Application of Kozeny-Carman Equation to Estimate Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of an Alfisol at Samaru and a Cambisol at Kadawa, Nigeria

Kozeny-Carman equation was used to estimate field and laboratory determined saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) based on Pe values obtained from soils of two Northern Savanna ecological zones of Nigeria (Samaru and Kadawa). Total porosity was determined from measured dry bulk density (Db), particle density (Dp) and moisture content at –33kPa pressure potential. Effective porosity was calculated as the difference between total porosity and volumetric moisture at -33kpa. The Ks and Pe values were fitted into the Kozeny-Carman equation using the linear least square fitting. In Samaru, 91.7 and 61% variation of Ks were explained respectively from field (Kfs) and laboratory measurements (Kls) while 61% variation of Ks was explained from the average values of laboratory measurement for Kadawa. The proportionality constant (β) varied widely between 7.1 × 10-3 to 6918.30 while the fitting parameters (n) varied from values < 1 to 2.37. The Relative Effective Porosity (REP) was adapted to substitute Pe in the Kozeny-Carman equation. Only field measured data (r2 = 0.881) and laboratory measured data (r2 = 0.573) from Samaru fit into the model and the regression coefficients were not improved. The REP- Model did not perform well with the data presented in this study

Interventional studies of anti-malarial drugs utilization in public health facilities in Kano, Nigeria

The best way to analyze drug utilization and evaluate impact of an intervention in health care institutions is to study the universal indicators, which are not dependent either on investigator or time of measurement. The aim of this study was to characterize the prescription pattern of public health institutions in Kano, Nigeria and evaluate the rational use of anti-malarial drugs with a view to intervening where necessary. Values of drug utilization indicators were measured prospectively and areas that required intervention identified. Intervention; consisting of free pictorial handbills given to patients, discussions held with health care personnel and pieces of advice were given to health administrators. The impact of the intervention was assessed using pre and post comparison of appropriate indicators. The study revealed a significant decline (P < 0.01) in percentage of encounters with injections and increase utilization of oral chloroquine (P < 0.05). Significant increase (P < 0.05) in dispensing time was also observed in the study group. The results of this study suggest the need for further intervention

Design and Development of a Photovoltaic Water Pumping

The theory of design and analysis of experiments has been primarily developed by statisticians engaged mostly in agricultural research. The theory has now found applications in other fields of research, because it is based on general principles concerning the statistical behavior of observations which arise either freely in nature or in artificial laboratory conditions (Badrldin and Kshirsagar,1990). Incomplete block designs were developed to suit experiments where the number of experimental units per block is less than the number of treatments. The concept of incomplete block designs augmented by a control was first introduced by Das (1954). He considered&nbsp; the case where (q ³ 1) new treatments are introduced into the design and all included in each block. He concluded that&nbsp; q should be chosen as low as possible to keep the block size to a reasonable level. Pearce (1960) considered the case where a Balanced Incomplete Block (B. I. B.) design is supplemented by a control, where the test treatments are replicated r times except the control which is &nbsp;replicated r0 times, while all pairs of treatments occurs l times in blocks, the supplemented treatment occurs l0 times with any other treatment(Ture,1982). Pesek (1974) considered the case of a B. I. B. design having an extra control in each block. He utilized Rao’s general formulas to obtain the variances of the elementary treatment contrast between any pair of test treatment and any treatment and the control. He also obtained the efficiency factor of this design and showed that this design is more efficient than a B. I. B. design for comparing treatments with a control, but is less efficient for pair wise comparisons between the test treatments. Many times, for important new drugs and for serious diseases, investigations are carried out simultaneously at various locations under different climatic conditions, for a series of treatments. In such cases, the result of all such investigations need to be combined to produce an overall estimate of the effect of treatment contrast to the control. In this study the case where a control is added to each block in a B. I. B. design is considered. The variances of the elementary treatment contrast between any pair of test treatments and any treatment and the control were obtained. The general theory of inter &amp; intra -block estimates of treatment effect when a B. I. B. design is augmented by a control was investigated, the general theory of a balanced incomplete block design is given where a control is added to each block. The estimation of weight for combining inter and intra-block estimates is also dealt with, and the weight for combining inter-block estimates of treatment contrast was also considered. The object of this study is to get a minimum variance of the treatment contrast between the inter and intra block estimates when a control treatment is added to each block in B. I. B. design

Suitable Models for Describing Sulphate Desorption Kinetics in Selected Bauchi North Soils of Varying Parent Materials in the Nigerian Sudan Savanna

