Hybrid Wind Speed Prediction Model Using Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) and Gradient Boosted Machine (GBM)

Before sitting a wind turbine, reliable wind speed prediction is prerequisite requirements that must be performed in order to get optimum energy yield. Single model has a lot of constraints in terms of prediction accuracy, to solve this persistent problem, this paper presents the application of hybrid model based on IMF and GBM so as to predict the wind speed in the areas with limited or absent of data. In the first place, the observed wind speed was decomposed into six using IMF in order to reduce ill-define stochastic nature of wind speed. The decomposed wind speed was used to train, test and validate the model developed GMB model which was developed in a Matlab environment. The final predicted values are obtained by summing all the individual prediction sub models. Wind speed data observed in the existing wind stations in Sarawak for a period of 1 year from 2017 to 2018 were used for the simulation. The model implementation confirmed that the proposed model is robust and capable to predict wind speed in remote and rural areas. A comparison with conventional method (ARIMA) was further investigated, the results showed the superiority of the new hybrid model over ARIMA

Effect of Dietary Replacement of Maize with Yam and Irish potato peel meals on the Growth and Economic Performance of Growing Rabbits

An eight-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding yam and irish potato peel meals on the growth performance and economic analysis of cross-bred (Dutch x New Zealand white) growing rabbits aged between five to seven weeks. Thirty rabbits were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments with five rabbits per treatment. Diets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 contained 100% maize, 50% maize and 50% yam peel meal, 50% maize and 50% irish potato peel meal, 50% yam peel meal and 50% irish potato peel meal, 100% yam peel meal and 100% irish potato peel meal, respectively. The response showed that the growth parameters were not significantly (P>0.05) different among the treatment groups except mean final body weight which was significantly (P>0.05) different. The mean final body weight of rabbits fed T3 diet (50% maize and 50% irish potato peel meal) was significantly (P< 0.05) higher than those fed T2 (50% maize and 50% yam peel meal) and T6 (100% irish potato peel meal) diets, but were similar (P>0.05) to other diets. However, the lowest mean final body weight was obtained in rabbits fed T6 (100% irish potato peel meal) diet. The cost per kg feed decreased progressively as the levels of yam and irish potato peel meals increased in the diets. The cost per kg gain also declined from  ₦ 249.59 in T1 (100% maize) to ₦ 181.95 in T4 (50% yam peel meal and 50% irish potato peel meal), which showed the best cost per kg weight gain. The study demonstrated that the yam and irish potato peel meals can replace maize up to 100% as energy source for growing rabbits without adverse effect on performance.Keywords: Growth Performance, Yam and Irish Potato peel meals, Economic Analysi

Effect of Imbibition Time on Hormonal Changes of Germinating Tamarindus indica and Prosopis juliflora

Imbibition time and hormonal changes play a significant role in seed germination. This study, evaluated the effects of some phytohormones; indole acetic acid (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin and cytokinins) and imbibition time (0, 48 and 96 hours) on Tamarindus indica and Prosopis juliflora. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the concentrations of the hormones. Results indicated significantly higher and faster in P. juliflora than T. indica. The germination rate was 4.1 - 68.1% and 4.0 - 61.4%, and model for inhibition time 28.256ln(x) and 25.791ln(x), respectively. Similarly, results also expressed highly significant variable changes in the concentrations of the four studied phytohormones between T. indica (0.491 - 0.705 mg/ml) and P. Juliflora (0.109 - 1.130 mg/ml). The concentrations of IAA and ABA were significantly higher by 60.6% and 77.7% in the seeds of T. indica than P. juliflora, respectively. P. juliflora had 37.6% and 12.5% higher cytokinin and gibberellin than T. indica, respectively. Cytokinin (0.7951 - 1.0939 mg/ml), gibberellins (0.535 - 0.757 mg/ml), IAA (0.363 - 0.419 mg/ml) and ABA (0.250 - 0.335 mg/ml) also varied significantly over the periods. In general, cytokinin and gibberellins increased by 8.1 - 27.3% and 22.9 - 23.0%, while that of IAA and ABA decreased 13.6 - 15.4% and 26.4 - 34.0%, over the imbibitions time of 0-96 hours. In conclusion, higher germination of P. juliflora is attributed to cytokinin and gibberellins, and the lower germination in T. indica to the higher inhibitory effects of IAA and ABA

Ebola virus disease: epidemiology, clinical features and the way forward

The Ebola virus disease is a zoonotic, acute viral syndrome which occurs by infection with one the strains of the Ebola virus. It is primarily endemic in Africa however the recent outbreak in the year 2014 spanned from West Africa all the way to Europe and America. This shows the virus possess a global threat and should not be considered localized to only certain parts of the world. The social and economic impact of zoonotic diseases today is high as 80% of human pathogens are of zoonotic origin. Human to human transmission happens when there is contact with bodily fluids of infected humans during the infectious phase of the disease. This spread could be through nosocomial means or community spread. Poor knowledge of the syndrome among health care workers coupled with lack of funding and deficient resources has crippled their ability to diagnose and break the chain of transmission of the disease at its early stages. The virus undergoes pathogenesis by immune evasion, immune suppression, coagulopathy, and hypovolemic shock, multiple organ failure and death in up to 90% of cases. The unavailability of a cure or vaccine for this syndrome makes it a recurrent threat due to high risk behavior practiced in endemic countries such as bush meat consumption. Thus this study gives the reader a review of current literature on this deadly disease with the aim of increasing knowledge and aiding its prevention and control

