Non-destructive evaluation of white striping and microbial spoilage of Broiler Breast Meat using structured-illumination reflectance imaging

Manual inspection is a prevailing practice for quality assessment of poultry meat, but it is labor-intensive, tedious, and subjective. This thesis aims to assess the efficacy of an emerging structured illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) technique with machine learning approaches for assessing WS and microbial spoilage in broiler breast meat. Broiler breast meat samples were imaged by an in house-assembled SIRI platform under sinusoidal illumination. In first experiment, handcrafted texture features were extracted from direct component (DC, corresponding to conventional uniform illumination) and amplitude component (AC, unique to the use of sinusoidal illumination) images retrieved from raw SIRI pattern images build linear discriminant analysis (LDA) models for classifying normal and defective samples. A further validation experiment was performed using deep learning as a feature extractor followed by LDA. The third experiment was on microbial spoilage assessment of broiler meat, deep learning models were used to extract features from DC and AC images builds on classifiers. Overall, this research has demonstrated consistent improvements of AC over DC images in assessing WS and spoilage of broiler meat and that SIRI is a promising tool for poultry meat quality detection

The African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the woman question

This paper proposes that in developing jurisprudence on women's rights, the African Commission will need to ask the woman question particularly the African woman question. The woman question requires a judicial or quasi-judicial body to always put woman at the centre of any decision with a view to addressing the historically disadvantaged position of women in society. Asking the African woman question means examining how the peculiar experiences of African women have been ignored by laws rooted in patriarchy across the region. Although the Commission has handled few cases directly dealing with women's rights, the paper suggests that the Commission can draw inspiration from decisions of other regional and international human rights bodies such as the European Court on Human Rights and the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) on how to ask the woman question. The paper recommends that in line with feminist reasoning there is a need for the African Commission to develop a consistent gender-sensitive approach in dealing with cases that may have implications for women. In essence the African Commission must ask the African woman question when dealing with cases on the enjoyment of women's fundamental rights

EXAMINING EFFICIENCY UNDER MULTI-CROPPING SYSTEMS

This paper computes overall efficiency for 64 farmers practicing multi-cropping system in Ekiti State of Nigeria. These are decomposed into pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Results show that 34 and 40 farmers are technically and scale inefficient, respectively. Overall, 40 farmers are found to be inefficient.Farm Management,

Relationship between Physico-Chemical Parameters and the Population Distribution of Fresh Water Snails in Amassoma Community and Niger Delta University Campuses, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Evaluating the presence of fresh water snails in a location is germane in establishing a snail-borne disease control program. The purpose of the study was to see how physicochemical parameters influenced the population distribution of four fresh water snails (Lymnaea natalensis, Bulinus globosus, Biomphalaria pfeiffer, and Melanoides spp.) in the Amassoma community and Niger Delta University between March, 2021 and May 2021. Snails were gathered by plucking and scooping them by hand. Snail was identified using standard pictorial keys. Physicochemical of the water of the snail habitat were measured using standard in-situ apparatus across eight sites. Physico chemical measured were temperature, pH, conductivity, BOD, turbidity, salinity, and alkalinity. A total of 258 snails were gathered from the eight (8) different sites. In all sites, Lymnaea natalensis was more abundant. Bulinus globosus, Biomphalaria pfeiffer, and Melanoides spp. were among the other snails discovered. Lymnaea had negative correlation with pH, conductivity, BOD, and alkalinity and a positive correlation with salinity and temperature. Bulinus had a positive relationship with pH, salinity, and conductivity and a negative correlation with temperature, turbidity, BOD, and alkalinity. Biomphalaria had a positive correlation with temperature, pH, salinity, turbidity, and alkalinity Melanoides had positive correlations with Temperature, pH, salinity, BOD, and alkalinity and a negative correlation with turbidity and concentration. The was correlation between snails and snails. The presence of these snails suggests that the Amassoma village and Niger Delta University campuses are potential hotspots for a variety of snail-borne diseases

Physicochemical Quality and Genotoxic Potential of Wastewater Generated by Canteen Complex

Canteens generate high volumes of wastewater that should constantly be subjected to physicochemical and genotoxicity screening. In this study, the wastewater generated by a canteen complex was screened for physicochemical properties and genotoxic potential using standard procedures and Allium cepa chromosome assay. Results showed that the wastewater had total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and total hardness concentrations of 120.70 mg/l, 554.50 mg/l, and 500.00 mg/l, respectively. The chloride concentration of the wastewater (7873.60 mg/l) was much higher than the recommended limit of 250 mg/l. The wastewater inhibited root growth in A. cepa at 0.1%, 1%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations but promoted root growth at 2% and 5% concentrations. The wastewater was highly mitodepressive, with mitotic inhibition generally increasing with rising concentrations. The major chromosomal aberrations observed in A. cepa exposed to different concentrations of canteen wastewater were vagrant, sticky, and bridged chromosomes. No chromosomal aberration was observed in onion roots exposed to water (control). The differences in total chromosomal aberrations across wastewater concentrations were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In view of these results, the practice of discharging untreated canteen wastewater into drainage canals may not be environmentally sustainable

