Table of contents

Moses Eterigho Emetere

This is the first proceeding of the 1^st International Conference on Energy and Sustainable Environment (ICESE 2019). Four major research clusters in Covenant University were the organizers of the conference. A total of ninety-one (91) papers were presented in the four technical sessions – environment, energy, energy management and built environment. The percentage of presentation includes: 33.7% in environment session; 30.1% in energy session; 19.3% in energy management session; and 16.9% in built environment session. The conference sessions had a total of one hundred and fifty three (153) participants.

The lead speaker (Prof. Pierluigi Leone) gave the first speech on "The Energy Center Initiative as a multi- stakeholder hub for sustainable energy solutions". Prof Pierluigi Leone emphasize on the need for scientist from all part of the globe to synergize in solving environmental problems. The discussants were Prof. U. Uwuigbe and Prof. O. Ohunakin. On the second day of the conference, there was side event that took place alongside the technical sessions. The title of the event is "The next production revolution for Nigeria". The side event was anchored by the EAIL Team Nigeria. The panelists for the event were Mr. Tony Okpanachi, Ms. Damilola Ogunbiyi and Mr. Segun Ajayi.

The organizer of ICESE 2019 wishes to appreciate the Institute of Physics and their officials at the IOP conference series. The organizer also wishes to acknowledge the team from EAIL led by Prof Pierluigi Leone. The contributions and support of the Covenant University management is much appreciated. All the conference speakers and technical session presenters are much appreciated for sharing their research discoveries. The conference had salient recommendations on sustainable development in developing countries.

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

Population growth and Urbanization are part of the attributes of a developing city. These attributes impact on the environment and the living condition of its inhabitants. The need to have a mechanism for sustainable development of cities is of necessity. One of such mechanism is the creation of a smart city. This development plan is an agenda for cities such as Lagos State, Nigeria. A study was done on some selected existing buildings found in the residential district areas of Lagos Island with the aim to identifying the housing and planning characteristics found in these residential areas to aid smart city implementation. The history of the buildings and factors that have influenced the change in housing types was studied; how these can influence and affect any agenda of smart city implementation or reform was explored. Survey methodology was used in carrying out the research with the use of questionnaire administered to residents; observation and photographic materials were also used as research instrument. Statistical methods using frequency and percentages were used to analyze the data collected. The result showed that a large percentage of the buildings investigated, had not been renovated in the last ten (10) years and are mixed used buildings. It was observed that the present state of housing in Lagos Island has been greatly influenced by increasing commercial activities in the area. Also, the result showed that the purpose and types of housing found in this area had evolved over time, a once resting place for a man and his family is now a place of several functions. Sustainable urban renewal and planning were suggested to enable the implementation of a smart city.

It has been observed that export promotion drive boosts economic growth of developing countries (Nigeria inclusive) through the multiplier effects that the income earned from exports has on the economy. Prior to the discovery of oil, agriculture has been the main contributor to the Nigerian external sector. It is in the light of this that this study sets out to examine the impact of agricultural export on Nigeria's economic growth. This study used the Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) econometric technique to analyze the long run relationship and the impact of agricultural exports on Nigeria's economic growth. Economic growth is the dependent variable, and is proxied by the real gross domestic product, the explanatory variables include: agricultural export, foreign direct investment, inflation rate and the labour force. The results from the ARDL technique revealed that agricultural exports significantly affect Nigeria's economic growth; this suggests that, a 1percent increase in - agricultural export will boost economic growth in Nigeria by approximately 25percent.Therefore, from the results, the study recommended that agricultural export need to be promoted through the increase in agricultural production base.

During the drilling operations, formation rocks or shales drilled are removed from the wellbore as drill cuttings. These cuttings are real-time representative of the formation being drilled at that section of the wellbore, and it represents the formation of compositions and properties. Regulations for most oil well developments stipulate that the methods used for managing drill cuttings are dependent on the nature and type of drilling mud system used for the drilling operation. When the formation with these relatively high NORM contents is drilled using the drilling mud, these NORM traces are transported to the surface as drill cuttings; thus, exposing the personnel to health dangers and the immediate environment. The short and long-term health effects of NORM exposure include skin burns, harmful tissues reactions, increase the risk of lung cancer, mutation of somatic cells and leukemia. DPR has some standards and guidelines established to effectively police and regulate E&P industry activities in Nigeria. These guidelines and standards also take into consideration, the need for advanced pollution control strategies and technological treatments. However, the presence and harmful consequences of NORM in these drill cuttings are not considered in the current form of these regulations and guidelines. This study proposes the inclusion of NORM as a means of updating the already established guidelines and regulations for handling and treating these drill cuttings because they constitute the majority of the waste and toxic materials generated during drilling operations.

This study rather than focus on food security examines the potential in utilizing Post-Harvest Waste (P-HW) materials and their benefits to the immediate rural communities where lignocellulose waste are found in abundance. It was observed that researchers have proposed a lot of unique approaches to managing solid waste generation; with emphasis on perfect waste collection and disposal, but these approaches are very expensive considering the tight budgeting expenses Nigeria is faced with. This study shows that some rural communities experience huge post-harvest organic wastes from their farms and the cost of these losses has been estimated, which then forms a good spot to start the implementation process for this initiative. The research highlights the overview benefits of adopting microbial and pyrolysis approach in converting the lignocellulosic aspect of these waste to economically viable products that will have a direct positive impact on the immediate community. This study proposed a modified fast pyrolysis approach in the conversion process to reduce the production of pyrolytic gas and optimize the production of biochar and pyroligneous acid. Adopting these approaches will reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere when burning these waste and produce bio-products instead of synthesized chemical products that have health implications.

Napier grass and Corn Stover samples were collected as waste materials for sugar production. The samples were pretreated and hydrolyzed using hydrogen peroxide and Trichoderma ressei cellulase respectively. Chemical kinetics of the delignification process shows that the reduction reactions of lignin during pretreatment are dependent on the nature of raw material, temperature, concentration of the hydrogen peroxide and their activation energies. The calculated activation energies show that the reactions of lignin in both biomasses are though endothermic, but less energy intensive and more economically viable for Napier grass when compared to corn Stover. Based on the results, in order to obtain higher sugar yield from Napier grass and corn stover under the investigated conditions, both samples should be processed at 105 °C for 96 hours using 0.3 M and 0.1M hydrogen peroxide concentrations respectively.

The study assessed the energy wastage areas in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Buildings in South Western Nigeria; factors influencing the energy wastage and energy saving opportunities available in the study area with a view to promote energy conservation and cost savings. The study adopts the use of stratified simple random sampling techniques and the administration of two hundred (200) open ended questionnaire on the respondents who are mainly students, teaching and non-teaching staff in the physical planning, works and maintenance service department. Data obtained from respondents was analyzed using descriptive statistics and mean score index (MSI). Findings revealed that energy wastage are common with lighting consumption (MSI 4.59), poor controls and regulators for both lighting and other appliances in HEIs (MSI 4.57). Lighting related operations also exert significant impacts on energy wastages as six out of the thirteen major energy wastage areas are connected to it. The major factor influencing energy wastage are due to poorly designed HEIs buildings (MSI 4.62) and all other factors aside this need to be adequately considered in future designs for effective energy management. Findings further revealed that HEIs buildings require sound energy policy, improvement on passive building designs principles are critical to the reduction of energy wastage and hence should be adhered to since it has potential to saves cost. The study recommends the usage of metering system to determine energy consumed in each facilities/building, using scheduling devices with intelligent building designs for power supply and controls during peak and off peak period, implementing standard Energy Policies and creating awareness for students and staffs on energy usage and cost savings benefits and provisions.

