Assessment of Poor Resource Farmers’ Level of Awareness on Climate Change and Adaptation/Mitigation Strategies in Some Selected Rural Areas in Oyo State, Southwest, Nigeria

Climate change is a phenomenon that is currently in dire need of a wide range of publicity and other measures in order to adapt and mitigate its effect on the society. This study examined the level of climate change awareness among the poor resource farmers in some selected local government areas of Oyo state. A well structured questionnaire titled "Climate Change Awareness Questionnaire (CCAQ)" was administered on a sample of 240 households. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency counts and percentage as well as cross table analysis. Findings indicated that the level of climate change awareness was generally low among the resource poor farmers. Keywords: Climate change, Awareness, Adaptation strategies, Mitigation strategies

In-vitro ant sickling and sickling-reversal activities of Carica papaya fruit at different stages of ripening

Objective: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a haemoglobinopathy that causes several clinical complications. Unripe Carica papaya has been shown to possess ant sickling activity that could reduce these complications. This study aimed to examine the presence of ant sickling and sickling-reversal activities of aqueous extracts and ethyl acetate fractions of C. papaya fruit at different stages of ripening. Methods: Unripe, partly ripe, and fully ripe fruits were quantitatively screened for some phytochemicals using standard methods. Blood samples from sickle cell patients were used to investigate ant sickling and sickling reversal activities of aqueous extracts and ethyl acetate fractions of the fruits. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA. The p-value was set at 0.05. Results: Phytochemicals such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and polyphenols were found in varying concentrations in C. papaya fruit at the different stages of ripening. All extracts and fractions showed antisickling and sickling-reversal activities with the ethyl acetate fraction of partly ripe C. papaya being most effective.  Conclusion: The study showed that C. papaya fruit at different stages of ripening contains antisickling and sickling-reversal activities which may help reduce the associated complications of SCD when consumed by affected individuals

Economic Recession and the Way-Out: Nigeria as Case Study

Nigeria the hub of West Africa s economy has remained stagnant following the declaration of global economic and financial crisis which became major concerns for political leaders economists and managers of financial institutions across the globe It was later confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun that Nigeria s economy was officially declared to be in a technical recession based on the new trend figures released This study aimed at suggesting various measures for Nigeria s economic recovery Way-out of economic recession can be through the additive reforms of the following economic policies transport infrastructural development economic diversification with more emphasis on addressing the issue of local contents education research and innovation filtering externalities culture SMEs domestic products sound policy and anticorruption approaches lessons were drawn from Japan economic policies with emphasis on monetary and other policies Finally various recommendations were suggested for policy action

Cement Stabilized Structural Foundation Lateritic Soil with Bone Ash Powder as Additive

Investigation on the potentials of bone ash powder on cement stabilized structural foundation was carried out in this paper. The aim of the study was to discover local waste material as complement for cement to reduce construction cost. Three soil samples were collected from different borrow pits in Ile-Ife and Ibadan, Nigeria called sample A, B and C. Preliminary tests such as the natural moisture content, specific gravity, grain size analysis and Atterberg’s limits were performed on the samples at their natural states and when stabilized at the condition of 8, 8 and 6% cement for samples A, B and C respectively. Engineering tests such as compaction, California bearing ratio (CBR) and undrained traixial were also performed on them at their natural states, when stabilized with optimum cement and when bone ash powder (BAP) was introduced at 2, 4, 6 and 8% to the samples. The results of the engineering tests showed that BAP increased the maximum dry density (MDD) of all the samples. With the optimum cement content kept at 8% for samples A and B and 6% for sample C, the values increased from 1687.89 to 2219.05 kg/m3 and 1634.12 to 2174.71 kg/m3 at 4% in samples A and B respectively and 1521.59 to 1620.70 kg/m3 in sample C at 2% BAP content. The unsoaked CBR values of all the cement stabilized samples dropped with BAP contents. The values dropped from 4.79 to 1.79%, 3.88 to 2.31% and 4.84 to 2.43% respectively in samples A, B and C. However, the shear strengths of samples A and B increased from 604.77 to 740.09 kN/m2 and 317.73 to 616.05 kN/m2 respectively. It was therefore concluded that BAP is not an effective additive on cement stabilized structural foundation soil, except in the compaction and shear strength characteristics

African Enslaving Africans: Human Sex Trafficking as a Trans-National Crime; The Edo-Italy Relations

Africans have for a long time blamed Europeans for their enslavement and exploitation and have dubbed their interactions with Europeans as the reason for Africa s underdevelopment However this is an age where Africans under-develops Africa and enslave their kinsmen by turning them into commodities and transporting them to Europe for sexual slavery and exploitation Edo state has been reputed to be the recruitment hub of these slaves and this has earned Nigeria a negative label by international human rights organisations It is therefore the aim of this work to probe the causes and implications of sexual trafficking in Nigeria and proffer possible solutions to the menac

Pastoralism as a New Phase of Terrorism in Nigeria

The need to feed livestock of herdsmen necessitates their migration from their communities due to inadequate pastures to other communities and this has led to the trespass of these pastoralists to the farmlands of local agriculturalists and destruction of their crops thereby leading to conflict This study therefore analyses the causes evolution dynamics and solutions to the conflicts generated from the farmersherdsmen clashes in Nigeria The study also recommends the formulation of national livestock development policy effective community policing model demarcation of livestock grazing reserves provision of constitutional roles and recognition for traditional rulers and convening of stakeholders conference on nomadic pastoralism as strategies for ensuring peac

