An Approach to Reaeration Coefficient Modeling in Local Surface Water Quality Monitoring

Reaeration coefficient (k2) for River Atuwara, Ogun State, Nigeria was calculated from dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand data collected over period of 3 months covering the two prevailing climatic seasons in the country. Both the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria were used in the selection and analysis of ten models to identify the most suitable reaeration coefficient (k2) model for Atuwara River. Models that passed the confidence limit were subjected to model evaluation using measures of agreement between observed and predicted data such as percent bias, Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, and root mean square observation standard deviation ratio. The used approach yield better results than empirical models developed for local conditions while it is also useful in conserving scarce resources

An Approach to Reaeration Coefficient Modeling in Local Surface Water Quality Monitoring

Reaeration coefficient (k2) for River Atuwara, Ogun State, Nigeria was calculated from dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand data collected over period of 3 months covering the two prevailing climatic seasons in the country. Both the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria were used in the selection and analysis of ten models to identify the most suitable reaeration coefficient (k2) model for Atuwara River. Models that passed the confidence limit were subjected to model evaluation using measures of agreement between observed and predicted data such as percent bias, Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, and root mean square observation standard deviation ratio. The used approach yield better results than empirical models developed for local conditions while it is also useful in conserving scarce resources

Comparative Analysis of Satisfaction with Course of Study among Students of Environmental Faculty/School in Nigerian Universities

This study assessed the variation in the level of course of study satisfaction among the undergraduate students of the Environmental Faculty/School in some selected Nigerian tertiary institutions. The study sourced and utilised data from online survey among the participating students from the various departments under the Faculty of Environmental Technology. Survey questionnaire was designed using the Survey Menu in DATAtab statistical software and shared to students in 25 Federal, State and Private institutions across Nigeria. Responses from 1471 respondents were analysed using frequency and crosstabulations accompanied with Chi-square tests. In performing the Chi-square tests, the contributions of each Department's response were obtained to know which Department contributed most to total Chi-Square value, hence identifying the largest contributor(s) to the differences in the data. More than 80% of the students in Architecture, Building, Estate Management and Quantity Surveying were satisfied with their course, compared to around 70% of students in Urban and Regional Planning as well as Surveying and Geoinformatics. A Chi2 test carried out showed a statistically significant difference in study satisfaction among the students in the six departments (χ² (10) = 47.54, p = 0.000). URP students were the most dissatisfied. Out of the 293 dissatisfied students, 41.3% felt that their course would not provide them with good employment opportunities, while about 29% rated their course inferior to other built environment courses. It is recommended that courses in Environmental Faculty/School should be made more multi-disciplinary and injected with many cross-cutting subjects. Students should be regularly updated about the latest technology in their courses and educated about other consultancy services they can render as graduates of Built Environment.&nbsp

Using machine learning to detect the differential usage of novel gene isoforms

BACKGROUND: Differential isoform usage is an important driver of inter-individual phenotypic diversity and is linked to various diseases and traits. However, accurately detecting the differential usage of different gene transcripts between groups can be difficult, in particular in less well annotated genomes where the spectrum of transcript isoforms is largely unknown. RESULTS: We investigated whether machine learning approaches can detect differential isoform usage based purely on the distribution of reads across a gene region. We illustrate that gradient boosting and elastic net approaches can successfully identify large numbers of genes showing potential differential isoform usage between Europeans and Africans, that are enriched among relevant biological pathways and significantly overlap those identified by previous approaches. We demonstrate that diversity at the 3′ and 5′ ends of genes are primary drivers of these differences between populations. CONCLUSION: Machine learning methods can effectively detect differential isoform usage from read fraction data, and can provide novel insights into the biological differences between groups. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12859-022-04576-3

The Impact of Load Shedding on The Cost of Living: A Zambian Perspective

In this paper, we assess the impact of Zambia Electricity Supply Corporationrsquos (ZESCO) power rationing (load shedding) on the cost of living of the Zambian people. We also assess whether the businesses and households have capacity to resort to alternative sources of energy in the time of crisis. Our results show that, although the rationing does not last for 24 hours in most places, the duration that businesses and households stay out of power is long enough to impact negatively on the livelihoods of the Zambian people and consequently itrsquos Economy. nbs

Artisanal Inland Water Fishing and Challenges of Livelihood Sustainability in Ibi Local Government Area, Taraba State Nigeria

