Attitudinal Changes Using Peer Education Training in the Prevention of HIV/AIDS: A Case Study of Youths in North Central Nigeria

Purpose: HIV/AIDS is a major public health issue. Studies have shown that young people between the ages of 15 to 24 years accounts for more than 40% of new HIV infections. However, new infections could be prevented if the desired impact is made on young people through interventions such as effective peer education program to improve their knowledge, attitude and practice. Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing the impact of peer education vis-a-vis attitudinal changes and practices on issues relating to HIV/AIDS among youths in North central Nigeria. Methods: This classical experimental study was carried out in three stages, that is: pre-intervention, intervention and post-intervention stages among students of Government High School, Ilorin between the ages of 15 and 24 years. The sample size was 80 students each for study and control groups. Proportional gender distribution was ensured in the selection and the sampling technique was multistage sampling technique. Data collection was through semi structured self administered pre and post evaluation questionnaire. Peer education training and forth night mentoring sessions was conducted for the study group. Impact of the intervention was assessed after eight weeks. Results: Analysis of the result shows that out of the sixteen questions asked on respondents‟ attitude, only four showed statistical significance between the study and control group before the intervention which shot up to eleven after intervention. Also, the frequency of those having bad practices regarding prevention of HIV/AIDS also reduced after intervention. This reduction was much more in many instances when compared to the control group. Conclusion: This study has revealed that peer education training among youth can go a long way in educating them on issues relating to HIV/AIDS prevention. It can also bring about attitudinal changes and better practices that may help in reducing incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS in our society

IMPROVEMENT IMPACT RESISTANCE FOR FRONT AUTOMOTIVE BUMPER

Bumpers play an important role in preventing the impact energy from being transferred to the automobile and passengers. Saving the impact energy in the bumper to be released in the environment reduces the damages of the automobile and passengers. Therefore researchers have sought to make bumpers lighter without sacrificing strength, ability to absorb impact, or passenger safety. This study investigates the possibility of adding filling material between the bumper and front car body. The experimental tests were conducted and applied on front bumper of Fiat- Sahin vehicle.The results showed the improvement in bumper impact resistance about 260% when using one layer of honey comb cardboard cell and cardboard sheets as filling materials

Isolation of Fungal Flora in Carpet and Floor Dust Samples As an Indicator of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): A Case Study of a Nigerian Institution

Abstract- Porous surfaces such as carpets have been examined as a possible source for the introduction of indoor particle levels. Indoor airborne mold and/or mycotoxin exposure causes many multi-system adverse human health effects. This study is aimed at isolating and identifying fungal flora in the dust samples of various indoor environments in Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria. Samples were obtained from six (6) carpeted old buildings, two (2) carpeted new buildings, two (2) uncarpeted old building and two (2) uncarpeted new buildings. Samples were inoculated onto Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and identified. Ten (10) fungi species from 12 dust samples involving 12 indoor environments were isolated and identified. Total mean microbial concentration was 1.65x10 3 cfu /g, average concentration 1.37x 10 2 cfu/g and standard deviation of 6.73 x 10 1 cfu/g. The isolates include Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Apsergillu

Some Bounds For The Spectral Radius Of Hadamard Product & Kronecker Product Of Matrices.

The main aim of this study was to discuss some bounds for the Spectral Radius of the Hadamard Product of matrices. This study presents several spectral radius inequalities for sums, product ( hadamard product), and comutators of matrices, and it exposes to some properties of the hadamard product and the relationship between hadamard product and kronecker product for spectral radius of matrix. Applications of these results are also given. Keywords: Spectral Radius, Hadamard product, Kronecker Produc

A SON Solution for Sleeping Cell Detection Using Low-Dimensional Embedding of MDT Measurements

Automatic detection of cells which are in outage has been identified as one of the key use cases for Self Organizing Networks (SON) for emerging and future generations of cellular systems. A special case of cell outage, referred to as Sleeping Cell (SC) remains particularly challenging to detect in state of the art SON because in this case cell goes into outage or may perform poorly without triggering an alarm for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) entity. Consequently, no SON compensation function can be launched unless SC situation is detected via drive tests or through complaints registered by the affected customers. In this paper, we present a novel solution to address this problem that makes use of minimization of drive test (MDT) measurements recently standardized by 3GPP and NGMN. To overcome the processing complexity challenge, the MDT measurements are projected to a low-dimensional space using multidimensional scaling method. Then we apply state of the art k-nearest neighbor and local outlier factor based anomaly detection models together with pre-processed MDT measurements to profile the network behaviour and to detect SC. Our numerical results show that our proposed solution can automate the SC detection process with 93 accuracy

Enhanced production of butyric acid by solid-state fermentation of rice polishings by a mutant strain of Clostridium tyrobutyricum

Purpose: To enhance butyric acid production by solid-state fermentation with a hyper-producing mutant of Clostridium tyrobutyricum generated by random mutagenesis.Methods: Wild type C. tyrobutyricum was mutagenized with UV irradiation, nitrous acid, and ethidium bromide to obtain a hyper-producing strain. Various physiochemical parameters were optimized to increase the butyric acid yield.Results: The UV-induced mutant (C.TUV) produced significantly higher concentrations of butyric acid than the wild type parent, nitrous acid-induced, and ethidium bromide-induced strains. C.TUV increased butyric acid production 1.4-fold more than the parent strain. Fermentation with C.TUV with 2.5 g of rice polishings (w/w), a 2 % inoculum volume (v/v), and a 48-h incubation period at 37°C under anaerobic conditions produced 11.63 mg/100 g of butyric acid. The addition of 0.6 % corn steep liquor as a nitrogen source increased the butyric acid concentration to 26.09 mg/100 g.Conclusion: These optimized fermentation parameters on a small scale can be used on a commercial scale to mass-produce butyric acid.Keywords: Butyric acid, Mutant, Clostridium tyrobutyricum, Mutagen, Solid-state fermentatio

