Relationship between Housing Condition, Soldiers' Social Life and Morale in Coral Barracks, Nigeria

Despite the numerous empirical studies that have been conducted on housing conditions, there is still very little research work carried out on military barracks life, the impact of the condition of the barracks' accommodation on the soldiers' social life and morale. Thus, this paper presents a study on the relationship between housing conditions, soldiers' social life, and morale in Coral Barracks Nigeria and covers only the non-commissioned officers' quarters. A quantitative method using a questionnaire survey was used with a sample size of 260. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics as well as parametric measurements. A total number of 194 questionnaires retrieved from the respondents were used in the analyses. Building services attributes had a strong and significant positive correlation. Moreover, neighbourhood and soldiers' life correlate significantly, negative but weak, while physical housing attributes and neighbourhood attributes correlate significantly but negatively and weak with children's life. Neighbourhood attributes and soldiers' morale recorded a significant, negative but weak correlation. In light of these findings, this study recommends that a standard strategic plan for efficient barrack housing construction, management, and maintenance is designed

Assessing the Effectiveness of Post-disaster Housing Reconstruction from the Flood Victims' Perspective: A Pilot Study

In any flooding, houses are the component that is most extensively damaged, and repeatedly represents the greatest portion of the loss in the overall impact of a disaster on the national economy. In October 2012, a flood devastated 14 States in Nigeria that included Kogi where safe actions on victims' rehabilitation, recovery and risk vulnerability reduction were swiftly taken through post-disaster housing reconstruction developments. However, the implementation of some of the resolutions was inadequately done due to non-availability of basic guidelines for the reconstruction processes. This research aims to develop a post-disaster housing reconstruction framework for flood victims in Nigeria. Fifty questionnaires were administered to the 2012 flood victims out of which 43 constituting 86% was valid for analysis using SPSS. This report reveals the results of the pilot study conducted before carrying out the main survey to collect information from target respondents. The pilot study shall help to minimise errors in the questionnaire, warrants the smooth running of the survey, ease the response rate, and offer a useful and valuable inquiry. The results include the descriptive statistics, reliability test, content and construct validity, the normality test, and factorability. The values of skewness and kurtosis were all within the recommended limit of -/+2, which indicates the normal distribution of all the constructs of the study. The summary of the reliability test for each construct of the post-disaster housing reconstructionquestionnaire, are Effectiveness of reconstruction strategies, 0.966; Resource mobilisation strategies, 0.772; Resilience strategies, 0.866, Reconstruction approaches, 0.816, Issues experienced, 0.944, and the Community satisfaction with reconstruction strategies have a value 0.902 for Cronbach alpha coefficient. The results are a positive indicator to use the instrument for the main survey. Keywords:Floods impact, Flood victims, Housing, Post-disaster housing reconstruction, Pilot study, Nigeri

Influence of Periodic Administration of Garlic Extract on Blood Parameters of Grazing Lambs

The study was carried out to investigate the effects of periodic  administration of garlic extract drench on haematology and serum biochemistry of grazing lambs. Twelve West African dwarf sheep with an average weight of 12.00 ±0.77 kg were allotted to 3 treatment groups with 4 animals per group in a completely randomized design which lasted for 10 weeks. Treatment 1 (T1) served as control with no garlic extract, Treatment (T2) were given 5ml garlic extract weekly and Treatment T3 received 5ml garlic extract every 2 weeks. Results of haematological analysis showed that PCV significantly (P<0.05) differs among treatment groups while RBC, MCV, WBC, LYM and GRA all show no significant (P>0.05) difference. The lowest PCV of 19.68% was observed in T1 while T2 recorded the highest PCV of 29.68%. The results from serum biochemical indices shows that cholesterol and ALT differ significantly (P<0.05) among treatment groups while total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, urea and AST all show no significant (P>0.05) difference among treatment means. The lowest serum cholesterol value of 0.78 was observed in T2 while the control group  recorded the highest value of 1.30. The study suggests that garlic extract could be used to reduce the level of serum cholesterol in grazing lamb thereby improving meat quality.Keywords: Garlic Extract, West African Dwarf Sheep, Haematology, Biochemistry

