Evaluating The Carbon Dioxide Sequestration In The Trees On The Landmass Of The University Campus In The Temperate And Tropical Region

2020 PGR Summer School: Poster Exhibitio

The Use of Dietary Supplements Among African and Caribbean Women Living in the UK: A Cross-Sectional Study

Previous studies have shown that the use of dietary supplements is associated with the prevention of birth defects, negative pregnancy outcomes and cardiovascular diseases. However, there might be some ethnic disparities in supplement usage suggesting that women who could benefit from it are not frequent users. This study aimed to characterise the use of dietary supplement among Black African and Black Caribbean women living in the United Kingdom (UK). Furthermore, it evaluated possible associations between the use of dietary supplements and health and diet awareness. A total of 262 women self-ascribed as Black African and Black Caribbean living in the UK completed a comprehensive questionnaire on socio-demographic factors, diet, use of supplements and cultural factors. The main outcome variable was the regular use of any type of dietary supplement. Use of vitamin D and/or calcium was also explored. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was applied to identify predictors of regular use of dietary supplements. A total of 33.2% of women reported regular use of any dietary supplements and 16.8% reported use of vitamin D and/or calcium. There were no significant ethnic differences in the use of dietary supplements. Reporting use of the back of food packaging label (odds ratio (OR) 2.21; 95% CI 1.07–4.55); a self-rated healthy diet (OR 2.86; 95% CI 1.19–6.91) and having cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension and/or high cholesterol (OR 3.81; 95% CI 1.53–9.49) increased the likelihood of using any dietary supplement. However, having poorer awareness decreased the likelihood (OR 0.94; 95% CI 0.88–0.99) of using any dietary supplement. For the use of vitamin D and/or calcium supplements, the main predictor was having CVD, hypertension and/or high cholesterol (OR 4.43; 95% CI 1.90–10.35). The prevalence of dietary supplement use was low among African and Caribbean women. Thus, awareness of potential benefits of some dietary supplements (e.g., vitamin D) among the Black population should be promoted

Evaluating the potentials of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a tool for developing year 8 (Key Stage 3) science students’ questioning skills in a UK secondary school

This case study research employed a mixed method approach to evaluate the effectiveness of Bloom’s taxonomy in the development of questioning skills of a cohort of year 8 science students in the UK. Designed along the intervention and evaluation framework, the research compared the level of use of questioning skills by these students after they were introduced to Bloom’s taxonomy as a prompt. Students’ use of questioning n their classes pre-and post-intervention were recorded and compared through observations and field notes. In addition, the views of the teachers involved in teaching these students were collected through a survey questionnaire and discussions. The study found improvements in the quality of questions and feedback provided by the students. It also found that, teachers, through the process of modelling using Bloom’s Taxonomy prompts, contributed significantly to this improvement. It also found that a major block to teachers’ use of the model is teachers’ lack of pedagogical knowledge. The study concludes by advocating the need for appropriate CPD to enable teachers to develop the skills required for helping their learners to develop the essential questioning skills which is acknowledged as useful for promoting learning in science classrooms

Source Area Weathering and Tectonic History Inferred from the Geochemistry of the Maastrichtian Sandstone from Patti Formation, Southern Bida Basin, North Central Nigeria

Sandstones sampled from Patti Formation, Southern Bida Basin, were studied geochemically using Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-AES) and an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique to evaluate their weathering and tectonic setting as well as to deduce the paleo-climatic conditions that existed during their deposition. Geochemically, SiO2 range from 73.9% to 86.2%, Al2O3 (6.7%~17.1%), Fe2O3 (1.1%~1.9%), K2O (0.1%~0.7%) while MgO, CaO, Na2O, P2O5, MnO and TiO2 were 80%) for indices like chemical index of alteration, chemical index of weathering, plagioclase index of alteration, mineralogical index of alteration and relatively lower values for weathering index of parker, recently used alpha indices (αAl E) of sodium (326.17αΑl Na80) indicates a steady-state of weathering under a warm/humid climate as confirmed by the SiO2 vs. Al2O3+ K2O + Na2O plot. High average SiO2 (75.41wt%) with K2O/Na2O ratio >1 (15.63), low Fe2O3 (1.27wt %), Al2O3 (15.82wt%) and TiO2 (0.46) suggest passive margin tectonic setting. This is supported by enriched ΣREE (209.64 ppm), ΣLREE (195.78), LREE/HREE (27.78) and negative Eu/Eu* (0.68), plots of log (K2O/Na2O) vs. SiO2 and SiO2/Al2O3 vs. K2O/Na2O. Major elements discriminant-function multi-dimensional diagram, DF1 (arcrift-col) vs. DF2 (arc-rift-col), for high-silica sediments revealed a continental rift tectonic setting. Thus, the Patti Formation sandstone underwent a high degree of weathering under a humid climatic condition within a continental rift tectonic setting

