bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Gender participation in non-farm employment in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Authors: Onya S.C. , Amah-Jerry E.P. , Iheke O.R. 
Published: August 2020

This study examined gender participation in non-farm employment in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study used primary data collected from 149 respondents selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and double hurdle model. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that female household heads were younger (38.3 years) than the male (44.4 years), the male had more years ofeducation, spent more time in work than the female; and also the male farm income were more than that of the female, while the female non-labour income were higher than that of the male. Also, the females were more involved in tree cropping and livestock-keeping than their male counterparts, while on the non-farm activities, the female were more into these practices than the male. The result of the double hurdle estimation showed that age, marital status, years spent in school, household size, number of dependent, farm size, non-labour income, and distance to the market significantly influenced the participation decision of both male and female headed households in non-farm employment; while age, marital status, years spent in school, household size, number of dependent, farm size, non-labour income, distance to the market, and distance to the urban centre significantly influenced the hours of work decision of male and female headed households in non-farm employment in the study area. The study recommends policy measures that will improve the skills and educational level of the farmers especially the female as it will go a long way in reducing the number of unskilled labours while increasing the number of skilled labour of the people in the study area.
Key words: gender, participation decision, hours of work decision, non-farm employment
Socio-economic determinants of home gardening practices among households in University Of Nigeria community: Heckman double stage selection approach
Authors: Adeosun K.P. , Nnaji A.P. , Onyekigwe C.M. 
Published: August 2020

The study identified different food crops, fruits and vegetables found around homes, constraints of home garden practice, and also socio-economic factors influencing home garden contribution to household’s food consumption. Primary data were collected for the study. Two-stage random sampling procedure was used to select80 respondents for the study. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and Heckman sample selection model. The result shows that different food crops, fruits and vegetables that are majorly planted by most respondents include maize (82.5%), mango (50.0%) and fluted pumpkin leaf (81.2%) which are used for different purposes such as food, medicine and ornaments. The result from the Heckman two-stage analysis shows that in the first stage marital status (-1.7912) and female household size (0.3748) are statistically significant at 1% probability level, while income (4.6e-06) was statistically significant at 5% probability level on the home gardening practice. In the second stage, experience in home gardening (1.1089) was statistically significant at 1% probability level on contributions of home gardening to household’s food consumption. The study revealed that home garden practices was constrained by factors such as high cost of inputs, inadequate access to water, pest and diseases etc. The government and concerned agencies such as NGOs should provide and subsidize these promptly to households as incentives to increase their home garden practices. The study recommends there should be institutionalization of those socioeconomic factors that promote home gardening practice.
Key words: home-gardening, food consumption, Heckman-model
Serum metabolites of broilers fed graded levels of beniseed (<I>Sesamum indicum L.</I>) waste meal in place of maize (<I>Zea mays linn</I>)
Authors: Olajide R. , Oyewumi O.O. 
Published: August 2020

A 56-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary replacement of maize with beniseed waste meal (BSW) on the carcass characteristics, organs weights, hematological and serum biochemical indices of broiler chicken. A total of 180 days old Marshal broiler chicks were randomly allotted to six treatments, each having three replicates of ten birds per replicate. Six experimental diets were formulated as follows; D1 (100% Maize: 0% BSW), D2 (80% Maize: 20% BSW), D3 (60% Maize: 40% BSW), D4 (40% Maize: 60% BSW), D5 (20% Maize: 80% BSW) and D6 (0% Maize: 100% BSW) for both broiler starters and finishers. The live weight, eviscerated weight, dressed weight, neck, thigh, wings and lower back weights were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. The highest percentage dressed weight (63.52) obtained in D3 (40% BSW) was significantly (P < 0.05) different from 60.87 (0% BSW), 61.68 (20% BSW) 60.00 (60% BSW), 55.18 (80% BSW) and 56.52 (100% BSW). The organs (lungs, liver, kidney, intestine, gizzard and proventriculus) monitored were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. Heart, pancreas and spleen were similar among the treatments. The serum biochemistry and haematological parameters measured were not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. It was concluded that maize could be safely replaced with beniseed waste meal up to 100% level (55% BSW) in broilers diets.
Key words: beniseed waste meal, maize, broilers, barcass, health status
Association between Biogas Quality and Digester Temperature for Selected Animal Dung-Aided Water Hyacinth Digestion Mixes
Authors: Ojo O.M. , Babatola J.O. 
Published: August 2020

