Households’ Energy Efficiency Practices in a Bereft Power Supply Economy of Nigeria

The study focuses on attaining energy efficiency practices in the housing sector of the Nigerian economy. This is essentially necessary in order to reduce the energy demand on the central power supply of the nation and as well attain energy security. Nigeria as a nation is endowed with enormous energy resources, yet beleaguered with chronic energy crisis because of inadequate power supply to the citizens. The overall goal is to seek ways of improving the energy use situation of the country; and the objectives are to determine the prevailing levels of energy efficiency practices in housing design; appliances in use; and occupant behavior. The findings reveal a low level of energy efficiency consideration in housing design practice; a very low level of appliances efficiency; and a much low level of energy efficiency practice by the housing occupants. Thus, a strategic scheme of energy efficiency practices to be realized by the government and housing stakeholders is proffered for the housing sector of Nigeria

Financial Practices Among Muslim Informal Sector Operators at Aliero Onion Market and Their Shariah Compatibility

This paper explores the financial practices among Muslim informal sector operators at Aliero onions market and evaluates the practices from Shari’ah perspective. The data is generated using informant interview. The financial practices are evaluated with reference to the existing literature on Islamic finance. Descriptive and analytical approaches are used in the data analysis. The research finds most of the financial practices compatible to the Shari’ah and recommends the promoters of Islamic banking in Nigeria to target these kinds of organizations in mobilizing clients and customers. Keywords: Financial practices, Muslim informal sector operators, Aliero onions market, shari’ah compatibility.

Firms’ Specific Characteristics and Stock Market Returns (Evidence from Listed Food and beverages Firms in Nigeria)

Because of the mix of opinion in the literature, the mix of empirical findings, and the limited empirical works on the relationship between firms’ specific characteristics and Stock Market Returns particularly with reference to listed food and beverages firms in Nigeria, it is not out of place to conduct further research on this area to ascertain position. Hence, the study investigated the impact of certain firms’ attributes namely: Market Capitalization, Debt-to-Equity Financing and Earnings per Share on Stock Market Returns of listed food and beverages firms in Nigeria for the period 2007-2013. The population comprises all the twenty-one (21) food and beverages firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) December, 2013. Out of which nine (9) firms constitute the sample of the study. The study adopted both correlation and ex-post facto research design. The data for the study was purely from secondary sources obtained from the annual reports of the sampled firms as well as NSE fact book. Data was analyzed using several options of multiple panel data regression. But the most robust of all is OLS regression as suggested by ‘Breusch and Pagan Lagrangian Multiplier Test for Random Effect’. The findings revealed that Market Capitalization has a significant negative impact on Stock Market Returns of listed food and beverages firms in Nigeria; while the impact of Debt-to-Equity Financing and Earnings per Share on Stock Market Returns are found to be positive and statistically significant. Based on these findings the study recommend as follows: that government and policy maker (Security and Exchange Commission) should design and implement more stringent rule where firms will be compelled and monitored on providing high quality financial reporting, so as to be reporting earnings that reflect their actual performance. This would prevent investors from falling on to the trap of earnings manipulation (as it happened to shareholders of Cadbury Nigeria plc.). In addition, prospective investors should not only focus on huge returns for investing in smaller capitalized or high levered firms; rather, further analysis need to be carried out to tradeoff between risk and returns. Keywords: market capitalization, debt-to-equity financing, earnings per share, stock market returns and stock marke

