Effect of soil amendments on leaf pigmentation and N status in cassava (Manihot esculenta crantz) grown in crude oil contaminated soil

Growth studies on TMS 30572, NR8082 and Local cassava cultivars grown on previously crude oil polluted soil were conducted to assess effects of oil palm bunch ash (OPBA), dried poultry manure (DPM) on Leaf pigmentation and N2 status of test crops. In addition, physical and chemical properties of soils were determined. The pH was raised from 5.62±1.50 in control soil to values that ranged between 6.97±1.23 to 9.24±1.89 in soil treated with organic amendment. The result of organic amendment ensures reduction of C: N ratio from 50:1 in control to critical threshold that ranged between 8:1 – 10:1 for improved decomposition and soil quality. SPAD measurement revealed no significance (P≤ 0.05) in readings for both treatments and control experiments. However, the interactive effect of both cassava variety and type of amendments were significant. Cultivar TMS 30572 was found to be brought to high productivity under treatment with combined OPBA + DPM and recorded highest chlorophyll content per unit area of leaf surface with Chl. a/Chl.b ratio of 2.13 and thicker leaf blade. While Leaf chlorophyll is directly associated with the efficiency and capacity of the photosynthetic apparatus and hence chlorophyll content in this study was found to be directly related to good health status of the test crops. Results revealed that quality of crude oil contaminated soil was greatly enhanced by organic amendmen

A transfer learning approach to drug resistance classification in mixed HIV dataset

As we advance towards individualized therapy, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ regimen is gradually paving the way for adaptive techniques that address the complexities of failed treatments. Treatment failure is associated with factors such as poor drug adherence, adverse side effect/reaction, co-infection, lack of follow-up, drug-drug interaction and more. This paper implements a transfer learning approach that classifies patients’ response to failed treatments due to adverse drug reactions. The research is motivated by the need for early detection of patients’ response to treatments and the generation of domain-specific datasets to balance under-represented classification data, typical of low-income countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa. A soft computing model was pre-trained to cluster CD4+ counts and viral loads of treatment change episodes (TCEs) processed from two disparate sources: the Stanford HIV drug resistant database (https://hivdb.stanford.edu), or control dataset, and locally sourced patients’ records from selected health centers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, or mixed dataset. Both datasets were experimented on a traditional 2-layer neural network (NN) and a 5-layer deep neural network (DNN), with odd dropout neurons distribution resulting in the following configurations: NN (Parienti et al., 2004) [32], NN (Deniz et al., 2018) [53] and DNN [9 7 5 3 1]. To discern knowledge of failed treatment, DNN1 [9 7 5 3 1] and DNN2 [9 7 5 3 1] were introduced to model both datasets and only TCEs of patients at risk of drug resistance, respectively. Classification results revealed fewer misclassifications, with the DNN architecture yielding best performance measures. However, the transfer learning approach with DNN2 [9 7 3 1] configuration produced superior classification results when compared to other variants/configurations, with classification accuracy of 99.40%, and RMSE values of 0.0056, 0.0510, and 0.0362, for test, train, and overall datasets, respectively. The proposed system therefore indicates good generalization and is vital as decision-making support to clinicians/physicians for predicting patients at risk of adverse drug reactions. Although imbalanced features classification is typical of disease problems and diminishes dependence on classification accuracy, the proposed system still compared favorably with the literature and can be hybridized to improve its precision and recall rates. Keywords: Adverse drug reaction Treatment failure Individualized therapy HIV/AIDS Semi-supervised learning Transfer learnin

Adoption of climate smart agricultural practices by rice farmers in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