On the Generalized Pareto Probability Density Function of the Mean Annual Rainfall of Katsina State

This work was accomplished to assess the rainfall probability density function (pdf) of Katsina State and adopt the most parsimonious density function using 2003 – 2018 rainfall data from the Nigeria Institute of Meteorological Services. The data were subjected to cleaning, descriptive statistics and investigation of five distribution functions (General pareto, general extreme value, Gumbel maximum, Uniform and Normal distribution) through parameterizations. The results intimated that Daura experienced the highest mean annual rainfall ranging between 75.667 mm for 2003 and 82.417 mm for 2018. Both Dutsin-Ma and Safana local Government returned the least mean annual rainfall alternately and it ranged between 57.500 mm (2009 rainfall for Dutsin-Ma) and 67.167 mm for 2018 mean annual rainfall of Safana.  The order of performance of the five (5) prominent pdf in each of the sites differs but the Generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) ranked highest across all the sites. The distribution characteristics for the GPD (the most parsimonious of the pdf) are, mean = 61.15098 (Duara), 58.93371 (Dutsinma) and 79.20851 (Safana) and variance of 9212.603 (Duara), 6709.908 (Dutsinma) and 6687.102 (Safana).  The examination of the visual analysis of the residuals of the mean annual rainfall indicated that only the mean rainfall for Dutsin-Ma gave the most precise parameter estimates

Optimization of enzymatic digestibility of sodium hydroxide- hydrogen peroxide oxidative pretreated siam weed for reducing sugar production

This study evaluated the enzymatic conversion of alkaline peroxide oxidative pretreatment of an invasive lignocellulosic biomass (siam weed) to reducing sugar, amenable to further microbial effects at the downstream processing. Using a statistical design of experiments approach (response surface methodology), optimum pretreatment conditions of 43.7 oC, 9.3 h, and 0.4% H2O2 , and enzymatic hydrolysis conditions of 25 FPU cellulase/g treated biomass, 50 oC hydrolysis temperature, 2% biomass loading, and 72 h hydrolysis period, 391.3 mg/g reducing sugar yield was achieved and validated. At the optimized pretreatment and enzymatic conditions, the conversion of treated biomass to untreated biomass was about a 6-fold increase

Effect of Groundnut Shell Ash on Laterite Soils Stabilized with Lime for Civil Structures

This research considered the viability of groundnut shell ash (GSA) on lime stabilized lateritic soil for roadway structural works. Three samples of lateritic soil named samples A, B and C were gathered from Idita-Mokuro, NTA-Mokuro and ETF burrow pits individually, in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Preliminary tests were completed on the samples in their natural states and when stabilized with optimum lime. Engineering tests were performed while varying rates of GSA were added to the soil samples at optimum lime. The Atterberg limits tests showed a significant reduction in plasticity index for samples A and C when stabilized with lime. Compaction test showed a decrease in the maximum dry density from 1685kg/m3 to 1590kg/m3 for sample A, 1599kg/m3 to 1512kg/m3 for sample B and 1396kg/m3 to 1270kg/m3 for sample C on stabilizing with lime, introduction of GSA to stabilized lime-soil diminishes the maximum dry density for all the soil samples with sample A reduced to 1435kg/m3, 1385kg/m3, and 1350kg/m3 at 2, 4 and 6% GSA contents respectively. Addition of GSA contents improved the engineering properties of lime stabilized soils as the unsoaked CBR esteems expanded for all soil samples. At optimum lime dosage, addition of 2%  GSA content expanded the triaxial shear strength from 60.43kN/m2 to 188.36kN/m2 for sample A, and at 4% GSA content, both soil samples B and C increased from 19.19kN/m2 to 201.48kN/m2 and 30.62kN/m2 to 111.65kN/m2 respectively. Conclusively, groundnut shell ash improved the toughness and strength of lime stabilized lateritic soil for highway structural works. is compulsory. First sentence describes the nature or the background information on the field of study. Subsequent sentences provide the problem statement or objectives and scope of the research. Next sentences explain the methods and materials used in the work. Main results and important findings are then highlighted. Finally, a summary of conclusions is put forth. Length of abstract can be proportional to the length of the articl

Tracking local brittle zone in the heat affected zone of girth-welded API 5L x46 pipe

In this study, microhardness variation as well as macro and micro structural examination of the heat affected zone (HAZ) of a girth welded API 5L X46 pipeline material were conducted as a means of tracking local brittle zone (LBZ) in the HAZ region. The weldment analysed were built from heat input range of 695 J/mm – 2567 J/mm. Analysis of the results revealed that the HAZ profile changes with variation in the heat input and becomes shallow but wider as the heat input increases. Defects free welds were achieved under the heat input range of 1650 J/mm – 2017 J/mm welding condition. Localized high hardness values were obtained at certain locations within the HAZ of intermediate heat input welds produced at 1467 J/mm due to thermal stresses induced strains at this heat input in the resolidified weld. Other than this, non-equilibrium rapid heating/cooling that is common during welding as well as the magnitude of mechanical strain generated on cooling vary with heat input and was attributed to the development of high hardness value at localized region within the HAZ of the welds in low heat input welding condition. The macrographic profile at these locations, contrasted against that of a failed pipeline material of similar specification obtained from typical oil and gas infrastructure, established that crack initiation and propagation followed the trend of microhardness variations in the girth welded pipe. The crack initiates at specific location in the HAZ with very high hardness in the range 186-216 Hv within a radius of about 3-5 mm from the edge of the fusion zone. Keywords: API 5L X46; Girth welding; Heat input; Heat affected zone; Local brittle zone