A motion-decomposition approach to address gimbal lock in the 3-cylinder open chain mechanism description of a joint coordinate system at the glenohumeral joint

In this study, the standard-sequence properties of a joint coordinate system were implemented for the glenohumeral joint by the use of a set of instantaneous geometrical planes. These are: a plane that is bound by the humeral long axis and an orthogonal axis that is the cross product of the scapular anterior axis and this long axis, and a plane that is bounded by the long axis of the humerus and the cross product of the scapular lateral axis and this long axis. The relevant axes are updated after every decomposition of a motion component of a humeral position. Flexion, abduction and rotation are then implemented upon three of these axes and are applied in a step-wise uncoupling of an acquired humeral motion to extract the joint coordinate system angles. This technique was numerically applied to physiological kinematics data from the literature to convert them to the joint coordinate system and to visually reconstruct the motion on a set of glenohumeral bones for validation

Understanding International Portfolio Diversification and Turnover Rates

This paper argues that fixed trading costs in international asset markets help explain equity home bias. This contrasts with explanations prevalent in international macroeconomics, which tend to be based on trading frictions instead in international goods markets, such as nontraded goods or transportation costs. While the stylized fact of high trading turnover in foreign holdings has been interpreted as evidence against international asset trading costs, we show that this argument only applies to costs that are proportional to trade, and not to fixed costs of entering the foreign market. After documenting that the home bias and turnover stylized facts remain valid in recent data, the paper constructs a very simple portfolio allocation model with various configurations of trading costs and with heterogeneous types of traders. A configuration with per unit costs heterogeneous among agents and a homogeneous fixed cost is found to replicate the pair of stylized facts. Intuitively, the lower trading costs that characterize larger and more efficient traders have two implications: firstly, these traders find it more profitable to enter foreign markets; secondly, their lower trading costs encourage a higher rate of trading turnover. Since holdings of international equities are disproportionately dominated by this class of larger and more efficient traders, average trading turnover is higher among international holdings.

Contributions of the seasonal and long term flood patterns of River Niger to the development and control of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in Kainji Lake, Nigeria

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Analysis of Energy Balance on Nigeria’s Economic Growth: Evidence On Electricity Sector: 1970-2010.

This study analysed the effects of energy balance on Nigeria’s economic growth, with specific focus on the electricity sector. The endogenous growth model complimented with an econometrics packages were adopted to determine the relationship between energy (electricity) demand, energy supply and energy balance: their stationarity and short and long run effects. The parsimonious estimate declared the relevance of electricity supply and demand to economic growth. To test the impact of electricity balance on economic growth, the second model included energy (electricity balance, this resulted to overall change in influence and significance. The implication to the study is that the energy difference caused by excess demand is a strong determinant to the diabetic economic growth in the country. Against this background I this study suggests adequate funding, rehabilitation of existing power plants and construction of new ones to support the existing ones. Also recommended is the exploitation of nuclear sources of power supply, intensification of efforts to checkmate vandals and thieves of power apparatus, distilled massive private investment and incentives via multi year tariff order (MYTO) and gas sales agreement that eliminated direct government subsidies

Quality Control Compliance as an Environmental Response to Sustainability in the Nigerian Construction Industry

The concept of sustainability has become integral to the environmental dialect within the building construction industry. At present, providing an avenue by which the construction industry can meet its sustainability obligations has remained a topical issue globally. An environmentally oriented movement toward sustainability in building construction, however, still hinges on the traditional principles of cost, quality, and performance. This paper x-rays the unethical performance traits evident in the construction industry in Nigeria and the project delivery practices by indigenous firms that significantly influence the quality and thus the sustainability of construction output. Issues associated with quality control compliance are statistically analysed to determine existing trends. Multivariate analysis is deployed to measure the degree to which quality control parameters explain the participation level of indigenous local contractors in executing government projects. The study mathematically expresses the relationship between quality control adherence and indigenous participation in the execution of government contracts. The statistical analysis shows that the five quality control independent variables (internal organizational factor; the level of enlightenment; adequacy of designs; conducting of relevant tests and supervisory adherence) explain 47% of the variation in the level of indigenous participation. Poor quality control associated with the execution of contracts by indigenous construction companies in Nigeria may thus partly account for the low level of indigenous participation evident in the construction industry

