We Welcome LatestResearch Articles inField of Applied Science

The improvement of musicians depends on voice training and singing instructions but conservative instruction is restricted by insufficient number of qualified coaches and high cost of engaging them, delayed response, broad lesson content that downplay unique vocal profiles. For upcoming singers in remote and underdeveloped areas, these hindrances are aggravated. A mobile-enabled interactive singing feedback system that gives near-instant pitch detection, key detection, customized AI-generated vocal feedback mechanism was designed, implemented and evaluated in this study. WebRTC Voice Activity Detection was used for noise detection, Librosa for audio feature extraction while for the application, React Native and Expo was used for the frontend and Flask backend.mIn order to assess the usability and applicability of feedback, system efficiency testing was combined with user trials. The system responds quickly: pitch and key feedback derived from on-device and backend signal processing is returned in approximately 0.47 seconds, with the additional natural-language coaching from the cloud language model arriving shortly afterwards. The system achieves 92% accuracy in pitch detection against reference tones, while voice activity detection removes 85% of non-vocal segments. The results revealed that integrating mobile technology and machine learning into vocal pedagogy can provide a personalized, economical, and alternative to conventional training, which is useful most especially to students.

This systematic review provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving landscape of consumer credit risk modeling, focusing on the synergistic integration of decision tree algorithms and bio-inspired feature selection metaheuristics. As financial institutions transition toward automated underwriting, the need for transparent, high-precision classification models becomes both an operational and regulatory necessity. This paper evaluates the strengths and limitations of traditional statistical models, ensemble methods, and deep learning architectures, detailing the theoretical underpinnings of inherently interpretable decision trees. Furthermore, it examines data engineering strategies; comparing label and one-hot encoding and investigates mechanisms for dimensionality reduction. Specifically, it contrasts information-theoretic filter methods like Mutual Information with wrapper-based swarm intelligence techniques, such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). By analyzing the extraction of top-k feature subsets, the study highlights the methodology for identifying a "Stable Core" of features essential for robust decision support systems. Finally, this review synthesizes critical contemporary trends, including Agentic AI, Explainable AI, and alternative data integration, while outlining current research gaps and charting a clear path toward autonomous, fair, and responsible financial AI ecosystems.

Ready-to-Eat (RTE) Foods are foods consumed without further cooking or processing and are widely patronized because of their convenience and affordability. However, poor hygiene during preparation, handling, and sale may result in contamination with foodborne pathogens. This study investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli isolated from selected RTE foods sold at Mile 12 Market, Lagos, Nigeria. Twenty food samples representing five food types (Ewedu, Ponmo, Wheat, Meat pie, and Bottled water) were obtained from different vendors and analyzed using standard microbiological methods. Total viable counts were determined using the pour plate technique, while E. coli isolates were presumptively identified based on colony morphology on Eosin Methylene Blue and Sorbitol MacConkey agars and conventional biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. Total viable counts were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis H test, while antimicrobial susceptibility data were summarized as frequencies and percentages. Microbial loads varied significantly among the food types (Kruskal–Wallis H = 17.89, P = 0.001), with Ewedu recording the highest bacterial counts (1.15 × 10⁵ to 1.40 × 10⁵ CFU/g) and Bottled water the lowest (3.5 × 10³ to 5.0 × 10³ CFU/mL). Escherichia coli was isolated from all 20 samples analyzed, giving an overall prevalence of 100%. All isolates were susceptible to Nitrofurantoin and Gentamicin (100%), whereas susceptibility to Levofloxacin and Amoxicillin–Clavulanate was only 10%. The widespread occurrence of E. coli in these RTE Foods suggests inadequate hygienic practices during food preparation and handling and highlights a potential public health concern. Improved food hygiene, routine microbiological surveillance, and continuous monitoring of antimicrobial resistance are essential to enhance the safety of RTE Foods and reduce the risk of foodborne infections.

Acrylamide is a process-induced contaminant that forms in carbohydrate-rich foods during high-temperature cooking methods, such as frying, baking, roasting, and toasting. Since its identification in food products in 2002, considerable scientific attention has been directed towards evaluating its occurrence, dietary exposure, toxicological properties, and potential public health implications. This systematic literature review synthesises current evidence regarding human exposure to acrylamide from fried or baked foods and assesses associated health risks. Relevant studies, risk assessment reports, and systematic reviews published between 2005 and 2025 were examined. The findings indicate that fried potato products, bakery products, breakfast cereals, biscuits, and coffee are among the primary contributors to dietary acrylamide exposure. Toxicological studies consistently demonstrate genotoxic, neurotoxic, reproductive, and carcinogenic effects in experimental animals. Although epidemiological evidence in humans remains inconclusive, international food safety authorities continue to regard dietary acrylamide as a public health concern due to its genotoxic and carcinogenic potential. Continued efforts to minimise acrylamide formation during food processing and preparation are therefore necessary.

The rapid advancement of whole-genome sequencing has revolutionized microbiology, enabling detailed comparative analyses that uncover the genetic underpinnings of bacterial evolution, adaptation, and pathogenicity. This study presents a comparative genomic analysis of three distinct bacteria: Enterobacter sichuanensis strain AJI2411, a plant-associated rhizobacterium; Burkholderia vietnamiensis AU2011, a nitrogen-fixing species; and Burkholderia contaminans OYA0603, a member of the opportunistic Burkholderia cepacia complex. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequences extracted using barrnap (v0.9) and aligned with MAFFT (v7.490), with Maximum Likelihood tree reconstruction performed in IQ-TREE 2 under the GTR+G substitution model selected via ModelFinder and supported by 1,000 ultrafast bootstrap replicates (UFBoot).Our findings highlight the distinct evolutionary trajectories and functional capacities shaped by niche adaptation. The two Burkholderia species formed a strongly supported sister clade (bootstrap = 98). Analysis reveals the presence of sophisticated regulatory systems, such as quorum sensing in B. vietnamiensis, and the production of toxic secondary metabolites in B. contaminans. Furthermore, evidence of antibiotic resistance mechanisms, including efflux pumps in B. vietnamiensis and putative β-lactamases in B. contaminans, underscores the clinical relevance of these species. This report synthesizes existing genomic information to provide a comprehensive comparison, contributing to a deeper understanding of the genetic diversity and functional potential within these important bacterial genera. The study underscores the power of in-silico analysis for predicting bacterial phenotypes and informing both agricultural and clinical strategies.

