Economic feasibility of on-farm fuel ethanol production from cassava tubers in rural communities

A simple process for on-farm bioethanol production from cassava, using cassava koji supplemented with crude liquid enzyme and yeast was described. On a small scale, a fed-batch mode where 4 kg of koji, 2 kg of gelatinized cassava flour and 30 g of yeast cells were mixed and allowed to ferment for two days, followed by addition of 1.5 kg of cassava flour and fermenting for another three days, gave higher ethanol concentration of 7.05% (0.34 g-ethanol/g-cassava flour) than when 3.5 kg of gelatinized cassava flour, 4 kg of koji and 30 g of yeast cells were mixed at the same time and allowed to ferment for five days. The process was scaled up 100 times and economic feasibility was evaluated. The total investment cost was seven million, five hundred thousand Nigerian naira (₦) (US$46,875). With a payback period of five years, the cost of cassava tubers represented 71.73$0.641/l), which is not profitable considering the current market price of ethanol (US$0.597-0.748/l). The process becomes profitable only when the price of fresh cassava tuber is reduced to ₦5,000/ton (US$31.25/ton). At this price, the ethanol production cost would be ₦58.53/l (US$0.366/l). The process is recommended for vertically integrated system (on-farm process) where the cassava produced in the farm is used, thereby shielding it from high and fluctuating market prices of cassava.Keywords: Fuel ethanol, bioenergy, koji, economic analysis, cassava ethanolAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(37), pp. 5618-562

Application of Wilks’ Lambda and Hotelling’s with MANOVA on Drug Addiction and Drug Abuse Data

In this study Wilks’  Lamda and Hotelling’s  were employed as Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) technique in determining the significance difference in the causative factor for drug addiction and abuse. The data were primary and were generated by a survey conducted on some patients selected from Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Enugu-Nigeria.  The patients were divided into two groups - those treated of substance  abuse before and those treated for the first time. 89 patients were selected  and nine factors  for substance abuse were considered. They were rated and scored over ten by the patients. The result showed  a significant difference in the factors specified for drug abuse. . Keywords: Wilks’  Lamda, Hotelling’s , drugs, substance abus

Financial Reporting Quality and Financial Performance of Quoted Banks in Nigeria

The study examined the effect of financial reporting quality on financial performance of quoted banks in Nigeria using secondary data obtained from Nigeria stock exchange spanning from 2007 to 2016. Relevance of accounting information (measured by earnings and book value of equity predictive ability-EBVEP) and timeliness of accounting information (measured by audit report lag-ARL) were subjected to Hausman test and also regressed against performance variable: Price to earnings ratio -PER, Earnings yield -ENY and Dividend yield –DVY. Findings indicate a significant positive effect of EBVEP on PER and significant negative effects on ENY and DVY implying that an increase in EBVEP increases PER but decreases ENY and DVY. Similarly, a positive significant effect of ARL is found on PER and DVY but with a negative insignificant effect on ENY, implying that an increase in ARL increases PER and DVY but decreases ENY. The study therefore confirms that accounting information is value relevant and could be used for evaluation of accounting standards as well as for the investigation of the economic consequences of new accounting standards on the performance of quoted banks in Nigeria. We recommend that policy makers such as SEC, CBN, and FRCN should look into the audit report lag of quoted financial institutions in Nigeria and formulate policies to enforce compliance with the stipulated reporting requirements. This will assist in restoring investors’ confidence in financial reporting. KEYWORDS: Financial reporting quality, Relevance, Timeliness, Financial Performance, Price/ earnings ratio, Earnings yield, Dividend yield, Nigerian Banks. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-9-08 Publication date:May 31st 201

