Abstract: The effects of calcium carbide waste on some groups of soil microorganisms and soil enzymes were studied using standard microbiological and biochemical techniques. Soil samples were collected from a vehicle maintenance area as well as from an adjacent farm land (control) during the dry and rainy seasons. The population of all the bacterial groups in the different seasons was affected adversely by calcium carbide waste. Total heterotrophic bacteria (THB), being a representative of the bacterial groups decreased from 3.6 x 10⁶ ±0.35 cfu/g to 4.1 x 10⁴ ±0.09 cfu/g in the dry season, and from 4.1 x 10⁶±0.02cfu/g to 1.1 x 10⁵±0.01cfu/g during the rainy season. There was also significant decrease in the activity of the enzymes in different seasons. The enzymes most adversely affected in the different seasons include acid phosphate, urease and lipase. The effect of calcium carbide waste on the parameters studied was more severe during the dry season. 

Abstract: Population education is an important component of family planning program. Education and wealth have a marked effect on fertility, with uneducated mothers having three times as many children as women with at least some secondary education. Women perceptions towards family planning can influence the socio-economic development of a country. The present study examines the extent of family planning and fertility of mothers regarding population education and various socio-economic factors affecting fertility. The growing use of contraception has given couples the ability to choose the number and spacing of their children. Total fertility rate of the country reduced from 6.4 births per woman in 1990 to 4.8 births per woman in 2011, three children drop per two women in the last 20 years. Yet despite these impressive gains, contraceptive use is still low (29 percent).