The architecture of data management systems is undergoing a profound transformation, shifting focus from symbolic computation to semantic intelligence to meet the demands of modern artificial intelligence (AI). This paper analyzes this evolution, which culminates in the emergence of Vector Databases (VDBs), systems purpose-built for the efficient storage and retrieval of high-dimensional vectors (embeddings) that encapsulate semantic meaning. VDBs employ specialized Approximate Nearest Neighbour (ANN) search algorithms (such as HNSW and IVF) to enable semantic search, multimodal processing, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). This study presents a focused comparative evaluation of the two dominant data paradigms, traditional Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and modern VDBs, examining their performance, scalability, and suitability for AI-driven applications. We establish that while RDBMS remain essential for structured data integrity and transactional workloads, VDBs are fundamentally optimized for high-dimensional similarity search and semantic retrieval efficiency, confirming their role as the indispensable infrastructure for the next generation of intelligent data systems

Tomato leaf diseases present a significant risk to smallholder production networks across Sub-Saharan Africa, where severe infections cause crop yield reductions of up to 80% in unmitigated fields. Traditional visual diagnostics depend on manual inspection, which is slow, subjective, and difficult to access in rural areas. While deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have improved automated diagnostics, their practical performance depends heavily on hyperparameter configurations that are typically selected through trial-and-error. This paper presents an optimized plant disease diagnostic framework utilizing a pre-trained VGG16 backbone optimized via a sequential hybrid metaheuristic engine. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is utilized to conduct broad global exploration of the hyperparameter search space, followed by Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) to perform fine-grained localized refinement. The framework was trained via transfer learning on an 11,984-image subset of the PlantVillage repository, representing six major agronomic categories relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa: Early Blight, Late Blight, Bacterial Spot, Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV), Fusarium Wilt, and Healthy leaves. The sequential GA-PSO optimized pipeline achieved a global test accuracy of 94.40%, a weighted F1-score of 94.28%, a macro-average Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.9795, and an average inference latency of 45 milliseconds per image. This optimized configuration outperformed the unoptimized baseline model by 7.00 percentage points, demonstrating the utility of systematic metaheuristic optimization for agricultural image classification.

Nigeria is a developing country in which Motorbike accidents are common, as one of the causes of injury and mortality. Predicting the severity of these accidents using machine learning is essential for managing their incidence and effectively reducing casualty figures. The dataset on motorbike accidents from 2018 to 2023 was obtained from the Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). The study adopted multiple classification algorithms, notably Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Extreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost), to develop and implement models that predict and assess the severity of motorbike accidents. The dataset was preprocessed and split into 80% for training and 20% for testing. The accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and AUC metrics showed that the XGBoost model outperformed the baseline models, achieving 96.7% accuracy, an F1-score of 0.95, and an AUC of 0.97. The results showed that the Extreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost) machine learning technique provided valuable insights to help FRSC, traffic officers (Nigeria Police Force), traffic managers, and policymakers reduce the severity of motorbike accidents in Nigeria.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) remains one of the leading causes of global morbidity and mortality, demanding innovative approaches for effective clinical management and medication administration. This study presents an intelligent model designed to support drug administration in patients with CHD using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), structured clinical workflows, and stakeholder-informed system requirements. Data for model development were obtained using structured interviews with cardiologists, pharmacists, and administrative personnel from UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State and LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo, State. In addition, a merged heart disease dataset from Kaggle containing 1,190 instances and 11 clinically relevant features. Preprocessing procedures including data cleaning, feature selection, normalization, and categorical encoding were performed on the acquired data. The proposed system was designed using UML tools to model workflows, class interactions, and user roles, ensuring alignment with real-world clinical processes. The ANN model was developed and integrated into a functional clinical information system using Node.js, Flutter, and RESTful API communication. Performance evaluation revealed that the implemented model demonstrated strong potential for improving drug administration accuracy, enhancing clinical decision-making, and streamlining pharmaceutical operations. The integrated MedAd4CHD platform further ensures secure data flow, real-time patient information access, and end-to-end medication lifecycle management. This study provides a practical, scalable framework for intelligent CHD medication administration and establishes a foundation for future clinical validation.

The rising demand for functional and nutritionally enhanced baked products has driven increased research into composite flour technology. This study developed and evaluated high-quality composite flour and bread from sweet potato-wheat flour incorporated with ginger powder, aiming to enhance the nutritional, sensory, and physicochemical properties. Composite flours were prepared by substituting sweet potato flour at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 30% (WH100, WH95, WH90, WH85, and WH70, respectively) and incorporating 1% ginger powder. The flours were analysed for pasting properties using the Rapid Visco Analyzer, while the bread samples were analysed for proximate composition, pH, and sensory attributes using standard methods. Result showed that protein content was highest in WH100 (15.45%) but declined with an increase in sweet potato inclusion, whereas fibre content improved, reaching 1.27% in WH70. Carbohydrate content also increased, with WH70 recording the highest value (73.13%). pH values ranged from 6.61 in WH70 to 7.23 in WH90, indicating reduced acidity at moderate substitution levels. Pasting results showed that peak viscosity increased with sweet potato addition, highest in WH70 (1564 RVU), although higher substitution also led to greater breakdown viscosity, suggesting reduced paste stability. Sensory evaluation revealed that WH70 achieved the highest overall acceptability among composite breads, closely aligning with the control WH 100, while WH95–WH85 scored lower. These findings suggest that WH70, with sweet potato flour at 30% substitution, in combination with 1% ginger powder, can be incorporated into wheat-based bread to enhance fibre content and functional properties while maintaining desirable sensory quality.

Typhoid fever is a prevalent ailment around the globe, especially in developing countries like Africa and Asia. Majority of people in this region depend on herbs for treatment. Concerns have, however, been raised regarding herbal contamination from potentially toxic elements (PTEs). This study analysed the concentration of five potentially toxic elements, Cu, Cd, Fe, Pd, and Zn in eight commonly used anti-typhoid medicinal plants in Ijagun, Ogun State. Their associated health risk was also assessed. The concentration of the metals was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), and their health risk was assessed using estimated daily intake (EDI), hazard quotient (HQ), and hazard index (HI) calculations. Fe was the most abundant element in the plant, with M. indica containing the highest concentration (81.01 mg/kg), while cadmium had the lowest concentration in all samples analysed. The health risk assessment showed that all the plant samples screened had HI values <1 (0.0111 to 0.0498), indicating no significant health risks associated with their use as alternative medicine. The varying HI values, however, suggest different safety margins among the plants. The findings of this work provide a reassurance of the general safety of the selected anti-typhoid plants, however, continuous monitoring of the PTE concentration in medicinal plants is required to prevent heath implication due to bioaccumulation from long-term exposure.

Maize-based snacks are deficient in protein and vitamin A, which can be enriched using value-added processes to incorporate appropriate food ingredients such as African yam bean seed flour (AYBSF). African yam bean seed is a nutrient-dense, but underutilised crop. This study was designed to investigate some quality attributes of maize-based snacks enriched with AYBSF, and its application as functional food ingredients. The maize variety containing carotenoids was chosen to produce maize flour (MF), and enriched with AYBSF to produce snacks (Kokoro) at various substituted ratios MF/AYBSF (100:0, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40) using Box Behnken experimental design. Carotenoid contents, trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), in vivo protein quality and sensory attributes of the samples were determined. The carotenoids contents of the flour blends showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in lutein (7.20-5.11µg/g), zeaxanthin (10.36-6.06 µg/g), β-cryptoxanthin (1.83-1.13 µg/g), α-carotene (0.36-0.21 µg/g) and β-carotene (1.84-0.92 µg/g) as the percentage of AYBSF increased in the flour blends. The TIA was not detected in 100% MF, but TIA increased in the flour blends with the increasing percentage of AYBSF, which reduced significantly during the processing of the flour blends into Kokoro. The protein availability in Kokoro depicted no significant (p>0.05) difference from the standard casein diet, which implies that the developed snack compares well with standard casein. This study shows that enriching maize-based snacks with AYBSF is a good prospect which could be useful in advising nutritional programs, especially for school-aged children. Kokoro enriched with AYBSF could be preferred to the commonly consumed carbohydrate-based snacks.

