INSTALLATION AND TESTING OF A 5kW HYDROPOWER TURBINE

This work focused on installation and testing of a hydro power turbine to generate 5 kW of energy for domestic applications.  Water flows into the penstock  from the dam at a height of 6m; the pipe diameter was reduced to   with a reducer socket. Water pressure decreases as it flows through the elbow joint. But such decrease or loss is recovered by a reduction of the pipe diameter to 80 mm and the pipe is long enough, (length = 2000mm) for the water to be fully developed before it enters the turbine at optimum speed. As the water flows through the runner of the turbine, its pressure reduces. The reduction imparts reaction on the runner and power is transferred to the turbine shaft. To prevent back flow or sucking back of water pressure into the turbine, a draft tube and a non-return valve are incorporated into the outlet of the turbine. The turbine shaft speed recorded with the aid of a tachometer is 298.33rpm and the dynamic pressure recorded at the turbine inlet, with the aid of a water pressure gauge is 170 kN/m2. This gave an output power of 4.98 kW  at a design flow rate of 0.106 m3/s. The installation and testing of Francis turbine, pipe network and fittings were successfully carried out. It is obvious from the test results that the output power can power the street lights along Imo-street in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.     &nbsp

Recent Advances in Solar Drying of Agricultural Produce in Nigeria: NSPRI Experience

Agricultural products are dried to enhance storage stability, in order to reduce post harvest losses, minimize packaging requirement and reduce transport weight. Crop drying through the sun is the most common practice in the country due to its no energy cost but often result in poor quality, unhygienic and contaminated products. This has been a major threat to food safety. Energy consumption and quality of dried products are critical parameters in the selection of drying process. An optimum drying system for the preparation of quality dehydrated products is supposed to be cost effective with less drying time and damage to the product. To reduce the energy utilization and operational cost as well to further produce high quality safe products, new trends in solar drying system were developed by the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) in order to proffer solutions to the threat in food safety as well as farmers and processors quest for drying with minimal energy cost.  The technologies include mobile solar tent dryers, green house solar tent dryers and parabolic solar tent dryers. These entire dryers have great scope for the production of quality dried products and powders. These advancements have taken the advantage of material selection, design calculations to improve on the technology in order to achieve quality output in terms of environmental parameters and product quality. The advancement has also taken care of times of low solar irradiance especially during the rainy season which is highly humid. The temperature range obtained from the mobile, green house and parabolic solar dryers are 20 – 59.5°C, 21.5 - 68°C, and 25-78°C respectively while their respective  average relative humidity are 71.64%, 60.21%, 49.77%. The ambient temperature range and relative humidity are 20 – 42.5°C and 74.88%. Experimental studies on the performance of the varied solar tent dryers were conducted using Chilli Pepper, Yam, Meat, Fish, Vegetables and plantain have been carried out the Beef meat, Chilli pepper and Telefeiria occidentalis vegetable were dried in the mobile solar tent dryer, greenhouse  solar dryer and parabolic solar dryer. The beef of 71.243% initial moisture content was dried to 12.15%, 12.01% and 10.09% in the aforementioned respective dryers within a period of 5 days. Also the chilli pepper of 89.40% initial moisture content was dried to 12%, 11.3% and 9.3% moisture content respectively in the dryers within a period of 8 days; while the Telefairia occidentalis vegetable of 11.0% initial moisture content was dried within a period of 5 hours to 6.0%, 5.5% and 4.0% moisture content

Chemical constituents and antimicrobial properties of Phyllanthus amarus (Schum & Thonn)

