The Design of a Portable Municipal Waste Incinerator with Fuzzy Logic Based Support for Emission Estimation

A fuzzy logic interface system to estimate oxygen requirement for complete combustion as well as the level of pollution from incinerator gas flue in order to manage solid waste from domestic, institutional, medical and industrial sources was designed. The designed incinerator is double chambered operating with a maximum temperature of 760 °C in the lower chamber and 1000°C in the upper chamber. The insulating wall is made up of a refractory brick of 55mm in thickness having a 2mm thickness low carbon steel as the outer wall. Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) and Nitrous oxides (NO)x are the gases was used to demonstrate the Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) model. The FIS was built with five input variables (Food, PVC, Polythene, Paper and Textile) and three input variables with two membership functions. The FIS was developed to estimation the degree of possibility distribution of pollution that should be expected when a certain composition of waste is incinerated. The plots of composition of waste high in food against oxygen require for combustion gives a possibility distribution of about 0.9 which is high according to the fuzzy set definition while the plot of waste composition high in PVC against HCL shows linearity

Cadmium, Cobalt, Lead and Zinc Levels in Soil and Edible Vegetables in Yala Urban Area of Cross River State, Nigeria

The average level of cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in the soil and edible vegetables samples collected randomly in Yala Urban Area of Cross River State was determined using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The samples were digested and analyzed for the metals level or concentration in Chemistry Laboratory, University of Calabar. The eight vegetables selected for the study were Amaranthus spp., Corchorusolitorius, Murraya koenigii, Ocimum grattissimum, Solanum melongena, Talinum triangulare, Telferia occidentalis and Vernonia amygdalina. The results indicated that the average level of the metals in the soil in mgkg-1 ranged from (0.005-0.021) and (0.004-0.019) in rainy and dry seasons respectively for Cadmium, (0.162- 0.475) and (0.163- 0.472) in rainy and dry season respectively for Cobalt, and (0.434-1.030) and (0.432-1.027) in rainy and dry season respectively for Zinc. Also, the average level of the metals accumulated by the vegetables in mgkg-1 ranged from (0.002-0.009) and (0.001- 0.007) in rainy and dry season respectively for Cadmium, (0.050-0.198) and (0.048-0.195) in rainy and dry season respectively for Cobalt, and (0.158-0.383) and (0.156-0.380) in rainy and dry season respectively for Zinc. The level of Lead in the soil or vegetables was not detected. The average level of metals accumulated by the vegetables and that present in the soil was in the order: Zinc > Cobalt > Cadmium > Lead. These results revealed that there is no significant difference between the level of metals in the soil or that accumulated by the vegetables in rainy and dry seasons of the year. Also the level of metals accumulated by most of the vegetables was directly proportional to the amount present in the soil where they are planted. The Target Hazard Quotients of these metals was less than 1. These results imply that the concentration of Cadmium, Cobalt, Zinc and Lead in the soil and vegetables were still low and within the permissible limits of World Health Organization. Thus, the consumption of the vegetables in the area may not pose any health risk for now. Keywords: Heavy metals, Concentration, Soil, Edible vegetables

The Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970 and the Rwandan Civil War/Genocide of 1994: A Comparative Appraisal of Post-Civil War Peace Building in Nigeria and Rwanda

The end of colonialism brought about the emergence of independent African states. Since independence, a number of African states including Nigeria and Rwanda have experienced civil wars among other crises. While the Nigerian Civil War ensued and lasted from 1967 to 1970, the Rwandan Civil War cum Genocide was experienced in 1994; 24 years after the Nigerian Civil War. While these wars were fought and won on the perceived premise of ‘no victor, no vanquished’, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and the Hutu ethnic group of Rwanda were the actual victors while the people of Eastern Nigeria then known as Biafra and the Tutsi of Rwanda were the vanquished. How these countries have fared in their post-civil war peace building processes have not been placed side by side. It is for this reason that a comparative appraisal of post-Civil War peace building in Nigeria and Rwanda after their civil wars becomes necessary. Nevertheless, years after these civil wars, Rwanda unlike Nigeria adopted workable efficient policies and strategies that enabled her to carry out an effective national reconciliation for overall national integration, growth and development of post-civil war Rwanda. To say the least, Rwanda has overcome the overall ills of the crises unlike in Nigeria, where the causes and factors that brought about the civil war are still very much present. The study is comparative and analytical and adopts both primary and secondary sources. It concludes therefore, that the Nigerian Government should study and adopt some of the policies and strategies adopted by Rwanda in ensuring efficient and effective post-civil war peace building which has placed Rwanda on the track of overall national development. Keywords: Civil War, Nigeria, Peace Building and Rwand

Evaluation of some phytochemicals in raw and cooked Ipomea batatas (Lam), (Sweet potato), Solanum tuberosum (Irish potato) and Dioscorea cayenensis (Yellow yam)

