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Urinary tract infections (UTI) constitute the most common morbidity during pregnancy resulting in severe complications and fatality. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of urinary tract infection among pregnant women attending Antenatal Care Clinic (ANC), at Dambam, Bauchi State. A total of 290 pregnant women aged 15 – 40 years (Mean age, 23.4 SD± 2.1 years) were screened for bacteriuria using standard microbiological method. Antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of the bacterial isolates was determined by Modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Questionnaires were used to obtain information on biodata and socio-demographic characteristics of the study population. The prevalence of urinary tract infection among pregnant women screened was 17.24% (n = 50). Pseudomonas aeruginosa constitutes the most prevalent organism, 15 (5.17%) cultured, followed by Klebsiella spp 12, (4.14%) while Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Enterococcus spp constitute the least isolates (1.38%) each. The study revealed a significant association (P_ < 0.05, P = 0.000) between the frequency of bacterial isolates and marital status while other demographic characteristics such as educational status, age and occupation of the subjects did not indicate any significant relationship. Majority of the bacterial isolates were resistant to Cefalexin, Levofloxacin, and Clindamycin but were however, sensitive to Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriaxone and Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Considering the significant bacterial isolates from pregnant women investigated expressing some resistance against commonly used antibiotics, hence there is need for educational campaign to enlighten women about UTIs during pregnancy and useful prevention/control measures to checkmate associated complications and fatality. Keywords: Antenatal Care, Bacteriuria, Infection, Pregnant Women, Prevalence, Urinary Tract Infection.

Heavy metal content in groundwater sources is of growing concern, as they are known to be persistent in nature and have been found to bio-accumulate in animals and plants. They have been found to cause detrimental health effects to human beings; therefore these necessitate the need to assess level of heavy metals in water sources. This study was carried out to evaluation the quality of groundwater samples from twenty five selected boreholes in Hadejia and Atafi Districts of Hadejia Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Selected heavy metals:- Cadmium, Chromium, Iron, Manganese and Lead were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results showed that concentrations of Cr(0243 – 0.358mg/L), and Fe(0.967 – 1.359mg/L) were found to be above the maximum permissible limit of Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality and World Health Organization, while, Cd, Mn, and Pb concentrations are below or within the permissible limit in majority of the boreholes. The values for physicochemical variables pH, and TDS were found to be below or within the permissible limit set by the World Health Organization and Nigerian standard for Drinking Water Quality. There is a growing concern about the dangerous health implication of hexavalent chromium consumption in drinking water. It can cause skin and eye irritation, asthma, nasal ulcers, convulsions, acute gastroenteritis, and damage to the liver and kidneys. High iron in water content leads to an overload which can cause diabetes, hemochromatosis, stomach problem, and nausea, it can also damage the liver, pancreas, and heart.

This paper present design and Implementation Automatic Light Control with Bidirectional counting Sensor. In the design, Light Control with Bidirectional Counting Sensor is proposed to be used so that controller-based model is adopt to count the number of persons entering or leaving a particular building and accordingly turn on or turn off lighting in the building. A sensor is used with counters to count the number of people entering or leaving a particular building. The logic behind the design is that whenever a person enters, it counts up and when a person leaves its count down. The light control of the system is actualized when an individual enter and remains off when left. The designed is achieved using infrared light sensor and combination of array counter. When implemented, the design can be used in public places like malls or library to restrict the flow of people.

In this paper, a ratio-type estimator of finite population mean in simple random sampling without replacement by using information on an auxiliary variable has been proposed. The proposed estimator was obtained by using the strategy of power transformation and incorporated the unknown weight (). The objective of this study is to develop a new ratio estimator that provide better precision of estimation of population mean. The properties such as bias and mean square error (MSE) of the proposed estimator are derived and tested using four real data sets. The results of the empirical study revealed that the proposed ratio type estimator performed better than the existing estimators considered in the study. Therefore, the proposed estimator is more efficient than the existing estimators based on the criteria of mean square error and percent relative efficiency.

