African Librarianship in the 21st Century

Information and knowledge are critical and strategic resources in human development. The rural and urban poor in Africa require access to appropriate information to fight poverty, deprivation and illiteracy. This is in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper examines the activities of libraries towards achieving these goals. It recognizes that African Librarianship is faced with challenges that are both external and internal. Externally, it is faced with the challenges of general backwardness of Africa – high illiteracy level, poor economic conditions, political instability, corruption, lack of government supports; and internally, with imported ideologies. The paper discusses the fundamental challenges of the profession and proposes two ideals for Africa’s information management – providing access to relevant information to all in all formats; and harnessing Africa’s rich cultural heritage in all forms and integrating them to the Global Information Infrastructures (GII). The paper recommends a complete reorientation of library development strategies which will include community based approaches; government involvement and aid donors to support development.

Atomic population distribution in the output ports of cold-atom interferometers with optical splitting and recombination

Cold-atom interferometers with optical splitting and recombination use off-resonant laser beams to split a cloud of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) into two clouds that travel along different paths and are then recombined again using optical beams. After the recombination, the BEC in general populates both the cloud at rest and the moving clouds. Measuring relative number of atoms in each of these clouds yields information about the relative phase shift accumulated by the atoms in the two moving clouds during the interferometric cycle. We derive the expression for the probability of finding any given number of atoms in each of the clouds, discuss features of the probability density distribution, analyze its dependence on the relative accumulated phase shift as a function of the strength of the interatomic interactions, and compare our results with experiment.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

Library Services In The Hybrid Environment: A Case Study Of Research Institutes In Lagos State, Nigeria

The purpose of this research is to establish the desirability of hybrid collections and services by the research librarians in the four research institutes’ libraries in Lagos state. Survey research method was employed; a total number of 25 questionnaires were distributed; and 20 were retrieved from which analyses were made. The study revealed high desirability of hybrid library by the research librarians. Also, lack of appropriate skills in managing electronic resources was discovered as the greatest impediment of providing hybrid services to support research

Influence of size and temperature on the phase stability and thermophysical properties of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles: molecular dynamics simulation

Nanoparticles have attracted the attention of researchers in a number of multidisciplinary fields as they possess enhanced structural and physical properties, which make them desirable to a wide range of industries. These enhancements have mostly been attributed to their large surface area-to-volume ratio. However, the effect of temperature on the structural and surface properties of nanoparticles of different sizes is still not well understood, an aspect addressed in the present work. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have performed investigations on anatase TiO2 nanoparticles with sizes ranging between 2 and 6 nm and at different temperatures. Structural and surface properties including surface energies are reported for the different nanoparticle sizes, temperature and simulation time step. Comparisons of surface energies for the different nanoparticle sizes show that surface energy increases to a maximum(optimum value) especially for temperatures between 300 and 1,500 K, as the particle size increases after which no further significant increase is observed. Studies conducted on the change of final structure with respect to the initial structure of the particles, revealed that atomic structural disordering is more visible at the surface layer compared to the bulk or core of the final structure. Further studies conducted on the sphericity of the nanoparticles showed that the particles became less spherical with increase in temperature

INFLUENCE OF HEAD-TEACHERS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE ON TEACHERS’ JOB SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The study focused on influence of head-teachers conflict management style on teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Awka education zone of Anambra State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study consisted 122 head-teachers in 61 public secondary schools in Awka education zone. No sample was taken, as the population size was manageable. A 16-items structured questionnaire validated by three experts was used for the study. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient to determine its degree of reliability which obtained overall reliability coefficient values of 0.95. Data related to the research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that respondents disagreed that head teachers use integrating conflict management style while they agreed in using obliging conflict management style for their job satisfaction. The study revealed that head teachers’ years of teaching experience does not affect the uses of integrating and obliging conflict management style in their job satisfaction. It was concluded that integrating conflict management style are rarely used by the head teacher. It was recommended, among others, that Head teachers should strive at minimizing conflicts and use appropriate methods to manage them such integrating either than obliging conflict management style.  Article visualizations

Palatal Impalement Injury With Retained Foreign Body in a Child: Case Report and Literature Review

