150 research outputs found
Screening for Risk Factors: Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior as a Symptom of Disordered Family Structure and Functioning.
Background: Adolescent transition is associated with risky sexual behavior. Evidence has demonstrated the impact of family factors mediated through parental attachment on adolescents’ decisions on sexual debut and practice. Health provider initiated focused intervention targeting at risk adolescents and their families is needed but measures for family factors have not been incorporated into adolescents screening instruments. This gap in literature and adolescent health packages demands attention. Aim and Objectives: This study aims to use the Family Circle and APGAR Questionnaire to elicit the pattern of parental attachment and perceived family functioning and their relationship with sexual debut with a view to recommending them as screening instruments. Method: Over 400 senior secondary school students randomly selected participated using self administered instruments including the Family Circle and APGAR Questionnaire. P value was set at 0.05. Results: The Family Circle elicited the pattern of parental attachment  and showed a significant relationship with sexual debut and parent adolescent communication on sexuality. The APGAR elicited the perceived family functioning among the respondents. A significant relationship was established between sexual debut and parents’ educational status and parents' separation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the impact of disordered family structure and functioning on adolescent sexual practice mediated through parental attachment using the Family Circle and APGAR questionnaire. The utility of these instruments in eliciting parental attachment and perceived family functioning makes them vital tools proposed for screening and detection of at risk adolescents. Key words: adolescent, parental attachment, family structure, functioning, sexual debut
Adolescent Transition: Impact on Pattern of Perceived Family Functioning, Parental Attachment and Relationship with Family Structure and Risk Behavior
Background: Family approach to adolescent care is advocated to harness family protective factors and reduce adverse factors for adolescent risk behavior. Family Physicians can take the lead in providing this care but data on adolescent transition and perception of their family processes is lacking in our locale. There is need to bridge this gap and broaden the perspectives for successful adolescent care.Aim and Objectives: To determine the pattern of perceived family functioning and parental attachment, the impact of family structure and relationship to risk behavior among adolescents using the APGAR Questionnaire and Family Circle.Method: Over four hundred secondary school adolescents randomly selected participated using self administered customized instruments. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 21.p value was set at 0.05.Results: Most respondents (56.3%) rated their families as highly functional but deficient in the Growth and Affection domains of the APGAR. Parental attachment was healthy for majority (91.4%) with mother attachment (86.9%)significantly higher than father attachment (57.7%). Divorce had significant negative impact on functioning and all dimensions of attachment worse than families with a deceased parent. Work separation negatively impacted functioning, parental attachment was preserved. Risk behavior prevalence was high (25.6%), had significant relationship with family structure, functioning and parental attachment.Conclusion: Parental attachment mediates the impact of family structure and functioning on adolescent risk behavior. Most adolescents had healthy parental attachment, in functional families but with deficiency in the Growth and Affection domains and Father attachment indicating needed intervention to optimize family conditions for positive adolescent development. Keywords: adolescent, family functioning, family structure, parental attachment, risk behavior.
Radiation and viscous dissipation effects for the Blasius and Sakiadis flows with a convective surface boundary condition
This study is devoted to investigate the radiation and viscous dissipation effects on the laminar boundary layer about a flat-plate in a uniform stream of fluid (Blasius flow), and about a moving plate in a quiescent ambient fluid (Sakiadis flow) both under a convective surface boundary condition. Using a similarity variable, the governing nonlinear partial differential equations have been transformed into a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which are solved numerically by using shooting technique along side with the sixth order of Runge-Kutta integration scheme and the variations of dimensionless surface temperature and fluid-solid interface characteristics for different values of Prandtl number Pr, radiation parameter NR, parameter a and the Eckert number Ec, which characterizes our convection processes are graphed and tabulated. Quite different and interesting behaviours were encountered for Blasius flow compared with a Sakiadis flow. A comparison with previously published results on special cases of the problem shows excellent agreement
Implications of non-Markovian dynamics on information-driven engine
The understanding of memory effects arising from the interaction between system and environment is a key for engineering quantum thermodynamic devices beyond the standard Markovian limit. We study the performance of measurement-based thermal machine whose working medium dynamics is subject to backflow of information from the reservoir via collision based model. In this study, the nonMarkovian effect is introduced by allowing for additional unitary interactions between the environments. We present two strategies of realizing non-Markovian dynamics and study their influence on the performance of the engine. Moreover, the role of system-environment memory effects on the engine work extraction and information gain through measurement can be beneficial in short time
