Note on differences between different semiconductor volatile and non-volatile memory. Comparison is done for parameters such as volatility, read & write speed, structure and power dissipation. Based on the parameters compared applications for these memory cells has been detailed. The paper helps to make a choice based on the application and comparison made.
Page(s): 01-04 Date of Publication: 13 June 2019
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Tephrosia villosa per a well known plant of India and other part of the world commonly known as “Shevet sharpunakha” in Indian traditional system, Tephorasia villosa a weedy plant native to India grows as common waste land weed and has been used traditionally as folk medicine in india and other parts of the world for its valuable medicinal properties, but its identity as medicinal plant is not established till date. several phyto constituents like Flavonoids, Flavones, Retenoids, Saponins and Alkaloids etc have been identified and various research work like Antioxidant, Anti microbial and Anti diabetic properties also identified from the plant extracts which indicate further scope in isolation and other activates, in our studies there is a brief explanation about active constituents and pharmacological actions, along with Ethnobatonical uses of the plant has been discussed.
Page(s): 05-08 Date of Publication: 13 June 2019
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Due to the increasing number of systems getting automated, a home automation system is being designed here.The Smart Home Automation System is being designed keeping in mind the necessity to eliminate the need for any kind of human interference that is required to operate the home appliances. In order to provide automation, a lot of factors need to be considered such as, human presence, current temperature, the state of the electrical appliances, the time of the day and the user activity. The system must also be able to monitor the user activity on a regular basis and learn in the process. Thus, enabling the system to respond intelligently and provide better user experience. By training the system with some test cases, the system can map the user activity to the above mentioned factors. The system learns from these test cases and can predict the next activity by matching the current activity to the previous scenarios. The system then responds accordingly, by giving the expected result.
Page(s): 09-11 Date of Publication: 17 June 2019
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Solar energy is the most efficient example of a renewable energy. The Sunlight is used to generate electricity by using a photovoltaic cell. Solar panel is bombarded by photons from the source of sunlight. Photons are captivated by semiconducting materials like Silicon and germanium. Electrons are excited from their outermost orbital. During excitation, the energy is dissipated as heat and returns to its orbital or it can be penetrated through the cell until it will be reached to an electrode. Solar energy is converted into a usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity by solar cell. The rechargeable battery is used to store the electricity from the solar panel for future use. In automatic solar system, a solar charge controller is chosen as it decides to switch ON or OFF the charging of battery. IC555 timer is used to design an automatic solar system. Automatic solar system is an efficient power saving concept for domestic purpose. Light is automatically switched ON when the sunlight goes below the visible region of our eyes. The light is sensed like our eyes by a sensor called Light Dependent Resistor (LDR). Light is automatically switched OFF when the sunlight comes.
Page(s): 12-19 Date of Publication: 18 June 2019
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The assessment of waste management in Ikogosi Ekiti was investigated vis-à-vis its current convectional waste practices and its implication on the environmental conditions. Three sampling techniques were employed to select sample population for this study. Purposive sampling method was used to select 200 respondents of the Ikogosi community; accidental and availability sampling method was used to select 50 tourists from the Warm Resort Centre and random sampling method was used to select 20 respondents from the Ekiti State Waste Management Board. In all 264 copies of questionnaire were successfully retrieved from the respondents and were analyzed for the study. The findings of the study established that waste materials were indiscriminately found everywhere in the study area as affirmed by 62.1% respondents; this is attributed to unavailability of waste management tanks (90.5%) in the study area. The study also revealed deplorable toilet facilities (62.1%) indicating the height of waste materials becoming worrisome to the community as affirmed by the respondent (60.3%). Indigenous respondent reported their failure to adopt zero waste management (62.1%) while they equally failed to participate in monthly environment sanitation as stipulated by Local Government Authority. The study concluded that lack of proper waste disposal has prone the Ikogosi inhabitants to live in filthy environment which pose a threat to their well-being and associated health risk factors. The paper therefore recommends that government and community leaders should be actively involved in the management of waste; aimed at achieving clean environment.
Page(s): 20-24 Date of Publication: 22 June 2019
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Despites the strategic management literature emphases on the influence of low cost strategy on the organisational performance, the review of literature reveals that theoretical and empirical contributions of low coststrategy to the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) remained limited, particularly in the Nigeria context. The limited theoretical and empirical contributions in this field of study have resulted not only in minimal knowledge about the low cost strategy by MFIs but also the lack of information concerning factors that could influence the performance of these important financial institutions. Given the limited research as well as information in this field of study, this study attempts to examine MFIs in Nigeria from the strategic management perspectives. More specifically, this study investigates the relationship between low cost strategy and performance of MFIs in Nigeria. The study was based on a sample survey consisting of 121MFIs in Nigeria. The data for the study was collected by using structural questionnaire. Based on the analyses of the data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the results of the study indicates significant positive relationships between low cost strategy and the financial and social performance of MFIs. The result shows that the low cost strategy does not only influence the financial performance of MFIs but also social performance as well. The implication is that, managers that focus on the practice oflow cost strategy in their microfinance institution will not only able to increase their financial performance but social performance as well.
Page(s): 25-29 Date of Publication: 22 June 2019
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This research was carried out to design, construction and evaluate a peanut shelling machine. The machine comprised of feeding hopper, shelling cylinder, chaff discharge chute, blower fan, frame and 2.5 kw electric motor. A sensitive Electric balance of 30Kg by 5g(Model no: ACS-J2C) was used to measure the weight of the peanut sample. A Digital Tachometer of Contact/Surface Speed (Model no: DT-2235B) Was used to measure the speed of the blower speed of the machine which was 155rpm. The shelling machine developed was tested with a three (3) different samples of peanut of 6.5 Kg each. The samples were soaked at room temperature for 2hrs, filtered and dried on concrete floor for 3hrs and returns to bags for 20hrs, 21hrs and 22hrs and then shelled. A multi-level factorial experiment was used to analyzed the data generated. It was found that the machine has 98% shelling efficiency, 5.3% mechanical damage, 89% cleaning efficiency and a throughput capacity of 160kg/hr.
Page(s): 30-35 Date of Publication: 22 June 2019
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Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) is a multi-purpose crop and leafy vegetables of high nutritional quality. The mineral content and proximate composition of five accessions of Amarhanthus accessions: 74-43, RRC8, RRC1351, RRC3991, RRC551 were investigated. With the issue of food security and inadequate supply of rich food especially in developing country, Amaranth, although an underutilized crop, can be a good source of protein, carbohydrate and important minerals. Hence, this experiment was carried out to investigate the nutritional content and proximate analysis of amaranth. The experiment was conducted at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan and Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, both in southwestern Nigeria. Treatments consisted of nitrogen fertilizer applied at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg ha-1. Proximate analysis was carried out using standard methods. There was difference in the in interaction of accession and nitrogen rate on nutrient content of grain amaranth compared to the respective control (0 kg N ha-1). At 60 kg ha-1, RRC8 had the highest P, K, Na, Mg and Fe (32.03, 47.14, 83.61, 37.65 and 19.97 g/plant, respectively); at 120 kg ha-1 RRC551 and RRC399 recorded the highest N (5.29 g/plant) and Zn (6.38 g/plant), respectively. Accession and nitrogen rate affected proximate analysis of grain amaranth, with, 74-43, RRC551 and RRC8 having the highest water content (7.54), carbohydrate content (40.58) and Fat content (3.97); RRC3991 and RRC551 had the highest protein content at 7.32 g/plant. Nitrogen rate at 120 kg ha-1 had the highest values for all proximate compositions. The study shows that the nutritional content in amaranth is rich enough to substitute as alternatives for food sources that are expensive to get.
