Effect of pre-treatment of Palm oil Mill effluent (POME) and Cassava Mill Effluent (CME) on the Growth of Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum)

Pretreatment measures in effluents’ management comprised of phase separation involving sedimentation, aeration to enhance biodegradation and pH neutralization. A randomized complete block design experiment in factorial arrangement was set up to assess effects of aeration, settling and pH neutralization on POME and CME phytotoxicity on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) germination and seedling development. Results obtained showed that aeration was the most significantly (p=0.02) effective pretreatment technique for POME and CME. Phytotoxicity decreased when effluents were left to aerobically decompose for 6 days. pH neutralization increased phytotoxcity in the two effluent streams. Settling did not significantly reduce phytotoxicity in CME but did in POME. The 3-way Interaction was not significant in all the parameters measured. Management plans for these effluent streams should consist of well designed pond system, metal tanks equipped with blowers for proper decomposition before disposal

Response of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) to weed control by mulching

The effects of mulching material on okra performance during the rainy seasons of 1999 and 2000 were evaluated at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Three mulch types–plastic mulch, grass mulch (Panicum maximum) and wood shavings (of Tectonia grandis)– were compared with hand weeding and no weeding control in a randomized complete block experiment with three replications. Growth and yield characteristics of okra were assessed together with weed control efficiency under the five treatments. Okra growth and yield were significantly (P hoe weeding > wood shavings > grass mulch.Les expériences se sont déroulées au champ d'enseignement et de recherche de l'Université de Technology de Ladoke Akintola à Ogbomoso pour évaluer les effets de matériel de paillis sur le rendement de gombo pendant les saisons des pluies de 1999 et 2000. Trois types de paillis-paillis en plastique, paillis en herbe (Panicum maximum) et paillis en copeaux de bois (de Tectonia grandis) étaient comparés avec le désherbage à la main et le contrôle de non désherbage dans une expérience de bloc complet choisi au hasard avec trois reproductions. Les paramètres de croissance et de rendement de gombo étaient évalués ensemble avec l'efficacité du contrôle de mauvaise herbe sous les cinq traitements. La croissance et le rendement de gombo étaient considérablement (P sarclage > copeaux de bois > paillis en herbe. Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 39 (1) 2006: pp. 35-4

Can tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl). A. Gray, a pantropic invasive weed species, cleanup spent lubricating oil polluted soils?

Two pot trials were conducted in the crop garden of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, University of Ibadan between March and June 2005, to evaluate the phytoremediating potential of Tithonia diversifolia in spent oil polluted soil to enhance the agricultural productivity. The study was a completely randomized design with three replicates. Varying pollution levels were created by administering spent lubricating oil at 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 ml per 4-kg soil in pots. Two Tithonia seedlings were transplanted into each pot and were monitored for 12 weeks. At commencement of the two trials, lead concentrations in the soil averaged 3.78 mg/kg and 37.75 mg/kg in the control and in 200-ml treatment respectively, and cadmium concentrations averaged 0.73 mg/kgand 2.05 mg/kg in the control and 200-ml treatment respectively. At the end of the two trials, lead content was reduced to 0.00 and 11.88 mg/kg and cadmium content was reduced to 0.00 to 0.43 mg/kg in the control and 200-ml treatments respectively. Tithonia seedlings were able to absorb lead and cadmium in the polluted soils, and contents in the root were more than contents in the shoot. The lead and cadmium contents in the shoot compared to the root were about 54% and 30% respectively. Theimplication of the results for the quality of vegetable produced at urban and peri-urban roadside and wetland gardens is discussed

MOTIVATION AND ETHICS: CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY IN NIGERIA

The primary function of any government is to ensure an equitable distribution of public goods and services to its citizens. Despite the material and human resource in Nigeria, Nigerians have been short-changed by the quality of public service delivery in the country. Against this backdrop, this paper: examined the issues affecting public service delivery and demonstrated how motivation can enhance ethical behaviours among public servants. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from year 2000 to 2016 was used to argue the position of the paper. The study discovered, among other things that certain Human Resource (HR), political and institutional factors have led to the erosion of moral conduct by public servants. While measures such as reforms and campaigns have been taken to curb political and institutional issues, limited remedial actions have been proffered to tackle that of HR. These have negatively affected public service delivery in Nigeria. Therefore, apart from putting some ethical principles in place, there is need to motivate public servants to get at their best. In addition to this, good behaviour is to be rewarded and bad behaviour is to be punished across all public services in the country, by a truly independent and incorruptible statutory body. By doing this, sanity and equitable service delivery will be achieved.     &nbsp

