Bacterial quality assessment of drinking water for layer chicken managed under battery cage and deep litter systems from Sokoto Metropolis, Nigeria

This study assessed the bacterial quality of drinking water for layer chicken managed under battery cage (BC) and deep litter (DL) systems in Sokoto Metropolis. A total of 18 samples were collected from the two systems. Serial dilution, spread plate innoculation, colony count, subculturing, gram staining and biochemical characterization were carried out according to standard methods .The mean count concentrations in BC (1.4×106, 7.2×106 and 3.4×106) were relatively higher than those recorded in DL (1.57×107,4.52×107, and 1.2×106) .The mean count (CFU/ml)for BC was 72.11111 and that of DL was 207.4444.The bacteria determined in BC were: : Bacillus species, Micrococcus varians, Corynebacterium xerosis and Lactobacillus fermenti; whereas, those determined in DL were Micrococcus varians, Lactobacillus fermenti, E. coli, and Corynebacterium xerosis; thus E.coli was only recorded in DC, but the rest were found in both BC and DL. In BC, the most frequent was Corynebacterium xerosis, then Micrococcus varians, and lastly Bacillus species and Lactobacillus fermenti ; whereas, in DL Corynebacterium xerosis was also most frequent, then Micrococcus varians ,then the rests. Thus, C. xerosis was the most overall prevalent, then Micrococcus varians, then the rests. This work depicted that water used in the BC and DL systems surveyed contains a higher and diverse concentration of bacteria .This portend of contamination and unsanitary outcome is capable of harming the health, production, and ultimately the public health. More water treatment innovative methods should be use, regular and proper cleaning of farm and drinkers are needed and farmers need to be educated.Keywords: water quality, Corynebacterium xerosis, Lactobacillus fermenti, Sokoto metropolis, Bacillus specie

Electromagnetic Emission-aware Schedulers for the Uplink of OFDM Wireless Communication Systems

The popularity and convergence of wireless communications have resulted in continuous network upgrades in order to support the increasing demand for bandwidth. However, given that wireless communication systems operate on radiofrequency waves, the health effects of electromagnetic emission from these systems are increasingly becoming a concern due to the ubiquity of mobile communication devices. In order to address these concerns, we propose two schemes (offline and online) for minimizing the EM emission of users in the uplink of OFDM systems, while maintaining an acceptable quality of service. We formulate our offline EM reduction scheme as a convex optimization problem and solve it through water-filling. This is based on the assumption that the long-term channel state information of all the users is known. Given that, in practice, long-term channel state information of all the users cannot always be available, we propose our online EM emission reduction scheme, which is based on minimizing the instantaneous transmit energy per bit of each user. Simulation results show that both our proposed schemes significantly minimize the EM emission when compared to the benchmark classic greedy spectral efficiency based scheme and an energy efficiency based scheme. Furthermore, our offline scheme proves to be very robust against channel prediction errors

Role of cellular senescence and NOX4-mediated oxidative stress in systemic sclerosis pathogenesis.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by progressive fibrosis of skin and numerous internal organs and a severe fibroproliferative vasculopathy resulting frequently in severe disability and high mortality. Although the etiology of SSc is unknown and the detailed mechanisms responsible for the fibrotic process have not been fully elucidated, one important observation from a large US population study was the demonstration of a late onset of SSc with a peak incidence between 45 and 54 years of age in African-American females and between 65 and 74 years of age in white females. Although it is not appropriate to consider SSc as a disease of aging, the possibility that senescence changes in the cellular elements involved in its pathogenesis may play a role has not been thoroughly examined. The process of cellular senescence is extremely complex, and the mechanisms, molecular events, and signaling pathways involved have not been fully elucidated; however, there is strong evidence to support the concept that oxidative stress caused by the excessive generation of reactive oxygen species may be one important mechanism involved. On the other hand, numerous studies have implicated oxidative stress in SSc pathogenesis, thus, suggesting a plausible mechanism in which excessive oxidative stress induces cellular senescence and that the molecular events associated with this complex process play an important role in the fibrotic and fibroproliferative vasculopathy characteristic of SSc. Here, recent studies examining the role of cellular senescence and of oxidative stress in SSc pathogenesis will be reviewed

Evaluation of a Density-Based Rapid Diagnostic Test for Sickle Cell Disease in a Clinical Setting in Zambia

Although simple and low-cost interventions for sickle cell disease (SCD) exist in many developing countries, child mortality associated with SCD remains high, in part, because of the lack of access to diagnostic tests for SCD. A density-based test using aqueous multiphase systems (SCD-AMPS) is a candidate for a low-cost, point-of-care diagnostic for SCD. In this paper, the field evaluation of SCD-AMPS in a large (n = 505) case-control study in Zambia is described. Of the two variations of the SCD-AMPS used, the best system (SCD-AMPS-2) demonstrated a sensitivity of 86% (82–90%) and a specificity of 60% (53–67%). Subsequent analysis identified potential sources of false positives that include clotting, variation between batches of SCD-AMPS, and shipping conditions. Importantly, SCD-AMPS-2 was 84% (62–94%) sensitive in detecting SCD in children between 6 months and 1 year old. In addition to an evaluation of performance, an assessment of end-user operability was done with health workers in rural clinics in Zambia. These health workers rated the SCD-AMPS tests to be as simple to use as lateral flow tests for malaria and HIV

