Preparation and Evaluation of Electrical Properties of Plastic Composites Developed from Recycled Polystyrene and Local Clay

In this study, the development of polymer composites was achieved from local clay material and waste polystyrene by cold pressing method, the preparation, electrical, and physical behaviours of clay-polystyrene composites are described. Polystyrene based resin (PBR) was produced from waste polystyrene by solvolysis in petroleum solvent and mixed with the 100μm clay particles at 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% clay contents. Composite panels were prepared and tested for Physical and electrical properties. Metallurgical microscope was used for the microstructural studies. It was found that with the increase in clay content in PBR from 0 to 40%, there was a rise in density of the composite by about 11% with a simultaneous decrease in the void fraction or porosity from 5.3 % to 1.5%. It was also observed that the polymer composite with the filler loading of 40 wt% has the highest conductivity value of 1.88E-07 S/cm. The comparison of micrographs at 40x and 100x indicated a good dispersion and distribution of clay particles in the polystyrene matrix. The polymer composites produced can be adapted for applications where electrostatic dissipative materials are required.KEYWORDS: Electrical property, iron fillings, plastic composite, recycled polystyrene, clay particles

Quality of Life and Self-Reported Common Mental Disorders: An Analysis of Patterns and Relationship in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Quality of life (QoL) is a major measure of health and wellbeing. Studies that have examined the quality of life of urban residents from a geographical view in developing countries are still emerging. This present study examines the relationship between urban residents’ quality of life and its relationship with self-reported common mental disorders. The cross-sectional survey approach which entails data collection from 1200 respondents in Ibadan city, Nigeria. WHO-5 and SRQ-20 were adapted to obtain information on quality of life and self-reported common mental disorders respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to establish associations and analysis were carried out at 0.05 significance- level. The spatial pattern of quality of life was found to be random although there are pockets of poor quality of life. Quality of life was found to be negatively related to self-reported common mental disorders (R = -0.396). The urban ecological conditions of the study area indicate poor quality of life and this may be responsible for the increasing risk of common mental disorder in the city. The study concludes that common mental disorders exist in the urban settings and its occurrence is closely related to poor quality of life

A Comparative Study: Globalization and Development of Regions of Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America

Globalization is one of the most significant concepts of our time that has led to countless academic discussions and public debates. Several empirical literatures have explored how globalization has impacted developed and developing economies. It is critical to study the effects of regional globalization and the impact of different methodological perspectives. This paper examines the effects of globalization across various regions of Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The secondary data used for this paper is obtained from Statista and the World Bank. The methodologies used include One-way Anova, Regression Analysis and Ancova. The findings of the Anova show how globalization significantly impacts the regions discussed in this paper. This indicates that the regions derived substantial benefits from globalization. The regression analysis results highlight that there is no relationship between globalization and democracy, and the Ancova results support that the interaction of region and democracy is not significant. We therefore conclude that the growth and development of these regions related to globalization is based on increased competition, employment, investment and capital flows, foreign trade, spread of technical know-how, spread of culture, high standard of education, and structural institutions. This paper provides a platform to better inform policy makers in these regions, as well as the world, on how the benefits of globalization lead to the expansion and growth of developed and developing countries. Keywords: Globalization Index, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Democracy Index, Ancova DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/89-03 Publication date: January 31st 202

Jonathan’s Constitutional Conference in Nigeria: A reflection and a radical critique

The process of bringing forth a constitution is as crucial and important as the constitution itself. However, while this ideal has been institutionalized in many liberal democracies, it is yet to be fully embraced in many illiberal countries. In Nigeria, the focus of this discourse, the process of constitution-making is as old as the country itself but such processes had always followed the same pattern: elite engineered, paternalistically-driven and above all, devoid of citizens’ imprints via a referendum. It is against this backdrop that this article, in a retrospective and analytical manner, examines and offers a democratic critique ofNigeria’s most recent attempt at Nigeria’s constitutional engineering, the Jonathan’s Constitutional Conference (JCC) of 2014. It observes that President Jonathan-initiated Constitutional Conference mimicked the paternalistic character of the previous attempts at constitution-making and as such the process is not markedly different from the old. It submits that as long as the state elites, acting on behalf of the hegemonic faction of the dominant class, continue to see constitution-making as their exclusive reserve and are always willing to defend even a bad constitution, the search for a people’s constitution would continue.Keywords: constitution, Nigerian state, referendum, hegemony, paternalism, Goodluck Jonatha

Assessment of Growth and Cellulase Production of Wild-Type Microfungi Isolated from Ota, Nigeria

The aim of the study was to isolate and identify filamentous microfnngi involved in wood-waste decomposition in Canaanland, Ota, South-West Nigeria and to evaluate their potentials for cellulose saccharification. Microbiological techniques were used to isolate and identify the ftmgi. Four filamentous microfnngi, identified as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillusflavus, Penicillium chrysogenum and Trichoderma sp., were isolated. All the isolates, particularly Trichoderma sp., grew rapidly on Sabouraud's agar and Czapek-Dox agar. Two of the isolates, Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma sp., was cultivated for 168 h by submerged fermentation in modified Czapek-Dox liquid medilllll containing cellulose as sole carbon source and harvested at 24 h intervals. The mycelia weight of the harvested cultures, and the protein content and cellulase activity of the filtrates were determined. The peak mycelia weight of 4.6 and 3.0 mg mL - 1 was, respectively obtained for Trichoderma sp. and A. niger at 48 h. The protein and cellulase activity of Trichoderma sp. peaked at 72 h whereas for A. niger, the peak protein content and peak cellulase activity was obtained at 96 and 72 h, respectively. The peak protein and cellulase activity values of A. niger were 0.175 and 0.077 nnit mL - 1 , respectively. Trichoderma sp. yielded a protein peak of 0.180 mg mL - 1 and peak cellulase activity of 0.108 nnit mL - 1 . There is a correlation between the protein content and cellulase activity of the culture filtrates. The strains of A. niger and Trichoderma sp. obtained from this study are potential tools for the saccharification and bioconversion of cellulosic material