Beyond locutionary denotations: exploring trust between practitioners and policy

This study reports the findings of a research on the trust relationship between practitioners in the Skills for Life (SfL) area and the policy that informs their practice. The exploration of this relationship was premised on an extended notion of trust relationship which draws from the Speech Act theory of Austin (1962; Searle 1969; Kissine 2008), leading to the claim that the existence of different layers of imports in textual analysis makes it possible for a trust relationship to exist between the human/physical and the non human/non physical. The study found that the majority of practitioners in the SfL field trust policy to deliver its inherent policy only to a limited extent. Amongst others, the study identified the impact of the perlocutionary import of policy text on practitioners as a viable reason for this limited level of trust. Such perlocutionary imports, it also found, have adverse impact on practitioners who are considered to have drawn from previous experience to mediate the import of contemporary policies

Moments in transformation: Trainee and newly qualified Lifelong learning teachers’ reconceptualization of assessment in practice

This study investigates the pre-and post-training conceptualisations of assessment amongst trainee and recently qualified teachers in the lifelong learning sector in the UK. Using the lens of transformative learning, the study maps out the process, influential factors and time in the shift in conceptualisation. Though designed as a qualitative iterative study, the study employed a combination of statistical tools and content analysis in data analysis. It found that the dominant pre-training conceptualisation of assessment was in its summative essence as a tool for testing and examination and that reconceptualization occurred mostly during practice. The study calls for a review of the structure and content of teacher education in the area of assessment and proposed that post-training development programmes for newly and recently qualified teachers must acknowledge these findings in their teacher development programmes

Computational Numerical Solution for Traveling Salesman Problem

This paper examined and analysed the desire of Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) to find the cheapest way of visiting all given set of cities and returning to the starting point.     We presented a unique decomposition approach model for TSP in which the requirements and features of practical application in communication network, road transportation and supply chains are put into consideration.  We used a Mathematical Modeling solution with the application of Ant Colony Search Algorithm (ACSA) approach for result computation. In our approach, different Agents were created for difference purposes.   Information agent gathered information about best tour and detected the solution agent that arrived at a given point with information message containing details of where the solution agent has come from as well as best tour cost.  The place ant performs local pheromone decay on the relevant links.   This help to avoid random visit to irrelevant edges and allows the place ant to calculate the cost of tour of all place ants including the latest pheromone level on the links to each of the place ants. The solution agent uses available information to decide  which node to visit next and informs the place ant of  its decision to move to a given destination and update better tour  previously sampled while information about where to go next also obtained.       The place ant updates its pheromone value for that link using the equivalent of the algorithm for local pheromone update.    The cycle continues until solution agent arrives at its destination. The main advantage of our approach is that it permits the use of mixed integer programming and combinatorial optimization techniques to compute real optimal routing path, solving the problem in practice by returning actual shortest route with its numerical value and not the best effort result as provided by some previous models and analytical methods. The implementation was carried out using C# programming language.  Data used were generated and the performance evaluation of the model was carried out through simulation using Matlab 7.0.  The result shows that by considering all possible paths between a node as the source and another as the destination, all possible routes for a particular journey with shortest route in each case were generated. Keywords: Ant Colony, Combinatorial Optimization, Mixed Integer Programming, Pheromone, Search Algorithm and Traveling Salesman

Microanatomical effects of ethanolic extract of Cola nitida on the stomach mucosa of adult wistar rats

