Entrepreneurial marketing and performance of medium size hotel businesses in Ibadan, Nigeria

The challenge many medium sized hotels have today is how to effectively promote their services, bearing in mind the enormous cost of using traditional media to achieve the desired effects. Thus, marketers may have to embrace Entrepreneurial Marketing which is the practice of marketing with entrepreneurial mind set. Hence, this study examined the impact of Entrepreneurial Marketing on performance of medium-size hotel businesses in Ibadan, Nigeria. The data were collected through questionnaire administered to random sample size of 154 hotels and convenient sample of 2 senior staff from each of selected hotel. The data was analyzed using descriptive, regression and correlation statistical methods. The study concluded that Entrepreneurial Marketing (i.e. Guerrilla and Viral Marketing strategies), as it is related to promotion, have significant impact on and relationship with performance (i.e. sales growth and brand image creation) of Medium-size hotel enterprises in Ibadan, Nigeria. The study recommended that Hotel Entrepreneurs should embrace Guerrilla Marketing because of its direct and positive impact which is cost effective; and that they should embrace Viral Marketing because of its direct and positive impacts which are global reach, high speed contact and twoway communication.Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing, Brand Image, Business Performance, Guerrilla Marketing, Viral Marketin

Waste to Value:Transforming waste into emission savings power production

Climate change and the emerging need to reduce carbondioxide (CO2) and other emissions,call for increased environmental concern on national and global level. Renewable energy hasbeen identified as a would-be significant part of the solution that will prevail on merit and forman important economic component of future infrastructure [1].Large-scale central power as present today will not be the major thrust of powerdevelopment indefinitely. Rather, greater use of non-traditional fuels will result in a gradual shiftaway from fossil fuels to energy sources obtained from factories and homes. Waste heat fromindustrial processes together with gases from waste biological sources represents significantenergy resources that are today frequently neglected. In addition to waste heat, households throwaway huge amounts of garbage which can be recovered into biomass materials to fuel theengine/equipment to make power. This paper intends to present an overview of waste-to-energytechnologies that could transform waste into renewable energy sources in an economic mannerand also provide a cleaner environment

Hydrokinetic Energy Conversion Systems: Prospects and Challenges in Nigerian Hydrological Setting

Hydrokinetic energy conversion systems utilize the kinetic energy of flowing water bodies with little or no head to generate other useable forms of energy. In the last few years various research and development efforts have been made to bring out this technology from the proof of concept stage and to demonstrate its technical feasibility and potential to be deployed for the supply of stand- alone/off-grid electric power production. Being also a variant of the small hydropower scheme, which are usually site specific, much of the studies done on the technology are suited to specific sites and the peculiar hydrology of those localities. This paper, thus, explores this new emerging technology and its prospects, potentials, challenges and frameworks for its adaptation in Nigerian hydrological setting

Regional Scale Assessment of the Gross Hydrokinetic Energy Potentials of Some Rivers in Lower Niger River Basin, Nigeria

This study investigates the hydrokinetic energy potential of some selected rivers in the Lower Niger River Basin in North Central Nigeria. The methodology adopted was to obtain the gross naturally occurring theoretical hydrokinetic potential of the rivers through the use of a hydrological model and a spatial tool. MWSWAT, an open source interface to SWAT using the GIS system MapWindow, was employed for simulation to determine the hydrological parameters of the sub-basins and other computations were done using a spreadsheet package to estimate the instantaneous power density along the river reach. Preliminary results show there are naturally occurring potentials of this technology in the Lower Niger River Basin. The estimate of the theoretical resource for the watershed totals 826.7MW (7.247TWh/yr). River Moshi has the highest discharge (8315.78 m3/secs), while Oshin has the lowest (1224.27 m3/secs). Also, Awun has the highest theoretical hydrokinetic potential of 257.5MW while Oshin has the lowest (20.9MW).http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i2.29

Geographies of juvenile crime: a study of crime in selected high schools in East London, South Africa

Youth crime has been and still is a social problem in South Africa. It is a problem that shakes the very fabric of the society. The problem with the youth in modern society is both a national concern and an important subject for academic study. High school environments are where youths converge for learning purposes, but they have also turned to hotspots for crime. Different theories on explanations for high school crime have been developed over time. This particular study, conducted in 2008, adopts the criminal opportunity theory to study the social, economic and the demographic characteristics of selected environments in which high schools are located to determine significant factors that are conducive for high schools to be crime hotspots. Three schools were selected in different neighbourhoods in East London for the study. The study used an intensive case design technique to conduct the research. Different characteristics of the communities in which the schools that were studied were located showed different crime pattern. The Law enforcement agencies also realize these differences and they try to address crime issues in various communities in the study areas individuall

Accidents in Pressure Vessels: Hazard Awareness

Pressure vessels store substances under pressure higher than atmospheric conditions and are found all over the place. They are used in homes and hospitals for hot water storage, in many different factories and plants, and in mining and oil refineries. Pressure vessels store large amounts of energy; the higher the operating pressure and the bigger the vessel, the more the energy released in the event of a rupture and consequently the higher the extent of damage or disaster or the danger it poses, hence there should be no complacency about the risks. Unfortunately, pressure vessels accidents happen much more than they should. This paper presents different accounts of pressure vessels accidents, hazard awareness and precautionary measures that could save live

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENT DISCHARGE ON IBESE RIVER AND INHABITANTS OF VILLAGES ALONG ITS COURSE IN NIGERIA

Quest for industrial hazard impact both on the inhabitants and environment, necessitated the study of Socio-economic Impact (SEI) of Industrial Effluent Discharged (IED) on Ibese river and inhabitants of villages along its course in Nigeria. The SIE of IED was conducted after water quality result of the Ibese River has been ascertained. Based on the water quality result, the river course was demarcated into direct industrial effluent discharged Ibese river site, upper Ibese River site and control (free of effluent discharge) river site outside the Ibese River location. The river that is Free of Industrial Efflu- ent Discharge (FIED) site served as control. Simple random sampling technique was used to sample 10% of farmers from farmers’ organization list in IED and FIED to give a total of 180 farmers selected for the research. Data were collected through the use of interview schedule and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result revealed that high number (92.3mg/L) of phosphate an acid element and low (3.30) dissolve oxygen were discovered in IED site. Concerning heavy metals, higher mean level Fe 12.63, Pb 2.01 Cu 4.86 and Zn 7.88mg/L were found in IED water quality analysis. Majority (80.0%) of the farmers in FIED areas cultivated between 5.1 and 20 hectares of farms while 50.0% belong to this categories in IED. In FIED, higher proportion (86.0%, 64.0%, and 62.0%) generate income from crop planting, sheep and goat keeping and cassava processing re- spectively whereas fewer (24.4%, 16.7% and 6.6%) generate income from these sources in IED site. Impairment of used water was rated by 93.3% of the farmers as the most prominent harmful effect of IED. Income discrepancy between industrial effluent discharge site and non industrial effluent dis- charge site was statistically different at P<0.005. The finding revealed that SIE of IED is severe in IED site