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In Nigeria, roselle juice is quite popular among the populace presumably owing to its attractive colour, pleasant flavour and nutritional attributes. In the citrus industry, processing and packing material selection have significant effect on quality of juice product during storage. The effects of packaging materials, and storage temperature on colour and vitamin C retention of sobo juice extracted from local roselle plant were investigated.

Juice was extracted at three different temperatures: 20, 60 and 100°C for varying processing times of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 min respectively. Freshly extracted roselle juice was divided into three batches and independently hot‐filled into 500 mL pre‐sterilised glass, film packages and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles allowing for minimum head space, capped, cooled and subsequently stored at 5 ± 1 and 28 ± 1°C respectively for eight weeks.

Optimum pigment extraction was obtained in 20 min with boiling water, while colour stabilisation of the extracted juice was affected with the use of food acidulants. Colour degradation on storage was pronounced in sweetened juice with greater colour loss in product held at ambient temperature. Colour and vitamin C retention with glass and plastic bottles provide higher retention of these quality attributes under cold and ambient storage condition than with the flexible polyethylene film.

Retention of colour and vitamin C was considerably higher in glass and PET bottles than in flexible film package. However, addition of table sugar or increasing storage temperature from 5 to 27°C affected colour stability.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of substituting cow milk with soy milk in the standard milk chocolate recipe on the physical, chemical and sensory qualities of milk chocolate and obtain the best ratio of substitution.

Milk chocolates were produced by substituting the cow milk in the standard recipe with soy milk powder at different ratios of soy milk to cow milk. Physical and chemical analyses were carried out using the standard methods to evaluate the major raw materials and chocolate samples, and the sensory evaluation of the chocolate samples was carried out using preference and difference tests.

Soy milk contained the highest crude protein and crude fiber. The cut test results of the cocoa beans showed that the percentage of fully fermented cocoa beans was in agreement with the standard. Residimeter value (RV) of four chocolate samples (30:70, 20:80, 10:90, and 0:100) was the best. The nitrogen content and melting points of the chocolates samples were found to increase with increased inclusion of soy milk powder in the recipe. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in taste, sweetness, smoothness, and overall acceptability of the 0:100 and 30:70; soy milk to cow milk samples.

Soy-chocolate will be a new chocolate product with higher melting point and lower cost than the standard milk chocolate. The selling price of chocolate will be lower and thus affordable to low-income earners. Also, there will be an increased utilization of soybean.

Soy-chocolate recipe is a new and additional recipe for the production of milk chocolate.

Chocolates imported into Nigeria melt at tropical room temperature, causing bloom formation in storage. This situation may be responsible for the low consumption of chocolate in Nigeria. This study therefore focused on the production and evaluation of thermo‐resistant chocolate that is not heat labile at tropical ambient temperature.

Studies were carried out in two stages. The first stage was the incorporation of cornstarch at different percentages of 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 per cent and the second stage was the use of gelatin at 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 per cent.

At 10 per cent inclusions of cornstarch and gelatin, the two non‐conventional chocolates melted at temperatures between 40‐50°C, compared to that of conventional milk chocolate which melts at temperatures between 25‐33°C.

The two non‐conventional chocolates compared favourably with the conventional milk chocolate in terms of colour, taste, smoothness and overall acceptability. However, the non‐conventional chocolate was found to be thermo‐stable at tropical ambient temperatures. The production of these thermo‐resistant chocolates will allow the wide distribution, display and consumption of chocolate in the tropics, especially Nigeria.

To investigate the potential food, feed and industrial values of some tropical underutilized medicinal plant materials.

Dry‐milled plants, namely: Gongronema latifolium and Vernonia amygdalina were subjected to chemical analysis to determine their proximate, mineral, elemental, fatty acid and amino acid compositions using standard procedures.

Results show that the lipid extract, ash, crude fibre and nitrogen free extractives, oxalate, phytate and tannin of the plants are within expected ranges. They however had unexpectedly high crude protein content: 27.20 and 21.69 per cent, respectively. Potassium, phosphorus, calcium and cobalt were the most abundant mineral elements. G. latifolium and V. amygdalina leaf oils are 50.22 and 24.54 per cent saturated; 39.38 and 65.45 per cent polyunsaturated, respectively. Palmitic and oleic acids were the major monounsaturated fatty acids. Degrees of unsaturation are 0.46 and 0.41, respectively. Major essential amino acids are leucine, valine and phenylalanine. Proportions of essential to non‐essential amino acid are 43.37 and 49.84 per cent, respectively.

The nutritional composition of the plant materials suggests that they may find use in food/feed formulation operations and as industrial raw materials.

This study aimed at the potential use of ginger‐flavoured soy‐cassava flour to produce high‐protein biscuits.

Preparation of biscuit was done using soy‐cassava flour blends (0:100, 20:80, 30:70 and 40:60 w/w). Biscuit was also prepared from 100 per cent wheat flour to serve as control.

Chemical analysis indicated that the substitution of soy flour into cassava flour augmented the nutrient content of the biscuit, which indicates a good potential for meeting the nutrient requirements of school children. The use of ginger powder as flavouring agent effectively masked the beany flavour that is normally associated with soybean products. A sensory evaluation also confirmed good aroma and positive acceptability.

The findings in this study confirms the endless possibilities of protein enrichment of cassava flour for the production of biscuits as a potentially effective strategy for enhancing protein‐energy balance in children, particularly in developing countries. The value of this study lies in its potential as a product development strategy in combating protein‐energy malnutrition, thereby promoting good health, labour productivity and mental development.

