Phytochemical Analysis of Leaf-Extracts from Eight Tropical Trees: Prospects for Environmentally-Friendly Dye Compounds for Smart Windows

The crude extract of eight specimen leaf samples were studied by phytochemical analysis for investigating prospects of the extracts for environmentally-friendly dye compounds that could be useful for smart windows. The phytochemical analysis reveals the presence of phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, anthraquinones, tannins, saponins, thus suggesting presence of compounds that could be useful as dye for smart windows in the chromophore of the plant. As a preliminary test, dye pigment grown on glass from the extracts, using the Solution Growth Technique, exhibited low absorbance and high reflectance at transmittance set at 400 nm when studied using UV/VIS spectroscopy between 190 nm and 1100 nm wavelength i.e. within the visible range of light in the electromagnetic spectrum. These indicated suitability of the leaf-extracts from the studied plants for growing environmentally-friendly dye compounds that could be used for smart windows

Assessment of the Effect of Glycine, Oxalic Acid and Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK) Fertilizer as Nutrient Supplement Using Phosphate and Oxalic Acid as Indices

This study evaluated the release profiles of phosphate and oxalic acid in soils treated with oxalic acid a low molecular weight organic acid and glycine an amino acid compared with NPK fertilizer monitored over a period of 21 days. The soil treated with oxalic acid and glycine released higher phosphate and oxalic acid than that treated with NPK fertilizer. The soil treated with oxalic acid released higher phosphate than that which was treated with glycine while higher oxalic acid was observed in the soil treated with glycine rather than for that treated with oxalic acid. Significant effects were observed between the treatment and the length of time for phosphate release (P<0.05) while for the release of oxalic acid, there was no significant effect between the treatment (P>0.05) but with increase in length of time (P<0.05). This demonstrates the efficient ability of oxalic acid and glycine as substitutes for phosphate fertilizers

Communication Expediency of Secondary School Teachers Lagos State, Nigeria

This study examined the level of expediency with which teacher-student communication is carried out in schools by investigating whether or not teachers apply the appropriate measures in communicating lessons to students in the class; and whether or not students consider their teachers’ communication measures, methods and skills to be appropriate. Educators’ Proficiency Scale (EPS), was used to obtain information from 576 participants (192 teachers; 384 students) drawn from 24 secondary schools in the Lagos State, Nigeria. To analyze the resulting data, means, Univariate Analysis of Variance, which was supplemented with confidence intervals, effect sizes, post hoc tests, figures and tables were applied. The results provided that teachers in Lagos State are adequate in communicating with the students, however, school teachers rated teachers’ communication efficiency lower than the students do though no significant difference existed between their means, F (7, 325) = 1.09, p = .375. The study has exposed many areas that impede efficient communication in the classroom that deserves further thorough investigation and eventual adjustment,; the availability/sufficiency/adequacy of communication facilities in Lagos state secondary school classrooms, particularly, the incorporation of ICT in the teaching–learning activities that take place in the classroom, as well as the complicity of gender, environment and social factor. These are suggested areas for future studies. Key words: Communication expediency, I.C.T., Expressive skills, Non-verbal communication

The synthesis of some organotin (IV) compounds in the melt-phase

Abstract The melt-phase synthesis of dioctyltin (IV) and triphenyltin (IV) benzoates were carried out using stoichiometric amounts of benzoic acids and the corresponding organotin (IV) compounds. The reagents were ground together in a mortar and fed into a boiling glass tube. A cannula tube was inserted into the boiling tube to discharge accumulated gaseous products. A syringe ensured a continuous flow of dry Nitrogen gas in the reaction vessel. The compounds are known using wet Chemistry. Their syntheses via the melt-phase were in good yields. The physical properties corresponded to those of the similar compounds prepared by wet chemistry. The IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR data indicate that coordination to the tin atom is via carboxylate group

Water-based synthesis and nitrate release properties of a ZrIV-based metal–organic framework derived from L-aspartic acid

We report the synthesis and characterisation of a cationic metal–organic framework (MOF) based on ZrIV and L-aspartate and containing nitrate as an extra framework counter anion, named MIP-202-NO3. The ion exchange properties of MIP-202-NO3 were preliminarily investigated to evaluate its potential as a platform for controlled release of nitrate, finding that it readily releases nitrate in aqueous solution

Environmental Applications of Metal−Organic Frameworks and Derivatives: Recent Advances and Challenges

