Leadership and Leadership Selection/Election 'Drafting' in Nigeria: A Study of Some Former Heads of State, Since 1966

This study aims to investigate the leadership and leadership selection/election ‘drafting’ system in Nigeria from 1966 to the present. It will analyse the leadership dynamics of the former heads of state and examine the various selection/election processes that have been employed over the past 54 years in order to identify and understand the core features of the Nigerian leadership system. The study will make use of both primary and secondary sources to examine the selection/election processes, the role of the military, the impact of external forces such as international organisations and regional powers, and the internal dynamics of key stakeholders such as political parties, religious groups and the electorate. Furthermore, the study will explore the implications of the leadership selection/election system in Nigeria and discuss the impact on key issues such as political stability, economic prosperity and security. The research aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Nigerian leadership system and contribute to the broader understanding of leadership across the African continent

An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Inflation in Nigeria

This paper investigates the determinants of inflation in Nigeria between 1980 and 2012. The properties of time series variables were examined through the use of OLS, Augmented Dickey-Fuller technique in testing the unit root property of the series and Granger causality test of causation between inflation and money supply, government expenditure, exchange rate, and interest rate, cointegration and vector error correction techniques was also employed. The results of unit root suggested that all the variables in the model are stationary. Inflation is stationary at level while money supply, government expenditure, exchange rate and interest rate are stationary at first difference. The results of Causality suggested causation between inflation and some of the included variables. The Johansen cointegration result shows that there existed long run relationship between inflation and the included variables. The VEC error correction result also confirmed the existence of long run relationship between the variables of the model with only money supply and exchange rate causing interest rate. The OLS results revealed that money supply and interest rate influenced inflation positively, while government expenditure and exchange rate influenced inflation negatively. Therefore, a good performance of the economy in terms of price stability may therefore, be achieved by reducing money supply and interest rate and also increasing government expenditure and exchange rate in the country. A major policy implication of this study is that concerted effort should be made by policy makers to stabilize prices (inflation) by reducing money supply and interest rate as well as increasing government expenditure and exchange rate; most importantly increasing exchange rate and reducing interest rate. Key words: Inflation, effects, Error Correction Method, co-integration, money suppl

Graft copolymerization and characterization of styrene with chitosan via radical polymerization

In this study, styrene was successfully grafted onto chitosan by conventional free radical polymerization technique, using potassium persulphate (KPS) as the initiator. The effect of various reaction conditions including chitosan:monomer weight ratio, polymerization temperature, reaction time and concentration of initiator were studied. The highest percentage grafting (G %) 180% was found at 1:4 chitosan:styrene weight ratio, 0.4 g KPS and 70oC reaction temperature. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed the presence of polystyrene peaks, indicating the success of the grafting procedure. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) revealed that the thermal stability of the prepared copolymer is higher than that of chitosan alone. Mw and Mn of the isolated polystyrene from the graft copolymer were found to be 9.5249 × 104 g/mol and 3.0755 × 104 g/mol, respectively, with a polydispersity index of 3.1Keywords: Biomaterials, Chitosan, Grafting, Polymers, Polystyrene, Potassium persulphat

Study of the Geographically Weighted Regression Application on Climate Data

This study used Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) technique to find spatial relationship between Elevation and climate (Rainfall, Temperature) in Northern Nigeria using climate (Rainfall, Temperature) data from weather stations from 1980 – 2010 obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet). From the results of the analysis it was shown that there is significant relationship between the elevation and climate variables (Rainfall, Tmax and Tmin). The study also shows that GWR has smaller residual sum of square than OLS in analysing the relationship between Elevation and Climate data. This may be due to the consideration of the spatial variation of the relationship over the study region. When mapping the results of GWR model it was observed that the effect of Elevation on climate variables appears to vary geographically Keyword: Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR), Ordinary Least square (OLS)

A Formal Synthesis of (3S, 4R) (-)-fermoxetine and (3S, 4R) (-)-paroxetine from Enantioselective Desymmetrisation of N-Benzyl Imides

Enantioselective reduction of N-benzyl 4-substituted glutarimides employing oxazaborolidine catalyst 3 derived from cis-1-amino-indan-2-ol occurred in moderate yield and excellent ee. This has led to the formal synthesis of two antidepressants (-)-fermoxetine 1 and (-)-paroxetine 2. Keywords: Enantioselective, desymmetrisation, imides, glutarimides, fermoxetine, paroxetin

