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

Effects of Different Strategies Adopted by Rural Women on their Food Security in Oyo State

The study assessed the effects of different strategies adopted by rural women on their food securityin Oyo State. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted for this research work. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binomial logit model. Majority (93.5 percent) of the sampled women were married, while 6.5 percent of them were widowed. The mean age was 49 years. Backyard farming (= -1.000333343) had a negative but significant relationship to household food insecurity while reduction of meals (= 1.312270792) had a positive and significant relationship to household food insecurity. It was recommended that, program aimed at reducing poverty should be implemented in other to ensure that households were able to afford adequate mealsalso; backyard farming should be encouraged among rural women

Performance and Economic Analysis of Kainji Hydropower Plant in Nigeria

In this study, performance and economic evaluation of Kainji Hydropower Station in Nigeria from 2008 to 2017 was carried out. Data including total energy generated (MWh), station service consumption (MWh), total energy sent out to the grid (MWh), average inflow rate (m3/s) and average gross operating head (m) were obtained from the efficiency department of the Hydropower station from the year 2008 to 2017. Mathematical models were used based on some key parameters which include: Capacity Factor, Plant Use Factor, Availability, Power Generated and Economic Cost of Outages and Operations. The result reveals that the average power generated within the period under review was 363.53MW, with a maximum of 476.95MW in 2010 and 292.44MW in 2014 as against the installed capacity of 760MW. The Capacity Factor of the plant was between 11.04% (2014) and 40.51% (2008) as against industry best practice of between 50% to 80%. The Plant Use Factor ranged between 38.48% in 2014 to 62.76% in 2010 as against acceptable value of 95% and above, while the plant availability hovers between 28.69% in 2015 and 91.26% in 2009 as against the recommended standard of 99.99%. The study further reveals that the revenue loss due to system downtime was ₦169,134,293,297. This revenue loss is about 66.82% of the revenue generated which is by no means a huge amount. The above values call for the need of a total overhaul of the generating plant in order to salvage the terrible state of these plants

Quality of sleep in an HIV population on antiretroviral therapy at an urban tertiary centre in Lagos, Nigeria

Aim. To determine the prevalence of sleep disturbance and its associated characteristics in HIV-positive outpatients on HAART using the PSQI. Methods. Using a cross-sectional design, 300 patients attending the outpatient HIV/AIDS clinic at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital were recruited. Baseline data obtained included the participants’ demographic data, educational qualification, and marital status. Their treatment history, including duration since HIV diagnosis, the most recent CD4 cell count, and current antiretroviral therapies, was obtained from their case records. Each participant completed the PSQI questionnaire and those with scores ≥5 were diagnosed with poor sleep quality. Results. The participants were made up of 70.7% females and 29.3% males. Their ages ranged between 18 and 74 years with a mean of 38.9 ± 10.3 years. According to the PSQI, 59.3% reported poor sleep quality. The mean score of those with poor quality sleep (9.2 ± 3.3) was comparable to that of those with good quality sleep (1.26 ± 1.4). \u1d443 < 0.001. Significant differences were observed in all the individual components of the PSQI (\u1d443 < 0.001). On multivariate analyses, the independent associations with sleep quality were the duration since HIV diagnosis (\u1d443 = 0.29), efavirenz based regimen (\u1d443 < 0.001), and lower CD4 cell count (\u1d443 < 0.001). Conclusions. Sleep disturbances are quite common in the HIV population even in the era of HAART. Early recognition via routine assessment and effective treatments could prevent the resultant complications and improve quality of life

Design of a Mobile Agent for Monitoring Activities of Users

Monitoring is an aspect of network management aimed at ensuring optimal performance of the network and that the users play by the rules. This paper presents the design of a mobile agent for monitoring the activities of users in a network. Users’ activities can be localized on their personal workstation or extended to the enterprise network and the Internet, in which case it can impact on the subscribed bandwidth, which is a shared resource of the corporate entity that they represent. All users hope to work in an environment of unlimited resources, including disk space, RAM and bandwidth. However, though the cost of these computing resources have reduced significantly owning to advances in microelectronic technology, they are still far from being free and inexhaustible. In this research, we design a mobile agent tool that can monitor users’ activities in a network environment with a view to enhancing the effective utilisation of system resources, and in particular, the physical memory. The aim is to enable optimal resource utilisation in the network environment. In this paper, we define a mathematical formulation of user activities, load overhead of mobile agents and itinerary partition to avoid the over-bloating problem. The architecture of the mobile agent is explained. Keywords: Mobile Agent; System resources; Computer network; Code Mobility; Monitorin

Design of a Mobile Agent for Monitoring Activities of Users

Monitoring is an aspect of network management aimed at ensuring optimal performance of the network and that the users play by the rules. This paper presents the design of a mobile agent for monitoring the activities of users in a network. Users’ activities can be localized on their personal workstation or extended to the enterprise network and the Internet, in which case it can impact on the subscribed bandwidth, which is a shared resource of the corporate entity that they represent. All users hope to work in an environment of unlimited resources, including disk space, RAM and bandwidth. However, though the cost of these computing resources have reduced significantly owning to advances in microelectronic technology, they are still far from being free and inexhaustible. In this research, we design a mobile agent tool that can monitor users’ activities in a network environment with a view to enhancing the effective utilisation of system resources, and in particular, the physical memory. The aim is to enable optimal resource utilisation in the network environment. In this paper, we define a mathematical formulation of user activities, load overhead of mobile agents and itinerary partition to avoid the over-bloating problem. The architecture of the mobile agent is explained. Keywords: Mobile Agent, System resources, Computer network, Code Mobility, Monitorin

Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and Associated Risk Factors among Students in a Nigerian University

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus has been associated with subsequent infection and transmission within the hospital and community settings. This study was carried out to evaluate the carriage rates of S. aureus in a University student population and describe risk factors associated with the carriage. Two-hundred and seventy-seven nasal samples were obtained from healthy volunteer students and screened for S. aureus by standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was conducted on the bacterial isolates by the disk diffusion technique. A questionnaire was conducted with each student to acquire demographic and risk factor information. One hundred and fifty-seven (56.7%) isolates were identified as S. aureus. Antibiotic resistance was highest for cloxacillin (91%), ceftazidime (71%), cotrimoxazole (23%), erythromycin (20%) and oxacillin (16%). Risk factors such as hospitalization in the past 12 months, recent skin infection and participation in sports were significantly associated with carrier status. High resistance to certain antibiotics observed in this study shows that nasal colonization could serve as a reservoir of antibiotic resistant strains within the community

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric (GC-MS) Analysis of Ethanolic Extract of the Peel of Dioscorea bulbifera Linn (Air Potatoe)

The bioactive chemical compounds in the ethanolic extracts of the peel of Dioscorea bulbifera Linn, native to Nigeria was investigated and characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. The relatively high concentration of the phytochemicals in the peel of this tuber; saponin (32.28mg/g), terpenoid (22.90mg/g), cardiac glycoside (15.90mg/g), flavonoid (9.17mg/g), tannin (4.79mg/g) and phlobatannin (1.87mg/g), was the most attractive factors that triggered the present study. The GC-MS analysis of the ethanolic extract of the peel of D. bulbifera shows 4 prominent peaks as R-(-)-1,2-Propanediol (C3H8O2) with retention time of 6.103min and the highest peak area of 86.05%; 1-Methylhexylhydroperoxide (C7H16O2) with retention time of 42.567min and peak area of 5.57%; Cis-3-hexenyllactate (C9H16O3) with retention time of 45.395min and peak area of 5.01%; and Pyrrole (C4H5N) showed peak of 3.37% with retention time of 45.508min. Other less prominent peaks at other retention times included; 2-Nitro-Dimethylnitromethane (C3H7NO2) with retention time of 37.355min, Ethylenimine (C2H5N) with retention time of 42.665min, N-Formyl-N-Methyl-formamide (C3H5NO2) with retention time of 44.225min, and Guanidine (CH5N3) with retention 44.225min. This work which is the first-time report on the bioactive compounds in the organic crude extracts of Dioscorea bulbifera native to Nigeria, using the GC-MS, has however established the presence of quite number of chemical compounds in the peel of the tuber, to which their pharmacological activities could be attributed. The presence of these secondary metabolites in the peel of Dioscorea bulbifera, is hence, the major contributing factors behind its antimicrobial potential. Keywords: GC-MS, Dioscorea bulbifera, antimicrobial properties, bioactive compounds, ethanolic extrac

Analysis of Physical and Chemical Composition of Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Peels

Sweet orange is one of the most common fruits in the World. The waste generated from the fruits needs to be put into a beneficial use. In this study some physical and chemical properties of the primary waste of sweet orange was investigated. The result showed sweet orange rinds (peels) as the major waste and contains 45-50% of the total mass of sweet orange fruits. The chemical analysis showed sweet orange rinds to be rich in protein of 7.15% and crude fibre of 12.79% which can be used as ingredients in processed food. These uses will promote sustainable disposal of orange rinds

Effects of selenium supplementation on pregnancy outcome and disease progression in HIV-infected pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria: Study protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Micronutrient deficiencies are common during pregnancy, especially in pregnant women from economically disadvantaged settings where diets with low content of minerals and vitamins are consumed. Selenium is a non-metallic chemical element of great importance to human health. This study will assess the effect of selenium supplementation on major pregnancy outcomes and disease progression among HIV-infected pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving confirmed HIV-positive pregnant women at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) between September 2018 and February 2019. Eligible participants are HIV-infected pregnant women aged 15 to 49 years and have a singleton gestation at 14 to 27 weeks’ gestation. At enrolment, 90 women will be randomly assigned into each intervention arm to receive either a daily tablet of 200 μg elemental selenium or placebo. Relevant participants’ data will be collected at enrolment and at delivery. Statistical analyses will be carried out using SPSS version 23.0 for Windows. The associations between any 2 groups of continuous variables will be tested using the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test and that of 2 groups of categorical variables with chi-square or Fishers exact test where appropriate. A series of multivariable analyses will also be carried out to identify and control for several possible confounders of the major pregnancy outcomes and HIV disease progression. Statistical significance will be defined as P < .05. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the LUTH's Health Research and Ethics Committee (Approval number: ADM/DCST/HREC/APP/2438; 30th August 2018). Discussion: This trial will assess the effect of selenium supplementation on pregnancy outcome and HIV disease progression among HIV-infected pregnant women in Lagos. This will help to determine if routine selenium supplementation in HIV-infected pregnant women will contribute to the improvement in the major adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm birth and low birth weight and the HIV disease surrogate markers such as CD4+ cells count and viral load. Trial registration: PACTR, PACTR201809756724274. Registered on 3rd September 2018, https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=3571