RESOURSE USE PATTERN AND FARMERS’ PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA

Sustainable Agriculture is a way of farming that can be carried out for generations to come. This long-term approach to agriculture combines effi cient production with the wise stewardship of the earth’s resources. It is imperative to investigate the general welfare and social well-being of farmers’ pattern of resources use as evidenced by their status relative to cassava and maize technologies. The main objective was to investigate the farmers’ personal, economic and socio- cultural characteristics as well as the contribution to their productivity. Structured interview schedules as well as in-depth study devices were used to collect data, which were analyzed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that use of technology contributed signifi cantly to explain the variance in the net benefi ts of the investment analysis on maize and cassava technologies. The study further revealed that Incremental Net Benefi t (INB) of maize technology (N39, 445.00) and cassava (N51, 562.50) were realized which are added values to the use of the technologies. It could therefore be concluded that effi cient use of resources of agricultural technologies contributed signifi cantly to some dimensions of members’ well-being and if technologies are sustained with full use of recommended inputs, it can alleviate the problems of peasant farmers and will obviously boost food production, as well as meeting the goal of being self suffi cient in food supply to the ever increasing population

The Tick Genus Amblyomma in Africa: Phylogeny and Mutilocus DNA Barcoding

The tick genus Amblyomma includes approximately 130 species, 28 of which are found on the African continent and/ or in Madagascar. In order to understand the evolutionary phylogeography of the genus, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the relationships between African taxa. Therefore, the main goals of this work were to, (1) reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of the African Amblyomma available to us and (2) test markers for their usefulness as barcoding tools to link unknown immature specimens to their corresponding adults. The mitochondrial gene markers used in this study (12SrDNA and COI) did not resolve the phylogeny of the studied taxa at all hierarchical levels. Nevertheless, they were informative in resolving recent diverging events between closely related species and at the intraspecific level. They also proved to be promising in terms of “DNA barcoding” and allowed us to identify a number of previously non-identified immature specimens. Combined datasets showed that the former genus Aponomma is basal to Amblyomma. Also, reptile or bird feeding species were basal in the tree, intermediate lineages were associated with typical Afro-Asian mammals (elephant, rhinoceros and pangolin), and the most recently evolving taxa were associated with wild and domestic ungulates which are thought to have reached Africa more recently. Amblyomma sparsum and A. nuttalli were consistently grouped as sister taxa as were A. cohaerens and A. splendidum. This information is critical in that it helps us to have a better understanding of the phylogeographical patterns associated with a genus that has a typical Gondwana distribution. It is also beneficial to develop adequate epidemiological prevention strategies as it can influence the distribution of African Amblyomma tick species within and outside of Africa. It can also influence the rates and control of Amblyomma transmitted diseases in animals and humans

LEGAL PERSPECTIVE OF CHILD ADOPTION UNDER THE NIGERIAN LAW

Adoption is the process which creates a parent-child relationship between the adopted child and the adoptive parents with all the rights ,privileges and responsibilities that attach to that relationship. Adoption severs a relationship between the child and the natural parents or guardians.The institution of adoption is important in society because it touches on status and therefore affects the rights and obligations of an adopted person. Adoption is recognized as one of the forms of alternative care for children who have been temporarily or permanently deprived of their family environment and also for children who are unable to remain in their family environment. This paper seeks to examine the adoption of a child under the Nigerian lawie. The statutory law, the customary Law ,procedure for adoption under Nigerian Lawand the legal effect of adoption of a child under the Nigerian Law

Practices in Library Staff Development: A Study of Private Universities Libraries in Nigeria

This research investigated the various staff development practices that lead to capacity building of library staff in private university libraries in Oyo state, Nigeria (Ajayi Crowther University, Lead City University, Precious Cornerstone University, Atiba University, Kola Daisi University and Dominion University). The survey research method was used for the study and the instrument used was the questionnaire comprising of questions drawn up in line with the research objectives. The population of the study comprised of all library staff in the six (6) selected private university libraries (62 in number). Data collected was analysed using percentage and SPSS. The findings of the study revealed that conferences, seminars and workshops were the staff development programmes available in the libraries studied. It was also found that staff request for training formed the major criteria for selecting staff for training with a mean of 3.15, closely followed by the duties assigned to staff with a mean of 3.11. The major challenge facing staff development in the libraries studied was lack of funds with a mean of 3.45 and a lack of clear organisational policy on staff training and development at 3.29. These challenges could be solved through the provision of adequate budgetary allocation for staff training and development. It is recommended that universities should have clear cut policies on staff training and development. Management should have annual budgetary allocation for staff training and development. The Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) should also be extended to private universities as corporate bodies and staff of private universities since they also contribute to the economic and manpower development of the country