Many problems in science and engineering can be formulated as nonlinear least-squares (NLS) problems. Thus, the need for efficient algorithms to solve these problems can not be overemphasized. In that sense, we introduce a generalized structured-based diagonal Hessian algorithm for solving NLS problems. The formulation associated with this algorithm is essentially a generalization of a similar result in Yahaya et al. (Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, pp. 113582, 2021). However, in this work, the structured diagonal Hessian update is derived under a weighted Frobenius norm; this allows other choices of the weighted matrix analogous to the Davidon-Fletcher-Powell (DFP) method. Moreover, to theoretically fill the gap in Yahaya et al. (Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, pp. 113582, 2021), we have shown that the proposed algorithm is R-linearly convergent under some standard conditions devoid of any safeguarding strategy. Furthermore, we experimentally tested the proposed scheme on some standard benchmark problems in the literature. Finally, we applied this algorithm to solve robotic motion control problem consisting of 3DOF (degrees of freedom).

Certain projects due to the magnitude of their scope require the input of multiple professionals in the built industry. The moment where multiple professionals are working simultaneously, there is a need for the management of their activities so that the scope of each professional is clearly stated. Design management helps in this regard along with many other benefits it provides. This study examines the effectiveness of design management in the built industry in Nigeria. To achieve this, aim a review of the current literature was done first before administering questionnaires to one-hundred and forty-one professionals in the built industry (architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers and builders). The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis of frequency rate, percentage and mean values. Results showed the effectiveness of design management in different aspects of the pre-construction phase which in turn affects the general project in the long run.

Objective: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the human host factors that contribute to the perpetuation of schistosomiasis transmission in endemic communities of Wudil, Kano State, Nigeria. Methods: Information was derived from structured questionnaires supplemented with oral interviews, on perception of the community on the cause of urogenital schistosomiasis, using self-reported macrohaematuria, as the disease proxy, water-use practices, riverside urination and defaecation, and the choice for treatment of schistosome infection. Results: Out of 139 study participants, the perceived causes of gross haematuria by the respondents were Excessive Salt Intake (41.73%); Scorching Sun (20.86%); Unknown (17.27%); Infection (10.07%); Supernatural Force (5.86%) and Water Contact (4.32%). The respondents with self-reported terminal haematuria were 49.64%; riverine water contact 75.54% and riverside contamination 65.41%. Of the 72.46% of the respondents with gross haematuria who attempted for medication only 8.0% visited health facilities, while majority relied on traditional herbalists (39.13%) and roadside medicine stores (20.29%) for treatment. There was a strong association between riverine water contact and terminal haematuria (Odds Ratio: 6.09, 95% CI, 2.825-13.131, P

A new generation of chemical hybridization agents (CHAs) or gametocides has shown potential to induce male sterility in predominantly self-fertilizing crops, including sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench). There is a lack of information on the relative efficacy of the various available CHAs for large-scale application in plant breeding programs. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to compare the relative effectiveness of three selected CHAs to induce male sterility in sorghum under a controlled environment for hybridization. Foliar applications of three CHAs and a control (ethrel, trifluoromethanesulfonamide [TFMSA], ethyl 4-fluorooxanilate [E4FO] and distilled water [control]) were tested using three grain sorghum genotypes (ICS-1, ICS-2 and ICS-3) in two seasons. The 24 treatment combinations consisting of 4 levels of CHAs, 3 sorghum varieties and two seasons were laid out using a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on pollen sterility, pollen diameter, plant height, and panicle height were collected and analyzed. Results showed that the CHAs had significant (p

Many problems in engineering and social sciences can be transformed into system of nonlinear equations. As a result, a lot of methods have been proposed for solving the system. Some of the classical methods include Newton and Quasi Newton methods which have rapid convergence from good initial points but unable to deal with large scale problems due to the computation of Jacobian matrix or its approximation. Spectral and conjugate gradient methods proposed for unconstrained optimization, and later on extended to solve nonlinear equations do not require any computation of Jacobian matrix or its approximation, thus, are suitable to handle large scale problems. In this paper, we proposed a spectral conjugate gradient algorithm for solving system of nonlinear equations where the operator under consideration is monotone. The search direction of the proposed algorithm is constructed by taking the convex combination of the Dai-Yuan (DY) parameter and a modified conjugate descent (CD) parameter. The proposed search direction is sufficiently descent and under some suitable assumptions, the global convergence of the proposed algorithm is proved. Numerical experiments on some test problems are presented to show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm in comparison with an existing one. Finally, the algorithm is successfully applied in signal recovery problem arising from compressive sensing.

