A community-based intervention for improving utilization of medical services by rape survivors in refugee camps in Zambia

Background: Rape is the most common form of violence in conflict and refugee situations but because of the associated stigma few cases are reported. This study assessed the outcome of an intervention targeted at women groups on the utilization of medical services by rape survivors in refugee camps in Zambia.Methods: A prospective quasi-experimental community-based intervention study was carried out in two refugee camps allocated into intervention and comparison areas. The intervention was participatory education sessions for women groups. Data was collected using the clinic records and the main outcome was the number of rape survivors who utilized and completed medical services provided at the camp clinics. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out with level of significance set at 5%.Results: The proportion of the rape survivors who accessed medical care within 72 hours increased significantly from 41.2% to 84.8% in the intervention area but from 31.1% to 38.9% in the comparison area, (p=0.005). Those who completed their medical treatment and the follow-up visits increased significantly from 42.8% to 94.8% in intervention area but reduced from 38.5% to 21.4% in the comparison area, (p=0.002). Being resident in the intervention area predicted the utilization of medical services, [OR: 3.15; 95%CI: 1.955-5.681], p=0.002.Conclusion: Community-based intervention using participatory women’s group discussion had a significant impact on increasing the utilization of medical services by rape survivors and should be considered for scaling up as a key intervention for increasing utilization of medical services for rape survivors especially in refugee situations.Keywords: Rape survivors, Participatory group discussion, Medical services, Zambi

Statistical Evaluation of Influence of Hydrochemical Parameters on Public Water Supply in Ibadan, Nigeria

The recent trends in the global socio-economic and technological developments have exerted undue pressure on water quality and supply. A robust model that predicts water supply from hydrochemical parameters could be useful in water resources management. Most of the existing models used bivariate analysis or simple multivariate analysis that treats each variable separately, but combined parameters could be better at capturing many related water properties and hence have stronger predictive value. In this work, exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the relationships between fourteen measured hydrochemical parameters and the volume of water pumped for public water supply from Asejire waterworks in Ibadan. Representative monthly samples of raw water were collected and analyzed for their physical and chemical properties. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to derive five novel latent variables which represent combined properties of water. The results showed that, with the exception of colour, no other single hydrochemical parameter was significantly associated with the amount of water pumped for public supply. Interestingly, one of the novel latent variables ‘Opaque Index’ was significantly associated with water supply. Additionally, though colour as a single parameter had a predictive value, but it explained only 6.7 % of the variation in the amount of water pumped, whereas the Opaque Index explained 25.5 % of the variation in the amount of water pumped. This therefore suggests that the Opaque Index latent variable has a stronger predictive power than any of the individual measured parameters and hence could a useful metric for effective water resources management. Keywords: Hydrochemical, Latent variable, Prediction, Structural equation modellin

Qualitative Assessment of Effects of Encroachment on Water Resources of Agba Dam, Ilorin Nigeria

The city of Ilorin in Nigeria has experienced high population growth and rapid urbanization. Agba Dam is one of the major sources of potable water in Ilorin, and currently been threatened by anthropogenic induced encroachment activities, with potential for significant derogatory effects on its quality. Therefore, this paper assesses the qualitative impact of encroachment on the water resources regime of Agba Dam, Ilorin, Nigeria. Field survey was carried out to scope proximal anthropogenic activities and to delineate historical and current extent of the encroachment area of the dam. Representative water samples were collected from locations within the dam catchment, and subsequently analyzed for alkalinity, dissolved carbondioxide, chloride, total iron, copper, sulphate, colour, calcium, dissolved oxygen and turbidity. In addition, historical physical and chemical data of water samples obtained from the dam were also acquired, and analyzed to determine temporal variation in the quality. The results show a reduction of 0.89 km2 or 63% in the historical buffer boundary of the dam. The values of the measured physico-chemical parameters were generally similar to that obtained for the historical values and therefore suggest limited impact of the anthropogenic activities on the water quality. However, slight increases were observed in the measured concentrations of the alkalinity, dissolved carbondioxide, chloride, iron, copper and sulphate, and this indicates possibilities of water quality alteration, with potential consequences for ecosystem and aquatic life if the trend is unabated. Keywords: Anthropogenic, Water quality, Agba dam, Ilorin Nigeri

Compositional study of vacuum annealed Al doped ZnO thin films obtained by RF magnetron sputtering

Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were obtained by RF magnetron sputtering. The effects of deposition parameters such as power, gas flow conditions, and substrate heating have been studied. Deposited and annealed films were characterized for composition as well as microstructure using x ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x ray diffraction. Films produced were polycrystalline in nature. Surface imaging and roughness studies were carried out using SEM and AFM, respectively. Columnar grain growth was predominantly observed. Optical and electrical properties were evaluated for transparent conducting oxide applications. Processing conditions were optimized to obtain highly transparent AZO films with a low resistivity value of 6.67 x 10(-4) Omega cm

Factors Influencing Initiation of Breast Feeding among Post-Partum Mothers in a Teaching Hospital of Osun State, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION:- Breastfeeding is well recognized as the best food source for infants. It has been advocated as a cost effective means of improving the child’s health, mother’s health and mother - infant bonding. The study was carried out to determine the factors that influence the initiation of breast feeding among post partum mothers in a teaching hospital of Osun State, Nigeria. METHOD: - A descriptive cross sectional research design was used, with 317 respondents selected randomly. Data were collected using a self-designed questionnaire. The data were analyzed using statistical product and service solutions window version 21. Six research hypotheses were set and analyzed while only one research questions was answered. RESULT: Results showed that maternal age was the only factor found to influence breast feeding initiation. Majority of respondents lack adequate understanding of the factors that are major predictors of breast feeding initiation. CONCLUSION:- It was concluded that mothers should be given health information on factors that can influence initiation of Keywords:Factors influencing, Initiation, Post partum mothers, breast feeding