Mankind cannot live without one form of energy or another. Energy (Electrical) is needed to lighten our environment, power our homes, schools, hospitals, offices, businesses, and for industrialization. It is generally known that the economic growth of a nation depends on electricity. This paper is assessing the possibility of hybridizing the various renewable energy sources in Nigeria and evaluating its sustainability, challenges and benefits of hybridizing the combinations of the renewable energy sources (PVs and wind turbine) that are abundantly available in Nigeria. The evaluation of these combinations is to determine the best for the region (rural setting). We are also looking at efforts being put at utilizing these renewable sources for energy generation in Nigeria. The hybrid energy system of a mix of locally available abundant energy resources is a good solution to the persistent epileptic power supply in Nigeria. This will minimize atmospheric degradation as quality of life will be improved.

The air quality over Moundou-Chad was examined using satellite dataset. Fifteen years aerosol optical depth (AOD) was obtained from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR). The AOD dataset is statisticaly stable for further prediction. The highest AOD mean was observed in 2008. The standard deviation, average deviation and coefficient of variation all agrees that the AOD dataset is reliable. It is shown that the aerosol loading over Moundou is high and the size of the aerosol is very tiny to deposit in the human lungs.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warning on air pollution is a verified in this research by corroborating it with fifteen years primary (aerosol optical depth) dataset that was obtained from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) over Voinjama-Liberia. The detailed statistical and computational analysis was carried out using computational softwares. The spatial amd surface plot the pollution over the geographical location may constantly be dispersed from same sources of pollution. The implication of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) on the atmospheric corrosion was corroborated using mathematical estimations. The highest corrosion rate is given as 2.6 and the average corrosion rate over Voinjama is 0.5.

The household waste burning practice and impacts of the waste burning emission on respiratory health of the populace in the Gwagwalada Local Council Area happens frequently, though not well recorded. The goal of this study was to quantify the waste burning occurrence as well as scrutinize the correlation between waste burning practice and respiratory problem in Northern Nigeria with Gwagwalada as case study because is an example of rural settlement growing to urbanites. Questionnaire was utilized to accumulate information from houses in Gwagwalada Area Council Community, Abuja. Total of 150 participants were enrolled and their retorts on household waste burning besides respiratory symptoms were investigated. The participants indicated that their neighbors burn waste frequently, with 67 (44.7%) of them from Gwagwalada Local government (rural zone). The local waste experts collected refuse from 97.0% of these participants at least once per week in the enlightened zone and central but rural is once monthly or not at all. The prevalent lower respiratory sign connected with waste burning was dehydrated cough (31.4%). For Lower and Upper health signs, the participants who participated in the practice of waste burning had a faintly higher commonness of breath shortness (56%) and Water itchy eyes (49%) respectively. For each of lower and upper health signs, the trend is such that 6 month above is greater than immediately, which is greater than those of a month after. These results imply that waste or bush burning effect on health is on the long – term basis.

The paper investigate waste management and viable improvement in Nigeria with specific reference to Kubwa, F.C.T, Abuja. The region was divided into three districts namely: District A (south-north), District B (west - east) and District C (central zone). Survey research stratagem was implemented with questionnaire as main tools applied for data gathering which were dispensed to twenty households carefully picked randomly making total of 60families that were studied. Illiteracy and income level was discovered has main cause of waste management difficult, equally city waste characterization for the Kubwa – Abuja reveals paper, food leftovers and water sachets as the highest waste created, while delivery bag and flexible bag are consistently utilized to dispose waste since bags are stress-free in disposing and low-priced. The waste storage frequency is between 12 – 24 hours whereas waste throwing frequency follows regularly once and biweekly gatherings. Some respondents have open dumps within their locality where waste is stock before thrown away. Nevertheless, there is great recycling event for metal and bottles since they are recycle at home and 15 % sell. Mutual solid waste management practice in Kubwa - Abuja are storage and highway or canal waste discarding whereas recycling and waste reduction which are waste minimization implements in the trio pyramid system which is the strength of most waste administration systems is weakly practiced.

Apparently, Nigeria is struggling with the developmental issues of the incessant power outage and lack of energy services. The primary sources of energy for office building are from national grid and gasoline generators. However, the former is not reliable and the latter is unsustainable; hence, the need to explore energy efficiency strategies to cut down the energy demand for cooling office building in Nigeria is unavoidable. The article aimed to assess the energy efficiency or performance index of the Nigerian Universities' senate buildings in the north-eastern region (dry sub-humid climate). The research employed a case study approach, construction of baseline model with the Revit architecture software and applied DesignBuilder building analysis software to evaluate the energy performance of the senate building as built. The research findings showed that energy efficiency indexes for both universities' senate buildings (57% and 63%) which were relatively below the recommended standard checklist. Also, the simulation results further showed that both case studies require 141.4wh/m2 and 127.3wh/m2 heating/cooling per annum compared to the stipulated LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard of 15wh/m2. Therefore, research implication is that it is essential for the architects and engineers to incorporate more proactive energy efficiency strategies in the design of office buildings in Nigeria

The rapid development of infrastructure in a developing country like Nigeria may require the construction industry to totally embrace the innovative and advance technique of construction through the adoption of automation technology, so as to make construction project more valuable, enhance projects performance and stay competitive in the global and international industry. This study is strictly tailored towards investigating the level of awareness of the automation technique identified in the literature review section of this study. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design using a quantitative approach. A total of 191 construction professionals which include majorly the Architect, Builder, Engineer and Quantity Surveyor were the respondents for the study using a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed on a five (5) point Likert-type scale having 5 sections of question in all. Data analysis were done using MIS, SD, Kruskal-Wallis and SNK Test. Twenty (25) automation techniques were pin-pointed from previous literature and materials that are linked with automation in construction industry. Study revealed that Computer Aided Design (CAD), cranes and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are the top three (3) techniques that are most aware of in the construction industry, while Concrete electric and infrared curing system, Humanoids and Contour crafting robots has the least rating. The study recommended seminars and workshop themes that are tailored towards the benefit of adopting automation in the construction industry. However, this research focused on level of awareness of automation techniques, future research can focus on cost implication of those techniques

This study investigates how digitalization enhances the performance of commercial banks adopting the purposive method and simple random sampling selecting 370 non-managerial employees from a commercial bank. A self-structured questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data collection and was analysed using SPSS version 25. From the result, it was discovered that there was a mild significant and positive relationship between the digitalization process and commercial bank performance (r = 0.114*; p<.05). Also, there is a positive significant relationship between product innovation and performance of commercial banks in Nigeria (r = 0.186; p< 0.001). The study recommends that digitalization processes if adequately and correctly implemented, will have a significant positive relationship on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria ceteris paribus.

Wildfire causes havoc and serious destruction of forest resources and wildlife. It also causes occasionally serious damages to human lives and properties. Current technology of fighting wildfire employs fire retardant chemicals, which pollute the environment seriously, and damages both wild and aquatic lives. Based on the new novel technology, it is possible that in the near future the industrial emissions that pollute the environments and cause health problems would be completely captured in frozen solid forms of emissions products. One of these is the frozen carbon dioxide, which is known as dry ice, which would be available than in hundreds of millions of tons in any country. Cost analysis shows that the power and cement industries would significantly benefit by selling the dry ice captured using the technology, just at $0.07 per kg. The present paper discusses the new technology of applying dry ice that would thus be abundantly available in fighting a wildfire. The paper discusses how the new technology would be by far superior to current technology that employs fire retardant chemicals in terms of environmental protection and the cost-effectiveness over the current technology.

The activities of the construction industry are often plagued with improper material control and operational measures that result in the production of noise and generation of waste in project sites. Waste and noise are generated in every step of the construction process, from the production of materials used, to the erection and finishing of structures. In this age of incorporating sustainability into the development of buildings and their environments, there is a need for the construction industry to substantially reduce the amount of noise and waste produced. This paper investigated various noise pollution and waste control techniques used in the construction industry in Nigeria, with a view to identify areas for further improvement. The paper is a systematic literature review which made use of document analysis to collect data and content analysis to analyse the data gathered. Descriptive approach was used to present the result. The paper examined the current state of waste and noise management and the recommendations provided. The study found that in Nigeria, the noise control technique employed is the use of noise barriers, while the waste control management strategies used are prefabricated elements, sorting waste generated, open dumping, open burning and composting disposal method. Some of the recommendations made include: discarding open dumping and open burning as waste control measures due to their negative environmental impact, developing and enforcing a legal framework for noise and construction waste. Furthermore, educating site workers on noise and waste control techniques and replacing machines that use combustion engines with those that use electrical motors. Students, educators, building industry practitioners and other construction industry stakeholders will find the study a useful material to work with, as well as build upon.

