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A study was carried out to evaluate the metal and proximate content of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) commonly consumed in Nasarawa State, Nigeria in order to ascertain its suitability for consumption. The metal concentration was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) and the proximate content was determined according to the method described by Association of Analytical Chemist (AOAC). The results obtained varied with the sampling locations. The mean concentration of the metals ranged from: Zn (2.09-2.48 mg/kg), Pb (0.24-0.73 mg/kg), Mn (3.20-8.52 mg/kg), Cu (0.21-0.31 mg/kg) and Ni (0.01-0.23 mg/kg). The values for proximate content showed that moisture content ranged from (1.00-1.45 %), ash content (8.63-8.74 %), crude protein (14.13-14.44%), crude fibre (2.52-2.63%), crude fat (23.02-23.11%) and carbohydrate (50.10-50.59%). The result obtained does not reveal any significant level of contamination by heavy metals as most of the values were within the permissible limits of consumption of vegetables. However, the growing of the plant in locations near pollution sites should be discouraged. As for the proximate content the values obtained are indication that all the samples are rich sources of protein, fibre, and carbohydrates with a high probability of storage due to their significant moisture content. This underscores their nutritive value as a viable option for plant base nutrients for consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prime purpose of this study is to find out the research productivity of three regions Nigeria, Pakistan, and India. The bibliometric quantification was used to analyze the data. The present research identifies the importance of this online journal. The study discloses frequency of publication growth, author's collaborations, papers length, and most cited papers, most productive authors, and total references used. Design/methodology/approach The survey method was used to find out the full-text research articles on the online database of LPP. The Google scholar was used to retrieve the citations. All the collected data has been analyzed using MS excel and other electronic devices. Findings The results of this study indicate that in the year 2008 to 2013. The contribution of Nigerian authors is more than the other two nations that are 226 while Indian comes 2nd with 193 research papers and Pakistan comes 3rd with 67 research articles from the studied period in the wellknown journal of Library and information science field that is LPP. The present study revealed the majority of the research articles were single authors from Nigeria 114, Pakistan 18, and India 80. The study results show that the majority of the paper length in the range of 6-10 Nigerian 116, Pakistan 34, and India 70 respectively. The study showed the total references were calculated 4140 from Nigeria, 1506 Pakistan, and 3243 from Indian. The most cited paper was retrieved by a Nigerian paper that is 197 citations. The analyzed data shows the most productive authors were Rubina Bhatti from Pakistan with 18 research papers. This study contributes to the existing literature of three-nation contributions to the Library Philosophy and practice throughout the year. This is the first study of three-nation research productivity in the well-known online journal library philosophy and practice. Limitations of the study The present study was limited to the well-known LIS Journal and research articles specifically published at online journal library philosophy and practice. This study is purely limited to the research productivity of Nigerian, Pakistani, and Indian authors to the Library Philosophy and Practice from 2008 to 2013. Practical implications Despite its limitations, the findings of the study will help the LIS professionals of three nations and as well as other parts of the LIS professionals to provide more information about their research productivity of a particular journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study aims to find out the research productivity of Nigerian and Indian authors to the library philosophy and practice from 2008 to 2013. The present study also finds the frequency of productivity, author collaboration, papers length, most cited papers, and most references as well as most productive authors. The present research finds the 226 research articles have been contributed by Nigerian authors and 193 papers have been contributed by Indian authors. The highest number of papers has been written by Nigerian authors was 76 in 2010 and from the Indian 60 papers were contributed in 2013. This present study identifies those 114 single authors from Nigeria and 80 from India. 