Design and construction of a simple boat trailer for Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, New Bussa

A simple boat trailer with an overall length of 4.59m, breathes 1.68m, and weight of 87kg was designed and constructed using locally available metals and scrap materials. The boat trailer was used to tow a boat of 250kg weight through a distance of 14km without affecting the safety and speed of the car. The construction resulted to the production of an open cart that is light and easily maneuvered that one person can move it manually without difficulty. The total production cost was N32, 300 which is affordable in relation to the cost of transporting boats through the use of pick up vans. The boat trailer can be easily maneuvered when coupled to any car or van. This makes it adequate for towing and for safer movement of boats from the school boat yard to any water bodies

Taxonomic studies on the genus Indigofera Linn. (Indigofereae, Fabaceae) in parts of Katsina and Kaduna States, North-Western Nigeria

Indigofera is a large genus in the family Fabaceae comprising about 750 species. In Nigeria, particularly the northwestern savanna region, identification and naming of Indigofera species have been very difficult, ambiguous and controversial for a long time. Thus, proper identification and naming of the species within this genus are paramount. Several field surveys were carried out in the study area and twelve species were successfully collected and identified. Multivariate analyses (CA and PCA) were used to determine whether the species are distinct or not, and to identify the most useful characters for the identification of the species in the region. Fresh specimens were collected purposely for this work and herbarium specimens were used. The result of the cluster analysis revealed 12 distinct clusters (at an Euclidean distance of 0.08) with a cophenetic correlation coefficient value (r) of 0.89. The result of the PCA revealed 12 distinct groups. The character loadings indicated that number of seeds per pod, petiole length, leaflet length, internode, fruit length and leaflet width contributed the highest variation among the species, which could be more useful in delimiting the species. These characters can, therefore, be used in the identification and distinguishing of Indigofera species in the region. We provided a key for the identification of the species

Socio-economic Impact of Flooding on the Riverine Communities of River Benue in Adamawa State, Nigeria

This paper examines the impact of floods on the socioeconomic lives of residents of the flood plain of River Benue in the Adamawa area. The specific objectives of the paper include examining people’s perception of the causes of flooding in the study area, assessing the impacts of flooding on the socioeconomic activities in the study area, analyzing the People’s Response/Adjustment to Flood in the study area. Three Riverine communities were purposively selected and data for the study was elicited through questionnaires administered to randomly selected respondents in the selected riverine communities in the area. The results obtained indicate that majority of the respondents over 80% are aware of the devastating effects of flooding but they fail to act because of their preference of occupying the location despite their experience. Thousands of hectares of farmlands and other properties have been destroyed by flood over the years. Another finding shows that the impact of flood on transportation is, perhaps, the most devastating such that agricultural productivity in the area is limited as a result of lack of effective means of mobility. Changes in modal split were also found to be associated with the flood regimes. Traditional responses to the menace of flooding have been on the increase due to the ad hoc manner of government participation in providing an enduring solution. The rescheduling of field crops planting and levee construction were among the common responses of the people. Keywords: Flood, River Benue, Transportation, Socio-economic, Environmen

Effect of different levels of urea treated Gamba hay on growth performance of Yankasa rams

Twenty four (24) Yankasa yearling rams were used to determine the effect of feeding high levels of urea treated gamba hay (Andropogon gayanus). The rams aged 15 – 18 months with an average weight of 22 .45kg were randomly allocated to one of four dietary groups, rams in group A served as control and were offered untreated gamba hay at 2.5% of their body weight while rams in groups 2, 3 and 4 where offered 5%, 6% and 7% urea treated gamba hay respectively at 2.5% of their body weight for 90 days. All rams had equal access to water, salt lick blocks and concentrate fed at 2.0% of their body weight. Data was collected daily on feed intake, while live body weight changes and body condition score were measured weekly. Dry matter composition of the gamba hay offered declined as the level of urea treatment increased, the crude protein content of the diets also increased as the level of urea treatment increased. However the values of NDF and ADF declined as the level of urea treatment increased. Rams fed 6% and 7% treated gamba hay had significantly the highest total dry matter intake while rams fed untreated gamba hay had significantly (P<0.05) the lowest weight gain. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the weight gains of rams fed 6% and those fed 7% urea treated gamba hay and the rams in both groups had significantly (P<0.05) the highest weight gains. Rams fed the 6% urea treated gamba hay had the best FCR. It can be concluded that 6% &7% urea treated gamba gave similar performance but 6% had the better feed conversion ratio and is more cost effective.Key words: Urea treated gamba hay, cost effectivenes

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP ROLE IN DRIVING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT AT THE SOCIAL AFFAIRS OFFICE OF MALUKU PROVINCE

