Psychological Techniques In Helping Rape Victims

Counselling psychology is concerned with assisting people who have personal, social, educational and vocational problems to better understand themselves and solve their problems. Rape is seen as a problem that militates against the psychological well being of victims, because of the devastating aftermath of the incident. It is seen as a crisis that precipitates the individual into a state of disequilibrium. The paper reviews the symptoms and traumatic experience of rape victims. It also lays emphasis on the psychological techniques that could be used in helping the rape victims live a better and rational life. Keywords: Rape, Anxiety disorder, Affective disorder, Posttraumatic experienc

Determinant of technical efficiency of new rice for Africa (NERICA) production: A gender approach

The study estimated the determinants of technical efficiency of new rice for Africa (NERICA) in Ekiti State of Nigeria. It specifically estimated technical efficiency of NERICA production among the female and male farmers. Seven villages where NERICA diffusion activities trials were conducted werechosen through purposive sampling and data for the study were obtained from a total of 315 respondents who provided useful information through face-face interview using structured pre-tested questionnaires. Data analysis was done using Cobb – Douglas Stochastic parametric frontier model to elicit the technical efficiency. The results for all the rice farmers indicated that positive coefficient of farm size, family labour, hired labour quantity of fertilizer and herbicide used indicates that as each of these variables are increased, rice output increases. The negative sign of the seeds implies that seed is being over utilized suggesting an inefficient use of planting material in the production of rice in the study area. The mean technical efficiency is 75 % which implies that on the average, the respondents were able to obtain only 75 % of the optimal output from a given mix of production inputs. The study also showed that the mean technical efficiencies for female and male farmers were 71 % and 84% respectively. Therefore, it is recommended that more female farmers should be encouraged to plant NERICA varieties and they should be provided with credit and land tenure security. Also, concerted effort should be made to increase farmers’ farm size and they should be encouraged to use more fertilizer irrespective of their gender.Key words: Variables, Technical, Efficiency, NERICA, Rice, Farmers and Africa

Influence of Sprouting on Proximate and Anti-nutritional Factors of Jacbean ( Canavalia ensiformis ) Flour

The influence of sprouting on proximate and anti-nutritional factors of Jackbean flour was investigated. Jackbean was procured from the Genetic Resources Unit of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria. The seeds were carefully sorted and sprouted for 10 days. The sprouted and unprocessed (control) bean were then milled into flour and thereafter assessed for proximate and antinutritional factors. The data generated were subjected to statistical analyses using SAS 2.0 and SPSS 20.0 packages. The results of influence of sprouting on proximate constituents and anti-nutritional factors revealed that sprouting for nine days (S5) resulted in flour sample with highest protein content and significant reduction in anti-nutritional factors most especially trypsin inhibitor from 32.08 \ub1 0.13; 29.18 \ub1 0.46 in control to 39.50 \ub1 0.06; 18.33 \ub1 0.03 in the sprouted samples respectively. Sprouting thus had positive effect on proximate and anti-nutritional factors of Jackbean flour

The Sphere In-between: Najib Mahfuz on Power, Status and Authority in Africa’s Public Sphere

This paper is hinged on the following propositions: in no other regionin Africa are the arguments about the role of the artist in the ‘public’sphere more intense as in North Africa. The problematic of whatconstitutes the ‘public’ sphere in North Africa is circumscribed by thestruggle for and the contest over ‘power’, ‘status’ and ‘authority’; theattempt by North African writers, particularly Najib Mahfuz (d. 2006), tomirror the socio-political and cultural fissures and contradictions in thepublic sphere usually leads to conflict not only over what constitutesthe ‘public sphere’ and who governs it, but equally on how the ‘private’and the sphere ‘in-between’ could be reclaimed for the ‘public good’. Ingrappling with the foregoing, the paper rereads Najib Mahfuz’s AwldHratin 1959). In reading for ‘meaning’ and the ‘meaning of meaning’ inAwld Hratin, the paper pays attention to the socio-political and culturalcodes provided by Najib Mahfuz, even as it searches for possibletheoretical insights that the works of Arab-African and Euro-Americanwriters including Ibn Qayyim, Abdul Qhir al-Jurjn, Edward Said, MichelFoucault and Benhabib could yield in an excursus which probes intohow the trialectic of power, status and authority continues to shape the‘public’, the ‘private’ and the sphere ‘in-between’ of Egyptian society

Awareness of cervical cancer and screening in a Nigerian female market population

Background: Cervical cancer, although largely preventable, remains a leading cause of cancer death among females in the developing world. The study was aimed at providing useful information on awareness of market women, who are from diverse social backgrounds, about cervical cancer and evaluate the extent of utilisation of Papanicolaou's smear by them. It was also aimed at determining the prevalence of risk factors for development of cervical cancer among the population. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among market women at Aleshinloye market in November 2003, among 483 randomly selected respondents. A questionnaire probing into their sexual history, awareness about cervical cancer and the extent of utilisation of Pap smear was the survey instrument.Results: The majority (79.5%) of the women were sexually active. One hundred and eighty-six (38.5%) had early sexual debut and 163 (33.7%) had multiple sexual partners. Only 197 respondents (40.8%) were aware of cervical cancer. Of these, 95 (19.7%) were aware of Pap smear as a screening test. The common media of awareness were radio and television (46.6%), public lecture (27.8%) and friends/ relatives (19.9%). However, only 25 respondents (5.2%) have had previous Pap smear done. Conclusion: Though the market women are at considerable risk of developing cancer of the cervix, they are poorly informed about the disease and its prevention. Therefore, there is need for continuous awareness campaign and well-organized screening programmes among this unique category of women.Keywords: cervical cancer, screening, awareness Annals of African Medicine Vol. 4(4) 2005: 160-16

Empirical Analysis Of Agricultural Production And Inflation Rate In Nigeria (1970- 2006)

Agriculture was known to be one of the major contributors to national development, but suffering from neglect has resulted to heart-aching inflation in Nigeria. Inflation in Nigeria of the recent has been attributed to high food prices. Increasing population growth has also rendered the growth in agricultural sector insignificant resulting to a little rise in output level. This study therefore analyzed the Nigerian agricultural production and inflation rate and examines their linkage and dimension. Time series data from 1970 to 2006 were employed for this study. The analytical techniques employed are descriptive statistics and Granger Causality model. The result revealed that there were variations in the trend of both inflation rate and agricultural output. The change in agricultural output (inventory change) caused inflation during the 1970-2006 period and not vice-versa. The result showed that there is direct relationship between agricultural output change and inflation rate. In addition, increase in previous year's inventory change of agricultural production increases inflation rate. Consequently, policies that can absorb the excess in agricultural output inventory thus resulting into food prices and inflation stability are recommended.Keywords: Agricultural production, Inflation, Empirical analysis, Granger Causalit