Framing the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign by Online Newspapers in Nigeria

In this study, attempt was made to determine the framing of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign by Nigerian online newspapers. Seventy-one editions of Daily Trust, the Punch, Sahara Reporters and Vanguard newspapers from April 2014-October 2014 were content analysed. The study examined how much coverage BBOG campaigns received in the sampled online newspapers, the nature of reporting BBOG campaigns and the dominant sources of stories and themes in the framing of stories on the campaign in the newspapers studied. The study employed qualitative and quantitative content analysis and found that the newspapers provided mostly favourable coverage of the campaign with a total of 59 (83.1%) out of 71 total stories. The study also found that the campaigners and their sympathisers were the dominant sources of stories during the study period. The study concluded that the newspapers made concerted efforts to cover the campaign positively, unlike what usually obtains in Western media framing of social movements where status quo biases are often maintained. The study also found that the newspapers focused more on straight news than other story types in reporting the campaigns. Keywords: Bring Back Our Girls, Social movement, Online newspaper, Framin

Effect of Locust Bean Pod Ash and Eggshell Ash on the Mortar Compressive and Flexural Strengths of Cement Blends

An increase in the generation of biogenic wastes such as locust bean pods and eggshells coupled with the need to drive sustainability in the cement industry has led the use of these wastes as cement replacement materials. The paper aims to investigate the effect of locust bean pod ash (LBPA) and eggshell ash (ESA) on the mortar compressive and flexural strength of ternary cement blends. The LBPA was obtained by calcining locust bean pod (LBP) at various temperatures of 800-900 °C and time of 60–120 minutes at an interval of 50 °C and 30 minutes respectively to determine the optimal conditions. The chemical composition of Ordinary Portland cement (OPC), LBPA and ESA were obtained via X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer and LBPA chemical composition did not satisfy one of the requirements specified by ASTM C618-01 (2001) with SiO2+ Al2O3+Fe2O3 of 30.42 wt. % which is less than 50 wt. %, but satisfies SO3 content requirement of 0.7 wt. % and Loss on Ignition (LOI) of 7.12 wt. % and contains 19.42 wt. % CaO which is within the range of 10-30 wt. % CaO is class C pozzolan. The compressive strength of blended cement mortars at the early age of 2 and 7 days produced better strengths for cement blends with higher ESA content than LBPA especially at LBPA/LBPA-ESA ratio of 0, 0.4 and 0.6 for 2.5 wt. % cement replacement respectively. The early strength gain could be attributed to the provision of more nucleation sites by ESA inclusion which results in the acceleration of cement hydration rate. On the other hand, the enhanced strengths at 28 days of cement blended with various replacement from 2.5–10 wt. % could be attributed to the pozzolanic reaction between the available lime and reactive silica from LBPA despite clinker diminution which was close to control. Another reason for enhanced strength' could be attributed to the increased potassium content by an increase in LBPA content resulting in a gradual strength gain (retarder) muscovite formation K2Al2Si6Al4O20(OH)4. All cement blends experienced an increase in the mortar compressive and flexural strengths as the curing day progressed with some blends producing enhanced strength compared to control especially with 1.5 ESA1LBPA produced the best strength at 50.15 (6.82) N/mm2 against 48.80 (6.80) N/mm2. This enhanced strength could be related to the pozzolanic activity and the high potassium content from LBPA despite clinker diminution, especially at 28 days

Development of Shunt Active Power Filter for Harmonic Reduction using Synchronous Reference Frame with Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation

