A Critical Review of Educational Psychologist Engagement with the Black Community: A Diverse Group Within a Local United Kingdom Community Context

A diverse group within a community is described as a collective of individuals that are different from others within that same community (Pickup, 2021). Burnham (2012) highlights that these differences may pertain to factors such as gender, identity, class, sexual orientation or ethnicity. This perception of difference can lead to prejudice by the dominant group. The mere threat of deviation from societal norms can result in the marginalisation of diverse groups whereby they are overtly or covertly dispelled to live on the fringes of society (Pickup, 2021). Such groups often experience reduced functioning and disadvantage compared with the rest of the community (Brind et al., 2008). This paper provides a critical review of educational psychologists’ (EPs’) engagement with the Black community within the United Kingdom (UK); a diverse group within a predominantly White local community Educational Psychology Service (EPS) placement context. Relevant literature, insight into the experiences of the Black community and ways to promote group participation in professional practice are underscored. Critical analysis of factors that lead to underachievement, disaffection and exclusion among this group is also examined. A reflective writing style is incorporated throughout as I critically consider placement practice experiences of engagement with the Black community as a Black thirdyear Trainee Educational Psychologist (TEP) at the University of East London at the time of writing

Public willingness to commit time to urban forestry development in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

This study assessed willingness of Lagos metropolitans to commit time and the prospective number of hours to be committed to Urban Forestry Development (UFD) in the metropolis. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey of 900 metropolitans living in three income profiled neighbourhoods using the payment card contingent valuation method. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and Tobit model at p= 0.10. Results show that 48% of the respondents were willing to commit their time to UFD in the metropolis, out of which 13.9% were willing to commit a modal two hours per week (h/w) to the UFD. Moreover, 53.1%, 50.8%, 71.1%, 47.6%, 65.4% respectively of those who love to live or work in green environment, were aware of benefits of trees in urban environment They either belonged to social organizations, owned their residences, or previously participated in community projects and were willing to commit time to the UFD. Twelve of the 32 regressors (constant inclusive) had significant influence on the probability to commit time and the number of hours to commit per week to urban forestry development in Lagos metropolis. To harness the great pool of volunteers for urban forestry development in Lagos metropolis, promoters and protagonists of urban greening in the metropolis will have to put in place an appropriate formal public education programme to enlighten the metropolitans on the benefits of trees in urban environment; bring together social organizations, CBOs, NGOs etc. for the use of educating and eliciting support of the public for UFD among others.Keywords: willingness to commit time, community participation, urban forestr

Investigating the Effect of Aluminum Substitution on the Physical and Chemical Properties of Ferrihydrite

This thesis investigated the impact of aluminum (Al) substitution in ferrihydrite (FH) on both its chemical and physical properties. Al was coprecipitated with FH under controlled hydrolysis conditions to yield various % mol substitutions. Sulfate adsorption was measured across pHs to examine any changes in surface reactivity. The samples’ morphology, specific surface areas (SSAs), crystallinity, and phase transformation upon heating were evaluated and parameterized to allow conclusions on the role of Al on the physical properties. Sulfate sorption diminished across pHs for all Al saturation levels. X-ray Diffraction revealed goethite (GT) presence was negatively influenced by Al. The SSAs of samples increased non-linearly with increasing % mol Al, indicating a decreasing particle size with more Al content. Transmission Electron Microscopy micrographs showed the FH nanoparticles transformed to acicular/blocky laths of GT crystals and lenticular/platy hematite (HM) crystals with occasional grainy appearance at both room temperature and upon active heating. The phase transformation alongside the derived aspect ratios (length/width) of the GT crystals were retarded by the Al substitution

The Mechanism of Activation of Potassium Dependent and Potassium Independent Asparaginases from Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)

