An Experimental Study of Fertility Behaviour in South West of Nigeria

The study evaluated the impact of an educational film on the fe rtility and health behaviour of selected Yoruba speaking communities in South West Nigeria. A field controlled experiment was utilized with 5 treatment groups and 5 controlled groups. Intact population units was adopted in the experimental sites and the mean age of participants was 38 years. Results indicated difference between the experimental and control groups in fertility behaviour. Clinic attendanceforfamily planning also increased as a result of projection of the film

The synergism of hepatitis B and aflatoxicosis in hepatocellular carcinoma development: A mini-review

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the twelfth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of worldwide cancer-related death. Chronic hepatitis B infection, caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and exposure to aflatoxins is fundamental in the formation of HCC in developing countries. This review of scientific publications aims to establish the detrimental effects of aflatoxin-contaminated foods and highlights the correlation between aflatoxin and hepatitis B viral-associated hepatocellular carcinoma. Research has shown a significant increase in the occurrence of HCC in HBV-infected individuals exposed to fungal toxins. HBV demonstrates the ability to integrate and bind to p53 protein in the host DNA and propagate hepatocyte vulnerability through carcinogenic aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) damage. Although there has been clear evidence about the synergistic interaction of exposure to AFB1 and HBV infection in the induction of HCC, other literature has shown otherwise, mainly because incomplete and vague findings and hypotheses were made in regions where AFB1 and HBV pose a public health risk. Vaccination against hepatitis B and measures such as robust food safety systems to avoid hepatotoxicity and hepatocellular carcinogenesis induced by AFB1 is the most effective methods in the prevention of HCC induced by HBV and AFB

Corporate Marketing Strategy and Attainment of Competitive Advantage: Evidence from Nigeria Money Deposit Banks

This study investigates the effect of corporate marketing strategy in the attainment of competitive advantage in Nigeria money deposit banks. Descriptive research design was used. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select six (6) banks out of twenty (21) deposit money banks currently in Nigeria. Similarly, ten (10) financial experts (i.e. senior and junior staff) were quotally allocated to each bank thus a total number of 60 questionnaires were administered to the targeted respondents on the ground that they are considered to be of interest to this study. Using correlation (r) inferential statistics as analytical tool, the result of the first hypothesis showed that there is a significant positive relationship between marketing strategies of Nigeria money deposit banks in attaining competitive advantage. The finding also revealed from the second hypothesis that there was statistical significant relationship between corporate marketing strategy and customers’ loyalty. Based on this finding, we recommended that financial institutions must assess the rate of success and or failure of marketing strategies to be adopted for better competitive advantage. Keywords: Corporate Marketing Strategies, Competitive Advantage, Deposit Money Banks, Banks’ Share, Customer Loyalty

Cashless Policy and Customers' Satisfaction: A Study of Commercial Banks in Ogun State, Nigeria

The advent of cashless policy into the Nigerian banking sector has brought mixed feelings to all stakeholders in the sector.  The development has brought relief to a segment dominated by the operators (bankers), while the other segment dominated by the customers has complained about the challenges associated with the operation of the policy.  Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the customers’ satisfaction of the recently introduced cashless policy in Ogun State, Nigeria with a survey of bank customers in Abeokuta.  Data was collected with a well structural questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics, while hypotheses formulated for the study were tested with correlation co-efficient.The findings of the study reveal that cashless policy contributed significantly to customers’ satisfaction in Ogun State. Also, the study revealed that cashless policy contributed significantly to customers’ satisfaction through electronic channels.Finally, the study concluded that the cashless policy is customer friendly and progressive. Hence, it was therefore recommended, among others, that infrastructures should be improved upon to ensure easy operation of the policy in Ogun state. Keywords: Cashless policy, Customers’ satisfaction, Nigerian banking sector, Customers’ orientation and Banking performanc

The role of foreign aids and income inequality in poverty reduction : A sustainable development approach for Africa?

In the last decades, international interventions mostly through foreign aids have consistently been directed toward sustainable development objectives such as reduction of poverty in African countries. Thus, this study investigates the effect of foreign aids and income inequality in poverty reduction in Africa for 1990–2016. The novelty lies in the investigation of the effectiveness of aid remittances to Africa from the United Nations and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which has previously been overlooked in extant studies. By using the system Generalized Method of Moments, the study showed that the interaction of inequality with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funds and OECD Official Development Assistance is not statistically significant. Meanwhile, the interventions from the UNDP funds and OECD Official Development Assistance statistically yield significant and expected results of reducing poverty in the poor continent. However, the study surprisingly failed to establish that remittances from the UNDP have significantly mitigated poverty in Africa. Importantly, this study presents a significant policy guide for the governments and the stakeholders and recommends that the donor agencies adopt poverty-reduction, and income distribution-based criteria for the allocation of their resources to reduce poverty in the continent.© The Author(s) 2022, corrected publication 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Working Capital Management and the Performance of Selected Quoted Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria (2000-2009)

