Influence of the use of Social-Media and Exposure to Pornography on the Sexual Behaviour of youths in selected tertiary institutions in Southwest Nigeria

Exposure to pornography is fraught with health and social implications. In Nigeria, there is a dearth of information on how youths have been exposed to pornography on social media (SM) and the effects of this on their sexual behaviors (SB). This study described the pattern of SM use, exposure to pornography, and the effects of this exposure on SB of young persons in southwest Nigeria. Two hundred students were randomly selected from two tertiary institutions. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire that explored the respondents’ SM usage pattern, exposure to pornography, and SB. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and logistic regression. The mean age of respondents was 21.4±2.7. The SM in which most of the respondents had accounts were WhatsApp (96.7%) and Facebook (95.3%). Major sexual-related activities undertaken on SM included watching/downloading naked pictures (7.0%) and sex videos (13.5%). A majority (92.5%) of the respondents have been inadvertently exposed to pornography, and the major sources of this exposure were SM (59.3%) and web-based Internet pages (61.5%). While only 68.0% have been intentionally exposed, the major sources of exposure were SM (42.3%) and web-based Internet pages (53.3%). About half (48.5%) have experienced sexual intercourse, out of which 17.5% reported having multiple sexual partners. Recent inadvertent (OR: 4.5, 95%CI: 1.25-16.4) and intentional (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2-4.8) exposure to pornography were significantly associated with the experience of sexual intercourse. Likewise, recent intentional pornography exposure was significantly associated with having multiple sexual partners (OR: 3.0, 95%CI: 1.1-8.6). SM use with exposure to pornography had notable effects on SB of young persons. Effective interventions should be conducted to reduce this exposure and its associated effects among the target population

Women Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Economic Development: Evidence from Nigeria

The emerging field of entrepreneurship in 20th century has made women entrepreneurs to be creative and innovative. However, in Africa especially Nigeria, women have historically been disadvantaged in accessing not only material resources, but also have been deprived of resources like finance, market information and modern technology. This study examined the influence of women entrepreneurs on sustainable economic development in Nigeria. Other specific objectives were to  assess the perceived contributions of women entrepreneurs to economic sustainability in Nigeria; ascertain the ways in which women entrepreneurs have been empowered; determine the factors motivating women into entrepreneurship  and to identify the major challenges facing women towards entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. This research work was carried out among the three thousand one hundred and fifty (3,150) women entrepreneurs registered with ministry of commerce and industry in the South-Western geo-political zones of Nigeria. A total of six hundred and eighty (680) participants were selected as sample size for the study. The data collection instruments for the study were structured questionnaire and personal interview. Data analysis was performed with the aid of simple percentage, mean, chi-square and linear Regression. Results revealed that involvement of women in entrepreneurship (β = 0.310, t = 17.175, P<.001) have positive and significant influence on sustainable economic development. Results also indicated that majority of women have been empowered by voting in elections, have access to education, and they have benefited from empowerment training. Furthermore, result indicated that involvement of women in entrepreneurial activities accounted for 30.3% of the variation which was explained by the model while extraneous variables accounted for about 69.7%.  Results so revealed that lack of access to finance, work/home conflict and lack of moral support from family members are major challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Study concluded that involvement of women in entrepreneurship is a catalyst to the sustainable economic development. The study recommended the establishment of Women Entrepreneurship Development Centre (WEDC) by the federal/state government in collaboration with private sector to provide financial assistance, business advice, mentorship and other practicable support in order to empower the Nigerian women towards realization of the self-employment aspirations. Research paper Keywords: Women Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Economic Development, Challenges Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sajuyigbe, A. S., & Fadeyibi, I. O. (2017). Women Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Economic Development: Evidence from South Western Nigeria, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, 5(2), 19–46

INVESTIGATING THE SELECTION OF A SUITABLE SLACK BUS: A CASE STUDY OF THE MULTI-GENERATING STATIONS OF THE NIGERIAN 330-KV POWER SYSTEM NETWORK

