Assessment in Nigerian schools: a counsellor’s viewpoint

Assessment is aimed at finding out how much a child has acquired in terms of learning skills but also takes into consideration the personal-social development of the child. In Nigerian schools, assessment, most often than not is concentrated on cognitive achievement to the detriment of affective and psychomotor development of learners. This paper reports the findings of a year long survey examining the implementation of Holistic Assessment Measure (WAM) among secondary school teachers in Ilorin, Nigeria. In WAM, a student is assessed as a total entity using all the psychometric devises such as test and non-test techniques. Data were gathered through interviews and focus group with 500 randomly selected teachers. Results suggested that WAM was perceived as useful by 90% of the teachers to clarify assessment expectations. However, only 5% of the respondents admitted to employing WAM in the assessment of their students. 95% of the respondents do not factor affective and psychomotor measure into the overall performance of their students while 10% of the respondents claimed ignorance and incompetence in the use of non-test devises. It is recommended, that in-service training be organised for secondary school teachers in Nigeria, to educate them more on the need for WAM in the attainment of the overall educational goals. Key words: Assessment; holistic; secondary schools, Nigeria

The therapeutic potential of melatonin on neuronal function during normal ageing in male rats

Background: Ageing is a common factor in the onset neuronal dysfunction and neurodegenerative diseases. Serum level of melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), a free radical scavenger, reduces significantly during normal ageing and in neurodegeneration. Methods: To test the therapeutic potential of melatonin on function during normal ageing, we carried out an assessment of neuronal function in six months, nine months, twelve months and twenty-four months old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats with 0.1mg/kg exogenous melatonin. Data was analyzed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student-Knewman Keuls post-hoc test. Results: In six months old SD rats, melatonin treatment for two months restored motor function in the Chimney test. Furthermore, melatonin administration improved exploratory behavior and motor activity in ageing rats in the Elevated plus Maze (EPM) task. Finally, only 33% of melatonin treated rats had died at the termination of the experiment while all controls had 100% mortality. Conclusion: Melatonin may be a beneficial therapeutic agent to improve neuronal function during normal ageing.Keywords: Melatonin, neuronal function, motor function, normal agein

Grief Reactions of Bereaved Spouses in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Spousal death is one of the most traumatic events that can occur in marital experience and most times, engenders different reactions. The paper investigated the grief reactions of bereaved spouses in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. A total of 395 bereaved spouses were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected from the respondents using an instrument titled "Grief Reaction of Bereaved Spouses Questionnaire" (GRBSQ). The research questions raised were answered with percentages while the hypotheses generated were analysed using t-test statistics and three-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study indicated that (90.6%) of bereaved spouses in Kwara state have positive grief reactions, while 37 (9.4%) have negative grief reactions. The study further revealed significant differences in the grief reactions of bereaved spouses in Ilorin metropolis based on age at bereavement, nature of death and length of years of loss. Based on these findings, recommendations were made on the desirability of establishing counselling centres in governmental and non-governmental organisations aside from the conventional ones in schools and hospitals. The study also stresses the need for bereaved spouses to be exposed to grief counselling to help them adjust better to their bereavement and educated on the adverse effect of complicated grief as a result of poor adjustment

Optimizing Transformation for Linearity between Online Software Repository Variables.

Online Software Repositories (OSR) like sourceforge.net and google code contain a wealth of valuable data about software projects but these data violate the linearity and normal assumptions, hence making the data impossible for use in most statistical data analysis. To prepare these data for statistical data analysis, the data were non-linearly transformed, hence, these research established the best twelve (12) transformed model that obey linearity assumptions, higher coefficient of determination ( ), positive and negative relationship and gained variable significance over the original data. Similarly, the back transformation or interpretation was provided about each of these twelve (12) best ranked linear models to solve the challenges of data transformation encountered by researchers. Keywords: Data transformation, Linear regression model, OkikiSoft, Online Software Repository and Sourceforge.net

EVALUATION OF BIOGAS POTENTIALS OF Cymbopogon citratus AS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN NIGERIA

This research explored the potentials of Cymbopogon citratus (Lemon Grass) for biogas production as a cost effective alternative energy source in Nigeria. The Cymbopogon citratus was crushed to small sizes between 20 to 50mm and pre-fermented for 40 days in a PVC drum. Six (6) kg of the pre-fermented Cymbopogon citratus was mixed with water in ratio 1:1 w/v to form slurry and digested for 30 days. The floating drum gas collection system was used to collect the gas after it was passed through water and lime respectively for scrubbing. A total of 0.125m3 (6.95x10-4 m3/kg/day) and 0.0897m3 (4.98x10-4 m3/kg/day) of biogas was produced from the Cymbopogon citratus before and after scrubbing respectively. The gas produced was used for cooking test. The scrubbed gas had higher cooking rates for both water and rice respectively (0.12L/min and 0.0052L/min) while the cooking rates for unscrubbed gas were 0.079L/min and 0.0036L/min respectively. During this period, daily ambient temperatures of the research environment varied from 310C to 420C while the digester temperature fluctuated between 28oC and 36.70C. The pH of the medium fluctuated optimally between 6.5 and 7.8. The research demonstrated that Biogas could be produced from Cymbopogon citratus in quantity and quality comparative with those in literatures

Librarianship and Sustainable Development in Hospitality and Tourism: Special Focus on Bibliotourism

