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DEVELOPMENT OF A MANUALLY OPERATED CASSAVA HARVESTER USING HYDRAULIC MEDIUM
Get PDFCassava harvesting in Nigeria is still a major challenge to many small scale farmers who utilize basic tools and implements in its cultivation. Manual cassava harvesting is difficult and full of drudgery especially during the dry seasons when the soil moisture content is low. The mechanized alternatives are way beyond the reach of resource poor farmers. This research study developed a low cost manually powered harvesting device using a hydraulic ram and plunger system. The major components of the harvester include the base frame, the support stand, lifting arm, lifting medium and the clamp. Some of the design considerations include ease of reproducibility and ability to lift the cassava with minimal damage. The hydraulic power source capable of lifting 5ton of weight was adopted with a human effort of 50N (5 kg). Preliminary evaluation of the device on 20 stands of randomly selected mature cassava stands at 63% soil moisture content recorded a minimum time of 13 seconds and a maximum time of 35 seconds respectively while there was no damage recorded on the tubers and stem girth during the harvsesting procedure as the gradually applied load enusred minimal disturbance was casued to the soil 
EFFECT OF Syzigium guineense STEM BARK EXTRACT ON Entamoeba histolytica INDUCED AMOEBIC ABSCESS IN THE LIVER OF SWISS MICE
Get PDFThe effects of ethanolic stem bark extracts of Syzigium guineense on trophozoites of Entamoeba histolytica in the liver of swiss mice was studied in an acute toxicological trial. Amoebiasis was induced by injection of E.histolytica trophozoites into the caecum and monitored for 7 days after inoculation. Successfully infected mice were divided into 5 groups and treated for 7 days. Group 1 was treated with 2mg/kg/day normal saline (negative control), groups 2, 3, 4 were treated with oral doses of S. guineense of 1000, 500 and 250 mg/kg/day respectively. Group 5 was treated with an oral dose of metronidazole (positive control) 15mg/kg/day. Mice were sacrificed on the 8th day and dissected to remove the liver for histological preparation and examination. Weight measurement revealed significant reduction (p<0.05) in all groups while the median lethal dose (LD50) of the extract was obtained to be 2828.43mg/kg. Histological investigations showed inflammation of hepatocyte cells and early signs of necrosi
CONSTRUCTED WETLAND SYSTEMS VEGETATED WITH DIFFERENT MACROPHYTES IN THE TREATMENT OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER EFFLUENT
Get PDFWastewater effluents generated from the soft drink industry contain pollutants which are higher than what is acceptable for the discharge in the water bodies in Nigeria. This result in environmental unbalance which causes adverse health issues. In this study, the performance of two macrophytes (Phragmites karkaa and Typha domingensis) in a sub-surface vertical flow constructed wetland was investigated. One hundred litres of wastewater effluent obtained from an Industry (Seven Up Bottling company in Ibadan, Nigeria) was appliedto the systems and the properties of the waste water effluent as well as the performance of the treatment tankswith respect to parameters such as; pH; TDS; TSS; DO; BOD5; turbidity; nitrate and phosphate were evaluated.The treatment performance of the systems was evaluated for a retention period of 6, 12 and 18 days. It wasobserved that parameters such as pH, BOD5; and TSS did not conform to the acceptable limits; they had valuesgreater than those prescribed in the standards for discharge. The value for BOD5 was 652 mg/l and after sixdays retention in the vegetated tanks had reduced by at least 98%. The unvegetated control setup only reducedthe BOD5 by 40.18% after the first six days of treatment. The performance of the Phragmites karka and theTypha domingensis in the removal of organic substances and solid pollutants were similar with both plantseffectively removing the pollutants. However, Typha domingensis performed better than Phragmites karakain removing organic pollutants and Phragmites karka gives clearer water than Typha domingensis in terms ofturbidity
ENHANCING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN CONSTRUCTION MANUAL HANDLING OF LOAD: TEAM-LIFTING POSSIBILITY AND IMPACTS
Get PDFManual Handling of Load (MHL) is common to many job titles in the construction industry. It is one risk factor for many reported workers’ ill-health and disabilities. This study evaluated the possibility and impacts of Team-work Practice (TwP) in MHL. Ten (10) building construction sites in South-Western Nigeria involving 125 workers in 6 job titles, were involved with special focus on concrete labourers(ConL) group. Structured questionnaire was used to measure the level and impacts of TwP. Measurement of task variables was carried out among ConL to determine performance of workers under One–person lifting (OpL) and Two-persons Team Lifting (TpTL) methods 
ENSURING SECURITY AND TRUST FOR DATA IN THE CLOUD
Get PDFCloud computing has a unique ability to provide on-demand metered elastic computing resources to multi-tenant users. However, given the nature of the cloud platform and its present limited ways to detect unauthorized access or modifications to data,cloud users and data owners therefore do not trust that their data is adequately secure on the cloud platforms. This paper presents a technique of data coloring for securing data on cloud platforms based on establishing and using concatenated fingerprints for cloud watermarking. Using the technique, cloud users and data-owners secure their data by first coloring it offline before uploading onto any cloud platform and subsequently they can detect any unauthorized modifications or identify paths of any unauthorized data modification
HEAVY METALS ACCUMULATION IN SOIL AND GROUND WATER FROM A WASTE DUMPSITE IN MAKURDI, NIGERIA USING COLD VAPOUR METHOD
Get PDFThe safety of waste dumpsite situated within the heart of many developing cities of the world continues to be a source of worry within the scientific community. The extent of environmental pollution by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) waste dumpsite in Makurdi, Benue State was investigated by determining the concentrations of mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) in 26 soil samples and 3 groundwater (GW) samples collected around the waste dumpsite. Environmentally available metals were acid extracted from soil and groundwater samples and determined using cold vapor method. Mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) levels in soil ranged from (0.25-0.38), (0.01-0.11) and (0.23-0.35), (0.001-0.10)mg/kg for 25cm and 50cm depth respectively. The concentrations in the ground water were: Hg (0.27-0.33). These levels for mercury were far higher in varying degrees than background levels, suggestion serious anthropogenic influence from the landfill. The concentration of Hg in the soil and groundwater sample is higher than permissible limits indicating a common origin for the metals. Pollution and Geoaccumulation indices revealed pollution of soil and groundwater, therefore, an urgent attention to mitigate this menace is required by government and stakeholders. 