The rise in population amidst climate change has exerted undue pressure on food production and security. Rice production has also been adversely affected by rising temperature and varying rainfall resulting in reduced productivity. In order to cope with the negative impact of climate change events on rice production, farmers need strengthen and improve their adaptive capacity. Therefore, a study was conducted to empirically estimate the factors affecting the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices in rice production. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select the representative rice farmers for the study. With the aid of oral interview and questionnaires, information were elicited from 90 farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and univariate probit model. Results revealed that majority (62.5 percent) of rice farmers were women, 75 percent were married, 67.5 percent were within economically active age and 85 percent had post primary education. Findings further showed that education level of farmers, family size, farm income and access to information on climate change were positively and directly related to rice farmers willingness to adopt climate smart agricultural practices at 1 percent and 5 percent levels of significance respectively. Result also showed that about 55.85 percent of rice farmers in the study location received information on climate change from village meetings, friends, relatives and other farmers. Agricultural policies that aimed at increasing incomes of rice farmers and creating awareness on climate change will be rational decision

Recognition of information need indicators and graduate students' research practices in university libraries of south east Nigeria

This study sets out to determine the influence of recognition of information need on the research practices of graduate students in the university libraries of South East, Nigeria. The objective was to ascertain how information recognition need abilities as provided by libraries and librarians can enhance research practices of graduate students. As a guide to the study, three specific objectives which reflect essential components of the recognition of information need standards namely; recognition of nature of information need, and recognition of scope of information need are formulated. Also, three research questions and one hypothesis are also formulated to direct the study. The study adopts ex- post facto research design. Proportionate sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 556 graduate students out of a population of 5,565 registered graduate student users in the university libraries of South East Nigeria. The instrument for data collection is a researcher developed and validated questionnaire. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was .742. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while regression method was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study showed that the individual recognition of information need indicators (recognition of nature of information need, and recognition of scope of information need) investigated, all have significant influence on graduate students' research practices in the university libraries of South East, Nigeria, though at varying degrees. Findings of the study also showed a significant combined influence of information need indicators on the graduate students' research practices. It is recommended among others that Librarians should collaborate with faculty members by sensitizing them on the need to engage students in regular information problem-solving tasks so that the students will be adequately trained on recognizing and defining their information need in their learning and research tasks and to do that early in the research process. Keywords: Recognition of information need, Information Literacy, Research practices, Graduate student

Application of e-library to knowledge based administration in the University of Uyo, Nigeria

Background: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have facilitated the access and use of information in everyday life and by extension among administrators of Nigerian Universities. However, there seems to be a paucity of studies on the impact of e-library or lack of it on the information needs of the top echelon of the non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities, hence this study is undertaken to bridge this gap. Methodology: The descriptive research design using questionnaire was used to elicit information from 146 persons that are senior administrative officers. Findings: Revealed that the respondents used the e-library resources for some aspects of their jobs that included Statistics with a mean of 3.35, Professional publications with a mean of 3.31, and Records keeping with a mean of 3.08. Some of the respondents (2.95%), posited that the elibrary saved them time and reduces stress, improved their job productivity (2.73%); and provided current information (2.92%). Major challenges in the use of the e-library included Poor availability of internet network (99.0% of the respondents). The least with a 6.7% was infrequent training on the use of the updated databases. Major medium of access was via personal Smart phones. Implication: This study has shown that there is electronic information need and use of the elibrary by some administrators of the University of Uyo. However, effective use of the e-library facilities is hindered by irregular, slow and epileptic internet and lack of smart phones. Originality/Value: This study recommended that the mandatory policy of all senior administrators owning smart phones and compulsory increase of internet bandwidth, while the University library management build strong synergy and always update the University administrators on current events as it relates to the e-library regularly. Keywords: E-Library, Knowledge-Based Administration, Nigerian Universities, University Administrators

An analytical study of open access institutional repositories in Nigerian universities

