International Student Perceptions of American Higher Education

The problem of the study was to measure how much students from other countries were satisfied with American education. The purposes of the study were to ascertain the extent to which international students perceived American education as satisfying their educational goals; to determine if any relationship existed between their perceptions of American education before and during their actual experiences with it; and to compare the perceptions of American education by students from one continent to those of other continents. A questionnaire which contained Part A and B was used in collecting the data. The contents of Part A included initial steps, communication, students\u27 educational goals, orientation and the students\u27 reactions toward their orientation and communication. Part B was concerned with textbooks, use of the library, classroom activities, public relations and international students\u27 opinions concerning American education. Questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 280 international students who were enrolled at regional universities in Tennessee during the Winter/Spring session of 1982. The students came from five continents. Completed questionnaires were received from 154 students, and this represents 55 percent return on the sample. When the data were analyzed, the results were as follows: Of those who participated in the study, 71 percent communicated with officials of their respective institutions before they entered the United States for an education which was a major goal for 93 percent. Forty-four percent were satisfied with their orientation, an 60 percent were satisfied with information they received about American education. Seventy-seven percent found American education to be what they wanted, and 83 percent were satisfied. American education would enable 83 percent of the participants to achieve their educational goals of being employed in their countries, and their employment would relate to what they studied in the United States according to 79 percent. Comments made by the participants were analyzed separately to show their positive and negative opinions about American education. Some of the negative comments were: high cost of tuition fee, non-disclosure of full information about the university and community at the time they were applying for admission, isolating foreign students by Americans, poorly organized orientation, discrimination and unfriendly attitudes by some American students. . . . (Author\u27s abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UM

Management of Lower Urinary Retention in a Limited Resource Setting

Background: There is a projected increase in lower urinary tract obstruction by 2018, especially in the developing economies of Asia and Africa. However in many of these countries, the problems encountered both by the patients and the clinicians are not well documented. Our aims are, to prospectively analyse the management of urinary retention, the associated difficulties, and complications in our setting, where access to investigative modalities such as Computerize Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging are not available.Patients and Methods: The study was approved by the University Of Calabar Teaching Hospital ethical committee. A validated Proforma was used to collect data from all patients who were clinically diagnosed with urinary retention based on history, and physical examination, from July 2009 to June 2010. Data collected from the 1st of July 2009 to the 30th of June 2010, include demographics, findings on physical examination, previous medical history and co-morbid conditions. The results of investigations done such as: urinalysis, full blood count, electrolytes, urea and creatinine, intravenous urography, trans- abdominal ultrasonography, chest X-ray and histology of trans-rectal biopsies of the prostate . The total number of new patients seen, including those with urinary retention during the study was documented. The retentions were also classified into acute and chronic. All the patients were followed up throughout the study. The data was analysed using Epi-Info statistical program version 3.4 of 2007 to analyse the data, estimating averages, mean, median and percentages. Results: The total number of new patients seen, including those with urinary retention was Seventy thousand, one hundred and thirty nine (70,139).Of this number, hundred and fifty nine (0.23%), presented with urinary retention; 145 (91.2%) were acute, and14 (8.8%) were chronic. The male: female ratio was 39:1.The patients ages ranged from 4 to 94 years, with a mean of 53.7±11.2. Seventy seven [48.4%] of them were in the 6th and 7th decades of life. The common causes were; prostatic diseases [BPH and cancer of the prostate] 77.0%, infections 75.8%, trauma 12.1%, and congenital 12.1%. Urinary retention was relieved by: indwelling urethral catheterization [IUC] 120 patients (75.5%), supra- pubic cystostomy [SC] 34 (21.4%) and intermittent urethral catheterization [IC] 5 (3.1%). The most frequently encountered complications include pyuria (18.2%), pericatheter sepsis 17.5%, and haemorrhage during change of catheter 16.8% [figure 2].Conclusion: Lower urinary retention is common in our environment. The management is appropriate and standard. The man power and facilities are inadequate, and requires urgent improvement.Keywords: Urinary retention; management; limited resource

