Pasting characteristics of plantain (Balbisiana Hybrids) and banana (Musa acuminata) starches

The starch powdered samples were analyzed for their pasting characteristics using Rapid visco analyser (RVA). From the graph of viscosity versus time, the final viscosity of plantain starch (298.67Rvu) was higher than that of Banana starch (165.67Rvu). The higher viscosity recorded in plantain starch showed that there was re-association between the starch molecules which led to formation of gel and caused by not only simple kinetic effect of cooling but re-association of amylose. The hold period of plantain starch (141.75minutes) was higher than that of Banana starch (112.33minutes). The hold period is accomplished by a breakdown in viscosity. The breakdown of banana starch (29.42Rvu)was higher than that of protein (24.25Rvu). The high breakdown in viscosity of Banana starch will be of great usefulness industrially. The peak viscosity of plantain (116.00Rvu) was higher than that of Banana starch (141.75Rvu). The high peak viscosity in plantain showed that the starch formed a paste on cooling at pasting temperature of 94.50C

CHARACTERIZATION OF COCOA (THEOBROMA COCOA) POD

Cocoa pod is a waste product of cocoa seeds and have been found very useful industrially for making black soaps which are highly medicinal for treating various ailment. The oil of the pod was investigated to reveal the various compounds present in the oil, Essential fatty acids and other organic compounds were revealed by the use of Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrophotomete

Factors Influencing Non-Utilization of Modern Methods of Family Planning Among Couples in Paikon-Kore, (FCT) Nigeria

Sex is one of the psychological needs of every human being, but sex without caution leads to plan less family, demographic problems and a lot of social phenomena. A family without planning breeds several social vices. Non-utilization of family planning is a global phenomenon caused by several factors. Hence, this survey research embarks on the examination of factors influencing non-utilization of modern methods of family planning among couples in Paikon-kore Community, Abuja. Literature pertinent to the study was reviewed. This explorative study employed both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (in-depth interview) methods to source for raw data from 1500 couples in the community. The findings of the study revealed that religious, education, cultural factors, level of exposure, employment status and so on influence the practice of family planning in Nigeria. The study concluded that family planning among couples in Nigeria is safe, if it is aware and well used. Several factors hinder the use of modern methods of family planning in Nigeria. At the end, the study recommended that more awareness campaigns should be created through workshops and seminars by government and medical practitioners should enhance education and re-orientation of couples about family planning and education curriculum should be built to increase peoples’ level of knowledge on it

A multipart distributed modelling approach for an automated protection system in open-air cloth drying

There are different methods of drying wet clothes, but drying with direct sunlight is considered the best suited for the preservation of the quality and usability of the cloths. However, sudden rainfall during the drying period constitutes a major drawback of the method. This returns the cloths to a drenched state as it is practically impossible to watch the clothes dry off after washing. This paper has proposed a model for an automated system for controlled open-air fabric drying by detecting the rain and moisture status of the cloths in real-time, and capable of shielding them to safety from the rainfall and excess sun. The modelled part considers the sensing model, drying model, control model, and their validation. The implementation and evaluation stage relates the result of the validated results to the developed prototypes. The simulated results in the sensing unit indicate above 87.5% agreements with the analytical results, and the controller simulated result provides a relatively small overshoot and faster dynamic response. Manufacturers of hanger systems for cloth drying have a basis for the design and implementation of their products in the paper

Improving the performance of free space optical systems: a space-time orthogonal frequency division modulation approach

Free space optical (FSO) communication systems are known for high capacity and information security. The overall system performances of FSO systems are however significantly affected by atmospheric turbulence induced fading. This paper, therefore, proposes a technique to mitigate this effect through the introduction of an additional degree of error correction capacity by exploiting the spectral dimension in the coding space. A space-time trellis coded orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) scheme was developed, simulated and evaluated for optical communication through a Gamma-Gamma channel. The evaluation of the coding gain obtained from the simulation results, the mathematical analysis and the truncation error analysis shows that the proposed technique is a promising and viable technique for improving the error correction performance of space-time codes for free space optical communication links

ACCEPTANCE AND BARRIER OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN NIGERIA

Purpose: This study assesses the performance, determine the barriers and effects of electronic health records on the staff of Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Method/Approach: This study was designed to explore the experiences of staff that practised a computerized or electronic health record in Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Osun State, Nigeria (OAUTH). This study utilized a quantitative method. The study sample includes 10 respondents from the intensive care unit, 40 respondents from the health information department, 25 respondents from nurses and 25 respondents from the medical doctors of the hospital. The respondents were purposively selected and the instrument (questionnaire) was administered using the random sampling technique. Findings/results: This study showed that there is a high performance (80%) of EHR in the hospital. Most respondents (65%) opined that EHR is easy to use. The assessment of the respondents about the ability of EHR to reduce medical error revealed that about 75% said EHR will reduce medical error. In addition to this, about 80% of the respondents said EHR is important in the transmission of patient prescription. The barrier to the implementation of electronic health record includes an inadequate computer (50%), lack of uniform hospital standard (55%), start-up financial costs (60%) and training and productivity loss. Recommendation: The hospital management, federal and state government and non-governmental organizations should work together to remove all barrier to the implementation of electronic health records through the provision of computer systems, finance, stable electricity supply, man-power training and employment of adequate staff. Article visualizations

