Archives-October 2011

The amino acid composition of the muscle and skin of the matured female guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) was determined on a dry weight basis. The total essential amino acids ranged from 30.4 g/100g to 43.5 g/100g crude protein or from 49.7% - 51.2% of the total amino acid. The amino acid score showed that lysine ranged from 0.66-1.17 (on whole hen’s egg comparison), 0.75-1.31 (on provisional essential amino acid scoring pattern) and 0.71-1.25 (on suggested requirement of the essential amino acid of a preschool child). The predicted protein efficiency ratio was 1.81-2.25 and the essential amino acid index range was 0.87-1.28. The correlation coefficient (?xy) was positive and significant at r = 0.05 for the total amino acids, amino acid scores (on whole hen’s egg basis) and other parameters in the two samples. Results have good comparison with whole hen’s egg protein.

The present work analyzes the influence of first order homogeneous chemical reactions on unsteady transient free convection flow of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid between two long vertical parallel plates through a porous medium with heat generation/absorption in the presence of transverse magnetic field. The problem is solved analytically in closed form by Laplace transform technique and the expressions for velocity, temperature and concentration has been obtained. The velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are studied for different physical parameters like Schmidt number, Prandtl number, magnetic parameter, buoyancy ratio parameter, chemical reaction parameter, time, permeability parameter and heat generation/absorption parameter. The numerical values of skin-friction have been tabulated.

A comparative indoor radon measurement by nuclear track detectors was undertaken in both Sakumono and Kassena Nankana area in sandcrete and Adobe houses respectively. In all, about seventy seven (77) detectors (type LR 115) were deployed for a period of three (3) months. The study was undertaken for the purpose of health risk assessments. The average indoor radon concentration in dwellings of Sakumono and its environs varied from 5.29 – 18.6 Bq/m³ but that of the Kassena Nankana Area varied from 35.3 and 244.2 Bq/m³.  About 38% of the Adobe dwellings found in the Kassena Nankana Area had indoor radon concentration values that were above the action level of 150 Bqm³ recommended by the US EPA. The annual effective dose for the whole study varied from 0.15 to 3.05 mSv/y.

The paper examined the technical efficiency of ofada rice production system in the prominent rice producing area of Obafemi –Owode Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. The data used for the study were elicited from 100 ofada rice farmers who were selected using two stage sampling technique. The first stage was the random selection of ten rice producing villages from two rice blocks of Someke and Obafemi in Obafemi Local Government Area, while the second stage was the random selection of ten ofada rice farmers each from the ten villages to make the sample of one hundred ofada rice farmers. The analytical techniques used were descriptive statistics of rice producers, the determination of the rate of return on capital invested (RORCI) on the enterprise after analyzing enterprise profitability and the stochastic production frontier model. The results revealed that an average rice farmer in the study area is a married male of 51 years of age, with farming experience of 19 years, cultivated 3.34 hectares of rice and had little access to credit, extension services and tractor services considered essential for hectarage expansion. The production cost per hectare of rice was estimated as N64,565 with a revenue of N119,222 per hectare. The rate of return on invested capital (RORCI) was 85 percent and this favourably exceeded the prevailing capital lending rate of 18.38 percent. This indicated that on every naira invested in ofada rice production, there was a return of N0.85. It thus buttressed the fact that ofada rice production is a profitable venture in the study area. There was low technical inefficiency in ofada rice production in the study area during the 2008 cropping season which was investigated. Technical efficiency of the farmers varied between 0.52 and 0.98 with a mean of 0.89 and about 85% of the sampled farmers had technical efficiency above 0.80. The finding suggested that there is room for improvement in the production system. The variables that influenced ofada rice output included farm size which was significant at the probability level of P? <0.01, pesticide P?<0.05 and seed at P?<0.01 level .The variables were all positively related to ofada rice output level. It was therefore recommended among others that the rice farmers are old and thus need a succession plan of new generation farmers which should be organized into rice farmers association for easy access to credit facilities, extension services and provided tractor services to increase their farm size which is essential for their economic improvement.

Regarding the important role of customers in banking industry, this article seeks. Explain "customer loyalty" process in the private banks by submitting a conceptual model and analyzing the effects of the variables of satisfaction trust, commitment and mental image of the bank. It also seeks to investigate the variables of demographic and their effect on customer loyalty. So, along with how the abovementioned variables from loyalty in a bank environment, the managers of the branches of private banks are given the chance to design and perform effective and proper strategies leading to customer loyalty. The statistical populations of the research are the customers of private banks and the data was collected using the questionnaire and also the data has been analyzed using SPSS software. The results of the research show the positive effect of the abovementioned variables on loyalty. Also in this research we came to this conclusion that there is no meaningful difference among customers’ loyalty based on the variables of demographic (gender, age, educational degree and job).

Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions form complexes of the type [ML₂]xH₂O with the  Schiff  base, [{4-(methylsulfanyl)phenyl]imino}methyl]benzene-2,4-diol, using the phenolic O and imine N atoms. These compounds are characterized by microanalysis, conductance, ¹H NMR, infrared and electronic spectral measurements. The IR measurements reveal that the Zn(II) complex is in the trans-isomeric form while electronic measurements are corroborative of a four coordinate, tetrahedral/square-planar geometry for the metal complexes. None is an electrolyte in nitromethane, and all the complexes are air stable but decomposed on heating in the temperature range 210-330^oC. The antibacterial studies show that the ligand, the Mn(II), Co(II), and Zn(II) complexes are active against Staphylococcus aureus with inhibitory zones range of 9.0-17.0 mm.  The cytotoxic study shows that the Cu(II) complex has the best in-vitro anticancer activity against HT-29 (colon carcinoma) cells with an IC₅₀ value of 30.17 ?M, which is  about a quarter as active as Cis-platin.

In this study, the effect of paddy dehusking rate in rubber the roll sheller at four levels of 60, 70, 80 and 90% were investigated on some milling properties as head brown rice yield (HBY), head rice yield (HRY) and whiteness of three Iranian rice varieties namely Binam, Khazar and Sepidroud was examined. The results revealed that the HBY decreased from 92.58 to 89.72%, 90.83 to 86.61% and 84.83 to 78.18% for Binam, Khazar and Sepidroud varieties, respectively as the paddy dehusking rate increased from 60 to 90%. However, the highest HRY of 82.17% was observed for Binam variety at the dehusking rate of 80% and the lowest value of 65.97% was recorded for Sepidroud variety at the husking rate of 60%. There was an increasing trend for rice whiteness with decreasing in paddy dehusking rate. It was decreased from 36.1 to 30.8, 36.5 to 30.1 and 35.4 to 29.8 for the varieties of Binam, Khazar and Sepidroud varieties, respectively as the paddy dehusking rate increased from 60 to 90%.

Field trials were conducted during the rainy seasons of 2005, 2006 and 2007 at the Research Farm of Institute for Agricultural Research Samaru  (11⁰ 11^/ N, 07⁰ 38^/E, and 686m above sea level) to study the yield and economic returns of sesame as influenced by poultry manure, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The experiment consisted of four rates of poultry manure (0, 5.0, 10.0, and 15.0 t ha^-1), three levels of nitrogen in the form of urea (0, 60, and 120 kg N ha^-1) and three levels of phosphorus in the form of single super phosphate (0, 13.2 and 26.4 kg P ha^-1). The thirty six treatment combinations were laid out in a split-plot design with three replications. The factorial combinations of N and P were assigned to the main plot while poultry manure was assigned to the sub-plot. Yield of sesame per unit area and economic returns were better at 5 t ha^-1, 60 kg N ha^-1 and 13.2 kg P ha^-1 of poultry manure, nitrogen and phosphorus respectively. Applications of 5 t ha^-1 of poultry manure, 60 kg ha^-1 of nitrogen and 13.2 kg ha^-1 of phosphorus seems to be the ideal rates for sesame production in this agro ecology and is therefore recommended.

Stable isotopes of hydrogen (?²H) and oxygen (?¹⁸O) in groundwater, streams and Volta Lake collected in southwestern margin of the Volta Lake were investigated. While the spatial distribution of ?¹⁸O in groundwater (-3.61 to -2.17 ‰ vs VSMOW) showed that most of the heavy-isotope depleted samples were located in the higher portion of the study area (northeastern) on the Kwahu Plateau, more positive values (from -2.62 to -2.17‰ vs VSMOW) were found in areas in proximity of the Volta Lake. The isotope composition of streams (?¹⁸O) varied closely from -2.80 to -2.61‰ vs VSMOW with most depleted being the most forested stream. The Volta Lake showed relatively enriched and homogenous isotope composition (?¹⁸O between -0.66 and -0.43) reflecting high evaporation of the Lake. Stable isotope signature of the water samples point to meteoric origin of recharge to groundwater in the area also show possible intrusion of Volta Lake into the aquifers near the banks of the Volta Lake.

The mastery of soft skill is very important among students nowadays, however, the issue on the most effective ways to inculcate this skill has yet been identified. Thus, the purpose of the study is to identify the most dominant channel that is effective to inculcate the skill to help students to embrace it. The objective of the study is to identify settings that are convenient for inculcation of soft skill. There are three different settings identified and researched; the skill could be inculcated through co-curriculum, workshops or in the classroom. The experiment is design to be a descriptive study. Data for the experiment was collected through instruments such as survey forms and interviews. The respondents of the survey were 196 students semester 5 and 6 from ADTEC Malaysia. The outcome of the experiment showed that levels of soft skill development are varied through co-curricular activity, workshops and classroom. From a Paired Sample t-Test that has been carried out, it showed that there is a significant different in level of soft skill development between co-curricular activities and workshops, and between co-curricular and classroom. On the other hand, the outcome of the Paired Sample t-Test does not show any significant difference of soft skill between workshop and class. The findings conclude that the most relevant difference is through workshop and class.