Effective Gravimetric Characterization for Lignocellulosic Biomass: Comparison of NaOH-H2O2 and Ca(OH)2-H2O2 Oxidation Pretreated Sugarcane Bagasse

In this study, alkaline peroxide oxidation pretreatment was evaluated for sugarcane bagasse, a lignocellulosic biomass. By comparing the effects of NaOHH2O2 and Ca(OH)2 on pretreatments at specified reaction time periods (3, 6, 9, and 12 h) and reaction temperatures (60, 70, 80, and 90 h), optimum responses in term of cellulose content, hemicellulose solubilization, and lignin removal were established. Optimum pretreatment conditions of 80 oC reaction temperature, 3 h reaction time, and 30 mL/L of water hydrogen peroxide concentration (1%H2O2) solubilized 69.5%(w/w) hemicellulose for the sodium hydroxide peroxide (SHP) pretreatments, 75.8%(w/w) lignin removal was also achieved with 59.2%(w/w) cellulose retained in the solid fraction. In addition, the responses for the optimum conditions for the calcium hydroxide peroxide (CHP) pretreatments, the cellulose content, hemicellulose solubilization, and lignin removal were 50.3%, 66.6%, and 65.4%(w/w) respectively. Pretreatments showed both NaOHH2O2 and Ca(OH)2-H2O2 to be useful pretreatment agents for the disruption of the polysaccharide complex. The study also revealed that NaOH-H2O2 pretreatment stands as a better choice to Ca(OH)2-H2O2 pretreatment

The production of Wara cheese from locally sourced coagulants and its nutritional evaluation

The use of vegetable extracts as milk coagulants has evolved recently in soft cheese processing. In this study, two types of cheeses were produced from locally sourced raw cow milk using two different coagulants, Calotropis procera leaf and CaCl2. Protein, fat, Zn, Mg, and Fe were the nutrients and minerals that were assayed. The protein (18.4%), Fat (7.93%), Mg (4.13%), Zn (4.01%), Fe (2.59%) of Calotropis procera coagulated cheese was significantly higher than CaCl2 coagulant produced cheese with protein content of (9.13%), Fat (5.53%), Mg (2.34%), Zn (2.59%), Fe (1.13%). The higher ash content in the cheese produced with CaCl2 coagulant makes it susceptible to microbial growth, as a result, reducing its shelf-life. The study suggests that cow milk and Calotropis procera produced cheese appears promising in nutritional contents with further quality improvemen

Distillery Wastewater Decontamination by the Fenton Advanced Oxidation Method

This study evaluated the effect of Fenton advanced oxidation process on the treatment of an industrial wastewater (distillery). The comparison of the effects of Fe2+ loadings, H2O2 dosages (2%(v/v)and 4%(v/v)), reaction temperature and reaction time, established optimum efficiency in terms of BOD and COD reductions. The best operating conditions for the treatment of the distillery wastewater containing 43.85 mg/L BOD concentration and 274.28 mg/L COD concentration in the raw effluent was 2% H2O2 dosage at constant loadings of Fe2+ (1.5 g), 80 oC pretreatment temperature, and 1 h reaction time. At this optimized condition, the BOD content reduced to about 35 mg/L (about 21% removal) and COD content reduced to about 53 mg/L (about 81% removal). There was a complete removal of the initial colour present in the wastewater after the treatment process. The process proved the ability to effectively reduce the COD content which when high in industrial wastewaters can lead to serious impacts to the environmen

Organisational Support, Knowledge Sharing and Utilisation as Correlates of Social Capital of Insurance Managers in Lagos Metropolis

