Background: Traditional home delivery remains an important maternal-health issue in many Nigerian communities where cultural preferences, affordability, access to formal health services and trust in traditional birth attendants (TBAs) may influence place of childbirth. Objective: To assess knowledge and prevalence of traditional home delivery and identify factors associated with delivery choices among women of reproductive age in Oluku Community, Ovia North-East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 110 women aged 15–49 years residing in Oluku Community. Participants were selected using simple random sampling and data were collected with a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 20.0. Frequencies and percentages were used for descriptive analysis, while chi-square tests examined associations between selected sociodemographic characteristics and delivery-related variables. Results: Awareness of traditional home delivery was high (90.9%), and 85.5% identified TBAs as the common attendants at traditional home deliveries. Fifty participants (45.5%) reported delivering their last child at home, compared with 44 (40.0%) who delivered in a hospital or health centre; 16 (14.5%) reported other locations. TBAs were reported as the delivery attendant by 59.1% of respondents. Lack of access to healthcare facilities (27.3%), cultural or religious beliefs (22.7%), trust in TBAs (20.0%), fear of medical interventions (16.4%) and cost of hospital delivery (13.6%) were reported reasons for home delivery. Only 41.8% considered traditional home delivery to carry higher risks than hospital delivery, while 60.9% reported no access to a health facility within their community. Education level was significantly associated with location of last delivery (χ²=14.090, p=0.029); age and marital status were not significantly associated with location of last delivery. Conclusion: Traditional home delivery was common in Oluku Community despite high awareness of the practice. Access barriers, cost, sociocultural beliefs and trust in TBAs influenced delivery choices. Interventions should strengthen access to skilled childbirth care, reduce financial and transport barriers, improve respectful maternity care and establish effective referral linkages with community-based providers.

Background: Neonatal hypoglycaemia is a common metabolic abnormality in newborns and may be associated with neurological injury and death, particularly in high-risk neonates. This study assessed the burden and clinical correlates of low blood glucose among neonates admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study reviewed SCBU records from 1 January to 31 December 2024. Of 623 records identified, 219 neonates had sufficiently complete records and documented blood glucose values for analysis. Data were analysed with SPSS version 27. Categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages, and associations were assessed using chi-square tests. Hypoglycaemia was defined in the source dataset as blood glucose ≤40 mg/dL, with values <30 mg/dL classified as severe and 31–40 mg/dL as moderate. Results: Of the 219 neonates analysed, 121 (55.3%) were male. Preterm low birth weight was the commonest recorded diagnosis (52.5%), followed by neonatal sepsis (37.4%) and neonatal asphyxia (10.0%). Severe hypoglycaemia occurred in 88 (40.2%) and moderate hypoglycaemia in 80 (36.6%), giving a prevalence of 76.7% among analysed neonates. Ninety neonates (41.1%) died. Blood glucose category was significantly associated with mortality (χ²=15.91, p=0.007) and diagnosis (χ²=24.21, p=0.0071), but not with gestational-age category (χ²=30.18, p=0.067) or sex (χ²=5.0, p=0.60). Conclusion: Low blood glucose was frequent among neonates with complete glucose records admitted to this tertiary SCBU and was associated with mortality and diagnostic category. The findings support early glucose surveillance and prompt management in high-risk admitted neonates, while the retrospective, selected-record design limits generalization of the prevalence estimate.

This study examined entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a predictor of graduate venture performance in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Driven by structural unemployment and the necessity for economic self-reliance, graduate-led enterprises have become critical nodes for economic development; however, many suffer from premature failure due to low psychological resilience and poor risk management. The study specifically investigated the predictive influence of opportunity recognition self-efficacy and resilience self-efficacy on the performance of graduate ventures in Akwa Ibom State. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The target population comprised 1,850 graduate entrepreneurs operating micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Akwa Ibom State. A sample size of 329 respondents was determined using the Taro Yamane formula. Data collection was carried out using a structured instrument titled "Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Graduate Venture Performance Questionnaire (ESEGVPQ)". The instrument was validated by experts in Business Education and Psychometrics, yielding an overall Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.86. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while simple linear regression analysis was deployed to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that opportunity recognition self-efficacy exerts a significant predictive influence on graduate venture performance, despite variances in lower-level task execution. Furthermore, resilience self-efficacy was shown to significantly predict venture survival and overall performance metrics. The study concluded that psychological capital, specifically task-specific self-efficacy, is a strong determinant of entrepreneurial outcomes. It was recommended among others, that tertiary education institutions embed experiential psychological training into entrepreneurship curricula, and that local business incubators provide targeted mentorship frameworks to fortify the cognitive resilience of graduate startup owners.