Effect of rana galamensis-based diet on the activities of some enzymes and histopathology of selected tissues of albino rats

The effect of Rana galamensis-based diet on the activities of some enzymes and histopathology of selected tissues of albino rats was investigated for eight weeks. A total of sixteen albino rats weighing between 29.15 and 26.01g (21 days old) were divided into two groups. The first group contains animals fed on casein-based diet (control); the second group was fed on Rana galamensis-based diet. The animals were fed with their appropriate diet on daily basis and on the eight weeks of the experiment the animals were sacrificed using diethyl ether as anesthesia, blood was collected by cardiac puncture and organs of interest were harvested. Thereafter, organ to body weight ratio, some biochemical parameters and histopathology examination were carried out. There was no significant difference (p >0.05) in the organ to body weight ratio of the animals fed on control and Rana galamensis-based diets. Also, there was no significant different (p >0.05) in the activities of all the enzymes (ALP [alkaline phosphatase], AST [asparate transaminase], ALT [alanine transaminase], and γGT [gamma glutamyl transferase]) investigated in the selected tissues and serum of rats fed on Rana galamensis- based diet when compared with the control. In addition, histological examinations of hepatocyte's rats fed on Rana galamensis- based diet show normal architecture structure when compared with the control. The insignificant different in the activities of all the enzymes studies (ALP, AST, ALT and γGT) indicated no organ damage, supported by the normal histology studies. The obtained results may imply that Rana galamensis is safe for consumption.&nbsp

Harnessing the Thermal Potentials of Bitter Kola Tree Using Thermo- Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) Method

This research focused on harnessing the thermal potentials of the bitter kola tree relying on the information determined by the Thermo-gravimetric Analyzer. Today the world is facing some critical problems such as: high fuel prices, climatic changes, and air pollution. Higher Heating Value (HHV) is one of the most important properties of fuels which explains the higher energy content and determines the efficient use of biomass and fossil fuels. This research work aimed to conduct thermo-gravimetric analysis on Bitter kola tree energy crop. The materials for the research was acquired from a nearby farmland and further dried under sunlight for a period of four weeks before being dried further in the oven at regulated constant temperature, it was pulverized and further analyzed to determine the moisture content, ash content, crude fat, crude protein and crude fibre. From the experimental results, it was revealed that the moisture content of bitter kola tree particles was very high (44.37) compared to mangrove (22.75). The volatile matter was very low (43.47) compared to mangrove (55.65). These facts are responsible for the low combustion characteristics of bitter kola tree. This project work will educates anyone who chooses to venture into biomass generation of energy with energy crops to know the exact crop sample with the highest heating value for increased coefficient of performance and efficiency of the steam or turbine engines to be used for generating electricity

Optimetric analysis of 1x4 array of circular microwave patch antennas for mammographic applications using adaptive gradient descent algorithm

Interest in the use of microwave equipment for breast imagery is on the increase owing to its safety, ease of use and friendlier cost. However, some of the pertinent blights of the design and optimization of microwave antenna include intensive consumption of computing resources, high price of software acquisition and very large optimization time. This paper therefore attempts to address these concerns by devising a rapid means of designing and optimizing the performance of a 1×4 array of circular microwave patch antenna for breast imagery applications by deploying the adaptive gradient descent algorithm (AGDA) for a circumspectly designed artificial neural network. In order to cross validate the findings of this work, the results obtained using the adaptive gradient descent algorithm was compared with those obtained with the deployment of the much reported Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for the same dataset over same frequency range and training constraints. Analysis of the performance of the AGDA neural network shows that the approach is a viable and accurate technique for rapid design and analysis of arrays of circular microwave patch antenna for breast imaging

Optimetric analysis of 1x4 array of circular microwave patch antennas for mammographic applications using adaptive gradient descent algorithm

Interest in the use of microwave equipment for breast imagery is on the increase owing to its safety, ease of use and friendlier cost. However, some of the pertinent blights of the design and optimization of microwave antenna include intensive consumption of computing resources, high price of software acquisition and very large optimization time. This paper therefore attempts to address these concerns by devising a rapid means of designing and optimizing the performance of a 1×4 array of circular microwave patch antenna for breast imagery applications by deploying the adaptive gradient descent algorithm (AGDA) for a circumspectly designed artificial neural network. In order to cross validate the findings of this work, the results obtained using the adaptive gradient descent algorithm was compared with those obtained with the deployment of the much reported Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for the same dataset over same frequency range and training constraints. Analysis of the performance of the AGDA neural network shows that the approach is a viable and accurate technique for rapid design and analysis of arrays of circular microwave patch antenna for breast imaging