Activity of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) on selected bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L. Verdc.) landraces and breeding lines

Bambara groundnut, an indigenous African legume crop, is cultivated as a subsistence crop by resource poor farmers. In storage, yield losses are compounded through damage by insect pests, with Callosobruchus maculatus, being a leading one. The development of a variety with minimum susceptibility to this insect is thus desirable for the improvement of this nutritious crop. The study was carried out to determine the susceptibility of three bambara groundnut breeding lines (SSD5, SSD8, SSD9) and three landraces (Uniswa red, AS17, OM1) to attack by the cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus and their germination success after damage. 20g of seeds of each variety, replicated four times, were used in the experiment. Physical characteristics of the seeds were noted and each replicate was infested with five pairs of C. maculatus and kept in a breeding chamber at 30°C. After an oviposition period of 7 days, the adult pairs were removed and number of eggs laid was counted. Subsequently, the developmental pattern of the insects, the amount of damage caused by the insects as well as susceptibility of the seeds to the insect were determined. The breeding lines were significantly larger and heavier than the landraces (p<0.05). The number of C. maculatus eggs laid were significantly different between the treatments (p=0.0012), with SSD8 and OM1 having significantly higher numbers laid. While % adult emergence was lower in SSD5, this was not significantly different between the varieties (p=0.1416). The susceptibility index was significantly different between varieties (p=0.0192) as well as between landraces and breeding lines (p=0.0255). On average, the landraces had higher SI (17.928 ± 2.4523) than the breeding lines (13.448 ± 5.9939). Germination success of damaged seeds was significantly higher in the landraces than the breeding lines (48.333 ± 18.007%). Results indicated that SSD5, SSD9 and AS17 were the most resistant to C. maculatus attack, while SSD8 and OM1 were the most susceptible. However, due to reduced germination success after damage, the breeding lines (SSD5 and SSD9) were not suitable for planting after storage while the landrace (AS17) was the most suitable due to its higher viability after C. maculatus damage.The results indicate that there is variability in resistance of the bambara groundnut varieties against the cowpea weevil. The use of resistant varieties could offer the simplest and cheapest way of improving bambara groundnuts production, especially if these maintain their viability after insect damage. The variability also emphasises the need for the maintenance of genetic diversity when selecting for desired traits. Keywords: C. maculatus, Vigna subterranea, bambara groundnut, susceptibility, landraces, breeding line

Critical Success Factors in Sustainable Credit Risk Model Among Manufacturing Companies in Malaysia

Credit risk is always foreseen as an analytical measurement adopted and employed by banking industry in Malaysia. It becomes critical in measuring the borrowers’ financial strength before the loan can be granted. In order to get a deep analysis, overview from different aspect is recommended. Financial and non-financial factor including the sustainable criteria are adopted in credit risk model. This pilot study was conducted to investigate critical success factor towards successful sustainable credit risk model among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The questionnaires were design and distributed to the respondents. The result of reliability test shows that profitability is a critical factor influencing the successful of measurement of credit risk analysis compare to others factor. This study recommend that the future research explore the influence of sustainable credit risk model to different industry by consider more variables

Corrosion study of pipeline material for seabed sediment in tropical climate

Corrosive environments such as marine sediments can cause corrosion to steel pipelines at any time when certain conditions are met. Seabed sediment could cause severe corrosion damage due to its corrosiveness to the pipelines buried under it. Many consequences could take place in case if there is incident in oil/gas pipelines. Successfully identifying elements of corrosion in marine sediment would enhance the future of steel structure protection and monitoring systems. This article focuses on the behaviour of corrosion rate of steel located near shore environment and the aim is to determine the effect of sediment on corrosion of steel. To investigate that, simulated near shore sediment conditions have been used where the steel coupons buried in sediments which have different characteristics. Weight loss technique has been implemented to determine the weight loss rate of the steel specimens. Based on the results of this study, metal weight loss increases as the duration of exposure to seabed sediment environment become longer. The sea sediment simulated condition has given significant levels of corrosion. Conclusively, the corrosion rate of steel in seabed sediment located in tropical region is complicated and further studies are suggested

