Antibacterial and antifungal effect of high pH and paraffin wax application on tomatoes, oranges and peppers

The antibacterial and antifungal effects of high pH (9, 10) and paraffin wax were determined. Determination of antibacterial and antifungal activity of the combined treatments was achieved by aerobic mesophilic count of bacteria and fungi on the surface of the tomatoes, peppers and oranges using serial dilution and pour plate techniques and compared prior to and after 4 days of treatment with buffer (pH 9, 10) and wax for 3 min using dipping method. Reduction in bacterial and fungal countindicates antifungal and antibacterial activity. A bacterial count reduction of 84.3 (control), 63.4 (pH 9) and 78.2% (pH 10) and fungal count reduction of 53.6 (control), 43.4 (pH 9) and 73.5 (pH 10) wereachieved after 4 days of treatment respectively. The study shows that the control (unwaxed) had similar antibacterial and antifungal effect as waxed fruits at pH 9 and 10, except for pH 10 that had higher reduction of fungal counts than the control, showing prospect of higher activity with wax at higher pH than 10

Sedimentology and paleoenvironmental studies on the Chad formation of Bornu basin, north-eastern Nigeria

This study deals with sedimentology and Paleoenvironmental studies of the Chad Formation in the Bornu Basin. The sandstones which build up this formation are fine, medium to coarse grained sands which are dominantlypoorly sorted. The skewness ranges from positive to very positive while the kurtosis varies from very platykurtic to very leptokurtic. The bivariate plots of standard deviation vs. mean, standard deviation vs. skewness, standarddeviation vs. first percentile, mean vs. first percentile and log probability plots have conclusively define the depositional environment of the arenaceous samples of the Chad Formation as fluvial in origin. The paleocurrent analysis indicates a trend in the northwestern direction which implies that the sediments forming the Chad Formation were derived from the southwest

Two decades of neuroscience publication trends in Africa.

Neuroscience research in Africa remains sparse. Devising new policies to boost Africa's neuroscience landscape is imperative, but these must be based on accurate data on research outputs which is largely lacking. Such data must reflect the heterogeneity of research environments across the continent's 54 countries. Here, we analyse neuroscience publications affiliated with African institutions between 1996 and 2017. Of 12,326 PubMed indexed publications, 5,219 show clear evidence that the work was performed in Africa and led by African-based researchers - on average ~5 per country and year. From here, we extract information on journals and citations, funding, international coauthorships and techniques used. For reference, we also extract the same metrics from 220 randomly selected publications each from the UK, USA, Australia, Japan and Brazil. Our dataset provides insights into the current state of African neuroscience research in a global context

Is gender encoded in the smile? A computational framework for the analysis of the smile driven dynamic face for gender recognition

YesAutomatic gender classification has become a topic of great interest to the visual computing research community in recent times. This is due to the fact that computer-based automatic gender recognition has multiple applications including, but not limited to, face perception, age, ethnicity, identity analysis, video surveillance and smart human computer interaction. In this paper, we discuss a machine learning approach for efficient identification of gender purely from the dynamics of a person’s smile. Thus, we show that the complex dynamics of a smile on someone’s face bear much relation to the person’s gender. To do this, we first formulate a computational framework that captures the dynamic characteristics of a smile. Our dynamic framework measures changes in the face during a smile using a set of spatial features on the overall face, the area of the mouth, the geometric flow around prominent parts of the face and a set of intrinsic features based on the dynamic geometry of the face. This enables us to extract 210 distinct dynamic smile parameters which form as the contributing features for machine learning. For machine classification, we have utilised both the Support Vector Machine and the k-Nearest Neighbour algorithms. To verify the accuracy of our approach, we have tested our algorithms on two databases, namely the CK+ and the MUG, consisting of a total of 109 subjects. As a result, using the k-NN algorithm, along with tenfold cross validation, for example, we achieve an accurate gender classification rate of over 85%. Hence, through the methodology we present here, we establish proof of the existence of strong indicators of gender dimorphism, purely in the dynamics of a person’s smile

Sedimentology, paleoenvironments and provenances of the clastic sequence of the Gombe sandstone around Gombe and environs in the Gongola arm of the upper Benue trough Nigeria

The textural parameters computed from granulometric analysis for twenty-five samples of the Gombe Sandstone i.e. graphic mean size, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis yielded average values of 2.25ø, 1.17ø, 0.25ø and 1.00ø respectively. Both granulometric and petrographic analysis indicated that the Gombe Sandstone is dominantly poorly sorted and are mostly positively skewed. The sediments range from quartzwacke to subarkose. The bivariate plots of standard deviation vs. mean, standard deviation vs. skewness, standard deviation vs. first percentile and the C–M pattern yielded a dominance of fluvial environment, however, mean vs. first percentile showed a dominance of coastal environment. The probability curve plots showed a dominance of two sand population plots indicating prevalence of unidirectional currents.Paleocurrent analysis has shown that the Gombe Sandstone trends in the northwestern and southeastern directions with unidirectional current systems, having unimodal distribution, indicating a source from the northeastern and southeastern direction

Facies and facies architecture and depositional environments of the cretaceous Yolde Formation in the Gongola basin of the upper Benue trough, northeastern Nigeria

Depositional environments of the Yolde Formation were studied based on the analysis of facies and facies architecture. Five sections within the Gongola Basin were studied and ten lithofocies were recognized based onlithology and sedimentary structures. The sandstone ranges from quartzarenite to subarkose and well to moderately sorted. They comprise of very fine, fine, medium and coarse-grained sandstones. Locally, there is occurrence of thin beds of limestone at the upper most part of the Yolde Formation. The facies architecture at the lower part of this formation is defined by fining upwards cycles interpreted as sequences of fluvial deposits formed from braided river system which consist of succession of massive beds of sandstones fining upwards to thin claystone. The faciesarchitecture in the upper part is defined by:(i) fining upwards cycle of sandstones to claystone interpreted as delta plain distributary channel-overbank facies;(ii) coarsening upwards cycles of mudstones-sandstones interpreted as creavasse-splay deposits in an interdistributary bay fills and;(iii) coarsening upwards cycles of claystones-sandstones or interbedded sandstone and claystones-sandstones are interpreted as delta front sandstones on pro-delta claystones or delta front sandstones on delta slope sandstone and claystones respectively. The dominance of riversandstones over coastal sandstone from bivariate plot relationships and two-sand population plots for the Yolde Formation suggest the upper part of this formation may have formed in a fluvial-dominated delta

Bacteriology of the Anterior Genitalia of the Domestic House Cat: Aetiology of Non-Specific Infection

The bacteriology of the anterior genitalia of the domestic house cat was determined using vaginal swabs collected from sixty apparently healthy female domestic cats (20 kittens, 20 pregnant and 20 non-pregnant adults). The swabs were streaked on blood agar, Mac Conkey agar and eosin methylene blue agar plates which were all incubated at 37oC for 24 – 48 hours. Biochemical tests were also used to determine the bacterial isolates. The species of bacteria isolated were; coagulase negative Staphylococci 31 (25.2%); α-haemolytic Streptococci 21 (17.1%); Actinomyces pyogenes 21 (17.1%); E. coli 16 (13.0%); Bacillus species 12 (9.7%); β-haemolytic Streptococci 9 (7.3%); Proteus species 8 (6.5%) and Staphylococcus aureus5 (4.1%). These organisms could therefore be regarded as part of the normal aerobic vaginal flora of domestic cats found in the semi-arid region of north -eastern Nigeria.Keywords: Domestic cats, Aerobic bacteria, Anterior genitalia, Semi-arid region, Nigeria.