Detoxification of cassava leaves by simple traditional methods

Cassava leaves, which usually contain large quantities of cyanogenic glycosides, were processed into a Zairian traditional vegetable sauce ‘Mpondu’ by simple methods which included blanching (10 min), mashing and then boiling for 20–80 min. These methods enhanced the detoxification of the leaves, with blanching alone resulting in the loss of 57% of the free (non-glycosidic) cyanide content and of 60% of the bound (glycosidic) cyanide. It is presumed that losses of cyanide during these processes would be accounted for in volatile HCN, its derivatives and in the boiling water

Splenotoxic Potentials of Chloroquine, Fansidar, Cotecxin and Amalar

The Histologic studies on the spleen was carried out with Chloroquine, Fansidar, Cotecxin and Amalar to observe any pathologic effect(s) on the tissue on comparative basis. The study revealed some degenerated white pulps and wider interstitial spaces with chloroquine drug not observed in control samples. Also animals with fansidar administration showed clumping of periateriolar lymphoid cells in the white pulp not shown in the control group without any drug. In the Amalar group the spleen showed sinuisoidal dilation in the red pulp with macrophages scattered around it but not in the form of activation. For cotecxin drug there was the degeneration of periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths with residue of the infiltrated cells in the arterioles. It is concluded that chloroquine, fansidar, cotecxin may induce jaundice and splenic disorders. Keywords: splenomegaly, splenic rupture, anti-malaria drugs

Assessment of Intracellular and Extracellular Fluids (Icf, Ecf) Compartments with Antimal, Chloroquine, Coartem, Fansidar and Malareich

Quantitative assay with spectrophotometer was used in the determination of plasma sodium, potassium and chloride concentration in the administration of antimal, chloroquine, coartem, fansidar and malareich antimalaria drugs. In the antimal group there was no significant difference in the sodium, potassium and chloride concentration in the plasma when compared with control (P>0.05). Also in the chloroquine group, the sodium and chloride concentrations were not significantly different from the control (P>0.05). However, there was low concentration of potassium which was significant when compared with control (P<0.05). In the Fansidar administration there was no significant difference in sodium, potassium and chloride concentration when compared with control, (P>0.05). Also in the malareich group, the sodium and chloride concentrations showed no significant difference with the control (P>0.05). But there was significant difference in potassium concentration when compared with control (P<0.05). The study observed that chloroquine and malareich therapy affect extracellular fluid compartment of the body and induced hypokalaemia which may result in deficit cell membrane potential and the related general body muscle weakness. Keyword: Hypokalaemia, antimalarials, ICF, ECF

Perceived Organizational Support and Organizational Identification in Construction Firms in Port Harcourt

This study examines the relationship between fair treatment and organizational identification in some selected construction firms in Port Harcourt. Two null hypotheses were drawn from the measures of organizational identification. A sample size of 186 was drawn using the Krejcie and Morgan 1970 table, while the population allocation was done using the Bowley’s population allocation formula. Spearman’s rank correction coefficient was used for analyzing the null hypotheses, while the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used as the statistical tool at 5% level of significance. All the null hypotheses were rejected; hence there is a significant relationship between fair treatment and organizational identification. It was therefore recommended that management of the construction firm should formulate and implement policies that will encourage fair treatment for all workers and ensure that benefits are distributed fairly so as to enhance employees’ sense of belongingness and commitment, and employees’ option should be heard and their well being should be considered by the firm in decision making. Keywords: Fair treatment, Organizational identification, Cognitive identification, Affective identificatio

Identification of Potential Sites for Rainwater Harvesting Structures in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: RS and GIS Approach

Water is the most essential resource on earth for life's existence. Changing hydrological phenomena and increase of water demand generally, create serious water scarcity problems. Precipitation and underground water are major sources to mitigate this problem. Construction of water harvesting structures across watersheds is gaining drive recently to improve efficiency and effectiveness in water availability, supply, use, and water demand for various purposes. In this study, geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) techniques integrated with multi-criteria analysis were used to achieve study objectives – identify possible locations for water harvesting structures using GIS and structure type. Considering the complexity of identification of the water harvesting structures sites, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine the weight of importance of five criteria used for the suitability analysis: rainfall, slope, drainage density, land cover and soil texture. These factors were ranked based on their importance to water harvesting structure and the weight generated from the AHP, the criteria were combined using the weighted overlay techniques (WOT). Dam and pond locations were identified from the suitability map generated. 1.06% and 1.88% of the study area fall within areas of high suitability for pond and dam constructions respectively. The highly suitable area falls within the area of very high rainfall intensity and a gentle slope

Markovian Application to Brand Switching Behaviour: A Survey of Toothpaste

Every industry and economy is idiosyncratic especially in terms of what drives consumer loyalty and so, extrapolating knowledge may not always provide the right basis for competitive advantage. This paper borrows transition matrix as a forecasting instrument for determining the market environment in the future, and sets out to unveil the potential of Markov chains in sequencing family brand choice and in determining intensive transitional probabilities for toothpaste. Data were purposefully drawn from 785 students of universities of Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. The data generated were cast into a Markov matrix to permit meaningful observation of the households’ behaviour toward five brands of toothpaste. Further, the data were analyzed using multiple regressions and Pearson correlation co-efficient; and the findings showed that households exhibit AAAAA, AAAAB, and AAABC not because of trade deals, out-of-stock of favourites, and in-store stimuli; rather because of such product-delivery attributes as flavour and functionality, brand availability and awareness, and brand name and image. While the paper concludes that subjects exhibit brand loyalty based on brand’s selling points, the paper advised on creating corporate framework that allows for more strategic and perhaps tactical actions. Key words: Markov chain, toothpaste, switching behaviour, brand loyalty

