Genetic Diversity of Selected Upland Rice Genotypes (Oryza sativa L.) for Grain Yield and Related Traits

Seventy-seven upland rice genotypes including popular cultivars in Nigeria and introduced varieties selected from across rice-growing regions of the world were evaluated under optimal upland ecology. These genotypes were characterised for 10 traits and the quantitative data subjected to Pearson correlation matrix, Principal Component Analysis and cluster analysis to determine the level of diversity and degree of association existing between grain yield and its related component traits. Yield and most related component traits exhibited higher PCV compared to growth parameters. Yield had the highest PCV (41.72%) while all other parameters had low to moderate GCV. Genetic Advance (GA) ranged from 9.88% for plant height at maturity to 41.08% for yield. High heritability estimates were recorded for 1000 grain weight (88.71%), days to 50% flowering (86.67%) and days to 85% maturity (71.98%). Furthermore, grain yield showed significant positive correlation with days to 50% flowering and number of panicles m-2. Three cluster groups were obtained based on the UPGMA and the first three principal components explained about 64.55% of the total variation among the 10 characters. The PCA results suggests that characters such as grain yield, days to flowering, leaf area and plant height at maturity were the principal discriminatory traits for this rice germplasm indicating that selection in favour of these traits might be effective in this population and environment

Merging business process models

This paper addresses the following problem: given two business process models, create a process model that is the union of the process models given as input. In other words, the behavior of the produced process model should encompass that of the input models. The paper describes an algorithm that produces a single configurable process model from a pair of process models. The algorithm works by extracting the common parts of the input process models, creating a single copy of them, and appending the differences as branches of configurable connectors. This way, the merged process model is kept as small as possible, while still capturing all the behavior of the input models. Moreover, analysts are able to trace back which model(s) a given element in the merged model originates from. The algorithm has been prototyped and tested against process models taken from several application domains

Analysis of Supporting Communication as a Correlate of Online Consumer Decision Process in Municipal Local government of Kano State, Nigeria

Consumer decision making process is an important aspect of business management, both managers and academicians strive to study and understand the conscious processes that underline the decision to purchase a product or service by consumers. This paper is an attempt to study the correlation between supporting communications and how they affect the on-line consumer decision making process in Kano Municipal local government of Kano State. The paper made use of both primary sources of data through the use of researcher designed questionnaires and secondary sources in form of books, journals and articles from the internet. Findings show that such technological advancements are timely, but effort be made to entice users into adoption and use of them; hence recommending further awareness and consideration of Porter’s five forces. Keywords: Consumer behavior, supporting communication, drives, motives

Composition and Physicochemical Properties of Starch from Christ Thorn Seeds

Starch was extracted from seeds of Christ Thorn by hot water extraction method. The composition and physicochemical properties of the extracted starch were determined using standard methods. The results obtained from the analyses revealed that the % yield of starch was 43.2%, while moisture content, ash content, starch protein and starch lipid were 7.8%, 0.01%, 0.12% and 0.32% respectively. The results also showed amylose content of 24.6%; swelling power of 37.5g/g, solubility of 2.1%, amylose leaching of 3.7% and gelatinization temperature of 68oC. From the results, the paper concludes that with minor modifications, the seeds can be used as alternative sources of starch for industrial products

E-Procurement and Performance of Service Organizations in Uganda

Aiming at establishing the relationship between E-procurement on the performance of selected service organizations in Uganda; researchers used survey design on 202 employees and found that there is a significant relationship between E-procurement and performance of the organizations. This proposition comes as a result of penetration of IT in all aspects of life to the effect that today everything tends to rotate around use of technology. Also to note is that competition compels one to devise means to beat others and technology is the way to go. The researchers thus recommend: i) Government to support service organizations in regards to regulating cyber related vices; ii) Other organizations, other than service organization, should invest wisely in IT to reap its potential profitability; and iii) The whole procurement process should involve as many people as possible as a potential means to human resource planning in an effort to overcome future embarrassments of retrench and labor turn over

