Development of a Voice Controlled Electric Wheelchair to Aid the Movement of the Physically Challenged

Nigeria is said to have the highest number of physically challenged in Africa and second only to India in the world. Traditional Electrical Wheel Chair has some limitations. In order to assist the physically handicapped, this paper presents the development of a voice controlled wheelchair. The user can control the wheelchair by voice commands, such as “jagaba (go forward)” in Hausa. A grammar-based recognition parser was used in the system. The system comprises of a wheelchair motorize by a DC motor, works on inputs such as voice commands via an android phone and navigates according to the command and battery powered. Voice command input was taken from android mobile and converted into text which is transmitted to microcontroller via Bluetooth module to control the operation of DC motors. Also an IR detection system was used to detect the obstacle in the path of wheelchair to avoid its collision. The chair enables the handicapped person to independently move around. A running experiment with three (3) persons was carried out on speech recognition. 95.4% and 94.0% of the movement command and the verification command were obtained respectively. Keywords: Control, Home Navigation System, Microcontroller, Physically Challenged, Voice Command, Voice Recognition and Wheelchair

Determination and stability constants of Manganese (II) amino acid complexes

The stepwise and the overall stability constants of the complexes formed by manganese (II) ion and twelve (12) amino acids have been determined. The dissociation constants, pKa, of the amino acids determined are; alanine (10.29), arginine (12.02), asparagine (9.39), glycine (9.87), histidine (7.01), lysine (9.28), methionine (9.68), phenyalanine (9.61), proline (10.54), threonine (10.31), tryptophan (9.77), and valine (9.99). The average number of amino acids coordinated to manganese (II) ion determined is 3. The Stepwise Stability Constants of manganese (II) amino acid complexes determined were found to decrease in the order K1 > K2 > K3 for all the complexes. The values of the overall stability constants of the complexes obtained are relatively high indicating good stability for the complexes. Keywords: Amino acids, dissociation constant, potentiometry, stability constan

Stability constant of the trisglycinto metal complexes

The stability constants of iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel complexes of glycine have been determined in aqueous solution by potentiometric titration with standard sodium hydroxide solution. The values of the stepwise stability constants were obtained by ORIGIN ‘50’ program. The overall stability constants of the complexes were found to be similar. Keywords: Glycinato, titration, stepwise stability constants, origin ‘50’ and toxicit

Potentiometric Study of Trismethioninato Complexes of some Essential Transition Metals

Potentiometric study of methionine complexes of chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel was carried out in aqueous media by titrating with standard sodium hydroxide solution. The values of the stepwise and overall stability constant were obtained by new computational method, ‘ORIGIN 50’. The values of the stepwise stability constants of the complexes were found in general to follow the order K1 > K2 > K3 and that of the overall constants, logβ to be in the range 26.55 – 28.73

In vitro regeneration of hybrid plantlets of cashew (Anacardium occidentale l) through embryo culture

Embryos from immature nuts of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) were cultured in vitro to regenerate improved hybrid plantlets. Explants (embryo) were excised from developing F1 hybrid immature nuts derived from diallel cross and harvested at 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-weeks after pollination (WAPo) for in vitro culture. The explants were surface sterilized, aseptically dissected and cultured into pure basal Murashige and Skoog (MS) agar medium and MS medium supplemented with 1 mM each of naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), benzyladenine (BA) and gibberellic acid (GA3) and subsequently observed for germination and survival rates until successful ones were transferred to the field. Age of explants was found to significantly influence both the germination and survival rates. Explants of 6 weeks old and above were found to give better germination rate and highest survival percentage in this study. Only MS medium supplemented with 1 mM of gibberellic acid (MS+GA3) supported germination and growth at 2-WAPo, suggesting the essentiality of GA3 as a growth regulator to a very young cashew embryo. Analysis also showed that factors such as medium composition, age of embryo and genotype (accession) significantly influence the germination rate of cashew embryo. It was observed that cashew embryos were found to be autonomy of growth regulator as the age increases and medium composition is only critical at very young age of the embryo. Successful germinated explants simultaneously produced shoot and root and were ready for transfer to field and acclimatization, between 90 and 112 days after inoculation.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 548-553, 200

Genetic And Environmental Factors Affecting Growth Traits Of Goats In Semi Arid Area Of Nigeria

Growth performance of 194 kids of Sahel (S), Red Sokoto (RS) and West African Dwarf (WAD) breeds of goats from birth to 9 months of age was studied. Effect of breed was significant (

