Depth of tillage and its effect on field watershed size in Ejigbo zone, Osun State, Nigeria

The study investigated effects of different depths of tillage on flow of runoff in watersheds on fields tilled and planted with maize (Zea mays) hybrids and open pollinated variety (OPV) of maize. Twelve 1 m × 1 m × 2 m pits were dug and overlaid at all sides and at its bottom with impermeable membrane to accumulate watershed’s runoff from the fields. Twelve compartmental plots of 400 m2 each comprising 2 depths of tillage (0-15 cm and 0-30 cm) and 2 varieties of maize (hybrids and open pollinated) were used. Each of the treatments was replicated thrice to make 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design. Each plot measured 4 m × 10 m at 2 m apart. Among the data collected were the volume of water accumulated in the small earthen pits dug, flow velocity (v m/s) of water in runoff channels/collectors that fed earthen pits, slopes of the collectors, cross-sectional area of collectors and wetted perimeter. Results revealed that average infiltrometer values of 15.00±0.24 mm/h and 16.50±0.40 mm/h respectively in the upper part and the lower part were recorded. The 0-15 cm depth of tillage accumulated more volume of runoff water than the 0-30 cm depth of tillage in the pits and it was 23.33% higher in the lower depth of tillage used on the field than the 0-30 cm depth of tillage. Implying that 0-30 cm tillage depth retained more water from the rainfall compare to the water retained by the 0-15 cm depth. Even though, volume of runoff water of 0-15 cm depth of tillage was higher than that of the 0-30 cm depth of tillage, 0-15 cm depth of tillage had the highest yield of maize (9.30±4.26 t ha-1)

Workplace Hazards and Social Positioning Efforts of Male Adolescent Labourers in Suburb Sawmills, Lagos State Nigeria

Young people with low socioeconomic background require resilience to survive in a city with limited  opportunities. Unintendedly such efforts sometimes affect their well-being. Such is the case of adolescent  dwelling in some urban suburbs across cultures. Based on sixteen faceto- face interviews with adolescent boys working as labourers in suburb sawmills; this paper situates the notion of boyhood and survival into adulthood within a social space. The findings revealed conscious absorption with the notion of boyhood through certain rules of engagement and survival measures. These strategies include self-care practices geared towards achieving a healthy body for contextualised performance in the factory settings. However, this comes with series of consequences as boys lived out the social notions of boyhood and rules of engagement in activities for survival and social recognition. Hence, understanding and targeting the positive survival strategies of this social category of adolescents could be useful to empower and minimise the hazards of working and growing as adolescents in the physical and social spaces of sawmills.Keywords: Sawmills, Hazards, urban slums, boyhood, masculinitiesLes jeunes à faible contexte socio-économique nécessitent résilience pour survivre dans une ville avec des possibilités limitées. Unintendedly ces efforts affectent parfois leur bien-être. Tel est le cas de  l’adolescent demeure dans certaines banlieues urbaines à travers les cultures. Basé sur seize entretiens en face à face avec des adolescents travaillant comme ouvriers dans les scieries de la banlieue; Ce document situe la notion de jeunesse et de la survie à l’âge adulte dans un espace social. Les résultats ont révélé une absorption consciente avec la notion d’enfance grâce à certaines règles de mesures de l’engagement et de survie. Ces stratégies comprennent des pratiques d’auto-soins orientés vers la réalisation d’un corps sain pour la performance contextualisée dans les réglages d’usine. Toutefois, cela vient avec série de conséquences que les garçons vivaient les notions sociales de la jeunesse et des règles d’engagement dans des activités de survie et de reconnaissance sociale. Par conséquent, la compréhension et le ciblage des stratégies de survie positifs de cette catégorie sociale des adolescents pourrait être utile de responsabiliser et de minimiser les risques liés au travail et de plus en plus comme des adolescents dans les espaces physiques et sociaux des scieries.Mots-clés: scieries , les dangers, les bidonvilles , enfance , masculinité

