A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH IN DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE OF SECOND CYCLE ENGINEERING PROGRAMMES

The rapid growth of engineering education requires the propermaintenance of academic quality in educational institutions in order towithstand competition in the global market. External accreditation andinternal quality assurance are two very important processes that are carriedout in order to maintain the quality of engineering education. Accreditation isa process designed to determine whether or not an educational programmehas met or exceeded the published standards of the accreditation agency,whereas the purpose of internal quality assurance is to develop a qualityculture within an institution, and to implement a strategy for the continuousenhancement of quality. Although several quality assurance standards andguidelines have been established and implemented worldwide throughvarious international, regional and national agencies; relevant literaturesearches show that there is no common agreement or criterion that can beused in the quality assurance of engineering education. In this article, theauthors elaborate on several important issues regarding the accreditation andquality assurance of engineering education. The authors define internalquality assurance of an engineering programme as: enabled by certain qualityenablers, a structured process of quality analysis (benchmarking,monitoring, evaluating, assessing, guaranteeing and improving the quality)of the design, resources, delivery and outcomes of the programme; resultingin defect avoidance, strategic alignment, continuous improvement, andstakeholder trust. A brief outline of a multi-dimensional framework forinternal quality assurance of engineering programmes is provided in thisarticle

Natural Convection in a Square Cavity in the Presence of Heated Plate

Natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity induced by heated plate is studied numerically. Top and bottom of the cavity are adiabatic, the two vertical walls of the cavity have constant temperature lower than the plate’s temperature. The flow is assumed to be two-dimensional. The discretized equations were solved by finite difference method using Alternating Direction Implicit technique and Successive OverRelaxation method. The study was performed for different values of Grashof number ranging from 103 to 105 for different aspect ratios and position of heated plate. Air was chosen as a working fluid (Pr = 0.71). The effect of the position and aspect ratio of heated plate on heat transfer and flow were addressed. With increase of Gr heat transfer rate increased in both vertical and horizontal position of the plate. When aspect ratio of heated thin plate is decreased the heat transfer also decreases. For the vertical situation of thin plate heat transfer becomes more enhanced than for horizontal situation

Corruption and Foreign Aid Nexus in the African Continent: An Empirical Analysis for Nigeria

The huge transfer of resources as foreign aid by various donors since 1960s and the unfortunate prevalence of high level of systemic corruption in Africa with Nigeria-a major culprit, has become a source of concerns in global discourse. Against this background, this study investigates the nature and pattern of causality existing between these important macroeconomic variables in Nigeria. Also, the study examines the relevance of the corruption trap hypothesis. Hence, Autoregressive Distributed-Lag (ARDL) models based on Cointegration and Granger-causality tests were utilized. Evidently, the findings indicate that both short and long-run causality exists between the two variables. Similarly, there is unidirectional causality flowing from corruption to foreign aid. The finding also reveals that neutral causality exists between foreign aid and economic growth, which negates theoretical expectations. Above all, the findings provide evidence that Nigeria is a victim of corruption trap. Hence, this study therefore recommends that Nigerian government should be more proactive on the anti-corruption war and to ensure that revenues from foreign aid are judiciously utilized. Again, there is the urgent need for more fiscal discipline at various levels of government in the country, so as to curtail the high level of fiscal recklessness that are fast becoming the governance culture in Nigeria. Keywords: Corruption, Foreign aid, ARDL, Nigeria, Causality, Economic growth, Africa JEL Code: D73, F35, B41, O40, O5

Effect of Exponentially Variable Viscosity and Permeability on Blasius Flow of Carreau Nano Fluid over an Electromagnetic Plate through a Porous Medium

The present investigation draws scholars' attention to the effect of exponential variable viscosity modeled by Vogel and variable permeability on stagnation point flow of Carreau Nanofluid over an electromagnetic plate through a porous medium. Brownian motion and thermophoretic diffusion mechanism are taken into consideration. An efficient fourth-order RK method along with shooting technique are implemented to obtain the required solution of the non-dimensional modeled equations. The contribution of the present study is that augmented electromagnetic field strength due to the suitable arrangement of the plate and that of porosity parameter yield an accelerated motion while that of viscosity parameter produces retarded motion of shear-thickening fluid, contrary to shear-thinning fluid. At the same time, it discusses the inclusion of porous matrix which controls the thermal as well as concentration boundary layers, while enhanced Brownian motion exhibits diametrically opposite trend for them in response to shear-thickening fluid

Sanguinarine Induces Apoptosis in Papillary Thyroid Cancer Cells via Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species.

