Environmental hazards to small scale fisheries resources management in Nigeria

This paper examined the environmental hazards limiting sustainable small-scale fisheries development in Nigeria. Observation has showed that hazards range from pollution of the aquatic habitats by domestic and urban sewage and garbage, agro-chemicals, industrial pollutants, crude oil spillage etc. In an attempt to maximize catch, many migrant and part-time fisher folks indulge in highly destructive and obnoxious fishing practices with adverse impact on fisheries resources. These have constituted significant environmental hazards. Discharges of waste from aquacultural practices in to rivers and lakes have also been identified as sources of environmental hazards. Some aquatic weeds such as water hyacinth are sources of hazards. The effects of environmental hazards on small-scale fisheries resources may be direct arising from the toxicity of pollutants or indirect as a result of ecosystem modification. Some of the effects of pollutants on the aquatic environment and fish have been discussed in the pape

Effects of missing observations on predictive capability of central composite designs

Quite often in experimental work, many situations arise where some observations are lost or become unavailable due to some accidents or cost constraints. When there are missing observations, some desirable design properties like orthogonality, rotatability and optimality can be adversely affected. Some attention has been given, in literature, to investigating the prediction capability of response surface designs; however, little or no effort has been devoted to investigating same for such designs when some observations are missing. This work therefore investigates the impact of a single missing observation of the various design points: factorial, axial and center points, on the estimation and predictive capability of Central Composite Designs (CCDs). It was observed that for each of the designs considered, precision of model parameter estimates and the design prediction properties were adversely affected by the missing observations and that the largest loss in precision of parameters corresponds to a missing factorial point.Comment: 18 PAGES, 12 FIGURE

Corporate Governance in Ghana:An Analysis of Board Accountability in Ghanaian Listed Banks

PurposeThis study aims to examine the mechanisms that were being used to enhance board accountability of Ghanaian listed banks, and how board accountability can be improved.Design/methodology/approachThe 2011 and 2016 annual reports of listed banks on the Ghana Stock Exchange were examined, and a survey questionnaire was sent to board members of nine banks.FindingsThe results show that the directors of Ghanaian listed banks prioritise a shareholder approach to accountability, with a shift towards stakeholders. Audit committees, external audits and internal audits were the main mechanisms used by these banks to enhance board accountability. Some of these mechanisms were not used effectively by a number of these banks.Practical implicationsBoard accountability can be improved by appointing very competent people to the board, the national adoption of a mandatory code of corporate governance, regular rotation of external auditors and requiring non-executive directors to stand for re-election more frequently. Our research identifies weaknesses of accountability mechanisms and offers timely recommendations for banks and regulators to build stronger corporate governance systems.Originality/valueThis study obtained valuable opinions of the boards of directors, provides insights on boards of Ghanaian listed banks and contributes to the literature of corporate governance and accountability in Africa.<br/

