OPTIMIZATION ON ?n BY COGGINS-FIBONACCI METHOD

A   computational   procedure   called   Coggins-Fibonacci   method   for   the   optimization   of   unconstrained                     ?n        functions in       is developed. The method is found to be more efficient and converges faster than        either of the conventional Coggins or Fibonacci search methods.&nbsp

Brain, lung, and heart oxidative stress assessment of an over-the- counter pyrethroid insecticide product in Nigeria

We evaluated the brain, lung, and heart oxidative stress in rats exposed to aerosol of an over-thecounter pyrethroid insecticide product in Nigeria. The experimental animals were randomly divided into four groups: group I (control) was not exposed to the insecticide aerosol, while groups II, III, and IV were exposed to 6.0 mL m-3, 12.0 mL m-3, and 18 mL m-3 of insecticide aerosol respectively. Exposures were carried out in wooden-glass chambers one hour daily for six weeks. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and  reduced glutathione (GSH) concentrations, as well as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and  glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were determined. The brain, lung, and heart showed no significant difference in their weights and relative weights compared with the control. A significant increase in brain lipid peroxidation (LPO) was seen in groups III and IV, while there was no significant increase in lung and heart LPO compared with control. Significant decrease in the brain and lung GSH were observed in all the treatment groups when compared with the control, but only group IV showed significant reduction in heart GSH. Also, activities of lung GST and SOD were decreased compared with control, while the activity of GPx in the lung was significantly increased in group III. Lastly, nonsignificant increase in lung CAT activity was recorded in groups II and III, but decreased in group IV compared with control. Prolonged and incessant exposure to the insecticide aerosol over a long period of time may lead to tissue oxidative stress. These findings suggest that the use of insecticide aerosol for domestic purposes should be regulated.Keywords: Insecticide aerosol, pyrethroid, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, rats

Climate change awareness and its determinants in a growing city in the southwestern Nigeria using Multivariate Analysis

Awareness of climate change scenario is essential to the success of its global remediation efforts. Thus, a study was conducted to assess the awareness of climate change in a growing town of Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. Data for the investigation was generated through the administration of 150 questionnaires across randomly selected adult inhabitants. Of the entire questionnaire, 123 were returned while the rest were either mutilated or returned uncompleted. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted. Descriptive analysis showed that 74% of the respondents had no knowledge of climate change while 21.1% claimed knowledge of it. All respondents that claimed knowledge got the information on television and 76.9% got it on radio. Also, 95.9% of those who had knowledge believed that the solution to climate change associated risks should be borne by international bodies because the menace is global while 86.1% believed it is the responsibility of the Federal Government. Factor analysis results showed that four factors predict awareness of climate change bordering on availability and dissemination of climate change-associated issues and perception about who tackles the control of and the impact of climate change. It is therefore recommended that information on climate change should be made available and be widely disseminated, especially its impacts and that international communities in conjunction with the national government should take charge of the control and of the associated risks. Further investigation is required to assess the coping and adaptation strategies to climate change effects in the study area

Brain, lung, and heart oxidative stress assessment of an over-the-counter pyrethroid insecticide product in Nigeria

We evaluated the brain, lung, and heart oxidative stress in rats exposed to aerosol of an over-the-counter pyrethroid insecticide product in Nigeria. The experimental animals were randomly divided into four groups: group I (control) was not exposed to the insecticide aerosol, while groups II, III, and IV were exposed to 6.0 mL m-3, 12.0 mL m-3, and 18 mL m-3 of insecticide aerosol respectively. Exposures were carried out in wooden-glass chambers one hour daily for six weeks. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) concentrations, as well as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were determined. The brain, lung, and heart showed no significant difference in their weights and relative weights compared with the control. A significant increase in brain lipid peroxidation (LPO) was seen in groups III and IV, while there was no significant increase in lung and heart LPO compared with control. Significant decrease in the brain and lung GSH were observed in all the treatment groups when compared with the control, but only group IV showed significant reduction in heart GSH. Also, activities of lung GST and SOD were decreased compared with control, while the activity of GPx in the lung was significantly increased in group III. Lastly, non-significant increase in lung CAT activity was recorded in groups II and III, but decreased in group IV compared with control. Prolonged and incessant exposure to the insecticide aerosol over a long period of time may lead to tissue oxidative stress. These findings suggest that the use of insecticide aerosol for domestic purposes should be regulated

MATHEMATICA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING CODES OF EXPONENTIALLY FITTTED CONCURRENT MILNE'S DEVICE FOR SOLVING SPECIAL PROBLEMS

Over the years, scientific computing has contributed immensely to computational mathematics. Mathematica computer programming codes is known to provide easy computation and quick results. This research article is specifically built to generate Mathematica computer programming codes of exponentially fitted concurrent Milne’s device (EFCMD) for solving special problems. Exponentially fitted concurrent Miln device is formulated via collocation/interpolation with power series as the approximate solution. Analyzing the EFCMD will produce the main local truncation error (MLTE) after showing the order, thereby bringing forth the bounds of convergence. Numerical results display that EFCMD do better than existing methods in terms of the maximum errors in the least studied bound of convergence as a result of varying/designing a suitable pace size, ascertain bound of convergence and error control

Climate change adaptation options in farming communities of selected Nigerian ecological zones

