Maternal and environmental factors influencing infant birth weight in Ibadan, Nigeria

Fetal weight at birth is a major determinant of survival, physical growth and mental development of an infant. About 14 percent of all births in Nigeria are born with low birth weight. Studies on birth weight in Nigeria have focused mainly on the biomedical risk factors and have largely ignored the influence the socio-cultural environment which encompasses maternal knowledge, beliefs, and practices during the prenatal period. With the premise that birth weight shows a reverse social gradient, this study examined the effects of maternal, sociocultural and environmental factors on the birth weight of infants in Ibadan. The research adopted a prospective survey design method involving multistage sampling procedure to select 1,138 pregnant women accessing antenatal care services from both orthodox and community health providers. The instrument comprised structured questionnaire, and secondary data were generated from the patients’ files retrieved from the antenatal care centres. The study identified a number of maternal, socioeconomic and environmental factors that significantly influence low birth weight and suggested actions that would help reduce the risk factors of low birth weight and promote care-seeking and demand for skilled care at all stages of pregnancy

Moderating effect of the use of eWOM on subjective norms, behavioural control and religious tourist revisit intention

Religious activities are a common topic of discussion on various platforms and online forums in Nigeria. These online interactions shape opinions and attitudes of tourist to a religious destination. The use of electronic word of mouth has become a factor in influencing behavioural intention. Hence, this study investigated the relationship between the use of eWOM and tourist revisiting intention to a religious destination and the effect of the use of eWOM on the relationship between Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioural control and Revisit intention of visitors to religious destinations. The hypotheses for the study was tested using a Hierarchical Regression model. The essence was to examine the effect of each variable on revisit intention as they are entered into the regression equation. The findings show that the combination of the use of eWOM, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and even attitude has a strong influence on revisiting intention. However, the use of eWOM has a weak effect on revisit intention of religious tourists. The study recommends that managers of religious events pay more attention to the experience rather than focusing on using eWOM as a promotional tool, although it may attract new visitors, it will not make them come back

Absorption Lines in the Gravitational Lens System MG 0414+0534

Spectra of components A1 +A2 and B of the gravitational lens system MG 0414+0534 taken with the low-resolution imaging spectrograph on the Keck 10 m telescope show that the strong absorption feature seen in a low-resolution spectrum is due to a complex of Fe II lines at redshifts near that of the lensed quasar. The redshift of the lens remains unknown

Development of a Machine for Expressing Vernonia amygdalina Leaf Juice

Vernonia amygdalina leaf juice is known for its nutritive value and as food supplement. There is therefore, a need for a simple processing device for the leaf juice expression. This study developed a machine for producing contamination-free V. amygdalina leaf juice. The design of the machine was based on the principle of a pressure deferential applied to the incoming leaf mash compared with that applied to the discharged material. Macerated leaves were compressed through a tapered screw conveyor; whose shaft terminates as a rising but short conical kink. The maximum juice yield of 41.39% was expressed from the leaf mash at pressing pressure and residence time of 6.09 MPa and 11 min, respectively. The throughput of the machine was 9.60 kg/h and the juice extraction rate was 1.86/h at leaf to water ratio of 1: 0.8. The maximum juice expression efficiency was 15.54% at 1: 1.2 leaf to water ratio, 60 rpm constant rotational motor speed and 11.99 kg/h feeding rate. Approximately 26.38% of the inherent moisture content of the leaf was expressed by the machine. It is expected that the machine may be used to express juice from other plant leaves having comparative physical properties. The machine therefore provides a viable technique for mechanical expression of good quality V. amygdalina leaf juice.

EFFECT OF PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER OF RIVER OGUN ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF AQUATIC INSECTS

This study was carried out to determine the abundance, composition, distribution of aquatic insects and physico – chemical factors of Ogun River. The aquatic insects were collected using sweep and pond net (0.5mm) from two study sites during February and middle April, 2012. The water samples and insects were collected once in a week. Insects were sampled using standard entomological methods, while water samples was analysed using standard Winkler’s titrimetric and APHA methods to determine the chemical properties. Water analyses were conducted in the laboratory of Ogun State Water Corporation, Abeokuta, Ogun State. While insects identifications were done in the laboratory in the Entomology Laboratory of the College of Natural Sciences, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Results show that five orders and thirteen families were found with the highest number of aquatic insects from the order Odonata. The most abundant family were Coenagriidae and Libellulidae respectively. Physico – chemical values, water temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen ( DO), Conductivity and Nutrient were measured. Only conductivity had the greater value among the water quality parameters.Â

Cranio-facial and Ocular Morphometrics of the Male Greater Cane Rat (Thryonomys swinderianus)

Cranio-facial indices still remain a useful means of early detection of the characteristic facial appearance of some syndromes. The cranio-facial and gross ocular morphometry of the male Greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) was studied using 9 adults. A total of twenty seven parameters were determined for each head. Linear measurements were determined on each eyeball using digital vernier calliper, measuring rule and a piece of twine. Cranio-facial parameters assessed included distance between medial canthi, height of the incisor, extent of oral commissures, width and length of the pinnae. All measured parameters were correlated with the body weight. The highest positive correlation was observed between the body weight and the width of the head, while the heights of the two upper incisors showed the lowest negative correlation with the body weight. The weights of the animals, heads and both eyeballs were 1.97 ± 0.37 kg, 252.00 ± 36.89 g, and 1.00 ± 0.12 g respectively. With increase in the use of wildlife as experimental animals, results from this study may find application in the field of comparative anatomy and pathological studies as well as in wildlife clinical applications.Key words: Greater cane rat, craniofacial index, anthropometric indices, ocular measurements

Multilevel Regression Analysis of Age at First Birth

Knowledge about the factors associated with age at first birth plays a major role in controlling the rate of population growth. This paper presents Hierarchical Linear Modeling known for its robustness not only in dealing with hierarchical data structure but also in its ability to explain the effects of the shared variances present in the study on the variable of interest.  Data from 2013 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), collected via a hierarchically clustered sampling scheme were used. It investigated the factors that were thought to be associated with variation in age at first birth among Nigerian women were investigated. The model provided parameter estimates as well as estimates of the random effects variances at all the levels. It was observed that the average age at which a Nigerian woman gives birth to her first child without considering any factor effect is 19 years which is a teenage year. 22% and 18% in the variation of ages at first birth resides in the differences in the states and zones in the country

Review on hardfacing as method of improving the service life of critical components subjected to wear in service

A review on hardfacing is presented. Hardfacing involves applying a consumable with desired wear properties over a soft base metal surface to enhance resistance to different wear mechanisms. Substrate materials used for hardfacing are mainly steel, while the alloys of carbide forming elements dominate the surfacing consumables. Powder metallurgy, atomisation and granulation are methods of producing hardfacing alloy powder. Most welding methods were identified to be successfully used in applying consumable on substrate surfaces. Dilution decreases with increase in the number of hardfacing layers. Buffers, butters and build-up metals are used to compensate for composition differences to prevent spalling, overcome welding difficulties and make up for badly worn surfaces, respectively. Waffle, stringer and dot patterns are the existing hardfacing deposit patterns. Benefits of hardfacing include: reduced downtime, inventory and maintenance cost, increased plant availability and productivity, and a good number of service life extensions through timely reparation.Keywords: Hardfacing, wear, substrate, consumable, service life extension, composition compensatio