RURAL HOUSEHOLDS' SOURCES OF WATER AND WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR IMPROVED WATER SERVICES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Households' source of water is one of the core development indicators recently gaining prominence in Nigeria. This study examined rural households' sources of water and its Willingness to Pay (WTP).  A cross sectional survey involving the use of questionnaire was adopted while a dichotomous choice (DC) with follow up was used as elicitation method. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 437 rural households. Descriptive statistics and Tobit model was used as analytical tool for the study. Results from this study revealed that almost 70% fetched from unimproved water sources. Only 74.4% of the respondents showed WTP for improved water sources. Age(p<0.01), Sex (p<0.01), Education (p<0.01), Occupation(p<0.01), Income (p<0.01), Price of water(P<0.01), Quantity of water (p<0.01), Household size(p<0.01) and Distance(p<0.01) to existing water sources significantly influenced rural households' WTP for these services. Therefore, good water sources should be cited nearer to rural community at a relatively low price by rural households. &nbsp

Tunable morphological properties of silver enriched platinum allied nanoparticles and their catalysed reduction of p-nitrophenol

A robust polymer based and polyol mediated procedure to synthesize nanobimetallic particles has been modified to produce core–shell and alloy Ag/Pt nanoparticles with tunable properties. Novel three-dimensional (3D) quasi nanocubes entangled in nanowebs were produced by rapid solution phase transformation with hot addition of absolute ethanol. The optical characterization showed extinction of plasmon resonance band occurring with incremental feeding ratio of Pt source in all cases. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images revealed that the shape, size and size distribution of asprepared silver platinum nanoparticles depended on the stabilizer or capping agent, mole ratio of metal ion sources, temperature and time of reaction. Meanwhile, catalytic activity was highest in the reduction of p-nitrophenol in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone/diethylene glycol stabilized Ag/Pt nanoparticles

Explicating Correlates of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, and Court Dispositions

Detention and confinement are widely acknowledged juvenile justice system problems which require further research to understand the explanations for these outcomes. Existing juvenile court, mental health, and child welfare histories were used to explicate factors which predict detention length in this random sample of 342 youth from one large, urban Midwestern county in the United States. Data from this sample revealed eight variables which predict detention length. Legitimate predictors of longer detention length such as committing a personal crime or violating a court order were nearly as likely in this sample to predict detention length as other extra-legal predictors such as race, court disposition for mental health problems, child welfare involvement, and child physical abuse victimization. Many of the factors that increase duration of detention are actually disadvantages that these youth endure; therefore preventative and intervention measures are in order

Predicting Juvenile Delinquency: The Nexus Of Childhood Maltreatment, Depression And Bipolar Disorder

Background It is important to identify and provide preventative interventions for youth who are most at risk for offending behaviour, but the connection between early childhood or adolescent experiences and later delinquency adjudication is complicated. Aim To test for associations between specified mental disorders or maltreatment and later delinquency adjudication. Method Participants were a random sample of youth before the juvenile courts in two Northeast Ohio counties in the USA (n = 555) over a 4-year time frame (2003 to 2006). Results Logistic regression analysis identified a lifetime diagnosis of depression and/or bipolar disorder to be predictive of later youth delinquency adjudication, but found that childhood maltreatment (or involvement with the child welfare system) made delinquency outcomes less likely. Implications Study implications are discussed as they relate to professionals working in the fields of child welfare, social work, mental health and juvenile justice. Awareness of risks associated with maltreatment may have led to effective interventions, while there may be less awareness of risks from depression in young people; however, studies tend not to take account of intervention variables

Predicting Juvenile Delinquency: The Nexus Of Childhood Maltreatment, Depression And Bipolar Disorder

Background It is important to identify and provide preventative interventions for youth who are most at risk for offending behaviour, but the connection between early childhood or adolescent experiences and later delinquency adjudication is complicated. Aim To test for associations between specified mental disorders or maltreatment and later delinquency adjudication. Method Participants were a random sample of youth before the juvenile courts in two Northeast Ohio counties in the USA (n = 555) over a 4-year time frame (2003 to 2006). Results Logistic regression analysis identified a lifetime diagnosis of depression and/or bipolar disorder to be predictive of later youth delinquency adjudication, but found that childhood maltreatment (or involvement with the child welfare system) made delinquency outcomes less likely. Implications Study implications are discussed as they relate to professionals working in the fields of child welfare, social work, mental health and juvenile justice. Awareness of risks associated with maltreatment may have led to effective interventions, while there may be less awareness of risks from depression in young people; however, studies tend not to take account of intervention variables

