Studies on Some Physical Properties of Dikanut Seeds

The physical properties of dikanut seeds sold in Nigerian markets were determined.   The dried seeds were evaluated for the principal dimensions, weight, volume, true density, bulk density, and porosity, angle of repose, static coefficient of friction and specific heat capacity.   The average three principal dimensions were 2.375, 1.592 and 0.778cm.  The seeds had an average weight of 1.904g, volume of 2.38cm3, density of 0.832g/cm3, bulk density of 0.475g/cm3, porosity of 43%, and surface area of 3.468cm2.   Angle of repose and coefficient of friction varied quadratically with moisture content.   The specific heat capacity of dikanuts was measured at four moisture contents and eight temperatures.   The specific heat of dikanut varied from 1.9333J/g?C to 6.075J/g?C for moisture contents between 3% and 30% and those that were used to model multiple simple regression equations expressing specific heat as a function of moisture content. Key words: Dikanut, seed, dimension, specific heat capacit

Determinants of Rice Farmers’ Investment in Value Addition and Its Effect on Poverty Status in Kebbi State, Nigeria

The study examined investment of rice value addition activities among farmers in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire administered to 123 randomly selected farmers in three local government areas of the state. Data was analyzed using Foster Greek Thoerboeck (FGT) poverty index and logit regression technique. The results showed that poverty status among the rice farmers was high, as 58.3% were poor and 42.7% were non poor. The result of the analysis showed that the marginal effects of income from parboiling, winnowing, drying, destoning, and bagging value addition were negative and statistically significant related to farmer’s poverty status at 1% level. It was concluded that rice farmers’ investment in value addition should be promoted among the farmers in Kebbi State. High cost of labour (81.0%), poor marketing information (75.6%) and inadequate credit (73.1%) were the three most critical constraints limiting the farmers in engaging in value addition activities. It wasrecommended that farmers cooperatives should form collaboration with extension agent to make farmers aware of the benefits of investment in value addition activities and those farmers already investing in value addition should make use of the modern method of processing instead of the traditional practices which help to increase their income. Keywords: Investment, Value addition, Processing, Poverty status and Rice farmer

The Effect of Age, Weight on Hypertensive Patients in State Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

This project work examines the contribution of age, weight and height to the blood pressure of 50 randomly selected individuals from medical record unit of the State Hospital, Osogbo, Osun state. The fitted mathematical model that represents the relationship among the variables is  16Y">  = 73.222 + 0 .075X1 - 0.044X2 + 12.178X3 . This implies that the rate of change in Y (Blood Pressure) due to X1 (age) is 0.075units, X2 (weight) is -0.044units , X3 (height) is 12.178 units. The estimation regression equation indicates that the mean of Y’s are expected to increase by 0.075 when X1 increased by one unit holding X2 and X3 constant, the mean of Y’s are expected to decrease by 0.044 when X2 increased by one unit holding X1,X3 constant , the mean of Y’s are expected to increase by 12.178 when X3 increased by one holding X1 and X2 constant. The negative coefficient of X2 indicates that blood pressure decreases as weight increases and vice versa. The F- test was used to examine the adequacy of the fitted model. The F- calculated (0.394) is not large enough for the rejection of the null hypothesis and that implies that the model is significant and adequate for prediction. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) and tolerance values computed from the data were examined to determine the presence and severity of multicollinearity. The tolerance values are greater than 0.1 and simultaneously, the Variance Inflation factors are all below 15 which is an indication of no multicollinearity in the data. Based on the findings, people who are becoming taller with respect to age should watch their blood pressure as the blood pressure is found to increase with increase in height and age. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/95-09 Publication date: November 30th 202

Modeling The Nigerian Stock Exchange Data Characterized with Heteroscedasticity Disturbances Using Bayesian Approach

The stock exchange plays a crucial role in influencing the development of a country’s economy and growth.. This paper examines the Nigerian Stock Exchange data in the presence of heteroscedasticity disturbances parameters of Nigerian Stock Exchange using a wide range of variables. The results indicate that Bayesian estimation is reliable since the parameter estimates are consistent. Finally, Bayesian estimation when heteroscedasticity structure is present performs better than the homoscedasticity counterpart. Keywords: Bayesian estimation, heteroscedasticity, homoscedasticity, prior, posterior distribution

MICROORGANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PALMS OF FAST-FOOD HANDLERS IN ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA

The palms of 87 food vendors in Abeokuta metropolis were sampled for the presence and types of         microorganisms. The food handlers were grouped into six categories based on the type of vending         sites: hawkers (15), roadside (13), open air (15), closed / roofed (21), restaurants (12) and hotels ven-         dors (11). Only 43.7% of the 87 vendors sampled had undergone the annual medical check up while         56.3% had never done the check up. None of the hawkers sampled had ever done the medical check         up while all the hotel food handlers had the health certificate indicating that they have done the routine         medical   check   up.   Bacteria   isolated   from   the   hands   of   the   food   handlers   included  Staphylococcus         aureus, S. epidermidis, Alcaligenes spp. Bacillus subtilis, Listeria spp. Enterobacter sp, Escherichia         coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris and  Vibrio cholerae. The fungi were Rhizopus sp. Asper-         gillus   niger  and  Sachharomyces   cerevisiae.  This   work   suggests   that   food   handlers   were   possible         sources of microorganisms implicated in food poisoning and food spoilage. Proper policing of vendors        to ensure that they undergo the annual physical and medical examinations and proper education of        food handlers on personal hygiene is recommended.&nbsp

Regional variations and socio-economic disparities in neonatal mortality in Angola: a cross-sectional study using demographic and health surveys.