Page(s): 36-44 Date of Publication: 26 June 2019
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This study aimed to assess the effect of video instruction as a complement to conventional teaching methods on performance in Agriculture theoretical tests by students in secondary schools in Molo Sub-county. The study adopted a pretest-posttest experimental design where four schools were selected purposively from the list of public secondary schools in the Sub-County, and randomly assigned to either the control and intervention group (two schools per group). Form-one agriculture students in the schools that formed the intervention group (n=89) were taught a topic on Water Supply Irrigation and Drainage using a combination of conventional method and video, while form one students in the secondary schools that formed the control group (n=83) were taught using conventional teaching method only. Participants in the two secondary schools were subjected to an achievement test before and after the six lessons for comparison of the test results. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at the 0.05 level of significance with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Descriptive analysis showed that students in the intervention group had higher mean scores in the post-test. The analysis of t-tests showed that the use of video instruction had a statistically significant effect on students’ performance in the Agriculture theoretical post-tests scores (t=8.981, p=.000) even after controlling the student pretest-scores. The finding led to the conclusion that the incorporation of video instructions improves students’ performance in agriculture theoretical tests. The study recommends that schools within the study area as well as other parts of the country should embrace the use of video instruction in the teaching of Agriculture in order to boost students understanding of theoretical aspects of the subject.
Page(s): 45-48 Date of Publication: 26 June 2019
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This work is on Hobbesian Conception of Human Nature: Moral Implications for Nigeria Society. It will be absurd indeed to discuss about Ethics and Society without talking about the concept of human nature. In other words, there is no philosophy of life without a theory of human nature. Human nature can be defined as the psychological and social qualities that characterized humankind, especially in contrast with other living things. The problem here is that Hobbes believes that the state of nature was the worst case scenario. Hobbes was ready to sacrifice all of his freedom to avoid the state of nature. Applying this position to the Nigerian society, it is glaring that this view gives justification to authoritarian government and tyranny. This work therefore intends to expose Hobbes concept of human nature and then apply his view to moral issues in Nigeria society. Hobbes view of human nature has a much laudable appeal which can make available a structure for modern day politics in Nigeria. Notwithstanding the issues inherent in Hobbes concept of human nature it could be used as a yardstick in analyzing some perennial, moral and political issues in Nigeria society.
Page(s): 49-54 Date of Publication: 26 June 2019
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Poor water, sanitation and hygiene practices directly and indirectly impact on the dynamics of endemic childhood diseases. This study was thus conducted to assess association between the water, sanitation and hygiene practices and the dynamics of endemic childhood pneumonia in Abia State. One thousand two hundred and nine caregivers of children 0-5 years were randomly recruited with one child from each household. The care givers were administered the 2006 UNICEF and WHO harmonized checklist while the children were screened for pneumoniausing community based diagnoses. The children that had cough or difficult breathingwere further screened for pneumonia using respiratory timer counts. Prevalence of pneumonia among the children was 18.4%, and this was statistically significantly associated with access to water, sanitation practices and personal hygiene of their caregivers (ρ˂0.05). This study concludes that poor access to water, and poor sanitation and hygiene practices of care givers are directly related to the prevalence of pneumonia among their children. It is hereby recommended that access to water, proper sanitation and hygiene practices should be scaled up in Abia State in order to improve the overall health of the children 0-5 years.
Page(s): 55-60 Date of Publication: 26 June 2019
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Social Events are responsible for the major percentage of web search traffic as shown by recent studies. This paper is a survey conducted for identifying the various event detection methods which are useful for event mining. While traditional Web sites can only show human-edited events, this Paper suggests a System which automatically detects events from search log data and generate a storyboard where the events are arranged along a timeline. Web search log is considered as a good data resource for event mining, since they reflect people’s interests directly and wide variety of real world events are covered in it. In order to discover events from log data, an approach known as Smooth Nonnegative Matrix Factorization framework (SNMF) is used. Moreover, time factor is considered as an important element for event detection as different events develop at different time. In addition, to provide a visually appealing storyboard, each event is mapped with a set of relevant images arranged along a timeline.
Page(s): 61-64 Date of Publication: 28 June 2019
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The paper addresses tax evasion and avoidance through effective tax audit and investigation in Cross River State.The study adopts survey research design, while data were collated from staff of FIRS and SIRS in Cross River State. The Chi-square (x2) statistical tool was employed to analyze respondents’ opinion on the effect of tax audit and investigation in addressing tax evasion and avoidance. The results revealed that, while there is a significant difference in the opinions of respondents on the effect of tax audit on tax evasion and avoidance in Cross River State; there was no significant difference in their perception on the effect of tax investigation on tax evasion and avoidance. Penalty also significantly affected tax evasion and avoidance.Identified also was that the thoroughness of the tax audit will encourage taxpayers to be more prudent in complying with tax returns and that the strengthening of tax audit and investigation will wipe away tax evasion and avoidance in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that tax payers should be educated during tax audits and penalty should be adequately implemented to serve as a deterrent to tax evader and avoiders so as to increase tax compliance and government revenue.
Page(s): 65-69 Date of Publication: 29 June 2019
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The study examined the factors influencing farmer’s participation in agro-forestry practices in Igabi local government areas of Kaduna State. Random sampling method was used to select 100 agro-forestry farmers and structured questionnaire administered on them. Descriptive statistics, and Probit Regression Analysis, were used to analyze the data obtained. The result revealed that male (72.00%) dominated the agro-forestry farming enterprise; 96.00 % of the respondents are in their working age group of 21-60 years. The greatest percentage (71.00 %) were married. 41.00 % had tertiary education, while 13.00 % never attended school. Majority (90.00 %) of the respondents had farming as their primary occupation while the remaining 10.00 % had farming as their secondary occupation. The probit model shows that farmers status has a direct and significant (p<0.1) relationship with the probability of farmers willingness to participate in Agro- forestry practices in the study area while the land tenure system in the area had negative impact on farmers willingness to participate in agro forestry practices. The study therefore recommends that Government should consider making promulgations on land tenure arrangements that give farmers sense of belongings on lands (i.e. to own more lands of theirs), which have the potentials to make the farmers more willing to plant Agro- forestry trees in the area.