Effect of Values Clarification Counselling Technique on Aggressive Behaviour among Senior Secondary School Students in Kontagora Metropolis, Niger State

This study examined the effect of values clarification counselling techniques on aggressive behaviour among senior secondary school students in Kontagora metropolis, Niger State. Pretest posttest quasi experimental research design was adopted. The target population for the study consists of senior secondary school students. A sample size of 15 participants was purposively selected from senior secondary school two students for the study consisting of 11 males and 4 females. An instrument titled Students Aggressive Behaviour Questionnaire (SABQ) was used to obtain data for both pre and posttest. The intervention sessions lasted for ten weeks (two sessions of 60 minutes each per week) during the third term 2021/2022 academic session. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools of mean, standard deviation and inferential statistical tools of paired sample t-test. The findings revealed that values clarification counselling technique had a significant effect on hostile, emotional and relational aggressive behaviour among students with t=11.00, p=.000; t=6.15, p=.000 and t=7.54, p=.000 respectively. It was concluded that values clarification counselling technique was effective in reducing aggressive behaviour among senior secondary school students. It was therefore recommended among others that, school counsellors and psychologists should employ values clarification counselling techniques in reducing aggressive behaviour among senior secondary school students

CONTROL OF PARTICULATE MATTER (PM) EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRIAL PLANT USING ANFIS BASED CONTROLLER

In recent times, the negative effect of air pollution such as particulate matter (PM) emitted from industrial plants has compelled researchers in finding efficient control system to control such pollutants in order to keep the environment safe. The aim of this study is to develop a reliable method of controlling the emissions of PM using wet scrubber system as a control device. The process of a wet scrubber is nonlinear in nature. Due to difficulty in selecting optimum scrubbing liquid droplet size in wet scrubbing process, the system becomes complex. Thus, Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) based control technique is employed in this paper to handle the nonlinearities. ANFIS control technique has the advantage to integrate fuzzy logic systems and learning ability of neural network, thus able to handle nonlinear systems better. The controller is developed using data of PM emission from cement kiln. The system is simulated using triangular and trapezoidal membership function (MF) with 2 and 3 input MF in each case. The performance of the controller is evaluated based on settling time. The results indicated that the developed controller was able to maintain the PM emission below a set point of 20µg/m3 which is the maximum allowable PM emission limit recommended by world health organization (WHO). The controller with 2 input triangular membership functions indicated a better performance with a settling time of 5.2 seconds

Fuzzy logic based intelligent temperature controller for cassava post-harvest storage system

Significant amount of stored agricultural products are lost as a result of poor and inefficient storage systems in most developing countries, especially in tropical regions of the world. Improvements on the existing storage methods is important to guarantee food security. This study proposes the development of intelligent temperature control technique for fresh cassava roots crop post-harvest storage system using fuzzy logic controller (FLC). The intelligent controller which has two inputs (error in temperature and rate of change in the error) and one output (change in fan speed) was simulated with the developed storage system model for temperature control of fresh cassava roots crop. The results obtained shows that the controller can track appropriately the reference temperature and also gives good stability and robustness towards input disturbances. Faster response to maintain the storage temperature within acceptable limit close to reference point was also achieved successfully

Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) for the control of Particulate Matter (PM) emission in wet scrubber system

Air pollution such as particulate matter (PM) emitted from industries result in several thousands of deaths. In recognition of this global threat, a large number of abatement measures have been taken to minimize the emission of this pollutant. Wet scrubber system has been the most widely used control device for PM contaminants. Its operating variables (gas velocity, temperature profile, particle size, liquid droplet’s size, terminal settling velocity of liquid droplets, particle density and liquid to gas ratio) fluctuates randomly, thus resulting in a non-linear dynamic behavior of the system. This non-linearity generally limits the ability of the scrubber to control PM less than 5µm in diameter. Thus, in this study, intelligent control technique based on fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has been developed to solve the non-linearity in the system by selecting appropriate scrubbing liquid droplet size in order to improve system performance to control PM that are less than 5µm in diameter. The developed FLC has two inputs (error and change in error) and a single output. The results shows that within short settling time, the controller was able to effectively reduce the PM that are less than 5µm below the set-point (20µg/m3) which is the maximum allowable emission limit of PM contaminants by world health organization (WHO)

Gender Participation in Agricultural Digitalization in Zangon-Kataf Local Government Areas, Kaduna State – Nigeria

This research collected primary data by administering 80 structured questionnaires to rural women within their communities, focusing on the domain of agricultural digitalization in the Zangon-Kataf Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The data analysis employed various statistical methods, including descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation), correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between education level and digitalization engagement, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to identify factors contributing to rural women\u27s ability to promote agricultural digitalization, and chi-square tests to assess the association between challenges/prospects and effectiveness in promoting agricultural digitalization. The findings revealed that 46.2% of respondents belonged to the 46 to 60 years age group, 38.7% had a higher educational level, 30.0% were classified as ‘married’, 37.5% identified farming as their primary occupation, and 46.3% reported a higher percentage of women earning below N50. The tested hypotheses indicated a moderate to weak negative correlation of -0.140, illustrating the relationship between variables such as the level of education and involvement in digitalization activities. In conclusion, the study unveils significant socio-economic characteristics of rural women in the study area, providing valuable insights into their demographic profile and pivotal role in advancing agricultural digitalization. The research recommends that telecommunication companies, educational institutions and community-based organizations implement digital literacy programs tailored to the unique needs of rural women