Evaluation of Entrepreneurship Skills Development In Students Of Vocational And Technical Education Programmes In Colleges of Education In Kogi State, Nigeria

The study investigated the entrepreneurship skills needed and the strategies for improving its acquisition in students of vocational and technical education in colleges of education in Kogi State. The population for the study comprised of ninety nine (99) vocational and technical educators which at the same time formed the sample of the study. Data were collected from the respondents with use of a 30-item structured questionnaire drafted by the researcher. The data collected were analysed with the use of mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the two null hypotheses formulated at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that entrepreneurship skills like creativity, innovativeness, practicals, communication, administrative and others were identified to be needed by students of vocational and technical education for self employability. Useful recommendations like provision of good learning environment, sending lecturers and instructors on in-service training, conferences, seminars and workshops, making teaching and learning practical oriented among others as ways of facilitating entrepreneurship skills acquisition and development were proffered. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, skills, development, globalization, evaluation

Politics and Conflict Management in Manufacturing Organizations and its Implication on National Transformation: a Case of Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company, Kogi State Nigeria.

The study investigated politics and conflict management in manufacturing organizations and its implication on National transformation with particular reference to Ajaokuta Iron and Steel company.  Four research questions were articulated and four hypotheses were formulated to guided the study.  The study a descriptive survey research design.  The population for study was 1800 workers. 1046 workers in the study constitute the sample for the study.  The instrument for data collection was a 20-item structured questionnaire captioned management of politics and conflict questionnaire (NAPCA).  The instrument was faced and content validated.  Using Pearson moment correlation coefficient, a reliability index of 0.81 was obtained.  The implications of the study was discussed and various recommendations were made as the incidence of communication gap in the management of the organization should be reduced; seminars and workshop on conflict management staff and experts in conflict management should be invited and resource person to discuss the subject matter intensively. Keywords: Politics; Conflicts; Management; National and Transformatio

Development of a Multi-Cut Payload for use in Stratospheric Ballooning Missions

The ability to cut strings (AKA lines) during stratospheric ballooning missions has a wide variety of uses including, but not limited to, (a) flight termination (i.e. cutting payloads away from the main balloon), (b) cutting away excess lift balloon(s) to slow ascent rate (and possibly achieve float), (c) cutting away ballast weights to slow descent rate or increase ascent rate, (d) cutting away burst balloon(s) on descent to avoid parachute entanglement, and (e) cutting away payloads which are intended to return to the ground independently, for experimental purposes. We report on the development of a “multi-cut” payload box that uses an Arduino microcontroller that can control the cutting of multiple strings in arbitrary order at arbitrary points during a mission, expanding our options for stratospheric ballooning operations. For example, this device may be used during the solar eclipse of August 2017 to drop a timed-series of independently-recovered Geiger counter payloads from a stratospheric balloon stack to characterize changes to the Pfotzer maximum as the Moon’s shadow passes

Ryanodine receptor and FK506 binding protein 1 in the Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) : a phylogenetic and population-based comparison