116 papers from Nigerian authors those range 6-10 pages while 57 from India. The total numbers of references were used by Nigerian authors those were 4140 while Indian was used 3243 references from 2008 to 2013. The most productive authors S.Thanuskodi from India who wrote 09 papers and Dike Agah from Nigeria have contributed only 5 papers. The most cited papers were retrieved from Nigerian author with 197 citations while 82 citations were received from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever increasing population and consequently increase in demand for food and the increasing exploitation of the land justifies the need for adequate studies on rainfall as an important factor affecting agricultural production. The date of the onset of rains is an important factor in planning agricultural operations such as land preparation and sowing. The study conducted agro-statistical analysis of rainfall characteristics over three different zones of Nigeria. Daily rainfall data were collected for the period between 1971 and 2005 for 6 stations and were subjected to standard analysis to determine trends and variations in the onset dates, cessation dates, length of rainy season, number of wet days, drought episodes. The results showed that the inter-annual variability of the onset dates is higher than that of cessation dates with a progressive shift in both onset and cessation dates. The length of rainy season varied from 77-291 days in Guinea zone, 77-243 days for Savannah and 73-155 days for the Sahel. Changes in the length of growing season ranged between -9 and -10 for Guinea zone, -21 and 11 days for Savannah zone and -28 and 20 days for the Sahel. Similarly, the numbers of wet days have declined over Nigeria. The information presented in this study are to serve as input for proper land and water resources management for productive agricultural enterprise across the three major agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of frequency analysis had been known in the petroleum industry for decades. The present study was born out of the need to demonstrate the applicability of spectral analysis in the search for hydrocarbon in the Niger Delta Basin. The objectives of the study were to show the presence of hydrocarbon and demonstrate the use of frequency analysis in the determination of the fluid contact. The spectral analysis of the D6.2 reservoir in KC field was performed using ndi software. The Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) method is used with the specified frequency range of 5 - 50 Hz. The analysis was done over a time interval of 1500 - 4000ms. The window length and the taper used is 256ms and 20% respectively. The location of the calibration well-39 on the gas leg is at track 8600 and the bin is at 4784. The location of well-32 on the brine leg is at track 8426 while the bin is at 4854. Moreover, the seismic / frequency / amplitude generated is extracted from both the gas leg and the brine leg respectively. The result of the spectral decomposition shows the presence of hydrocarbon in the D6.2 reservoir and establishes a possible hydrocarbon contact. The hydrocarbon contact at 2690ms shown by the frequency maps agreed with the contact established in the amplitude versus time cross plot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analysed effect of agricultural extension delivery methods on arable crop farmers'cropping systems in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Purposive and multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 120 arable crop farmers across the state. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and correlation coefficient analysis. The result indicated that 57.50% of farmers were males, with mean ages of 56.20 years, mean farming experience of 39.3 years and mean farm size 'of 1.86 hectares. Extension delivery methods used by the agencies were demonstrations (88.4%), adopted village (81.5%), on - farm adaptive research (75%) and group (70%). The effective extension delivery agencies in the study were; National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (X¯ =2.8), World Bank project (X¯=2.6) and Faith Based Organisations (X¯ =2.5). The most common cropping systems practiced by farmers in the study area were sole maize (97%), sole millet (87.50%), sole cowpea (85.40%) and sole groundnut (72.40 %). Result also shows that farmers had favourable attitude (X¯=2.2) towards agricultural extension delivery methods used by the agencies, with an attitudinal index of 73.33%. The correlation coefficient analysis showed a significant relationship (P<0.01) between agricultural extension delivery methods and cropping systems of farmers in the study area. The study recommends training and retraining of extension workers, provision of mobility and adequate funding of extension agencies for effective agricultural technology delivery in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria is endowed with a large deposit of non-coking coal; this vast reserve of coal has not been exploited for the production of useful carbon products such as coke, graphite and activated carbon. This research work is therefore designed to obtain process parameters for the production of activated carbon from the large deposit of non-coking coal in Nigeria. The result obtained showed that the ash and sulphur content of the coal were reduced by 32% and 90% respectively. The test conducted on the activated carbon shows that its sulphur and ash content meant the required standard. It has a bulk density of 0.8g/mL3; making it suitable for purification test. The success of this research has proven that the abundant of non-coking coal reserve in Nigeria can be fully utilized in the production of activated carbon that can be utilized both domestically and industrially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic viability of producing synthetic diesel from natural gas in Nigeria was examined with the Chevron