Food safety evaluation in boarding schools in Zaria, Nigeria, using the HACCP system

A systematic evaluation of food safety was carried out in five boarding schools in Zaria, Kaduna State. The analysis consisted of investigating hazards associated with microbial contamination and critical control points (CCPs) in the preparation and handling of foods in the schools. Food and water samples as well as swabs of food contact surfaces were collected in addition to animal droppings found in or near the food preparation areas and transported to the laboratory for further investigations. Enterotoxin production by Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli strains was performed on New Zealand white rabbits using the ileal loop technique. All the foods (akamu, eba, tuwo and vegetable soup) attained cooking temperatures of 60 – 100oC capable of destroying vegetative forms of food borne pathogens. However, a concentration of 3 - 5log10 cells of B. cereus, 2 - 3log10 cells Staphylococcus aureus and 1- 2log10 coliforms were isolated per 100 g/ml of some of the cooked foods. The water samples for drinking, cooking and washing dishes were contaminated with coliforms below 2 log10 cells/ml. The food and water samples were found to have counts within acceptable limits but the isolation of enterotoxigenic strains of B. cereus and Escherichia coli, hazards such as inadequate (5 - 10 min) time/temperature exposure of foods (akamu, tuwo, eba), high level initial contamination associated with raw foods, food ingredients, food contact surfaces, food handlers and inadequate cleaning of food utensils call for concern. Critical control points are frying and steaming of akara and moimoi respectively, manipulation of foods after cooking, and holding of cooked foods. The improvement of the personal hygiene of the handlers and the environment using hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) could help in ensuring safety of foods served in the boarding schools

Energy intake and anthropometry: a case study of families in Zaria, Nigeria

Energy intake and nutritional status of 44 members of 5 families in Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State were evaluated for 6 consecutive days. The socioeconomic activities and health condition of the participants was determined by the administration of questionnaire interviews. Food samples were analyzed by the standard AOAC methods to determine their energy and proximate composition while nutritional status was determined by anthropometric measurements. The mean energy intake (EI) of the subjects from the families were 2435-4558 kj/d for age groups 1-5 years; 4446-4996 kj/d for age groups 6-15 years; 5632-6493 kj/d for age groups 16-35 years and; 5547-10,883 kj/d for age groups 36 years and above. Fifteen (42.9%) of the subjects from the families had a normal body mass index (BMI) of 20-25 kg/m2, 10 (28.6%) were underweight with BMI of 18.4 kg/m2 and below while 5 (14.3%) were of thin weight with BMI of 18.5-19.49 kg/m2. Energy intake contributed approximately 22% (r = 0.22) to the BMI

Stomach Histopathologic and Ulcerogenic Potentials of Tea Beverage

Sixty four (64) albino rats were studied for possible histopathologic and ulcerogenic potentials of Lipton tea for the period of twenty eight days (28). The ulceration of the lumen of the stomach counted as ulcer points increased considerably within the 28 days duration, particularly 7-21 days. There were marked histologic changes as evidenced in the degeneration of gastric glands and cells due to loss of mucus such which were not found in the controls. Also the gastric pits were grossly dilated in 75% of the animals fed with Lipton tea while 15% had mild or no dilations of the gastric pits. Some of the dilated pits were filled with mucus absent in controls without Lipton tea. The oxyntic or parietal cells showed pale cytoplasm in contrast to eosinophilic staining affinity in controls. Particularly prominent was the decreases in the number of parietal cells, however such cells still maintained  normal large rounded morphology with round nuclei having nucleoli as in controls. Few mucus cells were observed in the clustered of mucus gland or mucuous neck cells as against many of such cells in controls. However the morphology and basal location of the cells nuclei and basophilic staining affinity were as in controls. It is concluded that Lipton tea has the tendency of inducing gastric ulcer, achlorhydria and pernicious anaemia. Keywords:  Lipton tea, Gastric, histopathology, ulcerogenic potentials

Mitigating Coordinated Call Attacks On VoIP Networks Using Hidden Markov Model

Abstract This paper presents a 2-tier scheme for mitigating coordinated call attacks on VoIP networks. Call interaction pattern was considered using talk and salient periods in a VoIP call conversation. At the first-tier, Short Term Energy algorithm was used for call interaction feature extraction and at the second-tier Hidden Markov Model was used for caller legitimacy recognition. Data of VoIP call conversations were collated and analyzed to extract distinctive features in VoIP call interaction pattern to ascertain the legitimacy of a caller against coordinated call attacker. The performance metrics that was used are; False Error Rate (FER), Specificity, Detection Accuracy and Throughput. Several experiments were conducted to see how effective the mitigating scheme is, as the scheme acts as a proxy server to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server. The experiments show that; when the VoIP server is under coordinated call attack without a mitigating scheme only 15.2% of legitimate VoIP users had access to the VoIP network and out of which about half of the legitimate users had their calls dropped before completion, while with the 2-tier mitigating scheme, when the VoIP server is under coordinated call attacks over 90.3% legitimate VoIP callers had their calls through to completio