Urban water usages in Egbeda area of Oyo State, Nigeria

11 p.International audienceThe increasing urbanisation of Egbeda town has put pressure on the scarce freshwater resources for the multifarious household usages. 149 households were sampled to evaluate their water usages and needs through the use of prepared questionnaires. It is discovered that the town is entering the category of "water stressed" towns which is a typical phenomenon in the 21st Century developing urban cities. As the population increases, the per capita water share diminishes. Unfortunately, the limited freshwater available are below the WHO Drinking Water Standard as observed from the analysed samples from the four main sources. Major limitations observed is peculiar in a developing country like Nigeria which include lack of accurate data and the unwillingness of many households to participate in questionnaire interview. However, the method adopted remains a vital medium by which urban water usage can be evaluated in developing countries where there's no standard water metering supplying system

The Impact Of Divestitures (Spin-offs And Sell-offs) Announcements On The Share Price Performance Of Parent’s Companies: South African Listed Companies

This thesis is based on the empirical examination of the impact of divestiture announcements, with a focus on spin-off and sell-off transactions, on the share performance of parent companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. The sample of the study for spin-off consisted of 36 companies while that of sell-off transactions consisted of 41 companies listed on JSE for deals that were announced and concluded from 2006 to 2016. The cumulative average abnormal returns for the parent companies were calculated using the event study methodology over the entire event window. Abnormal returns were calculated using the two-factor APT model approach. The cumulative average abnormal returns significance was tested using the t-test. Thereafter, the average abnormal returns and cumulative average abnormal returns were compared over the event window for the pre and post announcement period. A comparison was also made between spin-off and sell-off transactions over the entire event window (-30, +30). Three key results were established, the first being that, spin-off transactions generate positive abnormal returns while sell-off transaction generate negative abnormal returns. Second, it is clear that there were significant positive cumulative average abnormal returns for postannouncement returns for spin-off transactions while the post-announcement returns for sell-off transactions generated a negative cumulative average abnormal returns. Thirdly, I compared the two form of divestiture (spin-off and sell-off transactions) and discovered that there appears to be significant evidence that the CAAR for spin-off transactions are higher than the CAAR for sell-off transactions

The need for data integration to address the challenges of climate change on the Guyana coast

Guyana's capacity to address the impacts of climate change on its coastal environment requires the ability to monitor, quantify and understand coastal change over short-, medium- and long- term. Understanding the drivers of change in coastal and marine environment can be achieved through the accurate measurement and critical analyses of morphologies, flows, processes and responses. This manuscript presents a strategy developed to create a central resource, database and web-based platform to integrate data and information on the drivers and the changes within Guyana coastal and marine environment. The strategy involves four complimentary work packages including data collection, development of a platform for data integration, application of the data for coastal change analyses and consultation with stakeholders. The last aims to assess the role of the integrated data systems to support strategic governance and sustainable decision-making. It is hoped that the output of this strategy would support the country's climate-focused agencies, organisations, decision-makers, and researchers in their tasks and endeavours

Nexus between Economic Growth and Insurance Business in Nigeria

The role of insurance sector in mitigating sudden and devastating occurrences thereby stimulating economic growth cannot be over emphasized, however, no consensus has emerged on the impact of insurance development on economic growth. Hence the need to inquire not only the growth of the insurance sector in Nigeria but also how the sector has impacted economic growth.  Data were collected from secondary sources and it was regressed using ordinary least square at 95% significant level. It was discovered that there is relationship between insurance business and economic growth within the period of study. Keywords: Insurance sector, Economic growth, investment

Development of an Adaptive IIR Filter Based on Modified Robust Mixed-Norm Algorithm for Adaptive Noise Cancellation

Noise cancellation is one of the most important applications of adaptive filters. The employment of adaptive filtering in most digital signal processing tasks is currently an area of growing interest as adaptive filters, due to their dynamic nature, perform better than the traditional filters in compensating for random noise in their environment. However, the compensation for impulsive interference or noise is desired since most adaptive algorithms earlier proposed modelled noise as a random process of the White Gaussian distribution.  A modified robust mixed-norm (MRMN) algorithm recently proposed to compensate for impulsive interference has been found to be hardware efficient, however the MRMN algorithm has only been tested on adaptive FIR system identification task. In this paper, an adaptive IIR filter based on MRMN adaptive algorithm is proposed and tested for noise cancellation task. The developed filter structure was modelled and simulated in MATLAB environment. The results obtained showed that the MRMN algorithm does in fact compensate for the presence of impulsive interference, however, at a higher computational complexity relative to the LMS algorithm. Keywords: Noise cancellation, adaptive filtering, impulsive noise, adaptive algorithm, system identification, random noise DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/10-2-01 Publication date:March 31st 201

SPATIO-TEMPORAL INFORMATION SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF REVENUE ALLOCATION IN NIGERIA (1999-2008)

