A Contour Method on Cayley tree

We consider a finite range lattice models on Cayley tree with two basic properties: the existence of only a finite number of ground states and with Peierls type condition. We define notion of a contour for the model on the Cayley tree. By a contour argument we show the existence of $s$ different (where $s$ is the number of ground states) Gibbs measures.Comment: 12 page

An assessment of pollution in aquatic environment using bioindicators: a review

This review highlights the importance of biological indicators in monitoring presence of pollution in aquatic environment. This assessment involves the use of living organisms (macro or microorganisms and plants or animals) as bioindicators of pollution in water bodies. These organisms are believed to show higher sensitivity to pollution than the best chemical indicators. Bioindicators or test of relevance to water study includes: test based on Chlorella vulgaris, Daphnia magna straus, test Spirotox, Microtox, using macroinvertebrates, algae and vertebrates (such as fishes). Variety of biotic indices based on macroinvertebrates community as indicators have been highlighted which includes: Microinvertebrate Biotic Index (MBI), Extended Trend Biotic index (ETBi), Belgian Biotic index (BBi), Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs), Biological Monitoring Water Quality (BMWQ) and Family level Biotic Index (FBI). Based on Microinvertebrate Biotic Index (MBI), grading of water quality alone with the taxonomic group of macroinvertebrate was divided into grade I, II, III, IV and V representing clean water, mildly, moderately, highly and severely polluted water with the tolerance rating of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 respectively. The review emphasized the need for the use of bioindicators in detecting water pollution, because bioindicators are much more sensitive than the best chemical indicators.Keywords: aquatic environment, bioassessment, bioindicators, pollutant, tolerance ratin

Attributions for Rejection and Acceptance in Young Adults with Borderline and Avoidant Personality Features

Individuals with borderline and avoidant personality disorders show interpersonal dysfunction that includes maladaptive responses to rejection and reduced emotional benefits from acceptance. To identify the attributional styles that may underlie these difficulties, we examined causal attributions for rejection and acceptance among undergraduates high in features of each disorder and a healthy comparison group. In Study 1, participants rated how likely they were to attribute hypothetical rejection and acceptance experiences to positive and negative qualities of the self and others, as well as external circumstances. In Study 2, we examined these same attributions in daily diary assessments of real rejection and acceptance experiences. Although the two studies showed some differences in results, they both linked borderline personality features with suspicious, selfbolstering responses and avoidant personality features with perceived inferiority. Distinct attributional styles may contribute to the distinct interpersonal problems characteristic of these conditions

Biosorption and Kinetic Studies on Oil Removal from Produced Water Using Banana Peel

Crude oil production is accompanied by generation of large volumes of produced water.  The produced water contains both dissolved and dispersed oil and these pose health hazards to human health and contamination of the environment. In this work, banana peel, an agricultural waste was used to remove the oil component from produced water. The peel samples were dried, size-reduced and characterized for functional groups, surface morphology, elemental composition and surface area using FTIR, SEM, EDS, and BET analytical equipment respectively. Standard methods were employed for the production of biosorbent and removal of oil using batch process. The result of EDS spectroscopy revealed that the peel contained 88.52% C; 5.69% O; 2.19% Si; 2.80% K; and 0.80% Ca. Biosorption study with the peel showed that it can be used in the removal of oil (dissolved and dispersed oil) from produced water providing almost complete removal at an equivalent dosage of 267 mg banana peel per litter produced water after 35 minutes equilibrium time and initial oil concentration as high as 194 mg/l. Solution pH, loading rate, sorption time, and temperature effects were studied. Several biosorption kinetic models were tested and the result showed that banana peel biosorbent followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Equilibrium isotherm studies on the other hand revealed that banana peel closely followed the Langmuir isotherm model.   Keywords: banana peel, produced water, biosorption, kinetic model

Flow effects on the freeze-out phase-space density in heavy ion collisions

The strong longitudinal expansion of the reaction zone formed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is found to significantly reduce the spatially averaged pion phase-space density, compared to naive estimates based on thermal distributions. This has important implications for data interpretation and leads to larger values for the extracted pion chemical potential at kinetic freeze-out.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures included via epsfig, added discussion of different transverse density profiles, 1 new figur

Symmetry constraints for the emission angle dependence of Hanbury Brown--Twiss radii

