Financial Intermediation In Agriculture In Nigeria: Emerging Role Of Non- Governmental Organizations (Ngos)

The study compared the credit operations of Farmers Development Union (FADU) - an NGO, with the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) - a public sector finance agency in agricultural financing with a view to determining the emerging roles of NGOs in Nigeria's agricultural landscape. To achieve this, the socio-economic characteristics of farmers who use credit, and the performance of the selected credit institutions on the basis of credit delivery and loan repayment were identified and analysed using descriptive, t-test statistic and regression analyses. The results of the study revealed that theoperational flexibility of the NGO was its major appeal to farmers. The use of groups as social assets for collateral instead of physical assets increased the vibrancy of the NGO compared to the public finance agency and provided a level playing field for both male and female farmers inthe credit market. Patrons of the NGO made a mean savings of N22,284 whereas those of the public finance agency saved only N13,472. While the NGO disbursed more credit to its clients compared to the public finance agency, it also recovered 68.5% of its loans compared with 49.3% recovery made by the public finance agency. If formal banks will be able to impact on small farmers as the NGO, they will need to provide non-collaterized loans and to groups rather than individuals.Keywords: agricultural financing, farm capitalization, credit disbursement and loan recovery

Numerical Solutions for Linear Fredholm Integro-Differential Difference Equations with Variable Coefficients by Collocation Methods

We employed an efficient numerical collocation approximation methods to obtain an approximate solution of linear Fredholm integro-differential difference equation with variable coefficients. An assumed approximate solutions for both collocation approximation methods are substituted into the problem considered. After simplifications and collocations, resulted into system of linear algebraic equations which are then solved using MAPLE 18 modules to obtain the unknown constants involved in the assumed solution. The known constants are then substituted back into the assumed approximate solution. Numerical examples were solved to illustrate the reliability, accuracy and efficiency of these methods on problems considered by comparing the numerical solutions obtained with the exact solution and also with some other existing methods. We observed from the results obtained that the methods are reliable, accurate, fast, simple to apply and less computational which makes the valid for the classes of problems considered.   Keywords: Approximate solution, Collocation, Fredholm, Integro-differential difference and linear algebraic equation

Rotated Rectangular Slots And Mirrored Inversed Cantor-sets On Ultrawideband Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna

Variants of antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA) design suitable for access point working on 0.5 – 6.0 GHz are proposed in this paper. The novel designs were produced by employing three novel techniques to conventional AVA: (i) rotated-slot pattern to shift down the frequency cutoff and enhancing bandwidth, (ii) curve design to miniaturize rotated-slot-inserted antipodal Vivaldi, and (iii) fractal-director (Cantor set) to increase the gain of antipodal Vivaldi. Using FR4 (relative permittivity of 4.4) with an overall dimension of 300 mm x 143 mm x 1.6 mm the antenna designs are able to work at a frequency of 0.472 GHz to higher than 6 GHz with a maximum gain of 11.9 dBi

The Role of Dukun Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan in Curing Diseases in Kediri Community

Finding a cure when people get sick is an important thing. One of the efforts done by Kediri people in finding for a cure is to come to a Dukun (Shaman/traditional healer) Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan. The purposes of this research are to know the profiles and methods of Dukun Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan, and their role in curing diseases. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The results of this research show that (1) the process of healing and problem solution performed by Dukun Suwuk uses prayer as a key source of power. And Dukun Prewangan uses the help of supernatural beings who become their working partners to cure or resolve the problem, (2) Dukun Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan has an important role in society because of their presence is needed and respected. In addition, Dukun Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan who have been offering the services had experienced a lot of things as a living experience, (3) healing process performed by Dukun Suwuk and Dukun Prewangan is one solution for patients to be free from the ambiguous conditions of liminal stage. Choosing to go to a traditional healer healing is a rational choice for each patient

Non equilibrium thermodynamics and cosmological pancakes formation

We investigate the influence of non equilibrium thermodynamics on cosmological structure formation. In this paper, we consider the collapse of planar perturbations usually called "Zel'dovich pancakes". We have developed for that purpose a new two fluids (gas and dark matter) hydrodynamical code, with three different thermodynamical species: electrons, ions and neutral particles (T_e\ne T_i \ne T_n). We describe in details the complex structure of accretion shock waves. We include several relevant processes for a low density, high temperature, collisional plasma such as non-equilibrium chemical reactions, cooling, shock heating, thermal energy equipartition between electrons, ions and neutral particles and electronic conduction. We find two different regions in the pancake structure: a thermal precursor ahead of the compression front and an equipartition wave after the compression front where electrons and ions temperatures differ significantly. This complex structure may have two interesting consequences: pre-heating of unshocked regions in the vicinity of massive X-ray clusters and ions and electrons temperatures differences in the outer regions of X-rays clusters.Comment: 30 pages, including 8 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Alcoholic Beverages and the Health of Young Persons: How Do Undergraduate Students in Remo, Southwest Nigeria See It?

Background: Young people were hitherto assumed to be very healthy until various lifestyle-related illnesses were reported among them. Excessive alcohol intake, often driven by a wrong perception of its consequences, is associated with several diseases and nutritional disorders. This study, therefore, assessed the perception of alcoholic beverages and their associated factors among undergraduate students in the Remo area of Ogun State. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 undergraduate students in the Remo Area of Ogun State, southwest, Nigeria, selected via multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using a validated, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated, with p<0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 20.12±2.2 years. About 98% of respondents were full-time students. Alcoholic beverages were perceived to be stress relievers (55.1%); social drinks (57.1%); aphrodisiacs and performance enhancers (71.5%); promoters of male-female bonding (43.9%). Less than 5% were willing to recommend them to friends. Conclusion : Perception of alcohol consumption was good (83%) among respondents. It was associated with a history of alcohol consumption and religion. Adequate and targeted nutrition education should be made available to undergraduate students of tertiary institutions on the ills of excessive alcohol consumption

Velocity and Heat Flow in a Composite Two Fluid System

We describe the stress energy of a fluid with two unequal stresses and heat flow in terms of two perfect fluid components. The description is in terms of the fluid velocity overlap of the components, and makes no assumptions about the equations of state of the perfect fluids. The description is applied to the metrics of a conformally flat system and a black string.Comment: typos correcte

Generalized Brans-Dicke cosmology in the presence of matter and dark energy

We study the Generalized Brans-Dicke cosmology in the presence of matter and dark energy. Of particular interest for a constant Brans-Dicke parameter, the de Sitter space has also been investigated.Comment: 9 page