Forecasting energy consumption is highly essential for strategic and operational planning. This study uses the Adaptive-Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) for a midterm forecast of electricity consumption. The model comprises of three meteorological variables as inputs and electricity consumption as output. Two ANFIS models with two clustering techniques (Fuzzy c-Means (FCM) and Grid Partitioning (GP) were developed (ANFIS-FCM and ANFIS-GP) to forecast monthly energy consumption based on meteorological variables. The performance of each model was determined using known statistical metrics. This compares the predicted electricity consumption with the observed and a statistical significance between the two reported. ANFIS-FCM model recorded a better mean absolute deviation (MAD), root mean square (RMSE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of 0.396, 0.738, and 8.613 respectively compared to the ANFIS-GP model, which has MAD, RMSE, and MAPE values of 0.450, 0.762, and 9.430 values respectively. The study established that FCM is a good clustering technique in ANFIS compared to GP and recommended a comparison between the two techniques on hybrid ANFIS model.

The inherent low thermal conductivity of working fluids used in transferring heat from energy system makes the performance of the system less efficient. The introduction of nanoparticles into the working fluid enhances the thermal conductivity of the fluid, thereby improving the overall performance of the energy system. Deposition of nanoparticles on the heat transfer surface of the heat exchanger occurs and this affects the mechanism of bubble formation, wettability, surface roughness of the heating surface and the overall heat transfer coefficient. In this review, the use of nanofluid showed improvement in the critical heat transfer flux (CHF) of the heat transfer fluid while the deposition of nanoparticles on the heater surface enhanced the wettability for pool boiling but caused deterioration in the heat transfer. The influence of nanoparticles deposition on surface characteristics and heat transfer coefficient during single and two phase flows in flow boiling needs to be further investigated.

The menace of global warming and increase of green-house gases have motivated many countries to embrace renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. Some of the means by which sustainable energy is tapped are solar, biofuel, and wind. Wind energy have been around for quite some time and the power in the wind have been harnessed on land. However, due to some constraints related to land use, visual impacts and turbulence induced by buildings and trees, offshore wind farms have been engaged to provide quality alternative to onshore wind energy. This study reviews various works that have been done in the offshore wind development and tries to make a case for the generation of electricity from this type of renewable energy source to boost the nation's electricity demand. Work done in offshore energy assessment, wake models, offshore turbine layout, future innovation in offshore wind turbine and Nigeria onshore energy scenario were reviewed. To speed up development of offshore wind energy in Nigeria, recommendation was made for government to invest in wind energy research, industries that operate in the offshore region should be willing to share meteorological data with researchers and tertiary institutions should encourage student to work on "issue-based" projects like proffering solution to the energy deficit crisis in the country.

Construction Project (CP) in Nigeria is currently still at a rear end as far as sustainable construction is concerned. Consequently, the objective of this study is to identify criteria necessary for measuring sustainable construction project performance and to elicit perceptions of their relative importance. Thorough review of related studies were deployed to generate a set of factors that makes construction project habitable, attractive and liveable, and also, factors for measuring construction project performance. A total of 87 questionnaires were distributed to seven (7) main groups of project participants namely; client, project manager, architect, quantity surveyor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and builder/civil/structural engineer who participated on nine (9) case study projects. The survey findings indicate that quality performance and productivity both with 81.6% of importance, innovation with 80.4% of importance, health and safety with 80.2% of importance and client's satisfaction with 80% of importance are the most important factors to consider while measuring sustainable construction project performance. For a construction project to be habitable, safety and incident risk, acoustic comfort and visual comfort are the most important factors to consider. When considering how attractive construction project should be, art in architecture, unique style, terrain choice and harmonious surrounding are the most important factors to consider. Also, when considering the liveability of a construction project, space efficiency, ventilation and public accessibility are the most important factors to consider. Finally, this research recommended that the factors listed above, are key factors to consider at the design stage of any construction project for both the designer and the regulatory agencies, and these factors are to be monitored throughout the construction process since they are vital in measuring the performance of any sustainable construction project to infer a more desirable and satisfactory sustainable building.

Different heat transfer fluids with very high thermal stability are highly desirable for heat exchangers. Inadequate understanding on the basic principle of nanofluid flow, unsatisfactory experimental data on nanofluid heat transfer and general context for heat transfer correlation is yet to be established. The work under focus will be on highlighting working principles, problems hindering practical application of unconventional heat exchangers devices, and the various means of utilizing nanotechnology in improved efficiency. The study investigates experiments on heat exchangers in the last decade, the gap in knowledge and future applications of nanotechnology in improving heat transfer. This review summarizes, the significant advances of various nanotechnology in heat transfer application of recent energy conversion system.

Green concept is globally creating impact with diverse application at various facet of human endeavour. The concept involved the practice whereby energy is utilized in a way that it would not jeopardise continuity of energy usage in the environment. The aim of this study is to explore the issues and challenges that surround the adoption of green concept in Nigeria focusing on built environment with a view to enhancing the rate of adoption of the concept for an increased healthy environment. The study adopted convenience sampling method to pick the population for the study, which comprised of picking construction companies that engaged on a project that involved green building features. Population frame of 250 professionals that are registered with professional bodies that cut across 20 selected construction firms was used for the study. A structured questionnaire designed in Likert scale of 1 to 5 was distributed among 50 respondents for data collation. The data was later processed using content analysis, descriptive statistics and relative agreement index. Data was collated on parameters that include evaluation of existing issues and challenges involved in green building concept innovations adoption in construction practice, current green concept practice in construction, challenges involved in adoption of green concept in construction, critical issues involved in green concept adoption, drivers for success in the adoption of green concepts in construction, challenges involved in adoption of green concept in construction. Innovative illustrations of integration of green concepts in buildings. Mean Item Score was used with relative agreement index, this was used to rate the perception of respondents on parameters calibrated for respondents to answer. Categorical regression analysis was used to carry out comparative analysis of respondents' submission on success factors that influences the adoption of green building concept and challenges involved in the adoption of green building. Some other parameters were further explored, they include, innovative approach to sustainable construction practice and perspectives to green building practice. The analysis of the study brought to fore factors to be taken into consideration for effective adoption of green building concept. The challenges such as thought reengineering and philosophical and cultural adjustment need to be further harnessed for people to leave the built environment better than it was met.

Hepatotoxicity results from overload of chemicals and drugs including N-Nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), a nitrosamine found in smoke, meat and food products. This study examined the hepatoprotective potential of Cajanus cajan in male Wistar rats. Hepatotoxicity was induced by administration of NDEA at 200mg/kg while Cajanus cajan was administered at 200mg/kg, 400mg/kg and 800mg/kg for 28 days. Body weight, liver weight and markers of hepatotoxicity including Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Albumin (ALB) were evaluated. NDEA treated group showed a marginal increase in body weight and a significant (p < 0.05) increase in liver weight. The Cajanus cajan treated groups showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase and decrease respectively in body and liver weights. NDEA treated group significantly (P<0.05) increased ALT and AST and significantly reduced ALB. Cajanus cajan significantly (P<0.05) decreased ALT and AST and significantly (P<0.05) elevated ALB. The results indicate that Cajanus cajan ameliorates NDEA-induced hepatotoxicity.