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY DISEASES
Get PDFOne of the major challenges in “poultry keeping” is how to diagnose, treat and manage different types of poultry diseases in the farm. Animal farmers and various poultry keepers run their businesses at loss especially when there is outbreak of poultry diseases which claims the life of millions of poultry birds. Unfortunately, enough efforts have not been made in terms of research, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach to solve or minimize this problem. This research work therefore made an attempt to develop an expert system to diagnose, treat and manage poultry diseases. In this research work, knowledge of experts - animal scientist, veterinarydoctors and poultry keepers were used to develop a knowledge base for the system. Also, an inference engine was developed to relate with the knowledge base and the working memory. The system was implemented using C sharp (C#), and CLIP. The knowledge was finally made available to the users. The system was highly simplified and made user friendly. In fact, it was adjudged by the users to be better than the existing ones. Hence, the findings of this research will significantly help in reducing poultry mortality rate and thereby make poultry farming a viable business. This, in turn will encourage young school leavers to engage in poultry farming. 
METRIC ASSOCIATIONS AND PATH ANALYSIS IN SWEET POTATO ( Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) IN JOS-PLATEAU NIGERIA
Get PDFA study was carried out on the metric associations and path analysis in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) in Jos – Plateau. Fourteen (14) clones namely, E2, E6, E8, E10, CIPMAT 3, CIPMAT 31, CIPMAT 32, TIS 8441, TIS 86/0356, TIS 87/0087, TIS 2532.OP.1.13, EX-IGBARIAM, WAGABOLIGE and 440168 were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replications. The results showed that, mean tuber weight, tuber length, tuber girth, petiole length, mean number of tubers per plant, leaf area and leaf area index were positively and significantly correlated with total tuber yield. Relative growth rate was highly correlated with vine length, tuber length, tuber girth, mean number of tubers per plant, leaf area and leaf area index. Total tuber yield, relative growth rate, tuber length, tuber girth and mean number of tubers per plant were negatively, but non- significantly correlated with dry matter content. Path coefficient analysis showed that mean tuber weight and tuber length exerted a high direct positive influence on total tuber yieldwhile vine length exerted the highest indirect positive effect via tuber length on total tuber yield. The results show that leaf area index, mean number of tubers per plant, petiole length, tuber girth, tuber length and mean tuber weight are important yield indices that are useful in the selection of sweet potato clones for improved tuber yield 
LONGITUDINAL SURVEY ON THE PREVALENCE OF Escherichia coli 0157:H7 IN BOVINE FAECES AND THE SLAUGHTERED CARCASSES FROM MAJOR ABATTOIRS IN CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA
Get PDFEscherichia coli O157: H7 is an emerging foodborne pathogen causing life-threatening disease outbreaks with cattle being the main asymptomatic reservoir.
THE INFLUENCE OF TWELVE MONTHS NUTRACEUTICALS AND FUNCTIONAL FOODS INTERVENTION ON AGE AND SEX AS RISK FACTORS FOR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Get PDFEffect of antioxidant functional foods and nutraceuticals on malondialdehyde (MDA) level, cytotoxic clusters of differentiation antigen 4 (CD4) and Immunoglobulin M (IgM) in male and female individuals were studied for twelve months. The volunteers included a total of 150 healthy adults of 96 men and 54 women aged between 30 and 74 years. They were made to sign an informed consent form, questioner and an ethical approval was gotten. At the baseline, eligible candidates were randomized to either 1 capsule per day of antioxidant nutraceutical (Forever living product) (containing vitamin E 10 mg, vitamin C 60mg and β- carotene 2000 mcg of vitamin A, or cheap affordable indigenous antioxidant functional foods of equivalent vitamin composition of oranges, carrots, and soybean or bottled water, and the first dose was dispensed and followed up for six months. There was a positive decrease in MDA and IgM values and a positive increase in CD4 counts after antioxidant dietary intervention. However, a lower concentration of MDA, and higher level of IgM and CD4 in men than in female at some age ranges was observed. The study showed that the indigenous antioxidant functional foods could be used as an alternative to the expensive imported antioxidant nutraceuticals in boosting immunity and therefore suggest such for immune- compromised individuals especially in developing countries like Nigeria