Prediction of Liquid Accumulation in Gas Wells to Forecast the Critical Flowrate and the Loading Status of Individual Wells

Liquid accumulation is a major problem in gas wells. The inability of gas to lift coproduced liquids to the surface imposes back pressure on the reservoir, limits the ultimate recovery and ultimately kills the well if improperly managed. Therefore, accurate prediction of its occurrence and reliable monitoring strategy is key to effectively handling liquid accumulation in gas wells. In this study, machine learning algorithms were used to develop regression and classification models to accurately predict the critical flowrate and the loading status of individual wells. The regression models used are the feed-forward neural network and a least squares support vector machine models while the decision trees model was used as the classification model to characterize the loading status of the wells investigated. These models were validated using actual published data and it was observed that the feed-forward neural network performed better in predicting the critical rate compared to the least squares support vector machine model with an R2 value of 0.9833, and thus was adopted. The feed-forward neural network model was further compared with other critical rate models; and a consistent result with least percent error of 5.571% was also observed.  Form this study, it is obvious that the neural network model provide benefits and good prospects in investigating liquid loading phenomena in gas wells compared to empirical models that apply so many simplifying assumptions

Names as Index of Social History: The Efik Example

Names, like language, mirror the society in which they are borne and they equally respond to social change. The naming system, it is believed is affected by the socio-cultural, political and religious ethos of the society in which the names are borne. In naming, a people’s worldview is expressed. This paper investigates the impact of the Efik socio-cultural, political and religious structures on the naming system. Our investigation is restricted to Efik personal names. The names which form our data were purposively sampled from some schools’ and churches’ registers in the seven Efik-speaking towns – Creek Town (Obio oko), Henshaw Town (Nsidun), Duke Town (Atakpa), Ikoneto (Mbiabo), Essien Town (Obutong), Eniong and Adiabo. The study reveals that a name gives the person bearing it an identity, whereas the naming ceremony indexes the socio-cultural, political and historical significance of an individual. It also shows that Efik social history impacts on the Efik naming system. Keywords: Names, identity, worldview, social change, language, history

Resource Control and Grassroots Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

In every society, economic development is an important part of social living, especially the specific economic activities of government in ensuring the development of that society. But then integrated effort towards this development will be incomplete where cognizance of the existing resources and ways of tapping as well as equitably allocating the resources is undermined. For some time now. this has reflected in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and the inequitable allocation of the resources especially to the areas of their derivation has led to the constraints in developmental efforts and consequently deterioration in the lives of the rural dwellers. The effects of this have been marginalization and unsavory reactions from the affected communities and these have led to national insecurity. This paper examines these issues in the context of resource control, causes of agitation for control of resources by the Niger Delta dwellers, the contending trend of uneasiness in the nation and actions that can be taken by the government to ensure grassroots development in the area, thus pulling an end to the insecurity of lives and property in that region, and the nation as a whole

5‑year retrospective review of instrumental vaginal deliveries in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Context: Instrumental vaginal deliveries are deliveries conducted using obstetric forceps or vacuum extractor and are an essential component of basic emergency obstetric care.Objective: To determine the rate of instrumental deliveries and their outcome over a 5‑year period (2013–2017) at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.Study Design and Methods: A 5‑year retrospective review of maternity delivery records. A survey of 16 resident doctors of the department was also done to determine their views on the rate of instrumental deliveries in the hospital.Results: During the study period, there were 6,754 deliveries; of these 109 (1.61%) were instrumental deliveries. Vacuum extractions accounted for 97 (88.99%) of the instrumental deliveries and there were only 12 (11.01%) forceps deliveries. The majority of the instrumental deliveries were carried out on booked women (78; 82.98%), with low parity (Para 1; 73.83%), term mothers (59.4%), and normal birth weight babies. There were only five stillbirths (4.59%), all of which were vacuum extractions and were comparable to 4.5% among spontaneous vertex deliveries and less than 6.2% among caesarean sections and 45.5% among breech deliveries. This was statistically significant, χ2 = 114.03, P < 0.001. Most of the resident doctors cited lack of proper training as responsible for low rate of instrumental deliveries.Conclusion: The rate of instrumental vaginal deliveries in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital is low with adverse consequences on the training of resident doctors. There is thus need to prioritize training on this life‑saving skills.Keywords: Instrumental vaginal deliveries; neonatal outcome; trends; Uy

