The Influence of Child Abuse on the Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Primary Science in Cross River State, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to find out the influence of child abuse on pupils academic performance in primary science. To carry out this study effectively two variables were identified for the study. These were used to formulate the research hypotheses. The design for the study was ex-post-facto. The area of study was Cross River State, Nigeria. The population of study consisted of all primary six pupils in Cross River State in the 2005/2006 school year. This was made up of 68,201 pupils from 994 primary schools in the State. The sampling procedure was stratified random sampling and the sample was 2,940 pupils selected from 49 schools. Two instruments were used: A Child Abuse Questionnaire (CHAQ) and a primary science test to test pupils’ academic performance. The independent t-test was used to analyze the data. The result revealed that children that were not abused perform better than their counterpart who where abused. Based on these findings some recommendations were made

Health care perspectives from burmese refugees

poster abstractBackground: Indianapolis is home to one of the largest Burmese Chin refugee populations outside of Myanmar. Out of the 10,000 Burmese in Indianapolis, over 8,000 are of Chin ethnicity, which is 20% of all Burmese Chin living in the United States. Providers caring for these refugees share concerns that this population may have difficulty accessing care because of language barriers. The goal of this study was to better understand Burmese adult and adolescent views of the U.S. healthcare system Methods: This was a qualitative study that used the phenomenological approach to understand the experience of Burmese refugees. Six focus groups were held from March to May 2013. Discussions were facilitated by MM, in the presence of a trained Burmese interpreter. Any Burmese refugees living in Indianapolis were eligible to participate and were recruited from the Southport Public Library, Burmese-specific ESL courses, and the Burmese community center. Transcripts from focus groups were individually coded by three authors (MM, AD, RH) using NVivo10 (QSR International). Codes with kappa agreements of 96% or more were the foundation for thematic analysis. Findings: Participants were predominantly Chin in ethnicity consisting of 16 adults (all females) and 17 adolescents (10 females, 7 males). Each focus group had between 2-10 participants. Qualitative data analysis identified themes relating to their experience accessing the healthcare system: 1) Time (long wait times at the clinic, pharmacy, and emergency departments) 2) Language barriers (heavy reliance on English-speaking community members, preferences in interpreting services) 3) Relationships with heath care providers (traditional medicines, trust in physicians). Adults often ask adolescents to interpret for them. Adolescents felt comfortable with this responsibility, and some noted frustration when they were not allowed to interpret in clinics or emergency rooms. Concerns with long wait times were common and compounded by difficulties in obtaining an appropriate interpreter. Many of the adult participants preferred an internet-based video interpreting service over in-person interpreters because of increased dialect options, as well as shorter wait times. Although traditional medicines and healing techniques were used in refugee camps and occasionally in Indianapolis, most Burmese place trust with western medicine and report valuing and complying with physician recommendations. Many have a basic understanding of good health practices and the causes of illness. This is seen most consistently in the adolescent groups. Interpretation: Overall, Burmese Chin have adapted to their new home. Although they experience common frustrations with the healthcare system, these frustrations were exacerbated by long waits for an interpreter. Resources, such as a phone or video-based interpreter, are available in most health care facilities and preferred by the Burmese. More research is needed to better understand the challenges of the Burmese population residing in the United States. Funding:AAP Resident CATCH Grant: McHenr

Aspartame as a Green and Effective Corrosion Inhibitor for T95 Carbon Steel in 15 wt.% HCl Solution

