Factors associated with access to condoms and sources of condoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

Background: Evidence has shown that the prescribed lockdown and physical distancing due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have made accessing essential health care services much more difficult in low-and middle-income countries. Access to contraception is an essential service and should not be denied, even in a global crisis, because of its associated health benefits. Therefore, it is important to maintain timely access to contraception without unnecessary barriers. Hence, this study examines the factors contributing to limited access to condoms and sources of condoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. Methods: This study used the National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) wave 1 survey dataset. The NIDS-CRAM is a nationally representative survey of the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) conducted via telephone interview during COVID-19 in the year 2020. This is the first secondary dataset on COVID-19 conducted by NIDS during pandemic. A total of 5304 respondents were included in the study. Data were analysed using frequencies distribution percentages, chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: Almost one-quarter (22.40%) of South Africans could not access condoms, and every 7 in 10 South Africans preferred public source of condoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who were from other population groups [AOR = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.19-0.74] and those who were in the third wealth quintile [AOR = 0.60; 95% CI = 0.38-0.93] had lower odds of having access to condoms while those respondents who were aged 25-34 [AOR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.27-0.83] and those with a secondary level of education and above [AOR = 0.24; 95% CI = 0.08-0.71] were less likely to prefer public source of condom. Conclusions: This study concludes that there was limited access to condoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and that the preferred source of condoms was very skewed to public sources in South Africa. Strategic interventions such as community distribution of free condoms to avert obstruction of condom access during the COVID-19 pandemic or any future pandemics should be adopted

Improved Multi-GPU parallelization of a Lagrangian Transport Model

This report highlights our work on improving GPU parallelization by supporting compute nodes with multiple GPUs. However, since the default support for multi-GPUs in OpenACC is limited[6], the current implementation allows each MPI process to access only a single GPU. Thus, the only way to take full advantage of multi-GPU nodes in the current version is to launch multiple processes, which increases resource contention. We investigated the benefits of having only one process offload to all available GPU devices.Comment: Technical Repor

Three Essays on “Energy , Environment, and Developmental Economics”

