Correlation between manufacturing sectors and foreign direct investment

Abstract : The manufacturing sectors of nation’s economies have without doubt been noted as the chief driver of economic growth the world over. The connection between the Nigerian manufacturing sector and foreign direct investment (FDI) was assessed in this work. The study, in order to empirically examine how the variables are related in the long term and short term, utilised time series data spanning 36 years, while the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and co- integration technique were used. From the result, it is seen that the dependent variables explained R2 of 97% of the variations in manufacturing sector indicators (MFI), while Foreign direct investment, (FDI), Inflation rate (INF), government expenditure (GOE), and money supply (MSP) represent the independent variables. One of the recommendations of the study is that the federal government should consciously increase amount of foreign direct investments (FDI) made available to this all-important sector-manufacturing sector to boost its efficiency especially with respect to percentage impact on GDP and employment generation in Nigeria

Kinetic Energy and Transportation History of Sediments in Ogunniyi, Western Nigeria.

The analysis of grain-size sediments was carried out to determine the grading of textural parameters which result in the description of the energy environment, that of deposition and information on sediment transport. A German standard sieve set of mesh with shaker was used for the analysis. 12 sets of sediment sizes resulting in 84 samples from seven locations. The results of grain size analysis indicates that almost all the sediments are poorly sorted which is due to short distance of transportation of sediment from the source (only locations OG12 and OG18 show moderately well sorted sediment), fine to coarse skewed with dominance of leptokurtic. Positively skewed sediment represents finely skewed and describes the kinetic energy of the sediment as low and therefore, far from the source. Negatively skewed considers as coarse skewed with high energy of the environment or medium of transportation because it is greater than that experienced where fine particles are deposited though the distance of travel is closer to its source. Fine materials presence may encourage dredging for sand in the appropriate locations; coarser materials subjected to cementation could contain some minerals in them and exploration for these targets may be carried out over a period of time

Analysis of Security Mechanisms in Nigeria E-Banking Platform

Electronic banking system has become an important practice among all banks in Nigeria. The introduction of this electronic banking has improved banking efficiency in rendering sales and services to customer, which is the 24-hour access to cash and retrieval of banking data i.e. statements, transaction details etc. It was in line with this that the studies aim at the Security Mechanisms of E-banking System. Through the cluster sampling technique, data was collected by means of questionnaires from 25 Banks officers and the result shows Electronic Banking is barely secure for the financial institutions. And through the hypothesis carried out in this research, it shows us that all banking transaction can be done anywhere is the world as long as your access device is connected to the internet service through any service provider. This Mechanism was initialized and found to be very effective for securing the banking transactions. It’s being recommended for banks and other financial institutions for maximum security.  With all these in the banking Industry, the bank has an effective electronic banking system which has improve its customer’s relationship and satisfaction. To this end, it is recommended that the bank information and Communication technology training programme should be encourage among all the banks staff, necessary legal codes banking should be established in order to enhance growth of the industry.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i6.685

Priming of production in maize of volatile organic defence compounds by the natural plant activator cis- jasmone

cis-Jasmone (CJ) is a natural plant product that activates defence against herbivores in model and crop plants. In this study, we investigated whether CJ could prime defence in maize, Zea mays, against the leafhopper, Cicadulina storeyi, responsible for the transmission of maize streak virus (MSV). Priming occurs when a pre-treatment, in this case CJ, increases the potency and speed of a defence response upon subsequent attack on the plant. Here, we tested insect responses to plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using a Y-tube olfactometer bioassay. Our initial experiments showed that, in this system, there was no significant response of the herbivore to CJ itself and no difference in response to VOCs collected from unexposed plants compared to CJ exposed plants, both without insects. VOCs were then collected from C. storeyi-infested maize seedlings with and without CJ pre-treatment. The bioassay revealed a significant preference by this pest for VOCs from infested seedlings without the CJ pre-treatment. A timed series of VOC collections and bioassays showed that the effect was strongest in the first 22 h of insect infestation, i.e. before the insects had themselves induced a change in VOC emission. Chemical analysis showed that treatment of maize seedlings with CJ, followed by exposure to C. storeyi, led to a significant increase in emission of the defensive sesquiterpenes (E)-(1R,9S)-caryophyllene, (E)-α-bergamotene, (E)-β-farnesene and (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, known to act as herbivore repellents. The chemical analysis explains the behavioural effects observed in the olfactometer, as the CJ treatment caused plants to emit a blend of VOCs comprising more of the repellent components in the first 22 h of insect infestation than control plants. The speed and potency of VOC emission was increased by the CJ pre-treatment. This is the first indication that CJ can prime plants for enhanced production of defensive VOCs antagonist towards herbivores