Productivity in library and information entails efficient and timely information acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval and delivery. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons why the productivity of women in library and information should be enhanced; to describe problems which militate against this; and to highlight their future prospects.

These objectives are achieved through the descriptive survey methodology.

The finding is that, in spite of the fact that the productivity of women in Nigeria has generally been regarded as low because of traditional prejudices against women and lack of data on the productivity of women in the informal sector, the productivity of women in the library and information sector has remained high and needs enhancement to encourage them to aim higher in the profession. One way of achieving this is by getting them fully involved in information technology. Another way is government's financial support of their aspirations towards training and retraining; attendance to seminar‐workshops, exchange programmes in connection with sabbatical leave appointments, etc.

For further research, this paper suggests an investigation into the implications of government's investment on women librarians for the harnessing of knowledge and information for sustainable rural development in Nigeria.

The practical implication of the paper is that with government's focus on women librarians to tap their potentials, they will become more sensitive in their professional practice and will endeavour to show‐case their enhanced productivity.

The new value is the suggestion that women librarians should be incorporated to assist in producing national data on the productivity of women in the informal sector.

Library practicum is a supervised, hands‐on practice in various library functions. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of library practicum in learning various professional skills through the perception of library information science (LIS) graduates.

Since this is a case study, multiple data collection techniques, i.e. a questionnaire survey (having both closed and open ended questions), and discussions with senior faculty members and observation (as a participant observer) are used to probe the real status. LIS graduates of PU sessions 2002‐2006 are identified as the population. The total number of the population is 367 and targeted sample is 118 graduates. Snowball sampling technique is used to reach them.

The findings reveal that well designed and well managed practicum plays a vital role in improving professional skills. Insufficient practicum duration, communication gap among three parties (students, external and internal supervisor), loose supervision and lack of focus on professional skills are the problems reported by LIS graduates.

As a study of the practical elements of studying library science, the paper should be of interest to practitioners.

This paper is the only evaluation of library practicum in Pakistan. The findings will be helpful in designing better and more effective library practicum programs in Pakistan as well as in other developing countries.

This paper aims to explore the level of productivity of Islamic banks specifically in selected Southeast Asian Countries from the period 2006 to 2014. Besides, this study also investigates the potential determinants of bank-specific characteristics and macroeconomic conditions that may influence the productivity of banking sector.

The present study gathers data on the 29 Islamic banks from Southeast Asian countries, namely, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. The productivity level of the Islamic banks is evaluated using the data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index method. The authors then used a panel regression analysis framework based on the ordinary least square to identify potential determinants.

The domestic and foreign Islamic banks have exhibited progress in total factor productivity change solely attributed to the increase in efficiency change (EFFCH) which were mainly managerial rather than scale related. Foreign-owned banks have been slightly more productive compared to their domestic-owned bank counterparts, attributed to a higher EFFCH but insignificantly different. Furthermore, capitalisation, liquidity and world financial crisis determinants have significantly influenced productivity level of Islamic banks.

The study on the productivity of Islamic banking is still in its formative stage. To date, very limited study has been conducted to examine the productivity level in Southeast Asian, which is a strong regional hub for Islamic banking. This study intends to fill the gaps with a specific focus on the productivity level, specifically narrowing down to Southeast Asian countries in the domestic and foreign Islamic banking sector.

The challenges confronting the Nigerian construction industry which led to the adoption of supply chain management (SCM) practice were evaluated in this chapter. It was discovered that the Nigerian construction industry is confronted with fragmentation and poor information management. The stakeholders within the Nigerian construction industry proposed the adoption of SCM to overcome the fragmentation and other shenanigans facing the industry. This chapter revealed that construction supply chain (CSC) practices within the Nigerian construction industry focus on waste elimination by adopting the lean concept. The focus on the lean concept could be attributed to the numerous research related to lean or the enormous waste emanating from the Nigerian construction industry. Regardless of the emphasis on lean, the Nigerian CSC is still confronted with fragmentation and heavy waste generation. Thus, this chapter proposed the adoption of principles and technologies driven by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is a paradigm shift for the management of CSC in the country. It was discovered in this chapter that Nigerian construction supply stakeholders had not embraced the technologies and principles of the 4IR. The failure to adopt the technologies driven by the 4IR is attributed to the absence of a CSC model that depicts the management of CSC in alignment with the 4IR. This chapter called for developing a SCM model for the Nigerian construction industry in tandem with the principles and technologies of the 4IR.

This study aims to examine the impact of country governance and other potential bank-specific characteristics and macroeconomic condition determinants on bank productivity in the period of 2006–2016.

The productivity level of total 167 banks selected from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore are evaluated using the data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index method. A panel regression analysis framework based on ordinary least squares, a fixed effect and a random effect models then are used to identify its main determinants.

The empirical findings indicate that the total factor productivity changes of Islamic banks is higher than conventional banks. The liquidity and global financial crisis influence both banks’ productivity. Bank size, credit risk, market power, management efficiency and inflation merely influence Islamic banks’ productivity. On the country governance dimensions, voice and accountability are found to positively influence both banks’ productivity. Regulatory quality and rule of law (RL) significantly influences the conventional parts. Political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, RL and control of corruption negatively influence the banks’ productivity, but this influence is only significant for the Islamic banks.

Country governance has received surprisingly little attention in the banking industry over the past few decades. Majority of the studies that examine the effect of governance on bank performance have focused more on the micro governance dimension. Thus, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no study has been done to address the effect of country governance on the productivity of the Islamic and conventional banks.