Determinants of Attitudes of Oil and Gas Companies to Host Communities: A Social Responsibility Perspective

The study was designed to explore the social responsibility attitudes of oil and gas companies to host communities. It presumed that these determinants fall broadly into endogenous and exogenous factors. Three oil and gas companies were sampled from the twelve listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange for the study. The study found that for Oando Plc., Return on Assets, Earnings size and Debt-Equity ratio were determinants of attitudes of oil and gas companies but not so with MRS Plc. and Seplat Plc. Exogenous factors were found to be largely responsible for the social responsibility attitudes of oil and gas companies towards their communities. Keywords: Oil and Gas Companies, Host Communities, Social Responsibility, Attitude

Shape memory polymer review for flexible artificial intelligence materials of biomedical

The self-healing and biocompatibility of polymer composites for biomedicine have made them a preferred approach for small-scale tissue engineering elements. By moving from static to dynamic pressure, 4D printing simulates the natural physical-mechanical changes of living tissue over time. A promising new platform with excellent controllability actuation is required to enhance the significance of 4D printing for biological applications. This study systematically analyses current 4D printing technologies for the flexible fabrication of artificial intelligence (AIM) materials. In addition, many potential applications of flexible 4D printing in composite biological engineering are thoroughly investigated. We found that knowledge about this new category of flexible AIM composites is relatively limited, and the potential for practical applications has not yet been demonstrated. Finally, we discuss the problems and limitations of flexible 4D printing technology, AIM, and future approaches and applications.</p

A cost-effective scheme developed for studying human malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum

Research in human malaria disease has consistently been hindered in developing countries where this disease is endemic, due to the prohibitive cost of constructing and maintaining currently available experimental mouse models. Our goal, therefore, was to develop a cost-effective mouse model that may be used as research tool for studying human malaria disease. Plasmodium falciparum-infected human blood samples were cultured invitro for 92 hours, and invivo malaria infection was induced by intraperitoneally injecting 0.5ml of the Plasmodium falciparum cultures into experimental mice, which were modified by the application of immunosuppressive and humanization protocols in which aspirin (4mg/kg), doxycycline (4mg/kg), and 0.5ml human blood that retained all of its cellular components (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets) were repeatedly injected via the intraperitoneal route. Data obtained showed that the invitro-cultured Plasmodium falciparum significantly retained its infectivity and immunogenicity, since all the 20 mice inoculated exhibited peripheral blood parasitaemia. Quinine chemotherapy using standard antimalarial drug (73mg quinine/kg), however, induced significant suppression of the peripheral blood parasitaemia in the infected mice. Our results suggest that there is a substantial possibility of inducing and eradicating human malaria disease in our mouse model (humanized non-genetically manipulated mouse model) when used as a substitute for the conventional mouse models (humanized genetically manipulated mouse models). Keywords: Synchronized, Invitro, Invivo, Inocula, Immunosuppressed, Parasitaemia, Intraperitoneal,                Infectivity

Association studies between grain yield and agronomic traits of a MARS maize (Zea mays L.) population under drought and non-stress condition

Open Access JournalThe study aimed at examining the associations between yield and other traits under drought stress and non-stress conditions. A total of 150 MARS testcrosses were evaluated under both conditions at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture substation for two years under during the dry season. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation, multiple stepwise regression and path co-efficient analyses were carried out to examine the relationship among the traits under both environments. Results showed anthesis-silking interval, days to silking, husk cover and plant aspect were significantly associated with yield under drought condition at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Yield was positively correlated with plant and ear height but had a negative correlation with plant and ear aspect at both levels under well-watered condition. Regression analysis showed that ears per plant, plant aspect, ear aspect, days to silking, leaf death and plant height had a direct effect on yield, contributing a total of 71.1 % of observed variation under drought, while ears per plant, ear aspect, plant aspect, days to pollen shed, days to silking and plant height contributed about 31.42 % to yield under well-watered conditions. The study concluded that these traits be used as selection criteria as it will aid improvement of maize yield

Convalescent Serum Therapy as Rapid Advance Treatment for Ebola in West Africa

The 2014 public health crisis in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone has brought Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) to everyone’s attention. Discovered in 1976, this deadly disease infrequently struck in remote areas of Africa. This article will critically review the literature and describe the pathobiology, transmission, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of EVDwhich, was predicted by the Centers for Disease Control to potentially infect 1.4 million persons in Liberia and Sierra Leone by January 2015 (“Questions and Answers”, 2014). Thankfully this worst case scenario did not occur and we may be experiencing natural burn out of the outbreak along with the results of aggressive education and supportive treatment as in Sierra Leone. There is no established treatment for EVD despite successes in non-human models. The WHO endorsed Convalescent Blood Products (“Potential for use of…,” 2014) after it showed promise in Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2014, American Ebola patients recovered after receiving Convalescent Serum Therapy (CST) with experimental therapies like Zmapp, TKM-Ebola, and Brincidofovir. We may have missed the window of opportunity to establish the efficacy of these potential therapies, which may have unprecedented implications for health status, healthcare infrastructure development in the future, and the economic viability of the sub-region for decades to come. Additionally, an endemic area will pose a threat to the rest of the world as a potential incubator/exporter of this dangerous viral illness

