PREDICTION OF CRUDE OIL VISCOSITY USING FEED-FORWARD BACK-PROPAGATION NEURAL NETWORK (FFBPNN)

Crude oil viscosity is an important governing parameter of fluid flow both in the porous media and in pipelines. So, estimating the oil viscosity at various operating conditions with accuracy is of utmost importance to petroleum engineers. Usually, oil viscosity is determined by laboratory measurements at reservoir temperature. However, laboratory experiments are rather expensive and in most cases, the data from such experiments are not reliable. So, petroleum engineers prefer to use published correlations but these correlations are either too simple or too complex and so many of them are region-based not generic. To tackle the above enumerated drawbacks, in this paper, a Feed-Forward Back-Propagation Neural Network (FFBPNN) model has been developed to estimate the crude oil viscosity (μo) of Undersaturated reservoirs in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The newly developed FFBPNN model shows good results compared to the existing empirical correlations. The μo FFBPNN model achieved an average absolute relative error of 0.01998 and the correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.999 compared to the existing empirical correlations. From the performance plots for the FFBPNN model and empirical correlations against their experimental values, the FFBPNN model's performance was excellent

Refocusing Higher Education Research for Sustainable Development

In a world driven by competition in all spheres of life, and in more recent times by competition in development in technology; research has development implications for every nation. The article dealt with refocusing higher education research for sustainable development. It took care of the factors that facilitated the development of research in first and second generation Nigerian Universities, the importance of research to national development and decline of research for sustainable development. The article argues that inorder to cope with global competitiveness acquisition of new knowledge through research is almost inevitable as the advancement of economy is directly linked to the performance of its industries. In conclusion the article recommended among others that a more scientific approach to funding research should be adopted. Instead of a statutory allocation approved by senate, funding should be based on needs and capability to utilize the funds judiciously.

Giant simple hepatic cyst: a case report and review of relevant literature

Background: Giant cysts of the liver are uncommon. Symptoms are related primarily to the mass effect of the enlarging cyst.Objective: To highlight the challenges of management of giant simple hepatic cyst in a resource limited setting.Case report: Presented is a 58-year-old seamstress with a 5-year history of an enlarging abdominal mass with easy satiety. Surgery revealed an exophytic giant simple hepatic cyst arising from liver segment IV that drained 4.6 litres of serous fluid.Conclusion: Simple hepatic cyst can attain giant dimensions and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intra- abdominal masses.Keywords: Laparotomy, giant hepatic cyst, drainage, wide excisio

Awareness and Utilization of e-Learning Resources by Trainee Counsellors of Counselling Education in Calabar, Nigeria

In Nigeria, electronic-learning (e-learning) resources have emerged as a modern tool for enhancing the quality of delivery and acquisition of education content. Yet, hardly has there been any meaningful research report on the application of this innovative and invaluable tool to counselling education service delivery efforts. This study, ‘awareness and utilization of e-learning resources by trainee Counsellors in counselling education in Calabar, Nigeria’ was designed to fill this literature gap. A structured questionnaire with reliability index of 0.83 titled “Awareness and Utilization of E-learning Questionnaire (AUEQ)” was used to collect data from a sample of 300 students and analyzed using t-test statistics. The results of the study indicate that while the awareness of e-learning resources by trainee Counsellors was generally high, their rating in terms of availability, currency, adequacy and quality of these resources within their schools was rather very low. The results also indicated that the extent of utilization of e-learning was also very insignificant. Furthermore, the outcomes of the study show inter-class, inter-school and inter-gender differences with regards to both awareness of availability and utilization of e-learning resources. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Universities and other higher education settings should be equipped with current, functional and adequate e-learning resources for enhanced service delivery. It was also recommended that both counsellor educators and trainees should be systematically trained in appropriate skills required for the use of e-learning facilities. It was further recommended that assurance of constant and adequate power supply should be improved upon to enhance the use of e-learning in our Universities

Self-concept and acceptance of lesbianism tendency among senior secondary school girls in ovwie local government area of delta state, nigeria.

This study stems from the observation that lesbianism is fast creeping into Girls’ secondary schools in Nigeria. Using the ex-post facto research design, the study examined the influence of self-concept (moral and academic) on the acceptance of lesbianism tendency among 218 senior secondary school girls in Ovwie Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State, Nigeria with a population of 2,112 senior secondary school girls. The respondents were randomly selected. The three research hypotheses formulated to guide this study were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The instrument for data collection was the Self-concept and Acceptance of Lesbianism Tendency Questionnaire (SALTQ). The data were analyzed with the population and independent t-tests as the statistical tools. The results showed that the level of lesbianism tendency among senior secondary school girls in the study area was significantly high while a significant influence of moral and academic self-concepts on acceptance of lesbianism tendency was found to exist among the girls. Based on the findings, it was recommended that efforts should be made by the stakeholders of education to reduce the level of lesbianism among the senior secondary school girls by instituting programmes that sensitize them on the need to develop proper self-concept, the word of God and motivational talks can be appropriately used to encourage the development of moral concepts among the students, and self-concept enhancement programmes should be introduced in schools to enhance academic self-concept. &nbsp