This paper analyzed the growth of open access institutional repositories in Nigeria over the last 10 years. OpenDoar website is a directory of all open access institutional repositories in the world. It is a quality-assured global directory that enables the identification, browsing and search for repositories. OpenDoar was analyzed to get statistics of institutional repositories in Nigeria based on such parameters as: Type, Status, software, total number of records, subject covered and content uploaded. The study revealed that over the last 10 years (2009-2019) a total of 25 open access institutional repositories have been created. Findings also show that a total of 68,610 items have been uploaded in the 25 open access repositories in Nigeria since their creation till date with University of Nigeria, Nsukka having the highest upload of 23,367 items. Dspace software was found as the preferred Software for most of the repositories. The study also revealed that most of the institutional repositories are multidisciplinary. The study recommended among other things that Institutional repositories should be made a prerequisite for Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation and funding should be made available to set up functional Institutional repositories in Nigeria. Keywords: Institutional Repositories, Universities, Libraries, OpenDoar, Nigeria, Open Access

Demulsification of Crude Oil Emulsion in Well X in a Niger Delta Field

Crude oil emulsion is an inevitable phenomenon in hydrocarbon production. Treatment of crude oil emulsion is challenging when the emulsion is stabilized. As crude oil is brought to the surface and pumped to the production facilities, the formation of emulsion increases operating cost. There is a wide array of demulsifiers that are available in the oil and gas industry for the treatment of crude oil emulsion, but one major concern has always been the efficiency of the treatment. No single universal demulsifier can effectively remove emulsion and a combination of two or more is usually expensive. In this study, crude samples were collected from the inlet manifold of a Niger Delta field and bottle tests were conducted with several demulsifiers to select the best chemical demulsifier for use in treating the emulsions as well as the optimum combination. To achieve this objective, twelve different industrial-based demulsifiers were considered which were EXP50, Separol NF-36, Baker-Basf V13-312, Servo CC-8271, Tretolite RP6275, NACCO-Exxon 006-1442, DMO87005, EXP30, AnticorQIT007, AnticorBE027, DMO86634 and DMO81656. It was observed that DMO87005 and AnticorQIT007 produced better results based on separated water volume than other demulsifiers. Hence, the decision to use these demulsifiers to assess their combined potential and the demulsifier factors, namely, concentration, temperature and time effects on the separated water volume using design of experiments (DOE) approach. The results obtained shows that the selected demulsifiers DMO87005 and AnticorQIT007 in a combined form separate more water volume from the crude oil emulsion. Also, the performance of the combined demulsifier is dependent on the combination ratio of the selected demulsifiers. Furthermore, the results depict that the selected (non-combined) demulsifiers and the combined demulsifier factors’ main effects on the separated water volume are concentration, while concentration-time and temperature-time are the factors’ interaction effects for selected and combined demulsifiers, respectively. Again, the magnitude of the main and interaction effects of the combined demulsifier’s factors on the separated water volume is affected by the selected demulsifiers combination ratio. Thus, the combined demulsifier at 0.45mL concentration at a temperature of 90°C for 60 minutes gave a good potential that would necessitate its use for crude oil emulsion treatment in the Niger Delta

Adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices by Rice Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The rise in population amidst climate change has exerted undue pressure on food production and security. Rice production has also been adversely affected by rising temperature and varying rainfall resulting in reduced productivity. In order to cope with the negative impact of climate change events on rice production, farmers need strengthen and improve their adaptive capacity. Therefore, a study was conducted to empirically estimate the factors affecting the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices in rice production. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select the representative rice farmers for the study. With the aid of oral interview and questionnaires, information were elicited from 90 farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and univariate probit model. Results revealed that majority (62.5 percent) of rice farmers were women, 75 percent were married, 67.5 percent were within economically active age and 85 percent had post primary education. Findings further showed that education level of farmers, family size, farm income and access to information on climate change were positively and directly related to rice farmers willingness to adopt climate smart agricultural practices at 1 percent and 5 percent levels of significance respectively. Result also showed that about 55.85 percent of rice farmers in the study location received information on climate change from village meetings, friends, relatives and other farmers. Agricultural policies that aimed at increasing incomes of rice farmers and creating awareness on climate change will be rational decision