Reliability Assessment of the Nigerian Timber – An Environmental Sustainability Approach in the 21st Century

An important component of environmental sustainability is how we can continue improving human welfare within the limits of the earth’s natural resources. With recent research showing that carbondioxide levels in the air are at their highest in 650,000 years and thus an alarming depletion of the ozone layer, the challenge currently facing many countries is how to respond to the issue of climate change. Steel, reinforced concrete and timber are the most commonly used structural materials worldwide. However, carbondioxide emissions from steel and cement production have been found to be the first and second largest sources of industrial C�� emissions worldwide and this has prompted the inclination towards timber as a structural material. Timber is decomposable or biodegradable as well as renewable and its production does not require the use of high energy fossil fuels as in the production of some other building materials such as steel or even brick. Nigeria is blessed with several timber species in different wood classes but despite the environmentally sustainable and obvious advantages of timber, it is being grossly underutilized as a structural material in Nigeria because there is limited information on the reliability of timber considering the wide property variability between and even within, timber species. This paper addresses the need for reliability analysis of various Nigerian timber species with a view to determining and establishing their structural strength to encourage the use of the Nigerian Timber as a structural material. The need to revise the Nigerian Code of Practice for the structural design of Timber is also emphasized in this pape

The influence of microbial physiology on biocatalyst activity and efficiency in the terminal hydroxylation of n-octane using Escherichia coli expressing the alkane hydroxylase, CYP153A6

Biocatalyst improvement through molecular and recombinant means should be complemented with efficient process design to facilitate process feasibility and improve process economics. This study focused on understanding the bioprocess limitations to identify factors that impact the expression of the terminal hydroxylase CYP153A6 and also influence the biocatalytic transformation of n–octane to 1-octanol using resting whole cells of recombinant E. coli expressing the CYP153A6 operon which includes the ferredoxin (Fdx) and the ferredoxin reductase (FdR). Results: Specific hydroxylation activity decreased with increasing protein expression showing that the concentration of active biocatalyst is not the sole determinant of optimum process efficiency. Process physiological conditions including the medium composition, temperature, glucose metabolism and product toxicity were investigated. A fed-batch system with intermittent glucose feeding was necessary to ease overflow metabolism and improve process efficiency while the introduction of a product sink (BEHP) was required to alleviate octanol toxicity. Resting cells cultivated on complex LB and glucose-based defined medium with similar CYP level (0.20 μmol gDCW -1) showed different biocatalyst activity and efficiency in the hydroxylation of octane over a period of 120 h. This was influenced by differing glucose uptake rate which is directly coupled to cofactor regeneration and cell energy in whole cell biocatalysis. The maximum activity and biocatalyst efficiency achieved presents a significant improvement in the use of CYP153A6 for alkane activation. This biocatalyst system shows potential to improve productivity if substrate transfer limitation across the cell membrane and enzyme stability can be addressed especially at higher temperature. Conclusion: This study emphasises that the overall process efficiency is primarily dependent on the interaction between the whole cell biocatalyst and bioprocess conditions

THE EFFECT OF TILT ANGLE AND MASS FLOW RATE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A PARABOLIC TROUGH SOLAR CONCENTRATOR VIA EXPERIMENTATION

