Triploidy induction in Heterobranchus longifilis (Family: Clariidae) by cold shock

Triploid was induced in African Catfish (Heterobranchus longifilis) by cold shocking activated eggs at 5 degree C for forty minutes starting 3-4 minutes after fertilization. Triploidy was confirmed from mitotic chromosomes prepared from embryo which showed 100% triploidy in the cold shocking treatment and 100% diploidy in the control treatmen

Embryogenesis of Heterobranchus longifilis (Curvier and Valenciennes, 1840)

Studies on development of H. longifilis (Curvier and Valenciennes, 1840) were conducted at a temperature of 25EC ( 1Ec) in aquaria tanks continuous development were monitored with the use of wild Heerbrugy photomacroscope and length of yolk and larva were monitored using Stereo Olympus microscope with ocular micrometer. The division into animal and vegetal poles was observed 22 minutes after activation. The first cleavage occurred 65 minutes after activation while the second division which was perpendicular to the first line of division occurred 74 minutes after activation. This was quickly followed by the third and fourth cleavage at 80th and 82nd minutes after activation respectively. Morular stage was reached at 4 hours 20 minutes with formation of optic bud at 14 hours 35 minutes. (DBO) Developing embryo hatched after 27 hours of activation at a mean length of 6.63 and mean yolk length of 2.17. Yolk size decrease at an average rate of 38.5 % till the 5th day of total absorption. Growth of larvae proceeded faster in tail-anus region than in anus-snout portion of the body. The rate of yolk absorption and larva development (survival) as monitored in this work gives important information in Research and development programme for H. longifilis larva - an important aspect of Research development and implementation of appropriate technologies in small scale fisherie

Implementation of Wi-Ap; An IEEE 802.11b/g Based Electrical Switch Module With Web Enabled Interface for Electrical Appliances Control

The aim of this research study is to design and implement a Wi-Fi-based control panel for remote control of lights and electrical appliances with a web functionality that allows for wide area control via the intranet or Internet. This eliminates the inconvenience of moving from one switch to another for analog operation of light fixtures and appliance in home, office and campus environment. The wireless technology we adopted is IEEE 802.11 (2008) b/g, also called Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) which operates in free band and is easily accessible. Wi-Ap (Wi-Fi Automated Appliance) control system contains a web portal which allows for management and control purposes via the intranet or Internet. We built a standalone Wi-Ap console that allows the wireless switching on and off of any appliance(s) that is(are) ) plugged into it. The prototype we built was tested within the Electrical and Information Engineering department, Covenant University, Nigeria intranet and the test achieved our aim of remote appliances control from a web portal vial the intranet

Monetary Implication of Environmental Disamenities on Housing Investment in Lagos State: The Ojota Scenerio

Numerous studies have ascertained the diminutionary tendencies of disamenities such as solid waste landfills on real estate investments despite previous mixed conclusions. This study examines one of the four landfills in Lagos State- Olusosun landfill located in Ojota, Lagos and its estimated financial implication on the real estate market in Lagos State, Nigeria. A relational distance of 1 200m radius was established between the landfill and residential properties by which property values were measured based on consistent intervals of 300meters up to 1 200 meters in concentric rings. The study indicated within the Olusosun landfill neighbourhood, an increase in property values were evident as distance away from the landfills increased indicating that residential houses in close proximity to the landfills suffered value loss. Property appreciation relative to distance averaged 6% within the concentric rings of the landfill while the an estimated total loss on the real estate market via the landfill found to be approximately =N=2.1billion. The study recommended that if improved technology could not be utilised in the effective management of the various sanitary landfills within developed areas of the state, the current landfills in operation be closed down and relocated to the outskirts of the city to forestall a consistent appreciation in real estate investment in the state

A Java Simulation-Based Performance Evaluation of Mobile Agent Platforms.

