Archives-September 2017

This paper investigated the influence of cowpea characteristics on cowpea prices in Akure Metropolis of Ondo State, Nigeria, using an analysis of covariance model approach. A total of 104 cowpea sellers were randomly selected from chosen in the markets. Interview schedule with the aid of structural questionnaire was used to collect data from markets: Oja oba, Isinkan, Adedeji, Araromi, and Isolo in the study area. 12% of the cowpea sellers were from Oja-oba, 27.88% from Isinkan, 18.27% from Araromi, 16.35% from Adedeji and 15.38% from Isolo market respectively. 72.12% were female while the rest 27.88% were male. 64.42% of the cowpea sellers sold all the varieties of cowpea in the study area i.e. Peu/Drum, Sokoto white, Mala, Olo and Oloyin. 38.46% of the cowpea sellers sold Peu/Drum for its popularity. 44.23% of them sold Sokoto for its popularity. 30.77% of them sold Mala for customary reasons, 31.73% of them sold Olo for its popularity, 30.77% of them sold Oloyin for its availability and nutritive value. 49.04% of the cowpea sellers said that their customers use the cowpea bought for all it can be used for. From the study, 37.50% of the cowpea sellers said that their customers prefer Oloyin for whole grain cooking because of its colour and flavour, 8.65% of them said that their customers prefer Oloyin for whole grain cooking due to its quick cooking quality. 31.73% of the cowpea sellers said that their customers prefer both Peu/Drum and Sokoto for making fried balls (akara) because of its peeling and binding quality. 32.69% of the cowpea sellers said that their customers prefer both Peu/Drum and Sokoto for steamed cake (moin-moin) for its flavour and texture. The mean prices of peu/drum cowpea, sokoto white cowpea, mala cowpea, olo cowpea and oloyin cowpea are ?362.50, ?263.75, ?296.83, ?304.81, and ?393.85. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) which was used capture price-quality relationship of the type of cowpea purchased by consumers revealed that there is a significant relationship between the number of holes in each of the cowpea varieties and their respective prices in the various markets sampled in the study area. Hence, the numbers of holes appear to be the major determining factors affecting the prices of various cowpea types in the study area.

This study analyse efficiency and productivity changes in ECOWAS agriculture using the Hicks-Moorsteen TFP index developed by O’Donnell (2008, 2009, 2010c). This approach has an advantage over the popular Malmquist productivity index in that it is free from any assumptions associated with firm optimising behaviour, the structure of markets, or return to scale. ECOWAS agriculture is inefficient over the entire period as the most of the measures of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency over the entire period considered (1961-2009) have their efficiency estimates that were less than unity. The inefficiency of the measures of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency over the entire period (1961 - 2009) may be due to weak human assets, a high degree of economic vulnerability, increasing trend towards urbanization, limitation of exports to few commodities, low export earnings, low capital formation, food insecurity and poor rural development as well as ineffective implementation of both regional and national policies due to poor knowledge of the determinants of agricultural productivity and their degrees. The declining behaviour of technical changes (?Tech) over the entire period (1961-2009) reveals that agriculture sector in all ECOWAS member states are not operating on the same point on the production possibilities set as well as changes in the economic, political and social environment of ECOWAS member states as it tends to capture the effects of technological change and the long term effects of inefficiency of both regional and national policies (with the inclusion of agricultural policies over the entire years) among the ECOWAS member states.

Batch experimental technique was used to remove fluoride ions from aqueous solution using water hyacinth biomass as a low cost adsorbent under different experimental parameters. Stem fractions of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) were air dried for 8 days and in the oven for 24 hours at 110 0C and allowed to cool in a desiccator. They were ground into powder and sieved into various particle sizes and used in fluoride removal experiments.100 ml of solution containing known amounts of fluoride ion was added to 1 g of water hyacinth powder in a beaker, stirred and allowed to stand for predetermined times. The solution was filtered and the fluoride ion concentration in the filtrate was determined using ion selective electrode. The pH of the solution was maintained at 6.2 throughout the experiments. The adsorptive properties of fluoride ion were influenced by contact time, the adsorbent dosage and the particle size of the adsorbent. Water hyacinth powder effectively removed fluoride ion from aqueous solution. 

