17 research outputs found
The Influence of Colour and Thickness of Nylon Mulch on Soil Temperature, Moisture, Percent Germination and Some Growth Parameters of Cucumber (cucumis sativus L.) Seedlings
No full textHeat, moisture and oxygen are important factors that has controlled seed germination, thus A 2 ×4 factorial greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the influence of colour and thickness of nylon mulch on soil temperature, moisture, percent germination and selected growth indicators of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings in a completely randomized design (CRD), where the treatments; nylon colour (white and black) and thicknesses (0, 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 mm) were replicated three times. The analysis of variance showed that the white nylon thickness had positive significant (P ≤ 0.05) influence on soil temperature, soil moisture, plant height and number of leaves, while black nylon thickness had positive significant (P ≤ 0.05) influence on soil moisture and plant height and a negative significant (P ≤ 0.01) influence on percent germination, it was also discovered that 1.5 mm thickness of the white nylon contributed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) to the parameters measured, therefore, white nylon of 1.5 mm thickness could be recommended as mulch material for cucumber production in a sandy clay soil
Polymorphism of IGF-1 Promoter and the UTR Regions of Nigerian Locally Adapted Chickens
No full textGrowth traits which are controlled by many genes are important economic traits in the poultry industry. The insulin-like growth factor gene (IGF-I) is a candidate gene for growth, body composition and metabolism, skeletal characteristics and growth of adipose tissue and fat deposition in chickens. The promoter and the untranslated region (UTR) of Insulin growth factor I gene was investigated to identify single nucleotide polymorphism, their genetic diversity and evolutionary relationship among six locally adapted strains of chicken in Nigerian. In this study, blood samples were collected and a specific primer pair was designed for amplifying a fragment of IGF-1 gene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were sequenced while nucleotide sequences generated were edited and aligned using Mega v6.0 software. Nucleotide polymorphisms within each strain were detected using DNAsp v5 software. A total of eight SNPs were identified across the populations studied which were different already published SNPs associated with growth rate in chicken. Naked Neck chicken showed the highest genetic diversity from others with the highest number of polymorphic site, haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity while the least were observed in Frizzle Feathered chicken. The phylogenic tree showed that small genetic differentiation exists among the chicken populations in this region. We reported the first genetic data from the promoter and the UTR regions of IGF-I gene in Nigerian native chickens and established baseline information regarding variation in insulin growth factor I which should inform continued investigations into production potentials of these chickens and formulation of appropriate selection and breeding programs Keywords: SNPs, Genetic diversity, IGF-1, Chicke
Assesment of C- Reactive Proteins and Markers of Oxidative Stress in Patients with Chronic Kidney Failure
No full textIMPACT OF TILLAGE PRACTICES ON PROPERTIES OF SOIL, EVAPOTRANSPIRATION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF COWPEA IN NIGERIA
No full textBackground: Tillage is one of the major threats to soil health which often results into soil physical degradation if not properly managed. Zero tillage is an alternative option from both economic and environmental protection of our soil resources points of view. Objective. To evaluate responses of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) yield and evapotranspiration to different tillage practices. Methodology. The study was conducted in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Osun State, Nigeria using a replicated randomized complete block design with treatments consisting of Zero-tillage (ZT), Reduced tillage (RT), Conventional tillage + Mulch (CT + ML) and Conventional tillage (CT). Results. Soil penetration resistance (SPR) increased with the degree of soil manipulation during tillage practices. Penetration resistance (PR) across 15-30 cm in 2019 alone resulted in higher PR of 2.26 MPa for RT compared to 0.71, 0.72 and 0.79 MPa for ZT, CT + (ML and CT), respectively, approximately 218 %, 213 % and 186 % greater in RT than ZT, CT + ML and CT respectively. Implications. Cowpea production on sandy loam soil can be optimized with Zero tillage. Conclusion. Over a period of two years, ZT practice had the highest profit margin of $ 573, among the practices
Demilitarisation Nigeria and South Africa compared
No full textIn sub-Saharan African countries that have made democratic transition from military
rule and military-backed authoritarian regimes, state elites have embarked upon
strategies aimed at demilitarising the new democratic political process. Demilitarisation
of the state and politics has become an imperative because it is decisive for
consolidating democratic politics and for ensuring improvements in public safety and
security. Yet the process of such demilitarisation in these countries has often generated
a paradox, whereby the reduction of the political influence of state institutions of
violence has been associatedw ith rising civil militarism and the prevalenceo f organised
violence in the wider society.
