Marriage, Markets, and Mentorship: An Ethnography on the Ambitions of and Obstacles Facing Nigerian Women Micro-Entrprenuers

This paper explores the challenges facing women micro-entrepreneurs in Lagos, Nigeria by way of a case study of Peace Akpotu, a salon-owner operating in Ajegunle. Research entailed the use of participant observation and ethnography to uncover several difficulties faced by women entrepreneurs, including the burdens of relocation, domestic duties, and childbirth upon marriage. Additional obstacles, such as a less economically resourced customer base, poor mechanisms to determine customer preferences, and steep competition compound with limited access to business education for women entrepreneurs and a volatile market, further complicating business operations. Moreover, a reframing of what constitutes a successful business allows for the value of positive externalities irrespective of profit from women-owned business to be considered, including mentorship, the creation of a safe social space for women, and women’s empowerment. Opportunities to enhance these positive externalities and mitigate challenges are explored

A Comparative Study of Some Methods Based On Non – Polynomial Interpolant

The  paper  presents  a comparative  study of some numerical methods  based on non-polynomial of great interest  are the pioneer work of Lambert and Shaw (1965),Ibijola (1998),and Fatunla (1976).The class of formulae for the numerical solution of equation of the form..............

Review of Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) and Gateways for Digital Oilfield delpoyments

The increasing decline in easy oil has led to an increasing need for the optimization of oil and gas processes. Digital oilfields utilize remote operations to achieve these optimization goals and the remote telemetry unit and gateways are very critical in the realization of this objective. This paper presents a review of the RTUs and gateways utilized in digital oilfield architectures. It presents a review of the architecture, their functionality and selection criteria. It also provides a comparison of the specifications of some popular RTUs

On Mathematical Model of Traffic Control

This paper presents the formation of platoons and their velocity-size distribution in freeway traffic using the stochastic approach. This is aimed at reducing traffic congestions, maintaining safety, increasing highway capacity, limiting the speed of a car by the spacing between it and the car directly ahead and above all reducing motor accidents. Traffic systems shall also be modeled and applied to traffic problems of different kinds to find their solutions. Keywords: Models, Traffics, Platoons, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS

The Influence of Demographic Factors and Medical Conditions on Patients Complaints with Complete Dentures

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the most frequent complete denture complaints and to investigate the influence of age, gender and systemic disease conditions on the complaints.Methodology: This was a retrospective study in which information on the demographic data, medical and dental history of complete denture patients were obtained from their case records. Also the type of complaints and adjustment made to the denture at review appointments were recorded. All data generated were entered into IBM-Compatible microcomputer and analysed using the statistical packages of socialsciences (SPSS) version 15. Chi-square test was used to test for statistical significance.Result: Eighty-two case records of complete denture patients were reviewed. Fourty-six of the patients were male while 36 were female. The age ranged between 40 and 90 years with mean age of 69.10 (SD=10.6) years. Fifty-one (62.2%) patients had complaints with their dentures during a week review appointment. Pain was the most common complaint 23 (28%), followed by lack of retention, 12 (14.6%). Eighteen (21.9%) patients had systemic medical conditions.Conclusion: There was no statistically significant relationship between patient age, gender, systemic health and denture complaints; but statistically significant relationship exist between types of denture, denture faults and complaints.Keywords: demographic factors, medical condition, complete dentures, complaint

Child sexual abuse in Zaria, Northwestern Nigeria

Background: Child sexual abuse has been reported from all corners of the globe, and all age groups and both sexes are affected. Although the trauma of abuse heals with time, it leaves long term psychological and medical problems. This study was aimed at documenting the pattern of child sexual abuse in Zaria, Northern Nigeria.Methods: Retrospective study of case notes of all patients seen with a history of sexual abuse, from August 2008 to October 2009, at a primary health centre in Northwestern Nigeria.Results: A total of twenty cases were seen out of a total of 33, 313, which gave a prevalence rate of 0.06%. There were three boys and 17 girls, with a male: female ratio of 1: 5.7. The age range was 3-13 years, with a mode of 7years. Majority (19, 95%) were aged 12 years and below. Eleven cases (55%) attended school, while three (15%) were hawkers. Twelve (60%) of the children presented more than 72 hours after the assault. Twelve (60%) cases were abused more than once, and there was evidence of genital trauma in 60% of cases. The assailants were all males, and identified in 70% of the cases. Of those identified, 55% of them had previously been suspected of committing sexual abuse. In 55% of cases the assailants were either household members or neighbours. Only 12 (60%) of incidents were reported to the police. Legal outcome was not known in any of the cases. All the cases defaulted to follow-up.Conclusion: Child sexual abuse is not an uncommon problem in Zaria. There is a need to ensure follow-up after treating immediate medical problems, in order to manage and prevent the long-term psychological problems of sexual abuse. The high default rate to follow-up needs to be further investigated. The legal outcome in all the cases was unknown

Knowledge of Consequences of missing teeth in patients attending Prosthetic Clinic in U.C.H. Ibadan