Evaluation and Heavy Metal Concentration Assessment in Selected Brands of Infant and Toddler Food Types in Houston, Texas

Heavy metals and metalloids such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, nickel and zinc are an unavoidable contaminant of our ecosystem because of its natural occurrence They are also introduced into the environment anthropogenically through manufacturing, industrial agricultural processes which contaminates the food chain when taken up by food producing crops as a result of their presence in soil and water used in planting or feeding livestock. The adverse effects of these toxic elements have become a global threat to food security, particularly due to their inextricable association with human health. Exposure to environmental contaminants from daily diet is a major concern for all ages, although children are more vulnerable to their effects because they consume more food relative to their body weight and have underdeveloped nervous system. Exposure to toxic metals in children presents long-term health risks to growing infants and toddlers and have been linked but not limited to a variety of health issues such as disruptive behavior, neurological damage and attention deficit hyperactivity. A report recently released by the U.S House of Representatives in 2021, raised concerns about the dangerously elevated levels of heavy metals in baby food due to improper testing of raw ingredients used in making baby foods and finished baby food products and under-reporting by food manufacturers, of these high levels of toxicity which keeps toxic products on the market. Although, heavy metals can be found in some foods due to contaminated water and soil, their levels in foods, especially baby foods should be of great concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed daily permissible limits for some of these metals; however, a major challenge to this remains subpar testing practices, lenient self-regulating standards set by different food manufacturers where there are inconsistent and conflicting tolerable safe limit values set by various food agencies. The new U.S. FDA initiative, known as Closer to Zero Plan (C2Z) seeks to reduce to almost zero level, the toxic element exposures from foods eaten by babies and young children, therefore, this study was aimed at evaluating heavy metal concentrations in baby and toddler food products targeted at infant and toddler age groups produced by leading brands indicated in the report. Ten commercial baby foods from the top seven leading brands in the United States were purchased from a local store, representing six ingredient categories listed as a diary, fruit; leguminous vegetable; beef, chicken, root vegetable; or grains and evaluated for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn) lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al) and chromium (Cr) in triplicates for heavy metal concentrations using the triple quadrupole inductively coupled mass spectrometry ) QQQ_ICP-MS), a tandem mass spectrometer method that has the capability of detecting analytes at lower detection limits. Nickel, Chromium and Zinc are vital in living organisms and necessary for metabolic and immune support while Arsenic, and Lead are non-essential but can be highly toxic even at extremely low concentrations of 0.005ug/g. In all the food types evaluated, aluminum (4.09 µg/g and 2.50 µg/g) and zinc (33.5 µg/g 69.5 µg/g, and 30.2 µg/g) were the most elevated in the infant food age group while lead and cadmium metals in all other food types were observed at levels not exceeding the tolerable limits except in rice cereal. The acceptable daily limits of Aluminum and Zinc are 1 µg/g /day and 0.3 µg/g /day. The mixed model generated for this analysis found significant differences in metal concentrations (F6,24=2.75, p=0.03). The overall average metal concentration in the food was 0.96 µg/g. No significant correlations were found between the packaging materials used and the observed metal concentrations (P \u3e0.05, Std error 1.94). Food products formulated from fruits and root tubers commonly referred to as plant-based food products, exhibited the highest concentrations of all tested heavy metals although none of the food labels reported the levels of heavy metal concentrations in the food products. Transparency in reporting toxic metal content on food labels will help consumers make an informed decision when purchasing these food products

Mentoring for Capacity Building of Librarians in Private Universities in South West Nigeria

