An appraisal of the efficiency of fish marketing system in Lake Chad basin

Fish products from the Chad Basin Lake play important role in meeting fish protein needs of Nigeria: they contribute not less than 25% of the total domestic fish supply and are significant in determining the availability of processed products and reduction of post-harvest losses. Processors, marketers and consumers are the major actors in appraising a marketing system. The results show that most sellers (4-7.5%) are within the age range of 30-39 years. Desires for more earnings led the markets to diversify their business activities to food stuff trading (37.5%), dried meat/livestock sales (37.5%), farming (12.5%), and transportation (12.5%). 65% of traders dispose off their products mostly in the mornings and evenings, 70% of the products are sold smoked while 50% of products are sold to individual consumers. Lake Chad fish products have a long distribution chain. There is also a high degree of buyers and sellers concentration in the primary fish markets and secondary (urban) markets. The products have a vertical regional movement with southern traders (82.5%) dominating the business, thus making the products popular all over Nigeria. Product differentiation with imperfect pricing policy is common occurrence. Lake Chad fish marketing system has distortions that impede its efficiency, recommendations are made on how to ensure a better efficiency of the syste

Characteristics of Separated Flow Regions Within Altitude Compensating Nozzles Final Report

Characteristics of separated flow regions within altitude compensating nozzle

Geophysical Investigation of the Causes of Borehole Failure in the Crystaline Basement Complex: A Case Study of Kaura Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) using Schlumberger array were carried out at different points along five (5) profiles. This research investigates the causes of massive borehole failure at Kaura area of Kaduna state using the resistivity tomography techniques. Terrameter SAS300 is the instruments used to acquire the data. A total of 19 boreholes are functioning, while 31 boreholes are non-functioning within the area. The investigation has portrayed the possible factors which are most probably causative to borehole failures in the area which involves the design and construction, groundwater potential/hydrogeological factors and operational and maintenance factors. It was found out that it is possible for one factor to lead to the other. For example, a borehole poorly designed, constructed and completed could result in sand/clay pumping and eventually affect the rubber seals in the hand pumps or the impellers in the case of submersible pumps. The boreholes tap the weathered and fractured basement aquifers of the area with yields ranging from 2litre/min to 20litre/min. However, yields from Sandy soil aquifers were found to be extensive. The survey shows that boreholes with initial recorded yield less than 10litre/min have failed over time. The survey reveals that the areas where wells and boreholes are drilled through sandy soil and fracture zones have sustainable aquifers for groundwater exploitation, while boreholes that are constructed through clayey formation usually fail. Keywords: Resistivity1, Kaura2, Borehole failur

Interpretation of Geoelectric Pseudo-Section of a Profile Across a Functional Borehole Located in-between Two Non-Functional Dug-Wells

Electrical resistivity imaging survey was carried at Agban, Kaura Area of Kaduna State Nigeria. A profile of 500m length was deliberately selected to cut across a functional borehole located averagely 100m in-between two non-functional dug-wells. Ten (10) VES Points were sounded along the profile in the N-S direction. Terrameter SAS300 was the instrument used. The tomogram of the profile shows that the area is underlain by four layers; the first layer is sandy clay with resistivity range of 200-500Ωm. This is taken as the Overburden. The second layer is the weathered basement which constitutes of Sandy soil and water. This is taken to be the aquifer which varies along the profile. The third layer comprise of coarse grain sand which is the fractured basement of resistivity range of 1000-2000Ωm. The fourth layer of resistivity greater than 2000Ωm is the fresh basement. The image also shows a U-shaped fracture zone within the subsurface, the borehole was drilled through this fracture which contains water. This fracture causes water to migrate from the locations of the wells and accumulate at the borehole site. This research has gone a long way to establish the facts that since the dug wells are shallow; they failed at the end of the dry season when groundwater levels fall. It is a common knowledge that little specialist equipment is used for the construction of a well even though it is difficult to construct hand dug wells in hard rock. On the basis of the results of this study, we therefore recommend that thorough geophysical survey should always be carried out in the basement complex before constructing dug wells for them to be sustainable. Keywords: Resistivity1, Kaura2, Wel