In this study, the association between biogas qulaity and digester temperature for selected animal dung-aided water hyacinth digestion mixes was evaluated. Substrates utilized in this study are water hyacinth (WH), poultry manure (PM) and cow dung (CD) and pig dung (PD). Thirty-one (31) co-digestion mix ratios were used in this study. The temperature ranged from 28.6 to 32.2 0C for the PD-aided WH digestion, 28.2 to 31.4 0C for the CD-aided WH digestion and 28.2 to 31.8 0C for the PM-aided WH digestion. This shows that the digestion process occurred within the mesophilic temperature range. The data obtained were analyzed using non-linear parameter estimation. The results revealed that the PM-aided WH mix produced more gas but with less methane content compared to the CDaided and PD-aided WH digestion mix. The results further revealed that the best quality of gas produced by the PD-aided WH digestion. The association between the temperature and gas quality was positive suggesting that an increase in temperature within the digestion leads to an increase in the quality of gas produced.
Keywords: Biogas quality, temperature, co-digestion, animal dung, water hyacinth
Diversity of Bacteria and Fungi Associated with Freshwater Fishes from Mijawal River, Nasarawa, Nigeria
Authors: Adamu K.M. , Muhammad H. , Ahmad S.U. , Ahmad M.M. , Yakubu A.M. 
Published: August 2020

Understudying the presence of bacteria and fungi population on freshwater fishes, provides the knowledge and understanding of their diversity and potential roles they may play in the health of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The present study was conducted to evaluate the diversity of bacteria and fungi species of identified fish samples from River Mijawal, Nasarawa State. The fishes were sampled from the only landing for three months (October to December, 2019) for this study. During the sampling periods, thirteen (13) different fish species were identified; they were swabbed with sterilized swab stick from the skin surface for bacteria and fungi identification. The Dominant fish species were Tilapia zillii, Labeo senegalensis, Mormyrus rume and Mormyrus tapines. The total number of thirteen (13) bacterial and five (5) fungi species were isolated and identified. Eight (8) of the bacteria isolates, were gram negative bacteria (Pseudomonas sp, Aeromonas sp, Serratia mercescenes, Proteus sp, Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp, and Enterobacter sp.); whilst the other five (5) were gram positive bacteria (Bacillus sp, Micrococcus sp, Staphylococcus sp, Enterococcus sp and Listeria monocytogenes).The five isolated fungi species were Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus sp, Penicillium sp, Trichoderma viridae and Geotrichum candidum. The frequency of occurrence of the isolated bacteria indicated that Staphylococcus sp had the highest frequency of occurrence (16.67%) while Serratia mercescens had the least occurrence (2.78%). The highest number of occurrence of the isolated fungi species was observed in Rhizopus sp while the least was recorded in Geotricum candidum. It was observed that Tilapia zillii and Mormyrus rume had the most frequent bacteria and fungi isolates. It can therefore be deduced from the results that fish samples identified from River Mijawal has high bacteria and fungi diversity that may be pathogenic to man. The occurrence of these microbes may be attributed of human and animal faeces in the River
Keywords: Freshwater fishes, Microbes, River Mijawal, Nasarawa
Construction of Mass Balances of Cocaine in Batch Studies for the Sewage Treatment Works
Authors: Mustapha A.O. , Adeyemi D.A. 
Published: August 2020

The desired approach at safeguarding the environment both in control and effective monitoring of chemical discharges is the use of mass balances to account for inflow/outflow of pollutants. Whereas the previous studies were based on several assumptions, the batch studies enabled the construction of mass balances for the Sewage Treatment Work (STWs) using the removal rate data. This study, for the first time measures the rates of removal of cocaine in an STW, and the calculated mass balances were obtained from the removal rate data that were generated. The result of cocaine initial influent of 50 mg L-1 after after 2 hour hydraulic retention times (HRT) produced the final effluents of 110 mg L-1. Projected influent concentrations of cocaine (14, 471 ng L-1) were derived from back-calculation from final effluent concentrations. A useful tool that accounts for the mass-flow of trace drugs in the aquatic environment with minimal errors often due to sampling logistics and desludging process has been provided in this model of mass balance calculations in STWs.
Keywords: removal rate, effluent, influent, mass balance, sewage treatment work, cocaine
Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Aluminium Silicon Carbide Composite Materials
Authors: Ekpu M. 
Published: August 2020

