HIV Knowledge, Intoxication, Risky Behaviors, and Sexual Communication among Nigeria University Students

Poor sexual communication among Nigerian youth can create problems for health workers, medical practitioners, and the government in determining what is and is not working in their attempts to reduce sexually-related diseases. This quantitative study used self-administered questionnaires among 107 Nigerian university students, aged 18 to 35, to determine if a statistically significant predictive relationship existed between: (a) beliefs about alcohol, (b) HIV knowledge, (c) risk behaviors, (d) age, (e) religion, (f) gender, (g) sexual activity status, (h) dating status, (i) language, (j) sexual orientation, and (k) tribes of Nigerian university students and their sexual communication with partners. Previous studies did not use the AIDS risk reduction model (ARRM) as a theoretical framework to identify frequent risk factors in this population. This study was guided by the ARRM and used the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS), the HIV-KQ-18, the Revised Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ-3), and the Dyadic Sexual Communication Scale (DSC) to assess the participants. Independent-sample t tests were used to analyze the correlation of study variables and the results showed statistically significant differences only in tribal affiliation (p = .022), gender (p \u3c .001; p =.016), dating status (p = .017), age (p = .006), and sexual activity status (p = .001). Linear regression analyses results showed no statistically significant predictive relationship, R = .322, R2 = .103, F (12, 94) = 0.904, p = .546, between HIV knowledge, beliefs about alcohol and risk behaviors of Nigerian students, and their ability to communicate sexually. These findings justify the need for more culturally sensitive studies and gender/age appropriate HIV intervention strategies in Nigeria

The Effects of British Television Among Foreign Audience

This study focuses on the effect of television on international students of Anglia Ruskin University in terms of English speaking skills, knowledge of British culture, change of the type of food, and also the change of type of music. Thousands of students enter UK every year to study. These students, who come from different parts of the world, speak different languages and also have different culture. It was based on this that the researcher decided to undertake this study to identify the level of influence British television has been able to impact in the lives of the international students. Data were collected from 124 respondents through an online survey. The findings helped to understand the television viewing pattern of international students and the channel mostly viewed by them. The results confirmed that each international student has a need which they sought for gratification of those needs by watching a particular TV programme. The researcher also relates the study with both uses and gratification theory and cultivation theory. These theories formed the theoretical framework of the study. The researcher also made recommendations for the policy makers in the TV industry in UK who would like to produce and broadcast programmes that will not be culturally specific so as to appeal to a large audience of different nationalities. These recommendations, if implemented will go a long way to further improve the British TV industry

Americanisation of Nigerian Political Communications: Matters Arising from the 2015 General Elections

This paper aims to provide useful insight into the Americanisation of Nigerian political communication placing more emphasis on the 2015 general elections and the consequences of this on our domestic political system. Nigeria was colonised by Britain. It, however, changed to the American presidential system of government in 1979. Thus, Nigeria is rapidly following the footsteps of America not just in the system of government but also in the adoption of its political communications techniques. Many of the election practices currently being employed in political campaigns across the world appear to have their immediate origin in America. Some of the electoral practices like the employment of communication consultants, personal attack rather than issue based campaign, the adaptation of communication to ‘media logic’, the frequent opinion polls, the use of the new media, the emphasis on image and others appear to have been dominant practices in American political system prior to the adoption by other countries across the globe. The researcher adopted document research as research methodology for the study.  The research was anchored on the globalisation theory. The Americanisation of political communication has brought new standards to the field of political communication. The research shows great American influence in Nigerian political communication system. The paper recommends the employment of American political system in Nigeria with consideration on its workability based on the differences in political, media, economic and socio-cultural environment of both countries. Keywords: Political communication, Americanisation, Campaigns, Election and Mediatisatio

Optimization Of Wind Fence Enclosures For Infrasonic Wind Noise Reduction

A large porous wind barrier enclosure has been built and tested to optimize wind noise reduction at infrasonic frequencies between 0.01-10 Hz in order to develop a technology that is simple, cost effective, and improves upon the limitations of pipe and porous hose arrays. The effects of varying the fence\u27s porosity, modifying its top condition and bottom gap, doubling the height and diameter, and adding a secondary wind barrier were investigated. A simple mathematical model which estimates the wind noise measured at the center of the enclosure was derived based on the measured turbulence and velocity profiles measure outside the enclosure, inside the enclosure, and incident to its surface. The wind fence enclosure achieves wind noise reduction by minimizing the turbulence and velocity gradients at its center, and by decorrelating and area averaging the pressure fluctuations at its surface. The optimum wind fence has a surface porosity of 40-55%, a porous roof, no bottom gap, is very tall, wide, and is supplemented by a secondary wind barrier. The optimum wind fence can achieve a wind noise reduction of 20-27 dB over the 2-4 Hz frequency band, at least a 5 dB noise reduction for frequencies from 0.1 to 20 Hz, and a constant 4-6 dB of noise reduction for frequencies with turbulence wavelengths larger than the fence. At high wind speeds, 3-6 m/s, the optimized wind fence enclosure reduces wind noise sufficiently to detect microbaroms

Biodiversity of the Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Calotropis gigantea (L.) R.Br.

