Women and the Upsurge of ‘‘Baby factories’’ in Southeastern Nigeria: Erosion of Cultural Values or Capitalism?

The erection and proliferation of baby factories constitute one of the major injustices directed at women especially teenage girls in southeastern Nigeria. Under this arrangement, women are incarcerated for the purpose of procreation alone. A litany of scholarly works has been written on this subject, placing the blame for this impunity, in Nigeria on the capitalist system. This paper insists that beyond capitalism, there is a need to interrogate the cultural erosion of values mostly responsible for this scourge. To achieve this, newspapers, interviews, archival materials and other extant secondary sources have been used for data collection, analysis and for the interpretation of results. The paper employs the qualitative method of analysis

The Impact of Exchange Rate Regimes on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The choice and management of an exchange rate regime is a critical aspect of economic management to safeguard competitiveness, macroeconomic stability, and sustainable development. But rather, the country has continued to be at disadvantage in terms of macroeconomic performances as the different regimes have been accompanied by instability and uncertainties, hence the need for the present study to examine the relationship between exchange rate regimes and output growth in Nigeria in different periods from 1970 to 2014. The study employs the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to estimate economic growth equation as a result of endogennity problem. In contrast with previous findings, ours study strongly suggest that exchange rate regimes indeed matter in terms of real economic performance in Nigeria as the results reveal that deregulated exchange rate regime spur economic growth in Nigeria as against the whole period and fixed exchange rate regime. All in all, the findings suggest that fixed exchange rates constrain the performance of the Nigerian economy as real exchange rate depicts inverse relationship with economic growth during the whole period and period of fixed exchange regime. It is against this background, that we recommend the sustainability of the regime of exchange rate liberalization that has been in operation from 1986 Keywords: Exchange Rate, Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, Economic Growth, Endogeneity JEL Codes: D51, E52, E62, O4, and C26

Does nurses’ self-concept mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout among Nigerian nurses

AbstractThe study explored the mediating role of nurses’ general self-concept on the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout among a sample of 170 nurses in two Nigerian public health facilities. Three self-report measures were used to collect data for nurses’ general self-concept, job satisfaction and burnout from the participants. The study combined correlation and cross-sectional survey design. The result of the Pearson r correlation showed that nurses’ general self-concept correlated positively with job satisfaction but both of them correlated negatively with burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment). Further analysis with conditional process analysis (Hayes, 2013) showed that nurses’ general self-concept mediated the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and reduced personal accomplishment, but it did not mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and depersonalization. The discussion was based on the findings while limitations, suggestions for future studies and implications of the findings were highlighted

The phonetics and phonology of the standard dialect of Igbo.

This thesis is a phonetic and phonological study of the Standard dialect of Igbo. The type of speech form which we refer to as the Standard dialect is defined in the first chapter of the thesis. This represents the type of speech form which is considered more 'central' with respect to the existing local dialects in the languuage, and which is more widely understood in the different localities in Igbo land. This is the dialect that has emerged as the literary dialect of Igbo; the dialect that is used in the written literature in the language, and for radio and other media broadcasts in the Igbo languaage. The thesis is organised into six chapters. The introductory first chapter states, among other things, the theoretical frarmwork for the inguistic analysis presented in the thesis. The question of dilects in the Igbo language, which has figured very prominently in the previous studies on this language, is also discussed in the first chapter. In chapter 2, the phonctic description of the speech sounds of the standard dialect is presented. Some instrumental data from mingograms, speotrograms and palatograms have been used, where necessary, in the description. The results obtained from the instrumental tests are presented in part II of the thesis. A brief analysis of the phonemic contrasts of the speech sounds is also given in chapter 2. Chapter 3 deals with the distinctive feature analysis of the phonological segments of the standard dialect. In the analysis presented in this chapter, we have used the multivalue distinctive feature system, where this is considered more appropriate than the binary distinctive feature system. The model of multivalue distinctive features we used in our analysis represents a modified version of those proposed in Ladefoged (1971/l975) in Williamson (l976). Chapter 4 deals with the morpheme structure analysis of the standard dialect, Certain generalizations describing the constraints/ redundancies in the morpheme structure of the standard dialect are stated, using the system of Morpheme structure Conditions as defined in Stanley (1967) and in Hyman (1975). chapter 5 we describe the phonological processes that operate in the Igto language. The phonological processes include vowel assimilation, vowel contraction with the resultant process of diphthongi-zation, vowel harmony etc. These phonological processes have been known to be consistent in the different dialects of Igbo. Consequently, what has been described generally for the Igbo language is, in this respect, equally relevant to the standard dialect. Chapter 6 deals with the tonology of the Igbo language. Igbo being a tone language, the question of tones plays significant role in the phonology of this language. Like the phonological processes, the features of tone are basically consistent in all the dialects of Igbo. Apart from describing the general tonological structure of Igbo, the thesis devotes special attention to the question of downstep in the language. The downstep has been at the centre of discussions in the previous studies on Igbo tonology. The downstep, no doubt, plays a stratagic role in Igbo tonology; and any views which one may hold about the downstep will obviously affect the nature of the rules that could be devised to account for the tone features and the tone changes in the language. Other problems relating to Igbo tonology are reviewed in this chapter