INDICATORS OF BUSINESS ZAKAT AMONGST SMALL BUSINESS: CONCEPT AND CONTEMPORARY NEEDS

This paper describes the continuing Zakat and its benefits in contemporary times. People give Zakat as Allah's right to those who are entitled to receive, among others, the poor, according to the provisions of the Islamic religion. Zakat is an Amaliyah practice that has a significant effect on poverty alleviation. The author conducted a literature study and descriptive analysis approach to get Zakat with terms and conditions to create social justice and balance in growing Muslim communities and Muslims' economies. Developing productive Zakat with Islamic law calculations will revive the ummah economy and significantly help the economic growth rate. Islam supports the rotation of the economy of the ummah. In Islam, it is recommended that the assets continue to rotate so as not to be eaten up by Zakat; the greater the amount of productive Zakat, the smaller the percentage to be paid is like Zakat on livestock. Not only that, the flexibility of Islamic law can be an option for economic development by the situation and conditions at hand. Because the madhab's opinion is incorrect, every ijtihad is Zani (relative to its truth). Therefore, Zakat can be used along with the rules according to the situation and conditions. It is hoped that the turnover of zakat assets in productive inflammation can increase the Nisab of Zakat, which interacts with the community's economic growth. This productive Zakat will support the family's food security, providing capital to increase agricultural output in food production centers

Bacteriological assessment of some borehole water samples in Mile 50, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Water as excellent natural resource is meant to be of high quality to reduce the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Bacteriological load of some borehole water samples in Mile 50 Abakaliki were carried out to determine their potability. Fifteen borehole water samples were sampled during rainy and dry season from June to July and November to December 2018 respectively. The total bacterial count was determined by tenfold serial dilution method using peptone water. Eight bacterial species namely Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexineri, Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella  pneumoniaewere isolated using standard analytical procedures. The bacterium that had the highest frequency of occurrence during both rainy and dry season’s was K. pneumoniae with percentage frequency of  21.81% and 20.79%  respectively, and P. vulgaris had the least value of 6.96% during rainy season. E. coli and S. aureus have the least value of 5.94% during dry season. Amoxicillin (30ug) was mostly resisted by the bacterial isolates why being was more susceptible to Ciprofloxacin (10ug) among the antibiotics used for susceptibility test. Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the level of significance among the bacteriological analyses of both seasons. Therefore, there is need to create awareness about the present situation of the borehole waters and the necessity for further treatment of water by consumers, before it can be used for both drinking and domestic purposes to prevent disease outbreak in the area

Predição de proteína, matéria seca e fósforo em grãos de milho pela espectroscopia de reflectância no infravermelho próximo.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de curvas de calibração por espectroscopia de reflectância no infravermelho próximo (NIRS) para os teores de matéria seca, proteína e fósforo em amostras de milho processado. Neste trabalho, foi utilizada a espectroscopia no infravermelho com Transformada de Fourier aplicando a técnica de reflectância difusa, cujos dados espectrais foram correlacionados aos valores nutricionais do milho através do método de regressão dos mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS) e diferentes pré-tratamentos matemáticos nos espectros. Para a construção de modelo de calibração, foram utilizados os dados de referência de análises químicas dos valores do teor de matéria seca, proteína bruta e fósforo (P) de 191 amostras de milho em grão de diferentes procedências e variedades. Destas amostras, 114 foram usadas para o modelo de calibração, 48 para validação. A espectroscopia de reflectância no infravermelho próximo, associada ao método de calibração multivariada (PLS), é uma técnica alternativa viável para a determinação do teor de proteína total e matéria seca em amostras de milho moído. As curvas ajustadas para proteína bruta, matéria seca e fósforo apresentaram performance adequada para utilização em amostras provenientes de ensaios de screening ou onde se tem grande número de repetições de amostras por tratamentos. Para utilização em determinações analíticas, como método de rotina laboratorial, os modelos de calibração devem ser aprimorados.bitstream/CNPMS-2010/22416/1/Bol-9.pd

Thermoplastic nanofluidic devices for biomedical applications

This review presents an overview of recent advancements in the fabrication, surface modification and applications of thermoplastic nanofluidic devices