Economic Efficiency of Yam Production in Oyo State of Nigeria

This study estimates economic efficiency of yam growing farmers in Oyo State of Nigeria using stochastic frontier production function. The empirical application used farm level data collected from 120 farms following 2007/2008 growing season. The results indicate that farm size, hired labour, yam set and equipment are the major factors that influence changes in yam output. Farm specific variables, such as farming experience, diversification and extension, were the significant factors influencing inefficiency among yam producers. Predicted economic efficiencies range between 0.0094 and 0.876 with a mean economic efficiency of 0.594. Based on these results, sample yam producers could increase their output by 40.6% through better use of available resources

Protective Effect of Hesperetin on Nicosulfuron-Induced Testicular Oxidative Stress in Male Wistar Rats

Nicosulfuron is a post-emergence herbicide used to control weeds while hesperetin found in citrus fruits has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antioxidant properties. This study was designed to investigate the ameliorative properties of Hesperetin on Nicosulfuron-induced reproductive oxidative stress in male Wistar rats. Twenty-four male wistar rats weighing 200 ± 20g were assigned to different groups, each with six animals. Group A serves as the control group and were administered distilled water only. Group B received 25 mg/kg body weight (B.W.) Nicosulfuron. Group C were co-administered with 25 mg/kg B.W. Nicosulfuron and 100 mg/kg Hesperetin while animals in group D received 100 mg/kg B.W. Hesperetin. All treatment lasted for 14 days. An increase in the percentage of sperm with abnormal morphology (23.07%) in the group exposed to Nicosulfuron was observed. Sperm motility, testicular Ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels were reduced significantly in the Nicosulfuron-treated group by 20.33%, 48.11%, and 41.10% respectively. Also, GST, Catalase, and SOD activities were significantly down-regulated in the Nicosulfuron-treated group. Furthermore, as compared to the control group, the Nicosulfuron-treated group had significantly higher activity of testicular acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), MDA, and NO levels. However, co-treatment of Nicosulfuron and Hesperetin significantly ameliorated the Nicosulfuron-induced changes in sperm morphology, motility; testicular ascorbic acid, GSH, NO levels; SOD, CAT, GST, ALP, and ACP activities. The result from this study indicates that Hesperetin, due to its antioxidant properties, protects against testicular oxidative stress induced by Nicosulfuron exposure

Analyzing the Influence of Various Fuzzification Methods in the Evaluation of Netbeans Java Components’ Interface Complexity for Reusability

The prognostic nature of fuzzy has made it a versatile tool in handling uncertainty problem. One of the major components of fuzzy system that plays an important role in its successful interpretability is fuzzification. While many researches have utilized its different forms in the accomplishment of their evaluations, especially in the domain of component based software development; it remains to be seen, the application and effects of these different membership functions in the assessment of components a singular solution. The research work examined the interface complexity of two NetBeans Java Components in determining their reusability. The result of the experimentation carried using MATLAB as tool, shows that Trapezoidal returned the highest reusability value, indicating that the components are reusable, and Polynomial fuzzification method returning the lowest reusability value and giving a false alarm that the used components were not reusable. The results underline the indispensable role of fuzzification method in the evaluation of component reusability

Implementation of Efficient Multilayer Perceptron ANN Neurons on Field Programmable Gate Array Chip

Artificial Neural Network is widely used to learn data from systems for different types of applications. The capability of different types of Integrated Circuit (IC) based ANN structures also depends on the hardware backbone used for their implementation. In this work, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based Multilayer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network (MLP-ANN) neuron is developed. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate the hardware realization of the artificial neuron using FPGA. Two different activation functions (i.e. tan-sigmoid and log-sigmoid) were tested for the implementation of the proposed neuron. Simulation result shows that tan-sigmoid with a high index (i.e. k >= 40) is a better choice of sigmoid activation function for the harware implemetation of a MLP-ANN neuron

Patterns, Presentations and Prognosis of Nasal Polyps

Few studies have documented the characteristic features of nasal polyps in the developing countries. In this study, we described the patterns, presentations and prognosis of nasal polyps seen in clinical setting, with a view to improve our understanding of its clinical and epidemiological characteristics. The study was a 10-year retrospective analysis of histologically-confirmed nasal polyps seen between January 2006 and December 2015. Records of patients with intranasal masses were retrieved from our hospital’s records department, clinics, wards and theatre suites. Those with nasal polyps were recruited into the study. The results were descriptively analyzed using SPSS statistical soft ware package version 10. There were 84 patients with intranasal masses seen within the reviewed period. Of this, 52 (61.9%) were histologically-confirmed nasal polyps. There were 22 males and 30 females. Their age ranges from 16 to 69 years. The most frequent symptom is nasal obstruction occurring in 76.9% of the cases. None of the patients had epistaxis. Thirty-one (59.6%) were associated with various complications either singly or multiple (Table 1). All (100%) were treated with conventional forceps excision. Eleven (21.2%) of them had recurrence between 3 and 5 years after surgery. None of the polyps or their recurrence exhibited malignant transformation. Nasal polyp is the most common intranasal mass seen in clinical practice. Its rarity in children and propensity for recurrence are reaffirmed. Although, recurrence is a major prognostic challenge, nasal polyp does not exhibit malignant transformation

