Kinetic Modelling of Vitamin C Degradation in Selected Fruits under Market Storage Conditions

The degradation kinetics of vitamin C in three fruits namely; orange, banana and apple under different market storage conditions prevalent in Nigeria were investigated. Orange and banana samples were stored in sacks and open air at ambient conditions, while open air and refrigerator were used for apple samples. Storage was for 6 days duration. .Iodometric titration was used to determine vitamin C content of the fruits on a daily basis. Regression analysis was employed to fit the variations in vitamin C concentration in the different samples with time, to three kinetic models, to determine which model best describes the degradation trend. Results showed that vitamin C concentration in all the fruit samples reduced over time following zero order kinetics. Kinetic studies obtained the following degradation rate constants: orange 0.44g.L-1.s-1 and 0.29 g.L-1.s-1, for sack and open air storage respectively, banana 0.316 g.L-1.s-1 and 0.264 g.L-1.s-1, for sack and open air, and apple 0.122 g.L-1.s-1 and 0.188 g.L-1.s-1, for refrigerated and open air respectively. The study indicated that with respect to vitamin C retention, open air storage is preferable to sack for oranges and bananas while apples are preferably stored in refrigerator

Water Quality Impact of Flow Station Effluent in a Receiving Creek

The physicochemical quality of a crude oil flow station effluent and water of an effluent receiving creek were investigated. Samples were characterized by laboratory analysis. High concentrations of some toxicants exceeding environmental standards were observed in the effluent and water samples, which include BOD5 (544mg/L), COD (650mg/L), salinity (3162mg/L), copper (2.3mg/L), TDS (18900 mg/L), lead (0.51mg/L), and cadmium (0.04mg/L). The study underscored the need for proper treatment and monitoring of effluent to ensure compliance with statutory standard, before discharge into the environment to safeguard the ecosystem, as continued discharge of improperly treated effluent may compound the ecological problem of the receiving water environmen

Predictive Analysis of Homosexualism as the Prime Cause of HIV/AIDS Outbreak

In this work, HIV/AIDS data from homosexuals, heterosexuals and lesbians were obtained from the internet. Computational tablenbsp ofnbsp ratiosnbsp ofnbsp homosexualsnbsp to heterosexuals,nbsp lesbiansnbsp tonbsp homosexualsnbsp fornbsp bothnbsp HIVnbsp andnbsp AIDSnbsp patientsnbsp asnbsp a functionnbsp ofnbsp timenbsp werenbsp madenbsp andnbsp plottednbsp usingnbsp shapenbsp preservingnbsp interpolantnbsp in MATLAB 7.9 toolbox. Observations were made of those ratios, as a function of time, that are above and below y-axis = 1. It was seen that homosexual to heterosexual HIV shoots off in 1998 and continues to rise. Homosexuals to heterosexual AIDS ratio are to cross y=1 line and continue to rise in the future (fig.2). Also in fig. 4, Hho/Nho rises geometrically, showing HIV as the cause of the rise. In fig 5, plots of HIV to normal people and AIDS to normal people show another geometric rise indicating that HIV and AIDS are responsible for the rise.nbsp From the foregoing observations, it is therefore imperative to assert that homosexualism has a big and major role to play in the advent of HIV/ AIDS. This result can be used by World Health Organisation (WHO), Centre for Disease Control (CDC) for the control of the spread of HIV/AIDS, and also by hospitals for those treating HIV/AIDS, especially those practicing homosexualism