Knowledge, Perception, Utilisation and Attitude Towards Social Media-Based Learning as Predictors of Students’ Academic Achievement in Geography

This study examined the predictive power of knowledge, perception, utilisation, and attitude toward social media-based learning on students’ academic achievement in geography. Adopting a correlational research type and population proportion to size sampling technique, 975 respondents were selected from thirty-nine schools. Assessment of Social Media Knowledge (KR20 = 0.73), Geography Achievement Test (KR20 = 0.82), Social Media Perception (α =0.86), Perceived Social Media Utilisation (α = 0.72), and Social Media Attitude Scales (α = 0.83) were used to collect and analysed by descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Fifty percent (50%) of the respondents use social media-based learning for academic purposes. Positive linear relationship exists between the predictor variables and the criterion variable. The four predictors accounted for 9.9% of the student’s achievement in Geography. Knowledge of social media β = .266; t (617) = 6.936) was most influential, followed by attitude (β = .157; t (617) = 3.031) in predicting students’ achievement in Geography, while perception and utilisation were not statistically significant at 0.05 significant level. Conclusively, students are encouraged to use social media for academic purposes in order to excel in geography and, perhaps, in other subjects

Metagenomic survey of tomato rhizosphere microbiome using the shotgun approach

Food sustainability, e.g., fruit and vegetables, is a major agricultural problem that requires monitoring. Rhizosphere microbiomes’ abundance and functionality are essential in promoting tomato plants’ growth and health. We selected farms in South Africa’s North West Province and present the metagenomes of their tomato rhizospheres and associated functional potentials

The effects of plant health status on the community structure and metabolic pathways of rhizosphere microbial communities associated with solanum lycopersicum

Powdery mildew disease caused by Oidium neolycopersici is one of the major diseases affecting tomato production in South Africa. Interestingly, limited studies exist on how this disease affects the community structure microbial communities associated with tomato plants employing shotgun metagenomics. In this study, we assess how the health status of a tomato plant affects the diversity of the rhizosphere microbial community. We collected soil samples from the rhizosphere of healthy (HR) and diseased (DR; powdery mildew infected) tomatoes, alongside bulk soil (BR), extracted DNA, and did sequencing using shotgun metagenomics. Our results demonstrated that the rhizosphere microbiome alongside some specific functions were abundant in HR followed by DR and bulk soil (BR) in the order HR > DR > BR. We found eighteen (18) bacterial phyla abundant in HR, including Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Aquificae, Bacteroidetes, etc. The dominant fungal phyla include; Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, while the prominent archaeal phyla are Thaumarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, and Euryarchaeota. Three (3) bacteria phyla dominated the DR samples; Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, and Thermotoga. Our result also employed the SEED subsystem and revealed that the metabolic pathways involved were abundant in HR. The α-diversity demonstrates that there is no significant difference among the rhizosphere microbiomes across the sites, while β-diversity demonstrated a significant difference

Global Stability of Generalized Within-host Chikungunya Virus Dynamics Models

This paper proposes two models of a general nonlinear within-host Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) dynamics. The production, incidence, proliferation and removal rates of all compartments are modeled by general nonlinear functions that satisfy a set of reasonable conditions. The second model takes into consideration two forms of infected host cells: (i) latently infected cells which do not produce the CHIKV, (ii) actively infected cells which generate the CHIKV particles. We show that all the solutions of the models are nonnegative and bounded. The global stability of the steady states of the models is proven by applying Lyapunov method and LaSalle’s invariance principle. We perform numerical simulations to complement the obtained theoretical results

Plant health status affects the functional diversity of the rhizosphere microbiome associated with solanum lycopersicum

The microorganisms inhabiting soil perform unique functions in the growth and development of plants. However, little is known about how plant health status affects their potential functions. We examined the functional diversity of the microbiome inhabiting the rhizosphere of powdery mildew diseased and healthy tomato plants alongside the bulk soils in South Africa's Northwest Province employing a shotgun metagenomics approach. We envisaged that the functional categories would be abundant in the healthy rhizosphere (HR) of the tomato plant. We collected soil from the rhizosphere of healthy, powdery mildew diseased tomato plants (DR), and bulk soil (BR). After that, their DNA was extracted. The extracted DNA was subjected to shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our result using the SEED subsystem revealed that a total of fifteen (15) functional categories dominated the healthy rhizosphere, seven (7) functional categories dominated the diseased rhizosphere. At the same time, six (6) functions dominated the bulk soil. Alpha (α) diversity assessment did not reveal a significant difference (p > 0.05) in all the soil samples, but a considerable difference was observed for beta (β) diversity (P = 0.01). The functional categories obtained in this research were highly abundant in HR. Therefore, this study shows that the functions groups of the rhizosphere microbiomes were more abundant in HR samples as compared to others. The high prevalence of functions groups associated with rhizobiomes in the tomato rhizosphere indicates the need for more research to establish the functional genes associated with these rhizosphere microbiomes

PRELIMINARY STUDY ON POTENTIAL EDIBLE COATINGS DERIVED FROM CARBOXYL METHYLCELLULOSE AND FUNGI CULTURED METABOLITES ON THE SHELF-LIFE EXTENSION OF SWEET-ORANGE (CITRUS SINENSIS)

