their views on their role in the planning and development of Erin-Ijesha Waterfall resort. Data were gathered by reviewing office records and academic books, administration of 205 questionnaire and field observation. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data collected for the study. Findings revealed that local communities want to be involved when tourism policies are being made to enable policy makers to prepare a policy that meets stakeholders’ needs and addresses  their concerns. The locals also want to be actively involved on decisions bothered on tourism development to ensure their needs are incorporated. Also, they equally want to a voice in development issues generally to enable them protect their community’s norms, values and interests and increase transparency and equity. The findings also revealed that the locals are against the prevailing ‘top-down’ approach in decision making when it comes to tourism development in their areas. Keywords: Erin-Ijesha, local community, Tourism planning, sustainabilit

The Ethical Reasoning Process of Auditors in a Client's Confidential Matter:

The Code of professional conduct issued by Accountancy bodies prohibits Accountants/ Auditors from breaching the rule of confidentiality. Auditors who are · members of the accountancy profession in Nigeria are not allowed to disclose any confidential information concerning their clients without the due permission of the client. However, there are certain exceptions to the rule. Auditors may disclose information of his client without permission in response to a legitimately issued and enforceable subpoena. This study was conducted to investigate the reasoning process of auditors in Nigeria when faced with an ethical dilemma involving sensitive client information. The survey approach, involving three scenarios was used. The findings show that auditors usually adhere to the code of professional conduct in taking decisions. The study also shows that decisions taken in line with the code are not always in accord with good ethical reasoning. It is therefore recommended that the · accountancy profession needs to emphasize the greatest 'good criterion' in drawing up codes of ethics for members

The Impact of Financial Literacy and Frequency of Meetings of Members of Audit Committe on Financial Reporting Quality in Nigerian Quoted Companies

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of Financial Literacy (FL) and Frequency of Meetings(FM) of members of Audit Committee on financial reporting quality in Nigerian quoted companies. Data for the study were derived from annual reports of one hundred and thirty one (131) companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over the period of 2006 to 2012. The data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation and Ordinary Least Square(OLS). The multivariate regression technique was utilized to estimate our model. The findings showed that audit committee financial literacy and audit committee frequency of meetings had a positive significant influence on financial reporting quality. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made, prominent amongst them, was that, in order to strengthen the impact of financial literacy on fina ncial reporting quality, regulatory authorities such as SEC, CBN and NDIC, should give special attention to audit committee members with high status with a view to making it mandatory for all companies to comply with it. Status, in this context, implies an aspect of personal power reflecting the ability to influence outcomes based on perceived skills, qualities and personal attributes

Biomembrane Modelling in Planar Chromatographic Determination of Lipophilicity Using Olive and Castor Oils

BackgroundLipophilicity is a crucial physicochemical parameter that predicts in vivo pharmacokinetics and should be reliably estimated in early stage drug discovery to reduce incidence of attrition. Previous methodologies for its measurement often lead to technically incorrect decisions due to simplistic architecture and poor biomimetic attributes. Significantly, a certain seed oil, used for biomembrane modelling on planar chromatographic platform, was reported to be sufficiently biomimetic and fit for purpose.ObjectivesTo evaluate olive oil (OL) and olive-castor oil (OL-C) equi-mixture as lipids for biomembrane simulation on planar chromatographic platform.Material and MethodRetention behavior of nabumetone, a model compound was used to optimize these potential lipid membranes using a thin film engineered from 5% Liquid paraffin (LP) as benchmark, while halofantrine, nabumetone , α-naphthol and β-naphthol representing varying molecular polarities, were used for validation studies. The validation involved 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) associated with variability in Basic lipophilicity parameter (Rmw), and Specific hydrophobic surface area (SHSA) for the optimized surfaces, relative to LP and octadecylsilane (ODS) Further validation entailed correlation of the lipophilicity descriptor i.e. isocratic chromatographic hydrophobicity index (ICHI) on OL, OL-C, ODS and LP with experimental Log P(octanol/water).ResultsOptimized film thicknesses were produced by 5% OL and 1.25% OL-C (p > 0.05). The 2-way ANOVA revealed great variability in performance characteristics of the surfaces (p < 0.0001), and the new surfaces also gave poorer correlation with Log P values (R2= 0.502 and 0.449 respectively).ConclusionThe 1.25 % OL-C demonstrated a higher biomimetic attribute and warrants further validation studies to ascertain biorelevance, of lipophilicity measurement on this platform, in predicting oral drug absorption. Keywords: Lipophilicity, Reversed-phase Thin Layer Chromatography, Retention behaviour, Olive oil, Castor oi

