Modeling Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Age at Marriage among females in Kogi State, Nigeria

This paper is aimed at determining the effect of socioeconomic factors such as cultural background, level of education and religion in relation to age at marriage among women in Kogi State Nigeria. The survey area is made up of diverse ethnic groups with three major languages. The study reveals that education is an important factor which increases the age at marriage in the State. The study equally proved that religion and cultural background does not affect age at marriage among women in Kogi State, Nigeria. A Saturated one-way and two-way model was fitted to reveal the behavioral pattern of the distribution. Key words: Socioeconomic, Modeling, Marriage, Saturated, Analysis

Statistical Analysis of Some Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Age at Marriage among Males in Kogi State, Nigeria

This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between age at marriage and educational attainment, religion and cultural background among males in some parts of South Western Nigeria. A saturated one-way and two-way model was proposed for the study. Level of educational attainment and religion was established to have significant relationship with age at marriage while senatorial differences do not have any statistical significant relationship with age at marriage in the area surveyed. Key words: Model, Saturated, Marriage, Senatorial, One-way, Two-way, Effect

Determination of Selected Heavy Metals In Seasonal River In Maru Town, Zamfara State, Nigeria.

The presence of heavy metals in our environment has been of great concern because of their toxicity when their concentration is more than the permissible level. The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to Lead and Cadmium. These metals have been extensively studied and their effect on human health regularly monitored and reviewed by international bodies such as the WHO and USEPA. Total levels of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Cr were determined in seasonal river in the eastern part of Maru using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS). The results of total metals concentration (ppm) in the river were 0.0211±0.0014, 0.177±0.0004, 0.0201±0.0031, 1.1367±0.0493 and 0.0058±0.0003 for Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn and Cr respectively. The study showed that the sample was contaminated with Zn when compared to others. The level of Cd and Pb were high when compared to their safety limit (0.01 and 0.10) by U.S.E.P.A. Keywords: Maru, Heavy Metals, Seasonal Rivers, Contamination

Prevalence and predictors of cigarette smoking and alcohol use among secondary school students in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Cigarette and alcohol use are the most common causes of noncommunicable diseases. Studies related to cigarette and alcohol use among Nigerian adolescents have shown increases in the habits and require urgent intervention. Nationally representative data is needed to develop effective national policies and interventions, but this is lacking. Hence, this study aimed to provide nationally representative empiric information about cigarette and alcohol use prevalence and predictors among Nigerian secondary school students. METHODS: This study included 2,530 Nigerian students in Nigeria from five of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information about the participants’ sociodemographic and school-based characteristics, cigarette and alcohol use status, and harm perception of tobacco and alcohol use. Data were analysed with SPSS version 25 at p<0.05. RESULTS: Participants' mean age (±SD) was 16.34 (±2.0) years. The prevalences (95%CI) for ever-cigarette and current-cigarette smoking were 11.1% (95%CI:9.9-12.4) and 8.4% (95%CI:7.3-9.5), respectively. While 21.0% (95%CI:19.4-22.7) and 15.6% (14.2-17.1) were the prevalences for lifetime and current alcohol use, respectively. The predictors of current cigarette smoking were studying in northern-Nigeria (aOR:1.94;95%CI:1.10-3.44), attending private-schools (aOR:1.56;95%CI:1.03-2.38), boarding-student (aOR:1.75;95% CI:1.15-2.69), male-gender (aOR:3.03; 95%CI:1.80-5.10), current alcohol use (aOR:12.50;95%CI:8.70-18.18), having no (aOR:2.59;95%CI:1.58-4.26) or low tobacco harm perception (aOR:2.04;95%CI:1.18-3.53). The predictors of current alcohol use were male (aOR:1.32; 95%CI:1.01-1.72) and current cigarette smoking (aOR:12.5;95%CI:8.77-17.86). CONCLUSION: The prevalences of cigarette and alcohol use were high among Nigerian secondary school students, and both habits were strongly associated. Their predictors were school-related factors, sociocultural characteristics, and tobacco harm perception