The current study tested the hypothesis of whether the low-temperature catalytic cracking of waste plastics would generate carbon fules using high-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer by potash as a novel catalyst for both energy recovery and carbon recycling. We applied a one-stage pyrolysis reactor system with a 75 min reaction time to observe the highest yield at a low temperature range of 70–170 °C. The effects of the potash and zeolite catalysts, temperature, and catalyst–polymer ratio on the pyrolysis liquid yield and hydrocarbon contents were determined. The mineral concentration of potash was analyzed semiquantitatively using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The ICP-OES demonstrated that nine metals, in the order of K > Na > Fe > Si > Mg > Al > Cu > Ca > Ni, were predominant in the potash. GC–MS analysis of the liquid products showed that major catalytic cracking molecules are C11 to C20 as kerosene- to diesel-range liquid. Potash catalyst produced an average liquid conversion of 34.7% at a catalyst ratio of 30 wt% over a distillate temperature range of 76–140 °C, whereas zeolite generated 19.5% at the same catalyst ratio over 90–120 °C. Although the two catalysts favored mainly olefinic products, a higher potash ratio promoted a smaller carbon products with a purer composition. Our experiments demonstrated that the new natural potash catalyst could convert waste plastics into kerosene to diesel range of valuable and recyclable liquid products as potential renewable fuel sources for carbon recycling.

In this work, motivated by the effect of inertial step in accelerating algorithms for solving nonlinear problems such as equilibrium problems, we propose two hybrid spectral algorithms with inertial effect for solving system of nonlinear equations with convex constraints. The search directions in these algorithms use the convex combination of the modified Barzilai and Borwein spectral parameters (IMA journal of numerical analysis, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 141—148, 1988) and their geometric mean proposed by Dai et al. (In Numerical Analysis and Optimization, pp. 59–75, Springer, 2015). The incorporation of the inertial-step aids the proposed algorithms in producing more efficient results in comparison with three existing spectral algorithms. Under the assumption that the function under consideration is monotone and satisfies Lipschitz continuity, we prove the global convergence of the proposed algorithms. In addition, we also show the application of the proposed algorithms in motion control of two-joint planar robotic manipulator.

We propose structured spectral gradient algorithms for solving nonlinear least squares problems based on a modified structured secant equation. The idea was to integrate more details of the Hessian...

The protracted proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) from around the globe to Africa, specifically in Northern Nigeria, had led to a plethora of social crises that have culminated to the insecurity across the region for more than a decade. Armed conflicts that resulted from the effects of the spread of SALW across the three geopolitical zones in the North had subsequently led to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, farmers-herders conflict in the Northcentral, armed banditry in the Northwest, and ethnoreligious conflicts and mass kidnappings in the region. The objective of this study is a critical and thorough investigation of the SALW in exacerbating armed conflicts, in general, in the Northern part of Nigeria. The main problems identified in this study are the armed conflicts that have threatened to entirely destabilize the region, and the increased distribution of SALW across the region despite the global efforts to contain their spread for security reasons. This study used a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Both primary and secondary sources were employed in this study. The primary sources were the interviews conducted with selected informants in the relevant area of study. The secondary sources were the use of available literature on the subject matter. Discussions were carried out by using thematic analytical interpretations. The research discovered that the rampant armed conflicts in Northern Nigeria is the reminiscent of the spread of SALW in the region, which subsequently led to the present critical security situation. Furthermore, weak policies and political institutions had contributed to the spread of SALW, indicating a need for a strong policy approach. This study recommends, among other numerous suggestions, that efforts should be intensified in intelligence gathering to detect the networking of the racketeers in the armed business and contain them appropriately, as well as total blockage of the weapons’ distribution routes.

The research explores the factors affecting employees' job motivation in small and medium enterprises in Dong Nai province from June 2019 to June 2020. The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that there are five factors including the following elements: relationships in the organization; interesting job; Salary, bonus, and benefits; Training and promotion and assessment of job performance affects the working motivation of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises in Dong Nai province with the significance of 5%. In addBesidesstudy results were processed from SPSS 20.0, Amos software. Estimated parameters of the model by the least least-squared with a significance level of 1%. The results are also significant scientific evidence for researchers and policymakers at small and medium enterprises in Dong Nai province to apply research results to human resource development in the future. Based on the five-factor test results, the author proposed the priority governance implications that the author suggested in order of priority, respectively, interesting work, performance evaluation, organization, salary, bonus and welfare regime, and training and promotion.

