Reflective Teaching Practice among Student Teachers: The Case in a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria

The study examined the reform outcome of reflective teaching introduced by the Faculty of Education among the student teachers in a Nigerian University during the 2002\2003 teaching practice exercise. Three hundred and four students who were in the final and penultimate years of graduation comprised the sample for the study. Six research questions were raised to direct the thrust of the study. Four sets of instruments were used. They were all open ended, targeted at eliciting information on student teachers’ activities and support by teachers of partnership schools during the teaching practice, perception of student teachers’ performance by Faculty and mentor teachers, as well as the challenges encountered by trainees during the exercise. The findings from this study indicated that student teachers were elated and had opportunity for professional growth as they practiced reflective teaching. However, they stated that teachers of partnership schools could not provide specific professional support to them during the practice period. Faculty’s perception of trainees’ activities during the practice period was that student teachers had more problems with the application of pedagogy than knowledge of subject matter while mentor teachers rated students’ general performance as very high. Student teachers enumerated the constraints they had to perform effectively during the teaching practicum, as intense pressure for time, inability of school authorities to provide required basic materials and non performance of the role of mentoring by staff of partnership schools

Influence of Awareness and Education on Management of Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria: Perception of Information Professionals in Ogun State

The catastrophic consequences on the civilization of covid-19 pandemic are obvious on all human endeavours, including information services of academic libraries. Several measures were put in place and funded by the government at all levels to manage the pandemic in Nigeria among which is the closure of all educational institutions in the country. Information professionals in tertiary institutions have become worried about their users' safety and well-being; hence the need to provide awareness and educate them on covid-19 as means to manage the pandemic. The quantitative design using the survey method was employed to determine the perceptions of information professionals, librarians and library officers in academic libraries in Ogun State, South west Nigeria on awareness and education services to manage covid-19. The study revealed that information professionals were reasonably aware of the covid-19 pandemic; had an appreciable level of awareness of signs with system of spreading covid-19 and; they had a good understanding of measures on how to manage covid-19. The Health Belief Theory was used to ascertain that if the respondents are aware of the danger of any disease they will prevent or take precautionary measures. The respondents believed that awareness of and education on covid-19 would educate users and the public on the signs and ways of spreading the virus. Besides, mobile phone services for sending bulk messages were identified as major means of informing and educating users on covid-19. The study concluded that awareness and education services for user-populace of academic libraries can be used for effective information management concerning covid-19 virus in Nigeria

Socio-cultural impact of tourism in Nigeria: a case study of fisheries development in Nigeria

Socio-cultural impact of tourism has become a veritable tool for fisheries development in Nigeria. Little wonders that Nigeria who has a great potential in tourism and rich cultural heritage and notable festivals attracts tourist not only in Nigeria but other parts of the World are not fully explored. Among many other popular festivals is the Niger Delta holds the Ikwere, Kalabari and Obirika festivals, to celebrate the water head dress that imitate the heads of fish or water birds. Many communities, including those in north, have a version of the harvest festival. Also in the north, the Argungu fishing festival occasion takes place in Argungu, in Birnin Kebbi State, during February and dates back to the 16th century. During the festival, hundreds of local men and boys enter the water armed with large fish net scoops, and the competition is to catch the biggest fish. With a population of almost 140 million people comprising of over 250 ethnic groups, Nigeria is a blend of exciting socio-cultural diversity that has produced a land of un parallel opportunities for fisheries development

Quantification of radicals generated in a sonicator

The hydroxyl radical (OH•) is a powerful oxidant produced as a consequence of cavitation in water. It can react nonspecifically in breaking down persistent organic pollutants in water into their mineral form. It can also recombine to form hydrogen peroxide which is very useful in water treatment. In this study, terephthalic acid (TA) and potassium iodide dosimetry were used to quantify and investigate the behaviour of the generated OH radical in a laboratory scale sonicator. The 2-hydroxyl terephthalic acid (HTA) formed during terephthalic acid dosimetry was determined by optical fibre spectrometer. The production rate of HTA served as a means of evaluating and characterizing the OH• generated over given time in a sonicator. The influence of sonicator power intensity, solution pH and irradiation time upon OH• generation were investigated. Approximately 2.2 x 10-9 M s-1 of OH radical was generated during the sonication process. The rate of generation of the OH radicals was established to be independent of the concentration of the initial reactant. Thus, the rate of generation of OH• can be predicted by zero order kinetics in a sonicator

Global warming: implications on freshwater fish, a review

Global warning and climate change are growing environmental concerns which are much in the scientific, governmental and public eye are present. The potential impact on freshwater fish is immense because most fish have no physiological ability to regulate their body temperature

Variation in Foliage Yield and Yield Component Traits and Preference for Leaf Quality Traits in Amaranthus Cruentus [L.] Genotypes

