GEOCHEMICAL SOIL MAPPING, PHYTOEXTRACTION OF CRITICAL ELEMENTS AND ENERGY PLANT PRODUCTION IN THE POST MINING AREA OF FREIBERG

The soil, heterogeneous in nature, is a very important part of the environment. It plays a major role in the existence, health and functioning of the organisms found in it, the other compartments of the biosphere and the life forms in them. Therefore, a negative deviation from a healthy soil will have a great impact on the biosphere and the environment at large. Some of these unhealthy deviations are caused by human activities and the aftermath of such activities such as mining and resource prospecting within the earth crust. Since these deviations are now very common and because economic gains from mining and prospecting of resources must continue, several research works are focused on highlighting the possible ways of carrying out sustainable mining and restoring the soil back to health conditions

GEOCHEMICAL SOIL MAPPING, PHYTOEXTRACTION OF CRITICAL ELEMENTS AND ENERGY PLANT PRODUCTION IN THE POST MINING AREA OF FREIBERG

The soil, heterogeneous in nature, is a very important part of the environment. It plays a major role in the existence, health and functioning of the organisms found in it, the other compartments of the biosphere and the life forms in them. Therefore, a negative deviation from a healthy soil will have a great impact on the biosphere and the environment at large. Some of these unhealthy deviations are caused by human activities and the aftermath of such activities such as mining and resource prospecting within the earth crust. Since these deviations are now very common and because economic gains from mining and prospecting of resources must continue, several research works are focused on highlighting the possible ways of carrying out sustainable mining and restoring the soil back to health conditions

ENHANCING THE CAPACITY OF WOMEN FOR INCREASED PARTICIPATION IN NIGERIA MAIN-STREAMING AGRICULTURE: A RE-DESIGNING OF STRATEGIES

Africa is a region of female farming compared with other regions of the world where women have the responsibility for food production, processing, marking, cooking, child care and other home related activities. It is argued that women account for 70-80 percent of household food production in sub-Sahara Africa. However, case studies in Nigerian and in most Africa countries tend to point to the fact that women who have been described as the hidden productive force in the countryside have not fully benefited from food production development planning strategies, despite their increased involvement in agricultural production. The food production development programme has often focused in the designing of effective packages for generating surpluses in agriculture without particular focus on women. The basic needs approach which emphasis the expansion of people’s capabilities therefore points to the importance of re-examining the strategies for promoting participation in agricultural production with specific focus on women. Food development planning and execution strategies need to be re-oriented and re-designed to ensure that development packages reach women farmers as well as stimulate them to participate more actively to increase output though technology and other incentives. This paper therefore focuses on the importance of women’s participation in Nigerian agricultural production and its implications for national development. The neglect of women’s roles in agriculture and factors that have adversely affected rural women’s agricultural production is also reviewed. Finally, the paper proposes some socio-economic, socio-cultural and institutional structures that must be re-examined and redesigned to facilitate the increase women participation in Nigeria main streaming agriculture.Labor and Human Capital,

The global environment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the implications for the perceived climatic change in the developing countries

Earth’s environment is the home of mankind. The constituents are there as the provisions for man to live and be sustained. Naturally, the environment experiences changes (either hot warm or dry cold) which occur from time to time, every time, with varying degrees of the effects. The actions of man however, began significantly to influence such changes to occur and affect life rather too adversely even when the condition ought to be more favourable. For the Anatomically Modem Human (AMH) emerged in the hot warm period and has since had significant influence on the general condition of the environment. This influence especially since about 1950 has tended to change the situation of things within earth’s environment to the worse as it is now occurring quicker with more devastating effects on the existence of man, other organisms, and the entire rich constituents of the environment. Here, a note of warning is issued using the natural example of the LGM as has been documented in the earth’s ‘library’ and re-affirmed through prehistoric environmental studies. The LGM was evidently so devastating that some species of the world went into extinction while it lasted. But the reverse to the rosy hot warm phase, especially since the ‘Recent’ came as a relief particularly to the more vulnerable man. Man however, seems to have been extreme, experiencing this beautiful epoch of the Quaternary to his advantage. His limits are beginning to frightfully overshoot the boundary, to the detriment of the environment and the survival of especially humans with the boat being rocked to near capsize irrespective of nature’s navigatory itenary. This, he must act against, through more careful operation such as the suggested ‘management by avoidance’ means of operation in especially the developing countries areas of the world where this has not been put into real practice. Everybody therefore, should be meaningfully involved in the upkeep of the environment without the notions of hide and seek from some quarters

MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY ON THE STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS AND STRESS RESPONSE OF DILUTE MICELLAR SYSTEMS IN UNIAXIAL EXTENSIONAL DEFORMATION