The current study examined the carbon recycling application of waste materials. Thermal catalytic cracking reactions were carried out in a fixed bed to synthesize gasoline-range hydrocarbon fuels from used plastics. Titanium (IV) oxide (TiO2) and zeolite were tested as catalysts for pyrolysis using low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinylchloride (PVC), and polystyrene (PS) reactants. In addition to the catalyzed pyrolysis reactions, we also investigated non-catalyzed thermal degradation of the plastic substrates for negative control. The liquid yield, reaction temperature profile, and physical appearance of the synthesized liquid products were determined. The pyrolysis reactions demonstrated that the optimum catalyst–polymer ratio is 40%. The distillate collection temperatures ranged between 82 and 198 °C (LDPE), 68–172 °C (PVC), and 40–168 °C (PS). Our experiments showed that LDPE, PVC, and PS can readily be pyrolyzed to produce 44% (LDPE), 13% (PVC), and 89% (PS) hydrocarbon liquid products using zeolite catalyst. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was used to analyze the structure and chemical composition of the products. The main products were C5 (1,2-dimethylcyclopropane), C6 (2-methylpentane), C7 (1,3-dimethylcyclopentene, 1-heptene), and C8 (2-octene, 4-octene, octane, 3-ethylhexane), indicating gasoline-range hydrocarbon molecules. The highest liquid yield of 89.3% was obtained from zeolite catalyst over polystyrene in comparison to all plastics cracked while the lowest liquid yield of 3.9% was obtained from the cracking of PVC under no catalyst condition.

The current study determined the natural angiogenic molecules using an unbiased metabolomics approach. A chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model was used to examine pro- and antiangiogenic molecules, followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. Vessel formation was analyzed quantitatively using the angiogenic index (p < 0.05). At embryonic day one, a white streak or circle area was observed when vessel formation begins. GCMS analysis and database search demonstrated that angiogenesis may initiate when oleic, cholesterol, and linoleic acids increased in the area of angiogenic reactions. The gain of function study was conducted by the injection of cholesterol and oleic acid into a chick embryo to determine the role of each lipid in angiogenesis. We propose that oleic acid, cholesterol, and linoleic acid are natural molecules that set the platform for the initiation stage of angiogenesis before other proteins including the vascular endothelial growth factor, angiopoietin, angiotensin, and erythropoietin join as the angiome in sprout extension and vessel maturation.

This study is conducted to determine the population density of mosquitoes in three selected area (Kofar Taramniya, Mabera and Bello Way) in Sokoto metropolis. To identified and count the population of mosquito, different breeding sites were investigated for the preferences of mosquitoes. Mosquito larvae were collected using dipper, ladle spoon from drainages, stagnant water, gutters, open wells, local pots, water tanks and cattle sheds. A total population of 4,764 mosquito larvae were collected and identified From the three (3) selected areas larvae and pupae were encounters in abundance. In Mabera area, a total of 1799 (37.7%) larvae are collected in which 1199 (45.8%) belonging to Anopheles genera and 600 (27.9%) belong to culex genera. In kofar Taramniya a total of 1649 (34.6%) larvae are collected in which 1000 (38.2%) belong to Anopheles genera and 649 (30.2%) belong to culex genera, in Bello Way, A total of 1317 (27.5%) larvae were collected, 417 (15.9%) belong to Anopheles genera and 900 (41.9%) belong to culex genera. Statistical analysis conducted indicated a significant difference (p

Mosquitoes play an important role in promoting the spread of many zoonotic diseases among vertebrates. Their presence and numbers were influenced by the availability of breeding sites. This study reports the occurrence and colour preferences of oviposition in man-made habitats under field conditions by female mosquitoes found in the Water Board Station at Runjin Sambo Area, Sokoto. A total of nine plastic buckets (2 litres) of different colours were used as artificial oviposition container. The colour chosen was black, blue, brown, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow. The containers were filled with an equal amount of water and placed under a shade at 5 cm interval and observed daily for seven days. Mosquito larvae were emptied into a bowl and counted. The result showed that Aedes and Culex larvae were oviposited in all the plastic container with high abundance in a red colour plastic container (25.10 and 26.30% respectively) while Anopheles larvae were more in the black container (25.5%) and Mansoni on brown (23.10%). This suggested that container colour was important in influencing the oviposition choices of some female mosquitoes breeding in artificial containers in the Water Board Station at Runjin Sambo Area Sokoto. It is hoped that the study will help in adopting control measures for the respective mosquito species.