Aborigines-Migrant Settlers Crisis and Reconstruction Efforts in two Yoruba Communities in South Western Nigeria

Communities coexist for several reasons. Many traditional Yoruba communities are not an exemption as quite a number of communities were brought together partially based on the need to fight against a common enemy as well as prevent invasion. Ile-Ife and Modakeke-Ife are two neighbouring communities demonstrating such historicalbackground. The communities have co-existed peaceful for several decades, shared many things in common including cases of intermarriages until they started having communal clashes. The crisis have caused significant changes to the existing social relations between the two communities, resulting in widespread breakdown of law and order, destruction of lives and properties as well as homelessness and dispossession of farmlands. Despite the intensity of the crisis and the overwhelming odds, the communities have remained as neighbours. What are the sources of the communities’ resilience amidst the disaster? Forty Seven in-depth interviews were held with twogroups of adults (youths and the elderly) on gender basis who are residents in the two communities. Findings revealed that informal social network and some formal community institutions were the most significant factors enhancing participants’ resilience during and after the crisis. However, the study also disturbingly revealed thatthere is still bitterness centring on farm land rights within the community, and partisan politics have undermined previous efforts at addressing the issue. The study concludes that disrupted social networks could erode community cohesion and political factorshave the potential to further diminish resilience against crisis in the future

The Relationship Between Religiosity & Selected Health Behaviors of African Americans of the Pentecostal Faith

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between religiosity and selected health behaviors of African Americans in the Pentecostal faith. A 43 question printed survey was administered to 300 adult attendees from selected Pentecostal churches. The purposive sample was obtained from the Holy Christian Church of Mankato, Brooklyn Park, and St. Paul. The printed survey focused on information about demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education, fellowship, membership, and also health behaviors, perceived weight, weight goals, health classes desired, utilization of a community health educator and religiosity. The findings of the study indicated that high religiosity had a minimal effect on the overall selected behaviors for adult respondents. The results showed that the respondents in the study lack exercise and do not engage in healthy eating behaviors. Recommendations for further study included conducting the study with other church denominations as well as a more diverse population. This would allow for more statistical analyses to be carried out with respect to the relationship between religiosity and healthy lifestyles of African American church attendees. Finally, there is great potential for futher research to examine how health educators and church leaders can collaborate together in educating African American church attendees on the need for healthy lifestyles. Identifying the most efficient and effective ways of this collaboration provide additional research opportunities in this area

Comparative Analysis of Broilers’ Rearing in Different Housings Systems in Wet Humid Climate, South West Nigeria

The experiment was 2 × 4 factorial design of 2 levels: deep litter and cage and 4 replicates for each. The replicates were labelled PA, PB, PC and PD for the deep litter while the cages were labelled C1- C10, A1- A10, G1-G10 and E1- E10. The birds were fed ad libitum of broiler growers for the first four weeks and broiler finisher for the last four weeks with equal water supply. Measurement of experimental parameters started from third week, initial weights and subsequent weekly weights were taken till eighth week. Total birds’ weights per pen and cage were recorded weekly to find out the economic usage of both systems and cost implication of rearing. The experiment was performed twice with two set of birds -same age and weight bracket in April – June (AJ) and July – September (JS) in the same year and house. One-way ANOVA and paired t-test were used for statistical analysis for the weights and weight gains/losses, chickcop economic analysis was also used. Significant (p = 0.029; p<0.05) different was observed between the weights of broilers and different housing systems in AJ and JS experiments. The battery cage gave highest body weight gains/week, 28.00±1.21 g and 28.00±0.90 g respectively for pen and cage. Final weight of the broilers at 8th week was 1.696 ± 0.71 kg in cage E.  There were stronger relationships between different housing systems and body weights of the broilers with R2 ranges between 0.999 and 1. JS had 1.63% increase of weight gains over the AJ. Proximate analysis revealed that both housing systems did not affect the meat quality of the broilers. The Total Production Costs in Naira, (TPC), were higher in battery cage, but had high values for figure of merit, thus with higher economic benefits at long term. Keywords: battery cage, broilers, deep litter, economic analysis, southwest Nigeri