The consequence of environmental pollution has raised the dire need for the discovery of efficient and potent methods for detection and removal of pollutants released into air and water bodies. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous coordination polymers having intriguing features such as large surface areas, tailorable pore size and highly dense active sites reported for various environmental applications. Recent developments have focused on the modification of MOF structures, development of MOF-based materials including functionalized MOFs, MOF composites/hybrids and MOF derivatives. These modifications confer new and desirable properties over pristine MOFs and consequently lead to enhanced efficiency for pollutant sensing and adsorption applications. This chapter focuses on the recent developments and challenges in the use of MOF-based materials for sensing and adsorption of pollutants from air and water in the past seven years. Some challenges and future prospects are also discussed. In spite of the challenges encountered with the use of MOF-based materials for detection and removal of gaseous and water pollutants, they remain valuable materials for environmental applications

MATHEMATICA COMPUTER PROGRAMMING CODES OF EXPONENTIALLY FITTTED CONCURRENT MILNE'S DEVICE FOR SOLVING SPECIAL PROBLEMS

Over the years, scientific computing has contributed immensely to computational mathematics. Mathematica computer programming codes is known to provide easy computation and quick results. This research article is specifically built to generate Mathematica computer programming codes of exponentially fitted concurrent Milne’s device (EFCMD) for solving special problems. Exponentially fitted concurrent Miln device is formulated via collocation/interpolation with power series as the approximate solution. Analyzing the EFCMD will produce the main local truncation error (MLTE) after showing the order, thereby bringing forth the bounds of convergence. Numerical results display that EFCMD do better than existing methods in terms of the maximum errors in the least studied bound of convergence as a result of varying/designing a suitable pace size, ascertain bound of convergence and error control

Parallel Solver for Oscillatory Stiff Systems of ODEs

The aim of this study will be to design Parallel solver (PS) for oscillatory stiff systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). PS will be constructed via a type of specially transformed exponentially fitted multinomial approximant in accordance with the behaviour of the solution. The method of interpolation and collocation will be utilized. The principal local truncation errors of PS will be used to derive a suitable step size and decide the error tolerance criteria for establishing the convergence of PS. Some examples of stiff ODEs will be examined and compared with existing methods to show case the efficiency and accuracy of the scheme. Parallel solver will be seen as a unique model for solving stiff ODEs without dependent on absolute stability as required b

Water-based synthesis and nitrate release properties of a ZrIV-based metal-organic framework derived from L-aspartic acid

We report the synthesis and characterisation of a cationic metal-organic framework (MOF) based on ZrIV and L-aspartate and containing nitrate as extraframework counteranion, named MIP-202-NO3. The ion exchange properties of MIP-202-NO3 were preliminarily investigated to evaluate its potential as a platform for controlled release of nitrate, finding that it readily releases nitrate in aqueous solution

Surface Separation Equilibria and Dynamics of Cationic Dye Loaded Onto Citric Acid and Sodium Hydroxide Treated Eggshells

This research enthusiastically highlights the bio-adsorption of methylene blue (MB) by local, poultry, NaOH and citric acid modified ubiquitous eggshell (LES, NLES, CLES, PES, NPES and CPES) adsorbents. The microstructures of these adsorbents indicated that they had some surface functional moieties that were responsible for the adsorption of MB. The Langmuir isotherm and PSO model best fit the experiment data. The largest Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity qmax, was 242.47mg/g, with the largest MB initial concentration of 400mg/L. This was a clear indication and a confirmation that MB adsorption by the powdered eggshells was chemisorptive. Moreover, the values of F $F$, the thickness of the boundary layer/film were \u3e0, showing that the rate limiting step for the adsorption process was controlled by more than one diffusion mechanism. The values of ΔG° for the adsorption of MB by the adsorbents indicated that the adsorption reactions were all non-feasible and non-spontaneous. The values for ΔS° (J/K/mol) for LES, NLES and CPES for the uptake of MB showed decrease in the chaos or degree of randomness of the adsorption reactions, and the reverse was the case for PES, NPES and CLES for the uptake of MB, which showed increase in the chaos or degree of randomness of the adsorption. The adsorption of MB by LES, NLES and CPES gave ΔH°(kJ/mol) values which were indicative of endothermic nature of the adsorption systems, and the reverse was the case for the uptake of MB by PES, NPES and CLES, which was indicative of the exothermic nature of the adsorption systems