L-asparaginases play an important role in nitrogen mobilization in plants. This study investigated the biochemical and biophysical properties of potassium dependent (PvAspG1) and potassium independent (PvAspG-T2) L-asparaginases from P. vulgaris. Previous studies revealed that PvAspG1 requires potassium for catalytic activation and crystal structure analysis suggested that Ser-118 in the activation loop plays a critical role in alkali metal coordination. This amino acid residue is replaced by an isoleucine in PvAspG-T2. Reciprocal mutants of the enzymes were produced and the effect of the amino acid substitution on the kinetic parameters, secondary structure conformation, allosteric effector binding and pH profile were studied. Introduction of the serine residue conferred potassium dependent activity within PvAspG-T2. Potassium elicited a similar conformational change in PvAspG1 and PvAspG-T2-I117S, as determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy. However, no change in conformation was observed for PvAspG-T2 and PvAspG1-S118I. The presence of the serine residue was associated with a narrow pH profile, with a sharp peak in enzyme activity between pH 6.5-7 and pH 8.0, suggesting that potassium influences the ionization of catalytic residues in the active site. Together, these results indicate that Ser-118 of PvAspG1 is essential and sufficient for potassium activation of plant L-asparaginases

Income and Factor Analysis of Watermelon Production in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study examined the income and factor productivity in watermelon production in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 90 respondents for the study. Data were obtained with the aid of a pre tested structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to describe and categorize the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, Gross margin analysis was used to analyze the cost and returns to watermelon production and Cobb Douglas production function was used to evaluate the input factor productivity. Results showed that the farmers are relatively young with average age of 33.16 years with a sizable number of the respondents (33.33%) having passed through tertiary education. It was also observed that the farmers are typically smallholders with average farm size of 1.11ha. The result of the gross margin analysis showed that watermelon production is profitable with a gross margin of N138, 044:22 per hectare. The result of the Cobb Douglas production function shows that the coefficients of cost of fertilizer (0.7081) and cost of agrochemicals (0.5117) were positively significant at 5%, while the coefficient of labour was negative (-0.2041) and significant at 10%. The overall factor productivity index is 1.14 implying an increasing return to scale in water melon production in the study area. However, lack of capital was identified as a major production constraint. Keywords: Income, factor productivity, gross margin, Cobb Douglas function, smallholders and return to scal

Quantification of bacterial shedding from the respiratory tract of health care workers wearing PAPRs and other types of Air-Purifying Respirators on sterile conditions in a simulated Operating Rooms (ORs)

The role of powered air- purifying respirators (PAPRs) in healthcare settings during infectious diseases outbreaks and highly contagious pathogens (e.g., SARS, HINI, Ebola, COVID etc.) has attracted much interest based on the level of respiratory protection they provide and their many positive user features. A common practice among healthcare workers to minimize airborne contaminant exposure has been to use surgical masks or N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). Surgical masks have been shown to offer minimal respiratory protection and while N95 FFRs offer better respiratory protection, they are not comfortable to use for a prolonged period. With current PAPR designs, exhaled air from the wearer is not filtered at all before release to the environment. This design feature suggests a potential for biocontamination when using PAPRs in an operating room sterile field condition. The objective of this research is to evaluate the bacterial shedding from the respiratory tract of healthcare workers while wearing PAPRs and half-mask respirators on sterile conditions in operating rooms (ORs). A randomized, simulated workplace study was conducted to compare the bacterial shedding from respiratory tracts of 9 teams of 2 participants each wearing six different types of respiratory protection devices (RPD), including an FDA approved surgical mask (SM), and five different NIOSH certified respirators. The result showed that the bacterial contamination produced by a pair of subjects wearing the N95 FFR without exhalation valves, the PAPR with APF=25 and the PAPR with APF=1000 was not significantly different than the contamination resulting from wearing the SM. However, the bacterial contamination resulting from using the N95 FFR with exhalation valve and elastomeric half-mask respirator, EHMR with exhalation valve was found to be significantly higher than the bacterial contamination resulting from wearing the SM