Food safety behaviour of household food preparers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Food borne illnesses still remain a public health challenge in developing countries. This study examines the Food safety behaviour, here conceptualised simply as a wholistic measure of food safety knowledge and practices, of household food preparers in AkwaIbom State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional data was collected, using a structured questionnaire, based on a multistage sampling procedure resulting in a total of 457 respondents. Specifically, the study estimated the prevalence, margin and intensity of food safety behaviour of household food preparers. As a precursor to measuring prevalence, margin and intensity, twenty nine (29) food safety knowledge items and twenty two (22) food safety practices, a total of 41 items were used as the basis for obtaining a food safety behaviour index, fsbi. This food safety behaviour index is, summarily, a measure of a household food preparers’ food safety knowledge and practices expressed as a proportion of all the food safety knowledge and practice items. The mean fsbi, 0.64, was used to dichotomize household food preparers into well behaved and poorly behaved. The margin and intensity measures are based on the proportion of the household food preparers that are poorly behaved. Additionally, a fractional probitregression was estimated to determine the factors affecting the food safety behaviour of household food preparers in the study area. The results, of the percentage prevalence, show that, given the mean fsbi as critical index, 52% of household food preparers are poorly behaved. A disaggregated mean, another measure of prevalence, reveals that the mean fsbifor poorly behaved and well behaved household food preparers is 0.32 and 0.65 respectively. The mean margins, 0.07 and 0.04, are the figures by which the fsbi of household food preparers that are poorly behaved and all households respectively could be increased to ensure household food preparers are all well behaved. The intensity values, 0.02 and 0.01 indicate that the gap between the poorly behaved and well behaved is wider when the mean proportionate margin is expressed as a function of the total number of households that poorly behaved than the total number of households. Output from the fractional regression reveal that a household food preparer who is educated and confident in safety labels is 0.8% and 6% times more likely to be well behaved than one who is not. It can be concluded based on results that even though the margin between well behaved and poorly behaved is not so intense, much is still left to be desired as regards the overall prevalence of food safety knowledge and practices of households in the study. Keywords: Food Safety, Prevalence, Margin, Intensity, Fractional Probit Regression

Strengthening Health Science Libraries and Information Centres in Nigeria through Library Collaboration: The Role of Librarians

Objectives: There is an urgent need for the collaboration between health science libraries and medical research institute in various regions of Nigeria, so as not dissipating their meager resources by trying to specialize in every aspect of medicine at the same time. This need is the after effect of years of economic challenges, insufficient manpower development, dilapidated infrastructure, poor information record keeping, inadequate financial support for research , among many others have resulted in the inability of health sciences libraries and medical research institute to meet up, in a timely manner with the information needs of healthcare providers in Nigeria. Methods: Thirty–four librarians of academic and officer cadre of three first generation university medical colleges and on medical research institute were surveyed. Results: Findings from the investigation revealed that Increase in depth of collection development, Increase in service to clients, Cost saving and Sharing of resources were the major reasons for library collaborations. Resources in the form of financial, human and leadership were the greatest facilitators to successful collaboration among medical libraries. The collaborators Need and knowledge of the accruable benefits and ability to was the highest factors that facilitated collaboration among medical libraries in Nigeria. Several resources of the libraries are already used for collaboration among medical libraries. These include coping and duplicating, Professional Issues, Inter library lending/loan services, and computerized searches of online data bases are the highest in ranking. The major barriers to library cooperation were Funding and Financial Issues. Poor power supply, lack of vision, fear of loss of control and Lack of telecommunication facilities also constituted barriers. Conclusion: Collaboration among medical libraries in Nigeria is already in existence and could get better if Library leaders understand their library’s areas of strength, identified their Library resources and services that will promote effective collaboration between their health institutes and other medical libraries in support of free access to health information. It is recommended that Library leaders must take advantage of their library’s area of strength, New Information and communication Technology, the internet and the world wide web in the inter library collaboration in this digital ag