GLOBAL SHOCKS AND THEIR IMPACT ON NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

Developed a-five variable VAR model of the Nigeria economy for period 1970 – 2010, the study tested the general wisdom, ―Global financial crisis does not impact on Nigeria economy‖. Data were mainly sourced from both the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philips-Perron (PP) tests were used in testing the null hypothesis that there is a unit root in the time series of interest. The variables considered were (1) log of GDP (2) log of FDI (3) log of REM (4) EXR and (5) CPI. Impulse-response functions were employed to examine the recovery from shocks makes full use of the within-country variation. We introduced the constant term and two lagged values of each variable in each equation and found that the impact of financial crisis on Nigeria was possible through financial links, trade links, remittances and other capital flows.This implies that the common believe about the Nigeria economy that global shocks through financial crisis does not have any impact is not quite accurate, for initially the global shocks made unstable the Nigerian economy through the macroeconomic variables understudied although after the initial instability resulting from the global shocks, the Nigeria economy then dependent less on fluctuations in the global economic crisis. We on that premise opined that the crisis presented an opportunity for Nigeria to unbalance the Nigeria economy by concentrate on leading sectors like power, education, agriculture so that the development of these sector can bring about a locomotive growth and results in balanced sector in the long run

Enhancing music information retrieval by incorporating image-based local features

This paper presents a novel approach to Music Information Retrieval. Having represented the music tracks in the form of two dimensional images, we apply the "bag of visual words" method from visual IR in order to classify the songs into 19 genres. By switching to visual domain we can abstract from musical concepts such as melody, timbre and rhythm. We obtained classification accuracy of 46% (with 5% theoretical baseline for random classification) which is comparable with existing state-of-the-art approaches. Moreover, the novel features characterize different properties of the signal than standard methods. Therefore, the combination of them should further improve the performance of existing techniques

MICROBIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF STREAM WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE IN RURAL AREAS: A CASE STUDY OF IJEBU NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, OGUN STATE. NIGERIA

This study aimed at evaluating the microbial quality of stream water sources for domestic purposes by rural communities in Ijebu North Local Government to determine their fitness for human consumption. The evaluated streams include Erilobinla, Imosun, Okenugbo, Odoralamo, Odoye, loji,  Mamu and Tekunle oga. Physicochemical parameters were determined; pour plate method using selective media were employed to determine the enteric bacteria present in water samples. Bacterial isolates were characterized adopting the standard methods, and isolates were further subjected to antimicrobial sensitivity testing using the disc diffusion technique. The result of physicochemical parameters showed that temperature value varied from 25 - 290C, pH varied from 7.30 - 8.50, and total dissolved solid (TDS) of samples were not in agreement with WHO standards. Two of the eight streams analysed had odour, three had taste and two had colour . The total bacteria count revealed that Erilobinla stream water had the highest total bacteria count of 9.0 x 104 cfu/ml while Okenugbo and Odoye had the lowest total bacteria count of 1.0 x 101 cfu/ml. The microorganisms isolated were Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter species, Salmonella species, Klebsiella species, Proteus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed that these organisms were resistant to some antimicrobials. In conclusion, most of the stream waters are unsafe for drinking as they are of low quality thresholds. Thus, the stream waters require further purification to ensure suitability for human consumption and there is urgent need for provision of potable water to prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases.Â

Antimicrobial properties, safety, and probiotic attributes of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Sauerkraut

Background: According to the World Health Organization, probiotics have been defined as live microorganisms that when administered in the right amount provide health benefits to the host. This study aims to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from Sauerkraut and determine their anti-pathogenic potential and suitability as probiotics. Methodology: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from fermented cabbage obtained from an open market in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria by inoculating the prepared cabbage suspension on triplet plates of Rogosa agar (Lactobacillus selecting agar) and incubating in an anaerobic jar with gaspaks at 37°C for 72 hours. The LAB isolates were presumptively identified phenotypically by colony morphology, Gram stain reaction, and catalase test. The antibacterial activity of the LAB isolates was then carried out using agar overlay and agar-well diffusion methods. The most efficient LAB isolate was selected based on its strong antibacterial activity, confirmed by 16S rRNA sequencing and further evaluated for probiotic activities including bile salt resistance, survival in low pH, hydrophobicity of the cell surface, auto-aggregation, and co-aggregation. The putative probiotic LAB isolate was also evaluated for its safety using in vitro tests (antibiotic susceptibility testing, haemolysis, and DNase tests) and in vivo assays (sub-acute oral toxicity tests in male albino rats). Results: A total of 5 LAB isolates were preliminarily identified from the cabbage. The LAB isolate that showed strong antibacterial activity was confirmed as Levilactobacillus brevis. The isolate showed 83.3% survival rate in low pH of 3 and 85.9% in 0.3% bile concentration indicating potential tolerance to gastrointestinal conditions. The cell surface hydrophobicity assay showed 51% and auto-aggregation of 60% which represents the adhesion properties of the isolate. The sub-acute oral toxicity evaluation of the putative probiotic strain in Wister albino rats showed no altered health condition. Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest that Levilactobacillus brevis isolated from Sauerkraut is suitable as probiotics and could be applied in the pharmaceutical and food industry

