Evaluating Excesses And Shortfalls In Prison Services

Using data envelopment analysis, an unbiased index was establish by evaluating the ability of states to maximize their objectives subject to minimizing some conditions (inputs). This approach, which rank state from the most robustly efficient to the most robustly inefficient in its ability to maximize goals (output), while minimizing conditions (input) avoid using equal or subjective weight employed in conventional ranking scheme. The ranking of 36 states yield unexpected result and suggest a very different way of measuring and evaluating development policy.Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis, Decision Making Uni

A survey of sorghum downy mildew in sorghum in the Sudano-Sahelian Savanna zones of Nigeria

An extensive survey was conducted across the 13 states constituting the Sudan and Sahel savanna agro-ecological zones of Nigeria to determine the occurrence and distribution of sorghum downy mildew in sorghum during the 2008 growing season. The survey was conducted at two different stages of the crop development; seedling and dough stage. The first survey was in early July while the second was carried out in late September. Three farmers’ fields were critically investigated at every stop on a road system. During the first survey, a total of 97 farmers’ fields in 36 locations were investigated while 110 sorghum fields in 37 locations were visited in the second survey. Average incidence (%) of the disease was obtained from a sample of 100 plants selected using simple random sampling technique from each of the three farms visited per stop. Results of the survey (16.20 and 9.64% and 3.28 and 1.16% during the first and second visits in the Sudan and Sahel savanna AEZs respectively) indicated that the disease was present only at the seedling stage and virtually absent at flowering stage .In the areas where it was noticed at the juvenile stage the incidence was more prevalent in the Sudan than in the sahel savanna regions. The results also revealed that there was a relationship between soil type (which was mostly sandy loam) and disease incidence. Disease incidence was relatively higher on sandy loam soil than other soil types. The prevalence was generally low, but efforts should be made towards controlling the spread of the disease further. Farmers should be advised to use improved cultural practices like early sowing, seed dressing with the sole aim of reducing the disease. Keywords: sorghum downy mildew, incidence, distribution, Sudan and Sahel savanna agroecological zone

Screening of Sorghum Genotypes fFor Resistance to Loose Smut in Nigeri

One hundred and four sorghum genotypes were screened under field conditions for loose smut disease using the hypodermic stem injection artificial inoculation technique. The experiment was laid out on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications. The results of the trial indicated that only twenty nine genotypes (27.9 %) showed loose smut symptom at varying degrees of incidence and with varying severity. Both disease incidence and severity were significantly different (P<0.01) among sorghum genotypes. More than 70 % (73 genotypes) were found to be immune (I) and 5.76 % (six) genotypes were highly resistant (HR) which included, SSV2008030, SSV2008031, SSV2008034, SSV2008066, SSV20080075, and SSV2008088 and nineteen (18.27%) were very susceptible (VS) genotypes. There was no moderately susceptible genotype obtained from the experiment. The results have shown that there are some promising sorghum genotypes that are resistant to the disease and could therefore be introduced to farmers and sorghum breeders for further breeding as well as multi-locational trials.Keywords; field screening, hypodermic injection, loose smut, sorghum varieties, Sudan savann

The implications of agro-chemical compounds (fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) on farming/aquaculture activities in the lake-Chad and its possible current/future social effects

Field survey and Laboratory analysis were carried out to determine the implications of agro-chemicals effluent on Lake Chad water. Historically societies used traditional farming methods involving rainfed agriculture and limited ground water withdrawal with irrigation though an ancient practice, it affected only small parts of the world. Water in Lake Chad is facing serious environmental problems from prolong drought to desertification, pollution and biodiversity reduction. The use of water for extensive agriculture by the lakes riparian states is reducing the water and stressing the ecological balance affecting the organisms depending on it and also its availability to its inhabitants. Water quality is also an important issue in the Lake Chad especially where the rainfall being the natural input into the system is small, greater risk of fertilizer, pesticides, and other agro-chemicals/inputs, runoff from the soil to the lake water and also salt accumulation threat are imminent. The assessment of the Lake Chad water resource quality was therefore carried out carefully while understanding the linkage and interaction with Agro-chemicals using stratified random sampling method for data acquisition and assessment on the site. The results of the experiment indicated that five parameters, namely, PH, Cadmium, Iron, Magnesium and chlorine have contaminant levels above the threshold limit as major sources of pollution in the lake with possible existing and future problem. As a result of the adverse effect of the agrochemicals runoff in the Chad water at Kirinowa. It can be concluded from the results of this study that the lake is under pollution of metals from sources of agricultural operations, due to indiscriminate application of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.Key words: Lake Chad, Agro-chemicals, Accumulation, Contamination, Pollution

