Comparative Study of the Academic Performances in Biology, Chemistry and Physics of Male and Female Students in a Nigerian Tertiary Institution

The study examines the academic performance of students in Biology, chemistry and physics in relation to their gender effect among the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) students of Federal College of Education, Zaria,Kaduna State, Nigeria. A total of 2,884 students comprising 1,349 males and 1,105 females registered in 2009/2010, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 academic sessions were used for the study. The study adapts an ex-post-facto research design to analyze existing data without any manipulation. The study also used the final cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of students’ examination results in 2011/2011, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 respectively, obtained from the examination officers of each department for the analysis. Descriptive, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between the academic performance of students in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and overall science in the studied period except in Biology 2011/2012 session. There was also no gender disparity in the students’ performance in all the subjects and overall science. It was recommended among others that admission of students into Colleges of Education and other Nigerian tertiary institutions should be done without gender bias. Keywords: Effect, Gender, Academic performance, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, College of Education

Influence of Eu3+ dopant on physical and optical properties of lithium-borosulfophosphate glasses

Multi-components glass host with enhanced physical and optical features are greatly demanding for various photonics and optoelectronics devices. Selection of suitable glass former, modifier, and dopant ions with optimized composition is a key concern in the fabrication of novel optical glass materials for the aforementioned purpose. Thus, this work reports the convectional melt quench synthesis of europium (Eu3+) doped lithiumborosufophosphate glasses with composition 15Li2O-30B2O3-15SO3-(40-)P2O5-Eu2O3 (where = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 in mol%). The effect of P2O5 substitution by Eu2O3 on their physical (density, molar volume, ion concentration, polaron radius, inter-nuclear distance and field strength) and optical properties was examined. The amorphous nature of the samples was confirmed by XRD diffraction pattern. The density of glass samples was slightly increased with increasing concentration of Eu2O3. Such trend is attributed to the higher molecular weight of Eu2O3 (351.926 g/mol) than P2O5 (141.9445 g/mol). The room temperature absorption spectra revealed four weak bands in the UV-Vis range and two strong bands in the NIR range with 1.0 mol% glass sample possessing the highest intensity at 7F0→7F6 (2095 nm). Incorporation of Eu3+ ion significantly enhanced the glass absorbance and the physical properties. The results on high refractive index (~2.3), polarizability and non-linear physical features suggest that these glasses are potential for photonics and solid-state laser applications.Keywords: Borosulfophosphate glasses, Europium ions, physical properties, optical properties and photoluminescenc

Intracranial Mass Lesions in AIDS: a Case Report and Highlight of Diagnostic and Management Problems in Nigeria

Cerebral mass lesions are a prominent complication of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The causes are however varied and provide a diagnostic and management challenge to medical practitioners in the developing world where health facilities are limited. We present a case of seizures, hemiparesis and sphincter incontinence in a Nigerian subject who was on anti-retroviral therapy for acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and who was also on treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. He was however poorly compliant on his treatment. His brain computerised tomography scan showed multiple small contrast-enhancing lesions as well as irregularity of the ventricular walls. Serology was negative for toxoplasma IgM antibodies. We review the major differential diagnoses of brain mass lesions in AIDS and highlighted the diagnostic and management problems in Nigeria as typified by this case. Key Words: HIV, AIDS, Nigerian, Brain, Intracranial mass lesions Nig. Medical Practitioner Vol. 44(5/6) 2003: 100-10

The role of dysprosium ions on the physical and optical properties of lithium-borosulfophosphate glasses

