Green Pesticides in Nigeria:An Overview

With Nigeria’s burgeoning population, there is an ever-increasing need to step-up agricultural productivity. There has been an overzealous application of scientific techniques, such as chemical pesticides and herbicides, bringing its own set of problems, ranging from pollution of water resources to destruction of wildlife. In a bid to maximize crop yield from available arable land, many old, non-patented, more toxic, environmentally persistent and inexpensive pesticides are used extensively in Nigeria. The fate of these pesticides has become a source of concern particularly in the developing world where they are used indiscriminately.  Protecting the environment is crucial in improving the lives of poor people in developing countries, because they pay a higher price when the environment turns against them. This paper examines first, the relationship between food security, agrochemicals and the environment and highlights some strategies for sustainable use of plant protection products. It further highlights the challenges hampering the use of green pesticides in Nigeria. Keywords: agrochemicals, food security, green pesticides, sustainabilit

New Limited Molecular Weight Polymeric Dispersants Prepared by Melt Condensation Polymerization

In this work, poly(sebacic anhydride) was prepared in a new method of condensation polymerization of sebacic acid monomer and sebacoyl chloride monomer in presence of triethyl amine, this polymer was purified, characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Poly(sebacic anhydride) was used to prepare poly(ethylene glycol)-sebacic acid copolymers with carboxylic end groups and limited molecular weight using poly(ethylene glycol) having different chain length (400, 2000, 10000 and 20000 g/mole) by melt condensation polymerization. The copolymers were purified, characterized by infrared spectroscopy and end-group analysis of molecular weight determination technique. These polymers were tested as dispersants for ceramic alumina particles in ethanol as dispersion medium using centrifugation settlement method; High packing densities for alumina particles were obtained. It was found that the packing densities of alumina particles have been influenced by the polymer concentration and poly) ethylene glycol) chain length. Their adsorption isotherms were also determined, it was found that the adsorption is molecular weight dependent and linear relationship was obtained between the maximum adsorption of the polymers and their molecular weights. Keywords: melt condensation, poly(sebacic anhydride), poly(ethylene glycol)-sebacic acid, alumina, dispersants, isotherm adsorptio

Analysis of Heavy Metals Content of Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) Leaves Cultivated on the South Bank of River Benue, Nigeria

Assessment of heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, and Pb) content of fluted pumpkin leaves (Telfairia occidentalis) cultivated along the bank of river Benue at Makurdi, Central Nigeria was done using atomic absorption spectrophotometery (AAS). The concentration of these metals was also determined in the soil and river Benue water samples. The results show the mean concentration of heavy metals in T. occidentalis leaves samples as: Fe (54.7±21.9 mg/kg), Mn (278± 156 mg/kg), Zn (50.4± 9.2 mg/kg), Cu (5.03± 1.1 mg/kg), Cd (0.760± 0.2 mg/kg), Cr (3.78± 2.9 mg/kg) and Pb (44.05± 22.6 mg/kg). The load of heavy metals in fluted pumpkin leaves' samples increased in the order Cd<Cr<Cu<Pb<Zn<Fe<Mn. This correlates with the trend of observed heavy metals content in the order Cd<Cu<Cr<Pb<Zn<Mn<Fe for the analysed soil and water samples. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu in the vegetable were below Codex Alimentarius limits while Cd, Cr and Pb values exceeded their permissible limits in vegetable samples set by Codex Alimentarius Commission. Thus, there is a need to continuously monitor the heavy metal content of food crops cultivated along the banks of river Benue and other such places. Keywords: Atomic absorption spectrophotometry, Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis), Heavy metals, River Benu

Biodegradation Studies in Vitro of Novel Poly(adipic anhydride-co-mannitol)-N-maleoyl Chitosan Networks