Penelitian ini merupakan suatu Penelitian Kuantitatif yang bersifat asosiatif. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis dan menjelaskan peran pemimpin dalam meningkatkan performa para pegawai di kantor Dinas Sosial Provinsi Maluku. Sampel penelitian terdiri dari 37 individu yang merupakan bagian dari populasi penelitian. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah melalui distribusi kuesioner. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa setelah melakukan perhitungan terhadap data yang diperoleh dari lapangan menggunakan rumus korelasi product moment, ditemukan bahwa nilai korelasi sebesar 0,756. Selanjutnya, nilai korelasi ini diuji signifikansinya menggunakan uji t pada tingkat kepercayaan 95% (dengan tingkat signifikansi 0,05). Hasil dari uji t-test menunjukkan angka sebesar 6,827, yang mengindikasikan bahwa nilai t-test tersebut lebih besar daripada nilai t-tabel yang sebesar 2,021 (6,827 > 2,021). Dari hasil ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa terdapat hubungan yang kuat antara peran pemimpin dan kinerja pegawai di Dinas Sosial Provinsi Maluku

Transverse slab reinforcement design of concrete bridge deck: A review

This paper reviews the current design practices of transverse slab reinforcement design in concrete bridge deck, which consist of concrete deck slab on wide concrete T-beams. The conventional bridge design method results in the provision of excessive transverse steel reinforcement in the concrete bridge deck slab due to the fact that, the slab is assumed to bear the applied vehicular loadings alone without considering the contribution of the wide T-beam flanges. Thus, the design which is based on bending and failure proved to be too conservative. Through critical review, issues regarding some design approaches were discussed. It has been found that, designing the deck slab in transverse direction would enable the vehicle wheel loads to be supported by the wide T- beam flanges and performance enhancement can be achieved by compressive membrane action resulted from the natural stiffness of the wide girder flanges. The presence of this membrane forces provides a punching shear capacity, which is far beyond the flexural design capacity for the new bridge deck system. This capacity would result in substantial reduction of the transverse reinforcement within the slab

Optimal Thermal Distribution by using Inverse Genetic Algorithm Optimization Technique

Optimal arrangement of components on printed circuit board (PCB) has become a basic necessity so as to have effective management of heat generation and dissipation. In this work, Inverse Genetic Algorithm (IGA) optimization has been adopted in order to achieve this objective. This paper proposes IGA search engine to optimize the thermal profile of components based on thermal resistance network and to minimize the area of PCB. Comparison between the proposed IGA and the conventional GA (FGA) performances are extensively analyzed. Unlike the conventional FGA, the IGA approach allows the user to set the desired fitness, so that the GA process will try to approach these set values. A reduction in the overall computational time and the freedom of choosing a desired fitness are the major advantages of IGA over FGA. From the simulation results, the IGA has successfully minimized the thermal profile and area of PCB by 0.78% and 1.28% respectively. The computational time has also been minimized by 15.56%

Pattern of Residential Water Demand Analysis for Maiduguri Metropolis, North-Eastern Nigeria

This study investigated the projected 50-year water demand of Maiduguri township from 2006 to 2056. The impact of socio-economic factors on water consumption pattern of the population was also assessed. Data were collected from 200 households using structured questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The results show that on an average, a household in Jere and Maiduguri consumes an estimated 421.85l L/day while areas worst hit are new layouts and those covered by the phase 2 water treatment plant (yet to be completed). In addition, it was found that, gender, education, household size and income were statistically significant predictors of water demand. Furthermore, the results revealed that in 2006, the combined population of Jere and Maiduguri was 749,123, which was later projected to be around 3,618,579 by the year 2056. Similarly, water demand was estimated to rise to approximately 154,443 M3/day by the year 2056 to meet the water demand of the growing population. However, in 2006, the combined water supplied from Maiduguri water treatment plant and all the functional boreholes (public boreholes) stands at 31,973M3/day while in 2016 it rose to 43,811 M3/day. The increase was due to additional supplies obtained from boreholes provided by some Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) in some locations across the two areas. It is noteworthy that water supplied in the year 2016 to the population was grossly inadequate to meet the household water demand. Therefore, with the projected water demand of about 154,443 M3/day by 2056, it is recommended that all existing water supply schemes including the proposed phase 2 of the Maiduguri surface water treatment plant designed to cover West end, Wulari, Bulunkutu and Maduganari areas to be completed to increase the supply. Service boreholes in newly established layouts should be put to operate at full capacity including the additional ones drilled. Also, the Dala Alamdari mini water works constructed by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is operated below its installed capacity due to poor management to be enhanced

Assessment of the Effects of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) on the Output of Dry Season Rice Farmers before and after Scheme Participation in Sokoto State, Nigeria

The study assessed the effects of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) on the output of dry season rice farmers before and after participation. A multistage sampling technique was used to select farmers for the study. Data for the study were collected from 250 farmers using structured questionnaire. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the showed that the age of the majority of the farmers fall between the ages of 30-39 years, married and had one form of education or the other. Based on the findings, the main source of information (46.8%) regarding the awareness of GESS programme was the district heads and majority (94.4%) of the farmers were registered with the scheme. About 40% of the farmers registered with the scheme because inputs provided by the scheme are supplied to only register farmers at a subsidized rate. The result of t-test analysis showed a significant difference (