Geopolitical Regions Research Articles

Rainfall variability and the impact on maize and rice yields in north – central Nigeria

Rainfall variability in terms of amount, distribution (spatial, seasonal and diurnal), intensity and frequency of rainy days influence crop production and yield. This paper examined rainfall temporal trend inter-annual and spatial distribution and the implication of mean annual rainfall on maize and rice yield in North – Central Geopolitical Region of Nigeria. Daily rainfall records of thirty years period (1987 – 2016) at six stations in the region, namely; Abuja, Ilorin, Jos, Lokoja, Makurdi and Minna were obtained from the archive of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Abuja and maize and rice yield for the period 1994 – 2016 obtained from the Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria were used for the study. The rainfall data were subjected to statistical analysis using descriptive analysis. Mann-Kendal test and Kriging method were used for the spatio–temporal rainfall distribution while the impact of rainfall amount on maize and rice yields was investigated using regression analysis. The annual rainfall amount experienced in study area was between 1100 mm and 1700 mm. Out of the six stations studied; only Abuja indicated statistically significant increased trend while the other five stations in the region showed no significant trend. Rainfall distribution in the region is largely influence by the Jos Plateau rather than Latitudes or Longitude. Generally, rainfall influences maize and rice yield positively but at varying degree from station to stationKeywords: Rainfall variability, Trend, Distribution, Impact

Death of preceding child and maternal healthcare services utilisation in Nigeria: investigation using lagged logit models

BackgroundOne of the factors responsible for high level of childhood mortality in Nigeria is poor utilization of maternal healthcare (MHC) services. Another important perspective which has been rarely explored is the influence of childhood death on MHC service utilization. In this study, we examined the relationship between death of preceding child and MHC services utilization [antenatal care (ANC), skilled attendant at birth (SAB), and postnatal care (PNC)] among Nigerian women and across the six geo-political zones of the country.MethodologyWe analyzed reproductive history dataset for 16,747 index births extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The main explanatory variable was survival status of preceding child; therefore, only second or higher order births were considered. Analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics and lagged logit models fitted for each measure of MHC utilization. Association and statistical significance were expressed as adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval.ResultsThe use of MCH services for most recent births in the 2013 Nigeria DHS were ANC (56.0%), SAB (34.7%), and PNC (27.3%). Univariate models revealed that the death of preceding child was associated with lesser likelihood of ANC (OR = 0.64, CI 0.57–0.71), SAB (OR = 0.56, CI 0.50–0.63), and PNC (OR = 0.65, CI 0.55–0.69). Following adjustment for maternal socio-economic and bio-demographic variables, statistical significance in the relationship disappeared for the three MHC indicators: ANC (AOR = 1.00, CI 0.88–1.14), SAB (AOR = 0.97, CI 0.81–1.15), and PNC (AOR = 0.95, CI 0.83–1.11). There were no significant variations across the six geo-political regions in Nigeria. The likelihood of ANC utilization was higher when the preceding child died in Northcentral (AOR = 1.19, CI 0.84–1.70), Northeast (AOR = 1.26, CI 0.99–1.59), and South-south (AOR = 1.19, CI 0.72–1.99) regions while the reverse is the case in Southeast (AOR = 0.39, CI 0.23–0.60). For the Southeast, similar result was obtained for ANC, SAB, and PNC.ConclusionDeath of a preceding child does not predict MHC services use in Nigeria especially when maternal socio-economic characteristics are controlled. Variations across the Northern and Southern regions did not attain statistical significance. Interventions are needed to reverse the pattern such that greater MHC utilization is recorded among women who have experienced child death.

Challenges in Accessing Health Care for People with Disability in the South Asian Context: A Review.

South Asia is a unique geopolitical region covering 3.4% of the world’s surface area and supporting 25% of the world’s population (1.75 billion). Available evidence from South Asia shows variable estimates of the magnitude of disability. The projected magnitude depends on whether an impairment focus is highlighted (approximately 1.6–2.1%) or functionality is given precedence (3.6–15.6%). People with disability (PWD) face significant challenges to accessing health care in the region. Studies show that adults with disability reported a four times higher incidence of a serious health problem in a year’s recall period. Evidence shows a significantly higher rate (17.8%) of hospitalization among PWD compared to others (5%). Chronic conditions like diabetes were also significantly higher. Women with disability had significantly more concerns on reproductive health issues. Studies from the South Asia region reveal that not only did PWD have a higher load of adverse health outcomes but they also faced significantly more barriers in accessing health services.