In this work, novel copolymers of poly(adipic anhydride-co-mannitol) were synthesized by melting condensation polymerization of poly(adipic anhydride) with five percentages of mannitol sugar, 1 to 5 Wt.%. These copolymers were purified and then, characterized by FT-IR, which was proved that the cross-linking reaction was caused by nucleophilic attack of mannitol hydroxyl group to acidic anhydride groups of poly(adipic anhydride) backbone and new ester groups were formed and appeared. Also, modified organic-soluble chitosan, N-maleoyl-chitosan, were synthesized by grafting reaction of chitosan with maleic anhydride in DMF as solvent, and it was also purified and characterized by FT-IR. Biodegradation in vitro of the IPNs of poly(adipic anhydride-co-mannitol)-N-maleoyl chitosan networks were evaluated by hydrolytic degradation studies at three different media (PBS, SIF and SGF) for 18 weeks with 92% as maximum degradation and it was found that minimum weight loss of IPNs was noticeably shown in SIF. In addition, hydrolytic degradation percent was decreased with increasing mannitol proportions

Entanglement-Saving Channels

The set of Entanglement Saving (ES) quantum channels is introduced and characterized. These are completely positive, trace preserving transformations which when acting locally on a bipartite quantum system initially prepared into a maximally entangled configuration, preserve its entanglement even when applied an arbitrary number of times. In other words, a quantum channel $\psi$ is said to be ES if its powers $\psi^n$ are not entanglement-breaking for all integers $n$. We also characterize the properties of the Asymptotic Entanglement Saving (AES) maps. These form a proper subset of the ES channels that is constituted by those maps which, not only preserve entanglement for all finite $n$, but which also sustain an explicitly not null level of entanglement in the asymptotic limit~$n\rightarrow \infty$. Structure theorems are provided for ES and for AES maps which yield an almost complete characterization of the former and a full characterization of the latter.Comment: 26 page

Kinetic, Isotherm, and Thermodynamic Study of Bismarck Brown Dye Adsorption onto Graphene Oxide and Graphene Oxide-Grafted-Poly (n-butyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic Acid)

تم دراسة سلوك إمتزاز صبغة بسمارك البنية BB من المحاليل المائية على أوكسيد الكرافين GO وأكسيد الجرافين–مطعم-بولي(ن-بيوتيل ميثاكريلات-مشترك-حامض ميثاكريليك) GO-g-pBCM المحضرين. تم تشخيص الممتزات المحضرة بمطيافية الأشعة تحت الحمراء FTIR التي أكدت صحة التراكيب الممتزات المحضرة. تم دراسة أمتزاز الصبغة بصيغتي لانكمير وفرندليش على أوكسيد الكرافين وأكسيد الجرافين –مطعم-بولي (ن-بيوتيل ميثاكريلات-مشترك- حامض ميثاكريليك) في سلسلة من التجارب بنظام الوجبة وتحت ظروف مختلفة. واعتُبر نموذج لانگماير معقولاً على نحو متزايد من المعلومات التجريبية لإمتزاز الصبغة. وكشفت الدراسة الحركية أن نموذج النظام الثاني الكاذب أظهر أفضل ملائمة للبيانات التجريبية، وأن المعاملات الحرارية تعني أن عملية الامتزاز كانت تلقائية ومن النوع الماص للحرارة.The adsorption behavior of Bismarck brown (BB) dye from aqueous solutions onto graphene oxide GO and graphene oxide-g-poly (n-butyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) GO-g-pBCM as adsorbents was investigated. The prepared GO and GO-g-pBCM were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR, which confirmed the compositions of the prepared adsorbents. Adsorption of BB dye onto GO and GO-g-pBCM was explored in a series of batch experiments under various conditions. The data were examined utilizing Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm was seen as increasingly reasonable from the experimental information of dye on formulating adsorbents. Kinetic investigations showed that the experimental data were fitted very well to the pseudo-second-order model, and the calculated positive values of the (∆H° and ∆S°) indicated that the adsorption of BB dye onto GO and GO-g-pBCM was endothermic and increasing of the adsorption process randomness. The negative values of (∆G°) imply that the adsorption process was spontaneous

eBiometrics: an enhanced multi-biometrics authentication technique for real-time remote applications on mobile devices

