FOREIGN BANKS’ PRESENCE, BANKING SECTOR OPENNESS AND NEW FIRM CREATION IN SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES

This paper analyzes the dynamic impact of foreign banks’ presence and openness of banking sector on new firm creation in a panel of African countries. The analysis is based on Panel corrected standard error estimate (PCSE) and system Generalised Method of Moment (SGMM). Using data of sixteen countries in Africa between 2006 and 2017, the results reveal that foreign banks’ presence and banking sector openness have significant positive impacts on new firm creation. The study also examines the causality between the variables via Toda and Yamamoto approach. The results confirm a bidirectional causality between banking sector openness and new business creation. This means that there is a two-way flow between the variables. Banking sector openness drives entrepreneurial development and entrepreneurial activities also drive openness of the banking sector. This implies that foreign banking firms through their access to advanced technologies, increase the efficiency in the domestic banking sector of the economy. They grant loanable funds to domestic entrepreneurs for setting up new firms. The findings suggest that the presence of multinational banks is a blessing to African economies. Keywords: Foreign Banks, Liberalization, Entrepreneurial Start- up. &nbsp

Gender issues in economics of fish farming in Maiduguri and environs

This study focused and examined gender issues in economics of fish farming in Maiduguri and its environs. The socio-economic characteristics of the fish farmers were examined. The profitability of the industry and constrains affecting fish farming in the study area were analyzed. Stratified random sampling technique was used due to the heterogeneous nature of the population considering 30% of the fish farmers as the sampled size. Descriptive statistics and net farm income were used to analyse the data obtained. It was revealed that 81.25% of the respondents were male while female fish farmers represented 18.75% of the respondents. 84.40% of the respondents had tertiary education while farmers with secondary certificate and adult education constituted 12.50% and 3.10% respectively. Net farm income profitability analysis of male and female farmers were N193,767:00 and N445,557:00 respectively. It was also observed that the major constraints militating against fish farming in the study area were scarcity of fingerlings, lack of improved technology, inadequate capital, high cost of equipments, lack of land and management difficulties. It was recommended that adequate training, continuous capacity building and improved technology in fish production must be made available to farmers: and farmers should have access to sources of fingerlings

Phytochemical analysis and antibacterial activity of stem bark extracts of Detarium microcarpum against bacteria causing gastrointestinal tract infections in humans

Detarium microcarpum is used by different ethnic groups for treatment of various diseases in Nigeria and several parts of West African. The      phytochemical constituents of the stembark extract of D.microcarpum were analyzed using qualitative methods. The antibacterial activity of the stembark extracts against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were tested using the agar well diffusion method. The phytochemical investigation revealed that presence of tannins, saponin, steroids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols and terpenoids. The plant extracts exhibited anti bacterial potential against the tested organisms at different concentrations 100 mg/mL , 50mg/mL 25 mg/mL and 12.5 mg/mL )), with S. aureus having the highest zone of inhibition of 21 mm at 100 mg/mL with ethanolic extract. Therefore, this study suggests that D. microcarpum stembark has phytochemical constituents. The antibacterial activity exhibited by the extracts could be as a result of the phytochemicals presents

Antibacterial and phytochemical screening of Ziziphus jujuba (jujube/magarya) leaf extract in Kaduna Metropolis

Ziziphus jujuba from the family of Rhamnaceae is widely distributed in both tropical and subtropical countries. Different parts of the plant have been used traditionally for several biological purposes including fungal and antibacterial and antidiarrheal. This study was aimed to assess the antibacterial activity of Ziziphus jujuba leaf extract against bacteria isolated from vaginal swab. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the leaves extract of Ziziphus jujuba was carried out using standard analytical methods. The aqueous and ethanol extracts of Ziziphus jujuba leaf were screened for antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli isolated from vaginal swabs using agar well diffusion and broth dilution assay. The results of the phytochemical constituents revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, tannins, phenols, cardiac glycosides, and terpenes in the ethanol extract while alkaloids, steroids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, phenols, and saponins were present in the aqueous extract. The inhibitory zones of the ethanol extract against S. aureus ranged between 13.00- 15.00 mm while that of E. coli ranged between 7.00- 10.00 mm at 50 and 100 (mg/ml) respectively. The inhibitory zone of the aqueous extract against the clinical isolates of S. aureus ranged from 9.00- 11.00 and 6.00-8.00 (mm) for E. coli at 50 and 100 (mg/ml) respectively. However, S. aureus was more susceptible to the extract with an MIC of 100 mg/ml. The observed inhibitory activities of the leaf extract against the clinical isolates could be due to phytochemical constituents present in the plant extracts of Ziziphus jujuba

