Bacteriological quality of some ready to eat vegetables as retailed and consumed in Sabon-gari, Zaria, Nigeria

Some ready to eat leafy vegetables on sale at Sabon-gari market, Zaria were analysed for their bacterial flora and counts. Lettuce had aerobic plate count range of 2.0 x 107 to 5.7 x 108 cfu/g, cabbage had a count range of 1.3 x 107 – 5.6 x 108 cfu/g and cucumber had a range of count of 3.0 x 105 to 1.9 x 106. The coliform index showed lettuce to have a count of 8.8 x 106 – 1.3 x 109, cabbage was 2.1 x 106 to 8.0 x 107 cfu/g and cucumber was 8.0 x 105 to 1.9 x 106. Bacillus species and Staphylococcus aureus were the predominant bacteria isolated from these vegetables. The counts were obviously above the recommended standards for ready to eat vegetables especially coliforms which should be less than 10 coliform bacteria per gram( FAO, 1979). There is the need for hygiene officials to take interest on what is offered to consumers and specify acceptable handling practices

Deterministic Model for Noise Dispersion from Gas Flaring: A Case Study of Niger – Delta Area of Nigeria

Noise is an audible acoustic energy that adversely affects the health, physiological and psychological well being of the individuals or populations. One of the major pollutants from gas flaring is the noise emanating from gas flaring stations in the Niger – Delta area of Nigeria. Noise dispersion produces many adverse effects on man and animals. Experimental analysis of noise dispersion and weather conditions used for simulation has been carried out, the modeling and simulation of noise dispersion from flare stations using visual basic programme is the main focus of this work. Results obtained shows some variation between the simulated results and experimental results, with correlation coefficient ranging from 0.955 – 0.995. Simulation results of the developed model show that the noise intensity level reduces with increasing in distance from the flare point and that weather conditions has an important influence on noise dispersion

Effect of Coolant Temperature on Machining Characteristics of High Carbon Steel

This paper reports on the effect of coolant temperature on machining of high carbon steels. The development of a cooling system to reduce the temperature of water soluble coolant to 7.9oC from ambient temperature was employed in this work to improve the machining performance. The experiments were performed using cooled and ambient temperatures by employing Taguchi L18 orthogonal array to design the experimental runs. The cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut were the machining parameters used; while the tool-work piece interface temperature was monitored using a digital thermometer with k-type thermocouple wire. The selected control factors are material removal rate and surface roughness. The experimental results were analyzed using Minitab 16. The main effects and percentage contributions of various parameters affecting surface roughness and material removal rate were discussed, and the optimal cutting conditions were determined. It was observed that surface finish improved by 65% with the use of the developed cooled system. The reduction in coolant temperature played a vital role in improving surface finish during machining high carbon steels

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

Investigation of mechanical properties of briquette product of sawdust-charcoal as a potential domestic energy source

This research investigated the relaxed densities of biomass briquettes produced from combination of sawdust and charcoal.  Cassava starch gel and orange waste were used as binder for briquetting. Five sizes; 0.2 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm and 1.0 mm and mixing ratios 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10 of biomass materials, sawdust and charcoal were used with 16.6% binder. The ignition time, water boiling test, afterglow time and shattered index of the briquettes were analyzed. Descriptive tools were used to determine the optimum sizes and mixing ratios for effective production of briquette biomass. The results showed that the relax density of 663.33 kg/m3 and 589.31 kg/m3 were obtained for Cassava starch gel binder and orange waste at size 1.0 mm and mixing ratio of 90:10 while Ignition time of 12 sec and 19 sec were obtained for cassava starch gel and orange waste at size 0.2 mm and mixing ratio 50:50 respectively. Also water boiling time of 18.05 minutes and 15.00 minutes were obtained for cassava starch gel and orange waste at size 0.2 mm and mixing ratio 50:50 while the afterglow time of 321.00 sec and 318.00 sec at size 0.2 mm and mixing ratio 60:40 were obtained for cassava starch gel and orange waste respectively. The highest retention of shattered index of 98.21% and 96.71% were respectively recorded for cassava starch gel and orange waste at size 0.2 mm and mixing ratio 50:50.Keywords: Biomass, Terminalia superb, Briquette, Cassava starch gel, Orange wastes, Afterglow time, Shattered index