Understanding project management in natural resource investments from a legal perspective

This thesis reports the findings of modern day trench and strategies related to project management- in this case, natural/sustainable resource investment projects analysed from a legal or why not a lawyer’s perspectives. In a bid to further distinguish this from a scientific piece, the research proposals and analysis drown here involves empirical judgement based on the rightful holistic legal approach. The framework includes analysis or experience stemming from a high profile foreign investment project or public procurement project dope the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project (a project for the construction of an oil pipeline from Chad to the coast of Cameroon for storage and subsequent exportation to the world market; herein after referred to as “The Project”), whose improper management/execution has (is) produced a rather negative effect on nearby land, environment, nature and the local inhabitants thereby casting a gloomy cloud on, among others, the existing human rights standards. Conducted interview and data analysis in this research build-up, proved most of the findings here. Also, constructive criticism and research analysis of which majority indicate the absence of a solid legal framework from The Project, forms the basis of a proposed generalised knowledge of ideas, suggesting a subsequent adoption in future investment projects of similar nature. The conclusive remarks offer and recommend advocates of legal, development and environmental studies a chance to uphold its course while calling on fellow academicians to engage more in associated works all in a bid to change the mind-set of governments and those in authorities as such engaged in related works

Knowledge of Diabetes Mellitus and Health-Preventive Behaviors Among African American Adults

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the risk within the African American population of developing diabetes, its complications, and the benefits associated with timely management and treatment of diabetes. The study also looked at how such knowledge may be related to preventive health behaviors. The Risk Perception Survey-Developing Diabetes and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System questionnaires were employed in this study. The theoretical basis of this study was the health belief model. This was a cross sectional, quantitative study with 126 participants. Descriptive analysis was employed to calculate the mean scores and frequencies across each sub-scale of the scoring tool. Among the participants, only 28.57% were found to be knowledgeable of the risk factors of diabetes, and 74.60% were found to be knowledgeable of the benefits of treating diabetes. Although 75.40%, 61.11%, and 64.29% of participants were found to be knowledgeable of healthy dieting, physical exercise, and body weight control, respectively, fewer than 10% in each group indicated they had implemented any of such behaviors. These data suggest a lack of knowledge of the risk factors of diabetes amongst this population. These results remained unchanged even when considering those with diabetes and their counterparts without the disease separately and also across the different socio-economic groups of the sample. The outcomes of this study may enhance understanding of diabetes among the African American population. Similarly, the above findings might be able to facilitate interventions that promote diabetes management within this population

The Determinants of Poverty in Cameroon

This study appeals to an alternative approach in explaining poverty in Cameroon, notably it looks at variables which are not base on current household consumption. This paper looks at monetary poverty in Cameroon. This study made used of data on the Cameroon household survey (ECAM III) collected by the national institute of statistics in 2007. The Statistical package used to generate results was SPSS version 17. Variables that explain household economic well-being were years of schooling of household head, household head having a public or private sector job, age of household head, gender, distance to the nearest hospital, distance to the nearest road, owning farm land, both urban and rural localities. From the regression results, the following variables contributed positively to household expenditure account; years of schooling of household head, access to credit, household head having a public or private sector job and number of migrants in the household. Variables that rather reduced household expenditure were age of household head, owning farmland, male headed households, household head unemployed, distance to the nearest tarred road and distance to the nearest hospital. Based on these findings, the study advocates for government intervention with policies that encourages attainment of higher levels of education, employment and rural development. Keywords:  Poverty, Inequality and welfar

An investigation of the elements of the photodecomposition of ZnxCd1-x Se quantum dot