Microcontroller-based Vertical Farming Automation System

Food is a basic necessity of life. It is the means by which man is nourished and strengthened to carry out his daily activities. The need for food for the upkeep of man has placed agriculture at the helm of man’s affairs on earth. With a rapidly increasing population on earth, man has invented newer and innovative ways to cultivate crops. This cultivation is mainly concentrated in rural areas of countries around the world; but with the massive urbanization happening in the world today; it is becoming increasingly difficult to have enough agricultural produce that will cater for the massive population. Taking Nigeria as a case study, the increased urbanization has placed a massive demand on land, energy and water resources within urban areas of the country. Majority of the food consumed in the urban areas is cultivated in the rural areas. This system however requires longer transportation times from rural areas to urban areas which lead to contamination and spoilage in many instances. This research paper provides a solution in which food crops can be cultivated easily in urban areas by planting in vertically stacked layers in order to save space and use minimal energy and water for irrigation

Modelling Domestic Tourism Demand for Ghana

The research analyses the demand for tourism goods and services in Ghana by domestic tourists. For this purpose, it uses the Linear Almost Ideal Demand System (LAIDS) model (static and dynamic) to estimate price and expenditure/income elasticities for the study. The tourism goods and services include: accommodation; food and drinks; transport; recreation, culture and sporting activities; shopping; and other services. The uncompensated and compensated price and expenditure/income elasticities were calculated from the estimated parameters of the LAIDS model, static and dynamic. The results show that all own-price elasticities are negative and significant for uncompensated and compensated elasticities, while expenditure/income elasticities are positive and significant. The findings show that, by short-run, the demand for tourism goods and services in Ghana is price inelastic and expenditure/income elastic, and are normal goods and services. KEY WORDS: Static, dynamic, uncompensated, compensated, AIDS, elasticity. DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/40-0

Wound healing potential of Nuclea latifolia and Manihot esculenta leaf extracts in Type 1 diabetic rats

Background: This study was designed to ascertain this claim and to investigate the possible  mechanism of action in relation to their phytochemical contents, using crude extracts of N. latifolia and M. esculenta leaves on topical wound in a rat model of Type 1 diabetes.Methods and Materials: The leaves were air-dried under shade and subjected to cold extraction in 95% ethanol. Normoglycaemic male Wistar rats were subjected to 2-month high-energy diet/ fat emulsion  manipulation and injected with alloxan (150 mg/kg BW/day, i. p.). Fasting plasma glucose was  determined after 7 days and rats with values exceeding 200 mg/dl were selected. 16 diabetic rats (120 – 180 g) were randomly assigned to four groups of four animals each. Wound was inflicted on the back of each rat by excision method. The crude extracts were topically applied over a period of 21 days. The scar tissues were removed at 7 days interval for collagen quantification and wound margin reduction was also monitored using tracing paper.Results: The crude extracts showed efficient wound healing activity as revealed by increased collagen  content (scar tissues versus fresh wound tissues ab initio). Percentage wound closure also progressed significantly (p< 0.05) upon topical application of the extracts.Conclusion: The crude extract of N. latifolia leaves has proven to be more potent than that of M. esculenta in wound healing in Type I diabetic rats. It stimulated wound contraction and collagen  formation, making it a promising natural product for further screening in search of new chemical entities that can be useful in diabetic wound management.Key words: Type 1 diabetes, collagen content, wound healing, anthocyanins, phenolic compound

Prevalence of potentially zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites in canine faeces in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Humans can get infected through direct or indirect contact with infective stages of zoonotic parasites shed to the environment through dog faeces.Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the presence of gastrointestinal parasites present in dog faeces shed on the street of Ibadan metropolis, one of the largest cities in Africa.Methods: Twenty-three locations were randomly selected using grid-sampling method. A total of 203 faecal samples collected from the streets of selected areas were processed for detection of helminth eggs and protozoan oocysts using flotation technique. Eggs/oocysts per gram of faeces was counted using modified McMaster technique.Results: The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 43.3% (88/203). Single and multiple infections were 69 (78.4%) and 19 (21.6%) respectively. The parasites detected were Ancylostoma sp. 24.6% (50/88) Isospora sp. 14.2% (29/88), Toxocara sp. 9.8% (20/88), Uncinaria sp. 2.5% (5/88) and Strongyloides sp, 3.9% (8/88). Ancylostoma sp. (320 x 102 epg) and Uncinaria sp. (5 x 102 epg) had the highest and least intensity respectively. Streets within residential areas having markets had the highest number of positive samples. All the genera of parasites detected in this study have zoonotic potential.Conclusion: The high prevalence of zoonotic parasites detected in dog faeces from Ibadan metropolis showed that infected stray dogs roam the streets and constitute potential risk to human health. This study suggests the need for enforcement of laws restraining roaming or straying dogs and proper veterinary care of dogs.Funding: None declaredKeywords: Dog, Faeces, Gastrointestinal Parasites, Nigeria, Zoonose

The Impact of Socio-Demographic Factors on Domestic Tourism Consumption Expenditure in Ghana

This study applies quantile regression approach to analyse socio-demographic factors that affect domestic tourism consumption expenditure in Ghana. The approach uses household domestic tourism expenditure as a response variable. The internet access of the household, whether a household owns a mobile phone, and /or at least one car or not are represented as proxies for information and transport accessibility, respectively. Other variables included to constrain household domestic travel budgets are yearly household income and household loan. The rest are demographic characteristics such as age and educational level of household heads. The empirical results show that relatively older and well educated household heads with higher earnings are prepared and willing to expend more on domestic tourism in Ghana. The results further show that, in Ghana, household loans are one of the major constraints of domestic tourism spending for medium and heavy spenders, but positively and significantly influence light domestic tourism expenditure households. Internet access, ownership of a car and mobile phone have no relation with the amount of money spent on domestic tourism in Ghana. Keywords: domestic tourism, quantile regression, tourism consumption expenditure, socio-demographic variables, same-day visitors and overnight tourists. DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/41-05 Publication date:May 31st 201