This study investigates the effectiveness of XGBoost and LSTM models in predicting the directional changes in Microsoft stock price using incremental values to mitigate inaccuracies in Directional Accuracy Percentage (DAP) evaluations. A twenty-three-year Microsoft stock prices dataset from Yahoo Finance spanning January 1st, 2000, to December 31st, 2023 is utilized, the dataset is scaled, and technical indicators are computed. Both models are trained on the extracted features to predict directional changes, evaluated using the Directional Accuracy Percentage (DAP). The XGBoost model achieves an accuracy metric value of 71.02%, whereas LSTM ranges from 62.42% to 67.10%. A Mann-Whitney U test confirms a significant difference in predictive performance, favouring XGBoost. This finding suggests XGBoost as a more effective tool for short-term decision-making in stock trading, underlining its potential to improve the predictive accuracy in financial forecasting and advancing predictive modelling research.

Using the spray pyrolysis method, Zinc sulphide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on microscope glass slides at different substrate temperatures. Zinc acetate and thiourea were used as the precursor to prepare the ZnS films. The substrate temperature were respectively  set at 300  ^oC and 350 ^oC for the samples under investigation. The annealing temperature for the prepared film is 400 ⁰C. The films range in thickness from 4.42 to 29.7 µm. The impacts of both substrate and annealing temperature on the optical and structural properties of ZnS were investigated via the UV-visible spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses respectively. The results revealed that the grain size of ZnS films varied from 20.74 nm to 28.70 nm as substrate temperature increased from 300 ^oC to 350 ^oC. The films also possessed a polycrystalline cubic structure with (111) preferential orientation. The ZnS films showed more than 20 to 25 % transparency in the near-infrared and visible spectrums. The refractive index falls between 3.04 and 3.07. The energy band gaps of prepared films decreases from 3.35 eV to 2.80 eV with increasing substrate temperature, as estimated from the optical analysis for the ZnS. The obtained properties show a suitably fit material as window layer in a thin film solar cell and some other optoelectronic applications. 

Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) has faced challenges in the efficiency and coordination of its clinic emergency response system, leading to delays and raising concerns about the safety of students, staff, and visitors. This study aims to design and implement a computerized TASUED Clinic Emergency Response System to enhance emergency management capabilities. Leveraging technology, the proposed system seeks to streamline communication channels, improve response times, and ensure effective coordination during emergencies. Observational methods and interviews conducted at the TASUED Medical Center revealed inefficiencies in patient registration, waiting times, and staff scheduling. Based on these findings, the system was developed using a top-down design approach and modular testing strategy, ensuring robust and reliable functionality. The implementation includes a user-friendly login interface and a comprehensive dashboard for healthcare professionals, facilitating efficient emergency response. This system's deployment is a significant step towards improving emergency management at TASUED and can serve as a model for other institutions facing similar challenges.

There is limited availability and usage of cooking gas leakage detectors for fire safety purposes in developing countries of Africa owing to their high cost, unstable electric power supply source and inefficient gas sensor architecture although over 80% of the population relies on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. Unfortunately, LPG cookers are associated with most fire and gas explosions in this region because of its high flammability emanating from gas leakages within the system, leading to environmental hazards. This paper presents the development of low cost, reduced electric power consumption, miniaturized LPG gas leakage detector. The developed device implements unique system for the detection of LPG gas, triggers an alarm through a buzzer upon detection of leakage, and delivers a warning short message service (SMS) to the enrolled users prompting them of the LPG gas leakage or incomplete combustion of the LPG gas at the burners. The deployed circuitry demonstrates high levels of efficiency, reliability, and is affordable, therefore is attractive for low-income countries of Africa. 

Nigerian correctional facilities rely on inefficient manual record-keeping processes, hindering effective prisoner information management and inter-agency coordination. This study aims to develop a comprehensive, centralized, web-based Prison Management System (PMS) to modernize and streamline operations in Nigerian correctional centers. The research employed a multifaceted data collection approach, including interviews, observations, and form evaluations. System development utilized the Incremental Model, incorporating MySQL, PHP, and JavaWeb technologies. The proposed PMS introduces a unified platform consolidating prisoner profiles, including demographic details, biometric data, parole status, visitor records, and departure logs. The system enables remote access, real-time information exchange, and intelligent administration through cloud computing integration. This digital transformation promises to elevate the Nigerian correctional system's efficiency, accountability, and inter-agency coordination, contributing to a more effective and secure justice framework.

The components of the solid wastes generated from various units of the soda lime silica glass manufacturing process were investigated. Samples were taken from the wastes generated from cullet and sediments of waste pond of sand treatment plant, also packaging material waste from the cold end (packaging section) classified as domestics. Yield test were carried out on these samples grouped as treatment plants and domestics according to the source to know the amount of both individual and collective components of the sample. The samples contain heterogeneous, materials of different substances. Sand constituents in the domestics sample was 30% and 34% in the sample from cullet treatment. While. Cullet particles was 19% in the domestics and 45% in the sample from its treatment plant. Other materials of dissimilar constituents such as corrugated trays, crown corks, Polythene sheets broke off planks from wooden pallets constitute which are further sorted and discharged as scraps. The solid wastes generated from soda lime silica glass manufacturing process are non-degradable. The sand and cullet particle wastes are used for making concretes for lintels and deckings. Also for earth fill ups in civil construction industries. Other materials that formed past pf the waste of dissimilar constituents to recyclable raw materials were separated and grouped for either recycle or discharge into government-approved dumped site.

Skin lightening is a widespread cosmetic practice that involves the use of chemical compounds to alter skin tone, often with the aim of achieving a lighter complexion. Despite its popularity, there is growing concern about the potential health risks associated with skin bleaching products, particularly their effects on the endocrine system. This narrative article explores the complex relationship between skin bleaching components and their impact on endocrine function, shedding light on a critical yet often overlooked aspect of this controversial practice. The findings in this study suggest that the endocrine disrupting effects of skin lightening components extend beyond localized skin reactions to systemic disturbances in hormone regulation. Therefore, the use of skin lightening creams should be approached with caution. Regulatory measures are also urgently needed to restrict the use of harmful ingredients in cosmetic products and promote safer alternatives. Healthcare providers play a vital role in educating the public about the risks of skin lightening and advocating for stricter regulations to protect consumer health. Addressing the endocrine disrupting effects of skin bleaching components is crucial for safeguarding the wellbeing of individuals and communities worldwide.

This research investigated heavy metals contaminants in Mountain Top University (MTU) Lake. The use of the lake for several agricultural purposes particularly fishing necessitated this project as most people in the community patronize the bay for food. It is expected that the contents of the lake will invariably make up the water animals therein. This report examines the physicochemical quality of the Lake. Lammottee spectrophotometer was used to determine the array of metals present in the body of water. The result from the physicochemical analysis reveals the presence of Chromium (Cr) 4.31 ppm, Lead (Pb) 0.04 ppm, Iron (Fe) 0.49 ppm, Copper (Cu) 0.12 ppm, and Manganese (Mn) 0.03 ppm. Out of these five heavy metals analysed, Only Copper and Manganese were below acceptable consumable levels, Iron, Lead and Chromium were above with Chromium at exceeding concentration. This indicated substantial deviation from the recommended or regulatory limit. The high concentration of chromium in particular in the body of the water rendered the lake unfit for agricultural purposes. Chromated water is toxic to the health of living organisms with minimal benefits.