High quality ZnxCd1-xSe quantum dots useful for medical imaging were synthesised by high temperature or embryonic nuclei-induced alloying technique by incorporating varying amounts of Zn precursor into CdSe nuclei. The prepared ZnxCd1-xSe nanoparticles were digested in acid and the amount of metal ions present in the solution were determined by electroanalysis and AAS techniques. It was found that the Cd to Zn ratio in the prepared nanoparticles matched that present in the reaction solution. A UV-vis and HR-TEM analyses of the quantum dots showed that the Zn-Cd-Se nanoparticles were nearly mono dispersed, had well resolved lattice fringes and remained fully crystalline upon zinc incorporation. As the zinc content increased from 0.25 to 0.67, the nanoparticle size increased from 5.8 nm to 7.5 nm, and the colour of the solution varied from brown to blue. Upon tuning the quantum dots by photodecomposition, in order to produce materials suitable for biomedical imaging applications, it was observed that the nanoparticles remained crystalline, the particles sizes were reduced to a uniform size, and its solution remained permanently blue, while the absorption wavelength remained in the low wavelength region.Keywords: Cadmium zinc selenide, embryonic nuclei induced, photodecomposition, atomic absorption spectroscopy, stripping voltammetry, nanocrystal

The Impact of Competency Based Education on Educational Equity

For centuries, minority groups, students from low socio-economic background, and girls in public schools especially K-12 educational institutions in the United States have experienced prejudice, injustice, and bigotry. Unfortunately, the conventional approach of education, based on a one-size-fits-all approach, has failed to deal with these obstacles. In the past decades, however, there has been an increasing demand for the adoption of the Competency-Based system of education, a personalized learning approach that focuses on the acquisition of concrete skills rather than abstract knowledge. In a Competency-Based model, students advance based on the demonstration of mastery of knowledge and skills other than the amount of time spent learning. Many researchers have argued that equity is at the core of Competency-Based Education, yet critics opine that competency-based education will rather deepen inequity. The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth understanding of how competency-based education can enhance equity in K-12 classrooms in the United States of America. Through a rapid review, the extent to which competency-based education can enhance equity in K-12 classrooms in the United States will be evaluated. This review could serve as a guide for further research on competency-based education and equity, and how competency-based education may be used to increase equity in the teaching and learning process in K-12 schools

Catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important class of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which pose enormous health and environmental threats. This thesis investigates different catalyst formulations for the complete oxidation of naphthalene (Np). a model PAH. Low loadings of vanadium added during the impregnation step of catalyst preparation were found to enhance the naphthalene oxidation activity of Pd-alumina and Pt- alumina catalysts while higher loadings were detrimental to the catalysts' performance. The promotional effect has been attributed to the presence of a low concentration of a particular type of vanadium species which fosters the redox behaviour of the binary system (Pd/V or Pt/V) coupled with the change in the active metal (Pd or Pt) particle size (Pd or Pt dispersion). The presence of high concentrations of crystalline V2O5 species has been suggested to account for the lower activity observed for Pd/V and Pt/V catalysts with vanadium loadings in the range of 6 - 12% and 1 - 12 % respectively. It is postulated that the mechanism of naphthalene oxidation over Pd/V differs from the mechanism of oxidation over Pt/V catalysts. The nature of support material was established to be crucial for the activity of Pt- supported catalysts for naphthalene oxidation. The Pt dispersion, metal-support interaction (MSI) and oxidation state of Pt varied as a function of the nature of support and hence resulted in differences in the Np oxidation efficiency of five Pt- supported catalysts with equal Pt loading but different supports. Low Pt dispersion (high Pt particle size), weak MSI and metallic state of Pt favoured Np oxidation. Si02 proved to be the best amongst five Pt supports investigated for Np oxidation. A variation in the preparation method and preparation conditions of ceria affected the surface area, crystallite size, oxygen defect concentration, morphology and surface reducibility of the ceria catalyst and hence the Np oxidation activity. High surface area, small crystallite size, and high oxygen defect concentration of Ce02 favoured the activity of the catalyst for Np oxidation. The best preparation methods in this study were found to be homogeneous precipitation with urea (UR) and precipitation with the carbonate (CR). Optimum preparation conditions for ceria (UR) were established and a highly active nano-crystalline ceria catalyst for Np oxidation was derived. The addition of low and high loadings of Pt during the precipitation of this ceria (UR) catalyst resulted in less active naphthalene oxidation catalysts. The drop in activity of ceria with Pt doping has been attributed to a strong metal support interaction between Pt and ceria which limits the ease at which lattice oxygen is consumed in the Mars-Van krevelen redox cycle.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Functional characterization of an effector candidate of the root colonizing fungus Piriformospora indica during interaction with plants