Students’ Attitudinal Behaviours toward their Academic Assessments in Senior Secondary Schools in South Western Nigeria

Three hundred and twenty-one students were selected from SS III of the three secondary schools at equal number with 27 teachers teaching three compulsory courses: English Language, Mathematics and Economics. Results show that significant difference (p = 0.0481 or 0.0224, p<0.05) was observed between method of assessment (Continuous assessment, CA or Conventional Method, CM) and the academic performances of the students in all the three subjects. 30.8% of schoolteachers do not always know which method or type of assessment to use. 79% of parents agreed to academic assessments of their children using CA rather than CM. There were stronger relationships between the methods of assessment and academic performances of the students and as shown by R2 values of 0.996, 0.926 and 0.935. The number of students with high marks in the CM was more than the number of students in CA. Keywords – Continuous Assessment, Conventional Method, Discrete and Integrative test

The Relationship Between Religiosity & Selected Health Behaviors of African Americans of the Pentecostal Faith

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between religiosity and selected health behaviors of African Americans in the Pentecostal faith. A 43 question printed survey was administered to 300 adult attendees from selected Pentecostal churches. The purposive sample was obtained from the Holy Christian Church of Mankato, Brooklyn Park, and St. Paul. The printed survey focused on information about demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education, fellowship, membership, and also health behaviors, perceived weight, weight goals, health classes desired, utilization of a community health educator and religiosity. The findings of the study indicated that high religiosity had a minimal effect on the overall selected behaviors for adult respondents. The results showed that the respondents in the study lack exercise and do not engage in healthy eating behaviors. Recommendations for further study included conducting the study with other church denominations as well as a more diverse population. This would allow for more statistical analyses to be carried out with respect to the relationship between religiosity and healthy lifestyles of African American church attendees. Finally, there is great potential for futher research to examine how health educators and church leaders can collaborate together in educating African American church attendees on the need for healthy lifestyles. Identifying the most efficient and effective ways of this collaboration provide additional research opportunities in this area

Application of Hammer Mill as Granulator and Pulveriser for Fermented-Pressed Cassava Mash

Hammer mill grated cassava paste, pressed-fermented mash was granulated by hammer mill, HH; granulated conventionally, HB. Similarly, conventionally grated cassava paste, pressed-fermented mash was granulated conventionally, BB; granulated using hammer mill, BH. Each of the parts HH, HB, BB and BH above were replicated into three, each designated HH1. HH2 and HH3 …. BH1, BH2 and BH3 to make 12 samples and 2 x 4 factorial design. Each pulverised was oven dried for moisture contents’ determination on dry basis, also each sample was fried into gaari. Bulk densities and some physical properties of the pulverised and gaari samples were determined and they were subjected to sieving analysis. The results showed that size reduction ratio achieved in all the treatments were done properly and accordingly. Mean values of the coarse, medium and fine particles of the pulverised and gaari samples in all the treatments were statistically different from each other. Significant (p<0.05) differences were observed between the results of weights of cassava flour, gaari and different treatments. Hammer mill grated but granulated and pulverised by conventional method had the highest rank for all the physical properties of gaari samples with lowest fibre content, lowest moisture content and highest bulk density. There were stronger correlations (with higher R2 values) between the different processes and the weights of the cassava flour and gaari so produced per local measure used. The combined processes of hammer mill and conventional BH had the highest 89.1% (medium + fine particles) for gaari while the highest was 86.52% (medium + fine particles) for combination in HB for the pulverised samples. Keywords: fermented cassava mash, gaari, granulated, hammer mill, pressed cassava mash, pulverise