Dermatology nurses' job description : Literature review

This is the first dedicated reviews to synthesize the role of dermatology nurses for multiple dermatologic conditions. The results of this review utilizing systematic approach strongly supports the specific job description of the dermatology nurses. Hopefully, this review will encourage others to explore the role of dermatology nurses. The purpose of this BA thesis was to explore the roles of the dermatology specialist nurse in the enhancement of patient recovery, empowerment of patients with skills and knowledge necessary to foster recovery from skin diseases. This has enabled us to uncover the specific roles of dermatology nurses, challenges encountered by dermatology nurses in the course of rendering their healthcare services. The nurses play key roles in promoting good patient compliance through patient education about skin diseases, proper administration of medication and connecting patients with other supportive services. Also, nurse practitioners play instrumental role in evaluating and managing patients with dermatologic diseases. The relationships between patient and nurse are crucial and nurse practitioners are well positioned to optimize the care for the patients by building strong, long-term relationships. Patients who have trusting relationships with their providers are more likely to listen and adhere to healthcare advice. Factors that makes concordance with treatments hard for patients include lack of knowledge about existing skin condition, conflicting commitments, language/cultural differences, treatment may be complicated and disillusionment with treatments despite best efforts. Patient education plays a pivotal role in patient adherence in treatments and preventing skin diseases, for instance; skin cancer. Dermatology nurses are challenged to explore the importance of identifying gaps that exist in current nursing care. Opportunity is available for nurses to explore how they can contribute to the nursing research process now and in the future.Ihotauteihin erikoistuneen sairaanhoitajan roolista ihotautipotilaan hoidossa on toistaiseksi vielä melko vähän kirjallisuutta. Tässä opinnäytetyössä ihotautisairaanhoitajan roolia on tarkasteltu tieteellisten tutkimuksien pohjalta hyödyntäen systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen näkökulmaa. Tämän opinnäytetyön avulla halutaan tutustuttaa lukija ihotauteihin erikoistuneen sairaanhoitajan rooliin ja työtehtäviin. Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus oli tutkia ihotautisairaanhoitajan roolia potilaan hoidossa, potilaan hoitoon sitoutumisessa sekä elämän hallinnassa. Tässä kirjallisuuskatsauksessa on tutkittu ihotautisairaanhoitajan roolia ja haasteita, joita hän työssään kohtaa. Ihotautisairaanhoitajilla on tärkeä rooli potilaan terveyden edistämisessä potilaohjauksen ja ihotauteihin liittyvän tiedonjakamisen keinoin. Ihotautisairaanhoitaja voi myös lisäkouluttautumisen myötä saada entistäkin merkityksellisemmän roolin ihotautipotilaan hoidossa. Ihotautisairaanhoitajan koulutuksessa ja ammattioikeuksissa on kuitenkin paljon eroja maailmanlaajuisesti. Sairaanhoitajan ja potilaan välinen hoitosuhde on todella merkittävä potilaan hoitoon sitoutumisen kannalta. Pysyvät hoitosuhteet vaikuttavat merkityksellisesti potilaan sitoutumisessa terveydenhoitopalveluihin ja hoitoon. Sairaanhoitajat ovat optimaalisessa asemassa näiden hoitosuhteiden luomisessa. Haasteita potilaan hoitoon sitoutumisessa aiheuttaa mm. tiedonpuute sairaudesta sekä taloudelliset tekijät. Joskus myös kulttuuriset haasteet vaikuttavat potilaan hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Tämän vuoksi potilasohjaus on tärkeä osa potilaan motivoimisessa hoitoon, mutta myös sairauksien kuten ihosyövän, ehkäisemisessä. Ihotautisairaanhoitaja kohtaa monia haasteita työssään, sillä ihotautihoitotyö erikoisalana on vielä melko alkutekijöissä, erityisesti Suomessa. Saatavilla oleva tieteellinen näyttö sekä hoitosuositukset ihotautipotilaan hoidosta on vielä vähäistä ja nykypäivän sairaanhoitaja on tärkeässä roolissa myös hoidon kehittämisessä

Development of Gocing Storage Method for Cocoyam

Lack of good storage reduces the shelf life of harvested cocoyam (Colocasia spp and Xanthosoma spp) corms and cormels. This is a major challenge facing cocoyam farmers, processors, and marketers in Nigeria. The National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Nigeria, which has a national mandate to research into root and tubers crops of economic importance, has developed the ‘Gocing Storage’ for improved storage of cocoyam. The paper highlights this improved method of storing cocoyam as an advancement in cocoyam research, to reduce loss of cocoyam in storage, and make highly quality cocoyam available to consumers, processors and marketers throughout the year.Gocing Storage; Cocoyam; NRCRI and Nigeria

Interrogating the Teaching and Learning of English in Nigeria: Still in Search of an Enabling Principle

With the understanding that effective communication is the central goal in any second language situation, this paper examines how best to achieve this in the light of the current curriculum for the teaching of English in Nigeria. The way the English language is taught at all the levels of education in Nigeria leaves a lot to be desired, and therefore does not hold a promise of actualising the very end of language teaching and learning, which is the development of learners' communicative competence. The teaching and learning of English in Nigeria today is largely grammar-based, so that learners only take grammar lessons, leaving out the colour of language, which is literature. If literature is the colour of its language, teaching any language without its literature is teaching a bleached language. Any teaching method that adopts this antiseptic learning of the target language may not achieve much, as literature presents the best examples or manifestations of language use, and would serve as a veritable point of encounter with the language. The position of this work is that the divorce between ‘language' and ‘literature' in our educational curriculum is an anathema

Development of Gocken Multiplication Technology for Cocoyam

Low multiplication ratio of cocoyam {Colocasia esculenta (taro) and Xanthosoma mafafa (tannia)} and scarcity of planting materials are major constraints militating against sustainable cocoyam production. During harvesting and processing of cocoyam, very small cormels weighing about 7.0 g (micro cormels) and less are discarded as wastes. These ‘wastes’ usually sprout in the wet season to constitute environmental problem. The Gocken Multiplication Technology is a new technology developed at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Nigeria, for very rapid multiplication of cocoyam by recycling ‘wastes’ of cocoyam (≤7.0 g cormels) in cocoyam production. The technology utilizes a seed rate of about 0.35 - 0.45 t/ha compared to 1.0-2.0 t/ha currently in use. Total corm + cormel yield ranged from 7.34-15.5t/ha. Similarly, seed harvest multiplication ratio (SHMR) ranged from 19.0-39.0, while available yield ranged from 89.5-94.7 %. Economic analysis showed that the benefit cost ratio was 4.24:1.0, indicating that the technology is profitable by returning N4.24 to every N1.00 spent.Gocken; very rapid multiplication; technology and cocoyam