INTEGRATING ETHNOMATHEMATICS INTO SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM FOR EFFECTIVE ARTISAN CREATIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT

This study employed a quasi experimental research design to investigate the effects of integrating ethnomathematics into secondary school mathematics curriculum for effective artisan creative skill development in Abia State, Nigeria. This study presented two experimental groups and one control group. Experimental group 1 was taught (raffia weaving) and experimental group 2 (pottery) by integrating ethnomathematics teaching approach into the conventional teaching approach via demonstration and discussion respectively. The control group was taught (traditional building) without integrating ethnomathematics teaching approach. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population for this study was 407 Junior Secondary two students in all the public junior secondary schools in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 117 JS2 students. The instrument used for data collection was Artisan Skill Creativity Ability Test (ASCAT). The instrument was validated and the reliability index for ASCAT was 0.81. Mean, Standard Deviation and Mean Gain were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance was used to test the hypotheses at .05 alpha level. The findings revealed that students taught by integrating ethnomathematics instructional approach via practical had the greatest mean gain in the acquisition of creative skills. There was a significant difference in the creative skills acquired by students for artisan skills development when taught using EIA and CIA. It was recommended among others that mathematics teachers should practically integrate ethnomathematics instructional approach to develop artisan creative skill in students

Physico-chemical Properties of Serendipity Berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii) Fruit

This study evaluates the physico-chemical properties of serendipity berry. Physico-chemical properties of the serendipity berries were analyzed. The total number of berries in a bunch of fruit ranged from 45 to 98. This depends on the size of the bunch. The results revealed the dry matter, moisture, soluble solids and vitamin C to be 19.56%, 80.44%, 11.20% and 12.80mg/100g respectively. Titratable acidity and pH were 0.21 % and 6.6 respectively. The number of berries per bunch ranged from 45-98 and the 10-fruit weight was 5.30g. Total carotenoid value was 2.01 mg/100g in the fruit. The fruits have appreciable amount of total soluble solid which could serve as a source of energy. Serendipity berry fruits compared relatively with other fruits used in the fruit industry.Keywords: Carotenoids, Fruit, Physico-chemical properties, Serendipity berr

Changes in Functional and Pasting Properties of Trifoliate Yam Flour during Storage

This work aimed at determining the changes in functional and pasting properties of trifoliate yam flour during storage. Freshly harvested trifoliate yam tubers were processed into flour and stored in sealed low density polyethylene polyester for four months. Functional and pasting properties of the flour were evaluated monthly. Moisture contents ranged from 7.49 to 15.30 %. Moisture contents increased with month of storage. Bulk density ranged from 0.58 to 0.69 g/cm3, water absorption capacity 1.44 to 1.93 ml H2O/g and swelling index 1.38 to 2.22. The functional properties decreased with length of storage. Flour obtained at the initial period had the least peak viscosity (3180 cP) while the highest value (3338 cP) was at the second month of storage. Storage of trifoliate yam flour improved the holding strength and final viscosities of the flour. Holding strength and final viscosities increased with length of storage. Flour stored at fourth month had higher setback value (1098.5 cP). There were reductions in the pasting time of the flour with storage periods. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in pasting temperatures of the flours. Storage of trifoliate yam flour for three months is advisable due to high moisture contents which may be detrimental to keeping quality of the flour.Keywords: Trifoliate yam flour; storage time; pasting properties; functional properties; environmental conditio

Non-invasive Imaging in Women With Heart Failure — Diagnosis and Insights Into Disease Mechanisms

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarise the role of different imaging techniques for diagnosis and investigation of heart failure in women. RECENT FINDINGS: Although sex differences in heart failure are well recognised, and the scope of imaging techniques is expanding, there are currently no specific guidelines for imaging of heart failure in women. SUMMARY: Diagnosis and stratification of heart failure is generally performed first line using transthoracic echocardiography. Understanding the aetiology of heart failure is central to ongoing management, and with non-ischaemic causes more common in women, a multimodality approach is generally required using advanced imaging techniques including cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear imaging techniques, and cardiac computed tomography. There are specific considerations for imaging in women including radiation risks and challenges during pregnancy, highlighting the clear unmet need for cardiology and imaging societies to provide imaging guidelines specifically for women with heart failure

Comparative Analyses of Circularity Practices in Civil and Construction Engineering Between UK and Nigeria

