e-Collaboration for Tertiary Education Using Mobile Systems

Electronic collaboration has revolutionized academic activities by enabling academic collaborations through devices such ascomputers and other mobile devices. With this development, learning and academic collaboration can now take place acrosscontinents and different time zones. In electronic collaboration, knowledge sharing is done remotely, in real-time and notlocation-bound. Although several institutions in the developed countries have been using some form of eCollaboration foracademic activities and for improving collaborations among students, much has not been done in this domain in thedeveloping world. Using Java as software technology of choice, we take electronic learning a step further by making itpossible for students to learn and collaborate through mobile phones thus leveraging on the existing mobile diffusion amongstudents in Nigeria. The intention is to contribute to research and development in mobile learning relevant to the growth andquality of education by encouraging group participation among students and fostering joint academic contributions amongthe academia.KEYWORDS: Electronic collaboration, Mobile collaboration software, mobile phone and electronic learning

Analysis of radio frequency spectrum usage using cognitive radio

This paper presents the analysis of radio frequency (RF) spectrum usage using cognitive radio. The aim was to determine the unused spectrum frequency bands for efficiently utilization. A program was written to reuse a range of vacant frequency with different model element working together to produce a spectrum sensing in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The developed Simulink model was interfaced with a register transfer level - software defined radio, which measures the estimated noise power of the received signal over a given time and bandwidth. The threshold estimation performed generates a 1\0 output for decision and prediction. It was observed that some spectrum, identified as vacant frequency, were underutilized in FM station in Benin City. The result showed that when cognitive radio displays “1” output, which is decision H1, the channel is occupied and cannot be used by the cognitive radio for communication. Conversely, when “0” output (decision H0) is displayed, the channel is unoccupied. There is a gradual decrease in the probability of detection (Pd), when the probability of false alarm (Pfa) is increased from 1% to 5%. In the presence of higher Pfa, the Pd of the receiver maintains a high stability. Hence, the analysis finds the spectrum hole and identifies how it can be reuse

Women's role in reproductive health decision making and vulnerability to STD and HIV/AIDS in Ekiti, Nigeria

An exploratory study of women’s role in reproductive decision making in Ekiti shows that women in the state are increasingly taking active decisions on matters affecting their daily lives. More women than ever before believed that they could take decisions on family size, when to have a baby and choice of spacing period. The cultural barrier against short postpartum abstinence appeared to have diminished and sex during lactation was not considered a major cultural and religious taboo. Knowledge of contraception has become universal in recent years, and the majority of women take decisions on the method and timing of family planning. All women who used family planning considered their decision in this regard very important. The ability of women to take decisions on these issues may not only enhance their bargaining power but also reduce their vulnerability to STDs including AIDS from diseased or high-risk partners

Sea urchin diversity and its resources from the Gulf of Mannar

Gulf of Mannar is the richest marine biodiversity hotspot along the Southeast coast of India, encompassing the territorial waters from Dhanushkodi in the north to Kanyakumari in the south. It has a chain of 21 islands, located 2 to 10 km from the mainland along the 140 km stretch between Thoothukudi and Rameswaram. The area of Gulf of Mannar under the Indian EEZ is about 15,000 km2 where commercial fishing takes place only in about 5,500 km2 and that too only up to a depth of 50m. This marine ecosystem holds nearly 117 species of corals, 441 species of fin-fishes, 12 species of sea grasses, 147 species of seaweeds, 641 species of crustaceans, 731 molluscan species (Kumaraguru, 2006). There are around 950 species of sea urchin in class Echinoidea which comes under two subclasses found around the world’s oceans

Public key exponent attacks on multi-prime power modulus using continued fraction expansion method

This paper proposes three public key exponent attacks of breaking the security of the prime power modulus =22 where and are distinct prime numbers of the same bit size. The first approach shows that the RSA prime power modulus =22 for q<<2q using key equation −()=1 where ()= 22(−1)(−1) can be broken by recovering the secret keys  / from the convergents of the continued fraction expansion of e/−23/4 +1/2 . The paper also reports the second and third approaches of factoring multi-prime power moduli =2 2 simultaneously through exploiting generalized system of equations −()=1 and −()=1 respectively. This can be achieved in polynomial time through utilizing Lenstra Lenstra Lovasz (LLL) algorithm and simultaneous Diophantine approximations method for =1,2,…,

Cytotoxicity and antibacterial activity of fruits extracts of Xylopia aethiopica against some selected beta-lactamase producing bacteria

