Analysis of Verbal Features in Terrorism Reportage of The Punch and The New York Times

AbstractThis paper examines verbal features in terrorism reportage of The Punch and The New York Times with a view to typologising the verbal resources and finding out how they contribute to the overall meaning of the texts. The data for this study consist of forty reportage drawn on equal basis from the websites (www.punchng.com and www.nytimes.com) of The Punch and The New York Times respectively. Data collection was purposively done between 2018 and 2019. The choice of the two newspapers was premised on their global popularity, excellent reports on global terrorism and online accessibility. The theoretical framework rests on Biber et al. (1999)’s classification of semantic domains of verbs. Our analysis reveals that activity, communication  mental, causative, occurrence, existence and aspectual verbs are not evenly distributed in the reportage as activity, communication and aspectual verbs record high occurrence, mental and existence verbs record mid occurrence while causative and occurrence verbs record low occurrence across the newspapers. It is further revealed that activity verbs are deployed to depict different horrific terrorist acts; communication verbs are used to give report about impeding bomb blast; aspectual verbs are utilized to indicate successful terrorist attacks and rescue mission; mental verbs are adopted to reveal speakers’ perception and feelings towards terrorism related issues; causative verbs are used to relate the causes and forces behind attacks; existence verbs are positioned to communicate the presence of terrorism; and occurrence verbs are used to foreground how terrorist attacks take place. The study concludes that verbal features are essential resources that are tactically deployed in terrorism reportage to foreground different shades of meanings that connect with the readers’ emotional orientations

Environmental and Societal Impact of Nanotechnology

The ability to measure, understand, manipulate, organize, engineer and control matter on the nanoscale has been opening up the wealth of possibilities that were otherwise non - existent at higher scales. At this scale, basic research principles and tools in biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering converge and have led to all-inclusive applications of nanotechnology. Despite the innovative applications and promising potentials of nanotechnology, there are concerns about its short and long-lasting impacts on humans, nature and the environment. In an attempt to address these concerns, a number of researches have been conducted. Evaluations of studies addressing the issues of nanotechnologies and their impacts are necessary to give insights for further studies that will advance the technology for the true benefit of mankind and nature. This study, thus, provides a detailed review of studies on nanotechnology applications and the positions of stakeholders on the impact of nanotechnology. Among other things, the outcome of this survey shows that there are numerous successful applications of nanotechnology. Public perceptions are pivotal in determining the extent of revolution and transformation that nanotechnology will have on the environment. Religious beliefs and moral concerns; trust in governmental regulatory agencies and the industry; the level of inclusion of the society in the product design, development, and commercialization process is critical to the extent of acceptance of nanotechnology inventions. Expression of objective views concerning the benefits, limitations & risks, and adequate education of the public, risk regulators & all stakeholders are crucial in determining the fate of nanotechnolog

Experimental dataset investigating the effect of temperature in the presence or absence of catalysts on the pyrolysis of plantain and yam peels for bio-oil production

More than 1.3 billion tons, a third of the total food pro- duced, is wasted annually, and it has been predicted to in- crease in the coming years. Food waste significantly con- tributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting in the release of about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO 2 into the environ- ment yearly. Hence this large amount of wastes, with ad- verse environmental effects, needs to be appropriately man- aged. New technologies such as Anaerobic digestion, fermen- tation, and gasification are being used to produce renewable energy, which in turn reduces the increasing level of food wastes in the environment. Pyrolysis of biomass materials or food wastes produces high-value energy products or bio-oil that can possibly replace non-renewable fossil fuels when it is upgraded. In this study, pyrolysis (thermal treatment in the absence of oxygen) of plantain and yam peels to produce bio-oil, was in- vestigated. The pyrolysis conditions, wide temperature ranges at an interval of 100 °C (200–700 °C), absence of a cata- lyst (AOC), the use of zeolite –Y catalyst using two sepa- rate heterogeneous catalysis procedures were imposed and used to produced bio-oil. In the first procedure, the pyrolysis gases were allowed to rise through a zeolite-Y catalyst bed (HTC). And in the second procedure, the plantain or yam peel feedstock was first mixed uniformly with the zeolite-Y cata- lyst before pyrolysis (HMC). The GC–MS machine was used to analyze or characterize the obtained bio-oil while prox- imate analysis and XRF machine were used to characterize the plantain and yam peels feed. The residue, biochar, from the pyrolysis process, was also characterized using the XRF machine

A two-stage coupling process for the recovery of base oils from used lubricating oils

This study aims to apply a two-stage solvent extraction and adsorption principles for base oil recovery from used lubricating oils (UBO). Methyl-ethyl ketone was utilized as the solvent for extraction and activated carbon (AC) from unripe plantain peels as the adsorbent. The activities of the solvent to oil proportions from 1:1 to 5:1 on lube oil recovery were analyzed in terms viscosity of the oil, total base number (TBN) of lubricating oil, and percent weight of metallic contents removal from used oil. The results confirm that solvent to oil ratio of 3:1 gave excellent efficiencies relating the UBO to a treated base oil (TBO) with the highest removal of contaminants, increased viscosity, high TBN after the two-stage treatments. The results after solvent extraction at varying temperatures of 30, 45, 60 oC showed the TBN increased to 32% (10.21 mgKOH/g from an initial UBO value of 6.90 mgKOH/g) at 60 oC extraction temperature. After the adsorption stage, the removal of metallic contaminants at the 60 oC extractive temperature and AC 15 wt% loading was 91% for calcium and over 91% for zinc. The optimum solvent to oil ratio of 3:1 at 60 °C yielded a base oil with a kinematic viscosity of 90.23 centiStokes, a flashpoint of 203 °C, the density of 0.909 g/ml and sulphur content of 0.64 wt%. This refined base oil obtained had close similarities with fresh Ram SN500 base oil

