Assessment of Activity Concentration and Health Effects of Radiation Exposure from Dumpsite Soil Samples Within Kaduna Metropolis, Nigeria

The concentration of naturally occurring radionuclides 238U, 232Th and 40K in soil samples from eighteen selected dumpsites within Kaduna metropolis  were analyzed using NaI(Tl) γ– spectrometry in order to determine their activities and assess the potential radiological health hazards associated with the  soils. In comparison with the recommended limit, activity concentrations of the radionuclide 40K are higher than the worldwide average value in four  of the sites while 238U is higher than the world average value in six of the sites. Whereas for 232Th, values were below the recommended average  value in all except two sites. To assess the radiological hazards of the soil samples, twelve radiological and health hazard indices were calculated. The  results indicated that in twelve out of the eighteen sites analyzed, some of the health hazard parameters were higher than the recommended levels.  Hence, there is a fingering potential radiological hazard directly associated with the soils from these twelve locations. In the remaining six sites, the  hazard parameters were below the recommended average level, and poses no health risk to people living around the sites. A comparison between the  values obtained from dumpsites and that obtained from the control site shows that the effect of NORM on dumpsite is considerably less significant to  NORM from farming locations as a result of extensive use of fertilizers and chemicals during the farming seasons.&nbsp

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES CONSTITUTING HINDRANCES TO ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL DESIGN IN SELECTED SHOPPING MALLS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The introduction of Universal Design in the field of architecture has brought about a change in design approach, from planning for normal situations that do not usually cater for all user groups, to designing to accommodate the needs of everyone from the planning stage. This study investigated architectural features constituting hindrances to achieving Universal Design in selected shopping malls in Lagos State, Nigeria, with a view to making contributions on how to enhance accessibility and usability in such buildings for all user groups, regardless of their ability or inability, towards promoting social inclusion in the development of public environments. The study adopted a qualitative research approach that gathered data with an observation guide designed for the study in four selected shopping malls in the study area. The data was content analysed, and the result presented using a descriptive approach with the aid of photographic images for easy understanding. Several architectural features were discovered to constitute hindrances to achieve Universal Design in the malls. The said features were mostly accessibility features useful for people with disabilities to gain access to use the buildings on equal terms with able-bodied individuals. In addition to recommending retrofitting of the malls with appropriate accessible features where they are lacking or inappropriately provided, the study recommended that the building industry design professionals should pay more attention to such areas in the planning of future schemes, towards achieving social inclusion in the development of public environments. The study is useful for better understanding of issues pertaining to developing inclusive public environments

PROXIMATE, PHYTOCHEMICAL, AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF “UZA-AKWUAGWORAGWO” TRADITIONAL FOOD OF NKANU PEOPLE IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Proximate, phytochemical, and sensory evaluation of “uza-akwuagworagwo” traditional food were investigated using standard methods. Proximate composition result revealed the presence of moisture (10.00±1.90%), crude fiber (17.87±1.10%), and crude protein (39.81±2.84%). Phytochemicals found present were alkaloids (1.71±0.10 mg/100g), flavonoids (3.68±0.00 mg/100g), and tannins (0.64±0.12 mg/100g). Sensory evaluation attributes of the food such as appearance (5.31±0.29), taste (7.00±1.02), color (6.22±0.92) and overall acceptability (6.10±0.31) were also observed in the study. The high protein content of the studied food could mean that it can contribute significantly to daily protein requirement of the body when consumed. The low levels of phytochemicals found in the food could be an added health advantage. The sensory evaluation of the food compares to those of other traditional foods. This study has revealed the proximate, phytochemical, and sensory evaluation of “uza-akwuagworagwo” traditional food of Nkanu people in Enugu State, Nigeria

Using Data Analytics to Derive Business Intelligence: A Case Study

The data revolution experienced in recent times has thrown up new challenges and opportunities for businesses of all sizes in diverse industries. Big data analytics is already at the forefront of innovations to help make meaningful business decisions from the abundance of raw data available today. Business intelligence and analytics has become a huge trend in todays IT world as companies of all sizes are looking to improve their business processes and scale up using data driven solutions. This paper aims to demonstrate the data analytical process of deriving business intelligence via the historical data of a fictional bike share company seeking to find innovative ways to convert their casual riders to annual paying registered members. The dataset used is freely available as Chicago Divvy Bicycle Sharing Data on Kaggle. The authors used the RTidyverse library in RStudio to analyse the data and followed the six data analysis steps of ask, prepare, process, analyse, share, and act to recommend some actionable approaches the company could adopt to convert casual riders to paying annual members. The findings from this research serve as a valuable case example, of a real world deployment of BIA technologies in the industry, and a demonstration of the data analysis cycle for data practitioners, researchers, and other potential users