In recent years, composite materials have dominated the electronics industries and other manufacturing industries. Hence, composite materials like aluminium silicon carbide (AlSiC), has been employed to produce heat sinks, which are used mainly to manage heat in electronic devices. However, thermal fatigue of such composite material is a major challenge in maintaining reliability of the device. This paper investigates the thermomechanical effect of AlSiC composite materials. Finite element method (FEM) was used in the analyses of the composite materials based on the particulate inclusions between 10 – 50% compositions. The thermal profile (-40oC to 85oC) employed in this study is used commercially for consumer products. The fatigue life of the composite material which is based on the stresses and strains parameters were obtained and evaluated. The results from this investigation suggests that the deformations, strains, and stresses reduced with increase in the percentage of particulate inclusions. Also, the fatigue life of the composite material showed that the reliability of the material is increased with higher inclusions. This investigation demonstrated that 50% particulate inclusions has a better number of cycles to fatigue failure (5.09E+04) when compare to other inclusions. While 10% inclusions has the least fatigue life (4.39E+04) based on this investigation.
Keywords: composite material; temperature profile; silicon carbide; thermal fatigue
Well Water Quality Assessment: A Case of Gaba and Zuma Communities, Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria
Authors: Ezeh C.C. , Udourioh G.A. , Echoke J.C. , Matthews-Amune O.C. 
Published: August 2020

The sixth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underscores the need for clean, accessible water and good sanitation for all as an essential part of the world we live in. However, water scarcity still affects more than 30% of the world’s population. Many communities, especially in Africa, have resorted to substandard and cheaper sources of water for consumption, and hand dug well is one of them. In this study, the physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological assessment of well water samples from Gaba 1, Gaba 11 and Zuma 11 communities in Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria were carried out as a case study to determine the quality of well water. The American Public Health Association (APHA) standard analytical methods were adopted and results were compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ). From the results obtained for the physicochemical parameters, turbidity and colour did not meet up with the WHO and NSDWQ standard. Colour ranged from 330±20PtCo to 57.60±14.50PtCo as against 15PtCo by WHO and NSDWQ, turbidity ranged from 45.2±0.2NTU to 7.19±0.4NTU as against 5NTU by WHO and NSDWQ. Other physicochemical parameters were within WHO and NSDWQ limit. The bacteriological and biochemical results showed the presence of E-coli and other coliforms in all the samples. The total coliforms count for all the wells ranged from 1.55x102 to 1.775x102 CFU/ml, indicating a noncompliance to the zero count per 100ml by WHO. Well water from these communities pose a great health risk to the consumers.
Keywords: Well water, Quality assessment, Physicochemical parameters, Microbiological, WHO.
Biodegradation of Hydrocarbons by <i>Bacillus cereus</i> Isolated from Indoor and Outdoor Air of Selected Hospitals in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria
Authors: Adetitun D.O. , Tomilayo R.B. , Oguntoye M.B. , Raheem A.A. 
Published: August 2020

Indoor and outdoor air of five (5) hospitals in Ilorin, Kwara state were sampled using settling plate method to isolate fifteen (15) bacteria. Bacillus cereus was the identified spore former. Biodegradation performance of Bacillus cereus on hexadecane and heptane using Mineral Salts Medium (MSM) was studied for 20 days at four days interval using the Jenway 6320D Spectrophotometer to assess the optical density. The degradation and utilization of the hydrocarbons occurred before the fourth day with readings for optical density obtained as 1.051nm and 0.820nm for hexadecane and heptane respectively. After day 4, there was a sharp decline in the utilization of hydrocarbons. A second experiment was setup for optical density with heptane and decane utilization being checked daily for a period of 5days. Bacillus cereus utilized the hydrocarbons till the fourth day as the optical density dropped on the fifth day. The readings for decane obtained on day 4 and day 5 were 0.431nm and 0.338nm respectively. Also, there was a decline in the readings of heptane from 0.451nm obtained on day 4 to 0.343nm obtained on day 5. This study shows that Bacillus cereus is promising in the biodegradation of alkanes and can also be utilized to clean up pollution from petroleum spill which is becoming a prevalent ecological hazard.
Keywords: Air, Bacillus cereus, Biodegradation, Hospitals, Hydrocarbons
Effect of Processing Techniques on the Degradability Characteristics of Acacia <i>Acacia hockii</i>) Leaf
Authors: Aruwayo A. , Shehu T.M. , Adeleke R.A. , Salisu U.S. , Jamilu Y.R. 
Published: August 2020