The Genetic and Molecular Studies of Hepatitis C Virus: A Review

The role of Hepatitis viruses, particularly Hepatitis c virus (HCV) as human pathogen and their transmission have been of interest over the years. The virus is a small (55-65nm in size), included in Group IV, enveloped, positive sense, single stranded RNA virus, the family Flaviviridae, genus Hepacivirus, and Hepatitis c virus type species. Based on genetic differences between HCV isolates, the virus species is classified into six genotypes (1-6) with several subtypes within each genotype (represented by letters). Persistent infection with Hepatitis c virus (HCV) has emerged as one of the primary causes of chronic liver disease with an estimated 170 million people infected by HCV, more than 4 times the number of people living with HIV throughout the world. The present review looks at the genetic and molecular nature of this virus with the view to provide more information about its biology which may be useful to the present and feature researchers. Key words: Hepatitis c virus, biology, genome, chronic, liver, diseas

Digital habits and use of the internet as source of sexual and reproductive health information among undergraduates in northern Nigeria

Background: Surfing the internet and networking via social media have evolved at a startling pace. Objectives: To determine internet and social media habits and identify predictors of their use as sexual and reproductive health resource among Bayero University students. Study Design: A cross section of 385 students was interviewed using pre-tested anonymous structured self-completed questionnaires. Results: Nearly all students 98.4% (n=377) had accessed the internet and most 96.3% (n=363) had visited social media sites. Face book 57.3% (n=208), Twitter 22.3% (n=81) and Blackberry Messenger 8.8% (n=32) were the most popular among students. Of those with internet access,51.2%,46.2%, 39.2% and 38.5% mainly searched for information on HIV/AIDS, STI, sexual activities and menstrual problems respectively. There was more than two-fold likelihood of accessing online sexual information among female students compared to males, adjusted Odds ratio (aOR=2.52); 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI= 2.41-4.86). Similarly, ever-married students had more than twice the chance relative to single students (aOR=2.2, 95%CI=1.17-4.28). Furthermore, younger students (<20 years) were twice more likely to have used online resources compared to their older colleagues (≥30 years) (aOR=2.12, 95%CI=1.32-4.17). Conclusion: Undergraduate students are increasingly turning to the internet for sexual and reproductive health information. This presents an opportunity for programming.Key words: Internet, Social media, Reproductive, Sexual health, information source

In vitro evaluation of antioxidant activity of Anisopus mannii N.E. Br.

Anisopus mannii (Asclepiadaceae) –a plant widely used as an anti-diabetic agent in Northern Nigerian traditional medicine, was subjected to antioxidant evaluation. The crude methanol extract, n-butanol and ethyl acetate fractions were investigated for free radical scavenging activity of the 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), total phenolic contents and reducing power assay. The results of the DPPH free radical scavenging at 250 ìgml-1 indicated maximum antioxidant activity of 94.1, 94.3 and88.7% for crude methanol extract, ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions, respectively. The total phenolic content was higher in the ethyl acetate fraction (59.60 mg/g gallic acid equivalent GAE) than in the nbutanolfraction (56.40 mg/g GAE) and crude methanol extract (53.20 mg/g GAE). The reducing power of n-butanol fraction was 0.112 nm higher than those of ethyl acetate fraction (0.110 nm) and crude methanol extract (0.106 nm). The antioxidant activities of the crude extract/fractions and the standards at maximum concentration of 250 ìgml-1 decreased in the order: ascorbic acid> ethyl acetate fraction> crude methanol extract> Gallic acid> n-butanol fraction, but there was no significant difference (p <0.05) between them. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins and saponins. This suggests a potential utility of the plant as a source of phenolic antioxidants and may provide leads in the ongoing search for natural antioxidants from Nigerian medicinal plants to be used in treating diseases related to free radical reactions

