Herbicidan control of water hyacinth at Ere, Ogun State: implications for fish production

A brief account is given of a pilot demonstration of the chemical control of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) at Ere (a channel) in Nigeria using the herbicide glyphosphate. Results suggest that there was an increase in the nutrient content of the channel after herbicide application. This implied an upsurge of available food for fish and other aquatic organisms within the channel after the herbicide application. The decaying water hyacinth mass which sinks into the medium is likely to boost nutrient content, promoting the growth of fish and other aquatic animals. It is concluded that herbicidal control of water hyacinth is possible, especially under specialists' management with the conservation of fish and other non-target aquatic organisms alongside improved fish productio

As Assessment of Airline Service Quality in a Category One Nation: Focus on Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport

To evaluate airline service quality from passengers’ in a Category One (CAT1) nation. The researchers used quantitative method to evaluate airline quality of service, from passengers’ perspective at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN). In a week period, two hundred (200) questionnaires were administered; though one hundred thirty (130) responses were gathered from passengers who travelled with the Arik Air, Aero Contractor, and Azman airlines, these air airlines were chosen because they are preferred passenger\u27s choice. The study findings revealed that independent variables influenced airline\u27s quality of service at the KAN. The outcome of service quality analysis demonstrated that there is a statistical significant relationship between passengers’ perspectives and reliability of the airline services. There is a statistical significant relationship between passengers’ perspectives and affordability of services. Finally, there is a statistical significant link between passenger’s perspectives and comfortability of the airline services. Recommendations: on how airlines and government can create synergy to improve service quality for better and sustain passenger experience, while leveraging on the nation CAT 1 status

Electrical Energy Demand Modeling of 3D Printing Technology for Sustainable Manufacture

The advent of 3D printers has been embraced globally within few years of its emergence. The surge in the acceptability of rapid manufacturing RM strategy can be attributed to the depletion and cost of natural resources, waste reduction and sustainability criterion of manufactured parts. This rapidly evolving 3D printing technologies is predicted to grow exponentially especially for the manufacture of customized and geometrically complex products. Therefore, it is appropriate to consider and optimize the resource efficiency of 3D printing technologies at this early stage of this technology development. In this work, the direct electrical energy demand of 3D printing (i.e. fused deposition modeling) was studied and a generic model proposed. The developed model was further validated with the Stratasys Dimension SST FDM in order to evaluate and ascertain the generic application of the model. This work is a further contribution to the existing foundation for electrical energy demand modeling and optimization for the rapidly expanding 3D printing processes

Antibacterial Property and Bioactive Compounds of Selected Herbal Products

Ten herbal products, made up of five powdery and five liquid samples of different brands, were assessed microbiologically for the presence and types of microorganisms. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical screening of the samples above was also conducted to verify the presence or absence of bioactive components. Ten bacterial species, viz: Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Corynebacterium diptheriae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Clostridium botulinum, were isolated from these herbal products. The fungi isolated were Aspergillus Niger, Rhizopus stolonifer, Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium oxysporium, and Mucor racemosus. Results of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, and tannins. Alkaloid was the most abundant in the samples, with a value of 1070.04 mg/100g in sample F, while the least abundant in sample F was phenol (0.38 mg/100g). The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of certain compounds such as thiophene, propanoic acid, 2,2-dimethyl-, ethyl ester, pentanoic acid, 2-methyl, toluene, and many others in sample F that exhibited significant antimicrobial effects. These compounds are known to possess antimicrobial properties. Results from this study revealed that, though these herbal products contain bioactive compounds with potential antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, they are contaminated with microorganisms of health importance. Hence, local herbalists preparing these herbal products need to be educated on good manufacturing practices (GMP).   Doi: 10.28991/SciMedJ-2022-04-04-03 Full Text: PD

Investigation and Scaling of Hydrogen Production by Klebsiella sp. ABZ11 for Optimal Yield and the Kinetics of Batch Fermentation Process