The bulk of the federally allocated revenue derived from revenue accruing to the Federal Government of Nigeria is shared with the other two tiers of government under a revenue allocation system (RAS) using different formulas at different times. The sharing principle has remained a contentious issue to date. This paper presents a spatio-temporal analysis of three items of revenue allocation namely, statutory, excess crude oil, value added tax and 13% share of derivation shared among the three tiers between May 1999 – December 2008. A comparative analysis was conducted among 6 geo-political zones, 36 states and 774 local government areas of the country. The result shows that when allocations from the four items of revenue are combined, the South-South zone leads with incredible margin, thus raising questions about the legitimacy of agitations from this zone

Estuary – coast interaction and morphodynamic evolution: a comparative analysis of three estuaries in southwest England

Investigations of geomorphology and morphodynamics within the coastal zone have tended to treat the open coast as an independent system to that of any neighbouring estuaries. This separation is also evident within shoreline management, which has traditionally been undertaken within the context of coastal cells or estuarine valleys. The focus of this research is a comparative analysis of morphodynamic behaviour and sedimentary characteristics of connected open-coast – estuary systems. The north coast of Cornwall, southwest England, is notably indented and dominated by bedrock cliff and shore platforms. However, it also comprises some broad embayments that accommodate estuarine valleys and open coast, typically sandy beaches. The region provides an ideal environment within which to assess broad-scale coastal change and the association between estuarine and open-coast morphodynamics. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to consider regional coherence in coastal behaviour and to evaluate the relative importance of local physical context vs. regional climate forcing. The Hayle, the Gannel and the Camel estuaries that are located within St Ives, Crantock and Padstow bays respectively, have received considerable attention in terms of the impacts of mining on estuarine sedimentation. The impacts on sediment supply, sedimentology and mineraology have been explored extensively in these past studies, however, very little consideration has been given to the nature of coastal geomorphology and coastal system dynamics. This PhD research explores mesoscale coastal dynamics, and evaluates coastal behaviour over decades to centuries in the context of climate and sea-level change. Historical geomorphological evolution of these estuaries and their adjacent shorelines are examined to evaluate morphodynamic connectivity through the application of shoreline analysis tools (such as Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) and Location Probability Analysis). This study showed that low shoreline recession along the north Cornwall coast, where sediments are present, has attributed most to the significant sea-level rise in this region (no significant change was observed on rocky low water shorelines). The high water shoreline imposes a different pattern of change in response to constraining factors which are triggered by both environmental factors and historical human activities. Changes over contemporary time scales are focused on bedform movement into, within and landward of inlets and are primarily driven both by waves in the outer estuary/ebb delta region and by tides in the channels/flood delta region. The inlets, however, are largely fixed in position by the bedrock valley, and channel dynamics within the estuary are dependent on the accommodation space provided by the valley. Sedimentary linkages are also explored through the sedimentological and geochemical analysis of sediments sampled from the intertidal zone of these systems. Based on grain-size parameters, there is considerable homogeneity in the sediment populations specific to the sub-environments sampled and analysed. There is evidence of sediment mixing between estuarine and beach environments. Geochemical (XRF) and mineraological composition of sediment indicate contamination by mine waste tailings in the estuaries resulting from major historical mining activities in the region with Sn, Cu, As and Zn as predominant in the Hayle, Pb and Zn in the Gannel and Sn, W, and Zr in the Camel estuaries. This research presents a multidisciplinary approach that employs a range of computer and lab-based analyses to integrate geospatial resources (including published maps, chart archives, etc) and sedimentological characteristics (including grain size and XRF analyses). The thesis is the first comprehensive comparative investigation of the morphodynamic behaviour and sedimentology of these north Cornwall estuaries

The role of Sdh4p Tyr-89 in ubiquinone reduction by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae succinate dehydrogenase

AbstractSuccinate dehydrogenase (complex II or succinate:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) is a tetrameric, membrane-bound enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of succinate and the reduction of ubiquinone in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Two electrons from succinate are transferred one at a time through a flavin cofactor and a chain of iron–sulfur clusters to reduce ubiquinone to an ubisemiquinone intermediate and to ubiquinol. Residues that form the proximal quinone-binding site (QP) must recognize ubiquinone, stabilize the ubisemiquinone intermediate, and protonate the ubiquinone to ubiquinol, while minimizing the production of reactive oxygen species. We have investigated the role of the yeast Sdh4p Tyr-89, which forms a hydrogen bond with ubiquinone in the QP site. This tyrosine residue is conserved in all succinate:ubiquinone oxidoreductases studied to date. In the human SDH, mutation of this tyrosine to cysteine results in paraganglioma, tumors of the parasympathetic ganglia in the head and neck. We demonstrate that Tyr-89 is essential for ubiquinone reductase activity and that mutation of Tyr-89 to other residues does not increase the production of reactive oxygen species. Our results support a role for Tyr-89 in the protonation of ubiquinone and argue that the generation of reactive oxygen species is not causative of tumor formation