Tree Leaves as Bioindicator of Heavy Metal Pollution in Mechanic Village, Ogun State.

Metal contamination issues are becoming increasingly common in automobile workshop and elsewhere, Heavy metals, such as cadmium, copper, lead, are major environmental pollutants. Heavy metal accumulation in soils is of concern in agricultural production due to the adverse effects on food safety and marketability, crop growth due to phytotoxicity, and environmental health of soil organisms. Soil and plant samples were collected from mechanic village in Odeda local Government of Ogun State. The soil samples were collect at depth of 0-15cm and 15-30 cm, which are top soil and sub soil. The physiochemical parameters for soil were determined through the standard method and the heavy metal concentrations were determined using AAS. (Atomic Absorption Spectrometer). The EC range of the control farmland is 25 μS/cm- 195 μS/cm at 25oC while that of mechanic village ranges from 70 μS/cm-276 μS/cm at 25oC, the temperature of the farmland ranges from 27.8oC-28.0oC while that of the mechanic village ranges from 27.7oC-28.1oC. The pH of the farmland and mechanic village ranges from 6.47-7.67 and 6.48-7.79 respectively. The mean concentrations of the heavy metals in the soil of the farmland are in order of magnitude Cd>Cu>Pb, (0.62>0.018>0) while the mean concentration of the heavy metals in the soil of the mechanic village are in order of magnitude Pb>Cu>Cd (2.96>0.67>0.14) The mean concentration in leaf of farmland are Cu>Cd>Pb. (0.105>0.03>0.0001), while the mean concentration in mechanic village are Cu>Pb> Cd. (0.13>0.11> 0.02) the sudden rise of lead in mechanic village is understandable giving the various activities such as painting, welding, soldering and fueling which contain lead. Though the result indicate that they are not significant as they that are within the acceptable standard of FAO and WHO, 2010. © JASEMKeywords: Bioindicator, Contamination, Environmental Health, Heavy Metal, Phytotoxicit

Market Risk Instruments and Portfolio Inflows in African Frontier Economies

Financial investments enable portfolio investors to earn above market returns which do not come without risks. The African frontier markets (FMs) are investigated here and this chapter brings into focus the determinants of portfolio flows into these markets. The number of FEs in African investigated is six and two key financial instruments are used as returns: stock market returns and interest rate spread. Other variables used in the study include reserve liquidity, exchange rates and national income. The method of estimation adopted is the Vector autoregression with Granger causality. The results show that the all the variables are significant with the portfolio inflows. Specifically, portfolio funds are income chasing; the liquidity of reserves is also significant for every country among the FEs to enjoy inflows of portfolio funds, impacting on the exchange rates. Stock market returns is also highly significant in the Granger causality tests. Recommendations made include the increase in productivity to increase income and exports in these economies. In addition, African FEs must reduce interest rate margins to increase real production and encourage bonds markets development and thus attract portfolio investment into the sector rather than to concentrate all attention on the equities market

Inheritance of resistance to blackeye cowpea mosaic and cowpea aphid-borne mosaic viruses in Phaseolus vulgaris

In populations from crosses of resistant and susceptible plants of the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivar Black Turtle Soup, resistance to blackeye cowpea mosaic virus (BICMV) and to cowpea aphidborne mosaic virus (CAbMV) was conferred independently by single dominant factors that appear to be closely linked. The symbol Bcm was assigned to the gene for BICMV resistance and Cam to that for CAbMV. Linkage was determined by separately inoculating plants of the testeross with both viruses on different leaves. Since BICMV and CAbMV Incite identical symptoms, but do not cross protect against each other, their presence in each susceptible plant was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This detection method was highly specific because the two viruses are distantly related serologically. The normally resistant plants responded with a lethal systemic hypersensitive reaction when approach-grafted to BICMV or CAbMV-infected plants, or when mechanically in oculated and held constantiy at 35°