This study examined the working capital management and the performance of selected quoted manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study specifically analyzed the effects of working capital management on the performance of manufacturing firms between the periods 2000 – 2009. The study used secondary data sources which were collected from the Annual Report and Accounts of sixty purposively selected non-financial quoted companies in the Nigerian Stock Exchange Fact book. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation and inferential statistics such as correlation and regression analysis.. The results showed that the average collection period, the average payment period, were positively and significantly related to profitability; inventory turnover in days, cash conversion cycle were also significant but negatively related to profitability; the net trading cycle was negatively related to profitability but not significant. These implied that a reduction in the cash conversion cycle, inventory turnover in days and net trading cycle will generate more profits, while increase in average collection period, average payment period, will generate more profits and additional value for shareholders. The study concluded that efficient management of working capital affects the performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Keywords: Working capital management, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, free cash flow, Manufacturing Sector

Identification of subdominant lactic acid bacteria in dawadawa (a soup condiment) and their evolution during laboratory-scale fermentation of Parkia biglobosa (African locust beans)

The successive colonization of fermenting African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa) by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was investigated for seven days. The LAB isolated were Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus raffinolactus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Leuconostoc sp, Pediococcus halophilus,Pediococcus sp, Lactobacillus sp, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus brevis. The first dominant species were P. pentosaceus, which was more in abundance, L. raffinolactus, L. mesenteroides and another Leuconostoc sp. At the end of fermentation, a stable community comprising of P. halophilus, P. pentasaceus and L. brevis was formed. The dominant genera in this study were Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. The proximate analysis of the fermenting andfermented mash showed an increase in moisture content from 55.1 to 65.2%, pH from 6.25 to a stable alkaline value of 8.4. The reducing sugar however, decreased from 0.96 to 0.58 mg. The amino acid content increased from an initial value of 8.13 to 35.55 mg for the laboratory-scale product, whereas the value of the control was 13.4 mg. The total viable count increased from an initial value of log102.6 to log105.8 and then fell to a final value of log104.1. The enterococci count increased initially but eventually fell to zero. The total yeast count increased initially from log105.3 to log106.6 and thereafter fell to zero. The market sample had a value of log101.5. No coliforms were found in the course of fermentation as well as in the final product of the laboratory-scale experiment and the market sample

Development of fuzzy logic-base diagnosis expert system for typhoid fever

Typhoid fever (TyF), caused by salmonella typhoid bacteria, represents one of the main public health challenge in various parts of the world. It is often treatable when diagnosed early, but if left untreated could lead to other medical complications. This study proposed an artificial intelligence means (arim) for diagnosis of TyF. The objectives are to find out the leading risk factors for TyF, develop fuzzy logic base-expert system, called Typhoid Responsive Expert System (TyRes), that can predict the ailment from symptoms and use TyRes to predict TyF in patients. Two sets of questionnaires were used for data collection. 325 copies were administered to the patients in 25 hospitals in Lagos, Abeokuta and Ifo, South-west Nigeria. Another set of 200 copies were administered to human medical experts (hme), 70 doctors and 140 qualified nurses, to capture hme knowledge about TyF and its symptoms. The data was analysed using Chi-Square to identify the main symptoms spotted by most of the hme. TyRes was implemented in Matlab 2015a using the main factors as input variables. Vomiting, high-temperature, weakness, abdominal-pains and loss-of-appetite were the input variables used to develop TyRes. When tested to predict TyF in 25 patients, 76% accuracy was derived when comparing hme predictions with TyRes results. It can be concluded that TyRes can mimic hme by 76% of all TyF predictions. The arim is considered reliable and can be used at home, school and health centres where hme are scarce

Differential Effect of Behavioural Strategies on the Management of Conduct Disorder among Adolescents in Correctional Centres in Lagos State, Nigeria

Adolescent period is a significant phase in human development. Empirical evidences from diverse nations revealed that the period is characterized by a number of misbehaviours of which conduct disorder is paramount. Conduct disorder is a repetitive behaviour that violates the rights of others. It entails rule violation, aggression, hostility, and deceitfulness. There are adolescents in correctional centres in several nations of the world because of their engagement in conduct disorder. Several behavioural techniques have been adopted to ensure that conduct disorder is overcome. It, however, appears from literature that concentrated attempts have not been made to treat or determine the efficacy of behavioural techniques. This study examined the efficacy of two behavioural strategies to manage maladjusted behaviour in correctional centres in Lagos State, Nigeria. Participants for the study were 90 adolescents purposively selected from two special correctional centres in Lagos State. The research design utilized for the study was 3 x 2 x 3 x 3 factorial design. Conduct Disorder Scale by Gilliam was used to generate data. The result of the two hypotheses showed that significant difference existed between participants exposed to cognitive restructuring, behavioural rehearsal and control group (F (2, 87) = 46.622, p < 0.05) while there was no significant difference between participants exposed to cognitive restructuring and behavioural rehearsal groups (t = 0.313, df = 58, p = 0.756). From the study, the two behavioural methods could be employed to manage conduct disorder. Consequently, they are recommended as techniques for handling adolescents conduct disorde