Formulation and Environmental Impact Evaluation of Walnut and Soya Bean Oil Based Drilling Fluid

One of the oil and gas hazard that associated with drilling operation is oil based drilling fluid and its associated cutting disposition. It is highly imperative for policy maker to propagate the use of environmental friendly oil based mud for drilling operation. This paper formulated environmentally friendly oil based mud (using walnut and soya bean plant oil) that can carry out the same function as convectional oil based drilling fluid and equally meeting up with the HSE (Health, safety and environment) standard. Mud laboratory tests were carried out at standard condition on plant oil samples so as to ascertain the rheological properties of the drilling fluid formulations. The synthetic oil based was obtained from drilling company in Nigeria and was used as control experiment. At the end of the experiment, the properties of the walnut and soya beans based mud wascompared with industry oil based mud (synthetic oil based mud). All the results were shown to be similar to that of commercial synthetic oil based drilling mud which was gotten from the industry.From the results it can be seen that walnut and soya beans based mud actually gives a less toxic,better rheological properties, requires less waste disposal costs, hence making them more economically and technically viable for oil and gas drilling operation

Investigating the Possible Threats from Vegetal Cover Removal and Open Dumpsite to Groundwater Quality

This study investigated the possible groundwater quality threats from excessive removal of vegetation due to urban growth in an open dumpsite in Waterloo, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana. 15 water samples were collected from five (5) functional Hand-dug wells at increasing distance from the dumpsite. The samples were assessed for some physico-chemical parameters. Descriptive statistics were applied to investigate the quality of groundwater samples from the Hand-dug wells. The groundwater was slightly acidic. Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Coliform count were high for the groundwater samples but total dissolved solids (TDS) were within the permissible limits of Ghana Ministry of Water Resources (GMWR) and WHO. Analysed parameters such as Ca2+, Na+, Cl- and Cu conformed to the prescribed limits of GMWR and WHO for drinking water while Pb was above the permissible limits of both.  Fe2+ conformed to the limit by GMWR but was above WHO. Cd was above the permissible limit of GMWR but fell within that of WHO. Urban growth effects investigated through the use of Landsat images of 1986, 2000, 2006 and 2011 with the aid of ArcGIS 10.5 and ENVI 4.7 revealed that the study area, within these years, drastically reduced in forest cover due to the increase in built-up and has the tendency to cause contamination to groundwater in the area

Determinants of utilisation of traditional birth attendant services by pregnant women in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Background: This study was designed to assess the determinants of utilization of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) services by pregnant women in different communities in Ogbomoso, Nigeria.Methods: This was a community- based cross-sectional study. Fisher's formula was used to calculate the sample size and a total of 270 eligible pregnant women were enrolled for the study using multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20 and results were presented in frequencies and percentages.Results: Factors found to have a significant influence on the utilization of TBA services in this study include: low educational status (p <0.001), lower socioeconomic status (p <0.001), and compassionate care given by the TBAs (p=0.004). Other factors include service proximity and lower cost of TBA services.Conclusions: The impact of TBAs and their services cannot be overemphasized in the present state of maternal and child health in Nigeria.  Lower educational status among others has been found to be a strong predictor of utilization of TBA services. There is, therefore, the need to improve the educational and socioeconomic status of women in order to allow them to access quality health care services that will safeguard their well-being. Inculcating compassionate care into orthodox healthcare delivery will go a long way to improve patronage and discourage TBA utilization

Digitization of Library Collection in Nigerian University Libraries: University of Ilorin Library Experience

The aim of this paper is to discuss the difficulties that the University of Ilorin library encountered in its digitization project and how these difficulties were handled to ensure a robust digitization outfit. The idea is to alert Nigerian Libraries which are yet to embark on digitization on some of the problems or challenges that they are likely to encounter in planning and implementing a digitization project. Admittedly, some of the problems may be unique to University of Ilorin Library but it can be said with a fair degree of accuracy that some of the problems the University of Ilorin Library encountered are general at the planning and the implementation stages. In this paper, the conception, the planning and the implementation stages of the project will be discussed. Problems will be highlighted and suggestions will be made for an effective and efficient digital service delivery

Inhibitory Action of Nicotiana tabacum Extracts on the Corrosion of Mild Steel in HCl: Adsorption and Thermodynamics Study

The toxic effects of synthetic corrosion inhibitors have led to the search for naturally occurring substances which are not only readily available but are also environmentally friendly. Therefore, this study investigates the inhibition efficacy of acid extract of Nicotiana tabacum leaves on mild steel in 1M HCl using weight loss method. Experiments are performed by varying immersion period, concentration of the inhibitor and temperature. The inhibition efficiency is markedly higher on the addition of Nicotiana tabacum leaves extract in acidic medium compared with those in the absence of inhibitor. The inhibition efficiency increased with an increase in inhibitor concentration but decreased with rise in temperature and exposure time. Thermodynamic studies revealed that corrosion inhibition may be due to the spontaneous physical adsorption of the plant constituents on the surface of mild steel. Experimental data fitted with the Langmuir and Temkin adsorption isotherms. Kinetic treatment of the data followed a first order reaction. Calculated half-lives increase as the concentration of the extracts increases suggesting that inhibition efficiency increases with increase in the concentration of the extracts.Preliminary investigation of the phytochemical constituents showed that Nicotiana tabacum contains tannin,flavonoid, terpenoid and some other compounds in trace constituents. [Olasehinde, EF, Olusegun, SJ, Adesina, AS, Omogbehin, SA, Momoh-Yahayah, H. Inhibitory Action of Nicotiana tabacum Extracts on the Corrosion of Mild Steel in HCl: Adsorption and Thermodynamics Stud