Mobile agents are emerging as a promising paradigm for the design and implementations of distributed applications .Manyof these Mobile Agent platforms have been developed, new one, and new versions of old agents, kept on appearing everyyear, so choosing the right or most suitable platform for a particular application area; based on their performance is achallenge for both the developers and the users. This paper carried out a qualitative comparison across three selected, Javabased Mobile Agent System, Aglet Tracy, and JADE. Two of them (Aglets and JADE) were selected for quantitativeevaluation on their time of transfer/retrieval of compressed data files. In our implementation, Aglet version 2.02 and JADE3.4.1 were used. A java simulation program was developed and used in measuring the performance of the two mobileagents, using transmission time and compressed time as performance metrics. In this paper work, a unique portnumber(2080) was chosen for the loading of classes and mobility of agents. Ten dummy data files (also refer to as Load orMessage) were created with sizes ranges from 100Kb to 1 Mb. A gzip compression tool was used to compress each of thesefiles and sent through the Aglet and JADE enabled network. The transmission time (in milliseconds) for each correspondingfiles size (in Bytes) in the two Mobile agents were recorded. We deduced from our qualitative results that, Tracy plug-infeatures give users room for reusability and extension. Aglets provide weak security and poorly scalable. JADE has astrong security, scalable and its multi agent feature will enrich its usage on the internet. Our quantitative results show thattransferring/retrieving of compressed data file is faster in JADE than in Aglets. The integrity of the files are also kept safe, inboth mobile agents, that is after decompressions they can still be reused.Keywords: Aglet, Gzip, JADE, Compression ratio, Mobile Agent Networ

Traumatic tympanic membrane perforations: characteristics and factors affecting outcome

Objective: To characterize traumatic tympanic membrane perforation (TTMP) in terms of distribution, mechanisms, and outcome of treatment. To assess the factors influencing such outcome.Study design: Prospective analytical study, assessing outcomes post-injuries.Setting: Clinical department of a tertiary referral hospital.Participants: Patients with TTMP based on history of trauma to the ear, and otoscopic examination confirming tympanic membrane (TM) perforation.Intervention(s): Conservative, inactive treatment.Main Outcome Measure(s): Distribution and healing of perforationsResults: There were 53 patients, Male: Female ratio =1.5:1, age 8-71years (Mean ±SD= 33.8 ±12.9). Median duration of injury before presentation was 3 days. 11 patients had both ears traumatized. 46.9% of perforations were in the antero-inferior part of the TM. Median size of perforations was 33.0%; Patients main complaints were blockage of the ears/ hearing loss and tinnitus. Common causes of perforations were domestic assault (28.3%), self-inflicted/ accidental injuries (20.8%), and road traffic accidents (18.9%). There was a significant difference in the mechanism/cause of injuries between the sexes (X2 =15.607, p=0.005). Traumatic perforation was caused by penetrating injuries in 22(34.4%) ears. The outcome of TTMP was poor in 18.7%. Big sized perforations (t=2.630; p=0.011), enetrating injuries (X2 =9.263; p=0.005), and postero-superior location (X2=6.326;p=0.009) had negative impacts on the healing.Conclusions: TTMP was common in young adult males, caused often by assaults, presented with ear hearing loss and tinnitus , perforations were located in antero-inferior part of TM and most healed well. Factors associated with poor healing were postero-superior location, large size and penetrating injuries to the TM.Funding: Not indicatedKeywords: trauma; perforation; tympanic membrane; healing; outcom

Effect Of Dietary Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) supplementation On Performance And Hysiological Response In Cockerels

Concentrated HCl of 11.6 molar concentrations was supplemented in cockrel feed at 0.0 (control) 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00m1/kg feed in a 28 day experiment. The chicks were slaughtered on day 30, performance characteristic and physiological indices were investigated. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between control and HCl treatment for feed intake, crude protein intake and feed: gain ratio. Significant difference (

Hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria isolation and surfactant influence on the growth of organisms: A case study in Ibadan, Nigeria

