Entreprenuerial Intention Among Nigerian University Students

Entreprenuerial intention (EI) is one of the major contributing factors to the formation, growth and development of entrepreneurship. It promotes self reliance and brings about initiatives. Entreprenuership on the other hand, has been considered as an engine of growth for economic growth and development of developed and emerging economies. Acadamic discussions and policy initiatives are increasing nowadays on the vital role of entrepreneurial development in a society. This has been buttressed by the recent loss of jobs due to 2008-2009 financial crisis as well as increasing unemloyment across the globe. In Nigeria, the official rate of unemployment is around 24 percent while 46.5 percent of the youth population are unemployed. The unemployed rate among gradutes has increased from 25.6 percent in 2003 to 42.7 percent in 2011.  This unwelcome development requires a concerted effort at academic and governmental levels.  The objective of this paper is to examine the entreprenuerial intenton among University students in Nigeria.  This will help to identify entreprenuerial intention which determines behaviour as well as the need to gauge entrepreneurial awareness among the respondents.  The paper uses a modified version of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as the main framework of examining entrepreneurial intention.  A sample size of 205 was drawn from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Univesity (ATBU).  Data was analysed using structural equation modeling. The findings show that, entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norm and power of behavioural control are all significant predictors of EI. In addition, other indirect relationships were also found to be significant.  Overall the result shows the model fits the the data well

Balanced Scorecard Utilization Perceived Effect on Customer Satisfaction

The study reviewed management perception of the effect of Balanced scorecard utilisation on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a lead cause of financial performance and low customer satisfaction will ultimately reflect in the financials of any organisation. The study used the survey technique to elicit information on the effect of Balanced scorecard on customer satisfaction. Ten companies in the consumer goods industry were sampled and eight respondents were contacted per company. It was found that the balanced scorecard had a significant effect on customer satisfaction at a 5% level of significance. The study therefore recommended that management tie the metrics that affect customer satisfaction closely to the organisational objectives to ensure that these are measured and where there is dissatisfaction in the products/services, remedial actions are easier to identify and carried out to restore organisations to a favourable light with customers. Keywords: Balanced Scorecard Utilisation, Customer Satisfaction, Financial Performance, Consumer Goods Industr

Balanced Scorecard Utilisation and Employee Motivation in the Consumers Goods Sector of Listed Nigerian Companies

Employee is a leading variable in organisational performance, that is; well-motivated employees are more productive and treat customers well; and satisfied customers will ultimately make repeat purchases, leading to better organisational performance. To test this assertion, the study, using sixty managers/directors drawn from the consumer goods sector of companies quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, found a significant association between the utilisation of balanced scorecards in those companies and eight measures of employee motivation. The study recommended top management pay closer attention to metrics such as training, information systems, employee performance measurement and feedback system to ensure the gains of the scorecard materialise and facilitate improvement corporate performance. Keywords: Balanced Scorecard Utilisation, Employee Motivation, Consumers Goods Secto

Effects of intermittent preventive treatment with two doses of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in malaria infection and its associated adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review

Malaria in pregnancy is associated with a number of adverse pregnancy outcomes. As a result, Intermittent Preventive Treatment has been recommended as one of the means for reducing the burden of infection and adverse consequences associated with it. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of 2-dose Intermittent Preventive Treatment with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (IPT-SP) in reducing the risk of these adverse events. A comprehensive literature search of experimental studies was conducted, restricted to papers published from the year 2000 onwards. Thirteen studies were included, each comparing a 2-dose IPT-SP with another regimen and /or placebo. The Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool was used to assess the quality of included studies and a qualitative synthesis was done. Two-dose IPT-SP showed a consistent superiority over Chloroquine. It also demonstrated non-inferiority to other anti-malarial drugs like mefloquine and proguanil which were considered as ‘gold-standards’. Only higher doses of SP and Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, showed clear superiority over 2-dose SP. This study shows that the 2-dose IPT-SP is effective in reducing the incidence of malaria in pregnancy and its adverse pregnancy outcomes. This effectiveness is complimented by its relative safety and ease of administration

Effects of a health educational intervention on malaria knowledge, motivation, and behavioural skills: a randomized controlled trial

