The research was designed to ascertain the concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cd) in soil samples from farmlands along highways in parts of Owerri. Soil samples were collected from cassava farms along three major roads with high traffic density and a rural road that served as control location, for possible heavy metals contamination due to vehicular emission. Standard laboratory procedures were adopted to determine the concentration of heavy metals using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Contamination factor (CF) and Pollution Load Index were mathematically calculated. The results revealed that the mean concentrations of metals in soil samples in mg/kg ranged from 3.00 – 6.31 for Cu; Pb, 0.09 – 4.00; Zn, 3.97 – 8.59; Ni, 0.001 – 0.96; and Cd, 0.31 – 0.79. These metals showed decrease in concentrations with increase in distance away from the highway. The values of contamination factor (CF) were low except for Cd and Pollution Load Index (PLI) for all soil studied showed no sign of pollution. There was no correlation between traffic density and concentration of heavy metal in soil except for Cd (Rs= 0.800). The overall results showed evidence of some heavy metal pollution on the soils with possible cumulative effect over time.

Chemical flooding enhanced oil recovery is an aspect of enhanced oil recovery whereby chemicals (Alkaline, Surfactant and Polymer) are injected into the reservoir to release and produce trapped and mobile oil that remained in the reservoir after secondary flooding due to viscous, gravity and capillary forces. The success of this process has contributed immensely to nations energy need. One of the demerits of this type of enhanced oil recovery method is the high cost of the chemicals which makes the process worthwhile only when there is hike on oil price. As the Niger Deltaregion in Nigeria, West Africa prepares for tertiary recovery stage, it becomes important to introduce local contents as substitutes for the high cost chemicals for sustainability of the process. Research has shown that some local materials in Nigeria contain chemical compounds that can serve as Alkali, Surfactant and Polymer. Sand-pack Oil displacement flood tests were performed on 14 local materials using different concentrations under laboratory conditions. These local materials (potash, Elaeis guineensis, Musa sapientum, Khaya ivorensis, Nkankan (a native plant), Carica papaya’s leaves, Cocos nucifera, kai-kai, Vernonia amygdalina, Abelmoschus esculentus, Brachystegia eurycoma, Detarium microcarpum, Irvingia gabonensis and Mucuna flagellipes) were screened for Chemflooding Enhanced Oil Recovery. The best performing local material Alkali, Surfactant, Polymer gave additional oil displacement efficiency of 17.3%, 5.2% and 18.7% respectively after conventional flooding. Blends of local materials Alkaline-Surfactant, Alkaline-Polymer, Surfactant-Polymer and Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer were formulated with maximum oil displacement efficiency of 96.7%, 93.5%, 95.2% and 90% respectively. The local materials Alkali and Polymer gave better results when used separately. These local materials were effective as Enhanced Oil Recovery agents and can as well substitute synthetic chemicals if refined and modified.

Green concrete is a new form to the existing (regular) types of concrete which resembles the conventional concrete but its manufacturing or usage of this concrete requires minimum amount of heat energy and causes the lowest harm to the surrounding environment. Since it deals into uses of the recycled aggregates and materials, it also reduces the extra load in landfills and mitigates the wastage of aggregates. Thus, the net CO2 emissions are reduced. The reuse of materials also contributes intensively to economy. Green concrete can be considered elemental to sustainable development since it is eco-friendly in nature. One of the methods for manufacturing of green concrete involves reduction of amount of cement in the mix, which add to the reduction the total cement consumption. The use of waste materials also solves the problem of disposing the excessive amount of industrial wastes. This paper discusses the importance of Green Concrete in the present day context and highlights its merits over conventional concrete which otherwise posing a serious threat to the environment through global warming.

Gamification and E-commerce are often combined nowadays to achieve flourishing businesses and engaging experiences for customers. Ascertaining how businesses gain deeper engagement in services and products they offer remains a viable research area.

The complex and varied nature of E-commerce businesses makes it unnecessary to search for a one-size-fits-all solution in gamification as a wide variety of E-commerce functions can be gamified. By focusing on three E-commerce applications: shopping and browsing in webshops, product/brand experience and rating systems; this study presents a review of applied gamification in E-commerce. For each of the selected E-commerce domains, a description of the gamified E-commerce functionality is given, a detailed analysis of an existing system is offered and a list of further examples that also used gamification for the same functions is presented.

This study shows which different common E-commerce elements can be gamified and in which contexts the gamification is best applied.

In this study we focused on the effect of government expenditure on security on the Return On Equity of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. a sample size of 20 was purposively selected  from the population of 83 manufacturing companies in the country as at 2016. Secondary data were obtained from published financial statements of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria, publications of government and the World Bank. Validity and Reliability of the data were based on the reports of external auditors and other regulatory agencies. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The study found that government spending on Security did not have significant effect on the financial performance of the manufacturing firms. ROE(β₂=2.558, t=0.752, p>0.05).