Impalement injuries are uncommon in the head and neck region, and when associated with the retained foreign body present a challenge to the clinician with regards to management. This type of injury may occasionally be associated with life-threatening complications or permanent disability. Therefore, clinicians involved in the management of head and neck trauma need to be constantly reminded of this uncommon type of injury and the different treatment options.This is a case report of impalement injury to the palate of a child by a hair weaving instrument. Clinical and plain radiographic examination was sufficient for foreign body localization. The foreign body was successfully extricated under local anaesthesia and conscious sedation using a simple conservative technique with no complications

Experimenting with Cigarettes and Physical Activity Among Mexican Origin Youth: A Cross Sectional Analysis of the Interdependent Associations Among Sensation Seeking, Acculturation, and Gender

Sensation seeking tendencies tend to manifest during adolescence and are associated with both health-compromising behaviors and health-enhancing behaviors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between sensation seeking and physical activity, a health-enhancing behavior, and between sensation seeking and experimenting with cigarettes, a health compromising-behavior, among a cohort of Mexican origin adolescents residing in the United States with different levels of acculturation. Methods: In 2009, 1,154 Mexican origin youth (50.5% girls, mean age 14.3 years (SD = 1.04)) provided data on smoking behavior, physical activity, linguistic acculturation, and sensation seeking. We conducted Pearson's chi(2) tests to examine the associations between categorical demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, country of birth and parental educational attainment) and both cigarette experimentation and physical activity and Student's t-tests to examine mean differences on the continuous variables (i.e. sensation seeking subscale) by the behaviors. We examined mean differences in the demographic characteristics, acculturation, and both behaviors for each of the sensation seeking subscales using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To examine relationships between the sensation seeking subscales, gender, and both behaviors, at different levels of acculturation we completed unconditional logistic regression analyses stratified by level of acculturation. Results: Overall, 23.3% had experimented with cigarettes and 29.0% reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes/day on at least 5 days/week. Experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active were more prevalent among boys than girls. Among girls, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation and experimentation with cigarettes, but not with physical activity. Among boys, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation, experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active. Conclusions: Our results suggest that interventions designed to prevent smoking among Mexican origin youth may need to address social aspects associated with acculturation, paying close attention to gendered manifestations of sensation seeking.National Cancer Institute CA105203, CA126988Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer PreventionDan Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk AssessmentCenter for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Population

Perceptions and Motivation toward Water Safety and Aquatic Activities in College Students

As individuals reach adulthood there is a substantial reduction of participation in physical activities. Quality instruction in various physical activities, more specifically aquatics, are beneficial to an individual’s health and career. This current study examined college student’s perceptions and motivations towards the impact of aquatic instruction and water safety skills. Participants included 265 college students between the ages of 19 and 30 years old (n = 147 males, n = 118 females), enrolled in aquatic-related courses at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Researchers used a mixed-method approach where the findings indicated that 72% of the participants reported the ability to swim, tread water, and float, 78% would enroll in additional aquatic classes, and 82% are willing to learn to swim. Quality aquatic instruction given at HBCUs can help the process of closing the gap of disparities among African Americans and their involvement in aquatics

Green Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Musa Acuminata Aqueous Flower Extract and Its Anti-Microbial Activities

Nanomaterials have gained much relevant in the world of science due to their applications in catalysis, wastewater treatment and desulfurization of fossil fuels, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medicine. The green approach of nanoparticle synthesis employs the use of non-toxic reagents and is now preferred to the other methods which include thermal decomposition, electrochemical, photochemical, microwave assisted process chemical methods. Silver nanoparticle was biosynthesized using flower extract of Musa acuminata as reducing and capping agents. The synthesized silver nanoparticle was confirmed by the colour change after addition of the flower extract of Musa acuminata into silver nitrate solution. The silver nanoparticle was characterized by UV–Visible spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer. The result of SEM reveals the formation of silver nanoparticle which was spherical in shape with varying sizes ranged between 20-30 nm. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticle gave absorption at 375 nm, revealed silver metal as the most abundant element, vibrational bands indicating the presence of quinone, amides and conjugated ketone which served as reducing and capping agent. The bio-synthesized silver nanoparticles revealed potent antibacterial activity and the economical synthesis of silver nanoparticle from aqueous flower extract of Musa acuminatawhich is ecofriendly. Keywords :Green synthesis; silver nanoparticles; flower extract; capping agents; antibacterial activity; scanning electron microscopy. DOI: 10.7176/CMR/11-7-02 Publication date:September 30th 201