Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMINNA) is a Federal Government owned University located in Minna, Nigeria.FUT MINNA specializes in technological education. The university is a designated Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering and has a core competence in the development of vaccines and drugs.FUT MINNA was founded in 1983, and the first Vice-Chancellor was Professor J.O. Ndagi who served from 1983 to 1990. The governing bodies are the Council and the Senate. In the beginning, the university took over the facilities of the former Government Teachers' College Bosso, for use on a permanent basis. This site now serves as the Bosso Campus of the university. The main campus Gidan Kwano which is sited on a 10,650 hectares of land is located along the Minna - Kataeregi - Bida Road. The institution is listed in the Guide to Higher Education in Africa, Association of African Universities and the International Association of Universities, 1999.
The gut microbiota is a highly complex microbial ecosystem that plays fundamental roles in digestion, immune regulation, nutrient metabolism, intestinal barrier maintenance, and systemic physiological homeostasis. Disruptions in microbial balance, referred to as dysbiosis, are increasingly associated with chronic disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome, neurodegenerative conditions, and colorectal cancer. Dietary modulation of the gut microbiota through prebiotics has emerged as a promising strategy for promoting health and reducing disease risk. This scoping review examines the prebiotic potential of plant-based foods and plant-derived compounds, with emphasis on their capacity to modulate gut microbial composition, stimulate short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and improve host metabolic and immunological functions. Peer-reviewed articles, clinical trials, and experimental studies published between 2010 and 2025 were identified through PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, following established scoping review methodology. Evidence is synthesized across fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, nuts, spices, and plant food by-products, demonstrating that these materials provide diverse nondigestible saccharides, resistant polysaccharides, and polyphenolic compounds that collectively enrich beneficial microbial taxa, suppress pathogens, increase microbial diversity, and enhance SCFA formation. Polyphenols exert additional prebiotic-like effects through microbial biotransformation, selective antimicrobial action, barrier reinforcement, and anti-inflammatory signalling. Recurrent microbial responses across the reviewed literature include enrichment of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia, Prevotella, and Akkermansia muciniphila, alongside improved gut barrier integrity, reduced inflammatory markers, better lipid and glucose regulation, and enhanced immune and metabolic health. The review highlights that plant-based foods function as multifunctional prebiotic systems, owing to the synergistic action of their saccharides, polyphenols, and associated bioactive constituents, rather than as isolated fibre sources. These findings support the growing recognition of whole plant foods and plant-derived by-products as valuable tools for microbiota-directed nutrition and chronic disease prevention. Further research is needed to clarify structure–function relationships, interindividual variability in microbial response, and translation of experimental findings into personalized dietary and clinical interventions.
The present study examines the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) flow of a ternary hybrid nanofluid, comprised of titanium oxide, zinc oxide, and gold nanoparticles dispersed in a water-based fluid, over a curvilinear catalytic surface within a porous medium. The model integrates volumetric and surface nonthermal plasma heating with species generation. The Joseph slip conditions are implemented to characterize the tangential partial slip behavior. The governing partial differential equations are reduced to a system of nonlinear, coupled ordinary differential equations for analysis. Subsequently, the Galerkin weighted residual method is employed to solve the resulting system of equations. The friction coefficients compared to the existing literature demonstrate an agreement. The skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number converge to 0.202419, -1.48261, and -1.00, respectively, for different trial numbers. Volumetric and surface nonthermal plasma heating have been observed to enhance the Nusselt number, whereas the species generation parameter correspondingly increases the Sherwood number. The magnetic parameter diminishes fluid velocity and enhances energy and species concentrations, while the isotherm contours exhibit a pronounced elliptic configuration, thereby illustrating the fluid's thermal maximum. These findings indicate that the magnetic parameter can be employed to guide the fluid, thereby facilitating the localization and subsequent removal of charged impurities within the system. Furthermore, the nonthermal plasma parameters not only elevate the fluid's temperature but also exhibit a propensity to enhance heat and mass transfer between the fluid and the curved catalytic surface.
Assessing livestock resilience in tropical climates is often hampered by limited sample sizes, which constrains the use of powerful predictive analytics. This study introduces and validates a simulation-augmented machine learning framework to classify heat stress levels in Holstein × White Fulani crossbred dairy cows. The study evaluated forty-five lactating cows over 84 consecutive days, monitoring physiological indicators and urinary biomarkers, yielding 3,780 observations per parameter. To enable robust model training, the field dataset was synthetically expanded using Monte Carlo simulation to 1,000 observations. A Random Forest classifier trained on the augmented data successfully predicted heat stress categories (no stress, moderate, severe) with an accuracy of 89.30
Energy crisis and environmental pollution are two major issues facing the modern world, largely due to a rapid increase in the global population. Our research demonstrates the logical engineering and design of a composite material of bismuth oxide, molybdenum oxide and zeolitic imidazolate framework (Bi2O3@MoO3@ZIF-8) that serves as an exceptional electrode for supercapacitors. Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework (ZIF-8) ligands were interconnected with Bi2O3@MoO3 hybrid material using the coprecipitation method to create the Bi2O3@MoO3@ZIF-8 composite structure. The tunable porosity and high surface area of ZIF-8, combined with its ability to enhance dispersion and conductivity, make it a valuable component in the design of advanced supercapacitor electrodes. The morphology, crystallinity, and optical properties of the nanostructures were investigated using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible spectroscopy, respectively. The functional groups and elemental compositions of the different nanostructures were ascertained using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Using cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests with a scan rate of 10.0 mVs-1, peak specific capacitances of 1002, 1228, and 1435 Fg-1 are generated for BMZ 1, BMZ 2, and BMZ 3 electrodes, respectively. However, the GCDs offer an ideal specific capacitance of 1142, 1401 and 1605 Fg-1 at 1.0 Ag-1 current density. According to the research, these electrodes' electrochemical qualities were influenced by the quantity of ZIF-8 added during the synthesis. The BMZ 3 electrode exhibits remarkable cyclic firmness at 1.0 Ag-1 current density, retaining 66.95% of its initial specific capacitance value after 10,000 full cycles.
The study examined the impact of Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Strategy (POGILS) on students’ academic performance in organic chemistry among secondary school students in Kwami Local Government Area, Gombe State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of POGILS on academic performance of students with gender consideration in Organic Chemistry. A pre-test, post-test non-randomized, non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was employed in the study. The sample size comprised of 82 (55 male and 27 female) senior secondary school II students, selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Organic Chemistry Performance Test was used for data collection with a reliability coefficient of 0.84 established using split-half testing method and analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Data analysis involved the use of ANCOVA tested at 0.05. Finding showed that F(1,79) = 396.443, p = 0.000, implying a significant difference between the academic performance mean scores of students taught using POGILS and traditional teaching method. Also, F(1,37) = 0.101, p = 0.812 meaning no significant difference in the mean academic performance scores of male and female students taught using POGILS, implying that POGILS has a significant effect on the mean academic performance scores of male and female students taught organic chemistry concepts. The study concluded that POGILS is an effective instructional strategy and the use of POGILS enhanced academic performance of both male and female students. The study recommends that chemistry teachers should integrate POGILS into their instructional practices to boost academic achievement and close gender academic performance gaps in Chemistry.