Palynological studies of the genus Combretum Loefl. from Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria

Variations in pollen morphology were investigated in nine (9) common species of Combretum found in Uyo metropolis, Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. The species included Combretum bracteatum, C. calobotrys, C. dolichopetalum, C. hispidum, C. mannii, C. mooreanum, C. platypterum, C. racemosum and C. zenkeri. The pollen samples were acetolysed and examined under light microscope. The investigation showed that the pollen grains were all heterocolpate and circular in shape. Sculpturing was psilate or scabrate and pollen shape class was either sub-prolate, oblate-spheroidal or prolate spheroidal. Among the 9 species of Combretum, maximum polar dimension (34.41-44.40 μm) was found in C. platypterum whereas minimum polar dimension (21.09-38.85 μm) was noted in C. racemosum and C. zenkeri. The equatorial dimensions were highest (29.97-34.12μm) in C. mooreanum while the lowest equatorial dimension (17.76-31.08 μm) was observed in C. zenkeri. Pore diameters were highest (8.88-15.54) in C. calobotrys and C. platypterum and least (5.55-13.32) in C. bracteatum, C. racemosum and C. zenkeri. There was no significant difference in exine thickness among the species

Socio-economic and environmental risk factors of allergic conjunctivitis in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

The study examined the socioeconomic and environmental risk factors of Allergic Conjunctivitis in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria by collecting primary and secondary data of allergic conjunctivitis from the Specialist Hospital from 2011-2015 and through the use of questionnaire. A total of 1742 cases of allergic conjunctivitis were reported within the period under review. The number of cases declined to 403 in 2012 and later to 207 in 2015. Females (948) in the age of 0-10 years (409) were more infected. Dry season was the main time of the year for the increased transmission of allergic conjunctivitis. Multiple Regression Analysis showed that 15.5% of the prevalence of conjunctivitis was explained by income, education, occupation and residential quality. However, occupation was the main predisposing factor (0.346, p<0.05). Dusty weather was the major environmental risk factor (60%). Redness of the eyes and itching were identified as the main symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis across the three residential zones. The study concludes that susceptibility to Allergic Conjunctivitis varies across residential zone in different seasons of the year. Therefore, adequate public health practices and health education is required in the study area.Keywords: Conjunctivitis, Risk, Season, Residential and Transmissio

Coagulation efficiency of Dicerocaryum eriocarpum (DE) plant

A study was conducted to investigate coagulation efficiency of the plant Dicerocaryum eriocarpum (DE) in the removal of turbidity from raw water. Widespread poor land use practices contribute to high turbidity in river water, making turbidity management or removal critical, particularly before the water is used for drinking or subjected to chemical treatment. In this study, mucilage from DE was extracted with deionized water and different chloride solutions. A coagulation efficiency of 99% using modified mucilage coagulant was achieved. The modified mucilage of potassium crude extract and sodium crude extract displayed higher coagulation efficiencies than unmodified mucilage of deionized water crude extract. An increase in coagulant dosage and initial turbidity influenced the coagulation efficiency of DE coagulant. A large reduction in turbidity levels of the treated water samples resulted in an improvement in water quality.Keywords: coagulation, Dicerocaryum eriocarpum plant, mucilage, optimise, turbidit