Assessing the Effectiveness of Illustrations in Print Media Advert of Home Appliances

In this study, attempts were made to ascertain the attention getting power of illustrations in print media advert of home appliances, the interrelatedness of the illustrations to the advert messages, clarity and the ability to create buying interest. Survey research design method was adopted for the study and questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. In this study it was discovered that, though, the illustrations attract attention to an advert they are not too related to the message of the advert and very difficult for the audience to decode at the first contact and at the same time does not propel buying interest in the audience. As a result, it was recommended that relevant illustrations should be used or be entirely left out. The illustrations should bring out the benefit of the product as the case may be. Simplicity should also be employed for clarity purposes. Keywords: Illustrations, Advertising, Print Media, Home Appliance

Peoples’ perception of mother-daughter sexual communication patterns and adolescent girls reproductive health in Enugu North LGA of Enugu State, Nigeria

In many African societies, sexual communication between female adolescents and their mothers is not openly encouraged because of the inherent culture of silence that surrounds sexuality. Sexual communication between mothers and their daughters has therefore remained a challenge and the consequences are that female adolescents become vulnerable to reproductive health problems such as teenage pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS. Although studies on adolescents mother- daughter sexual communication patterns in other parts of the world are widely reported in literature, very few research on the phenomenon exist in Enugu state, Nigeria. This study investigated peoples‘ perception of mother-daughter sexual communication pattern and adolescents reproductive health in Enugu state, Nigeria. The study is based on a survey of 294 respondents selected through the multi-stage sampling technique. The instruments used for data collection comprised of structured questionnaire and in-depth interview (IDI) guide. The findings among other things show that private face to face communication pattern on adolescents sexuality is adopted by majority of mothers in Enugu, Nigeria. However, this pattern is usually spontaneous and unplanned and takes place occasionally. Again, the discussions do not involve all the reproductive health issues as only a few,such as dangers of pre-marital sex, menstruation and physiological changes are mostly emphasized while the use of contraceptives is ignored. Based on the findings, systematic and effective use of face to face pattern of communication, improved sexual communication skills on sexuality education were recommended.Keywords: Sexuality, Adolescents, Sexual communication, Reproductive healt

Fibrinogen Concentration and Thrombin Levels in Pregnant Women in Nnewi, Anambra State, South, Eastern Nigeria.

This study was aimed at looking at the influence of pregnancy on fibrinogen concentration and thrombin time (TT) levels. A total of 195 pregnant women between 18 and 35 years were recruited, 59 were in their first trimester (group A), 61 second trimester (group B) and 75 the third trimester (group C). A total of 150 apparently healthy non pregnant women were used as normal control (group D). Blood samples which was collected from each of the participants after obtaining informed consent was tested for the fibrinogen concentration using Clauss method and thrombin time using two stage method. The study was approved by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Ethical Committee Nnewi. ANOVA and students t-test were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that fibrinogen concentration (mg/dL) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in group A, B and C as compared with the control group. TT (s) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in group A, B and C compared with the control group. This study therefore suggests that the increase in these coagulation factors observed are due to increased thrombin generation, inflammatory state of pregnancy and fibrinogen being an acute-phase protein. It is important to obtain a baseline of these parameters for all pregnant women during antenatal visits, in order to detect any abnormality early. Key words: Fibrinogen concentration, thrombin time and pregnancy

Gastrodiscoides hominis Infestation on Vegetables (Cabbages) Sold in Ekpoma Markets, Edo State, Southern Nigeria- A Case Report

In an experiment to determine the human parasites present in fruits and vegetables sold in markets within Ekpoma, in Esan west Local Government Area of Edo state, an ova of Gastrodiscoides hominis was observed. The study involved a total of two hundred and fifty (250) samples of seven different vegetables -cabbage, carrot, spinach, pumpkin, cucumber, tomatoes, and waterleaf, and two fruits -pineapple and garden egg. Using the flotation and sedimentation techniques, trophoziotes, cysts, larvae, and ova of intestinal protozoa, cestodes and nematodes in the vegetables and fruits were recovered. Although 106 (42.4%) of the samples were positive for different species of parasites indicating a high prevalence of vegetable and fruit infestation, one interesting observation however, was the incidence of Gastrodiscoides hominis in cabbage (0.9%). Judging by the public health importance of Gastrodiscoides hominis, there is therefore, an urgent need for control measures especially in this area of study.Keywords: Gastrodiscoides hominis, Vegetables, Fruits, Parasite

Validation of coronavirus-2019 phobia scale using preschool practitioners in urban and rural communities in Nigeria Implication for educational sociologists

Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) emerged in December 2019, causing significant changes in people’s social lives and other human activities. The outbreak halted educational activities throughout the world. The Nigerian experience was unique in that most people were skeptical about the pandemic’s existence. This practice contributed to the Nigerian people’s fear of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, in Nigeria, there has never been a validated or established Covid-19 phobia scale, necessitating this study. This study was a pure validation study on COVID-19 phobia scale (C19PS). The study area was south-east states and a sample of 386 preschool practitioners in urban and rural communities of South East States, Nigeria participated in the study. The eligibility criteria include being a preschool teacher and demonstrating signs of COVID-19 phobia. The validation of the C19PS was done by subjecting the data gathered to principal axis factoring analysis with varimax rotation. The model fit for the data was tested using root mean square error of approximation and comparative fit index. It was found that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value of .845 for the measure of the adequacy of the sample size. There was also a significant Bartlett’s test of sphericity (P<.05). This implies that the correlation matrix for the C19PS is not an identity matrix. It was revealed that C19PS had good overall reliability (a=.896) and model fit (Root mean square error of approximation=.042, comparative fit index=.943) in a sample of Nigerian preschool practitioners. As a result, C19PS was recommended as a trustworthy tool for identifying persons who suffer from COVID-19 phobia.https://www.journals.elsevier.com/medicineam2023Science, Mathematics and Technology Educatio

Elastic Buckling Analysis of Uniaxially Compressed CCCC Stiffened Isotropic Plates

This paper reports a research study that investigated buckling of stiffened rectangular isotropic plates elastically restrained along all the edges (CCCC) under uniaxial in-plane load, using the work principle approach. The stiffeners were assumed to be rigidly connected to the plate. Analyses for critical buckling of stiffened plates were carried out by varying parameters, such as the number of stiffeners, stiffness properties and aspect ratios. The study involved a theoretical derivation of a peculiar shape function by applying the boundary conditions of the plate on Taylor Maclaurin’s displacement function and substituted on buckling equation derived to obtain buckling solutions. The present solutions were validated using a trigonometric function in the energy method from previous works. Coefficients, K, were compared for various numbers of stiffeners and the maximum percentage difference obtained within the range of aspect ratios of 1.0 to 2.0 is shown in Figs 2 - 7. A number of numerical examples were presented to demonstrate the accuracy and convergence of the current solutions