Developing a Mathematical Formula that can Calculate the Density of MoO3-B2O3-Bi2O3 Glass System from Weight Percentages of its Components

Research on glass systems for radiation shielding involves the fabrication of different samples in a sequential manner. In order to determine their shielding properties their densities have to be found experimentally. This procedure causes time and capital consumption and is associated with health risk due to the biological harms of some chemicals involved in it. Therefore, the objective of this work is to reduce the cost, time and health risks by developing a mathematical model to calculate the density of MoO3 - B2O3 - Bi2O3 glass system from weight percentages of its components using Phy-X/PSD software and Python Programming. The input needed are the densities and percentage weights of the constituent components. The coding made in Python programming language to test the formula shows its ability to reproduce or predict densities of the required samples of this glass system with accuracy within 99.59 – 99.88%. Therefore, making use of this formula will simplify the difficulty of refabricating glasses defined by the expression yMoO3 - xB2O3 - (100 – y – x) Bi2O3 for research purposes, which will reduce the financial cost and health risks

Effect of La2O3 Additive on the Radiation Shielding Properties of Cobalt-doped Borate Glasses

Radiation protection becomes a necessary action in radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy and other institutions which make use of radiation. The aim of this work is to evaluate the radiation protection features of cobalt-doped borate glass with La2O3 additive. The glasses named here as S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 with 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mol% of La2O3 respectively were assessed for their Linear Attenuation Coefficient, LAC, Mass Attenuation Coefficient, MAC, Half value Layer, HVL and Effective Atomic Number Zeff. We found that the glasses have LAC, MAC and Zeff higher than ordinary concrete and Ilmenite concrete, especially S3 which has the concentration of 1 mol% of La2O3 and has lowest HVL at lower energies below 0.1 MeV and above 4 MeV than the other samples, and also found that S5 with 2 mol% of La2O3 is more advantageous for energy range 0.1 - 4 MeV. We therefore concluded the applicability of these glasses for radiation shielding and that the addition of La2O3 increases their radiation protection features.

Information Asymmetry, Financialisation and Financial Access

This study investigates whether information sharing channels that are meant to reduce information asymmetry have led to an increase in financial access. The study employs a Generalised Method of Moments technique using data from 53 African countries during the period from 2004-2011 to examine this linkage. Information sharing channels are theoretically designed to promote the formal financial sector and discourage the informal financial sector. The study uses two information sharing channels: private credit bureaus and public credit registries. The study found that both information sharing channels have a positive and significant impact on financial access. The study also found that public credit registries complement the formal financial sector to promote financial access. The policy implications are discussed

Alleged rape: an analysis of management of cases seen at specialist hospital Gombe, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to determine how patients who presented following sexual assault were managed at a secondary health facility in Gombe, Nigeria. The case notes of patient who presented at the Accident and Emergency Unit of State Specialist Hospital Gombe after serious sexual assault from August 1 2016 to July 30 2018 were retrieved and the data were entered into SPSS Version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and summarised as proportions. Of the 15,613 patients who presented, 277 were alleged rapes which constituted 1.77% of presentations. Two hundred and one of the patients were females with a total of 2341 admissions at the gynaecological ward representing 8.6%. One hundred and seventy one (67%) of the patients did not receive any form of care, 127 (54.0%) were not given antibiotics prophylaxis against STIs, 117 (42%) did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV/AIDS and 80% of the women between the ages of 15–45 had emergency contraception. One hundred and ninety seven (71.1%) did not receive any psychological support. Rape is common. Measures should be put in place to improve the clinical management of survivors.Impact statement What is already known on this subject? Rape is common in Gombe, Nigeria, and a standard management protocol has been developed with a view to reduce the adverse consequences associated with it. What the results of this study add? The results of this study show that survivors of rape in the developing countries like ours do not receive adequate clinical and psychological care when they present at the hospital. What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Given the results, there is the need for physicians managing rape cases to pay attention to details so as to minimise both immediate and long-term complications associated with rape

Useful Volatile Organic Biomarkers for Discriminating Spoilt Onion Cultivars in Sokoto

