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EVALUATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ENERGY SOURCES FOR A THERMAL POWER PLANT
Get PDFConserving the dwindling energy sources and preserving the environment are pertinent twain
sustainable development issues in climes where renewable energy techniques have not matured.
While the use of viable alternative sources of fuels has been identified as being able to minimize
the occurrences of power outages caused by short supply and non-availability of the primary fuel
for generating electricity in the thermal power plants, the use of operating conditions which are
favorable from both thermodynamic and environmental viewpoints is equally essential for the
preservation of energy sources and the environment. In this work, air-fuel parametric studies on
low-pour fuel oil (LPFO) as an alternative to natural gas in electricity generation were conducted
based on environmental impacts. Typical emissions from a boiler designed to fire both fuels
were simulated with HYSYS 8.8. The potential environmental impacts (global warming,
eutrophication, acidification, air smog, and human health particulate) were simulated using
GaBi. The outcomes of the studies show that an air-fuel ratio of 16.1 previously prescribed in
earlier work from a thermodynamic viewpoint was not favorable to all the environmental
indicators considered. A more informed decision on the choice of air-fuel ratio for fuel
combustion can be achieved by developing a robust and encompassing pollution tax
Sustainable Chitosan Supported Magnetite Nanocomposites for Sequestration of Rhodamine B Dye from the Environment
Get PDFThis study investigated the sustainable chitosan supported magnetite nanocomposites (C-Fe3O4) for sequestration of Rhodamine B
(RhB) Dye from environment. The synthesis of C-Fe3O4, its physicochemical characterization and synergistic influence of initial
concentration of the dye and time of contact with the adsorbent during the sorption of Rhodamine B (RhB) on C-Fe3O4 were studied.
The physicochemical properties indicated better equilibration via bulk density of 0.731 g/cm3, moisture content 7.2, point of zero
charge (PZC) of 4 indicated suitability for RhB. Functional group of C-Fe3O4 determined by FTIR revealed characteristics peaks
at 3433 cm-1 and 698 – 478 cm-1 confirming the successful formation by incorporation of chitosan and magnetite nanoparticles.
Synergistic influence of the time of contact and initial concentration of Rb dye influenced the dye sorption. Effective adsorption of
RhB onto C-Fe3O4 was studied using batch adsorption techniques at initial concentration (200 – 1000 ppm), contact time (10 – 120
min), stirring speed (120 rpm), temperature of 25 oC and adsorbent dosage of 100 mg. Rapid adsorption of RhB onto C-Fe3O4 was
obtained at 10 min with 96.9% removal efficiency at highest RhB concentration of 1000 ppm. The study revealed the efficacy of
contact time and initial dye concentration as imperative operational parameters majorly influencing sorption study
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CYP17A1 AND HSD3B1 GENE POLYMORPHISMS AND TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN NIGERIAN PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS
Get PDFProstate cancer (PCa) represents a significant worldwide health challenge, being the second most diagnosed cancer and a top cause of cancer-related deaths among men. African men exhibit high PCa incidence and mortality rates. Genetic variation in androgen pathways is essential in PCa development and progression. The Cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1) gene encodes a critical metabolic enzyme involved in testosterone (TT) synthesis, as it converts cholesterol into androstenedione. Similarly, the 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD3B1) gene encodes an enzyme that catalyses the conversion of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to androstenedione, a critical precursor for TT production. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of polymorphisms in the CYP17A1 and HSD3B1 genes among PCa patients from Southwest Nigeria and to investigate their association with testosterone levels and androgen receptor (AR). The case-control study was conducted on 40 PCa patients and 40 control groups of healthy males with matching ages. Detection of CYP17A1 and HSD3B1 polymorphisms was done using TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and estimation of TT and AR levels in serum was done using the enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA) technique for all groups. This study identified AA, AG, and GG genotypes of the CYP17A1 and AA and CA genotypes of HSD3B1, and there was no significant association between PCa and control groups of the genes. Testosterone levels were higher in the control group than in the PCa group (p=0.0015). There was no association was found between CYP17A1 gene polymorphisms and TT and AR levels, similar to the HSD3B1 gene and TT. Conversely, an association was found between the HSD3B1 heterozygous adrenal-restrictive (CA) and AR, and no HSD3B1 adrenal-permissive homozygous genotype (CC) was found. The result of this study suggests that the HSD3B1 gene could be a suggestive prognostic and predictive biomarker of PCa. This would pave the way for future investigations that could influence diagnosis and personalised treatment of PCa
DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTATIONAL PIPELINE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF NON-CODING RNAs FROM NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING DATA
Get PDFRecent advances in genomics have revealed the critical roles that non-coding RNAs play
in disease occurrence, progression, and population disparities in patient treatment
outcomes. With the evolution of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques and the
generation of genomic big data, the ability of researchers to further explore the functions
of these non-coding RNAs has become more widely accessible. However, efficient
exploration requires user-friendly computational tools that can streamline and centralize
data analysis, particularly for identifying non-coding RNAs within large volumes of
NGS data. Current computational pipelines for non-coding RNA identification are often
limited to detecting only a single class of non-coding RNA and do not integrate the latest
standalone tools. Consequently, these pipelines are not workflow efficient as they
restrict the comprehensive analysis of diverse non-coding RNA classes within a single
framework. The aim of this study is to develop a computational pipeline for identifying
multiple classes of non-coding RNAs namely micro RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and
circular RNAs from NGS data. This aim was achieved by developing scripts for the
selected software tools integrated into the pipeline and incorporating these scripts as
individual processes within a unified Nextflow script. The software tools integrated into
the pipeline include; miRDeep2, mirnovo and sRNAtoolbox for the identification of
miRNAs; CIRI and KNIFE for the identification of circRNAs; PLEK and LncDC for
the identification of lncRNAs. Nextflow was used as the scientific workflow
management system and Docker was used for containerizing all the integrated tools and
their software dependencies for easy use and reproducibility across different computing
environments. The pipeline was then evaluated using test data provided by each of the
individual software tools and it successfully identified all the reported miRNAs,
lncRNAs and circRNAs, thus proving its effectiveness. Beyond the reduced execution
time, the pipeline offers a more efficient solution by streamlining the analysis of noncoding
RNAs and eliminating the need for separate software installation and
environment setup, thereby reducing the user's workload
YOUTH SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN NIGERIA
Get PDFYouth participation in the labour force is essential for continued economic development. Ni-gerian youths face challenges in transitioning fully to the labour force, and this has led to lim-ited progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, as of 2023. Entrepreneurship training programmes are offered to youth in Nigeria to improve their participation in the labour force, but has the strategy translated to business own-ership and gainful employment? The study assessed the skills and entrepreneurship interven-tions to better understand Nigeria's youth labour force participation (LFP). It gave insights into how LFP can be improved to increase the country's demographic dividend. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative research designs. A structured questionnaire was administered in the quantitative segment to obtain information from 2,396 male and female youth aged 15-35 following a multistage sampling procedure. The qualitative component featured 12 key in-formant interviews and 12 focus group discussions. Quantitative data were analysed using uni-variate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression statistical techniques using IBM SPSS 25. Qualitative data analysis was done mainly using content analysis. Findings showed that age had a direct positive effect on LFP (OR=2.16; CI=1.49, 3.13). Owning a business venture is enhanced by the youth's entrepreneurial family background (OR=1.35; CI=1.03, 1.75). Unfore-seen situations like the cash crunch affected youth entrepreneurs adversely. Participation in skills/entrepreneurship development programmes has an indirect relationship with LFP (OR=1.54; CI=1.51, 2.05). Exposure to entrepreneurship information to skills/entrepreneurship development programmes is a critical success factor for LFP. Youth who knew about the re-sources available in their environment desired future startup businesses (OR=1.63; CI=1.29, 2.07). Successful youth-owned business ventures were those with knowledge of organising and