This study focused on assessing the potential of formulated edible coatings derived from a metabolite of Trichoderma viride and Penicillium chrysogenum, combined with carboxyl methylcellulose (CMC) on the postharvest storage quality of orange fruits. The cultured metabolite of fungal bioagents combined with CMC, as well as glycerol (plasticizer), inadequate solution ratio based on wettability, was evaluated for microbiological quality and shelf-life extension of sweet orange. Thereafter, ascorbic acid, total soluble solids, pH, percentage weight loss, among other parameters were assessed for 7 weeks. The results of the study revealed that the pH of CMC + Trichoderma viride and CMC + P. chrysogenum coatings had 3.8 ± 0.02 and 3.17 ± 0.06 respectively, while it was reported 2.90 ± 0.04 for uncoated treatment. Also, the ascorbic acid and total soluble solids of the edible coated oranges were higher than the control. In addition, the percentage of weight loss was higher in the uncoated control compared to the potential edible coated oranges. Further, the microbial load count of the potential edible-coated oranges was less compared to the un-coated oranges. In conclusion, this formulated potential edible coating could be further improved upon and optimized for use in prolonging the storage of sweet oranges

A Simulation Study of Functional Electrical Stimulation for An Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot using Iterative Learning Control (ILC) and Linear models

A proportional iterative learning control (P-ILC) for linear models of an existing hybrid stroke rehabilitation scheme is implemented for elbow extension/flexion during a rehabilitative task. Owing to transient error growth problem of P-ILC, a learning derivative constraint controller was included to ensure that the controlled system does not exceed a predefined velocity limit at every trial. To achieve this, linear transfer function models of the robot end-effector interaction with a stroke subject (plant) and muscle response to stimulation controllers were developed. A straight-line point-point trajectory of 0 - 0.3 m range served as the reference task space trajectory for the plant, feedforward, and feedback stimulation controllers. At each trial, a SAT-based bounded error derivative ILC algorithm served as the learning constraint controller. Three control configurations were developed and simulated. The system performance was evaluated using the root means square error (RMSE) and normalized RMSE. At different ILC gains over 16 iterations, a displacement error of 0.0060 m was obtained when control configurations were combined.Comment: 15 pages, 16 Figure

Improvement in Fluid Loss Control and Viscosity of Water-based drilling Mud under High Temperature and Sodium Chloride Salt Conditions using Nanohydroxyapatite

It is difficult to drill efficiently with bentonite (BN)-based mud (BN-WBM) or water-based muds (WBMs) in high-salt electrolytes and deep wells. This is because the fluid's rheological parameters and filtration properties change in undesirable ways, affecting the well's production efficiency. To fix this, a high-salt and high-temperature-resistant nanohydroxyapatite (nanoHAp) additive was designed using sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). 0.1 to 0.5 wt% nanoHAp was added to WBMs, and a salt-resistant BN-WBM with nanoHAp was formulated with 4.8 wt% BN, 5.0 wt% sodium chloride (NaCl), and 0.5 wt% nanoHAp. At 25, 150, 180, and 210° C, the filtration and rheological characteristics of the drilling muds were evaluated. The findings revealed that between 25 and 210° C, nanoHAp increased the viscosity of the WBM by 15–139% at a 1021 s-1 shear rate. It also controlled the fluid loss of the WBM from 12.1-44.6 mL to 6.7-21.8 mL at all temperatures. It serves as an anti-salt agent by decreasing the NaCl-contaminated BN's viscosity by 57% compared to the reference value of 20.8 mPa. s at a shear rate of 1021 s-1. Further, it reduced the fluid loss by 56.8%, from 169 mL to 73 mL at 210° C. The nanoHAp surface has anionic sulphate head groups of SDS that efficiently attach to the BN surface. This keeps the Na+ ions from attacking the plate-like structure of the BN. This study reveals that nanoHAp has the capacity to inhibit BN coalescence and flocculation under saturated Na+ solutions and at high temperatures

Effect of Nanoparticles in Drilling Fluids on the Transportation of Different Cutting Sizes in a Rotating Horizontal Pipe

: Cutting transport is difficult in horizontal borehole regions due to the limited axial velocity distribution. This causes transported cuttings to gravitate to the bottom, generating cutting beds and leading to drilling mishaps. Water-based mud (WBM) that includes nanoparticles (NPs) to determine the cutting transport ratio (CTR) performance using copper II oxide (CuO), aluminium oxide (Al2O3), magnesium oxide (MgO), and silicon dioxide (SiO2) in a horizontal borehole needs further investigation. These NPs ability to transport 0.80–3.60 mm cutting sizes was tested using concentrations of 1.0 and 2.0 g circulated through a horizontal annulus at 3.5 m/s and 120 rpm. With 2.0 g, MgO lowered the viscosity by 60%, whereas SiO2, CuO, and Al2O3 increased it by 49%, 10%, and 87%, respectively. CuO NP decreased the fluid loss (FLAPI) the best, followed by MgO, SiO2, and Al2O3. The FLAPI of the WBM, which was 9.4 mL, dropped to 4.8, 5.1, 7.4, and 8.2 mL with CuO, MgO, SiO2, and Al2O3 NPs, respectively. The CTR performance of the NPs increased with concentration and decreased with increasing cutting size. CuO, having less viscosity than Al2O3 and SiO2, carried the most cutting at all concentrations and sizes. It increased the CTR by 28.8–31.1%, whereas Al2O3 and SiO2 increased it by 22.7–26.7% and 16.7–22.2%, respectively. The lowest increase was 13.6–17.8% for MgO NP. This study demonstrates the favourable impact of NP concentrations on the performance of drilling fluids while presenting many choices for the selection of NPs