Cooking induces numerous phytochemical changes in food. This study is aimed at determining the amount of phytochemicals present in raw and cooked sweet potato, Irish potato and yellow yam. The amount of tannin, alkaloids, saponin, flavonoids and phenol were determined in raw and cooked samples of each food crop. The result showed that tannin, alkaloids, saponin, flavonoids, phenol contents was high in Irish potato and sweet potato but was far much present in Irish potato, while it was seen in minute quantity in yellow yam. The values obtained for each phytochemicals in each food sample raw and cooked respectively, in mg/100g were; Yellow yam: Tannins (0.10 and Nil), Alkaloids (2.00 and 0.51), Flavonoids (1.18 and 0.87), Saponins (2.00 and 1.02) and Phenols (0.72 and 0.10). Sweet potato: Tannins (0.32 and 0.28), Alkaloids (2.17 and 0.62), Saponins (2.10 and1.58), Flavonoids (1.28 and 0.97) and Phenols (1.42 and 0.72). Irish potato: Tannins (0.55 and 0.49), Alkaloids (2.17 and 0.81), Saponins (4.00 and 2.13), Flavonoids (5.00 and 2.91) and Phenols (2.00 and 0.91). The % loss of phytochemicals after cooking were; Yellow yam: Tannins (Nil), Alkaloids (74.5), Saponins (49.0), Flavonoids (26.3) and Phenols (86.1). Sweet potato: Tannins (12.5), Alkaloids (71.4), Saponins (24.8), Flavonoids (24.2) and Phenols (49.3). Irish potato: Tannins (10.0), Alkaloids (62.7), Saponins (46.8), Flavonoids (41.8) and Phenols (54.5). These results indicate that boiling of the samples seems to reduce their phytochemical contents as the raw samples showed higher amounts of the phytochemicals. The results also revealed that Tannins are more stable to heat across the 3 food samples, followed by Flavonoids, Saponins, Phenols and Alkaloids. The loss in some of the phytochemicals after cooking did not significantly affect the nutritional quality of the food samples

Health Risk Evaluation of Selected Heavy Metals in Infant Nutrition Formula in Cross River State, Nigeria

The aim of this study is to ascertain the level of some heavy metals namely; Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Cobalt and Lead in baby milk or infant formulas used in the country and evaluate the health risk associated with their consumption. Five (5) brands of popularly consumed and most preferred or recommended infant formula foods for children in Nigeria were bought from the main (Watt) market in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria and were coded and labeled V, W, X, Y and Z respectively. The samples were digested in the fume cupboard using aqua regia and analyzed for heavy metals using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The results showed that the concentration of Arsenic was less than 0.001mgkg-1 across all the five (5) brands. Cadmium concentration ranged between 0.010 - 0.052 mgkg-1 , and it was detected in all the samples. Cobalt ranged between 0.002 - 0.010 mgkg-1 , and it was detected in 3 out of the 5 samples. Chromium concentration ranged between 0.002 - 0.004 mgkg-1 was detected in 4 out of the 5 samples or brands of infant formula studied. Lead amount ranged between 0.080 - 0.014 mgkg-1 and was less than 0.001 mgkg-1 in 2 brands out of the five brands sampled. These results are low and within the permissible limits of WHO. The Target Hazard Quotients (THQ) of these metals were all less than 1 except for Cadmium in brand V that was 1. This indicates that there is no health danger associated with the imgestion of the infant formulas at the moment Keywords: Health risk, Heavy metals, Infant formula, Calabar-Nigeri

Heavy Metals Concentrations in Five Brands of Lip Gloss and Mascara Cosmetics Sold and Used in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

This study is evaluated the concentration of some toxic heavy metals present in selected cosmetics sold and used in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeriausing aFlame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), VGP 210 (BUCK Scientific) Model. The result revealed that the average  concentration of the metals in mg/L ranged thus: Cadmium (0.012- 0.046), Chromium (0.002- 0.022), Lead (0.004- 0.024) and Nickel (0.140- 0.416). The concentration of Arsenic and Mercury was not detected, and were considered string variables in this study. From the results, the concentration of the metals detected were within the permissible limit of the World Health Organization (WHO) except Cadmium that was slightly above the WHO limit in one of the samples with a value of 0.046 mg/L. These results indicate that the selected cosmetics used in Calabar contains low amounts of the heavy metals analyzed in this study and may not pose any health risk for now, except that the accumulation of such little amounts over timedue to prolonged use of these cosmetics may cause harm. Keywords: Concentration, Heavy metals, Cosmetics, Calaba

Digestibility and Growth Performance of Rabbits Fed Raw or Processed Lablab Purpureus Seed in Diets