Microorganisms degrade food components in order to access nutrient available in such food and in return produce organic compounds from the breakdown of the food components. These organic compounds hold potential to be exploited as biomarkers to detect the presence of such microorganisms. This study was conducted to evaluate fungi associated with volatile organic compounds production in spoilt onion cultivars. A total of 54 onion bulbs which include 45 healthy and 9 spoilt onion bulbs belonging to three cultivars were used for this study. All laboratory investigations were carried out by standard methods. Four fungal genera were identified and these include Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor and Candida. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of twenty six (26) volatile compounds in spoilt white onion bulb, (9) in yellowish-brown and (8) in the purple variety, respectively. White onion bulb had the following dominant compound; nonane (11.97%), decane (11.96%), octane (9.3%) of which ten was unknown. The compounds sulphurous acid, 2-ethylhexylisohexyl ester (18.60%), phenol 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl (7.90%) were dominant in yellowish-brown cultivar including five (5) unknown, while the predominant compounds in the spoilt purple onion variety were, phthalic acid, di-(1-hexen-5-yl)ester (69.64%) and phenol-2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl, of which five were unknown. This study suggests that these unique volatile organic compounds could provide the bedrock for restraining postharvest losses and the volatile organic compounds could also form baseline knowledge for discriminating diseases associated with onion

Antifungal Activity of Garlic (Allium sativum) Essential Oil and Wood Ash against Post-harvest Fruit Rot of Banana (Musa acuminata L.) in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Studies on antifungal effect of garlic (Allium sativum) essential oil and wood ash were determined on causative agents of post-harvest fruit rot of banana. Different concentrations of essential oil of garlic (0.15, 0.50, and 1.0%) and quantities of wood ash (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5g) were used. The treatments were laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Four (4) fungal pathogens associated with rots of banana fruits were isolated. The fungi isolated and their incidence of occurrence included Colletotrichum musae (18%), Pyricularia grisea (18%), Rhizoctonia solani (38%) and Rhizopus stolonifer(26%). Rhizoctonia solani and Rhizopus stolonifer were the most pathogenic with rot covering more than 75% of the fruit surface. All the tested concentrations (0.15, 0.5 and 1.0%) of essential oil of garlic significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed mycelial growth of the fungi in-vitro. Also all tested quantities of wood ash (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5g) significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the rots of the fungi in-vivo. The effect was proportional to the concentrations of essential oil of garlic and quantities of wood ash used and reduction was highest at 1.0% of garlic oil and 0.5g of wood ash. Both garlic (Allium sativum) essential oil and wood ash proved effective in the control of disease severity and these natural plant materials are recommended as an alternative to pesticides which are often harmful and costly

Characterisation, in vitro digestibility and expected glycemic index of commercial starches as uncooked ingredients

When selecting a native starch for specific food purposes, it is important to consider the differences between starches of varying botanical sources (cereal, tubers and roots). In this study uncooked starches as ingredients (corn, rice, wheat, tapioca and potato) were characterized according to microstructure, some (physicochemical, functional and thermal) properties, in vitro digestibility and expected glycemic index. There was a significant variation in the granule shape and size distribution of the starches, when studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and particle size analysis. Particle size results distinguished among starches in monomodal (corn, tapioca, potato) and bimodal (rice, wheat) populations. Among all the samples, the potato showed the biggest size distribution granules while the rice showed the lowest. The examined properties and nutritional characteristics of starches were significantly different. Thermal properties were studied by means of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). DSC studies found that the transition temperatures (58.8 °C - 78.7 °C) and enthalpies of gelatinization (2.3 J/g - 8.2 J/g) of the starches appeared to be greatly influenced by microstructure and chemical composition (e.g. resistant starch). Potato and corn starches were hydrolyzed more slowly and to a lesser extent than ones. In particular, the highest resistant starch was recorded for potato. Nutritional properties such as slowly digestible starch and expected glycemic index values followed the order: rice > wheat > tapioca >corn > potato. In general, these results provide the baseline information on the development of novel foods or native starch blends with tailored functional properties such as slow digestibility