Appraisal of auto-rickshaw as poverty alleviation strategy in Nigeria: An example of Lagos metropolis

The study examines the use of auto-rickshaw (three - wheeled cycle) as poverty alleviation scheme in metropolitan areas of Lagos state Nigeria, with the aim of exploring the significance of the scheme in solving beneficiaries’ financial challenges. Data were obtained from secondary and primary sources. 200 structured questionnaires were randomly administered to the tricycle operators in 24 stratified loading points in the metropolitan area and information collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Findings showed that 73.5% operators benefited and 26% did not benefit from the scheme. The study also revealed that male operators (97.3%) dominated the scheme.  Average daily income of the operators is more than N2000 (13USD) while daily operating costs was N1610 (11USD). There is a significant difference in financial difficulty of the operators (tc = 1.695, p ≤ 0.05) in post-procurement of the scheme. Despite a positive change in financial situations of operators at post-procurement of NAPEP tricycles  (X2c = 38.50, p ≤ 0.05) and 81% operators’ rating of NAPEP tricycles in poverty alleviation, some of the challenges facing the  operators include high cost of the tricycle coupled with the unfriendly payback period, extortion from police and local council officials, problem of routes choice and competition with other road users. Based on the helpfulness of the scheme, it is recommended that beneficiaries of the scheme be given loan directly at moderate payback period, provision of parking facilities; educate operators about road safety than extortion by police and local government officials. While the study revealed the benefits and challenges of NAPEP policy regarding tricycles in alleviating monetary challenges of applicants in the state, there is need to address observed challenges in the scheme and as well prevent reoccurrence in the fourth face of the scheme. Key Words: Poverty Alleviation, Auto-rickshaw, Lagos Metropolis, Nigeri

Forms of iron in soils on basement complex rocks of Kaduna state in northern guinea Savanna of Nigeria

The forms of iron extracted by different methods were studied in soils developed on four basement complex rocks within Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria namely: migmatite gneisses, older granite, quartzites and mica schists. The study shows that forms of iron generally decreased in the order of total elemental iron (FeT) determined by XRF > double acid extractable total iron (Fea) > dithionite extractable iron oxide (Fed) > oxalate extractable iron oxide (Fex) > pyrophosphate extractable iron oxide (Fep) > 0.1M HCl extractable micronutrient available iron (Feh). Variation in content of total irons (FeT and Fea) were not significant in the soils, but content of Feh, Fed, Fex and Fex/d significantly varied in the soils on the various parent materials. Therefore processes and extent of pedogenesis were considered to influence the variations resulting in recrystallization and increase in content of Feh and Fed in these soils. The significant correlation between various forms of Fe (Fea, Fed, and Fex) with active iron ratio further affirmed that as soils on basement complexes increase in their pedogenetic age, Fe content generally increases irrespective of total forms of iron. The strong correlation between FeT, Fea and Fed indicate that these forms of iron were extracted from similar sources.Keywords: Iron, basement complex rock, pedogenesis, Northern Guinea Savanna, Nigeria

The impact of religion and culture on leadership styles of women policy-makers in the education industry

This qualitative study is purposive in sampling and explored a small number of women leaders in the education industry who are policymakers of Malay Muslim origin of their experiences in leadership positions. Policymaking here involved policies at the micro-level, which related more to their institutions and organizations. The researcher examined the women's leadership styles and the factors that influenced how they lead explicitly. Likewise, the researcher focused on how gender, culture, and religion may relate to women's experiences. Basic interpretive and descriptive qualitative research methods were employed. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews. Participants interviewed included nine women leaders in the public and private sector who were either teachers/lecturers or administrators in the education industry. These women held positions within the top echelon of their organization or institution. The finding of this research indicated that gender, religion, and culture play an important role in women leadership experiences, therefore, themes emerged around influences on the women's approaches to leadership, with particular emphasis on the role of the larger environment in impacting women's leadership behaviours. To further focus on the impact of culture and religion on women's leadership styles, the researcher conducted a focused discussion group on the second group of Malay Muslim women leaders. This group of women leaders compromised mainly of women leaders who are department and section heads but still involved in policymaking decision albeit within their department or sections. This study can provide insight into the landscape of women‘s leadership roles and how to support these leaders

RESIDENT'S PERCEPTION ON LIVABILITY IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN MALAYSIA

Housing affordability has always been an issue worldwide. With the increase in human population and spiraling house price, governments have been scrambling to build sufficient affordability house to meet the forever increasing demand. In light of this there is concern on the livability aspect of these affordability houses built have been compromised. This research identifies the livability attributes and studies the perception of residents' in affordable housing towards these attributes. Findings revealed that there is compromise in location of the affordable housing schemes. The findings also signified that the most important issues to the residents were safety and accessibility to health facilities. Interestingly this research suggest that many residents within the affordable housing schemes tend to make do with the situation and would seriously consider moving to better dwellings if the opportunity arises. Keywords: affordability; livability; housing; perceptio

Carbon storage in soils of Southeastern Nigeria under different management practices