Solar energy is widely regarded as a very promising alternative energy source due to its potential to satisfy a substantial portion of global energy demand. The efficacy of a solar concentrator is contingent upon operational and weather factors. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the effect of tilt angle and mass flow rate on the effectiveness of a parabolic trough solar concentrator The parabolic trough solar collector was subjected to experimental testing in LAUTECH's Ogbomoso engineering facility. It has a collector length of 2.1m, an aperture width of 1.2m, an adjustable rim angle of 75o, 90o, and 105o, a focal length of 30 cm, a 10-liter storage reservoir with varying flow rates of  0.0004 m3/s, 0.0008m3/s, and 0.0012m3/s. The temperatures were measured with a 12-channel temperature recorder (SD data logger), while the solar radiation was measured with a solar meter and water was used as a working fluid. Thermal performance analysis was conducted to ascertain the impact of tilt angle, mass flow rate, and weather conditions on the solar concentrator's effectiveness. The results indicate that the system has a greater thermal efficacy with weather elements such as solar intensity and ambient temperature at higher mass flow rates and a 90o tilt angle. This concentrator aids the energy industry by decreasing reliance on electricity and pollution from fossil fuels, thereby minimizing environmental and health issues. Keywords: Alternative Energy, Concentrator, Effectiveness, Environment, Tilt Angle, DOI: 10.7176/APTA/88-01 Publication date: February 28th 202

Transcriptomic changes associated with husk scald incidence on pomegranate fruit peel during cold storage

CITATION: Belay, Z. A. et al. 2020. Transcriptomic changes associated with husk scald incidence on pomegranate fruit peel during cold storage. Food Research International, 135. doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109285The original publication is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/food-research-internationalPomegranate fruit is valued for its social, economic, aesthetic and health benefits. The fruit rapidly loses quality after harvest due to continued metabolic responses and physiological disorders under sub-optimal conditions. The incidence of physiological disorder such as husk scald manifests during storage and commercial shipping, which affects the appearance and limits marketability. Despite the importance of pomegranate husk scald, little information is available about the origin and molecular mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the scald incidence of pomegranate fruit at molecular level using RNA-Seq (Ion Proton™ Next Generation Sequencing) by analyzing peel transcriptomic changes. The RNA-seq analysis generated 98,441,278 raw reads. 652 Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) with a fold change of > |2|, a p value ≤ 0.05 and a false discovery rate (FDR) of <0.05 were identified between healthy and scald fruit peels. An analysis of the gene ontologies of these DEGs revealed the 432 genes were assigned with molecular functions, 272 as cellular components and 205 as part of biological processes. In this analysis, genes (Pgr023188 and Pgr025081) that encode uncharacterized protein and gene (Pgr007593) that encodes glycosyltransferase showed significantly highest fold changes. Genes (Pgr003448, Pgr006024 and Pgr023696) involved in various iron binding and oxidoreductase activities were significantly suppressed. This is the first transcriptome analysis of pomegranate fruit peel related to husk scald development. Results obtained from this study will add valuable information on husk scald related changes on pomegranate fruit at genomic level and provide insight on other related physiological disorders.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996920303100?via%3DihubPublishers versio

Adoption of total quality management in the educational sector: case study of Engineering Institutions

Abstract : Due to the aspirations of various institutional stakeholders clamoring for improvement in the quality of education in their various institutions, the concept of total quality management has gained so much attention to this regard. In the recent time, several emphases have been made on the need for quality improvement and efforts are been put in place on the possible ways of increasing the standard of education globally. The productivity of any tertiary institution, especially the Engineering colleges is centered on the quality culture of such institutions, also, the customer’s satisfaction is another thing to put into consideration, to achieve the desired productivity. Generally, there are some constructs which are the major critical success factors that enhances quality improvement in any organization, customer satisfaction has been identified as another important factor to put into consideration to achieve optimum quality of products as well as services. This paper gives an insight on how the implementation of Total Quality Management in an Engineering educational system can aid the Quality of Engineering Education