ASSESSMENT OF NOISE POLLUTION FROM SAWMILL ACTIVITIES IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

This study examined noise pollution from sawmilling in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria. Noise measurements wer using HD600 digital data logging sound level meter in conjunction with structured questionnaire which was designed to elicit noise related information. The results of the study showed that the background noise within the sawmills was 58.1-64.86 dB(A) while machine equivalent noise the noise measurements are above the recommended limit of 85 dB(A) and these high noise intensities can initiateor perpetuate some work related health challenges. sawmill noise on the metropolis was developed. disturbed and complain of noise-related ailments such as tinnitus (96.6%), headache (86.6%) and hearing impairment (71.9%). Therefore noise prevention and control strategies are suggested in addition to frequent audiometric tests, training, education, and enforcement of noise regulations

Proximate Composition and Amino Acid Profile of Raw and Cooked Black Variety of Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) Grown in Northeast Nigeria

Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) is an underutilized tuber of family Cyperaceae which produces rhizomes from the base of the tuber that is somewhat spherical. The three varieties of yellow, brown and black tiger nut are grown in Nigeria. Proximate and amino acid compositions of raw and cooked black variety of Cyperus esculentus were investigated using standard analytical techniques. The respective proximate composition values (%) for the raw and cooked samples were: Moisture (3.73 and 4.66), ash (2.57 and 3.38), crude fat (8.94 and 9.92), crude protein (12.09 and 9.25), crude fibre (7.02 and 4.52), and carbohydrate (65.66 and 69.29). The calculated fatty acids and metabolizable energy for the raw and cooked samples were 7.15 and 7.94%; 1652.53 and 1702.22 kJ/100g, respectively. The values of metabolizable energy in this study showed that both samples have energy concentrations more favourable than cereals. The amino acid profile revealed that raw and cooked samples of Cyperus esculentus contained nutritionally useful quantities of most of the essential amino acids with total essential amino acid (TEAA) (with His) were 45.69 and 48.25%, respectively. The value of predicted protein efficiency ratio (P–PER) for the raw tuber was 2.77, the value is higher than the reported P–PER values of some legumes in the literature. However, essential amino acid supplementation may be required in Ile, Leu, TSAA and Val when comparing the EAA in this report with the recommended FAO/WHO provisional pattern. The limiting EAAs in the raw and cooked Cyperus esculentus tuber were Leu and TSAA, respectively. Keywords: Proximate, amino acids, tigernu

The influence of socioeconomic status on women's preferences for modern contraceptive providers in Nigeria: a multilevel choice modeling

Background: Contraceptives are one of the most cost effective public health interventions. An understanding of the factors influencing users' preferences for contraceptives sources, in addition to their preferred methods of contraception, is an important factor in increasing contraceptive uptake. This study investigates the effect of women’s contextual and individual socioeconomic positions on their preference for contraceptive sources among current users in Nigeria. Methods: A multilevel modeling analysis was conducted using the most recent 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys data of women aged between 15 and 49 years old. The analysis included 1,834 ever married women from 888 communities across the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. Three outcome variables, private, public, and informal provisions of contraceptive sources, were considered in the modeling. Results: There was variability in women's preferences for providers across communities. The result shows that change in variance accounted for about 31% and 19% in the odds of women's preferences for both private and public providers across communities. Younger age and being from the richest households are strongly associated with preference for both private and public providers. Living in rural areas and economically deprived neighborhoods were the community level determinants of women's preferences. Conclusion: This study documents the independent association of contextual socioeconomic characteristics and individual level socioeconomic factors with women's preferences for contraceptive commodity providers in Nigeria. Initiatives that seek to improve modern contraceptive uptake should jointly consider users’ preferences for sources of these commodities in addition to their preference for contraceptive type

Provisional Evaluation of Composting as Priority Option for Sustainable Waste Management in South-West Nigeria

The management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Nigeria and most developing countries has remained a major public health challenge, thus creating the need for reliable and environmentally-acceptable alternatives. This study focuses on composting assessment as a viable recovery alternative for MSW in six States of Southwest Nigeria, namely: Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, and Lagos. Extensive literature review has been carried out to understand the waste generation patterns in these states. Reported literature data has been assessed for sustainability of composting strategy in terms of organic waste streams, amenable of biotransformation as well as in terms of return through energy saving and material recovery. A life-cycle framework has been used to estimate GHG emissions, available nutrients, and potential compost production, instead of landfill in each region. Results show significant potential compost production of 895,659-, 255,267-, 153,423-, 117,468-, 113,094- and 112, 397-m3/yr for Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti, respectively. It has been deduced from the study that composting would be very beneficial to the economy as its product would boost agriculture production while reducing the budget spent on fertilizer annually

