Characterization of brick masonry: Study towards retrofitting URM walls with timber-panels

The overall purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of using timber-panels to retrofit URM walls. However, this paper only present the overall proposed experimental program together with the experimental characterization of mechanical properties of masonry components: units and mortar. The present work developed finite element numerical model that is able to predict the strength of the masonry cube, on the safe side. The numerical model was validated with an experimental test on masonry cube showing 9% difference in the maximum compressive strength of masonry. The modelling technique adopted is the detailed micro modelling where the unit and mortar were represented by their respective mechanical properties using ABAQUS. Because, the numerical results compliment what was observed during the experimental test, then the developed model can be used to predict the general behaviour of masonry wall in the subsequent study.- (undefined

Influence of Culture Water Draw-off on Growth of the African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell 1822) cultured under Integrated System

An experiment was carried out over a period of 10 weeks to investigate the influence of culture water draw-­‐off on growth and feed utilization of the African catfish. Two similar fish culture tanks (designated A and B) were stocked with juveniles of African catfish at 43 fish per m3. The fish were fed twice daily at 3 % body weight. 0.06 m3of culture water was removed at 3-­‐day intervals from tank B to irrigate Okra plot and the tank was replenished with an equal amount of freshwater. Culture water was not removed from tank A till both tanks were replenished with freshwater at 14-­‐day intervals. Selected water quality, growth and feed utilization parameters were measured just before replenishing. The selected water quality parameters were within the recommended range for fish culture except for nitrite and dissolved oxygen. The water quality, growth performance and feed utilization parameters were better in tank B, with periodic culture water removal than in tank A, without water draw-­‐off. Average final weight, weight gain, daily weight gain, specific growth rate, percentage survival and feed conversion ratio were; 165.06 g, 95.07 g, 1.36 g/day, 0.01 %/day, 95.30 % and 2.40 in tank A and 238.22 g, 171.62 g, 2.45 g/day, 0.02 %/day, 94.87 % and 1.82 in tank B respectively. Periodic draw-­‐off of culture water had positive effect on the cultured fish as evident in better performance indices recorded in this study

Influence of Sulphuric Acid on the Compressive Strength of Ternary Blended Geopolymer Mortar

The deteriorating effect of acid media on cement based constructions has become a worrying problem all over the world. These media generally occur as solutions in various branches of the industry, acid rains and mists, and acid ground-waters. A very popular form of acid attack on concrete that is usually referred to as biogenic sulphuric acid attack also occurs in both industrial and urban sewer systems. The emergence of new cementitious materials, like geopolymer cements, during the past decades necessitates detailed experimental work and research activities to investigate their durability in aggressive acid environments. The study therefore explored the development of alkali-activated CPA-SHA-MK ternary blended geopolymer mortar (GPM) using sodium silicate (Na2Si3) and sodium hydroxide (NAOH) solutions with 9M constant concentration as alkaline activators under both the aggressive and ambient-temperature curing media. The mass ratio of sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide (NS: NH) and as well as the binder to fine aggregate were fixed at 2.5 and 0.8 respectively. The durability of the ternary blended geopolymer mortar was examined through acid resistance test using 50 mm cubes after 28, 56 and 90 days of curing. The results revealed that the setting time prolonged as the replacement levels of RHA-MK increased at a decrease in the replacement levels of CPA. The results also showed that both the PCM and GPM samples studied suffered mass and strength losses in the acid solution and the loss increases at an increase in the hydration periods. The strength losses were observed to be higher in PCM mix (12.19 N/mm2 at 90 days) as compared to the GPMs (6.67 N/mm2 at 90 days) while the mix incorporated 50% CPA, 33% MK and 17% RHA (C50M33R17) was observed to be better compared to other mixes in durability behaviour. The study therefore recommends C50M33R17 mix proportion for good durability performance.&nbsp

Growth enhancement and protective potential of feed-based outer membrane proteins against vibriosis in Macrobrachium rosenbergii