A survey on artificial intelligence based techniques for diagnosis of hepatitis variants

Hepatitis is a dreaded disease that has taken the lives of so many people over the recent past years. The research survey shows that hepatitis viral disease has five major variants referred to as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Scholars over the years have tried to find an alternative diagnostic means for hepatitis disease using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in order to save lives. This study extensively reviewed 37 papers on AI based techniques for diagnosing core hepatitis viral disease. Results showed that Hepatitis B (30%) and C (3%) were the only types of hepatitis the AI-based techniques were used to diagnose and properly classified out of the five major types, while (67%) of the paper reviewed diagnosed hepatitis disease based on the different AI based approach but were not classified into any of the five major types. Results from the study also revealed that 18 out of the 37 papers reviewed used hybrid approach, while the remaining 19 used single AI based approach. This shows no significance in terms of technique usage in modeling intelligence into application. This study reveals furthermore a serious gap in knowledge in terms of single hepatitis type prediction or diagnosis in all the papers considered, and recommends that the future road map should be in the aspect of integrating the major hepatitis variants into a single predictive model using effective intelligent machine learning techniques in order to reduce cost of diagnosis and quick treatment of patients

AGRONOMIC EVALUATION OF SOME RICE GENOTYPES IN NSUKKA

ABSTRACT The performance of eleven rice genotypes obtained from National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi, Nigeria and a local check were evaluated in Nsukka for two cropping seasons. Statistical analyses were performed on the agronomic and yield related traits and biotic stresses measured on the rice genotypes. Combined analysis of variance was estimated using mixed models of random years and fixed treatment on the genotypes' traits measured. There was significant (p = 0.05) genotypic differences in all the traits and biotic stresses measured in both years. The genotype ITA 324 gave the highest yield of 3.9 t/ha in both years. There was significant genotype by year interaction (G x Y) with most of the traits indicating differential genotypic expressions. The highly significant differences in the agronomic characters and biotic stresses measured gives room for further selection. Thus, genotypes that showed higher resistance to the stresses and had higher yields will be favoured in selection

Assessing aspects of better birth initiatives: a single centre experience

Background: Better birth initiative is a global initiative that promotes humane and evidence-based care for women during childbirth. This study was designed to assess compliance to aspects of better birth initiative and maternal satisfaction with a view to making recommendations. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 396 consenting post-partum women to assess maternity services at AEFUTHA. A sample size of 423 was determined at power of 90% and α-error of 0.05. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Chi-square was used to analyze categorical variables and odds ratios determined. Continuous variables were expressed as mean or standard deviation. P value of <0.05 was taken to be statistically significant. Results: Out of a total of 423 questionnaires deployed, only 396 were completed and duly returned (giving a 93.6% response rate). Majority of the parturient were between the ages of 20 to 34 years (80.3%), multiparas (74.2%) and with tertiary education (74.2%). Although many (74.2%) were not allowed companions, free mobility (78.8%), food (70.7%) and position of choice in labour (100%), they were satisfied with the care. Factors that likely affected maternal satisfaction were the age of participants, having a companion in labour, having a dedicated midwife to each parturient, free mobility in labour, oral fluid intake in labour and good health worker attitude (p value: 0.002, 0.024, 0.002, 0.0002, 0.0001 and 0.00001 respectively). Conclusions: There is need to continuously enlighten health professionals on aspects of better birth initiatives in order to improve client’s satisfaction

A comparative study of pregnancy outcome among women with preeclampsia and normotensive at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria

Background: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific multisystem disease and it is associated with increased maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Any factor(s) which could reliably predict the likelihood of serious complications would be very valuable in predicting the associated adverse outcome. Objective of this study compare maternal and fetal outcomes of preeclamptic patients with normotensive control in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria.Method: This was a 4-year retrospective case-control study of the pregnancy outcomes among preeclamptic and normotensive women managed in our facility between 1st January 2012 and 31st December 2015. Data analysis was done using Epi Info software 7.2.1.Results: During the study period there were 6,585 deliveries among which 92 of the patients were managed for preeclampsia. This gives a prevalence of 1.4% or 14 per 1000 deliveries. There was no difference in the age and parity of the control. Most of the preeclamptic patients managed over the study period were unbooked for antenatal care in the facility (p value <0.0001). Preeclamptic patients were more likely to be delivered preterm (p value was <0.0001), and by caesarean section compared to the control. They were also more likely to have babies with low birth weights and poorer fetal outcomes. There was no difference in maternal mortality between both groups.Conclusion: Preeclampsia is associated with the unbooked status and poorer perinatal outcome compared with normotensive women. There is need to encourage women to book for antenatal care for prompt identification and management of these women