Page(s): 70-74 Date of Publication: 29 June 2019
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The study assessed the various types of wild fodder and forage exploited and their level of intensity of utilization by rural households for feeding livestock in Benue state, Nigeria. This was achieved with the help of a well structured interview schedule to purposively elicit information from 300 eligible respondents from the study area. The results of the study revealed that 60.0% of forest grasses were mostly exploited and intensively utilized (70.0%) while trees and shrubs leaves were identified to be exploited at 57.0% and intensively utilized (45%). The study concluded that the most exploited and utilize forest fodder and forage were grasses and trees and shrubs leaves. It was recommended that: government and community efforts should be intensified to protect the forest fodder and forages from indiscriminate bush burning for utilization by livestock; modern equipment for harvesting, treatment and preservation of fodder and forage for a long time for all year round utilization by livestock should be imported by government, individuals and organizations and sold to livestock farmer at cheap price for use; and research should be carried out by research institutes to establish the nutritional value of forest fodder and forage to enable the livestock farmers to avoid the ones that are poisonous for their livestock as well as introduce the exotic fodder and encourage its utilization by the livestock farmers for more nutritional value.
Page(s): 75-77 Date of Publication: 02 July 2019
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In Nigeria context, the economy is faced with unemployment, low investment, high interest rate and high rate of inflation. The purpose of this paper was to ascertain the impact of monetary policy instruments on economic growth in Nigeria. The study spanned from 1970 – 2011. It has been postulated that if monetary policy instruments are effective, the economy will grow well. A stationary test was carried out using Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillip-Perron Test (PP) and stationary found at first difference at 5% level of significance. The Johansen-Juselius co-integration technique employed in this study proved to be superior to the Engle and Granger (1987) approach in assessing the co-integrating properties of variables, especially in a multivariate context. The result of the test indicates 1 cointegration equation at 5 percent level of significance. The study also applied Vector Error Correlation Model (VECM) to determine the short run relationship between monetary policy instruments and economic growth in Nigeria. The result of our analysis shows that monetary policy instruments significantly influence the rate of economic growth in Nigeria. The study also found that long-run relationship exists between monetary policy instruments and economic growth in Nigeria. we therefore recommend that, having seen that there exist a long-run relationship between GDP and explanatory variables (M2, INRATE and EXRATE) through the use of co-integration test, it implies that government can adopt contractionary money policy as this will help the monetary authorities to reduce money supply in order to force up interest rate and thereby curtailing inflation; government should sustain the current economic reform and maintain sound fiscal and monetary policy so that inflation trends to single digit on a sustain basis, interest rates will inevitably come down to single digit as has happened in some developed economies in the world; and monetary policy instruments should be used to fight against high rate of inflation in Nigeria.
Page(s): 78-84 Date of Publication: 02 July 2019
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Fufu is a fermented food from cassava tubers which when processed are hawked by the producers. Microbiological and physicochemical analyses were conducted on processed fufu samples obtained from six different communities in Akoko Area (Akungba, Ikare, Iwaro, Ayegunle, Supare and Oba) of Ondo State, Nigeria. The mean total aerobic bacterial counts, lactic acid bacteriai counts and the fungal counts of the samples ranged from 1.66×106 cfu/g to 4.61×106 cfu/g, 2.4 x106 to 4.85 x106 cfu/g and 1.5×103 to 2.65×103 cfu/g respectively. Bacteria isolated from the samples included Staphylococcus aureus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides., Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus sp., Lactobacillus plantarum and L. fermentum while the fungi included Candida albicans, Mucor mucedo, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Penicillium chrysogenum. The pH of the samples ranged from 3.9 to 5.0, the total titratable acidity ranged from 1.44% to 3.18% while the temperature ranged from 26o C to 28oC. The moisture contents of the fufu samples ranged from 55.02% to 73.16 %, while the carbohydrate and protein contents ranged from 16.65 to 31.27% and 1.66 to 3.80% respectively. Antinutrient analysis showed that phytate had the highest value (mean value of 67.76/100mg) while tannins had the lowest value (mean 2.00/100mg).The cyanide content ranged from 0.32mµ/100g to 0.42mµ/100g.The mineral content analysis revealed the abundance of magnesium and low level of iron in all the fufu samples. The detection of some pathogenic microorganisms in the fufu samples underscores the importance of clean production environment, proper handling methods, and good personal hygiene of fufu producers and retailers.
Page(s): 85-91 Date of Publication: 03 July 2019
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The purpose of this study was to speed the process of data commission to the RCPC. Which would easily monitor the pest and disease that affects the plants. So that monitoring the pest and disease that affects the plants and map out its existence will be natural and be taken. And also to avoid the migration of the pest from one place and to another. And to generate comprehensive reports for monitoring the pest and diseases. Many conclusions were drawn based on the result of the research and survey.Provincial Offices in Region VIII”, as an RCPC will be able to send reports whenever they are on the field at home or a vacation as long as the person can connect to a Wi-Fi or any internet provider. In this way, there will be no longer waiting for a day or a month to get their surveillance form to solve or to add a possible solution to the current diseases on the plants and to prevent the migration of pest and disease.The researcher recommends using an android tablet instead of mobile phones since the website is dealing with charts and graphs (massive data) that requires a bigger screen to see. Adding additional features like messaging and not just focuses on the crops but also focus on other plants.
Page(s): 92-95 Date of Publication: 04 July 2019
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Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and Entrepreneurship Education are vital components in the economic development equation of any country. However, these training systems can only be effective where sustainable methods of financing TVET and entrepreneurship training are in place. In order to obtain information on the most appropriate methods of funding skills development in the two specific skills categories, it was deemed necessary and important to obtain reliable empirical quantitative and qualitative data from the government officers, the industry experts and administrators in vocational institutions. A questionnaire was administered in all the eight districts of Lusaka Province among purposely selected sixteen TVET administrators. Interviews were conducted with the sixteen purposely selected senior government officers, and sixteen parents of TVET learners selected using snowball sampling. Two respondents were drawn from each respondent group across the eight districts. Since the study adopted a mixed research approach with a concurrent triangulation design, data were analysed through a thematic approach and also utilising descriptive statistics from the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). This article focuses on the evaluation of the most appropriate methods of financing TVET,and Entrepreneurship education with the rationale of improving skills development to mitigate underdevelopment which has mainly contributed to unemployment leading to abject poverty in Lusaka province. The findings of the study revealed seven appropriate methods of financing TVET and Entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, results showed that lack of funding or inadequate funding were cited as some of the causes of poorly resourced vocational institutions leading to inadequate tools, equipment, shortage of teaching materials in vocational schools and low motivation among the teaching staff and other faculty members.
