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The 21 st century skills are important aspect of education in our present age. Numerous benefits of incorporating skill such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education have been unearthed, therefore, ICT should be widely used in teaching and learning (TnL) processes. However, in order to use this skill in teaching, teachers have to possess certain level of readiness in terms of confidence; awareness and motivation; perception, training; knowledge and equipment. In relation to that, this study identified how ready the Biology pre-service teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria are to implement the use of ICT in their teaching and if gender affect their level of readiness. The respondents comprised of 123 Biology pre-service teachers in two higher institutions in Nigeria. They were all final year students in the teacher education program (Bsc. Ed. Biology). Their readiness was assessed using questionnaire with four-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics was implored to analyze data. Findings showed that Nigerian biology preservice teachers were ready to implement ICT skill in TnL in terms of confidence, awareness and motivation, perception, knowledge and training but not ready in terms of equipment. Findings also showed that there was no significant difference between male and female biology pre-service teachers' readiness to implement ICT skill in TnL processes. The study serves as a foundation for further studies to be conducted in other fields and on readiness of Nigerian pre-service teachers to implement other 21 st century skills.

This study aims to isolate and identify microalgae capable of growing in high nitrate (N-NO3-) landfill leachate. Source of isolation was collected from a landfill leachate treatment plant and identified according to morphological characteristics and analysis of partial 18S and 28S rRNA genes. The isolates, identified as Chlorella vulgaris UPSI-JRM01 and Tetradesmus obliquus UPSI-JRM02 were capable of growing at high N-NO3- concentration of nitrified landfill leachate, which is up to 1500 mg/L. The biomass productivities of Chlorella vulgaris and Tetradesmus obliquus were 36.28 mg/L/day and 40.49 mg/L/day, with 44% and 37% N-NO3- removal, respectively. The biomass of Chlorella vulgaris and Tetradesmus obliquus consisted of 17.72% and 16.32% lipid and, 21.93% and 25.43% carbohydrate, respectively. The protein contents (>50%) were higher than lipid and carbohydrate contents for both microalgal species. The newly isolated microalgae species will be useful for future applications of high NO3- wastewater treatment and microalgae biomass production.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria enrichment was explored for the potential application of ammonium rich wastewater removal. Samples of sludge from mature and young landfill leachate treatment plants were screened and used as inocula for anammox enrichment cultures. Enrichments were monitored for N-NH3, N-NO2-and N-NO3-to detect anammox potential activity. Six of the twelve enrichment cultures showed anammox activity after more than five months of enrichment period. All enrichment cultures that gave positive results were obtained from bottom part of sequencing batch reactor (SBR) lagoon indicating localization of anammox bacteria in anaerobic condition. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with specific primers targeting anammox and planctomycete were able to amplify the 16S rRNA sequence for anammox bacteria under PCR optimum condition. However, only three of six positive samples were successfully sequenced. DNA sequence analysis using NCBI (BLAST) and RDP showed that the anammox bacterial sequences of the investigated samples were identified as Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis with similarity of 100% (NCBI) and 99.3% (RDP). Keywords: Anammox; biological nitrogen removal AbstrakPengayaan bakteria anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) dikaji untuk potensi aplikasi bagi rawatan air buangan yang mempunyai kandungan ammonium yang tinggi. Sampel enapcemar daripada loji rawatan cecair larut resap tapak kambusan sisa pepejal disaring dan digunakan sebagai inokulum untuk kultur pengayaan. Pemantauan N-NH3, N-NO2-and N-NO3-semasa pengayaan dilakukan untuk mengesan potensi aktiviti anammox. Enam daripada dua belas kultur pengayaan menunjukkan aktiviti anammox selepas lebih lima bulan tempoh pengayaan. Semua kultur pengayaan yang menunjukkan hasil yang positif adalah diperolehi dari bahagian bawah sequencing batch reactor (SBR) menggambarkan penempatan bakteria anammox di dalam keadaan anaerobik. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) menggunakan primer spesifik mensasarkan bakteria anammox dan planctomycete mampu menggandakan jujukan 16S rRNA di bawah keadaan optima PCR. Walaubagaimanapun, hanya tiga daripada enam sampel yang positif berjaya dijujukkan. Analisis jujukan DNA menggunakan NCBI (BLAST) dan RDP menunjukkan jujukan bakteria anammox bagi sampel yang dikaji dikenalpasti sebagai Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis dengan 100% persamaan (NCBI) dan 99.3% (RDP).Kata kunci: Anammox; penyingkiran nitrogen biologi

Background Environmental contamination by microbes is a major public health concern. A damp environment is one of the potential sources for microbe proliferation. Smart synthesis nanocatalytic coatings on surfaces, food, and material from different pathogen bacteria can inhibit using the Fe3O4/CNTs as anti-microbial growth can effectively curb this growing threat. In this present work, the anti-microbial efficacy of synthesis of a compound nanoparticle-containing iron oxide-multi-walled carbon nanotube was combined by laser ablation PLAL and explored the anti-bacterial action of colloidal solution of Fe3O4/CNTs NPs that was evaluated against bacteria which is classified as gram-negative (Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia), and also that is identified as gram-positive (Streptococcus pyogenes (S .pyogenes) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) under visible light irradiation. Results Doping of a minute fraction of iron(III) salt (0.5 mol%) in a volatile solvent (ethanol) was carried out via the sol-gel technique. Fe3O4 was further calcined at various temperatures (in the range of 500–700 °C) to evaluate the thermal stability of the Fe3O4 nanoporous oxidizer nanoparticles. The physicochemical properties of the samples were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and UV–Visible spectroscopy techniques. XRD results revealed that the nanoparticles framework of Fe3O4 was maintained well up to 650 °C by the Fe dopant. UV–Vis results suggested that absorption property of combination Fe3O4/CNTs nanopowder by PLAL was enhanced and the band gap is reduced into 2.0 eV. Conclusions Density functional theory (DFT) studies emphasize the introduction of Fe+ and Fe2+ ions by replacing other ions in the CNT lattice, therefore creating oxygen vacancies. These further promoted anti-microbial efficiency. A significantly high bacterial inactivation that indicates results was evaluated and that the mean estimations of restraint were determined from triple assessment in every appraisal at 400 ml which represent the best anti-bacterial action against gram-positive and gram-negative microbes.