This chapter examines the impacts of climate change on three tropical crops and assesses the climate change adaptation options adopted by rural farmers in the region. The study was conducted among farming communities settled in three major ecological zones in Nigeria. Over 37 years of data on rainfall and temperature were analyzed to examine climate change impacts on three major crops: rice, maize, and cassava. Farmers' adaptive capacity was assessed with a survey. Climatic data, crop yields, and survey data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The relation between rainfall/temperature and crop yields was examined using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results show a high variation in the annual rainfall and temperature during the study period. The major findings from this research is that crops in different ecological zones respond differently to climate variation. The result revealed that there is a very strong relationship between precipitation and the yield of rice and cassava at p <0.05 level of significance. The results further showed low level of adaption among the rural farmers. The study concludes that rainfall and temperature variability has a significant impact on crop yield in the study area, but that the adaptive capacity of most farmers to these impacts is low. There is a need for enhancing the adaptation options available to farmers in the region, which should be the focus of government policies

Patterns and Perceptions of Climate Change in a Biodiversity Conservation Hotspot

Quantifying local people's perceptions to climate change, and their assessments of which changes matter, is fundamental to addressing the dual challenge of land conservation and poverty alleviation in densely populated tropical regions To develop appropriate policies and responses, it will be important not only to anticipate the nature of expected changes, but also how they are perceived, interpreted and adapted to by local residents. The Albertine Rift region in East Africa is one of the world's most threatened biodiversity hotspots due to dense smallholder agriculture, high levels of land and resource pressures, and habitat loss and conversion. Results of three separate household surveys conducted in the vicinity of Kibale National Park during the late 2000s indicate that farmers are concerned with variable precipitation. Many survey respondents reported that conditions are drier and rainfall timing is becoming less predictable. Analysis of daily rainfall data for the climate normal period 1981 to 2010 indicates that total rainfall both within and across seasons has not changed significantly, although the timing and transitions of seasons has been highly variable. Results of rainfall data analysis also indicate significant changes in the intra-seasonal rainfall distribution, including longer dry periods within rainy seasons, which may contribute to the perceived decrease in rainfall and can compromise food security. Our results highlight the need for fine-scale climate information to assist agro-ecological communities in developing effective adaptive management

Robust decision making for a climate-resilient development of the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

Adaptation options that work reasonably well across an entire range of potential outcomes are shown to be preferable in a context of deep uncertainty. This is because robust practices that are expected to perform satisfactorily across the full range of possible future conditions, are preferable to those that are the best ones, but just in one specific scenario. Thus, using a Robust Decision Making Approach in Nigerian agriculture may increase resilience to climate change. To illustrate, the expansion of irrigation might be considered as a complementary strategy to conservation techniques and a shift in sowing/planting dates to enhance resilience of agriculture. However, given large capital expenditures, irrigation must consider climate trends and variability. Using historical climate records is insufficient to size capacity and can result in "regrets" when the investment is undersized/oversized, if the climate turns out to be drier/wetter than expected. Rather utilizing multiple climate outcomes to make decisions will decrease "regrets." This chapter summarizes the main results from a study titled "Toward climate-resilient development in Nigeria" funded by the Word Bank (See Cervigni et al. 2013)

Contamination and Source Identification of the Elemental Contents of Soil Samples from Municipal and Medical Waste Dumpsites in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Contamination in soil samples collected from municipal and medical waste sites was assessed by employing four indices: contamination factor (Cf ), degree of contamination (Cdeg), pollution load index (PLI), and index of geoaccumulation (Igeo).  The sources of soil contaminants were identified by using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Iron had the highest average concentrations of 46.47 ± 14.03 and 39.42 ± 2.54 µg/g in the municipal and medical waste dumpsites. Cf values were above 6 for both dumpsites, classifying the dumpsite soil as very high contamination with respect to Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb. The overall Cdeg and PLI values are 176.9 and 170.4 and &gt; 5 for both dumpsite implying very high degrees of contamination and progressive deterioration, respectively. The average Igeo values for Zn, Cd, and Pb of the two dumpsites were &gt;3, indicating that the soil samples at both study areas were classified as highly to moderately polluted. The three identified sources resolved by PMF and their respective percentage contributions were crustal (32 %), scrap metals wastes (40 %), and electronic wastes (28 %)

The other pandemic: social media engagement around non-communicable disease preventive behaviours during Nigeria’s COVID-19 lockdowns

Given the complexity of global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is typical for crisis-focused interventions to have a multiplicity of impacts. Some of these impacts may yield positive or negative externalities for health priorities that do not have the same perceived urgency. The interplay between COVID-19 prevention (a high priority, high perceived urgency issue) and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention (a high priority, low perceived urgency issue) provides a good case in point. By analysing tweets during Nigeria’s COVID-19 lockdowns, we identified avenues for social media to help adapt crisis responses to a wider range of wellbeing concerns.This project is supported by a Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund COVID-19 Emergency Award. The ALPhA (Informal Appropriation of public space for Leisure Physical Activity) study is funded by the British Academy Urban Infrastructures of Wellbeing Programme (Grant reference UWB190032) awarded to TO. LF, EM, FA, TO are in part funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (16/137/34) using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government. TL is also supported by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the ARUA-UKRI GCRF Partnership Programme for Capacity Building (Ref: ES/T003804/1) which established the African Research Network for Urbanisation and Habitable Cities