Current status of malaria parasite among blood donors in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria parasite among blood donors at the Police Clinic Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The standard parasitological techniques using both thick and thin blood films from the donors for the detection of malaria parasite was followed. Venous blood was collected from 200 blood donors and films were made on clean greese-free glass slide and stained with 10%Giemsa stains and viewed under the microscope using the oil immersion objective. Of the 200 samples examined, 56 (28.00%) were positive with Plasmodium falciparium. The highest prevalence among the males 53(26.50%) and between the ages 21-30years and only 3 (1.50%) of females were positive. Donors having the blood group O were more infected (60.70%) than the other blood groups and the lowest was blood group AB (5.40%). This result shows that there is a relatively high prevalence of malaria parasite among the blood donors in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It is, therefore, recommended that malaria parasite screening test be included among other blood screening tests before any transfusion to avert the deleterious effects of malaria on recipients. © JASEMKeywords: Malaria parasite; Prevalence; Blood Donors; Port Harcourt; Rivers State
Measurement-based cooling of a nonlinear mechanical resonator
We propose two measurement-based schemes to cool a nonlinear mechanical resonator down to energies close to that of its ground state. The protocols rely on projective measurements of a spin degree of freedom, which interacts with the resonator through a Jaynes-Cummings interaction. We show the performance of these cooling schemes, that can be either concatenated - i.e., built by repeating a sequence of dynamical evolutions followed by projective measurements - or single-shot. We characterize the performance of both cooling schemes with numerical simulations and pinpoint the effects of decoherence and noise mechanisms. Due to the ubiquity and experimental relevance of the Jaynes-Cummings model, we argue that our results can be applied in a variety of experimental setups
Work Place Motivation and Employee Productivity in the Nigerian Public Organizations: The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Experience
Motivation has been variously seen overtime as the most vital tool, yet overlooked means of turning on the workers to give their best to attain organizational goals as well as achieve job satisfaction at the workplace. This paper examines the effect of workplace motivation on employee performance in the Nigerian public organizations with special attention on the South Eastern Federal Radio Corporation. To achieve the above objective, content analytical technique was adopted to carefully review works of renowned authors on the subject matter. The result of the study revealed that there exists a positive relationship between motivation and enhanced employee productivity. The study recommends that appropriate motivational techniques that could satisfy peculiar needs of the workforce should be provided. Keywords: Motivation, Incentives, Public Organization, Employee Productivity, Organizational Goals
Methods of Extraction and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Plant Extracts
Plant extracts are widely used in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industry; however the effect of
conventional methods of extraction described in this paper as cold and soxhlet method has not been
investigated. Antimicrobial activity of Anchomanes difformis (Blume) Engl. leaf extracts have been described
comparing cold and soxhlet method of extraction. The ammmt of extractable plant extract/phytochemicals,
the solubility of the extracts and the susceptibility of the test organism to the extract had a correlation with the
extraction methods. Cold extract had wider zones of inhibition and activity than soxhlet extract. Though there
was no significant difference (P>0.05) between cold and soxhlet extracts on the entire test organisms,
differences exist when compared individually. This paper revealed cold method of extraction as a better
alternative to soxhlet method in antimicrobial susceptibility assay. However, the decision on the methods of
extraction to be used could also be dependent on the ammmt of certain phytochemicals required and the
solubility of the extracts in solvents after extraction
In vitro Antimicrobial Screening on Anchomanes difformis (Blume) Engl. Leaves and Rhizomes Against Selected Pathogens of Public Health Importance
There is a need to establish scientific findings to many ethnobotanical uses of plants as phytotherapy
which could find application in the pharmaceutical industry. Antimicrobial activity of Anchomanes
difformis which is locally used in the treatment of diarrhea was investigated in this research. A. difformis leaf
and rhizome were exhaustively extracted using ethanol, methanol and water as solvent in the ratio of 70:20:10.
The antimicrobial activities were tested against pathogens of public health importance majorly the
enterobacteriaceae and Candida albican. The zones of inhibitions ranged from 3-5 for rhizome extracts and
1-5 for leaf extracts at 100 l (0.1g/ml) MIC. The rhizome extracts contained phlebotannins, terpenoids and
glycosides not found in leaf extracts while the leaf extracts contained steroids not found in rhizomes extracts
among other phytochemicals present. Pseudomonas aeruginosa conferred resistance against the rhizome
extract while Shigella flexneri conferred resistance against leaf extract. Differences in these observed
susceptibility and resistance could be due to differences in their bioactive components. The rest of the
organisms were found to be susceptible to both extracts showing that A. difformis had antimicrobial activity
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