A Proposed Methodology for Identifying and Evaluating an E-Forms Application

In order to develop a specific methodology that can be followed by any organization or individual who needs tochoose the appropriate E-Forms application that could meet the required needs, this research proposes a methodology whichconsists of three phases: Identification phase, Evaluation phase and Testing phase. In the first phase, a general survey on EFormstypesandtechnologiesisintroducedwithfocusontherecenttrendsinorder to identify which type mostly meets theuser's general requirements. In the second phase, an evaluation to make an accurate selection is made to some of the topcompeting applications supporting the type identified in first phase by using a specific evaluation methodology, in thisresearch three of the widely used evaluation methodologies are discussed, in addition to a simple evaluation methodologywhich has been proposed and implemented using "Microsoft Excel Sheets" application. Finally in the third phase, a real test ismade using the winner application resulting from the second phase, where a four-stage testing plan is proposed in order toachieve this purpose. As an example, the E-Forms technology which is based on "Extensible Markup Language (XML)" isidentified due to its features and capabilities. Then the evaluation is made to the top applications supporting this technology,where "Adobe's XML Forms Architecture (XFA)" technology is selected as a winner. This winner application then is tested,where samples of forms were designed to show the extraordinary features this technology can offer including digital signature.The test includes the use of a proposed offline forms' data gathering technique and uses "Oracle 10g" as the back-enddatabase. It also includes a website to publish the designed forms in addition to an application developed using "OracleDeveloper 10g" to process the forms' data for one of the designed samples in order to prove these forms' accuracy

Architecture and Infectious Diseases: Setting-up a Multipurpose Isolation Facility in Nigerian Hospitals

The high and continuous spread of infectious disease such as Corona virus (COVID-19) has affected public health globally. The preparedness of hospitals in the face of this situation is a problem in the Nigerian context, hospitals were faced with the problems of lack of viral containment spaces to isolate suspected cases and treat the infected patients. This research aims at exploring the design requirements and configurations of a multipurpose infectious disease isolation centre in Nigerian hospitals with a view to develop a framework for setting-up of infectious disease isolation facility in Nigerian hospitals. The research objectives are as follows: (1) To identify the functional spaces in isolation centres of Nigerian hospitals, (2) To determine the principles of configuration and design considerations in setting up of isolation centres in Nigerian hospitals and (3) To develop a framework or a model for the setting-up of IDIC in Nigerian hospitals. The above objectives were achieved through the employment of a qualitative research approach. An in-depth interview was conducted, the data was analysed using the thematic coding analysis. Results from qualitative analysis were reported in tables and narrative report, content analysis was also conducted. The result of the analysis reveals that an isolation centre should be zoned into four parts, namely: (1) Triage, (2) Green zone (safe zone), (3) Yellow zone (Semi-safe) and (4) Red zone (danger zone). The suspect bay should be in single rooms and that no more than one suspected patient should be in the same room. There is need for a molecular laboratory in the facility. There is need for negative pressure rooms for respiratory infections. The use of high efficiency particulate Air-condition (HEPA) is necessary for decontamination of indoor air before discharge. There is also a need for large open space to cater for watery diseases like cholera

Assessment of the Relationship between Design and Performance in Infectious Diseases Isolation Facility of Nigerian Hospitals

The high and continuous spread of infectious disease such as Corona virus (COVID-19) has affected public health globally. The preparedness of hospitals in the face of this situation is a problem in the Nigerian context, hospitals were faced with the problems of lack of viral containment spaces to isolate suspected cases and treat the infected patients. This research aims at assessing the relationship between design and performance in infectious disease isolation facility of Nigerian hospitals with a view to a framework for setting-up of infectious disease isolation facility in Nigerian hospitals. The research objectives are as follows: (1) To determine the relationship between design and performance of infectious diseases isolation centres in Nigerian hospitals, (2) To determine the perception of medical practitioners in the performance of infectious diseases isolation centre of Nigerian hospitals and (3) To develop a framework or a model for the setting-up of IDIC in Nigerian hospitals. The above objectives were achieved through the employment of quantitative research design approach. This method uses survey questionnaires, about 35 were distributed for the whole sample population, reliability test was conducted, the hypothesis was tested and found significant at P < 0.05 confidence interval. A correlation analysis was conducted. Simple statistical analysis was conducted to determine the mean and frequencies of the analysed data The result of quantitative analysis were presented in frequency tables and pie charts from SPSS v21 analysis output. The result shows that there is a positive relationship between design and performance i.e. the more accurate and satisfying the design is, the higher the result or outcome and performance from the end-users

