Parents and caregivers’ perceptions on content and channels of communication on immunization service messages in Anambra state, Nigeria implication for action

Background: Effective communication is key to ensuring that barriers to childhood vaccination are tackled. Most times the source and content of information fails to deliver the necessary information needed to make proper decision children’s vaccination. This study explored the perception of communication messages and the different channels used in delivering messages on vaccination among parents/caregivers in Anambra State, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Anambra State, Nigeria among parents/caregivers with children aged 0-59 months. A multistage sampling method was used. Questionnaire was used for data collection and analyzed using IMB SPSS version 23. Chi square test was used for association at p<0.05. Results: Findings show that the overall awareness and knowledge was very high 306 (95.6%). Majority 216 (67.50%) of the respondents only receive the key immunization messages during campaigns. Most preferred channel of delivery was through religious groups 273 (85.3%). followed by town announcers 270 (84.4%). Overall, 175 (54.7%) were positive on messages given during Immunization campaigns. Higher proportion agreed that immunization messages are better reinforced if both parents are targeted 309 (98.6%). There were statistically significant association of overall awareness and knowledge with age p=0.043, gender p=0.006, educational level <0.001 and occupation p=0.001. There were no statistically significant association of overall perception with characteristics of respondents. Conclusions: Parents/caregivers’ perceptions of immunization messages can influence social change and increase immunization uptake. Both parents of the children should be targeted whenever immunization messages are to be disseminated

Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Nigeria

Human Capital is an integral part of any country’s development and economic growth has human capital as an important factor. This study evaluates the relevance of human capital development on the growth of the economy pin pointing the relationship that exists between them. In this study, the ordinary least square (OLS) technique was adopted. The GDP was used as a proxy for economic growth; Per Capital Real Gross Domestic Product, primary school enrolment, public expenditure on education and health, life expectancy, stock of physical capital as proxy for human capital. From the analysis, it was deduced that there is a strong positive relationship between human capital development and economic growth. The recommendations drawn from the study centered on revisiting the man-power needs of the various sectors of the economy. Also, while workable policies should be put in place to bring about an overall economic growth, expenditures on health and public education should be utilized effectively and efficiently so that the country would experience quality health care services and quality educational system. Key words: Human Capital, GDP, Economic growth, Ordinary Least Squares, Nigeri

TB89: Motor and Elective Activity of the Duodenum of Broilers

Recordings of pressure changes and electrical activity from the proximal small intestine of seven to eight-week-old unanesthetized chickens were made with chronically implanted transducers. The recordings were used to quantitate and determine the relationships among basic electric rhythm (BER), spike potentials (SP), and intestinal contractions (IC) of the duodenum. The omnipresence of the BER was demonstrated. SP were recorded whenever IC were detected. SP numbers and amplitudes were directly related to the strength of IC. Acetylcholine caused a general increase in the number and amplitude of both SP and IC. Epinephrine completely abolished both SP and IC. The results suggest that BER may represent the stimulus that initiates SP, and therefore, IC of the duodenum.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_techbulletin/1096/thumbnail.jp

John Chalmers DaCosta (1863-1933): restoration of the old operating table.

John Chalmers DaCosta was an influential chairman and the first Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He was well known throughout the field as a skilled surgeon, passionate speaker, and exceptional writer. In addition to countless accomplishments during his career, DaCosta was deeply dedicated to the preservation and commemoration of surgical history. This ideology was exemplified when he set out on a mission to recover the old wooden operating table used by many of his iconic mentors including Samuel D. Gross, Joseph Pancoast, and William W. Keen. This table was originally used for surgical demonstrations and anatomy lessons in a lecture room of the Ely Building and later in the great amphitheater of the Jefferson Sansom Street Hospital. It was found forgotten in the basement of the College Building and was promptly refurbished, donned with dedicatory plaques, and returned to its honored position in the medical college. Dr. DaCosta also contributed a detailed article recalling the history of the table and the notable leaders in surgery who taught and practiced on its surface. The old table currently stands proudly in the entranceway of the Department of Surgery where it will remain as a cherished symbol of the early beginnings of surgical practice and education