Xylopia aethiopica commonly known as the West African pepper tree is consumed as food condiment and also used traditionally in the treatment of cough, bronchitis, dysentery and female sterility. Air-dried and ground fruits of Xylopia aethiopica were extracted using ethanol and the recovered extract was partitioned to give chloroform, water, methanol and n-hexane fractions. The five extracts were screened for antibacterial activity against strains of β-lactamase producing bacteria: Escherichia coli, Proteus sp., and Klebsiella pneumonia as well as cytotoxicity against brine shrimp larvae. The result of the antibacterial screening showed that all the extracts exhibited selective activity against Proteus sp., the interface-2 demonstrated the highest activity with diameter of zone of inhibition of 14mm at 1000μg/disc. On the other hand, methanolic extract showed high cytotoxic activity in the brine shrimp lethality bioassay with LC50 value of 3.4μg/mland moderate antibacterial activity with diameter of zone of inhibition of 12mm at 1000μg/ml.Keywords: Xylopiaaethiopica; Extracts; antibacterial activity; β-lactamase producing bacteria; cytotoxicity; brine shrimp lethality bioassa

Navigating Fish Food Insecurity by Simultaneous Household and Marketed Surplus-Led Productions in Kogi State of Nigeria

The study determined the factors influencing simultaneously household and marketed surplus-led fish production in Nigeria’s Kogi State using cross-sectional data collected from 105 fish farmers. The sample size was achieved using a multi-stage sampling technique and the collected data were elicited viz. structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedule. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to achieve the conceptualized objectives. Empirical evidence showed that marketed surplus-led fish production was affected by less risky non-farm incomes with high-income turnover and capital paucity. However, marketable surplus-led production was enhanced by enlarged income, readily available demand that matches the supply, and entrepreneurship zeal among the youthful population in the studied area. In view of the foregoing, the research recommends the need to strengthen the value chain of fish marketing so as to contain any challenge viz. market imperfection which in the long run will jeopardize market-orientation of fish farming which is nascent among most of the farmers in the studied area. In addition, there is a need to address gender inequality in order to arrest poverty vulnerability among women folk viz. budget gender mainstreaming so as to achieve growth and development which are pre-requisite for globalization.Keywords: Food security; Marketable surplus; Purpose; Fish farming; Kogi State; Nigeri

Investigation on the Effects of Addition of Binder and Particle Size on the High Calorific Value of Solid Biofuel Briquettes

The effects of biomass particle size and addition of binder on the high calorific values (HCVs) of five (5) selected biomass briquettes is studied. Analyses of the experimental results show that finely grinded particles (about 1.75mm and 2.00mm) had low calorific values as the grinding resulted in a loss of some heat and made the sample vulnerable to air oxidation.Addition of gum Arabic binder greatly inceases the high calorific value of all samples followed by starch and top-glue binder tend to decerease the HCVs for the range of biomass tested in the order 25.3201> 23.2985>20.0023 respectively.Thus indicating gum Arabic and starch improves the caloric value while top glue and polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) decreases the calorific value of the samples. An extensive investigation on the PVC dissolved in Toluene compound(organic) as chemical binder was observed to decrease the calorific values of all the briquette samples except those made of coconut shell and rice husk. Keywords: Biomass, Biofuel, Binder, Briquette, High heating valu

Nexus between Economic Phenomena and Growth Rate of Fishery Sector in Nigeria

Time series data that spanned from 1981-2019 sourced from CBN, FAO, and UNCTAD data banks were used to determine the growth of fishery sector in Nigeria. The obtained data was analyzed using the two-step methodology of Engel and Granger, Granger causality, and the impulse response function. The result showed evidence of co-integration between fishery GDP growth rate and the economic phenomena. Also, the GDP growth rate of the sector is efficient as it established a long-run equilibrium but the slow pace at which it corrects the distortion in its equilibrium makes the state of the efficiency to be a weak one. Furthermore, the fishery’s GDP growth rate is affected by high inflationary trend, red-tapism, and poor credit utilization. Empirical evidences showed that unexpected local shocks on the economic phenomenon will have a transitory effect on FGDP growth rate, thus will die-out over time. It was observed that the effect of the internal mechanism on the growth rate is passive while the external system effect is active on the growth rate. Therefore, the study recommends the need for policy strengthening by the concerned stakeholders viz: tiding of inflationary trend, red-tapism, and ineffective credit utilization, thus enhancing the growth of the sector

Weed anemone menace in marine aquaria and its management

Sea anemones are coming under the Phylum Cnidaria and Class Anthozoa. Like many Cnidarians, sea anemones contain specialized cells, known as cnidocytes or nematocytes, in their body column, oral disc, pharynx, tentacles and mesenterial filaments. Sea anemones of Aiptasia genus are distributed in temperate and tropical oceans attached to any hard substratum. The genus Aiptasia includes 13 species all equipped with 96 tentacles which are filled with nematocysts to sting their prey. The name Aiptasia itself means ‘beautiful’, however in marine aquarium keeping even if few Aiptasia are found in the tank it should not be taken so lightly. A hardy species it can explode in numbers within weeks. Aiptasia is a zooxanthellate anemone and survives well in the illuminated marine aquarium due to the photosynthetic activity of its algal symbiont