One of the fastest growing technologies in energy production business this time is wind energy. The unpredictable and epileptic state of power in Nigeria and the concerns on green house gas emission should is a huge concern for all and this has culminated into quest for strong demand for sustainable and renewable source of energy, wind energy generation. The absence of green house gasses emission, clean energy and unquenchable accessibility of wind that can be converted to electricity culminate in the main advantages of electricity generation from. Wind power prospect is estimated to be high or moderate in Nigeria, of which it has not connected this renewable resources to the grid, although, it is not sufficient for one to just bring to a close that wind turbines should be constructed and connected to the grid because there are sufficient wind speeds to drive the wind turbine. More often than not, the stability and reliability studies must be conducted whenever wind power is to be generated. This paper therefore describes the wind energy potential in Ogun, South-west, Nigeria and specifies the conditions to be met before the wind turbines can be made to generate electricity.

This paper presents performance analysis of a domestic refrigeration system using R600a as refrigerant. Investigation was conducted experimentally to select an appropriate refrigerant mass charge for the system and to compute the cooling system performance characteristics under ambient temperature of 29°C. The choice of the hydrocarbon refrigerant (R600a) became so imperative due to notable influence of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) on global warming and ozone depletion. UNFCCC and Montreal Protocol regulation have banned the use of halogenated refrigerants in cooling and heating systems. The paper reveals that the power consumed by the system using mass charge of 15 g refrigerant was reduced by 9.3 and 10.9% compared with the 10 and 25 g refrigerant mass charges respectively. In addition, the results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the refrigeration system while working with 15 g is 24.7 and 20.2% higher than when the system worked with 10 and 25 g refrigerants mass charge respectively. More so, the system attained an evaporator air temperature of -12 °C in 2 hours, which makes 15 g charge refrigerant appropriate for the running of the developed system that has a volume capacity of 68 liters.

For a long period in the past, and even presently, many people think that if they can only get the economy right, everything else will fall into place. Soothing as this 'econo-mythical' presupposition seems, it has formed the bedrock of human predicament. It has constituted the perceptual model through which many individuals and societies see and understand the world, human activities and human relationship with the environment. This presupposition, which provides the intellectual foundation for neo-liberal conceptual framework compels individuals and societies to pursue development in strictly economic terms. This ideology amounts to a reductive definition of the idea of development. It implies a desperate pursuit of economic growth at the expense of the environment and other aspects of human existence. The paper undertakes a critical analysis of the neo-liberal growth model and its implications for development in Africa, especially in relation to the appropriation of development resources including economy and environment. It is discovered by this research that the neo-liberal growth model does not and cannot provide the proper normative principles for efficient energy and environmental management in Africa. Therefore, it is proposed that a new development paradigm which considers overall sustainability of present and future generations of Africans be embraced.

Developments in the Urban communities has become issue of great concern. Urban development has been rapid with urban centres springing up from rural communities and sometimes creating an imbalance in environmental systems with attendant consequences and advantages. The study therefore explored the urban system housing development within the context of formulating framework for development, renewal and upgrading in order to achieve sustainable development in urban and rural communities. The aim of the study was to carry out a longitudinal survey of selected areas where there is occurrence of concentration of rural-urban, urban-rural settlement within the selected study areas. Survey was conducted on some parameters as part of the calibrated questionnaire that was designed in Likert Scale 1-5 used for the study. The parameters include evaluation of existing renewal and upgrading pattern, upgrading system, renewal strategies, features of rural-urban growth, challenges of urban renewal and regenerations, influence of urban and rural upgrading system on employment availability, health challenges associated with urban-rural settlement and post occupancy study of satisfaction level of residents of urban and rural settlement housing facilities.

The study engaged population of 5 different locations with 100 residents drafted from various selected locations classified as urban and rural settlement as respondents. The data was analysed using Mean Item Score, Simple percentages and regression analysis. Some of the striking contribution in this study includes: System to formulate good renewal and resuscitating, it also include resuscitating decayed component of rural setting at urban location. The study also contribute to knowledge in advocating strategies for urban and renewal strategy like compilation of plans for physical development of the area, development of identified locations, re-accommodation and resettlement of displaced settlements, re-accommodation and resettlement of displaced settlements and reconstruction of the areas devastated by development programmes. Similarly, rural and urban development would bring employment opportunity for all classes of trade either skill labour, un-skill labour and semi-skill labour. Construction activities would attract and provide fortune to different workers category there creating prosperity for all. Finally, the study developed a system framework that could be used for urban and rural settlement regeneration, revitalization, redevelopment and reconstruction. The developed framework would assist in eliminating accommodation challenges, employment problems and health care issues often associated with disparity in settlement growth when rural settlement metamorphosed into urban settlement.

The fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) employing solution processing has proven to be a convenient method to guarantee the fabrication of OSCs at low cost and large-scale production. This manuscript demonstrates the successful fabrication of TFOSC with device structure: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS)/poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM)/lithium fluoride (LiF)/aluminium (Al) under ambient conditions. An overall power conversion efficiency of 3.25% and charge carrier mobility of 1.22e⁻² cm v s⁻¹ was obtained and PEDOT: PSS was beneficial in improving the charge transport processes in the preparation of organic solar cells.

The current study examined the phytochemical constituents and antibacterial activity of leaf and fruit-skin extracts of Annona muricata Linn. The extracts were screened qualitatively for their phytochemical constituents following established protocols; disc diffusion method was employed for the antibacterial study on Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, after which their minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined via double dilution method. Furthermore, selected extracts were screened against 50 multidrug-resistant clinical isolates from immunocompomised patients who are already down with secondary acute respiratory infections. The phytochemical screening of the extracts collectively revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, terpenoids, steroids, phenols, flavonoids, coumarin, alkaloids, antocyanins and betacyanins. Only aqueous leaf (ALA) and fruit-skin ethanol (ESA) extracts showed remarkable activity with 15 – 17 mm inhibition diameter (DIH) against the test organisms. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for the ALA and ESA were 25 and 6.25 mgmL-¹ respectively. The two extracts further showed activity (6-18 mm DIH) against 80% of the multidrug resistant isolates tested. It can therefore be inferred from this study that Annona muricata possibly contains potent bioactive antibacterials that can be developed into nature-friendly drugs to counter the effects of pathogenic bacteria, thereby preserving lives as well as sustaining a viable environment.

Traffic gridlock has been a concern in research particularly in determining its effect on property values. Resultant findings have either been a negative or positive impact. For the case of Apapa in Lagos State which is the focus of this present study, traffic gridlock has been an experience of over ten years, hence the need to discover its impact on various property value types as against the collective findings in most previous research. Student-T test of significance at a 95% level of confidence was adopted with results derived for all property types of the calculated T result far outweighing that of the stipulated Tabulated T result of 1.645. These findings for all property types indicate that the increase in property values for various property types have not been distorted by the traffic gridlock and as such investors in residential properties in the study area will always make their profit notwithstanding the gridlock. The researchers hereby advocated further research in determining the choice of residency in Apapa notwithstanding the traffic gridlock.

Organizations are among the key units of the society. An organization comprises of several people including employees. The behaviour of employees determines the performance and efficiency of the organization. Technology is an important factor that distinguishes one organization from the other. Employee's acceptance, rejection, and adaptability to technology being used determine to a great extent how organizations will thrive in a business environment. The drive of technology usage is to ensure that work processes are made easier, faster and to improve the organization's economic efficiency. In addition, technology usage greatly influences employee behaviour. The aim of this paper is to find out how technology usage affects employee behaviour and vice versa. It is important to understand that in order to improve employee's usage of technology incorporated into the organization, individual behaviour of employees must be examined cum their attitude. The results of the study indicate that employee behaviour mainly affects technology usage, promotes individual learning, increases efficiency and effectiveness, and improves organizational performance. The paper therefore recommends periodic review of organizational policies and in addition, procure hardware and software to guide against hackers and scammers to avoid losing those important information.

