Security oriented e-infrastructures supporting neurological research and clinical trials

The neurological and wider clinical domains stand to gain greatly from the vision of the grid in providing seamless yet secure access to distributed, heterogeneous computational resources and data sets. Whilst a wealth of clinical data exists within local, regional and national healthcare boundaries, access to and usage of these data sets demands that fine grained security is supported and subsequently enforced. This paper explores the security challenges of the e-health domain, focusing in particular on authorization. The context of these explorations is the MRC funded VOTES (Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies) and the JISC funded GLASS (Glasgow early adoption of Shibboleth project) which are developing Grid infrastructures for clinical trials with case studies in the brain trauma domain

Aniline effect on concrete steel rebar degradation in saline and sulfate media

Electrochemical potential monitoring experiments were performed on mild steel rebars embedded in concrete admixed with aniline inhibitor and fixed amount of sodium chloride salt partially immersed in sulfuric acid and sodium chloride solution. The open circuit potential corrosion monitoring technique was employed and the potential readings were taken in accordance with ASTM C 876. Repressive attribute and consistency of the inhibitor was then estimated by the Weibull probability density distribution as an extreme value statistical modeling approach to study performance effectiveness and to predict the most efficient inhibitor concentration in each media. Aniline effect on the compressive strengths of the reinforced concrete samples was also investigated and reported. Varying concentrations of the inhibitor were used and its performance improved as concentration changed in NaCl medium, while no particular order of performance was noted in sulfuric medium. In the statistically analyzed experimental results for each of the inhibitor concentrations employed, 0.34 and 0.41 M aniline admixed samples were identified as exhibiting the best inhibiting quality in sodium chloride while 0.14 M aniline was predicted as showing the lowest probability of corrosion risk in sulfuric acid medium. The overall effective inhibitive performance in sulfuric acid was less when compared to the sodium chloride medium. Concrete sample admixed with 0.41 M aniline had the highest improvement in compressive strength in both media

Dividend Policy and Firm Performance:a Study of Listed Firms in Nigeria

This study basically investigates the relationship between the financial performance and dividend payout among listed firms’ in Nigeria. It also looks at the relationship between ownership structure, size of firms and the dividend payouts. The annual reports for the period 2006-2010 were utilized as the main source of data collection for the 50 sampled firms. The regression analysis method was employed as a statistical technique for analysing the data collected. We find that there is a significant positive association between the performance of firms and the dividend payout of the sampled firms in Nigeria. The study also revealed that ownership structure and firm’s size has a significant impact of the dividend payout of firms to

Servomotor-Linked Articulated Versatile End Effector (SLAVE2)

A strategy is presented for the design and construction of a large master/slave-controlled, five-finger robotic hand. Each of the five fingers will possess four independent axes each driven by a brushless DC servomotor and, thus, four degrees-of-freedom. It is proposed that commercially available components be utilized as much as possible to fabricate a working laboratory model of the device with an anticipated overall length of approximately three feet (0.9 m). The fingers are to be designed to accommodate proximity, tactile, or force/torque sensors imbedded in their structure. In order to provide for the simultaneous control of the operator wears a specially instrumented glove which produces control signals corresponding to the finger configuration and which is capable of conveying sensor feedback signals to the operator. Two dexterous hand master devices are currently commercially available for this application with both undergoing continuing development

Kinematics of Lower Limb Segments during Cycling Session

This paper presents the kinematics of the leg-bicycle five-bar linkage system mechanism including foot segment. Kinematics is very important in the analysis of rigid bodies system whenever theoretical analysis is being sought especially in bicycle-leg linkage mechanism. A lot of experimental works has already been carried out on lower limbs segments biomechanics during cycling which involved the use of positions of the lower limb segments, but there has not been a complete theoretical analysis of the lower limb segments positions in the literature. Therefore, there is need for a complete kinematics of the bicycle-leg linkage mechanism which includes the position analysis of the lower limb segments. The position, velocity, and acceleration equations were derived and the profiles of the thigh, shank and foot segments were plotted against crank angles. It was found that the profiles obtained are reasonable and agrees with experiments. Keywords: Cycling; Five-bar linkage; Kinematics Analysis; Lower Limb Segments

Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Properties of Mangifera indica Leaf Extracts

There have been reports of increasing development of drug resistance among human pathogens as well as undesirable side effects of certain antimicrobial agents.It is therefore necessary to search for new agents that are better, cheaper and without side effects for treating infectious diseases especially in developing countries. In this study, phytochemical composition and antimicrobial activities of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of leaves of Mangifera indica were investigated. Standard methods were employed to screen for the phytochemicals. Agar well diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of M. indica leaves against seven different clinical isolates namely:Stapylococcus aureus, Micrococcus virians, M. leteus, Escherichia coli, Klebsellia pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a fungus, Candida albicans. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of active pharmacological components such as tannins, saponins, cardiac glycoside, flavonoid and alkaloids. Aqueous extract demonstrated a higher activity than the ethanolic extract. S. aureus showed highest sensitivity to the aqueous extracts with MIC 31.25mg/mL. Least sensitivity was observed in K. pneumoniae and Candida albicans with MIC 125mg/mL each in the two extracts.M. indica exhibited significant antimicrobial activity comparable to gentamicin which is used as control in this study

Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Properties ofnMangifera indica Leaf Extracts

There have been reports of increasing development of drug resistance among human pathogens as well as undesirable side effects of certain antimicrobial agents.It is therefore necessary to search for new agents that are better, cheaper and without side effects for treating infectious diseases especially in developing countries. In this study, phytochemical composition and antimicrobial activities of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of leaves of Mangifera indica were investigated. Standard methods were employed to screen for the phytochemicals. Agar well diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of M. indica leaves against seven different clinical isolates namely:Stapylococcus aureus, Micrococcus virians, M. leteus, Escherichia coli, Klebsellia pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a fungus, Candida albicans. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of active pharmacological components such as tannins, saponins, cardiac glycoside, flavonoid and alkaloids. Aqueous extract demonstrated a higher activity than the ethanolic extract. S. aureus showed highest sensitivity to the aqueous extracts with MIC 31.25mg/mL. Least sensitivity was observed in K. pneumoniae and Candida albicans with MIC 125mg/mL each in the two extracts.M. indica exhibited significant antimicrobial activity comparable to gentamicin which is used as control in this study

Sprawl Developments: Measurement Indicator and Projections in Selected Nigerian Cities

Sprawl development is commonly attributed to the unprecedented rate of urbanization and city spatial growth. Large cities are not necessarily sprawling but are determined by characteristic compactness and connectedness of the metropolitan development and services including infrastructure and amenities. The understanding of the sprawl phenomenon is enhanced by some characteristic measurement of sprawl making use of certain development parameters. This paper therefore highlights an aspect of the measurement of sprawl utilizing the results from remote sensing data sourced from records of satellite images (from various Landsat and Nigeriasat) documented in research literatures. Also, the population census figures for each of the cities were sourced and projected as required for analysis and used in conjunction with their respective urban built-up land coverage. Results reveal varying pattern of relationship between progressions of urban spatial coverage changes and growth of population over a specified period of time. Intrinsic values from the computation such as urban population density and land consumption rate evolve as indicators for sprawl development and measurements