Assessment of Students Performances in Biology: Implication for Measurements and Evaluation of Learning

Scienceeducation is believed to be a vital tool for individual and societal development at large. The persistent low levels of students' achievement in sciences at the various public examinations in Nigeria have continued to draw the attention of major stakeholders in education. This study examined academic achievement of Senior Secondary School students in biology and gender difference in students' achievement was examined. Ex-post facto design of descriptive research was adopted for the study. A proforma was used to collect data from a sample of two hundred (200) students, selected using stratified random sampling procedure from the Science secondary schools in Kano state Nigeria. The data collected were the students' performances in biology achievement tests. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample t-test. Overall results showed that the test internal consistency reliability is low and unsatisfactory; the students performed below average (M=47.02, SD=16.493 (47%). Similarly, gender difference exists in biology performance with another significant difference between performance of urban and rural school students. The study concludes that, biology test used in Kano state qualifying examinations to assess students potential ability in biology is not a reliable measurement tool and that, academic performance of students in biology is unsatisfactory and evidence of differential performance between gender and schools locations. The implication for measurements and evaluation of learning as well as recommendations has been discussed

Web-based Billing and Collection System for a Municipal Water and Services Unit

Web-Based Billing and Collection System for a Municipal Water and Services Unit is a system that sought to address the problem of a municipal water unit. Using the technology, meter reading will be paperless. It can be accessible through the Internet; end-users and water consumers/customers could connect and performtransactions enabling them to become efficient on their daily tasks whether in the office or at home. The head of the unit can make overall viewing of the status of daily transactions and can be viewed using desktop, laptop computers and android mobile devices connected to the internet. The water consumers/customers mayreceive email and short messaging system showing their current water consumption and water bill. Added/unique features such as graphical chart showing regular water consumptions on the end-users and consumers/customers dashboard as well as on their billing statements are provided. On the level of satisfaction of the respondents on the features of the proposed billing and collection system; result show that efficiencyearned the highest weighted mean (4.43) interpreted as “satisfied”. Functionality posed weighted arithmetic mean (4.33) verbally interpreted as “satisfied”. Portability and reliability followed next. On the level of acceptance of the proposed billing and collection system; respondents’ acceptance according to consumer accounts updating gauged at 4.35 weighted arithmetic mean with verbal interpretation of “acceptable”.Auto-reminding the consumers for bills due for payment posed a 4.37 weighted arithmetic mean and was also “acceptable”. According to billing statement printing and free format report generation, respondents recorded 4.45 weighted arithmetic mean and interpreted as “acceptable”. Keywords: billing system, ewater, municipal water, web-based billing, collection system

Spin-torque resonance due to diffusive dynamics at a surface of topological insulator

We investigate spin-orbit torques on magnetization in an insulating ferromagnetic (FM) layer that is brought into a close proximity to a topological insulator (TI). In addition to the well-known field-like spin-orbit torque, we identify an anisotropic anti-damping-like spin-orbit torque that originates in a diffusive motion of conduction electrons. This diffusive torque is vanishing in the limit of zero momentum (i. e. for spatially homogeneous electric field or current), but may, nevertheless, have a strong effect on spin-torque resonance at finite frequency provided external field is neither parallel nor perpendicular to the TI surface. The required electric field configuration can be created by a grated top gate.Comment: 10 page main text, 3 figure

Animal Identification and Records Monitoring Tool using RFID (AIRMTR)

This study was conducted to design, develop and initially implement the Animal Identification and Records Monitoring Tool using RFID. Specifically, it identified the problems encountered in conducting Manual Tagging for Animal Clinic; the appropriate features of the tool that can be developed to address the problems encountered, and the respondents’ level of acceptance of the user toward the developed tool in termsof functionality, reliability, usability, and performance. The research used the qualitative-quantitative research method that utilized a researcher-made questionnaire and interview questions. The respondents of the studywere one (1) Animal Care Specialist representative, one (1) Pretty Paws representative, five (5) veterinarian representatives and eighty (80) pet owners from different places. The problems encountered in conducting tagging for animal clinic were traditional animal tag may cause death to some animals; animal diseases and injuries by animal tagging; duplication and confusion in using animal tagging; and difficulty in maintainingrecords of vaccination, medication health check-ups using animal tagging. The appropriate features of the tool that can be developed to address the problems encountered were: RFID can make the process of animal tagging faster and easier; and online scheduling and identification of pets in pet clinics are more convenient to use for both pet owners and veterinarians rather than the manual process. The respondents’ ratings for Animal Identification and Record Monitoring Tool using RFID were highly acceptable in terms of functionality (4.62); reliability (4.52); usability (4.68); and performance (4.59). The government agencies may suggest that animals should be tagged using the developed system for monitoring purposes. Further research on Internet controlleddevices may be conducted other than stand-alone offline software programs. This study may also be developed considering the following features: UHF as a tracking device for animals; individual registered users to make page where the client can edit, rate and price; displaying hex value using LCD; access to the shop’s system to bevalidated; contraction number of the project with logo and clinic’s validation. Keywords: Animal Identification, Manual Tagging, RFI

