Potentials of Momordica angustisepala fiber in enhancing strengths of normal portland cement concrete

Presence of cracks in concrete affect the integrity. It reduces the life expectancy of concrete structures and is often responsible for collapse of structures, especially in the developing nations. At the root of these cracks is the very low tensile strength of concrete. Various techniques have been suggested for the enhancing the tensile strength, among which is the use of discontinuous micro fibers of various nature. This research investigated the use of Momordica angustisepala (Ma) fiber to enhance concrete strength. Concrete containing coconut fiber was adopted as a control. Slump test, air entrainment test, compression test and split tensile test were carried out on specimens. Results of the research indicate that an optimum Momordica angustisepala fiber contents of 0.25 and 0.5% enhanced respectively the compressive strength by 4.37% and the tensile strength by 10%. The results clearly show that this renewable material has the potential to enhance the compressive and tensile strengths of concrete

Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Using Concrete or Timber to Construct a Duplex Residential Building

Traditionally, the choice of construction materials depended principally on the strengths of materials, cost of material, availability of materials, simplicity of erection, aesthetics and technical expertise available to the society. This meant that little attention was paid to the environment impacts of materials adopted for civil construction. After centuries of speedy advancement accompanied by deteriorating ecosystem as evidenced by the global climate change and the accompanying gap between the rich and the poor, the world is becoming more conscious of the ecosystem and the future of mankind. This has led to the growing quest for sustainable development. In the more recent years, environmental and sustainability factors are becoming compelling factors in the choice of construction materials. Researches focused on materials for affordable houses for the increasing low income masses are on the increase. This research focuses on the environmental impact performance of concrete and timber applied to a modest duplex residential building. It explores using Athena Impact Estimator software to model the greenhouses gases expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, sulphur dioxide equivalents, phosphate equivalents and ethane equivalents potentials obtainable from using concrete or timber to build a duplex residential building. From the various results obtained, it is very evident that timber construction is more eco-friendly in terms of carbon emission reduction which translates to reducing global warming, thermal insulation and energy efficiency. This will be helpful in making choice for building materials to be adopted for affordable houses developing countries

Detection of Fractures for Groundwater Development in Oha Ukwu using Electromagnetic Profiling

Electromagnetic profiling technique was used in this study to detect fractures for groundwater development in Oha Ukwu Local Government Area in the Albian Asu River Geological Formation. The data showed that conductivity anomalies, 297-506mmho/m.was obtained along the fractured zone. Where the conductivity values did not change much, (12.3-37.9mmohm/m), the rock was not generally fractured, for instance, between the distances 0 and 800m; and 1000-1200m. It was discovered that the higher the peak, the deeper the rock fracture. This was confirmed from the cross section drawn from the manually contoured values of the data. It was further discovered that the producing water borehole along the traverse which coordinate is 007.966E and 06.466N and lies between 960 and 1000m situates within the fractured zone while the abortive wells fall within the non-fractured zone @ JASE

PREDICTION OF FRESH AND HARDENED PROPERTIES OF NORMAL CONCRETE VIA CHOICE OF AGGREGATE SIZES, CONCRETE MIX-RATIOS AND CEMENT

Concrete is the most commonly used building material for building most of the world’s buildings and infrastructure. After centuries of usage, it still remains the most widely adopted construction material worldwide. But in many developing nations, the frequent occurrence of building collapse has been mostly ascribed to poor quality concrete. As Nigeria is noted for frequent building collapse, this research reproduces standard concrete practices commonly adopted in Nigerian construction industry with the intent to predict design strength via choice of coarse aggregate sizes ( 12.5 mm, 19 mm, 30 mm and mixed), concrete mix-ratios (1:2:4, 1:3:6, 1:2:3) and ordinary Portland cement types (42.5R and 32.5N). Cement compound’s composition tests, fresh property tests and hardened property tests were conducted on samples. Test results from building cites of different Local Government Areas of Lagos State, Nigeria obtained in 2010 are compared with the compressive test results of this research via statistical tools. Results indicate that the fresh properties and hardened properties are influenced in a proportional manner by the sizes of aggregates and that the choices of aggregate sizes, concrete mix-ratios and cement types can be used to predict the fresh and hardened properties of normal concrete. This study also show that poor concrete production is one of the principal cause of frequent building collapse in Nigeria

Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks in Soil Sample of Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

