Occupational mobility in engineering profession (craftman and artisan) in Oyo State, Nigeria.

This paper evaluate occupational mobility in engineering professional in Oyo State of Nigeria with the goal assessing causes and readiness of the professionals to return to the profession when the hindering factors are removed as well as sufficiency of the survey instrument in addressing the research problems. The study was conducted using a well structured questionnaire administered in 20 local government of Oyo State, Nigeria representing the sample space of 0.424. The Cronbach’s alpha of the reliability test of 0.453 was returned for the scale mean statistics of 11516.83 and variance of 0.0000007 showing that the survey instrument was sufficient and could be relied upon. The result of the socio economic analysis showed that 80% of the respondents were married while (15%) were single and the rest (5%) were divorced. The age distribution of the respondents ranged between greater than 50 years groups (12%) and 30 -39 years group (39%).The result of the analysis of job characteristics of the respondents showed that the longer the year of graduation, the lesser the number of graduates still in the business. The cross table analysis of the socio-economic indices with the job status of the respondents showed that marital status and level of education does not have significant effects on the job status of the respondents (whether still practicing or not) because 1.454 and 5.223 returned for both marital status and level of education are not significant (P<0.05). Also, the contingency table analysis of the effects of the skill acquisition methods showed that more of the respondents who acquired their skill via Technical School (70%) are willing to go back to the professions. However, for those who acquired their skill through Learning/artisanship, less than average (32%) of the respondents are ready to return to the profession. Lastly, the establishment of the regression model for the relationship between the proportion of the people wishing to go back to the profession and year of practicing the profession provide a necessary impetus for addressing the Job mobility problem faced by the profession

Design and Construction of A Domestic Solar Power Bank in a Convective Environment

Objective: This research seeks to solve the problem of storing solar energy in small scale modules for domestic use. Method: The Solar Power Bank (SPB) was constructed with local materials based on their individual properties. The functionality of the SPB was tested in a convective environment. Davis automatic Weather Station (DWS) was used to get the weather parameters (like solar irradiance, solar energy and temperature) for each day the SPB was tested. The maximum solar irradiance for four days (during the experiment) were 220 W/m2, 208 W/m2, 450 W/m2 and 900 W/m2. The maximum solar energy was 0.33 J, 03 J, 0.64 J and 1.33 J. Result: The maximum voltage and power obtained from the Solar Power Bank (SPB) was 0.18V and 0.065W respectively. The design showed tremendous heat energy entrapment during solar irradiance peak as the temperature in the SPB was about three times the DWS. Conclusion: It was specifically noted that the convection of the heat transfer that is triggered by the glass shield determines the functionality of the thermo-electric module. This is a clear indication that though the power output may be low to charge the batteries, the prospects of the SPB to operate in convective-rural communities (in tropic region) is very hig

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

Implications of financial development on poverty and inequality: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper examines the short and long run implications of the four measures of financial development on poverty reduction and income inequality in Nigeria within the period 1996-2017. The study employs the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) long run co-integration approach. The results revealed a positive but economic insignificant relationship between financial development, poverty and inequality both in the short and long run. The study further revealed that corruption and inflationary levels exhibited positive effect on poverty reduction and income inequality. These results advocate for an establishment of more bank branches as well as the development of informal/micro financial institutions in the rural areas. Since the result particularly pointed out the significance of the financial institution efficiency and stability has germane to foreign and domestic investment attraction, the government should embark on policies that strengthen the efficiency and stability of the sector. It also recommends that since the control of corruption has been highlighted as a panacea for poverty and inequality reduction, the government should tilt toward policies that would address corruption which is the most important element in institutional quality

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

Compositions Optimization of Antang Corundum for Developing Advanced Ceramic

The research aims to study and optimize the formulation of materials required for advanced ceramic production using response surface methodology (RSM). In this research effort, the five (5) process independent variables studied with their corresponding levels are: Antang corundum powder, A (92.2 – 100 %W); polyvinyl alcohol, B (0 – 5 %W); CaO, C (0 – 2.3 %W); MgO, D (0 – 0.5 %W); and the sintering temperature, E (1200 – 1500 °C). The mechanical property responses determined were density, ρ, compressive strength, C/S, flexural strength, F/S; which are key characteristics of ceramics for armour applications. The optimized density, compressive strength and flexural strength of the sintered Antang corundum are 3.45 g/cm3 g, 1982 MPa and 295 MPa respectively; while the respective RSM prediction values are 3.45 g/cm3 g, 1982 MPa and 295 MPa. On comparing the determined optimum mechanical responses of the sintered Antang ceramic with the maximum RSM prediction values, there is high level of assurance in using RSM for the formulation process in ceramic armour development

Impact of Heavy Metals Toxicity on Children and Adults from Local Rice Varieties of Northern Nigeria

The current study aimed to investigate the levels of heavy metals [cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg)] in local rice varieties named Jamila (JM), Santana (STN), Kwandala (KW), and Sipi (SP) collected from Danbatta town of Kano State, Northwestern Nigeria. The samples of local rice varieties were digested using HNO3 and HCl as digestion acids in a ratio of 2:1 (v/v). The digested samples were later analyzed for heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Moreover, the health risk assessment of heavy metals by the consumption of local rice varieties among local children and adults was also estimated based on estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ), hazard index (HI), and target cancer risk (TCR). The concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Pb dry weight basis observed in the range of 0.002-0.06, 0.02-20.0, and 1.16-14.2 mg/kg, respectively. Hg was detected only in the SP rice variety with a concentration of 0.022 mg/kg. Whereas, As was detected in STN (0.086 mg/kg), KW (0.006 mg/kg), and SP (0.028 mg/kg). The resulting data showed that Cd, Zn, Hg, and As were within the maximum permissible limits set by regulatory bodies. The EDI values ranged from 1.21E-5 -1.21E-1 and 5.0E-6 – 5.0E-2 for children (24 kg body weight) and adults (70 kg body weight), respectively. The data of the non-carcinogenic risk assessment indicated that the THQ values of Cd, Hg, and As were less than the maximum permissible limit of 1.0 for both children and adults. The HI data showed the potentially high possible health risk of the heavy metals by the consumption of the studied local rice varieties, with Pb being the major contributor. Similarly, resulting data of TCR for Cd and Pb showed high cancer risk upon the consumption of the studied local rice varieties over a long time

EVALUATION OF MAINTENANCE CULTURE OF SOME AGRICULTURAL PROCESSING MACHINE IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

A survey on maintenance culture of some Agricultural processing machines was carried out in Oyo state to investigate the type of maintenance practices carried out by stakeholder in the small scale agro- processing industry. Well structured questionnaire was used to source information on common machine fault, availability of spare parts, technical knowhow and types of maintenance carried out. A total of 150 questionnaires were administered while 86.7% were retrieved, collated and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study showed that 39% of the respondents practice predictive maintenance, 24% practice preventive while 27% combine both predictive and preventive maintenance, 8% of the respondents prefer overhauling and 3% corrective. The technical know-how for the service maintenance of the machines surveyed is spare part dependent as most of the machines are locally fabricated. However, 34.6% of the respondent tends to leave their machine for a period of six month before maintaining during the off season period. A good and effective training program on maintenance procedures should be extended to stakeholder in the agro- processing industry to keep those machines in optimum working condition