Bacterial leaf spot disease incited by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vescatoria affects solanum plants worldwide and caused up to 40-70% yield loss of Solanum scabrum. Efficacy of Bidens pilosa and Euphorbia hirta leaf and root extracts and one synthetic chemical Ridomil® was evaluated for control of bacterial leaf spot in Solanum scabrum. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replicates. Seedlings were inoculated with Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria isolated from diseased S. scabrum and then treated separately with test concentrations of 25%, 50%, 100% and 50 mg/ml 100 mg/ml and 200 mg/ml for water and ethanol extract respectively. The extracts reduced disease severity with the highest concentrations (100% and 200 mg/ml significantly lowering disease severity compared to other extracts and Ridomil®. Plants treated with high concentrations of extracts had high growth vigor when stem diameter, plant height and leaf weight were evaluated. Reduction in disease severity and promotion of plant growth could be due to presence of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity and growth promoting hormones in the extracts. From this study B. pilosa and E. hirta extracts can be used as an alternative to synthetic chemical to control bacterial leaf spot disease of solanum. Future studied should focus on isolating active compounds to be used in formulating pesticides.
Page(s): 01-06 Date of Publication: 03 June 2022
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Incapacitation due to low commitment levels, limited stakeholder participation and the adhoc manner in which assessments are done defeat the purpose for which the practice and process was instituted, “to judge the direction, progress and performance of programs and projects.” This scenario undermines the noble benefits and value that the assessment practice brings to the design, planning and implementation of programs. Thus, the need for a multi-sphere assessment framework tended towards stakeholder commitment, inclusion and participation becomes apparent. This study assesses the need for a multi-sphere assessment framework for livelihood projects in Zimbabwe, by interrogating the participants’ experiences, and perceptions, on the assessment practice, and the ideal components of the new framework. Data for this study were collected through, desktop review, focus group discussion and questionnaires, limited to non-probability purposive, and conveniently selected 85 participants from Bulilima, Gwanda, Mangwe and Umzingwane districts of Zimbabwe. These participants comprised of district development coordinators (DDCs), Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Rural District Council (RDC) chief executive officers, councilors, traditional leaders (chiefs), NGO managers, and heads of schools. These participants were significant to the study, in that they brought depth to this study due the number of years of involvement in livelihood projects. The study found assessment to be a popular practice, that is variedly understood across domains and disciplines, but accorded little priority, done in an ad hoc manner, and districts lacking uniform assessments frameworks to guide all stakeholders. Hence, the existence of a parallel assessment regimes in the districts, and high incapacitation levels due to lack of political will and commitment. Therefore, the study recommends the strategic lobbying of all stakeholders to commit towards the embracement of the multi-sphere assessment framework, through the mobilization of political systems and institutions, to formulate pro assessment policies and allocation of resources. Taking this route may be critical in addressing commitment related incapacitation challenges and help stakeholders change their perception on assessment, resulting in a radical shift from an ad hoc approach to a proactive one that embraces inclusivity and participation. Furthermore, the proposed radical approach will foster confidence, participation, inclusivity, equity, accountability, transparency, networks, trust, and a mindset change, leading to new innovations in the assessment practice. The study further recommends, the making of capacity-building, training, and education the prime focus, to promote correct understanding, all stakeholder commitment to the assessment practice, and significantly contribute to the expansion of assessment knowledge. Therefore, study findings offer implications in terms of highlighting the salience of establishing the multi-sphere assessment framework that promotes inter-stakeholder collaboration.
