Analysis of Rainfall Trends in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Rainfall availability sets the ceiling to crop yield in Nigeria. Rainfall trend is among the important characteristics of rainfall that varies both in time and space. This study has shown a gradual decline in rainfall trend as we move from the coastal south to the northern part of the state. Even though the northern part of the state tends to indicate abysmal increase in annual rainfall trend, a decline in annual rainfall of 58% and 65% of the total period was observed for the coastal south (Eket) and the central part (Uyo) of the state respectively. This decline was more pronounced in the months of March, July and September. Keywords: climate, trend, variability, draught, rainfall, crop yiel

Seasonal Festive periods and Meat Price Transmission and Market Integration in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria

The study analyzed the dynamics of meat (pork, goat meat, beef, exotic chicken, local chicken and snail meat) price transmission and market integration in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Average monthly prices (measured in naira per kilogram) of meats in rural and urban markets were used in the analysis. The data covered the period from January 2005 to September 2013, and was obtained from the quarterly publications of the Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Development Programme (AKADEP). The trend analysis showed that, prices of sampled meats in the rural and urban markets have positive significant relationships with time. The descriptive analysis revealed that, the standard deviation and coefficient of variation of rural price of each meat was similar to its urban counterpart and this was substantiated further by the respective pair linear graph of each meat. This result suggested possible co-movement of meat prices in rural and urban market in the study area. The Pearson correlation coefficient of each of the respective pair of rural and urban price of meats revealed significant linear symmetric relationships. The bivariate Granger causality test revealed bi-directional relationships between the rural and urban price of all sampled meats in the State. The co-integration test revealed the presence of co-integration relationship between the rural and urban meats used in the analysis. The coefficients of market integration in the rural meat price equations converge to unity or law of one price which connotes high degree of market integration in the long run. The results of the error correction model (ECM) confirm the existence of the short run market integration between the rural and urban prices of meats in the study area. The rural prices of meats adjusted faster to the stable state in the long run than their respective urban prices. The index of market connection (IMC) supported the existence of the short run market integration between meat prices in rural and urban markets. Based on the findings, it is recommended that, the Akwa Ibom State government should continue to provide marketing infrastructures and reduce sources of externality cost in order to improve further the symmetric nature of information flow among meats markets in the state. Also, individuals, trade unions, NGOs’ and government should established market information units and awareness programmes on mass media to facilitate efficient communication or flows of meat market information in the state

Establishing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Suggestions Made by Health Care Workers in Cross River State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Rising trend in Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in developing countries often result in sudden death, which are largely preventable through effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Most communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, lack access to CPR services, due to a deficiency in requirements for the establishment of such services. These requirements can be grouped into a triad of awareness, infrastructure and capacity building.AIM: This study was aimed at assessing the perceived need and recommendations for improvement in CPR services in Cross River State.METHODS: Proportionate sampling was used to recruit healthcare workers in this cross-sectional study. Data was obtained using semi-structured open-ended questionnaire consisting of recommendations for improving CPR services. Responses were coded and grouped into three essential areas. Data were entered and analysed using SPSS version 20.0.RESULT: Two hundred and twenty-nine (229) questionnaires were completed; mean age of respondents was 42.1 ± 11.2 years. The commonest cadre of healthcare worker was nurses (135, 59.0%). One, two, and three areas of suggestions were made by 55.5%, 37.1%, and 7.4% of respondents, respectively. Suggestions included training of health care workers on CPR (111, 48.5%) and provision of resuscitation equipment (95, 41.5%). Sixty-five respondents (29.3%) recommended creating awareness and means of contact, while some respondents recommended capacity building (132, 57.6%) and resuscitation infrastructure set-up (149, 65.1%).CONCLUSION: Healthcare workers perceive an urgent need for the establishment of CPR services in our health facilities and communities. There is need to address the triad of awareness, infrastructure and capacity building for the establishment of CPR services peculiar to Sub-Saharan Africa

Analysis of Cassava Production Trends, Growth Rate, Instability Index, and Decomposition in Nigeria

The research examined the trends, growth rates, and instability indices related to the output, harvested area, and yield of cassava in Nigeria. Utilizing secondary data sourced from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) for the years 1961 to 2022, the study revealed irregular patterns in the trends of cassava output, harvested area, and yield during the specified periods. The compound growth rates identified for the period from 1961 to 2022 were 4.07% for output, 4.41% for harvested area, and -0.32% for yield. The Cuddy-Della Valle Instability Index (CDI) and the Coppock Instability Index (COI) were calculated to be 19.61 and 76.92 for output, 41.24 and 82.12 for harvested area, and 15.07 and 43.85 for yield, respectively. These instability indices are notably high, reflecting considerable volatility within the cassava sub-sector in Nigeria. A decomposition analysis of the total effect of cassava output revealed that the area effect contributed 163.82%, while the yield effect accounted for -4.96%, and the interaction effect represented -58.86%. These findings suggest that the area effect is the principal factor driving the growth of cassava output in Nigeria. Consequently, it is recommended that various initiatives be implemented within the sub-sector to promote increased activity and potentially enhance both output and yield

Pfeifer-Weber-Christian disease and successful treatment with mycophenolate mofetil: a case report

Inflammatory conditions manifest with a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms. Panniculitis is such a condition affecting the subcutaneous fat and presents as tender erythematous nodules. It is also associated with a systemic response and has been described in the literature as early as in 1892 by Pfeifer and in the 1920s by Weber and Christian. We present an unusual case of a Caucasian man with recurrent febrile illness, systemic inflammatory response and renal dysfunction requiring acute high dependency care. The authors successfully treated him with an antiproliferative agent, mycophenolate mofetil, which resulted in preventing him from having further episodes.</jats:p

Software Fault Prediction Based on Interval Type-2 Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic System

With the continuous expansion and innovations in modern software development, the rate at which defects are present in software is directly proportional to how sophisticated and complex the software tends to be. Software fault prediction, therefore, continues to remain an important area of research in software engineering especially as new modeling algorithms are still emerging. In spite of the fact that the potential implementations of fuzzy set theory in software fault prediction have been explored in the past, to the best knowledge of the authors, it has not yet examined how interval type-2 intuitionistic fuzzy sets with membership and non-membership degrees could be used with parameter optimization in this domain. Therefore, this work aims to adopt an interval type-2 intuitionistic fuzzy logic system to predict fault in the requirement phase of Software Development Life Cycle. Intuitionistic fuzzy logic system deals with uncertainty using separate degrees of membership and non-membership of an element to a set as well as hesitation index, therefore becoming more appropriate and flexible tool to deal with imprecision and vagueness in data. Experimental analyses show that the obtained prediction outputs are very close to the actual outputs which confirm that the proposed approach is a more realistic alternative for software fault prediction