Plants have evolved a sophisticated two-layered immune system to protect themselves from microbial invaders. However, in order to promote infection, plant associated microbes including pathogens as well as mutualists secrete molecules called effectors to suppress the plant’s immune response. Mutualistic fungi including the arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) Glomus intraradices and the ectomycorrhiza (ECM) Laccaria bicolor secretes effector proteins which contribute to the establishment and maintenance of mutualistic symbiosis by suppressing host immunity during root colonization. The root endophytic fungus, Piriformospora indica is capable of colonizing the roots of a wide variety of different plant species including the monocot barley (Hordeum vulgare) and the dicot Arabidopsis thaliana and establishes mutualistic symbiosis during colonization. The colonization pattern of P. indica is mainly divided into two phases, an initial biotrophic phase and a later cell death-associated colonization phase. Colonization by the fungi which is mostly limited to the root cortex cells leads to several beneficial effects to the host such as growth promotion, increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The recently released genome of P. indica helped to identify hundreds of small secreted proteins (SSPs) coding for candidate effectors and provides an opportunity to investigate the role of these effectors during the interaction between this endophytic fungus with plants. It has been reported that P. indica actively suppresses PTI to colonize and establish a mutualistic relationship with plants. However, the deployment of effectors and their role during the interaction of P. indica with plants has not been reported. In this study, PIIN_08944, an effector candidate of P. indica was functionally characterized in- planta. PIIN_08944 encode a 120 amino acid protein with a predicted 23 amino acid N-terminal signal peptide. Expression profile analysis revealed that PIIN_08944 was induced in in-vitro germinated P. indica chlamydospore as well as in-planta during colonization of Arabidopsis roots by P. indica. To investigate the functional role of PIIN_08944 in mutualistic symbiosis, transgenic P. indica with reduced production or complete loss of PIIN_08944 were generated. RNAi silencing as well as deletion of the gene coding for PIIN_08944 by homologous recombination resulted in delayed colonization of Arabidopsis roots by P. indica. On the hand transgenic Arabidopsis and barley plants expressing PIIN_08944 show enhanced colonization by P. indica compared to wild type. Heterologous expression of PIIN_08944 in barley suppresses flg22 and chitin triggered ROS production. Meanwhile expression of PIIN_08944 in Arabidopsis interfered with the transcription of marker genes for PTI, AtWRKY22 and salicylic acid, CBP60g. However, the expression of PIIN_08944 in Arabidopsis and barley did not affect the plant’s response to the necrotrophic fungal pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium graminearum respectively. Yeast two hybrid screen revealed that PIIN_08944 interacts with CSN5A and CSN5B, components COP9 signalosome protein complex, in Arabidopsis and N. benthamiana and with SINA3, a member of the SEVEN IN ABSENTIA family of E3 protein ligase in tobacco. Subcellular localization assays performed on N. benthamiana leaves revealed that CSN5A, CSN5B and PIIN_08944 localized to the nucleus and cytoplasm. In summary, the fact that PIIN_08944 targets the evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic proteins, CSN5A and CSN5B and interfere with basal defense, indicate that P. indica has evolved strategies involving the use of effectors as general compatibility determinants to establish and/or maintain a mutualistic relationship during interaction with plants. Moreover, this might further explain the capability of P. indica to colonize a multitude of different plant species.Pflanzen haben im Laufe der Evolution ein zweischichtiges Immunsystem entwickelt, um sich von mikrobiellen