MHD Free Convection Flow Past an Oscillating Plate in the Presence of Heat Generation/Absorption and Chemical Reaction

The study of unsteady magnetohydrodynamic heat and mass transfer in MHD flow past an infinite vertical oscillating plate through porous medium, taking account of the presence of free convection and mass transfer. The energy and chemical species equations are solved in closed form by Laplace-transform technique and then perturbation expansion for the momentum equation. The results are obtained for velocity, temperature, concentration, Sherwood number, Nusselt number and skin-friction. The effects of various material parameters are discussed on flow variables and presented by graphs. A parametric study of all parameters involved was considered, and a representative set of results showing the effect of heat radiation, reaction parameter, Grashof numbers, Hartmann number and permeability factor were illustrated

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE CRIME MITIGATION

The broad objective of this paper is to examine forensic accounting and corporate crime mitigation in Nigeria. The study was prompted by the dearth of research work on forensic accounting and corporate crime mitigation. Descriptive statistics and percentage analysis using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 17.0) were used to analyse the responses from the various respondents. Findings from the empirical result indicate that forensic accounting could be a valuation tool in strengthening corporate governance which could help to curb the menace of corporate crime in Nigeria. The researcher made useful recommendations among which are; corporate governance mechanisms should encompass forensic accounting in addition to its composition as contained in the Code of Best Practices on Corporate Governance as issued in 2003. In addition to the introduction of forensic accounting, the auditing profession should also not be left out in this all important innovation by embracing forensic audit to actually unveil fraudulent practices in Nigeria Corporation

Drying Characteristics and Mathematical Modelling of Cassava Chips

Cassava chips with dimension 5x2x0.4cm were dried at 600C, 700C and 800C in a laboratory tunnel dryer. Kinetics of drying was investigated using Fick’s second law. Drying pattern was observed to be in the falling rate period. Non linear regression analysis was used to fit in the experimental data and the coefficient of determination was found to be greater than 0.97 for all the models. The values of R2, RMSE, MBE and reduced chi square showed that Logarithm model best described the drying behaviour of the samples. The value of activation energy was found to be 30kJ/mol Key word: cassava chips, tunnel dryer, drying, modellin

Assessing the Influence of Extension Delivery on the Perceived Effectiveness of Improved Cassava Production Technologies in Osun State, Nigeria

Extension support is essential for effective delivery of improved agricultural technologies. This study investigated the effectiveness of improved cassava production technologies and the requisite of extension delivery on it in Osun State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified the improved cassava production technologies disseminated to farmers. All the fifty extension personnel in the State Agricultural Development Project (ADP) were purposively interviewed. Data were summarized with frequency counts, percentages and means. Correlation coefficient was used for hypothesis testing. Result show that the following extension services were offered to famers in the study area: extension services, fertilizer procurement, agrochemicals, cooperative facilities, social networks, tractor hiring services, credit facilities, improved planting materials and marketing. The mean age of Extension Agents (EAs) was 44±7.11. About 84% of the Extension Agents were males while 16% were females. All the EAs had post-secondary education, while 92% of them had spent more than 10 years on the job. The mean fortnightly session training attendance was 18.22 ±8.93 over the past one year. The extension contact with farmers was low. Almost 89% of the EAs claimed to have disseminated all the cassava production technologies to farmers. Also, a positive and significant association existed between effectiveness of the improved technologies and EAs’ years of experience (r = 0.303; p<0.05) and the number of training had with farmers (r = 0.323; p<0.05). It was recommended that Extension Agents’ training and retraining programmes should be intensified so as to ensure effectiveness of improved cassava technologies

Smart Vehicular Traffic Management System using RFID Technology

Public places are often characterized with incessant traffic congestion, especially during special occasions and events, as large number of automobiles attempt to use the same parking lot concurrently. This usually result in confusion and dispute, auto crashes, waste of time and resources, and release of more carbon into the ecosystem. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology offers effective solution for distant object identification without requiring a line of sight. In this paper, the authors developed an intelligent, cost-effective, and eco-friendly park management system for scalable traffic control using RFID and Solar photovoltaic (SPV) technologies. Pre-registered and visiting vehicles are assigned tags to access designated parking lots. However, large-scale implementation of the technology for intelligent park management requires a stable power supply with no threat to our ecosystem. SPV-powered UHF RFID readers transmit vehicle information via wireless data links to a host system application at the SPV-powered central database management system for further processing. This system will ensure effective traffic control during peak periods in order to avoid crashes, save time and resources, and as well save our plane

Analysis of training needs of fish farmers in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos state, Nigeria”

In this study the level of knowledge, skill and training needs of fish farmers in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State were investigated. Eighty out of 150 fish farmers currently operating in the Fish Farm Estate, Ikorodu were randomly selected. Data were collected from the farmers with structured interview schedule and were summarised with frequency counts, percentages, mean and correlation coefficient. Result showed that the following practices were carried out by farmers: pond/vats/fibre glass/tank cleaning, water quality maintenance and management, pond fertilisation, brood stock production, spawning, fingerlings sourcing/production, disease prevention, control and management, feed formulation and production/sourcing, record keeping, fish feeding, fish processing, fish storage, fish sorting, pest and predator control, fry care, transfer and feeding, siphoning, and fish transportation. The mean age of the fish farmers were 45±13.0 years with 63.8% being males. Majority (78.8%) were married with mean family size of 4±2 .Majority (82.5%) of the farmers had more than twelve years of formal education. The mean farming experience was 8±3 years with average mean income of 1.4 million naira.58.8% and 47.5% had high level of knowledge and skill respectively. Training was needed in seven out of the seventeen practices. The major constraints to fish production are high cost of feed and lack of capital. Also, a positive and significant relationship exist between level of knowledge of the farmers and farmers’ gender, marital status, membership of cooperative society and fish farming association and primary occupation while age of the farmers had a negative but significant relationship with it. It is recommended that training by extension agents should focus the area of training needs and that credit and cost of fish feeds be subsidized

