Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) Model: A Tool for Water Quality Interpretation

The lack of standard water analysis equipment as well as inadequate trained personnel especially in the developing countries has discouraged many researchers in such countries to execute water quality researches. Hence, this paper presents developed mathematical relationship among some physicochemical parameters in order to aid the determination of the concentrations of certain parameters with the use of minimal equipment. This was achieved by weekly analyzing 7 physicochemical parameters of two sources of potable water (tap water and borehole water) stored in different containers for a period of 6 weeks using standard methods. The storage containers used were black plastic tank, blue plastic tank, green plastic tank, coated steel metal tank, uncoated steel metal tank and clay pot. The parameters examined were turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, alkalinity, chloride ion (Cl-), dissolved oxygen (DO) and total hardness. Results showed that the relationship between electrical conductivity (EC), alkalinity (Alk), total hardness (TH) and chloride ion (Cl-) is given as; EC = -224.8066493 + 6.244028022(Alk) + 0.28204735(TH) + 0.000518108(Cl-). A programing language was written on the models using Visual Basic.Net (VB.Net) version 2018. Keywords: Water, Physicochemical, Parameters, Function, Equation

Diet supplement effect based on cottonseed meal and Vitellaria paradoxa leaves on Borgou cows performance in rainy season

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of supplementing lactating cows with cottonseed meal and Vitellaria paradoxa leaves in the rainy season on milk yield and content, cows daily weight gain andprofitability. The experimental design was 3 × 3 Latin square with 5 repetitions. Fifteen Borgou cows were offered three diets: grazing on natural pasture, grazing on pasture plus 1.5 kg of cottonseed meal supplement and grazing on natural pasture plus 500 g of Vitellaria paradoxa leaves. Daily milk yield was 946.58 g, 1690.07 g and 1176.89 g for the control, cottonseed meal and Vitellaria paradoxa leaves group respectively. Cows supplemented with cottonseed meal produce significantly (p < 0.05) more milk than the others. The mean values were 15.12%, 0.35%, 5.92% and 4.13% respectively for total solid, ash, fat and protein content. Vitellaria paradoxa leaves significantly (p < 0.05) increase total solid level and ash as well as ash with cottonseed meal. Furthermore, calves daily weight gain (DWG) was significantly different. A net return analysis shows that cottonseed meal and Vitellaria paradoxa leaves supplementation in rainy season wasprofitable even if Vitellaria paradoxa leaves were more beneficial

SIG et distribution spatiale des infrastructures hydrauliques dans la commune de Zè au Benin

L’eau occupe une place essentielle dans un monde de plus en plus urbanisé, exposé à des risques croissants où la population augmente chaque jour. Les besoins en eau dans la vie deviennent de plus en plus importants. Ce constat prend toute son importance dans les pays du sud en général et dans la commune de Zè en particulier. Une frange importante de la population de cette commune continue de souffrir de cette ressource malgré des années d’efforts de maîtrise consacrés à la mise au point des techniques et à la réalisation des infrastructures hydrauliques. L’objectif que vise cette étude est de faire l’inventaire de ces infrastructures afin d’analyser leur distribution spatiale. La démarche méthodologique utilisée est exclusivement basée sur l’utilisation des données attributaires et spatiales. Le polygone de Thiessen a été généré pour mieux appréhender la couverture spatiale des infrastructures hydrauliques dans cette commune. Les résultats obtenus concourent à faire connaitre leur distribution spatiale. Ces résultats montrent que les infrastructures sont inégalement réparties sur le territoire de la commune de Zè. La partie Nord-Est de la commune est presque dépourvue en infrastructure hydraulique. Ces conditions méritent d’être revues afin de permettre à la population de s’approvisionner en eau potable et sans parcourir une longue distance.Mots-clés : SIG, distribution spatiale, infrastructure hydraulique, Zè, Bénin

Invasive floating water weeds – killing life and commerce

Weeds by definition are plants that grow in the wrong place. When their seeds or other plant parts are transported to other regions where their natural enemies are absent, they can multiply unhindered. Indigenous plants, especially those that are adapted for invading disturbed areas, can also become weeds. The first category is a particularly good target for classical biological control. Insects, mites and micro-organisms that feed on them are imported from their original area and released against the new invader. Against indigenous plants however, biological control is far less promising. By the end of 1980s, many of the water bodies in West Africa were invaded by alien plant species considered to be among the world’s worst aquatic weeds: water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes, water lettuce Pistia stratiotes, and water fern Salvinia molesta. They were accidentally or deliberately introduced as ornamentals or for use in aquariums from their native range South America to many parts of the world where they have become invasive

Degree of Integrated Water Resources Management Implementation in Context of Climate Change in a Watershed: Case of Oueme Basin, Benin (West Africa)

