Naso-Orbito-Ethmoid Fractures: Perspective and Practices of Nigerian Surgeons

Objective: The study was to appraise the level of expertise in the management of Naso-Orbito-Ethmoid (NOE) fractures and to provide recommendation for necessary improvement in an African population.Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was designed and electronically mailed to Nigerian Oral & Maxillofacial surgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive surgeons, and Ear, Nose and Throat surgeons to assess their perspectives and practices in the diagnosis and management of NOE fractures. Further administration of questionnaire was done at the AO (Association of Osteosynthesis) principle course in Lagos, January, 2010. Information generated were coded and processed with statistical package for Social Sciences version 15.0, Chicago Illinois, USA.Results: The questionnaire was delivered to 214 surgeons, there were 112 respondents out of which 78 expressed no interest in the management of NOE fractures and 34 had interest and so completed the questionnaire.Diagnosis is largely based on plain radiographs; only 22 surgeons perform NOE trauma surgery, majority (63.9%) use existing laceration or more conservative approaches like Lynch or open sky incisions. Mini and micro-plates are employed by only 31.8% of the surgeons. Bone grafting is rarely performed but when required, the iliac crest is preferred. Repair of the nasolacrimal duct system is rarely done.Conclusion: The management of NOE fractures in Nigeria, falls short of the current best evidence in the world literature. International collaboration for improvement is recommended.Keywords: nasoethmoid complex, diagnosis, treatment, complication

An Empirical Analysis of BIM Implementation in the Nigerian Construction Industry: Preliminary Results

Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the most promising recent developments in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. The benefits that BIM offers to construction are limitless, but then, the adoption is not happening at the pace desired in some countries. In Nigeria, the BIM adoption has been much slower than anticipated in the AEC industry. The benefits and capabilities of BIM has not been fully explored due to some factors. This paper presents findings from an industry-wide questionnaire survey that was carried out in the in the spring of 2018. The study provides an insight into BIM adoption in the Nigerian AEC industry by exploring the factors that affect (barriers) its adoption, as seen by various participants in the AEC industry. The result revealed that all criteria were considered important, with “lack of awareness”, “Lack of trained professionals to manage BIM innovation”, and “Cost of BIM software” the three top criteria that affect BIM adoption. Factor analysis aggregated the criteria into six factors namely: “management”, “financial”, “psychological”, “performance”, “process”, and “governmental”.  The findings of the study is expected to provide useful information for the AEC community by advancing their understanding of the factors that affect the adoption of BIM technology and proffer solutions to its usage. Keywords: Adoption, AEC, Barriers, BIM, Factors, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/CER/15-2-03 Publication date:June 30th 2023

Partisan Conflict and Income Inequality in the United States: A Nonparametric Causality-in-Quantiles Approach

This paper examines the predictive power of a partisan conflict on income inequality. Our study contributes to the existing literature by using the newly introduced nonparametric causality-in-quantile testing approach to examine how political polarization in the United States affects several measures of income inequality and distribution overtime. The study uses annual time-series data between the periods 1917–2013. We find evidence in support of a dynamic causal relationship between partisan conflict and income inequality, except at the upper end of the quantiles. Our empirical findings suggest that a reduction in partisan conflict will lead to a reduction in our measures of income inequality, but this requires that inequality is not exceptionally high

The practices and effects of tooth mutilation in a Nigerian rural population

Objective: The study was carried out to investigate the practices and effect of tooth mutilation in two rural communities in Nigeria.Method: A structured questionnaire was administered on subjects in two rural communities in the Niger-Delta area of Nigeria. The questionnaire was used to collect demographic information of the subject and the reasons for, methods of tooth mutilation and its effects on the oral health of participants were recorded. Data obtained were coded and computerizedanalysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0.Result: A total of 37 (36.3%) participants out of 102 patients who visited the dental clinic during the free dental care mission completed the questionnaire. There were 9 (24.3%) male and 28 (75.3%) female in two communities of Okorenkoko and Agudama. Most of the participants received information concerning this act through family members or friends with various reasons given for engaging in this act. Also, various deleterious effects of tooth mutilation was found with 25 (67.6%) experiencing pain during the process, 12 (32.4%) noticed progressive tooth discolouration while 8 (21.6%) experienced signs of infection witheither pus discharge or upper lip swelling or both.Conclusion: Rural dwellers, irrespective of level of education are still indulging in mutilatory practices to the dental tissues and on the long run, most mutilated teeth, would most likely become symptomatic and may result into extraction worse sequelae.Keywords: Tooth mutilation, rural communities, Nigeri