In this study, f_oF2 variability diurnally, seasonally and annually was investigated during a Low Solar Epoch (LSE) over Ilorin (latitude 8.31°N, longitude 4.34°E, dip latitude 2.95^o), a low latitude station along the equatorial anomaly trough. The percentage variability index () was used for the analysis. The percentage variability index () is lowest during the day (2-17%); increases during night to (8-55%); and attained the highest magnitude during pre-sunrise phase (17-68%), for the period of LSE. Two major peaks were noticed in V_R: the pre-sunrise peak, which is higher, and the post-sunset peak. Annually,  peaks at 44% for the pre-sunrise phase, and 37% for the post-sunset phase, during the LSE. The rapid electron drift away from the equator coincides with subsequent rise in the percentage variability index immediately after sunset for all the seasons.

Olax manii stems were collected in Ikire, Osun State, Nigeria. Using the hydrodistillation process, essential oil was extracted from the stem of Olax manii. To ascertain the chemical composition of the essential oil, Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) technique analysis was employed. Using doses ranging from 100 to 25 µg/ml, the antioxidant properties of the essential oil were examined using the 2, 2-Diphenyl-1 picryl hydroxyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity method. The results of the Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis indicated that the main chemical constituents were squalene (6.18 %), amyrone (4.49%), and neophytadiene (4.22 %). The minor constituents were identified as limonene (0.23 %), caryophyllene (0.31 %) and phytol (1.62 %). The essential oil radical scavenging activity at a concentration of 100 mg/ml was compared to the standard ascorbic acid at the same concentration and it revealed that the essential oil exhibited a significant percentage radical scavenging activity of 78.52 %. The percentage radical scavenging activities increased with increase in concentrations of the essential oil. The Essential oil constituents which possess antioxidant activities could be responsible for the antioxidant activities and ethnomedicinal uses of Olax manii.

The mandatory wearing of face masks orchestrated by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought some complexities to the ability of face recognition systems in identifying such faces. Thus, this study examined the performance of some selected machine learning algorithms: Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Logistic Regression (LR), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naïve Bayes (NB) and Decision Tree (DT) for the recognition of masked and unmasked human faces; and developed a face recognition system based on the algorithm with the best performance. The dataset was composed of 11,792 masked and unmasked facial images collected from Kaggle online repository. The set was divided into 70%, 20% and 10% respectively for training, testing and validation each for the masked and the unmasked face images. The images were augmented randomly for training, with some rotated 30 degree, some zoomed 20%, some shifted horizontally by 10% in width, some shifted vertically by 10% in height and some flipped horizontally. The performance analysis of the algorithms presented accuracies of 99% and 99% for the CNN; 93% and 98% for LDA; 93% and 93% for LR; 86% and 78% for the NB; 70% and 70% for the KNN; 64% and 45% for the DT; and 92% and 98% for the SVM respectively for training and cross validation. Overall, the CNN recorded the highest recognition accuracy. Thus, a CNN user-friendly face recognition, system was developed, and tested with a number of real-life human masked and unmasked faces which showed excellent recognition performance. The implementation was carried out with appropriate Python machine libraries. The developed system could be very useful for access control and surveillance. Therefore, this study recommends the adoption of the developed systems for face recognition-based security system. 

This paper presents an implementation of a home automation system using smart phone Bluetooth with Arduino for the switching and control of home appliances. It aimed at reducing stress for the physically challenged, elderly, and younger children with an easy control of the home appliances and likewise reduction of risk of electrocution from the source of control. With this automated control unit, users can comfortably operate their electrical installations or appliances from distances ranging from 30 m to 100 m away from the point of control using smart phone. The control unit comprises a four-channel relay module, an Arduino Uno board (AUB) based on the ATmega328 microcontroller, an HC-05 Bluetooth module, and a manual backup switch or alternative. The central processing unit is the Arduino Uno board to which every other component is connected. The Load (devices/appliances) to be controlled or operated is connected to the Arduino Uno board (AUB) via the relay. The Arduino board is programmed using the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE), with instructions that controls other units of the circuits. An Arduino Bluetooth controller is installed on the phone, to be used as a remote controller and to enable communication interface between the phone and the Arduino based control unit. In other words, the Bluetooth module connected to the Arduino board receives signals and/or instructions through phone Bluetooth via controller installed on the phone. An LCD (led crystal display) is used as display output of information uploaded on the Arduino Uno board to know the working state of the circuit. It was found that the automated control unit is of great benefit to users in terms of convenience in operating their appliances, including the elderly, and physically challenged people as it reduces their stress and difficulty in moving from point to point in order to control their home lightings and appliances.

Physical geodetic survey of the Nigeria landmass was undertaken with the aim of furnishing engineers and scientists with vital geodetic information which have not been adequately available but required for the development of a standard national economic framework. The basic data used for the study were the absolute gravity field values, and the recorded coordinates and elevations at the Primary Gravity Network of Nigeria (PGNN) base stations. The absolute gravity data were processed using the appropriate mathematical and computational procedures to deduce geodetic information which include geoid undulation, height above the geoid, deflections of the vertical, distance from the earth’s centre of mass to the reference ellipsoid and geoid, and the gravity potential value at the geoid. Comparison was also made between the WGS’84 and the geoid in the study area. Geoid undulations were found to range from 16.53 to 28.35 m and the deflections of the vertical ranged between 0.738685 to 10.28328 arc second. Height above the topography ranged from -16.38 m in Warri to +1257.13 in Jos. The distance from the earth’s centre of mass to the WGS’84 reference ellipsoidal surface was maximum at Oron (6377988.04 m) and least at Illela (6376941.31 m). Similarly, the distance from the earth’s centre of mass to the geoid was also maximum at Oron (6378008.39 m) and minimum in Illela (6376961.659 m). The interpolation of the distances from the earth’s centre of mass to the spheroidal surface at each base station gave the definition of the WGS’84 ellipsoid over the continental Nigeria landmass while the interpolation of the distances from the earth’s centre of mass to the geoidal surface gave the definition of the geoid over the continental Nigeria landmass. The average gravity potential at the geoid was evaluated as 62375050.41 m²s^-2. The geoid over the continental Nigeria landmass was found to be comparably smooth as the WGS’84 ellipsoid over the region though they differ in terms of vertical separation. The quantitative difference in mGal corresponding to the vertical separation between the WGS’84 reference ellipsoid and the geoid was computed as 6.8042 mGal. The values of the deflections of the vertical at each station of the PGNN gave the angular correction to be applied when combining satellite-based ellipsoidal measurements and geoid-based physical geodetic measurement. Based on the significant range of the deflections of the vertical across the continental area of Nigeria, it was concluded that the physical structure of the lithosphere beneath the study area must be highly complex and heterogeneous. 