Geophysical Investigation of Part of Ahmadu Bello University Farm, Nigeria

Geophysical methods are becoming an increasingly valuable tool even for agricultural applications. Agricultural  geophysics investigations are commonly focused on delineating small- and/or large-scale objects/features within the soil profile (````````~ 0 to 2 m depth) over very large areas. The study was carried out at a farm site in Ahmadu Bello University, to delineate subsurface structures with depth. It revealed the lithological units in the study area. The analyses has revealed various lithological units from the results of the inverted sections along the profiles. The study area has shown clearly two distinct layers, overburden and weathered basement. The overburden layer is clayey sand, sandy clay, and laterite. This laterite soil show very high resistivity anomaly that may be referred to as consolidated laterite. The weathered layer which contains medium grained sand with clay and feldspar materials also has the presence of fractured part that could act as the aquifer in the area. From the subsurface properties, this farm land may have low agricultural yield or may limit the cultivation potential of the region, but the region may be good for underground water yield

Current status and future development of solvent-based carbon capture

Solvent-based carbon capture is the most commercially-ready technology for economically and sustainably reaching carbon emission reduction targets in the power sector. Globally, the technology has been deployed to deal with flue gases from large scale power plants and different carbon-intensive industries. The success of the technology is due to significant R&D activities on the process development and decades of industrial experience on acid gas removal processes from gaseous mixtures. In this paper, current status of PCC based on chemical absorption—commercial deployment and demonstration projects, analysis of different solvents and process configurations—is reviewed. Although some successes have been recorded in developing this technology, its commercialization has been generally slow as evidenced in the cancellation of high profile projects across the world. This is partly due to the huge cost burden of the technology and unpredictable government policies. Different research directions, namely new process development involving process intensification, new solvent development and a combination of both, are discussed in this paper as possible pathways for reducing the huge cost of the technology

Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Surveillance in Nigeria From 2010 to 2016, Prior to and During the Phased Introduction of the 10-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine

Background: Historically, Nigeria has experienced large bacterial meningitis outbreaks with high mortality in children. Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus), and Haemophilus influenzae are major causes of this invasive disease. In collaboration with the World Health Organization, we conducted longitudinal surveillance in sentinel hospitals within Nigeria to establish the burden of pediatric bacterial meningitis (PBM). Methods: From 2010 to 2016, cerebrospinal fluid was collected from children <5 years of age, admitted to 5 sentinel hospitals in 5 Nigerian states. Microbiological and latex agglutination techniques were performed to detect the presence of pneumococcus, meningococcus, and H. influenzae. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction and serotyping/grouping were conducted to determine specific causative agents of PBM. Results: A total of 5134 children with suspected meningitis were enrolled at the participating hospitals; of these 153 (2.9%) were confirmed PBM cases. The mortality rate for those infected was 15.0% (23/153). The dominant pathogen was pneumococcus (46.4%: 71/153) followed by meningococcus (34.6%: 53/153) and H. influenzae (19.0%: 29/153). Nearly half the pneumococcal meningitis cases successfully serotyped (46.4%: 13/28) were caused by serotypes that are included in the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The most prevalent meningococcal and H. influenzae strains were serogroup W and serotype b, respectively. Conclusions: Vaccine-type bacterial meningitis continues to be common among children <5 years in Nigeria. Challenges with vaccine introduction and coverage may explain some of these finding. Continued surveillance is needed to determine the distribution of serotypes/groups of meningeal pathogens across Nigeria and help inform and sustain vaccination policies in the countr

A system dynamics model of capital structure policy for firm value maximization

The complexity surrounding the maximization of firm value agenda demands a comprehensive causal model that effectively embeds the intertwining relationships of the variables and the policies involved. System dynamics provides an appropriate methodology to model and simulate such complex relationships to facilitate decision making in a complex business environment. The objective of the study is to analyze the impact of capital structure policy, being a key managerial decision, on the firm value. For this purpose, the study develops a system dynamics‐based corporate planning model for an oil firm, including the operational as well as financial processes. Various scenarios and capital structure policies have been designed and simulated to identify the policy that helps in increasing the firm value. The results demonstrate that increase in debt percentage in capital structure mix increase the firm value.publishedVersio

Head-to-head intra-individual comparison of [Ga-68]-FAPI and [F-18]-FDG PET/CT in patients with bladder cancer

DATA AVAILABILITY : The data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Please read abstract in the article.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.https://link.springer.com/journal/11307hj2023Nuclear Medicin