Toward Sustainable Power Supply and Consumption of an Emerging Economy (Nigeria)

Electricity supply offers significant and immense benefits to human society, and it is instrumental in driving economic growth, increased standard of living and technological developments. Its sustainable supply and consumption is related to many ecological discussions, and thus, present emphasis on renewable sources, such as solar and hydro. In Nigeria, however, challenges associated with electricity generation, transmission, distribution and consumption have not been adequately tackled. Poor electricity supply has adversely impacted the economy resulting to poor production, higher prices of goods and services, closure of industries, and loss of competitive advantage of Nigerian businesses. Conversely, energy-inefficient and non-conservation consumption behaviour of Nigerian electricity consumers contributes to the electricity demand - demand gap. Energy-efficiency and conservation is a sustainable tool for efficient power system. The paper show that the use of mostly post-paid and unmetered billing system is implicated in energy-inefficient consumption. The paper advocates for deployment of pre-paid meters to every electricity consumer; fiscal management, enforcement of energy saving policies such as use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL); and emphasis on renewable energy (hydro and solar) sources, for electricity generation

Toxicities of selected medicinal plants and floras of lower phyla

The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxic effects associated with the administration of aqueous extracts (AE) of Calliandra portoricensis (CP), Dracaena arborea (DA), Duranta repens (DR), Polytrichum juniperinum (PJ), Parmelia caperata (PC), and Nostartium officinale (NO) on Wistar rats. LD50 for each plant was obtained prior to administration. Seven groups of six rats each were orally gavaged for 28 days as follows; group 1–7 received normal rat pellets and saline, in addition, group 2 received 20 mg/kg b.w CP, group 3 & 4 respectively received 8 mg/kg b.w DA and DR, group 5 & 6 respectively received 4 mg/ kg b.w PJ and PC, and group 7 received 100 mg/kg b.w NO. Liver enzymes; ALP, ALT, AST and GGT were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated by CP, DR, PJ and PC extracts. All the extracts caused significant alterations of the total protein, albumin and globulin levels. The urea levels were deranged by all the extracts while CP, PJ, PC, and NO extracts caused no significant effects on the creatinine levels. Both DR and NO deranged the serum electrolytes; Na, K, Cl, and HCO3. Results for the lipid profile showed that all extracts significantly altered the phosphatidate phosphohydrolase and LDL levels while no significant effects were observed in the VLDL, TG, TC, HDL, cardiac risk ratio, arterogenic coefficients, and arterogenic index of plasma, of NO treated rats. For hematological parameters DR, PJ, and PC significantly deranged the RBC, HGB, MCHC, MCV, and MCH concentrations while the neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils were significantly altered on administration of all the extracts. No significant effects were observed on the platelets and plateletcrit level in rats gavaged with CP, whereas the MPV, PDW, and PCT concentrations werederanged by DR extracts. CP and NO caused no alterations in the MDA, GSH, and GST levels whereas the SOD, GPx, and xanthine oxidase levels were significantly deranged by all the plant extracts. Only NO treatment produced catalase, glutathione reductase, and xanthine dehydrogenase levels equivalent to the control group. This study has shown various degrees of deleterious effects on biochemical parameters associated with the consumption of these plants, thus raising serious concerns over their continuous applications as local medicaments.Keywords:  Toxicity, Calliandra portoricensis, Dracaena arborea, Duranta repens Polytrichum juniperinum, Parmelia caperata, Nostartium officinale, Liver, Electrolytes, Phosphaditate phosphohyrolase, Platelets, Xanthine dehydrogenas

Monosaccharide Distribution of Soils on a Toposequence in the Humid Tropical Rainforest, Southeastern, Nigeria

