Development of \u3ci\u3eOrius Insidiosus\u3c/i\u3e (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Relation to Temperature

A developmental threshold of lO.3°C and a thermal constant of 307 day-degrees C were estimated for a Wisconsin population of Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) by rearing eggs and nymphs at various constant temperatures

Pentocin KCA1: a novel circular bacteriocin gene encoded in the genome of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 with putative basic property

Background: The use of bacteriocin and bacterial strains that produces the antimicrobial peptide has shown to possess potential applications in the conferment of health benefits on the host. We isolated and carried out comprehensive genome sequence analysis of the first Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 of human origin encoding genes for the biosynthesis of antimicrobial bacteriocin peptide. Due to the growing number of antimicrobial resistance, the need for developing alternatives to traditional antibiotics is now more germane.Aims: To describe the first circular bacteriocin predicted in the genome sequence of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 isolated from the vagina of a healthy Nigerian Ibo woman using in silico bioinformatic tools.Methods: The translated open reading frame (ORF) coding pentocin KCA1 was compared with the non-redundant database (nrdb) using BLASTp for protein similarity search. Clustalw algorithm was used for alignment with other published circular bacteriocins.Results: The genome of L. pentosus KCA1 contains a 7-gene cluster, chromosomally encoded for biosynthesis of a predicted circular bacteriocin. The bacteriocin designated as “pentocin KCA1” is synthesized as a precursor gene consisting of 273 nucleotide base sequence encoding the translated product of pentocin KCA1 with 91 amino acid residues in length. The peptide is cleaved off between asparagine (Asn33) and isoleucine (Ile34) to produce the 58 amino acid pentocin KCA1 as an outer membrane peptide. The mature pentocin KCA1 has a high proportion of basic (positively charged-Lysine, Histidine and Asparagine) to acidic (negatively charged-Glutamate and Aspartate) amino acids in the ratio of 8:0.Conclusions: Off the 11 circular bacteriocins known to date, amino acid residue asparagine (8.62%) is utilized more in the biosynthesis of pentocin KCA1. The mature putative circular pentocin KCA1 consists of four alpha-helical structures and has a high proportion of basic amino acid residues when compared with other circular bacteriocins, thereby suggesting that pentocin KCA1 is a circular bacteriocin peptide with strong basic property. The relevance of this basic property lends credence for investigation in subsequent functional studies.Keywords: Circular bacteriocin, Pentocin KCA1, Lactobacilli, Antimicrobial peptid

Mobile Facial Recognition System for Patient Identification in Medical Emergencies for Developing Economies

Medical emergencies are part of the common daily lives of people in developing and under-developed economies. Frequently, some of these medical emergencies end up tragically for many people in these countries due to many reasons, among which is the delivery of medical treatment when the patient is uncommunicative or unresponsive. The ability of the attending medical personnel to access a patient’s medical history is critical for the quality of the treatment rendered. Unfortunately, today many lives are lost in low income economies during medical emergencies due to lack or inaccessibility of a patient’s medical information. One of the major contributing factors of this paucity in records is attributable to the absence of reliable and cost-efficient healthcare delivery systems that support patient identification and verification. Due to the current ubiquity of mobile devices with their concomitant digital cameras, this paper explores the feasibility and practicability of using mobile platform and facial recognition technology as a means to deploying a cost-efficient system for reliable patient identification and verification

Mobile Facial Recognition System for Patient Identification in Medical Emergencies for Developing Economies

Medical emergencies are part of the common daily lives of people in developing and under-developed economies. Frequently, some of these medical emergencies end up tragically for many people in these countries due to many reasons, among which is the delivery of medical treatment when the patient is uncommunicative or unresponsive. The ability of the attending medical personnel to access a patient’s medical history is critical for the quality of the treatment rendered. Unfortunately, today many lives are lost in low income economies during medical emergencies due to lack or inaccessibility of a patient’s medical information. One of the major contributing factors of this paucity in records is attributable to the absence of reliable and cost-efficient healthcare delivery systems that support patient identification and verification. Due to the current ubiquity of mobile devices with their concomitant digital cameras, this paper explores the feasibility and practicability of using mobile platform and facial recognition technology as a means to deploying a cost-efficient system for reliable patient identification and verification

How Does Ethnicity Influence Entrepreneurship Opportunity Formation Amongst Immigrant Entrepreneurs In Dublin?