Page(s): 96-107 Date of Publication: 04 July 2019
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The study investigated the adoption of improved poultry management practise in Mando in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Data were collected randomly through the use of well structured questionnaire from 57 poultry farmers. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage, frequency and correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that 71.93%of the respondents were male, while 60% of the farmers were between the age of 30-50 years. Keeping of daily poultry records had the highest adoption level (68.40%,) adoption level was also high in the use of vaccines, antibiotics (61.40%, ) improve feeding and improved battery cage adoption rate were both 59.70%, and identification technique of sexing stood at 47.40%. Age, flock size and contact with extension agents were the three factors that correlated positively with adoption and therefore significantly influenced the adoption of improved poultry management practices in the study area. The study therefore recommends that government should engaged extension workers to adequately train poultry farmers to be technically competent to handle modern poultry management practices since contact with extension agents is one of the factors that greatly influenced the decision of the farmers to adopt new technologies and innovations.
Page(s): 108-111 Date of Publication: 04 July 2019
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The significance of psychosocial factors in the growth and phrase of heart disease has been argumentation; a wide current literature at the present establishes that psychosocial factors add extensively to the pathogenesis of cardiac heart disease and require to be measured in the jeopardy stratification and treatment of patients with cardiac heart disease. The major objective of this study is to search out the psychiatric correlates of CHD. For this, sets of psychological inventories are used, which determine seven psychological variables. To abridge the task, two types of group assessment were made. In the primary type, the total sample (450) was separated into three groups, that is, CHD group (350), non-cardiac group (50), and standard group (50). In the secondary type, the CHD group was auxiliary separated into seven groups (50 each) based on the diagnosis and was compared with the non-cardiac and standard groups. It was found that cardiac subgroups have homogeneity and heterogeneity amongst themselves. Cardiac subgroup showed some homogeneity with the standard and non-cardiac groups as well. Findings implies that the cardiac group obtained super-ordinate rating in family stress, personal stress, extroversion–introversion, neuroticism, and depression and incline rating in social stress when compared with the standard and non-cardiac groups. In conclusion, super-ordinate rating in family stress, personal stress, extroversion–introversion, neuroticism, and depression are the significant variables to envisage an individual to have the tendency of CHD. Association of psychological factors in CHD is factual, not a fable.
Page(s): 112-115 Date of Publication: 06 July 2019
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In the few years, city area population increasing rapidly. At the same time the percentage of increasing waste production is too much. Garbage collection and management has been a major issue to be considered. This paper represents the proposed system of Garbage collection and management using Internet of Things for residential or commercial areas. In this paper, smart bin is built on a microcontroller-based platform Arduino 328board which is interfaced with GSM modem and Ultrasonic sensor. This system monitors the garbage bins and informs about the level of garbage collected in the garbage bins via a web page. This web page also sends all information to garbage collection vehicles. This project IoT Garbage monitoring system is a very innovative system which will help to keep the cities clean. Whenever the dustbin comes to its maximum level, the management department gets alert via SMS via GSM system placed at dustbin, so department can send waste collector vehicle to respective location to collect garbage Now a day’s Automatic systems are being preferred over manual system to make life simpler and easier in all aspects. The number of users of internet has grown so rapidly that it has become a necessary part of our daily life. The traditional way of manually monitoring the wastes in waste bins is a complex, cumbersome process and utilizes more human effort, time and cost which is not compatible with the present day technologies in any way. This an advanced method in which waste management is automated.
Page(s): 116-120 Date of Publication: 06 July 2019
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The Atharvaveda that deviates from the hieratic tradition of Hinduism because of the popular or applied dimensions of Vedic religion in it contains numerous spells directed to the supernatural. The spells for exorcising spirits who commit sex crimes are notable for their coarse language and uncouth content, particularly when compared to Vedic laudatory hymns in a refined language. The Gandharvas and other supernatural beings notorious for sexually abusing mortal women encounter mantric threats characterised by derision. This paper examines the Vedic practice of imprecating upon supernatural sex criminals and analyses the language of the Atharvavedic spells employed for that purpose. Further, it argues that similar practices may have been in use to penalise mortal sex criminals as reflected in pertinent Vedic terms and phrases.
Page(s): 121-128 Date of Publication: 08 July 2019
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.In an experiment involving the isolation and molecular identification of fungi associated with exotic vegetables in two Aberdeen shops, Epicoccum nigrum, and Cladosporium cladosporioides were isolated and identified from snowpea (Pisum sativum var. saccharatum), mango (Mangifera indica) and pawpaw (Carica papaya) imported from Kenya and Brazil. Isolates were identified using colony and morphological characters on Potato Dextrose Agar and PCR analysis. The DNA of fungi were extracted using a QiagenDNeasy Plant Mini Kit and PCR products were purified with a QIAquick PCR Purification Kit after electrophoresis. PCR amplifications were run using the primer pair ITS1/ITS4. DNA sequences were compared to published sequences in GenBank using BLASTn. Epicoccum nigrum, and Cladosporium cladosporioides have both been reported as pathogens of economically important crops plants. They have also both been reported as biological contro agents of some pathogens of certain crops. The pathogenicity and the biological control potentials of this isolates are currently being planned.
Page(s): 129-133 Date of Publication: 08 July 2019
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Organic carbon sequestration capacity of soils in Akwa Ibom State was assessed. The aim was to identify the organic carbon sequestration capacity of different parent materials and landuse types in the state. Based on the satellite imageries, geological and topographic maps, the study area (Akwa Ibom State) was grouped into four major mapping units to reflect the parent materials, namely: coastal plain sand, sandstone, shale and beach ridge sand. Also, four land use types namely; cultivated farmland, oil palm plantation; homestead and secondary forest of 3 years and above were selected for the study. In each parent material and land use type, three representative locations were selected for sampling. In each sampling location, profile pit was dug and soil samples were collected at a designated depth of 0-20, 20-60, 60-100cm. The core samples were also collected at the same depth for bulk density and hydraulic conductivity-determinations in the laboratory. The study revealed that beach ridge sand soils had the highest organic carbon sequestration capacity, followed by coastal plain sand, followed by sandstone while shale soils had the least in the order: beach ridge sand > coastal plain sand > sandstone > shale. In term of landuse types, homestead or compound farmland had the highest organic carbon sequestration capacity, followed by oil palm plantation and secondary forest of 3-5 years while cultivated farmland had the least in the order: homestead > oil palm plantation > secondary forest > cultivated farmland. Among the organic matter fractions, silt + clay fraction had the highest organic carbon storage capacity, followed by encapsulated POM while free POM had the least storage capacity. In term of soil depth, 60-100 cm soil depth had highest organic carbon storage capacity, followed by 20-60 cm while 0-20 cm had the least. Therefore, in the choice and management of the soil for efficient and sustainable organic carbon source and sink, beach ridge among parent materials and homestead or compound farmlands among landuse types have higher organic carbon sequestration potentials than others.