Page(s): 07-14 Date of Publication: 04 June 2022
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The study examined the growth in school population and educational infrastructures/facilities in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the educational institutions and facilities in Makurdi town and to examine the growth in school population and its pressure on educational infrastructures/facilities in Makurdi Town. The study population include secondary schools and its facilities, teachers and students. The research studied 5 Secondary Schools selected via simple random sampling technique. The research data were collected through inventory/measurement of school infrastructures/facilities. Data were analysed and presented via frequency, percentage, ratios and tables. The result shows that most of the schools did not experienced increased in school population growth between the year 2009 and 2019. Most of the schools did not exceed the UBEC, 2010 recommended standard (1440) pupils per school in an urban area. No school exceeded the standard limit of student/teacher ratio (35-40) pupils set by NPE (2004) and UBEC (2010). Majority of the schools met the standard requirement of 40 pupils per class. Only few schools failed to meet the standard classroom size requirement (56.0M2) recommended by UBEC, 2010. The schools also meet the individual students/space requirement (1.4M2) set by UBEC, 2010 and NPE, 2004. Only three schools meet the standard library requirement (120.0M2) for 40 pupils. The schools did not meet the standard requirement for computer laboratory (140M2) set by UBEC, 2010. Most of the schools did not meet the standard space requirement (3.5M2) for each pupil set by UBEC, 2010. None of the schools meet the physics, chemistry and biology laboratory standard requirement (140.0M2) and individual space requirement (3.5M2) set by UBEC, 2010. All the schools have various sport facilities. The schools have access water but did not meet the UBEC (2010) requirement for urban schools while toilet facilities were grossly inadequate. Although some of the schools did not meet all the UBEC (2010) and NPE (2004) standard requirement for schools in urban areas but the current population in all the schools have no serious implication on the facilities for now. The study recommend that all school owners in Makurdi town should adhere strictly to the NPE (2004) and UBEC (2010) requirement for standard secondary school in urban areas.
Page(s): 15-21 Date of Publication: 12 June 2022
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The use of face masks is apparently not strange in these present days as conceptualized in the past due to the emergence of the Pandemic Covid-19 Corona virus. As part of the non-clinical preventive measures for the spread of this virus is the prescription and proper usage of face mask by the World health organization (WHO). In lieu of this, heads of organizations, directors of industries and individuals have adopted the “No facemask, no entry” policy in varieties of designs placed at their door posts. The state of the arts technologies has also been developed to help detect face mask non-compliant users. Whereas, the use of non-supervised machine learning approach for classifying and detecting Covid-19 facemask compliant users is not widespread. In this paper, HIC-DEEP (an un-supervised machine learning) model is proposed using a pre-trained InceptionV3 network for Kaggle database Image features vector extraction for subsequent computations of Euclidian, Spearman, and Pearson distance matrixes. The Hierarchical clustering method is then activated to identify face mask wearing faces from defiant faces. The distance algorithms all returned a perfect precision rate of 100% for the identification of faces with no face masks while an accuracy of 60%, 78% and 85% are achieved by Spearman, Pearson and Euclidian respectively for the cluster with full face mask compliance. However, the Euclidian distance algorithm returned the best overall accuracy in terms of the distance matrix with data points grouped along close proximities with unique clusters
Page(s): 22-28 Date of Publication: 12 June 2022
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Ticks are the most important ectoparasites of livestock in tropical and sub-tropical areas. They are responsible for severe economic losses both through direct effects of blood sucking and indirectly as vectors of pathogens and toxins. Feeding by large numbers of ticks causes reduction in live weight gain and anaemia among domestic animals. An epidemiological study was carried out on ticks of goat in Okitipupa main market in Southern part of Ondo State from September, 2021 to November, 2021. Goats were sampled randomly. Collected ticks species were preserved in 70% ethanol to be counted and morphologically identified to the species level. A total of eighty (80) goats were examined, thirty-five (35) of the goats examined were infested out of which (20) female and (15) male were infested. One hundred and eleven (111) species which were largely Amblyomma variegatum, the most predominant hard tick species was identified. The main attachment/predilection sites of tick detected were head (33), neck (9), back (13), abdomen (39) and leg (17) which is significant to the tick infestation. The infestation rate of tick was insignificantly different between sex, female (46.5%) and male (40.5%). Therefore, to reduce high prevalence of tick, proper and planned control measure by creating awareness about the importance and control of ectoparasites for farmers is needed.
Page(s): 29-34 Date of Publication: 14 June 2022
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Malaria is a parasitic infection ranked among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in Sub-Sahara African countries. If recommended interventions measures are well applied, malaria can be prevented and controlled. In many cases, the budget allocated to malaria prevention and treatment project is not enough, using malaria intervention measures properly will guarantee the reduction of infected population while the intervention costs is minimized. This saves the budget and produces the results in economical way. The aim of this article is to understand the cost so that decision makers are well informed when they determine budget allocated to malaria interventions. After ordering different possible strategies from the smallest to the highest, utilizing Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER), we studied the Cost-effectiveness of each strategy. This study analyses the cost-effectiveness of all possible optimal control measures to identify which is the intervention strategy is going to save available resources and cost-effective. After analysis, this study shows that malaria can be minimized in Bubanza using preventive measures at the most cost effective way.
