Assessment and potential of carbon storage capacity of species of herbaceous plants in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Main Campus, Batu Pahat, Johor Malaysia

Carbon dioxide CO2 is an important trace gas in earth's atmosphere. It is a greenhouse gas that plays a vital role in regulating the earth's surface temperature through the greenhouse effect. Increase beyond the ambient concentration leads to global warming. Increase in CO2 discharge in UTHM (238.9 ha), due to increase in a number of vehicles; other greenhouse gases released from building amenities and dis-charges from neighbouring industries appeals for attention. Study was conducted on seven common species of herbaceous plants for their capacity in sequestering CO2. Estimation of carbon storage of herbaceous plants was obtained by the assessments of the aboveground standing biomass and their photosynthetic capacity. Musa sp has the highest CO2 absorption of 12.2µmol m-2 s -1 , followed by Heliconia. psittacorum (10.63µmol m-2 s -1 ). Euphorbia tithymaloides and Costus spicatus has the lowest absorption with 3.63 and 3.76 µmol m-2 s -1 respectively. Calathea lutea and Hymenocallis latifolia shared the highest biomass accumulation of 0.04 kg. These were followed by E. tithymaloides and Alpinia purpurata with 0.02 kg. The least biomass of 0.01 kg was accumulated by H. psittacorum and C. spicatus. The total standing biomass captured by all the species of herbaceous plants is 0.13 kg. Therefore, species of herbaceous plants in UTHM have the potentials to absorb an adequate amount of CO2 from the atmosphere thereby contributing to reducing-the effects of localized global warming

Tax Return and Economic Growth: Evidence from Nigerian Experience (2000-2017)

This paper determined the effect of tax return on gross domestic product. Data were collected using secondary source only. The technique employed was multiple regressions as tool of analysis for the study. The findings of the study show that Tax Returns on Customs and Excise Duty, Value Added Tax and Aggregate Tax Revenue have positive significance growth rate on Gross Domestic Product. Based on this, the paper recommended among others that government should also ensure that they remove impediments to investment in form of legal and regulatory barriers. There is need to ensure stable macroeconomic environment. The Government should ensure that Value Added Tax Growth Rate is boosted in order to improve the economy. Keywords:Tax return, Customs and Excise Duty (CED), Value Added Tax (VAT), Aggregated Tax revenue, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Nigerian tax DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-18-16 Publication date:September 30th 202

Radiological Effects of Iron-Ore Mining and Processing at Itakpe, Kogi State.

Gamma spectroscopy was employed in the analysis of soil samples collected from the mine site, industrial plant site, and mill tailing dumps site of National Iron-Ore mining Project (NIOMP), Itakpe, Kogi State. The mean measured activity concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th  were 207.6±39.4(ND-515.0), 17.6±2.4(ND-31.5), and 31.7±8.6(ND-118.0)Bqkg-1, respectively, which are all less than the world mean of 370.0, 25.0, and 25 Bqkg-1 for 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th, respectively. The calculated outdoor mean effective doses for the sites were respectively74.8±20.0µSv, 47.0±7.0µSv and 17.0±1.0µSv for industrial plant, mining waste and mill tailing deposit sites. These values are comparable to the control mean value of 74.3±46.2µSv (obtained from unmodified environment soil samples) which in turn is comparable to the world mean of 60µSv, thus suggesting that the mining company does not constitute radiological problem to its workers and the public. The calculated activity index, I, for the company mill tailings is 0.122, the value which is equivalent to an excess gamma dose of 0.122mSv/year over that received outdoors if used as a building material

Binary logistic regression methods for modeling broncho-pneumonia status in infants from tertiary health institutions in north central Nigeria