The use of antibiotics to curtail vibriosis, which is a major infectious disease, plaguing shrimp and prawn is rather becoming less effective and the need for a better alternative is expedient. The outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of V. alginolyticus were extracted, mixed with powdered commercial feed and fed to the prawns to evaluate its effect on growth performance and protective potential. Sixty prawns were divided into groups A, B and C of 10 prawns each, with two replicates in six (150 L) glass aquaria. Groups A, B and C were fed with OMPs mixed diet, with OMPs-Freund’s incomplete adjuvant mixed diet and OMPs or adjuvant free diet (control diet) respectively. All the prawns were weighed weekly, and haemolymph was collected to determine the total haemocyte count (THC) and phenoloxidase (PO) activity. At the end of the feeding trial, prawns were intramuscularly challenged with 50 μL of 107 CFU V. alginolyticus. The treated groups were significantly higher in growth performance and THC than the control group, but no significant difference between the groups in terms of PO activity and mortality rate. The study, however, submitted that oral administration of OMPs with or without adjuvant is a good growth promoter and has the potential for protection against vibriosis in giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

Local Rice Production Trend Analyses and Consumption in Benue State, Nigeria: 1980 – 2016

The research examined local rice production trends and factors inhibiting the consumption of local rice from 1980 to 2016 in Benue State. Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaire in Benue State, while secondary data were obtained from Benue Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA) in 2017. Multistage random sampling method was employed in selecting respondents. Primary data were collected from one hundred and fifty six (156) respondents. Descriptive statistics, Z – test, Growth model and Kendal’s coefficient of concordance were used for the analysis. The results revealed that from 1980 to 2016, a total of 9.5mt of local rice was produced in Benue State. The result also shows that the respondents were all married (99%), with household size of 1 - 10 persons (95%) and mean household size of about 8 persons. The result further indicated that majority of respondents’ attained tertiary school level. The result also shows that the respondents had low income (40.3%).  The mean quantity of local rice production was 257,333.06mt per year. The instantaneous growth trends of local rice production and price were 0.00122 and 0.01103, and compound growth rate as 3.72 and 3.76 respectively. The result also indicated that many of the respondents were above the age of 41 years (49%) with the mean age of 47 and all respondents male. The presence of stones, poor aroma, impure rice and broken grain were some of the factors inhibiting consumption of local rice in Benue State. The study recommended that the policies that focus on increasing growth rate of local rice in Benue State should be intensified. Breeders and Scientists should make effort in breeding rice with aroma. The processors of local rice should use modern processing mills like rice polisher and des-stoners to mill quality local rice that will be acceptable to consumers

ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF FERMENTED AND UNFERMENTED SEED OF CISSUS POPULNAE FROM NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

The assessment of nutritional properties of fermented (for 24 and 48 h) and unfermented seeds of Cissus populnae from Niger State, Nigeria were determined using standard analytical methods. The proximate parameters determined were moisture, protein, ash, fat, fiber and carbohydrate.  The ranges of these values were from 12.44±0.03 (unfermented) to 15.21±0.51 (fermented for 48 h), 4.23±0.16 (unfermented) to 5.04±0.15% (fermentation at 48 h), 2.00±0.05 (unfermented) to 3.10±0.45 (fermented for 48 h), 7.20±0.60 (unfermented) to 9.01±0.11), 4.02±0.23% (fermentation for 48 h) to 7.00±0.06 (unfermented) and 63.62±0.46 (fermented at 48 h) to 67.13±0.53 (unfermented) % for the moisture, crude fiber, ash, crude protein, crude fat and crude carbohydrate contents respectively. The energy values obtained were 1522.61±0.21, 1446.82±0.33 and 1383.45±0.50 Kcal/100g for the unfermented, fermentation for 24 and 48 h respectively. From the results of this study, fermentation generally improved the mineral contents of the samples and decreased their anti-nutrient contents. Thus, large-scale production of fermented Cissus populnae seeds will be a valuable source of nutrition to man and his animals

Dexamethasone uses in humans and animals: public health and socio-economic implications