Design of FIR digital filters using Semi-ellipse window

A fixed window function which is similar in shape to a semi-ellipse is proposed. The semi–ellipse which has its major axis to be equal to the window length and the minor axis at unity produced about 4.2 dB lower ripple ratio than the rectangular window. The proposed window function is derived from the equation of an ellipse in the explicit and parametric forms. First of all, the spectral characteristic of the proposed window is studied in terms of spectral parameters and compared with other fixed windows like Rectangular, Bartlett, Hann, Hamming and Blackman windows. The window simulation results reveal that the proposed window produced comparable spectral characteristic with existing standard fixed windows. Secondly, the paper presents the application of the proposed window in a digital filter design. The filter analysis comparison results with other fixed windows namely Bartlett, Von Hann, Hamming, and Kaiser window, an adjustable window, confirm that filter design with the proposed window exhibits good spectral characteristic, and can be used to design better filter than the Bartlett window using less than half the Bartlett’s filter length for a fixed transition width. The similicity of its coefficients formulation and design algorithm makes it a good choice for digital filter design applications

Business Mentoring and Domestic Entrepreneurship in Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sub-sector: The place of Foreign Direct investment Inflows

Although there is a fairly extensive literature on the theory of foreign direct investment, not much of it is useful in providing insights into its effect on domestic entrepreneurship in Nigeria. This paper looks at the theoretical basis for business mentoring, examines the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow on domestic entrepreneurship in Nigeria’s manufacturing sub-sector from 1973 to 2010 while employing OLS technique. Results identified a positive and highly significant effects of each of human capital and infrastructural development on activities on Nigeria’s manufacturing sub-sector while each of manufacturing FDI, market size and anti-FDI policies has a negative and highly significant effect on activities in Nigeria’s manufacturing sub-sector. This paper therefore recommends that policies on investment should be geared towards wooing foreign investors into the manufacturing sub-sector while giving the diversification of the country’s productive base a top priority. Keywords: Domestic entrepreneurship, Foreign Direct Investment, Spill-ove

Exclusive breastfeeding and its relevance to infant teething

Objective: To determine the relevance of exclusive breast-feeding practice, in the development of healthy oral tissue among teething infants. Method: A cross sectional study design of children aged 6-36 months was carried out in 14 wards of Jos North Local Government Area. A multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 1081 mothers who qualified and were interviewed using structured interviewer questionnaire on their knowledge and perception on common complaints during teething in children. The index children were examined for number and type of teeth erupted using mouth mirror under natural light. Result: One thousand and eighty-one mothers and their babies were interviewed and examined; out these 16.5%, 38.7% and 44.8% babies were of age groups 6-12, 13-24 and 25-36 months respectively; 50.2% were female and 49.8% were male. Of the babies examined 62.4% were exclusively breast-fed. There was a significant association between maternal educational status and knowledge of teething complaints. Three hundred and twenty-six (30.1%) babies had cough during their teething period, 349 (32.3%) experienced drooling of saliva, and 352 (32.6%) were observed to bite objects during teething. The high percentage of babies that were exclusively breast-fed but did not experience these symptoms were found to be statistically significant (p = 0.00). Seven hundred and forty-two (68.6%) babies had diarrhoea during teething; out of these 459(42.5%) were exclusively breast-fed and it was however not found to be statistically significant (p = 0.55). Conclusion: This study draws attention to the relatively poor anecdotal evidence related to symptoms associated with the teething process. The result has also demonstrated that exclusive breast-feeding is not only able to reduce the symptoms ascribed to teething, but also promote the development of a healthy oral tissue

