The incidence of Nypa fruticans (Wurmb) and its impact on fisheries production in the Niger Delta mangrove ecosystem

Nypa fruticans occurs in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River State, Nigeria; invading an estimated area of 821 Km super(2) mangrove dominated swamps. Human activities such as tree felling, urbanization, oil and gas exploration and exploitation and other activities led to the interference in the normal mangrove by the Nypa palm. Lack of utilization by the local population of the Nypa palm as in into-pacification has increased the population over the years. The effect includes the reduction in primary and secondary productivity, disruption of food chain and erosion of riverbanks. The eradication of the Nypa palm from the Niger delta mangrove ecosystem and replacement with red and white mangroves will restore the ecosystem health and enhance biological diversit

Kinematic synthesis for smart hand prosthetics

The dream of a bionic replacement appendage is becoming reality through the use of mechatronic prostheses that utilize the body’s myoelectric signals. This paper presents a process to accurately capture the motion of the human hand joints; the obtained information is to be used in conjunction with myoelectric signal identification for motion control. In this work, the human hand is modeled as a set of links connected by joints, which are approximated to standard revolute joints. Using the methods of robotics, the motion of each finger is described as a serial robot, and expressed as Clifford algebra exponentials. This representation allows us to use the model to perform kinematic synthesis, that is, to adapt the model to the dimensions of real hands and to obtain the angles at each joint, using visual data from real motion captured with several cameras. The goal is to obtain an adaptable motion tracking system that can follow as many different motions as possible with sufficient accuracy, in order to relate the individual motions to myoelectric signals in future work.Postprint (author’s final draft

A Designed System for Providing Solutions to Basic Engineering Problems

Engineering and the manner in which engineers think is largely visual and functional, and yet engineers are typically provided with a lot of other basic engineering problems to be solved and applied to complex ones. This paper present a designed software for providing solutions to some basic engineering problems. C++ programming language was used in writing the codes. The paper explains the activities involved in C++program development and touched areas such as the general concept of programming, programming languages, compilation and interpretation, storage and execution, functional lines to which computer programs maybe categorized. Several engineering problems and their various real-world applications were considered to accomplish the aim of the work. The problem requirements were properly understood, and the program adequately developed using the Dev-C++ software. The program was coded in a modular fashion, and constructed in a manner that can be fairly understood. Algorithms and flow charts for the basic engineering problems considered were obtained and using formula translation, solutions to such issues were dynamically programmed using the Dev C++ software. The results from the developed software when compared with other methods such as numerical and approximate analytical solutions were observed to be the same. The developed software is however, more user friendly and can be implemented at A Level Higher Institutions, as well as have many other real-world applications. Keywords: Design, Software, Basic Engineering, Programming, C++ Program. DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/11-5-02 Publication date:September 30th 202

Transcendental Leadership for the 21st Century: A Narrative Inquiry on Effective Leadership and Workplace Spirituality

Researchers have shown that transcendental leadership theory is an extension of transactional, transformational, servant, and spiritual leadership theories in terms of internal locus control, leadership effectiveness, and spirituality. The problem that the researcher addressed in this study was that while transcendental leaders may be yielding financial results, they are not as successful in gaining spiritual results by influencing their followers. The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to explore the conceptualizations of spiritual leadership in a secular workplace context and to explore the challenges and potential barriers confronting spiritual and transcendental leadership. Data collection involved individual interviews with 10 executive members of the Academy of Management who practice transcendental leadership and workplace spirituality. The results of the thematic analysis indicated that transcendental leaders develop and practice seven dimensions of spirituality: organizational commitment, altruistic love, hope and/or faith, trust, civic/social responsibility, solidarity, and spiritual connectedness. While the participants described differing ways of inspiring and reinforcing spirituality, the overarching methods of developing and practicing all seven of these dimensions included a relationship between the leader and employee—as well as a focus on the individual employee themselves, including a unified vision, behavior modeling, as well as a sense of meaning or greater purpose. The results of the present study may increase transcendental leaders’ ability to encourage spirituality through improved understanding of the barriers and challenges to implementing dimensions of spirituality in the workplace. Additionally, companies may experience greater benefits associated with transcendental leadership, such as increased productivity and employee satisfaction

Surveys of the pelagic fish resources of Congo, Gabon and Cabinda, Angola, 15 July - 28 July 2004

BCLME SURVEY NO.2 2004 - BCLME Sardinella Recruitment studie