Risk assessment of heavy metals bioaccumulation in Clarias gariepinus tissues from Jakara Reservoir, Kano, Nigeria

The risk of heavy metals bioaccumulation in gills and liver of C. gariepinus of Jakara Reservoir, Kano was assessed for period of twelve months (March, 2020 to February, 2021). In situ and in vitro examinations were performed using standard procedures. Sites for sampling were categorized into three as offshore (A), midshore (B) and inshore (C) were chosen based on the impact of varying humans activities within the reservoir. The mean range of physicochemical parameters were water temperature (27.1 – 28.30 °C), Dissolved Oxygen (5.9 – 6.6mg/L), Biological Oxygen Demand (2.4 – 3.7mg/L), transparency (0.9 –1.2m), electrical conductivity (637.1– 1064μS/cm), pH (7.8 – 8.1), and Total Dissolved Solids (433.1–733.8mg/L).Gills had accumulation of Fe, Cr, Cu, Pb and Cd in a concentration graded fashion with Fe being the highest and Cd the lowest in terms of concentration. BAF in liver tissues recorded a decrease in the following sequence: Cu >Cr> Pb > Fe >Cd. Physicochemical parameters, heavy metals bioaccumulation differed significantly (P<0.05) between the sites and seasons with the exception of TDS, EC, turbidity and Cadmium. It can be deduced that fluctuation in water quality parameters and heavy metals concentrations in the reservoir could be attributed to high influx of nutrients due to farming activities among other anthropogenic input. It is hereby recommended that indiscriminate discharge of agro chemicals among other domestic inputs should be minimized in order to curtail degradation of the reservoir in the long run. Relevant authorities should develop strategies to control potential effect of the pollutants on the aquatic biota in the water body

Real-Time Detection of Abandoned Object using Centroid Difference Method

An abandoned object is one that remains stationary for an extended period. Such object might contain explosives and if left on purpose could cause death and injuries to people especially in crowded places. Abandoned objects need to be detected on time to prevent what might endanger people’s lives and health. Various methods have been developed to detect abandoned objects. The most reliable one is the vision-based method which automatically detects the abandoned object using image processing. The efficiency of the method was tested and evaluated on the customized datasets as well as the i-Lids advanced video surveillance system database. The Self -organizing Background Subtraction (SOBS) method overrides other methods in terms of its detection accuracy and simplicity of implementation, but fails for dynamic background scenarios. This work presents a real time vision-based object detection method using the centroid difference to improve on the accuracy of the detection and to tackle challenges of dynamic background of the SOBS method. Matlab Image processing toolbox was used to achieve this goal. The strategy is basically decomposed into two; foreground detection and stationary foreground object (SFO) detection. Gaussian Mixture Model is used for detecting the presence of newly introduced object into a scene (foreground detection), while the blob tracking approach based on frame counting is used to determine whether the detected foreground object is static/ abandoned or not. The results show that the detection accuracy of 83% was obtained which outperform the SOBS method with 67% accuracy. Future research should focus on tracking the person that abandoned the object for onward prosecution

Screening and identification of antibacterial agents produced by Aspergillus species from the soil of Bayero University Kano

This study was conducted to isolate antibiotic producing fungi in soil samples collected from Bayero University, Kano. Soil samples were suspended in deionised distilled water and inoculated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) by spread-plate method for the isolation of fungi. Primary screening of antibiotic producers was conducted using agar well diffusion method. All the isolates were identified to be in the genus Aspergillus. Out of the sixty (60) fungal isolates, three (3) species (A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. niger) were selected for fermentation process and extraction of metabolites using ethyl acetate. The extracts were dried and subjected to disc diffusion assay against Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The extracts showed inhibitory activity against all the test organisms at concentration of 1000μg and 800μg with little or no activity at 600μg against the tests organisms. Highest activity was observed from the metabolites of A. fumigatus on all the test organisms with MIC values of 250μg/ml. Thin layer chromatography of all the three extracts revealed four sports per chromatogram. The chromatogram study reveals many bioactive compounds such as Oleic acid, n-Hexadecanoic acid known to have antibacterial activity against range of bacteria. Similarly, the extracts showed some level of toxicity to brine shrimp. The extracts were found to have some pharmaceutical applications and therefore should be subjected for further bioassay such as anticancer and antioxidant.Keywords: Antibiotic producing fungi, Soil, Aspergillus, Oleic aci

IMMEDIATE/BATCH MODE SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS FOR GRID COMPUTING: A REVIEW

Immediate/on-line and Batch mode heuristics are two methods used for scheduling in the computational grid environment. In the former, task is mapped onto a resource as soon as it arrives at the scheduler, while the later, tasks are not mapped onto resource as they arrive, instead they are collected into a set that is examined for mapping at prescheduled times called mapping events. This paper reviews the literature concerning Minimum Execution Time (MET) along with Minimum Completion Time (MCT) algorithms of online mode heuristics and more emphasis on Min-Min along with Max-Min algorithms of batch mode heuristics, while focusing on the details of their basic concepts, approaches, techniques, and open problems

