This paper examined the effect of catalyst concentration, curing time and temperature on a phenolformaldehyde finished direct dyed cotton. The grey cotton fabric was desized, scoured, bleached and dyed with chlorazol D, a direct dye. Sample of the dyed cotton were subjected to resin finishing using phenol: formaldehyde. The wash fastness of direct dyed cotton was improved by treating with phenol-formaldehyde. Similarly, the effect of the parameters studied showed that the best ratio for phenol-formaldehyde was 60:40 for 3% shade and 70:30 for 1% shade. The results for the curing time indicated that 5 minutes gave the best improvement in wash fastness at curing temperature of 160oC. The catalyst concentration also improved the wash fastness and it was at its best when 2 g/l was used. It could be deduced from the result that 3% shade have a higher wash fastness than 1% shade. Keywords : Cotton fabrics, dye, phenol-formaldehyde finishing
The Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may have a much greater effect on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes than previously reported, indicating that routine HCV screening in pregnant women may need to be reconsidered. Two hundred (200) serum samples from pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri north-eastern Nigeria were screened for HCV antibodies using the HCV rapid immunoassay test strip which detects antibodies to HCV in the serum or plasma. A structured questionnaire was administered to obtain the risk factors in the population that were associated with the virus infection. Of the total samples analysed, 12(6%) were positive for Hepatitis C virus antibodies. The highest prevalence was found among the age groups 20-29 with an overall number of 6(3.0%) being positive for the HCV. Considering occupational exposure, higher seroprevalence was recorded among the civil servants, with 9(4.5%) being positive. The prevalence of HCV was statistically significant (p Keywords: Hepatitis C, antibodies, pregnant women, ante-natal, Nigeria
One hundred and twenty (120) five weeks old Anak broiler finisher birds were used to study the effect of corn cob meal on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and organ weight characteristics. The birds were divided into 4 treatment groups of 30 birds each and further replicated thrice (10 birds per replicate). Four finisher diets were formulated with 0, 5, 10 and 15% corn cob meal and fed to the birds in a completely randomized design (CRD). The results showed significant differences (p 0.05) between treatments. The organ weights (Liver, heart and gizzard) did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between the treatment groups. Nutrient digestibility results showed that crude protein and neutral ether extract differed significantly (p 0.05) between treatments. The results of this study suggest that feeding 5% corn cob meal diet was not detrimental to the performance of broilers at the finisher level. Keywords: Poultry, nutrient digestibility, corn cob, broilers, performance, organs
What sets hydrogeology apart from many of the other geosciences is an emphasis on treating problems mathematically. The mathematical approach involves representing a groundwater process by an equation and solving that equation. These equations are fundamental to the quantitative treatment of flow and provide the basis for calculating hydraulic heads, giving an idealization of some hydrogeologic system, boundary and initial conditions. Almost any information on the groundwater system of interest will improve the ability to determine the intrinsic susceptibility of the groundwater system to contamination. Of particular importance, however, is information that directly relates to the movement of groundwater through the system. In this paper, the differential equations, which are general formulations that govern flow systems, are presented such that unique solutions to the equations applicable to specific flow systems are obtained when their known boundary conditions are substituted in them. More importantly, it was observed from the derivation of solutions from general flow equations that given the large number of ways of contaminating groundwater, evaluating the extent to which advection and dispersion were important in controlling contaminant spread in any given area calls for understanding of the basic advection – dispersion equation. These equations explain and quantify the physical forces acting in the subsurface and the geologic environment as related to groundwater, particularly the processes affecting contaminant fate and transport. Keyword: Groundwater flow, model, contaminant, hydrogeology
Antibodies to some enterobacteriaceae such as Escherichia coll, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella and Shigella spp. were assayed for in the sera of 50 apparently healthy individuals aged between 20-50 years at Ugobowo, Benin city, Nigeria. Sera were obtained by standard method and stored at -4°C for 24-48 hr. Antigens were prepared from bacteria isolates and were used for tile/passive haemagglutination. Results showed that 74, 66, 60 and 50% of the study subjects had antibodies to E. coli, Proteus, Ktebsiella and Shigella spp. respectively. Antibody to E. coli was highest. The highest antibody titre recorded was 1 in 8 for E. coli. Thirty-eight sera had cross reactivity to all four isolates. This study has the advantage of documenting a specific antibody response at a time when the pathogen may no longer be present or may not be isolated for other reasons such as the action of a chemotherapeutic agent. Keywords: Antibodies, antigens, bacteria, haemagglutination, Nigeria
Water samples collected from producing boreholes in the vicinity of Federal College of Forestry, Jos were analyzed to establish the presence of heavy metals (Fe, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cu, Cd, Cr), their concentrations and compare them with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water quality. Analytical results obtained using AAS showed that the values of the parameters obtained were below the values of WHO for drinking water quality. All the metals detected were within the permissible range. No toxic metal was detected. The result of this analysis showed that the two borehole waters were found to be a suitable source of drinking water.