Overcoming Regulatory Failure in the Design and Implementation of Gas Flaring Policies: The Potential and Promise of an Energy Justice Approach

Gas flaring is a major source of air pollution and a chief contributor to climate change. Addressing the adverse social, environmental, and economic impacts of gas flaring has therefore been identified as a fundamental objective of energy policy in oil- and gas-producing countries across the world. Despite this recognition however, gas flaring remains a significant threat to energy justice worldwide, especially in resource-rich Middle Eastern and African (MEA) countries. In Nigeria, for example, as far back as 1979, the primary legislation fixed 1 January 1984 as the deadline for all energy operators to stop gas flaring. More than three decades later, Nigeria remains one of the highest gas flaring countries on earth, with significant adverse social, environmental, and human rights impacts on local communities. While a number of existing studies have documented the perennial failure of gas flaring regulation and policies in Nigeria and other MEA countries, a detailed examination of the energy justice gaps that limit the design and implementation of gas flaring reduction policies has remained absent. This article fills a gap in this regard. Drawing lessons from Nigeria, this article analyzes the energy justice dimensions of regulatory failure in the design and implementation of gas flaring policies. Various legal and institutional drivers of regulatory failures in gas flaring reduction policies are examined in order to identify the ways in which an energy justice governance framework can help close these gaps. The study suggests that conceptualizing and elaborating the energy justice dimensions of gas flaring in energy policy design, enacting stringent and coherent gas flaring legislation, promoting the transparent reporting and disclosure of statistical data on gas flaring reduction programs, and reforming regulatory institutions to ensure coherent implementation of gas flaring policies are significant steps towards overcoming regulatory failure in the design and implementation of energy policies on gas flaring reduction

Information Technology and Lifestyle: A Systematic Evaluation of Internet and Mobile Interventions for Improving Diet, Physical Activity, Obesity, Tobacco, and Alcohol Use

Background: Novel interventions are needed to improve lifestyle and prevent noncommunicable diseases, the leading cause of death and disability globally. This study aimed to systematically review, synthesize, and grade scientific evidence on effectiveness of novel information and communication technology to reduce noncommunicable disease risk. Methods and Results: We systematically searched PubMed for studies evaluating the effect of Internet, mobile phone, personal sensors, or stand‐alone computer software on diet, physical activity, adiposity, tobacco, or alcohol use. We included all interventional and prospective observational studies conducted among generally healthy adults published between January 1990 and November 2013. American Heart Association criteria were used to evaluate and grade the strength of evidence. From 8654 abstracts, 224 relevant reports were identified. Internet and mobile interventions were most common. Internet interventions improved diet (N=20 studies) (Class IIa A), physical activity (N=33), adiposity (N=35), tobacco (N=22), and excess alcohol (N=47) (Class I A each). Mobile interventions improved physical activity (N=6) and adiposity (N=3) (Class I A each). Evidence limitations included relatively brief durations (generally <6 months, nearly always <1 year), heterogeneity in intervention content and intensity, and limited representation from middle/low‐income countries. Conclusions: Internet and mobile interventions improve important lifestyle behaviors up to 1 year. This systematic review supports the need for long‐term interventions to evaluate sustainability

Kinetic study of activation and deactivation of adsorbed cellulase during enzymatic conversion of alkaline peroxide oxidation-pretreated corn cob to sugar

Please read abstract in the article.https://www.springer.com/journal/11814hj2022Chemical Engineerin

Automated outbreak detection of hospital-associated pathogens: Value to infection prevention programs.

ObjectiveTo assess the utility of an automated, statistically-based outbreak detection system to identify clusters of hospital-acquired microorganisms.DesignMulticenter retrospective cohort study.SettingThe study included 43 hospitals using a common infection prevention surveillance system.MethodsA space-time permutation scan statistic was applied to hospital microbiology, admission, discharge, and transfer data to identify clustering of microorganisms within hospital locations and services. Infection preventionists were asked to rate the importance of each cluster. A convenience sample of 10 hospitals also provided information about clusters previously identified through their usual surveillance methods.ResultsWe identified 230 clusters in 43 hospitals involving Gram-positive and -negative bacteria and fungi. Half of the clusters progressed after initial detection, suggesting that early detection could trigger interventions to curtail further spread. Infection preventionists reported that they would have wanted to be alerted about 81% of these clusters. Factors associated with clusters judged to be moderately or highly concerning included high statistical significance, large size, and clusters involving Clostridioides difficile or multidrug-resistant organisms. Based on comparison data provided by the convenience sample of hospitals, only 9 (18%) of 51 clusters detected by usual surveillance met statistical significance, and of the 70 clusters not previously detected, 58 (83%) involved organisms not routinely targeted by the hospitals' surveillance programs. All infection prevention programs felt that an automated outbreak detection tool would improve their ability to detect outbreaks and streamline their work.ConclusionsAutomated, statistically-based outbreak detection can increase the consistency, scope, and comprehensiveness of detecting hospital-associated transmission