This paper examined mentoring of librarians for capacity building in private universities in Nigeria. The survey research method was used with questionnaire formulated in line with the research questions put forward. The total enumeration method was used to select librarians and library officers in selected private universities in South-West Nigeria. Data was analyzed using frequency count and statistical mean. Findings revealed that the most prevalent strategy for mentoring practiced in libraries in private universities was senior professionals sharing their wealth of knowledge with younger ones (97.2%). This was aided by the fact that younger inexperienced librarians sought advice from more experienced ones. Forms of mentoring also revealed that individual mentoring was the prevalent form with 55.7%. All of the respondents were agreed that mentoring for capacity building had a lot of benefits such as building leadership skills, enhance lifelong learning and professional skill acquisition. The challenges of effective mentoring for capacity building included broken confidence from both mentee and mentor and unconstructive criticism from mentor. Majority of the respondents agreed that having clearly stated objectives and expectations of the mentoring process and mutual respect for each other were some of the solutions to the challenges to effective mentoring. Recommendations were then made in line with the findings of the study such as the librarianship profession having defined orientation programme for mentoring and that library management should include both formal and informal mentoring strategies should be included in the organisational cultur

Prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among hairdressers

Objectives: This study has investigated the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), the most commonly affected body parts, the risk factors of WMSDs and the coping strategies adopted by hairdressers. Material and Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. Two hundred and ninety-nine hairdressers (242 females and 57 males) from salons in Surulere and Mushin Local Government Areas of Lagos State completed a 27-item questionnaire. They were selected using a non-probability consecutive sampling technique. The inferential analysis was conducted using the Chi2 test. The level of significance stood at p < 0.05. Results: The 12-month prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders stood at 75.6%. Two hundred and twenty-one (91.3%) participants reported gradual onset of musculoskeletal disorders. One hundred and sixteen (47.9%) participants had the onset of the WMSDs at the age range of 26–35 years. The most commonly affected body parts included the low back (76.3%), shoulder (62.5%) and neck (46.3%). Some of the major job risk factors of the WMSDs that were identified included: working in the same position for long periods and attending to a large number of customers in 1 day. Taking sufficient rest breaks by participants was one of the coping strategies adopted by the participants. The mean number of years of working experience was 7.85±0.4 years. One hundred and twenty-four (41.5%) participants had worked for 1–5 years. The Chi2 analysis showed that the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders were significantly associated with the age of a participant (Chi2 = 78.78, p = 0.001), years of working experience (Chi2 = 78.03, p = 0.001) and hours spent working in a standing position (Chi2 = 8.77, p = 0.01), respectively. Conclusions: The age of hairdressers, their years of working and the long hours they spent working in a standing position may be significant factors that contribute to the high prevalence of the WMSDs among them. The most commonly affected body parts included the low back, shoulders and neck

Comprehensive management of pediatric cataract in Africa

Worldwide, childhood blindness is 0.75/1000 children giving an estimated number of 1.4 million suffering from blindness worldwide. Of the blind children worldwide, congenital cataract is the major cause in African countries. The management of cataract in children poses a challenge to the African ophthalmologist, and the earlier in life cataract develops, the more difficult it is to manage. A description of the common causes, clinical presentation, methods of modern surgical removal, and suggested typical postoperative management of this condition is given along with common complications and challenges that may be encountered.Keywords: Africa, cataract, lens aspiration, Nigeria, pediatri

A Study of The Relationship between Dean Leadership Behavior and Instructor Professionalism Perceived by Instructors in The University of Lagos, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significantrelationship between Dean Leadership behavior and instructor professionalism. The objectives of this research study focuses on what is the level between Dean leadership behavior and instructor professionalism as well as the relationship between Dean leadership behavior and instructor professionalism all perceived by instructors at the faculty of education, university of Lagos Nigeria. The researchstudy were conducted among 200 instructors from the faculty of education university of Lagos, Nigeria in the mid-west of Africa and questionnaire was used as an instrument to administered questions to instructors regarding their perceptions on the relationship between Dean leadership behavior and instructor professionalism. A Likert scale questionnaire was used which was based on performance pyramid 20 by George Manning and Kent Curtis (2012) and leadershipbehavior of House’s path goal theory to give validity and reliability to the study. The data collected were analyzed accordingly by using different statistical method such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviations and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. According to these research studies, the research findings shows that the level of Dean Leadership behavior and instructorprofessionalism perceived by instructor is high and also there is significant relationship between Dean Leadership behavior and instructor professionalism. The findings could be useful for the administrators to evaluate their relationship with their instructors as the study implies. It can also be useful for Instructors to have agood and horizontal relationship between their co – instructors and students. Instructors should also create professional learning environment for themselves as that will enable them to have a mutual understanding with their Dean leadership behavior and promote team work spirit among them, their Dean and help them toimprove on their teaching skills thus, promoting instructor professionalism and finally this research can be useful for future research in the area of Dean leadership behavior and instructor professionalis