Quantifying reputation loss of pipeline operator from various stakeholders perspectives, part 1: prioritization

Quantifying reputation loss (RL) due to pipeline damage is commonly generalized based on the owner's definition. This one-way perspective of portraying RL is unfair and unrealistic and consequently miscalculates the impact assessment of pipeline damage; hence, inaccurate risk prediction. It is crucial to develop a model to quantify qualitative RL to avoid unpredicted risk. Thus, this article provides a framework for a procedure to calculate RL by utilizing the factors identified in a previous study. In this paper (Part 1), the prioritization of factors based on the stakeholders' perspectives is presented. The factors were grouped into stakeholder-influenced categories and prioritized by a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process based on the feedback gained from the stakeholders, i.e., investors, customers, employees and the public. The result shows that factor D3, “Accident severity”, was ranked highest by all stakeholders. The priority vector for each factor obtained was assigned as a weight of the factor. The pipeline owner's reputation loss model (RLM) is developed by applying the obtained priority vectors in the subsequent paper (Part 2). The developed model was verified by experts as a comprehensive, clear, objective, practical and moderately reliable model. The model was applied to a case study and eventually produced a lower risk value when compared with the currently used model. It is proven that RL factors can be quantitatively measured and can simultaneously improve pipeline damage impact assessment. Thus, a risk-based inspection schedule can be managed comprehensively

Challenges facing Administrators of Public Secondary Schools in Nigeria and the Way Forward

Secondary school education is the education that offered post-primary school education. It is the education that prepares the student for career choice in life. The public secondary school are handled by administrators in Nigeria who oversees the administration and ensure the aims and objectives of the schools are realized. It has been observed that these public secondary school administrators are facing many challenges. This article discusses the challenges facing administrators of public secondary schools in Nigeria. We adopted secondary data to provide empirical fact to support every point raised in the paper. The secondary data were sorted online and through print materials. The paper identified: inadequate funding, inadequate infrastructural facilities, poor capacity building programme, shortage of professional teachers, inadequate ICT facilities, shortage of instructional resources, insecurity and poor supervision as challenges facing the public secondary school administrators in Nigeria. Increasing in the funding of public secondary schools were among the recommendations given in this paper for the effective administration of the public secondary schools by the administrators

Effects of Phosphorus and Rhizobium Inoculation on Yield Components and Grain Yield of Some Selected Cowpea Genotypes

The effects of phosphorus (0, 20, 40kg P2O5ha-1) and rhizobium inoculation (inoculated and un-inoculated) on the yield components and grain yield of three cowpea genotypes (IT93K-452-1, IT97K-573-1-1 and IT98K-499-35) were investigated under field conditions at Bayero University, Kano, Teaching and Research Farm (11059 N; 8025 E; 466m above sea level) and Agricultural Research Station Farm, Minjibir (12010’ N,  8039’ E; 402m  above sea level) in 2014 rainy season. Cowpea genotypes were assigned to the main plot, while phosphorus levels were assigned to the sub-plots. The inoculation was assigned to the sub-sub plot. These were laid out in Split-split plot design and replicated three times. Results of the study indicated significant effect of genotype in all the characters measured except shelling percent. Significantly (p˂ 0.05) higher number of pods per plant, pod weight, fodder and grain yield was observed from IT99K-573-1-1 than all other genotypes evaluated. Similarly, the number of pods per plant, pod weight, fodder and grain yield were significantly influenced by application of phosphorus with better results recorded from 40 kg P2O5 treated plants. Inoculation of cowpea with rhizobium MC92 strain, also recorded significant effect on the measured characters and grain yield. Inoculation of cowpea with rhizobium MC92 along with 40kgP2O5 ha-1 could enhance performance of cowpea particularly with an adaptable genotype like IT99K-573-1-1. Keywords: Cowpea, grain yield, inoculation, yield component