A study was conducted to determine the Digestibility of growing rabbits fed raw or processed Lablabpurpureus seed in diets. The Highworth variety was processed by decortication, toasting and boiling, milland respectively incorporated into diets T2, T3, T4 and T5 to replace 75% of protein provided by full fatsoyabean (FFSB) in the control diet (T1). The effect of replacing FFSB with Lablab purpureus seed onnutrient digestibility was investigated in growing rabbits in an 8-week feeding trial with 5-weeks oldmixed bred rabbits weighing between 350-358g in a completely randomized design. The Highworth lablabseeds diets and faecal samples of experimental rabbits were assayed for proximate chemical composition.The crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract and energy digestibility were higher in rabbits fed raw ordecorticated lablab seed diets than those fed control or heat treated seed diets. Decorticated lablab seeddiets were most digested than the other diets. This suggests that the cortex of legume seed may haveimposed a negative influence on the digestibility of these nutrients. The present study indicates that thedigestion of a diet may be high but the utilization can be poor due to impaired absorption; caused by thepresence of anti-nutritional factors like phytohaematogglutinins, which exert a non-selective adverse effecton the absorption of nutrients from the intestinal tract rather than a direct effect on the digestive process

Self-assembling Fmoc dipeptide hydrogel for in situ 3D cell culturing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Conventional cell culture studies have been performed on 2D surfaces, resulting in flat, extended cell growth. More relevant studies are desired to better mimic 3D <it>in vivo </it>tissue growth. Such realistic environments should be the aim of any cell growth study, requiring new methods for culturing cells <it>in vitro</it>. Cell biology is also tending toward miniaturization for increased efficiency and specificity. This paper discusses the application of a self-assembling peptide-derived hydrogel for use as a 3D cell culture scaffold at the microscale.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phenylalanine derivative hydrogel formation was seen to occur in multiple dispersion media. Cells were immobilized <it>in situ </it>within microchambers designed for cell analysis. Use of the highly biocompatible hydrogel components and simplistic procedures significantly reduced the cytotoxic effects seen with alternate 3D culture materials and microstructure loading methods. Cells were easily immobilized, sustained and removed from microchambers. Differences in growth morphology were seen in the cultured cells, owing to the 3-dimentional character of the gel structure. Degradation improved the removal of hydrogel from the microstructures, permitting reuse of the analysis platforms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Self-assembling diphenylalanine derivative hydrogel provided a method to dramatically reduce the typical difficulties of microculture formation. Effective generation of patterned 3D cultures will lead to improved cell study results by better modeling <it>in vivo </it>growth environments and increasing efficiency and specificity of cell studies. Use of simplified growth scaffolds such as peptide-derived hydrogel should be seen as highly advantageous and will likely become more commonplace in cell culture methodology.</p

Assessing Library services in Meeting users’ information needs in Universities in Benue State rating scale

This paper examines assessing Library Services in Meeting Users’ Information Needs in Universities in Benue State Rating Scale. The paper adopts survey research. The population of the study was 10,000 library users and one librarian This population consisted of 4,286 (library users) and 1 librarian from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi; 5,520 library users and1 librarian from Benue State University, Makurdi; and 191 library users and 1 librarian from University of Mkar, Mkar. The library users were made up of only registered 400-Level student users of the concerned libraries. The paper used a sample size of 370 library users which comprises of 367 students and 3 librarians. Findings from the study reveals that university libraries to a great extent are providing services that meet users’ information needs. Acquisition and classification services were reportedly provided to a great extent by university library in Benue State. This finding suggests that university libraries in Benue State provided these services adequately enough to meet information needs of users. The findings on the extent to which acquisition services in particular meets information needs of users presented a mixed picture. For example, while acquisition meet information needs of users to a great extent in terms of journal, e-encyclopedia, and e-database, others such as e-books, e-journals, CD-Rom and textbooks presented a negative picture. Thus, indicating that acquisition services satisfactorily meet information needs of users even as result indicated that it was provided at a great extent. Finding of this study showed that classification service satisfactorily meet information needs of the users. However, classification mark was able to link users where to locate related materials on the shelf and also enabled users to know how materials are arranged on the shelves to a great extent. The paper also made some recommendations such as University libraries in Benue State should enhance the acquisition services. This may be through acquisition of current information resources. University libraries in Benue State should re-arc­­­­­hitecture the classifications service. This may be in terms of acquiring state of art classification tools and training staff on the use of tools

Prevalence and pattern of strabismus in primary school pupils in Benin City, Nigeria

Background: Strabismus is the most common amblyogenic factor and approximately 40% of children with manifest strabismus have amblyopia. In Nigeria, it is generally believed that strabismus is not common. However, few studies have been done to determine the prevalence of strabismus in Benin City, Edo State. Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence and pattern of tropias and phorias in primary school children in Benin City.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out on primary school pupils in government schools located within Egor Local Government Council Area, Edo State.Results: Two thousand one hundred and thirty-nine students (2139) were examined. There were 1024 males (47.87%) and 1115 females (52.13%). The overall prevalence of tropias in this study was 0.89%. Esotropia was seen in 0.56% (12 pupils, SE 0.03%) and exotropia in 0.33% (7 pupils, SE 0.02%) of the pupils. Infantile esotropia was the most common form of esotropia while alternating exotropia was the most common pattern of exotropia. 57.04% of the pupils had heterophoria.Conclusion: The prevalence of manifest strabismus in Benin City was low however there should be training of non-ophthalmic staff such as teachers to detect and refer cases of strabismus.Keywords: Children, Nigeria, pattern, prevalence, pupils, strabismu