Implementation of a topographic artificial neural network wind speed prediction model for assessing onshore wind power potential in Sibu, Sarawak

This study presents a topographic machine learning based wind speed prediction model. Predicted and ground station data were used to examine the wind energy potential in Sibu. A terrain-based artificial neural network was developed using MATLAB/Simulink (2016). It was found that the developed model can predict wind speed values in areas where the model was implemented. The detailed wind resource assessment shows that the power and energy densities fall within Class 1, which is suitable for smallscale applications. The annual energy output of the selected wind turbines was found to be 2343.12– 12036.85 kWh/year with an annual capacity factor in the range of 2.16%–7.77%

Anti Bacterial Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Zingiber Officinale and Pipper Nigrum against Some Clinical Isolates

Ethanolic extract of Zingiber officinale and Pipper nigrum were evaluated by testing in vitro antimicrobial activity on clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and proteus specie using Agar diffusion method. Proteus specie showed sensitivity to Z. officinale at disc concentration range of 50 to 800µg/ml, Staphylococcus aureus also showed sensitivity to z. officinale at concentration of 100 to 800 µg/ml and Klebsiella pneumonia showed sensitivity at disc concentration of 100 to 800 µg/ml likewise proteus specie showed sensitivity to p. nigrum at disc concentration range of 100 to 800µg/ml and staphylococcus aureus also showed sensitivity to p. nigrum at disc concentration range of 100 to 800µg/ml. However, the Ethanolic extract of z. officinale and p. nigrum showed no lethal or inhibitory effects on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli at all concentration. The observed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the Ethanolic extraction for proteus species, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia were 50, 100,200µglml respectively for Z. officinale, while for P. nigrum, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were 100 and 200µg/ml for Proteus specie and staphylococcus aureus respectively. The extracts were further subjected to phytochemical tests for the presence of secondary metabolites using standard procedures. The results of phytochemical screening indicated the presence of alkaloids, Flavonoid, reducing sugar, saponins and steroids in Z. officinale, and alkaloids, Flavonoid, saponins, steroids and tannin in P. nigrum. This indicates that both Z. officinale and piper nigrum has the potential for the production of drugs against pathogenic organisms

Factors associated with attitude regarding the Ebola Virus disease among medical and nursing students in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Background: In recent times the Ebola Virus Disease has been a major source of public health concern. The 2014 West African outbreak affected several Health Care Workers (HCW) and this has negatively affected their attitudes towards the disease. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Nigeria and involved 423 under-graduate medical and nursing students. Multi-stage stratified random sampling was used and data was collected using a pretested structured self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done using IBM-SPSS version 22. Association between two categorical variables was done using Chi-square test, while Spearman’s correlation was used for correlation between two continuous as well as ordinal variables. The predictors of attitude were analyzed using Multiple Logistic Regression. Result: The mean attitude score was 83.9 ±9.8, about 51.8% had good attitude. Predictors of attitude were age (AOR = 1.099, 95% CI = 1.019 - 1.184), field of study (AOR = 1.953, 95% CI = 1.142 – 3.334) and fifth year of studies (AOR = 1.993, 95% CI = 1.081 – 3.677). Conclusion: Negative attitudes still exist such as fear of infection as well as stigmatization of EVD patients and survivors. There is need for government intervention through funding to improve the situation

In vivo formation of natural HgSe nanoparticles in the liver and brain of pilot whales

Acknowledgments Z.G. thanks to the College of Physical Sciences at University of Aberdeen and Chevron USA for the provided studentship. P.M.K. is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT120100277). Parts of this research were undertaken on the XFM beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia. The assistance of Daryl Howard (XFM beamline, Australian Synchrotron) is acknowledged. Although EPA contributed to this article, the research presented was not performed by or funded by EPA and was not subject to EPA's quality system requirements. Consequently, the views, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent EPA's views or policies. MRCAT operations are supported by the Department of Energy and the MRCAT member institutions. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors declare no competing financial interests. F.L.R. and A.B. acknowledge Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and Marine Scotland for funding. Author Contributions E.M.K and J.F. designed the experiments. Z.G. measured total Hg and conducted Hg speciation. Total Se was determined by A.R. and Z.G. M.M.L. performed Se speciation and 2D imaging by LA-ICP-MS was done by D.S.U. XANES was performed by K.S. and XRF by E.L. and P.M.K. Samples were obtained by E.M.K. through A.B. and age determination was done by F.R. spICP-MS was performed by E.H.L., K.L., G.W. and Z.G. The manuscript was written by Z.G. and all authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Prevalence and Direct Economic Losses from Bovine Tuberculosis in Makurdi, Nigeria

A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis and direct economic losses (DEL) from tuberculosis in cattle slaughtered in Makurdi abattoirs from 2008 to 2012, using abattoir records obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Out of 61654 cattle slaughtered during the study period 1172 (1.90%) were positive for tuberculosis lesions. The annual prevalence of bovine tuberculosis ranges from 0.90% in 2008 to 4.04% in 2012. There was significant (P<0.05) difference in annual prevalence of bovine tuberculosis. It was also observed that there was no seasonal difference in the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis. A total of 1935 affected organs by BTB weighing 3046.50 kg, amounting to 2.91 × 106 Naira (1.82 × 104 USD), were condemned within the study period. Seasonal variation in organ condemnation due to bovine tuberculosis was significantly different (Mann-Whitney U statistics = 774 × 103, P=0.034). It was concluded that bovine tuberculosis is prevalent in Makurdi and accounts for heavy economic losses due to condemnation of edible organs