The demand for military spending in Latin American countries

The allocation of resources to defence and national security is influenced by several factors, both domestic and external. Empirical findings suggest that military spending is determined by economic, strategic, political, and security factors. Studies that estimate demand functions for such budgetary outlays focus either on individual country case studies or on groups of countries that share some similar traits and characteristics or belong to the same geopolitical region. This paper, using a panel of 12 Latin American countries and quantile regression analysis, estimates the demand for military expenditure over the 1965–2015 period. Results reported herein indicate that such spending has been driven by both domestic and external factors. The former include the economy as well as the political characteristics of the government as these are quantified by the Polity index of democracy. Intrastate conflict that has plagued many Latin American countries also emerges as a strong driving force in the allocation of resources to defence. Military spending by neighbouring countries with common borders emerges as the external strategic determinant that affects the demand for defence expenditures.

ON BUSINESS CYCLES SYNCHRONIZATION: SOME DIRECTIONS FOR THE EURASIA

The synchronization of business cycles is strictly related with the functioning conditions in the currency areas. Being a general requirement for membership in such an area, the synchronization of business cycles was probed by the view that, in any case, it would result from the very operation of the optimal currency zone. For Eurasia as a broad context, the European perspective seems to be important. For instance, the experience of a formal economic union such as the one that has existed in Europe since 1999 could be harnessed to better understand the challenges that a union of this kind might face in Eurasia, just as the one that has recently been constituted. The article considers this approach, through the analysis of the evolution of the synchronization of business cycles, as a relevant element in the (smooth) functioning of any economic and monetary union. Taking this into account, we consider a reasonably long time period (1990-2016) and a large sample of countries (50), i.e. all those integrated into some kind of formal economic union existing in this relevant geopolitical region, namely the European Union (EU) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), as well as 17 non-integrated countries, as a control group. In what concerns the results, during the 1990-1998 period, the degree of business cycles synchronization was, in general, fairly low, even for countries already integrated in an economic community. The degree of synchronization of business cycles has, generally, fairly increased in the period 1999- 2007, notably in European countries (not in the EU alone). Finally, in the period 2008-2016, which includes the recent global financial crisis, there was a broad decline in the synchronization of business cycles, which was not so obvious for the countries integrated in a formal economic union. In fact, it seems to be possible to conclude that belonging to a union of this kind is a crucial prerequisite for the inexistence of evidently idiosyncratic business cycles

Divergent global-scale temperature effects from identical aerosols emitted in different regions

The distribution of anthropogenic aerosols’ climate effects depends on the geographic distribution of the aerosols themselves. Yet many scientific and policy discussions ignore the role of emission location when evaluating aerosols’ climate impacts. Here, we present new climate model results demonstrating divergent climate responses to a fixed amount and composition of aerosol—emulating China’s present-day emissions—emitted from 8 key geopolitical regions. The aerosols’ global-mean cooling effect is fourteen times greater when emitted from the highest impact emitting region (Western Europe) than from the lowest (India). Further, radiative forcing, a widely used climate response proxy, fails as an effective predictor of global-mean cooling for national-scale aerosol emissions in our simulations; global-mean forcing-to-cooling efficacy differs fivefold depending on emitting region. This suggests that climate accounting should differentiate between aerosols emitted from different countries and that aerosol emissions’ evolving geographic distribution will impact the global-scale magnitude and spatial distribution of climate change.

