Assessment of Heavy Metals and the Prevalence of Waterborne Diseases in Rural Communities Located along River Ase in Southern Nigeria

The study examines the impact of heavy metals on the quality of water from River Ase and the prevalence of water borne diseases in rural communities located along the course of the river. It is an empirical research study of 6 communities located along the course of the river. Water samples were collected from the river and laboratory analysis carried out in line with WHO (2010) and NIS (2007) permissible standard for drinking water quality. From the analysis of the water samples, it was discovered that parameters such as calcium, sodium, potassium, lead and zinc were within the WHO (2010) and NIS (2007) threshold for drinking water quality. While magnesium and iron were above the recommended threshold for drinking water quality by the WHO (2010) and NIS (2007). The study also discovered that the prevalence of water borne diseases is influenced by the surface water quality at R2 = 0.510 (P> 0.05). The paper recommends the boiling of the water to eliminate the excess iron and magnesium found in it. Keywords: assessment, heavy metals, prevalence, water borne diseases, rural, communities, R. Ase

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS DISRUPTIONS

This study explores the financial, economic and business implications of Covid-19 on the Nigerian State. In December 2019 the world has come to know a new virus now termed coronavirus, which causes the disease named COVID-19. It affected mainland China mostly and has spread to all continents of the world except Antarctica. Studies thus far have shown that the virus origination is in connection to a seafood market in Wuhan, but specific animal associations have not been confirmed. Reported symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, pneumonia, headache, diarrhea, hemoptysis, and dyspnea. Preventive measures such as wearing of masks, hand washing hygiene practices, avoidance of public contact, case detection, contact tracing, and quarantines have been discussed as ways to reduce transmission. Currently, there is no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine that has proven effective; hence, infected people primarily rely on symptomatic treatment and supportive care. The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 presents an alarming health crisis that the world is grappling with. In addition to the human impact, there is also significant economic, business and commercial impact being felt globally. As viruses know no borders, the impacts will continue to spread. This research adopted descriptive survey design and has collated and painstakingly analyzed updated information on Covid-19 pandemic and the various response measures by stakeholders. In fact, from the findings, the economy and businesses in Nigeria have been impacted and are already seeing Covid-19 disruptions

Geoelectrical Evaluation of Groundwater Occurrence in Anwai, Delta State, Nigeria

The purpose of carrying out this survey is to determine the groundwater occurrence in Anwai, Nigeria. Eight geoelectric soundings were conducted using the Schlumberger configuration. The data obtained were interpreted using two layer model. The result revealed the presence of five geoelectric layers made up of topsoil laterite, clay-clayey sand, fine-medium grain sand, coarse sand, medium coarse sand and very coarse sand. The fifth layer with a depth range of 33.4 to 47.2 m and resistivity range of between 1512 and 3294 Wm is identified as the aquifer layer from which groundwater can be sourced. It is deduced from this survey that groundwater development is viable in the area. Keywords: Groundwater, Geoelectric, Aquifer, Electrical Resistivity, Schlumberger Configuratio

Antidiabetic and toxicological properties of some African medicinal plants used in the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study investigated the antioxidant, antidiabetic and toxicity properties of antidiabetic medicinal plants comprising of Vernonia amygdalina, Cola nitida, Raffia palm (Raphia hookeri) wine, Phaseolus lunatus, Dacryodes edulis, and Clerodendrum volubile using in vitro, ex vivo, in silico and in vivo models. The leaves of V. amygdalina and D. edulis, as well as C. volubile flower were sequentially extracted with solvents of increasing polarity to yield ethyl acetate, ethanol and aqueous extracts. Cola nitida and V. amygdalina were infused in hot water to yield infusion extracts. Phaseolus lunatus was subjected to aqueous extraction to yield aqueous extract, while Raffia palm wine was concentrated to yield the concentrate. The extracts and concentrate were screened for their in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant activities, as well as their inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase, α-amylase and pancreatic lipase activities, and their ability to stimulate muscle glucose uptake and inhibit intestinal glucose absorption in vitro. The ethanol extracts of D. edulis, C. volubile and V. amygdalina were subjected to GC-MS analysis, while the aqueous extract of P. lunatus, palm wine concentrate and the infusions were analyzed with LC-MS to elucidate the active compounds that may be responsible for their bioactivities. The ethanol extracts of C. volubile and D. edulis were further subjected to liquid-liquid fractionation to yield the hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous fractions. These fractions were also assayed for their antioxidant and antidiabetic properties in vitro and ex vivo. The dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions were subjected to GC-MS analysis to elucidate their active compounds. The identified compounds were molecularly docked with the test enzymes in silico to further validate their bioactivities. The antidiabetic properties of palm wine concentrate, C. nitida infusion, and D. edulis butanol fraction were investigated in a type 2 diabetes rat model. The in vivo study revealed a potent hypoglycemic activity, with concomitant amelioration of oxidative stress in the serum, pancreas, testes and brain. This was further substantiated by the downregulation of Nrf2 expressions in the pancreas and brain. These results further validate the use and safety of these plants in diabetes management

