Institutional Financing and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria

The study examined the nexus between Institutional Financing and the Poverty rate in Nigeria. The rationale behind the study is to establish the extent to which disbursed credits from the selected financial institutions have helped in alleviating the poverty rate in Nigeria. The institutional credits considered in this study include credits from the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Microfinance Bank, African Development Bank, World Bank, and Deposit Money Bank while Poverty Index was used as a measure of the poverty rate.  The study covered the periods 1991 to 2021 and data was sourced from the World Bank Database. We employed Unit Root Test, Johansen Co-Integration Test, Vector Error Correction Model, and Granger Causality Test. In the long run, we found that Microfinance Bank credit and African Development Bank credit significantly contributed to the poverty alleviation agenda of the government in Nigeria. As such, we conclude that institutional credits from Microfinance Bank and African Development Bank have significantly contributed to the fight against the poverty rate in Nigeria. As such, we recommended that Microfinance Bank should maintain its credit disbursement pattern as the report has shown that its credit has helped to assuage the poverty rate in Nigeria. Doing this is necessary as it will help in including the financially excluded citizens of the country in the financial web and also increase their access to financial products

Design and Implementation of an Iris Biometric Door Access Control System

Over the years, security has soared in importance as concerned individuals, companies and organizations continue to implement measures to improve the security of lives and properties. Door-access control is a physical security system that secures a room or building by limiting access to specific people and keeping records of such accesses. The significance of iris technology among others, for security and access control applications are numerous. In terms of physical security, iris technology is already making inroads into the access control market because of the reliability of its authentication process. In this paper, the researchers present an aspect of the system relating to the design and construction of an iris biometric door access control. The system was developed as a means of getting into a specified area by securing the door and limiting access. The database created contains the particulars of those allowed access in order to work in tandem with the mandatory iris authentication process. The implemented design worked satisfactorily

Fingerprint Biometric Authentication Based Point of Sale Terminal

Retail businesses that are not transacted online still represent a substantial amount of retail deals that are closed on a daily basis. Retail business owners and customers continue to explore other means of ensuring payments made with Point of Sale (POS) devices are done securely. This paper proposes the incorporation of fingerprint biometric recognition as an additional layer of protection to the customary pin and password requirements to gain permission to pay for goods purchased and services rendered using point of sale devices. The proposed fingerprint biometric recognition point of sale device has zero false match and false non‐match rate. This strengthens the present authentication process that makes use of pins and passwords that are prone to fraud and solidifies the trust and confidence users place on point of sale devices

Integration of Iris Biometrics in Automated Teller Machines for Enhanced User Authentication

The ubiquitous Automatic Teller Machine that revolutionized the way monetary transactions are carried out the world over is currently riddled with several security challenges. Top on the list of these challenges are the thefts and frauds associated with the ever popular Personal Identification Number based automatic teller machines. A lot of suggestions and proposals have been made in recent times, on how to combat the menace of automatic teller machine frauds. Biometrics is one of the most promising tools that have the capacity to put the nefarious activities around automatic teller machines in check. This paper proposes a cheap and economic iris biometric based automatic teller machine, built around a microcontroller, iris scanner and a robust database. The designed and implemented prototype is capable of checkmating automatic teller machine fraud and it is also easy to implement in developing nations

Dietary Fat Intake and Cognitive Decline in Women With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with type 2 diabetes have high risk of late-life cognitive impairment, yet little is known about strategies to modify risk. Targeting insulin resistance and vascular complications—both associated with cognitive decline—may be a productive approach. We investigated whether dietary fat, which modulates glucose and lipid metabolism, might influence cognitive decline in older adults with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Beginning in 1995–1999, we evaluated cognitive function in 1,486 Nurses' Health Study participants, aged ≥70 years, with type 2 diabetes; second evaluations were conducted 2 years later. Dietary fat intake was assessed regularly beginning in 1980; we considered average intake from 1980 (at midlife) through initial cognitive interview and also after diabetes diagnosis. We used multivariate-adjusted linear regression models to obtain mean differences in cognitive decline across tertiles of fat intake. RESULTS: Higher intakes of saturated and trans fat since midlife, and lower polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, were each highly associated with worse cognitive decline in these women. On a global score averaging all six cognitive tests, mean decline among women in the highest trans fat tertile was 0.15 standard units worse than that among women in the lowest tertile (95% CI −0.24 to −0.06, P = 0.002); this mean difference was comparable with the difference we find in women 7 years apart in age. Results were similar when we analyzed diet after diabetes diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that lower intakes of saturated and trans fat and higher intake of polyunsaturated fat relative to saturated fat may reduce cognitive decline in individuals with type 2 diabetes.Statistic

Gender and Resource Productivity in Rice Production n Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract: The inadequacy of information on resource productivity and their differentials by gender in rice production has prevented rice farmers from knowing the resources they are yet to realize their full potentials. This study analyzed resource productivity by gender in rice production in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 130 rice farmers comprised of 65 males and 65 females from the 13 Local government areas of Ebonyi State. Data were collected with structured and validated questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and productivity model. Results showed that marginal productivity of labour, capital and land for male farmers were higher than those of female farmers, while the marginal productivity of fertilizer and seed for female farmers were higher than those of male farmers. Rice farmers should be encouraged to use more of the resource imputs since a unit change in their use increases rice output

Economic and social changes among distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients

Although costs of lung cancer care have been documented, economic and social changes among lung cancer patients’ family caregivers have yet to be fully examined. In addition, research has not focused on caregivers with greater need for support services. This study examined various economic and social changes among distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients during the initial months of cancer care in the United States

Support Service Use and Interest in Support Services among Distressed Family Caregivers of Lung Cancer Patients

This study examined support service use and interest in support services among distressed family caregivers of patients recently entering a comprehensive cancer care facility

Environmental justice and conceptions of the green economy

Green economy has become one of the most fashionable terms in global environmental public policy discussions and forums. Despite this popularity, and its being selected as one of the organizing themes of the United Nations Rio+20 Conference in Brazil, June 2012, its prospects as an effective mobilization tool for global environmental sustainability scholarship and practice remains unclear. A major reason for this is that much like its precursor concepts such as environmental sustainability and sustainable development, green economy is a woolly concept which lends itself to many interpretations. Hence, rather than resolve long-standing controversies, green economy merely reinvigorates existing debates over the visions, actors and policies best suited to secure a more sustainable future for all. In this review article, we aim to fill an important gap in scholarship by suggesting various ways in which green economy may be organized and synthesized as a concept, and especially in terms of its relationship with the idea of social and environmental justice. Accordingly, we offer a systemization of possible interpretations of green economy mapped onto a synthesis of existing typologies of environmental justice. This classification provides the context for future analysis of which, and how, various notions of green economy link with various conceptions of justice

Chromosome evolution and the genetic basis of agronomically important traits in greater yam

The nutrient-rich tubers of the greater yam, Dioscorea alata L., provide food and income security for millions of people around the world. Despite its global importance, however, greater yam remains an orphan crop. Here, we address this resource gap by presenting a highly contiguous chromosome-scale genome assembly of D. alata combined with a dense genetic map derived from African breeding populations. The genome sequence reveals an ancient allotetraploidization in the Dioscorea lineage, followed by extensive genome-wide reorganization. Using the genomic tools, we find quantitative trait loci for resistance to anthracnose, a damaging fungal pathogen of yam, and several tuber quality traits. Genomic analysis of breeding lines reveals both extensive inbreeding as well as regions of extensive heterozygosity that may represent interspecific introgression during domestication. These tools and insights will enable yam breeders to unlock the potential of this staple crop and take full advantage of its adaptability to varied environments