This study is based on the hypothesis that the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) tools in the Oueme watershed has not led to a systematic improvement in the degree of IWRM implementation in the Oueme Valley in Benin. Methodologically, data were collected through a semi-structured survey of stakeholder families in the study area using snowball sampling. The tool used was the form developed by the United Nations to collect data to assess the level of IWRM implementation. The four (4) assessment criteria, each covering a key component of IWRM, are the enabling environment, institutions and participation, management tools and financing. The results obtained per criteria according to the stepwise methodology adopted reveal on average a degree of implementation of 40 on a scale of 0 to 100 in the Oueme basin. This value varies according to the geographical area and the factors considered. This study, which is a decision-making tool, provides a guide for governments to monitor the progress of integrated water resources management in their territory

Low temperature synthesis of highly oriented p-type Si1-xGex (x: 0–1) on an insulator by Al-induced layer exchange

A composition tunable Si1-xGex alloy has a wide range of applications, including in electronic and photonic devices. We investigate the Al-induced layer exchange (ALILE) growth of amorphous Si1-xGex on an insulator. The ALILE allowed Si1-xGex to be large grained (> 50 μm) and highly (111)-oriented (> 95%) over the whole composition range by controlling the growth temperature (≤ 400 °C). From a comparison with conventional solid-phase crystallization, we determined that such characteristics of the ALILE arose from the low activation energy of nucleation and the high frequency factor of lateral growth. The Si1-xGex layers were highly p-type doped, whereas the process temperatures were low, thanks to the electrically activated Al atoms with the amount of solid solubility limit. The electrical conductivities approached those of bulk single crystals within one order of magnitude. The resulting Si1-xGex layer on an insulator is useful not only for advanced SiGe-based devices but also for virtual substrates, allowing other materials to be integrated on three-dimensional integrated circuits, glass, and even a plastic substrate

Integrated pest management in vegetable production: a guide for extension workers in West Africa

Indigenous and exotic vegetables are central to most nutrition, food security and poverty reduction programmes around the world. However, in most of West Africa, the economic opportunities offered by vegetables are often undermined by production and trade constraints (i.e. pest damage, inappropriate pesticide usage, absence of environmental safeguard policies and/or stringent food safety standards). Extension workers and, in places, farmers groups and local community organizations, are working towards helping farmers to increase their yields in sustainable ways that create wealth and reduce the risks to productivity. All too often, extension workers do not know the cause of common pest problems in the crops they work with. Pest problems usually arise when the biological, ecological and sociological processes which underpin agriculture are disrupted. This guide helps to fill that information gap. It is one of many responses by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) which enables such workers to develop and use technologies. It focuses on accurate identification and better understanding of biodiversity in the development and application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) options against vegetable pests. IPM is a knowledge-intensive approach to enhance profitability of agricultural systems, while minimizing threats to human health and the environment. The technical knowledge and skills in this guide can be used to look for, develop and apply effective vegetable IPM options. The IPM options outlined here are in harmony with the environment, sustainable, simple to apply, and cheap to maintain. The guide addresses IITA’s strategic aim of increasing the quality and usefulness of IPM research in support of reducing food security and poverty. It draws heavily on IITA’s experiences in Africa, with a particular emphasis on vegetable agroecosystems in Benin. Given the substantial economic costs of pest infestations in vegetable agroecosystems, the use of this guide in Africa is expected to improve incomes and overall agricultural productivity in the long-term. Peter Hartmann Director General International Institute of Tropical Agriculture March 2010 ForewordThis guide has been produced by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin (INRAB), Cotonou, Benin, with support from the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management (SP-IPM), to improve the quality and usefulness of pest management research. This publication was part funded by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

Deletion of low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (Acp1) protects against stress-induced cardiomyopathy.

The low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (LMPTP), encoded by the ACP1 gene, is a ubiquitously expressed phosphatase whose in vivo function in the heart and in cardiac diseases remains unknown. To investigate the in vivo role of LMPTP in cardiac function, we generated mice with genetic inactivation of the Acp1 locus and studied their response to long-term pressure overload. Acp1(-/-) mice develop normally and ageing mice do not show pathology in major tissues under basal conditions. However, Acp1(-/-) mice are strikingly resistant to pressure overload hypertrophy and heart failure. Lmptp expression is high in the embryonic mouse heart, decreased in the postnatal stage, and increased in the adult mouse failing heart. We also show that LMPTP expression increases in end-stage heart failure in humans. Consistent with their protected phenotype, Acp1(-/-) mice subjected to pressure overload hypertrophy have attenuated fibrosis and decreased expression of fibrotic genes. Transcriptional profiling and analysis of molecular signalling show that the resistance of Acp1(-/-) mice to pathological cardiac stress correlates with marginal re-expression of fetal cardiac genes, increased insulin receptor beta phosphorylation, as well as PKA and ephrin receptor expression, and inactivation of the CaMKIIδ pathway. Our data show that ablation of Lmptp inhibits pathological cardiac remodelling and suggest that inhibition of LMPTP may be of therapeutic relevance for the treatment of human heart failure