This dissertation examines topics related to renewable energy development and investment planning, energy markets, environment degradation and economic development. The substantial ecological costs of deforestation are well known and considered globally important due to biodiversity loss, land degradation, soil erosion, and contributions to climate change. The first essay focuses upon understanding the tradeoff between development and deforestation in Africa. In the second essay, spatial analysis and Geographic Information System (GIS) are applied to determine potential locations for wind farms development in the state of West Virginia. Lastly, the third essay examines the role of wind power penetration on wholesale electricity market. The first essay explores the relationship between economic growth and deforestation in African countries. During the past half-century, the continent of Africa has suffered massive losses of forested areas due to the changing structure of economies, increasing population, and expanding globalization. This research examines statistical evidence for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis as applied to deforestation occurring within Africa from 1990 to 2016. Changes in forest cover data are explained with Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimators to overcome the endogeneity problems arising from reverse causality between deforestation and explanatory variables. The empirical results of a panel GMM confirm the EKC hypothesis is valid for deforestation in Africa with a turning point estimated to be US $3,000. Heterogenous panel non-causality findings suggest that Africa could deter and reverse deforestation through appropriate land-use and forest products trade policies, and the consequences of these policies would not impact their economic growth. In the second essay, a multi-criteria decision analysis employing Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and GIS are used for assessment of potential sites for future utility-scale wind farms in West Virginia. Worldwide, demand is increasing for renewable energy. While wind power is a proven, sustainable energy source, siting can be challenging. Identifying potential sites for wind turbines is a significant step in renewable energy resource planning. Wind turbine site suitability is primarily dependent upon wind speed at a location along with other environmental, social, and economic factors. It is critical to arrive at a robust wind farm decision to improve public acceptance, preserve the environment, and maintain pristine habitats. This research builds upon previous studies and contributes to the literature by incorporating two important components into siting: (1) inclusion of critical wildlife habitat for birds and bats as an elimination criterion within the AHP, and (2) the participation by wind power experts in the AHP decision-making process. By incorporating expert opinions with the weighing of ten siting factors, about 70,000 hectares of land are identified as \u27highly suitable\u27 for wind power development throughout the state of West Virginia. This area represents the potential to yield an estimated 29,000 MW of future utility-scale wind power capacity, which is larger than the current coal dominated electricity generation capacity in West Virginia. The third essay examines the wind power penetration impacts on wholesale electricity markets. Using data from two wholesale electricity markets (Pennsylvania – New Jersey – Maryland (PJM) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)), four energy policy questions are addressed: (1) How much does wind power integration impact wholesale electricity prices under different markets? (2) Does the merit-order effect (MOE) exist at different quantiles of wholesale electricity prices? (3) What drives the day-ahead market (DAM) and real-time market (RTM) prices at different market conditions in both markets? (4) Does the increasing penetration of wind power undermine its market value along with the market values of other generating technologies? To answer these questions, quantile regression is used to obtain coefficient estimates that indicate wind penetration has unequal impacts on wholesale electricity prices and market values across quantiles, reinforcing the need for this type of analysis. The empirical analyses confirmed the existence of the merit-order effect across different quantiles of the conditional distribution of wholesale prices for both DAM and RTM, implying that the increasing deployment of wind power for electricity generation significantly suppresses the wholesale electricity prices in the PJM market. Contrary to the PJM estimations, merit-order effects are confirmed across quantiles of wholesale prices for only the DAM in the ERCOT market. Furthermore, the findings show that as wind generation expands within the market, the revenue earned by wind power producers reduces across all quantiles of the conditional distribution of its unit revenue. Specifically, each additional GWh increase in electricity from wind is associated with a fall in its unit revenues across quantiles by an amount that ranges from approximately$0.01/MWh to $0.06/MWh. Results also confirm cross-cannibalization impacts such that each additional GWh increase from wind is associated with decreased gas and baseload unit revenues across all quantiles ranging from$0.02/MWh to $0.06/MWh. Contrary to unit revenue results, there is weak evidence of increasing wind supply\u27s cannibalization effect for value factor as positive impacts occur below the 90% quantile and negative impacts occur at quantiles 90% and greater. The negative impacts of wind power on gas and baseload generators demonstrate the need for corrective policies

Agricultural Extension Personnel (AEP) perception of performance appraisal and its implication on the commitment to the job in Ogun State Agricultural Development Program, Nigeria

The study was conducted to examine the perceptions of Agricultural Extension Personnel (AEP) of the Performance Appraisal System (PAS) and its implication on AEP commitment to the job in Ogun State Agricultural Development Program (OGADEP), Nigeria. The sample frame, which is the list of employees in the organisation, consists of 296 employees, out of which 44% of the employees (130) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that PAS had an effect on the commitment of AEP to the delivery of extension services to farmers with the regression analysis revealing that the PAS method of application contributed 61.3% to affective commitment, 18.9% to continuance commitment, and 59% to normative commitment. In conclusion, the study indicated how far PAS has benefited both the AEP and the organisation, hence, it is recommended that there should be an effective appeal process or committee to review appraisal results to help unsatisfied employees to seek redress of final appraisal results so as to give room for efficient and effective production.Keywords: Performance appraisal, Agricultural Extension Personnel, Perception and commitmen

Investigation of the Bonding Characteristics of Termite Hill Clay in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria for Use in Foundries