Research into finding an affordable, renewable, biodegradable and environmentally friendly alternative fuel to power compression ignition engine has been intensified in the past few decades. The application of waste palm oil (WPO) as feedstock for biodiesel has gained traction and has led to a decline in the production cost of biodiesel, and prevents the contamination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The present effort is geared towards characterization of neat palm oil (NPO), WPO and waste palm oil methyl ester (WPOME) through Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Derivative thermogravimetric (DTG), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Samples of NPO and WPO were collected from takeaway outlets. The WPO was converted into WPOME by transesterification. The outcome of DTG analysis showed that the vaporization of NPO, WPO, and WPOME occurred between 320 °C and 480 °C; 320 °C and 470 °C, and 27 °C and 103 °C respectively. The TGA analysis revealed that NPO, WPO, and WPOME exhibited similar thermal degradation trend and lost 98 %, 29 %, and 63 % of their weight respectively, during the one stage of thermal degradation. The spectra curve for NPO and WPO followed the same trend and achieve peaks at nearly the same wavelength of 1743 cm⁻¹ while the peculiar peak of the spectra curve for WPOME occurred at 1022 cm⁻¹. In conclusion, this work reinforces that usage and transesterification alters the thermal degradation and spectroscopic pattern of palm oil.

Energy constitutes an indispensable catalyst for sustainable socio-economic development. The imperative of energy security is highlighted by the pervasive energy poverty that characterizes developing countries, especially Nigeria. Despite being a major oil producer and having four refineries, Nigeria imports 90 percent of its domestically needed refined petroleum products. Similarly, Nigeria requires about 98,000 megawatts (MW) to achieve national electricity security. However, its thermal and hydropower stations have a combined installed capacity of only 12,522MW but generate between 3,000MW and 4,000MW and sometimes less than 3,000MW. The electricity challenge is deepened by fluctuations. The implications of this suboptimal power generation include: only 40 percent of Nigeria's 193 million population have access to electricity, erratic nature of electricity supply and the long hours of power outages. Thus, Nigeria can be categorized as an energy poor country. The major goal of this paper is to assess the link between energy poverty and environmental sustainability given that households must take alternative steps to bridge energy gaps that impact them. It further evaluates the opportunities and barriers to energy security and holds that the untapped potentials, especially among renewable energy resources, hold the key to sustainable energy development to tackle energy poverty in Nigeria.

Spectra filtering is a fairly new concept to control the damaging contributions of solar IR radiations to photovoltaic (PV) cells or panel. In this research, the bio-filter was synthesized and tested. The bio-filter was proposed as the panacea to filtering the solar IR radiations. The bio-filter performance was adjudged to show little success, as it was 3% lower than the normal performance in the monocrystalline solar PV panel and 50% higher than the normal performance in the polycrystalline solar PV panel. The varying results in the polycrystalline and monocrystalline PV panels may arise as a result of unequal coating of the panel. Hence, the coating technique is recommended to be uniform and precise in further research work.

The global challenges of pollution emission in cement industry in relation to energy consumption factor are overwhelming. No doubt it has been established that economic development has an impact on the environmental pollution and ecological system. With major constituent of environmental affluence been CO₂, the consideration has to be on the type of manufacturing process, the consumption mix and the additive ratio. This paper focuses on the cement industry and aims to provide a systematic review of the specific operations, its trend and its impact on environmental pollution in terms of energy consumption and emissions evolved.

The impact of climate change is a global event. Its significant role in the climate system altered meteorological parameters over geographical locations. MISR satellite data have shown that climatic variability has impact on rainfall and surface vegetation; and increased aerosol loading and solar radiation. This research comparatively compared the meteorological parameters as well as its potentially accruable energy. The dataset was obtained from the automatic weather station (AWS). The location of research is Ota, southwest region of Nigeria. The research recommends that a more sophisticated technology may be required to boost wind and solar energy generation in the area.

Temperature distribution over the surface of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is essential as over heating lowers the efficiency of the PV module. There have been multiple solutions towards cooling the PV surface during extremely hot sunshine. The mechanism is envisaged to be expensive to construct and maintain. In this research the PV panel was inclined at various degree to determine the best inclination that would allow convective cooling. It was observed that at an inclination of 45°, the convective cooling from surrounding wind was able to regulate the surface temperature. Hence, the sinusoidal trend of thermal heating was distorted significantly-signifying that the convective wind was able to mitigate the PV surface heating.

Terrestrial radiations are natural types from radionuclides found in rocks, building materials and soils in an environment. Monitoring of background radiation energy levels in selected school in Ota, Ogun State Nigeria by direct measurement of terrestrial radiation dose rate was done. The mean dose rate ranged from 35.4 to 62.34 nGyh⁻¹. The measured mean values are within world average recommended limits of 59 nGyh⁻¹ except for study location SC7 with mean dose rate value of 62.34 nGyh⁻¹. On the over all, it can be concluded that the concentration of NORM (naturally occurring radioactive materials) and radiation dose rate in an environment is at safe level. Further environmental radiation assessment is recommended to ascertain the possible sources of background radiation dose rate and exposure, beside terrestrial radiation sources.

Energy transition in the last decade has experienced increased quota of renewable energy in the global energy mix. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the transition from the fossil fuel to the renewable energy source has been gradual. The state of renewable energy in the region in the next decade is the focus of this study. This study uses a single-layer perceptron artificial neural network (SLP-ANN) to backcast from 2015 to 2006 and forecast from 2016 to 2020 the percentage of renewable energy for electricity generation, exempting the hydropower in the energy mix of the SSA based on historical data. The backcast percentage renewable energy mix was evaluated using known statistical metrics for accuracy measures. The root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute deviation (MAD) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) obtained were 0.29, 0.18, and 14.69 respectively. The result shows possibility of an increase in the percentage of renewable energy in the electricity sector in the region. In 2020, the percentage of renewable energy in sub-Saharan region is expected to rise to 4.13% with exclusion of the hydropower. With government policies encouraging the growth of the renewable energy as a means of power generation in the region, the predicted percentage and even more can be realized.

Human activities contribute immensely to the production of wastewater which emanates from residences, industries and agricultural practices that pollutes the environment and water bodies. Up to 80-90% of the wastewater produced in developing countries is disposed of into surface and groundwater which is a major cause of environmental pollution that threatens human health. According to UN report, over 80% of the wastewater produced in the world and over 95% in some least developed countries is released without being treated into the environment. This paper reviews the methods of sewage disposal, the impact on the environment, aquatic contaminant and the human health. Emphasis is placed on the impact of disposal of various contaminants in aquifers and water bodies which could make water unsafe for drinking and to perform other domestic and recreational activities

The paper aims at evaluating the impact of basic forensic accounting skills viz: communication skills, technical & analytical skills, accounting & auditing skills and psycho-social skills on the financial reporting credibility of listed organisations in Nigeria. The scope of the study is composed of firms quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at January, 2018 while the study population is the users and auditors of the financial reports produced by these entities. The users of financial reports are represented by investment advisers which a segment of capital market operators while the auditors are represented by the Big 4 Audit Firms operating in Nigeria as at January, 2018. The research design employed is the survey approach by which primary data was collected from the sample respondents described above while the multivariate analysis was conducted to highlight the impact of the selected independent variables on financial reporting. It was found that, with the exception of communication skills which exhibited a negative but significant impact, all the other basic forensic accounting skills exert positive and significant impact on the methods by which an organization reports her financials. It is prescribed that aspiring forensic accountants should be adequately trained to be able to practice the profession satisfactorily.