Genetic analysis of grain yield and resistance of extra-early-maturing maize inbreds to northern corn leaf blight

Open Access Article; Published online: 11 Feb 2021Maize (Zea mays L.) is a food security crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Incidence of northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), caused by Exserohilum turcicum, in lowlands of SSA during the past decade has caused 30–70% reduction in maize yield. This study (a) examined the combining abilities of extra-early maize (EEM) inbreds and classified them into heterotic groups; (b) elucidated gene action controlling resistance to NCLB; (c) assessed grain yield (GYLD) and yield stability of EEM hybrids underNCLB infection; and (d) identified testers. One hundred and fiftyEEMhybrids, obtained by crossing 15 inbreds each of white- and yellow-endosperm maize using the North Carolina Design II, plus six checks, were evaluated in nine environments, six of which were inoculated with an isolate of E. turcicum and three of which were non-inoculated in 2018 and 2019. The white and yellow inbreds were placed in three heterotic groups using the heterotic grouping based on general combining ability (GCA) of multiple traits and stability of GYLD using the genotype plus genotype × environment (GGE) biplot analysis. The GCA, specific combining ability (SCA) and genotype × environment (G×E) interactions were significant for GYLD, disease severity, and other measured traits. The GCA effects were more important than the SCA effects for GYLD and NCLB severity scores across environments, implying that recurrent selection could facilitate improvement for GYLD and NCLB resistance. Three inbred testers and four single-cross testers were identified for developing high-yielding NCLB-resistant hybrids. Four white and five yellow single-cross hybrids were identified for on-farm testing and possible commercialization

Spouted bed dried Rosmarinus officinalis extract: a novel approach for physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity

In this study, a conical-cylindrical spouted bed dryer with Teflon® beads as spouting material was used for producing powdered rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extract. The influence of the inlet drying gas temperature (Tgi) and the percentage ratio between the feed rate of concentrated liquid extract by the maximum evaporation capacity of the spouted bed (Ws/Wmax) on selected physicochemical properties of the finished products were investigated. Antioxidant properties of the concentrated liquid extract and dried extracts were also evaluated by the 2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH) and lipid peroxidation induced by Fe2+/citrate (LPO) methods; and compared with the values obtained for a lyophilized extract (used as a control). Colloidal silicon dioxide (Tixosil® 333) and maltodextrin (DE 14) at a 2:1 ratio was added to the concentrated extract before drying (4.4% w/w) to improve the drying performance. The drying variables Ws/Wmax and Tgi have statistically significant influence on total polyphenols and total flavonoid contents of the dried powders. The concentrated extract (on dry basisbeing absolute solid content) showed superior antioxidant activity (AA) compared to both the spouted bed dried and the lyophilized extracts; exhibiting IC50 values of 0.96 ± 0.02, 2.16 ± 0.04 and 3.79 ± 0.05 µg mL1 (DPPH method) and 0.22 ± 0.01, 1.31± 0.01 and 2.54 ± 0.02 µg mL1 (LPO method), respectively. These results of AA are comparable to values obtained for quercetin, a flavonoid compound often used as a reference standard due to its potent antioxidant activity; with IC50 of 1.17 µg mL1 (DPPH) and 0.22 µg mL1 (LPO). However, the dried rosemary extracts are about 13.5 times more concentrated than the initial concentrated extract (dry weight), with a concentration of total flavonoids and polyphenols compounds ranging from 4.3 to 12.3 and from 1.2 to 4.7 times higher than the concentrated extract values (wet basis). The AA per dry product mass was thus significantly higher than the values measured for concentrated extractive solution, irrespective of some losses of AA apparently due to the drying process.Foundation of Research Support of the São Paulo State (FAPESP) for the funded projects 2011/10333-1, 2012/03427-2 and 2018/26069-0 and for the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the financial support. E.B.S. acknowledges the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) for the funded projects M-ERA-NET/0004/2015 (PAIRED) and UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cost engineering for manufacturing: current and future research

The article aims to identify the scientific challenges and point out future research directions on Cost Engineering. The research areas covered in this article include Design Cost; Manufacturing Cost; Operating Cost; Life Cycle Cost; Risk and Uncertainty management and Affordability Engineering. Collected information at the Academic Forum on Cost Engineering held at Cranfield University in 2008 and further literature review findings are presented. The forum set the scope of the Cost Engineering research, a brainstorming was held on the forum and literatures were further reviewed to understand the current and future practices in cost engineering. The main benefits of the article include coverage of the current research on cost engineering from different perspectives and the future research areas on Cost Engineering