Evaluation of Indigenous Poultry Improvement Project in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State

The study assessed an indigenous poultry improvement project carried out at Irepodun LGA of Kwara State. The focal objective of the project was to facilitate traditional backyard poultry development through improved chicks’ survivability. Ten (10) indigenous backyard poultry farmers were selected based on willingness to participate in the project from Rore Village of Irepodun LGA and were trained on the rudiments of the projects and improved poultry management practices. Baseline data were collected at the onset of the project on the level of chick survivability and other parameters. Cages, feeds, medication were supplied while each farmer was to provide five laying hens. Upon hatching, the chicks were reared in cages for six weeks without the mother hen. The project was found to yield 70 – 90% chick survival up to 6 weeks of age. Bird mortality was noticed to decline considerably after 6 weeks of age when the birds are turned to scavengers. It is concluded that the innovation is result-oriented and therefore recommended for extension dissemination and farmers` trials

Helminth parasites in freshwater fish species from Jebba Lake and Bida Floodplain areas of River Niger, Nigeria

A total of 610 freshwater fish specimens comprising 7 scaly fishes (Sarotherodon, Oreochromis, Tilapia, Marcusenius and Brycinus) and 6 non-scaly catfishes (Clarias, Chrysichthys, Synodontis arid Physailia) belonging to 7 families and 9 genera, from Jebba Lake and Bida floodplain areas of River Niger, Nigeria, between June 2004 and May 2006, were sampled and examined parasitologically for helminth parasites. Nine species of 1331 helminth parasites comprising five nematodes Eustrongylides africanus, Procamallanus laeviconchus, Spironoura petrei, Cucullanus bavlisi and an unidentified species; cestodes Proteocephalus ambloplitis and Wenyonia virilis keinjii, and two trematodes Oiplostomum tragenona and Euclinosiomum heterostomum were obtained from 198 infected fishes. The distribution of the helminth parasites were 48.4%; 35.6%; 15.1 %; 0.3%; 0.2% and 0.1% respectively in the intestine; pyloric caeca (stomach); muscle; liver and gills, gut and kidney. There was statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) between the infection rate and sexes of the fish species. The examined fish population shows that the female fish species were more infected than the male. Higher infection rate, mean intensity and abundance were found in female than in males and statistically insignificant (P > 0.05).the nonscaly catfish species were more proned to helminth parasites infestation than the scaly fish species; this might be due to morphological features. The study was carried out to provide information on the types, check list and problems of helminth parasites affecting the freshwater fish species from Jebba Lake and Bida floodplain areas of River Niger, Nigeria in order to create awareness to fish handlers and/or culturists and to facilitate monitoring them when and if they occur in aquaculture

Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980�2015: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Timely assessment of the burden of HIV/AIDS is essential for policy setting and programme evaluation. In this report from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we provide national estimates of levels and trends of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and mortality for 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. Methods For countries without high-quality vital registration data, we estimated prevalence and incidence with data from antenatal care clinics and population-based seroprevalence surveys, and with assumptions by age and sex on initial CD4 distribution at infection, CD4 progression rates (probability of progression from higher to lower CD4 cell-count category), on and off antiretroviral therapy (ART) mortality, and mortality from all other causes. Our estimation strategy links the GBD 2015 assessment of all-cause mortality and estimation of incidence and prevalence so that for each draw from the uncertainty distribution all assumptions used in each step are internally consistent. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and death with GBD versions of the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) and Spectrum software originally developed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). We used an open-source version of EPP and recoded Spectrum for speed, and used updated assumptions from systematic reviews of the literature and GBD demographic data. For countries with high-quality vital registration data, we developed the cohort incidence bias adjustment model to estimate HIV incidence and prevalence largely from the number of deaths caused by HIV recorded in cause-of-death statistics. We corrected these statistics for garbage coding and HIV misclassification. Findings Global HIV incidence reached its peak in 1997, at 3·3 million new infections (95 uncertainty interval UI 3·1�3·4 million). Annual incidence has stayed relatively constant at about 2·6 million per year (range 2·5�2·8 million) since 2005, after a period of fast decline between 1997 and 2005. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been steadily increasing and reached 38·8 million (95% UI 37·6�40·4 million) in 2015. At the same time, HIV/AIDS mortality has been declining at a steady pace, from a peak of 1·8 million deaths (95% UI 1·7�1·9 million) in 2005, to 1·2 million deaths (1·1�1·3 million) in 2015. We recorded substantial heterogeneity in the levels and trends of HIV/AIDS across countries. Although many countries have experienced decreases in HIV/AIDS mortality and in annual new infections, other countries have had slowdowns or increases in rates of change in annual new infections. Interpretation Scale-up of ART and prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been one of the great successes of global health in the past two decades. However, in the past decade, progress in reducing new infections has been slow, development assistance for health devoted to HIV has stagnated, and resources for health in low-income countries have grown slowly. Achievement of the new ambitious goals for HIV enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets will be challenging, and will need continued efforts from governments and international agencies in the next 15 years to end AIDS by 2030. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY licens