Dynamic simulation of the THAI heavy oil recovery process

Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI) is a variant of conventional In-Situ Combustion (ISC) that uses a horizontal production well to recover mobilised partially upgraded heavy oil. It has a number of advantages over other heavy oil recovery techniques such as high recovery potential. However, existing models are unable to predict the effect of the most important operational parameters, such as fuel availability and produced oxygen concentration, which will give rise to unsafe designs. Therefore, we have developed a new model that accurately predicts dynamic conditions in the reservoir and also is easily scalable to investigate different field scenarios. The model used a three component direct conversion cracking kinetics scheme, which does not depend on the stoichiometry of the products and, thus, reduces the extent of uncertainty in the simulation results as the number of unknowns is reduced. The oil production rate and cumulative oil produced were well predicted, with the latter deviating from the experimental value by only 4%. The improved ability of the model to emulate real process dynamics meant it also accurately predicted when the oxygen was first produced, thereby enabling a more accurate assessment to be made of when it would be safe to shut-in the process, prior to oxygen breakthrough occurring. The increasing trend in produced oxygen concentration following a step change in the injected oxygen rate by 33 % was closely replicated by the model. The new simulations have now elucidated the mechanism of oxygen production during the later stages of the experiment. The model has allowed limits to be placed on the air injection rates that ensure stability of operation. Unlike previous models, the new simulations have provided better quantitative prediction of fuel laydown, which is a key phenomenon that determines whether, or not, successful operation of the THAI process can be achieved. The new model has also shown that, for completely stable operation, the combustion zone must be restricted to the upper portion of the sand pack, which can be achieved by using higher producer back pressure

Selection Rules for One- and Two-Photon Absorption by Excitons in Carbon Nanotubes

Recent optical absorption/emission experiments showed that the lower energy optical transitions in carbon nanotubes are excitonic in nature, as predicted by theory. These experiments were based on the symmetry aspects of free electron-hole states and bound excitonic states. The present work shows, however, that group theory does not predict the selection rules needed to explain the two photon experiments. We obtain the symmetries and selection rules for the optical transitions of excitons in single-wall carbon nanotubes within the approach of the group of the wavevector, thus providing important information for the interpretation of theoretical and experimental optical spectra of these materials.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Muon Collider

Both e+e- and {\mu}+{\mu}- colliders have been proposed as possible candidates for a lepton collider to complement and extend the reach of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The physics program that could be pursued by a new lepton collider (e+e- or {\mu}+{\mu}-) with sufficient luminosity would include understanding the mechanism behind mass generation and electroweak symmetry breaking; searching for, and possibly discovering, supersymmetric particles; and hunting for signs of extra spacetime dimensions and quantum gravity. However, the appropriate energy reach for such a collider is currently unknown, and will only be determined following initial physics results at the LHC. It is entirely possible that such results will indicate that a lepton collider with a collision energy well in excess of 1 TeV will be required to illuminate the physics uncovered at LHC. Such a requirement would require consideration of muons as the lepton of choice for such a collider.Comment: v.2., 6 pp. To appear in the 2nd edition of the book Elementary Particles, Landolt-Boernstein Series published by Springer. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:physics/9901022 by other autho

Optical-phonon resonances with saddle-point excitons in twisted-bilayer graphene

Twisted-bilayer graphene (tBLG) exhibits van Hove singularities in the density of states that can be tuned by changing the twisting angle $\theta$. A $\theta$-defined tBLG has been produced and characterized with optical reflectivity and resonance Raman scattering. The $\theta$-engineered optical response is shown to be consistent with persistent saddle-point excitons. Separate resonances with Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman scattering components can be achieved due to the sharpness of the two-dimensional saddle-point excitons, similar to what has been previously observed for one-dimensional carbon nanotubes. The excitation power dependence for the Stokes and anti-Stokes emissions indicate that the two processes are correlated and that they share the same phonon.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Status of Muon Collider Research and Development and Future Plans

The status of the research on muon colliders is discussed and plans are outlined for future theoretical and experimental studies. Besides continued work on the parameters of a 3-4 and 0.5 TeV center-of-mass (CoM) energy collider, many studies are now concentrating on a machine near 0.1 TeV (CoM) that could be a factory for the s-channel production of Higgs particles. We discuss the research on the various components in such muon colliders, starting from the proton accelerator needed to generate pions from a heavy-Z target and proceeding through the phase rotation and decay ($\pi \to \mu \nu_{\mu}$) channel, muon cooling, acceleration, storage in a collider ring and the collider detector. We also present theoretical and experimental R & D plans for the next several years that should lead to a better understanding of the design and feasibility issues for all of the components. This report is an update of the progress on the R & D since the Feasibility Study of Muon Colliders presented at the Snowmass'96 Workshop [R. B. Palmer, A. Sessler and A. Tollestrup, Proceedings of the 1996 DPF/DPB Summer Study on High-Energy Physics (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, 1997)].Comment: 95 pages, 75 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Special Topics, Accelerators and Beam