Application of Geogrids on the Geotechnical Properties of Subgrade Materials under Soaked Condition

Highway construction is one of the main engineering design and construction in civil engineering in many countries all over the world. Existing studies have shown that civil engineers engaging in highway construction have several challenges during road construction especially as it is related to the topography of the site ,inadequate subgrade soil and high water table, inspite of this challenges ,the application of geogrids as a geotechnical property is imperative to improve the subgrade of soils with soaked condition. Soil samples were labeled (A, B& C) at random. These samples were taken to the Laboratory for experiments to identify and determine the Grain size analysis, atterberg, compaction and California bearing ratio by placing the geo-grids at varying depths and in single layer under soaked conditions (48hrs) to determine the strength of the soil samples. The geogrids were introduced in three independent single layers i.e. 2/5, 3/5 and 4/5 the distance from the base of the mould. Samples A, B&C (3%, 9% &6%) respectively, shows that the strength of subgrade is considerably increased by introducing geo-grids reinforcement in the soil. It is found that geo-grids placed at 3/5 the distance from the base showed higher CBR value(15.1%,14% & 12.2%) than when placed at 2/5 (12.8%,11% & 8.8%) and 4/5(11%, 10% & 8.3%) distances from the base. The differences in the behavior of the soil under soaked conditions improve on increasing the number of layers of geo-grids. As a subgrade stabilizer it has shown great effect of improvement. It can be used to improve poor lateritic materials due to its low maintenance, corrosion resistance and increment in the service life of road pavement. This application of geogrids is a means to improve the strength of basic engineering and geotechnical properties of poor subgrade soils under soaked condition. This  will reduce land wastage, uneconomical design of road construction. Geo-grids should be employed as a modernized form of improving road construction on poor subgrade materials. Keywords: geogrids, CBR, highway construction, soaked conditions, reinforcement, subgrade

Performance of tropical maize hybrids under conditions of low and optimum levels of nitrogen fertilizer application grain yield, biomass production and nitrogen accumulation

Nitrogen (N) is the most limiting mineral nutrient in the soils of the major maize producing areas of West and Central Africa. Low soil N and sub-optimal application of N fertilizers lead to N deficiency and poor grain yield (GY) in maize. Maize varieties with improved grain yield under low soil N and increased performance under optimal N availability could be beneficial to low input agriculture. This study evaluated the performance of a selection of experimental and commercial hybrids under suboptimal and optimal N fertilizer applications. Significant differences were observed among the hybrids, as well as significant interactions between hybrid and N level for GY and other measured attributes, with the severity of variation increasing as the level of N decreases. Mean GY reductions across the years was 76.5% at no-N and 35.4% at low-N. Depending on N treatment, GY varied from 0.48 to 4.42 Mg ha-1, grain N content from 0.17 to 1.26 g plant-1, total N content at harvest from 0.33 to 2.00 g plant-1, above ground biomass at silking from 30.6 to 91.2 g plant-1 and at maturity from 39.9 to 191.1 g plant-1. Number of kernels was the GY component most severely reduced by N stress and had significant (p = 0.001) positive correlation with GY at all N levels. Six hybrids (4001/4008, KU1409/4008, KU1409/9613, 4008/1808, 4058/Fun 47-4, and 1824/9432) which showed consistent above average grain yields under no-N, low-N, high-N and across N levels were found and their use could further be investigated

Corporate Governance-Firm Performance Relationship: Empirical Evidence from African Countries. A Principal Components Analysis

This study investigated the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance, with evidence from Africa countries. The review of empirical studies from African countries had established a relationship between corporate governance and firm performance without consensus on a particular kind of relationship; while the result of the analysis using data on the return on assets, returns on equity, price earnings ratio, Tobin’s Q and constructed Performance Index as measures of firm performance and ownership structure as a measure of corporate governance revealed that corporate governance has a positive significant relationship with firm performance in Nigeria. The study concluded that though the agency costs of firms are very high, sound corporate governance is usually responsible for the positive performance of firms across African countries. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Agency theory, Firm Performance. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-17-07 Publication date:June 30th 202

Participation of cocoa farmers in farmers field school in Idanre Local Government area of Ondo State, Nigeria

