Climate Change and Fish Farmers Adaptation: A Case Study of New Bussa Fishing Population

This research work takes a look into the importance of some commercial inland fish species, how they are affected by climate change and how fish farmers in the study area are adjusting to the variation in climate, as there is strong evidence that the fisheries sub-sector of agriculture is experiencing major challenges as a result of climate change. Respondents in the study area are majorly fish farmer and perceived climate change factors to include variability of temperature, air humidity and total rainfall

Toxicological Implication of Zinc Oxide Nano-Particles on Nutritional Composition and Depuration Potential of Heterobranchus longifilislis

Zinc Oxide nano-particles (ZnO-NPs) are more useful in the production of commercial goods than other nano-particles because of their unique properties. The effluents of ZnO-NPs get into the aquatic ecosystems and accumulate in fish tissues causing serious health consequences. This study was therefore designed to investigate the effect of ZnO-NPs exposure on the nutritional composition and depuration potential of large African catfish (Heterobranchus longifilis). The nutritional composition evaluated include, proximate composition, mineral content, fatty acids and amino acids profiles after exposing to varying (0.0, 6.00, 8.00, 10.00, 12.00 mg/l) concentrations of ZnO-NPs to juveniles’ catfish (H. longifilis) for 60 days and depurating for 30 days to evaluate recovery using standard methods. The results revealed that proximate composition and amino acid profiles decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 60 days of exposure to ZnO-NPs, but gradually improved after 30 days of depuration. This implies that ZnO-NPs has a great influence on the nutrient values of H. longifilis, but the fish were able to regain the lost nutrients, however, the ability of H. longifilis to recover from adverse condition is time dependent

Good Governance and Local Government Administration for Development: Multiple Perspectives

This paper examines the relationship between good governance and local government administration. It begins with a review of the concepts of the good governance, local government administration their importance for development at the local government level. It argues that both good governance and local government administration need to coexist if any meaningful development is to take place at local level. The paper further identifies some problems that hinder good governance at the local level and suggests ways of solving them

Biogas generation from Watermelon peels, Pineapple peels and Food wastes

the anaerobic digestion process for biogas production was investigated using locally available waste materials (watermelon peels, pineapple peels and food wastes). Watermelon peels and pineapple peels each was codigested with food wastes in ratio 1:1 while using rumen contents of cattle as inoculum. The physical, chemical and microbial characteristics of the three substrates were determined before and after the co-digestion process using standard methods. Analysis of the generated gas revealed 68.0% Methane, 20.0% Carbon dioxide, 6.0% Nitrogen, 2.5% Hydrogen, 1.5% Hydrogen sulfide and 2.0% Oxygen for co-digestion of watermelon peels with food wastes while co-digestion of pineapple peels with food wastes yielded 71.0% Methane, 18.0% Carbon dioxide, 7.0% Nitrogen,l.5% Hydrogen, 1.5% Hydrogen sulfide and 1.0% Oxygen. The anaerobic digestion was found to be efficient in terms of pathogen treatment, since the reduction of coliforms reached five logarithmic units. The availability and renewable nature of biomass, green energy production and ease of management and deployment of energy produced makes biogas a better option to fossil fuel and thus could be the much awaited solution to energy crisis in Nigeria and other developing nations

Electrodiagnostic evaluation of median nerve conduction in Type II diabetes mellitus patients that were asymptomatic for peripheral neuropathy: a case control study

Background: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a potentially debilitating complication of diabetes mellitus but many of the diabetic patients are often asymptomatic of DN, thereby, placing them at high risk of developing debilitating complications like diabetic hand and foot.Aim: The study was designed to evaluate median nerve conduction of T2DM patients that were asymptomatic for neuropathy and compare their findings with age and sex-matched healthy individuals.Methods: The median motor and sensory nerve conduction study was conducted on 100 type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients and 100 healthy volunteers, matched for age and sex-matched control. Median nerve motor and sensory proximal and Distal latency (DL), Amplitude and Conduction Velocity (CV) as well as motor f-reponse were measured using Nihoen Kohden EMG Machine and standardized techniques of measurement in the course of the study were adhered to.Results: On comparison of the median nerve motor and sensory parameters, the median nerve (motor and sensory) distal latencies and f-responses were significantly lower in the control group while the median nerve conduction velocities and amplitudes were significantly higher in the T2DM group. Conclusion: The study showed significant impairment of median nerve conduction parameters in T2DM patients who did not have any feature suggestive of peripheral neuropathy when compared with apparently healthy individuals. Thus high index of suspicion as well as early screening for peripheral neuropathy in diabetes is further emphasized.Keywords: Median nerve, diabetic neuropathy, electrodiagnostic evaluation, conduction velocity, latenc

A Hierarchical Clustering Approach for the Creation of a Simple Semantic Web Application

The goal of the Semantic Web is to develop enabling standards and technologies designed to receive more exact results when searching for information, and to help machines understand more information on the Web so that they can support richer discovery, data integration and navigation. This can be achieved if there is a common vocabulary for a set of domains. Information is published using standard vocabulary. This study explores the processes of creating a taxonomy for a set of journal articles using hierarchical clustering algorithm. 100 journal articles that cut across different fields were downloaded from the internet. These served as sample data. These journal articles were serialized, stemmed and tokenized. Term frequency was calculated for each journal article.  Some representative terms were selected from each journal article and similarity matrix was generated for the entire journal articles. Complete hierarchical clustering was used to create a cluster of the articles. JavaTree view program was used to view the dendrogram of the cluster. It was observed that the articles cluster around their subject, subject area, field of study, area of application, journal type, author, place of case study. This demonstrated that journal articles have properties on a taxonomy, could be created as a basis for a semantic web. Keywords: Semantic web, clustering, taxonomy, similarity, document collection