running a business (OR=1.71; CI=1.14, 2.57). Results further show that acquiring skills/entre-preneurial abilities is necessary to own a business (OR=1.52; CI=1.08, 2.14) but insufficient to grow a successful venture and create the employment needed to impact the youth labour force. The study recommends that the federal government of Nigeria should support setting up eco-systems where the benefits of skills/entrepreneurship will be disseminated. The government should engage youth entrepreneurs before developing policies drastically affecting their businesses, such as the cash withdrawal limits and currency change policies suddenly imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The government and training institutions should set up functional hubs/ecosystems/garages to increase LFP. Such center should give seed funds for innovations and startups, and those at the scale-up stage should be supported with grants. Existing youth businesses that require financing should attract concessionary rates on loans and working cap-ital
AN AUTOMATED MALARIA DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM FOR DETECTING LIFE CYCLE STAGES OF PLASMODIUM IN THIN BLOOD SMEAR IMAGES
Get PDFThe worldwide influence of malaria has hastened the creation and execution of innovative diagnostic approaches aimed at combating the disease. Several attempts have been made to develop an automated malaria diagnosis system (AMDS), but most of these systems are trained to perform binary classification to distinguish between infected and uninfected Plasmodium falciparum parasites. This study investigates the application of deep learning techniques in developing an Automated Malaria Diagnosis System (AMDS) to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of malaria life cycle stage detection from thin blood smear images. The main objectives are to curate a novel dataset of thin blood smear images with the lifecycle stages of Plasmodium and to leverage pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to identify the life cycle stages of Plasmodium, which are responsible for malaria. The study specifically focuses on evaluating the performance of different CNN architectures, including VGG16, VGG19, ResNet50, and MobileNet. The methodology involved curating a dataset of annotated thin blood smear images representing various life stages of the Plasmodium parasite. This dataset was then used to fine-tune the selected CNN models. The models were evaluated based on metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and support. The results showed that VGG16 achieved the highest accuracy of 0.72, but its precision (0.47) and F1-score (0.49) indicated room for improvement in classification performance. VGG19, while slightly lower in accuracy at 0.71, demonstrated better precision (0.55) and recall (0.64), resulting in a higher F1-score (0.56). ResNet50, commonly recognized for its robustness in other domains, underperformed with an accuracy of 0.61 and a notably lower recall of 0.26. MobileNet displayed moderate results, with an accuracy of 0.68 and balanced precision and recall values. The findings suggest that VGG19 offers a more balanced performance for malaria stage classification, making it a promising candidate for deployment in a clinical setting. However, further optimization and refinement of these models are necessary to improve diagnostic precision and reliability. The study concludes that deep learning models, particularly VGG19, hold significant potential in supporting malaria diagnosis and contributing to more effective disease management and control strategies
EFFECT OF WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY ON EMPLOYEES’ ENGAGEMENT IN PIGGYVEST AND OPAY IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA
Get PDFThis research focused on the effect of workplace flexibility on employee engagement: A study of
selected FinTech Companies. Job satisfaction and work-life balance are not achieved because a
non-flexible work environment and less focused employee engagement may stifle creativity and
innovation. Employees may feel constrained within rigid structures, limiting their ability to
experiment with new ideas or approaches. As the main concerns of employee engagement are job
satisfaction and organizational behavior. The purpose of this study is to know how flexible work
environments affects employee engagements. The social exchange theory, work/family theory and
spillover theory provided to the theoretical foundation of the study. A quantitative survey method
was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised of 762 employees and sample
questionnaire were administered to a sample size of 262 employees using convenience and
stratified sampling techniques. Results showed there is a significant positive relationship between
Compressed workweek, Job sharing, Flextime and employee engagement of selected FinTech
companies and implementing flexible work arrangements at these companies can lead to enhanced
