The 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence, political leadership and poverty in the midst of Plenty: problems, priorities, progress and prospects

Since 1st October 1960 that Nigeria got independence from the United Kingdom, she has experimented with diverse political systems - parliamentary, unitary, military, presidential and diarchal styles to boost peoples’ welfare, still majority are poor. This paper examines Nigeria’s income and human poverty, while indicating her citizens’ priorities that political leaders failed to address. It accounts for the progress achieved and the prospects in fighting poverty in Nigeria. The country’s growing unemployment, underemployment, low remuneration, weak savings and investments, corruption, short access to basic services coupled with the 64.4% people, who survive on less than US$1.25 in 2000-2007 attest to her poverty in the midst of plenty. These pathologies accrued from bad governance, weak economic policies, plans, implementation and non-commitment of private organizations. The ongoing Nigeria’s democratic institutionalization sends hope to people. Nigeria needs collective participation of all development’s stakeholders to drag in good political leadership, as a developmental tool

Artificial Intelligence Technique and Wireless Sensor Networks in Energy Management System for Secure Power Optimization

The modern basic building blocks of a control system consist of data acquisition, dispensation of data by the system operators and the remote control of system devices. However, the physical controls, technical examinations and deductions were originally implemented to aid the process and control of power system design. The complexity of the power system keeps increasing due the technical improvements, diversity and dynamic requirements. Artificial intelligence is the science of automating intelligent activities presently attainable by individuals. Intelligent system techniques may be of excessive benefit in the application of area power system controls. Whereas smart grid can be measured as a modern electric power grid structure for better productivity and dependability via automatic control, excessive power converters, modern communications setup, sensing and metering equipment, and modern energy management techniques established on the optimization of demand, energy and network accessibility,and so on. The enormous depiction of the entire transmission grid, in the perspective of smart grids, is quite unclear; and in Nigeria no studies have been put on ground in order for the existing network to be turn into a smart grid. In this research work emphasis is placed on generation and transmission stations; power optimization using artificial intelligent techniques and wireless sensor networks for power control management system

Adsorption of Methylene Blue using Activated Carbon Made from Watermelon Rinds

This work reports the possibility of using sustainable waste from watermelon rinds as a potential candidate for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution in batch mode. The adsorbent was characterized by FTIR and SEM where the FTIR analysis shows peaks at 3370 cm-1 that corresponds to –OH stretching vibration for lignin, pectin and cellulose, at 1728 cm-1 corresponds to –C=O stretching of esters, carboxylic acids, and as well peak in the range of 1350 – 1000 cm-1 which indicates stretching vibration of alcohols and carboxylic acids. The availability of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups enhance high MB uptake at lower pH. The SEM image of raw adsorbent shows no development of pores, but after carbonization the pores were developed due to escape of volatile groups during carbonization and activation process. Adsorption studies using batch mode were performed by varying adsorption parameters such as adsorbent dosage, contact time, pH of the solution and initial dye concentration. The maximum capacity of the adsorbent was found to be 0.4g dosage, pH 4, 20mg/L of initial MB concentration and 60 minutes contact time that removes maximum of 197.5 mg g-1. The results indicated that watermelon rind is a successful agricultural waste that could be utilized for sustainable removal of cationic dyes in aqueous solutions

Iron Ore Tailings as Partial Replacement for Fine Aggregate in Concrete Production – Review

Normal River sand is one of the major components of concrete, generally termed fine aggregate. A large volume of sand is needed annually for construction work globally. Mining or extraction of sand from the river bed, ocean beds, beaches, and inland dunes is accompanied by several problems such as; lowering of the water table, sinking of bridge piers and erosion of river bed and instability of river bed on the environment, etc. To decrease these environmental impacts and the cost of conventional fine aggregates, alternative materials like mining waste have been studied by several researchers to replace partially fine aggregates in concrete production. Iron ore tailings (IOT) are one of the mining wastes obtained from the beneficiation process of iron ore concentrates. This paper presents an overview of the work carried out on the use of IOT as a partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete and its effects on the workability, mechanical, and durability properties of concrete

Application Of Synthesised Zeolite A From Kankara Kaolin For Solar Adsorption Refrigeration