Eindringlingen zu schützen. Auf der anderen Seite können Mikroben einschließlich Krankheitserreger sowie Mutualisten so genannte Effektor-Moleküle sekretieren, um eine Infektion zu fördern und eine Immunantwort der Pflanze zu unterdrücken. Mutualistische Pilze, einschließlich der arbuskulären Mykorrhiza (AM) Glomus intraradices und der Ektomykorrhiza (ECM) Laccaria bicolor, sekretieren Effektor-Proteine, um Wirtsimmunität bei Wurzelbesiedlung zu underdrücken und somit dienen diese Effektoren zur Etablierung und dem Erhalt der mutualistischen Symbiose. Der Wurzel endophytische Pilz Piriformospora indica ist fähig Wurzeln einer Vielzahl von verschiedenen Pflanzenarten, einschließlich der monokotylen Gerste (Hordeum vulgare) und dem zweikeimblättrigen Arabidopsis thaliana, zu kolonisieren und etabliert eine mutualistischen Symbiose. Die Besiedlung Strategie von P. indica wird hauptsächlich in zwei kolonisierungs Phasen unterteilt. Einer ersten biotrophen und einer späteren Zelltod-assoziierten Phase. Die Kolonisierung durch den Pilz, die meist auf die Wurzel Cortex Zellen begrenzt ist, führt zu mehreren positiven Effekten auf den Wirt, wie Wachstumsförderung und erhöhte Resistenz gegen biotische und abiotische Stressfaktoren. Das kürzlich veröffentlichte Genom von P. indica zeigte hunderte von kleinen sekretierten Proteine (SSP), welche Effektor Kandidaten kodieren. Dies bietet die Möglichkeit, die Rolle dieser Effektoren bei der Interaktion zwischen endophytischen Pilz und Wirtspflanze zu untersuchen. Es wurde bereits berichtet, dass P. indica aktiv PTI unterdrückt um den Wirt zu kolonisieren. Allerdings ist der genaue Einsatz der Effektoren und deren Rolle bei der Wechselwirkung zwischen P. indica und den Wirtspflanzen noch nicht bekannt. In dieser Studie wurde der Effektor Kandidat von P. indica PIIN_08944 funktionell in- planta charakterisiert. PIIN_08944 kodiert ein 120 Aminosäuren langes Protein mit einem prognostizierten 23 Aminosäuren N-terminales Signalpeptid. Expressionsanalysen ergaben, dass in vitro PIIN_08944 in gekeimten P. indica Chlamydospore sowie in planta während der Kolonisation von Arabidopsis Wurzeln, erhöht induziert ist. Um die Funktinalität des PIIN_08944 in der mutualistischen Symbiose zu untersuchen, wurde transgener P. indica mit reduzierten Produktions oder vollständigen Verlust des PIIN_08944 hergestellt. RNAi-Silencing sowie Deletion von PIIN_08944 gene durch homologe Rekombination führte zu einer verzögerten Besiedlung von P. indica an Arabidopsis Wurzeln. Auf der anderen Seite zeigen transgene Arabidopsis und Gerste Pflanzen, die PIIN_08944 exprimieren, verbesserte Besiedlung mit P. indica im Vergleich zum Wildtyp. Die heterologe Expression von PIIN_08944 in Gerste unterdrückt flg22- und Chitin- ausgelöste ROS-Produktion. Wohingegen Expression von PIIN_08944 in Arabidopsis suppremiert die Transkription von Markergenen für PTI, AtWRKY22 und Salicylsäure, CBP60g. Die Expression von PIIN_08944 in Arabidopsis und Gerste hatte jedoch keinen Einfluss auf die Verteidigungsantwort der Pflanze gegen die nekrotrophen Pilzerreger Botrytis cinerea und Fusarium graminearum. Yeast two hybrid Screening ergab, dass PIIN_08944 mit CSN5A und CSN5B Komponent COP9 Signalosom Proteinkomplex, in Arabidopsis und N. tabaccum und mit SINA3, ein Mitglied der SEVEN IN ABSENTIA Familie E3-Protein-Ligase, in Tabak interagiert. Subzelluläre Lokalisierungs assays an N. benthamiana Blättern zeigten eine Lokalisation von CSN5A, CSN5B und PIIN_08944 im Zellkern und im Cytoplasma. Zusammenfassend zeigt diese Studie, dass PIIN_08944 als Effektor auf die evolutionär konservierte eukaryotischen Proteinen, CSN5A und CSN5B abzielt und somit die basale Abwehr der Wirtspflanze stört. Dadurch wird gezeigt, dass P. indica Effektoren als allgemeine Kompatibilitäts Determinanten zur Etablierung und / oder zum Erhalt einer mutualistischen Beziehung innerhalb der Interaktion mit Pflanzen gebraucht. Außerdem könnte dies erläutern, wie es P. indica befähigt eine Vielzahl von verschiedenen Pflanzenarten zu besiedeln