The work aims at development of Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) for harmonic reduction. The current harmonics are being caused by nonlinear characteristic of power electronics based equipments which increase power losses and in turn reduce power quality. Synchronous Reference Frame (SRF) was used as a control strategy and for reference harmonic current generation and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) was adopted as switching signal generation. With RL load under balanced input voltage condition, the developed SAPF-SVPWM achieved a reduction of THD of 0.91% as compared to 25.60 before compensation. In addition, the developed SAPF- SVPWM model was compared with SAPF without compensation using RL load under unbalanced voltage and the result shows that the developed SVPWM achieved reduction in THD of 1.74 % as compared to 26.68% after and before compensation. The developed SVPWM model was also compared with SPWM balanced and unbalanced voltage condition. The results show that SVPWM performed better than SPWM. All the results obtained are within IEEE 519 harmonics standard (i.e. THD less than 5%) with nonlinear load under balanced and unbalanced voltage. Keywords: Shunt active filter, input voltage, harmonics, space vector pulse width modulation, nonlinear load

Gender Imbalance and The Nigeria’s Democratizing Process

This paper attempts to analyse the gender imbalance existing in the Nigeria’s democratizing process. Gender imbalance has been a permanent feature in the democratic politics of most countries of the world, including Nigeria, with women being relegated to the background. Thus, women remain the marginalised gender. This marginalisation, the paper argued, is partly derived from the pattern of socialisation of men and women into the different roles in the society and which subsequently results in unequal access to and unfair distribution of resources. This impedes development and productivity. Various attempts were made by the international community and national governments to address this problem. However, in spite of these efforts, the representation of women in the Nigerian democratising process, even though could be said to have relatively improved, is still very low. This is because the female gender in Nigeria, often, are besieged with many challenges which militate against their effective participation in the country’s democratic process and the continued male dominance in this area of human endeavour. These challenges, as discussed in the work, include among others, the patriarchal ideology, money politics, illiteracy and the general nature of the country’s political terrain. Based on the foregoing, some recommendations were made such as intensifying efforts on gender affirmative actions, need for the ratification of protocols and treaties on gender equality to which Nigeria is a signatory, change in our attitudes, among other things

Load modeling techniques in distribution networks: a review

Power system operation and control required models of generators, lines and loads to be accurately estimated, this is to enable operators make a reliable decision on the system.  Generators and lines models are so far considered accurate, while load models are considered perplexing due to invention of new types of loads, distribution system are transforming from passive to active. Future distribution systems are desired to be smart and for a network to be smart the system as to be fully and accurately represented. Penetration of renewable energy and application of power electronic devices as well as participation of active customers in distribution systems make traditional methods of load modeling absolute. Accurate load modeling is required to address the new challenges evolving in the task of power system operation, control and stability studies. It is also an interest of power system researchers globally to realize Smart Networks (SNs), in which accurate load models are required. This work described a review of techniques and approaches for load modeling from traditional methods to the state of art in the area. In addition, gaps in the literature as well as research directions are also pointed out

A review on perception of genetically modified foods in Nigeria

Genetically modified foods (GMFs )), GMOs or engineered foods refer to foods produced from genetic ally modified plants or animal s who se DNA have undergone modifications either by an inherent or a foreign DNA (transgenes) for improvement of the targeted o rganism. Genetically modified foods were introduced to  Nigeria by National Biotechno logy Development Agency ( to combat food security issues and other agricultural challenges . After the introduction, the Nigerian Government believed that the products can be release d to the m arket. This brought persistent argument s by Nigerians on the perception and acceptance of the GM foods. The basis for the arguments were made on factors such as safety , environmental threat, price , means of colonization, food security, family size, potentiality , awareness of GM foods. These arguments were by individuals and organizations within various areas /fields in Nigeria. The perception led to the division of Nigerians to protagonists and antagonist s with regards to GMOs. The article reviewed the introduction, perceptions and views of factors on GMFs acceptance among Nigerians