A medicinal plant is any plant containing substances that are effective therapeutically or are precursors for drug manufacture in one or more of its organs. This work was a comparative study of the hypoglycaemic and hyperglycaemia-lowering activities of the methanol extracts of the leaf, stem, and root barks of Xylopia aethiopica used folklorically in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus with the view of determining its most active morphological part. The pulverized leaves, stem and root barks of the plant were separately subjected to cold extraction using methanol to obtain leaf, stem and root barks extracts respectively. The hypoglycaemic and antihyperglycaemic effects of the extracts were carried out on normoglycaemic and glucose-induced hyperglycaemic rats, respectively at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg using glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) as positive control. The most effective antihyperglycaemic doses of the extracts were used to determine its anti-diabetic activity on streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The results obtained from the study were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Student–Newman-Keuls post hoc tests and p< 0.05 was considered significant. The results of the study showed that the root bark extract of X. aethiopica did not cause hypoglycaemia in rats at all the tested doses while hypoglycaemia was obtained at 400 mg/kg of the leaf and stem bark extracts. In the hyperglycaemia-lowering experiment using glucose loaded rats’ model, the leaf, stem and root bark extracts gave 10, 13, 10, 29; 35, 36, 38, 41 and 25, 27, 33, 44 % blood glucose levels reduction at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 h, respectively which showed the stem bark as the most active plant part especially at 0.5-2 h. In the streptozotocin-induced hyperglycaemic rats experiment, the order of antihyperglycaemic effect of the morphological parts of X. aethiopica is, stem bark extract > leaf extract > root bark extract. It was concluded from the results obtained from the study that the stem bark extract of Xylopia aethiopica was the most active plant part both in glucose and streptozotocin-induced hyperglycaemia and it does not cause hypoglycaemia at low doses. 

Leucaena leucocephala is a fast-growing leguminous plant this is used in the treatment of intestinal diseases and as birth control. This work was geared toward investigating the phytochemical attributes and the antimicrobial actions of methanol and distilled water crude extracts from the stem bark of Leucaena leucocephala in the ratio of 3:2 on nineteen bacterial species. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extract was done with the use of the agar diffusion technique in line with the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. The extract was located to be energetic against sixteen bacterial traces at a concentration of 35 mg/mL except for Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium sporogenes, andPseudomonas fluorescens. The zones of inhibition exhibited by means of the extract towards the organisms ranged from 10.00 mm to 20.00 mm. The MIC exhibited by the extract ranged from 2.19 mg/ml to 8.75mg/ml while the MBC ranged from 4.38 mg/ml to 17.5 mg/ml. The effects of the extract on bacterial species were compared with the use of selected antibiotics such as streptomycin, and ampicillin. The phytochemical parts of the extract include tannins, glycosides, alkaloids, phenols, and terpenoids. Results from this research confirmed that the stem bark extract of Leucaena leucocephala exhibited antimicrobial activity against the selected bacteria and support the usefulness of this plant in folklore treatments.

Alafia barteri is valued for its effectiveness in the traditional medicine system in Nigeria and other African countries. This study aims at evaluating the hypolipidemic effect of the aqueous and ethanol leaf and root extracts of Alafia barteri in formaldehyde-induced arthritic mice. 77 healthy Swiss albino male mice (30-35 g) were randomized into eleven groups of five mice each and extracts were administered for 10 days at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg. Arthritis was induced by sub-plantar injection of 0.1 mL of 2 % formaldehyde. Serum lipid profile was evaluated after blood sample collection. Results of this study revealed that the aqueous and ethanol leaf extracts caused significant reduction(p˂0.05) in triglyceride and total cholesterol levels, but increased HDL-cholesterol levels compared to the arthritic control which is suggestive of their hypo-lipidemic effects in arthritic mice. 

The F2 region critical frequency (f_oF2) and peak electron density (N_mF2) morphology was investigated over Ilorin (latitude 8.31°N, longitude 4.34°E) during a Low Solar Epochs (LSE), a station along the equator anomaly trough. Diurnally, f_oF2 and N_mF2 are visibly more prominent during the day than at night with two characteristic peaks: pre-noon and post-noon peaks. The f_oF2 and N_mF2 pre-noon peak magnitude range: (7.7–8.3 MHz) and (7.3–8.6) × 10¹¹ /m^-3respectively is less compared to the f_oF2 and N_mF2 post-noon peak magnitude range: (7.3–9.7 MHz) and (6.7–11.7) ×10¹¹ /m^-3 respectively. Seasonally, the highest values were attained during the post-noon peak in the equinoctial months compared to the solstices months, and also, annually, the post-noon peak is higher than the pre-noon peak. The rapid electron drift away from the equator is responsible for the sharp drop in f_oF2 and N_mF2 after sunset in all seasons. Seasonal peaks in f_oF2 and N_mF2 are suspected to be controlled by the enhanced E × B drifts and the onset and turn-off of solar ionization, which is consistent with some earlier results obtained at some stations in the African region during low solar epoch periods.

Hyptis suaveolens, an aromatic plant commonly called Daddoya-ta-daji in Hausa language, is traditionally used as medicine and food. It is used as stimulant, antirheumatic, carminative, against parasitic diseases, headaches, infection of the uterus, stomach, and skin diseases. It is found growing in both oil polluted and non-oil polluted environment. Oil pollution of land is a challenge due to the presence of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds which are harmful to crops and plants. This study investigated the phytoconstituents of the methanol leaf extract as well as antimicrobial activities of Hyptis suaveolens collected from polluted and unpolluted sites. Methanol leaf extracts of H. suaveolens were screened for crucial phytochemicals using standard methods. The in vitro antimicrobial activity was carried out using agar disc-diffusion method by Yahaya et al. (2018), using Mueller Hinton agar medium and potatoes dextrose agar in petri plates seeded with clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sp, Staphylococcus aureus (bacteria), Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger (fungi) respectively, and the zone of inhibition determined. The phytochemical results showed that methanol extract of both the polluted and non-polluted H. suaveolens leaves exhibited the presence of some number of bioactive compounds. Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) of polluted and non-polluted leaves of H. suaveolens identified 13 and 21 compounds, respectively such as Octadec-9-enoic acid, 2-Ethylacridine, Methyl ester, Tetracyclo [4.4.1.1(7,10).0(2,5)] dodec-3-en-11-ol, 1,2-Diphenyl-1-isocyanoethane and 7-Isopropyl-1, 1, 4a-trimethy l-1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10 aocta -hydrophenanthrene. These chemical compounds are considered biologically and pharmacologically important. The results from assessment of the antimicrobial potential of H. suaveolens (L.) on pathogenic microorganisms showed that the pathogenic microorganisms revealed inhibition zones ranging from 6 to 18 mm. This data indicates that the unpolluted methanol extract of H. Suaveolens exhibits a higher bioactive potential compared to the extract derived from polluted leaves. This disparity suggests that oil pollution may have a detrimental impact on the biochemical properties of the plant.   

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) is a new adiposity metric that has been linked with chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, type 2, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer risk in some studies. ABSI is an anthropometric index that takes into account waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and height. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of ABSI with clinical and biochemical indices in undergraduates. This cross-sectional study involved 97 undergraduate students of Edo State University Uzairue, Edo State, Nigeria (16–26 years old). They comprised 65 females and 32 males. Information on socio-demography was obtained from administered semi-pretest questionnaire. Anthropometric indices; body weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and mid-upper arm circumference were determined using standard methods. BMI, ABSI, waist hip ratio and waist height ratio were calculated. Blood pressure, pulse rate, pulse pressure, saturation of peripheral oxygen (SPO₂), and body composition including lean body mass, body water, metabolism and so on. as well as plasma glucose and total cholesterol were determined by standard methods. Age, body weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference, systolic blood pressure, lean body mass, metabolism were significantly higher in males, while body age, SPO₂ and fat were significantly higher in females than males (p<0.05). ABSI positively correlated with height, waist circumference, pulse rate, visceral fat, metabolism, and lean body mass (p<0.05). Observations in this study show that ABSI could be a good index of assessing abdominal obesity, hence, its recommendation for obesity screening in studies is suggested.