Geophysical Investigation of the Causes of Borehole Failure in the Crystaline Basement Complex: A Case Study of Kaura Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) using Schlumberger array were carried out at different points along five (5) profiles. This research investigates the causes of massive borehole failure at Kaura area of Kaduna state using the resistivity tomography techniques. Terrameter SAS300 is the instruments used to acquire the data. A total of 19 boreholes are functioning, while 31 boreholes are non-functioning within the area. The investigation has portrayed the possible factors which are most probably causative to borehole failures in the area which involves the design and construction, groundwater potential/hydrogeological factors and operational and maintenance factors. It was found out that it is possible for one factor to lead to the other. For example, a borehole poorly designed, constructed and completed could result in sand/clay pumping and eventually affect the rubber seals in the hand pumps or the impellers in the case of submersible pumps. The boreholes tap the weathered and fractured basement aquifers of the area with yields ranging from 2litre/min to 20litre/min. However, yields from Sandy soil aquifers were found to be extensive. The survey shows that boreholes with initial recorded yield less than 10litre/min have failed over time. The survey reveals that the areas where wells and boreholes are drilled through sandy soil and fracture zones have sustainable aquifers for groundwater exploitation, while boreholes that are constructed through clayey formation usually fail. Keywords: Resistivity1, Kaura2, Borehole failur

On demand multicast routing in wireless sensor networks

The wireless networking environment presents imposing challenges to the study of broadcasting and multicasting problems. Developing an algorithm to optimize communication amongst a group of spatially distributed sensor nodes in a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) has been met with a number challenges due to the characterization of the sensor node device. These challenges include, but are not limited to: energy, memory, and throughput constraints. The traditional approach to overcome these challenges have emphasised the development of low power electronics, efficient modulation, coding, antenna design etc., it has been recognised that networking techniques can also have a strong impact on the energy efficiency of such systems. A variety of networking based approaches to energy efficiency are possible. One of the well-known approaches is to apply clustering techniques to effectively establish an ordered connection of sensor nodes whilst improving the overall network lifetime. This paper proposes an improved clustering based multicast approach that allows any cluster head to be a multicast source with an unlimited number of subscribers, to optimize group communication in WSNs whilst ensuring sensor nodes do not deprecate rapidly in energy levels. We review several clustering approaches and examine multicast versus broadcast communication in WSNs

Tradomedical Values of Cotton Leaf Plus Lemon Juice Against Clinical Bacterial Isolates

The antibacterial activity of the water and ethanolic extracts of cotton leaf (Gossypium spp.) plus lemon juice (Citrus limon) were tested against pure clinical isolates of Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., E. coli and Klebsiella sp. Cotton leaf is normally used in conjunction with lemon juice by the local populace in Nigeria for the treatment of enteric infections. Decoction method was used for the extraction of the active components from the plant in order to simulate the traditional method of extraction. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and the diameters of zones of inhibition were determined by broth dilution and Agar diffusion methods respectively. The ethanolic extracts are more effective than the water extracts on the test organisms. The MIC of the water and ethanolic extracts ranged between 1.25 -5.0 w/v on the test organisms. Similarly, the average diameter of zones of inhibition of the water extracts on the test organisms ranged between 3.0 to 13.0mm while that of the ethanolic extracts ranged between 12.0 to 21.0mm. The results of this study showed that E. coli was the most susceptible followed by Klebsiella sp., then Salmonella sp., and finally Shigella sp. at the concentrations used for both water and ethanolic extracts. This observation thereby justifies the traditional uses of these plant extracts among the Nigerian local populace for the treatment of some enteric infections such as dysentery and diarrhoea