Burden of obesity in essential hypertension: Pattern and prevalence

Obesity continues to be an epidemic worldwide. There also continues to be a relationship between obesity and hypertension both causal and consequentially. The study aims at determining the prevalence and pattern of overweight and obesity among our patients being managed for essential hypertension. The study was a cross sectional study. Consecutive patients diagnosed with essential hypertension were recruited from two university teaching hospitals in the SouthWest of Nigeria. Demographicdata such as age, gender, weight and height were obtained from patients at recruitment. Patients with congestive heart failure, secondary hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and other chronic diseases wereexcluded. Pregnant women were also excluded. Obesity was defined according toWHOclassification. Statistical analysis was done by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 11.0. One thousand one hundred and two (1102) consecutive hypertensive patients were recruited. Two hundred and eighty six (286) were dropped due to evidence of overt heart failure (98) and chronic kidney disease and others (188).There were (420) males (51.5%) and 396 females (48.5%), mean age 54.97 (±13.14) years. (Range 10-91). 7.6% (62) were underweight (36 males, 26 Females): 260 (31.9%) were overweight, consisting of 148 males and 112 females: 135 (16.5%) had mild obesity consisting of 48 males and 87 females: 43(5.3%) had moderate obesity with 15 males and 28 females while 30 (3.7%) had severe obesity (consisting of 22 females).About two thirds of the hypertensive patients seen in two teaching hospitals in the SouthWest of Nigeria in this study were either overweight or obese. Therefore lifestyle modification geared toward weightreduction should be emphasized in these patients

Seroprevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous chickens in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

Newcastle disease (ND) is a disease of high economic importance to poultry farmers in Nigeria. Its impact on poultry include illness of poultry, reduction in egg production, immunosuppression, and death. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous (local) chickens from 2 poultry abattoirs in the Ilorin metropolis. A total of 400 blood samples were aseptically collected in plain bottles from the jugular veins of local chickens at slaughter using exsanguination and transported to the laboratory in batches. Sera samples were harvested from the blood by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, after which they were stored at -20oC before serological assay. The sera were subjected to Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test to check for the presence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) antibody following a standard procedure with titer values for each sample recorded. The geometric mean of the HI antibody titer (GMT) and the percentages of detectable NDV HI antibody titer were calculated using descriptive statistics. Of the 400 serum samples examined, 53 (13.25%) were positive for ND antibodies, with titre value ≥ 1:16. The location from which the birds were selected had no significant relationship with the prevalence of ND antibodies as both Oja tuntun (11.9%), and Ipata market (14.6%) had a closely similar prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). The feather arrangement of birds did not also have any significant impact on the prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). However, in this study, we observed a higher prevalence of antibodies among hens (14.7%) than in cocks (12.5%) or growers (8.9%). The high prevalence of ND antibodies in indigenous chickens in the study area showed the endemicity of the disease in the study areas. With most of the chickens are not vaccinated amid non-compliance to vaccine administration for local chickens. There is a need for poultry farmers in the study location to be educated on the importance of vaccinating poultry birds against ND

The Effects of Cymbopogon citratus (Lemon grass) on the Blood Sugar Level, Lipid Profiles and Hormonal Profiles of Wistar Albino Rats

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of extracts of Cymbopogon citratus on the blood sugar level, lipid profiles and hormonal profiles of normal rats. Oral administration of ethanolic and aqueous extract of C. citratus at a doses of 200 mg/kg body weight, for a period of 30 days, caused a significant (p0.05) reduction in blood glucose levels. Effect on hormonal profile (TSH, T3, and T4) was also determined, and was found to be significantly higher in all the administered groups when compared with control. Lipid profiles levels; Total cholesterols, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol were significantly (p0.05) higher for all treated rats as compared against control. Findings in this study showed that this plant has hypoglycemic properties and did not exert oxidative damage to the heart and the various hormonal profiles as well as its relative safety and possible use for weight gain. 