Effect of Age and Weight on Laying Performance and Egg Weight among Harco Hens

This study was designed to determine the effect of age and weight on laying performance and egg weight among Harco hens. Laying performance and egg weight were compared between three weight ranges of beak trimmed commercial Harco hens in conventional battery cages. Seventy two Harco hens, age 32 weeks were divided into three groups corresponding to 3 weight ranges; 1.35 – 1.59kg (WRI), 1.60 – 1.80kg (WR2) and 1.81 – 2.20 kg (WR3). The hens were fed a commercial layers ratio for three months (12 weeks) during which the average egg weight and hen day egg laying performance of each weight range was determined. The average monthly production of WR3 layers was 295 eggs per 24 layers, whereas, those in WR2 range and WR1 laid 283 and 232 eggs per 24 layers respectively. WR3 hens laid 63 eggs more than WR1 hens per month, while age significantly (P < 0.05) affected laying performance. The effect of body weight on laying performance was significantly different (P <0.05). The average weight of eggs laid by WR1, WR2 and WR3 hens were 53.20 – 60.4g, 53.50 – 64.6g and 56.5 – 63.2g. There were therefore, significant differences (P < 0.05) in weights of eggs laid by hens in three weight ranges. The results therefore, show that laying performance and egg size are positively affected by age and body weight in Harco breed

FIR Filter Design using Raised Semi-ellipse Window Function

In this paper, a new two-parameter window function - Raised semi-ellipse (RSE) is proposed. The window is obtained from a fixed elliptical window known as Semi-ellipse window by raising the radius of the minor axis by the parameter (β), and applied for the design of finite impulse response (FIR) digital filters. The spectral parameters of the proposed window are determined first and compared with the Kaiser window – a 2-parameter adjustable window. Subsequently, in its application in filter design with an established design algorithm, the newly proposed adjustable window is compared to the Semi-ellipse window to examine its improvement and also the Kaiser window to compare its performance with a commonly used adjustable window. The filter simulation results show that the filters designed with the proposed window can provide more reduced ripples than the Kaiser window for prescribed spectral characteristics

Effect of Supplementation of Palm Kernel Meal with Yeast Culture Enzyme on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens

This study was carried out to determine the effect of supplementation of palm kernel meal with yeast culture enzyme additive on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. The palm kernel meal supplemented with yeast culture enzyme was used to replace soyabean meal at various levels to determine the best replacement that would give optimal performance in broiler chickens diets. The proximate composition of palm kernel meal showed that it contained 91.05% dry matter, 8.9% moisture, 4.2% ash, 20.00% crude protein, 6.50% ether extract, 1.3% crude fibre, 66.07% nitrogen free extract (NFE) and 3481.81 Kcal/Kg metabolizable energy. In the starter feeding trial, the palm kernel meal supplemented yeast culture enzyme was used to replace soyabean meal at levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% each. Each starter diet was fed to a group of 30 broiler chicks for four weeks using completely randomized design. Each treatment was divided into three replicates of 10 broiler chicks each. Parameters determined include; initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and cost of production. In the finisher feeding trial, the replacements were 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% PKM to replace soyabean meal in the control diet. Each finisher diet was fed to a group of 30 finisher broiler chickens for another four weeks using completely randomized design. The parameters determined include; initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, cost of production and carcass characteristics. In the starter feeding trial, the starter broiler chicks fed 25% PKM supplemented with yeast culture enzyme compared favourably with those fed the control diet (P<0.05) in terms of feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio and hence recorded highest body weight gain. The cost of production of the starter broiler chicks was lowest for Treatment 5 (N361.47) (100% PKM supplemented with yeast culture enzyme) while the costliest was Treatment 1 (Control) N494.89. In the finisher feeding trial, the finisher broiler chickens fed 75% PKM supplemented with yeast culture enzyme compared favourably with those on the control diet in terms of body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. It was observed that the finisher broiler chickens could tolerate high palm kernel meal supplemented with yeast culture enzyme up to 75% inclusion in their diets. The cost of production of the finisher broiler chickens was lowest for Treatment 5(100% PKC supplemented with yeast culture enzyme) (N308.90) versus N354.74 for the control which was the costliest. The internal organs expressed as percent of the live-weight were not affected by the treatments. The results of the trials have shown that supplementation of palm kernel meal with yeast culture increased its digestibility and reduced high fibre level of palm kernel meal. Palm kernel meal supplemented with yeast culture enzyme could be used up to 25% in the diets of starter broiler chicks and up to 75% in the diets of finisher broiler chickens without affecting body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio negatively