Laboratory teaching and learning is posing a number of challenges in resources constrained engineering faculties because of the cost, time and space requirements of the traditional engineering laboratory. Although, some research work and development on virtual laboratory alternatives have taken place, more efforts are required because of the diverse training needs and requirements of electrical/electronic engineering curriculum. In this paper, the development and implementation of a Web-based Virtual Laboratory Workbench is presented. A distinguishing feature of this Virtual Laboratory Workbench is that it allows the instructor flexibility in designing laboratory exercises so as to integrate specific knowledge objectives, outcome concepts and pre-requisites with the activity instructions. Another important benefit is that it has a watch-dog monitor that keeps a log of the students’ activities that will help the teacher in assessing and monitoring of students’ work. This can be very useful for large classes. Furthermore, it is web-based and developed using open-source ware, consequently it can open a new door of opportunities because the same concept can be used to develop many more electrical and electronic engineering laboratories.Keywords: Engineering, virtual laboratory, workbench system, Web-based e-learning
The paper considered the application of Picard’s iteration scheme in the approximation of solutions of operator equations in Banach spaces. Using Lipschitz continuity condition and the prescribed auxiliary scalar function, the location of existence of solution for a nonlinear integral equation of Fredholm type and second kind was obtained. The error estimate provided in the analysis was used to predict the convergence speed of the Picard’s iterates.Keywords: Fredholm equations, Picard’s method, Lipschitz continuity condition, Fretchet derivative
In this study, a phenol-based disinfectant was produced using vegetable soda soap as surfactant. The soap was produced by saponificaoin of palm kernel oil with sodium hydroxide crystal, followed by the addition of 10 ml of phenol to varying weights of soap. Antimicrobial analysis was done on the soap samples using disc diffusion method The results indicated that phenol-based the disinfectants produced from palm-kernel oil had good anti-microbial effect on all the bacteria tested, with the concentration of 1.5 g surfactant (soap) per 10 ml of phenol solution as the most effective, followed by concentration of 10g/10ml and 0.5g/10ml as the least. The disinfectants were most effective on Streptococcus faecalis followed by Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as the least affected. The result showed that the phenol-based disinfectants produced in tis study are good antimicrobial agents and are effective against streptococcus, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. It may also be effective on other microorganisms yet to be tested.Keywords: Saponification, disinfectants, microorganisms, phenol-based soda, soap
Tap water samples from Imo State, Nigeria were tested for bacterial quality, especially those of public health concern. Membrane filter technique was adopted to determine the heterotrophic, coliform and vibrio counts of the samples. Total heterotrophic, coliform and vibrio counts ranged from 51-230, 30–203 and 5-18 cfu/100ml respectively. Identification tests revealed the presence of Escherichia coli, Chromobacterium spp, Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio spp, Micrococcus spp and Klebsiella spp. The overall percentage occurrence of Bacillus spp, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were in 90.0, 89.7 and 71.0% respectively. Vibrio spp, Klebsiella spp, Micrococcus spp and Vibrio cholera on the other hand occurred in 52.7, 45.0, 51.2 and 37.0% of the tap water samples respectively. Chromobacterium spp had the least percentage occurrence of 35.0%. The study highlighted the need to improve the treatment process of tap water in the state in order to avert public health problems that may emanate from poor quality tap water.Keywords: Tap water, bacteria, water pollution, waterborne infections, Nigeria