Soil monosaccharide distribution provides useful information about its carbohydrate origin and tendency for carbon sequestration. Monosaccharide (glucose, galactose, mannose, arabinose and xylose) distribution of soils on a toposequence in Mbano, southeastern, Nigeria was estimated by extracting 1g soil with 25 mls of 80% hot alcohol. Experimental design was a 2 x 3 x 5 factorial of horizon, physiography and monosaccharides in a randomized complete block setup with 3 replications. Also monosaccharide contents were correlated and regressed with soil properties. Mean monosaccharide contents averaged over horizons and physiography varied as 0.03, 0.07, 0.68, 0.74 and 0.88% in increasing order of glucose < galactose < mannose < xylose < arabinose. Also, averaged over horizon and monosaccharides, mean values were 0.62, 0.79 and 0.98% in increasing sequence of toe-slope < summit < mid-slope physiographic positions. Averaged over physiographic positions and monosaccharide contents, concentrations  of AB (0.670%) was distinctly (LSD 0.05) better than A (0.30%) horizons. Galactose+mannose/arabinose+xylose and mannose/xylose ratios were less than unity indicating that the carbohydrates were of plant origin. Also, mean arabinose/xylose and xylose/mannose ratios were greater than unity, signifying fresh plant tissues with high decomposition rates respectively. Soil monosaccharides correlated (P < 0.05) with the bulk density, clay, ECEC, moisture content, pH, total porosity, P and organic carbon with less than 20% of the monosaccharides accounted by the soil properties. In general, the soil carbohydrates originated from fresh rapidly decomposing plant tissues with poor tendency for carbon sequestration. Keywords: Monosaccharide, toposequence, carbon sequestration, humid tropics and southeastern Nigeri

Dyslipidemias in normotensive and hypertensive individuals.

The present work was carried out to compare the effects of age and antihypertensive therapy on lipid profile in hypertensive and normotensive individuals. A total of 150 individuals were used for the study.100 hypertensive under therapy were used and 50 normotensive served as control. Serum lipid (Cholesterol (T -chol) , triglyceride (TG), Phospholipids (PL),High density lipoprotein( HDL-chol ), Low density lipoprotein( LDLchol) and very low density lipoprotein (VLD L- chol) were biochemical parameters monitored. The normotensive studied had mean age of 50 \ub1 11 years and blood pressure of 117 \ub1 6 / 77\ub1 6 mmHg. The hypertensive had mean age of 55 \ub1 10 years and blood pressure of 177\ub125 /103 \ub1 10 mmHg. The study revealed that there was a highly significant effect of age on total cholesterol in hypertensive than normotensive individuals .The mean total cholesterol (T -chol) and triglyceride (TG) were (156\ub111, and 59 \ub1 4) mg/dl respectively for the normotensives; and hypertensive the means were 166 \ub1 13 for the T \u2013chol and 66\ub1 7 mg/dl for triglyceride (P<0.05). Similarly, a significant lower phospholipids level of 158\ub18 mg /dl was obtained for normotensives, hypertensives had a mean (165\ub1 11 mg/dl, P<0.05). However, HDL-chol was lower in hypertensives (57\ub1 10) mg/dl than in normotensives (64\ub1 13) mg/dl). Hypertensive patients also recorded higher mean values of LDL-chol (95\ub1 17) mg/dl than the normotensives with mean values of 81\ub1 15 mg/dl for LDL- chol. Marginally higher level of VLD L- chol was observed in hypertensive patients as well compared to normotensive individuals VLD L- chol(13\ub1 2)mg/dl and 12 \ub1 1 mg/dl for VLD Lchol(P<0.05). \ua9 JASE

Characterization of oils from Duranta repens

The knowledge of the chemical composition of unpopular sources of edible oils has become paramount to supplement the usage of widely known vegetable oils. In this study, the gas chromatographic quantification of fatty acids and phytochemicals was carried out, and the physicochemical and micronutrient composition of Duranta repens leaf and seed oil were evaluated using standard methods. The leaf oils contained significantly higher (p  oleic > myristic > stearic > capric > linoleic > lauric > palmitoleic for the seed oil, while for the leaf oil linoleic > palmitoleic > oleic > stearic > palmitic > myristic > capric > lauric > myristoleic. The major phytochemical constituents of the seed oils were catechin (68.12 ug/ml), saponin (44.03 ug/ml), rutin (32.89 ug/ml), linamarin (22.66 ug/ml) and tannins (19.62 ug/ml), while kaempherol (84.05 ug/ml), rutin (62.26 ug/ml) and saponins (45.63 ug/ml) were mostly predominant in the leaf oil. Spartein, anthocyanins and phytates were among the least phytochemicals in composition, for both samples. These chemical properties evaluated, suggest that Duranta repens seed oil is more suitable for industrial and therapeutic purposes