Livelihood Diversification among Arable Farm Households in the Forest Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed the livelihood diversification strategies among the arable farm households in the forest zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. A 3-stage random sampling technique was used to select a total of 160 arable farm households around some selected forest reserves for the study. A well-structured questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The analytical tools employed were descriptive statistics, livelihood index, and logistic regression model. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were male (57.5%), educated (81.2%), married (71.9%), and had a household size of about 7 members. Non timber forest products (NTFP) gathering (39.38%) was the most preferred livelihood diversification strategy followed by transportation business (16.88%), petty trading (13.75%), artisanal work (12.5%), firewood sales (6.25%), wage employed (4.38%), charcoal production (3.75%), timber sales (1.88%), and hunting (1.25%) in that order respectively. The forest-related livelihoods accounted for 52.5% of the predominant livelihood strategies, whereas, non-forest-related livelihoods accounted for 47.5%. The significant predictors of the probability of engaging in forest-related strategies include; primary education, and secondary education (10% each); tertiary education, and household size (1% each), and age of household head (5%). The study recommends the intensification of local capacities of the farmers such as access to education and training facilities to enable them access and process information, and credit to enhance their livelihood and minimize forest dependence

Effect of some nitrogen sources of growth medium on

Penicillium solitum and Aspergillus rubrum isolated from deteriorated yam (Dioscorea alata) using potato dextrose agar grew and sporulated at 25oC. They expresse

On the Performance of Dirichlet Prior Mixture of Generalized Linear Mixed Models for Zero Truncated Count Data

In this study, the performance of Dirichlet Process Mixture of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (DPMGLMMs) was examined against some competing models for fitting zero-truncated count data. The Bayesian models such as Monte Carlo Markov Chain GLMMs, Bayesian Discrete Weibull and the frequentists models such as Zero truncated Poisson, Zero truncated Binomial and Zero truncated Geometric models were compared with the proposed DPMGLMMs model. Simulation and life count data from health domain was used to compare the performance of DPMGLMM with the Bayesian and frequentist models considered in this study. The results showed that the DPMGLMM outperformed other models considered for fitting count data that is truncated at zero

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ROOT BISECTION COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF ROOTS OF NON-LINEAR EQUATIONS USING JAVA

Advancement in programming and language development has made possible improved efficiency and accuracy in solving numerical problems and hence the numerical computation of physical problems as used in Computational Physics. Hitherto, languages such as Basic, Fortran, C, among others, have commonly been employed in solving numerical problems. In this work, Java, a modern object oriented language was deployed in solving some physical problems, specifically, determination of roots of non-linear equations using the Root-Bisection Method. A comparison between results obtained showed faster convergence and greater accuracy using Java than as obtained using Fortran. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp

Randomised Trial of Oral Misoprostol Versus Manual Vacuum Aspiration for the Treatment of Incomplete Abortion at a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of oral misoprostol with manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) in first trimester incomplete abortions. Methods: This randomised controlled trial study was conducted at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria between April 2014 and November 2015. Pregnant women who presented with clinical features of incomplete abortion at a gestational age of 13 weeks or less were included. Patients who had profuse vaginal bleeding, an intrauterine device in situ, signs of pelvic infections or who were younger than 18 years old and had no accompanying adults to give informed consent were excluded. A total of 200 participants were randomly and equally allocated to either the MVA or misoprostol treatment group. The treatment group were given 600 μg of misoprostol orally. The primary outcome measure was complete uterine evacuation, while secondary outcome measures included the need for additional surgical evacuation for failed treatment, adverse effects/complications, acceptability of and satisfaction with the treatment. Results: Both misoprostol and MVA had high complete evacuation rates, yet MVA was significantly higher (99% versus 83%, relative risk [RR]: 0.84, confidence interval [CI]: 0.766–0.918; P <0.001). Significantly more women in the misoprostol group required additional MVA for failed treatment than in the MVA treatment group (17% versus 1%, RR: 16.67, CI: 2.260–12.279; P <0.001). No significant difference was found between the misoprostol and MVA treatment groups in terms of satisfaction (92.7% versus 89.8%, RR: 1.04, CI: 0.946–1.127; P = 0.473). Conclusion: Treatments with misoprostol and MVA had high complete uterine evacuation rates, as well as high rates of acceptability and satisfaction. However, MVA had a significantly higher complete evacuation rate than misoprostol. Keywords: Misoprostol; Abortion Techniques; First Trimester; Incomplete Abortion; Nigeria