Role of Prebiotic, Probiotic and Symbiotic Diets on Bacterial proliferation in Feed and Intestine of African (Clarias gariepinus) Catfish

The influence of prebiotic, probiotic and symbiotic diet on microbial proliferation was studied using an in vitro method. In the present trial, formulated diets were supplemented with prebiotic (Sargassum muticum), probiotic (Parkia biglobosa) and combination of Parkia biglobosa and Sargassum muticum (symbiotic diet). Bacteria proliferation in supplemented feeds, small and large intestine of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus fed the formulated diets were evaluated. The feeding trial that lasted 12 weeks was conducted in plastic aquaria, with each treatment replicated three times. A control diet containing only the feed ingredients was also formulated and fed for the same period. The result showed bacteria proliferation was lowest in the control diet and highest in feed supplemented with prebiotic. Low bacteria proliferation was observed in the small intestine of fish fed symbiotic diet while highest proliferation was recorded in the fish fed prebiotic diet. The result also revealed the lowest bacteria proliferation in the large intestine of fish fed symbiotic diet and highest in fish fed probiotic diet. Using the cell morphology and biochemical characteristics of bacteria isolates in supplemented feed, Clarias gariepinus small and large intestine, the result indicated the presence of some Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) known to produce a variety of antimicrobial substances which are able to stop the development of foodborne diseases by inhibiting the growth of food spoilage and pathogenic organisms

Evaluation of concentrate, grass and legume combinations on performance and nutrient digestibility of grower rabbits under tropical conditions

Thirty-five (35) grower crossbred rabbits were randomly allocated to seven combinations of concentrate, grass and legume in proportions of 50 g:60 g:40 g in a completely randomized design. Thetreatments were: (1) rabbit meal, Rhodes grass and groundnut haulms (RRG), (2) rabbit meal, Rhodes grass and sweet potato vines (RRP), (3) rabbit meal, Rhodes grass and soybean forage (RRS), (4)Soybean cheese waste meal, Rhodes grass and groundnut haulms (SRG), (5) Soybean cheese waste meal, Rhodes grass and sweet potato vines (SRP), (6) Soybean cheese waste meal, Rhodes grass andsoybean forage (SRS) and (7) rabbit meal and Rhodes grass (RR) constituted the control. The control consisted 100 g rabbit meal and 100 g Rhodes grass, which was the normal feeding regime. Diet had asignificant effect (P0.05) differences in daily weight gain forall the treatments. Feed cost/kg gain was, however, higher for rabbits fed RRP combination compared with the other treatments. Dry matter digestibility was higher (

Autism, surge in the prevalence and linkage with childhood vaccination - A Review

Autism a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by an abnormal child behaviour likeisolation, learning difficulties, general abnormality in communication and social reciprocity, inability to maintain eye contact or point at something, looking at thing with the peripheral vision and many other neurological disorders, the aetiology of autism is multifactorial including among other social, environmental, genetics, epigenetics andneurological factors, in recent years vaccines have drawn large interest of scientific community for its asserted role in the development of autism, this is largely due to the presence in higher concentration of a mercury containing compound thimerosal in many vaccines, and due to some evidence which link some vaccines including measles, mumps and rubella vaccines with autism, moreover several authentic scientific studies wereundertaken to falsified those findings. Here we critically review those assertion, examined some implicating component of vaccine and relate them with neurobiology of autism

Land suitability evaluation of Kubanni floodplain for rice production in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Land suitability evaluation analysis is necessary to achieve optimum management and utilization of available land resources for sustainable agricultural crop production. The objective of this study was to determine the suitability of Kubanni floodplain for rice production in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Qualitative and quantitative land suitability evaluation of two mapping units in Kubanni floodplain which covers an area of 11.6 ha was carried-out using the detailed soil survey method of classification.  Generally, the surface soil texture was sandy loam to loam. The soil  reactions were slightly acidic to neutral, organic carbon; available  phosphorus and total nitrogen were rated low. The CEC (NH4OAc) were  medium and base saturation was rated high while EC and ESP were low. Qualitatively, soil mapping units (KBI and KBII) were currently not suitable (N1) for rice production due to limitation imposed by soil chemical  properties. Quantitatively, soil mapping units (KBI and KBII) was also  currently not suitable (N1) while potentially KBII was marginally suitable  (S3). With proper soil fertility management, the potential of these soils can be raised to moderately suitable (S2) for rice through an increase in organic matter to improve soil structural development, drainage and aeration thereby improving the fertility of the soils.Keywords: Qualitative, Quantitative, Suitability, Floodplains, Rice