This study investigated the participation of cocoa farmers in farmers’ field school (FFS) in Idanre local government area of Ondo state. A multistage sampling procedure was employed for the survey of the farmers. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and means. The analysis of the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers revealed that about one-third (36.7 percent) of the cocoa farmers were aged 51 years and over, indicating an aging workforce, while 48.3 percent of them were married. About 29.2 percent of the respondents had secondary school education, 44.2% had household sizes of between 3 and 5, and 30.8% had farm sizes of between 2 and 2.9 hectares. Major factors determining participation in FFS were age, level of education, credit sources and extension contacts. Farmers participated highly in land preparation while level of participation is low in control of pests and diseases. Severe constraints faced were lack of skilled trainers and time-consuming sessions. There was a significant relationship between socio economic characteristics and participation in FFS. There is the need to strengthen farmer-based groups to serve as platforms for disseminating extension services information to farmers which could engender the participation of members in farmers’ field school. Moreover, the relevant authorities should provide farmers with credit facilities to enable them to purchase productive resources such as land.

Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Diversity Management in Nigeria Breweries in Oyo State, Nigeria

Cases of ethnic bias and other forms of discrimination still take places in organizations during hiring, promotion and other employer-employee relation practices. Hence, managements are faced with the big challenge of managing its diverse workforce and emotional intelligence of their employees. This study investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on diversity management in Nigeria Breweries Oyo State. A total of 100 staff in Nigeria Breweries Oyo State in which 55 (55.0%) were male while 45 (45.0%) were female. The study was a survey which employed Descriptive research design and questionnaire was used to obtain the relevant data. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson rho Correlation and Regression Analysis with the application of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The results showed that that there is joint significant relationship between emotional intelligence on diversity management It was recommended that emotional intelligence concept would integrate the development programs and job-related training provided to employees to improve their skills, providing a foundation for practicable knowledge

APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AND GENETIC ALGORITHMS IN DRYING OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES : A REVIEW

oai:ojs2.laujet.com:article/1Fruits and vegetables play an important role in the diet of human beings and economic development of a country. They are cheapest and most available sources of important proteins, vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids. Considering the perishable nature of fruits and vegetables it is necessary to preserve them and drying is one such method to do it. The drying of fruits and vegetables is a complex operation that demands much energy and time. Due to this complexity, the use of drying mathematical models in estimating the drying kinetics, the behaviour and the energy needed in the drying of fruits and vegetables becomes indispensable. Numerous mathematical models, empirical and semi-empirical, have been proposed to estimate the drying characteristics of fruits and vegetables. But these models are generally solutions of simultaneous heat and mass transfer differential equations and the final result may be very complicated and difficult to use in actual drying systems. This article present a comprehensive review on the applications of artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms in drying of fruits and vegetables. The paper starts with the drying of fruits and vegetables, the introduction of basic theoretical knowledge of ANN and GA. Then summarize their application on modeling, predicting, and optimization of heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic performance parameters, and quality indicators as well as physicochemical properties of dried fruits and vegetables. Conclusively, opportunities and limitations of ANN and GA technique in are outlined to provide more ideas for research and development in this field

ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ANTINUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF BREAKFAST MEAL PREPARED FROM BLENDS OF BANANA AND AFRICAN YAM BEAN

Banana (Musa sapientus) and African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) are nutritional food sources that are valuable industrially even in consideration for a balanced nutrition. This research work evaluates the production of breakfast meal from blends of Banana and African yam bean (AYB). Banana and AYB were mixed in the ratio 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 100:0 (control) for the production of breakfast meal. Crude protein, ash, crude fiber, fat and carbohydrate content of mixtures were determined using the AOAC methods. Vitamins, minerals and anti-nutrient composition of the breakfast meal were determined using standard methods and data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Sensory attributes were determined using 9-point hedonic scale by forty panelists. The results of the proximate analysis showed that protein ranged from 5.41-11.26%, fat content (1.97-4.56%), carbohydrate (72.71-79.89%), fiber (0.39-0.57%), ash (3.23-3.97%) and moisture content (7.86-8.20%). Oxalate (8.73-4.38%) decreased with increase in AYB inclusion. Tannin values ranged from 17.09-26.73% and phytate ranged from 11.59-46.77%. The sensory evaluation by the panelists shows that the product was widely accepted. Samples 100:0 and 90:10 were mostly preferred in terms of colour, texture, taste, crispiness, sweetness, flavour, appearance and general acceptability. Hence, the fortification of banana flakes with AYB can be encouraged as a breakfast meal