Effect of Water Quality on Compressive Strength of Concrete

The effect of water quality on the compressive strength of concrete was evaluated in this study. A total of 100 concrete cubes (150 x 150 x 150 mm) were cast using a mix ratio of 1:2:4. The hardened concrete cubes were de-moulded 24 hours after the cubes were cast and were submerged carefully in a curing tank filled with water. The physico-chemical characteristics of the water used in mixing the concrete was determined according to standard procedures. A slump test was conducted to determine the workability of concrete. Compressive test was carried out on the hardened concrete at 7, 14, 28 days, respectively. Results showed that the physiochemical characteristics of the all the water samples examined fell within acceptable limits set by the World health Organization (WHO) except for the iron, magnesium, and lead contents which were grossly out of acceptable limits. From the slump result obtained, the source of water in mixing concrete doesn’t affect the workability of concrete. The study also revealed that irrespective of the type of water used in making concrete, the development in strength increases with an increase in age

Towards a Theoretical Model of Successful Employment Outcomes for People with Disabilities

This research responds to calls internationally and within Australia for research and initiatives that effectively increase the participation of people with disabilities in meaningful work – as a human right, a health determinant and an economic impetus. Disability, seen through the social model of disability which underpins this research, is a heterogeneous and ever-evolving concept that emanates from suboptimal interactions between individuals with impairments and aspects of their environment that impede their full participation in society. In contrast, often in medical and some governmental settings, these ‘impairments’ are often defined and categorised into ‘loss’ of bodily or mental function, loss of limbs, presence of illness or a disorder impacting on learning or emotional regulation; an intellectual, physical, sensory or mental disability

Winsorized modified one of step M-estimator in Alexander-govern test

This research centres on independent group test of comparing two or more means by using the parametric method, namely the Alexander-Govern (AG) test. It uses mean as its central tendency measure and is considered as a better alternative to the ANOVA, the Welch test and the James test. Although the AG test has a good control of Type I error rate and produces a high power under variance heterogeneity, it is not robust to non-normal data. Thus, trimmed mean was proposed in the test to handle the problem of non-normality and later, a more robust estimator called modified one step M (MOM) estimator was introduced. These estimators are not influenced by the number of groups, but failed to give a good control of Type I error rate, under extreme conditions of skewness and kurtosis. This research proposes the Winsorized MOM (FFWOM) estimator as a measure of central tendency in attempt to robustify the AG test. This enhanced AG test, AGWMOM is able to remove the appearance of outliers from the data distribution. A simulation study of 5,000 data sets was conducted to compare the performance of the tests: AG, AGMOM (AG test using MOM estimator), AGPMOM, t-test and ANOVA. The results show that the AGWMOM test has improved the number of robust conditions under skewed normal tailed and skewed heavy tailed distributions compared to the other tests. Additionally, the test produced high power in most conditions under four groups with unbalanced sample size. It leads that this test is convenient specifically when the data distribution is heavy tailed

Harvested Rainwater Quality: A Case Study Of Aule In Akure, South Western Nigeria

The quality of harvested rainwater in Aule area of Akure, South western Nigeria was assessed in this study. Water samples were collected from 25 rain water storage tanks within the study area and a well was used as a control. The water samples were subjected to detailed laboratory analysis and the results obtained was compared with World Health Organization (WHO) standard for drinking water. The turbidity values ranged from 2.7 to 9.1 NTU for the harvested rainwater samples while the well water sample had a turbidity of 2.3 NTU. The conductivity values for the rainwater samples ranged from 101 to 1328 Ωs/cm. The conductivity value was lower in the well water (164 Ωs/cm) than in most of the harvested rain water samples. The pH of the harvested rainwater ranged from 6.1 to 7.4 with 36 % of the water samples having a pH less than the WHO minimum limit of 6.5. The pH of the well water sample was 7.4 and was within the WHO acceptable limits of 6.5 to 8.5. All the sampled rainwaters and well water had bacteria in them. The total bacterial content of the rain water samples ranged from 05 to 28 CFU/100 mL, while that of the well was 05 CFU/100 mL. The total coliform contents of the rainwater samples ranged from 03 to 18 CFU/100 mL, while that of the well was 02 CFU/ 100 mL. Based on the results obtained from this study, it is recommended that harvested rainwater be treated to kill contaminating microorganisms and to reduce the health risks associated with its consumption

Advantages and disadvanteges [sic] of franchising to the franchisee in Nigeria

Masteroppgave i bedriftsøkonomi - Universitetet i Nordland, 2012The research pertain Nigeria Franchising system. It is a study that seeks to provide the necessary information of different stages of franchising system in Nigeria economy; example is like the different stages of product life circle. It is a descriptive case study which stands to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of Nigeria franchising system to the franchisees found in different industry sectors, using some models outlined by academics in the subject area of franchising in an international business perspective. With the adverse international business potentials and natural resources, Nigeria has what it take to attract business organization to invest in its economy. Though its political sectors has some floes, but it happens to be the most develop and biggest market with majority of natural resources in its rich Niger delta area in the sub-Saharan region of West Africa. It is a developing country that has the various potentials to improve the standard of living for its citizens through entrepreneurships and franchising being the gate way of entering into the global market. But it is really below standard that majority of the major world outlets of franchisors are still not in the country, it is for reason such like this that researchers has decided to investigate into the extent of franchising in Nigeria, which will also help to promote the industry in west Africa. Previous research on this sector has been focused on business format franchising, but this research will extend to cover all the parts of franchising in the field of academics and to bring into the awareness of the majority of people who happen to have no idea about the significant of franchising system and its contribution to societal benefit in a developing economy and the world at large

Gas flaring/power plants in Nigeria : socio-economic and environmental impact on the people of Niger Delta

Masteroppgave i bedriftsøkonomi - Universitetet i Nordland, 201