The National: New Australian Art

The National: New Australian Art

The Gender and Sexuality of Armenia

The Gender and Sexuality of Armenia

Ecological data for an orchid diversity hotspot show that the subtribe Laeliinae may be endangered in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest harbours a mega diversity of seed plants. The Parque Nacional do Itatiaia is a large and mature Atlantic Forest remnant in southeastern Brazil. It includes around 10% of the Brazilian orchids and is considered a priority area for conservation. Thirty‐three species of the neotropical and very ornamental subtribe Laeliinae (Orchidaceae) have been recorded in this park, but according to our studies 13 species may be extinct locally. Here, we present ecological information, including population size, vertical distribution and orchid‐phorophyte for each species. In addition, we discuss the main factors threatening the species and the fact that official conservation policies following IUCN Red List categories and criteria at regional levels may be inappropriate for geopolitical regions, especially for overly restricted geographical areas. For this reason, some questions need to be addressed: 1) when should a decision maker be formally advised of the possibility of a species being threatened in a state, municipality or a conservation unit? 2) Below what minimum number of individuals in a population should conservation efforts (financial, logistical, etc.) be applied? These issues are particularily worrying when dealing with epiphytic orchids. For developing countries, these concerns are especially important since resources available to support biodiversity conservation actions are usually very limited. In addition, the lack of permanent control of legally protected areas, and difficulties to combat natural disturbances and predatory human activities also contribute to worsen the problems intrinsic to the conservation of these areas.

Contemporary parasite stress curvilinearly correlates with outgroup trust: Cross-country evidence from 2005 to 2014

Abstract General trust is trust extended to people from outside one's immediate social network. Two studies have tested a parasite stress explanation of general trust using cross-cultural data, showing a linear negative correlation between parasite stress and trust in people. However, recent studies suggest that 1) trust in most people as a measure of general trust confounds ingroup trust and outgroup trust in cross-cultural surveys and 2) parasite stress can curvilinearly correlate with variables of ingroup embeddedness and outgroup avoidance. Using data from the World Value Survey (WVS) Waves 5 and 6 ( N = 117,370 from 80 countries and geopolitical regions), we found no evidence that parasite stress—measured either as contemporary non-sexually-transmitted-disease (non-STD) stress or as historical pathogen prevalence—curvilinearly correlated with ingroup trust. However, parasite stress significantly curvilinearly correlated with outgroup trust, and the two-line test confirmed that the correlation was U-shaped. This research extends previous work on parasite stress and trust, informs the recent debate on whether parasite stress relates to outgroup avoidance, and suggests directions for developing the parasite stress theory of values and sociality.

Exploring the determinants of open defecation in Nigeria using demographic and health survey data

There is increasing global attention to the threats of open defecation (OD) to human health and dignity, and the environment. With at least a quarter of Nigerians (25.1%) or 46 million people practicing OD in 2015, Nigeria ranks third in the world in OD prevalence after India and China. This study explores the socio-economic, demographic and geographic factors that influence and determine the practice of OD among Nigerian households. Data was obtained from 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicate that about 32% of Nigerian households, 8% in urban areas and 24% in rural areas, practiced OD in 2013. The practice is significantly influenced (p < 0.001) by households' place of residence (χ2 (1) = 2126.2), geo-political region (χ2 (5) = 1962.6) and wealth index (χ2 (4) = 4622.7), as well as by household head's education level (χ2 (3) = 1253.3), ethnicity (χ2 (3) = 1926.2) and gender (t = −7.1992). The article also discusses the implications of the findings for environmental and public health and recommends that facilitating ownership of latrines by households and communities, and behavioral change interventions are necessary towards substantially reducing or eliminating OD in Nigeria.

National citizenship as a mediator of organizational innovation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report an initial investigation into the role of national citizenship status in relation to leadership and organizational innovation in the context of the United Arab Emirates, an Arabian Gulf country with a workforce in which migrants far outweigh the number of locals.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use grounded theory methodology to gather initial data and reveal potentially appropriate theory for further research into the role of national citizenship as it correlates with organizational innovation.FindingsThe dominant themes that emerged were that citizen leaders display high levels of willingness to deviate from organizational schemata to respond to new situations; a preference for focus on the big picture; and low monitoring of subordinates. These findings indicate that citizen leaders experience greater ease in diverging from organizational schemata, suggesting that national citizenship status may afford a freedom that enhances the potential to contribute to organizational innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe issue of national citizenship is clearly one of increasing significance in the global workplace and, therefore, must be added to the academic research agenda given the combination of more frequent worldwide professional migration and the growing imperative of organizational innovation. To this end, the authors suggest potentially useful frameworks for further study.Originality/valueThis pioneering research has applicability to other geopolitical regions with high numbers of migrants in their workforces.