Page(s): 35-43 Date of Publication: 16 June 2022
DOI : 10.51584/IJRIAS.2022.7501Download PDF
The study sought to examine the effect that Record-keeping could have on financial performance of SMEs in Lira city. The researcher used both descriptive and correlational design. The study adopted a quantitative approach. The researcher used simple random sampling in selecting 118 SMEs operators in the service sector that formed the sample size of the study. A structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument of quantitative data collection from the selected SMEs Operators. Completed questionnaires were edited, coded, and entered into and categorized into themes and analyzed using SPSS 20 for Windows. Bivariate analysis in form of Pearson’s product moment correlation was used to show the direction and strength of the relationship between each dimension of Record-keeping and financial performance. Regression analysis was also used to test the effect each construct of Record-keeping on financial performance. The study therefore concludes that Record-keeping has effect on financial performance of SMEs and recommends proper record filling, retention and retrieval in order to improve financial performance of SMEs
Page(s): 44-53 Date of Publication: 27 June 2022
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Based young leaves of Mokara Leuen Berger Gold were used as cultured materials. Callus was initiated and increase biomass on medium of semisolid and liquid cultures: MS medium supplemented with CW (30%), sucrose (30 g/l), 2.4D (1 mg/l). Callus was used as materials for initiation and biomass propagation on medium: (1) MS medium supplemented with NAA (1 mg/l), B1 (5 mg/l), Adenin sulfate (10 mg/l), peptone (1 g/l), CW (10%), sucrose (30 g/l) (2) MS medium supplemented with 2.4D (1 mg/l), CW (30%), Adenin sulfate (10 mg/l), peptone (1 g/l), CW (10%), sucrose (30 g/l). Semisolid medium for callus cell regeneration and to induce multiple shoots were: MS medium supplemented with BA (0.5 mg/l), B1 (5 mg/l), Adenin sulfate (10 mg/l), peptone (1 g/l), CW (10%), sucrose (20 g/l). Multiple-shoots were propagated on MS medium supplemented with BA (0.5 mg/l), B1 (5 mg/l), CW (10%), sucrose (20 g/l). Propagation of multiple-shoots in TIS on MS medium supplemented with BA (0.5 mg/l), B1 (5 mg/l), CW (10%), sucrose (20 g/l). Interval culture time was optimum for 2 hours floating and 1 minute rising. Plantlets were induced roots on MS medium supplemented with NAA (1 mg/l), B1 (5 mg/l), CW (10%), sucrose (20 g/l). Experiments on callus formation and callus growth of mokara orchids both on semi-solid medium (agar) and liquid medium to create callus suspension, the best medium selected was: MS supplemented with 2.4D (1 mg/l), CW (30%), sucrose (30 g/l)
Page(s): 54-58 Date of Publication: 30 June 2022
DOI : 10.51584/IJRIAS.2022.7502Download PDF
The material introduced into the callus culture was the in vitro cloned red pine stem and leaves. Callus obtained through culture from leaves and stems were included in the study on proliferation on agar and liquid media. The suspension obtained after 45 days of culture was determined for biomass, used in proliferation culture, and studied taxol accumulation. Media for taxus cell cloning was MS supplemented with 3 mg/l 2.4D, 3 mg/l NAA, 0.5 mg/l kinetin, 0.1 mg/l BA, 10% CW. Selections were carried out through 8 steps in the year of 2010 with interval cultivation time of 45 days/each step. It’s could improve the taxol accumulation via cell suspension cultures sourced from leaves 170.1 mg/gDW and stems 27.3 mg/gDW. Picloram was not effect on taxol accumulation. On the basic media MS supplemented with 3 mg/l 2.4D, 3 mg/l NAA, 0.5 mg/l kinetin, 0.1 mg/l BA, 10% CW supplemented with precursor of 15mg/l phenyl alanine (PA) effects on the percentage of FW/DW (fresh weight/dried weight) was 9.815 and the taxol accumulation was 0.778%. The effects of elicitors supplemented to media with 10 mg/l methyl jasmonate (MJ) having 7.183 FW/DW and 0.273% taxol, 100 mg/l salysilic acid (SA) having 10.12 FW/DW and 0.094% taxol, 50mg/l chitosan having 10.09 FW/DW and 0.119% taxol, 5mg/l oligo-chitosan having 9.090 FW/DW and 0.778% taxol. The effects of the combination of precursor and elicitors (15 mg/l phenyl alanine, 10 mg/l methyl jasmonate, 5 mg/l O-chitosan, 100 mg/l salysilic acid) enhance the taxol accumulation to 1.003% in comparison of separately as PA having 0.114% taxol, PA+Ochi having 0.542% taxol, PA+MJ+Ochi having 0.564%. Cell cloning from leaves (1.701%) had the taxol accumulation more than from stem (0.273%).