This study examined challenges of livelihood sustainability from artisanal inland water fishing activities in Ibi LGA, Taraba State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted. Purposive sampling was used in selecting 406 respondents from 12 communities in 6 political wards of the LGA. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse 401 questionnaires retrieved. Findings of the study reveal decline in daily fish catch from three baskets 10 years ago to only one basket presently. Also, income from fishing has declined from ₦150,000 ($192) monthly 10 years ago to less than ₦50,000 ($64) presently. Factors responsible for decline in fish catch include rising water level, temperature increase, pollution, climate change, seasonality and unsustainable fishing practices. The unsustainable fishing practices include use of chemicals, small size nets and mosquito nets in fishing. The results reveal that fishermen engaged in non-fishing activities, fish farming and construction of fishing ponds along the floodplain as a way of achieving livelihood sustainability. Challenges of livelihood sustainability include seasonality of fishing activities, decline in fish stocks, use of traditional fishing methods and unsustainable fishing practices among others. The study recommend the need to enforce extant laws on fishery protection,  enlightenment campaign, and government support to fishing cooperatives

Growth techniques used to develop CDS/CDTE thin film solar cells: a review

The method used to grow thin film CdS/CdTe solar cells has been described. Electronic material layers usually grow in three different modes; layer-by-layer growth mode, layer and cluster growth mode (Stransky-Krastanov) and cluster formation growth mode. Techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) called melt growth or Bridgman are well known as high quality semiconductor growth techniques. One of the limitations of these techniques is the inability for manufacturing macro-electronic devices (~area 1m2) such as photovoltaic (PV) panels and large area display devices. To grow large area thin film (semiconductors), growth techniques such as close space sublimation (CSS), electrodeposition (ED), sputtering, spray pyrolysis etcetera have been tested and employed. This paper reviews in depth most of these techniques with more emphasis on the electrodeposition method because of it is simplicity and low cost.Keywords: Growth Techniques, CdS, CdTe, Thin Films, Solar Cells

Development of interconnected silicon micro-evaporators for the on-detector electronics cooling of the future ITS detector in the ALICE experiment at LHC

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.The design of the future High Energy Physics (HEP) particle detectors for the upgrade of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiments at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is pushing technological frontiers to the limit trying to reach unprecedented accuracy in particles identification and particle production dynamics in ultra-relativistic hadron collisions. The thermal management of the on-detector electronics and the development of low mass integrated cooling systems have become a crucial task in the design of silicon tracking detectors for HEP applications. In this paper, we present a novel concept of low mass interconnected silicon microchannel devices for the future Inner Tracking System of the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector at LHC. This innovative design achieves the requirements of the detector while minimizing the total material budget

Analysis of auto-purification response of the Apies River, Gauteng, South Africa, to treated wastewater effluent

The assimilative capacity of water bodies is an important factor in the integrated management of surface water resources. The current study examined the auto-recovery processes of the Apies River from wastewater discharged into it from a municipal wastewater treatment facility, using a series of equations, including the modified Streeter-Phelps equation. Field data obtained include dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, stream velocity, depth, and width. Water samples were also obtained at 10 sampling stations for the determination of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) using standard methods. It was observed that the DO and BOD level (5.59 mg/L and 8.5 mg/L respectively) of the effluent from the wastewater treatment facility indicated better water quality than the Apies River background DO level (5.42 mg/L) and BOD level (13 mg/L). Also, at 270 m downstream of the effluent discharge point, another effluent stream (Skinnerspruit) adversely impacted on the Apies River with DO and BOD levels of 6.5 mg/L and 9.0 mg/L, respectively, compared to the Apies River background values of 6.81 mg/L and 8.0 mg/L, respectively. The stream, however, recovered well from both the background and imposed pollution sources as it had a computed positive auto-recovery factor of 1.74. Furthermore, the measured DO deficit was plotted against predicted DO deficit. The plot revealed a close match between the measured and predicted DO deficit, indicating that the model could be used for predicting DO deficit along other segments of the river. To further improve on the natural auto-recovery processes of the Apies River, it was recommended that flow along the Skinnerspruit should be enhanced by clearing the observed aquatic plants growing within the channel. Also, suspected pollution activities taking place further upstream on the Apies River should be investigated and appropriately addressed

The Correlation Functions and Estimation of Global Solar Radiation Studies Using Sunshine Based Model for Kano, Nigeria

The use of empirical models for the comparative study of the correlation functions for the estimation of global solar radiation in Kano, Nigeria has been carried out. The models used are based on relative sunshine duration alongside the measured global solar radiation data, such as: the linear model..... More details can be found in the full paper