Economic, nutritional and medicinal values of African walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) in Nigeria (Hutch. & Dalziel): a review

The Nigeria Walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) is a climber crop species that help in poverty reduction through improvement of the purchasing power of families and their standard of living. African walnut has proven evidence that leads to general acceptability to its protective effects against certain diseases majorly the cardiovascular disease (CDV). It has many other medicinal values such as treatment of Diabetic, maintenance of healthy bone, Anti-malarial, diseases prevention, pregnancy protection and sperm improvement, weight management and so on. The consumption of this fruit is not only effective for the health of man but contributes to other lifestyles characteristics backed up by evidence from certain scientific investigations. However, the challenges facing its year round availability have not been fully documented and data related to its contributions to livelihoods of rural farmers and it nutritional value is not readily available to the populace, thereby places the plant in danger of genetic extinction and disappearance which have the potential to restrict its development options. Therefore, this paper reviewed the monetary contribution of African Walnut, its potential roles in poverty reduction, commitment to national advancement and value added exports from Nigeria, hence the investigation is expected to bridge some of this gap, giving an overview of the present information encompassing the economic commitment of Walnut, it nutritional and medicinal values in Nigeria. Key words: Economics, Nutrition, Medicinal Benefits, Chemical composition, Walnu

Assessment of Extension Officers Contribution to Cocoa Production in Nigeria

This study was carried out to evaluate the extension officer contribution to cocoa production in Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used, where two hundred and sixteen questionnaires were distributed in Osun and Ondo state , the information gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistic such as; frequency and percentage, while chi-square analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. From the results, married (77.6%), male (84.0%), secondary school holders (52.0%), between 40-49 (34.4%) years old farmers were seen as the highest cocoa producers. Extension training(64.0%), commercial agents(64.0%), fellowship(52.8%), self observation(76.0%) were the best source of information on extension service of cocoa farming , most respondents (65.0%); get extension training programme at regular basis, identified Constraints facing cocoa production in the study area includes deficient credit facilities, high cost of labour, bad road, poor marketing/storage facilities, lack of technical knowledge / assess to technical tools and so on. in view of afore mentioned result it is therefore recommended that the government should make loan available to the cocoa famers at very low interest rate and urge cocoa farmers to form cooperative society, strengthen their agricultural extension agents so that they will be able to rain cocoa farmers on the basic things they should know about primary processing such as fermentation and drying of cocoa beans in improving the quality in Nigeria to meet international market

Analysis of Trends in Housing Construction Cost in Nigeria from 2000 - 2009

The upward trends in housing construction costs have been a major issue in the economy as a whole. The research uses typical 3 - bedroom bungalow in Lagos to analyze the trends in housing construction cost from 2000 to 2009. The basic question for this research is whether the inflation in housing construction costs between 2000 and 2009 is statistically significant. The index number and one sample t test were used to analyze the data. The findings show that costs maintained upward trends throughout the study period. The analysis shows that between 2000 and 2009, the average annual inflation in costs and inflation were significant at 11.27% and 268.88% respectively. The incessant increase in the cost of housing construction has contributed to shortage in housing supply leading to high cost of urban housing accommodation, construction estimates losing usefulness within short periods, difficulty in forecasting and planning and frequent contract price variations, which can lead to abandonment of projects. The recommendation is that government should execute policies to lower the inflation rates so that prices in the cost of housing materials would come down. Government should also provide public housing and appropriate infrastructure for the masses

Development of a bench-scale fluidized bed combustor (FBC) for coal and biomas combustion.