Review of Researches on Techno-Economic Analysis and Environmental Impact of Hybrid Energy Systems

Hybrid energy systems, which are combinations of two or more renewable and non-renewable energy sources, have been identified as a viable mechanism to address the limitations of a single renewable energy source, utilized for electricity generation. In view of this, several research works have been carried out to determine the optimal mix of different renewable and non-renewable energy resources used for electricity generation. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the optimization approaches proposed and adopted by various authors in the literature for optimal sizing of hybrid energy systems. It is observed that the objective functions - considered by a large percentage of researchers to optimize the sizing of hybrid energy systems - are cost minimization of the generated electricity, system reliability enhancement and environmental pollution reduction. Other factors covered in the literature are equally discussed in this article. Similarly, simulation and optimization software used for the same purpose are covered in the paper. In essence, the main aim of this paper is to provide a scope into the works that have been carried out in the field of hybrid energy systems, used for electricity generation with the view to informing researchers and members of the public alike, on trends in methods applied in optimal sizing of hybrid energy systems. It is believed that the information provided in this paper is very crucial in advancing research in the field

Optimization of Nutritional and Pasting Properties of Rice-Sweet Potato Based Composite Flour for Biscuit Production

Rice-sweet potato based biscuit was produced from optimization of the composite flour. The composite flour consisted rice, sweet potato and soybean flours with carboxyl methylcellulose as binder. Experimental design and statistical analysis were carried out using optimal mixture design of response surface methodology. The proximate compositions were optimized while the pasting characteristics and amino acid profile of the optimum blends were evaluated. The sensory evaluation and mechanical properties of the biscuit produced were also determined. The result showed that 15 of the 16 samples had protein content above 10 g/100g. This value is considerable if compared with 100% wheat flour. Samples 6 (85.694% rice flour, 11.806% sweet potato and 2.5% CMC) and 7 (95% rice flour, 2.5% sweet potato flour and 6.765% CMC), specifically, had high levels of ash, fibre and protein contents. In addition, all the samples had carbohydrate content above 70 g/100g. The result of the pasting characteristics showed that the composite flour had good flour quality. The addition of the binder (carboxyl methyl cellulose) enhanced the pasting properties. In addition, the amino acid profile showed that the composite flour had all the nine essential amino acids. The biscuit produced had good mechanical and sensory properties

Prediction of functional characteristics of gari (cassava flakes) using near-infrared reflectance spectrometry.

Open Access JournalGari is a creamy, granular flour obtained from roasting fermented cassava mash. Its preparation involves several unit operations, including fermentation, which is essential in gari production. Fermentation brings about specific biochemical changes in cassava starch due to the actions of lactic acid bacteria. Consequently, it gives rise to organic acids and a significant reduction in the pH. Consumer preferences for gari are influenced by these changes and impact specific functional characteristics, which are often linked to cassava genotypes. Measurement of these functional characteristics is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, this study aimed to develop high-throughput and less expensive prediction models for water absorption capacity, swelling power, bulk density, and dispersibility using Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS). Gari was produced from 63 cassava genotypes using the standard method developed in the RTB foods project. The prediction model was developed by dividing the gari samples into two sets of 48 samples for calibration and 15 samples as the validation set. The gari samples were transferred into a ring cell cup and scanned on the NIRS machine within the Vis-NIR range of 400–2,498 nm wavelength, though only the NIR range of 800–2,400 nm was used to build the model. Calibration models were developed using partial least regression algorithms after spectra preprocessing. Also, the gari samples were analysed in the laboratory for their functional properties to generate reference data. Results showed an excellent coefficient of determination in calibrations (R2 Cal) of 0.99, 0.97, 0.97, and 0.89 for bulk density, swelling power, dispersibility, and water absorption capacity, respectively. Also, the performances of the prediction models were tested using an independent set of 15 gari samples. A good prediction coefficient (R2 pred) and low standard error of prediction (SEP) was obtained as follows: Bulk density (0.98), Swelling power (0.93), WAC (0.68), Dispersibility (0.65), and solubility index (0.62), respectively. Therefore, NIRS prediction models in this study could provide a rapid screening tool for cassava breeding programs and food scientists to determine the food quality of cassava granular products (Gari)

Comparative case studies in integrated care implementation from across the globe: A quest for action

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: Integrated care is the coordination of general and behavioral health and is a highly promising and practical approach to improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. While there is growing interest and investment in integrated care implementation internationally, there are no formal guidelines for integrated care implementation applicable to diverse healthcare systems. Furthermore, there is a complex interplay of factors at multiple levels of influence that are necessary for successful implementation of integrated care in health systems. Methods: Guided by the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework (Aarons et al., 2011), a multiple case study design was used to address two research objectives: 1) To highlight current integrated care implementation efforts through seven international case studies that target a range of healthcare systems, patient populations and implementation strategies and outcomes, and 2) To synthesize the shared and unique challenges and successes across studies using the EPIS framework. Results: The seven reported case studies represent integrated care implementation efforts from five countries and continents (United States, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Israel, and Nigeria), target a range of clinical populations and care settings, and span all phases of the EPIS framework. Qualitative synthesis of these case studies illuminated common outer context, inner context, bridging and innovation factors that were key drivers of implementation. Conclusions: We propose an agenda that outlines priority goals and related strategies to advance integrated care implementation research. These goals relate to: 1) the role of funding at multiple levels of implementation, 2) meaningful collaboration with stakeholders across phases of implementation and 3) clear communication to stakeholders about integrated care implementation. Trial registration: Not applicable