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The study examined the effect of climate change on the health of rural farmers in Offa, Kwara State. Nigeria. For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study Ninety-eight (98) respondents were randomly sampled from ten wards. Data were collected through interview scheduled couple with a well structured questionnaire. The data were analysed through the use of frequency count, simple percentages and Pearson product moment correlation (PPMC). The result of the study indicated that the mean age is 45.5%. 68.4% are male. 53.1% were married. 72.4% were literate with only 14.3% non-literate. The study further revealed a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and their present health status (r=0.344, p=0.001 α=0.05) The study also revealed a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and their perceived effect of climate change on their health status (r=0.381,p=0.001,α=0.05). More so the major source of information of the respondents on climate change were through radio/television (mean=61.3) while only few (mean=36.3) heard from research institute, majority of the respondents health status were good (49.0%) they usually have deviation from normal health status as consequence of climate change. The common ailment they experienced is malaria (31.6%) while only few had headache and cholera (3.1%). It was concluded that their major source of information on climate change was through radio. More so it was deduced from the study that malaria is the most common and severe disease affecting the respondents with tuberculosis which is less severe. It was recommended that government should educate farmers through the mass media such as use of radio, newspaper and television on the need to plant trees to combat the effect of the ozone layers depletion which is also associated to climate change.

Melon seed husk (MSH) biochar was used in a single cell direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) as an alternative biofuel. The DCFCs belong to a generation of energy conversion devices that are characterised with higher efficiencies, lower emission of pollutants and MSH biochar as the fuel. Several analytical techniques (proximate, ultimate and thermo-chemical analysis) were employed to analyse the characteristics of the biomass fuel, their effects on the cell’s performance, and the electrochemical reactions between the fuel and the electrolyte in the system. High carbon content and calorific values are some of the parameters responsible for good performances. The performance of a lab-scale DCFC made of ceramic tubes using molten carbonate electrolyte was investigated. Binary carbonates mixture (Na2CO3-K2CO3, 38-62 mol.%) was used as electrolyte and the waste MSH carbonised at 450oC as biofuel. A practical evaluation of the fuel used in the DCFC system was conducted, for varying temperature of 100 - 800oC. The maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) was 0.71 V. With an applied load resistance and active surface area of 5.73 cm2 the maximum power density was 5.50 mWcm-2 and the current density was 29.67 mAcm-2 at 800oC.

The present study was planned to investigate the effect of three techniques; traditional, microwave and autoclave on properties and economic evaluation for chitosan obtained from shrimp shell waste. Results showed that sun dried Suez-shrimp wastes composed (wet weight) 5.28% moisture, 7.09% (total nitrogen), 7.77% lipid and 36.15ash content. Microwave technique improved the water binding capacity (WBC) property and antioxidant properties whereas traditional technique improved the oil binding capacity (OBC) property. Also, there are variation in degree of deacetylation (DDA) values; 95.5% for autoclaved, 93.0 for microwaved and 88.5 for traditional chitosan samples. Economically, the traditional method is the best economic methods. Also, it provides about 45.7 thousand pounds/ton and it reduces the chances of imported chitosan and modifies of the Egyptian trade balance. In conclusion, this study recommends that shrimp shells waste should be utilized to produce chitosan as an economic and value added product and to encourage local production and reduce imported chitosan.

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