Separation of oil palm kernel and shell mixture using soil and palm ash slurries

This study investigated the possibility of separating oil palm kernel and shell mixture using media other than clay in wet separation. The separation efficiency of each medium ["Ikwube" (anthill), palm ash and sandy loam soil] was compared with that of clay. The effect of media type, specific gravity of the slurry, pH and slurry viscosity on the efficiency of separation were studied. The media/water ratio of 0.20:1, 0.30:1, 0.40:1, and 0.50:1 by weight were prepared in four aluminum pots for each medium at a time and each used to separate 20kg of cracked nut (palm kernel and shell mixture). The specific gravity and viscosity increases with increase in media/water ratio while the pH decreases. Higher slurry viscosity resulted in a better separation but there is decrease in the efficiency when viscosity is above 3.5 and 5.5 cP for clay and "Ikwube" respectively. The suitable media slurries were found to have specific gravities between 1.04 and 1.12. The optimum condition in which separation efficiency was found in the media/water ratio of 0.30:1. Among the media used, "Ikwube" was found to be comparable to clay at a medium-to-water ratio of 0.30:1 giving 98.93% efficiency. Thus, it is recommended that "Ikwube" can be used in place of clay for wet separation.Key words: Oil Palm Kernel, Kernel Shell, Separation, Clay Soil, “Ikwube” (anthill)

Cross-Border Transmission of Interest Rate Shocks: A VAR Analysis of the Nigerian Economy

This paper examined if interest rate shocks from the U.S are transmitted to Nigeria. For this purpose, we collected data on four Nigerian variables (real GDP, CPI, exchange rate and interest rate) and two foreign variables (U.S FFR and the world CPI) for the period 1983-2011. The impulse response analysis of our VAR model shows that Nigerian variables respond insignificantly to shocks from foreign variables. We therefore concluded that shocks in Nigeria are basically home-made.  We recommended that monetary authorities in Nigeria should base their policy making on domestic shocks, as considering external factors might mislead them. Keywords: Interest rate shock, International transmission, Nigeria, U.S.A., VAR

A Survey of Studies on Money Demand and Inflation Amidst Banking Crisis

The paper is borne out of the necessity to create a repository of information on monetary effects of banking crisis with a focus on money demand and inflation. To this end, the paper selectively reviews some empirical studies on money demand and inflation in the face of banking crisis. Overwhelming evidence reveals that money demand does not only increase during banking crisis but is also largely stable. The studies also suggest that long-run cointegrating relationship exists between money demand and its determining variables during banking crisis. However, evidence indicates that banking crisis makes inflation to decline or increase. These pattern of results were evident in developed and developing countries and from different methodologies applied. One policy implication from the survey is that during banking crisis monetary policy would be ineffective. The policy recommendation that can make monetary policy effective is to expand money supply and reduce interest rate for the productive sectors, particularly agricultural and manufacturing sectors

Economic Globalization: Its Impact on the Growth of Non-Oil Supply in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of economic globalization on the growth of non oil supply in Nigeria.  Specifically, it sought to find out how economic globalization has impacted on changing the structure of domestic production in favour of non oil supply in Nigeria in the period 1970-2011. The study employed ordinary least square (OLS) and Vector Error Correction Model (VEC) in a bid to delineate the long run relationship between growth of non-oil supply (NOX), economic globalization (proxied by index of openness) (OPN), relative prices (RP), gross domestic product (GDP), capital goods import (CG), world income (WI), exchange rate (EXR) and oil export (OX).  The results show that a 1% increase in economic globalization will grow non-oil supply by 36% but t-statistics of 1.115 is indicative of an insignificant impact both in the long run and short run.  Equally, a 1% increase each in GDP, RP, CG, and EXR will grow NOX by 108%, 012%, 004% and 08% respectively, while a 1% increase in WI and OX will depress the NOX by 149% and 02% respectively. The depressing effect of WI on NOX is indicative that WI elasticity for Nigerian NOX is negative, that is, as WI grows tastes and preferences change in favour of non Nigerian NOX.  The weak impact of CG in explaining the contemporaneous changes in the growth of NOX implies that the latter may increase in the short run without necessarily increasing the importation of the former – a good case for dependency driven Nigerian economy. Though diversification and increased openness are recommended, improving on the quality, packaging and marketing of Nigeria’s NOX is imperative in order to reverse the WI growth-Nigerian NOX demand relation and so gain from greater integration and trade. Keywords: Globalization, Non-oil supply, oil export, openness, GDP