Page(s): 59-64 Date of Publication: 30 June 2022
DOI : 10.51584/IJRIAS.2022.7503Download PDF
This study was conducted to determine the nutritional and anti-nutritional content of cassava tubers and leaves in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria. Proximate analysis was determined by standard method for the percentage moisture content, ash content, crude protein, crude fibre and carbohydrate. Elemental analysis was determined using AAS and UV-Spectrophotometer. The anti-nutritional constituents determined includes; cyanogenic glycosides, trypsin inhibitor, phytic acid, tannins and oxalate. The tubesr have moisture content (10.57±0.2%), ash content (2.4±0.001%), crude protein (4.8±0.30%), crude fat (2.4±0.02%), crude fibre (3.9±0.08%), carbohydrate (80.54±2.40%), calcium (29.31±0.14%), potassium (8.94±0.04%), sodium (38.7±0.20%), magnesium (23.5±0.10%), phosphorus (0.150±0.004%), cyanogenic glycosides (2.06±0.008mg/L), trypsin inhibitor (4.28±0.03TUI/mg), phytate (31.02±0.34mg/100g), tannins (3.64±0.009mg/100g), oxalate (1.29±0.029g/100g) and the leaves showed moisture content (5.86±0.01%), ash content (1.6±0.01%), crude protein (5.6±0.08%), crude fat(1.8±0.04%), crudefibre (4.6±0.01%), carbohydrate (75.9±0.60%), calcium (38.65±1.35%), Potassium (13.10±0.12%), sodium (58.8±0.58%), magnesium (24.80±0.20%), phosphorus (0.280±0.001%), cyanogenic glycosides (7.31±0.098mg/L), trypsin inhibitor (10.74±0.012TUI/mg), phytate (58.47±0.403mg/100g), tannins (78.67±0.471mg/100g), oxalate (1.61±0.084g/100g).
Page(s): 65-67 Date of Publication: 30 June 2022
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Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) remains a worldwide health challenge that is increasing steadily. It is a chronic situation accompanied by an increase in morbidity, mortality, and also a risk of other several diseases like cardiovascular diseases and high healthcare costs. More than two million individuals over the globe receive dialysis or transplanting kidney treatment to stay alive, yet this figure shows only 10% represent people who need treatment to live. Early detection and management of CKD are necessary. It is important to predict the progression of CKD with reasonable accuracy due to its dynamic and covert nature in the early stages and patient heterogeneity. This paper presents a CKD predictive model by the introduction of a nature-inspired computation algorithm known as Ant Colony Optimization for the selection of discriminant attributes from the CKD indigenous dataset and employing some selected machine learning algorithms for classification. The CKD predicted model was evaluated using an indigenous dataset collected from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) teaching hospital, Ogbomoso and Osogbo, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Experimental results showed that binary classification for CKD predictive model produced the best accuracy of 99.13%, the best specificity of 0.9839, the best sensitivity of 0.9929 in ACO-KNN and also for the multistage CKD predictive model, the best outputs for accuracy, specificity, sensitivity are given respectively with 99.65%, 0.9956 and 1.000 in CKD patients with stage 2 disease Severity using ACO-KNN.
Page(s): 68-73 Date of Publication: 30 June 2022
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