Prediction and Appraisal of Solar Radiations and Its Intensity in South East Geopolitical Region, Nigeria

This research work shows the variability of solar parameters. The parameters that are solar radiation, sun intensity and temperature were optimized and predicted in other to investigate its influence in Permanent site of Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, South Eastern part of Nigeria. The research was conducted for the period of five days, 6:00am to 6:00pm daily on 6th to 10th December, 2017. Measuring the intensity of solar radiation is one of the directions used at an investigation of solar power and necessary for the implementation of photovoltaic systems in a particular geographical 'area. Instrument used for measuring the solar radiation is solarimeter which is based on the thermal or photovoltaic principles. The device harness two main components for measuring solar radiation, namely- direct radiation and diffuse radiation, with sensors based on the photovoltaic principles. The research tends to optimize and to develop the intended sun intensity and solar radiation principles and properties of the environs. From the optimization results, the maximum sun intensity of the geographical area is 957.620 w/m2 while the minimum sun intensity of the area is 2 w/m2. However, the maximum temperature of the geographical area is 39.4˚С while the minimum temperature of the geographical area is 18.8˚С. The average sun intensity of the case study is 356.644 w/m2. The optimization technic employed will ensure the efficiency of solar radiation, sun intensity and temperature variability of the geographical area in the study as a key to climatic issues and solar systems manufacturing.

Access to prenatal care and quality of care in the Family Health Strategy: infrastructure, care, and management

This study focuses on access to prenatal care and quality of care in the Family Health Strategy in Brazil as a whole and in the North region, through evaluation of infrastructure characteristics in the health units, management, and supply of care provided by the teams, from the perspective of regional and state inequalities. A cross-sectional evaluative and normative study was performed, drawing on the external evaluation component of the second round of the Program for Improvement of Access and Quality of Primary Care, in 2013-2014. The results revealed the inadequacy of the primary healthcare network's infrastructure for prenatal care, low adequacy of clinical actions for quality of care, and the teams' low management capacity to guarantee access and quality of care. In the distribution according to geopolitical regions, the findings pertaining to the units' infrastructure indicate a direct relationship between the infrastructure's adequacy and social contexts with higher municipal human development indices and income. For the clinical actions in patient care, the teams in all the regions scored low on adequacy, with slightly better results in the North and South regions of the country. There were important differences between the states of the North, and the states with higher mean income and human development scored higher on adequacy. The results indicate important organizational difficulties in both access and quality of care provided by the health teams, in addition to visible insufficiency in management activities aimed to improve access and quality of prenatal care.

Maternal Employment and Child Survival During the Era of Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from Proportional Hazards Modelling of Nigeria Birth History Data.

Background:One of the targets for the third and fifth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) borders on children survival and women economic empowerment, respectively. A robust investigation of the relationship between maternal employment and childhood mortality will provide information useful for programs aimed at ensuring the complementarity of SDG 3 (healthy life for all) and SDG 5 (gender equality, girls and women empowerment).Objective:We addressed the following questions: (1) What is the independent relationship between maternal employment and infant (0–11 months) and child (12–59 months) mortality in Nigeria? (2) How does father’s occupation, type of residence, and geopolitical region modify the relationship?Methods:We retrospectively analysed cross-sectional data on weighted sample of 31,828 under-five children extracted from the birth history in the 2013 round of Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, using Cox proportional hazards models. The outcomes of interest were infant (0–11 months) and child (12–59 months) mortality, and the main explanatory variables include maternal employment, involvement in decision making on work earnings, and father’s occupation. Other confounding variables were also controlled.Findings:Results showed that about two-third (68.7%) of under-five children had mothers who were working, with the majority engaged in self-employed occupations such as sales or small businesses, agriculture, and other manual labour. Infant mortality rate amongst children of employed mothers (65 per 1000 live births) was slightly less than the unemployed (70 per 1000 live births). A similar pattern was observed for child mortality. Hazards regression models revealed that the risk of both infant and child mortality was higher amongst unemployed women. Sales and agriculture/manual occupation constituted a higher risk for infant and child mortality. Analysis of interaction effects also revealed variations by father’s occupation, type of residence, and geopolitical region.Conclusion:The role of maternal employment in child survival is dynamic and depends on the type of occupation, family, and residential and regional context.