The use of mobile communication devices with advance sensors is growing rapidly. These sensors are enabling functions such as Image capture, Location applications, and Biometric authentication such as Fingerprint verification and Face & Handwritten signature recognition. Such ubiquitous devices are essential tools in today's global economic activities enabling anywhere-anytime financial and business transactions. Cryptographic functions and biometric-based authentication can enhance the security and confidentiality of mobile transactions. Using Biometric template security techniques in real-time biometric-based authentication are key factors for successful identity verification solutions, but are venerable to determined attacks by both fraudulent software and hardware. The EU-funded SecurePhone project has designed and implemented a multimodal biometric user authentication system on a prototype mobile communication device. However, various implementations of this project have resulted in long verification times or reduced accuracy and/or security. This paper proposes to use built-in-self-test techniques to ensure no tampering has taken place on the verification process prior to performing the actual biometric authentication. These techniques utilises the user personal identification number as a seed to generate a unique signature. This signature is then used to test the integrity of the verification process. Also, this study proposes the use of a combination of biometric modalities to provide application specific authentication in a secure environment, thus achieving optimum security level with effective processing time. I.e. to ensure that the necessary authentication steps and algorithms running on the mobile device application processor can not be undermined or modified by an imposter to get unauthorized access to the secure system

Privacy preserving, real-time and location secured biometrics for mCommerce authentication

Secure wireless connectivity between mobile devices and financial/commercial establishments is mature, and so is the security of remote authentication for mCommerce. However, the current techniques are open for hacking, false misrepresentation, replay and other attacks. This is because of the lack of real-time and current-precise-location in the authentication process. This paper proposes a new technique that includes freshly-generated real-time personal biometric data of the client and present-position of the mobile device used by the client to perform the mCommerce so to form a real-time biometric representation to authenticate any remote transaction. A fresh GPS fix generates the "time and location" to stamp the biometric data freshly captured to produce a single, real-time biometric representation on the mobile device. A trusted Certification Authority (CA) acts as an independent authenticator of such client's claimed real time location and his/her provided fresh biometric data. Thus eliminates the necessity of user enrolment with many mCommerce services and application providers. This CA can also "independently from the client" and "at that instant of time" collect the client's mobile device "time and location" from the cellular network operator so to compare with the received information, together with the client's stored biometric information. Finally, to preserve the client's location privacy and to eliminate the possibility of cross-application client tracking, this paper proposes shielding the real location of the mobile device used prior to submission to the CA or authenticators

Demographic Data about Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia and Bernard Soulier in Wassit , Iraq

Objective: Thrombasthenia is rare inherited bleeding disorder .Clinical presentation differs and the aim of this  study is to determine the demographic Data for Glanzmann's thrombasthenia ,How it differs from Bernard soulier, the clinical presentation of patients with Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia (GT) and Bernard and to correlate their clinical presentation and laboratory findings. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 32 patient having Bleeding disorder ( Thrombasthenia -un specified,Glanzmann’s and Bernard ) registered in The hematology center \ Al Karama hospital \ Al Kut city, Wassit state, Iraq. The data were collected from records from June 2003 to April 2016.The Demographic data of patient's age at time of diagnosis, sex, ABO blood group ,Chief complaint ,investigation values family history and the consequent state of patients were collected to be  analyzed . Results:From total of 32 patients , 65.6% from them were males, 21 males and 11 females. In this study The patients were  from three provinces ( most patients were from Wassit 25, Dhi-qaar 4 and Missan 3.We found that from total of 32 patients, the number of patient above 5 years of age were 20 (62.2%), where the patients below 5 years were 12 (37.5%).A positive family history were found in 21 (65.6%), negative family history were found in 11 (34.4%).In this study, most of cases were Bernard soulier (43.8%) with 14 patients , while Glanzmann's (34.4%) in 11 patients, and 7 patients with thrombasthenia (21.9%). As for blood groups, most cases were unknown (37.5%) in 12 pts ,the second most common were A+ in 8 pts (25%) , B+ group and O+ were equal in 5 pts (15.6%) each, the least common were O- in 2 pts (6.2%).Most cases presented as bleeding in 24 pts (75%) , known case in 5 pts (15.6%) and pallor in 2 pts (6.2%), accidental during surgical operations was the least common with only 1 patient (3.1%).Most cases were positive consequent state -21 patients with 65.6% percentage, negative consequent were 9 pts (28.1%) and unknown in 2 pts (6.2%) . Conclusion: Bleeding disorders such as Glanzmann’s and Bernard are not that rare in Iraq. There is also female:male ratio that is higher than other researches. Most of the patients were above the age of 5 ,while in other researches the diseases are most likely diagnosed in infancy. Key word: bleeding, platelet function, thrombastheni