Amylases are one of the most important enzymes used in the industry. They are responsible for the hydrolysis of starch and glycogen. This research aimed to investigate the effect of cations (Ca²⁺ and K⁺) and chemicals (EDTA and HgCl₂) on alpha amylase activity. Alpha amylase was produced by Aspergillus niger under submerged fermentation conditions in a basal salt medium. The enzyme was partially purified with activated carbon which gave a 1.57 purification fold. The effects of ethylene diamine tetratacetic acid (EDTA), mercuric chloride (HgCl₂), Calcium ion (Ca²⁺) and Potassium ion (K⁺) on the partially purified enzymes were then investigated. The enzyme was inhibited to varying degrees by EDTA and HgCl₂ with inhibition of approximately 62% and 52% occurred with 8mM of EDTA and HgCl₂ respectively, but stimulated by Ca²⁺ and Potassium ion K⁺. Activated carbon partially purified alpha amylase produced by A. niger with a high yield. The cations and chemicals had varying effects on the enzyme.

In the present study, the distribution of uranium-238 was mapped from the background radiation of the area of study in order to determine its contribution to the concentration of indoor radon. The background radiation was studied using the handheld gamma spectrometer (RS 125) while the indoor radon concentration was measured with a Durridge RAD7 instrument. The results obtained showed variation in the distribution of 238U, 232Th and 40K in the study area with values ranging between 17.9 ± 0.3 and 58.05 ± 0.3, 2848 ± 10541 ± 0.8 and 3.25 ± 0.2 and 11.48 Bq/kg respectively. Furthermore, the indoor radon concentration was determined for the office on the ground floor, the result obtained was noted to be between 20 and 160 Bqm⁻³ which is far higher than the result obtained for the office on the first floor which is BDL-19 Bqm⁻³. In each cases, the results are lower than the international recommended safe limit of 200 Bqm⁻³. Therefore, it can be concluded that the background radiation from the soil in the premises and under the building contributes to the high concentration of indoor radiation in the office.

The present study investigated the concentration of radon in some offices of a pharmaceutical company in Ota, Ogun State. A Durridge RAD 7 equipment was engaged for the indoor radon measurement. The measurement of radon concentration was carried out for 8 days in 4 different offices in the main administrative building of the company (one office on the ground floor and three on the first floor). The results obtained for the four locations ranged between 19 and 160 Bqm⁻³ which is still below the world set limit of 200 Bqm⁻³ as recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection. However, the office on the ground floor reported the highest concentration of radon-222, which is 160 Bqm⁻³. Therefore, it can be concluded that, since, the highest concentration of radon-222 observed in this study is below the international set limit, then, the occupants of the offices considered for this study are safe.

Irrigation plays a very important role in agriculture. Not all geographical regions utilize irrigation which is an important activity that is expensive. For the regions where irrigation is used, it commonly amounts to significant energy consumption. Traditional methods of farming are time-consuming and can only be efficient on a small scale. This project was implemented to make irrigation progressively inventive, easy to use, more efficient and cheaper than the current irrigation system and to solve traditional farming problems like an attack on crops by bird thereby increasing agricultural productivity. This system incorporates a soil moisture sensor to guarantee the application of water to soil adequately. It uses a PIR sensor and a buzzer to solve the problem of attack on crops by birds. This project is powered by a solar panel which is one of the cheapest form of renewable energy and environmentally friendly. The main objective of this project is to upturn the agricultural productivity of the nation by automating the irrigation process. Bird attacks on farmlands are also responsible for destroying a vast amount of crops. One of the traditional problems of agriculture is that farmers frequently neglect to water their plants; it can be as a result of inattentiveness or because of the fact that the farmers are far from home. The utilization of the soil moisture sensor limits the human presence. The microcontroller utilizes the real-time readings of the sensors and automates the irrigation and bird repellent process. From the results, it was observed that the irrigation time was higher in totally dry clay compared to partially wet clay and wet clay respectively. For clay, the irrigation time is in order of magnitude dry clay > partial wet clay > wet clay of the irrigation other soil samples. For the loamy soil, the dry soil was higher. It follows the same trend as the clay in magnitude. It can be found in sandy soil that the wet sample was higher than the totally dry and partially wet sandy soil in terms irrigation time

Development from conventional urban city to the smart city requires a level of sustainable development. Smart city involves multiple fields of human capacity in knowledge of artificial intelligence, information and communication technology and management in form of environment sensing, innovation, education, culture, deep and machine learning, networking, information processing and digital technology, and city governance in order to enhance performance in resource management, improve well-being and economic development in the aspect of individuals standard of living which impacts on transportation, water supply, waste disposal, healthcare, etc. This paper highlights actions that can combine sustainability and innovation to result to a sustainable smart city and measures put into play in order to achieve a smart city which claims to be sustainable.

Congestion is a serious issue due to vechicular traffic. One of the known causes of traffic congestion is the amount of time spend waiting for the red light to change to green. The changing of traffic light is hard-coded and it is not reliant on traffic volume. There is therefore need to simulate and optimize traffic control to better accommodate density based traffic rather than time based. This system attempts to lessen possibilities of traffic jams brought about by traffic lights to a reasonable degree. This project, a density based traffic control system is been implemented to solve this problem. The system entails programming an Arduino using Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) to enable traffic lights give the right of access to the road by selecting the lane with the high number of cars. The traffic lights are modified to chip away at an auspicious premise until there is a signal identified by the infrared sensors. The sensor identifies an object (i.e. a vehicle, a motorcycle etc) and signals the Arduino to control the traffic lights for its individual path. Once there is no sign identified by any of the four sensors the traffic lights keep on dealing with an auspicious premise. The mean response time of the sensor was found to be 0.39 seconds. Further research is recommended to produce the device on a large scale to be deployed to all roads in the country.

Despite the growing evidence on the determinants of sustainability reporting, there exist limited and inconclusive studies on the impact of board expertise on sustainability reporting. This study investigates the influence of environmentally sensitive, certified or educated board members on the disclosure of sustainability report. Based on the static panel data regression estimators for 10 Nigerian Deposit Money Banks over the period of 2014-2016, the study revealed that highly educated directors have an altogether constructive influence on the sustainability report disclosure while controlling for corporate administration and firm-level qualities. In addition, we find that the executive and non-executive directors have low experience in environmental issues resulting in an insignificant effect on the disclosure of sustainability reporting. This paper suggests that firms should allow more directors with environmental background, who have a lower motivation to boost transient returns since they are likely to influence environmental performance.

Human waste biogas production is not fashionable at the moment due to its quality compared to other animal waste. However, human waste is more abundant than animal waste. More so, the possibility of having scarcity of human waste in the coming years is almost not possible. This research seeks ways of optimizing the quality of biogas from human waste. The results show that the processed human wastes have improved biogas quality. It is recommended that standalone energy users in urban and rural centre to adopt this technique to utilize biogas usage from human waste.

Biogas production in cow dung supersedes other bio-waste product. Human waste is one of the lowest biogas sources. More so, the nature of the human excretal deposition matters. There are higher biogas productions in pit latrines than in water closet (WC) system. However, it is known that WC users are the majority in modern building design. The main disadvantage of the WC system ingenerating biogas is that the solid excretal is broken into pieces by water dissolution and collision with the sewage pipe. The chemistry of the event is that the little biogas produced has high percentage of moist. In this research we deployed drying agents to process the biogas from WC system.

Energy challenge in Nigeria is really disturbing due to many factors that borders on the inability of the national grid to meet-up with the huge energy demands in the most populated country in Africa. About 85% industries and domestic users patronize fossil fuel generators. This development had increased the air pollution load over the country. In this research, fourteen years dataset from the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET) was used to simulate the energy accruable from solar energy in Nigeria. The study is poised to enhance higher patronage of solar technology in the research site.

Energy challenge in Nigeria is really disturbing due to many factors that borders on the inability of the national grid to meet-up with the huge energy demands in the most populated country in Africa. About 85% industries and domestic users patronize fossil fuel generators. This development had increased the air pollution load over the country. In this research, fourteen years dataset from the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET) was used to simulate the energy accruable from solar energy in Nigeria. The study is poised to enhance higher patronage of solar technology in the research site.