Evaluating the recreational value of Agodi Gardens and Park Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to evaluate the recreational value of Agodi garden and park so as to bring its importance to limelight and promote its relevance. Primary data needed for the study were collected through the administration of questionnaires to visitors in the park. Eighty questionnaires were administered to the respondents and seventy eight were used for analysis. Travel cost method and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The result showed the individual consumer surplus to be ₦29.41k and the annual use value to be ₦955,857.50 (Nine hundred and fifty five thousand, eight hundred fifty seven naira fifty kobo); this shows that the Park is undervalued by the visitors. This could be possibly attributed to low patronage and also due to the fact that some of them have other recreational sites which they attach more value to. It also reveals that nature friendly environment is one of the major factors that influenced the respondents visit to the park. . Also the regression analysis showed that only the coefficients of travel cost and household size were statistically significant. Therefore prominent among the factors that influenced visitors’ visits to the Park are travel costs and household size.Keywords: Evaluating, recreational value, green park, garden

Motivation and Employees Performance among Health Workers in Nigeria

This study, motivation and performance of employees in Federal Medical Center Owo, was aimed at assessing motivation and its role on employee performance. Motivation is something that moves the person to actions and continues the cause of action inhaled. Motivation has the role of developing and intensifying the desire of every member of the organization, to work effectively and efficiently in his position.  The sample for this study was fifty employees from this organization. Probably sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents of the questionnaires. The study revealed that indeed there is a relationship between motivation and performance and aside the known fact that money is the key amongst the motivational factors to employees. It was discovered that employees are gradually becoming particular about trust, respect, high expectation, recognition, appreciation, and good working environment. The study also revealed that, management can make use of different strategies and policies to improve motivation that would enhance performance in Federal Medical Center Owo. Employees are interested in better salaries, regular promotion and among other motivational elements sufficient to push employees of the Federal Medical Center Owo, to give their best. Keywords: Motivation, Employees Performance,           Health workers, Nigeri

Evaluation of radar multiple-scattering effects from a GPM perspective. Part I: Model description and validation

A numerical model based on the Monte Carlo solution of the vector radiative transfer equation has been adopted to simulate radar signals. The model accounts for general radar configurations such as airborne/ spaceborne/ground based and monostatic/bistatic and includes the polarization and the antenna pattern as particularly relevant features. Except for contributions from the backscattering enhancement, the model is particularly suitable for evaluating multiple-scattering effects. It has been validated against some analytical methods that provide solutions for the first and second order of scattering of the copolar intensity for pencil-beam/Gaussian antennas in the transmitting/ receiving segment. The model has been applied to evaluate the multiple scattering when penetrating inside a uniform hydrometeor layer. In particular, the impact of the phase function, the range-dependent scattering optical thickness, and the effects of the antenna footprint are considered. © 2006 American Meteorological Society

Mergers and Acquisitions as Survival Strategies in Developing Economies: Evidence from the Nigerian Banking Sector

Essentially, mergers and acquisitions in the Nigerian banking sector are reform strategies recently adopted to reposition the banking sector. These were done to achieve improved financial efficiency, forestall operational hardships and expansion bottlenecks. Nevertheless, a sizeable proportion of the deposit-money banks operating in the country before the introduction of the policy of bank consolidation were classified as unhealthy as a result of a seemingly unending systemic crisis, hence, the necessity for the banks in this category to embrace the option of mergers and acquisitions as a way out of their precarious situation. The objectives of the study therefore, was to establish the motives behind corporate mergers and acquisitions, to examine whether mergers and acquisitions are ways of stemming the tide of persistent distress in the Nigerian banking sector as well as to investigate whether mergers and acquisitions are survival strategies for the banking sector in Nigeria. The method of data analysis included chi-square statistics and t-test statistic. The study found that mergers and acquisitions are options of stemming the tide of persistent distress in the Nigerian banking sector. It also found  mergers and acquisitions as survival strategies in the Nigeria banking sector before and after the consolidation policy. The authors are of the view that both industry and the regulator should be adequately prepared to monitor and sustain mergers and acquisitions activities embarked upon by a sizeable proportion of Nigerian banks that will make some of the banks to survive and eventually lead to the growth of the sector. .            Keywords: Mergers, Acquisitions, Strategies, Survival, Growth, Banking Secto