In this article, we propose a modified conjugate descent (CD) projection algorithm for solving system of nonlinear monotone equations with convex constraints. The search direction in this algorithm use a convex combination of the steepest descent algorithm and the well-known CD method. The algorithm proves to be quite efficient for solving large scale monotone nonlinear equations, as it has low storage requirement and does not need the computation of Jacobian matrix. We prove the convergence of the algorithm using some conditions, and perform numerical experiments on some test problems. In order to show the efficiency of our proposed algorithm, the numerical performance is compared with some existing algorithms. Finally, by reformulating ℓ2 regularized problem into monotone equation, we successfully apply the algorithm to restore some blurred images. The numerical results obtained prove that the algorithm can be used as an efficient and qualitative solver for image restoration problems.

Some organic pollutants change the color, smell, and other characteristics of water leaving it undesirable for use. However, other organic pollutants do not change the physical properties of the water, yet, they make the water non-useful. This study was carried out to determine the characteristics of petroleum contaminated water and how it can be purified using economical filters for possible reuse in rural areas of the Niger Delta, of Nigeria. The filters were made from rice husk ash, and white clay, as main materials, while calcium carbonate and poly (propylene carbonate) were used as binders and pore former. The water samples were tested for conductivity, turbidity, pH, heavy metals, and total hydrocarbon contents. The results showed a significant decrease in the amount of petroleum/organic pollutants present in the water sample before purification. The filter candle made using poly (propylene carbonate) as a binder was found to be the most efficient in removing organic pollutants, but it was not very effective in the removal of heavy metals and also, the pH of the filtrate became more acidic. Filtrates from other filters, however, had pH in an acceptable range. Dodecanoic acid and hexadecanoic acid were found to be removed from the polluted water using the filters.

Reliable and effective hybridization methods are required in self-pollinating crops for genetic analysis, recurrent selection and large-scale production of hybrid seed. The objective of this review...

The environmental impacts of waste disposal of polyethylene bags and seasonal variation of polyethylene disposal in Gusau City of Zamfara state, Nigeria was investigated. General public waste disposals from homes, schools and daily markets, were randomly selected for data collection. The data showed that polyethylene waste is generated more in the dry season than the wet season. The result also showed that table water sachet has 75% disposal. This is because, sachet water is cheap and consumed throughout the year with very little seasonal variation while at homes and markets also, displayed a very interesting pattern. The study revealed that in the market, polyethylene for table water sachets (10%) was the least, followed by ice cream sachets (6%), assorted items (5%) and biscuits wrappers (4%). On the other hand, the results showed that, at home, polyethylene for assorted items was the highest (61%), closely followed by biscuit wrappers (20%), table water sachets (14%) and ice cream wrappers (5%) respectively. Polyethylene waste poses various threats to public health and adversely affects flora and fauna as well as the environment especially when it is not appropriately collected and properly disposed. And based on this research, it was found that most of the public do not know the advantages, disadvantages and the health effects of rampant and improper disposal of polyethylene bags. It is concluded that aggressive campaign and enlightenment of the masses on the threats posed by polyethylene bags pollution should be carried out to prevent further negative environmental impact.

Maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield is severely constrained by drought and this study was conducted to assess gains in grain yield and other traits of released maize cultivars. Twenty-three maize cultivars plus a check were evaluated under drought and well-watered conditions at Zaria and Kadawa during 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 dry seasons. The 24 cultivars were evaluated using 6 x 4 lattice design with three replications. Genotypes differed significantly for all measured traits except anthesis-silking interval (ASI), husk cover, and number of ears per plant under drought, and ASI, husk cover, and ear aspect under well-watered conditions. Under drought, grain yield ranged from 2251 kg ha−1 for SAMMAZ 31 to 4938 kg ha−1 for SAMMAZ 19, with a genetic gain of 1.93% yr−1. Under well-watered conditions, grain yield varied from 3082 kg ha−1 for SAMMAZ 37 to 5689 kg ha−1 for SAMMAZ 51, with the same genetic gain found under drought conditions. Grain yield reduction as a result of drought was 28.4% and performance under drought predicted performance under well-watered conditions better than vice versa with regression coefficient value of 0.8. Grain yield had significant correlations with all measured traits under both water conditions, except for husk cover, plant and ear heights under drought. Our data revealed that substantial genetic gains have been made in breeding for high grain yield cultivars under drought and well-watered conditions over a period of 16 years in Nigeria.