This experiment was conducted at the Federal University Dutsin-ma Livestock Teaching and Research Farm in Dutsin-ma Local Government area of Katsina State, Nigeria. The study was meant to ascertain the effect of processing techniques on crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradation characteristics of three differently processed Acacia hockii leaf meal (ensiled (T1), sun dried (T2) and fresh (T30) incubated in the rumen of five rams at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48hrs. Acacia hockii leaves were collected from Dutsin-ma town and used in the experiment as as fresh leaves, sun-dried and ensiled. Five rams with average live weight of 20kg were fistulated and used as replicates in a completely randomized design (CRD). They were fed with groundnut haulms, maize offal and cowpea husk in ad libitum at a ratio of 70%:30% respectively along with other management practices. The results of the rumen degradation characteristics showed that there was a significant (p<0.05) difference in the soluble fraction of crude protein, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre degradation among the treatments. There was also a significance (p<0.05) difference between the outflow rates of effective crude protein digestibility, effective acid detergent digestibility and effective neutral detergent digestibility. It was concluded from the study that ensiling and drying methods of processing reduces the ant-nutritional factors and the consequent better degradability of T1 and T2. However, the results of the study also revealed that ensiling is more effective than drying hence the better degradability recorded of crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and the effective passage rate.
Keyword: Digestibility, degradability, ensile, leaf
A Comparative Evaluation of Fast Dissolving Tablets of Acetaminophen Using Super-disintegrant Blends and Sublimation Method
Authors: Eraga S.O. , Okolo C.M. , Odionyenma B.U. , Mbadugha C.E. , Iwuagwu M.A. 
Published: August 2020

Fast disintegrating tablets (FDTs) are gaining prominence as drug delivery systems and emerging as one of the popular and widely accepted dosage forms, especially for the peadiatric and geriatric patients. This study aims to evaluate and compare the tablet properties of fast disintegrating tablets of acetaminophen prepared by super-disintegrant blends and sublimation methods. Two groups of tablets comprising various batches were prepared by wet granulation. Granules batches of one group of tablets (A-G) were prepared with different concentrations of sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium while the other group of tablets (H-N) were incorporated with varying concentrations of menthol into the batches. The granules were subjected to analysis and compressed into tablets. The post-compression parameters of the tablets such as weight uniformity, crushing strength, friability, wetting and disintegration times, as well as dissolution studies were evaluated. Drug-excipient compatibility studies using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was also carried out. Granules were fair to good in flow with Carr’s indices ≤ 20.14 and angles of repose ranging from 21.34 to 35.00°. Tablets crushing strength values were between 3.44 to 8.26 kp while their friability values were < 1.52%. They showed wetting and disintegration times that were ≥ 0.18 and ≥ 0.25 min. Dissolution studies showed that four batches of tablets (two from each method used in formulation) achieved 100% drug release within 30 min. FTIR analysis shows no interactions between acetaminophen and excipients used in formulation. Tablets from both methods were comparable in their tablet properties but the disintegrant blend tablets exhibited superior crushing strengths, hence formed harder tablets, while the sublimation method tablets were superior in their wetting and disintegration times.
Keywords: acetaminophen, super-disintegrants, sublimation, tablet parameters
Analytical comparison of the phytochemical composition and antioxdant actvity of methanol extracts derived from <I>Alchornia cordifolia</I> and <I>Corchorus olitorius</I>
Authors: Ikponmwosa-Eweka Omorede , Austin Eromosele I. , Eluehike Nkeiruka , Orumwensodia Kissinger Obasogie 
Published: August 2020

Oxidative stress is an underlying pathological state in cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Medicinal plants are considered to be potential remedies for attenuating oxidative stress in these pathologies because they possess antioxidants. Thus, the quantity and activity of antioxidants in Alchornia cordifolia and Corchorus olitorius methanol leave extracts were evaluated in this study using phytochemical screening, 1,1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)free radical-scavenging ability, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and reducing power assays. Qualitative phytochemical analysis showed that the two plant extracts had alkaloids, saponins, reducing sugar, terpenoids, flavonoids and tannins. While the quantitative phytochemical test revealed a greater presence of total flavonoids and proanthocyanidins (p<0.05) in Corchorus olitorius methanol extract compared to A. cordifolia methanol extract. Contrastingly, the quantities of total tannins and phenols were higher in Alchornia cordifolia methanol extract than in Corhorus olitorius extract. The capacity of Alchornia cordifolia to mop up DPPH (IC50= 0.01μg/mL) was greater than that of ascorbic acid (IC50= 0.055μg/mL) and C. olitorius extract (IC50= 33.10μg/mL) respectively. Ferric reducing potential of C. olitorius (479.80μM Fe(II)/g and A. cordifolia methanol extracts(510 μM Fe(II)/g) were significantly lower (p<0.05) than what was obtained for ascorbic acid (1005μM Fe(II)/g). A. cordifolia methanol extract demonstrated higher reducing power than C. olitorius methanol extract at identical concentrations. Our findings indicated that Alchornia cordifolia could be used as a rich source of antioxidants to alleviate oxidative stress underlying many chronic diseases.
Keywords: Alchornia cordifolia, Corchorus olitorius, phytochemicals, antioxidants