Page(s): 134-142 Date of Publication: 08 July 2019
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The current work focuses on the influence and contribution of multi-walled carbon-nanotube (MWCNT) and boron carbide (B4C) to the wear properties of copper matrix composites. Different weight fractions of nano- B4C and MWCNT-reinforced copper composites were prepared using the stir casting methodologies. Wear test were conducted as per ASTM standards G99- 95a.The addition of reinforcements showed enhancements wear resistance of the composites due to the uniform dispersion of the secondary reinforcement in the copper matrix and the self-lubricating effect of the MWCNTs. Further the weight of the composites decreased with the strength characteristics increasing leading to the enhancement in strength to weight ratios of the composite specimens.Reinforcement percentage should be less than 10% for Boron Carbide and 2% for CNT, more than 10% reinforcement will not mix with the casting properly and there is a chance of agglomeration of particles. The effects of the nanoparticle distribution in the matrix and the dispersion of the composites were characterized using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. The results of experiments highlight the use of experiential reinforcing limits of B4C on the mechanical behavior and wear characteristics of copper composites.
Page(s): 143-148 Date of Publication: 09 July 2019
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Technology is the primary key to move towards providing integrated banking facilities to consumers. Indian banks have been late starter in the acquisition of technology for automation of procedures and the un-segregated banking facilities. This paper mainly deals about the customer satisfaction on mobile banking in and around Gobichettipalayam and Sathyamangalam. Mobile banking is an application of mobile accessing which offers the customers with the support required to be able to bank anywhere, anytime using a mobile handheld gadget and a mobile facility such as Short Message Service (SMS). Banks can also use enable banking for increasing the efficiency of their employees and create a platform for better customer service and improve relationship with their customers. The data has been collected from 105 respondents. The main tool used for data collection is the questionnaire. The analysis used in this study includes Cross tabs, Friedman test, Mann- Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test. To create trust in the minds of customers, the security concerns should be solved. It has been observed that most of the female respondents are aware of various services offered, the mobile banking services are mostly used by College students and most of the mobile banking users have average trust in technology. The bank should take measures to raise awareness about mobile banking and access to remote villages with local language services and customer friendly banking programs that are easy to use so as to make the customer to feel good and reduce the complexity of mobile banking.
Page(s): 149-154 Date of Publication: 09 July 2019
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The determination of aquifer characteristics and groundwater potentials of the Ningi area of Bauchi state, Nigeria was carried out by analysing pumping test data. Boreholes depth within the study area ranges from 17.5 to 45.5 metres. The average static water level is about 11.8 metres. The yield varies according to borehole locations from as little as 13.62 to over 79.49 m3/d. Generally, borehole sunk into the Crystalline Basement and Basement Foreland give low yields. About 50% of the boreholes yield between 13.62 to 50 m3/d while the remaining 50% yield between 50-100 m3/d. The total yield of the boreholes is about 479.52.m3/day. This can sustain a population of 19,181 base on water supply standard of 25 litres per day for rural communities (Babatola, 1997). Considering the total population of 23,511 people (NPC, 2014) that are currently getting their domestic water from these boreholes, this shows that aquifers from the 10 sampled boreholes have very low groundwater potentials in terms of yield. This is an indication of future water crises in these areas, if the population keep increasing.The specific capacities of boreholes in the study area were computed and the results showed that they vary between 4.36 and 346 m/day (Table 1). Estimates of transmissivity obtained from pumping test analysis show that transmissivity (T) range from 1.16 to 63.35, with about 50% of the area having transmissivity of the aquifers ranging from 0 to 10 m2/d and only about 10 % (Yada Gungume) having transmissivity above 50 m2/d. Using Krasny (1993) standards (Table 1) to interpret transmissivity of groundwater in the study area indicates low to intermediate potentials.
Page(s): 155-158 Date of Publication: 10 July 2019
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Heavy metal degradation in crude oil ameliorated soils was studied. Composite soil from three points were obtained and six kilogramme weighed into 150 plastic buckets and each spiked with 300ml of crude oil, allowed for 14 days and then treated with agro-wastes in single and combined forms. The treatment lasted for 90days, after which samples were collected and analysed for heavy metal presence. The result of the study revealed that there were significant reductions in the heavy metal content of the soil ameliorated with varying concentrations of the agro-wastes.The soils amended with high level of the agro-waste tend toenhance the reduction of the heavy metal content than the low concentrations of the agro-waste wastes. The reduction in heavy metal content could be attributed to the bio-active and enzymatic properties of the wastes. It was concluded that the combined amendments are more proficient in the enhancement process.
Page(s): 159-169 Date of Publication: 10 July 2019
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In this study the in vitro effect of tramadol on the activity of the erythrocyte enzymes AST and ALT, Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase were evaluated. Blood was collected from healthy volunteers and erythrocytes were prepared according to standard procedures and treated with varying concentrations of tramadol (0-0.7mg/ml) and the AST, ALT, CAT and SOD activities were determined by Randox standard kits. Results obtained from the study revealed that administration of tramadol in our study significantly increases the levels of AST and ALT. there was a non-significant difference in the activities of ALT and AST (p<0.05) at 0.1 mg/ml but there was a significant difference at 0.3 mg/ml, 0.5 mg/ml and 0.7 mg/ml as compared with the control. The activity of SOD in the absence of tramadol was 6.73 ± 0.01. In the presence of tramadol the activity of SOD decreases in a dose dependent manner. The decrease is non-significant (p> 0.05) at 0.1 mg/ml and 0.3 mg/ml as compared with the control. This decrease in the activity of SOD could be due to two reasons; Tramadol inhibited the activity of SOD or that at higher concentration tramadol acts as a pro-oxidant producing more free radicals. There are significant decrease of SOD activity at 0.5 and 0.7 (p<0.05) as compared with the control. Tramadol may be recommended to patients with severe pain on prescription but not to be abused because of the side effects associated with an over-dose of the intake of this drug.
Page(s): 170-172 Date of Publication: 10 July 2019
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A prototype design of a gravity sewage collection system was achieved for selected households in Opobo town, Rivers State, Nigeria. This was done as a bid to mitigate the present practice of direct disposal of domestic wastewater into the surrounding waters of the study area, due to very limited modern sanitary facilities. SewerCAD was used to design the gravity sewer system with constraints for velocity, slope and depth of cover. The total design flow was 56,858 litres/day,and the total pipe length 208.3 m. The designed manholes are 8 in number with a lone outfall. The outcome of the design established that a gravity sewer network can be constructed for low-income densely populated rural or peri-urban communities. It is recommended that an efficient wastewater collection system for sewage and sullage be designed and implemented not just for selected households in the study area, but for the entire town.