This paper presents the synthesis, characterization and application of a synthesised Zeolite A from Nigerian clay (kankara) for application in solar adsorption refrigeration. On the basis of X-ray diffraction, TGA and DTA experiments Zeolite A was confirmed with and adsorption capacity of 0.3 kgadsorbate/0.85 kg adsorbent, regenerative temperature of below 200oC and structural stability below 800oC.The refrigeration system used in the test consists of a 0.6 by 0.45 m2 parabolic trough concentrator, 0.6 m long and 0.25 m diameter black coated absorber, an air cooled condenser and cooling box of volume(evaporator) 0.048 m3. The refrigerator was constructed and tested at the Mechanical Engineering Department Zaria, Nigeria at location 11.11’NE in the month of April, a month with one of the highest of average solar irradiation of 900W/ m2. The lowest evaporator temperature attained was 9.8°C with a C.O.P of 28.5%

Hereditary multiple exostoses and porencephaly in a Nigerian child: a case report

Hereditary multiple exostoses (HME) is a rare condition that is characterised by the development of bony swellings, usually at the growth ends of long bones. It is autosomal dominant, and may result in debilitating deformities. Porencephaly on the other hand is a cystic degeneration of the brain that is associated with the development of encephalomalacia. There is no established link between HME and porencephaly. This case report describes a seven year old female that has features of coexisting HME and porencephaly. She presented with afebrile seizures, learning impairment, stunted growth, macrocephaly and multiple bony swellings. Similar bony swellings were observed in the mother and the sibling of the index case. The coexistence of HME and porencephaly is rarely encountered in clinical practice. This presentation should stimulate the search for a possible link, which may perhaps herald the discovery of a new syndrome

Nutritional Composition of Semolina Jaggery Diet and its Effect on Reproductive Fitness of Harwich strain Drosophila melanogaster

Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the development of an organism. Drosophila melanogaster is an important model for nutritional research. The nutritional composition of semolina-jaggery diet on fecundity and filial generation output of Harwich strain D. melanogaster was studied using standard methods. Semolina- jaggery diet, which are product of wheat endosperm and cane sugar respectively are rich in carbohydrate, protein, and dietary sugars. Semolina-jaggery diet was prepared in 5%, 10% and 15% with corn flour diet as the control group. 15% semolina-jaggery had the highest percentage carbohydrate (15.12±0.30) while highest protein content was recorded in control diet (3.46±0.08). Fecundity of D. melanogaster reared on semolina-jaggery diet varied across days with 5% SJ having the highest mean number of eggs. The 10% SJ recorded the highest mean number of offspring across five generations but was lower to the offspring output of control group in all the five generations. The nutritional composition in the varying percentages of semolina-jaggery diet had significant effect on the egg laying and offspring output of Harwich strain Drosophila melanogaster

Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy; a Condition to Monitor in the Management of Leukaemia Patients

Background: Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy is a consumption coagulopathy which mostly results from an underlying disease. It occurs as a result of the activation of the coagulation cascade leading to the formation of thrombi which results in haemorrhage due to the excessive consumption of platelet and coagulation factors. Mali gnancy is associated with hypercoagulable state and increased risk for thrombohemorrhagic complications and leukaemia is no exception. Bleeding manifestations are common in acute leukemias, especially in acute myeloblastic leukemia, and are prominent featu res of an initial stage of the disease. This study assessed disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) in leukaemia patients in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixteen (116) subjects consisting of 58 leukaemic subjects (AML, CLL, and CM L) and 58 age and sex - matched healthy control subjects were recruited into the study. The parameters estimated in this study were packed cell volume (PCV), platelet count, white blood cell count (WBC), prothrombin time (PT), the international normalised ra tio (INR), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and D - dimer assay. Result s : The mean ± SD values of the parameters assessed in the leukaemia patients include 3.7±3.1 μg FEU/mL, 67.5±55.7 seconds, 1.8±0.1, 77.3±31.8 seconds, 194±103 cells/mm 3 , 74±124 cells/mm 3 , 30±5% for D - dimer, PT, INR, aPTT, platelets, WBC and PCV respectively. The results display a significant statistical difference between the leukaemic and the control subjects (p<0.05). Conclusion: The abnormality of these haemostatic par ameters occurring in the leukaemic subjects (AML, CLL, and CML) is highly indicative of the occurrence of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy in these patients. This study, therefore, shows that disseminated intravascular coagulopathy can occur as a co mplication of various types of leukaemia studied and this requires prompt and appropriate management