The contextual environment of library in the 21st century has given way to diversity of library services. The library has moved from the era of being a place where people come to conduct research or reading to what is now known all over the globe as infonomics; moving from the era of thinking and talking of library information materials as asset but, giving it the economic value that it actually worth. In the same vein, library, no doubt has prominent role to play in sustainability of hospitality and tourism development which has great influence on the nation’s economic growth and sustainability. Hospitality and tourism can be promoted and sustained through bibliotourism. This paper therefore, expounds the concept of bibliotourism and its influence on sustainability of hospitality and tourism development. For libraries in Nigeria to successfully court tourism to harness bibliotourism, concerted effort must be made by the government and all stakeholders in information profession to make our libraries centers of excellence and attraction. The paper therefore recommends that the library must be architecturally imposing exuding beauty and awe as is usually found of libraries in other nations and offer dynamic services and resources that catch the fancy of all people

Effects of poultry manure and carbofuran soil amendments on soil nematode population and yield of pineapple

Two field experiments were conducted at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta to assess the efficacy of poultry manure and carbofuran in suppressing nematode populations and promoting pineapple yield. Three rates of poultry manure (0, 20 and 25 tonnes per hectare) and carbofuran (0, 3.0 kg a.i/ha and 3.4 kg a.i/ha) were applied to pineapple plants in a Randomized Complete Block Design replicated three times in each of the two locations. Soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of plants at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months after planting to monitor soil nematode populations. Plant growth data were obtained by measuring the length and breadth of ‘D’ leaves for five randomly selected plants per plot. Flowering was induced at the 18th month by spraying with 0.5 kg ethephon in 2000L of water/ha. Results showed that Poultry manure and carbofuran treatments significantly (P < 0.05) suppressed plant-parasitic nematode populations in both locations. At harvest, significantly bigger fruit sizes, higher fruiting percentage and number of fruits were recorded on both poultry manure- and carbofuran-treated plots. It was concluded that appropriate management of plant-parasitic nematodes will promote higher fruit yields in pineapple farms in Nigeria

Studies on the Occurrence and Distribution of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Some Pineapple-Producing States in Nigeria

Nematode pests of pineapple have not been widely studied in Nigeria compared to other countries. This study investigated the geographical distribution of nematodes associated with pineapple in three pineapple-producing states in Nigeria. A total of 78 farms were sampled from Oyo, Ogun and Osun States using the Agricultural Development Project in each state as a pilot to locate representative farmlands in the States. The modified Baermann Extraction Tray method of Whitehead and Hemming was used for the extraction of vermiform nematodes from soil. Eighteen species of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) were found associated with pineapple from the fields surveyed as follows: Meloidogyne incognita, Rotylenchulus reniformis, Pratylenchus brachyurus, Tylenchus sp., Helicotylenchus dihystera, Scutellonema brachyurum, Hoplolaimus pararobustus, Criconemoides limitaneum, Paratylenchus minutus, Gracilaria sp., Hemicriconemoides sp., Hemicycliophora sp., Aphelenchus sp., Aphelenchoides sp., Tylenchorhynchus sp., Paratrophurus sp., Dolichoderus sp. and Xiphinema nigeriense. The most prominent plant-parasitic nematodes found in association with pineapple on all the fields were P. brachyurus, H. dihystera, S. brachyurum, R. reniformis and M. incognita occurring at frequency ratings of 88, 80, 71, 56 and 44%, respectively. The study indicated a widespread distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes of pineapple in Southwestern Nigeria

Neonatal Death in Sub-Saharan Africa and Associated Maternal Interpersonal Socio-cultural Factors

Several factors have been attributed to high neonatal death from studies. However, few studies that have examined mothers’ social factors have limits those factors on education, type of place of residence and income. This study extends on findings from previous studies, using DHS survey data conducted in 2013 in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone to examine the association between maternal socio-cultural factors and neonatal death. The result of weighted multilevel logistic regression analysis, show that the residing in rural area (OR=0.110, 95% CI=1.116-1.11, Islamic religion (OR=0.091, 95% CI=1.096-1.096), having co-wives (OR=0.105, 95% CI=1.110-1.111), justifying beating for going out without telling husband (OR=0.034, 95% CI=1.035-1.035) and justifying beating for refusing sex (OR=0.122, 95% CI=1.129-1.130)  were significantly more likely to report neonatal death. After adjusting for age, education and wealth, all these factors continued to be significant predictors of neonatal death. Though, the odd of neonatal death is less with age and education. The present study shows relative influence of multiple, interrelated maternal socio-cultural factors on neonatal death and confirm our hypothesis that women context indirectly influences neonatal outcome

TEENAGE PREGNANCY: THE FEMALE ADOLESCENT DILEMMA

Teenage pregnancy is now a major issue today in Nigeria. It has become common to see many young teenage mothers in and around the different states of Nigeria. Teenage pregnancy is pregnancy that occurs in human females under the age of 20.The World Health Organization statistics reveal that 95% of births to mothers in this age group occur in low to middle income countries, with the highest rates occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Whilst approximately 11% of births world-wide occur to mothers aged 15-19, World Bank indicators showed that teenage mothers formed 22.9% of women in Nigeria in 2010. Early marriage, low social-economic status, lack of education and rural community living are all factors associated withteenage pregnancy.Teenage pregnancy hasdetrimental effects on the health of both mother and child.Many reasons have been adduced for this trend and they include socio-economic factors, lack of discipline and control,adolescent sexual behavior andpsychological factors. This growing problem has attracted attention from many quarters. Many residents in Lagos state have at one time or the other expressed their concern about the increase in teenage pregnancy rates, especially in communities where you find many low income dwellers.In this study,theSurvey method was employed in interrogating this issue. This study sought to measure the perception of teenagers, who are key actors in the subject under review.Senior secondary students,Pregnant Teenagers in Alimosho and Ikorodu Local Government Areas of Lagos state were interviewed.The study revealed that low socio-economic status, cultural factors, peer pressure, lack of adequate sex education were the major causes of teenage pregnanc