The chemical composition of the leave extracts of Phyllanthus amarus (Schum and Thonn) of the family Euphorbiaceae from Nigeria was analyzed by GC-MS. The extracts were also examined for their potential to inhibit the growth of clinical isolates following standard procedure. The major compounds identified in the hexane extract are a flavonoid, flavone 4’,5,7-triethoxy-3,3’,6- trimethoxy (20.23%) and a triterpenoid 17-(1,5-Dimethylhexyl)-6-hydroxy-5-methylestr-9-en-3-yl acetate (19.02%) while bufalin (18.71%) and tetratetracontane (12.91%) were the major compounds detected in the methanol extract. Steroidal triterpenoids are the major compounds present in the extracts as it accounted for 47% of the total detectable content in the hexane extract and 52% in the methanol extract. The steroidal triterpenoids which exist primarily as acetate in the hexane extract include cycloeucalenyl acetate, ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3-ol acetate, macdougallin, 17-(1,5-Dimethylhexyl)-6-hydroxy-5-methylestr-9-en-3-yl acetate, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol while the methanol extract contains 6,7-epoxypregn-4-ene-9,11,18-triol-3,20-dione, 11,18-diacetate, bufalin, olean-13(18)-ene, methyl ursolate, barringenol R1 and 7,8- epoxylanostan-11-ol,3-acetoxy. Hexane extract of the plant exhibited antifungal activity on Candida albicans while methanol extract revealed significant antibacterial activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus at all concentrations of the extract between 12.5 and 100 mg/mL, the activity being comparable to the standard antibacterial drug, Oxacillin. The leaves of Phyllanthus amarus is a potential source of steroidal triterpenoids which could serve as biomarker for the plant species. The extracts of the plant may also serve as a natural source of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of some microbial infections.Keywords: Phyllathus amarus, antimicrobial, phytochemicals, leaf extract

Evaluation of adsorption capacity of acetaminophen on activated charcoal dosage forms available in Nigeria by in vitro adsorption studies and scanning electron microscopy

Purpose: To investigate varying dosage forms of activated charcoal obtained from community pharmacy outlets in Nigeria for their adsorption capacity when challenged with acetaminophen.Methods: Equilibruim kinetics of acetaminophen adsorption onto activated charcoal surface was determined via batch studies at different adsorbent: adsorbate ratios. The isotherm adsorption experiment was carried out at 37 oC and langmuir isotherm models were utilized to describe the equilibrium kinetics data with characterization of adsorption site and porosity elucidated via scanning electron microscopy.Results: A preponderance of microporosity was observed on the surface of the powder activated charcoal. Maximum adsorption capacity (MAC) of 299.78 mg/g was obtained using activated charcoal powder (276.11; 321.09) at 95 % confidence interval (CI), allowing for maximum adsorption of acetaminophen at pH 1.2. Mixed pore structures, which were not clearly established, were observed with both the tablets and capsules with MAC of 280.54 mg/g (273.22; 290.08) and 140.01 mg/g (135.32; 153.99), respectively at pH 1.2. MAC data at pH 6.5 showed little variation from those obtained at pH 1.2 (p < 0.05 95 % CI).Conclusion: The presence of excipients in the tablets and capsules caused a retardation in adsorption via intraparticle diffusion especially at basal micropore sites on the activated charcoal surface. Activated charcoal powder is superior to other dosage forms for use in countering acetaminophen poisoning.Keywords: Acetaminophen, Adsorption, Isotherms, Activated charcoal, Scanning electron microcop

Structural And Phytochemical Characterization of Bioactive Components of the Endophytic Fungi (Trichoderma harzianum) Extracts

This research aims to investigate the antioxidant activity of the crude extract of endophytic fungi (T. harzianum) and to test for the presence of phytochemicals. Fungi isolated from the leaf and stem of endemic medicinal plant were extracted with ethyl acetate. The fungi extract was then investigated for its phytochemicals, antioxidants and active compounds through LC-MS. Some of the phytochemicals present in abundance include saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, and steroids, with tanins and cardiac glycosides also present in reasonable amounts. Those compounds identified by LC-MS with antioxidant properties include inosine diphosphate, vigabatrin, isoamylnitrite, proline, trihexyphenidyl-N-oxide, N-methyl gabapentin, penbutolol, dextromoramide M2, solanidine, aceclidine, desethyleneciproflaxin, sapropterin and kinetin

Application of bat algorithm for the detection of hidden nodes in IEEE802.11ah networks

The occurrence of the hidden node problem in IEEE802.11ah has increases by 41% as compared to previous versions of IEEE802.11 standards. This makes IEEE802.11ah network to be prone to experience high collision and low throughput. Previous efforts to solve this problem has mainly not addressed the issue of locating potential hidden nodes in the network. As a result, the hidden node problem in IEEE802.11ah still remains an open issue. This paper proposes an algorithm that applies bat algorithm for detecting hidden nodes in IEEE802.11ah networks. Our results have shown the effectiveness of this algorithm in detecting hidden nodes. This algorithm can be used to properly manage communication in IEEE802.11ah