Background: The levels of insecticide-treated net use among pregnant women and uptake of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, have been sub-optimal in Nigeria. Previous studies have reported positive correlations between knowledge, attitude and practice of malaria preventive measures. It has also been reported that information and motivation, act through a mediator (behavioural skills), to cause a health behaviour change. The aim of this study was as such to develop, implement, and assess the effects of a health educational intervention based on the information–motivation–behavioural skills (IMB) model on the levels of knowledge, motivation, and behavioural skills for ITN use and IPTp uptake among pregnant women in a hospital in north-eastern Nigeria. Methods: This was a randomized controlled parallel-group trial in which 372 antenatal care attendees were randomly assigned to either an intervention or control group after collecting baseline data using a structured questionnaire. The intervention group received a 4-h health education on malaria, guided by a module developed based on the IMB theory, while the control group received health education on breastfeeding for a similar duration and by the same facilitator. Follow-up data were subsequently collected at 2 months and at 4 months post-intervention using the same questionnaire. The generalized linear mixed models analysis was used to determine the between-group and within-group effects of the intervention. The intention-to-treat analysis was used after missing data had been replaced. This was followed by a sensitivity analysis, where the analyses were repeated without replacing the missing values. Results: The intervention was significant in achieving a 12.75% (p < 0.001), 8.55% (p < 0.001), and 6.350% (p < 0.001) higher total knowledge, motivation, and behavioural skills scores respectively, for the intervention group over the control group. The sensitivity analysis revealed no great differences in the effect sizes, even when missing data were not replaced. Conclusion: The intervention module was effective in improving knowledge, motivation and behavioural skills. It is as such recommended to be adopted and incorporated into the routine antenatal health education schedules. It is also recommended that booster doses of the module be given say 2 months after the first dose to sustain levels of motivation and behavioural skills

Validity and reliability of a Hausa language questionnaire assessing information, motivation and Behavioural skills for malaria prevention during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Many studies on malaria knowledge, attitude and practice among pregnant women have been conducted in Hausa speaking communities in Nigeria. Despite this, no standard and uniform instrument for assessing this important public health problem has been developed in the Hausa language, even though it is widely spoken. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire in Hausa language assessing information, motivation, and behavioural skills for malaria prevention during pregnancy. METHODS: The questionnaire was first developed in English language, and then assessed for its contents by a team of experts. It was then forwardly translated to Hausa, and backwardly translated again to English by independent language experts. These two English versions were then compared by a Public Health expert, following which the questionnaire was administered to 190 Hausa speaking antenatal care attendees. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the data collected. Sixty three out of the 190 respondents were invited after 2 weeks to answer the same questionnaire, following which reliability tests were performed. RESULTS: The questionnaire showed good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.859, 0.890 and 0.773 for information, motivation and behavioural skills constructs respectively. The motivation and behavioural skills constructs were able to delineate their items into three and two sub-sections respectively. The factor loadings for the two constructs ranged from 0.610 to 0.965. As for test retest reliability, the Krippendorff's alpha values for the items of the motivation section ranged from 0.941 to 0.996; that for behavioural skills ranged from 0.810 to 0.953, while for frequency of ITN use, it was 0.988. The Cohen's kappa values for the information section ranged from 0.689-0.974, except the item for 'fever' (zazzabi) which was 0.382, and was as such reworded to a simpler terminology 'hotness of the body' (zafin jiki). CONCLUSIONS: The Hausa language IMB questionnaire on malaria in pregnancy demonstrated good validity, and a high level of reliability. It is as such recommended for use among Hausa speaking communities to ensure uniformity and objectivity