The Contribution of Dysphagia to Acute Stroke Morbidity and Mortality in Nigeria: A Prospective Study

Background: The assessment of time-trend morbidity and mortality in acute stroke is critical to clinical policy decisions and resource allocation. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of dysphagia in acute stroke and the impact of dysphagia on short term stroke outcome (30 days post-stroke). Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study. Bedside screening for dysphagia modified Rankin score (MRS) and Barthel Index (BI) were performed on acute stroke patients on day 1, day 7, day 14 and day 30 after stroke to determine the frequency of dysphagia. Patients with dysphagia were then compared with age- and gender-matched controls (stroke patients without dysphagia) in terms of stroke characteristics and 30-day outcome. Results:Of the recruited 200 patients, 99 (49.5%) had dysphagia. Patients with intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke had a significantly higher prevalence of dysphagia (64% vs 36%; p Conclusion: Severe stroke, subcortical stroke and haemorrhagic stroke types were significantly associated with dysphagia at baseline. Dysphagia adversely influenced 30-days morbidity and case fatality in this cohort of acute stroke patients

SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GRASSES HARVESTED FROM THE NATURAL PASTURE IN OGUN STATE SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

The research was carried was carried out to evaluate the chemical composition of the dominant grasses harvested from the natural pasture in selected villages in Ogun State, South-western Nigeria at different seasons. The study was carried out using a 4 × 6 factorial arrangement comprising four seasons (early rain, late rain, early dry and late dry) at six locations (Afami, Atokun, Ibooro, Ileniku, Ipaaya, and Okerori). Results showed that the crude protein (CP) content significantly (p<0.05) varied from 5.56 % for Okerori to 7.34 % for Ibooro and the grasses harvested at Afami had the highest (72.75 %) neutral detergent fibre (NDF) values with the least (68.75 %) value recorded for Okerori, while the acid detergent fibre (ADF) values ranged from 41.00 % for Atokun to 48.25 % for Okerori. Also, CP value as affected by the season ranged from 4.23 % for late rainy to 9.44 % for the early rainy season and NDF values from 67.33% for late dry to 72.33 % for late rainy season while the early dry season had the highest value (48.00 %) for ADF with the least value (40.33 %) was recorded for the early rainy season. The phosphorus (P) value was highest at Ipaaya (2.99 g/kg) with the least value observed at Okerori (1.62 g/kg). The value for calcium ranged from 2.55 g/kg at Afami to 6.59 g/kg at Okerori. The P value of grasses as affected by seasons ranged from 1.46 g/kg for early dry to 2.66 g/kg for early rainy seasons.   &nbsp

Influence of manure application during cultivation on in vitro gas and post incubation parameters of nine Pennisetum purpureum varieties

Forages are generally available in the tropics yet the issue related with their utilization is low efficiency and nutritional contents whereby seasonal variations in pasture productivity were the significant constraint to their availability for use throughout the year. This research was carried out to evaluate the Influence of manure application during cultivation on in vitro gas production and post-incubation parameters of nine (9) different Pennisetum purpureum varieties. The experiment was a 9 x 3 factorial arrangement in split plot design which comprises of nine (9) P. purpureum varieties (Abeokuta 1, Abeokuta 2, F1 Hybrid, Green Local, Purple Local, Sugarcane, South Africa, S13 and S15) and three (3) manure types (control, swine and cattle). Results showed that the in vitro gas production of different P. purpureum varieties as affected by manure type were significant (p < 0.05). Unfertilized varieties had the highest volume of gas produced (17.14ml/200mgDM) at the end of the 48 hours incubation periods and the green local variety recorded the gas volume of 18.33ml/200mgDM at the end of the 48hours incubation. The post incubation parameters showed that manure type (p>0.05) had no effect on the short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and Metabolizable energy (ME) in the varieties of P. purpureum while the values for organic matter digestibility (OMD) was significantly (p < 0.05) ranged from 33.68% in unfertilized varieties to 35.72% when swine manure was applied. It is concluded that green variety of P. purpureum will be the best for ruminant feeding in this study