The rise in the incidence of side effects of many synthetic antimicrobial agents and prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria has spurred scientists on the research for plant based antimicrobial of therapeutic potentials. Ocimum gratissimum L. presents such potential of high medicinal value. This plant is used in Nigeria traditionally as condiments and for treatment of various ailments. This study is aimed to determine the phytochemical and antimicrobial property of ethanol and aqueous extracts of O. gratissimum L. leaves. Phytochemical screening of the leave extracts confirmed the presence of Steroid, Tannins, Flavonoid, Terpenoid, Alkaloid, Saponin and Phlobatannis. Ethanol and aqueous extracts were obtained from the powdered leaves of O. gratissimum using ethanol and distilled water respectively. These were later filtered and the filtrates were concentrated in water bath at 50^oC. Mueller-Hinton agar was used for the antibacterial susceptibility using the agar well diffusion method. For ethanol extract, all the isolates were susceptible at 0.2g/mL, 0.1g/mL and 0.05g/mL concentrations. However, for aqueous extract, all the isolates were resistant at 0.05g/ml and 0.025g/ml but at 0.2g/ml concentration all the isolates were susceptible. Staphylococcus aureus was resistant at 0.1g/ml, except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus which were susceptible with a diameter 15mm, and 14mm respectively. Ciprofloxacin used as positive control also inhibited the growth of the bacterial isolates with the diameter of zone of 25mm. Results obtained from this study showed that the extracts of Ocimum gratissimum L. has antibacterial activities against the selected gastrointestinal tract pathogenic bacteria and also possess some bioactive compounds.

River Owo is a polluted water body in Agbara Industrial area an outskirts of Ojo Local Government Area due to the dumps of industrial wastes. The body contains diverse soluble and insoluble both of organic and inorganic compounds as well as living organism such as benthic macroinvertebrate fauna. This research work is an intensive studies carried out on constituents of river and compared with Iba stream of no active polluting activities in the same Local Government as a control. Water and macro invertebrate samples were taken from the two sites. Physicochemical and heavy metals analysis were carried out on the water using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The invertebrates were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Investigations revealed that the water body is slightly acidic with pH of 5.5 to 6.5. It hardness have been mild due to the impact of the constituents that have softened it to extents of about 88mgL^-1. Sulphate level of range 0.07 to.09mgL-1 is significantly low. These physicochemical factors did not contribute adversely to the two water bodies.  However, high BOD of 340 to 357 above the limit 30 indicated that the pollution of River Owo mainly comes from organics waste dumps. Decapods such as Palaemonetes sp and amphipods which are common to polluted environment are found in River Owo. The abundance of various forms of insects of which dragon fly nymph Palemonetes sp were most in population are found around River Owo. Therefore River Owo is mainly being polluted with organics substances. However both Physicochemcal parameters and Benthic studies Iba stream indicated that it is free of pollution. This could have been due to the disallowed dumps of domestics and industrial wastes were not allowed into the stream.

Freshly harvested cassava was stored in moist sawdust for twelve weeks and processed into gari every two weeks throughout the period of storage. Sensory evaluation in terms of sensory attributes and acceptability were evaluated using 30 semi-trained panelist. The consumable form of gari (dried gari, soaked gari and Eba paste) were evaluated. For the sensory attribute test, score difference test was used with each attribute on a scale of five. The consumer acceptance was evaluated using a nine-point hedonic scale. The result of the analysis shows that, there were significant difference (P < 0.05) in taste of dried gari, and mouldability of eba while for the hedonic test there were significant difference (P < 0.05) in colour and granularity in dried gari, taste and appearance of soaked gari and aroma of eba. The study shows that stored cassava roots produces gari with acceptable sensory attributes.

Measurement of an individual's anthropometric indices is one of the many methods for determining physical health status; others include measurement of biochemical markers and clinical indices. Little information is known about the relationship between conicity index in predicting diseases. The study was aimed at finding the association between conicity index, biochemical and clinical indices in predicting disease conditions. This study was carried out on 87 undergraduates of Edo State University, Uzairue with 44 of them being males and 43 of them being females. The Socio-demographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and the anthropometric indices, biochemical and clinical indices were measured. There was a statistically significant difference in the comparison of male and female respondents in their weight, height, waist circumference, fat, visceral fat, water and muscles at (p < 0.05). Conicity Index (CI) was statistically significant and positively correlated with obesity, muscle and diastolic blood pressure at (p < 0.01), positively correlated with systolic blood pressure and visceral fat (p <0.05) and a correlation with blood glucose and cholesterol level. The results of the study showed that Conicity Index had a correlation with clinical and biochemical indices. This makes it a factor for predicting cardiovascular disease, hypertension and central obesity and may be a predicting factor for diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia. 

The toxicological effects of ethanolic extract of Parquetina nigrescens leaves (EEPNL) on letrozole-induced polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in Wistar rats were evaluated. Twenty female Wistar rats (170.81 ± 5.25g) were randomly assigned into 5 groups (A - E) of four animals each. Animals in group A received 1 ml of distilled water and group B-E received 1mg/kg body weight of letrozole daily basis for a period of 21 days orally. The letrozole-treated groups, B-E, were then administered 1 ml of distilled water, co-administration of 7.14mg/kg of metformin and 2mg/kg clomiphene citrate (reference drug), 50 mg/kg b.wt of EEPNL and 100 mg/kg b.wt of EEPNL respectively for a period of 14 days. The animals were sacrificed 24 hours after the last treatment dose and the blood obtained via jugular puncturing was used in determining some toxicological indices such as liver function indices (albumin, bilirubin, globulin and total protein), kidney function indices (Urea, uric acid and creatinine), and enzyme assay (Alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase). The result revealed mild alterations in the parameters under studied in this work and this suggests that the ethanolic leaf extract of Parquetina nigrescens at doses investigated may be safe when used in the treatment of PCOS.

Zobo is an important healthy drink made from the dried calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa by boiling water extraction. An equal volume of the basal extract was flavoured separately with conventional strawberry essence (Zobo-S), alligator pepper (Zobo-A), and clove (Zobo-C) and evaluated for chemical and sensory properties using established methods. The obtained range of values for mineral (4.70-578 mg/L) and vitamins (0.05-0.29 mg/100 g) were in moderate amounts with potassium being the most abundant mineral element (ranged 522-578mg/L) and highest in Zobo-A (578 mg/L). Zinc, an antiviral and important element for the body immune system was significantly (p<0.05) higher in Zobo-C (13.34 mg/L) and Zobo-A (8.33 mg/L) than Zobo-S (7.14 mg/L) making Zobo with spices a better choice drink for a preventive measure against infectious viral-diseases like COVID-19. Total titratable acidity ranged from 0.93-1.06 g/100 ml and was highest in Zobo-S (1.06g /100 ml) implying the Zobo made with spices were less acidic. Also, tannin content was improved with the spices and highest in Zobo-C (0.44 mg/100 g) while Zobo-A was the most preferred in overall acceptability. Thus, the natural spices improved the minerals, phytochemical contents and sensory acceptability of Zobo drink. This could proffer potential health benefits to the consumers and encourage the use of natural spices in the preparation of food and drinks rather than the chemical-based conventional flavour essence.