Influence of Periodic Administration of Garlic Extract on Blood Parameters of Grazing Lambs

The study was carried out to investigate the effects of periodic administration of garlic extract drench on haematology and serum biochemistry of grazing lambs. Twelve West African dwarf sheep with an average weight of 12.00 \ub10.77 kg were allotted to 3 treatment groups with 4 animals per group in a completely randomized design which lasted for 10 weeks. Treatment 1 (T1) served as control with no garlic extract, Treatment (T2) were given 5ml garlic extract weekly and Treatment T3 received 5ml garlic extract every 2 weeks. Results of haematological analysis showed that PCV significantly (P<0.05) differs among treatment groups while RBC, MCV, WBC, LYM and GRA all show no significant (P>0.05) difference. The lowest PCV of 19.68% was observed in T1 while T2 recorded the highest PCV of 29.68%. The results from serum biochemical indices shows that cholesterol and ALT differ significantly (P<0.05) among treatment groups while total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, urea and AST all show no significant (P>0.05) difference among treatment means. The lowest serum cholesterol value of 0.78 was observed in T2 while the control group recorded the highest value of 1.30. The study suggests that garlic extract could be used to reduce the level of serum cholesterol in grazing lamb thereby improving meat quality

Mitochondrial Genome Sequence and Expression Profiling for the Legume Pod Borer Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

We report the assembly of the 14,054 bp near complete sequencing of the mitochondrial genome of the legume pod borer (LPB), Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), which we subsequently used to estimate divergence and relationships within the lepidopteran lineage. The arrangement and orientation of the 13 protein-coding, 2 rRNA, and 19 tRNA genes sequenced was typical of insect mitochondrial DNA sequences described to date. The sequence contained a high A+T content of 80.1% and a bias for the use of codons with A or T nucleotides in the 3rd position. Transcript mapping with midgut and salivary gland ESTs for mitochondrial genome annotation showed that translation from protein-coding genes initiates and terminates at standard mitochondrial codons, except for the coxI gene, which may start from an arginine CGA codon. The genomic copy of coxII terminates at a T nucleotide, and a proposed polyadenylation mechanism for completion of the TAA stop codon was confirmed by comparisons to EST data. EST contig data further showed that mature M. vitrata mitochondrial transcripts are monocistronic, except for bicistronic transcripts for overlapping genes nd4/nd4L and nd6/cytb, and a tricistronic transcript for atp8/atp6/coxIII. This processing of polycistronic mitochondrial transcripts adheres to the tRNA punctuated cleavage mechanism, whereby mature transcripts are cleaved only at intervening tRNA gene sequences. In contrast, the tricistronic atp8/atp6/coxIII in Drosophila is present as separate atp8/atp6 and coxIII transcripts despite the lack of an intervening tRNA. Our results indicate that mitochondrial processing mechanisms vary between arthropod species, and that it is crucial to use transcriptional information to obtain full annotation of mitochondrial genomes

Transcriptome Sequencing, and Rapid Development and Application of SNP Markers for the Legume Pod Borer Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

The legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is an insect pest species of crops grown by subsistence farmers in tropical regions of Africa. We present the de novo assembly of 3729 contigs from 454- and Sanger-derived sequencing reads for midgut, salivary, and whole adult tissues of this non-model species. Functional annotation predicted that 1320 M. vitrata protein coding genes are present, of which 631 have orthologs within the Bombyx mori gene model. A homology-based analysis assigned M. vitrata genes into a group of paralogs, but these were subsequently partitioned into putative orthologs following phylogenetic analyses. Following sequence quality filtering, a total of 1542 putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were predicted within M. vitrata contig assemblies. Seventy one of 1078 designed molecular genetic markers were used to screen M. vitrata samples from five collection sites in West Africa. Population substructure may be present with significant implications in the insect resistance management recommendations pertaining to the release of biological control agents or transgenic cowpea that express Bacillus thuringiensis crystal toxins. Mutation data derived from transcriptome sequencing is an expeditious and economical source for genetic markers that allow evaluation of ecological differentiation