Frequency of Equus caballus papillomavirus in equine aural plaques.

Despite the reported association between aural plaques and the presence of Equus caballus papillomavirus (EcPV), there are few data regarding the distribution of viral types in different geographic regions or possible correlations for different papillomaviruses and lesion characteristics. We detected the presence and frequency of EcPV (1-7) DNA in aural plaque biopsies of horses from different regions of Brazil and identified the patterns of these infections or coinfections and their possible association with lesion severity. A total of 108 aural plaque biopsies from horses in the 5 geopolitical regions of Brazil were examined. We performed PCR to detect EcPV DNA in the biopsies. At least 1 type of EcPV was detected in 97% of the samples. EcPV coinfection was observed in 59% of the samples. Compared to the other viruses, EcPV-4 was found at the highest frequency in coinfection (84%) or individually identified (32%). EcPV-2 and -7 were not detected. No significant association was found between lesion characteristics (type and distribution) and either the viral type detected or the presence of coinfection. EcPV is widely distributed in Brazil, both isolated and in coinfection; the viral type does not appear to influence the clinical characteristics of equine aural plaques.

Unsuccessful Xpert® MTB/RIF results: the Nigerian experience.

Setting: Nigeria, a high tuberculosis (TB) burden country. Objective: To study the rate, distribution and causes of unsuccessful Xpert® MTB/RIF test outcomes, with the aim of identifying key areas that need to be strengthened for optimal performance of the assay. Design: This was a retrospective analysis of data uploaded between January and December 2015 from Xpert facilities to the central server using GXAlert. Result: Of 52 219 test results uploaded from 176 Xpert machines, 22.5% were positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 10.8% of which were rifampicin-resistant; 4.7% of the total number of results were invalid, 4.2% had error results and 2.1% no result outcomes. Technical errors were most frequent (69%); these were non-seasonal and occurred in all geopolitical regions and at all health facility levels. Temperature-related errors were more prevalent in the North-West Region, with peaks in April to June. Peak periods for temperature and machine malfunction errors coincided with the periods of low utilisation of the assay. Conclusion: The key challenge affecting performance was poor adherence to standard operating procedures. Periodic refresher training courses, regular supervision, preventive maintenance of Xpert machines and proper storage of cartridges are strategies that could improve Xpert performance.

Los estudios culturales como caja de herramientas para indagar los procesos de comunicación en la restauración conservadora en América Latina / Cultural studies as a tool box for indicating communication processes in the conservative restoration in Latin

En este trabajo nos proponemos repasar la institucionalización del campo de estudios de comunicación en América Latina en las últimas dos décadas del Siglo XX, poniendo el foco en los estudios culturales, su centralidad en aquel momento y su desarrollo posterior. Varios factores hacen este estudio relevante para una serie de materias, desde la propia comunicación hasta la historia de américa: la influencia de Estados Unidos enfrentada a la –en tiempos- también poderosa influencia europea traída en muchos casos por los inmigrantes, o por empresarios y diplomáticos de cualquiera que fuera la potencia europea dominante en un momento dado. El objetivo es ensayar algunas preguntas respecto del estatuto de los estudios culturales en un contexto de restitución neoliberal conservadora. Aportando perspectiva histórica y raigambre a los presentes argumentos sobre la materia, y al debate que esta puede suscitar a nivel profesional y académico en universidades, centros de trabajo y entornos sociales diversos. De forma que este desemboque inequívocamente en conclusiones útiles a su estudio y aplicación, tanto desde la perspectiva técnica como social y humana, y garantizando que estas serán coherentes con los factores definitorios de la identidad tanto de la región geopolítica como del debate mismo.

ASEAN: world's first geopolitical region to implement pictorial health warnings

ASEAN: world's first geopolitical region to implement pictorial health warnings

Trending Now: News Habits of Generation Z

An exploration of literature addressing the interest and engagement of young adults, and their novel approach to seeking information. We find that Generation Z adults are engaged with similar public policy issues as other adults; seek information about those issues daily; seek news via social media significantly more frequently than even Millennials; consume news from more liberal-leaning news outlets; understand the political biases of publications; and do not differ across a variety of US geopolitical regions. Implications are discussed.