Assessment of Farm Outputs and Rural Income Generation of School-to-Land Agricultural Programme (STLAP) in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Earnings and farm outputs have remained the basis for assessing agricultural performance all over the world. Rivers State School-to-Land Agricultural Programme was initiated to improve the lives of rural dwellers. This study comparatively assessed the income and farm outputs of participating and non-participating farmers to School-to-Land Programme. A total of 84 samples were used for the analysis. A multi-stage proportionate stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting 73 participating farmers while cluster sampling technique was adopted in selecting 38 non-participating farmers. The major method used for data collection was the use of questionnaire and focus group discussion which included direct field observations. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentages and mean were used for demographic characteristics while t-statistics tested at 0.05 per cent level of significance was used to establish that participating farmer’s performed better than non-participating farmers. It was recommended that government should supply inputs to farmers, involve farmers in agricultural policy decisions and provide financial facilities to cooperatives to enable members easily access soft revolving loans. Key words: Rural Income, farm outputs, Agricultural Programme, Assessmen

DETERMINANTS OF LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION IN CASSAVA PROCESSING: A GENDER SITUATION ANALYSES AMONG FARMERS IN IMO STATE NIGERIA

The socioeconomic determinants of level of participation by male and female farmers in cassava processing inImo State Nigeria were investigated in this study. Purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques wereused to select 240 respondents comprising 120 males and 120 females in this study. Data collection was by meansof a set of structured questionnaires. Tobit regression was used to analyze the data generated because level ofparticipation ranged from zero to infinity. Results obtained showed that for male respondents, the significantregression coefficients were level of education (3.89, significant at 5.0%); household size (13.28, significant at10.0%); farm size ((51.75 significant at 5.0%); monthly income from cassava business (0.0008 significant at5.0%) and membership of cooperative societies (57.51 significant at 10.0% ). The same regression coefficientswere also significant for female respondents at the following levels: level of education (5.616, 5.0%); householdsize (1.593, 5.0%); farm size (61.29, 5.0%); monthly income from cassava business (0.0001, 10.0%) andmembership of cooperative societies (12.61, 5.0% level). Based on these findings, level of education, householdsize, farm size, monthly income from cassava business and membership of cooperative societies were thedeterminants of the level of participation of the respondents in cassava processing among both groups ofrespondents in the study area. The results therefore call for policies aimed to provision of free and affordableeducation to enable farmer's ability to access and process information on processing innovations that willenhance participation in processing activities. There is also need for re-distribution of land to make more landavailable to farmers for increased production which is expected to enhance participation in cassava processing.Encouraging farmers to belong to cooperatives is expected to enhance economies of scale for enhancedproduction and processing of cassava

Studies on the Etiology of a Leaf Spot Disease of Rough Lemon (Citrus jambhiri - B. Jamir; H. Jhambhiri)

Studies were carried out on a striking leaf spotting observed on the leaves of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri) plant at the permanent site of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Disease survey revealed that the disease was prevalent within the area of the University in the months of June-July, 2004. Symptoms begin as tiny brown spots with yellow halos on the adaxial surface of the leaf. Isolation from infected leaf materials yielded Aspergillus niger and Rhizoctonia sp. However, only Rhizoctonia sp. reproduced similar foliar lesions when artificially inoculated on healthy citrus leaves. The fungus was also re-isolated. A. niger did not elicite any disease under the conditions of this study. Rhizoctonia sp. is therefore, the causal organism of the disease under study. Keywords: Etiology, Leaf spot disease, Rough lemon, Citrus jambhiri, Aspergillus niger, Rhizoctonia sp. Bio-Research Vol. 6 (1) 2008: pp. 343-34