The Rhetorical Style of Climate Change Education in Greg Mbajiorgu's Wake Up Everyone

Climate change responses require a multidimensional approach given the context-specific knowledge of climate change education. Hence, this study investigates the rhetorical style of propagating climate change education in a non-formal setting – a typical agrarian Nigerian community – as enacted in Greg Mbajiorgu's play, Wake up Everyone. It adopts Olinger's (2016) socio-cultural approach to style to unpack nuances of social meanings which are negotiated in the process of enhancing the people's perception and learning of climate change issues in the symbolic rural environment. Four representative extracts which comprise three conversational exchanges among the characters, and the theme song of the environmental activist's Green Theatre outfit's play-within-a-play, The New Dawn, were purposively selected to reflect the following issues: improving education and awareness, building human and institutional capacity on climate change, devising adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce climate change impact, and giving early warning to forestall environmental disasters. The study reveals that the rhetorical strategies and semiotic resources in the dramatic text essentially localise and also demystify the complex science of climate change with the imaginative design of tactical non-formal adult education strategies to appeal to the environmental and cultural sensibilities of the extremely vulnerable local community

RICE-HUSK ASH-CARBIDE-WASTE STABILIZATION OF RECLAIMED ASPHALT PAVEMENT

This paper present results of the laboratory evaluation of the characteristics of carbide waste and rice husk ash stabilized reclaimed asphalt pavement waste with a view to determine its suitability for use as flexible pavement material. The mixtures were subjected to British Standard heavy compactive effort to determine the compaction characteristics, California bearing ratio, durability and water absorption. Test results showed that the maximum dry density increased while optimum moisture content decreased with carbide waste content and lower rice husk ash contents at any fixed reclaimed asphalt pavement content in the mixes. Optimum California bearing ratio values of 62.0 % (unsoaked) and 66.0 % (soaked for 24 hours) were recorded for 75% RAP + 25% CW mix, with minimum water absorption of 5.7 % and resistance to loss in strength of 84.1 %, hence the recommendation of the mixture for use as sub-base material in flexible pavement construction.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v35i3.

Microbiological Properties of Stored Freeze Dried Cow Milk Cheese and Soy Cheese

The microbiological properties of stored freeze dried cow milk cheese and soy cheese were investigated. Cow milk cheese and soy milk cheese were prepared using appropriate standard procedures. The microbial qualities of the stored freeze dried samples were determined using standard  methods as prescribed by Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods and Bacteriological Analytical Manual. Data obtained were analyzed statistically to determine the effect of the packaging materials and storage duration on the microbial qualities of freeze dried cheese samples. Result of the microbial composition for the fresh cow milk and soy cheese for bacterial and fungi count are 3.00x103±0.01, 2.54x106±0.05 and 2.76x103±0.02, 2.60x106±0.10 while the result for the freeze dried cow milk and soy cheese before storage are 2.72x103±0.02, 2.35x106±0.30 and 2.54x103±0.03, 2.38x106±0.50. This indicates that all the packaging material types used have the ability to minimize the microbial growth of stored freeze dried cheese. Polythene film is recommended to be more suitable in terms of cost, availability, compactibility and weight. Keywords: cheese, freeze drying, microbial qualities, packaging materials

Evaluation of effect of pig production to the Environment in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The research was aimed at accessing the effect of pig production  to the environmental effect  in Enugu State, Nigeria. A total of sixty (60) farmers were selected using purposive and multi stage random sampling techniques. Structured questionnaire and oral interview were used to collect information on the objectives of the study. Percentages responses, probit analysis, multinomial logit models and factor analysis were used to capture the objectives of the study.. The results showed that most of the respondents were aged, educated, had large household size and member of organizations. The effect of pig production on the environment were odour, noise, flies, dust, mosquitoes and rodents. The pig management technologies adopted by the farmers were proper housing, proper manure disposal; precision feed management and proper disposal of animal carcass         . The waste disposal methods employed by pig farmers were open lagoons, dumping in the farm, heap waste and burn and store in bag. The result of probit analysis of technologies adoption showed that  in all the variables considered, only the coefficients of age, extension services, membership of organization and off – farm income activities that were positive. As well, the analysis of the choice of adopting of the management technologies against environmental hazards using multinomial logit regression, showed that only rearing experience and extension services  were positive .Finally, poor access to credit, poor housing, extension services, disease problem, drug, high costs of labour and location of veterinary posts in the urban area were the major challenges faced by farmers in the study area. There is need to ensure farmers’ access to credit, extension services, membership of organization and off farm income activitiesKey words:  Effect, PigProduction, Probit model, Environment, Multinomial logit  Enug

Journal of Advances in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Aim: To evaluate the effects of graded doses of ethanolic stem bark extract of Picralima nitida on haematological profile, some serum reproductive hormones, sperm reserves and testicular histomorphology of male albino rats. Study Design: Thirty male albino rats, weighing between 120 and 200 grams were randomly assigned into six groups of five rats each. Group A received 0.5 ml of distilled water (normal control). Groups B, C and D received 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg BW of the extract respectively. Group E received 2.5 mg/kg BW of CdCl2 (negative control), while Group F received 5 mg/kg BW of Sildenafil (positive control); orally every other day for six weeks. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology (Laboratory Animal Unit), University of Nigeria, Nsukka, between June and September, 2015. Methodology: At the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected for haematology and serology, whereas testicular sections were collected for histopathology following the standards procedures. Data obtained were analyzed by One-way ANOVA. Results: The result showed that all doses of the extract increased neutrophil count, but decreased (P < 0.05) monocyte and RBC counts; 200 and 400 mg/kg BW of the extract decreased (P < 0.05) PCV values; and only 400 mg/kg of the extract reduced (P < 0.05) HB values. 200 and 400 mg/kg BW of the extract, and 2.5 mg/kg BW of CdCl2 decreased (P < 0.05) serum testosterone and sperm counts. The normal control, 100 mg/kg BW of the extract and 5 mg/kg BW of Sildenafil had normal testicular histoarchitecture; whereas 200 and 400 mg/kg BW of the extract, and 2.5 mg/kg BW of CdCl2 had slight, moderate and severe degeneration of the germinal epithelium and interstitium, with depletion of sperm cells in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that treatment with ethanolic stem bark extract of Picralima nitida above 100 mg/kg BW adversely affected haematological and reproductive parameters in male albino rats

Effect of physical properties on the specific heat preserved ground sheanut kernel (BUTYROSPERNUMPARADOXUM)

Most agricultural materials undergo various forms of preservation in order to enhance shelf life. Sheanut is usually preserved by heating the kernels over fire in a pot for a time period. This affects its properties especially during heat processing. It is expected that this work will provide information that would help optimize such processing. Preserved sheanut kernel samples sourced locally were prepared by manually cleaning, sorting, grinding and sieving to obtain desired particle sizes. The specific heat of the samples were evaluated as a function of particle size (2.36 mm), (1.18 mm and 1.00 mm), moisture content (initial moisture content, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% db) and temperature (50oC, 60oC, 70oC, 80oC, and 90oC). The specific heat of each particle size increased with increase in moisture content and varied with temperature with values in the range of 2674 to 4114.67, 1952.08 to 4401.82, and 2429.05 to 4343.87 J/kgoC for P1, P2 and P3 respectively. It was observed that the effect of moisture content was greater than both particle size and temperature. The relationships that existed between specific heat and the observed variables were best described by trinomial model equations with attendant (R2) values. Application of these equations will aid in predicting the specific heat of ground preserved sheanut samples as a function of the observed variables