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

Analysis of optimum combination of integrated crop-livestock enterprise in North-West, Nigeria

The study was conducted to determine the optimum combination of integrated crop-livestock enterprises in north-west, Nigeria. Primary data were obtained through structured questionnaire and interview schedule. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 3 states, 3 zones, 21 LGAs, 84 villages, and 428 crop-livestock farmers made up of 178, 128 and 122 farmers in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina states respectively. Descriptive statistics and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to achieve the objective of the study. The results of socio-economic characteristics showed that about 89% of the pooled farmers were male with mean age of 48 years and household size of 10 persons per farmer. The findings from DEA revealed the mean total efficiency, pure efficiency and scale efficiency of 0.79, 0.91 and 0.86 respectively. DEA results further indicated that farmers can reduce the quantity of farm size, labour, seed, fertilizer, manure and agrochemical inputs by 0.2, 12.9, 17.6, 6.6, 35.9 and 26.4 %, respectively. Results further specified that 17.3, 26.25 and 56.5 % of farmers operated at optimal, sub-optimal and super-optimal scale, respectively. Tobit regression model used to determine factors influencing technical efficiency established that coefficients of age (0.0210), marital status (0.0016), household size (0.0616), education level (-0.1247), farming experience (0.1412), extension contact (-0.2548) and cooperative membership (-0.1102) were statistically significant variables at different level of probability. There should be synergy between crop and animal scientists; extension agents and agricultural economists to bring into bearing the needs for farmers to imbibe integrated crop-livestock farming to achieve optimum level of efficiency

The effects of construction on environmental resources in peninsular Malaysia: the perspective of land use planning

Environment forms the basis upon which all human activities such as physical, social and economic take place. Malaysia is a nation that is blessed with the beauty of nature and at the same time advanced in terms of infrastructural development. Environmental resources are vital components of the environment that include land, vegetal resource, water bodies, atmosphere, flora and fauna. Nowadays, due to high rate of urbanization, rapid population and economic growth led to greater need of space for operation, which subsequently forced the construction industries to meet this demand. This gives rise to various forms of environmental degradations which lead to disruption of environmental equilibrium. The study assesses the effects of construction industries on the environment in the perspectives of land use planning. However, if proper measures are not taken, the consequences will never be of benefit to the country. Land use planning is an approach used to identify the relationship between construction activities and environmental resources. Generally, the study area covers Peninsula Malaysia because of the similarities of construction conditions and the environmental effects. The methodology employed in this study is based on the available data derived from the secondary sources of information. It also aims at suggesting ways of achieving sustainable construction activities so that our natural earth will not be harmed, destroyed or degraded

Development of a Small Hydropower Plant: Case of Ikere Gorge Dam, Oyo State, Nigeria

Energy crisis and environmental safety has become a thing of global concern, Nigeria inclusive. This is due to the increasing energy prices and environmental impact. Energy generated from the non-renewable energy sources has been linked up with this energy crisis and non-friendly environment. Research is therefore been geared towards harnessing renewable energy resources as alternative sources of energy generation. Renewable energy sources such as hydropower, wind, geothermal and solar just to mention a few are environmentally friendly. This study therefore aims at exploring renewable energy sources and thus designing a small hydropower plant using Ikere gorge Dam as case study. A survey was conducted through personal interview and probing of previous records of the site. Basic parameters such as flow rate of 31.8 m3/s and a head of 30 m were obtained. These parameters were used together with the standard equations for the design of the small hydropower plant. Costing analysis of the plant was carried out in other to estimate the cost of the plant. The comparative analysis of the renewable and non-renewable energy sources was also carried out. The theoretical power obtained for small hydropower project is 9.36 MW. The initial cost of the project is estimated at N63,343,970 with an estimated annual maintenance cost of N500,000. The annual energy output is 3.6 × 107 kWh and the project has estimated annual revenue of N579,960,000. When compared with other renewable energy sources, the cost of small hydropower plant is low and when compared with dwindling oil prices and environmental effects of non-renewable energy sources, small hydropower stands second to none. The study established that Ikere gorge Dam is a feasible site for a small hydropower plant and a small hydropower plant has also been designed; hence small hydropower plant is therefore recommended

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

A heuristic crossover enhanced evolutionary algorithm for clustering wireless sensor network

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.In this paper, a Heuristic-Crossover Enhanced Evolutionary Algorithm for Cluster Head Selection is proposed. The algorithm uses a novel heuristic crossover operator to combine two different solutions in order to achieve a high quality solution that distributes the energy load evenly among the sensor nodes and enhances the distribution of cluster head nodes in a network. Additionally, we propose the Stochastic Selection of Inactive Nodes, a mechanism 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 selection of inactive node mechanisms and cluster head selections protocol are performed sequentially at every round and are part of the main algorithm proposed, namely the Heuristic Algorithm for Clustering Hierarchy (HACH). The main goal of HACH is to extend network lifetime of wireless sensor networks by reducing and balancing the energy consumption among sensor nodes during communication processes. Our protocol shows improved performance compared with state-of-the-art protocols like LEACH, TCAC and SEECH in terms of improved network lifetime for wireless sensor networks deployments