Assessment of biogas production from mixtures of poultry waste and cow dung

The increase price of cooking gas and high rate of deforestation (firewood) has led to search for an alternative source for cooking. This study was carried out to produce biogas from cow dung and poultry waste as well as the respective co-digestion of cow dung and poultry dung as alternative fuel for cooking. Four-liters digester and gas collection system were designed and fabricated using locally available materials. The digesters were used to digest cow dung and poultry dung respectively as a single substrate as well as to digest cow dung and poultry dung respectively. The respective materials were collected locally. They were fermented, digested and analyzed in accordance with standard methods for the single substrate. The total volume of gas produced was recorded for different mixtures of cow and poultry waste. The total volume of gas produced ranged from 222 cm3 (20g cow dung plus 60g poultry waste) to 258cm3 (80g cow dung plus 0g poultry). The result shows that cow dung produces more gas than the poultry waste. Therefore, it is recommended that biogas factories or industries should be established that make use of the abundant animal waste. This will reduce the over-dependence on other forms of energy

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4 (62.3 (55.1�70.8) million) to 6.4 (58.3 (47.6�70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization�s Global Nutrition Target of <5 in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2 (30 (22.8�38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0 (55.5 (44.8�67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic. © 2020, The Author(s)

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

BACKGROUND: Assessments of age-specific mortality and life expectancy have been done by the UN Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNPOP), the United States Census Bureau, WHO, and as part of previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Previous iterations of the GBD used population estimates from UNPOP, which were not derived in a way that was internally consistent with the estimates of the numbers of deaths in the GBD. The present iteration of the GBD, GBD 2017, improves on previous assessments and provides timely estimates of the mortality experience of populations globally. METHODS: The GBD uses all available data to produce estimates of mortality rates between 1950 and 2017 for 23 age groups, both sexes, and 918 locations, including 195 countries and territories and subnational locations for 16 countries. Data used include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, household surveys (complete birth histories, summary birth histories, sibling histories), censuses (summary birth histories, household deaths), and Demographic Surveillance Sites. In total, this analysis used 8259 data sources. Estimates of the probability of death between birth and the age of 5 years and between ages 15 and 60 years are generated and then input into a model life table system to produce complete life tables for all locations and years. Fatal discontinuities and mortality due to HIV/AIDS are analysed separately and then incorporated into the estimation. We analyse the relationship between age-specific mortality and development status using the Socio-demographic Index, a composite measure based on fertility under the age of 25 years, education, and income. There are four main methodological improvements in GBD 2017 compared with GBD 2016: 622 additional data sources have been incorporated; new estimates of population, generated by the GBD study, are used; statistical methods used in different components of the analysis have been further standardised and improved; and the analysis has been extended backwards in time by two decades to start in 1950. FINDINGS: Globally, 18·7% (95% uncertainty interval 18·4–19·0) of deaths were registered in 1950 and that proportion has been steadily increasing since, with 58·8% (58·2–59·3) of all deaths being registered in 2015. At the global level, between 1950 and 2017, life expectancy increased from 48·1 years (46·5–49·6) to 70·5 years (70·1–70·8) for men and from 52·9 years (51·7–54·0) to 75·6 years (75·3–75·9) for women. Despite this overall progress, there remains substantial variation in life expectancy at birth in 2017, which ranges from 49·1 years (46·5–51·7) for men in the Central African Republic to 87·6 years (86·9–88·1) among women in Singapore. The greatest progress across age groups was for children younger than 5 years; under-5 mortality dropped from 216·0 deaths (196·3–238·1) per 1000 livebirths in 1950 to 38·9 deaths (35·6–42·83) per 1000 livebirths in 2017, with huge reductions across countries. Nevertheless, there were still 5·4 million (5·2–5·6) deaths among children younger than 5 years in the world in 2017. Progress has been less pronounced and more variable for adults, especially for adult males, who had stagnant or increasing mortality rates in several countries. The gap between male and female life expectancy between 1950 and 2017, while relatively stable at the global level, shows distinctive patterns across super-regions and has consistently been the largest in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia, and smallest in south Asia. Performance was also variable across countries and time in observed mortality rates compared with those expected on the basis of development. INTERPRETATION: This analysis of age-sex-specific mortality shows that there are remarkably complex patterns in population mortality across countries. The findings of this study highlight global successes, such as the large decline in under-5 mortality, which reflects significant local, national, and global commitment and investment over several decades. However, they also bring attention to mortality patterns that are a cause for concern, particularly among adult men and, to a lesser extent, women, whose mortality rates have stagnated in many countries over the time period of this study, and in some cases are increasing