Antibacterial and cytotoxic properties of isoprenoids from the red sea soft coral, Lobophytum sp

Purpose: To evaluate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of the secondary metabolites of Lobophytum sp.Methods: Maceration with methanol: chloroform (1:1) was applied to extract the coral material. Chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques were employed for fractionation, isolation and elucidation of pure compounds. Antibacterial activities were performed by well diffusion method against three Gram-positive and four Gram-negative bacteria. Brine shrimp lethality test was employed to predict toxicity, while antitumor activity were tested by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method against Ehrlich carcinoma cells.Results: Four sesquiterpenes, one cembranoid type diterpenes and two steroids were isolated. 1 exhibited significant antibacterial activity against four tested bacteria (P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, S. epidermis, and S. pneumonia) with MIC value of 15 μg/mL. Moreover, 1 showed high diameter zone of inhibition ranging from 16 - 18 mm against test bacteria. Compounds 4 and 5 displayed moderate antibacterial activity against all test bacteria with inhibition zone diameter (IZD) ranging from 11 – 15 mm and MIC values of 30 μg/mL. 2, 3, 6 and 7 exhibited weak antibacterial activity (IZD, 7 - 11 mm; MIC ≥ 30 μg/mL). In addition, only diterpene compound (4) showed high toxicity against A. Salina and antitumor activity against Erhlich carcinoma cells with the LD50 of 25 and 50 μg/mL, respectively.Conclusion: This study reveals the strong antibacterial activity of sesquiterpene alismol (1) and the potential antibacterial and antitumor activity of cembranoid type diterpene, cembrene A (4).Keywords: Soft coral, Lobophytum sp., Red Sea, Antibacterial, Cytotoxicity, Sesquiterpene Alismol, Cembranoid, Diterpene, Cembren

Antimicrobial and toxic potential of aqueous extracts of Allium sativum, Hibiscus sabdariffa and Zingiber officinale in Wistar rats

AbstractAllium sativum, Hibiscus sabdariffa and Zingiber officinale are medicinal plants with wide use in traditional medicine; however, the increasing use of crude extracts for traditional medicine applications raises safety concerns. We made a preliminary determination of the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial and safety profiles of aqueous extracts of A. sativum, H. sabdariffa and Z. officinale. The extracts were administered orally to Wistar rats for 30 days: a control group received distilled water, three groups received the three extract, and a fifth group received a combination of the three extracts. All three extracts, either individually or in combination, had antimicrobial activity, and all extracts influenced the activities of marker enzymes. The evidence lends credence to use of these plants in traditional medicine but also suggests the probable toxic potential of crude plant extracts

Factors associated with compliance to chemotherapy amongst cancer patients in a radiotherapy facility

Objectives: To study compliance with chemotherapy schedules in cancer patients and associated factors.Study Background: This study was conducted in Radiotherapy/Oncology Department, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria which has a 10-bed capacity chemotherapy room, within 11 weeks from 1st March 2018 to 18th May 2018. Almost all the patients were on 3- weekly cyclical chemotherapy with very few patients on 2-weekly or 4- weekly courses. The hospital serves as a centre of excellence for oncology in the Northern region of Nigeria. The bulk of the patients are from a low socio-economic class.Methodology: The study is a prospective cross-sectional study involving a total of 140 patients. Data collection from patients' record (age, diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, comorbidities, chemotherapy regimen, previous treatments received etc.), the record of the date of chemotherapy course and assessment ECOG performance for each patient during each chemotherapy course were recorded in a designed booklet. This was conducted for over 11 weeks. Ethical clearance was obtained. Patients' consent was obtained, and care was taken to maintain the confidentiality of patients. Data collected were inputted and analyzed using Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0.Results: There was a statistically significant correlation between compliance with chemotherapy schedule and patients' performance status, prior radiotherapy, combination chemotherapy and use of platinum-based chemotherapy regimen. However, there were no correlations with patients' age, sex, chemotherapy course, stage of the disease, previous oncologyrelated surgery (excluding biopsies), comorbidities and blood transfusion during chemotherapy.Conclusion: This study suggests that patients' performance status, prior radiotherapy, use of platinum-based chemotherapy and combination chemotherapy schedule are significant to compliance with chemotherap