Women Farmers’ Contributions to Maize Production in Afijio Local Government of Oyo State

The study investigated the contributions of women farmers to maize production in Afijio Local Government area, Oyo state. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 128 women farmers as sample size for the study. Data collected through interview schedule were analysed using frequency counts, percentages and mean while Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Chi-square were used to test the relationships that exist between selected socioeconomic characteristics and contributions of women farmers to maize production. Results revealed the mean age of respondents was 45years, 83.5% of respondents were married and 41.4% of the respondents had no formal education. High percentage of the respondents (82.5%) engaged in farming for both commercial and subsistence purposes, and activities such as, planting, fertilizer application, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing were performed by women farmers whereas ridging, land clearing and weeding were considered laborious and were usually contracted to hired labour. The results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis showed that age (r = 0.950, P<0.05), farm size (r = 0.174, P<0.05), household size (r = 0.354, P<0.05) while the results of Chi-square analysis revealed that educational status (ᵡ2 =36.864 P<0.05), marital status (ᵡ2 =19.615, P<0.05) have significant association with contributions of women farmers to maize production in the study area. Hence, the study recommended that female education (through adult literacy) be intensified, young women be encouraged to be more involved in maize production, women should form themselves into group to learn techniques of trapping farm pests and in time of surplus, women maize farmers should form supply cooperatives to transport their produce to areas where it commands higher prices

Geoelectric Survey of Foundation Beds of the Proposed Faculty of Engineering Building, OSUTECH Permanent Site, Okitipupa, Nigeria

Geoelectric resistivity method was employed to characterize the geo-materials at Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) Okitipupa, Dahomey Basin, Nigeria, for suitability for foundation purposes. The methods involved Constant Separation Traversing (CST) using Wenner array and Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) using Schlumberger array. The data obtained were processed with Ipi2win and excel software. The results showed that the subsurface structures were made up of lateritic topsoil with resistivity varying from 85 Ohm-m to 612 Ohm-m and thickness varying from 0.5 to 2.14 m; clayed sand with resistivity varying from 295 to 2,587 ohm-m and thickness vary from 0.67 to 3.4; clay with resistivity varying from 10 to 350 ohm-m and thickness varying from 3.8 to 26 m; and sand with resistivity ranging from 383 ohm-m to 59,707ohm-m. The clayed sand would have been the best layer to host the foundation because of its depth to the surface but it is generally less than 1.5 m and underlay by thick column of clay. The only competent layer that can host the foundation of high-rise building is the sand layer, therefore, the building foundation should be piled to the sand layer or pilling should be suspended within the thick column of clay

Alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase inhibitory activities, molecular docking, and antioxidant capacities of plectranthus ecklonii constituents

Shortage in insulin secretion or degradation of produced insulin is the principal characteristic of the metabolic disorder of diabetes mellitus (DM). However, because the current medications for the treatment of DM have many detrimental side effects, it is necessary to develop more effective antidiabetic drugs with minimal side effects. Alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase inhibitors are directly implicated in the delay of carbohydrate digestion. Pharmacologically, these inhibitors could be targeted for the reduction in glucose absorption rate and, subsequently, decreasing the postprandial rise in plasma glucose and the risk for long-term diabetes complications. The main objectives of this research study were to isolate different phytochemical constituents present in the methanolic extract of Plectranthus ecklonii and evaluate their alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase inhibitory activities and antioxidant capacity

Treatment of persistent organic pollutants in wastewater using hydrodynamic cavitation in synergy with advanced oxidation process