We discuss symmetry constraints on the azimuthal oscillations of two-particle correlation (Hanbury Brown--Twiss interferometry) radii for non-central collisions between equal spherical nuclei. We also propose a new method for correcting in a model-independent way the emission angle dependent correlation function for finite event plane resolution and angular binning effects.Comment: 8 pages revtex4, 2 tables, no figures. Short Section VI added and correction algorithm in Section VII made more explicit. Submitted to Physical Review

Assessment of Crop Farmers Indigenous Knowledge on the Use of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

This study examined the crop farmers’ indigenous knowledge on the use of climate change adaptation strategies in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 85 respondents. Data were collected using questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results reveal that majority (87.1%) were male with a mean age of 41years. Majority (69%) of the respondents were married and most (78%) had formal education and most (73%) of the them had no contact with extension agent with an average annual household income was ₦125,000. The result also depicts that most (91.8%) of the respondents were aware of climate change mostly on increase in temperature (85.9%), early/late cessation of rain and draught (64.7%). Among the indigenous knowledge used by the respondents as climate change adaptation strategies were changes in dates of planting (74.0%), mixed farming (55.0%) and diversification in crop production (49.0%). The result of the relationships between socio-economic characteristics and awareness to climate change indicates that; marital status, level of education and extension contact are significant respectively at p≤0.05 level of significance. The major constraints to the use of indigenous knowledge as climate change adaptation strategies were inadequate knowledge on how to cope (77.6%), poor response to adverse effect (61.2%), identified high cost of improved crop variety (57.6%) and low income level (48.2%). It was concluded that, respondents were able to develop indigenous adaptation strategies and marital status, level of education and extension contact were significantly related with climate change awareness. The study recommended that extension service should be increase for a successful adaptation programme, relevant information on climate change adaptation practices should reach the farmers through radio stations, news-papers, public lectures, seminars as well as other mass media means and provision of improved crop varieties at affordable price to the farmers

Removal of Oil from Oil Produced Water Using Eggshell

The presence of dissolved crude oil in water poses significant environmental hazards to aquatic lives. Components of dissolved oil, BTEX which are carcinogenic can cause cancer after a long time of exposure. Eggshell, a potential biosorbent was used to remove both dissolved and dispersed oil in produced water. It was conditioned to provide good oil uptake in its natural form. The biosorbent material was characterized using FT-IR, SEM, XRD, BET and EDS techniques. The results showed that eggshell contains calcium, carbon and oxygen in proportions of 37.4, 48.5 and 14.1 atomic percent respectively. Biosorption experiments with the eggshell biosorbent showed that it can be used for crude oil removal from produced water providing almost 100% at concentration of 1.8 g eggshell/L of produced water and oil concentration as high as 194 mg/l. Several kinetic models were tested and it was discovered that the biosorbent followed pseudo-second order biosorption kinetics. The value of qe deduced from the slope of the curve was 108.69 mg/g and the value of rate constant (k2) was found to be 0.019 g.mg-1min-1. This result showed that eggshell is a good biosorbent for crude oil removal in produced water. It will provide a cheap way of cleaning oily contaminated water environment thus safeguarding human health, aquatic lives, and soil fertility. Keywords: eggshell, oil removal, produced water, environment, biosorption, biosorben

Geophysical Investigation of the Subsurface Fractures Zones Using Vertical Electrical Sounding in Kassa Volcanic Field (KVF) on the Jos Plateau, North central, Nigeria

A geophysical investigation using geo-electrical resistivity method was carried out in the Kassa Volcanic Field (KVF) on the Jos Plateau to reveal the subsurface structural lineaments as indicated in the satellite images covering the area. The electrical resistivity method utilized the Schlumberger technique along 3 profiles. A total of 36 Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) stations with AB/2 (current electrode spacing) from 1.5 to 215m with intervals of 50m and depth penetration capability of 70m was carried out. The results obtained revealed 3-5 lithologies sequence with thicknesses ranges between 0.1 and 70m and resistivity values of between 34 ?m and 2222 ?m.   Nineteen major fractures at various depths were intercepted at various VES stations and these are probably the zones through which the basaltic lava out poured apart from the central volcanic vent.  The VES results revealed heterogeneous nature of the subsurface geological sequence. The geologic sequence beneath the study area is composed of hard pan top soil (clayey and laterite), weathered basaltic rock layers, partly weathered or fractured and fresh basement rocks. Keywords: Geo-electric section, Subsurface, Vertical Electrical Sounding, Kassa Volcanic Field, Schlumberger Array, Jos Platea