Effect of Building Orientation on Energy Conservation

Nigeria today faces serious challenge in providing adequate energy to meet the needs of her citizenry. Efforts are currently geared towards generation of more energy to ease the problem. While these efforts are commendable, it is equally desirable to explore ways of minimizing consumption of generated energy. This work has thus examined the impact of building orientation on the energy demand and thus proffers its appropriate orientation. A survey was carried out in lbadan which is the largest metropolis city in West Africa. The orientation of built houses in various setting such as Government Reserved Areas, Public/Commercial settings and local dweller settings were studied to determine their conformity with expected standard of North-South orientation of the building length. From the study it was observed that a sizeable percentage of the buildings with the survey were placed longitudinally in the East-West direction implying that more energy may have to be expended in cooling inside the building. The defaults are more pronounced in the local dwellers. In many of the cases considered in this study, the defaults were enhanced by the road networks. This study established the need for more education on building orientation as well as road network planning. This will cut down energy consumption in cooling inside a building

Economic Appraisal Of Industrial Solar Drying (Part I)

Major goals of industrialization include but not limited to provision of employment, establishing a platform for overall national development and improving the monetary income of whoever is involved which invariably improves the standard of living. A better pre-visibility study must encompass a well analysed economic appraisal of the plan. Computer programme was generated to analyse the economic aspect of industrial solar drying. The appraisal was carried out with the software using the Life Cycle Savings (LCS) technique. Three locations in Nigeria (i.e. Ibadan, Kano and Port Harcourt) were selected and their respective economic appraisal simulated. Sample simulations reveal that at a realistic initial moisture content of 30% (% wet basis) of the agricultural produce, economic analysis of over 20 years reveal that recommended solar collector area of 85.46m2, 80.71m2 and 75.96m2 supplied about 67%, 88% and 55.8% of the annual energy needed for Ibadan, Kano and Port-harcourt respectively which are the specific sizes at which life cycle solar savings are optima

Significant Race Differences in Factors Related to the Detention Recidivism of Youthful Offenders

A significant number of youthful offenders in the United States are held in juvenile court detention centers. Of broad concern is the disproportionate impact these placements have on minority youth, with African American and Hispanic youth much more frequently detained in these facilities compared to Caucasian youth. This U.S. study of a 2-county youthful offender population in the Midwest (1 urban, 1 rural) investigated racial differences in both extralegal (demographic, educational, mental health, and history of abuse or neglect) and court-related legal variables that predict detention placement upon recidivism—in other words, a second detention placement. Findings from logistic regression analysis indicated that only a few legal factors (violation of a court order, number of court offenses) predicted for both minority and Caucasian youth, but numerous racially disparate extralegal factors also predicted detention placement upon recidivism. Specifically, unique predictors for minority youth included a history of abuse or neglect, suicide attempt, and mental health diagnoses. These findings support the racially differential treatment explanation for detention placements as well as offer interventive opportunities for juvenile court personnel to reduce disproportionate minority confinement among youthful offenders

Discerning Reported Suicide Attempts Within a Youthful Offender Population

With suicide being the third leading cause of death among young people, early identification of risk is critical, particularly for those involved with the juvenile courts. In this study of court-involved youth (N = 433) in two Midwest counties, logistic regression analysis identified some expected and unexpected findings of important demographic, educational, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile court-related variables that were linked to reported suicide attempts. Some of the expected suicide attempt risk factors for these youth included prior psychiatric hospitalization and related mental health services, residential placement, and diagnoses of depression and alcohol dependence. However, the most unexpected finding was that a court disposition to shelter care (group home) was related to a nearly tenfold increased risk in reported suicide attempt. These findings are of importance to families, mental health professionals, and juvenile court personnel to identify those youth who are most at risk and subsequently provide appropriate interventions to prevent such outcomes