Amaranthus cruentus is a traditional leaf vegetable in Nigeria. At present, there are few commercial varieties. Development of new varieties requires systematic assessment of foliage yield and yield contributing traits. The objectives of this study are to evaluate variation for foliage yield and yield traits, determine the influence of time of harvest (4 or 5 weeks after sowing) on foliage yield, and assess preference for genotypes, leaf yield and leaf quality traits. Nine Amaranthus cruentus genotypes were grown in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Sunken beds were made at 1 m x 2 m, each bed was separated by alley of 1m. A total of 16 beds constituted a replicate, 8 beds were allotted to harvest at 4 weeks, another 8 beds to harvest at 5 weeks. Each bed was treated with 4 Kg of matured farmyard manure. Combined analysis of variance was performed on mean data. Participatory selection was conducted to identify preferred genotypes and horticultural traits. Genotypes were similar or dissimilar for foliage yield and yield component traits at 4 and 5 weeks harvest. Genotype by Year Interaction revealed statistically significant mean squares at 4 and 5 weeks harvest for some traits. Considering multiple traits at 4 weeks harvest, AM 25 and AM 45 performed best for leaves/plant and leaf dry weight, while AM 42 is promising for leaf yield, leaf length and leaf width. At 5 weeks harvest, AM 45 performed best for leaf yield, leaf fresh weight and dry weight. AM 25, AM 42, AM 45 and AMLOC are capable of developing rapidly and producing large quantities of biomass under short cycle harvest

Boundedness criteria for a class of second order nonlinear differential equations with delay

summary:We consider certain class of second order nonlinear nonautonomous delay differential equations of the form $$a(t)x^{\prime \prime } + b(t)g(x,x^\prime ) + c(t)h(x(t-r))m(x^\prime ) = p(t,x,x^\prime )$$ and $$(a(t)x^\prime )^\prime + b(t)g(x,x^\prime ) + c(t)h(x(t-r))m(x^\prime ) = p(t,x,x^\prime ),$$ where $a$, $b$, $c$, $g$, $h$, $m$ and $p$ are real valued functions which depend at most on the arguments displayed explicitly and $r$ is a positive constant. Different forms of the integral inequality method were used to investigate the boundedness of all solutions and their derivatives. Here, we do not require construction of the Lyapunov-Krasovski\v ı functional to establish our results. This work extends and improve on some results in the literature

Women Farmers’ Contributions to Maize Production in Afijio Local Government of Oyo State

The study investigated the contributions of women farmers to maize production in Afijio Local Government area, Oyo state. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 128 women farmers as sample size for the study. Data collected through interview schedule were analysed using frequency counts, percentages and mean while Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Chi-square were used to test the relationships that exist between selected socioeconomic characteristics and contributions of women farmers to maize production. Results revealed the mean age of respondents was 45years, 83.5% of respondents were married and 41.4% of the respondents had no formal education. High percentage of the respondents (82.5%) engaged in farming for both commercial and subsistence purposes, and activities such as, planting, fertilizer application, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing were performed by women farmers whereas ridging, land clearing and weeding were considered laborious and were usually contracted to hired labour. The results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis showed that age (r = 0.950, P<0.05), farm size (r = 0.174, P<0.05), household size (r = 0.354, P<0.05) while the results of Chi-square analysis revealed that educational status (ᵡ2 =36.864 P<0.05), marital status (ᵡ2 =19.615, P<0.05) have significant association with contributions of women farmers to maize production in the study area. Hence, the study recommended that female education (through adult literacy) be intensified, young women be encouraged to be more involved in maize production, women should form themselves into group to learn techniques of trapping farm pests and in time of surplus, women maize farmers should form supply cooperatives to transport their produce to areas where it commands higher prices

Fuel-Mix and Energy Utilisation Analysis of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Nigeria

Abstract This paper analyses the fuel-mix and energy utilisation patterns in Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Co mpany fro m the years 2000 to 2011. The average fuel-mix over the 12-year period is 9% Refinery Fuel Gas, 8% Liquefied Petroleu m Gas, 79% Low Pour Fuel Oil, 1% Coke and 3% Automotive Gas Oil. The refinery has been discovered to have specific fuel consumption ranging fro m 11.32% to 53.92%, aside fro m the year 2007 when there was no crude processed due to pipeline vandalisation, leading to an undefined value of specific fuel consumption. The t wo main factors responsible for high specific fuel consumption in the refinery have been low capacity utilisation and poor fuel mix. It is proposed that Low Pour Fuel Oil be substituted with natural gas in order to reduce the specific fuel consumption as well as combustion products CO 2 production. The capacity utilisation has also been recommended to be boosted

Geoelectric Survey of Foundation Beds of the Proposed Faculty of Engineering Building, OSUTECH Permanent Site, Okitipupa, Nigeria

Geoelectric resistivity method was employed to characterize the geo-materials at Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) Okitipupa, Dahomey Basin, Nigeria, for suitability for foundation purposes. The methods involved Constant Separation Traversing (CST) using Wenner array and Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) using Schlumberger array. The data obtained were processed with Ipi2win and excel software. The results showed that the subsurface structures were made up of lateritic topsoil with resistivity varying from 85 Ohm-m to 612 Ohm-m and thickness varying from 0.5 to 2.14 m; clayed sand with resistivity varying from 295 to 2,587 ohm-m and thickness vary from 0.67 to 3.4; clay with resistivity varying from 10 to 350 ohm-m and thickness varying from 3.8 to 26 m; and sand with resistivity ranging from 383 ohm-m to 59,707ohm-m. The clayed sand would have been the best layer to host the foundation because of its depth to the surface but it is generally less than 1.5 m and underlay by thick column of clay. The only competent layer that can host the foundation of high-rise building is the sand layer, therefore, the building foundation should be piled to the sand layer or pilling should be suspended within the thick column of clay