Mineral Content of Some Plant Foods Grown in Nigeria: A Review

Minerals are natural inorganic substances that possess definite chemical composition and atomic structure. Nearly five percent of the body is composed of inorganic materials, the minerals. Minerals do not serve as a source of energy for the body but have specific chemical functions. For this purpose, mineral content of some plant foods found in Nigeria were critically reviewed. The plant foods were classified into legumes (Vigna unguiculata, Cucurbitaceae, vigna subterranean, Arachis hypogeal, Glycine max, Phaseolus coccineus, Cajanus cajan, Kerstingiella geocarpa, Phaseolus vulgaris L., Phaseolus lunatus and Prosopis Africana); cereals (Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor, Pennisetum typhoides and Oryza sativa); roots and tubers (Dioscorea spp, Manihot esculanta, Xanthosoma sagititolium and Ipomoea batatas L.); fruits/vegetables/nuts (Musa spp, Psidium guajava, Carica papaya, Citrus sinensis, Ananus comosus, Malaudo mistica, Anarcardium occidentale, Veronia amygdalina L. and Dacryodes edulis). Atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) method is used for the minerals determination except sodium and potassium which are usually determined using flame photometry while phosphorus is by using colorimetry. The mineral contents were found to be at the range of concentrations as Ca: 0.003 – 700.00, Mg: 0.0546 – 1420.10, Na: 0.0065 – 220.00, K: 0.010 – 817.40, P: 0.0130 – 5500.00 and Fe: 0.0067 – 36.00 mg/100g for legumes; Ca: 0.13 – 8490.00, Mg: 0.006 – 4571.00, Na: 0.019 – 375.69, K: 0.63 – 39856.00, P: 3.54 – 695.50 and Fe: 0.0005 – 1304.00 mg/100g for  fruits/vegetables/nuts; Ca: 1.05 – 290.00, Mg: 0.49 – 415.07, Na: 0.18 – 1365.05, K: 0.50 – 4276.04, P: 0.28 – 120.00 and Fe: 0.53 – 81.85 mg/100g for roots and tubers and Ca: 0.005 – 532.00, Mg: 1.54 – 348.30, Na: 0.006 – 520.00, K: 0.011 – 618.00, P: 73.00 – 46.30 mg/100g for cereals. Microelement concentrations of the foods varied appreciably. Zinc content was highest in Vigna unguiculata, Psidium guajava, Manihot esculanta and Zea mays with values of 162.00, 2209.00, 340.00 and 16.70 mg/100g, respectively. Legumes and fruits/vegetables/nuts are seen to be better sources of mineral than foods in the category of roots, tubers and cereals. Keywords: Legumes, cereals, fruits, vegetables, snuts, roots, tubers, minerals

SUITABILITY OF NIGERIAN CORN HUSK AND PLANTAIN STALK FOR PULP AND PAPER PRODUCTION

Wood is a prominent raw material in the production of pulp and paper, but due to the impact of forest depletion on the environment worldwide, research is being focused on non-wood sources as alternative sources of fibre and as a solution to destruction of the environment. The aim of this study therefore, is to investigate the suitability or otherwise of corn husk and plantain stalk which are abundant agro-waste materials in Nigerian environment in pulp and paper production. The pulping of corn husk and plantain stalk was achieved through Chemical Pulping process (Soda pulping) and the pulps obtained were analyzed for their chemical compositions. Also, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphological structure of the pulps produced. The resulting pulps were then used for papermaking and the Mechanical strength of papers obtained was determined. The results of chemical composition analysis for the pulp obtained from corn husk were (3.57%, 41.23%, 10%, 12.04% and 23.00 %) while that of plantain stalk were (11.19%, 57.86%, 10%, 4.60% and 35.96%) for Ash content, Cellulose content, Moisture content, Lignin content and Pulp yield respectively. The result of Mechanical strength analysis of the paper produced are (66.04 g/m2, 0.30 mm,5.33 Nm/g,12.83Nm2/g,0.13 N/mm2,2.7 mm) from corn husk while that of plantain stalk are (30.99 g/m2,0.08 mm,1.25 Nm/g,5.20Nm2/g,2.95 N/mm2,2.20 mm) for Grammage, Thickness, Tensile index, Tear index, Modulus of Elasticity and Elongation at break respectively. The SEM images analysis showed that there is a more condensed and packed arrangement of fibre in corn husk than plantain stalk. The overall results showed that Corn husk and Plantain stalk have a promising potential as alternative source of fibre in paper making industry