Impact of financial distress on UK bank performance and customer loyalty : an empirical study.

In the light of the global financial crisis of 2007 which is considered to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, it is evident that no bank is too big to fail. There have been a number of corporate failures in recent years, including instances in the United Kingdom. These events, therefore, motivated this study in terms of emphasising the need to apply financial distress prediction models to examine the performance of UK banks. This work aims at empirically examining and analysing the performance of UK retail banks amid the financial crisis, covering three periods: before, during and afterwards. In doing so, the accuracy of Altman‘s financial ratios of early warning statistical distress prediction models was examined. Both primary and secondary data were employed to find answers to the research questions. The first result indicated that Altman‘s ratios: leverage, solvency and turnover ratios significantly discriminated the three crisis periods. Yet, Altman‘s model had high misclassification error rate and less predictive power during the crisis than before and afterwards. With regards to the performance of banks, the result revealed that banks performed better in terms of profitability, liquidity and activity ratios for pre and post crisis than during the crisis. Additionally, researchers have become increasingly interested in linking marketing variables such as satisfaction, trust and loyalty to financial performance. While profitability ratio is commonly confirmed to be a significant predictor of performance, loyalty constructs are not generally assessed in this manner in the profit link framework. This implied that loyalty has not been shown to have a direct impact on financial performance. Hence, since both loyalty and profitability play vital roles to determine the success of banks, they should be fully considered before performance is established. In this thesis, an extension of past profit link research to include nonfinancial variables was considered. This research examined the link between satisfaction, trust and loyalty, and overall financial performance. The overall empirical findings provided evidence of a positive relationship of loyalty and levels of relative profitability. Nevertheless, satisfaction and trust were not statistically related to profitability in the UK retail banking sector

Catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important class of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which pose enormous health and environmental threats. This thesis investigates different catalyst formulations for the complete oxidation of naphthalene (Np). a model PAH. Low loadings of vanadium added during the impregnation step of catalyst preparation were found to enhance the naphthalene oxidation activity of Pd-alumina and Pt- alumina catalysts while higher loadings were detrimental to the catalysts' performance. The promotional effect has been attributed to the presence of a low concentration of a particular type of vanadium species which fosters the redox behaviour of the binary system (Pd/V or Pt/V) coupled with the change in the active metal (Pd or Pt) particle size (Pd or Pt dispersion). The presence of high concentrations of crystalline V2O5 species has been suggested to account for the lower activity observed for Pd/V and Pt/V catalysts with vanadium loadings in the range of 6 - 12% and 1 - 12 % respectively. It is postulated that the mechanism of naphthalene oxidation over Pd/V differs from the mechanism of oxidation over Pt/V catalysts. The nature of support material was established to be crucial for the activity of Pt- supported catalysts for naphthalene oxidation. The Pt dispersion, metal-support interaction (MSI) and oxidation state of Pt varied as a function of the nature of support and hence resulted in differences in the Np oxidation efficiency of five Pt- supported catalysts with equal Pt loading but different supports. Low Pt dispersion (high Pt particle size), weak MSI and metallic state of Pt favoured Np oxidation. Si02 proved to be the best amongst five Pt supports investigated for Np oxidation. A variation in the preparation method and preparation conditions of ceria affected the surface area, crystallite size, oxygen defect concentration, morphology and surface reducibility of the ceria catalyst and hence the Np oxidation activity. High surface area, small crystallite size, and high oxygen defect concentration of Ce02 favoured the activity of the catalyst for Np oxidation. The best preparation methods in this study were found to be homogeneous precipitation with urea (UR) and precipitation with the carbonate (CR). Optimum preparation conditions for ceria (UR) were established and a highly active nano-crystalline ceria catalyst for Np oxidation was derived. The addition of low and high loadings of Pt during the precipitation of this ceria (UR) catalyst resulted in less active naphthalene oxidation catalysts. The drop in activity of ceria with Pt doping has been attributed to a strong metal support interaction between Pt and ceria which limits the ease at which lattice oxygen is consumed in the Mars-Van krevelen redox cycle