On annual basis, the activities of termites to man’s habitat have been found to be destructive. Interestingly, man still goes in search of these insects day-in-day-out because of their usefulness in making life more convenient. In this work, the bonding characteristics of an active termite hill clay in the as – received state have been investigated. Three (3) different layers of clay: (Outermost layer -TCH 1; middle layer -TCHM 1 and innermost layer -TQH 1) from a termite colony were separately collected from a forest settlement in Akure, Nigeria, prepared and analyzed by means of compressive strength testing using an Instron Universal tester and mineralogical composition characterization using X-ray mini diffractometer.While results of the compressive strength testing showed that TQH 1, the innermost layer withstood the maximum compressive load of 3,370.27612N and absorbed 51.56948J in the process, results from the mineralogical composition characterization revealed that TQH 1 contained Sillimanite which melts around 1,850OC.This work is of paramount importance to the use of locally available materials, and in large quantities in Nigeria at little or no cost. This has implication for the development of foundries and foundry activities in order to meet up with the increasing demands of the foundry. Keywords: Mineralogical composition, compressive strength, as – received, colony, foundry, termite- hill clay

Association between knowledge of Human Immunodeficiency Virus transmission and consistent condom use among sexually active men in Nigeria: An analysis of 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey.

An estimated 1.7 million people were living with HIV in Nigeria in 2020, with over 86,000 people newly infected. Although the global rates of HIV have remained consistent over time, Nigeria has the second-highest number of people living with HIV and contributes to 9% of the global burden of HIV/AIDS. This is due to several structural and individual-level factors that limit knowledge of HIV and condom utilization. In this context, this study examines the association between knowledge about HIV transmission and consistent condom use among sexually active men in Nigeria. The data utilised in this study was sourced from the latest Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2018. The sample included a total of 9,346 men between the ages of 15-59 years who were sexually active at the time of data collection. Frequency distribution, univariate and multivariable analyses were performed at 95% confidence interval and p-value less than 0.05 to determine the association between the key independent variables and covariates. The results showed that 85.03% of sexually active men who had no knowledge of HIV engaged in inconsistent condom use. The key independent variable showed that sexually active men who had knowledge of HIV had higher odds [AOR = 1.37; 95%(CI = 1.10-1.72)] of consistent condom use compared to those without knowledge of HIV. However, sexually active men who were previously married [AOR = 0.38; 95%(CI = 0.24-0.61)], and those residing in the South Eastern region of Nigeria [AOR = 0.62; 95%(CI = 0.44-0.96)] had lower odds of consistent condom use. This study established the association between HIV knowledge and consistent condom use among sexually active males in Nigeria even after controlling for confounders. Educational level, wealth index, and ethnicity are also associated with condom use. This calls for the consideration of social determinants of health, localised and cultural health promotion and targeted public health strategies at all governmental levels to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nigeria. [Abstract copyright: Copyright: © 2022 Bolarinwa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Effect Of Nicotine Administration On Weight And Histology Of Some Vital Visceral Organs In Female Albino Rats

Summary: It has been emphasized that cigarette smoking is not always synonymous with nicotine administration but the toxic effect of cigarette has often been associated with the nicotine content in cigarette. Epidemiologic studies have clearly indicated that cigarette smoking have many deleterious effects on visceral tissues in women. However it is not certain whether this effect is produced entirely by nicotine as cigarettes contain other toxic substances. Using an animal model the direct effect of nicotine administration on viscera tissues in female albino rats was investigated. Twenty-four female rats with regular oestrous cycle in the same phase of the cycle were divided into two equal groups with each group receiving 0.5mg/kg nicotine and 0.9% normal saline S.C. dailyrespectively. Six rats from each group were killed by cervical dissociation after 30 and 60 days treatment. The ovary, uterus, brain, kidney, heart, adrenal, pituitary and the liver were removed weighed and histological study carried out. Weights of the ovary, kidney, pituitary and uterus were significantly reduced (P< 0.05) following nicotine treatment while weights of the heart and liver increased with 60days treatment with the appearance ofcartilaginous cells in the heart and deposition of adipose around the portal vein in the liver. Necrosis, congestion, fibrosis, follicular and endometrial degeneration were observed in the brain, pituitary, kidney, ovary and uterus respectively. No significant difference between the weekly growth rates in nicotine treated (5.13 ± .29) and control (5.25 ± 0.18) animals. Nicotine has deleterious effects on some vital visceral organs with observations similar to those reported in women smokers