Sanguinarine (SNG), a natural compound with an array of pharmacological activities, has promising therapeutic potential against a number of pathological conditions, including malignancies. In the present study, we have investigated the antiproliferative potential of SNG against two well-characterized papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) cell lines, BCPAP and TPC-1. SNG significantly inhibited cell proliferation of PTC cells in a dose and time-dependent manner. Western blot analysis revealed that SNG markedly attenuated deregulated expression of p-STAT3, without affecting total STAT3, and inhibited growth of PTC via activation of apoptotic and autophagy signaling cascade, as SNG treatment of PTC cells led to the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8; cleavage of PARP and activation of autophagy markers. Further, SNG-mediated anticancer effects in PTC cells involved the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an inhibitor of ROS, prevented SNG-mediated antiproliferative, apoptosis and autophagy inducing action. Interestingly, SNG also sensitized PTC cells to chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin, which was inhibited by NAC. Finally, SNG suppressed the growth of PTC thyrospheres and downregulated stemness markers ALDH2 and SOX2. Altogether, the findings of the current study suggest that SNG has anticancer potential against PTC cells as well its derived cancer stem-like cells, most likely via inactivation of STAT3 and its associated signaling molecules

Population Ecology Emergence, Seasonality, and Hybridization of Laricobius nigrinus (Coleoptera: Derodontidae), an Introduced Predator of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), in the Tennessee Appalachians

Abstract From 2010 through 2013, adult emergence and seasonality of Laricobius nigrinus Fender, an introduced predatory species native to western North America, as well as hybridization with the native species Laricobius rubidus (LeConte), were evaluated using emergence traps and beat-sheet sampling in areas of previous release against hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand. The shortest emergence period of adult L. nigrinus was 7 wk beginning 22 October 2010, and the longest emergence was 15 wk beginning 17 October 2012. Native L. rubidus also were collected from emergence traps placed on the ground surface and beat-sheet samples all 3 yr, with emergence of L. rubidus initiating later than L. nigrinus each season. Seasonality of both Laricobius species was similar across a 44-mo study period. Adult L. nigrinus were present from October through April, and larvae of Laricobius spp. were collected from February to May. The average number of L. nigrinus from emergence traps was significantly greater than the average number of beetles collected from beat-sheet samples in 2010, while the converse was observed during 2012. Hybridization between L. nigrinus and L. rubidus was documented from 10.75% of specimens collected during 2010 and 2011, indicating periodic interbreeding between the introduced and native species. These findings suggest emergence trapping may be a useful method to assess establishment, population densities, and seasonality of Laricobius species in areas of release to enhance their use in management of A. tsuage

Adverse clinical sequelae after skin branding: a case series

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Tumor exosome-based nanoparticles are efficient drug carriers for chemotherapy

Developing biomimetic nanoparticles without loss of the integrity of proteins remains a major challenge in cancer chemotherapy. Here, we develop a biocompatible tumor-cell-exocytosed exosome-biomimetic porous silicon nanoparticles (PSiNPs) as drug carrier for targeted cancer chemotherapy. Exosome-sheathed doxorubicin-loaded PSiNPs (DOX@E-PSiNPs), generated by exocytosis of the endocytosed DOX-loaded PSiNPs from tumor cells, exhibit enhanced tumor accumulation, extravasation from blood vessels and penetration into deep tumor parenchyma following intravenous administration. In addition, DOX@E-PSiNPs, regardless of their origin, possess significant cellular uptake and cytotoxicity in both bulk cancer cells and cancer stem cells (CSCs). These properties endow DOX@E-PSiNPs with great in vivo enrichment in total tumor cells and side population cells with features of CSCs, resulting in anticancer activity and CSCs reduction in subcutaneous, orthotopic and metastatic tumor models. These results provide a proof-of-concept for the use of exosome-biomimetic nanoparticles exocytosed from tumor cells as a promising drug carrier for efficient cancer chemotherapy.Peer reviewe