Page(s): 173-179 Date of Publication: 11 July 2019
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The essential oil of African Nutmeg (Monodoramyristica) was extracted by steam distillation method, the essential oil was graded into concentrations of (1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 7.5, 10 mL/L). Experiments were conducted to study the bio-activity of the essential oil against Callosbruchusmaculatus and Sitophilus oryzae at different exposure time. The chemical components of the oil were analysed by GC-MS. The GC-MS analysis showed a total of Thirty-one (31) components, the major components are trans-13-octadecenoic acid (25.18%), sabinol (20.95%), linalool (9.11%) and n-hexadecanoic acid (7.66%). The results of the contact, repellence and fumigative test showed that the toxicity of the essential oil against the two insects was dose and time dependent (P<0.05). the essential oil of M. myristica induced higher toxicity in C. maculatus than in S. oryzae. Significant variation was observed in repellence, fumigative and contact activities between different concentrations and time of exposure (P<0.05). The result suggested the potential of the essential oil of M.myristica as a botanical insecticide.
Page(s): 180-186 Date of Publication: 11 July 2019
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The aim of this study was to establish the influence of depression levels on academic performance of learners with visual impairment. A descriptive survey study design was used to carry out the study in special public primary schools for learners with visual impairment in Kenya, namely: St. Francis Primary school- Kapenguria, St. Oda primary, Thika primary and Kibos primary school. The study group consisted of 4 head teachers, 5 class teachers, 2 teachers in charge of guidance and counseling and 98 learners with visual impairment were selected for the study. Data was collected through questionnaires for class teachers and students with visual impairment, and interview schedules for the head teachers and teachers of guidance and counseling. The collected data was cleaned, coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages with the aid of SPSS version 21.0. Quantitative data was presented using tables, bar-graphs and pie-charts. Mean and standard deviation were also used to describe the distribution of depression dispositions of learners with visual impairment. Qualitative data were categorized into patterns, presented using texts and discussed. Findings revealed that both male and female learners with total blindness and that had high level of depression were more affected by academic performance than those with low vision. The study concluded that learners with impaired vision were less able to perform activities of daily living, less mobile, more isolated, suffer higher rates of depression and had a reduced overall quality of life when compared to their sighted counterparts. The study recommended that the Government should ensure that special schools for learners with visual impairments have professional counselors who will assist the learners with VI in dealing with their emotional and behavioural disorders. The findings of the study may be useful to the school administrators, doctors, teachers and other paraprofessionals in special needs education in executing measures that would moderate the possible negative effects of depression.
Page(s): 187-192 Date of Publication: 12 July 2019
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The properties that make pharmaceuticals useful are probably the same properties that make them hazardous. Training for the proper and safe management of healthcare waste, including pharmaceutical and cytostatic waste in hospitals is of great importance for dealing properly with these types of hazardous healthcare waste. This training has to be in accordance with the legal frame¬work and good practice guidelines on PWM. The major objective of this study is to assess the level of training received by health workers in Lagos State, Nigeria on pharmaceutical waste management. Majority of the respondents in this study were females, 68.4%. Over 42% of the respondents were seen in the most frequent age group of 31 – 40 years. Over 30% of the respondents work in general hospitals, 46.5% of respondents from the pharmacy unit and 43.4% of the respondents have been in service between 1 – 5 years. The highest level of PWM training was seen among the staff of comprehensive health centers, 36.7% while general hospitals and specialist hospitals recorded the least values of 28.6% and 13.5% respectively. It was discovered that nursing unit recorded the highest level of training with 32.9% followed by medical with 27.4%, pharmacy and environmental were in the third and fourth positions with 26.3% and 26.1% respectively while the laboratory department recorded 25%. It is therefore concluded that that intervention is needed both in the part of institutional management and government to embark on regular training of health workers across all health institutions in Lagos State.
Page(s): 193-198 Date of Publication: 13 July 2019
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– Children under five years bear the largest burden of malaria in Nigeria, and accurate diagnoses are important in malaria control and eventual eradication efforts. However, some reports on the accuracy of the most common malaria tests – microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) – are presently not satisfactory. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of malaria RDTs using microscopy as a gold standard, among children in Abia State, Nigeria.Between June 2015 and June 2018, blood samples were collected from 1,209 children in house to house surveys and tested for malaria using RDT and microscopy in Abia State. These data were used to assess the discriminatory accuracy of the RDT against the microscopy as a gold standard by analysis of its sensitivity and specificity. The predictive accuracy of the RDT was assessed by the positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the RDT against the microscopy at ρ=0.05.There was a statistically significant agreement between the results of the RDT and microscopy (ρ=0.001). The prevalence of childhood malaria by RDT and microscopy were 58.5% and 46.5% respectively. And the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of RDT were 79.36%, 56.26%, 63.08% and 72.51% respectively. This study concludes that there is need for accurate and reliable malaria diagnostic methods to be on track for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3, and recommends thatcommunity diagnoses of childhood malaria should be combined with more specific diagnoses to improve the overall child health in Abia State, Nigeria.
Page(s): 199-202 Date of Publication: 13 July 2019
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Most of the conflicts in Nigeria, both past and present, have been linked to religion and ethnicity. Today, aside from the alarming case of underdevelopment in the country, the upsurging waves of violent conflicts and crimes have left much to wonder. This study seeks to examine ethno-religious conflicts and insecurity in Nigeria’s 4th Republic. The study relied heavily on secondary data sources. Findings revealed that ethno-religious conflicts have brought about instability, loss of lives and has disrupted the peaceful co-existence of the Nigerian people. The paper concludes that there is the need to take the fight against insecurity to the next level where all hands must be on deck and every individual and institutions must join in the fight to restore security in Nigeria. The study recommends, among others, that some non-military approaches should be adopted to compliment the efforts of the Nigerian Military. Also, religious leaders, traditional rulers and chiefs, the media and other stakeholders should lend their supports to the government by sensitizing the youths on the need for unity and peaceful co-existence. State policing should also be considered, with adequate strategies to funding it, as well as eliminating any form of political interference.
Page(s): 203-208 Date of Publication: 14 July 2019
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The paper highlights on what globalization and un-equalization entail in word trade. It create a link between globalization and un-equalization-value chain leading to the understanding of how value chain analysis can assist in a practical terms the efforts of those seeking to augment the incomes of Developed and Developing nations that participate in the global trade. It assessed value chain in terms of process upgrading, horizontal upgrading vertical upgrading, functional upgrading, and product upgrading, inter-chain upgrading, upgrading of the enabling environment. The paper concludes that globalization and un-equalization has greatly promoted the value chain of commodities globally and has open up ways for developing countries to some extent and created great advantages for the developed nations who are the determinants of the rules and regulations governing trade policies globally. It was recommended that: for value chain to be adequately enhanced; all countries involved should willingly open up their markets and integrate with outside economies; there should be set strict rules and regulations about controlling pollution and deforestation to protect environment; trade rules should be set to favour developing nations as well national sovereignties; and national government should not be undermined by trade participations especially the developed nations to the developing nations.
