Bio-Diesel Based Additive for Enhancing Flow of Emulsion in Pipeline

Emulsions are difficult to transport in the oil and gas industry due to its water content and high viscosity property, thus a need arises to break these emulsions down into lighter emulsions that would make it a lot more suitable for transportation. In this research, biodiesel was synthesized and used to break down relatively viscous emulsion samples into lighter emulsion samples. An apparatus was designed with the aim of determining the flowrate of four different samples in different proportions and compositions: 80% oil and 20% water (sample A), 90% sample A + 10% of biodiesel by volume (sample B), 75% of sample A + 25% of biodiesel by volume (sample C), 60% of sample A + 40% biodiesel by volume (sample D). The results showed that it was possible to significantly increase the flow of emulsions by injecting biodiesel, which was acted as a surfactant, resulting in the lowering of the surface tension of the emulsion sample. The relevance of this research work is validated as it proffers a solution to the transportation of heavy oil and emulsions from all over the world possessing the non-Newtonian flow behavior, which results in serious problems related to its transportation

Geospatial distribution and bypassing health facilities among National Health Insurance Scheme enrollees: implications for universal health coverage in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to enable an assessment of geospatial distribution and access to healthcare facilities under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of Nigeria. The findings will be useful for efficient planning and equitable distribution of healthcare resources. METHODS: Data, including the distribution of selected health facilities, were collected in Ibadan, Nigeria. The location of all facilities was recorded using Global Positioning System and was subsequently mapped using ArcGIS software to produce spider-web diagrams displaying the spatial distribution of all health facilities. RESULTS: The result of clustering analysis of health facilities shows that there is a statistically significant hotspot of health facility at 99% confidence located around the urban areas of Ibadan. The significant hotspot result is dominated by a feature with a high value and is surrounded by other features also with high values. Away from the urban built-up area of Ibadan, health facility clustering is not statistically significant. There was also a high level (94%) of bypassing of NHIS-accredited facilities among the enrollees. CONCLUSIONS: Lopsided distribution of health facilities in the study area should be corrected as this may result in inequity of access to available health services

VARIETAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES, PROXIMATE AND MINERAL COMPOSITION OF IMPROVED SESAME (Sesamun indicum) SEEDS

The study was conducted to characterize the physical properties, proximate and mineral composition of improved sesame varieties. Fourteen improved varieties of sesame seeds were analyzed for their physical properties, proximate and mineral composition following standard analytical procedures. The arithmetic mean diameter (AMD), sphericity, geometric mean diameter (GMD), aspect ratio and surface area were in the range 1.51-1.91 mm, 0.57-0.64 mm, 1.32-1.70 mm, 61.50- 75.00%, and 84 - 8.94 mm2, respectively. Ca, Fe, Mg and K contents were also in the range 5.4-20.2 mg/kg, 0.5-3.0 mg/kg, 1.5-7.4 mg/kg, and 2.9-12.9 mg/kg, respectively. There was significant varietal differences (P<0.05) in the physical properties, proximate and mineral composition of the improved sesame seeds. The improved sesame varieties were characterized into three groups with distinct physical properties, proximate and mineral composition using hierarchical clustering procedure. Cluster 1 consists of varieties with relatively low proximate and mineral composition while cluster 2 comprises varieties with higher amounts of these nutrients. The variety in cluster 3 was characterized with exceptionally low content of minerals. The diversity obtained in the physical properties and proximate composition of the improved sesame seeds from this study underscores the huge potentials of the improved sesame seeds in food and non food use

Digital Education

Digital education is the process of using digital technology in teaching and learning. Teachers are under pressure to use digital technologies in teaching students and prepare them for work in a globalized digital economy. Digital education prepares students for becoming digital citizens by making them acquire skills for navigating and existing in the digital world. This paper provides a brief introduction to digital education

Shifts in age pattern, timing of childbearing and trend in fertility level across six regions of Nigeria: Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys from 2003-2018.