An illustration of new methods in machine condition monitoring, Part I: Stochastic resonance

There have been many recent developments in the application of data-based methods to machine condition monitoring. A powerful methodology based on machine learning has emerged, where diagnostics are based on a two-step procedure: extraction of damage sensitive features, followed by unsupervised learning (novelty detection) or supervised learning (classification). The objective of the current pair of papers is simply to illustrate one state-of the-art procedure for each step, using synthetic data representative of reality in terms of size and complexity. The first paper in the pair will deal with feature extraction. Although some papers have appeared in the recent past considering stochastic resonance as a means of amplifying damage information in signals, they have largely relied on ad hoc specifications of the resonator used. In contrast, the current paper will adopt a principled optimisation-based approach to the resonator design. The paper will also show that a discrete dynamical system can provide all the benefits of a continuous system, but also provide a considerable speed-up in terms of simulation time in order to facilitate the optimisation approach

Achieving Global Justice through Decolonizing Human Dignity

Human dignity is, or should be, at the heart of global justice. This is because dignity underpins conceptions of human nature and is simultaneously a fundamental foundation and an intrinsic end of human rights. However, conceptions of human dignity vary significantly in western and non-western societies, with important implications both for the theory and practice of human rights and global justice. This is because in major international declarations, conventions and agreements about human rights and international justice, human dignity is articulated using a repertoire of linguistic/philosophical resources originating in the west to the exclusion of the non-west. This phenomenon is what I refer to as the coloniality of human dignity, arguing that an acceptable theory of global justice ought to be preceded by a decolonial articulation of human dignity, a notion of dignity that eschews the parochialism of nativist essentialism and disavows the oppression of civilisationalist universalism masquerading as cosmopolitanism

Impact of Climate Variability on Irrigation Water Needs and Irrigation Schedules of Maize and Cucumber in Aba, Abia State

In an attempt to address the discrepancies in the food production and population growth rates in Nigeria, this study estimated the irrigation water requirements of maize and cucumber in Aba, Abia State. Meteorological parameters (rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours) were collected from NiMet Abuja for 20 years (2000 to 2020). CROPWAT version 8.0 was applied to determine the Crop ETo and irrigation schedule of maize and cucumber. The hypothesis: Impact of climate variability does not influence irrigation of maize and cucumber was tested using Pearson correlation coefficient. The result shows that during the early and late planting season of maize, the crop water used are 338.6mm and 276.6mm, effective rainfall 478.8mm and 782.8mm and the total rainfall 740.0mm and 1028.6mm. For cucumber, the water used by the crop is 334.9mm and 285.8mm, and effective rainfall 332.6mm and 663.9mm. There was no irrigation schedule for maize and cucumber during the early and late plating seasons. It shows that water requirement for maize and cucumber was enough during the seasons. The highest crop ETo and temperature was in the month of March (4.57mm/day) and January (33.7°C). The study also reveals that the impact of climate change on irrigation water need at 0.05 significant level is IR=192.811-0.089(TR). The result shows a negative slope (-0.089), which means a negative relationship between Irrigation required and total rainfall over the 20 years period. This indicates that as rainfall increases, irrigation required decreases. The study therefore, suggests that maize and cucumber should be planted in Aba all year round; since there is enough rainfall for the crop

An Illustration of New Methods in Machine Condition Monitoring, Part II: Adaptive outlier detection

There have been many recent developments in the application of data-based methods to machine condition monitoring. A powerful methodology based on machine learning has emerged, where diagnostics are based on a two-step procedure: extraction of damagesensitive features, followed by unsupervised learning (novelty detection) or supervised learning (classification). The objective of the current pair of papers is simply to illustrate one state-ofthe-art procedure for each step, using synthetic data representative of reality in terms of size and complexity. The second paper in the pair will deal with novelty detection. Although there has been considerable progress in the use of outlier analysis for novelty detection, most of the papers produced so far have suffered from the fact that simple algorithms break down if multiple outliers are present or if damage is already present in a training set. The objective of the current paper is to illustrate the use of phase-space thresholding; an algorithm which has the ability to detect multiple outliers inclusively in a data set