This paper reports the findings of an epidemiological survey to determine the prevalence of polyparasitism in the intestine of nursery, primary, and secondary school pupils in Anisok District of Wele-Nzas Provence, Equatorial Guinea. A total of 1,276(98%) out of 1,302 pupils whose faecal samples were examined were infected with various species of different parasites. The main parasites included .Ascaris lumbricoides (40.3%), Trichuris trlchiura (39.5%), Entamoeba histolytica (8.8%), Ancylostoma duodenalis (4.1%), while other parasites, which constituted (11.3%) were hookworm, Giardia lamblia, Heterophytes heterophytes, Strongyloides stercoralis, Hymenolepis nana, Schistosoma species, Diphylobotrium latum, Taenia species, Enterobius vermicularis, Balalantidium coli, Fasciola species, Hymenolepis diminuta and Paragonimus westermani. Overall parasitism was high and mixed infection among both sexes had an incidence of 83.13%. The difference infection rates among males and females for Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and Entamoeba histolytica was very negligible. Nevertheless, more females were infected with Taenia specie (83.0%) than males. Male stool samples showed a high infection rate for Ancylostoma duodenalis (60.7%), Hookworm (64.9%), Giardia (lamblia) intestinalis (65.2%), and Heterophytes heterophytes (66.7%) than the females In general, the result showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in the infection rate and parasite distribution pattern between the sexes examined. However, infection ratio and parasites distribution were highly significant (p Keywords: Polyparasitism, worm, infections, school children, sex, age
A PQ tree is an advanced tree–based data structure, which represents a family of permutations on a set of elements. In this research article, we considered the significance of PQ trees and the Consecutive ones Problem to Computer Science and bioinformatics and their various applications. We also went further to demonstrate the operations of the characteristics of the Consecutive ones property by simulation, using high level programming languages. Attempt was also made at developing a PQ tree–Consecutive Ones analyzer, which could be instrumental not only as an educative tool to inquisitive students, but also serve as an important tool in developing clustering software in the field of bioinformatics and other application domains, with respect to solving real life problems. Keywords: PQ trees, Consecutive ones problem, bioinformatics, computer science
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) has become one of the most powerful technologies in reshaping science and engineering, especially in the areas of communication and medicine. In this study, DSP applications where the signal at a given sampling rate needs to be converted into another signal with a different sampling rate known as multirate systems were investigated. This multirate DSP had been found useful in application like digital audio, video and even GSM technology. The work is implemented using MATLABTM software. Several plots obtained showed that decimator structures reduce the number of operations required for a particular application. With the sampling rate reduced, the number of filters required for any particular operation will be reduced drastically thereby reducing cost of such operations.Keywords: Digital Signal Processing, digital audio tape, compact disc, multirate, MatlabTM
In many practical applications of Digital Signal Processing (DSP), one is faced with the problem of changing the sampling rate of a signal, either increasing it or decreasing it by some amount. Software-defined radios and test equipment use a variety of digital signal processing techniques toimprove system performance. Interpolation is one technique that can be used to increase the sample rate of digital signals. In this work, we illustrated interpolation in the time domain by writing appropriate codes using MatlabÒ. Several plots generated by running these programs were presented. Analysis of the plots showed that the output signals were exact replicas of the inputsignals.
Oil was extracted from Tetracaripidum conophorum nut using solvent extraction method with hexane as solvent. The oil obtained was used to synthesize an alkyd resin, which in turn was utilized in the production of white gloss paints and varnishes. The IR and UV analysis of the oil showed the presence of C=C and C=O, while the Uv and IR examination of the resin revealed the presence of phthalic chain and C=O, C=C bond. The white gloss paint and varnishes produced had the right physical quality such as brushability and good drying time. The oil is a necessary raw material that can be used industrially in the production of essential materials.