Inheritance of resistance to blackeye cowpea mosaic virus in Vigna unguiculata

Abstract: Crosses between the resistant cowpea line TVU 2480 obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (llTA), Ibadan, Nigeria and the susceptible domestic cultivar Early Ramshorn were used to determine the inheritance of resistance to blackeye cowpea mosaic virus (B1CMV). Evaluation of F1, F2, and reciprocal backcross populations by symptomatology and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) clearly indicated that a single recessive gene controls the high level of resistance. The symbol bcm (blackeye cowpea mosaic) is assigned to this factor. llTA cowpea lines TVU 2740, TVU 3273, TVU 2657, and TVU 2845 seem to possess this same gen

Teaching Liberation Psychology

We have known each other personally for over a decade and although we were developing our praxis in similar directions, we connected professionally at the Eighth European Congress of Community Psychology. Maria was leading a roundtable discussion with Mark Burton, Raquel Guzzo, Steve Melluish and clinical psychology trainees, on what European community psychology can learn from Latin America, where Taiwo was participating. This was the starting point of conversations and Maria inviting Taiwo to teach liberation psychology together. This chapter is based on our experience of joint teaching on a London-based Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology course since 2011 (brief excerpts from the tapes of our teaching session in October 2013 appear in quotation marks and italics), and recorded dialogues between us taking place over meetings between November 2013 and February 2014. This chapter has offered us the opportunity to reflect and build on this shared teaching journey and to share our praxis. We start the chapter by introducing our relationship to emancipatory education before contextualising our teaching with respect to the workings of oppression and liberation in educational and professional contexts. We then describe key ideas based on Freire (1972, 1974), Martín Baró (1994) and our joint experience1 of teaching liberation psychology

SOCIO-PERSONALOGICAL FACTORS AS DETERMINANTS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOURS AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN IKENNE, OGUN STATE

The dynamic relationship between individual and social factors and their connection with adolescents’ anti-social behaviour have been examined using a descriptive survey design. Three schools were purposively selected in Ikenne local Government and Two hundred and thirty-one Senior Secondary School students from these schools participated in the study. Three instruments namely, Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI), Monitoring the Future Study and Delinquent Subscale of the Child Behaviour Checklist – Youth Self Report were adapted to examine the effect of independent variables on dependent variable. Reliability values of 0.78, 0.65 and 0.75 respectively were obtained for the instrument. Multiple regression and independent t-test were used to test the three hypotheses postulated. The results show significant joint and relative contribution of the independent variables on adolescents’ anti-social behaviour . The moderating effect of gender on self-control was also significant while gender did not moderate the effect of social skill on antisocial behaviour. It was then concluded that the combination of self-control and social skills can help reduce the antisocial behaviours displayed by adolescents. Implications for counseling have been outlined in the body of the work

Impact of working Capital Management on Financial Performance of Quoted Consumer Goods Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

Working capital management is indispensable in strengthening firms’ liquidity position. A weak liquidity position poses a threat to the solvency of the company and makes it unsafe as well as unsound. The persistent winding up of most Nigerian manufacturing firms and the recent decline in the world oil price which significantly affected all the oil producing countries in the world of which Nigeria is not an exception demand for effective and efficient management of  resources to guarantee going concern.  This study examined the impact of working capital management on financial performance of quoted consumer goods manufacturing firms in Nigeria by specifically examined the impact of working capital management on return on assets and gross operating profit. The secondary data used were obtained from annual financial statements over a period of ten (10) years from 2005 to 2014 of purposively sampled fifteen (15) firms. Descriptive statistics were used to measure variations, statistical inferences were drawn using correlation and panel regression analysis was applied on performance and working capital management indicators to test the formulated hypotheses. The findings revealed that efficient working capital management increases financial performance. In conclusion, a negative relationship exists between Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) and financial performance while there is a positive relationship between Average Collection Period (ACP) and financial performance. The study recommended that firms within the industry may increase their average collection period above the present industry average collection period of 58 days and proper analysis of working capital components should be constantly carried out to ensure that those critical areas for decision making process as it related to each of the performance measurement variables are identified and properly examined