Methylene Blue Dye Adsorption in Aqueous System using Microcrystalline Cellulose obtained from Sugarcane Bagasse

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was prepared from sugarcane bagasse (SCB) after alkali extraction with sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The prepared MCC was treated with methylene blue solution. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the effect of contact time, initial dye concentration, pH and adsorbent dosage on methylene blue adsorption. The result shows that the adsorption of methylene blue dye onto the adsorbent was influenced by adsorbent dose, dye concentration, contact time and pH values. For higher removal of dye from simulated wastewater, adsorbent dose of 0.4g and dye concentration of 200 mg/l gave optimum adsorption with percentage removal (% R) of 87.19. The adsorption capacity of methylene dye increased with increase in contact time. Also, the duration and pH for optimum adsorption were at 120 mins and pH 9 respectively. The experiment data fitted well into Freundlich isotherm. The results of this work revealed that microcrystalline cellulose from sugarcane bagasse is a potential alternative non-conventional adsorbent for treating dye effluent

Influence of Uncertain Business Environment on Entrepreneurship Decision Making In Nigeria

Influence of uncertain business environment on entrepreneurship decision making is theoretical in nature. The paper pose that the business environment is full of  challenges, these challenges are referred to as business variables, these variables  are divided into two: controllable variables and uncontrollable variables, an entrepreneur must try in as much as possible to diagnose this uncertain business environment before investing the scarce resources. The paper has the following objectives: To determine the impact of environment on business decision, to evaluate the risk associated to investment opportunity and to examine the factors that can hindered the prospects of business in an environment. These factors could be technology, economic system, legal, competitors, and manpower etc. the paper also look at selected areas for examination such as: concept of business, concept of entrepreneurship, characteristics of business, decision making process, types decision, identification of business ventures, product life cycle, entrepreneurship and environmental scanning, SWOT analysis, plant location and layout decision. The study is significant because it has contributed to the body of knowledge, prospective entrepreneurs will also find the article useful as a guide to further study in the field of entrepreneurship, students, individual researcher will also find the articles useful, the paper has equally  helped to understand the implication of investing in an uncertain business environment in Nigeria. It is not as a result of expansion or capital, but it is traceable to inability of an entrepreneur to analyzed business environment before investing the scarce resources. This paper has equal spell out step by step that entrepreneur need to follows in order to judiciously invest these scarce resources. The paper contains about 28 pages includes references. Such as title, introduction, abstract, objectives, significance, major topics on the influence of uncertain business environment on entrepreneurship decision making, summary, conclusion and recommendations Keywords: Uncertainty, Business Environment, Entrepreneurship, Decision-Making, SWOT Analysi

Prevalence and predictors of cigarette smoking and alcohol use among secondary school students in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Cigarette and alcohol use are the most common causes of noncommunicable diseases. Studies related to cigarette and alcohol use among Nigerian adolescents have shown increases in the habits and require urgent intervention. Nationally representative data is needed to develop effective national policies and interventions, but this is lacking. Hence, this study aimed to provide nationally representative empiric information about cigarette and alcohol use prevalence and predictors among Nigerian secondary school students. METHODS: This study included 2,530 Nigerian students in Nigeria from five of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information about the participants’ sociodemographic and school-based characteristics, cigarette and alcohol use status, and harm perception of tobacco and alcohol use. Data were analysed with SPSS version 25 at p<0.05. RESULTS: Participants' mean age (±SD) was 16.34 (±2.0) years. The prevalences (95%CI) for ever-cigarette and current-cigarette smoking were 11.1% (95%CI:9.9-12.4) and 8.4% (95%CI:7.3-9.5), respectively. While 21.0% (95%CI:19.4-22.7) and 15.6% (14.2-17.1) were the prevalences for lifetime and current alcohol use, respectively. The predictors of current cigarette smoking were studying in northern-Nigeria (aOR:1.94;95%CI:1.10-3.44), attending private-schools (aOR:1.56;95%CI:1.03-2.38), boarding-student (aOR:1.75;95% CI:1.15-2.69), male-gender (aOR:3.03; 95%CI:1.80-5.10), current alcohol use (aOR:12.50;95%CI:8.70-18.18), having no (aOR:2.59;95%CI:1.58-4.26) or low tobacco harm perception (aOR:2.04;95%CI:1.18-3.53). The predictors of current alcohol use were male (aOR:1.32; 95%CI:1.01-1.72) and current cigarette smoking (aOR:12.5;95%CI:8.77-17.86). CONCLUSION: The prevalences of cigarette and alcohol use were high among Nigerian secondary school students, and both habits were strongly associated. Their predictors were school-related factors, sociocultural characteristics, and tobacco harm perception

Quantum Einstein Gravity

We give a pedagogical introduction to the basic ideas and concepts of the Asymptotic Safety program in Quantum Einstein Gravity. Using the continuum approach based upon the effective average action, we summarize the state of the art of the field with a particular focus on the evidence supporting the existence of the non-trivial renormalization group fixed point at the heart of the construction. As an application, the multifractal structure of the emerging space-times is discussed in detail. In particular, we compare the continuum prediction for their spectral dimension with Monte Carlo data from the Causal Dynamical Triangulation approach.Comment: 87 pages, 13 figures, review article prepared for the New Journal of Physics focus issue on Quantum Einstein Gravit

Adsorption of Pb2+, Co2+, and Cd2+ from Aqueous Solution Using Nitric Acid Modified Kola Nut Husk Adsorbent

The potential of nitric acid modified kola nut pod adsorbent (MKNP) in removing selected heavy metals such as lead (Pb2+), cobalt (Co2+), and cadmium (Cd2+) ions from aqueous solution was investigated. FTIR spectra before and after the adsorption indicates the presence of functional groups such as hydroxyl and carboxylic acid which are responsible for its surface chemistry. The percentage removal largely depends on pH, contact time and temperature. The results showed that metal ions removal at optimum pH, contact time and temperature were: (Pb2+: 89.58, 97.04, 97.11%); (Co2+: 77.53, 75.17, 65.42%), and (Cd2+: 96.99, 97.06, 96.94%) respectively. The thermodynamic studies revealed that the enthalpy change was negative across the initial metal ion concentrations, indicating that the adsorption process was exothermic. The Gibb’s free energy change (∆G) values at all temperatures (298, 313, 328, 343 and 358K) were also negative, indicating that the adsorption process was spontaneous and feasible. Kinetics parameters obtained showed that pseudo-second order was obeyed throughout the adsorption process. In conclusion, from the favorability of the adsorption process, MKNP would be an efficient, eco-friendly and cheap adsorbent in removing toxic heavy metals ions from wastewater and industrial effluents

Nonfactorizable contributions in B decays to charmonium: the case of B−→K−hcB^- \to K^- h_c

Nonleptonic $B$ to charmonium decays generally show deviations from the factorization predictions. For example, the mode $B^- \to K^- \chi_{c0}$ has been experimentally observed with sizeable branching fraction while its factorized amplitude vanishes. We investigate the role of rescattering effects mediated by intermediate charmed meson production in this class of decay modes, and consider $B^- \to K^- h_c$ with $h_c$ the $J^{PC}=1^{+-}$ $\bar c c$ meson. Using an effective lagrangian describing interactions of pairs of heavy-light $Q{\bar q}$ mesons with a quarkonium state, we relate this mode to the analogous mode with $\chi_{c0}$ in the final state. We find ${\cal B}(B^- \to K^- h_c)$ large enough to be measured at the $B$ factories, so that this decay mode could be used to study the poorly known $h_c$.Comment: RevTex, 16 pages, 2 eps figure