Hydrocarbons are substantially insoluble in water, often remaining partitioned in the non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL). However, there had been little or no attempts to advance the bioavailability of hydrocarbons through the use of surfactants. This study was conducted based on the need to isolate hydrocarbon degrading bacteria and to establish the effect of surfactants on the growth of organisms. Ten organisms were isolated and classified into five genera based on their physiological, morphological and biochemical characteristics. These genera include Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Micrococcus, Flavobacterium and Corynebacterium. In determining the effect of surfactant on isolated organisms, Bacillus strain and Corynebacterium strains were enhanced by palmitic acid. Detergent was found to have stimulatory effect on Bacillus and Pseudomonas. There is a significant difference between separate applications of palmitic acid and detergent on the samples with respect to the growth of Micrococcus sp. (p < 0.01). There was also a significant difference between the applications of detergent and control on the selected samples with respect to Flavobacterium sp. (p < 0.001). Surfactant which stimulated bacterial growth is highly recommended in bioremediation, although the use of improved strains may be preferable.Keywords: Hydrocarbons, surfactants, biodegradation, pollutants, microoganism

MODELING THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON MALARIA PREVALENCE

 Malaria is believed to be one of the deadly killers of humans worldwide and a threatto one-third of the world’s population. Based on this assertion, this study is used to determine the effect of Ibadan climatic variability on Ibadan malaria prevalence proportion since the city has a holoendemic malaria transmission. Multiple Trigonometric regression model was used to determine the effects of rainfall and temperature on Ibadan malaria prevalence since it can be used to model series that exhibit two or more types of variations simultaneously. From the results, the residuals of the fitted multiple trigonometric regression model are not serially correlated based on the value of the Durbin Watson Statistics. The coefficients of the fitted model were used to establish that for every unit increase or decrease in Ibadan city rainfall and temperature, there might be an increase or decrease in the malaria prevalence proportion over the years. The values of coefficient of determination  revealed that Ibadan city monthly rainfall and temperature jointly explained the variations in Ibadan malaria prevalence proportion up to 61%. The fitted multiple trigonometric regression model as well as a good fit and high predictive power based on the value of the adjusted coefficient of determination Based on these results Multiple trigonometric regression model is suitable and adequate for modelling the effect of Ibadan monthly climatic variability on malaria prevalence proportion which can cause a high rate of morbidity and mortality if not curtailed or curbed

Effect of Storage on Microbial and Sensory Qualities of Packaged Yam-Cassava “Poundo” Flour

Microbial load and Sensory quality of packaged yam-cassava poundo flour during storage were studied. Yam flour (YF) and cassava flour (CF) were mixed at different proportions to produce yam-cassava poundo flour and packaged using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polypropylene sack (PP) respectively.  The samples were HDPE 100%YF, HDPE 90%YF: 10%CF, HDPE 85%YF: 15%CF, HDPE 80%YF: 20%CF and 100%YF, 90%YF: 10%CF, 85%YF: 15%CF and 80%YF: 20%CF. The samples were stored at ambient temperature (32 ± 2oC) and relative humidity (76 ± 3%) for 24 weeks and were subjected to microbiological and sensory tests at 4 weeks interval. Results showed that the total plate count of sample (80% YF: 20%CF) packaged in HDPE was the lowest (4.9 x 104 cfu/g) while that of sample (100% YF) packaged in PP was the highest (9.4 x 104 cfu/g) at the end of the storage period. Fungal counts increased in all the packaged samples, as storage period increased. The lowest fungal counts (3.7 x 104sfu/g) were recorded in HDPE 80%YF: 20%CF, this is significantly different  (p<0.05) from the value obtained in PP 100% YF which was the highest fungal counts obtained (9.6 x 104sfu/g). A bacterial species (Bacillus subtilis) and two fungal species (Aspergillus niger and Fusarium solani) were isolated and enumerated. Data obtained from sensory test (colour, aroma, texture and overall acceptability) decreased throughout the storage period but 80%YF: 20%CF packaged in HDPE was more acceptable. The findings of this study indicate that yam-cassava poundo flour from the blend of 80%YF: 20%CF packaged in HDPE is less susceptible to microbes and more acceptable in terms of sensory qualities during a storage period of 24 weeks. &nbsp