Physiological responses of cowpea simultaneously exposed to water deficit stress and varying light intensities at vegetative and reproductive growth stages

A combination of stresses as it occurs on the field poses more challenges to crop production than individual stress. Crops’ response to single stress also differs from that of combined stresses. The morpho-physiological responses of two cowpea varieties (IT89KD-288 and IT99K573-1-1) to a combination of stresses (water deficit stress and high light intensity) were investigated at different growth stages. Three levels of light intensities (L3: 259 Lux- 36%, L2: 394 Lux-55% and L1: 710.2 Lux-100%) were imposed using one, two and zero layer(s) of the net, respectively, while, water deficit stress at four levels (W1: no water stress; 0-5 bars, W2: moderate water stress; 5-15 bars, W3: moderately-severe; 15-40 bars and W4: severe water stress; 40 -70 bars) was imposed differently at vegetative and reproductive growth stages. Data were collected on the cowpea yield, Leaf Temperature (LT), Chlorophyll (C), Photosynthesis (P), Stomatal Conductance (SC) and Canopy Transpiration Rate (CTR). Exposure to W4 under L1 considerably reduced cowpea yield by 80% compared to those grown under L3 and full watering. Reduced light intensity enhanced cowpea grain yield irrespective of water deficit stress and IT89KD-288 was superior to IT99K573-1-1. Reduction in light intensity also increased the SC from 55.18 in L1 to 76.88 in 36 % L3. Full light intensity without water stress (100% light intensity), increased C content, while severe water stress reduced the C content and CTR. Photosynthesis was, however, reduced under low light intensity compared to 100% light intensity. It was also observed that water deficit stress imposed at the reproductive stage did not affect P, CTR and SC unlike that of the vegetative stage. In conclusion, reduced light intensity enhanced cowpea tolerance to water deficit and increased yield. Cowpea response was dependent on growth stage, variety and severity of stress

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.

Quantitative Leaching of a Spent Cell Phone Printed Circuit Board by Hydrochloric acid

This paper presents a kinetic data on the hydrometallurgical recovery of some metal ions from a printed circuit board (PCB) of a spent cell phone by hydrochloric acid leaching. The effects of acid concentration, temperature and particle diameter on the dissolution efficiency at various leaching time intervals were examined. The results of the leaching investigations showed that the powdered cell phone dissolution increases with increasing acid concentration, system temperature with decreasing particle diameter at 360 rpm. With 2M HCl solution, about 88.49% of the sample was dissolved within 120 minutes using 0.075-0.112 mm particle diameter at 800 C. The results of the study indicated that the dissolution reaction could be represented by a shrinking core model with surface chemical reaction. A value of 0.61, 60.67 kJ/mol and 12.9s-1 were calculated as reaction order, activation energy and frequency factor, respectively for the dissolution process.http://dx.doi.org/10.5937/metmateng1402119

Between the Rock and a Hard Place: The Africa Union and Democracy Promotion in Africa

While the Cold War lasted, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) never considered democracy promotion in member states as a priority. What mattered to the body was the safeguard of the sovereignties of member states? The globalization of the third democratic wave however, changed that as democracy promotion, courtesy of Donor’s aid agenda became a core objective of the OAU/AU. Deploying descriptive, historical, and analytical methods of inquiry with a focus on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG), this article assesses the extent of AU’s commitments to promoting democracy in Africa. Following an extensive review of conceptual literature on democracy, as well as relevant studies on OAU/AU’s democracy promotion initiatives in Africa, it notes that OAU/AU, no doubt, has robust normative frameworks for dealing with an unconstitutional change of government and other actions that could constitute a threat to the growth of democracy in Africa but in enforcing these frameworks, it is often stuck between a rock and a hard place. It suggests, among others, the strengthening of the enforcement mechanisms of the organization

NIGÉRIA PÓS-AUTORITÁRIA: DEMOCRATIZANDO SOB CORRUPÇÃO GENERALIZADA

This article, adopting descriptive, historical and analytical methods of inquiry and using the post-authoritarian Nigeria as research backdrop, examines the contours and terrains of democratization processes, in Africa, under condition of pervasive corruption. It observes that democratic institutions, in Nigeria since the termination of the authoritarian order in 1999, have performed abysmally in checking the incidences of corruption contrary to the expectations in the donor community, based on the experiences of the advanced democracies, that democracy and its appurtenances once launched, could reduced the incidence of corruption. It notes and argues that this state of affairs is not unconnected to a non-autonomous and a prebendal state, which offers almost limitless opportunities for official corruption to thrive.   Este artigo, adotando métodos descritivos, históricos e analíticos de investigação e utilizando a Nigéria pós-autoritária como pano de fundo da investigação, examina os contornos e terrenos dos processos de democratização na África, sob condições de corrupção generalizada. Observa-se que as instituições democráticas na Nigéria, desde a cessação da ordem autoritária em 1999, têm tido um desempenho abismal na verificação dos casos de corrupção, contrariamente às expectativas da comunidade de doadores, com base nas experiências das democracias avançadas, de que a democracia e os seus apetrechos, uma vez lançados, poderiam reduzir a incidência da corrupção. Ele observa e argumenta que esta situação não está desligada de um Estado não autônomo e prebendal, que oferece oportunidades quase ilimitadas para que a corrupção oficial prospere