Background and Objective: Various causes of tooth loss such as caries, trauma, periodontal diseases, and cancer have been documented in the literature. In addition, factors that can modify these causes such as level of  education, age and sex have been studied. There is however paucity of information on whether patients or people with missing teeth are aware of the side effects of tooth loss on them or on the remaining teeth. This study investigated the knowledge of consequences of missing teeth among partially edentulous patients in a teaching hospital.Patients and Method: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the patients to collect information relating to demography, cause and duration of tooth loss, awareness of the consequences of tooth loss and their sources of information. Four clinical conditions including supra-eruption, mastication, teeth drifting, and facial collapse were used to assess the level of awareness of consequences of missing teeth.Result: Two hundred and three participants were included in the study. Their mean age was 45.5±1.8 years. There was no significant difference between the knowledge of the consequences of missing teeth and sex or on level of education (p 0.05). Dentists constituted the largest source of information to these patients (25.6%) while the media constituted the least (0.5%).Conclusion: The result of this study showed poor knowledge of the consequences of missing teeth among partially edentulous patients and the media that should be of assistance were equally unaware, signifying urgent need for public awareness on this subject.Key words: Tooth loss, Level of awareness, Consequence of missing teeth

Physico-chemical analysis of fish pond water in Okada and its environs, Nigeria

Water samples were collected from concrete and earthen fish ponds in different locations in Okada and its environs, Edo State, Nigeria. Twenty-one different physiochemical parameters were analyzed using standard laboratory methods and procedures. In the present study, the values of the parameters ranged from pH 6.75 - 7.10, conductivity 0.012 - 0.017 mS/cm, TDS 22 - 906 mg/l, COD 162 - 397 mg/l, turbidity (NTU) 5 -170, TSS 85 -206 mg/l, BOD 1.69 - 3.38 mg/l, DO 9.3 - 16.2 mg/l, acidity 100 - 575 mg/l, alkaline 35 - 135 mg/l, calcium 16.01 - 50.06 mg/l, magnesium 1.21 - 5.46 mg/l, hardness 0.40 - 1.47 mg/l, chloride 7.1 - 10.65 mg/l, sulphate 0.66 - 0.96 mg/l, phosphate 1.40 - 4.51 mg/l, nitrate 2.21 - 4.91 mg/l, copper 0.01 - 0.07 ppm, and zinc 0.01 - 0.07 ppm; cadmium and lead were not detected in the samples. There was significant variation of values from location to location; generally there was no significant difference from desirable and acceptable standards. Although there is economic advantage to the fish farmers, there is the desirable need to analyze the fish pond water at regular intervals. This quality assurance process is to ensure that there are no toxic substances in ponds leading to possible bio-accumulation and magnification. In this way the good health of aquaculture, humans and the environment can be guaranteed.Keywords: Physiochemical parameters, concrete fish ponds, desirable and acceptable standardsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(36), pp. 5922-5928, 6 September, 201

SKILLED LABOR CHALLENGES AND AUTOMATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The construction industry remains one of the most labor-intensive industries worldwide, creating an average gross domestic product (GDP) of 8% for the global economy and helping reduce unemployment. However, the last few years have brought a plague of skilled labor shortage and retirement, the most recent pandemic also playing a part in hastening retirement due to the present age cohort (baby boomers). Therefore, the need to begin to source viable alternatives to mitigate these issues that could be catastrophic is critical. One possible option is automation, but the industry remains lethargic toward innovation adoption and its use. Past and present challenges should determine alternatives given evidence of success recorded from the application of technology for processes in other industries and some aspects in construction. This study aims to investigate occupations with the most shortage and the impact of retirement approaching 2023 while promoting research information about automation adoption and use as a viable alternative. The study utilized data from the bureau of labor statistics and a systematic review of literature to encapsulate the weight of these issues for the construction industry. The findings demonstrate a similar trend among the 15 occupations and total employment in the construction industry as it relates to increases and dips from 2007 to 2021. Most occupations experience labor shortages at the same pace; hence, automation has been adjudged a vital solution not only to help mitigate shortage and retirement issues but improve performance in the construction industry accordingly

Combination of Penalty Function, Lagrange Multiplier and Conjugate Gradient Methods for the Solution of Constrained Optimization Problems

In this paper, we combined Langrage Multiplier, Penalty Function and Conjugate Gradient Methods (CPLCGM), to enable Conjugate Gradient Method (CGM) to be employed for solving constrained optimization problems. In the year past, Langrage Multiplier Method (LMM) has been used extensively to solve constrained optimization problems likewise Penalty Function Method (PFM). However, with some special features in CGM, which makes it unique in solving unconstrained optimization problems, we see that this features we be advantageous to solve constrained optimization problems if it can be properly amended. This, then call for the CPLCGM that is aimed at taking care of some constrained optimization problems, either with equality or inequality constraint but in this paper, we focus on equality constraints. The authors of this paper desired that, with the construction of the new Algorithm, it will circumvent the difficulties undergone using only LMM and as well as PFM to solve constrained optimization problems and its application will further improve the result of the Conjugate Gradient Method in solving this class of optimization problem. We applied the new algorithm to some constrained optimization problems and compared the results with the LMM and PFM