Emilia Sonchifolia Extract as Green Corrosion Inhibitor for Mild Steel in Acid Medium using Weight Loss Method

The effect of naturally occurring Emilia Sonchifolia (ES) was investigated as corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 1.0M H2SO4 using gravimetric measurement at 30oC and 60oC. The extract was found to retard corrosion rate of Mild steel. The inhibition efficiency (IE %) increased with increase in concentration of the ES extract up to 74.77% at 1.0 M. Increase in temperature increased the corrosion rate in the absence and presence of inhibitor but decreased the inhibition efficiency. ES was found to obey Langmuir adsorption isotherm and Kinetic-Thermodynamic Model of        El-Awady et al. at all the concentrations and temperatures studied. Phenomenon of physical adsorption is proposed from the activation parameters obtained. Thermodynamic parameters reveal that the adsorption process is spontaneous. Keywords: Emilia sonchifolia, corrosion, inhibitors, mild steel, acid, weight los

A Modified Real-Time Fault-Tolerant Task Allocation Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

In WSNs, the sensor nodes are at risk of failure and malicious attacks (selective forwarding). This may have a profound negative effect when you consider real-time WSNs, making them challenging to deploy. When there is a delay in tasks allocation execution processes in real-time WSNs because of sensor nodes failures, this will cause disastrous consequences if the systems are safety-critical, e.g. aircraft, nuclear power plant, forest fire detection, battlefield monitoring, thus the need to developed a real-time system that is fault-tolerable. This paper developed a modified real-time fault-tolerant task allocation scheme (mRFTAS) for WSNs (wireless sensor networks), using active replication techniques. mRFTAS and RFTAS performance were compared using time of execution of the task, network lifetime and reliability cost. The mRFTAS performance showed an improvement over that of RFTAS when it comes to reducing the time it takes for task execution by 45.56% and reliability cost of 7.99% while prolonging the network lifetime by 36.35%

Evaluation of sesamum gum as an excipient in matrix tablets

In developing countries modern medicines are often beyond the affordability of the majority of the population. This is due to the reliance on expensive imported raw materials despite the abundance of natural resources which could provide an equivalent or even an improved function. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of sesamum gum (SG) extracted from the leaves of Sesamum radiatum (readily cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa) as a matrix former. Directly compressed matrix tablets were prepared from the extract and compared with similar matrices of HPMC (K4M) using theophylline as a model water soluble drug. The compaction, swelling, erosion and drug release from the matrices were studied in deionized water, 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) using USP apparatus II. The data from the swelling, erosion and drug release studies were also fitted into the respective mathematical models. Results showed that the matrices underwent a combination of swelling and erosion, with the swelling action being controlled by the rate of hydration in the medium. SG also controlled the release of theophylline similar to the HPMC and therefore may have use as an alternative excipient in regions where Sesamum radiatum can be easily cultivated

Drivers of diversification and pluriactivity among smallholder farmers—evidence from Nigeria

Diversification and pluriactivity have become a norm among farm business owners (FBOs) due to persistent low farm income. This study applies the resource-based theory to examine drivers of diversification and livelihood income-oriented towards a sustainable livelihood. Our framework develops hypotheses about the impact of internal and external resources on livelihood choices at the household level. We use a survey of 480 rural Nigerian farmers (agripreneurs), applying a Multivariate Tobit to test our framework. We find that education plays the most significant role in all types of employment options. The more FBOs are educated, the more the likelihood that they will choose non-farm or wage employment. This study revealed that while the agriculture sector’s share of rural employment is declining, non-farm is on the increase. More so, there is a decline in farming among the young generation, marital status bias and gender influence in resource allocation. The socioeconomic (income and food security) and socio-cultural (employment and rural-urban migration) implications of rural sustainability linked to UN Development Goals have been highlighted and analysed in this article

Bioremediation of Refinery Wastewater Using Immobilised Burkholderia Cepacia and Corynebacterium sp and Their Transconjugants

When oil spill occurs, it poses serious toxic hazards to all forms of life. Mixed culture of Burkholderia cepacia and Corynebacterium sp isolated from refinery sludge using selective enrichment technique was used for bioremediation of refinery wastewater in a laboratoryscale bioreactor. Physicochemical parameters of both raw and treated water were as determined and compared with Federal Environ - mental Protection Agency (FEPA-limit, Abuja, Nigeria) to asses the efficiency of the bioremediation process. Each of the bacterium was screened for the presence of plasmid DNA and for the involvement or otherwise of plasmid in the bioremediation of wastewater. The immobilised cells showed percentage decrease in chemical oxygen demand (97%), biochemical oxygen demand (94%), phenol (98%), total petroleum hydrocarbon (79%), oil and grease (90%) of the refinery waste water after 20 days of treatment while their transconjugants showed the multiplicative effect by achieving the same percentage after 10 days of treatment. Therefore, the findings revealed that bioaugmentation of wastewater using transmissible catabolic plasmid will enhance efficiency of the bioremediation by spreading the plasmid among indigenous microbial community either through horizontal gene transfer or transformation