Effects of Early Removal of Chicks from the Mother Hen on Clutch Sizes and Inter-Clutch Intervals

The study on the effects of early removal (weaning) of chicks from the mother hen on clutch sizes and inter-clutch intervals was conducted in Garkawa town in the Southern Zone, Plateau State, Nigeria from November 2, 2011 to August 29, 2012. 5 matured hens of varied ages and a cock were bought in Garkawa market. They were left to roam in the day and roosted at night freely. The parameters studied includes number of clutches, duration for a clutch, number of eggs, number of chicks per clutch per hen and time interval between the clutches. The results indicated 5 clutches in 301 days (about 10 months). From the 301 days, the actual periods of production was 250 days (8.3 months) with a clutch period of about 50 days(1.7 month) (about 10-12 days to lay eggs, 21 days of incubation, 2-3 days for hatching, and 14 days of forceful weaning). Again, from the 301 days, a total of 51 days were periods which the hens were out of production or resting phases (i.e. about 10 days between clutches).  244 eggs (49 per clutch and 10 per hens) were recorded. On the other hand, 208 chicks were hatched (about 42 per clutch and 8 per hen). The duration of days between clutches decreasing from clutch 1 to 4 and risen at clutch 5. While the number of eggs and chicks per clutch increases from clutch 1 to 5. In conclusion, the hens were induced for successful production. Feed supplementation, proper hygiene practices and provision of nesting boxes were suggested to achieve sustainable production. Keywords: indigenous chicken, chicks, egg, clutches and inter-clutch interval

Proximate and Phytochemical Composition of Dried African Grape (Lannea Microcarpa) Leaf Meal

African Grape (Lannea microcarpa) dried leaf meal was analyzed  for chemical and anti-nutritional factors. The results of chemical analysis showed that African Grape( Lannea microcarpa) dried leaf meal has high crude protein (18.05%), dry matter (92.60%), crude fibre (26.68%), ether extract (33.75%), low ash (5.13%), nitrogen free extract (16.39%), acid detergent fibre (29.80%), neutral detergent fibre (48.50%), organic matter (87.48%) and hemicelluloses (18.70%). Results of anti-nutrients contents showed that the dried leaf meal of African Grape has high flavonoids (2.25 ± 0.15g/100g), alkaloids (1.71 ± 0.34g/100g), low tannins (0.26 ± 0.05g/100g) and saponins (0.32 ± 0.06g/100g). The various anti-nutrients contents investigated in the dried leaf meal were within tolerance level. The results obtained for proximate  composition is an indication that the dried leaf meal of African Grape can be used as feed supplement for ruminant livestock particularly during the dry season when feed resources are scarce and of poor quality. Keywords: Proximate, phytochemicals, dried, leaf, African Grape, composition DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-18-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

A Metal–Organic Framework with a Hierarchical System of Pores and Tetrahedral Building Blocks

No AbstractPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50670/1/2528_ftp.pd

Di-μ-chlorido-bis­{[2-(8-quinol­yloxy)­acetato-κ3 N,O 1,O 2]copper(II)}

The title compound, [Cu2(C11H8NO3)2Cl2], is a bicopper(II) complex. Each CuII ion is five-coordinated by two O atoms and one N atom from the (8-quinol­yloxy)acetate ligand, and by two μ2-chloride ligands, thus exhibiting a distorted square-pyramidal CuCl2NO2 coordination environment. Each (8-quinol­yloxy)acetate anion acts as a tridentate chelating ligand. In the crystal structure, adjacent quinolyl rings are involved in strong π–π stacking inter­actions, with inter­planar distances of 3.549 (5) and 3.763 (5) Å, thereby forming a two-dimensional planar network perpendicular to the ab plane. Furthermore, a weak inter­action [2.750 (4) Å] is observed within these planes between one CuII ion and a carboxyl­ate O atom from a ligand in an adjacent mol­ecule, which also contributes to the stability of the structure

MOF-5 composites exhibiting improved thermal conductivity

Metal-organic frameworks MOF-5 Thermal conductivity Surface area a b s t r a c t The low thermal conductivity of the prototype hydrogen storage adsorbent, metal-organic framework 5 (MOF-5), can limit performance in applications requiring rapid gas uptake and release, such as in hydrogen storage for fuel cell vehicles. As a means to improve thermal conductivity, we have synthesized MOF-5-based composites containing 1e10 wt.% of expanded natural graphite (ENG) and evaluated their properties. Cylindrical pellets of neat MOF-5 and MOF-5/ENG composites with densities of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 g/cm 3 are prepared and assessed with regard to thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, surface area, and crystallinity. For pellets of density w0.5 g/cm Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Metal-organic framework 5 (MOF-5) is a microporous, crystalline solid comprised of 1, Regarding gas storage, MOF-5 has been extensively studied for automotive hydrogen storage applications [1,7e10,15,16]. This interest stems from the observation that MOF-5 can adsorb a large amount of hydrogen, up to 7.1 excess wt.% at 77 K and 40 bar With conventional synthesis methods, MOF-5 is obtained as a loose powder consisting of small cubic crystallites (<1 mm) with low bulk density (r ¼ 0.13 g/cm 3 ) E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Yang), [email protected] (D.J. Siegel). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal h om epa ge: www.elsev ier.com/locate/he i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 7 ( 2 0 1 2 ) 6 1 0 9 e6 1 1