The circular economy in the civil and construction engineering sectors is gaining momentum globally. The inadequate waste management system, especially in emerging nations, is quite concerning. Various waste sources such as construction and demolition (C&D), industrial wastes as well as agricultural wastes such as cassava peel, rice husk, and coconut fibre have been utilized in developing construction products. This study adopts the UK (United Kingdom) and Nigeria as two cases with critical analyses of the status quo and recommendations for promoting circularity. The existing studies on the circular use of waste construction products were comprehensively reviewed by mapping them against the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). The study addressed three research questions: (1) the existing locally available wastes used in civil and construction industries in the two studied countries, (2) the effects of these wastes on the properties of new construction products, and (3) visions to enhance circular use of wastes on civil and construction engineering practices. It is found that both countries have abundant industrial, agricultural, and demolition wastes that are potential materials for circularity in construction. While the TRL of utilizing these wastes is at an advanced stage in the UK, there is still a need for more concerted efforts to bring those wastes in Nigeria to a higher TRL. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by mapping the three aforementioned questions between the two studied countries, shedding light on continuous work in enhancing circular practices across the global civil and construction sectors

Viability of Recycled Concrete Waste as Construction Material for a Sustainable Environment

A major source of environmental burden in construction industries is concrete waste because its generation and accumulation start from the time fresh concrete are produced on-site or off-site till its hardens. This made concrete the largest portion of solid waste stream by weight in the construction industries. Recycling of these waste materials into new form as well as appropriate reuse could therefore conserve natural resources, reduce the space required for land filling and the cost of transportation. This paper assesses the viability of reusing aggregates obtained from concrete waste collected from four different construction sites by comparing compressive strength of concrete made with the recycled concrete waste aggregate with concrete made with natural fresh aggregate as control specimens using an aggregate size not greater than 25mm. A total of 60 cubes of size 150mm x 150mm were cast and cured for different maturity age of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days before crushing.  Laboratory results revealed that there was little variation in strength as the cubes matures. Average compressive strength of concrete made with recycled concrete waste aggregates obtained from two of the site were 22.8 N/mm2 and 24.3 N/mm2 and these were almost the same with the control test cubes with average compressive strength of 24.4 N/mm2. However, test cubes obtained from the other two sites had concrete strength lower than 20 N/mm2. Hence, concrete produced with recycled concrete waste aggregate though exhibiting lower compressive strength could be used for walkways and kerbs production in road construction, backfilling, and in concrete production for light load bearing structural components so as to achieve a sustainable environment and conserve natural resources

Semi-Parametric Non-Proportional Hazard Model With Time Varying Covariate

The application of survival analysis has extended the importance of statistical methods for time to event data that incorporate time dependent covariates. The Cox proportional hazards model is one such method that is widely used. An extension of the Cox model with time-dependent covariates was adopted when proportionality assumption are violated. The purpose of this study is to validate the model assumption when hazard rate varies with time. This approach is applied to model data on duration of infertility subject to time varying covariate. Validity is assessed by a set of simulation experiments and results indicate that a non proportional hazard model performs well in the phase of violated assumptions of the Cox proportional hazards

Viability of Recycled Concrete Waste as Construction Material for a Sustainable Environment

A major source of environmental burden in construction industries is concrete waste because its generation and accumulation start from the time fresh concrete are produced on-site or off-site till its hardens. This made concrete the largest portion of solid waste stream by weight in the construction industries. Recycling of these waste materials into new form as well as appropriate reuse could therefore conserve natural resources, reduce the space required for land filling and the cost of transportation. This paper assesses the viability of reusing aggregates obtained from concrete waste collected from four different construction sites by comparing compressive strength of concrete made with the recycled concrete waste aggregate with concrete made with natural fresh aggregate as control specimens using an aggregate size not greater than 25mm. A total of 60 cubes of size 150mm x 150mm were cast and cured for different maturity age of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days before crushing.  Laboratory results revealed that there was little variation in strength as the cubes matures. Average compressive strength of concrete made with recycled concrete waste aggregates obtained from two of the site were 22.8 N/mm2 and 24.3 N/mm2 and these were almost the same with the control test cubes with average compressive strength of 24.4 N/mm2. However, test cubes obtained from the other two sites had concrete strength lower than 20 N/mm2. Hence, concrete produced with recycled concrete waste aggregate though exhibiting lower compressive strength could be used for walkways and kerbs production in road construction, backfilling, and in concrete production for light load bearing structural components so as to achieve a sustainable environment and conserve natural resources

Extended Cox Modelling of Survival Data with Guarantee Time

Proportional Hazard regression model for censored survival data often specifies that covariates have a proportional fixed effect on the hazard function of the lifetime distribution of a subject. A modification of the proportional hazards model of Cox (1972) to accommodate the non-proportional effect on hazard with a time-varying covariate and the introduction of guarantee time into the Weibull distributed baseline hazard function. Simulations were conducted to investigate properties of the models. Our approach had shown to have the best asymptotic properties in a simulation study with mean, Absolute Bias (AB) and Mean Square Error (MSE) of the parameter estimates for the models (under different levels of censoring and sample sizes) using simulated data