Sexual Dysfunction among Female Patients of Reproductive Age in a Hospital Setting in Nigeria

Although sexual dysfunction is an important public-health problem in Nigeria, little research has been conducted on this topic in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of sexual dysfunction and their correlates among female patients of reproductive age using a questionnaire. Respondents were recruited from the out-patients clinics of a teaching hospital setting in Ile-Ife/Ijesa administrative health zone, Osun State, Nigeria. Of 384 female patients interviewed, 242 (63%) were sexually dysfunctional. Types of sexual dysfunction included disorder of desire (n=20; 8.3%), disorder of arousal (n=13; 5.4%), disorder of orgasm (n=154; 63.6%), and painful coitus (dyspareunia) (n=55; 22.7%). The peak age of sexual dysfunction was observed among the age-group of 26–30 years. Women with higher educational status were mostly affected. The reasons for unsatisfactory sexual life mainly included psychosexual factors and medical illnesses, among which included uncaring partners, present illness, excessive domestic duties, lack of adequate foreplay, present medication, competition among wives in a polygamous family setting, previous sexual abuse, and guilt-feeling of previous pregnancy termination among infertile women. The culture of male dominance in the local environment which makes women afraid of rejection and threats of divorce if they ever complain about sexually-related matters might perpetrate sexual dysfunction among the affected individuals. Sexual dysfunction is a real social and psychological problem in the local environment demanding urgent attention. It is imperative to carry out further research in society at large so that the health and lifestyles of affected women and their partners could be improved

Manual In-Line Stabilization of the Cervical Spine Increases the Rate of Difficult Oro-Tracheal Intubation in Adults - A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Patients with traumatic brain injury present with loss of consciousness andsuspected cervical fracture. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of difficult orotracheal intubation in surgical patients undergoing various procedures when manual in-line neck immobilization technique was applied. Methods: This was a randomized prospective study at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. A total of 100 patients were enrolled into the study and were allocated into 2 groups of either Manual In-Line Stabilization (MILS) or Early Morning Sniffing position (EMSP) techniques during intubation. Successful or unsuccessful intubations within 30secs, as well as time to successful intubation were the outcome measures. Results: The mean ± SD intubation time for successful intubation was similar in both groups (MILS=17.9±7.7 seconds, EMSP=14.6±6.6 seconds (p=0.359)).There were more failed intubations in the MILS group (27%) and (2%) in the EMSP group (p=0.001). Conclusion: The study showed that patients who had MILS had more failed intubations than those that were intubated with the EMSP technique. With this level of failed intubations there is need for provision of difficult airway laryngoscopic adjuncts for patients with diagnosed cervical fracture and uncleared cervical injury who require orotracheal intubation.Key Words: Manual inline stabilization, Cervical spine injury, Orotracheal intubation, Difficult intubatio

Financial Structure and the Profitability of Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

Finance mix is a major factor that affects the liquidity and the going concern of a business enterprise. After an idea has been conceived by an entrepreneur, there is need to also analyse the capital required for startup and means of financing the project. A good combination of sources of finance is expected to boost the profitability of an organization, but if not properly mixed, could have a negative effect on the profitability of the organization. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the effects of financial structure on the profitability of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. This study employed the use of secondary data. The Spearman’s Rank correlation and regression techniques were used for analysis, using the STATA Package for a sample of 25 manufacturing companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the period 2008-2012. The study showed that equity has a significant positive relationship with the profitability of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study recommends that managers should place greater emphasis on the facilitation of equity capital and policy makers should encourage manufacturing companies by reducing the cost of debt