Proximate composition and the mineral contents of soya beans (Glycine max) available in Kano State, Nigeria

Soya bean is an important source of high-quality protein and oil, as well as other nutritious substances. The higher the content of these nutritious substances in a given soya bean, the higher it’s quality. The mineral and proximate contents of the variety of soya beans available in Kano state, Nigeria, were determined using standard procedures. The percentage (%) proximate composition was found to be Moisture 8.13%, Crude Protein 39.24%, Crude Fibre 6.84%, Crude Lipid 30.31%, Ash 4.61%, and Carbohydrate 5.08%. While the average mineral contents (%) were found to be 0.003 (Na), 0.216 (K), 0.281 (Mg), 0.324 (Ca), 0.722 (P), 0.003 (Zn), 0.002 (Cu), 0.291 (Mn) and 0.018 (Fe). The result is an indication of the nutritional importance of soya beans, and thus its production and quality require to be improved.Keywords: Mineral content, Nutritional value, Proximate composition, Soya bean

Mapping the Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities on Vegetation in the Area Councils of FCT using Remote Sensing

Globally, amongst all the factors threatening the existence of landcover in the biosphere, agriculture and urbanization plays the most potent role aside from the natural factor of climate. The study examines the effect of human factors on vegetal cover and identifies the drivers of the changes within the area councils of the FCT over a period of three decades. The need to conserve limited natural resources is threaten by the effect of increased population and their continuous anthropogenic activities on this limited resource, thus the vegetation cover which represents an important natural resource for both humans and other species is lost due to reckless and unsustainable usage. Using geospatial techniques, the magnitude of human activities of development is assessed as it affects vegetation cover. The results of the analysis show a tremendous impact of anthropogenic activities as the landcover continue to deplete from 1987 – 2016. Human impacts were identified as the major driver of vegetal cover change in all area councils as it increases from 11510.89km2 to 85563.01km2 in AMAC, 765.55km2 to 82820.74km2 in Gwagwalada, 1621.73km2 to 54267km2 in Kwali, 1259.49km2 to 4985.56km2 in Abaji, 6621.80km2 to 34295.20km2 in Kuje and 15678.82km2 to 24925.94km2 in Bwari.The study recommends that continuous inventory of human impacts should be carried out to check mate the unsustainable management practices of human induced activities in the study area. It concludes that anthropogenic activities are on the rise thus measures should be taken to mitigate its effects to ensure better environmental sustainability

Riboflavin Ameliorates Cisplatin Induced Toxicities under Photoillumination

BACKGROUND: Cisplatin is an effective anticancer drug that elicits many side effects mainly due to induction of oxidative and nitrosative stresses during prolonged chemotherapy. The severity of these side effects consequently restricts its clinical use under long term treatment. Riboflavin is an essential vitamin used in various metabolic redox reactions in the form of flavin adenine dinucleotide and flavin mononucleotide. Besides, it has excellent photosensitizing property that can be used to ameliorate these toxicities in mice under photodynamic therapy. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Riboflavin, cisplatin and their combinations were given to the separate groups of mice under photoilluminated condition under specific treatment regime. Their kidney and liver were excised for comet assay and histopathological studies. Furthermore, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy of riboflavin-cisplatin combination in vitro was also conducted to investigate any possible interaction between the two compounds. Their comet assay and histopathological examination revealed that riboflavin in combination with cisplatin was able to protect the tissues from cisplatin induced toxicities and damages. Moreover, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis of the combination indicated a strong molecular interaction among their constituent groups that may be assigned for the protective effect of the combination in the treated animals. CONCLUSION: Inclusion of riboflavin diminishes cisplatin induced toxicities which may possibly make the cisplatin-riboflavin combination, an effective treatment strategy under chemoradiotherapy in pronouncing its antineoplastic activity and sensitivity towards the cancer cells as compared to cisplatin alone

Contamination of TiO2 thin films spin coated on rutile and fused silica substrates

The present work reports data for TiO2 thin films spin coated on unpolished fused silica (FS) and unpolished (001) rutile annealed at 200°, 350°, 450°, and 550 °C for 8 h in air. Characterization/testing consisted of glancing-angle X-ray diffraction, laser Raman microspectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV–Vis spectrophotometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, and methylene blue (MB) photodegradation. The recrystallization depended on the type of substrate, where FS substrates yielded Si-contaminated anatase films of limited crystallinity (amorphous at 200 °C) and thickness ~160–200 nm while the rutile substrates resulted in well crystallized epitaxial films of ~200–300 nm thickness. The Si grain boundary diffusion coefficients were 4.59 x 10−19 m2s (200 °C) and 5.00 x 10−19 m2s (550 °C). This diffusion mechanism was supported by the XPS data before and after MB aqueous solution testing, which suggested that Si contamination was on the grain boundaries and was leached during testing. The thickness of all films increased slightly as the annealing temperature increased, which resulted from grain rearrangement and growth. The optical transmissions of all films were low and the reflectances higher, which resulted from the roughness and unevenness of the films. The optical indirect band gaps (Eg) from transmission and reflectance spectrophotometries decreased for the anatase films but increased for the rutile films with increasing annealing temperature. These trends reflect the dominance of competing mechanisms, where recrystallization and Eg decrease are dominant for anatase but void formation and Eg increase are dominant for rutile. The photocatalytic performances of the anatase films were superior to those of the rutile films. The performances corresponded to the annealing temperatures and so were linked directly to the crystallinity and, to a lesser extent, the surface area (reflected by the roughness and unevenness) since the other factors examined were inconsistent with the performance data