Evaluating the Performance of Bioclimatic Design Building in Nigeria

Bioclimatic design is an important strategy toward achieving sustainable building. Through the implementation of bioclimatic concept in buildings, energy demand can be reduced leading to increased users satisfaction. Using a set of questionnaire, a bioclimatic design evaluation was conducted to assess the satisfaction and perception of occupants in a residential building with the best practice of bioclimatic design strategies, particularly natural ventilation and daylighting. The questionnaire was based on a five-point Likert scale, covering various performance criteria of building, specifically on the architectural elements of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort, acoustic comfort and landscape elements. Findings showed a positive relationship between perceptions and building performance criteria. Keywords: Bioclimatic design; Performance evaluation; Satisfaction and perception; Nigeri

Techniques for mandibular block anaesthesia - the practice of Nigerian dentists

Objective: To assess the knowledge and practices of Nigerian dentists in the use of alternative techniques for inferior alveolar nerve block.Method: A survey was conducted using a self administered structured questionnaire distributed among a cross-section of Nigerian dentists. Participants were to distinguish between four alternative methods of mandibular block anaesthesia namely; Gow-Gate block (GGB), Akinosi block (AB), Vazirani block (VB) and Retromolar block (RB). The questionnaire sought demographic information about participants, types of practice, when and how the dentists received formal teaching on these techniques, how often they used the techniques, and the reasons for conventional block failure they have encountered.Result: There were 273 respondents comprising 165 (60.4%) males and 105 (39.6%) females within the age range of 24-56 years (mean 34.4 + 6.8 years). Two hundred and forty nine (91.2%) respondents were aware of alternative methods of achieving IAN block but 45 (16.5%) employed alternative techniques in less than 5% of cases, 57 (20.9%) in 5-10% of cases and 12 (4.4%) in more than 10% of cases. Akinosi block was the preferred alternative (p = 0.045). Most of the alternative techniques were taught without clinical demonstrations. The relationship between years of experience and encounter with conventional block failure on one hand [p =0.126] and experience and usage of alternative techniques [p= 0.063] were not statistically significant. The common causes of conventional block failure highlighted were aberrant anatomy (76.9%), local infection (67%), uncooperative patients (64.8%), trismus (59.3%) and poor technique (56%).Conclusion: There is a deficiency in the undergraduate curriculum of Nigeria Dental Schools with respect to training in dental anaesthesia. Majority use conventional nerve block routinely while alternative techniques are rarely employed.Keywords: Inferior alveolar nerve block, local anaesthesia, techniques, dental educatio

COVID-19 Pandemic and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Objective: To present a brief overview of global adjustments to COVID-19 by oral and maxillofacial surgeons and to characterise the reactions and adaptations of the oral and maxillofacial surgery specialty in Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A review of the global literature was done to highlight available guidelines for oral and maxillofacial surgery under COVID-19 pandemic. Questionnaires were electronically sent to maxillofacial surgeons in Nigeria and, a telephone survey of the Nigerian oral and maxillofacial surgery centres was done to characterise the reactions and adaptations of local practitioners to the pandemic situation.Results: Out of the 822 questionnaires electronically delivered to maxillofacial surgeons across 156 centres worldwide, the response rate was only 20.2%. Twenty-eight (17.9%) centres were completely shut down while only 6 (3.8%) centres were functioning normally. Other centres scaled down services and/or number of personnel. Surgeons older than 60 years were made to stay away in some centres while some personnel were drafted to support the medical team at the frontline COVID-19 treatment centres.Conclusion: It concluded that the variability of practices is remarkable and this is largely due to unequitable resources and lack of uniform policies even among federal tertiary health institutions and the authors therefore proposed an algorithm to guide oral and maxillofacial patients\u27 classification and management in the face of COVID-19 pandemic.   &nbsp