Page(s): 209-213 Date of Publication: 14 July 2019
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Indexing techniques are used on big data for efficient information retrieval from a very large and complex datasets with distributed storage in cloud computing. The availability of broad band access, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, body-sensor devices and cloud applications have greatly contributed to the rapid growth in data volume or big data. The existing indexing techniques are inadequate to satisfy the indexing requirements of big data. An efficient index scheme is required to meet the indexing requirement for efficient retrieval of big data. Finding approximate nearest neighbour (ANN) is essential in huge database for efficient similarity search to return the nearest neighbour of a given query. Density sensitive Hashing (DSH) achieved good performance but the discriminating information on data points are not fully utilised aside using long binary hash codes to achieve high precision-recall which slows performance as the binary code length increases and hence increase storage cost and search time. To address the aforementioned problems, this research proposes Geometric Similarity Preserving Embedding-Based hashing (Geo-SPEBH) method for improving the search accuracy and memory cost for large-scale-image retrieval. The technique aimed at preserving the underlying geometric information among data, and exploit the prior information that utilises reconstructive relationship of the data to learn compact and effective hash codes. The Geo-SPEBH makes full use of the geometric structure properties of data. An extensive experiment conducted on a cloud simulator like CloudSim should show that the proposed scheme outperforms state-of-the-art-techniques.
Page(s): 214-222 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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Since the detection of crude oil in Nigeria in the 1950’s, the Nigerian oil and gas sector has been having huge transformation. This transformation has attracted many international and local investors. However, the insecurity surrounding the oil and gas business environment in the recent time has become amajor threat to the investors and the Nigerian Government in meeting its actual revenue. Thus, thispaper identifies the challenges responsible for the insecurity using descriptive-analytical approach and also examines the economic implication of such insecurity on the company’s Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Payback Period (PP) using sensitivity analysis. The study made use of data obtained from secondary sources including published data from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and Energy International Administration (EIA), Annual reports from already producing oil and gas fields, internet and journals articles. The study adopts Frustration Aggression Displacement theory as the theoretical framework. Revenue lost as a result of oil theft and oil bunkering, Cost of repairing or replacing vandalised pipelines/blown-up facilities, ransom paid to kidnappers and revenue lost as a result of annual shut-down due to vandalised pipes were the main variables considered. Sensitivity analysis on the field shows that out of the four variables captured under the insecurity facing the business environment, replacement cost as a result of the blown up facilities/ Vandalisation had the most impact of -42, -28 and 24% on company’s NPV, IRR and PP respectively, while, annual shutdown had an impact of -9, -5and 3% on NPV, IRR and PP respectively. Estimated ransom paid had an impact of -2, -2 and 1% on NPV, IRR and PP respectively and finally revenue lost as a result of oil bunkering and theft had an impact of -7, -12, and 4% on NPV, IRR and PP respectively. In conclusion, frequency of insurgent attacks has exposed business environment to insecurity resulting in collateral damage on the infrastructure, stability, development and success of the oil and gas sector. The study recommends the need for urgent and critical action from the government and oil companies to adopt new management strategies that will address and contain the insecurity and insurgency in Nigeria.
Page(s): 223-236 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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This study examined the impact of e-business and organizational performance in selected service industry in Nigeria. The broad objective of the study is to assess the impact of e-business adoption on organizational performance. The specific objectives were to: examine the nature of relationship between e-business service delivery and organizational performance; and to determine the nature of relationship between customer satisfaction in e-business and organizational performance. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 839 employees of the selected companies in Lagos State. Validated questionnaire was administered to 270 respondents from which 202 correct responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient). The research findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between service delivery in e-business and organizational performance. It was also found that there is a positive and significant relationship between Customer satisfaction in e-business and organizational performance. Based on the findings we concluded that, E-business has impact on organizational performance in service industries in Nigeria. It was recommended among others that management should ensure service delivery are effective and there should be room for feedback to know where they didn’t do well, as it will enable the organization to be more effective.
Page(s): 237-243 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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An effective way of describing participatory governance is to identify the different levels or degrees at which citizens are involved and participated in the decision-making process and the contribution to the government of the day or a given country. This is possibly cut across in different prospective of citizens’ engagement as allocated to by the constitution and the leadership of the country irrespective of the political system or typology of government. When a government is legitimate, it creates room for citizenry to participate actively in government; this involves different stages and areas where necessary. Thus, citizens participate actively in political process through political education, sponsoring of candidate for electoral post or contesting in an election by vying for an electoral post. However, government on the other side has become totally obsess to the citizens in Nigeria through the doctrine of federal character where the principle of federal character attempt to institutionalizing and the accommodation of the diverse regions/ tribes and interest groups in the country through the process of employment, distribution of government projects, and of allocated federal employment. This ranged from federal agencies, ministerial positions, departments, military, paramilitary, federal government parastatas and political appointees. The political culture of the citizenry which is cardinal faucal of every society that is tagged to the citizen through cognitive orientated, affective orientated and evaluative orientated which propel towards active participatory in government of the state. To this ends, participatory governance involves the reorganization of the citizen’s contribution towards the growth and development of such country. Citizen participation, contribution and involvement in government police process and implementation goes a long way to prove the legitimate of such government. Citizens participatory in governance in vertical axis by implementing government policies as a civil servants and supporting government through the formulation and coordination of decision-making process. When this is done, a participatory is in- fluxes. On this basis, the horizontal intersections can be identified as the core of the participatory governance when government governs according to the constitution space with the higher interaction with the citizens. When this is totally achieved or followed sequentially, such government is said to the participatory governance.
Page(s): 244-246 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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BACKGROUND: Retained placenta is a potentially life threatening complication and the second major indication of blood transfusion in third stage of labour. It affects 1 – 3% of all deliveries and 0.1 – 3.3% of vaginal deliveries. This study was aimed to determine the incidence, risk factors and treatment modalities for patients who were managed for retained placenta at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective review of records from January 2012 to December 2015. The case files of all women who had retained placenta were retrieved and reviewed. Data were retrieved, entered into a study proforma, reviewed and analyzed. The results were expressed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: There were 46 cases of retained placenta (0.5%) out of 8651 deliveries. The 42 retrieved and reviewed cases presented after 60minutes of the delivery of the baby with a mean duration of 6.74hours. It was common among parturient aged 20–30years (52.4%), para 2-4 (54.8%), unbooked (88.1%), rural dwellers (92.9%), farmers (33.3%), those with secondary education (38.1%) and majority of the deliveries were term (90.5%). Risk factors identified were unbooked status (24.5%), multiparity (22.5%) and unskilled attendant at delivery (15.2%). Manual removal of the placenta was the commonest method of treatment (59.5%). At presentation 57.1% delivered at home/TBA and 23.8% were actively bleeding, 73.8% were normotensive while 11.9% were in shock. CONCLUSION: The incidence of retained placenta was low but most presented late with morbidities were present.