The study analyzes a direct relationship between solar radiation, temperature and an inverse relationship with rainfall and relative humidity and also sunshine. The study scrutinizes the reliability and validity of existing analysis that focus on the various environment factors on photovoltaic (PV) system's performance for the first time four environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and sunshine). Affecting the system performance are investigated simultaneously. The study area is Southern Delta University, Ozoro. Ozoro is the Headquarters of Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. During the dry season (October -March), the average temperature in Rainfall in Delta State Polytechnic Ozoro ranged between 26.48 - 27.790C and in rainy season (April - September), the average monthly temperature ranged 25.01 27.150. Temperature in Ozoro is low at night and high in the day as a result of the external heat supply by the sun.

Healthcare organizations face challenges in workforce allocation because fixed staffing approaches may not adequately reflect changing demand, workflow bottlenecks, staff qualifications, workload, and operational constraints. This study develops an Explainable Process Intelligence framework for Workforce Allocation and Operational Governance in Digital Healthcare Systems to connect healthcare process analysis with transparent staff-to-task recommendations. A quantitative, simulation-based design was used with a simulated healthcare event log and workforce records. The framework integrates process discovery, conformance analysis, bottleneck identification, demand estimation, constrained workforce allocation, explainable artificial intelligence, and governance monitoring. The allocation model was compared with a historical baseline roster using identical demand periods and eligibility rules. The proposed approach increased demand coverage from 78.1% to 88.7%, reduced median waiting time from 1.70 to 1.29 hours, decreased workload coefficient of variation from 0.31 to 0.21, and reduced overtime exposure from 12.4% to 8.9%. Explanations were available for accepted and rejected recommendations, while human reviewers retained authority to modify or reject recommendations. The findings indicate that integrating process intelligence, explainable allocation, and governance can support more transparent workforce planning, workload management, and operational oversight in digital healthcare environments.

Background: Adolescence is an important period of physical, emotional and sexual development during which young people may become vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Adequate knowledge of safe sex strategies is important; however, knowledge may not necessarily translate into appropriate sexual health practices. Objective: To assess the knowledge and practice of safe sex strategies and identify factors influencing sexual health practices among senior secondary school students at University of Benin Demonstration Secondary School, Benin City, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 243 senior secondary school students. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select participants from SS1 to SS3. Data were collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of safe sex strategies, sexual practices and factors influencing safe sex practices. The instrument underwent face and content validation and had a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.75 following pilot testing. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and summarised using descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 243 respondents, 139 (57.2%) were female and 126 (51.9%) were aged 14–16 years. Overall, 201 (82.9%) respondents had good knowledge of safe sex strategies, while 124 (51.0%) had good safe sex practices. One hundred and sixty (65.8%) had attended a class on safe sex education, while 159 (65.4%) had previously heard the term “safe sex.” Sixty-nine (28.4%) respondents reported having had sexual intercourse, 149 (61.3%) reported practising abstinence, and only 60 (24.7%) had ever undergone testing for a sexually transmitted infection. Only 112 (46.1%) had discussed sexual health with a parent, teacher or health professional. Conclusion: Knowledge of safe sex strategies was high among the students, but this was not matched by a similarly high level of safe sex practice. Strengthening comprehensive school-based sexuality education, improving parent-adolescent communication and increasing access to confidential youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services may help bridge the gap between knowledge and practice.

Hair extension practice rarely fails in a single dramatic way. It fails gradually when the cumulative load on natural hair exceeds its structural reserve, when an attachment zone absorbs repeated tension it was not assessed to sustain, or when a client's actual maintenance behavior falls short of what the installation required. This article develops a literature-based algorithm for gradual hair extensions that treats the procedure as a staged adaptation process rather than a one-time intervention. The study draws on 20 verified English-language sources covering hair and scalp diagnostics, hair camouflage, scalp reactions, traction-related damage, and material exposure. It also references the Hair Biomechanical Tolerance Dataset (Cowan Y, 2026), a synthetic illustrative dataset of 108 hypothetical archetypes with rule-generated action directives. Three patterns from this model informed the algorithm. First, scalp condition was encoded as an absolute procedural gate: all archetypes with active erythema or pre-traction markers were assigned refusal, regardless of hair thickness, density, or zone. Second, staged extension is exclusively a Supportive and Conditional zone procedure: none of the 24 Staged Extension profiles is located in the high-risk marginal zone. Third, aftercare compliance reduces safe wear duration by 1.3 to 1.7 weeks across all scalp zones, making it a planning variable rather than post-procedural advice. On this basis, the article proposes a Gradual Hair Extension Algorithm with five decision blocks: structural diagnosis, zonal tolerance assessment, aftercare capacity assessment, phased load planning, and follow-up correction logic. Graduality is not a stylistic preference. It is a principle of biological proportionality.