Prospects for Industrial Utilization of Tacca (Tacca involucrata) in Nigeria

Tacca involucrata (L.) Kuntze is a species of flowering plant. It is commonly known as Polynesian arrow-root (English).  In Nigeria, the plant is more widely spread in the middle , south west and in the south eastern states. The need to develop non tree forest products that have food and industrial use potentials has become imperative in parts of Africa. This is due to the fact that millions of people in many developing countries do not have enough food to meet their daily requirements. This has led to assiduous research on the development of some non-timber forest plant species to ascertain their food and industrial potentials.  The phytochemical analysis of tacca, reported the presence of reducing sugars, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, glycosides and hydrogen cyanide at 195.65 ± 0.5, 3.44 ± 0.2, 1.29 ± 0.5, 0.83 ± 0.4, 1.36 ± 1.0 and 0.00985 ± 0.3 (mg/100g), respectively. The study on proximate analysis of the marc showed it to contain moisture, ash, fats, fibre, crude protein and carbohydrate in the range of 10.83% ± 0.3%, 1.93% ± 0.6%, 1.06% ± 0.5%, 4.42% ± 0.4%, 6.12% ± 0.6% and 86.07% ± 0.3%, respectively. The proximate analysis also showed it to be a good candidate for nutrition with 76% carbohydrate, 6% protein, 4% fibre, 2% ash and about 1% fats.  Various studies on tacca have shown it to contain about 30% starch.  Most of the studies indicated that the starch had low lipid content (0.09%).  They also reported amylose content of 36% and gelatinization temperature of 52–65 °C for the starch. The biscuit produced from wheat–tacca flour composite at varying compositions of tacca flour ranging from 5 to 20% incorporations levels (TEB5%, TEB10%, TEB15 and TEB20%) showed that all the samples substituted with modified tacca flour had better haematological properties, in vitro antioxidative properties and lipid peroxidative properties compared to the 100% wheat biscuit. Specifically, the sample TEB20% (20% tacca flour incorporation) had the best nutritional qualities. Toxicological studies showed that samples with tacca flour incorporation are better than 100% wheat flour biscuit and basal diet. This indicated that tacca flour could successfully supplement wheat flour in the production of nutritionally rich and toxicologically safe biscuit with over 70% overall sensory acceptability. Likewise, the incorporation of tacca flour in spaghetti production may reduce the risks of obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.  In addition being gluten free, tacca may replace wheat in certain food applications to reduce the incidence of celiac disease (CD) or other allergic reactions to gluten. These developments indicated that tacca can assist in alleviating hunger and the cost of importation of various raw materials, most especially, starch in Nigeria. Keywords: Tacca involucrata, starch, gelatinisation, swelling power, biscuit and pasta. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/14-13-02 Publication date: December 31st 202

Upgrading of Indigenous Technology for Processing Shea Butter (Vittelaria paradoxa) In Nigeria.

Nigeria has a number of natural resources that can form the backbone of its economic development aspirations. Most of these resources are currently contributing to industrial and economic development, albeit at very low levels. This is due to the current level of their development. Some of them are, most especially, the agricultural resources are still growing in the wild and mostly processed using indigenous technologies which are laborious, low yielding with associated low quality products. This reduces their competitiveness both locally and in the international markets. Among the natural agricultural resources is the shea tree which produces shea butter. While shea butter has a muber of industrial uses globally, its development in Nigeria has not been very encouraging.  The processing of sheaut to shea butter in Nigeria is constrained by the indigenous technology being used for its production while the underdevelopment of the shea tree limits is productivity.  In view of these, a number of mandated research institutes and other stakeholders have being working to improve the shea butter output through the upgrading of the indigenous technology employed locally. A number of processing plants have been designed, fabricated and tested.  Some of these have been deployed for industrial use.  Productivity improvement programmes are being carried out on the shea tree to promote its development in plantations. These developments are leading to the overhauling of the shea nut value chain in Nigeria.  Improved shea butter processing facilities are now being used by small scale industries in parts of the country.  The sustainability of these efforts will assist in making shea butter production a virile industrial activity in Nigeria and in due course assist in foreign exchange generation. Keywords: shea tree, shea butter, indigenous technology, fat, equipment, RMRDC. DOI: 10.7176/IEL/13-1-07 Publication date: December 28th 202

Optimisation of the ozone pre-treatment of agricultural residues and conversion to platform chemicals