Acute respiratory tract infections, predominantly bronchopneumonia, are one of the leading causes of infant deaths in developing countries and around the world. This work models the effects of the significant risk factors on infants’ bronchopneumonia status and also fits some reduced models and determines the best model with minimum number of parameters. The data for this study consist of a random sample of 433 births to women seen in the obstetrics clinic of two sampled tertiary health institutions in north-central Nigeria. These include University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Abuja, and Federal Medical Center (FMC) Keffi, Nasarawa State. Binary logistic regression was used to identify and model the effects of the various risk factors while stepwise regression technique was used to fit some reduced logistic regression models. Then the best fitting model with minimum number of parameters was identified using likelihood ratio statistic. It was observed that baby’s weight at birth, baby’s weight four weeks since birth, and mother’s occupation have significant effects on infant’s bronchopneumonia status. Additionally, among the four fitted reduced models, model4 is the best predictor of infants’ bronchopneumonia status, followed by model3 and then model2. Therefore, community service like home visiting for health education, supplementation of vitamin A, etc., would be an advantage if provided for teenaged pregnant women as it would, in turn, reduce incidence of low birth weight and thereby reduce bronchopneumonia infection among these children.Keywords: Bronchopneumonia, Multiple Logistic Regression Model, Fitness, likelihood ratio tes

The Physicochemical Potentials of Water from Bore Holes, Tube Wells, Water Harvesters, Water Hawkers and Direct Fetching from Open Water Sources Like Lakes and Rivers in Makurdi Benue State and Keffi, Nasarawa State Nigeria. A Quest for Sustainable Develo

World Water Day- 22 March 2018 with the theme ‘Nature for Water’ – is exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges we are facing in the 21st century. The  Sustainable Development Goal 6  committed the world to ensure that everyone has access to safe water by 2030 .Looking around our environment are  simple but definite sources of water that can generate up to 5000l water  or more at a time year round . Some boreholes, rivers, tube wells, water harvesters, water hawkers and direct fetching from open water sources like lakes and rivers within 2 areas Keffi Nasarawa State and Makurdi Benue State Nigeria were sampled and analysed for physicochemical and bacterial load properties. Results are displayed side by side the WHO /Nigeria Guidelines for Drinking  Water standards 2005  .Relatively high values are recorded for total solids ,  total hardness ,color , conductivity and bacterial load  per 100ml in both cities  which can be treated with simple and available  water treatment equipment .  Sustainable Development Goal 6 ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030 is realizable and affordable if the proper will is in place. Keywords: Sustainable, Guidelines, physicochemical, water and equipment DOI: 10.7176/CMR/11-4-02 Publication date: April 30th 201

Green Chemistry to the Resque of Disasters of the 1900 -2020 Period

There is uncertainty about several aspects of the Covid-19 origin story that scientists are trying hard to unravel, including which species passed to humans. They are trying hard because knowing how a pandemic starts is a key to stopping the next one. Green chemistry emerged from a variety of existing ideas and research efforts - characterization is one major analytical technique in our laboratories and so Scientists moved rapidly to characterize 2019-nCoV and widely disseminated their findings amongst the international research community as quickly as possible including the basic Viral Structure and Mechanism of Infection. Coronaviruses are large, enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses. They have the largest genome among all RNA viruses, typically ranging from 27 to 32 kb. The genome is packed inside a helical capsid formed by the nucleocapsid protein (N) and further surrounded by an envelope. One important example of this is the homology models of the novel coronavirus cysteine protease produced by Martin Stoermer etal (2020) . It is also established that disasters during the century 1900- 2020 were avoidable if the principles of green chemistry were applied to prevent future pandemics. Keywords: Coronaviruses, Covid-19, Green chemistry, RNA, Pandemic, Characterization DOI: 10.7176/JEES/11-2-03 Publication date: February 28th 202

Analysis of User’s Perception on How to Achieve Thermal Comfort in Kano State Luxury Homes

Luxury homes form an important part of development of urban settings in Nigeria, it is predominantly but not always on one building accommodation spaces that contains all necessary components and style of modern residential units. However, the location of these building largely makes them different in relation to the kind view they offer. The congestion and rapid increase of urban activities in Kano State has resulted to thermal comfort challenges, this problem  have remained stagnant in the air for quite a long time, despite the control in design of buildings that have emerged of recent, there still remains the problem of indoor air quality and humid hot interior spaces that affect building occupants. The main aim of this research is to highlight how User’s perception can be used to achieve thermal comforts in the luxury homes in Kano, which can be accessed through examining the effects of thermal discomfort on building users, assessing the actions of users on thermal comfort challenges, evaluating users response on how thermal comfort can be achieved. After extensive review of literature, a research gap was established. Data was collected from the aforementioned study area through administering questionnaire, observation and personal interview. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was employed; SPSS and MSExcel were used for the quantitative data analysis. Findings revealed Users discomfort level, the adaptation techniques they have adopted and suggesting design considerations and ways to which thermal discomforts can be mitigated. Recommendations were made for designing homes with high level of comforts achieved through the idea of the users of buildings. Conclusion was made on the ease of determining the discomfort level of user, and the importance of incorporating their idea and thinking at the starting point in building designs. Keywords: Discomfort, Luxury homes, Thermal comfort, User’s perceptio