Schistosomiasis has been a major public health problem especially in developing countries, where access to potable water is generally limited. Its control calls for a search for various interventions that would not only target the causative agent and human behavior, but also the snail intermediate host. This study explored the possibility of using bioactive factors from naturally occurring crude or semi-processed products including some plant parts and vegetables to control the Bulinus globosus intermediate host. In all, five (25%) of the test materials in decreasing order (pawpaw > cabbage > short banana > sugarcane > sweet orange) acted as statistically significant arrestants for the adults, but four (20%) of them in decreasing order (cabbage > unripe pawpaw > sugarcane > ripe tomato) were arrestants for the juveniles at (p< 0.01). Four (20%) of the test materials acted as significant attractants for both adult and juvenile snails in decreasing order below (unripe pawpaw > short banana > sugarcane > cabbage and cabbage > palm > sugarcane > unripe pawpaw). However, mango tree bark, neem tree bark, unripe mango, onion and cassava stem acted as significant repellents to both adult and juvenile snails. The identified attractants and arrestants for Bulinus globosus, pawpaw and cabbage, may be useful in its chemical manipulations especially as molluscicides in controlling the intermediate host snails.Keywords: Schistosomiasis, snail, Bulinus globosus, chemoresponses, natural products
This paper presents the first results on the water quality of the River Niger at Niamey based on the Chironomidae . Artificial substrata of stones covered with galvanized wire netting were used for collecting the chironomid larvae. Water samples were taken for physicochemical analysis. Twenty taxa of chironomidae were collected. Among these, Chironomus gr. plumosus represented51% and Microchironomus sp. 26% of all larvae collected. The distribution of Chironomidae throughout the river showed differences between the sampling stations. Organic pollution and nutrients loading were the main factors explaining the differences in spatial distribution. Some taxa, e.g. Chironomus gr. plumosus and Microchironomus sp. are positively correlated to those factors, while others as Tanytarsini , Nilodosis sp., Micropelopinae and Procladius sp. are negatively correlated. According to these results, Chironomidae appear an excellent tool for the assessment of the biological quality of western African rivers. Keywords: Chironomidae , River Niger, Niamey, water quality
Clove aqueous extract was studied for its anti-inflammatory properties using different laboratory models. In the carrageenan group, both 300 mg kg-1 and 700 mg kg-1 of aqueous clove extract administered orally produced 44.1% oedema inhibition (p
This study assessed the microbial quality of sixteen brands of soft drink marketed in Abuja, Nigeria. Antimicrobial resistance testing was also carried out on the isolates from these soft drinks. Six bottles each of sixteen brands of soft drinks purchased from five different locations were assessed in duplicate. Isolates were identified using growth on nutrient agar and broth, Gram’s reaction, colony morphology, biochemical tests results and criteria for disregarding negative cultures. Resistance of isolates from soft drinks was determined using the antibiotic sensitivity test (zones of inhibition). Twenty six bacterial isolates belonging 5 genera were identified from the soft drink samples. 27.4% of assessed samples contained yeast cells and 17.9% contained mould. 35% of samples were sterile. There were considerable differences in the microbial quality of batches assessed. Among the six antibiotics tested for resistance on the isolated bacterial strains, four different resistance patterns were observed and several strains showed high Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for Penicillin and a low MIC for Ampicillin + Cloxacillin. This study shows that soft drinks marketed in Nigeria poses some yet undefined risk. Visual inspection of packages, quality assessment of soft drinks plants/vessels and packaging materials, as well as resistance testing should be critically considered. Keywords: Soft drinks, bacteria, yeast, resistance, antibiotics, Nigeria
This study assessed the impact of dredging and drainage on mangrove soils of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Samples from intact/un-drained mangroves and dredged/drained soils were collected from selected rivers in the Niger Delta and analysed. The rivers included Benin, Escravos, Warri, and Gbaraun and Sego Creeks. The field pH of the dredged soil was in the range of 3.7 – 3.9. On the other hand, the intact soil under mangrove vegetation and tidal cover had field pH in the neutral range (7.0 – 7.2). Upon peroxide oxidation, the pHs of the drained and un-drained soils were in the ranges of 1.5 -1.6 and 1.3 – 2.9 respectively. The results therefore indicated that the un-drainedsoils are potential acid sulphate soils (PASS), while the drained soil, which are already undergoing acidification are actual acid sulphate soils (AASS). Indications of acidification include field pH, peroxide oxidation pH, dried sample pH, and the presence of sulphur oxidizing bacteria and sulphate reducing bacteria. The study concludes that mangrove soil disturbance through dredging, drainage and exposure to air cause acidification.Keywords: Acidification, dredging, pH, mangrove, Niger Delta, oil exploration