Neural damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) can trigger several acute or chronic conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases. However, ROS scavengers hold great promise for enabling DNA repair in neurons; damaged cells using ROS-scavenging agents may be able to recover their functionality and resilience. Moreover, in bioelectronics for neural applications, thin films with adequate properties are crucial for the proper performance of an electronic device. Therefore, precise and reliable deposition techniques that can control the characteristics of thin films are imperative when fabricating bioelectronic devices integrated with cellular systems. To that end, inkjet printing is a promising method with unique advantages, such as computer-assisted protocols and efficient consumption of materials. We report the printing of a functional electronic material that exhibits ROS scavenging behavior (Manganese [III] 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra [4-pyridyl]-21H, 23H-porphine chloride tetrakis [methochloride]) using a modified inkjet printer. Different printed pattern schemes that were designed based on the amount of overlap among sequential droplets were used to tune the surface morphology of the inkjet-printed thin films with a wide range of roughness (8.84–41.20 nm). Furthermore, post-printing processes (such as plasma treatment) were used to optimize surface energy. Such inkjet printing methods of functional electronic materials that can simultaneously be used as ROS scavengers, would advance bioelectronics applications in neural studies.

Efficacy of varying amounts of five selected local plant namely : Balanite aegyptiaca, Eugenia aromatica, Piper guineense, Ocimum gratisimum, and Ziziphus mauratania against the mortality, oviposition, progeny emergence and weight loss of dried fish due to infestation by Dermestes maculatus was studied under ambient conditions. The plant were pulverised into powders and applied as 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 g per 50 g of dried fish. Three pairs of newly emerged adults by were inoculated into each of the treated fish in a beaker, arranged in a Complete Randomized Design in the laboratory. The result showed all the plant powders tested evoked significant mortalities of adults at the highest concentration (6) after 3 and 7 days of post-treatment when compared with untreated control. The rate of oviposition was drastically suppressed by all plant powders, especially at higher concentration. The number of adults emerged were significantly lower than control at (p>0.05). Similarly, all the plant's powders significantly prevented weight loss at highest concentration after 12 weeks of post-treatment periods. These results have shown that tested plants demonstrated potential ability against adults hide beetle infesting dried fish.

Crystallinity and band offset alignment of inorganic electron acceptor play a vital role in enhancing the device performance of inverted organic solar cell (IOSC). In this report, homogenous and vertically-aligned chemical treated ZnO nanorods (ZNR) were successfully grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate via a fully-solution method. It was found that the morphology of ZnO was fine-tuned from truncated surface to tubular structure under both of the anionic (KOH) and protonic (HCl) treatment. An extraordinary defect quenching phenomenon and hyperchromic energy band edge shift were observed in 0.1 M KOH-treated ZNR proven by the highest (0 0 2) peak detection and the lowest defect density. Compared with the pristine sample, the 0.1 M KOH-treated ZNR device showed a remarkable improvement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 0.32%, signifying the effectiveness of anodic treatment. The robust correlation between the dependency of chemical treated ZNR and the device performance was established. This work elucidates a feasible method towards efficient IOSC devices development.

The efficacy of Capsicum annum fruits and Allium sativum cloves methanolic crude extracts were evaluated on field for the control of Aphis craccivora attacking cowpea plants. Two cowpea genotypes (IAR-48 and IT97K-499-35) were planted separately in a randomized block design, for a cowpea genotype an experimental plots measured 5m x 3m with 1.5m space between plots was demarcated. The plot contained four subplots each measured 1.67m x 3m and replicated three times, given the total of twelve subplots. Within a subplot are three pairs of ridges (70cm apart) tallied with the three different concentrations (200, 600 and 1000ppm) for the plant extracts treatments application. Plant extract treatments along side with synthetic chemical insecticide (Magic force) as positive control were applied to the subplots using Knapsack sprayer 15 days after sowing. The results showed that the population scores of A. craccivora after treatments application on susceptible genotype IAR-48 was reduced significantly (p