Vol 16, No 3 ,2015 , African Scientist

Although there is increased global concern on sustainable environmental and human health management, the African countries are still unserious which should not be the case considering the potential consequences of harmful chemicals discharge into our environment from domestic and other anthropogenic activities. We are therefore reporting in this paper a spectroscopic assessment of heavy metals in wastewater generated from students’ halls of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria.

Lipoxygenase (Linoleate: oxygen oxidoreductase EC.1. 13. 11. 12), a dioxygenase catalyzing the hydroperoxidation of fatty acids containing a cis,cis- 1,4-pentadiene structure was isolated from defatted whole and dehulled seeds of Luffa aegyptiaca ,a local plant found growing wildly in waste lands and rubbish dumps. Several properties of the enzyme including effect of pH, substrate concentration and heat treatment were investigated and lipoxygenase activity was determined spectrophotometrically at 234nm.

A field survey was conducted at Jere local government area of Borno state (longitude 110 571N and Latitude 130 951E). The main objective of the study is to investigate the socio-economic factors affecting the adoption of integrated weed management. The cost and return analysis shows high profit that an average of N118.133.50, N25, 725.53 and N92, 406.2 were respectively recorded as total revenue, total variable cost and gross margin by the respondents.

Information is a key resource for agriculture and rural development. Communication of information is a major function of extension aimed at the promotion of Agricultural development. This study is aimed at determining the influence of information communication technologies in dissemination of information to urban farmers in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) of Borno State, Nigeria. Primary data for the study was obtained by administering questionnaire to the farmers through random sample of 60 respondents and 10 extension agents from 6 out of 15 wards of the MMC.

The quality of ground water in some selected land fill sites within Kano metropolis were assessed during the wet season for pH, turbidity, conductivity, total solids (TS) suspended solids (SS), total dissolved solids (TDS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved oxygen (DO), chloride, sulphate nitrate, phosphate, Zinc, Lead, Nickel, Cadmium, Iron, Manganese, Copper, and chromium. The analysis revealed that some samples were acidic and some alkaline with a pH range of (6.80 – 7.75) and at the methogenic stage.

Potentiometric investigations of complexes formed by chromium (III) ion and amino acids have been carried out. The dissociation constants of the amino acids, the stepwise formation constants and the overall stability constants of the metal ions and amino acids complexes were determined. The dissociation constants of the amino acids determined are; alanine (10.29), arginine (12.02), asparagine (9.39), glycine (9.87), histidine (7.01), lysine (9.28), methionine (9.68), phenyalanine (9.61), proline (10.53), threonine (10.31), tryptophan (9.77), and valine (10.28).

The exploitation of supported metals and metallic oxides catalysts is increasingly becoming an issue of special interest in the petroleum industry. This is consistent with necessary need for mitigating separation, recycling and reusability problems coupled with increased production costs associated with free metals, unsupported or homogeneous catalyst systems.

This paper examines the interactions between two spheres in an unbounded fluid. Using bispherical coordinates, no-slip and far-field boundary conditions, an exact solution of Stokes equations for the translational motion of two spheres of arbitrary size and arbitrary orientation with respect to their directions of motion are obtained. This solution is in form of truncated infinite series. The various hydrodynamic forces exerted on the spheres are calculated.

This paper addresses the problem of reliability improvement of k -out of - n system. It first looks at how series system is improved through the improvement of individual components with most reliable components. It also used redundancy (cold and hot) to improve the series system reliability.

A study was conducted on growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculalta L) under different mulch materials on an Alfisol in the Teaching and Research farm of Ambrose Alli University, in Ekpoma, Nigeria. Mulch materials increased the soil pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus and carbon exchange capacity of the soil over control. At 3 and 6 weeks after planting, cocoa husk and empty fruit bunch recorded significant higher plant height, leaf area and number of leavers of cowpea plant over cassava peels and control.