Managers in insurance companies in Nigeria went through a difficult period after the recapitalization which was aimed at achieving a consolidation that will produce companies capable of meeting claims obligations, compete at the continental and global levels, increase the industry’s low retention capacity which had stunted its growth among others. This study therefore examined the organisational support, knowledge sharing and utilisation as correlates of social capital of insurance managers in Lagos metropolis. This research adopted the correlation type of descriptive survey design to determine the direction and degree of the relationship or association between variables. Total enumeration technique called census coupled with a self-developed questionnaire was used to collect data on a population size of 280 managers in 23 insurance companies in Lagos metropolis, out of which 211 responded giving a response rate of 75.4 percent.The study found out that organisational support, knowledge sharing and utilisation had significant multiple effect on social capital of the respondent (R = 0.656, p < 0.05). In addition, each of the independent variables, namely, organisational support, knowledge sharing and utilisation significantly predicts the social capital of the respondents respectively.The study recommends among others that knowledge utilisation and information literacy education should be inculcated in the training of managers since they are the critical decision makers in the firm. This may improve the managers’ ability to exploit the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the their network of relationships. This may also encourage the managers to freely exchange ideas, insight, information and knowledge.. Keywords: Organisational support, knowledge sharing, knowledge utilisation, Insurance companies, Nigeria

Acid Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Content of Sawdust to Fermentable Sugars for Ethanol Production

This study evaluates the yield of glucose from acid hydrolysis of cellulosic content of sawdust, at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, and the effect of yeast concentration on its subsequent fermentation to ethanol. The method used involves acid hydrolysis of sawdust, with varying acid molarities of 18M, 15M, 10M, 5M and 1M. The product, consisting mainly of simple sugars, was subsequently fermented with varied concentrations of yeast of 0.5g/20ml, 1g/20ml, 3g/20ml, 5g/20ml and 7g/20ml in order to obtain ethanol. The result obtained shows that there is a gradual increase in the glucose yield with increasing acid molarity from 1M until a critical optimum point is obtained at a high acid concentration of 15M. Beyond the molarity of 15M up to the 18M limit, there exists a decline in the ethanol yield, from the optimum point. The ethanol yield from the fermentation of the resulting fermentable sugars gave the same pattern as the glucose yield irrespective of the yeast concentration used for fermentation. The evaluation of the concentration of yeast on the fermentation of hydrolsed lignocellulosic contents shows that the optimum ethanol yield is obtained at a yeast concentration of 3g/20ml for all the varying acid concentrations. A combination of acid concentration of 15M and yeast concentration of 3g/20ml therefore gives the optimum conditions, at moderate temperature and pressure, for the acid hydrolysis of sawdust’s lignocellulosic content and the fermentation of the resulting product

Compositional Analysis of Lignocellulosic Materials: Evaluation of an Economically Viable Method Suitable for Woody and Non-woody Biomass

The determination of the composition of lignocellulosic substrate is a crucial step in order to determine the overall efficiency of the processes designed to convert lignocelluloses to ethanol. Standard methods as gravimetric, chromatography, and spectroscopic are routinely explored in the scientific literature. This paper details our investigations in the application of economically viable gravimetric methods particularly suitable for developing countries. The methods were proven to be reproducible and representative for the analysis of biomass as sugarcane bagasse, siam weed, shea tree sawdust

Socio-Economic Importance of Honey among Traditional Healers and Orthodox Practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

The necessity for people’s adequate and quality as well as good health and standard of living for overall National development informed the main reason for the study on Socio-economic importance of honey among traditional healers and orthodox medical practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State. A total of 105questionnaires wereadministered, while 91 were retrieved from the respondents. Various uses of honey were investigated both for personal consumption and medicinal purpose. The result shows that 41.8 % of the respondent use honey for multiple purpose, while 35.2% use honey mainly for medicinal purpose, 16.5% use it mainly as beverages, while the remaining 6.6% for use in treatments. The Chi Square Test showed a higher calculated value of 385.71 than the tabulated value of 21.026. This confirms a strong relationship between the use of honey and social life of Iwo people. The major constraints discovered was that Traditional healers do not exercise strict control on the quantity doses of honey used for different ailments. It is therefore recommended that both rural and urban dwellers should be sensitized about the use of honey, in order to encourage sustainable consumption for improvement of health status. Keywords: Medicinal, orthodox, traditional, hone