SCREENING FOR ANTIMICROBIAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT PROFILE OF SOME WILD FRUITS AND SEEDS IN CANAANLAND, OTA, NIGERIA

The spread of antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic microorganisms has rendered most conventional drugs redundant. New sources of antimicrobial agents are being harnessed to develop novel drugs. The antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of twenty fruits and seeds were evaluated against some multi-drug resistant clinical isolates Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhii, Pseudomonas aeruginiosa and Escherichia coli. Standard methods of antimicrobial and phytochemical assays, DPPH and nitric oxide radical scavenging, total antioxidant capacity and reducing power assays were employed. Broad spectrum antibacterial activity was shown by extracts of six out of the twenty plants: Caryota mitis, Cassia javanica, Syzygium samarangense, Veitchia merrilli, Bauhinia tomentosa and Cassia fistula with inhibition zones ranging from 20:t0.8 to 25:t0.1 mm. The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations of the extracts were between 7.8 to 31.2 mg/ml and 15.6 and 62.5 mg/ml respectively. Phytochemicals present includes saponins, alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides and high phenol and flavonoid contents in the range of 71.19 - 50.20mg/100g and 47.14 - 34.42mg/100g respectively. The extracts had considerably high antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 41.121-lg/ml in B. tomentosa and 36.57!-lg/ml in C. fistula. C. mitis had a total antioxidant capacity of 34.89 mg/100g. High phenol and flavonoid contents of the extracts significantly correlated with high antioxidant capacity. The presence of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties in these wild fruits and seeds opens up a new perspective in biotherapy as they could be harnessed as alternative drugs for treatment of microbial infections and management of disease

INVITRO ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF Carica papaya AND Azadirachta indica LEAF AND STEM BARK EXTRACTS ON SELECTED CLINICAL ISOLATES

The search for alternative sources of antibiotic is a global challenge due to the increase in the emergence of resistant strams. Plants have been in use in traditional medicine before the era of chemotherapeutics and about 80% of the global population still uses them . . Azadirachta indica (neem) and Carica papaya are trees that have been found to possess antibacterial, antifungal, antiinflammatory, anti-tumour properties and also used as a pest icide. In this work, antibacterial, phytochemical and antioxidant potentials of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Carica papaya and Azadirachta indica leaf and stem bark was determined using antimicrobial sensitivity assay, minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum lethal concentration, Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay and Total antioxidant activity of extracts as indices. The test organisms were Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus au reus. Azadirachta indica leaf water extract and Azadirachta indica stem bark ethanol extract showed a clear zone of inhibition ranging from 10±0mm to 15.5±0.71mm and 10±0mm to 15.5±2.12mm respectively against all four test isolates, while others extracts had clear zones of inhibition against at least three test isolates with inhibition zones ranging from 10.5±0. 71mm to 15±1.41mm. Ethanolic extract of Carica papaya leaf was active against Bacillus subtilis alone (11.5±0.71mm).Some combined extracts expressed activity against all four isolate, while the highest individual extract inhibition zone was 15.5±2.12mm, combined extract was 18.5±0. 71mm against Salmonella typhimurium. All extracts had antioxidant activity and some of the phytochemicals present in the extracts include saponins, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanin, betacyanin, quinones, cardiac glycoside, terpenoids, and phenols. However further research is still needed to identify the active phytochemica/s and their concentrations in the extract

Development and evaluation of a drill re-grinding fixture

Generally, manual method of re-grinding drills poses the dangers of damage and accidents. This paper reports the method used in the design, fabrication and testing of the drill re-grinding fixture. The fabricated fixture can withstand maximum normal and tangential forces of 121.34 N and 87.76 N respectively. The developed fixture shows it is suitable as work holding device for re-grinding drills bits with diameter of at least 4.5 mm and above without breakage and difficulty. The average time for complete re-grinding is about six minutes (loading and unloading time inclusive) and no injuries were recorded. The grinded surfaces conform to the standard tool geometry for a twist drill. Hence, the use of this drill re-grinding fixture in the engineering workshops obviates the rigor of manual handling of drills during grinding.Keywords: design, evaluation, drill, fixture, grinding, cost

ARCHIVAL RECORDS AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS IN SELECTED POLYTECHNIC LIBRARIES IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

The value of records in the area of reference, historical and administrative use in any Nigerian polytechnic library cannot be overlooked. It is true that available archival records and manuscripts abound in most Nigerian polytechnic libraries, their scattered nature makes them difficult to be traced when the need for it arises. The study focuses on the desirability for polytechnic libraries to establish archival sub – systems within their systems so that valuable administrative, research, reference, historical records and manuscripts of vital values are preserved and disseminated. This approach would bring their maximum utilization by researchers into use. Social survey research method was adopted while the instruments used for data collection were questionnaire, interviews and observation. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentage and tabular presentation using bar chart. The findings of the study clearly revealed that most Nigerian polytechnic libraries do not have separate archival units within their systems although archival records and manuscripts are found in these libraries. It was observed that records considered to be archival in nature are located in the various units of the libraries headed by unit heads and treated as library materials. This makes them difficult to be located on request. The study concluded by recommending that the Nigerian polytechnic libraries should establish a separate archival units within their systems to be headed by an archivist so that the utilization of archival records and manuscripts would be enhanced and their selection, acquisition, organization, preservation and dissemination would be brought into focus in line with provenance of archive while the unit should be managed by a professional and experienced archivist