Evaluation of Homogeneity from Ore-bodied in Nigeria for Secondary Mineral Prospective

Samples from ore–bodied areas at different locations in Papalanto and Ifo in Ogun-State, South-West of Nigeria, where Ewekoro cement industry is situated, were analyzed so as to recover some secondary minerals of economic value. The following parameters were evaluated, conductivity, turbidity, colour, pH and other chemical parameters. Variations of Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, chloride ion contents, and temperature were also studied. Mineral-forming heavy metals were in the ranges Fe: 89.0–1080 mg/l; Mg: 869–1120 mg/l; Pb: 23–80 mg/l; Zn: 180-480 mg/l. The concentration of nitrate is 20-35 mg/l; phosphate: 8-80mg/l; Dissolved Oxygen (DO): 30–45 mg/l; Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): 89-900 mg/l; pH: 6.1-8.5; Conductivity: 10-18μs/cm3 and temperature ranged between 25-27oC. Also in the tabulation are the results of the homogeneity of four geochemical explorations from other Nigerian ore-bodied environments for comparison. Correlations of some of the physical and chemical parameters have been established with the view of providing conditions for the formation of secondary minerals and the types of such minerals expected from the studied areas. The minerals may include the following groups of minerals: Adelite, Melilite, Cancrinite and Copriapite. The study apart from the present knowledge on ore-based baseline also present information on the pollution studies of the area under investigatio

On the Beta-Nakagami Distribution

This study is focused on combining Nakagami distribution and beta distribution with a view to obtaining a distribution that is better than each of them individually in terms of the estimate of their characteristics and parsimonious in their parameters using the logit of beta (the link function of the Beta generalized distribution by Jones (2004)). The resulting model, beta Nakagami distribution is better in terms of its flexibility and shape. The statistical properties of the proposed distribution such as moments, moment generating function, the asymptotic behavior among others were investigated. Our findings showed that beta Nakagami apart from being flexible, has better representation of data than Nakagami distribution.  It therefore describes situations better than the Nakagami distribution

On the Exponentiated Weibull Distribution for Modeling Wind Speed in South Western Nigeria

One of the bases for assessment of wind energy potential for a specified region is the probability distribution of wind speed. Thus, appropriate and adequate specification of the probability distribution of wind speed becomes increasingly important. Several distributions have been proposed for describing wind distribution. Among the most popular distributions is the Weibull whose choice is due to its flexibility. An exponentiated Weibull distribution is proposed as an alternative to model wind speed data with a view to comparing it with the existing Weibull distribution. Results indicate that the proposed distribution outperforms the existing Weibull distribution for modeling wind speed data in terms of minimum Akaike information criterion (AIC) and likelihood function. Thus, the exponentiated Weibull can be used as an alternative distribution that adequately describe the wind speed and thereby provide better representation of the potentials of wind energy

Quantification of Activity Concentrations and Radiation Hazard Indices in the Solid Minerals Exploration Fields of Benue State, Nigeria with Multivariate Statistical Approach

The quantification of activity concentrations of radionuclides and the radiation hazard indices in the exploration fields of Benue State have been carried out. Samples of the environmental matrix (soil and minerals) were collected from five mining sites of barite, limestone, lead, coal and salt in Lessle, Gboko, Anyin, Owukpa and Akuana communities. The concentrations of radioactivity was analyzed using NaI (Tl) γ-ray spectroscopy. Results showed that the concentrations of activity of the primordial radionuclides 40K, 238U, and 232Th for soil samples obtained ranged from 11.42 (Salt) – 1491.47 (Lead) Bq/kg, 12.87 (Barite) – 452.32 (Coal) Bq/kg and 6.78 (Coal)–108.41 (Barite) Bq/kg respectively. The mean value activity concentration of the radionuclides in the minerals samples at the mining sites were 10.58 – 623.36 Bq/kg, 1.97 – 540.33 Bq/kg and 2.13 – 25.28 Bq/kg for 40K, 238U, and 232Th respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Raeq), external hazard index, Hex, internal hazard index (Hin), representative index (Ig) and excess lifetime cancer risk calculated for soil and minerals samples compared favourably with the precautionary limits set by UNSCEAR. The excess lifetime cancer risk estimated for soil which was fairly insignificant compared with 0.05 prescribed by ICRP for low level radiation. The multivariate statistical (Pearson’s correlation and cluster) analysis showed some positive significant among 40K, 238U and 232Th, and with other radiological parameters in some mine fields. The study indicated that the minerals and soil samples from the mining sites will pose no major health risk to the public if used for industrial activities except for the salt minerals consumption

CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS, ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY OF TIGERNUT (Cyperus esculentus) AND POTENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS

Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) considered as an intrusive weed in most countries but taken as snack in Nigeria was analyzed for proximate and mineral compositions using standard analytical techniques. Antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract was measured using 2, 2-diphenyl-1- picryhydrazyl (DPPH), while the total phenolic content was determined according to Folin-Ciocalteu method. The results revealed that the three forms of the tuber (dry, raw and roasted) as consumed had % moisture ranging from (12.57-43.84); protein (1.32-2.24); fat (1.44-1.54); ash (3.34- 6.69); crude fibre (16.14-17.14); and carbohydrate (30.58-62.79). The samples were significantly high in Na, K and Ca. Na-K ratio was also found to be less than 1 suggesting its suitability in formulating diets for hypertensive patients. Antioxidant activity of the samples ranged from 3.72- 5.90; 5.22-9.72; 11.63-16.10; and 15.95-23.00 % inhibitions at different levels of concentrations while total phenolic content ranged from (806.7- 1150.7) micromole GAE/g. The results indicate that the edible tubers which are used for non-alcoholic local beverage formulation, in medicine and cosmetic industry can be utilized to ‘mop up’ and scavenge free-radicals generated by essential metabolic body reactions and environmental pollutants. It is hoped that addition of tiger nut as side dish and adjunct in traditional diets will probably alleviate the symptoms associated with neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases

Comparative Assessment of Rural Development Programs of Selected NGOs in Plateau State, North-Central, Nigeria

The study examined the extent to which the rural development programs of Evangelical Church of West Africa-People Oriented Development (ECWA-POD) and Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN) contribute to the development of rural communities in Plateau State. A comparison of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was done to examine the factors that explain variation in the organizations. A total of 150 respondents made up of community members and staff of the organizations randomly selected from four Local Government Areas responded to the structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the major rural development programs of the NGOs were agricultural programs, health programs, human resource development, community development, and industrial and trade promotion programs. Analysis carried out showed a significant relationship (P 2=0.023; p#0.05) in the program orientation of the two organizations. Majority (57.8 percent for ECWA-POD and 75.6 percent for COWAN) of the respondents considered the programs of the organizations as beneficial and benefitted more concerning potable water and community sanitation facilities. Participation of the community members at various stages of the program and type of participation was also identified. The perceived level of goal attainment of the organization was higher (t=2.72; p#0.05) in COWAN than ECWA-POD. It was recommended that government should collaborate with NGOs through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) concerning project identification, design, and implementation of rural development programs

On Structural Breaks and Nonstationary Fractional Intergration in Time Series

The growth of an economy is determined largely by the growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over time. However, GDP and some economic series are characterized by nonstationarity, structural breaks and outliers. Many attempts have been made to analyze these economic series assuming unit root process even in the presence of changes in the mean level without considering possible fractional integration. This paper aims at examining the structural breaks and nonstationarity in the GDP series of some selected African countries with a view to determining the influence of structural breaks on the level of stationarity of these series. These series are found to be nonstationary with some evidence of long memory. They were found to experience one or more breaks over the years and this may be due to instability in the government and economic policies in the selected African countries. The measure of relative efficiency shows that autoregressive fractional integrated moving average (ARFIMA) models is better than the corresponding autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models for the series considered in this study. Keywords: fractional integration, gross domestic product, structural break

Signet ring lymphoma: The import of immunohistochemistry in resolving diagnostic dilemnas

Signet ring cell lymphomas are a rare subtype of non Hodgkin lymphoma characterised by malignant lymphoid cells with cytoplasmic inclusions that displace the nucleus and imparts a “signet ring” appearance.This poses a diagnostic challenge as it can be mistaken for an adenocarcinoma or any other epithelial malignancy.A 54yr old male presented with a 6month history of generalised lymphadenopathy. Examination of excision biopsy of the lymph nodes show effacement of architecture by sheets neoplastic cells with abundant cytoplasm distended by eosinophilic amorphous substances. Immunohistochemistry with a panel of three monoclonal antibodies [LCA, CD20, and CD3] confirmed these cells to be of lymphoid origin.Keywords: Non Hodgkin Lymphoma;Signet Ring,Immunohistochemistr

Entropy Generation of MHD Poiseuille Flow with Hall and Joule Heating Effects

In this article investigation has been conducted on the effects of Hall parameter, rotation parameter and Joule heating on the entropy generation of fully developed electrically conducting Poiseuille flow. The coupled system of ordinary differential equations for the flow are obtained, non-dimensionalised and solutions are constructed by Adomian decomposition technique. The effects of Hall current, Ion-slip, Joule heating and magnetic parameters on the velocity, temperature, entropy generation and Bejan number are explained and shown graphically. The results indicate that fluid entropy generation is induced by increase in Hall current, rotation and Joule heating parameters. Furthermore Bejan number is accelerated by Hall current, rotation, Magnetic and Joule heating parameters which signifies that heat transfer irreversibility dominates entropy generation