Mobile Air Quality Studies (MAQS) - an international project

Due to an increasing awareness of the potential hazardousness of air pollutants, new laws, rules and guidelines have recently been implemented globally. In this respect, numerous studies have addressed traffic-related exposure to particulate matter using stationary technology so far. By contrast, only few studies used the advanced technology of mobile exposure analysis. The Mobile Air Quality Study (MAQS) addresses the issue of air pollutant exposure by combining advanced high-granularity spatial-temporal analysis with vehicle-mounted, person-mounted and roadside sensors. The MAQS-platform will be used by international collaborators in order 1) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to road structure, 2) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to traffic density, 3) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to weather conditions, 4) to compare exposure within vehicles between front and back seat (children) positions, and 5) to evaluate "traffic zone"- exposure in relation to non-"traffic zone"-exposure. Primarily, the MAQS-platform will focus on particulate matter. With the establishment of advanced mobile analysis tools, it is planed to extend the analysis to other pollutants including including NO2, SO2, nanoparticles, and ozone

Assembly of high nuclearity clusters from a family of tripodal tris-carboxylate ligands

A family of four tris-carboxylic acid ligands 1,3,5-tris(4′-carboxybiphenyl-2-yl)benzene (H3L1), 1,3,5-tris-2-carboxyphenylbenzene (H3L2), 1,3,5-tris(4″-carboxy-para-terphenyl-2-yl)benzene (H3L3) and 1,3,5-tris(3′-carboxybiphenyl-2-yl)benzene (H3L4) have been synthesised and reacted with first row transition metal cations to give nine complexes which have been structurally characterised by X-ray crystallography. The ligands share a common design motif having three arms connected to a benzene core via three ortho-disubstituted phenyl linkers. The ligands vary in length and direction of the carboxylic acid functionalised arms and are all able to adopt tripodal conformations in which the three arms are directed facially. The structures of [Zn8(μ4-O)(L1)4(HCO2)2(H2O)0.33(DMF)2] (1a-Zn), [Co14(L2)6((μ3-OH)8(HCO2)2(DMF)4(H2O)6] (2-Co), [Ni14(L2)6(μ3-OH)8(HCO2)2(DMF)4(H2O)6] (2-Ni), [Zn8(μ4-O)(L3)4(DMF)(H2O)4(NO3)2] (3-Zn), [Ni5(μ-OH)4(L2)2(H2O)6(DMF)4] (5-Ni), [Co8(μ4-O)4(L4)4(DMF)3(H2O)] (6-Co) and Fe3(μ3-O)(L4)2(H2O)(DMF)2)] (7-Fe) contain polynuclear clusters surrounded by ligands (L1–4)3− in tripodal conformations. The structure of [Zn2(HL1)2(DMF)4] (1b-Zn) shows it to be a binuclear complex in which the two ligands (HL2)2− are partially deprotonated whilst {[Zn3(L2)2(DMF)(H2O)(C5H5N)]·6(DMF)}n (4-Zn) is a 2D coordination network containing {Zn2(RCO2)4(solv)2} paddlewheel units. The conformations of the ligand arms in the complexes have been analysed, confirming that the shared ortho-disubstituted phenyl ring motif is a powerful and versatile tool for designing ligands able to form high-nuclearity coordination clusters when reacted with transition metal cations

Surface nanobubbles as a function of gas type

We experimentally investigate the nucleation of surface nanobubbles on PFDTS-coated silicon as a function of the specific gas dissolved in the water. In each case we restrict ourselves to equilibrium conditions ($c=100$, $T_{liquid} = T_{substrate}$). Not only is nanobubble nucleation a strong function of gas type, but there also exists an optimal system temperature of $\sim 35-40\mathrm{^oC}$ where nucleation is maximized, which is weakly dependent on gas type. We also find that contact angle is a function of nanobubble radius of curvature for all gas types investigated. Fitting this data allows us to describe a line tension which is dependent on the type of gas, indicating that the nanobubbles are sat on top of adsorbed gas molecules. The average line tension was $\tau \sim -0.8 \mathrm{nN}$

Geometry analysis and systematic synthesis of highly porous isoreticular frameworks with a unique topology

Porous coordination polymers are well known for their easily tailored framework structures and corresponding properties. Although systematic modulations of pore sizes of binary prototypes have gained great success, simultaneous adjustment of both pore size and shape of ternary prototypes remains unexplored, owing to the difficulty in controlling the self-assembly of multiple molecular building blocks. Here we show that simple geometry analysis can be used to estimate the influence of the linker lengths and length ratios on the synthesis/construction difficulties and framework stabilities of a highly symmetric, ternary prototype composed of a typical trinuclear metal cluster and two types of bridging carboxylate ligands. As predicted, systematic syntheses with 5×5 ligand combinations produced 13 highly porous isoreticular frameworks, which show not only systematic adjustment of pore volumes (0.49–2.04 cm3 g−1) and sizes (7.8–13.0 Å; 5.2–12.0 Å; 7.4–17.4 Å), but also anisotropic modulation of the pore shapes