Design of single feed dual-band millimeter wave antenna for future 5G wireless applications

State of the art communication system pave way for microstrip patch antennas to experience rapid development. Nowadays, patch antennas are becoming increasingly popular due to their light weight and low profile making them easy to fabricate and integrate into the feeding network. This paper presented a single feed dual-band band antenna for 5G application operating in the 28 and 38 GHz millimeter wave band with an improved efficiency. The antenna is designed and simulated on Computer Simulation Technology (CST) platform using FR-4 substrate with 0. 8 mm height, 4.67 dielectric constant and 0.002 loss tangent. The total size of the antenna is 8 × 8 mm2, the rectangular radiator of the antenna is 3.4 × 3.4 mm2 in size, where an inverted-L is introduced into the radiator to achieve dual-band capability, The antenna is fed through 50 Ω feed line probe of about 2.3 × 0.4 mm2 in dimension. The results of the simulation shows that the antenna achieved wide bandwidth in the upper band (38 GHz) of about 3.54 GHz (35.56 GHz – 39.12 GHz) with over 6 dB gain and the lower band (28 GHz) produce a bandwidth of about 1430 MHz (27.27 GHz – 28.70 GHz) with 2.7 dB gain suitable for 5G application

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF NEOCARYAMACROPHYLLA LEAVES EXTRACT

The frequency of life-threatening infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms has increased worldwide and is becoming an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries with lower health status indices. The increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria raised the specter of untreatable bacterial infections and adds urgency to the search for new therapeutic strategies. Along this line, this study investigated phytochemical screening of Neocaryamacrophylla extract using GC-MS and Antibacterial screening of the extract using agar well diffusion method. Three microorganisms were used namely; Escherichia coli, Klebsiellapneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. The susceptibility tests result showed inhibition range of 24 and 13mm against K. pneumoniae at 20 and 10 mg/ml illustrating it to be the most sensitive organism. The least was E. coli, (16 and 7mm at 20 and 10 mg/ml). Similarly, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extract indicated K. pneumoniae to be more susceptible followed by S. aureus and E. coli as the least susceptible species. Generally, in all the model organisms tested, the susceptibility was observed to be concentration dependent. The test results indicated that leaves extract of N. macrophylla has antimicrobial potency and could be used as an alternative antimicrobial therapy

Analysis of Forest Cover Changes In Nimbia Forest Reserve, Kaduna State, Nigeria Using Geographic Information System And Remote Sensing Techniques

Nimbia Forest Reserve is witnessing degradation due to anthropogenic activities such as Farming, Illegal felling and fuel wood extraction just like many other forest reserves in Nigeria. On the other hand, the management has failed to provide enough manpower to guard against anthropogenic activities and the few ones available were not receiving better remuneration. Other problems faced by the forest are that trimming is done on time and cleared lands were not replanted. These and many other reasons  leading to overexploitation, increase  rate of deforestation, modification of the forest structure, reduced income to government and increased unemployment. This study examines the use of GIS and Remote Sensing in mapping Land Cover in Nimbia Forest Reserve between 1986 and 2010 so as to detect the changes that may have taken place in this status between these periods. Subsequently, an attempt was made at projecting the observed land cover in the next 21 years. The result obtained show that some features will be lost to other features and possible reasons for that were evaluated. Suggestions were therefore made at the end of the work on ways to use the information as contained therein optimally

Mechanisms of Anticonvulsant Action of Residual Aqueous Fraction (RAF) of the Ethanol Root Bark Extract of Carissa edulis

Preparations of Carissa edulis (Vahl) have been used in the Nigerian traditional medicine for the management of fever, sickle cell disease, epilepsy, pain cancer and inflammatory conditions for many years and their efficacy is widely acclaimed among the Hausa communities of Northern Nigeria. The possible mechanism(s) involved in the anticonvulsant action of residual aqueous fraction of ethanol root bark extract of Carissa edulis (RAF) were determined using flumazenil, naloxone, cyproheptadine, bisindolylmaleimide (BIM), ibuprofen and misoprostol. Flumazenil antagonized the anticonvulsant effect of both RAF and diazepam, while BIM promoted their anticonvulsant effect. However, naloxone and cyproheptadine did not affect the RAF anticonvulsant effect. Ketoprofen increased the RAF and valproate anticonvulsant activity while misoprostol did not alter their effects. The interaction studies revealed that GABAergic, glycine, serotonergic and opioid neurotransmission were found to be involved in the RAF anticonvulsant effects. Keywords: Anticonvulsant, Bisindolylmaleimide, Flumazenil, GABA, serotonergic, opioid

Alpha-lipoic acid attenuates depressive symptoms in mice exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress

Background: Depression is the most common psychiatric illness that involves mood disturbances affecting many brain regions. Despite many approaches available to treat depression, only about 35% of depressed patients achieve remission upon receiving antidepressants. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is an antioxidant that plays an essential role in mitochondrial energy metabolism and neurotransmitter modulation. Hence, this research was aimed at assessing a possible antidepressant effect of ALA in mice exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Methods: Twenty-five (25) Swiss albino mice weighing between 20-26 g were grouped into five groups of five mice each (n=5). Group 1: which served as control received normal saline (NS) and was exposed to CUMS, Groups 2, 3, and 4 received graded doses of ALA (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg respectively), Group 5 (positive control) received fluoxetine (20 mg/kg). Daily administration was done through oral gavage. The animals were subjected to open field (OF) and staircase (SC) tests after induction of depression using CUMS. Thereafter, brain and blood samples of the mice were collected for serotonin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA) analysis. Results: Treatment with ALA 200 mg/kg significantly decreased immobility time compared to CUMS + NS group (P≤0.05) in the tail suspension test. Similarly, fluoxetine 20 mg/kg significantly increased brain serotonin level and decreased BDNF level compared to CUMS + NS group (P≤0.05). However, ALA did not significantly affect brain serotonin and BDNF levels (P>0.05). In the OF test, a significant decrease was observed in the number of line crossings in ALA 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg and fluoxetine 20 mg/kg administered groups when compared with CUMS + NS group (P≤0.05). However, in SC test and oxidative stress biomarkers, no significant effect was observed (P>0.05). Conclusion: ALA showed a promising antidepressant-like effect in mice subjected to CUMS murine model of depression by decreasing immobility time

Managing Entrepreneurship from an Islamic Perspective: Supporting Entrepreneurial Schemes through Islamic Work Ethics and Organisational Commitment

Purpose: The study attempts to determine the role of the Islamic faith in fashioning out a management model as an option to other modern management tools in the enhancement of entrepreneurship through Islamic work ethics and organisational commitment. Is a research process that attempts to link Islam with entrepreneurship and management using empirical studies on entrepreneurship from an Islamic perspective (EIP). Design/Methodology/Approach: In this study, it was outlined how Islam shapes entrepreneurship, and indicated the possibility of considering Islam as entrepreneurial in its outlook. Islam allows and inspires business activity, and shapes the belief system that incorporates the scopes of belief in Allah, the Exalted, and in the Hereafter. Findings: This study is adding to knowledge that faith-based  management model could be relevant as an alternative to other non-faith-based  management tools to support the growth of entrepreneurship through the practice of Islamic work ethics and organisational commitment. Implications/Originality/Value: The research endeavour has major theoretical and applied effects and therefore suggested unique findings for the enhancement of entrepreneurship through Islamic work ethics and organisational commitment

Local plants and diabetes management; folkloric practices in Metropolitan Kano, Nigeria

An ethno botanical survey was carried out in Kano metropolis to investigate medicinal plants used locally for the treatment of diabetes in the area.  The respondents for the study included herbalists and herb sellers. Oral interview was used to obtain information from the respondents using their local language and the information was recorded in a semi structured questionnaire. A total of 39 medicinal plant species belonging to 21 families were recorded in the study area. Family Fabaceae had the highest number of plant species and most of the plants were sourced from the wild. The plants were prepared mostly in their dried form and decoction was the most commonly used method of preparation. Moreover, combination of different plants or their parts in the preparation of the recipes for the treatment of diabetes was common among the respondents. Annisopus manii, Laptadenia hastata and Moringa oleifera were the most cited medicinal plants in the preparation of recipes for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in the study area Keywords: Diabetes management, folkloric, medicinal, plant

Modified neural network activation function

Neural Network is said to emulate the brain, though, its processing is not quite how the biological brain really works. The Neural Network has witnessed significant improvement since 1943 to date. However, modifications on the Neural Network mainly focus on the structure itself, not the activation function despite the critical role of activation function in the performance of the Neural Network. In this paper, we present the modification of Neural Network activation function to improve the performance of the Neural Network. The theoretical background of the modification, including mathematical proof is fully described in the paper. The modified activation function is code name as SigHyper. The performance of SigHyper was evaluated against state of the art activation function on the crude oil price dataset. Results suggested that the proposed SigHyper was found to improved accuracy of the Neural Network. Analysis of variance showed that the accuracy of the SigHyper is significant. It was established that the SigHyper require further improvement. The activation function proposed in this research has added to the activation functions already discussed in the literature. The study may motivate researchers to further modify activation functions, hence, improve the performance of the Neural Network

Civic Education in Hong Kong: a Tale of Two Schools

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