Sustainable power supply still remains the challenge in developing countries. Unfortunately the growing energy need is directly proportional to the population growth. Hence, there is the need to step-up on the alternative energy use. The adoption of solar technology in the research site is encouraging-partly because of the low cost of purchasing solar devices. However, there is the issue of short lifespan of the photovoltaic (PV) panel that operates in the area. This research used the modified Angstrom solar radiation model to determine that the main cause of short PV lifespan is solar spectrum signature over the research area. It is recommended that solar companies should start incorporating spectra filtering layer to protect the PV panel.

Solar energy generation in tropical climate system is said to be a viable project because of the availability of solar radiation. The use of solar photovoltaic (PV) panel in the research area is encouraging at the moment but the issue has been that the lifespan of the PV panel is somewhat very low. This research aims to determine the solar radiation model for Lagos to enhance the optimization of the production of solar PV panels for Lagos Nigeria. This would enhance higher patronage in the commercial hub of Nigeria.

The study looked into the association which exists amid financial statement fraud and governance among business organizations in Nigeria. A population of 122 non-financial companies registered on Nigeria stock exchange was limited to 20 firms employing the rule of thumb based on stratified and simple random technique for a period of 2012-2016. The method of data analysis is panel regression. The dependent variable, fraud in the financial statement was measured using the Beneish M-score model while the independent variable was measured using audit committee independence, board structure. Findings show that an insignificant association exist amid audit committee independence, the composition of the board and financial statement fraud. This research design suggests regarding the reduction of the occurrence of financial statement fraud, less emphasis should be placed on audit committee independence, board composition and independent non-executive directors' effectiveness.

The article aims to examine the effect of ownership structure on accounting conservatism among Nigeria listed firms. Correlational research design was employed in this study and the sample size comprises of all 15 firms from the banking sector listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the years 2013 – 2017. The study employed the panel regression technique to estimate the coefficients of the variables in the model specified.

The study finds that there is a positive and insignificant relationship between managerial ownership and accounting conservatism; a positive but an insignificant relationship was observed between institutional ownership and accounting conservatism. However, foreign ownership revealed a negative but not significant relationship with accounting conservatism. We recommend that financial statements to include more detailed analysis of the structure of their ownership and shareholding to provide more information for decision making for users of the accounting information such as researchers and potential investors. Also, Regulatory bodies should ensure all companies comply with the concept of conservatism by imposing strict penalty on erring companies.

Bambara nut is one of the underutilized legumes. Conversely this underutilized legume could be utilized to solve the ravaging food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa owing to its balanced nutritive composition. Bambara nut limited use, is because of the antnutritional factors, hard to cook phenomenon and difficulty in dehulling. Because of high global demand on food security, there is an urgent need to review possible methods that could reduce the limiting factors to the widespread use of this crop and enunciate other benefits derivable from this legume. In this review, we appraised the nutritional composition of Bambara nut from different geographic locations, commonly associated bacteria species that predominate mostly during Bambara fermentation and their potential uses as probiotics. Expedient areas for further research were highlighted in this paper

Spent oil is any petroleum-based or synthetic oil that contain impurities or loss of major properties thus affecting its unique purpose. In this study, we selected and contaminated a site in Covenant University with spent oil. This site was amended with cow dung and studied for 56 days. Spent oil contaminated soil without stimulation with cow dung served as the control. This study was done during the dry season period and the sites left to natural edaphic factors. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, moisture content were monitored to determine the influence of cow dung as biostimulatory agent when compared with control (untreated) site. Within the period of this investigation, we recorded decrease in the pH value on the amended site, the value ranged between 8.60-7.77 while the control increased from 8.30 -8.42. The moisture content (%) were 95.0- 82.1 and 90.8-103.0 for the amended and control sites respectively. Following these obtained dynamics, we isolated organisms using enrichment technique from the contaminated sites and the control. We characterized the isolates using phenotypic characteristics and comparison with standard reference organisms. The bacterial isolates obtained include: Arthrobacter Mycobacteria Pseudomonas and Corynebacterium. The axenic cultures ability to utilize spent oil was monitored via indirect estimation using pH and Optical density dynamics for 240hrs. All the organisms exhibited growth in the MS medium supplemented with spent oil. The pH and optical density (OD) from bacterial species obtained from the control sample ranged between 6.91 ± 0.20- 6.56± 0.29 and the OD 0.278±0.150-0.826 ± 0.33. For the amended sample, the bacterial species showed decline in pH that ranged between 7.13±0.30 - 6.33±0.10 while the recorded OD values ranged between 0.190±0.03 - 0.621±0.50. Comparing the results obtained for the control and the amended soil. It was obvious that organisms from the amended soil (either in-situ or in-vivo) showed more metabolic activities on the spent oil. This study suggests that use of cow dung in appropriate concentrations could be very useful in bioremediation of soil contaminated with spent oil.

In this study, we evaluated the influence of sawdust as biostimulatory agent on waste-lubricating oil site. To achieve this, two sites were contaminated with waste lubricating oil, with one of the site amended with sawdust and the other left to serve as control. This study was conducted during the dry season. Decreases in pH and percentage moisture content were used to monitor the metabolic activities between the amended and control sites. Both sites (amended and control) showed decrease in the pH values however the control site showed just slight decrease. The mean pH value obtained ranged between 7.68± 0.15-8.08± 0.57 for the amended and control while the mean moisture content (%) 38.3 – 48.6 respectively for the amended and control sites. We screened for fungal species that showed growth on sawdust amended site using waste lubricating oil as source of carbon/energy. This was done through conventional enrichment culture methods. The isolated fungal strains tentatively named as P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 were identified by visual observation and micro-morphological technique. From the cultural, and morphological characterization and comparison with respect to the standard reference of fungi, the fungal species were identified as members Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus sp., Pénicillium sp., Aspergillus flavus and Mucor sp. Pure cultures of these fungal species were tested for their ability to utilize waste lubricating oil as carbon and energy source. The ability of these fungal species to use the waste lubricating oil was done by monitoring their physiological responses via Optical Density (OD) and pH gradient readings. The mean pH obtained range from 5.90-7.33 and the (OD) 0.715-1.978. The fluctuations in OD readings as well as pH values for the different microfungi may be due to variation in growth patterns of the different fungal species.

The physical optimization processes of maximizing the solar photovoltaic (PV) panel via the angular adjustment of PV inclination to the sun were examined. The efficiency may vary within geographic locations. In this study, the measured dataset of a location in the tropical region of Nigeria was examined with the inclination ranging from 0° to 45° It was observed that at 30 ° in the south –east direction yielded a more stable result that is essential basically for the stability of the solid state content of the PV panel. Though there were spikes of higher voltage in the 30 °, it is recommended that PV users in the region to adopt 30 ° to enhance efficiency and longevity of the PV panel.

The West African belt is known for Sahara dust influx that is a great concern as it increases the aerosol loading over the region. In this study, we examine the effect of dust deposition on solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. A local logger was constructed to determine the dust deposition and its corresponding current generation in a PV panel. The PV panel were placed at different inclination i.e. ranging from 0° to 45 ° It was observed that at 45 ° the dust deposition was higher than other PV angle inclination because the PV surface was exposed to both horizontal and vertical dust deposition.

The study focused on the need for the development of a low cut-in wind speed turbine system with a view to challenge for concerted efforts towards improvement in design in such a way that favours operation at wind speeds as low as 1.5 to 2.0 m/s. It reviewed some existing reports on rotor designs with major focus on improved blade design for enhanced turbine performance and structural integrity. It found that despite the advances in turbine blade designs, there is the need to further the design to include those that can drive generators not just for small wind turbine applications but also for operation under lower cut-in speeds (less than 2.0 m/s). It further demonstrated the need to have improvement in wind turbine generator design that eliminates/reduce lubrication parts and possibly employ electro-magneto-mechanical principles for operation.