Efficacy of intervention strategies for bioremediation of crude oil in polluted soil microcosm

Crude oil, though not manmade but largely manipulated by man to provide different oil-based products has become a major source of environmental pollution. This menace on land do contribute to the retardation of vegetation growth and human health hazards, while in water it may be toxic to aquatic animals. The search for the solution to ameliorate the seemingly unending pollution and its side effects necessitated the evaluation on the effect of bioaugmentation, biostimulation and natural attenuation of crude oil pollution in soil microcosms. The bacterial species selected for this study (Bacillus thuringensis strain LG32 and Burkolderia pseudomallei strain A81) were preliminarily identified using the conventional biochemical tests and further identification was carried out using the API kit. The results of the study carried out over a period of five weeks indicated that there was a marked reduction in the available phosphorous and potassium in the bioaugmented and biostimulated soils compared with that of the control. The mean values for total viable counts (TVC) of population of hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria (HUB) was higher in the bioaugmented soil ranged (LG32=6.0-7.5log10cfu g-1 ; A81=5.5- 7.5log10cfug-1 ; LG32+A81=6.0-7.5log10cfug-1 ) compared with that of the control (6.0-6.2log10cfug-1 ). When bioaugmentation was combined with biostimulation, the soil had higher counts of HUB (6.0-9.0log10cfug-1 ) and HUF (3.5-6.5log10cfug-1) compared to bioaugmentation without stimulation (HUB: 6.0-7.5; HUF: 3.5-5.5). The GC result indicated that by day 35, 96.92% of the aliphatic and aromatic components have been degraded in the augmented soil, higher than the natural attenuation control

Potentials of microorganisms associated with plantain peels in the Lagos metropolis for biodegradation and bioconversion.

The role of microbes in the degradation of plantain derived-wastes and their potential to produce cellulolytic enzymes was assessed. Soil samples of decomposing waste piles were collected from two major plantain markets in the Lagos metropolis and analyzed for physicochemical properties, toxic heavy metal content and microbial populations. Findings revealed that the values of moisture content of the two soils varied between 7.27±0.04 and 8.06±0.19 %. M-12 site had the highest organic matter content of 6.89±0.14 %. A similar pattern was observed for nitrate, phosphate and chloride levels while some heavy metals were also detected in varying and high amounts. The highest viable bacterial counts was 58.0±2.9 x 104 cfu/g at MU and there were no fungi at the site whereas M-12 had a fungal count of 40.0±3.3 x 103 cfu/g. Out of the total of 34 isolates encountered, 8 isolates having maximum cellulase activities were selected for further studies by the primary screening technique. These test organisms were then evaluated by secondary screening for enzyme production. The test organisms were phenotypically and biochemically characterized and identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae spp pneumoniae (2 strains), Klebsiella pneumoniae spp ozaenae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Providencia alcalifaciens, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger respectively. Both the bacteria and moulds were found to be capable of utilizing lignin and cellulosic substrates for growth and for production of cellulolytic enzymes. It is suggested that such microorganisms could be useful in bioconversion of cellulosic substrates like plantain-derived wastes for biotechnological application

An innovative tailored instructional design for computer programming courses in engineering

Industry 4.0 and 5.0 topics are emerging fields and have seen rising demand recently. There is a critical need, on the other hand, for improved methods of instructing programming languages since a growing lack of student motivation during the pandemic has had a deleterious influence on the education of programmers. In this context, online/hybrid computer programming courses must be addressed with innovative solutions to support the field with well-educated professionals. In this paper, we present a case study to propose an innovative tailored instructional design for the online/hybrid learning environments for programming courses in engineering faculties. To develop the instructional design, the Kemp Instructional Design Model was followed. The instructional design is a result of the main outputs of the RECOM “Redesigning Introductory Computer Programming Using Innovative Online Modules” project, which aims to bridge the gap between the existing course design in programming courses and the needs of "Covid” and “post-Covid” generation students