In these circumstances, taking cognisance of the dangers of civil militarism and other
forms of private violence is a priority for designing and implementing demilitarisation
strategies and other security reforms in post-authoritarian African states. Reformminded
political elites and external supporters need to be sensitive to these dangers or
risk perpetuating the shell of electoral democracy that cannot deliver the goal of human
security in the region. This dissertation explored how the current approach to
demilitarisation is related to the problem of civil militarism by examining the case
studies of Nigeria and South Africa. It explains that given the condition of the state in
Africa, demilitarisation of politics after transition from military or military-backed
authoritarianism contributes to the emergence of civil militarism. Based on this finding,
it argues for a comprehensive approach to demilitarisation as a strategy that caters to
both state and societal violence in order to mitigate the risks of civil militarism in the
process
Haemoparasite Prevalence, Genetic Diversity of TLR2B Gene and Relationship with Haematological Parameters in Chicken
No full textHaemoparasite constitute a major challenge in native chicken production in Africa. This study determines the genetic diversity and the effect of TLR2B gene polymorphism on haemoparasite and haematology of the chickens based on genotype and sex. 600 chickens of 25 weeks old consisting of Naked neck (NN), Normal feather (NF), and the Frizzle feather (FF) reared in battery cage-system were sampled for blood and analyzed for haematology, parasite occurrence and load, polymerase chain reaction, and gene sequencing. Polymorphisms were detected and their effect on haematology was determined. Results showed the occurrence of Plasmodium gallinacieum, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leucocytozoon schoutedeni with NF having the highest occurrence followed by NN and FF chicken genotype. There was a significant (P <0.05) effect of genotype and sex on haematology. Seven of the eight polymorphism detected were singleton and found only in NF while parsimonious 656GA was detected in all the chicken genotypes with no relationship with haematology and haemoparasite. NF had the highest nucleotide (0.00114) and haplotype diversity (0.584). The study revealed the occurrence of genetic variation in TLR2B gene, haematology, and haemoparasite in FUNAAB Alpha chickens which could provide baseline information in future breeding programmes of the chicken for the tropical environment
Global PIQA: Evaluating Physical Commonsense Reasoning Across 100+ Languages and Cultures
No full textTo date, there exist almost no culturally-specific evaluation benchmarks for large language models (LLMs) that cover a large number of languages and cultures. In this paper, we present Global PIQA, a participatory commonsense reasoning benchmark for over 100 languages, constructed by hand by 335 researchers from 65 countries around the world. The 116 language varieties in Global PIQA cover five continents, 14 language families, and 23 writing systems. In the non-parallel split of Global PIQA, over 50% of examples reference local foods, customs, traditions, or other culturally-specific elements. We find that state-of-the-art LLMs perform well on Global PIQA in aggregate, but they exhibit weaker performance in lower-resource languages (up to a 37% accuracy gap, despite random chance at 50%). Open models generally perform worse than proprietary models. Global PIQA highlights that in many languages and cultures, everyday knowledge remains an area for improvement, alongside more widely-discussed capabilities such as complex reasoning and expert knowledge. Beyond its uses for LLM evaluation, we hope that Global PIQA provides a glimpse into the wide diversity of cultures in which human language is embedded.See §A for author list. Global PIQA would not be possible without the efforts of all of the authors. Wealso thank several anonymous contributors who preferred not to be authors on this paper. The research of Yolanda Xavier is supported by Portuguese national funding through the FCT– Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. as part of the project UID/3213/2025– Linguistics Research Centre of NOVA University Lisbon (CLUNL) and by the Doctoral Grant (FCT PhD grant) number 2022.13977.BD from the same funder. Group 0025 is supported by the following grants: CLARIN-PL (POIR.04.02.00-00C002/19, FENG.02.04-IP.040004/24, 2024/WK/01), DARIAH-PL (POIR.04.02.00-00-D006/20, KPOD.01.18-IW.03-0013/23). Annika Simonsen was funded by the European Commission under grant agreement no. 101135671. CEB has been partially funded by the German ministry for education and research (BMBF) through the TRAILS project (grant number 01IW24005). Group 0070 is supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)- Center of Excellence for Generative AI, under award number 5940. Group 0079 would like to thank Mr. Sudhir R. Narayana for help with correction and verification of items in their dataset. Sina Ahmadi gratefully acknowledges support from the University of Zurich (UZH) Postdoc Grant (reference number 269093). Group 0133 would like to thank the MbazaNLP community, including students from the University of Rwanda, School of Art and Languages. We would also like to thank Yonatan Bisk for useful insights into the original PIQA dataset