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Aquatic Toxicology 192 (2017): 105-115, doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2017.09.002.Non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL PCBs) activate ryanodine receptors (RyR), microsomal Ca2+ channels of broad significance. Teleost fish may be important models for NDL PCB neurotoxicity, and we used sequencing databases to characterize teleost RyR and FK506 binding protein 12 or 12.6 kDa (genes FKBP1A; FKBP1B), which promote NDL PCB-triggered Ca2+ dysregulation. Particular focus was placed on describing genes in the Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) genome and searching available RNA-sequencing datasets for single nucleotide variants (SNV) between PCB tolerant killifish from New Bedford Harbor (NBH) versus sensitive killifish from Scorton Creek (SC), MA. Consistent with the teleost whole genome duplication (tWGD), killifish have six RyR genes, corresponding to a and b paralogs of mammalian RyR1, 2 and 3. The presence of six RyR genes was consistent in all teleosts investigated including zebrafish. Killifish have four FKBP1; one FKBP1b and three FKBP1a named FKBP1aa, FKBP1ab, likely from the tWGD and a single gene duplicate FKBP1a3 suggested to have arisen in Atherinomorphae. The RyR and FKBP1 genes displayed tissue and developmental stage-specific mRNA expression, and the previously uncharacterized RyR3, herein named RyR3b, and all FKBP1 genes were prominent in brain. We identified a SNV in RyR3b encoding missense mutation E1458D. In NBH killifish, 57% were heterozygous and 28% were homozygous for this SNV, whereas almost all SC killifish (94%) lacked the variant (n≥39 per population). The outlined sequence differences between mammalian and teleost RyR and FKBP1 together with outlined population differences in SNV frequency may contribute to our understanding of NDL PCB neurotoxicity.This research was supported by the KC Donnelly Research Externship made possible by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Superfund Research Program (EBH) and the Superfund Research Programs at UC Davis (INP and EBH; P42ES004699) and Boston University (JJS, JVG, MEH, SIK; P42ES007381). Additional support was provided by the National Institute of Health (INP; R01 ES014901; and P01 AR052354) and by National Science Foundation collaborative research grants (MEH and SIK; DEB-1265282 and DEB-1120263). This research was also supported in part by an appointment (to BC) with the Postdoctoral Research Program at the U.S. Environmental Protection (US EPA) Office of Research and Development administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through Interagency Agreement No. DW92429801 between the U.S. Department of Energy and the US EPA

Machine-enhanced CP-asymmetries in the electroweak sector

The violation of charge conjugation ( C ) and parity ( P ) symmetries are a requirement for the observed dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe. As an established effect of beyond the Standard Model physics, this could point towards additional C P violation in the Higgs-gauge sector. The phenomenological footprint of the associated anomalous couplings can be small, and designing measurement strategies with the highest sensitivity is therefore of the utmost importance in order to maximize the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider. There are, however, very few measurements of C P -sensitive observables in processes that probe the weak-boson self-interactions. In this article, we study the sensitivity to new sources of C P violation for a range of experimentally accessible electroweak processes, including W γ production, W W production via photon fusion, electroweak Z j j production, electroweak Z Z j j production, and electroweak W ± W ± j j production. We study simple angular observables as well C P -sensitive observables constructed using the outputs of machine-learning algorithms. We find that the machine-learning-constructed C P -sensitive observables improve the sensitivity to C P -violating effects by up to a factor of five, depending on the process. We also find that inclusive W γ and electroweak Z j j production have the potential to set the best possible constraints on certain C P -odd operators in the Higgs-gauge sector of dimension-six effective field theories

Low-level viraemia: An emerging concern among people living with HIV in Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Attaining viral load (VL) suppression for over 95% of the people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy is a fundamental step in enabling Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries to achieve global Sustainable Development Goal targets to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. In line with the 2013 World Health Organization recommendations, several sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda, use a threshold of 1000 HIV viral RNA copies/mL to determine HIV viral non-suppression. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care deem this threshold very high, and hence recommend using 200 copies/mL to determine viral non-suppression. Using 1000 copies/mL as a threshold ignores people living with HIV who have low-level viraemia (LLV; HIV VL of at least 50 copies/mL but less than 1000 copies/mL). Despite the 2021 World Health Organization recommendations of using intensive adherence counselling for people living with HIV with LLV, several sub-Saharan African countries have no interventions to address LLV. However, recent studies have associated LLV with increased risks of HIV drug resistance, virologic failure and transmission. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide insights on the emerging concern of LLV among people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa. The review also provides guidance for Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries to implement immediate appropriate interventions like intensive adherence counselling, reducing VL thresholds for non-suppression and conducting more research to manage LLV which threatens progress towards ending HIV by 2030

Contraceptive adherence among HIV-infected women in Malawi: a randomized controlled trial of the copper intrauterine device and depot medroxyprogesterone acetate

To evaluate contraceptive adherence to the copper intrauterine device (Cu-IUD) and the injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) among women with HIV in Lilongwe, Malawi