The study investigated the microanatomical effects of the extracts of Cola nitida on the stomach mucosa of adult male Wistar rats. Twenty adult male wistar rats were randomly divided into four equal groups of A, B, C and D (n=5). Animals in experimental groups B, C and D were given 600mg/kg body weight of crude extract of Cola nitida each by oral intubation for five, seven and nine consecutive days respectively, while group A (control) received equivalent volume of distilled water. Twenty four hrs after the last administration, the animals were sacrificed; tissues were harvested and fixed in 10% formol saline for histological analysis. The study revealed necrotized surface epithelium, degenerated gastric mucosa, and loss of glandular elements in the stomachs of experimental groups’ vis-à-vis the control group. These observations were days-dependent; as those groups which received the extract for higher number of days were seen to be adversely affected. In conclusion, Cola nitida at 600mg/kg body weight can cause gastric lesion in animals. This lesion may be pronounced if the administration continued for days. Cola nitida should, therefore, be taken with caution to avoid gastric complications.Keyword: Cola nitida, necrotized, degenerated, stomach mucosa, microanatomy, glandular element

Void fraction measurements in a large (0.3 m) diameter bubble column using Wire Mesh Sensors and Pressure Transducers: Effect of Spargers

The importance of the accurate temporal and spatial measurements of the two-phase flow parameters in bubble columns is very well known. The aim of this research work is to report the spatial measurements of the void fraction distribution in a 30 cm diameter cylindrical bubble column using Wire Mesh Sensor (WMS) tomography and Pressure Transducers. Pair of WMS sensors, with a 64×64 wire configuration of each sensor, were installed which are separated by a distance along the axis of the bubble column. Wire Mesh Sensors and PTs Data were collected for time-averaged and transient with a sampling frequency of 1000 Hz respectively. The principle of Wire-Mesh Sensors (WMS) and algorithms for estimating the void fraction from the WMS raw experimental data have been discussed in great detail. The void fraction results obtained from the WMS are compared against the void fraction results obtained from the Pressure Transducers. Experiments were performed for seven superficial gas velocities, to cover both Homogenous and Heterogenous flows. Two different spargers (point sparger and four arm spargers) were used to study the effect of the sparger design on the hydrodynamics. The measurement uncertainty of the WMS and PTs for air-water two-phase flows is investigated by repeating the experiments. The effect of superficial gas velocity and sparger design on the radial and steady-state void fraction profiles have been reported. These experimental investigations disclose the quantitative measurements of the steady-state flow parameters which have not so far been reported, and this data can also be used by the theoretical CFD modelers for their simulation data validation

Computational Numerical Solution for Traveling Salesman Problem

This paper examined and analyzed the desire of Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) to find the cheapest way of visiting all given set of cities and returning to the starting point.     We presented a unique decomposition approach model for TSP in which the requirements and features of practical application in communication network, road transportation and supply chains are put into consideration.  We used a Mathematical Modeling solution with the application of Ant Colony Search Algorithm (ACSA) approach for result computation.  In our approach, different Agents were created for difference purposes.   Information agent gathered information about best tour and detected the solution agent that arrived at a given point with information message containing details of where the solution agent has come from as well as best tour cost.  The place ant performs local pheromone decay on the relevant links.   This help to avoid random visit to irrelevant edges and allows the place ant to calculate the cost of tour of all place ants including the latest pheromone level on the links to each of the place ants. The solution agent uses available information to decide  which node to visit next and informs the place ant of  its decision to move to a given destination and update better tour  previously sampled while information about where to go next also obtained.  The place ant updates its pheromone value for that link using the equivalent of the algorithm for local pheromone update.  The cycle continues until solution agent arrives at its destination. The main advantage of our approach is that it permits the use of mixed integer programming and combinatorial optimization techniques to compute real optimal routing path, solving the problem in practice by returning actual shortest route with its numerical value and not the best effort result as provided by some previous models and analytical methods. The implementation was carried out using C# programming language.  Data used were generated and the performance evaluation of the model was carried out through simulation using Matlab 7.0.  The result shows that by considering all possible paths between a node as the source and another as the destination, all possible routes for a particular journey with shortest route in each case were generated. Keywords: Ant Colony, Combinatorial Optimization, Mixed Integer Programming, Pheromone, Search Algorithm and Traveling Salesman