Oil well acidizing, although a stimulation process, induces the corrosion of metallic equipment and well tubing. There is, at present, a high demand for effective and less toxic hightemperature corrosion inhibitors for the acidizing process due to the failing of the existing inhibitors at high temperatures occasioned by increases in the well depths. In this study, aspartame (ASP), a commercially available natural compound, is examined as a corrosion inhibitor for T95 carbon steel in 15 wt.% HCl solution at 60, 70, 80, and 90 �C using the weight loss, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and optical profilometry (OP) techniques. It was found that ASP possesses a corrosion inhibiting effect at the studied conditions. Inhibition efficiency increased with increases in temperature. With 2000 ppm ASP, inhibition efficiency of 86% was achieved from the weight loss method at 90 �C after 4 h of immersion. Results from the electrochemical techniques are in good agreement with the weight loss results. PDP results reveal that ASP acted as a mixedtype corrosion inhibitor under the investigated conditions. The inhibition ability of ASP is due to adsorption on the steel surface and has been confirmed by the SEM, OP, and EDX results. ASP is a promising active compound for the formulation of acidizing corrosion inhibitors

Dissolution Control of Mg by Cellulose Acetate–Polyelectrolyte Membranes

Cellulose acetate (CA)-based membranes are used for Mg dissolution control: the permeability of the membrane is adjusted by additions of the polyelectrolyte, poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA). Spin-coated films were characterized with FT-IR, and once exposed to an aqueous solution the film distends and starts acting as a membrane which controls the flow of ions and H2 gas. Electrochemical measurements (linear sweep voltammograms, open-circuit potential, and polarization) show that by altering the CA:PDMAEMA ratio the dissolution rate of Mg can be controlled. Such a control over Mg dissolution is crucial if Mg is to be considered as a viable, temporary biomedical implant material. Furthermore, the accumulation of corrosion products between the membrane and the sample diminishes the undesirable effects of high local pH and H2 formation which takes place during the corrosion process.Peer reviewe

Treated Rhizophora mucronata tannin as a corrosion inhibitor in chloride solution

Treated Rhizopora mucronata tannin (RMT) as a corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel and copper in oil and gas facilities was investigated. Corrosion rate of carbon-steel and copper in 3wt% NaCl solution by RMT was studied using chemical (weight loss method) and spectroscopic (FTIR) techniques at various temperatures in the ranges of 26–90C. The weight loss data was compared to the electrochemical by the application of Faraday’s law for the conversion of corrosion rate data from one system to another. The inhibitive efficiency of RMT was compared with commercial inhibitor sodium benzotriazole (BTA-S). The best concentration of RMT was 20% (w/v), increase in concentration of RMT decreased the corrosion rate and increased the inhibitive efficiency. Increase in temperature increased the corrosion rate and decreased the inhibitive efficiency but, the rate of corrosion was mild with RMT. The FTIR result shows the presence of hydroxyl group, aromatic group, esters and the substituted benzene group indicating the purity of the tannin. The trend of RMT was similar to that of BTA-S, but its inhibitive efficiency for carbon-steel was poor (6%) compared to RMT (59%). BTA-S was efficient for copper (76%) compared to RMT (74%) at 40% (w/v) and 20% (w/v) concentration respectively. RMT was efficient even at low concentration therefore, the use of RMT as a cost effective and environmentally friendly corrosion inhibiting agent for carbon steel and copper is herein proposed

Corrosion Protection Effect of Chitosan on the Performance Characteristics of A6063 Alloy

This article outlines the behaviour of water-soluble chitosan as an effective inhibitor on aluminium alloy in 3.65% NaCl at room temperature. The inhibitive ability of water-soluble chitosan was examined using electrochemical potentiodynamic polarization techniques, mass loss measurements and computational studies. The outcome of the experiment reveals that chitosan inhibited aluminium alloy in sodium chloride solution exhibits better corrosion protection than the uninhibited because chitosan nanoparticles minimize the ingression of chloride ion into the active sites of aluminium alloy by forming thin film on its surface. The losses in mass by the inhibited aluminium alloy were found to reduce as the concentration of chitosan increases. Results obtained showed that chitosan could offer inhibition efficiency above 70%. Polarization curve demonstrated that chitosan in 3.65% NaCl at room temperature acted as a mixed-type inhibitor. Adsorption of chitosan nanoparticles on the aluminium alloy was found to follow Langmuir adsorption isotherm with correlation regression coefficient (R2 ) value of 0.9961