Some opportunistic observations on the diversity of hawk moths have been done from June 2015 to May 2016 in North Malabar region of kerala. We have identified10 genera and 23species of Hawk moth belongs to3 subfamilies of Sphingidae. Of these 20species of hawk moths are new records to Malabar region. From our study we come to a conclusion that Malabar region is a suitable habitat for these highly sensitive families of moths. The paper gives details regarding Collection methodology, Diversity indices of each three subfamilies of sphingidae, effect of lunar periodicity in the diversity of the moth species and seasonal fluctuations.

One of the serious and persistent environmental problem globally is heavy metal pollution. Therefore, a special concern has been given on how to minimize, if not complete removal of their effect in environment. Since waste water is one of the major source of heavy metals, various studies have been conducted over the years on how to remove them from the waste water. This paper reviews some of the important methods that have been used to treat heavy metal waste water. These methods include chemical precipitation, ion-exchange, adsorption, membrane filtration, coagulation flocculation, flotation and electrochemical methods. Their Advantages and Limitations in applications are also evaluated.

In this paper, we discuss the applicability of new integral transform called Elzaki transform method to solve few mixing problems of single tank which are comes under the category of applications of first order linear differential equations.

Mycotic aneurysms are a uncommon presentation may be with rupture or sepsis. Disease management is often required to prevent catastrophic complications .Bacterial endocarditis is one of the classic causes of infected aneurysm. We report a case of a 14 8 mm mycotics plenics artery aneurysm secondary to endocarditis. Our patient have aortic and mitral valve replacements for acute articular Rheumatism, the disease management for our patient is a active surveillance of the aneurysm without complications. Our methodology is to review english and frensh articles from PubMed and cochran.

In the present era of globalization with increased opportunities and easy and free movement of workforce, companies are striving hard to retain their employees to get the best out of them. It is considered that a committed workforce is an asset to the organization. What are the factors which influence employees’ commitment towards organization is a much debated aspect in the management field. A good number of literatures on organizational commitment opine that organizational commitment is a psychological attachment of the members of an organization including a sense of job involvement, loyalty and belief in the values of the organization. On the other hand it indicates that a committed employee is one who accepts the organizational goals and willing to exert effort on behalf of the organization. An employee, who is affectively committed, strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to remain the part of the organization. This study makes an effort to analyse the relationship between the behavioral aspects of the employees such as performance, loyalty, satisfaction with the organizational commitment as well as the relationship between the behavioral aspects with the personal attributes such as age, gender, position and length of service. The study reveals that there is a strong positive relation between the organizational commitment and performance, loyalty and satisfaction while there is no significant relationship between the behavioral aspects and the personal attributes.

Job Satisfaction is one of the key factors to increase employee morale. It blazons the amount of acceptance between one’s expectation of the job and the return that the job provides. Job Satisfaction is a part of life satisfaction. The job environment plays vital role to get the job satisfaction, moreover it resembles life satisfaction. Job Satisfaction is the result of various attitudes possessed by an employee. The expected output of the research is understood the policies and procedures of job satisfaction in the company. To meet this aim well structured questionnaire was prepared and data analysis has been done with percentage analysis

Nigeria is a developing country which attained political independence from British colonial rule in 1960. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society where inter-personal and inter-group relationships are governed by a number of subjective socio-cultural variables: ethnicity, cultural differences, majority-minority dichotomy, religions, etc. The incursion of the military into governance and the impact of the anti-labour colonial and post-colonial policies on the whole society are some of the challenges faced by the labour movements in Nigeria. From the time that trade unions first emerged in Nigeria, they suffered crude treatment and abuse from the government. The abuses were particularly grave during several years of military rule. Although Nigeria has returned to democratic governance, the abridgment of trade union rights continues. This article argues that through such behavior, the government of Nigeria infringes upon workers' freedom of association under international law – which does not augur well for the nation's future as a liberal democracy. The basic challenges of the labour movements today in Nigeria border on but not limited to, lack of entrenched and institutionalized democratic structures, good governance, civil liberties, corruption and poor working conditions of workers. The paper attempts to see how an alliance or partnership between labour movements and the civil society organizations had affected social and political policies of government in the past, and the extent to which it can reshape the future of labour organizations, industrial relations and the structure of the Nigerian society. All these factors are examined against the backdrop of increasing globalization and more specifically the internationalization of the labour market and general economic production systems and ideology.