The existing literature on Corporate Social Responsibility with regards to consumer responsiveness towards the organization is currently split and filled with inconsistencies. This reality makes theory building quite difficult. Therefore, further studies will be necessary to build theory consensus and update the existing literature. This study attempts to evaluate the effects of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty in a developing nation such as Nigeria, with special focus on its telecommunication industry. Data gathering was carried out through the distribution of 386 questionnaires to the customers of the four largest mobile telecommunication firms in Nigeria. Simple linear regression was used in testing the formulated hypothesis. Findings from the hypothesis testing reveals there is no significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand loyalty in the Nigerian telecommunication sector. However, favorable price point, good quality service and good customer care were some of the attributes the customers emphasized on as regards to what determines their brand loyalty. Based on the findings from this study, firms are recommended to integrate CSR policies into their core operations. CSR should be focused on providing solutions to Nigeria's social economic challenges. A concise policy should be initiated to ensure clear information and reporting channels are duly released to every stakeholder group. Without diligent reporting of CSR activities, customers can easily assume the firms do not engage in CSR practices.

This study involves a comparative analysis of two waste substrates; cow dung and poultry droppings. The purpose of this study was to ascertain which of the waste substrates produces a greater yield of biogas, their individual retention period as well as the percentage of the methane content in the gas generated. The study was divided into two experiments which comprised of a water displacement set up in a laboratory and one 30 L fixed dome digester for each waste substrate. In both experiments waste substrates were mixed with water in ratio 1:1 and operated at a mesophilic temperature condition. In the laboratory, the daily gas yield of the individual substrates in ml was obtained, it was observed that cow dung produced an average of 29.9 ml of biogas per day and the poultry waste produced 60.7 ml per day. A gas analysis was performed to obtain the gas profile of gas produced from the two substrates. As deduced from the analysis, cow dung had a methane and CO₂ weight percentage of about 92 wt% and 6.68 wt% respectively, while poultry droppings had about 90 wt% methane and 6.56 wt% CO₂.With the aid of a constructed mini gas stove, a flame test was performed, which gave off a blue flame. Hence, the two substrates are efficient for biogas production.

An electrical resistivity investigation was carried out in Akowonjo, Ogbomoso, Nigeria with the aim to obtain various lithological units and subsurface geological features within the study area. Fifty-four sounding points adopting Schlumberger array, with 100 m as the maximum value for half-current electrode spacing were occupied in the study area. Partial curve matching technique and automated platform (known as WinResist) were used to interpret the obtained data qualitatively and quantitatively. The resulting final layers parameters involving resistivity and thickness of each layer were used to map the two-dimensional geoelectric variations beneath the study area. The curve types obtained from iterations of WinResist, which is based on 1-D forward modelling approach include H, KH, HA and QH. Four subsurface layers were identified. These layers are topsoil, laterite, weathered/partly weathered layer and fractured/fresh bedrock. The topsoil had resistivity and thickness values ranging from 76 – 1858 Ωm and 0.4 – 4 m respectively. The lateritic layer lies under the topsoil with resistivity and depth values ranging from 649 – 2021 Ωm and 0.7 – 1.9 m, followed by a weathered/partly weathered layer with resistivity and depth values ranging from 17 – 880 Ωm and 1.9 – 25.2 m, respectively. The fourth layer is the fractured/fresh bedrock which depict varying resistivity from 260 - 33385 Ωm. It is revealed that thick clayey materials dominate the first and second subsurface layers within the study area. This is known to be the major cause of cracks experienced in the buildings in Akowonjo community, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. It is recommended that further foundations for civil engineering works in the study should be extended beyond the zone of water content fluctuation.

Aqueous calyxes extract of Roselle, popularly known as Zobo drink in Nigeria is a non-alcoholic local beverage widely consumed by millions of people across different socio-economic classes. However, large-scale production of zobo is hindered by the rapid deterioration of the drink if not refrigerated. Thus the aim of this research was to extend the viability of the drink by fermentation into red wine using probiotic organism Lactobacillus fermentum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Both organisms produced wines of different physicochemical properties within 24hours fermentation and with pH 3.47 – 2.76, titratable acidity; 0.236%–0.252%; Vitamin C; 5.22 mg/100 – 2.44 mg/100 and total dissolvable solids; 11.95 Mg/L – 9.97 Mg/L for Lactobacillus fermentum and pH 3.48 – 2.8, titratable acidity; 0.2% – 0.225%, Vitamin C; 8.56mg/100 – 6.33mg/100 and total dissolvable solids; 13.32 Mg/L – 9.71 Mg/L for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. There was also a gradual alcohol increase during fermentation process and at the end, both wines showed alcohol content of 5.71% and 5.61% for Lactobacillus fermentum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae respectively. Except for the alcohol content, the results shows that the formulation with the brewers yeast produced a better wine at the 12 hour fermentation time. The sensory evaluation was also conducted using a 5 judge panel on a 7 point hedonic scale and the result shows that the wine produced from fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was moderately accepted (value 3) by the panel and the mean heterotrophic microbial load of 3±0.2 x 10³ cfu/ml indicated that formulated red wine is safe for human consumption. The outcome of this study will boost the economy of this country if adopted for large scale production as it will generate revenue that would have been lost on importation of wine.

Compliance with legal requirements is mandatory for corporate entities in Nigeria, but decision making in a situation that is not legally binding relies on the ethical standard of the company. Sustainability reporting in Nigeria is voluntary, therefore the quality of disclosure is at the discretion of company leadership. This study evaluated the ethical behaviour of Nigerian commercial banks and how it affects their sustainability disclosure quality. The Focus was on the proportion of each bank's corporate annual reports that contain environmental disclosure, social responsibility disclosure and governance disclosure. Information on the banks' websites that relate to sustainability policies or activities were also considered. This work includes an extensive review of relevant literature, hinging the study on legitimacy theory. The Cross-sectional research design was utilized in undertaking the study. A sample of fourteen (14) commercial banks was selected from the companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange and analysed for a period of 2008-2017 financial years. Pearson Correlation and Multivariate Linear model analysis were employed to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed a positive relationship between corporate ethical standard and sustainability disclosure of Nigerian commercial banks. The level of corporate ethical standard in Nigerian banks causes significant positive change in environmental reporting quality, social responsibility reporting quality and governance reporting quality. It is hereby, recommended that company leadership should build strong corporate ethical culture since it directly affects their sustainability. While quality sustainability reporting practice is beneficial to the reporting entity, stakeholders and environment.

Recent reports on the air pollution over Brikama-Gambia by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) may be shocking. In this paper, fifteen years primary (aerosol optical depth) dataset was obtained from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR). The secondary datasets were generated from the primary dataset to understand the short and long term effect of aerosol loading over Brikama. The dataset is important to help researcher understand the dynamics of the aerosol loadings in the area. It was discovered that the air pollution over Brikama is not seasonal and do not come from same source. It was observed that the pollution over Brikama is determined by the massisve influx and migration of human population.

The principal challenge of air pollution reportage in most communities of West Africa is the unavailability of working data. In this paper, satellite measurements were used to derive salient parameter (aerosol loading) to describe air quality over Ponta-Cape Verde was considered. Fifteen years primary (aerosol optical depth) dataset was obtained from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR). The dataset is important to quantify the extent of air pollution in the research area. The statistical analysis of the dataset was also presented. It was observed that air pollution over Ponta is seasonal and comes from same source. Hence the pollution over is sustained due to a same pollution routine over the years.

Air pollution over Bouake-Cote d'Ivoire was considered. Fifteen years primary (aerosol optical depth) dataset was obtained from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR). Its aerosol loading dataset were generated from the primary dataset. The dataset depicts the air quality over the area. The statistical analysis of the dataset was also presented. The close ranges of values of the variance, average deviation and standard deviation are close indication that the correlation of each year would be naturally be >0.75. The averages of the AOD over the years i.e. is within the range of 0.4±0.05. It was observed that air pollution over Ponta is seasonal and comes from same source. Hence the pollution over is sustained due to a same pollution routine over the years. If the sources of anthropogenic emission in the region were not curbed, there would be massive health discomforts in the nearest future.