Compliance to medication among hypertensive patients in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Background: Non-compliance to blood pressure-lowering medication is a major reason for poor control of hypertension worldwide. We assessed the level of compliance to anti-hypertensive therapy and identified factors contributing to poor compliance among hypertensives in Kano. Methodology: Three hundred and sixty outpatients were interviewed using a pre-tested, structured, mostly closed ended questionnaire in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Results: Good compliance with drug treatment was observed in 54.2% of the respondents and poor compliance among the remainder. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance on need for regular treatment (32.7%), lack of funds to purchase drugs (32.7%) and side effects of drugs (12.1%). Patients with formal education, and higher monthly income were more compliant to treatment. In addition, those on single drugs were more compliant compared to those on two or more drugs. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance and lack of funds to purchase drugs. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, there is a need for launching a comprehensive approach involving health care providers, patients and the general public to educating patients on the need to take their drugs regularly and in the manner prescribed. Doctors should consider the financial status of their patients in prescribing antihypertensive drugs to enable affordability. Prices of anti-hypertensive drugs should be subsidized where possible. Prescribing an effective, inexpensive, single dose daily medication with minimal side effects will improve patient compliance considerably. Key Words: Hypertension; Medication; Compliance; Kano Journal of Community Medicine & Primary Health Care Vol.16(1) 2004: 16-2

Financial Instruments: Islamic Versus Conventional

The financial system of any economy is made up of its financial institution, financial instruments and financial regulators. However, the nature of the instruments, institutions and regulations depend on the economic system and philosophy prevailing in that economy. This chapter presents a simple and precise narrations on the meaning of financial instruments, their forms and characteristics, fundamental principles of Islamic finance as well as the similarities and differences between convention and Islamic financial instruments. A case study reflecting the core merits and pitfalls of financial instruments is presented to further press home the understanding of the topic. This piece is intended to provide readers with the basic understanding of issues raised

Polymerase chain reaction detection of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) in uropathogenic Escherichia coli as a novel diagnostic test for urinary tract infection

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common and sometime serious infectious disease diagnosed using conventional urine culture as the ‘gold standard’ for identifying Escherichia coli, the most common causative agent. However, due to the slow turn-around-time and other challenges of urine culture, this study explores the use of a novel biomolecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach to detect the presence of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) that encodes a unique virulence factor of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) for its rapid identification in UTI. Methodology: Primers from UPEC CFT073 and non-pathogenic E. coli K-12 MG1655 strains provided by Nottingham Trent University, England, UK were used to investigate the presence of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) in UPEC. The hlyD primers were developed from hlyD with locus number C_RS01660 on UPEC CFT073 strain using the NCBI, virulence finder, and Island viewer, and used in a PCR assay to target the hlyD in UPEC. Three sets of PCR templates were designed (UPEC, E. coli, and “No template”), each with internal and external controls amplified in a multiplex PCR assay, and agarose gel electrophoresis was used to separate the amplicons, and determine the specificity of hlyD for UPEC. Results: The UPEC genome PCR assays were positive for hlyD and UPEC positive control, and similarly, PCR was positive for E. coli genome positive control, but negative for hlyD. Moreover, the “No template” PCR assay was clean with no amplification product, confirming the absence of PCR contaminations. Conclusion: The hlyD is a unique virulence gene specific for UPEC. PCR assay of this gene is a promising specific and rapid biomolecular diagnostic test that can overcome the limitations of the traditional approaches for detection of UPEC in UTI

Introducing a Manipulated System of Drainage Basins of a Developing Countries

As a natural open system, in a drainage basin, there is water flow and balanced channel characteristics. In a manipulated channel system, however, according to Mrowka (1974) and Schumm (1977), the water flow is made under control that induces dynamics in channel characteristics. In this paper, attempt is made to uncover how channel project is caused, nature of the new forms of channel cross-sectional area, shape, sinuosity, and gradient, as well as flood-plain characteristics. It also covers the peculiar transformation evolved as drainage basin system is changed to channel project. Consequently in the paper, two tasks involved were explained. These are significant channel re-construction, and redirection of stream flow as relates to developing water terrace in the savanna zone of Nigeria with the increased channel project dated back 1970s (Olofin, 1980). Specifically, the paper drew considered the physical characteristics of the natural channel of River Suka in North Central Nigeria and the manipulated system or the new face of the drainage basin project of the Kano River, Nigeria used to structure the Tiga dam that involved downstream channel adjustments Keywords: drainage basin, channel, river, dam, downstrea