Contamination of TiO2 thin films spin coated on rutile and soda-lime-silica substrates

Anatase thin films spin coated on soda–lime–silica (SLS) glass and unpolished (001) rutile were annealed at 200–550 ⁰C for 8 h, followed by GAXRD, Raman, XPS, SIMS, AFM, TEM, UV–Vis, ellipsometry, and MB dye degradation. Films on SLS substrates annealed at 200–350 ⁰C were amorphous but those annealed at 450⁰–550 ⁰C consisted of anatase; the rutile substrates gave epitaxial rutile films. Annealing caused diffusion of glass ions into the films and counterdiffusion of Ti into the glass substrates. The decrease in glass ion concentrations during aqueous MB testing shows that grain boundary diffusion occurred. The AFM, TEM, and UV–Vis data were affected by the substrate topographies, where SLS was smooth and rutile was rough/uneven. Decreasing Eg in the anatase films with increasing annealing temperature was attributed to increasing crystallinity (heterogeneous nucleation) while the same effect in the rutile films was attributed to the substrate topography (homogeneous nucleation). The anatase films photocatalytically outperformed the rutile films; this was attributed to the potential to form midgap states from oxygen vacancy formation and/or Ti vacancy formation (deriving from the Ti counter-diffusion). However, the deep energy levels of these defects suggest that the performance is dominated by the crystallinity and blockage of the active sites

Contamination of TiO2 thin films spin coated on borosilicate and rutile substrates

The present work reports data for TiO2 thin films on borosilicate glass and (001) single-crystal TiO2, annealed at 200–550 °C for 8 h. Characterization included GAXRD, laser Raman microspectroscopy, AFM, UV–Vis, XPS, SIMS, TEM, ellipsometry, and methylene blue (MB) dye degradation. The substrate determined the TiO2 polymorph that formed, while the annealing temperature and boron contamination from the substrate determined most of the associated properties. The films on glass substrates were amorphous following annealing at 200 °C but were anatase at higher temperatures. The films on rutile exhibited epitaxial growth at all annealing temperatures. Annealing caused diffusion of glass component elements into the films and counterdiffusion of Ti into the glass substrates. Since aqueous MB testing caused decreased glass ion concentrations, the diffusion mechanism is via the grain boundaries. Volatilization of boron occurred during annealing at 550 °C. The morphological features dominated the optical properties; the anatase films exhibited high transmissions and low reflectances, while the rutile films exhibited the converse. The band gap decreased slightly with increasing annealing temperatures, reflecting increasing crystallinity. The refractive indices showed an anomalous trend of decrease with increasing annealing temperature and associated crystallinity; this is attributed to the effects of boron volatilization and associated air-filled pore formation. Although the anatase films outperformed the rutile films, the effect of annealing temperature is likely to have been dominant in that it determined the relative extents of crystallinity, grain size, RMS roughness, optical indirect band gap, and oxygen vacancy concentration

Study of structure morphology and layer thickness of Ti3C2 MXene with Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)

MXene is a class of 2D materials exfoliated from ternary carbide and nitride ceramics. During synthesis, etching and delamination conditions affect the quality, overall crystallinity, defects and surface functionalization of MXene flakes. In this article, the morphological structure of MXene (Ti3C2) nanosheets under temperature between 20 °C and 60 °C were investigated with the application of Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) combined with several complementary techniques, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The SANS analysis enabled structural information to be obtained about the Ti3C2 nanosheets, which consists of layers of transition metal carbides in a multilayer lamella morphology. The results showed that a single Ti3C2 layer is approximately 11.4 – 11.8 Å (1.14 – 1.18 nm) in thickness with a 20.3 – 21.5 Å (2.03 – 2.15 nm) interstacking layer gaps. This results in a total thickness of approximately 32 Å (3.2 nm), which was consistent with the model-dependent lamella model analysis. Furthermore, the thickness of the Ti3C2 layer increased by approximately ~2 Å (0.2 nm) when the temperature increased from 20 - 40 to 50 - 60 °C

Constitutionalism and customary laws in Solomon Islands

Constitutionalism in Solomon Islands is dominated by the written Constitution, which imports a Westminster system and the common law tradition. However, as in other jurisdictions where customary communities are strong, constitutionalism involves more than state institutions and mechanisms. At independence, Solomon Islands proclaimed an allegiance to custom in its Constitution. As a consequence of this, and its colonial history, it has a plural legal system wherein State laws co-exist with customary laws. In this context, the challenge for the idea of constitutionalism may come not only from international developments, but also from the domestic sphere. This Chapter argues that, rather than being challenged by limits imposed at an international or supranational level, governmental power is being challenged by local initiatives designed to promote the authority of traditional leaders and the customary laws which they promulgate. It commences with some background on Solomon Islands and an overview of its systems of law and government to give context to the discussion. It then proceeds to explore the balance of relations in different spheres of positive law, both generally and in respect of judicial review, freedom of contract, and the hierarchy of norms. Discussion then moves to the dynamics of the relationship between different aspects of positive law. The place of international law in Solomon Islands, the approach of legal actors, resolution of conflicts and transconstitutional dialogue, and evolution of approach to constitutionalism and conflicting norms are considered. The last part of the chapter comments on the failure of legal reasoning and jurisprudence to evolve