Magnetic susceptibility mapping of Point Pelee National Park beaches.

In the preliminary studies, the western and the Eastern shores of Point Pelee National Park (PPNP) showed a distinct spatial variation in their sediment magnetic properties (magnetic susceptibility). In order to determine the degree of spatial variability of field magnetic susceptibility and potential causes, the magnetic susceptibility of the beach sands were mapped in transects perpendicular to the shoreline of Lake Erie with a Bartington susceptibility meter. The West beaches showed no significant variation in susceptibility measurements, the East beaches showed highly variable susceptibility values which tended to increase towards the vegetation line. The East beaches magnetic susceptibility varied from 68*10-6 to 9000*10-6 (SI units), the West beaches were in the low range of 14*10-6 to 243.5*10-6. Magnetic susceptibility values were analysed and displayed with ARCGIS. Mineral magnetic analysis (anhysteretic remanence and saturation isothermal remanence measurements as well as temperature dependence of susceptibility measurements) indicated that the primary magnetic mineral throughout the Point Pelee beaches is pseudo single domain to single domain magnetite. Some variation in composition is apparent. Similar compositions and grainsize were observed to the north east of PPNP, on the Rondeau Provincial Park beaches and Wheatley beaches, suggesting either the same source or a similar sediment source. The temporal variations in susceptibility distribution, as well as high surface magnetic susceptibility due to the presence of magnetite-rich lamina suggest that sediment sorting and other beach processes is likely to cause the high magnetite concentration on the East beaches.Dept. of Earth Sciences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .I33. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1312. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

Transmembrane ion and water transports in erythrocyte volume homeostasis: an overview of the physiologic processes

Background: The intraerythrocytic concentrations of ions (Na , K , Cl and HCO ) play key roles in maintaining erythrocyte volume homeostasis. Anisosmotic and isosomotic changes of these ion concentrations challenge erythrocyte volume to either shrink or swell, thereby sending signals to activate regulatory volume mechanisms that are mediated by ion transporters. Ion fluxes directed inwardly or outwardly with obliged water movements do restore the erythrocyte volume to its steady state. These physiological phenomena prevent the erythrocyte from becoming overhydrated or dehydrated with the consequence of intravascular haemolysis or senescent changes associated with eryptosis. Objectives: To review the literature on the physiological processes associated with transmembrane ion and water transports during erythrocyte volume homeostasis. Method: Offline and online libraries were searched with indexing tools using keywords derived from the subject area of review. Conclusions: The review has highlighted the physiological concepts involved in erythrocyte volume homeostasis in relation to the engaged transmembrane ion and water transport systems, which can influence experimental designs to study ion and water channel blockers and channelopathies of erythrocytes

Optimization of the Adsorptive Dehydration of Ethanol –Water System

This work has explored the use of enzyme modified corn starch for the dehydration of ethanol – water mixtures. The X - RD analysis revealed that the enzyme modified corn starch is amorphous in nature while the Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed that the enzyme modified corn starch particles are spherical and irregular in shape with the existence of pores in the starch molecule. Optimization and modelling of the process variables was carried out using the RSM (BBD) design of experiment. The optimum process variables obtained were 2.75mm, 61.69min, and 49.99oC for particle size, time, and temperature respectively at an initial concentration of 90wt% with predicted value of 95.4065wt%. The model was validated at the optimum conditions which gave an experimental value of 95.00wt% ethanol concentration. The experimentally result obtained is 99.574% close to the result obtained from the predicted optimum value. Keywords: Response surface methodology, Enzyme Modified Corn starch, X – RD, SEM, Optimization, Ethanol – water mixtures, Box – Behnken design

International institute of tropical agriculture plantain and banana programme: An insight into the contributions of farmer-to- farmer extension paradigm

Dissemination of research results by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) had been a major challenge to the Institute as inappropriate dissemination mechanism was revealed as a majorconstraint to her earlier efforts in disseminating cooking banana technologies between 1990 and 1994. A public-private technology delivery approach (research-farmer-to-farmer extension approach), which allows farmers to play the major role in dissemination of IITA plantain and banana based technologies was undertaken in three states of Nigeria. This study provides an insight into the contributions of thisparadigm shift. The results show that farmer-to-farmer dissemination accounted for 26.6% awareness and 35.7% source of solutions to problems encountered in technology adoption at no direct cost toresearch and extension. Average plantain and banana hybrid adoption in the three states was 50.7%. Correlation analysis revealed that household size, ever questioned about plantain production problems,frequency of extension visits and trial experience had significant relationships with adoption. The regression analysis indicated that trial experience was the only variable with predictive value for plantain and banana hybrids adoption (R = 0.21). We concluded that free flow of information among all stakeholders is the panacea for sustained adoption and diffusion of the IITA plantain and banana basedinnovations

Decision Support System for Final Year Project Management

Abstract— In a university system, the final year project is a synthesis of all the knowledge the students have acquired throughout the different years of their stay in the university. This knowledge must be used to solve a specific problem. Finding and selecting the appropriate project topic and supervisor to supervise the students, presently is in most cases very subjective. This paper presents a web based decision support system that automates efficiently the management of final year projects. The main contribution of the research is to recommend project supervisors and project topic based Naïve Bayes prediction. The decision support framework is web based, developed using JSP (Java-Server Pages), which integrates machine-learning algorithms to allocate final year projects and supervisor. The developed system has been able to provide a platform that maximizes the potentials of students and faculties particularly to solve industry and community related problems. This research has provided a platform to improve the quality of final year research project in the higher institutions of learning. It has also provided a rich platform for available project prototypes and help to eliminate the problems peculiar to lack of automation in final year project management and decision making