Workflow for building and calibrating 3D pre-injection and 4D geomechanics modelling to assess caprock and fault integrity for geologic CO2 storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been established as a viable technology for the mitigation of climate change caused mainly by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Ever since the publication of the special report on CCS by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2005, there has been an increased research and development in all areas of CCS. Some of these research involves use of numerical methods and models for optimizing storage and ensuring effective long term containment. In this paper, we propose a workflow for building and calibrating 3D preinjection and 4D geomechanics modelling to assess caprock and fault integrity for geologic carbon dioxide storage. The workflow presented here describes a seamless end -to-end process which combines a transparent flow of data with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The workflow can conduct 3D static and 4D flow-, pressure-, and temperature-coupled calculations for rock deformations, failure and stresses. In highly heterogeneous and complex models, the workflow is capable of modelling multiple hundred faults, and multiple thousand discrete fractures. It allows the geological model, despite its high degree of complexity to be maintained throughout the geomechanical analyses process

Identification of induction machine parameters using only no-load test measurements

Several methods have been used to estimate the parameters of induction machines. The basic method is the standard no-load and block rotor test. Although accurate results are obtained using this method; however, performing the locked rotor test is difficult, requiring full control of the voltage by using appropriate instrument to mechanically secure the rotor in the locked condition. Therefore, in this paper, a method requiring only a no-load test to extract the parameters of the induction machine is presented. The proposed method is based on the modification of the third impedance calculation of the IEEE standard 112. To validate the proposed method, parameters of a standard 7.5kW induction machine are estimated. Based on the experimental results, the maximum recorded error in the parameter estimation is less than -2.881% when compared to the reference parameters obtained from the conventional no-load and blocked rotor test.Keywords: induction motor, no-load tests, machine parameters, third impedance calculation, blocked-rotor tes

Biosynthesis, characterization and antimicrobial study of silver nanoparticles (agNPs)

In this paper, biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Syzygium guineenses stem extract with 1mM, 2mM and 3mM AgNO3 concentrations has been presented. The plant extract was prepared with distilled water. The characterization and morphological composition of the synthesized AgNPs were determined by UV-visible spectroscopy and SEM respectively, while FTIR analysis was performed to identify the presence of the possible functional groups in the synthesized nano particles. It was observed from the UV and SEM analyses that the particles formed have diameters in the range of 23.5nm - 89.3nm, which is the range of nanoparticle size. Antibacterial test was carried out on the sample with six pathogenic microbes (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococus aureas, Vancomycin Resistant Entrococci, Staphylococcus aureas, Bacillus sublitis, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) to ascertain the antimicrobial activity of the synthesized AgNPs. Both the characterization and antimicrobial activity test were very successful and could lead to significant economic viability, as well as being environmentally friendly for treatment of some infectious diseases.Keywords: Syzygium guineenses, Green Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Optoelectronics, Biomedical Sensor

FUEL-EFFICIENT VEHICLES AND PETROL CONSUMPTION IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR OF LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The sustained growth in the economic activities and re-emergence of the middle-level income people in Nigeria have led to general increase in the number of personal vehicles on the roads. However, a large number of these are imported, fairly used vehicles, popularly called 'Tokunbo' in Nigeria. These vehicles are fuel inefficient because they consume fuel intensively. This paper investigated the effect of driving fuel-efficient vehicles on petrol consumption in the transportation sector of Lagos State. Data was collected from a valid sample of 1565 respondents selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. The result of a correlation analysis showed that fuel-efficient vehicles can significantly reduce petrol consumption in the transportation sector of the state. This finding is instructive and the paper suggested the need for policy makers in Nigeria to enunciate appropriate policies that would encourage majority of motorists, currently driving used and fuel inefficient vehicles, to switch to new and more fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce their fuel consumption and carbon footprints in the state

Phytochemical and antimicrobial activity of securidaca longipedunculata root against urinary tract infection pathogens

Urinary tract infection caused by bacteria leads to inflammation and over growth of uropathogens and prevalence of infection for both genders, but women is more vulnerable especially at the sexually active ages. But unfortunately, the continuous emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains brings most serious public health concerns. It is therefore, important to look for more alternative, effective, safer and safer treatments. The aim of the present study was to investigate antimicrobial activity of Securidaca longipedunculata root extracts against some human pathogenic bacteria and fungi using agar well diffusion method and agar dilution for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Phytochemical and acute toxicity studies were carried out using the standard methods. Phytochemicals which include alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, carbohydrates and triterpenes were detected in both aqueous and methanolic extracts. The antimicrobial results revealed that, the methanolic extract had promising antibacterial activity. For intense Escherichia coli was found to be the most susceptible bacteria in both methanol and aqueous extracts at 500mg/ml with inhibition zones of 20 mm and 16mm, Staphylococcus aureus was next most susceptible bacteria to methanol extract of the root with inhibition zone of 16 mm and MIC of 31.25 mg/ml respectively. The extracts does not showed activity against all the tested fungal isolates at lowest concentration 62.5 mg/ml. The LD50 of Securidaca longipedunculata was found to be greater than 5000 mg /kg and could be considered safe for consumption