Assessment of Parking Spaces in Mixed-Used Buildings in Kano State

Man has been a wanderer right from time inception, moving about in search of food and shelter. Building as a shelter is as old as man, also different buildings perform different functions or uses to man. Some buildings have only one function, while some have multiple functions and they are known as ‘Mixed-use building’. One major problem encountered with these type of structures is the issue of parking, caused as a result of either; the design, the building occupying the whole site, the residents/users of the building, or standard laws (rules and regulation) guarding the area. This paper aims at assessing the efficiency parking space in mixed-use buildings, which can be achieved through analysing the quantity and sizes of the parking spaces provided, estimating the number of car users’, and ascertaining the perception of users’ on the available parking space. The methodology employed involves a purpotive sampling method, where the sample population to be studied were selected due to the mixed-use criteria met by the selected buildings. Data was collected through questionnaires and personal observation. Recommendations were made that various means of achieving an efficient parking space in a mixed-use building or development, such as; the provision of the right parking spaces to the functions performed ratio, during the design stage, also, the issue of shared parking in order to reduce too much usage of scarce land for parking lots should be well planned. Keywords: building, design, mixed-use, parking facility, shared parkin

Anti-spermatogenic and estrogenic effects of Escravos crude oil in Chinchilla rabbits

This study aimed at investigating the effects of Escravos crude oil on spermatogenesis in relation to serum concentrations of estradiol and total cholesterol. A total of 30 male Chinchilla rabbits within the age range of 12 to 14 weeks and weighing 1.2 kg to 1.45 kg were used in this study. The doses of 00, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mg kg-1 body weight of Escravos crude oil were orally administered to groups A, B, C, D and E, respectively for 28 days. Serum concentrations of estradiol and total cholesterol were estimated using the microplate enzyme immunoassay and enzymatic end point methods, respectively. The SPSS software package (version 16) was used for the statistical analyses and results expressed in mean ± Standard Deviation. The results showed dose dependent significant increases in estradiol (18.32 +/- 6.46 to 69.41 +/- 12.89 pg/ml) and total cholesterol (1.32 +/- 0.24 to 2.92 +/- 0.34 mmol/l) concentrations (p<0.05), and insignificant increase (p>0.05) in the relative weight of the testis (3.80 +/- 0.40 to 5.50 +/- 0.90 g). The histology of the testes revealed decreased spermatogenic activity. The findings of this study suggest that Escravos crude oil could be a potential endocrine disruptor and anti-spermatogenic agent.Keywords: Escravos crude oil, Estradiol, Anti-Spermatogenesis, Total cholesterol, Chinchilla rabbits

Heavy Metals Accumulation and Phytoremediation Ability of Onion (Allium cepa) and Garlic (Allium sativum) Grown on Contaminated Soils from Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano, Nigeria

This work was designed to assess and compare the heavy metals accumulation and phytoremediation ability of some allium species (Garlic; Allium sativum and Onion; Allium cepa) grown on two different soils (contaminated and Control soils) using standard methods. Heavy metals (of Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) Concentrations (mg/Kg) were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS Model: 210VGP). Plants growth and biomass production were assessed. Biological concentration factors (BCF) and translocation factors (TF) were calculated. The mean levels of elements obtained ranged widely from 0.55 mg/Kg Ni to 1830.64 mg/Kg Fe. The results showed that onion accumulated higher concentrations of all the heavy metals compared to garlic with exception of Zn. However, the differences in heavy metal concentrations where significant only in Cr and Mn. Phytoremediation efficiency indices (BCF and TF) showed a similar trend for both onion and garlic. The mean BCF values of Pb, Cr, Zn, Mn and Fe in onion were generally high > 1. Ni and Pb had their mean TF values greater than 1. Thus, onion can be used as potential phytoextraction plant. The similarities in most of these metal accumulation trends, BCF and TF between onion and garlic might be due to their being similar species with similar physiological features and from the same family