Nigeria's population is projected to increase from 200 million in 2019 to 450 million in 2050 if the fertility level remains at the current level. Thus, we examined the shifts in the age pattern of fertility, timing of childbearing and trend in fertility levels from 2003 and 2018 across six regions of Nigeria. This study utilised the 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey datasets. Each survey was a cross-sectional population-based design, and a two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select women aged 15-49 years. The changes in the timing of childbearing were examined by calculating the corresponding mean ages at the birth of different birth orders for each birth order separately to adjust the Quantum effect for births. The Gompertz Relational Model was used to examine the age pattern of fertility and refined fertility level. In Nigeria, it was observed that there was a minimal decline in mean children ever born (CEB) between 2003 and 2018 across all maternal age groups except aged 20-24 years. The pattern of mean CEB by the age of mothers was the same across the Nigeria regions except in North West. Nigeria's mean number of CEB to women aged 40-49 in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 surveys was 6.7, 6.6, 6.3 and 6.1, respectively. The mean age (years) at first birth marginally increased from 21.3 in 2003 to 22.5 in 2018. In 2003, the mean age at first birth was highest in South East (24.3) and lowest in North East (19.4); while South West had the highest (24.4) and both North East and North West had the lowest (20.2) in 2018. Similar age patterns of fertility existed between 2003 and 2018 across the regions. Nigeria's estimated total fertility level for 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 was 6.1, 6.1, 5.9 and 5.7, respectively. The findings showed a reducing but slow fertility declines in Nigeria. The decline varied substantially across the regions. For a downward change in the level of fertility, policies that will constrict the spread of fertility distribution across the region in Nigeria must urgently be put in place. [Abstract copyright: Copyright: © 2023 Olowolafe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Baker’s Willingness to Utilize High Quality Cassava Flour (Hqcf) for Bread Production: Experience From Ogun State, Nigeria

One of the major reasons for introducing High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) inclusion in bread is to reduce its cost of production. The study thus evaluated baker’s willingness to utilize HQCF for bread production in Ogun State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to elicit information from 187 selected bakers. Results showed that 79.6% of the bakers were male, with a mean age of 39.5 years. The average year of bakery establishment was 10.7 years, with an average bread production period of 5 days per week, mean bread production of 361.0 loaves. Majority, 96.1% of the bakers were willing to utilize HQCF in bread production. In addition, 79.0% of the bakers would accept HQCF if it is readily available and 72.6% were willing to utilize readily mixed HQCF with wheat flour. Pearson Product Moment Correlation revealed a significant relationships (p<0.05) between willingness to utilize and quantity of bread loaves produced per day (r = 0.280); year of bakery establishment (r = 0.253); awareness of cassava inclusion policy (r = -0.273); awareness of potential value of HQCF inclusion in bread production (r = -0.340) and the bakers’ willingness to utilize HQCF. The study concluded that bakers were willing to utilize HQCF for bread production in the study area

A modified predictive model for estimating gas flow rate in horizontal drain hole

Accurate prediction of the flow rate of horizontal gas well is necessary for economic feasibility, planning and development of gas field. Most of the early models assumed that the production from the horizontal well is infinitely conductive except few recent models. Some recent models reported in the literature for estimating flow rate in horizontal well where the pressure losses due to friction along horizontal drain hole was considered. An improved model that checks the impact of all possible well bore pressure losses on gas production rate of horizontal well is reported. The neglected impact of well bore pressure losses due to fluid accumulation and kinetic energy in the past models is thought to be a conceivable reason for the inconsistency between computed rates from the models and rates got from production tests. The new model was validated using the same field contextual investigation utilized by Guo et al. and outcome got from the new model yields more satisfactory results. A more realistic results that evident all flow phenomena in gas well include the initial unsteady, pseudo-steady and steady state flow condition hence flow rate at any given production time has been established for flow of gas along horizontal well. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that the percentage deviation of the new model at steady state flow condition is less than 5.0% compared with 11.05% acquired from Guo et al. model following by 259.7% from Furui's model, and 1118.2% got from Joshi's model. This work gives field operators a precise and helpful device for prediction and assessment of production in a gas horizontal well

The use of bio-diesel based additive as rheology improver and pour point depressant of Nigerian waxy crud

The chemical method has proved to be the most effective mitigating method of wax deposition in petroleum system as it deals with the root cause of wax formation. Most of the commercial chemicals in the industry are very expensive and toxic. This paper aims the use of biodiesel based additives for improving the rheological behavior and pour points of waxy crude from Nigeria field. The biodiesels derived additives gave better performance than the commercial chemical and the seed oils as greatly improvement in rheology and pour point values of the waxy crude were observe

Hearing the silences: adult Nigerian women’s accounts of ‘early marriages’

‘Early marriage’ is a relatively common, but under-researched global phenomenon, associated with poor health, mental health, educational and occupational outcomes, particularly for young girls. In this article, we draw on qualitative interviews with 6 Nigerian women from Sokoto State, who were married between the ages of 8 and 15. The interviews explored young women’s experiences of the transition to marriage, being married, pregnancy and their understanding of the marital and parental role. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, we explore women’s constrained articulations of their experiences of early marriage, as they are constituted within a social context where the identity of ‘woman’ is bound up in values and practices around marriage and motherhood. We explore the complexity of ‘hearing’ women’s experiences when their identities are bound up in culturally overdetermined ideas of femininity that function explicitly to silence and constrain the spaces in which women can speak