Weed Persistence, Crop Resistance and Phytotonic Effects of Herbicides in Maize (Zea mays) Production Under Different Weed Control Method and Poultry Manure in Kano State Nigeria

The research is financed by centre for dry land Agriculture Bayero University Kano for providing financial support and the management of Agronomy Department Bayero University, for providing technical support throughout the duration of the study (Sponsoring information). Abstract Results of experiment conducted during rainy season of 2016 and 2017 at teaching and research farm of Bayero university Kano, Livestock development centre Dangora with two different pre-emergence herbicides and two post-emergence herbicides all applied at two different rates, (S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l at 2.0 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i.ha-1, S-Metolachlor 290 g/l + Atrazine 370 g/l 2.0 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha-1 followed by Nicosulfuron at 100 g a.i. ha-1, Metolachlor 375 g/l + Terbuthylazine 125 g/l + Mesotrione 37.5 g/l at 2.5 kg a.i ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, Two hoe weeded at 3 and 6 WAS and weedy check) three levels of poultry manure (0, 4, and 8 t ha-1) and NPK at the rate of 120kg N, 60kg P and 60kg K ha-1 and three maize varieties (SAMMAZ 15, SAMMAZ 21 and SAMMAZ 35). The experiments was laid out in a split-split plot design with variety allocated to the main plot, poultry manure to the sub-plot and weed control method to the sub-sub plot, and was replicated three times. The result from the study showed that two hoe weeding at 3 and 6WAS and Application of 3Maizeforce at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by Bentazone at 2.5 kg a.i. ha-1, significantly revealed higher crop resistance index with medium persistence index of the weeds indicating broad spectrum effect in controlling the weeds, the said treatments were best herbicides for maize production. Furthermore the said treatment is recommended for weed control that can improve maize grain yield. Keywords: Weed Occurrence level, Weed persistence index, Crop resistance index and Phytotonic effect. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-10-03 Publication date:May 31st 202

Level densities and thermodynamical properties of Pt and Au isotopes

The nuclear level densities of $^{194-196}$Pt and $^{197,198}$Au below the neutron separation energy have been measured using transfer and scattering reactions. All the level density distributions follow the constant-temperature description. Each group of isotopes is characterized by the same temperature above the energy threshold corresponding to the breaking of the first Cooper pair. A constant entropy excess $\Delta S=1.9$ and $1.1$ $k_B$ is observed in $^{195}$Pt and $^{198}$Au with respect to $^{196}$Pt and $^{197}$Au, respectively, giving information on the available single-particle level space for the last unpaired valence neutron. The breaking of nucleon Cooper pairs is revealed by sequential peaks in the microcanonical caloric curve

The GREGOR Fabry-P\'erot Interferometer

The GREGOR Fabry-P\'erot Interferometer (GFPI) is one of three first-light instruments of the German 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain. The GFPI uses two tunable etalons in collimated mounting. Thanks to its large-format, high-cadence CCD detectors with sophisticated computer hard- and software it is capable of scanning spectral lines with a cadence that is sufficient to capture the dynamic evolution of the solar atmosphere. The field-of-view (FOV) of 50" x 38" is well suited for quiet Sun and sunspot observations. However, in the vector spectropolarimetric mode the FOV reduces to 25" x 38". The spectral coverage in the spectroscopic mode extends from 530-860 nm with a theoretical spectral resolution R of about 250,000, whereas in the vector spectropolarimetric mode the wavelength range is at present limited to 580-660 nm. The combination of fast narrow-band imaging and post-factum image restoration has the potential for discovery science concerning the dynamic Sun and its magnetic field at spatial scales down to about 50 km on the solar surface.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables; pre-print of AN 333, p.880-893, 2012 (AN special issue to GREGOR