Isolation, Characterization and Heavy Metals Tolerance Indices of Indigenous Fungal Flora from a Tannery located at Challawa Industrial Estate of Kano State, Nigeria

Seven fungal species (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Rhizomucor pusillus, Trichophyton equinum and Rhizopus oryzae) were isolated from the tannery effluent collected at a tannery industry located at Challawa industrial estate of Kano State, Nigeria. Aspergillus niger had the highest percentage occurrence frequency of 36% (31) while Trichophyton equinum had the least percentage occurrence frequency of 4% (5). Consequently, Aspergillus niger recorded the highest mean tolerance indices of 1.175, 0.830, 0.580, 0.780 and 0.630 while Rhizomucor pusillus had the least of the tolerance indices of 0.675, 0.375, 0.346, 0.450 and 0.255 for chromium, cadmium, manganese and lead respectively. Accordingly, furthermore the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and biomass yield of the seven tested fungi isolates cultured in the presence of the five heavy metals used in this study showed different level of growth pattern. Hence the high resistant potentials and tolerance to the selected heavy metals exhibited by the fungal species isolated in this study is an indication that indigenous fungal floral isolated from tannery effluent if properly harnessed may offer a feasible solution to the serious environmental pollution problems associated with the presence of heavy metals in tannery effluent

Acoustic Events in the Solar Atmosphere from Hinode/SOT NFI observations

We investigate the properties of acoustic events (AEs), defined as spatially concentrated and short duration energy flux, in the quiet sun using observations of a 2D field of view (FOV) with high spatial and temporal resolution provided by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard \textit{Hinode}. Line profiles of Fe \textsc{i} 557.6 nm were recorded by the Narrow band Filter Imager (NFI) on a $82" \times 82"$ FOV during 75 min with a time step of 28.75 s and 0.08$"$ pixel size. Vertical velocities were computed at three atmospheric levels (80, 130 and 180 km) using the bisector technique allowing the determination of energy flux in the range 3-10 mHz using two complementary methods (Hilbert transform and Fourier power spectra). Horizontal velocities were computed using local correlation tracking (LCT) of continuum intensities providing divergences. The net energy flux is upward. In the range 3-10 mHz, a full FOV space and time averaged flux of 2700 W m$^{-2}$ (lower layer 80-130 km) and 2000 W m$^{-2}$ (upper layer 130-180 km) is concentrated in less than 1% of the solar surface in the form of narrow (0.3$"$) AE. Their total duration (including rise and decay) is of the order of $10^{3}$ s. Inside each AE, the mean flux is $1.6 10^{5}$ W m$^{-2}$ (lower layer) and $1.2 10^{5}$ W m$^{-2}$ (upper). Each event carries an average energy (flux integrated over space and time) of $2.5 10^{19}$ J (lower layer) to $1.9 10^{19}$ J (upper). More than $10^{6}$ events could exist permanently on the Sun, with a birth and decay rate of 3500 s$^{-1}$. Most events occur in intergranular lanes, downward velocity regions, and areas of converging motions.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Blood Biochemical Profile and Carcass Characteristics of Weaner Rabbits Fed Varying Inclusion Levels of Gamba Grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth.) Forage

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of varying inclusion levels of Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth) forage on haematological, blood biochemical and carcass characteristics of weaner rabbits. A total of 20 male rabbits of mixed breeds with an average initial weight of 450g were randomly assigned into four dietary treatments containing varying inclusion levels of gamba grass forage (0, 5, 10 and 15%). There were four rabbits per treatment, each serving as a replicate in a completely randomized design. Blood samples were collected at the end of eight (8) week feeding period before the carcass analysis.. Results indicated that there were significant (P<0.05) increasing trend in the haematological and blood biochemical parameters measured. There were 51% and 55% increases (P<0.05) in total protein (8.53 vs. 5.65g/dl) and calcium ions (2.65 vs. 1.18mmol/dl) in rabbits fed diet containing 15% inclusion level of gamba grass forage compared to the control. However, there were 10% and 17% decreases (P<0.05) in white blood cells (4.92 vs. 4.43%) and alkaline phosphate (89.33 vs. 76.33IU/dl) in rabbits fed the control diet than those fed diet containing 15% inclusion level of gamba grass. Also, there were 13% and 49% increase (P<0.05) in dressing percentage (54.80 vs. 48.60%) and weight of thigh (16.95 vs. 11.35%) in rabbits fed diet containing 15% inclusion level of gamba grass forage compared to the control. However, length of small intestine and weights of heart, head, stomach and small intestines were similar (P>0.05) across the treatments, respectively. It was concluded that gamba grass forage can be included up to 15% in the diet of weaner rabbits, without adverse effect on haematological, biochemical profile and carcass characteristics of the rabbits in Northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria. Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth) forage can be included in the diets of weaner rabbits to reduce cost of production.Keywords: Blood, competition, carcass, feed, gamba, Nigeria, rabbi

Evolution of 5G Network: A Precursor towards the Realtime Implementation of VANET for Safety Applications in Nigeria

  A crucial requirement for the successful real-time design and deployment of Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANET) is to ensure high speed data rates, low latency, information security, and a wide coverage area without sacrificing the required Quality of Service (QoS) in VANET. These requirements must be met for flawless communication on the VANET. This study examines the generational patterns in mobile wireless communication and looks into the possibilities of adopting fifth generation (5G) network technology for real-time communication of road abnormalities in VANET. The current paper addresses the second phase of a project that is now underway to develop real-time road anomaly detection, characterization, and communication systems for VANET. The major goal is to reduce the amount of traffic accidents on Nigerian roadways. It will also serve as a platform for the real-time deployment and testing of various road anomaly detection algorithms, as well as schemes for communicating such detected anomalies in the VANET.   &nbsp

A priori control of zeolite phase competition and intergrowth with high-throughput simulations

Zeolites are versatile catalysts and molecular sieves with large topological diversity, but managing phase competition in zeolite synthesis is an empirical, labor-intensive task. In this work, we controlled phase selectivity in templated zeolite synthesis from first principles by combining high-throughput atomistic simulations, literature mining, human-computer interaction, synthesis, and characterization. Proposed binding metrics distilled from more than 586,000 zeolite-molecule simulations reproduced the extracted literature and rationalized framework competition in the design of organic structure-directing agents. Energetic, geometric, and electrostatic descriptors of template molecules were found to regulate synthetic accessibility windows and aluminum distributions in pure-phase zeolites. Furthermore, these parameters allowed us to realize an intergrowth zeolite through a single bi-selective template. The computation-first approach enables control of both zeolite synthesis and structure composition using a priori theoretical descriptors.D.S.-K. and R.G.-B. acknowledge the Energy Initiative (MITEI) and MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) Seed Funds. D.S.-K. was also funded by the MIT Energy Fellowship. C.P., E.B.-J., M.M., and A.C. acknowledge financial support by the Spanish government through the “Severo Ochoa” program (SEV-2016-0683, MINECO) and grant RTI2018-101033-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE). E.B.-J. acknowledges the Spanish government for an FPI scholarship (PRE2019-088360). Z.J., E.O., S.K., and Y.R.-L. acknowledge partial funding from Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) from the National Science Foundation (NSF); awards 1922311, 1922372, and 1922090; and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under contract N00014-20-1-2280. S.K. was additionally funded by the Kwanjeong Educational Fellowship. Z.J. was also supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense Science Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship program. T.W. acknowledges financial support by the Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2019-05465). Computer calculations were executed at the Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center with support from MIT Research Computing and at the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) (53) Expanse through allocation TG-DMR200068