employee engagement, personal development, and a more satisfied workforce. Hence, this study
recommends that Organizations should incorporate workplace flexibility, Compressed workweek,
Job sharing, and part-time work into their recruitment processes to enhance employee engagement
and satisfaction
Review of the use of E-waste in concrete production: challenges and prospects
Get PDFDue to the obvious negative environmental effect of electronic waste because of its limited
biodegradability, experts worldwide are interested in developing sustainable construction
materials utilizing e-waste and its recovered extractions. The current review attempts to reassess
E-waste use in the production of concrete. To assess problems and opportunities in the use of
these waste materials, their physical, structural, and durability qualities will be investigated. The
study shows the efficiency of E-waste in the improvement of fresh properties and a decrease in
the hardened properties of concrete with varying effects on durability properties. The study
shows the addition of waste materials such as fly ash, waste glass, and steel slag helps improve
some of these properties. However, further research is recommended to develop other means of
improving E-waste concrete strength properties for wider acceptance and utilization in the
construction industry. This appraisal will help to promote sustainable and cheap E-waste
development in the building sector. It will also help to alleviate strain on naturally
existing concrete aggregates, as well as reduce pollution of landfill sites, groundwater, and, of
course, protect the health of organisms and ecosystems
SOCIO-SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF CARTOONS IN SELECTED NEWSPAPERS: A STUDY OF 2023 FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL IN NIGERIA
Get PDFEditorial cartoons, also regarded as political cartoons, are a potent form of visual communication, often used to comment on and critique socio-political issues. In the context of Nigeria, the 2023 fuel subsidy removal has sparked significant public discourse and media coverage. This study focuses on the socio-semiotic analysis of cartoons in selected Nigerian newspapers, aiming to explore how these visual narratives reflect and critique the socio-political issues surrounding the fuel subsidy removal. This study conducts a socio-semiotic analysis of political cartoons from selected Nigerian newspapers on the 2023 fuel subsidy removal. Employing a descriptive research design with both quantitative and qualitative methods, it analyzes 30 cartoons from six major newspapers between May 2023 and January 2024. Using a socio-semiotic framework, the study examines how cartoons employ iconic, symbolic, and indexical signs to critique government policies. It identifies cohesive devices that enhance narrative coherence and illuminate societal perspectives on corruption, economic hardship, and public disillusionment. This research contributes insights into the socio-political impact of editorial cartoons in Nigerian public discourse
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED INSECTICIDES ON Anopheles gambiae IN SANGO OTA, OGUN STATE
Get PDFCarbamates, pyrethroids, organophosphates, and organochlorines are insecticide classes used for mosquito vector control, with organophosphates accounting for 3.1% and pyrethroids 89.9% of use in Africa. Resistance to one or more classes of insecticides has been detected in 78 of the 88 malariaendemic countries, posing a significant threat to control efforts. This research investigates the resistance status of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes to malathion, fenitrothion, alphacypermethrin, and deltamethrin in Sango Ota. Larvae and pupae were gathered from Atan and Nestle location
(6° 40’ N, 3° 09′ E, 6° 41’ N, 3° 09′ E) in Sango Ota using the standard dipping method, and raised to adulthood in the insectary. The sensitivity of female mosquitoes that were 2–5 days old and not given blood was assessed to 5% malathion, 1% fenitrothion, 0.05% deltamethrin, and 0.05% alphacypermethrin. WHO tube bioassay techniques determined the resistance status to the four insecticides, with a death rate of 100% in malathion and fenitrothion and 11.8% and 12.5% recorded in alphacypermethrin and deltamethrin exposure, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect An. gambiae species and also to detect L1014F (kdr W) mutation in mosquitoes exposed to deltamethrin and alphacypermethrin. The frequency of resistance was 1.0 for alphacypermethrin, meaning 100% of the mosquito population studied was resistant to this insecticide, while approximately 23.5% showed resistance to deltamethrin. This study indicated the high efficacy of malathion and fenitrothion for mosquito control in Sango Ota and the substantial resistance to alphacypermethrin and deltamethrin. Continued mosquito surveillance and resistance profiling are essential for effective malaria control and to inform future vector management strategies