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Changes in agricultural practices-notably changes in crop varieties, application of fertilizer and manure, rotation and tillage practices-influence how much and at what rate carbon is stored in, or released from, soils. Quantification of the impacts of land use on carbon stocks in sub-Saharan Africa is challenging because of the spatial heterogeneity of soil, climate, management conditions, and due to the lack of data on soil carbon pools of most common agroecosystems. This paper provides data on soil carbon stocks that were collected at 10 sites in southeastern Nigeria to characterize the impact of soil management practices.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The highest carbon stocks, 7906-9510 gC m^-2, were found at the sites representing natural forest, artificial forest and artificial grassland ecosystems. Continuously cropped and conventionally tilled soils had about 70% lower carbon stock (1978-2822 gC m^-2). Thus, the soil carbon stock in a 45-year old <it>Gmelina </it>forest was 8987 gC m^-2, whereas the parts of this forest, that were cleared and continuously cultivated for 15 years, had 75% lower carbon stock (1978 gC m^-2). The carbon stock of continuously cropped and conventionally tilled soils was also 25% lower than the carbon stock of the soil cultivated by use of conservation tillage.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Introducing conservation tillage practices may reduce the loss of soil carbon stocks associated with land conversion. However, the positive effect of conservation tillage is not comparable to the negative effect of land conversion, and may not result in significant accumulation of carbon in southeastern Nigeria soils.</p

T1 and FLAIR signal intensities are related to tau pathology in dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease

Carriers of mutations responsible for dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease provide a unique opportunity to study potential imaging biomarkers. Biomarkers based on routinely acquired clinical MR images, could supplement the extant invasive or logistically challenging) biomarker studies. We used 1104 longitudinal MR, 324 amyloid beta, and 87 tau positron emission tomography imaging sessions from 525 participants enrolled in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Observational Study to extract novel imaging metrics representing the mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of standardized image intensities of T1-weighted and Fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MR scans. There was an exponential decrease in FLAIR-μ in mutation carriers and an increase in FLAIR and T1 signal heterogeneity (T1-σ and FLAIR-σ) as participants approached the symptom onset in both supramarginal, the right postcentral and right superior temporal gyri as well as both caudate nuclei, putamina, thalami, and amygdalae. After controlling for the effect of regional atrophy, FLAIR-μ decreased and T1-σ and FLAIR-σ increased with increasing amyloid beta and tau deposition in numerous cortical regions. In symptomatic mutation carriers and independent of the effect of regional atrophy, tau pathology demonstrated a stronger relationship with image intensity metrics, compared with amyloid pathology. We propose novel MR imaging intensity-based metrics using standard clinical T1 and FLAIR images which strongly associates with the progression of pathology in dominantly inherited Alzheimer disease. We suggest that tau pathology may be a key driver of the observed changes in this cohort of patients

Measures of frailty in population-based studies: An overview

Although research productivity in the field of frailty has risen exponentially in recent years, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the measurement of this syndrome. This overview offers three services: first, we provide a comprehensive catalogue of current frailty measures; second, we evaluate their reliability and validity; third, we report on their popularity of use

Assessment of vehicle inspection services in Ijebu zone of Ogun State, Nigeria

This study examines vehicle inspection services (VIS) and motorists’ perceptions of VIS activities as well as motorists’ vehicles condition in Ijebu zone of Ogun State Nigeria. Thirty vehicle inspection officers (VIOs) were purposively interviewed on the basis of number of staff in three VIS stations and 599 structured questionnaires were randomly administered to motorists based on proportion allocation of sample size to wards in selected garages of local government areas of the zone. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analyses. From January 2014 to August 2015, 15,886 vehicles were inspected for roadworthiness (RW) of which 73.6% passed and 26.4% failed the test. In Abigi station 56.8% vehicles inspected failed the test, whereas 61.5% and 78.8% vehicles inspected inIjebu – Igbo and Ijebu – Ode stations respectively passed the test. The total number of vehicles that passed (x̄ = 1104.7500 ) the test in the zone is positively higher than vehicles that failed (x̄ = 287.3750 ) and significant at (t = 12.32, p ≤ 0.05 ).Despite 87.8% motorists’ vehicles are imported but used and 12.2% are new, the conditions of the vehicles based on the study assessment are more of good condition than being bad condition and significant at (X2 = 16.92, p ≤  0.05). However, 83.4% of the causes of road accidents in the zone are credited to man. Despite the challenges of the VIOs and dissatisfaction on their performance by 69.6%of motorists, most of the VIOs (63.3%) are satisfied with the job. Therefore, it is recommended that intended and existing motorists should visit VIS stations for driving and routine RW tests respectively, provide periodic safety and roadworthiness enlightenment to motorists, equip VIS stations with state of the art equipment and patrol vehicles, organize regular training for staff and maintain periodic staff remunerations review so as to help in achieving successful and sustainable safety of life and properties on Nigeria roads.Keywords: VIS, VIOs, Motorists, Ijebu Zone, Ogun State, Nigeri