Environmental Literacy Assessment: Exploring the Potential for the Assessment of Environmental Education/Programs in Ontario Schools

Abstract Environmental education (EE

Antimicrobial activities and the Bactericidal Kinetics of Allium ascalonicum Linn. (Whole plant) against standard and clinical strains of Helicobacter pylori: Support for Ethnomedical Use

Helicobacter pylori are the causative agents of gastroduodenal disorders, such as peptic ulcer, acute gastritis and even stomach cancer. It is believed to infect over half the world’s population. Recently, there have been cases of chemotherapy – failures and emergence of resistant strains. This necessitated the search for more active drugs. Crude n-hexane and methanol extracts were used to screen Helicobacter pylori ATCC 43504 and forty-two other clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori, using the agar diffusion method in Mueller-Hinton agar supplemented with 5% defibrinated horse blood. The strains were incubated in a microaerophilic incubator, and it was observed that the standard strain and twenty-eight out of the forty-two clinical strains were susceptible to the methanol extract with the diameter of zone of inhibition ranging from 10 + 0.00 to 20 + 0.00 mm at test concentrations of 100 mg/mL to 200 mg/mL. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of susceptible strains ranged between 100 mg/mL to 200 mg/mL. The kill kinetics showed that at 4×MIC, equivalent to the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), the methanol extract of Allium ascalonicum gave 96-98% and 100% kill of the organisms within the contact time of 6 and 24 hours respectively. The n-hexane fraction did not show any inhibitory potential against any of the strains. Phytochemical screening of the extract showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, essential oil and cardiac glycosides. Anthraquinones, tannins and terpenoids were not detected. The presence of these secondary metabolites and the observed activity of Allium ascalonicum provide a scientific rationale for the use of this plant in folk medicine in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Keywords: Allium ascalonicum, Helicobacter pylori, antimicrobial activities, bactericidal kinetic

“I failed because I was Playing Videogames”: An Examination of Undergraduate Males Videogame Addiction and Academic Performance

Many factors affect the academic performance of undergraduate students. Playing videogames among male student’s vis-àvis their academic performance was assessed in this study. This study employed two hundred and fifty male undergraduate students (250) aged between 15 and 23 (M =17.44, SD=1.37), selected from a Nigerian private University. Academic performance was assessed using Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) collapsed into three groups (viz: 1= 1.25 to 3.49, 2 = 3.50 to 4.49 and 3 = 4.50 to 5.00). Pathological playing of videogames was assessed using the Problem Video Game Playing questionnaire (PVP). A statistical significant difference at the p < .05 level was observed F (2, 250) = 5.15, p = .01. The small effect size of 0.04 was obtained using the partial eta squared. A Post-hoc comparison using Tukey HSD test indicated that group 1 differed significantly in their mean scores from group 2 and 3. Further analysis with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient showed r = -.262, n = 250, p <.000 and r = .261, n = 250, p <.000 for CGPA and self-reported grades respectively. It was concluded that videogame addiction has a significant effect on the academic performance of male undergraduate students

Response Surface Optimization of a Plastic Powder Processing Machine using Desirability Function Approach

Optimal performance and operational parameters of a plastic powder processing machine used for converting used PET bottles into powdered form was assessed in this study. The geometrical (operational) parameters investigated include: speed of hammermill shaft, number of blades on the hammermill, length of hammermill blade and intrinsic viscosity of the PET processed while grain size produced, throughput and conversion efficiency constitute the machine’s (performance) parameters. The interactions of these factors (operational parameters) and responses (performance parameters) were evaluated and estimated using a completely randomized Box-Behnken blocked design layout which comprises twenty seven (27) experimental runs. Desirability function approach was the optimization technique applied. Results revealed the optimal values of hammermill speed, number of blades, blade length and intrinsic viscosity as 1400 rpm, 4, 109.6 mm and 0.82798 respectively with responses of 89.71%, 1.9953 kg/min and 139.9998 for conversion efficiency, throughput and grain size respectively. These optimal operational parameters will make the machine economical to operate in terms of labour, time and energy requirement

Poverty Alleviation Education Integration in Social Studies Curriculum: Implications for Developing Sustainable Skills in Nigerian Child

The descriptive survey design was adopted in investigating the extent of integration of poverty alleviation education contents in social studies curriculum of Nigeria junior secondary schools.  The study was carried out in the six states of the south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria.  180 social studies teachers were purposefully used as respondents for the study.  Five research questions guided the study.  The study utilized a social studies curriculum content analysis and a 50-item researchers developed questionnaire structured on a 4-point likert modified scale.  Mean rating scores were used to answer the research questions.  Research findings indicated that poverty alleviation education was not significantly integrated in the social studies curriculum.  There are qualitative benefits to be derived from the inculcation of  poverty alleviation education, social studies teachers were not aware of the need for the inculcation of poverty alleviation education through social studies instruction, in addition, there were potential obstacles mitigating the integration of poverty alleviation education in social studies curriculum.  Some of the established strategies for achieving integration of poverty alleviation education in social studies curriculum were: constant curriculum revision, expansion of social studies curriculum on national economic issues, emphasis on productive living amongst others.  Conclusions and recommendations were articulated based on research findings