In today’s world, entrepreneurship is considered an engine of growth and government policies shape the ecosystems and environments that facilitate entrepreneurial activity (Minniti, 2008). Thus, entrepreneurship is of increasing importance to policy makers and academic researchers due to its influence on economic growth. There has been a significant change in migration patterns over the last half century and the rate of immigration between countries has increased dramatically in recent years. This has also resulted in a dramatic increase in the rate that immigrants engage and practice entrepreneurial activities in their host countries. Consequently, numerous studies have focused on the value and the processes of immigrant entrepreneurial activity. An increasing area of interest within immigrant entrepreneurship theory is the role of ethnicity. For example, studies by Brett (2002), Fenton (2010) and Guibernau and Rex (2010) have identified that ethnicity plays an important role in the nature of entrepreneurial activity undertaken by immigrants. However, within each of these studies, what has not been studied is how ethnicity influences entrepreneurship opportunity formation from an immigrant entrepreneurship perspective. It is this gap in the literature that this thesis is seeking to address. This thesis reviews literature in the areas of entrepreneurship theory, entrepreneurial opportunity formation, immigrant entrepreneurship and ethnicity. Through the reviewed literature, a framework was established which served as a basis for analysis of the data generated through the primary research. The primary research took place in Dublin which involved in-depth interviews with 1st Generation immigrant entrepreneurs from four different countries (Brazil, Nigerian, Poland and Pakistan). The selection criteria for these ethnic groups was underpinned by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) report in 2016, which recognised that these are the biggest immigrant communities in Ireland. Each of these groups was represented by 5 participants who identified 4 themselves as immigrant entrepreneurs with a functioning business in Dublin. The rationale for the sample size was underpinned by past phenomenological studies where sample sizes numbering from 3 to 10 were used (Dukes, 1984; Edwards et al., 2006; Edwards, 2006; Lester, 1999; Padilla, 2003; Polkinghome, 1989; Porter; 1999). Similarly, Creswell and Poth (2017) show that participants in a phenomenological study are much narrower (e.g. 5-25). The data was prepared for analysis using NVivo software and was subsequently analysed manually, while the investigation undertaken used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The analysis of the data identified a number of interesting patterns and ideas that were unrecognised by previous research studies based on the reviewed literature. One of these was the discovery made of ‘enablers’ and ‘threats’ as multifaceted impacts of ethnicity on immigrant entrepreneurial practices. Another finding was that the concept of ethnicity as a genetic component (Afa’anwi-Ma’abo-Che, 2016; Kennedy, 2018) had direct, indirect and remote influence on participants in the study. To enable future researchers to build from this work, a new model was developed which is presented in detail in the latter stages of this thesis. This is the primary contribution to academic knowledge that the thesis makes. The thesis makes an additional valuable theoretical contribution by proposing a more robust definition for entrepreneurship opportunity formation, which is believed to have met the criteria in Low and MacMillan (1988). The thesis advances existing knowledge by highlighting that entrepreneurial ethnocentric ideas, behaviours and attitudes are uniquely identifiable in the career choices of the participants. However, the limitations to this work are also recognised and proposals are offered regarding future research opportunities

Senior Recital:Kingsley C. Keys, Saxophone

Kemp Recital Hall Friday Evening April 14, 2000 9:30 p.m

Implementation of treaty as basis for regional cooperation vis-à-vis absolute sovereignty: Nigeria in perspective

Virtually all states of the world belong to some regional cooperation organization and nearly all regions of the world have at least one organization, which aims, inter alia, at establishing a free trade area amongst its members, promotion of economic integration, monetary integration, improvement of regional infrastructure for communication, transport and energy systems, regional security and natural resource management. In this process of cooperation and integration, States voluntarily limit their sovereignty and hand over part of their decision-making powers to a supranational level and establish a new level of political power, which supersedes the State. Compromising State authority is, however, not a new phenomenon. States have limited their powers throughout their history both voluntarily and involuntarily, for example, by signing international treaties. This paper explores the concepts of regional cooperation and sovereignty with a focus on treaty as the basis for regional and international relations. The paper reviews section 12 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) in relation to the promotion of absolute sovereignty. The researchers also examine the constitutional implications of some domesticated treaties and the attitude of Nigerian courts in the implementation of treaty obligations. The writers adopt doctrinal, analytical and jurisprudential approach with the use of statutes, case law, related literatures, journal articles and certain international conventions. At the end, the writers conclude that it is manifest from the relevant provisions of the Constitutions x-rayed in this paper that the nation’s sovereignty is more important and is ascribed greater primus than any cooperation scheme whatsoever. The writers recommend that the Constitution be amended to incorporate a role for either Houses of the National Assembly in the making or ratification process of treaty in a manner similar to what obtains in the United States of America and Ghana.Keywords: International Law, Implementation of Treaty, Regional Cooperation, Absolute Sovereignt

Principal components of quiet time temporal variability of equatorial and low-latitude geomagnetic fields

Diurnal variations of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field ΔH on International Quiet days of 1999–2012, measured hourly at two stations in the same longitude zone in the Northern Hemisphere, near and away from the dip equator, have been subjected to principal component analysis. This technique is also applied to the difference ΔHEEJ of ΔH at these two stations, which is attributed to the equatorial electrojet (EEJ). The first three principal components, PC1–PC3, account for 91–96% of the variances in the data. Maximum contribution to the quiet day variations in ΔH around its peak in the morning hours at both the stations, and in the EEJ, comes from the day-to-day variation of the amplitude of PC1. Patterns of day-to-day variations of PC1 amplitudes for the equatorial station and the EEJ are essentially semiannual modulated by solar EUV flux, superimposed on a longer timescale solar EUV flux-dependent trend. Contributions from PC2 and to a lesser extent from PC3 are seen to be responsible for the absence of semiannual variations in ΔH in the afternoon hours at the equatorial station. Distribution of amplitudes of PC2 and PC3 for ΔHEEJ for weak electrojet days shows seasonal features in accordance with greater occurrence of afternoon (morning) counter electrojet during June (December) solstice. During the extended solar minimum, PC3 amplitudes for ΔH at the equatorial station and for the EEJ display annual variation. Possible sources for these seasonal features in the variations of equatorial ΔH are discussed