Nigerian Journal of Banking and Financial Issues (NJBFI): THE IMPACT OF SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING ON THE COMMITMENT TO CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF LISTED OIL AND GAS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA
No full textThis study examines the impact of sustainability accounting on the commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The purpose of this research is to establish the influence of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provisions on the commitment to corporate social responsibility among listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. An ex post facto research design was employed while data was sourced from the annual reports of 7 listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria for a period of 6 years (2017 – 2022). The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis while the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis with the aid of E-views Statistical Package. The empirical results revealed that compliance to Global reporting Initiative (GRI) social provision has a negative but significant effect on commitment to CSR, compliance to GRI governance provision has a positive but significant effect on commitment to CSR and compliance to GRI environmental provision has a positive but insignificant effect on commitment to CSR. It is recommended that standard setters develop guidelines to meet local context, country differences and it is suggested that future research should consider other sectors, regions and factors that can influence CSR practices
Mapping geographical inequalities in oral rehydration therapy coverage in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17
No full textAbstract: Background Oral rehydration solution (ORS) is a form of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for diarrhoea that has the potential to drastically reduce child mortality; yet, according to UNICEF estimates, less than half of children younger than 5 years with diarrhoea in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) received ORS in 2016. A variety of recommended home fluids (RHF) exist as alternative forms of ORT; however, it is unclear whether RHF prevent child mortality. Previous studies have shown considerable variation between countries in ORS and RHF use, but subnational variation is unknown. This study aims to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of relative and absolute coverage of ORS, RHF, and ORT (use of either ORS or RHF) in LMICs. Methods We used a Bayesian geostatistical model including 15 spatial covariates and data from 385 household surveys across 94 LMICs to estimate annual proportions of children younger than 5 years of age with diarrhoea who received ORS or RHF (or both) on continuous continent-wide surfaces in 2000-17, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. Additionally, we analysed geographical inequality in coverage across administrative units and estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths averted by increased coverage over the study period. Uncertainty in the mean coverage estimates was calculated by taking 250 draws from the posterior joint distribution of the model and creating uncertainty intervals (UIs) with the 2 center dot 5th and 97 center dot 5th percentiles of those 250 draws. Findings While ORS use among children with diarrhoea increased in some countries from 2000 to 2017, coverage remained below 50% in the majority (62 center dot 6%; 12 417 of 19 823) of second administrative-level units and an estimated 6 519 000 children (95% UI 5 254 000-7 733 000) with diarrhoea were not treated with any form of ORT in 2017. Increases in ORS use corresponded with declines in RHF in many locations, resulting in relatively constant overall ORT coverage from 2000 to 2017. Although ORS was uniformly distributed subnationally in some countries, within-country geographical inequalities persisted in others; 11 countries had at least a 50% difference in one of their units compared with the country mean. Increases in ORS use over time were correlated with declines in RHF use and in diarrhoeal mortality in many locations, and an estimated 52 230 diarrhoeal deaths (36 910-68 860) were averted by scaling up of ORS coverage between 2000 and 2017. Finally, we identified key subnational areas in Colombia, Nigeria, and Sudan as examples of where diarrhoeal mortality remains higher than average, while ORS coverage remains lower than average. Interpretation To our knowledge, this study is the first to produce and map subnational estimates of ORS, RHF, and ORT coverage and attributable child diarrhoeal deaths across LMICs from 2000 to 2017, allowing for tracking progress over time. Our novel results, combined with detailed subnational estimates of diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality, can support subnational needs assessments aimed at furthering policy makers' understanding of within-country disparities. Over 50 years after the discovery that led to this simple, cheap, and life-saving therapy, large gains in reducing mortality could still be made by reducing geographical inequalities in ORS coverage. Copyright (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license