The high technological level of equipment for combustion of fuels, as well as the necessity for rational and efficient use of non-renewable energy resources, has resulted demanding requirements that must be fulfilled by equipment for energy production, via combustion. These requirements form the characteristics of Fluidized bed Combustor (FBC). The objective of this work is to design and fabricate a Circulating FBC for the combustion of coal and biomass and present the design criteria considered in the combustion process. The Designed FBC was then tested by combusting coal (Lafia Obi) and biomass (coconut shell) using the relevant ASTM guidelines. For coal combustion, the characteristic quantities measured from the bench-scale fluidized bed combustion include a mean NOx emission of 455.35, 376.69, 323.35 and 277.35 ppm for a coal feed size of 10, 15, 20 and 25 mm respectively. NOx emission from the combustion of coconut shell in fluidized bed is low and further reduced by the introduction of secondary air. Secondary air increases the recoverable energy level from this biomass, while average CO emission was 13,080 16,620 17,040 and 19,140 ppm for a coal feed size of 10, 15, 20 and 25mm. The temperature in the fluidized bed at ≥ 1100oC was sustained.Keywords: Combustion emissions; fluidized-bed combustion; Design; Lafia-Obi Coal Biomass; Temperature

Haemorheological factors in diabetes mellitus patients in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Nigeria

A study on haemorheological factors in diabetes mellitus patients was carried out. Fifty blood samples were analyzed, comprising of thirty (30) diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients attending chemical pathology Clinic in OAUTH Ile-Ife and twenty (20) from apparently health individuals. The haemorheological parameters determined in this study were Packed cell volume (PCV); Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR), Plasma Fibrinogen Concentration (PFC), whole blood viscosity (WBV), Plasma Viscosity (PV), and plasma glucose. Microhaematocrit, the Westergren's and Ingram's (1961) methods were used respectively for analysis, while technique of Reid and Ugwu (1987) was used for whole blood and plasma viscosity. Glucose-oxidase method was used for plasma glucose estimation. The mean ± S.E.M values obtained for the patients are: PCV 39%, ESR 35mm Westergren in 1 hour, PFC 55.50g/m., WBV 6.12, PV 1.97 and glucose 7.39mmol/L while those of controls are: PCV 42.45%, ESR 6.80, PFC 31.60g/ml, WBV 3.84, PV 1.56 and glucose 3.94mmol/L. All the parameters were statistically significant (

Hematological profile of Plasmodium falciparum infected patients in Ile- Ife southwest, Nigeria

Hematological profile of Plasmodium falciparum infected patients in Ile- Ife, southwest Nigeria was analyzed across 60 blood samples. Forty of these samples were from confirmrd P. falciparum infected patients attending outpatient clinic at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, while 20 were from apparently healthy individuals not infected with malaria parasites (control). Standard methods were used to determine the haematocrit, erythrocytes sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma and whole blood viscosity and fibrinogen concentration (clot weight). There were statistically significant differences between the mean ± SD of infected and control subjects in the haematocrit levels (32.58±8.10 and 42.90±7.76) respectively ERS (24.38±3.00 and 8.20±1.91) and plasma fibrinogen concentration (5.09±1.23 and 3.16±0.73) (p<0.05). The differences in the mean ± SD of whole blood viscosity (6.50±0.80 and 5.57±1.42) and mean of plasma viscosity for the control and infected subjects were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The above results showed that Plasmodium falciparum infected patients are at risk of thrombosis.Keywords: Plasmodium falciparum, blood, Hematological, malariaInternational Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(2): 236-238, 201

Photometry And Spectroscopy Of Coma Dwarf Ellipticals

ies to have (on average) a bluer color: \Delta(B \GammaR)=\DeltaR = \Gamma0:056\Sigma0:002. Fainter than R ' 18:5 mag, the dE sequence spreads and merges with the multitude of noncluster galaxies, which are the dominant population at these magnitudes. The effect is that the program-field mean color values are skewed redward, away from the dashed line (an extension of the upper solid line), towards the mean colors of the control-field objects (open circles). In the right panel of Fig. 1, we plot the binned, scaled and subtracted CMD: one vertical line segment for each color-magnitude bin, with a height proportional to the number of objects in that bin. Here, the solid circles represent the mean corrected color, weighted by the number of objects in each Figure 1: Analysis of the control-field corrected program-field CMD.<F