Heat Transfer Enhancement by Perforated and Louvred Fin Heat Exchangers

Multi-tube multi-fin heat exchangers are extensively used in various industries. In the current work, detailed experimental investigations were carried out to establish the flow/heat transfer characteristics in three distinct heat exchanger geometries. A novel perforated plain fin design was developed, and its performance was evaluated against standard plain and louvred fins designs. Experimental setups were designed, and the tests were carefully carried out which enabled quantification of the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. In the experiments the average velocity of air was varied in the range of 0.7 m/s to 4 m/s corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 600 to 2650. The water side flow rates in the tubes were kept at 0.12, 0.18, 0.24, 0.3, and 0.36 m3/h corresponding to Reynolds numbers between 6000 and 30,000. It was found that the louvred fins produced the highest heat transfer rate due to the availability of higher surface area, but it also produced the highest pressure drops. Conversely, while the new perforated design produced a slightly higher pressure drop than the plain fin design, it gave a higher value of heat transfer rate than the plain fin especially at the lower liquid flow rates. Specifically, the louvred fin gave consistently high pressure drops, up to 3 to 4 times more than the plain and perforated models at 4 m/s air flow, however, the heat transfer enhancement was only about 11% and 13% over the perforated and plain fin models, respectively. The mean heat transfer rate and pressure drops were used to calculate the Colburn and Fanning friction factors. Two novel semiempirical relationships were derived for the heat exchanger’s Fanning and Colburn factors as functions of the non-dimensional fin surface area and the Reynolds number. It was demonstrated that the Colburn and Fanning factors were predicted by the new correlations to within ±15% of the experiments

Electro-Discharge Machining of Zr67Cu11Ni10Ti9Be3: An Investigation on Hydroxyapatite Deposition and Surface Roughness

This study attempts to simultaneously machine and synthesize a biomimetic nanoporous hydroxyapatite coating on the Zr67Cu11Ni10Ti9Be3 bulk metallic glass (BMG) surface. The aim is to investigate and optimize the hydroxyapatite deposition rate and the surface roughness during the electro-discharge coating of Zr67Cu11Ni10Ti9Be3 BMG. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder Diffraction (XRD) and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) were employed to characterize and analyze the results. Response Surface Methodology using D-optimum custom design approach was utilized to generate the models and optimize the input parameters. A globule nanostructured and nanoporous coating of about 25.2 µm thick, containing mainly Ca, O, and K were ascertained. Further XRD analysis confirmed the deposition of biocompatible oxides (HA, CaZrO3, and ZrO2) and hard ZrC coating on the Zr67Cu11Ni10Ti9Be3 BMG surface. A significant improvement in cell viability was observed in the HA electro-discharge coated BMG specimens. The numerical models for the Hydroxyapatite Deposition Rate (HDR) and Surface Roughness (SR) were developed and experimentally validated using the optimized parameters setting suggested by the software. The achieved average predicted error of 4.94 and 5.09% for the HDR and SR respectively confirmed the excellent reproducibility of the developed models

Chip-on-board assembly of 800V Si LIGBTs for high performance ultra-compact LED drivers

This paper presents a novel chip on board assembly design for an integrated power switch, based on high power density 800V silicon lateral insulated gate bipolar transistor (Si LIGBT) technology. LIGBTs offer much higher current densities (5-10X), significantly lower leakage currents, lower parasitic device capacitances and gate charge compared to conventional vertical MOSFETs commonly used in LED drivers. The higher voltage ratings offered (up to 1kV), the development of high voltage interconnection between parallel IGBTs, self-isolated nature and absence of termination region unlike in a vertical MOSFET makes these devices ideal for ultra-compact, low bill of materials (BOM) count LED drives. Chip on board LIGBTs also offer significant advantages over MOSFETs due to high temperatures seen on most of the LED lamp enclosures as the LIGBT's on-state losses increase only marginally with temperature. the design is based on a built-in reliability approach which focuses on a compact LED driver as a case study of a cost sensitive large volume production item