Slack bus is a bus with generating unit and used to balance the real power (P) and reactive power (Q) in the power system while performing load flow studies. This study therefore, investigated the best slack bus suitable to be used in the load flow study of the Nigerian 330-kVtransmission network with nine (9) generating stations. The method involve the load flow analysis of the existing network with Egbin, Shiroro and Kanji generating stations chosen as a slack bus at different instances and simulated using Newton-Rapson method and Gauss Seidel. This study revealed that the use of Egbin power station as a slack bus brought about the lowest power mismatch in the network. The result also indicated violation of voltages in some of the network and high reactive power los

PEDAL POWERED CENTRIFUGAL PUMP PURIFIED WATER SUPPLY DEVICE

This paper analyzes the design of a pedal powered purified water supply device to be used by local dwellers. It works on the principle of compression and sudden release of a tube by creating negative pressure in the tube and this vacuum created draws water from the sump into the pump while rollers push the water through to the filter where adsorption takes place to purify the water. The design composed a peristaltic pump powered by paddling, a carbon filter and hose or flexible tube. As the operator sits on the seat and paddles, the pedal crank transfer the motion to the rotor thus the rollers and the tube is squeezed by the set of rollers to move the fluid. The design analysis shows that one revolution of the pedal gives 1.1 litres of water. This design will reduce the labour, cost and weariness caused by transporting and sanitizing drinkable water for use in the homes of Ghanaian villages. Keywords: Design, Pedal crank, Peristaltic pump, Sump, Local dwellers, Drinkable wate

ASSESSMENT OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TARKWA MUNICIPALITY GHANA: TIME SERIES APPROACH

This study intends to examine the means of waste disposal by households (place of disposal), analyze how the waste collected is finally disposed of, and predict the amount of waste that ends up at the landfill in the next five years using Time-Series and make recommendations for effective management of solid waste in Tarkwa Municipality. The historical data and the characteristic of the historical data show that the amount of waste generated in tonnes increased from year 2006 to 2011. The average waste generated was found to be 85612.8 tonnes. The graph of the projected waste using Time Series Method also showed an increase in the trend. It is observed that as the year progresses, there is increase in the amount of waste generated, the reason for this may not be far from increase in the population and urbanization of Tarkwa Municipality. Keywords: Waste, Landfill, Time-series method, Household, Disposal, Population, Urbanization,

An Exploratory Study of the Awareness and Accessibility of Microinsurance Products in Selected Insurance Companies in Lagos, Nigeria

Microinsurance is crucial for a developmental stride in Nigeria’s insurance industry. This research therefore presents an investigation of the awareness and accessibility of microinsurance products with selected insurance firms a research ground for its empiricality. Essentially, two hypotheses were tested. They are to determine whether: (i) aggressive awareness drive towards microinsurance products has not been genuinely encouraged among insurance companies in Nigeria; and (ii) the accessibility of microinsurance products created by insurance companies have not significantly reflected in the lives of many insuring populace. The survey research design for this study was exploratory in nature. The study sample consisted of sixty (60) respondents from whom data were gathered through the use of an interview technique. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov technique was used for data analysis. The findings from the study revealed that awareness creation towards microinsurance products has been genuinely encouraged among insurance companies, while the accessibility has not yet reflected significantly in the lives of many insuring populace. The study thus recommends that adequate awareness, education and enlightenment programmes be introduced especially for low income earners. Also, Government should promote “financial literacy” through educational programmes using the mass media;Greater attention should be given to reducing operating cost and enhancing efficiencies amongst microinsurance service providers; and investment and continuous improvement in technology is highly essential for effective relationship management between customers and the insurance firms. Keywords: Microinsurance products, awareness, accessibility, service providers, Lagos, Nigeri

Effects of supplemental measles immunization on cases of measles admitted at the Wesley guild hospital, Ilesa, Nigeria