Improving malaria preventive practices and pregnancy outcomes through a health education intervention: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of malaria in pregnancy and its complications, remain very high in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine the effects of a malaria health educational intervention based on the information-motivation-behavioural skills (IMB) model on malaria preventive practices and pregnancy outcomes. METHODS: The study was a randomized controlled parallel-group study, where 372 randomly selected antenatal care attendees were randomly assigned to one of either two groups after collecting baseline data. The intervention group then received a four-hour health education intervention in Hausa language, which was developed based on the IMB model, while the control group received a similarly designed health education on breastfeeding. Follow up data were then collected from the participants at a first (2 months post-intervention) and second (4 months post-intervention) follow up, and at the end of their pregnancies. RESULTS: For both groups, reported ITN use had increased from baseline (Intervention: Often-14.0%, Almost always-9.1; Control: Often-12.4%; Almost always 16.1%) to the time of second follow up (Intervention: Often -28.10%, Almost always-24.5; Control: Often-17.2%; Almost always 19.5%). Reported IPTp uptake at second follow up was also higher for the intervention group (Intervention: Two doses-59.0%, Three doses 22.3%; Control group: Two doses-48.4%, Three doses-7.0%). The drop in the haematocrit levels was greater for the control group (32.42% to 30.63%) compared to the intervention group (33.09% to 31.93%). The Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) analysis revealed that the intervention had significantly improved reported ITN use, reported IPTp uptake, and haematocrit levels, but had no significant effect on the incidence of reported malaria diagnosis or babies' birth weights. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was effective in improving ITN use, IPTp uptake, and haematocrit levels. It is, therefore, recommended for the modules to be adopted and incorporated into the routine antenatal care programmes in health centres with predominantly Hausa speaking clients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, PACTR201610001823405. Registered 26 October 2016, www.pactr.org

Evaluation of serum sex hormones and CD4+ count among HIV patients on HAART, HAART naive patients and apparently healthy subjects in Sokoto, Nigeria

Background: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic disease associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which progressively induces depletion of CD4+ T cells, and increased vulnerability to opportunistic infections. Previous reported studies associated HIV-infected men with sexual dysfunction; hypogonadism is the most common endocrinological disorders. Its prevalence remains poorly defined and widely ranging from different studies.Methods: This study evaluated a total of 135 serum sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone) and its correlation with CD4+ counts among HIV patients on HAART, HAART naïve patients and negative control subjects (n=45). CD4+ cell counts were estimated using standard flow cytometry method and serum sex hormones by competitive enzyme immunoassay technique.Results: There were significantly lower testosterone and CD4+ levels (p<0.05) among HIV positive HAART naïve men compared to negative control. LH and FSH indicated significant increased (p<0.05) among HIV positive men on HAART.Conclusions: Antiretroviral therapy improves sexual functions in males infected with human immunodeficiency virus. Hence, further study to evaluate its effects on other sexual behaviors

Chemical method for wastewater management: developments of fenton process

Fenton process represents a promising technology for the treatment of recalcitrant wastewaters. In recent years, many studies have been conducted on the applications of Fenton process for the removal of organic pollutant s in wastewater. This study presents Fenton and improvements of Fenton process such as photo-Fenton, electro-Fenton and sono-Fenton processes. Previous studies on catalysts and their efficiencies in Fenton and improvements of Fenton process were also analyzed. The effects of many important operational parameters such as pH, Fenton reagents, initial concentration of the pollutants, concentration of inorganic ions and energy input in Fenton process have been discussed and their roles are highlighted. It has been concluded that further investigations are needed to evaluate the cost of Fenton process, especially when it is combined with other energy input processes. Integration of Fenton process with other conventional methods as pre-treatment or post- treatment stage is a strategy that could enhance efficiency and reduce cost of Fenton process, hence, it should be one of the research focus of Fenton process

Antimicrobial activity of methyl gallate isolated from the leaves of Glochidion superbum against hospital isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus

An antimicrobial compound has been isolated from the leaves of Glochidion superbum. The compound was determined as methyl 3, 4, 5-trihydroxybenzoate (methyl gallate), based on ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS) analysis. The isolated compound exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against three clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by qualitative agar disc diffusion method and quantitative broth dilution method. Agar disc diffusion was done in a dose-dependent manner for each bacterial isolate at disc potencies of 25, 50, 100, and 150 µg/disc. The zones of inhibition were on average equal to 12.27, 14.20, 15.43, and 24.17 mm respectively. The inhibition zones were compared with that of vancomycin disc at 30 µg as a reference standard. The MIC and MBC values were 50 µg/mL and 100 µg/mL respectively. The results of anti MRSA activity were analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Turkey’s HSD and Duncan test. In conclusion, methyl gallate which was isolated from G. superbum showed the inhibition activity against methicillin resistant S. aureu