Evaluation of Physico-Chemical and Fungal Species Associated with Oil Contaminated Soil from Selected Automobile Garage in Sokoto Metropolis

This study was conducted with a view to evaluating the physicochemical and mycological properties of different oil contaminated soils collected from three different automobile garages in Sokoto Metropolis, and uncontaminated soil from the temporary site, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) was used as the control. The pH was determined using pH meter model Hanna (H1991301), quantity of mineral elements was evaluated in accordance with Murphy and Fungi were isolated from the three oil contaminated samples (A, B. and C) and the uncontaminated (sample D) as control, this was done by standard procedure using the method of P. Ren, T. Jankun & B. Leaderer. The physical, chemical, and mineral elements from the oil-contaminated soils of the three automobile garages and control. The results of particle soil analysis revealed the high content of sandy soil (96.2 to 87.3) and silt is the lowest with (2.5–0.6). Magnesium had the highest concentration of studied minerals, ranging from 193 to 649.2 mg/kg. while PH result revealed that the soil samples were pH value ranged from (16.85–16.20) in oil Contaminated samples, while the control had 15.90, and electrical conductivity ranged from 12.8–13.8 % and 28 % in control, four fungal isolates Aspergillus sp., Penicillum sp., Mucor sp. and Sporobolomyces sp. were identified based on colonial, sexual and morphological characteristics. These fungal strains can be used in bioremediation process and oil pollution reduction in aquatic ecosystems

Non-farm enterprises and poverty reduction amongst households in rural Nigeria: a propensity score matching approach

The data of nationally representative household survey from rural Nigeria was used to examine the effect of non-farm enterprise activities on improvement in the welfare of households in rural Nigeria, using total annual household consumption expenditure as a measure of their welfare. Propensity score matching approach was used for the analysis, and the result shows that rural households that engage in non-farm enterprise activities are having higher consumption expenditure than those that did not diversify into such activities. This suggests that, non-farm enterprises could be a pathway for improving the wellbeing of rural households in Nigeria and in the remaining sub-Saharan African countries

The effect of shocks on household consumption in rural Nigeria

This paper examines the impact of both exogenous idiosyncratic and covariate shock events on the consumption of farm households in rural Nigeria by using an ordinary least square method. The result of the overall sample shows that whilst idiosyncratic and climatic shock have no significant effect on household consumption, price shocks are having a significant negative impact on household consumer. By disaggregating the sample into poor and non-poor households the result suggests that that the non-poor households are able to adequately insure against the effect of idiosyncratic shocks as well as the climatic shock on their consumption while the poorer ones had not been able to insure against the effect of shocks related to death, livestock loss, climate change and price changes on their consumption. This suggests that the farm households should be provided with an adequate and effective social protection measures that would mitigate the effect of shocks on their welfare

A proposed framework on the relationship between Islamic microfinance related factors and women entrepreneurs business performance in Nigeria

Microfinance plays a key role in poverty alleviation, employment generation, mitigating rural urban migration, utilization of local resources and raw materials and contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Nigeria. Women, majority of who are poor and engaged in informal/micro, small and medium scale businesses are mostly the target of microfinance institutions.However, women entrepreneurs find it difficult to have access to the products and services of the conventional banks due to their stringent lending requirement.The presence of Islamic banking which promotes the profit and loss sharing (PLS) concept increases the awareness among women entrepreneurs to alternative funding sources. Despite availability of financing options, women entrepreneurs are constrained by their reluctance to use interest based microfinance services.This paper aims to provide a proposed framework that examines the impact of Islamic investment and financing contracts (Murabaha financing and Mudharabah savings) and other microfinance related factors (training, social capital and self-esteem) on women entrepreneurs business performance.Religiosity is a new moderating variable within the framework that is hypothesized to enhance business performance of women entrepreneurs.The proposed framework will fill the gap in Islamic banking and finance studies since the area of Islamic microfinance and the moderating effect of religiosity has not been empirically investigated

Design, fabrication and testing of shea nut shelling machine

Sheanut (Butyrospernum paradoxum) is an oil rich tropical tree crop, which is indigenous to the West African savannah zone. In Nigeria, most of the sheanuts shelling are done manually by rural women and children, which is labour demanding and tedious. This research work was carried out to determine some physical and mechanical properties of sheanut in order to minimize economic losses associated with its processing. The mean values recorded for the physical properties at 25% moisture content (wb) are; major diameter (29.20 mm), intermediate diameter (21.90 mm), minor diameter (15.00 mm), geometric mean diameter (21.90 mm), arithmetic mean diameter (21.20 mm), angle of repose (30.280). The mean values for the mechanical properties are; linear limit force (0.80 kN), linear limit deformation (4.60 mm), bioyield point force (1.40 kN), bioyield point deformation (6.50 mm), rupture point force (2.10 kN) and rupture point deformation (9.60 mm). Based on the physical and mechanical properties, a sheanut shelling machine was developed that is capable of addressing the aforementioned problems. Putting into consideration better shelling and efficient separation of shea nuts so as to encourage more utilization and processing of shea nuts and its products. The machine was designed to be powered by 5 hp electric motor. It was tested to shell, separate and clean sheanuts. The result of the performance evaluation showed that the machine had shelling efficiency of 96%; cleaning efficiency of the machine was 69.56% while the recovery efficiency was 82.7%. The successful development of this machine will reduce drudgery and time taken associated with the traditional method of sheanut shelling and therefore will increase productivity and utilization

Willingness to pay to improve air quality: a study of private vehicle owners in Klang Valley, Malaysia