Design of a Wastewater Treatment Oxidation Pond

The proposed site of the wastewater treatment pond is located in a terrain inside the Polytechnic Campus and the New Staff Quarters where the storm-runoff flow has on effect. The site possesses good soil characteristics which include a particle size distribution of sandy soil with little fine particles of gravel, a specific gravity of 2.77 and a soil moisture content of 7.26% indicating a high degree of permeability. The output of geotechnical analysis indicated that the proposed site has soil particle density (ρs) and dry bulk density (ρb) of 1.76 g/cm3 and 1.64g/cm3 respectively. Void ratio (e), porosity (ȵ) values of 0.87 and 0.46 (46%) were determined. The atterbergs limits of 19.0%, 14.96% and 19.6% for shrinkage limit (SL), plastic limit (PL) and liquid limit (LL) were estimated with a computed plastic index (PI) of 3.04. The soil profile formation is highly sandy with a good lateritic layer to support the pond foundation. The proposed pond design volume (V) is 898.5 m3 and land areas of 718.8 m2 were estimated for the project

Magnitude of transaction costs on contractors for eligibility documents, contract administration and bidding

The research assessed the magnitude of transaction costs incurred by contractors with respect to eligibility papers, contract administration and process costs of bidding expenditures. Multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to select participants from building companies from two hundred and thirty (230) contractors in chosen North-West states registered in the contractors ' database of the Bureau of Public Procurement, who are deemed to engage in any federal tendering process as participants. Different participants submitted two hundred (200) questionnaires. Modelling of structural equations has been used to evaluate the information from the participants. Results show an important connection existed between the eligibility documents, the process of bidding expenditures, contract administration costs, and the models of procurement guides (PPA 2007). This shows that, when bidding projects, the Transaction Costs (TCs) incurred by contracting companies are between 5-10% of the contract amount. The study proposes that the federal government procurement regulatory body should amend the present PPA 2007 Act in Nigeria. MDAs that are in line with the PPA rules should ask for minimum requirements or criteria.Keywords: Procurement Act 2007, Eligibility document, Contract, Infrastructure, and Transaction costs theor

The problems and countermeasures of applying multimedia technology in college English teaching

Multimedia technology refers to the computermediated software that integrates text, color, graphical images, animation, audio sound, and full motion video in a single application. Multimedia learning systems offer a potential venue for improving students’ interest, understanding and learning efficiency about the English language. Teachers try to make full use of multimedia to create an authentic language teaching and learning environment where students can easily acquire a language naturally and effectively. However, through teaching assessment system, a platform through which students can anonymously evaluate teachers’ teaching on the web, some limitation and problems of multimedia technology in English teaching is explored. For example, PPT-oriented English class leading to knowledge overlapping and time-wasting; Teachers relying too much on multimedia; Improper design of courseware stimulating distraction; Lacking interaction between teachers and students. Only when the multimedia teaching in college English is reformed and improved, can the function of multimedia assisted teaching play its best role. Aiming to optimize the function of multimedia in college English teaching, both the problems and countermeasures of applying multimedia in college English teaching are studied elaborately in this paper, which provides a theoretical basis and new way of teaching practice for the situational teaching of foreign language

Does Inhalation of Virgin Coconut Oil Accelerate Reversal of Airway Remodelling in an Allergic Model of Asthma?

Many studies have been done to evaluate the effect of various natural products in controlling asthma symptoms. Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is known to contain active compounds that have beneficial effects on human health and diseases.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of VCO inhalation on airway remodelling in a rabbit model of allergic asthma.The effects of VCO inhalation on infiltration of airway inflammatory cells, airway structures, goblet cell hyperplasia, and cell proliferation following ovalbumin induction were evaluated. Allergic asthma was induced by a combination of ovalbumin and alum injection and/or followed by ovalbumin inhalation.The effect ofVCOinhalationwas then evaluated via the rescue or the preventive route. Percentage of inflammatory cells infiltration, thickness of epithelium and mucosa regions, and the numbers of goblet and proliferative cells were reduced in the rescue group but not in preventive group. Analysis using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry found that lauric acid and capric acid were among themost abundant fatty acids present in the sample. Significant improvement was observed in rescue route in alleviating the asthma symptoms, which indicates the VCO was able to relieve asthma-related symptoms more than preventing the onset of asthma