Ph. D. ThesisBiomass in the form of agricultural residues offers clear potential for conversion into energy, especially the use of processing residues such as corn cob and rice husk etc, due to their abundance/availability and high carbohydrate content. Depending on the conversion process, pre-treatment allows easier access to the carbohydrate components (cellulose and hemicellulose) for conversion to advanced generation biofuels and platform chemicals such as 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, furfural etc. leaving lignin as a low-value residue which is often burnt to provide parasitic energy for the conversion process. The conversion of lignin into high value platform chemicals will increase the profitability and sustainability of the biorefinery process. However, to achieve complete utilisation of the lignin, it must be of high purity and lack extensive modifications. Ozone pre-treatment is recently gaining attention as a promising green alternative for cellulose isolation. However, the drawback of using ozone for large-scale industrial applications is the high costs for generating ozone in-situ as it cannot be stored due to its short lifetime and high reactivity. This study aims to pre-treat and fractionate the agricultural processing residues (corn cob and spelt husk) and convert the carbohydrate components to chemical platforms (5-hydroxymethyl furfural and furfural) that can be used in several applications i.e medicines, diesel, fuel additives and plastics. The first stage of this study developed an energy-efficient surface two-zone plasma ozone generator consisting of two stainless-steel mesh electrodes and a dielectric of quartz glass. The design offered good temperature control, which produced 2.5 times higher concentration and quantity of ozone at the same power input than a conventional single-zone plasma reactor. A maximum ozone concentration of 140g m-3 and 90g (kWh) -1 productivity was obtained from the two-zone system, comparable to commercial ozone generators but with 30 – 40% lower power consumption (11kWh kg-1 O3). Hence mitigating the drawbacks with the use of ozone in industrial applications caused by large energy demand. Optimisation of the ozone pre-treatment process was achieved by incorporating ultrasound which enhanced lignin separation by 38.5%. Following organosolv fractionation at low temperature (80⁰C), about 90% and 94% of lignin with high purity (95%) were recovered for corn cob and spelt husk respectively with guaiacyl-syringyl lignin the major fraction from corn cob and guaiacyl lignin from spelt husk. In addition, 84 - 85% cellulose was recovered with III 78% purity. The recovered cellulose had its crystallinity decreased by 19% and its degree of polymerisation (DP) decreased by 17%. In a microwave reactor, corn cob and spelt husk (untreated and pre-treated) were reacted in a DMSO-H2O media to produce HMF and furfural. HMF and furfural yields of untreated corn cob were higher than those from spelt husk due to a difference in their morphology with increased porosity of corn cob allowing easy access to cellulose. Pre-treatment led to a 58% and 74% increase in HMF yield for corn cob and spelt husk respectively, while a 10% and 66.7% increase in furfural. Reacting fractionated cellulose from corn cob and spelt husk yielded a similar HMF yield of 40mg g -1 irrespective of the feedstock used. Overall, HMF and furfural yields were influenced by changes in cellulose properties following pre-treatment such as fibre size, increased surface area, decrease in the degree of polymerisation and decrease in lignin content following lignocellulose pre-treatment. The economic efficiency and competitiveness of the conversion process for large scale co production of HMF, furfural and lignin from spelt husk was determined. The proposed approach was compared with process where HMF and furfural were co-produced without lignin. Co-production with lignin yielded a profit of $213,657 higher than without lignin for a plant size of 100 tonnes per day of spelt husk due to extra revenue obtained from lignin sales, meaning fractionation of lignin had a positive effect on the process economics than its utilisation for heat or boiler fuel. Thus, the improved pre-treatment and quality separation of biomass components enhanced downstream conversion to value-added products, thereby improving the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of the ozone pre-treatment process and conversion to HMF and furfural. In addition, the co-production of lignin will offset the cost of production of platform chemicals, thereby increasing the economics of a biorefinery.Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) Nigeri

Personal Characteristics and Banking Behaviour of Customers: Further Evidence from Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto-Nigeria

“This study examines the extent to which customers’ personal characteristics have influence on the banking bahaviour of customers. The study uses primary data which was collected from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. A sample of 383 respondents was used cutting across staff, students and petty business operators within the community. The study uses Logistic regression model to analyse the data. The results of the study indicated that age, marital status, and occupation have negative influence on the banking bahviour of customers while, educational qualification and monthly income have positive influence. The study therefore recommends that those factors with positive influence should be closely watched whenever banks are looking for customers in the community and other communities with similar features.