Micellar structures have been proposed for potential application in hydrotropy, biomimetics, dispersion and emulsification, enhanced oil recovery, detergency, templating, drug delivery, personal care products, drag reduction, nanoscale reaction vessels, therapeutic gene delivery, bio-catalysis and so on. Though several studies exist, there still remains a gap in the current knowledge on structural response of single micelles in solution to uniaxial extensional flow deformation. These knowledge gaps are possibly due to the inability of traditional experimental studies to investigate micellar properties at the time- and length-scale pertinent to self-assembly and micellar dynamics. To this end, this work aims to utilise coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the dynamics and structural response of various infinitely dilute micellar solutions under the influence of uniaxial extensional flow. Spherical vesicles formed from hexacosanoate anion and octyltrimethylammonium cation; rod-like and worm-like micelles formed from hexacosanoate and palmitate anions; and branched worm-like micelles formed from cetyltrimethylammonium cation and sodium salicylate anion have been parametrised according to the Martini force field formalism. These structures were simulated in equilibrium; under uniaxial extensional flow; and in cessation of uniaxialextensional flow. Changes in micellar structure in uniaxial extensional flow and subsequent stress responses are presented for each micellar system at varying deformation rates. It is observed that structural changes and stress response are dependent on micellar stress relaxation ability whilst undergoing uniaxial deformation. The nature and varying influence of stress relaxation as a function of deformation rate is studied for each structure. Deformation of these structures in a direction normal to their principal orientation is also investigated. It is shown that orientation has a short-term effect on the dynamics and structural evolution of non-isotropic micellar structures. Finally, structural and stress responses following cessation of uniaxial extensional flow are presented

Rethinking food production in West Africa: The prehistorical perspective

Food sufficiency in a society can guarantee development in it. In  West Africa today, there is food shortage reality to malnutrition, hunger and starvation. This has ignited negative trends such as corrupt practices, lack of respect for societal values and low  esteem of the people among other vices. The need for food is sin qua non to all human requirements yet it is not receiving  appropriate attention by peoples and governments of the region. It would appear that the region lacks the experience but history here approached through prehistorical analytical tools does not ascend to this. The  environment is capable of producing the food if only the peoples can strive. And they would be happier if they do

The use of history and culture in the development of tourism in Nigeria

Nigeria has expressed the willingness to change from the mono-resource economy borne by petroleum. There has been the realistic desire to develop and utilize the tourism industry in diversifying the economy as the fortune from the oil and gas sector dwindles by the day. An evaluation of this feeling shows that cultural tourism above other aspects of the industry is one that Nigeria is better positioned to do well in, judging from what rich traditions and cultural heritage can be seen through the nation’s past historical experience. This paper depicted the huge potentials laden in Nigeria’s cultural tourism advocates proper appropriation of such and involvement of all for optional utilisation of the resources therein. In the same vein, it exposed and decried the notable societal ills such as insecurity in the country bedevilling the efforts being made in this respect and proffered suggestions on how to improve on the extant provisions bring forth new ones and gainfully support the development of the industry.Keywords: history, cultural tourism, diversified econom

Democracy and good governance: ingredients for socioeconomic development in Nigeria

This paper is a discourse on the state of the nation, Nigeria, in terms of its status on democracy, good governance and socio-economic development. Democracy is being embraced across the globe by most civilized and developing nations. Nigeria joined the trend with the inception of democratic rule in May 29, 1999. The paper aims at exploring these concepts in the context of Nigeria with a view to establishing the need for true democracy and good governance to prevail in Nigeria. The paper discusses the synergy of democracy and good governance while identifying them as basic ingredients for the actualization of socio-cultural and economic development of Nigeria. The paper ends with some recommendations and conclusion. Keywords: Democracy, Good governance, Ingredients, Socio-economic development

The potential fossils and archaeological materials available among the KelAdrarTuareg of northern Mali and inferences that can be drawn from there

Foreseeable challenges or needs or potentials involved in anthropological studies especially archaeology stand to help us in planning and effecting better development in the different areas of our environment. The problems of such environmental issue as desertification and the effect especially on humans in the areas of its occurrence particularly on the KelAdrarTuareg community in Northern Mali is prospectively and inferentially evaluated. This is a cautionary study aimed at turning the attention of the people and government to a more responsive dealing with the environment and to be rightly focused on the research endeavours in the place

The Irish principle of equitable receivership – a debt recovery bludgeon in the Nigerian soil?

Recovery of debt is an aspect of the lending business that is both dicey and sometimes, very difficult. The Rule of Law operative in a particular clime largely determines the relative success of lenders and survival strategies. One of the remedies for debt recovery is the appointment of Receivers to realize the assets used as collaterals. In Nigeria, a Receiver may be appointed by the court or by the creditor pursuant to the agreement between the parties or pursuant to statutory provisions like the AMCON Act or the Companies and Allied Matters Act. When appointed other than by AMCON, the Receiver’s powers are only exercisable towards the assets under receivership; but when appointed by AMCON, the power of the Receiver applies to all the assets of the company. Despite the overwhelming powers of Receivers, recovery of debts succeeds in its entirety when there are readily available assets to satisfy the indebtedness. The Irish case discussed in this article goes beyond the assets of the debtor to deal with future incomes of a debtor in the nature of salaries, pensions, rents, et cetera. The article ended with recommendations necessary at the contract and enforcement stages