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are very tenacious wastewater contaminants. The consequences of their existence have been acknowledged for negatively affecting the ecosystem with specific impact upon endocrine disruption and hormonal diseases in humans. Their recalcitrance and circumvention of nearly all the known wastewater treatment procedures are also well documented. The reported successes of POPs treatment using various advanced technologies are not without setbacks such as low degradation efficiency, generation of toxic intermediates, massive sludge production, and high energy expenditure and operational cost. However, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have recently recorded successes in the treatment of POPs in wastewater. AOPs are technologies which involve the generation of OH radicals for the purpose of oxidising recalcitrant organic contaminants to their inert end products. This review provides information on the existence of POPs and their effects on humans. Besides, the merits and demerits of various advanced treatment technologies as well as the synergistic efficiency of combined AOPs in the treatment of wastewater containing POPs was reported. A concise review of recently published studies on successful treatment of POPs in wastewater using hydrodynamic cavitation technology in combination with other advanced oxidation processes is presented with the highlight of direction for future research focus

Performance Evaluation of an Oil Palm Fruit Screen

An oil palm fruit screen was designed (in the Research Engineering Division of NIFOR) to separate calyx from oil palmfruits ( prior to fruit sterilization) and to clean fruits, thereby improving oil palm fruit quality in the Small Scale ProcessingEngineering (SSPE) used at NIFOR. Pre-sterilization cleaning of fruit by the removal of calyx is a common practice byNigeria Small Scale Palm Oil producers. They manually pick palm fruits or repose fruits along inclined wire gauze toachieve the separation of calyx from fruits. These manual methods are slow, expensive in labour demands and arduous,hence the screen machine was developed to mechanise fruit cleaning. In the evaluation of the machine, oil palm fruitnaturally containing calyx were screened. Known weights of palm fruit and calyx mixed in various proportions were alsoscreened in the machine. Consistently, over 80% of the calyx were separated from fruit whenever a mixture of fruit andcalyx passed through the machine once. This result shows that the incorporation of this screen machine in the SSPEenhances pre-sterilization cleaning of palm fruits thereby improving the fruit quality in the Small Scale ProcessingEquipment. KEY WORDS: oil palm fruit screen, oil palm fruit, calyx removal, fruit cleaning, practice, technology innovation, small scale farmers, Nigeria Résume Un écran pour noix de palme a été conçu au sein de la Division de Recherches Technologiques, Département d'Ingénieriepour Transformation à petite échelle (l'Institut Nigérian pour la Recherche sur l'Huile de Palme - NIFOR) afin de séparerle calice et les noix de palmier à huile avant la stérilisation du fruit, dans le but de nettoyer les fruits, améliorant de ce faitla qualité de la noix de palmier à huile. Le nettoyage des noix de palme avant leur stérilisation qui consiste à séparer lecalice du fruit, est une pratique courante chez les petits producteurs du Nigeria. Ceux-ci trient manuellement les noix depalme ou les font glisser sur des treillis métalliques inclinés afin de séparer le calice de la noix. Ces méthodes manuellessont lentes, onéreuses et elles consomment du temps et d'énergie. C'est dans cette optique que la machine avec un écrana été développée afin de mécaniser le nettoyage des fruits. Lors de l'évaluation de la performance de l'écran, on a utilisédes fruits de palme à huile contenant naturellement le calice. En plus, des noix et calices préalablement pesés étaientmélangés dans diverses proportions, et séparés ensuite dans la machine. A plusieurs reprises, plus de 80% de calicesétaient séparés des noix d'un coup, toutes les fois que l'on a fait passer le mélange de noix et de calices à travers lamachine. Ces résultats prouvent que l'utilisation de cette machine dans l'ingénierie de transformation à petite échelle vapermettre l'augmentation du degré de nettoyage du matériel, avant la stérilisation. Mots clés: machine à écran, noix de palme, calice, séparation, nettoyage, innovations technologiques, petits producteurs,NigeriaDiscovery and Innovation Volume 15 Number1/2 June (2003) pp. 70-7

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Groundwater Assessment and its Implication for Irrigation in Selected Coastal Areas of South-Western Nigeria