YOLOv7 Applied to Livestock Image Detection and Segmentation Tasks in Cattle Grazing Behavior, Monitor and Intrusions

You only look once (YOLO) is a state-of-the-art, real-time object detection system. YOLO version 7 (YOLOv7) model is a variant of YOLO. The objective of this paper is to apply YOLOv7 to livestock image detection and segmentation tasks in cattle grazing behavior, monitor and intrusions. Data obtained revealed that YOLOv7 performs better in terms of speed and accuracy with a mAP of 0.95 than the baseline techniques

Influence of Spirituality and Modesty on Acceptance of Self-Sampling for Cervical Cancer Screening.

INTRODUCTION: Whereas systematic screening programs have reduced the incidence of cervical cancer in developed countries, the incidence remains high in developing countries. Among several barriers to uptake of cervical cancer screening, the roles of religious and cultural factors such as modesty have been poorly studied. Knowledge about these factors is important because of the potential to overcome them using strategies such as self-collection of cervico-vaginal samples. In this study we evaluate the influence of spirituality and modesty on the acceptance of self-sampling for cervical cancer screening. METHODOLOGY: We enrolled 600 participants in Nigeria between August and October 2014 and collected information on spirituality and modesty using two scales. We used principal component analysis to extract scores for spirituality and modesty and logistic regression models to evaluate the association between spirituality, modesty and preference for self-sampling. All analyses were performed using STATA 12 (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, USA). RESULTS: Some 581 (97%) women had complete data for analysis. Most (69%) were married, 50% were Christian and 44% were from the south western part of Nigeria. Overall, 19% (110/581) of the women preferred self-sampling to being sampled by a health care provider. Adjusting for age and socioeconomic status, spirituality, religious affiliation and geographic location were significantly associated with preference for self-sampling, while modesty was not significantly associated. The multivariable OR (95% CI, p-value) for association with self-sampling were 0.88 (0.78-0.99, 0.03) for spirituality, 1.69 (1.09-2.64, 0.02) for religious affiliation and 0.96 (0.86-1.08, 0.51) for modesty. CONCLUSION: Our results show the importance of taking cultural and religious beliefs and practices into consideration in planning health interventions like cervical cancer screening. To succeed, public health interventions and the education to promote it must be related to the target population and its preferences

Quality Assessment of Selected Public Recreational Waters in Sango-Ota Metropolis, Nigeria

The evaluation of selected public swimming pools within Sango-Ota metropolis was done to determine whether the pools adapt to the recommended WHO standard for swimming pool water. Six pools were selected based on the average population per use and user ratings. A total of 12 water samples were analysed physicochemical and microbial qualities using standard methods. The  physicochemical characterization results are as follows; pH, 5.00 - 5.73 with mean value of 5.3; Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), 44.00 - 48.50 mg/L with mean 46.0 mg/L; Alkalinity, 24.00 - 28.50 mg/L with mean 26.0 mg/L; total hardness, 0.80 - 1.23 mg/L with mean 1.0 mg/L; iron, 0.05 – 0.69 mg/L with mean 0.3 mg/L; residual chlorine, 1.06 – 3.25 mg/L with mean 1.9 mg/L. The microbial characterization results are as follows; Zero count for Salmonella-shigella; Total Aerobic Plate Count (TAPC),1360 - 7270 cfu/mL; Escherichia coli count, 0 - 7 cfu/mL; coliform count, 2 – 25 cfu/mL.  The isolated microorganisms from the pools were Escherichia coli, Proteus Vulgaris, Yersinia Enterocolitica, Proteus Mirabilis, Citrobacter Freundi and Vibro Chlorea occurred in 8.33%, respectively while Klebsiella Pneumonia, Entrobacter Aerogenes, Pseudonomas sp. occurred 16.67%. The pH of the analysed pools didn’t comply with the WHO standards while other physicochemical parameters conform to the standard except for pools C and F which had a higher concentration of iron. However, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms in the pools classified them as unsafe for swimming activities. This study recommends routine testing and comprehensive treatments with respect to regulatory standards.  Pool managers should strictly adhere to the bathing load limit and ensure the pool users take shower before using the swimming pools to forestall the outbreak of waterborne disease