Achieving outstanding physical and optical properties of borosulfophosphate glasses via controlled doping of rare earth ions is the key issue in the fabrication of new and highly-efficient glass material for diverse optical applications. Thus, the effect of replacing P2O5 by Dy2O3 on the physical and optical properties of Dy3+-doped lithium-borosulfophosphate glasses with chemical composition of 15Li2O-30B2O3-15SO3-(40 - x)P2O5-xDy2O3 (where 0.0 mol.% ≤ x ≪ 1.0 mol.%) has been investigated. The glass samples were synthesized from high-purity raw materials via convectional melt-quenching technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), density and UV-vis-NIR absorption measurements. The amorphous nature of the prepared glass samples was confirmed by XRD patterns whereas the EDX spectrum depicts elemental traces of O, C, B, S, P and Dy. The physical parameters such as density, refractive index, molar volume, polaron radius and field strength were found to vary nonlinearly with increasing Dy2O3 concentration. UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra revealed seven absorption bands with most dominant peak at 1269 nm (6H15/2 →6F11/2 +6H9/2). From the optical absorption spectra, the optical bandgap and Urbach's energy have been determined and are related with the structural changes occurring in these glasses with increase in Dy2O3 content. Meanwhile, the bonding parameters (δ) evaluated from the optical absorption spectra were found to be ionic in nature. The superior features exhibited by the current glasses nominate them as potential candidate for nonlinear optical applications

Influence of Eu3+ Dopant on Physical and Optical Properties of Lithium-Borosulfophosphate Glasses

Multi-components glass host with enhanced physical and optical features are greatly demanding for various photonics and optoelectronics devices. Selection of suitable glass former, modifier, and dopant ions with optimized composition is a key concern in the fabrication of novel optical glass materials for the aforementioned purpose. Thus, this work reports the convectional melt quench synthesis of europium (Eu3+) doped lithium-borosufophosphate glasses with composition 15Li2O-30B2O3-15SO3-(40- )P2O5- Eu2O3 (where  0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 in mol%).  The effect of P2O5 substitution by Eu2O3 on their physical (density, molar volume, ion concentration, polaron radius, inter-nuclear distance and field strength) and optical properties was examined. The amorphous nature of the samples was confirmed by XRD diffraction pattern. The density of glass samples was slightly increased with increasing concentration of Eu2O3. Such trend is attributed to the higher molecular weight of Eu2O3 (351.926 g/mol) than P2O5 (141.9445 g/mol). The room temperature absorption spectra revealed four weak bands in the UV-Vis range and two strong bands in the NIR range with 1.0 mol% glass sample possessing the highest intensity at 7F0 7F6 (2095 nm). Incorporation of Eu3+ ion significantly enhanced the glass absorbance and the physical properties. The results on high refractive index ( ), polarizability and non-linear physical features suggest that these glasses are potential for photonics and solid-state laser applications

Analysis of the physical, structural and optical characteristics of Dy3+-doped MgO–SrO–B2O3 glass systems

Numerous studies have shown the interesting properties of trivalent lanthanide ions when doped in different types of glasses. This article examines the physical, structural and optical properties of series of strontium magnesium borate glasses doped with dysprosium ion (Dy3+) and synthesized using the melt-quenching technique. Physical and optical properties such as density, molar volume, ion concentration, molar refractivity, polaron radius, reflection loss, inter-nuclear distance and molar polarizability for each concentration of the dopant were calculated and reported. The results revealed diverse variations in density with other measured parameters. The amorphous behaviour of the glass samples was confirmed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. FTIR spectra measurements revealed the presence of various functional groups and their associated assignments. Optical properties of the activated glass samples with different concentrations of Dy3+ were determined by measuring the absorption and luminescence spectra in the visible region. The UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer analysis indicated the presence of eight inhomogeneous transition bands in various positions and intensities with hypersensitive transition at 1260 nm (6H15/2 → 6F11/2). The experimental oscillator strength (fexp) for each calculated absorption band showed higher magnitudes at hypersensitive transition. The optical energy band gap in the current work showed a decrease in values with increasing ion concentrations. The luminescence spectra of the prepared glass phosphors showed three unique transitions at 4F9/2 → 6H15/2 (490 nm), 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 (585 nm) and 4F9/2 → 6H11/2 (689 nm)