Calotropis gigantea(L)R.Br., a widely used medicinal plant in India, were exploited for endophytes as a possible source of bioactive secondary metabolites. About  700 segments from 10 plants of Calotropis gigantea, collected from different locations of Guindy Campus, University of Madras during the year 2009–2010, were processed for the presence of endophytic fungi. A total of 13 fungal species viz., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavipes, Alternaria porri, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium oxysporum, Nigrospora sphaerica, Colletotrichum falacatum, Pestalotiopsis sydowiana, Phoma exigua, Phomopsis archeri, Leptosphaerulina chartarum,  and Mycelia sterilia, were isolated and identified based on the morphology of the fungal culture and characteristics of the spores

GAMETOCYTE DYNAMICS AND THE EFFECTS OF AQUEOUS AND ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF Lophira Lanceolata IN MICE INFECTED WITH Plasmodium Bergei

Resistance of human malaria parasites to existing chemotherapeutic drugs remains a global challenge to malaria control. This study was an evaluation of the gametocyte dynamics and the potential roles of aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Lophira lanceolata in the transmission of Plasmodium parasites using mice experimentally infected with P.berghei as a model. A total of 192 experimental mice divided into 15 groups in a randomized block design and replicated four times with four mice in each group were used for this study. Thirty-six (36) mice were used for acute toxicity test, 32 mice each for curative antiplasmodial assay, prophylactic assay and gametocyte evaluation, and analyses. Experimental mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with standard inoculum of 1 x 107P.berghei parasitized red blood cells on first day (DO). Body weights of mice were taken using sensitive digital weighing balance. Blood sample was collected by cardiac puncture using sterile needle and 5ml syringe and preserved in ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) bottle. Haematological components were determined using an autohaematology analyzer SYSMEX KX21. Data analysis was done using student’s t-test and one way analysis of variance with multiple comparison tests. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of phenols, terpenoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, oxalates and cardiac glycosides. The flavonoids had the largest concentrations of 388.24mg/ml, and 350.00mg/ml in ethanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. LD50 was found to be > 5000mg/kg body weight in both extracts. At > 100mg/kg body weight, infected treated mice experienced body weight increases while infected untreated mice experienced decreases in mean body weight from 23.33g to 20.08g (mean 10% weight loss). Aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts produced variations in number of gametocyte from mice infected with P.berghei. On days 7, 14, 21, and 28, the mean gametocytes of  the parasite in the control group were 18, 21, 22, and 20 respectively which were significantly (p < 0.05) higher compared with the mean gametocytes in the groups of mice treated with aqueous extract, ethanolic extract  and chloroquine drugs. The dose level of 10mg/kg body weight of aqueous extract produced the mean gametocyte counts of 10, 10, 8 and 6 on days 7, 14, 21 and 28 respectively which were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the mean gametocyte counts of the contro

A Web-Based kNN Money Laundering Detection System

Money laundering is synonymous to clothes laundering and it is the process of transforming the real nature of the source of an income or money. This transformation of the source is usually from an illegitimate source to a legitimate source. Explicitly programmed system, rule-based system and machine learning system exist as anti-money laundering system, however these systems have one or more setbacks, mostly the explicitly programmed and rule-based systems due to their inability to learn from experiences and to improve their performance as they used. The k nearest Neighbour (kNN) model was developed using open datasets on financial transaction from Kaggle.com, which is an open-source website that holds a lot of data. An accuracy of 98.4% was achieved for the selected model. In this article, we developed a web-based money laundering detection system which is based on the kNN Machine Learning model

Mermaid Syndrome in Enugu, Nigeria

Mermaid syndrome is a type of gross fetal anomaly, characterized by the fusion of lower extremities, absent external genitalia, and apparentlywell‑formed abdomen, chest, upper extremities, and head. The neonatal mortality rate due to this anomaly is high, but the disorder is relatively rare.Hence, few cases have been reported in the medical literature, and none in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku‑Ozalla, Enugu State. Keywords: Congenital anomaly, mermaid syndrome, sirenomeli