Escravos GTL project taken as a case. Plant procurement and installation cost, shipping and tanker facilities costs, the expected capacity of the GTL plant and the feed gas volume needed to produce that capacity of liquid product were gathered with which the costs analyses and revenue analyses were conducted. Concentration was on the possibility that diesel would be the only product of the GTL project. The price of diesel in $/bbl and the volume of diesel production per day were used for profitability analyses through the expected revenue. It was shown that the GTL project is economically viable having an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 13% and pay-out period of 9.16 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danna field is an oil field located in Niger Delta, Nigeria and the study was aimed at reservoir evaluation of the field using 3D seismic interpretation and petrophysical analysis. Five wells were correlated across the field to delineate the lithology and establish the continuity of reservoir sands as well as the general stratigraphy of the area. The petrophysical analysis carried out on the sand bodies indicates three sand units that are hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs (Sand J, Sand M and Sand P). These sand units were further evaluated using seismic interpretation. Time and depth structural maps were generated from seismic data to study the field's subsurface structures serving as traps to hydrocarbon and estimate the prospect area of the reservoirs in acres. Parameters such as net pay, water saturation and porosity i.e. derived from well logs together with estimated prospect area as obtained from seismic interpretation were used to compute the field's hydrocarbon reserve. Its gas reserve was estimated to be 225,997 bbl/ft³ while the oil reserve for the three reservoirs (Sand J, Sand M and Sand P) is computed as 6,566,089.09bb/acre, 14,006,716bbl/acre and 42,746, 580bb/acre respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current world food crisis is the result of the combined effects of competition for cropland from the growth in biofuels, low cereal stocks, high oil prices, speculation in food markets and extreme weather events. The crisis has resulted in a several-fold increase in several central commodity prices, driven 110 million people into poverty and added 44 million more to the already undernourished. This has necessitated this study on the factors affecting cereals pricing in Abia State of Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers, the price trend of cereals and factors influencing the price of cereals in the market. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents used for the study. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency distribution, percentages, means, etc, charts to show the price trend, and regression analysis. Result of the trend analysis show that price of cereals has been on the increase over the years. The significant factors influencing cereals price were interest rate (P > 0.05), exchange rate (P > 0.01), demand for cereals as raw materials which was proxied by industrial production (P > 0.10) and time trend (P > 0.05). The study equally revealed an inefficient market for cereals. There is therefore, the need to decrease the risk of highly volatile prices through price regulation on commodities and larger cereal stocks should be created to buffer the tight markets of food commodities and the subsequent risks of speculation in markets. This includes reorganizing the food market infrastructure and institutions to regulate food prices and provide food safety nets aimed at alleviating the impacts of rising food prices and food shortage, including both direct and indirect transfers, such as a global fund to support microfinance to boost small-scale farmer productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Institutional function reflects the institution''s understanding of the world around it, its ability to locate itself within that world and to make decisions in relation to it. Three dimensions of institutional function were identified as management, environmental mastery and service delivery. This study analysed the perception of institutional function of four hospitals in Nigeria by 507 healthcare professionals and managers and its influence on the implementation of the health sector reform programme in the country. The respondents were doctors and dentists (30%), nurses (27.2%), pharmacists (8.9%), managers (15.5%) and other allied healthcare workers (18.4%). The overall perception of institutional function was 56.3%. The perceptions of the three dimensions of institutional function were management 52.7%, environmental mastery 50.8% and service delivery 62.6%. Three out of 12 statements on institutional function had levels of perception that were lower than 50%. These were adequacy of management skills (49.7%), functioning management information systems that are used in management decision-making (47.9%) and degree of autonomy for the hospitals (42.4%). There is the need to strengthen the institutional function of Nigerian hospitals, especially the acquisition of management skills by the healthcare professionals and managers, management information systems and autonomy for the hospitals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]