Love Learning And Create Change In Science And Technology Through Effective Mathematics Education At The Upper Basic Education Level In Benue State, Nigeria.

It is obvious that change is the only permanent thing.  This change however, require a pragmatic education to remain; and for this education to become pragmatic requires a change of attitude by learners from negative to positive especially at this era of science and technology.  Science and technology is properly driven with sound mathematics.  Implication of this is that adequate mathematics education is required at the foundational level of education. This paper therefore considered how improving learners’ love (attitude) for learning mathematics could create change in science and technology if mathematics education is properly positioned at the upper basic education level in Nigeria.  This is because the Nigeria nation intends to be one of the twenth economically viable nations in the world by the year 2020.  It is therefore, targeted at empowering both students and teachers at this level of education, for the purpose of actualizing this very import vision of the nation.  The study was carried out in Benue State, Nigeria and covered all the upper basic education level students and their mathematics teachers.  Simple survey design was adopted, while instrument of study was a questionnaire called upper basic education mathematics questionnaire (UBEMQ) with 40 items.  Results collate was analysed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation.  It was found among other things, that learners’ strong love for mathematics is a primary catalyst for actualizing the nations desire for scientific and technological development which is a basic ingredient   for the nation’s vision 20:2020.Recommendations such as improving the capacity of mathematics teachers should be encouraged as well as ensuring that mathematics teachers use instructional materials in their mathematics classroom among others. Adequate conclusion was made. Keywords: Love learning, Create change, Science and Technology, Mathematics  education, Upper basic education leve

Risk analysis in distribution of petroleum products in southwest, Nigeria

The study investigates the risks in distribution of petroleum products and effective management of the risks in southwest Nigeria. Forty eight (48) questionnaires were distributed to the staff of NNPC/PPMC depots in Ondo, Ogun and Oyo states. Simple random sampling technique was used to distribute the questionnaires to the respondents. The questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses and the ratings of the risk severity were done using reliability important indices. The risks from vandalization was rated highest when pipelines are used while the risk of accident was rated highest when roads are used for the distribution of petroleum products. Also, administrative control measure was ascertained as the most effective measure of managing risk in the distribution of petroleum products. The study finally suggested that government and stakeholders in the oil industry should revitalize the rail transport for distribution of petroleum products which is less prone to risk.Keywords: risk analysis; risk management; petroleum products; roads; pipelines

Higher Education Institutions and Post-Covid In-Demand Employability Skills: Responding Through Curriculum that Works

This study explained that the post-Covid world of work would demand a new set of employability skills. Higher education institutions need to respond by preparing graduates with manifest post-COVID-19 employability skills through innovatively delivered curricula. Through literature review, the study identified post-Covid-19 in-demands employability skills and ways of innovatively fostering them. The study adopted the descriptive survey method and canvassed (104) faculty members’ (from 9 public universities) opinions through an online poll on the skills they considered relevant for post-pandemic graduate employability and integrating them into universities curricula. Data collected were descriptively analyzed using frequency count and percentage. Findings showed that when universities commit to innovative curriculum delivery, students can easily acquire skills and competencies required to effective security and create jobs in the post-Covid job market effectively recommended that universities should innovate their curricula by integrating post-Covid in-demands skills needed for students’ post-Covid job market

Production of single cell protein from hydrolyzed pineapple (Ananas comosus) peel using fungi

Production of single cell protein from hydrolyzed pineapple peels by fungi was investigated. Trichoderma viride was selected based on its high cellulase activity; diameter of clear zone on CMCagar (7.4 cm) and activity on carboxymethylcellulose (4.64 mg glucose/ml), filter paper (3.76 mg glucose/ml) and cotton wool (4.12 mg glucose/ml). Samples of pineapple peel were hydrolyzed with the solutions of HCl, H2SO4 and NaOH at 0.5% concentration. The NaOH hydrolysates (138 mg/ml, 298 and 9.44 mg/ml) have higher reducing sugar, soluble sugar and protein content than H2SO4 (129, 206l and 6.28 mg/ml) and HCl hydrolysates (131, 279 and 7.32 mg/ml), respectively. The culture of Trichoderma viride were used in fermenting the hydrolyzed pineapple peels. The protein yield in 0.5% NaOH hydrolysates (27.35 mg/ml) was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than H2SO4 hydrolysate (18.32 mg/ml) and HCl hydrolysate (16.48 mg/ml) after 7 days incubation. The un-hydrolyzed samples which served as control produced the lowest protein. Nitrogen sources were added to the media supplemented with ammonium oxalate [(NH4)2C2O4], which gave the highest protein 55.44 mg/ml for NaOH hydrolysate. The maximum weight of biomass after drying biomass was 0.66 g/100ml. This study demonstrated the potential of pineapple peel as a substrate for product recovery, waste control and management.Keywords: Single cell protein, Ananas comosus, Cellulose, Pineapple, Fung

An assessment of the informal water sector in the provision of water supply services to consumers in Idah town, Nigeria