Physicochemical and ionic characteristics of groundwater aquifers have been of tremendous importance in water applications. Groundwater in selected coastal communities (Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu, and Ilaje/ese-odo) of south-western Nigeria was assessed for domestic and irrigation suitability. One hundred and ninety-two (192) groundwater samples were obtained and analyzed for chemical composition and major ionic ratio over a period of four seasons using standard methods. Results indicated abundance of ions in the order HCO3– > Cl–> SO42– for anions, and K+ > Na+ > Ca2+> Mg2+ for cations. Piper's diagram revealed calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) as the dominant cations, while sulphate and chloride were the dominant anions with a mixture of two major groundwater types: Ca–Cl water and mixed Ca–Mg–Cl. The presence of Ca–Cl facies water type suggests potential ion exchange (Na2+ with Ca2+) reaction in these coastal aquifers. Cation exchangeable values (CEV), and molar ratios of Mg/Ca, HCO3/Cl, and Na/Cl, showed high values (>1) across all locations indicating the occurrence of saline water ingression in groundwater samples, especially during the dry spell. The increasing K+, Na+, and Cl– characteristics of the groundwater and calculated ionic indices values indicated the influence of seawater intrusion. However, total hardness values showed that the samples were very soft in nature. Irrigation water quality suitability, as indicated by sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), permeability index (PI), and percentage sodium (PS) varied with seasons and location, showing that water will cause soil deterioration and poor crop performance if intensively used for irrigation without proper precautions

Alpha-Glucosidase and Alpha-Amylase Inhibitory Activities, Molecular Docking, and Antioxidant Capacities of Salvia aurita Constituents

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most dangerous metabolic diseases with a high rate of mortality worldwide. It is well known that insulin resistance and deficiency in insulin production from pancreatic β-cells are the main characteristics of DM. Due to the detrimental side effects of the current treatment, there is a considerable need to develop new effective antidiabetic drugs, especially alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase inhibitors with lesser adverse effects. These inhibitors are known to be directly involved in the delay of carbohydrate digestion, resulting in a reduction of glucose absorption rate and, consequently, reducing the postprandial rise of plasma glucose, which can reduce the risk of long-term diabetes complications. Furthermore, natural products are well-known sources for the discovery of new bioactive compounds that can serve as scaffolds for drug discovery, including that of new antidiabetic drugs. The phytochemical investigation of Salvia aurita collected from Hogobach Pass, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (SA), yielded four known abietane diterpenes namely carnosol (1), rosmanol (2), 7-methoxyrosmanol (3), 12-methoxycarnosic acid (4), and one flavonoid named 4,7-dimethylapigenin (5). Structural characterization of these isolated compounds was conducted using 1 and 2D NMR, in comparison with reported spectroscopic data. These compounds are reported for the first time from S. aurita. The biological evaluation of the isolated compound against alpha-glucosidase exhibited strong inhibitory activities for 3 and 2 with the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 4.2 ± 0.7 and 16.4 ± 1.1 µg/mL respectively, while 4 and 1 demonstrated strong alpha-amylase inhibitory activity amongst the isolated compounds with IC50 values of 16.2 ± 0.3 and 19.8 ± 1.4 µg/mL. Molecular docking analysis confirms the strong inhibitory activity of 3 against alpha-glucosidase. Additionally, excellent antioxidant capacities were displayed by 2, 1, and 3, respectively, with oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) (25.79 ± 0.01; 23.96 ± 0.01; 23.94 ± 0.02) mM Trolox equivalent (TE)/g; 1 and 2 as ferric-ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (3.92 ± 0.002; 1.52 ± 0.002) mM ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g; 5 and 2 as Trolox equivalent absorbance capacity (TEAC) (3.19 ± 0.003; 2.06 ± 0.003) mM TE/g. The methanolic extract of S. aurita is a rich source of abietane diterpenes with excellent antioxidant and antidiabetic activities that can be useful to modulate oxidative stress and might possibly be excellent candidates for the management of diabetes. This is the first scientific report on the phytochemical isolation and biological evaluation of the alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase inhibitory activities of Salvia aurita