This study presents some determinants of fertility for three countries in east Africa. It examines the role of the proximate determinants of fertility to total births during last five years before the surveys in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The study is based on the analysis of secondary data obtained from Demographic and Health Surveys in the three countries. The surveys were conducted between 2014 and 2016. The response variable used in this study is the number of births in the last five years before the survey. The study employed Quasi-Poisson regression model as the main method of data analysis. The results show that place of residence, working status, number of union, age at first birth, age at first cohabitation, age at first sex, contraceptive use and intention, unmet need and educational level mothers are significant determinants of fertility. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate that educational level of mothers has negative impact on fertility. For current contraceptive users, the mean birth for the last five years is highest for Kenya followed by Tanzania. For those who never use contraception, the mean births for the last five years for Rwanda is lower as compared to Tanzania and Kenya. The mean births for working mothers is also lower than that of non-working mothers for all three countries. The study suggests that improving the educational level of mothers, increasing the use of contraception, and involving more women to work force can reduce fertility in the three countries.

Pot trial was conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kogi State University Anyigba, within the southern Guinea savanna agro ecological zone of Nigeria, with daily temperature range between 250C - 350C. The experiment, a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with eight treatments (defoliation at 25% above the ear, 25% under the ear, 50% above the ear, 50% under the ear, 75% above the ear, 75% under the ear, 100% defoliation and no defoliation as control) was replicated four times. Treatment was imposed at ear initiation. Growth and yield parameters collected were: number of leaves per plant, leaf area, plant height, stem girth, days to ear initiation, number of cobs/plant, days to crop maturity, cob weight, cob length, seed rows per cob, 100-seed weight as well as total cob yield/ha. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and New Duncan Multiple Range Test (NDMRT) was used to estimate the differences among significant means at 5% level of probability. Prior to imposition of the treatment, analyzed results indicate no significant differences between number of leaves at 2, 4 and 6 WAS, as well as plant heights and stem girth at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 WAS. However there were significant differences between leaf areas at 4 and 6 WAS. In addition, there were significant effects of defoliation on cob length and dry cob weight with the highest cob weight obtained in 25% defoliation carried out above the ear. In addition, there were significant differences in the number of rows per cob and grain yield per ha with 0% defoliation giving the highest result while the least was in 100% defoliation. Generally, it was observed that defoliation at any rate and position influenced maize yield, notwithstanding that the treatment was imposed at cob initiation, an indication that harvest of solar radiation post cob initiation plays important role on eventual maize yield.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of curcumin, and Rosemary as a natural source of antioxidants to minimize the harmful effects of gentamicin induced dyslipidemia in Guinea pigs. Guinea pigs were divided into five groups. The first group (control) was injected intraperitoneal with saline. The 2nd group was injected intraperitoneal with gentamicin at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight /day. The 3th , 4th , and 5th groups were injected intraperitoneal with gentamicin (100 mg/kg b. wt /day) concurrently with curcumin, rosemary, and curcumin with rosemary at the doses of 200 mg, 220 mg, and 200 mg with 220 mg /kg body weight /day respectively orally by gavage for 10 days. Blood samples were obtained for assessment of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipids, low density lipids, and very low density lipids concentrations. Gentamicin treatment induced dyslipidemia. Guinea pigs that injected intraperitonally with gentamicin at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight daily for 10 days had significantly (p<0.05) increase the concentrations of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipids cholesterol, very low density lipids cholesterol concentrations, and the atherogenic ratios based on lipid profile parameters (Castelli’s Risk Index I, Castelli’s Risk Index II, Atherogenic Coefficient and Atherogenic Index of Plasma) and decreased the serum high density lipids cholesterol concentration. Co-administration of rosemary and/or curcumin with gentamicin significantly improved of all lipid profile parameters and atherogenic ratios parameters. It can be concluded that, gentamicin had adverse effects on lipid profile parameters, and the atherogenic ratios parameters. Rosemary and/or curcumin supplementation showed a remarkable amelioration of these abnormalities in gentamicin treated male Guinea pigs. It is recommended that the use of gentamicin must be limited and use of rosemary and curcumin as antioxidants to prevent the dyslipidemia. Further studies are necessary to elucidate exact mechanism of protection of hyperlipidemia, atherogenic and potential usefulness of rosemary and curcumin as a protective agent against gentamicin induced dyslipidemia and atherogenic in clinical trials.

The interaction of molecular optoelectronic components on the molecular scale were studied where the solvent shell indicating the influence of the medium was found to be surprisingly small. The transport of energy as resonant energy transfer covers distances of about 5 nm and was shown not to proceed by a simple to dipole dipole interaction with typical restrictions, but by a more complex mechanism. Furthermore, a novel-type of far-reaching interactions of electronically excited structures until macroscopic dimensions were fond and may be applied for addressing molecular structures by conventional electronics.

We demonstrated an improvement in efficiency of Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) decorated with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) through successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR). A series of ZnO with different SILAR cycles were synthesized on TiO2 that has been pre-grown on fluorine tin oxide (FTO) glass slides. The performance of DSSCs containing ZnO NPs was significantly affected. The photovoltaic (PV) performance decreased with increasing number of SILAR cycles from two SILAR cycles to four SILAR cycles, the best performance was achieved using the anodes prepared with two SILAR cycles. The best cell shows a conversion efficiency (?) of 0.0064 %. The cell exhibits ~ 2.13 improvement over the performance (0.0030 %) of bare FTO-based device. The related PV performance enhancement mechanism is discussed.