Incidence and risk factors for caesarean wound infection in Lagos Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Post caesarean wound infection is not only a leading cause of prolonged hospital stay but a major cause of the widespread aversion to caesarean delivery in developing countries. In order to control and prevent post caesarean wound infection in our environment there is the need to access the relative contribution of each aetiologic factor. Though some studies in our environment have identified factors associated with post caesarean wound infection, none was specifically designed to address these issues prospectively or assess the relative contribution of each of the risk factors.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Prospective multicentre study over a period of 56 months in Lagos Nigeria. All consecutive and consenting women scheduled for caesarean section and meeting the inclusion criteria were enrolled into the study. Cases were all subjects with post caesarean wound infection. Those without wound infection served as controls. Data entry and analysis were performed using EPI-Info programme version 6 and SPSS for windows version 10.0.</p> <p>Eight hundred and seventeen women were enrolled into the study. Seventy six (9.3%) of these cases were complicated with wound infection. The proportion of subjects with body mass index greater than 25 was significantly higher among the subjects with wound infection (51.3%) than in the subjects without wound infection (33.9%) p = 0.011. There were also significantly higher proportions of subjects with prolonged rupture of membrane (p = 0.02), prolonged operation time (p = 0.001), anaemia (p = 0.031) and multiple vaginal examinations during labour (0.021) among the women that had wound infection compared to the women that did not have wound infection. After adjustment for confounders only prolonged rupture of membrane (OR = 4.45), prolonged operation time (OR = 2.87) and body max index > 25 (2.34) retained their association with post caesarean wound infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Effort should be geared towards the prevention of prolonged rupture of fetal membrane and the reduction of prolonged operation time by the use of potent antibiotics, early intervention and use of good surgical technique. In obese women improved surgical technique and use of non absorbable sutures may suffice.</p

Antibiogram of nasal methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from antenatal clinic attendees in a tertiary hospital, South-South Nigeria

The antibiogram of nasal methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from pregnant women attending University of Uyo Teaching Hospital was investigated using standard microbiological procedures. Out of 772 women, 180(23.3%) harboured nasal MRSA while 592 (76.7%) had MSSA (Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus). The highest frequency (33.3%) occured at week 16 while the lowest occured at week 36 of the pregnancy period. Evaluation by logistic regression showed no risk factor involvement for MRSA. The patients were evaluated on their first visit (booking) therefore the MRSA were likely community-acquired. Antibiogram of isolates showed sensitivity mostly to clindamycin (80%), amoxacillin-clavulanic acid (76.7%), ceftriazone (69.4%) and resistance to co-trimoxazole (51.7%). The asymptomatic nasal colonisation of MRSA in pregnant women may therefore be a risk factor for serious systemic infection after delivery

Influence of Long-term Ingestion of Garcinia Kola Seed Diet on Sperm Count, Sperm Motility, and Fertility in the Wistar Rat

The influence of long-term ingestion of Garcinia kola seed on the sperm count, sperm motility, and fertility was investigated in the rat. Twenty adult Wistar rats initially weighing between 150 and 160 g were randomly divided into 2 groups (A and B) of 10 rats each. Group A animals served as control and were fed normal rat feed. Group B rats were fed Garcinia kola seed diet, obtained by mixing 20g of Garcinia kola seed powder and 80g of rat feed (20% w/w). The animals were allowed their respective diets and tap water ad libitum for 8 weeks. The results obtained revealed that there was a significant difference (p&lt; 0.05) between the sperm count (16.42 × 106 ± 5.25 × 106/ml) and sperm motility(8.72 ± 2.33%) of the treatment group (Group B) and the respective values of the control, sperm count (89.38 × 106 ±  3.68 × 106/ml) and sperm motility (75.56  ±  1.23%). The findings suggest that long- term ingestion of Garcinia kola seed diet may cause a significant reduction in sperm count, sperm motility, and ultimately infertility in the male wistar rat. Keywords: Fertility; Sperm Count; Sperm Motility; Garcinia kola; Wistar rat.

Combined Methanolic Leaf Extracts of Vernonia amygdalina and Gongronema latifolium Improves Sperm Parameter Impairment and Testicular Damage in STZ Induced Diabetic Wistar Rats

The effects of  methanolic leaf extracts of Vernonia amygdalina (VA) and Gongronema latifolium (GL) on the histology and DNA of the testes, and the sperm parameters of streptozocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats were investigated in this study. 18 male albino rats which were divided into three groups of six rats each were used for this work: A (Normal control) and B (Diabetic control) received tap water, C received combined extract of VA and GL, (400mg/kg twice daily, 200mg/kg each extract). Groups B &amp;C animals were induced for diabetes by intraperitoneal injection of 45mg/kg of Streptozocin, reconstituted in 0.1M sodium citrate buffer. Following sacrifice, the testes and semen were collected for histopathological studies and semen analysis respectively. The results revealed normal testes with prominent seminiferous tubules, containing germ cells at various stages of development and spermatozoa in group A. In group B, there were signs of degeneration in the seminiferous tubules (STs), destruction of germ cells, spermatozoa and Leydig cells. In group C, the testes showed normal STs with Sertoli cells, Leydig cells, germ cells and spermatozoa, suggestive of a possible regeneration. Feulgen’s reaction showed damage to the DNA of the testes in group B which was almost completely reversed in group C. Semen analysis revealed reduced sperm count, high percentage of abnormal forms and high percentage of spermatozoa with retarded motility in group B compared to group A. In group C, there was marked improvement in all the parameters. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, sperm parameters, testicular damage, Vernonia amygdalina, Gongronema latifoliu