Ryzyko geopolityczne, globalizacja i degradacja środowiska w Afryce Południowej: dowody z zaawansowanego podejścia kwantylowego

Sustainable development involves the incorporation of socio-economic concerns and environmental protection into the economic decision-making process, in such a way that, any developmental effort would eventually be favorable to immediate and future generations. It is against this backdrop this study investigates the effects of geopolitical risk and globalization on environmental degradation in South Africa over the period 1985Q1-2018Q4. This study improves on existing studies and raises concerns on the potential twin-effect of geopolitical risk and globalization on the environment. We deviate from the existing studies that make use of the mean causality approaches that do not consider possible dependence in the conditional tail of the series distribution. To examine whether the causality exists among the series, we make use of the novel Troster (2018) Granger non-causality in condition quantiles, which captures the pattern of causality in various quantiles. Empirical results show that there is feedback causality nexus between geopolitical risk and CO2 emissions. In majority of the quantiles, feedback causality is also observed between globalization and CO2 emissions. We find a bidirectional Granger causality nexus between geopolitical risk and environmental degradation, and between globalization and environmental degradation. Globalization and geopolitical risk negatively influence environmental degradation. We conclude that environmental degradation is not driven by globalization and geopolitical risk in South Africa, among other policy suggestions.Zrównoważony rozwój polega na włączeniu kwestii społeczno-ekonomicznych i ochrony środowiska do procesu podejmowania decyzji gospodarczych w taki sposób, aby wszelkie działania rozwojowe były ostatecznie korzystne dla najbliższych i przyszłych pokoleń. Na tym tle niniejsze badanie analizuje wpływ ryzyka geopolitycznego i globalizacji na degradację środowiska w Afryce Południowej w okresie 1985Q1-2018Q4. Badanie to budzi obawy dotyczące potencjalnego podwójnego wpływu ryzyka geopolitycznego i globalizacji na środowisko. Odchodzimy od istniejących badań, które wykorzystują podejście do średniej przyczynowości, które nie uwzględnia możliwej zależności w warunkowym ogonie rozkładu serii. Aby zbadać, czy istnieje związek przyczynowy między szeregami, korzystamy z Trostera (2018) Grangera bezprzyczynowości w kwantylach warunkowych, która oddaje wzorzec przyczynowości w różnych kwantylach. Wyniki empiryczne pokazują, że istnieje związek przyczynowo-skutkowy sprzężenia zwrotnego między ryzykiem geopolitycznym a emisjami CO2 . W większości kwantyli obserwuje się również przyczynowość sprzężenia zwrotnego między globalizacją a emisjami CO2 . Znajdujemy dwukierunkowy związek przyczynowy Grangera między ryzykiem geopolitycznym a degradacją środowiska oraz między globalizacją a degradacją środowiska. Globalizacja i ryzyko geopolityczne negatywnie wpływają na degradację środowiska. Doszliśmy do wniosku, że degradacja środowiska nie jest spowodowana między innymi globalizacją i ryzykiem geopolitycznym w RPA, ale także innymi sugestiami politycznymi

A novel hybrid fuzzy MCDM approach for the selection of building materials

The selection of building materials is one of the most critical activities in the design of a building and is often observed to be a multi-criterion decision-making problem with conflicting and different objectives. This paper proposes a building material selection model based on a hybrid fuzzy MCDM techniques, a multi-criterion decision analysis approach. The fuzzy MCDM is used to prioritize and assign important weightings for evaluating criteria. Ratings of alternatives versus qualitative criteria and the importance weights of all the criteria are assessed in linguistic values represented by fuzzy numbers. Ranking formulae and membership functions for the final fuzzy evaluation values can be clearly developed for better executing the decision making. A numerical is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. Keywords: Fuzzy MCDM, fuzzy logic, building materials selection, ranking, maximizing set and minimizing set