The growing number of private passenger vehicles in the Klang region of Malaysia has not only resulted in persistent traffic congestion during peak hours, but also resulted in considerable vehicular emissions causing both environmental and human health hazards. To reduce these externalities, this study examines the prospect for a transport modal shift from the use of private vehicles to the public transport system. Contingent valuation method was used to estimate how much current private passenger vehicle users are willing to pay to continue using their private vehicles. On average, private passenger vehicle users were found to be willing to pay a maximum amount of RM 4.99 (USD 1.55) per trip to avoid using the public transport system. Respondents with previous health issues were found more likely to shift to the public transportation system. Public transportation efficiency was found to have a significant impact on the respondents WTP value to maintain the current commuting system

Phytochemical Screening, LD50 Determination and Sub-Chronic Toxicity Studies of Methanol Seeds Extract of Nigella Sativa

Nigella Sativa has long been used as a spice, food preservatives and in many countries as herbal medicine. This study was carried out to screen the Phytochemical, evaluate the LD50 and sub-chronic studies of methanol seeds extract of Nigella sativa (ASENS) in rats. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemicals were determined using standard methods. A total of twenty five rats were used for acute toxicity (LD50, oral, rat) and sub-chronic toxicity. For the sub-chronic toxicity twelve rats were divided into four groups of three rats each. Group I served as normal control, groups II, III, IV were administered orally with ASENS at doses of 10, 100 and 1000mg/kg body weight respectively for four weeks. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, alkaloids and flavonoids at different concentrations with cardiac glycosides having the highest. Acute toxicity study shows no sign of toxicity or mortality up to dose of 5000mg/kg while sub-chronic toxicity showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in serum liver enzymes activities (AST and ALT), serum concentration of total protein, urea, K+, and creatinine with significant increase (p<0.05) in ALP activity and serum concentrations of Na+, Cl-, and HCO- in groups II to IV in dose dependent pattern compared to the normal control. Therefore, findings showed that there are no toxic effects of ASENS on rat’s liver and kidneys functions indices as evidence by biochemical parameters and also it’s relatively safe at administered doses. Keywords: Nigella sativa, acute toxicity, Sub-chronic toxicity and seed extract. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/102-06 Publication date: November 30th 202

Attribute prioritization in choice experiment pre-design: suggested method and application to solid waste management service improvement

Most valuation problems on environmental resources possess huge list of choice-influencing attributes than the parsimony requirement of choice experiment (CE) would accommodate. As such, design-attribute determination which entails selecting the most appropriate sub-set of the entire list constitutes the first step in CE. It is based on the assessment of attributes’ relative importance in interview with stakeholders. The complexity of coding and generating themes under this method limits the coverage of opinion survey on attributes’ relative importance to small sample. Since average opinion is based on small sample, the risk of observing attribute non-attendance which is a recent problem in CE will be higher. Against this background, the present study suggests an alternative quantitative method of assessing attributes relative importance at the predesign stage of CE. Based on an application to solid waste management service improvement, the method was found to be simple and applicable to large sample. Since the method allows survey of opinion coverage on attributes’ relative importance to large samples, we recommend its application to reduce the risk of attribute non-attendance

Estimation of Some Heavy Metals and Physico-Chemical Parameters in Selected Herbs Sold in Old Market Area, Sokoto-Nigeria

The emerging global significance and faster rate of increase in interest on herbal drugs for treating various illnesses cannot be underestimated. This coupled with the associated health risk posed by these drugs due to hazardous metal contamination, gives credence to concerns raised by health conscious people. This study was aimed at determining the levels of heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Mn, Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn and Ni) concentration in selected crude medicinal plants sold in old market, Sokoto-Nigeria. The physico-chemical parameters were determined using standard analytical methods and the heavy metals were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) after wet digestion. The results show that moisture, total ash and acid insoluble ash were in the range of 3.33 – 5.67 %, 9.5 – 17.3 % and 1.4-7.2 % respectively. Also, the samples revealed maximum concentrations (mg/Kg) of the heavy metals in the samples as: 0.112±0.002, 0.038±0.001, 18.136±0.001, 0.218±0.001, 15.138±0.001, 0.943±0.001, 0.577±0.001 and 0.237±0.001 for Cr, Cd, Mn, Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn and Ni respectively. The herbs demonstrated good preservative condition but with relative silica contamination, while the levels of all the metals were found to be within the World Health Organization (WHO) limits for heavy metals in plant samples. The exception was for chromium (Cr) in Guiera senegalensis, leaves; as well as for manganese (Mn) in Cassia singueana, Guiera senegalensis, Combretum micranthum, Anogeissus leiocarpus and Detarium microcarpum; D Senegalense. It is therefore, suggested that the quality, safety and efficacy of these medicinal plants be improved through pharmacovigilance. Keywords: Heavy Metals, Herbal Plants, Physico-chemical and Old marke

Syntactic Contexts of Subordinators in Written Complex Sentences of Selected Students of English for Academic Purposes in Makurdi

The study assesses the syntactic contexts of subordinators in written complex sentences of selected students of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. The structural grammar description of the structural contexts of subordinators in modern English usage is foregrounded to provide the linguistic basis for assessment of the structural contexts of subordinators in the students’ written complex sentences. The model is used to design a proficiency assessment test tagged, Uses of subordinators in English. The study subjects are forty-nine students, randomly selected from an EAP lecture group in 2021/2022 academic session. The results of the data analysis, using frequency, percentage and mean statistics, indicate that the students are incapable of using simple, complex, correlative and marginal subordinators to generate complex sentences in English.  Specifically, the students can not construct complex sentences with after, once, that, unless, whereas, but that, except, in so much as, as though, as...as, such…as, less…than, no sooner… than, scarcely…when, the…the, whether…or, even if…(yet), unless…than, seeing that…( therefore),if only, in spite of the fact that, who and when.The study recommends that the students should be taught  the structural contexts in which subordinators are employed in English complex sentences