In this write up, the characteristics and role of the informal water supply sector in the provision of water services in Idah Town Nigeria have been researched, assessed and presented. The assessment has revealed that there are three major classes of the informal sector involved in water services provision namely; the water supply tankers, sachet water producers and the water borehole shops. The study has shown that much needed to be done by way of regulation to improve not only the quality of service delivery but also the quality of the commodity; that is; water in order to achieve satisfactory water services in Idah in the bid to attain the global feat of improved water supply

Mathematical models of eye movements

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from [the Institute of Mathematics and its ApplicationsSupported by the BBSRC grant no 36/MMI09774

Drama and communication: Interrogating the Topos of relational conflict in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa

Integral to the discourse of relational conflict is the nexus between drama and  communication. Social relations thrive in spoken dialectics and colloquies which find adequate expression in drama/theatre. Communication at various levels, which often  requires interpretations (both cognitive and perceptual) of social interactions. Thus,  conflicts on interpersonal level ensue. This essay, critical and textual, attempts a fully interpretive understanding of the literary and social dynamics that exist in Ama Ata Aidoo’s play. The causes of relational conflict in society are examined. The essay also attempts an indepth exploration of the critical theory of alterity, an aspect of  postcolonialism to interrogate Aidoo’s dramatization of relational conflict. Equipped with this theoretical insight, the essay carries out character evaluation in order to understand Aidoo’s portraiture of relational conflict. Using Aidoo’s Anowa, three factors are identified which have continued to brew this type of conflict, whether between a  couple or among members of a family. This essay concludes that esteem, control and affiliation are principal causes of relational conflict.Key words: Relational conflict, esteem, control, affiliation, incompatibility and literatur

Examining the Integration of Landsat Operational Land Imager with Sentinel-1 and Vegetation Indices in Mapping Southern Yellow Pines (Loblolly, Shortleaf, and Virginia Pines)

The mapping of southern yellow pines (loblolly, shortleaf, and Virginia pines) is important to supporting forest inventory and the management of forest resources. The overall aim of this study was to examine the integration of Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI ) optical data with Sentinel-1 microwave C-band satellite data and vegetation indices in mapping the canopy cover of southern yellow pines. Specifically, this study assessed the overall mapping accuracies of the canopy cover classification of southern yellow pines derived using four data-integration scenarios: Landsat OLI alone; Landsat OLI and Sentinel-1; Landsat OLI with vegetation indices derived from satellite data—normalized difference vegetation index, soil-adjusted vegetation index, modified soil-adjusted vegetation index, transformed soil-adjusted vegetation index, and infrared percentage vegetation index; and 4) Landsat OLI with Sentinel-1 and vegetation indices. The results showed that the integration of Landsat OLI reflectance bands with Sentinel-1 backscattering coefficients and vegetation indices yielded the best overall classification accuracy, about 77%, and standalone Landsat OLI the weakest accuracy, approximately 67%. The findings in this study demonstrate that the addition of backscattering coefficients from Sentinel-1 and vegetation indices positively contributed to the mapping of southern yellow pines

Domestication and Dispersal of Native Crops in Amazonia

Recent decades have witnessed the rapid expansion of interest in and research on the domestication of crop plants worldwide. These species are the basis of the rise to dominance of Homo sapiens over the last 10,000 years. New techniques in archaeology and the expansion of molecular genetics are uncovering abundant evidence to support or refute old hypotheses about human domestication of crops and creation of food production systems that fueled population expansions and linguistic diasporas, and to raise new hypotheses. In Amazonia and elsewhere in lowland South America, archaeologists are starting to examine these hypotheses in earnest, and geneticists are starting to generate data to identify crop origins and dispersals. Archaeologists now generally agree that Amazonia was inhabited by numerous advanced societies before European conquest, especially along the major white water rivers and in other favorable locations for food production, and that these societies had domesticated significant areas of numerous landscapes. This special section of Tipití summarizes a set of presentations given during the recent 2nd International Meeting on Amazonian Archaeology, held in Manaus, Amazonas, in September 2010. An overview of plant domestication opens the sequence, followed by new archaeobotanical evidence from the southeastern Colombian and central Brazilian Amazonia and from the southern savannas of Brazil, and new molecular genetic evidence about the origins of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) and the dispersal of manioc (Manihot esculenta), maize (Zea mays), and peach palm in lowland South America

Soft singularity and the fundamental length

It is shown that some regular solutions in 5D Kaluza-Klein gravity may have interesting properties if one from the parameters is in the Planck region. In this case the Kretschman metric invariant runs up to a maximal reachable value in nature, i.e. practically the metric becomes singular. This observation allows us to suppose that in this situation the problems with such soft singularity will be much easier resolved in the future quantum gravity then by the situation with the ordinary hard singularity (Reissner-Nordstr\"om singularity, for example). It is supposed that the analogous consideration can be applied for the avoiding the hard singularities connected with the gauge charges.Comment: 5 page