The importance of dexamethasone is demonstrated by its wide uses in human and veterinary medical practice. Unfortunately, dexamethasone use is prone to abuse. Health authorities have emphasized the importance of increasing knowledge of benefits and potential harmful effects of synthetic glucocorticoids use as a guide to responsible and judicious use of the pharmaceutical. This review provides an overview of the uses of dexamethasone and its consequences on public health visa vie socio–economy. Methodology: Source of Data: The review is based on literature searches using PubMed and MeSH and authors' personal manuscript/abstract files and citations of known references. Study selection: The selection of articles reflects the authors' opinion as to originality and importance in the context of the review. The review included human and some aspects of animal study. Data extraction: The electronic searches were scrutinized and full manuscripts of all quotes considered relevant to the study were obtained. All the articles whose abstracts were not available were excluded. Results: Dexamethasone is still one of the most prescribed medicines in human and veterinary medical practice despite over 4-decades of use and its attendant negative consequences. Recently non-medical uses of the drug are also on the increase which greatly contributed to the problems. Conclusion: Dexamethasone use has consequences on public health visa vie socio-economy. Its indispensability is not unconnected with its broad spectrum pharmacological actions and cost effectiveness. Due to rampant abuses and the attendant adverse effects of dexamethasone, it is recommended that the drug be enlisted as controlled drug

A HYBRIDIZED ENCRYPTION SCHEME BASED ON ELLIPTIC CURVE CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR SECURING DATA IN SMART HEALTHCARE

Recent developments in smart healthcare have brought us a great deal of convenience. Connecting common objects to the Internet is made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT). These connected gadgets have sensors and actuators for data collection and transfer. However, if users' private health information is compromised or exposed, it will seriously harm their privacy and may endanger their lives. In order to encrypt data and establish perfectly alright access control for such sensitive information, attribute-based encryption (ABE) has typically been used. Traditional ABE, however, has a high processing overhead. As a result, an effective security system algorithm based on ABE and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is developed to protect health-related data. ABE is a workable option for one-to-many communication and perfectly alright access management of encrypting data in a cloud environment. Without needing to decode the encrypted data, cloud servers can use the FHE algorithm to take valid actions on it. Because of its potential to provide excellent security with a tiny key size, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) algorithm is also used. As a result, when compared to related existing methods in the literature, the suggested hybridized algorithm (ABE-FHE-ECC) has reduced computation and storage overheads. A comprehensive safety evidence clearly shows that the suggested method is protected by the Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman postulate. The experimental results demonstrate that this system is more effective for devices with limited resources than the conventional ABE when the system’s performance is assessed by utilizing standard model

Carcass traits, meat yield and fatty acid composition of adipose tissues and Supraspinatus muscle in goats fed blend of canola oil and palm oil

Background: Dietary fats can alter the deposition and distribution of body fats in ruminants. The deposition and distribution of body fat play a vital role in the quality of ruminant carcasses and are of great commercial value since they influence the profitability and consumer acceptability of ruminant meat. The current study examined the effects of dietary blend of 80 % canola oil and 20 % palm oil (BCPO) on carcass characteristics, meat yield and accretion of fatty acid (FA) in subcutaneous, omental, perirenal, and mesentery adipose depots and m. supraspinatus (SS) in goats. Methods: Twenty four Boer crossbred bucks (BW 20.54 ± 0.47 kg) were randomly assigned to diets containing on DM basis 0, 4 and 8 % BCPO, fed for 100 d and harvested. Results: Diet had no effect (P > 0.05) on slaughter weight, dressing percentage, carcass and non-carcass components, meat yield, color, moisture and carotenoid contents and weight of adipose tissues in goats. The proportion of C18:1n-9 and cis-9 trans-11 CLA in the omental, perirenal and SS was higher (P < 0.05) in goats fed 4 and 8 % BCPO compared with the control goats. Dietary BCPO reduced (P < 0.05) the proportion of C14:0 in the omental, perirenal and mesentery depots, C18:0 in the perirenal depot, C16:0 in the SS and C16:1n-7 in the SS, omental and perirenal tissues. Dietary BCPO enhanced the proportion of C18:1 trans-11 Vaccenic and C18:3n-3 in SS and C20:5n-3 in SS and mesentery depot. No significant changes were found in the FA composition of subcutaneous depot. Conclusions: Results indicate that dietary BCPO can be utilized to alter the FA composition of adipose tissues without detrimental effects on carcass characteristics in goats. Nonetheless, dietary BCPO is not an effective repartitioning agent for body fats in goats