This study focussed on the utilisation of both unmodified and acid modified snail shells as low cost adsorbents for the removal of Congo Red (CR) from aqueous solution using batch adsorption process. Different parameters such as pH, Contact time, temperature and adsorbent dose were varied. The kinetic studies using pseudo first order and pseudo second order of the adsorption were carried out. The adsorption of Congo Red (CR) was found to be dependent on the varied parameters. The optimum time for the uptake was 60 min, adsorbent dosage of 2 g and pH was found to be 2.0. The amount of CR removed (qe) rose from 2.445 to 19.230 mg/g when the contact time progressed from 5 to 60 min for unmodified snail shell and from 5.540 to 26.170 mg/g when treated snail shell was used. Pseudo-first- order model better described the kinetic of the adsorption process. The value of ΔH obtained was 42.20 kJ/mol with ΔS value of 20.30 kJ/mol) and this is an indication that the process of adsorption to be endothermic reaction. FT-IR characterization of the adsorbent before and after adsorption process revealed the probable functional groups present on the surface of the adsorbent to be –OH, C=O and C-H. Thus, snail shells can be deployed as low cost adsorbent for Congo Red removal from effluents.

Consumption of diets rich in vegetables and fruits protects the human body from acute and chronic diseases. This study determines the effect of blanching on some antinutritional factors and mineral content of Basella alba and Amaranthus hybridus using standard methods. The vegetables were blanched in deionized water for 5 minutes at 100oC. The phytate and oxalate contents of unblanched Basella alba were significantly (p<0.05) lowered when compared with unblanched Amaranthus hybridus. Blanching caused a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the phytate content by 22.3% and 32.8%, respectively when blanched Amaranthus hybridus and blanched Basella alba BBA were compared with their corresponding unblanched leaves. Also blanching elicited a significant (p<0.05) reduction in the oxalate level by 44.4% and 18.8%, respectively when blanched Amaranthus hybridus and blanched Basella alba BBA were matched with their unblanched counterparts. The mineral (Fe, Ca, Mg, Cu, and Zn) content was significantly (p<0.05) higher in unblanched Basella alba than unblanched Amaranthus hybridus, which decreases significantly (p<0.05) to varying extents after blanching in both vegetables. Blanching reduces the mineral content of Basella alba and Amaranthus hybridus leaves but makes them more bioavailable by reducing their phytate and oxalate. Hence, other processing techniques should be developed which reduce the antinutrient content only.

The enhancement of corrosion inhibition of galvanised steel by synergised leave extracts of Sida acuta (S.A.) and Jatropha curcas (J.C.) in 1.0 M HCl solution was investigated using the gasometric technique at 30 oC and 50 oC. Results obtained showed that complimenting plant extracts with galvanisation of steel enhanced the inhibition of Zinc in the protection of steel. Fourier transform infrared analysis confirmed the O-H functional group of alcohol at 3851 and 3436 cm-1 band. Surface morphology of the steel, synergised were studied with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Analysis revealed the protection of the internal grains of the metal from dissolution into corrodents provided by the adsorbed film the extract. Inhibition efficiency improved from 57.57 % to 95.45 %, corrosion rate 0.454 cm3 /hr to 0.093 cm3 /hr for zinc-coated steel only to extract enhanced-zinc coated steel. Langmuir isotherm best explained the adsorption mechanism of extract of zinc surface. Zinc coated steel has a half-life less than 0.04531539 x 1010 minutes, while effective enhancement of Zinc coated steel with extract gave a half-life of 0.075132088 x 1010 minutes. This implies that the enhancement of galvanised (Zinc coated) steel with synergised extract improved the inhibitory characteristics of the composites over that of zinc coat alone, which corrodes in place of steel.

Cocos nucifera (coconut) husk fiber is the dry and fibrous external material that is processed typically to obtain the solid albumen and endosperm (coconut-water). It has been reported previously that the husks of the coconut palm are discarded massively as waste and considered as a major agro-waste of tropical countries. In this study, we investigated and compared the antioxidant activities of the n-hexane and acetone-water extracts of varieties of Cocos nucifera husk fibre - wild mature (WM), dwarf (DWF), young (YNG), and hybrid (HYB). The antioxidant activities of extracts were evaluated using a range of in vitro free radical scavenging assay models, total antioxidant capacity, and reductive ability. The results obtained were statistically analysed at a significance level of p < 0.05. The highest values for the total flavonoid content, total phenolic content, and total antioxidant capacity for the n-hexane extract was obtained from the wild mature husk fibres while the lowest was from dwarf species. The acetone-water extracts of the young husk exhibited the highest values for the total flavonoid, phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity while the hybrid species showed the lowest. At varying concentrations, the coconut varieties and extracts displayed different 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals scavenging activities. All varieties displayed reducing potential, although with varying efficacy. Also, it was observed that the IC50 for the nitric oxide free radical scavenging activity of the n-hexane extracts and acetone-water extract were similar in the order of HYB > DWF > WM > YNG.

Costus spicatus, an herbaceous plant, parts- leaves, rhizome, stem and root are used locally because of its medicinal properties. This study was carried out to compare the phyto- constituents of the Costus spicatus leaf and rhizome. The secondary metabolites of Costus spicatusleaf and rhizomewere determined qualitatively via standard phytochemicalscreening methods.Thechemicalcompositions of the aqueousextract ofCostusspicatusleaf and rhizome were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. The qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Saponins, Terpenoids, Phenols and Protein were detected in the aqueous rhizome extract while Carbohydrate, Alkaloids, Flavonoids and Proteins were detected in the leaf extract. The UV-yis scan of the aqueous rhizome and leaf extracts revealed the varying absorbance of the leaf and rhizome extract at different wavelengths and the spectrum shows the highest peaks at 200-214 nm and 220-227 nm respectively indicating the presence of organic chromophores. The GC-MS analysis of aqueous extract of Costus spicatus rhizome revealed the presence of Hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (11.34%) and 10,13-Octadecadienoic acid, methylester (10.22%) for the leaf extract as the compound with the highest peaks. These results reveal that the rhizome extract contains more active organic compounds and therefore can be further explored in phytomedicinal researches.

Housing tenure is the financial arrangement under which the household occupies all or part of a housing unit. Housing affordability from time immemorial has been a major concern in developed and developing world which is hinged on man's welfare and productivity. This study investigates the factors that determine the choice of housing tenure in Old Bodija Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. Questionnaire was developed based on variables such as types of residential properties, housing tenure and factors determining types of housing tenure. Questionnaire was administered to 178 respondents within 11streets consisting of residential properties in the studied area. 150 questionnaire were retrieved representing 84%. Descriptive and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) techniques were applied to define the preference factors that determine the choice of housing tenure in the studied area. The result through ANOVA technique revealed that the educational background of the occupiers, capacity of rent demanded, security of the environment and the nature of the location are the preference factors that determine the choice of housing tenure in the studied area. Personal observation and interview made with the respondents confirmed that the land price, housing satisfaction and housing preference are the most significant factors. The study recommends that housing need should be met and enhanced by promoting security, government should focus on regularization schemes, provide incentives to families to invest in their homes and communities and also provide locations with infrastructures vis a vis health care services and schools in the study area.