Progress and challenges of demand-led co-produced sub-seasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) climate forecasts in Nigeria

This paper identifies fundamental issues which prevent the effective uptake of climate information services in Nigeria. We propose solutions which involve the extension of short-range (1 to 5 days) forecasts beyond that of medium-range (7 to 15 days) timescales through the operational use of current forecast data as well as improve collaboration and communication with forecast users. Using newly available data to provide seamless operational forecasts from short-term to sub-seasonal timescales, we examine evidence to determine if effective demand-led sub-seasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) climate forecasts can be co-produced. This evidence involves: itemization of forecast products delivered to stakeholders, with their development methodology; enumeration of inferences of forecast products and their influences on decisions taken by stakeholders; user-focused discussions of improvements on co-produced products; and the methods of evaluating the performance of the forecast products. We find that extending the production pipeline of short-range forecast timescales beyond the medium-range, such that the medium-range forecast timescales can be fed into existing tools for applying short-range forecasts, assisted in mitigating the risks of sub-seasonal climate variability on socio-economic activities in Nigeria. We also find that enhancing of collaboration and communication channels between the producers and the forecast product users helps to: enhance the development of user-tailored impact-based forecasts; increases users’ trusts in the forecasts; and, seamlessly improves forecast evaluations. In general, these measures lead to more smooth delivery and increase in uptake of climate information services in Nigeria

Effect of Service Quality, Service Price and Infrastructural Provision on Customers’ Satisfaction and Patronage in Yankari Game Reserve Bauchi State

The explore the effect of service quality, service price and infrastructural provision on customers’ satisfaction and how that is translated to customer patronage of a game reserve called Yankari, in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Survey strategy was used to collect data from 351 visitors of the game reserve using selfadministered questionnaire. The results indicated highest levels of service quality in water supply services, health and safety services, natural recreational services and swimming facilities services, while least service quality in response services and sales services respectively. There is weak relationship between services price and services quality, and negligible relationship between services price, visitors’ satisfaction, infrastructure provided, infrastructure preferred, and patronage. Infrastructural provision, services price, and services quality explained 7.3% small significant effect size on visitors’ patronage. Infrastructural Provision is making a significant negative unique effect to the visitors’ patronage. Services Price has the lowest insignificant contribution in explaining the visitors’ patronage. However, Infrastructural provision, service price, service quality explained 34.5% large significant effect on visitors’ satisfaction, but the services quality is making a statistically significant unique contribution on the visitors’ patronage, while services price has lowest and insignificant contribution. Infrastructural facilities in the park should give more emphasis on response services and sales services. The infrastructural provision in the area should be based on the basic requirements not visitor’s preference. There is need to conduct more extensive studies in other recreational/tourism centres to be able to generalize the results of this study to other game reserves, parks, and recreational/tourism centres

Measure of satisfaction: Post Service Evaluation of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme

Facilities, service and activities management are an integral part of the overall management of the national youth service corps (NYSC) scheme. The actualization of the goals and objectives of NYSC scheme require the provision, maximum utilization and appropriate management of the facilities, services and activities, as well as the satisfaction of the facilities, services and activities. Furthermore, advances in science and technology, necessitate that the NYSC scheme managers should adopt modern methods of facilities, services and activities management. This will improve the quality of National service and promotion of norms and values. A direct relationship exists between the quality of NYSC facilities Services and Activities satisfaction rendered and the quality of the products of the national service and also the promotion of the national norms and values. The physical environment of a NYSC such as Camp is a major determining factor in the attainment of its objectives. This paper describes the consequences of dissatisfaction with NYSC facilities, service and activities and facility, services and activities satisfaction management problems and this paper also measure the satisfaction of the corps members with facility, services and activities, It also explore the effect of lack of satisfied facilities, services and activities in the scheme, and concluded that NYSC facilities, services and activities satisfaction give meaning to the national service and promotion of national norms and value process. It recommended that NYSC managers should carry out comprehensive assessment of the facilities, service and activities, to determine areas of need. This type of assessment will assist in policy formulation as it relates to facility management in schools camps etc