BackgroundInequalities in neonatal mortality rates (NMRs) in low- and middle-income countries show key disparities at the detriment of disadvantaged population subgroups. There is a lack of scholarly evidence on the extent and reasons for the inequalities in NMRs in Angola.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the socio-economic, place of residence, region and gender inequalities in the NMRs in Angola.MethodsThe World Health Organization Health Equity Assessment Toolkit software was used to analyse data from the 2015 Angola Demographic and Health Survey. Five equity stratifiers: subnational regions, education, wealth, residence and sex were used to disaggregate NMR inequality. Absolute and relative inequality measures, namely, difference, population attributable fraction (PAF), population attributable risk (PAR) and ratio, were calculated to provide a broader understanding of the inequalities in NMR. Statistical significance was calculated at corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals.FindingsWe found significant wealth-driven [PAR = -14.16, 95% corresponding interval (CI): -15.12, -13.19], education-related (PAF = -22.5%, 95% CI: -25.93, -19.23), urban-rural (PAF = -14.5%, 95% CI: -16.38, -12.74), sex-based (PAR = -5.6%, 95% CI: -6.17, -5.10) and subnational regional (PAF = -82.2%, 95% CI: -90.14, -74.41) disparities in NMRs, with higher burden among deprived population subgroups.ConclusionsHigh NMRs were found among male neonates and those born to mothers with no formal education, poor mothers and those living in rural areas and the Benguela region. Interventions aimed at reducing NMRs, should be designed with specific focus on disadvantaged subpopulations

Comparative Analysis on the Diastolic Blood Pressure of Some Selected Age Groups in Ise-Emure Local Government, Ekiti State

This research work aimed to examine the comparative analysis on the diastolic blood pressure of some selected age group in Ise-Emure Local Government, Ekiti State. The data used for this research work covered the age group between 20 years and above with record of Diastolic blood pressure and patients ages of forty (40) people in Ise-Emure Local Government, Ekiti State. The data used for this research work was secondary which was extracted from the surveyed record of laboratory test department of general hospital, Ise-Emure Local Government, Ekiti State. From the graph, the diagram showed that, as the age increases so also the diastolic blood pressure rises at a slowly manner. The result of the analysis carried out using SPSS from the data revealed that the Pearson’s correlation coefficient computed to be 16r=0.470 "> , which implies  that there is steady relationship between Age and Diastolic blood pressure of the patients at general hospital Ise-Emure, Ekiti.. From the analysis we observed that the p-value (0.002) is less than the alpha level (0.05), of which we reject Ho. Under the test for independence, the 16tcalculated">  was computed to be 163.28">  while that of corresponding 16ttabulated">  was observed to be 1.686, of which 16tcalculated>ttabulated"> , by comparison  16H0">  was rejected. Keywords: Diastolic Blood Pressure, Survey, Hypertension, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Comparison, Association, Hypothesis, Patients. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/95-11 Publication date: November 30th 202

Iterated Local Search Algorithm for Clustering Wireless Sensor Networks.

In this paper, a new clustering protocol employing an iterated local search (ILS) to solve cluster head selection problem is proposed. ILS uses a perturbation operator to change an initial random solution to produce a new point in the vicinity of the solution. Using a combination operator, this new point is mated with the random solution producing a new solution. A move from the current solution to the new solution is considered acceptable only for higher fitness value. If a move is rejected after a predetermined search length, the change rate of the current solution is increased in order to explore a wider search space for quality solutions. In each round, this search process continues until good solution that ensures balanced energy consumption is obtained for the network. Furthermore, we propose a sleep scheduling scheme inspired by the Boltzmann Selection process in genetic algorithms. This mechanism stochastically considers coverage effect in the selection of nodes that are required to go into sleep mode in order to conserve energy of sensor nodes. The proposed mechanism of inactive node and cluster head selection protocols are performed sequentially at every round and they form part of the main algorithm proposed, namely the Dynamic Local Search-Based Algorithm for Clustering Hierarchy (DLSACH). The ultimate goal of the DLSACH protocol is to extends the network lifetime of wireless sensor networks by reducing and balancing the energy consumption among sensor nodes during communication processes. Our protocol shows an improved performance compared to state-of-the-art protocols such as LEACH, TCAC and SEECH in terms of improved network lifetime for wireless sensor networks deployment