Automation of Requirement Analysis in Software Engineering

Software engineering practices are the most important practices for the success of software. Requirement engineering is the first and crucial phase in the development of software. Success or failure of any software is truly dependent upon the requirement analysis. It involves set of activities like system feasibility study, elicitation analysis, validation and management of the requirements. There are many methods already exist to perform the requirement gathering process and the system analyst apply them to gather the requirements but still they are facing many problems in gathering the requirements. These problems occur due to the communication gaps between customers, engineers and project managers, and requirements information loss might occur across different software development process. This affects the quality of the software and increase the production cost of software. Reviews of user requirement analysis technique from the literatures were studied by listing their advantages and limitation. Based on the limitations of the reviewed literatures an automated system has been developed for gathering user requirements which will go along in bridging the communication gaps between the users and the analyst

Dynamics of vertical profile of Radio Refractivity in Akure South-Western Nigeria.

This research investigated fractal and chaotic dynamics in the vertical profile radio refractivity in the atmosphere using Tsallis Entropy, Hurst Exponent and Largest Lyapunov Exponent (LLE). Daily temperature, relative humidity and radio refractivity data obtained from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis Project at thirty seven (37) different atmospheric pressure level from 1979-2014 were used in this study. The Hurst Exponent parameter obtained, using the method of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, in the radio refractivity profile studied showed that there is persistence across all levels. Tsallis entropy did not reveal any structure or significant variations from the tropopause to the surface. To determine if any of the radio refractivity is chaotic at any of the studied level, the Largest Lyapunov Exponent (LLE) was computed. Positive values were obtained at all levels for radio refractivity, indicating deterministic chaos in the profile of radio refractivity

COVID-19 and routine childhood immunization in Africa : leveraging systems thinking and implementation science to improve immunization system performance

CITATION: Adamu, A. A. et al. 2020. COVID-19 and routine childhood immunization in Africa: Leveraging systems thinking and implementation science to improve immunization system performance. International journal of infectious diseases, 98:161–165. doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2020.06.072The original publication is available at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-infectious-diseasesOne of the routine health services that is being disrupted by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Africa is childhood immunization. This is because the immunization system relies on functioning health facilities and stable communities to be effective. Its disruption increases the risk of epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases, which could increase child mortality. Therefore, policymakers must quickly identify robust and context-specific strategies to rapidly scale-up routine immunization in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their national immunization performance. To achieve this, we propose a paradigm shift towards systems thinking and use of implementation science in immunization decision-making. Systems thinking can inform a more nuanced and holistic understanding of the interrelationship between COVID-19, its control strategies, and childhood immunization. Tools like causal loop diagrams can be used to explicitly illustrate the systems structure by identifying feedback loops. Once mapped and leverage points for interventions have been identified, implementation science can be used to guide the rapid uptake and utilization of multifaceted evidence-based innovations in complex practice settings. As Africa re-strategizes for the post-2020 era, these emerging fields could contribute significantly in accelerating progress towards universal access to vaccines for all children on the continent despite COVID-19.https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/content/playContent/1-s2.0-S1201971220305075?returnurl=https:%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1201971220305075%3Fshowall%3Dtrue&referrer=Publishers versio

Serospatial epidemiology of zoonotic Coxiella burnetii in a cross section of cattle and small ruminants in northern Nigeria

The persistent and highly transmissible Coxiella burnetii is a neglected infection that negatively affects reproductive parameters of livestock. It is also of zoonotic importance and has been reported to cause devastating human infections globally. Domestic ruminants represent the most frequent source of human infection. Data from Nigeria are very few and outdated. There is a significant gap in up-to-date information on the exposure, spatial distribution and risk factors of infection of this important disease. The exposure to C. burnetii was determined using sensitive serological assays in cattle and small ruminants. A total of 538 animals made up of 268 cattle and 270 small ruminants were sampled from three northern Nigerian states. The proportion of cattle sampled that were seropositive from the study locations were: Kwara 14/90 (15.6%; 95% CI: 8.8–24.7); Plateau 10/106 (9.43%; 95% CI: 4.6–16.7) and Borno 4/72 (5.56%; 95% CI: 1.5–13.6) states. Lower seroprevalence was recorded among the small ruminants sampled, with positives recorded from sheep and goat sampled from only Kwara state 6/184 (3.3%; 95% CI: 1.2–7.0); while none of the small ruminants sampled from Plateau were seropositive. The results of the bivariate analysis showed that none of the tested independent variables (village, age group, sex, breed of cattle, presence of ticks, reproductive status, and management system) were statistically significant factors associated with seropositivity of cattle for antibodies to C. burnetii. Stakeholders involved in animal husbandry should be duly educated on proper disposal of birth products as well as bodily fluids in order to reduce environmental contamination, persistence and human infection