Page(s): 247-250 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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This research is aimed at systematizing the factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduate students of some selected private universities in the South-Western Nigeria. The parameter used in measuring entrepreneurial intentions are personality traits like, self efficacy, risk taking ability, behavioural control, internal locus of control, proactiveness, innovation, special skills, capabilities as well as favorable attitude. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as a theoretical framework to verify the entrepreneurial intentions of three hundred and sixty two (362) undergraduate students of Faculty of Social and Management Sciences in six private universities in the South-Western Nigeria. Analysis of this research shows that majority of the respondents agreed that personality traits like: self efficacy, special skills, risk taking ability, behavioural control, internal locus of control, proactiveness, innovation, capabilities, and favorable attitude are the real predictors of entrepreneurial intentions in that particular order. Consequently, a robust curriculum is proposed for a positive effect on students personality trait and consequently on entrepreneurial intention of students in Nigeria which will help to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country and also enhances growth and development.
Page(s): 251-258 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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Cladosporium species are cosmopolitan fungi in nature and exhibit diverse lifestyles including saprophytes, plant pathogens, fungicolous, human pathogens and endophytes. Similarly, Epicoccum nigrum is a fungus species that is both plant pathogenic and and endophyte. It is a widespread fungus which produces coloured pigments that can be used as antifungal agents against other pathogenic fungi. Cladosporium cladosporioides and Epicoccum nigrum have both been severally reported as pathogens of economically important crops plants. They have also both been reported as biological contro agents of some pathogens of important certain crops. This is a review of the pathogenicity and the biological control activities of these fungi on econimically important crops.
Page(s): 259-262 Date of Publication: 15 July 2019
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Nigeria is one of the developing countries that depend largely on oil exploration as major source of revenue for economic development. More than 400,000 tons of oil had spilled into the creeks and soils of most oil producing communities in Nigeria, thereby, affecting the livelihood of host communities. The study aimed at evaluating the present health status of water bodies proximate to oil wells located in Ilaje communities using six pollution indices which comprises of three single pollution indices {Contamination Factor (CF), Ecological Risk Factor (Er) and Index of Geo-accumulation (Igeo)} and three Integrated pollution indices {Pollution Load Indices (PLI), Potential Ecological Risk Index (RI) and Nemerow Pollution Index (Pnemerow)} to quantify the extent or degree of heavy metal contamination in the sediment. Eight (8) heavy metals (Cd, Fe, Cu, Pb, Ni, Mn, Cr, and Zn) from sediment taken for five (5) months from three different regions of Ilaje (Ayetoro, Orereara and Abereke) were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Heavy metal concentrations range from: Cd (0.0607- 0.1067ppm), Fe (152.5404- 246.713ppm), Cu (0.5339- 1.3073ppm), Pb (0.2612- 0.5226ppm), Ni (0.1370- 0.2339ppm), Mn (0.5643- 0.7345ppm), Cr (0.1785- 0.2423ppm), Zn (1.0753- 1.7945ppm). All values were below the international standard for sediment and the pollution indices also reveals that the areas are not polluted with low potential ecological risk. Result of Pnemerow indicates the areas as safe domain for most benthic organmisms. Continuous monitoring of these areas, especially when there is oil spillage, is therefore, recommended.
Page(s): 263-270 Date of Publication: 19 July 2019
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In this study four parboiled rice varieties sold within Makurdi metropolis; Sipi, Mass, Tune 11 and foreign rice (Control) were purchased and coded A, B, C, and D respectively and subjected to proximate, microbiological and sensory quality analyses. Each of the rice samples were cooked, oven dried and milled into flour and used for the study. Thirty-six (36) Wister strain of albino rats were grouped into four groups of nine rats and fed with the rice samples for twenty-eight (28) days. Each of the experimental rats’ group were daily fed with thirty (30)gof the four rice samples. Body weight measurement were taken and blood samples were randomly collected and subjected to Serum Biochemistry Profiles and Haematological Indices analyses daily in a statistical completely randomized design (CRD). The results of proximate composition analyses showed that the moisture contents ranged from 12,50-14.50% with Mass having the highest value (14.50%). The protein content of the rice samples ranged from 0.44-2.63% with mass having the highest value and foreign rice having the lowest protein content value of 0.44%. The rice samples had ash content that ranged between 2.50-3.20%, fibre content that ranged from 1.94-2.2% and fat content that ranged from 1.60-2.20% respectively. The carbohydrate content of all the Samples were significantly (P<0.05) different and ranged from 75.47-80.31%. The results of microbial count showed range of values of CFU/g from 3.8×105-5.3×105 with Tune II and Sipi having the lowest and highest values respectively. The results of the sensory quality of different rice grain varieties showed that the texture of Sipi and the foreign rice had no significant (p<0.05) difference while mass and Tune II showed significant differences. For appearance there was no significant difference between the local rice varieties whereas there was a significant difference between the local rice varieties and the foreign rice with the highest value of 5.40. As for the taste/mouth and flavour, there was no significant (p<0.05) difference between the local rice varieties and the foreign. The result of the general acceptability showed that there was significant difference between Sipi and the foreign rice There was no significant difference between Mass and Tune II. The results of Serum biochemistry profiles, haematological indices and body weight gains (g) of rice varieties fed rats showed that Serum biochemistry profiles were not significantly affected (P > 0.05). These serum biochemistry profiles were; Cholesterol(mmol/L) Sipi 0.97, Mass 0.95, Tune II 0.94 and foreign 0.97; total protein(g/L) 9.60(Sipi,), 9.64 (Mass), 9.62 Tune II and 9.62(Foreign ), alanine amino Transferase- ALT (iu/L) Sipi,, (0.91), Mass (0.93), Tune II (0.92) and Foreign (0.92). Aspartate amino Transferase- AST (iu/L) Sipi, (1.61), Mass (1.62), Tune II (1.60) and Foreign (1.60) were not affected significantly (P > 0.05) from all the rice varieties. Haematological indices included Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Red Blood Cell (RBC) and White Blood Cell (WBC). The Packed Cell Volume- PCV of rat fed rice meals Sipi, Mass, Tune II and Foreign respectively were Sipi, (41.56) Mass (41.54), Tune II (41.55) and Foreign (41.58). Red Blood Cell- RBC (1012/L) of rat fed rice meals respectively were Sipi, (9.05), Mass (9.02), Tune II (9.07) and Foreign (9.01). White Blood Cell- WBC (109/L) of rat fed meals were Sipi (1.54), Mass(1.56), Tune II (1.53) and Foreign (1.55). The results were not affected significantly (P > 0.05) the Varieties. > 0.05). Body weight gains (g), 33.28, 33. 34, 33.27, and 33.27 of the albino rats fed rice meals of Sipi. Mass. Tune II and Foreign respectively were not significantly different (p > 0.05) from one another. The local and the foreign rice varieties were healthy and recommended for human consumption.
Page(s): 271-277 Date of Publication: 19 July 2019
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