SUITABILITY OF NIGERIAN CORN HUSK AND PLANTAIN STALK FOR PULP AND PAPER PRODUCTION

Wood is a prominent raw material in the production of pulp and paper, but due to the impact of forest depletion on the environment worldwide, research is being focused on non-wood sources as alternative sources of fibre and as a solution to destruction of the environment. The aim of this study therefore, is to investigate the suitability or otherwise of corn husk and plantain stalk which are abundant agro-waste materials in Nigerian environment in pulp and paper production. The pulping of corn husk and plantain stalk was achieved through Chemical Pulping process (Soda pulping) and the pulps obtained were analyzed for their chemical compositions. Also, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphological structure of the pulps produced. The resulting pulps were then used for papermaking and the Mechanical strength of papers obtained was determined. The results of chemical composition analysis for the pulp obtained from corn husk were (3.57%, 41.23%, 10%, 12.04% and 23.00 %) while that of plantain stalk were (11.19%, 57.86%, 10%, 4.60% and 35.96%) for Ash content, Cellulose content, Moisture content, Lignin content and Pulp yield respectively. The result of Mechanical strength analysis of the paper produced are (66.04 g/m2, 0.30 mm,5.33 Nm/g,12.83Nm2/g,0.13 N/mm2,2.7 mm) from corn husk while that of plantain stalk are (30.99 g/m2,0.08 mm,1.25 Nm/g,5.20Nm2/g,2.95 N/mm2,2.20 mm) for Grammage, Thickness, Tensile index, Tear index, Modulus of Elasticity and Elongation at break respectively. The SEM images analysis showed that there is a more condensed and packed arrangement of fibre in corn husk than plantain stalk. The overall results showed that Corn husk and Plantain stalk have a promising potential as alternative source of fibre in paper making industry

A Review of Local Factors Affecting Solid Waste Collection in Nigeria

The knowledge of local and regional factors that affect effective solid waste collection plays an important role in choosing appropriate technology. Waste collection has grown to become a major challenge demanding daily response from waste managers and it becomes inevitable to provide stakeholders with necessary information to aid key decision-making. This paper provides a comprehensive and detailed review of local-based factors that affect waste collection in Nigeria. Literature study and on-site observation were used for getting theoretical and useful information on the collection of waste in the study area. The study considered various standard collection technologies and their supporting factors in order to assess the effectiveness of existing methods. The current collection techniques existing in different parts of the country together with unique local factors for these various areas are reported. The findings in many cases reveal that the method of waste collection adopted and equipment used are faced with many challenges. This paper revealed that there is no investment presently made on the existing development plan to initiate a modern waste collection system. The study recommends a new approach that could be used by institutions and government agencies for efficient municipal solid waste collection to achieve sustainable and effective sanitation which will consequently facilitate the development of an aesthetically balanced and friendly environmen

Physicochemical Characteristics of the Oils Extracted from Some Nigerian Plant Foods – A Review

Fats and oils are non-volatile substances insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvent. They constitute along with protein and carbohydrates, the major food stuffs and are widely distributed in nature. Oil serves as a good source of protein, lipid and fatty acids for human nutrition including the repair of worn-out tissues, new cells formation as well as a useful source of energy. Oilseeds are those seeds that contain considerably large amounts of oil. Oil can be extracted from oilseed by using traditional methods of extraction (on a very small scale), mechanical expression (hydraulic and screw presses) which can be manual, semi-automated or automated, and solvent extraction (e.g. hexane, fluid carbon dioxide) or a combination of two of these methods. Physicochemical parameters of the oils extracted from some Nigerian plant foods using standard analytical techniques were reviewed. The physicochemical properties of the plant oils reviewed  were found to be at the range concentrations as follows: Saponification value (SV): 5.58 - 249.90 mgKOH/g, peroxide value (PV): 0.45 - 290.00 mEq O2/kg of sample, acid value (AV): 0.34 - 68.88 mg KOH/g, iodine value (IV): 2.65 - 153.00 g I2/100g sample, density (Ds): 0.9031 - 0.9208 g/cm3, viscosity (Vs): 0.43 to 302.39 mm2/sec, specific gravity (SG): 0.830 – 1.710, refractive index (RI): 0.147 – 1.792, free fatty acid (FFA): 0.14 – 34.65 % as oleic acid, ester value (EV): 0.54 – 241.04 mgKOH/g and heat of combustion (HC): 8904.25 – 11303.35 gcal/g. The result of the reviewed work confirms the Nigerian seed oils to be of good quality and can find application either in food industry as food additives or industrial purposes such as cosmetics, soaps, paint and even energy generation. Keywords: Physicochemical parameters, seed oils, Nigeria