The prevalence of some cardiovascular risk factors among the Ogonis and Ikwerres in Rivers State, Nigeria was assessed in two hundred subjects. Well structured questionnaires were used to assess smoking status, duration of diabetes, age, weight, and height from the participants. Measurement of blood pressure was done to ascertain the blood pressure of the subjects. Analysis of fasting blood sugar was done to confirm diabetes status of participants. Body mass index (BMI), was calculated from the height and weight. The mean age of males in the study was higher than that of the females (P=.05). Mean SBP and DBP values were significantly higher (P=.05) among the Ikwerres and Ogonis. BMI was significantly higher for Ogonis than Ikwerres (P=.05). In the various categories of risk, BMI for males was diabetics (47.89), smokers (44.73) and hypertensives (45.37) for type III obesity which shows a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.

Absorption of CO2 gas from CO2/Air mixture into aqueous sodium hydroxide solution has been achieved using packed column in pilot scale at constant temperature (T) of 25±1?.The aim of the present work was to improve the Absorption rate of this process, to find the optimal operation conditions, and to contribute to the using of this process in the chemical industry. Absorption rate (RA) was measured by using different operating parameters: gas mixture flow rate (G) of 360-540 m3/h, carbon dioxide inlet concentration (CCO2) of 0.1-0.5 vol. %, NaOH solution concentration (CNaOH) of 1-2 M, and liquid holdup in the column (VL) of 0.022-0.028 m3 according to experimental design. The measured RA was in the range of RA = 3.235 – 22.340 k-mol/h. Computer program (Statgraphics/Experimental Design) was used to estimate the fitted linear model of RA in terms of (G, CCO2, CNaOH, and VL), and the economic aspects of the process. R-squared of RA model was 91.7659 percent, while the standard error of the estimate shows the standard deviation of the residuals to be 1.7619. The linear model of RA was adequate, the operating parameters were significant except the liquid holdup was not significant, and the interactions were negligible.

Cellulose acetate powder which is extracted from the cigarette (insulator part as a filler) has been used with polymer to produce PVC Cement/cellulose acetate composite. The dielectric behavior of this composite is analyzed as a function of weight fractions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 wt%), temperature range (30 - 110) ?C and frequency (120Hz -2MHz). Impedance and sac. conductivity of the composites behaviors as function of frequency and temperature have also studied. The results show that, the real permittivity, dielectric loss and loss tangent for all composites increase with increasing cellulose acetate filler content.

Assessment of heavy metals concentration in water and sediments of the Choba section of the New Calabar River, Eastern Niger Delta were carried out. Seven (7) river sediments and twelve (12) surface water samples were collected for the study. The heavy metals studied were: Mn, Pb, Zn, Fe, Cd, Cr, and Cu for in both river sediment and surface water. The World Health Organization (WHO) standards were used in evaluating Pollution Index (PI) of heavy metals in surface water. The Pollution Load Index (PLI) level of river sediments ranged from 5.12 – 33.26, with only PLI values <1 considered unpolluted. The other samples analyzed revealed high pollution levels, with Cu, Cr and Mn having moderate to considerable Contamination Factor levels, while the others were of low levels. For surface water, Pb and Zn had high Pollution Index values, with Pb having PI values ranging 10 – 211, with considerable contribution of pollutants from anthropogenic activities into the river. There is urgent need for regular monitoring of the Choba section of the River. The regulatory government agency responsible for protecting the environment should also pay adequate attention to this stretch of the river to avoid further contamination.

Most small scale industries rely on human effort for transporting raw materials from one stage of processing to another thereby reducing the overall system performance. The work discusses the development of a belt conveyor system for small scale industry. The conveyor is of height 0.75 m at 0o angle of inclination, 35o troughing angle and a surcharge angle of 25o. It also consist of a belt whose width is 410 mm, length 2.4 m and a basic length 4.54 m. The conveyor has an average capacity of 43.75 tonnes/hr. The evaluation of the conveyor was carried out by conveying 12 packs of bottled water of different weights across a distance of 2 m at a different speeds ranging from of 200-400 rpm. Results obtained indicated that the time of conveying the materials increases with increase in weight of the bottled water. The successful completion of this work provides a conveyor system which will aid the movement of material from one place to another with little or no human intervention. This will help the industry in reducing cost in acquiring labour that will be used in material movement thereby reducing cost of production.

Information Science is a Science of Sciences responsible for Information Solution besides its Technological Solution. Information Science [IS] is a broad field and combination of many fields of Science, Engineering, Management, Humanities and so on. Information Science during its origin developed as Information Field for Information activities such as collection, selection, organization, processing and management, and dissemination. Information Science sometimes treated as Information Studies or Library Science; however, there are many differences between Information Science and these two. Information Science is today emerging as an important name in Science and Technology and in several cases, the nomenclature of Information Science become popular as Information Science and Technology (IST). This paper talks about Information Science and its nature in the contemporary scenario with a brief discussion on earlier facets etc.

The results of the very simplified integration of AgNPs with different diameter sizes (40 nm, 80 nm and 120 nm) within the porous TiO2 layer of DSSCs was demonstrated. The silver nanoparticle clusters (AgNPs) improve the values of Open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current (Jsc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency of conversion ( ). The plasmonic effect as observed by introducing AgNPs with 40 nm in DSSC produces higher performance with JSC of 0.035 mAcm-2, VOC of 0.420 V, FF of 0.430, yielding ? of 0.0064 %. These results are due to enhanced light absorption of the dye in strength and spectral range from the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of the metallic silver nanoparticles. The improved charge transport also increases the value of Jsc and reduces the resistance. The mechanism of getting the best utilization efficiency is also discussed.