Background: Measles is a highly contagious vaccine-preventable infection which continues to be a significant cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries particularly those with poor routine immunisation coverage. Supplemental immunisation activities (SIAs) were thus introduced to improve vaccine coverage. Objective: This study was carried out to assess the impact of the supplemental measles vaccinations on the cases of measles admitted at a tertiary health facility in South west Nigeria. Methods: Weretrospectivelylooked at therecords of cases of measles in children admitted to the Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa over a ten year period (2001 - 2010); five years before and five years after the nationwide commencement of supplemental measles immunisation activities (SIAs) in the region in 2006. Measles cases were defined using the WHO case definition. Results: Over the ten year study period, a total of 12,139 children were admitted andmanaged; out of which 302 (2.5%) were cases of complicated measles. There was no difference in the mean (SD) of children admitted in the years before and after the introduction of the SIAs {6040 (122.7) vs.6099 (120.2); t-test 0.02, p =0.988.} There was however a remarkable reduction in the proportion of the cases of measles admitted after the introduction of SIAs compared to the period before SIAs (4.3% vs. 0.6% x2=169.580; p < 0.001) Conclusion:SIAs have remarkably reduced morbidity and mortality associated with measles in the region. We advocate for sustenance of these efforts as well as improvement in routine immunisation coverage to avoid a backlash which can lead to devastating measles outbreak.Keywords: Measles, Supplemental immunisation, MorbidityAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201

A Review of the Major Problem Soils in Nigeria

This paper intends to produce a compendium of geotechnical properties of major problem soils of Nigeria which have critical influence on the design, performance, lifespan, construction cost and maintenance of civil engineering structures. Apart from the well researched lateritic soils of Nigeria, the black cotton soils (BCS) of north-eastern Nigeria, clay shale of north-western Nigeria, organic clay prominent in Lagos and soft sedimentary deposits of the Niger-Delta areas of Nigeria are also considered. Significant geotechnical properties of major problem soils in Nigeria were discovered to be scattered in different publications, magazines, journals, conference proceedings, research papers etc. Consequently, it is the aim of this paper to collate, correlate, analyze and digitize these important geotechnical properties on digital map of Nigeria. A Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software called ArcGIS will be used to generate isopleths in form of contours for these soil properties on map of Nigeria

An electrochemical cholesterol biosensor based on a CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots—poly (Propylene Imine) dendrimer nanocomposite immobilisation layer

Abstract: We report the preparation of poly (propylene imine) dendrimer (PPI) and CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) as a suitable platform for the development of an enzyme-based electrochemical cholesterol biosensor with enhanced analytical performance. The mercaptopropionic acid (MPA)-capped CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe QDs was synthesized in an aqueous phase and characterized using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray power diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. The absorption and emission maxima of the QDs red shifted as the reaction time and shell growth increased, indicating the formation of CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe QDs. PPI was electrodeposited on a glassy carbon electrode followed by the deposition (by deep coating) attachment of the QDs onto the PPI dendrimer modified electrode using 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC), and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) as a coupling agent. The biosensor was prepared by incubating the PPI/QDs modified electrode into a solution of cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) for 6 h. The modified electrodes were characterized by voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. Since efficient electron transfer process between the enzyme cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) and the PPI/QDs-modified electrode was achieved, the cholesterol biosensor (GCE/PPI/QDs/ChOx) was able to detect cholesterol in the range 0.1–10 mM with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.075 mM and sensitivity of 111.16 µA mM−1 cm−2. The biosensor was stable for over a month and had greater selectivity towards the cholesterol molecule

Financial Empowerment and Entrepreneurial Venture Creation among NGOs’ Beneficiaries in Kwara State, Nigeria: An Empirical Investigation

The NGOs place much emphasis on the provision of diverse relevant training, counseling, mentoring, and financial empowerment in cash and equipment grants, loans, and subsidies that made little or no impact on the lives of beneficiaries and the economy. Hence, this study examined the impact of financial empowerment and entrepreneurial venture creation among NGO beneficiaries in Kwara State, Nigeria. A survey was carried out employing the simple random sampling technique to select 358 respondents from a total of 5,354 sampling frames of NGOs’ beneficiaries in Kwara State. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated that financial empowerment contributes significantly to entrepreneurial venture creation among the NGOs’ beneficiaries. It was further revealed that cash loans and subsidies offered by NGOs have a positive impact on entrepreneurial venture creation, while grants have an inverse impact on entrepreneurial venture creation. The study, therefore, suggests among other things that the management of NGOs should scrutinize business plans properly before giving loans, grants, and subsidies to the beneficiaries so that only viable and innovative ideas will be funded