Predictors of Career Adaptability Skill among Higher Education Students in Nigeria

This paper examined predictors of career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. A sample of 603 higher education students randomly selected from six colleges of education in Nigeria participated in this study. A set of self-reported questionnaire was used for data collection, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that 33.3% of career adaptability skill was explained by the model. Four out of the ve predictor variables signi cantly predicted career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. Among the four predictors, career self-e cacy sources was the most statistically signi cant pre-dictor of career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria, followed by personal goal orientation, career future concern, and perceived social support respectively. Vocational identity did not statistically predict career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. The study suggested that similar study should be replicated in other parts of the world in view of the importance of career adaptability skill to the smooth transition of graduates from school to the labor market. The study concluded by requesting stakeholders of higher institutions in Nigeria to provide career exploration database for the students, and encourage career intervention program in order to enhance career adaptability skill among the students

An exploration of confirmatory factor analysis of career adaptability skill among technical and vocational education students in Nigeria

This paper explored confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the measurement scales of vocational identity, career future concern, personal goal orientation, perceived social support, career self-efficacy, in relation to career adaptability skill among technical and vocational education (TVE) students in colleges of education in Nigeria. This enabled the researchers to understand how well the theoretical specifications of these key career-related factors match the reality of actual data of the study. The participants were 603 TVE students selected from six colleges of education in Nigeria. The selected students were from all the three levels of agricultural, business, and technical education programs of the colleges in the second semester of 2014/2015 academic session. A total of 353 were males representing 58.5%, and 250 were females. A set of structured self-reported questionnaire was used for data collection, and CFA aspect of structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. Results indicated that the measurement model fits the data. For absolute fit, the relative chi-square (CMIN/DF) was 1.338, which is 0.90 needed to meet the requirement, for parsimony fit, CFI = 0.960 which is > 0.90, and RMSEA = 0.023 which is .50 showing strong convergent validity. The requirement for discriminant validity was met, and both construct and Cronbach alpha internal consistency reliabilities were > .70.Conclusion was drawn, and a suggestion for further studies covering polytechnics and university students in Nigeria was offered

Energy Management in Public Higher Education Institutions in Ghana

This paper investigates the implementation of energy management key practices in six public higher education institutions in Ghana in order to identify the existence of potential to save energy. Data for this research was obtained through questionnaire based on an energy management assessment measurement tool involving heads of estates/property and maintenance departments of the studied institutions. Total of 45 key practices adapted from previous studies has been used to assess the implementation of energy management in the respective institutions in Ghana. The study revealed that implementation of energy management key practices was generally low across all the phases. Six key practices - informing of the reasons/need for energy management, motivation, conducting economic analyses, tracking and targeting energy usage and key energy use groups, and reviewing building drawings and equipment specification - were not implementad by any institution. The key practices that were implemented quite well in the planning, implementation and monitoring phase respectively were: ‘gaining top management commitment’ and ‘providing sufficient tools’; improving sufficiency of electrical appliances’; and ‘advising on energy matters’. The findings from the study has shown that energy management is an untapped potential to reduce electricity cost in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ghana. Keywords: Energy, energy management; energy management key practices; higher education institutions, Ghana

Phage Lambda CIII: A Protease Inhibitor Regulating the Lysis-Lysogeny Decision

The ATP-dependent protease FtsH (HflB) complexed with HflKC participates in post-translational control of the lysis-lysogeny decision of bacteriophage lambda by rapid degradation of lambda CII. Both phage-encoded proteins, the CII transcription activator and the CIII polypeptide, are required for efficient lysogenic response. The conserved CIII is both an inhibitor and substrate of FtsH. Here we show that the protease inhibitor CIII is present as oligomeric amphipathic α helical structures and functions as a competitive inhibitor of FtsH by preventing binding of the CII substrate. We identified single alanine substitutions in CIII that abolish its activity. We characterize a dominant negative effect of a CIII mutant. Thus, we suggest that CIII oligomrization is required for its function. Real-time analysis of CII activity demonstrates that the effect of CIII is not seen in the absence of either FtsH or HflKC. When CIII is provided ectopically, CII activity increases linearly as a function of the multiplicity of infection, suggesting that CIII enhances CII stability and the lysogenic response. FtsH function is essential for cellular viability as it regulates the balance in the synthesis of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides. Genetic experiments confirmed that the CIII bacteriostatic effects are due to inhibition of FtsH. Thus, the early presence of CIII following infection stimulates the lysogenic response, while its degradation at later times ensures the reactivation of FtsH allowing the growth of the established lysogenic cell

Identification of Novel Inhibitors of Dietary Lipid Absorption Using Zebrafish

Pharmacological inhibition of dietary lipid absorption induces favorable changes in serum lipoprotein levels in patients that are at risk for cardiovascular disease and is considered an adjuvant or alternative treatment with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins). Here we demonstrate the feasibility of identifying novel inhibitors of intestinal lipid absorption using the zebrafish system. A pilot screen of an unbiased chemical library identified novel compounds that inhibited processing of fluorescent lipid analogues in live zebrafish larvae. Secondary assays identified those compounds suitable for testing in mammals and provided insight into mechanism of action, which for several compounds could be distinguished from ezetimibe, a drug used to inhibit cholesterol absorption in humans that broadly inhibited lipid absorption in zebrafish larvae. These findings support the utility of zebrafish screening assays to identify novel compounds that target complex physiological processes

Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight et Arn (Mimosaceae) hydro-alcoholic extract action on the contractility of tracheal smooth muscle isolated from guinea-pig

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Dichrostachys cinerea </it>(L.) Wight et Arn. (Mimosaceae) is largely used in ethno-medically across Africa, and mainly employed for the treatment of asthma in Ivory Coast and Gabon. The paper analyses the relaxation induced by the methanolic extract of <it>D. cinerea </it>(Edici) in the guinea-pig trachea preparations (GPTPs). Purpose: This study aimed to bring out the scientific basis to the use of this plant leading to the validation of this phytomedicine.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The aorta obtained from guinea-pigs was immediately placed in a Mac Ewen solution. Experiments were performed in preparations suspended between two L-shaped stainless steel hooks in a 10 ml organ bath containing Mac Ewen solution. The isometric contractile force of the aorta strips of guinea-pig were recorded by using a strain gauge. The different drugs were directly administered into the organ bath and the magnitude of GPTPs was evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phytochemical analysis of the methanolic extract of Dichrostachys <it>cinerea </it>(Edici) using chemical methods revealed the presence of flavenoids, tannins, sterols, triterpenes and polyphenols. Pharmacological studies performed in GPTPs show that of <it>Dichrostachys cinerea </it>(0.1 mg/ml - 2 mg/ml) evoked a broncho-constriction in GPTPs. Whereas, at concentration up to 2 mg/ml, Edici induced a significant dose-dependent relaxation in the GPTPs. KCl-, ACh- or histamine-evoked contractions of isolated trachea was significantly inhibited by increasing concentrations of Edici (3.5-10 mg/ml). Edici (10 mg/ml) as well as promethazine (0.25 mg/ml) significantly inhibited contractions induced by increasing concentrations of histamine (1×10^-7-1×10^-4mg/ml). In the presence of atropine at a concentration of 10^-6mg/ml, contractile response curve (CRC) evoked by ACh (1×10^-5-1×10^-2mg/ml) was significantly abolished in concentration-dependent manner. Edici did not significantly reduced ACh evoked contraction (10^-5-10^-2mg/ml).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These observations suggest that Edici could act through two mechanisms: firstly by activation of β-adrenergic or histaminergic receptors; and secondly muscarinic receptors may not be greatly involved, that justifying the use of the extract in traditional Medicine in Africa.</p

The practical Pomeron for high energy proton collimation

We present a model which describes proton scattering data from ISR to Tevatron energies, and which can be applied to collimation in high energy accelerators, such as the LHC and FCC. Collimators remove beam halo particles, so that they do not impinge on vulnerable regions of the machine, such as the superconducting magnets and the experimental areas. In simulating the effect of the collimator jaws it is crucial to model the scattering of protons at small momentum transfer t, as these protons can subsequently survive several turns of the ring before being lost. At high energies these soft processes are well described by Pomeron exchange models. We study the behaviour of elastic and single-diffractive dissociation cross sections over a wide range of energy, and show that the model can be used as a global description of the wide variety of high energy elastic and diffractive data presently available. In particular it models low mass diffraction dissociation, where a rich resonance structure is present, and thus predicts the differential and integrated cross sections in the kinematical range appropriate to the LHC. We incorporate the physics of this model into the beam tracking code MERLIN and use it to simulate the resulting loss maps of the beam halo lost in the collimators in the LHC

Large-scale cross-cancer fine-mapping of the 5p15.33 region reveals multiple independent signals

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of cancer risk loci revealing many risk regions shared across multiple cancers. Characterizing the cross-cancer shared genetic basis can increase our understanding of global mechanisms of cancer development. In this study, we collected GWAS summary statistics based on up to 375,468 cancer cases and 530,521 controls for fourteen types of cancer, including breast (overall, estrogen receptor [ER]-positive, and ER-negative), colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, glioma, head/neck, lung, melanoma, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and renal cancer, to characterize the shared genetic basis of cancer risk. We identified thirteen pairs of cancers with statistically significant local genetic correlations across eight distinct genomic regions. Specifically, the 5p15.33 region, harboring the TERT and CLPTM1L genes, showed statistically significant local genetic correlations for multiple cancer pairs. We conducted a cross-cancer fine-mapping of the 5p15.33 region based on eight cancers that showed genome-wide significant associations in this region (ER-negative breast, colorectal, glioma, lung, melanoma, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancer). We used an iterative analysis pipeline implementing a subset-based meta-analysis approach based on cancer-specific conditional analyses and identified ten independent cross-cancer associations within this region. For each signal, we conducted cross-cancer fine-mapping to prioritize the most plausible causal variants. Our findings provide a more in-depth understanding of the shared inherited basis across human cancers and expand our knowledge of the 5p15.33 region in carcinogenesis