The slow metabolism of bacteria at low temperatures affects the catalytic efficiency of enzymes and productivity. This article investigates the use of a psychrotolerant bacteria (Klebsiella sp. ABZ11) for biohydrogen production, yield and scaling at optimal temperature, pH and glucose in a batch fermentation process within a 2-liter bioreactor using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to report the process performance. The results show 33.5°C, pH 6.75 and 9.15 g glucose as the optimal conditions. Scale-up yielded 137.56 mol/L biohydrogen, 22.13% more than production under optimized conditions. Biomass grew at 0.081/h and doubled in 17 h with 0.71 g cells to reach maximum production. Compared to 0.062/h, 22 h with 0.87 g cells in optimal condition to achieve maximum biohydrogen production. This result shows the potential of biohydrogen production using Antarctic psychrotolerant bacteria at mesophilic temperature

A confirmatory factor analytic study of an authentic leadership measure in Nigeria

Authentic leadership has been identified as one of the competencies for effective leaders. Research purpose: The primary goal of the present study was to test, on a Nigerian sample, the psychometric properties of the Authentic Leadership Inventory (ALI) developed by Neider and Schriesheim. Motivation for the study: Various instruments have been developed to measure authentic leadership, with the ALI being one of the widely used questionnaires. There is a need to assess the reliability and construct validity of the ALI on a Nigerian sample owing to paucity of studies on its psychometric properties in this setting. Research approach/design and method: A non-probability sample consisting of 213 bank employees working in Nigeria was studied. The ALI was used to measure authentic leadership, and its reliability was evaluated using SPSS, while construct validity was assessed through confirmatory factory analyses in the Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) programme. Main findings: Moderate levels of reliability were found for the subscales of the ALI

Experimental analytical design of CNC machine tool SCFC based on electro-pneumatic system simulation

AbstractA Smart Clamping Force Control (SCFC) is adapted to hold sensitive workpiece using magnetic proximity switch during a machining operation on the CNC machine tool. It has been ascertained that work-holding of different workpiece materials and shapes during machining operation is one of the problems encountered during CNC milling machining operations. This work proposes a novel clamping strategy for workpieces with the aid of SCFC. The purpose of the study is to adjust the forward movement of the clamp and reduce the damage caused by the clamp on the workpiece, this depends on the material of the work-piece. The speed of the clamp is reduced using the inlet flow control throttle valve and a magnetic proximity switch (MPS). It provides careful handling of workpiece and prevent it from damage and as well optimizes the forward movement of the cylinder. The proposed strategy is based on dynamic machine loading in which the impact of applied forces were monitored to optimize the clamping control system of the machine tool. The mode of operation and performance of the SCFC were simulated in the FluidSIM® software, and the validated results was presented on Festo workstation. This work therefore further elucidate the fundamental design criterion for machine tool clamping forces and the sustainable manufacture of its components

Mitochondrion targeted trypanosome alternative oxidase inhibitors as chemotherapeutic agents against T. brucei

Trabajo presentado en el XII SEQT Mini Symposium. IIIrd Spanish/Portuguese/Brazilian Meeting, celebrado en Madrid del 17 al 18 de noviembre de 2016.During their life-cycle, trypanosomes adapt their energy metabolism to the availability of nutrients in their environment. Hence, procyclic forms of T. brucei have a fully functional respiratory chain and synthesize ATP by oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondrion. In contrast, respiration of bloodstream forms (BSF) of T. brucei (i.e. the human-infective form) relies exclusively on glycolysis for energy production. The trypanosome alternative oxidase (TAO) is the sole terminal oxidase enzyme to re-oxidize NADH accumulated during glycolysis. It is a cyanide-resistant and cytochrome-independent ubiquinol oxidase which is sensitive to the specific inhibitors salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) and ascofuranone. This enzyme which is essential to the viability of BSF trypanosomes and has no counterpart in the mammalian host is a potential target for chemotherapy. To boost the activity of TAO inhibitors against T. brucei, we investigated a chemical strategy consisting in the conjugation of the inhibitor with lipophilic cations (LC) that can cross lipid bilayers by non-carrier mediated transport, and thus accumulate specifically into the mitochondrion, driven by the plasma and mitochondrial transmembrane potentials (negative inside). This design afforded several LC¿TAO inhibitor conjugates active in the submicromolar to low nanomolar range against wild type and resistant strains of African trypanosomes (T. b. brucei, T. congolense). Selectivity over human cells was >500. Studies of the effects on purified TAO, parasite respiration, mitochondrial membrane potential (¿m), and cell cycle suggest that TAO is a likely target of the compounds in vivo