A survey of Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks in Soil Sample of Nasarawa was carried out. This study assessed the level of Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks in some part of Nasarawa using the gamma-ray spectrometry. The mean concentration for 40K was 645.29 ± 07.32 Bq/kg, for 226Ra was 28.43 ± 4.8422 Bq/Kg and for 232Th was 66.84 ± 2.0201 Bq/Kg. The average effective dose due to the ingestion was 0.36±0.1µSv/y which was approximately 1000 times lower than the world average effective dose. Radium equivalent activity Raeq (Bq/kg), alpha index and total cancer risk were found to be 161.44±8.08 Bq/kg, 0.142±0.02 and (0.21±0.05) ×10-5 respectively. UNSCEAR/ USEPA stipulated that; radium equivalent activity, alpha index, effective dose and total cancer risk should not exceed the limit of 370 Bq/kg, unity, 300 µSv/y and 1 ×10-4 respectively. Hence the values obtained in this work were within the acceptable limits. This implies that the ingestion or inhalation of soil is not associated with any radiological risk of concern

Knowledge and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Enugu metropolis, Enugu state, Nigeria

BackgroundCOVID-19 disease spread at an alarming rate, and was declared a pandemic within 5 months from the first reported case. As vaccines have become available, there was a global effort to attain about 75% herd immunity through vaccination. There is a need to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy to COVID-19 vaccines especially in places such as Sub-Saharan African countries which have a high rate of background vaccine hesitancy.ObjectiveTo determine the knowledge and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Enugu metropolis.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study of 103 HCWs in Enugu metropolis was done. Data was collected using structured online Google forms. Descriptive and inferential statistics was done using SPSS, and results were summarized into percentages and associations.ResultsAn acceptance rate of 56.2% was obtained among HCWs in Enugu metropolis. Positive predicators of acceptance include older age (p = 0.004, X2 = 13.161), marriage (p = 0.001, X2 = 13.996), and higher average level of income (p = 0.013, X2 = 10.766) as significant correlations were found. No significant association was found between educational level, religion, denomination nor occupation, and acceptance of vaccine. The major factor responsible for refusal was fear of side-effects.DiscussionThe acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccines among HCWs is still less than optimal. This population represents the most enlightened population on health related matters, hence if acceptance rate remains merely average that in the general population is expected to be worse. There is a need to address the fear of vaccine side-effects by inculcating more open and interactive methods of information dissemination, while also addressing the misconceptions or myths surrounding COVID-19 vaccines

Effects of Salt, Detergents and Alum on Fatty Acid Profile in Cooked Eggs

In Abakaliki, as in most other parts of Nigeria, it is a common practice among commercial sellers of boiled eggs to boil them with chemicals such as omo, klin, table salt and alum, which gives the egg ashy appearance after cooking.  The effects of cooking with these chemicals on the fatty acid profile of eggs from four species of birds (gallus gallus): Quail (corturnix delegorgei), Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), local chicken (Gallus varius) and high-breed chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) were investigated. Fifteen eggs from each bird were bought from various places where they are reared in Abakaliki. Eggs were divided into five groups: A, B, C, D and E, with three eggs in each group. Eggs in groups A, B, C, and D were boiled with omo, klin, table salt and alum, respectively. Group E eggs served as the control group and were boiled with water only. Fatty acid profile was determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC, AKAPTA). The results showed significant (P<0.05) reduction of fatty acids contents of the eggs compared to the control. The effects which were species-dependent were found to be least in the quail egg and highest in the high-bred chicken. The detergents (klin and omo) had more devastating effects compared to alum and table salt. Thus boiling eggs with any of the chemicals studied reduces their nutritional quality and should be discouraged. Keywords: Egg, fatty acid profile, detergents, salt and alu

PRESERVING FEDERALISM, LOCAL AUTONOMY IN A RESOURCE DEPENDENT RURAL STATE: A CASE OF NIGERIA

Abstract The Paper explores the practical implications of the new political economy of federalism, Tiebout hypothesis and the subsidiarity principle all of which couched around the modern market system of federal governance. Focusing on Nigeria's experimentation, the paper casts a dissenting voice to the emergent converging proposition of the new political economy of federalism by arguing that federal governance is not merely a matter of market efficiency because the distinctive features of plural societies often require that both principles of good economics and federal governance be subordinated to political considerations. After exploring the practical implications of the Nigerian market preserving model of federalism in the light of its "three-player ethnic game," the inference is that, there is organic relationship between the logic of the market and state, and the contradiction between "competitive federalism" and "cooperative federalism" that undermines the centralizing tendencies and enhances federalism's perdition, and therefore predisposes the state to adopt both defective model of development and federal governance. Against the prevailing orthodoxy, the paper avers the need to move from a "market preserving federalism" that encourages "bargaining and compromise" at the cost of social equity to an institutional dimension and makes a case for yet another experimentation with the social market economy model of the East Asian and the Nordic nations which lays greater emphasis on social equity and participative aspects of delivery as well as encouraging of freedom of choices, political, social, economic and cultural freedom within the rule of law. Finally, as an alternative to the prevailing nominal modern market system of federal governance in Nigeria, the paper concluded by noting that the concept and practice of market preserving federalism had to be deconstructed to reflect the extension of the concept of market into politics and original idea behind federalism as a model of political organization