Maximizing alcohol yields from wheat and maize and their co-products for distilling or bioethanol production

The key to optimizing alcohol production from cereals is a full understanding of the physiology and processing characteristics of different cereals. This study examined the maximum alcohol yields that can be obtained from wheat and maize using different processing technologies. Lower processing temperatures (85°C) resulted in high alcohol yields from wheat (a temperate crop), whereas higher processing temperatures (142°C) gave maximum alcohol yields from maize (a tropical crop). Similar trends were also observed when the spent grains from these cereals were processed using commercial enzymes. Mill settings were additional factors in influencing alcohol production. Wheat has the potential to produce higher alcohol yields when compared with maize, when residual biomass (i.e. spent grains) saccharification using selected commercial enzymes is taken into account. While this approach is not applicable for the Scotch whisky industry owing to strict legislation forbidding the use of exogenous enzymes, this is pertinent for bioethanol production to increase the alcohol yield obtained from both starch and lignocellulosic components of whole cereal grains. Wheat and maize processing temperatures and the use of processing aids are of potential economic benefit to bioethanol producers and to beverage alcohol producers seeking to understand the factors influencing the processing properties of different cereals

Effect of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) on the External Adnexia of the Rabbit Eye

SLS is an anionic surfactant used in the production of personal hygiene products such as tooth pastes, soaps, shampoos, shaving foam and other consumable related products. This study evaluated the effect of SLS on the tissues of the external adnexia of rabbit eye Varying doses of SLS (5mg/ml and 10mg/ml) was instilled on the eyes of New Zealand rabbits and the ocular status was observed for five days using a 20X magnification lens. It was observed that SLS was toxic to the external adnexia of the eye and caused some morphological changes. There was swelling of the eyelid, hyperemia in conjunctiva, tearing, discharge, photophobia and edema which were visible from up to day five with optimal changes on day three. The effect was dose dependent and more significant in animals instilled with 10mg/ml of SLS solution. The results suggest that SLS was toxic to the rabbit eye and increased dose could increase toxic effect on the eye. This study has exposed the effect of SLS to the eye and recommends minimal concentration in cosmetics and household hygienic detergents that can get direct contact with the eye

Presence Of Keratinophilic Fungi In Schools Playing Grounds In Sagamu

Abstract: A total of 80 soil samples was examined from 10 school playinggrounds in Sagamu city for the isolation and identification of keratinophilicfungi using hair baiting technique. Results from this study revealed sixspecies of of organisms belonging to three different genera viz; Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichophyton. The prevalence rate of these organisms were Aspergillus niger 45 (15.56%), Aspergillus flavus 45(35.56%), Aspergillusfumigatus 45(15.56%), Pencillium species 45(15.56%),Trichophtyonrubum 45(11.11%) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes 45(6.65%). This studytherefore confirmed the biodynamism of the isolated organisms in theschools playing ground studied

A systematic CRISPR screen defines mutational mechanisms underpinning signatures caused by replication errors and endogenous DNA damage