Biotite chemistry and mineral association as an indicator of redox conditions in the iron oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) system : constraints from the Khetri Copper Belt, western India

Authors acknowledge the officials and geologists of Hindusthan Copper Limited for their help during the fieldwork. The analytical expenditure was supported by the financial grant to DCP through “Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE)”-phase-II programme of Jadavpur University (No. DST/SR/PURSE Phase II/6 dated 23.09.2015) by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and to ASB through the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship (Reference No. SPM-09/096(0184)/2013-EMR-I) from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. Robert Dymek and Eileena Das helped us in calculating Fe3+ in biotite. Rupashree Saha is acknowledged for her help during the microscopic study, analysis, and initial Fe3+ calculations.Key constraints related to the nature of alteration and mineralization in geologically complex and economically important iron oxide copper–gold (IOCG) systems remain highly speculative, especially, the physicochemical characteristics of the hydrothermal fluids. This study was conducted on samples from the Khetri Copper Belt (KCB) in western India that hosts several IOCG-type deposits. The study aims to constrain qualitative oxygen fugacity conditions during alteration-mineralization events using biotite and uraninite chemistry. The inferred redox conditions are backed up by the presence or absence of redox-sensitive minerals including magnetite, ilmenite, and graphite. Biotite is present in association with REE ± Th ± U and Cu-Co-U-REE mineralization, which has a genetic connection with IOCG-style K-Fe-Mg alteration. The first type of mineralization is mostly sulfide-free and is characterized by the presence of REE-silicate, REE-phosphate, U-Th-silicate, and U-oxides with minor ilmenite, magnetite, and pyrite. The other type is characterized by the presence of Cu-Co-Fe sulfides, U-oxides, REE-silicates and -phosphates with significant volume of graphite. The Fe3+ in biotite was calculated from electron probe data by two different methods, and U and Th concentrations in uraninite were measured by an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). Stability of redox-sensitive phases (magnetite, ilmenite, and graphite), Fe3+-Fe2+-Mg content of biotite, and U/Th ratio of uraninite collectively suggest redox conditions essentially below the haematite-magnetite buffer often reaching the fayalite-quartz-magnetite buffer. We conclude that the studied alteration-mineralization assemblages represent the deeper and reduced facies of the Khetri IOCG system. We suggest that biotite and uraninite chemistry can be used as an indicator of redox conditions for alteration/mineralization assemblages in IOCG systems where redox-sensitive minerals particularly magnetite is absent.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Absence of mtDNA mutations in leukocytes of CADASIL patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ultrastructural and biochemical abnormalities of mitochondria have been reported in skeletal muscle biopsies of CADASIL patients with mutations in the <it>NOTCH3 </it>nuclear gene. Additionally, it was proposed that <it>NOTCH3 </it>gene mutations may predispose the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to mutations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We sequenced the entire mitochondrial genome in five Arab patients affected by CADASIL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean number of mtDNA sequence variants (synonymous and nonsynonymous) in CADASIL patients was not statistically significantly different from that in controls (<it>p </it>= 0.378). After excluding haplogroup specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and proved silent polymorphisms, no known or novel pathologic mtDNA mutation(s) could be detected in any patient. Additionally, there was no difference in the prevalence of different mitochondrial haplogroups between patients and controls.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study group is too small for any valid conclusion to be made. However, if our observation is confirmed in larger study group, then mtDNA mutations or mitochondrial haplogroups may not be important in the pathogenesis of CADASIL.</p

Impact of Qualification Framework in United Arab Emirates: A case study of Dubai Pharmacy College undergraduate curriculum

Purpose: To examine the impact of applying Qualifications Framework Emirates (QFE) on the undergraduate Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) curriculum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) context.Method: Curriculum developers (faculty and other stakeholders) have selected appropriate teaching, learning and assessment strategies for their course/s according to the level descriptors defined by the QFE. Such level descriptors serve as a common platform to support national and international accreditation requirements. In order to align the BPharm curriculum with QFE, an outcomes-based approach had been adopted.Results: The program benefited in many aspects, particularly, in providing a frame of reference, enabling the offered qualification to be described and compared with similar programs, providing a baseline to compare UAE qualifications with other national and/or international ones, recognising the achievement in learning with different complexity levels. Other benefits include enabling the recognition of prior learning, identifying the learning outcomes needed for new qualifications, facilitating alignment and integration of the quality of educational and experiential outcomes with economic and social development and improving transparency of the individual qualifications through learning outcomes mapping.Conclusion: Application of QFE to BPharm curriculum at Dubai Pharmacy College ensures asystematic approach in designing and implementing the curriculum, and awarding a principalqualification, which in turn are necessary for effective quality assurance.Keywords: Qualifications Framework Emirates (QFE), Pharmacy curriculum, Outcome-based education, Quality assurance, Competencie