Melatonin and Vitamin C modulate cholinergic neurotransmission and oxidative stress in scopolamine-induced rat model of memory impairment

Background: Cognitive dysfunction which characterizes dementia is reportedly caused by multiple factors including oxidant-antioxidant imbalance, inflammation, alteration in synaptic neurotransmission. Despite the arrays of drugs available in managing dementia, it appears no single drug can effectively treat dementia. Since it is multifactorial, combining potential drugs may provide neuroprotective impact. As such, this study investigated the neuroprotective effects of melatonin and vitamin C on scopolamine model of cognitive impairment in rats and the possible mechanism of action. Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were divided to receive either normal saline (5 ml/kg, p.o), scopolamine (1 mg/kg, i.p.), donepezil (2 mg/kg, p.o), melatonin (10 mg/kg, p.o), vitamin C (100 mg/kg. p.o) or melatonin plus vitamin C. Cognitive impairment was induced by daily injection of scopolamine (1 mg/kg, i.p.), after which different treatment regimen were administered for 15 days. Spatial memory was assessed using Morris Water Maze and modified light and dark box. The brain was processed for malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity. Results: Scopolamine-treated rats with no intervention showed impaired learning and memory as depicted by a significant (p<0.05) increase in escape latency, reduction in the frequency of visit to the escape aperture, increased MDA, decreased GSH and elevated acetylcholinesterase activity when compared to other groups. Interventions with melatonin or/and vitamin C reversed these responses respectively. The melatonin plus vitamin C treated group compared favorably with donepezil (reference group). Conclusion: Melatonin and vitamin C show neuroprotective effect in attenuating cognitive impairment in scopolamine-induced model by modulating oxidative stress pathway and enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission. Keywords: Dementia, Melatonin, Vitamin C, Memory, Scopolamine

Dynamics of steady-state gravity-driven inviscid flow in an open system

Various factors can be responsible for the flow of incompressible fluid under gravity. Torricelli's theorem gives the relationship between the efflux velocity of an incompressible, gravity-driven flow from an orifice and the height of liquid above it. The concept of the original derivation of Torricelli’s theorem is limited in application because of certain inherent assumptions in the method of derivation. An alternate method of derivation is the use of Bernoulli’s principle. However, its result tends towards Torricelli’s flow only with some assumptions. In this study, an inherent assumption was incorporated into the conventional method of derivation to obtain an amended Torricelli’s equation. This study also considers a more general approach of derivation with Bernoulli’s principle, which tends to eliminate some of the limitations. The method involves the theoretical construction of gravity-driven flow from the bottom of a reservoir that is opened to atmospheric pressure. Bernoulli’s equation, with the continuity equation, is applied to gravity-driven open flow. The derived equations are used to analyze the prerequisite conditions for vertical flow in an open system and the variables that affect the flow rate. It is assumed that the flow is steady, inviscid, and has one inlet port and one exit port. Findings show that the surface area ratio of discharge to upstream, which was neglected in the convectional Torricelli velocity, can influence the velocity significantly. The study shows that a high surface area ratio can be used to augment the velocity of established flow for a decreased flow height

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF AN ONTOLOGY-BASED DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC SYSTEM FOR YORUBA TRADITIONAL MEDICINE.

Traditional Medicine (TM) has an important place in health care delivery among developed and developin g nations of the world. It is a first point of call before western m edicine and a last resort when all orthodox efforts fail. The objective of this study was to provide a way to share knowledge of Yo ruba Traditional Medicine (YTM) in a machine-readab le form and to use this method to build a treatment system base on Traditional Medicine. The treatment system constru cted in this study is an ontology-based application that can be used for treatment. Description Logics formalism is used to model YTM knowledge with visual reasoning capabilities and pr ocesses. Ontological approach is used to express fo rmal specification of YTM domain knowledge and this is implemented using Web Protégé application. In order to ensure the kno wledge model and ontology view is well defined, a prototype of k nowledge based system is developed based on the ont ology classes or concepts and relationships defined which require co nversion of OWL ontology into the relational datab ase system at first hand