Mutational signatures are imprints of pathophysiological processes arising through tumorigenesis. We generated isogenic CRISPR-Cas9 knockouts (Δ) of 43 genes in human induced pluripotent stem cells, cultured them in the absence of added DNA damage, and performed whole-genome sequencing of 173 subclones. ΔOGG1, ΔUNG, ΔEXO1, ΔRNF168, ΔMLH1, ΔMSH2, ΔMSH6, ΔPMS1, and ΔPMS2 produced marked mutational signatures indicative of being critical mitigators of endogenous DNA modifications. Detailed analyses revealed mutational mechanistic insights, including how 8-oxo-dG elimination is sequence-context-specific while uracil clearance is sequence-context-independent. Mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency signatures are engendered by oxidative damage (C>A transversions), differential misincorporation by replicative polymerases (T>C and C>T transitions), and we propose a 'reverse template slippage' model for T>A transversions. ΔMLH1, ΔMSH6, and ΔMSH2 signatures were similar to each other but distinct from ΔPMS2. Finally, we developed a classifier, MMRDetect, where application to 7,695 WGS cancers showed enhanced detection of MMR-deficient tumors, with implications for responsiveness to immunotherapies

Examination of the effects of a new compression garment on skin tissue oxygenation in healthy volunteers

Objective: Compression devices have been shown to reduce venous stasis, increase blood flow and skin tissue oxygenation (StO2), promoting healthy tissue. This study aimed to explore the efficacy of a new compression garment in three different positions in healthy adults. Methods: In this quantitative study, potential participants were screened and recruited using the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q, Canada). Participants attended three separate, one-hour sessions to evaluate StO2 in supine-lying, chair-sitting and long-sitting positions. StO2 was recorded for 20 minutes pre-, during and post- a 20-minute intervention using a compression garment, TributeWrap (Lohmann-Rauscher, Germany). A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was followed by post-hoc pairwise comparisons. Results: A total of 28 healthy volunteers took part (aged 24.6 ±8.4years; 13 males, 15 females). A significant difference was seen between the three positions (p<0.001). Chair-sitting had the lowest StO2 pre-intervention, increasing StO2 significantly (32.25%, p<0.001) during wear of the compression garment (24.8% higher than baseline post-intervention). No significant difference was seen between long sitting and supine-lying (p=1.000). In contrast, long-sitting and supine-lying StO2 was higher pre-intervention compared with chair-sitting and only increased post-intervention (11% and 16.8% respectively, p<0.001) compared with baseline. Conclusion: The compression garment significantly increased StO2 levels in both seating positions. Further studies are required to determine if increasing StO2 through short intervention sessions with this device has the potential to improve self-management of tissue health in individuals with reduced mobility, oedema or venous insufficiency

Banana as adjunct in beer production: applicability and performance of fermentative parameters

Traditionally, the raw materials for beer production are barley, hops, water, and yeast, but most brewers use also different adjuncts. During the alcoholic fermentation, the contribution of aroma compounds from other ingredients to the final beer flavor depends on the wort composition, on the yeast strain, and mainly on the process conditions. In this context, banana can also be a raw material favorable to alcoholic fermentation being rich in carbohydrates and minerals and providing low acidity. In this work, the objective was to evaluate the performance of wort adjusted with banana juice in different concentrations. For this, static fermentations were conducted at 15 °C at pilot scale (140 L of medium). The addition of banana that changed the concentration of all-malt wort from 10 °P to 12 and 15 °P were evaluated (°P is the weight of the extract or the sugar equivalent in 100 g solution, at 20 °C). The results showed an increase in ethanol production, with approximately 0.4 g/g ethanol yield and 0.6 g/L h volumetric productivity after 84 h of processing when concentrated wort was used. Thus, it was concluded that banana can be used as an adjunct in brewing methods, helping in the development of new products as well as in obtaining concentrated worts.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)EMATER-MGJohnson-DiverseyFapesp (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/Brasil)Wallerstein Industrial & CommercialNovozymesCAPES (Coordenação para Aperfeiçoamento do Ensino Superior/ Brasil)Malteria do ValeGRICES (Gabinete de Relações Internacionais da Ciência e do Ensino Superior/Portugal