The modelling of sulphate desorption data is critical for a proper S diagnosis and fertilizer formulation to ensure profitable crop production. Five (5) models such as first-order, second-order, Elovich, fractional power, and parabolic diffusion were used to test the best model describing sulphate desorption kinetics in some soils from Bauchi-north, Sudan Savanna, Nigeria. To achieve this, soil samples were collected from three different parent materials namely Basement complex rock and two sedimentary rocks (Kerri-Kerri Formation and Chad Formation). The study showed that the parabolic diffusion and first-order models were found to describe S desorption data satisfactorily, characterized by relatively high R2 values and lowest S.E values by soil parent materials, respectively. While, the second-order, Elovich and Fractional power equations failed to describe the kinetics desorption of sulphate in all the studied soils, as judged by their high SE values. Therefore, the better fit of S desorption data to the first-order equation is an indication of probable ligand exchange of sulphate ion during the desorption process, and to parabolic diffusion equation suggests that diffusion-controlled phenomena are rate-limiting steps. Based on the findings, we concluded that the rate of sulphate desorption kinetics in these soils is mainly controlled by diffusion-controlled phenomena, which is critical for sulphate-based fertilizer formulations and applications

Phenotypic characteristics of local chickens in Dass and Tafawa Balewa local government areas of Bauchi State, Nigeria

The study was conducted in Dass and Tafawa Balewa local government areas of Bauchi State, between January and April 2018 to determine some characteristics of local chickens. A total of 400 matured chickens of mixed sex were used to determine the following morphometric traits; live weight (LW), wing span (WSP), body length (BL), girth circumference (GC) and shank length (SHL). Most of the birds available for the study were normal feathered (80.75 %), single combed (94.50 %), orange eyed (81.50 %), had white ear lobes (43.75 %), milky shanks (37.75 %) and red plumage (36.75 %), while the fewest types were frizzled (7.50 %), rose combed (5.50%), Brown eyed (2.50%), those with red ear lobes (22.75 %), ash shank (2.00 %), and blue plumage (1.00 %). Single combed (95.60%), orange eyed (84.10%) had white skin (98.60%) white ear lobe (44.50%), pink shank (36.00%) and red plumage (38.8%) and the fewest were rose combed (4.40%), brown eyed (1.10%), yellow skinned (1.40%), those with red ear lobe (22.31%), ash shanked (1.10%) and those with blue plumage (0.50%). Data generated on morphometric traits were analyzed using analysis of variance and Pearson’s correlation analysis was used in the estimation of relationships among the measurements (morphometric traits). The overall mean of 1.67 kg, 43.19 cm, 41.27 cm, 31.49 cm and 10.19 cm for LW, WSP, BL, GC and SHL were estimated. Sex had effect on all the parameters recorded. Males were significantly heavier than female (1.79 vs 1.55 kg; p&lt;0.001) and had wider girth (p&lt; 0.001), longer wings (p&lt;0.05), body (p&lt;0.01) and shank (p&lt;0.05). Non-significant effect of location, genotype and qualitative body traits (comb type, plumage, eye, ear lobe and shank colours) were however observed on most parameters. The correlation coefficients among the morphometric traits were high, positive and significant indicating that they can predict each other specifically during selection. Keywords: Morphometric traits, Local chickens, Correlation and Selectio

A rocket-borne Langmuir probe response to continuous and pulsed sweep modes

Nightime ionospheric electron density and temperature are measured using a rocket-borne Langmuir probe (LP) launched on board a SONDA III rocket from the Brazilian equatorial rocket launching station in Alcantara-MA, at 23:51 hrs (LT) on May 31, 1992. A sweep voltage varying between -IV and +2.5V is applied to the spherical LP sensor alternately in continuous and pulsed modes. In the continuous mode the effect of contamination of the sensor surface on the current collected by the sensor is clearly seen in the current-voltage characteristics and thereby on the electron temperature estimated, while this effect is practically absent in the pulsed mode operation. An electron temperature profile estimated from the LP data is compared with the IRI90 model profile.Material digitalizado en SEDICI gracias a la colaboración de la Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas (UNLP).Asociación Argentina de Geofísicos y Geodesta

Field trial of Malaysian thermostable Newcastle disease vaccine in village chickens in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Village chickens in Kaduna State, Nigeria were vaccinated once with a Malaysian heat-resistant Newcastle disease vaccine (NDV4HR) given in feed. In all, 1605 chickens in 223 households covering 33 villages and 13 Local Government Areas were tagged and bled before vaccination and two weeks after vaccination. Antibodies to Newcastle disease virus were titrated by haemagglutination inhibition test and titres . 3(log2) were assumed to be protective. Presumed protective titres were recorded in 143 (8.9%) of chickens before vaccination and in 957 (65.5%) after vaccination. Recommendation is made for the widespread adoption of this technology