Search for the Zγ decay mode of new high-mass resonances in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a search for narrow, high-mass resonances in the Zγ final state with the Z boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons. The √s = 13 TeV pp collision data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and have an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The data are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model background expectation. Upper limits are set on the resonance production cross section times the decay branching ratio into Zγ. For spin-0 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion, the observed limits at 95% confidence level vary between 65.5 fb and 0.6 fb, while for spin-2 resonances produced via gluon–gluon fusion (or quark–antiquark initial states) limits vary between 77.4 (76.1) fb and 0.6 (0.5) fb, for the mass range from 220 GeV to 3400 GeV

Search for single production of vector-like T quarks decaying into Ht or Zt in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a search for the single production of an up-type vector-like quark (T) decaying as T → Ht or T → Zt. The search utilises a dataset of pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector during the 2015–2018 data-taking period of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Data are analysed in final states containing a single lepton with multiple jets and b-jets. The presence of boosted heavy resonances in the event is exploited to discriminate the signal from the Standard Model background. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed, and 95% CL upper limits are set on the production cross section of T quarks in different decay channels. The results are interpreted in several benchmark scenarios to set limits on the mass and universal coupling strength (κ) of the vector-like quark. For singlet T quarks, κ values above 0.53 are excluded for all masses below 2.3 TeV. At a mass of 1.6 TeV, κ values as low as 0.35 are excluded. For T quarks in the doublet scenario, where the production cross section is much lower, κ values above 0.72 are excluded for all masses below 1.7 TeV, and this exclusion is extended to κ above 0.55 for low masses around 1.0 TeV

Search for excited τ-leptons and leptoquarks in the final state with τ-leptons and jets in pp collisions at s√ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is reported for excited τ-leptons and leptoquarks in events with two hadronically decaying τ-leptons and two or more jets. The search uses proton-proton (pp) collision data at s√ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2018. The total integrated luminosity is 139 fb−1. The excited τ-lepton is assumed to be produced and to decay via a four-fermion contact interaction into an ordinary τ-lepton and a quark-antiquark pair. The leptoquarks are assumed to be produced in pairs via the strong interaction, and each leptoquark is assumed to couple to a charm or lighter quark and a τ-lepton. No excess over the background prediction is observed. Excited τ-leptons with masses below 2.8 TeV are excluded at 95% CL in scenarios with the contact interaction scale Λ set to 10 TeV. At the extreme limit of model validity where Λ is set equal to the excited τ-lepton mass, excited τ-leptons with masses below 4.6 TeV are excluded. Leptoquarks with masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded at 95% CL if their branching ratio to a charm quark and a τ-lepton equals 1. The analysis does not exploit flavour-tagging in the signal region