Mass Media Exposure and Intention to use Contraceptives in North-West Geo-Political Zone, Nigeria

The population has been increasing and is expected to continue to increase rapidly.  This increases is projected to be due to the population growth in the less developed countries.  The rapidly the population of a country grows, the more the stress on the economy to keep up with the pace of needed infrastructure that enhances quality of life of the citizenry.  The main driver of population growth is the use of contraceptives especially among currently married women.  The data for this paper is from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey.  A subset of currently married women age 15-49 was extracted.  The paper set to find out the factors affecting mass media exposure; how exposure to mass media effect a woman’s intention to use contraceptives; as well as the correlates of a woman’s intention to use contraceptive.  The level of education, religion, occupation, place of residence, ownership of radio, and television as well as household access to electricity have significant effect on the likelihood of married women being exposed to mass media.  The level of education of a woman also have significant effect on intention to use any contraceptive. The effective use of the mass media will increase the proportion of married women who will want to use any contraceptive in the future as such on the long run there will be an improvement in the contraceptive prevalence rate for the zone and indeed the country. Keywords: Mass Media, Intention, Contraceptive, Currently Married women

Factors associated with teenage pregnancy and fertility in Nigeria

Teenage pregnancy and fertility are often debated in literature as reasons of health concern and as a social problem. In understanding the issues that are related to teenage fertility and pregnancy in Nigeria, the paper uses the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey Data. A subset of women age 15 to 19 is extracted from the women data. The article sets to find out the variables that predict the odds of a teenager being currently pregnant, have borne a child in the five years preceding the survey as well as either currently pregnant as at the time of survey or having had a child in the last five years before the survey.  The results show that apart from the age of the teenager, marital status is another strong predictor of the likelihood of being currently pregnant or having a child in the 5 years preceding the survey. An increase in age was associated with increase in the odds of being pregnant and of having born a child. Ensuring that female teenagers remain in school is vital to mitigating the negative outcomes of teenage pregnancy and child bearing.  The treatise in this paper shows that teenage pregnancy and childbearing is a severe policy mediation area if the trend of population growth rate will be curtailed. Keywords: Teenage Pregnancy, Fertility, Nigeria, Demographic, Health Surve

Appraisal of Natural Durability of a Lesser – Known Boscia anguistifolia (A. Rich) Wood Using Ground Contact Test

The optimal utilization of lesser-known wood species is dependent on their natural durability. In this study, the natural durability of a lesser-known wood species (Boscia anguistifolia) using ground contact test was carried out. Wood blocks of Boscia anguistifolia and Ceiba petandra (reference species) with dimensions of 20 x 20 x 300 mm were obtained from the axial and radial direction of the trees. The wood blocks were conditioned and their moisture content determined before exposure to ground contact for 12 weeks after which their weight loss was determined. Data obtained were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 probability level. The moisture content of B. anguistifolia and C. petandra ranged from 12.80 – 18.02 % and 12.73- 16.63%, respectively while the weight loss of B. anguistifolia and C. petandra ranged from 5.10 – 69.11% and 37 – 50 % respectively along the axial position. It was observed that the core wood in the base portion of B. anguistifolia has the lowest weight loss value of 5.10% while the reference species has a value of 39.73%. Conclusively, B. anguistifolia is moderately durable at the base part of the species when compared with the reference non-durable species used in this study

Improvement of a stem borer resistant maize population for nitrogen deficient environments

Nitrogen (N) deficiency is a common feature in all maize growing ecologies of West and Central Africa. It is therefore imperative to produce maize varieties that are able to survive in N deficient environments. To determine their potential in improving the population for N deficient environments, S1 progenies from a stem borer resistant maize population- BR9928DMRSRLNC1 were evaluated under low soil N (30kgN/ha) condition at Mokwa and Zaria, Nigeria in 2013. Furthermore, the original and improved cycle of the population were later evaluated at the same test locations under two additional N fertilizer levels (0kg and 90kgN/ha), to estimate gains from selection. Several traits were evaluated. For most of the traits studied, genetic variability was moderate to low and ears per plant, ear aspect and plant height were significantly correlated with yield. Step-wise multiple regression, identified ears per plant and ear aspect as having high direct effects on grain yield. Expected gains per cycle were lower than observed for most traits except grain yield and plant height. Comparison between the original and improved cycle revealed that in general, selection reduced days to flowering and ear aspect ratings across all N levels. In addition, grain yield increments were observed in all N environments with the most significant change of 15% occurring at 90kgN/ha. Using a weighted index with larger weights assigned to grain yield, ear aspect and ears per plant should increase gain in further selection programs.Keywords: Nitrogen deficiency; maize; genetic variability; genetic gain; S1 progeny selectio

Social Contract: The Case of Maternal Health in Nigeria 1999 – 2008

The state of maternal and child health is both an indicator of a society’s level of development and the performance of the health care delivery system.  Many complications and subsequent poor outcomes for women are lessened by providing good quality care, including early detection of problems and appropriate and timely interventions.  The paper used three rounds of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data in comparing women’s access and utilization of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care.  The trend was examined in the light of the urgency of attaining the MDGs.  The results show a worsening situation for safe motherhood. The social contract need be strengthened by the state intensifying its policies and programmes towards ensuring that the health and welfare of all persons are safeguarded and not endangered or abused; there are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons. Keywords: Social Contract, Maternal Health, Antenatal, Contraceptives, Postnata

The Effects of Soret and Dufour on a Steady MHDFree Convection Flow over an Inclined Porous Plate with Viscous Dissipation

This paper deals with the effects of Soretand Dufouron a steady MHD free convection flow over an inclined porous plate with viscous dissipation. The models were non-dimensionalisedand the following parameters arise in the flow: Soret number Sr, Dufour number Du, Prandtl number Pr, magnetic parameter M, Schmidtl number Sc, radiation parameter R, permeability of porous medium K, thermal Grashof number Gr, solutalGrashof number Gm, Eckert number Ec and inclination angle . The influences of these parameters which control the flow were analysedand given a place in this work. The dimensionless governing equations of flow field are solved numerically by collocation weighted residual method. The effects of various parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are discussed and displayed graphicall

Performance Evaluation of Geometric Active Contour (GAC) and Enhanced Geometric Active Contour Segmentation Model (ENGAC) for Medical Image Segmentation

Segmentation is an aspect of computer vision that deals with partitioning of an image into homogeneneous region. Medical image segmentation is an indispensable tool for medical image diagnoses. Geometric active contour (GAC) segmentation is one of the outstanding model used in machine learning community to solve the problem of medical image segmentation. However, It has problem of deviation from the true outline of the target feature and it generates spurious edge caused by noise that normally stop the evolution of the surface to be extracted. In this paper, enhanced Geometric active contour was formulated by using Kernel Principal Component Analysis(KPCA) with the existing Geometric active contour segmentation model and performance evaluation of the formulated model was carried out. Keyword: Geometric active contour, Segmentation, Medical image, Kernel Principal Component Analysis

Development Inequalities in Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria

This paper examined the spatial inequality of development among thirty Local Government Areas of Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria. Based on the results of Principal Component Analysis and Logistic Regression applied to 45 indices of development in all the LGAs for year 2001, the paper identified four major components and six predictor variables as determinants of development inequalities among the LGAs in the State. It revealed regional inequalities of development in the state. Many development indicators are concentrated in a few Local Government Areas that are urban based. Majority of the LGAs are lagging behind on the components of development. This portends serious implications for development planning in the state. It can be concluded that the economy of the entire state is largely underdeveloped. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 25-4