In the education sector, constructing a personalized timetable is an important aspect that should be given uppermost priorities when it comes to academic planning and implementation. Basically, in most schools, the timetable is done to encompass all courses, segregation only comes in departmentally, by faculty or by programs being studied by the students involved. This could be cumbersome especially for schools with numerous programs, departments or faculties as students and faculty members have to glance through such complex timetables before they are able to map out theirs. This could lead to resource wastage in terms of time, misinterpretation by students involved, clashing of courses being taken by students, poor utilization of available venues amongst other issues. In other to proffer solutions to some of the identified problems, a personalized and user-centric timetable system was designed for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS), Mountain Top University, Ogun State, Nigeria. System design was specified using unified modeling language (UML) diagrams such as use-case, sequence and activity diagrams. The system was implemented using mobile application development technologies. The android based timetable system presented an administrative module who could schedule lecture periods, specify time amongst other constraints and overall management of course scheduling based on courses registered for by the students. Evaluation of the system was done using Post Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) version 3 measuring tool and analysed using descriptive statistics with SPSS version 21. One hundred and twenty five (125) participants were chosen randomly and purposefully for the study. Results of analysis gave the perceived satisfaction score as 2.56, system usefulness with 1.98, information quality with a mean score of 2.72 while interface quality performed the lowest with a mean score of 3.19 since in PSSUQ analysis, the higher the mean score, the poorer the performance. The timetable system was basically designed to reduce the problem of accessibility and better convenience especially on the part of the students. Future works would also consider a fully automated system with the use of scheduling algorithms and the integration of examination and invigilation scheduling in the same system.

In this paper, the soil temperature dynamics in south-western Nigeria is investigated using nonlinear time series analysis approach. The 5-mins interval soil temperature data observed continuously over a period of 1 year (from January to December, 2012) were analysed to investigate the existence of chaos. We employed the method of false nearest neighbour carefully interlaced with the average mutual information method to reconstruct the original attractor of the soil temperature's evolution process. The Lyapunov exponent, in addition to the strange attractor of the process, was also employed to identify chaos in the process. Numerical simulations were performed to show the validity of our approach. Tabular and graphical are presented. The results of the computation show the existence of chaos in the soil temperature.

Application layer Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent on Internet based web services. Severe HTTP GET flood attacks are often launched by attackers, wherein web servers become overwhelmed with superfluous GET requests. This exhausts the processing and connectivity resources of the servers, hence resulting in service failures. As availability of services is key to online service providers, this work presents a behavioral based detection system named 'DDoSDetect' for HTTP GET flood attacks. In DDoSDetect, a traffic monitor tracks incoming GET requests sent to the server. Four distinct behavioral features such as the rate of requests, time interval between successive requests, session rate and the frequency of requests on a web page, are employed to analyze user's behaviors. A detection unit driven by three phases: LRP (Legitimate Request Phase), IRP (Illegitimate Request Phase) and SVM-RC (Support Vector Machine-Request Classifier) is designed to intelligently classify incoming GET requests. Illegitimate GET requests are dropped while legitimate requests are forwarded to the web server. DDoSDetect is implemented and results obtained from evaluation processes signify the effectiveness of the system towards the mitigation of HTTP GET flood attacks. Also, the system is real time and capable of handling sophisticated attacks.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus and it primarily affects the liver. Hepatitis C often leads to liver disease and occasionally cirrhosis while in some cases, those with cirrhosis will develop complications such as liver failure. This study was aimed at developing a classification model for the classification of the survival of patients living with hepatitis C. The study collected data containing 19 attributes and 155 records from an online repository created by UCI machine learning repository following which C4.5 decision trees algorithm was adopted for developing the classification model. The results of the study showed that the decision tree is suitable for developing the classification model because of its structural representation of the classification of the survival of Hepatitis C disease. The evaluation of the model simulation process showed that the best performance using the percentage split was achieved using 90 percent for training and 10 percent for testing with an accuracy of 86.67% while using the k-fold cross validation was achieved using 10-fold with an accuracy of 83.87%. Overall, the best performance was achieved using 90 percent of the dataset for training and 10 percent for testing owing for an accuracy of 86.67%. The results also showed that a number of variables were extracted from the initially identified variables and were deemed more relevant for the classification of survival. The study concluded that the If-Then rules which were extracted from the decision tree proved effective in providing decision-support to experts due to its simplicity in interpretation thus mitigating deaths associated with hepatitis C disease.

We hereby present an advanced road vehicle safety device. The device tackles the problem of loss of lives, arising from late medical attention to care for accident victims after an accident as a solution that enables fast response to persons involved in ghastly vehicle accidents. It uses ultrasonic sensor to detect the changes in the body of the vehicle due to a mechanical impact from an accident and sends a signal to the microcontroller which is connected to a buzzer. The buzzer in response to the signal triggers an alarm and simultaneously a Short Message Service (SMS) and recorded phone call are sent to registered contacts in the device. Arduino ATMega328P microcontroller monitors and activates the system when there is impact detected by the ultrasonic sensor. Then the buzzer outputs the warning sound to alert while the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) module sends SMS alert and places a call when there is significant impact on the vehicle. This device senses any Izod Impact causing up to 10cm penetration at the impact zone of the vehicle. The system has a response time of 0-3 seconds for activation of the buzzer and 5-10 seconds for the GSM module.

One of the biggest problems nowadays for network operators are recurring call drops. The number of subscribers has tremendously increased over the years; the quality of service (Call Drop Rate) has become an issue to consider as many subscribers are not satisfied with the services rendered. There are various causes of call drop in telecommunications such as Electromagnetic causes, Irregular user behavior, abnormal network response and others. Over 50% of call drops are caused by electromagnetic strength fluctuations such as power attenuation, deep fading and so on. In this paper vibrational resonance (VR) is proposed as a strategy towards solving the aspect of call drops caused by power attenuation. Attenuated amplitude modulated (AM) signal, with frequency ‘

The synergistic effect of combining both Sida acuta (SA) and Jatropha curcas (JC) leaf extracts on steel in 1.0 M HCl solution was investigated using gasometric and conventional o o weight loss technique at 30 C and 50 C. Surface microscture of the steel with the mixed extract werestudied through Scanning electron microscope(SEM) and Electron dispersive X- ray spectroscopy (EDX) which revealed how the inhibitor hindered the attack of acid on the microstructures thereby preventing its dissolution into the corrodent. The presence of C=O -1 functional band at 1094 cm of ester was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared analysis. o o Synergism Parameter(S1) was at optimum at 2.09 and 2.65 at 30 C and 50 C respectively on steel pipe. This implies that synergism is favoured with increasein temperature. S1 greater than 1 confirmed that the mixture of the two plants produced synergised inhibitive effect. The inhibitory power increases with increase in extract concentration. Inhibition Efficiency -3 rangesfrom 60 % to 85 % with increasein extractconcentration of SAalonefrom 0.1 gdm to -3 o 1.0 gdm . When synergisedwith JC, itrangesfrom 77 % to 93 % for SA at 30 C forthesame concentration increase. Results obtained showed that thesynergeticeffects of the plantsextract complimented carbon constituent of the steel to enhanced the corrosion inhibition potential synergized plantextracts overunsynergized onthe steel.