The age and growth of the tongue sole Cynoglossus canariensis (Steind 1882)

The geometric mean regression equation for the weight; length relationship of Cynoglossus canariensis was W = 0.0025 L super(3.1770). The Von Bertalanffy constants Woo, Loo, K, and to were 507.5852 g, 47.3683 cm, 0.3333 and 0.1397 for males and 839.0753 g, 54.4720 cm, 0.3062 and 0.1737 for females. Total mortality coefficient Z ranged from 0.6482 and 0.802

Using satellite imageries for the survey of aquatic vegetation and other resources

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EVALUATION OF THE TEMPERATURE EFFECT OF A THERMOSYPHON SOLAR WATER HEATER

This study investigated the effect of system temperature on the performance of thermosyphon solar water heater. Solar collector was designed and developed with galvanized steel, wood and copper pipes for the experiment. While the copper pipes serves as the tube through which the cold water flows, the wood was employed for the frame and stand, and the galvanized steel for the collector material. Also employed were two hot and cold water tanks of 60 and 110 litre capacities respectively. The period of experiment were taken to be 3 days each for sunshine, sun-off and moderate sunshine days, with the average data employed for the analysis. The results showed that temperature has a domineering effect on the performance of the thermosyphon system. The maximum outlet temperature obtained for sunshine, moderate sunshine and sun-off days were 94.6, 73.5 and 51oC respectively. Also the system efficiency was found to be 61.04%, demonstrating good performance. However, considering the fact that the experiment was carried out in rainy season (between April and September), it was concluded that if it is repeated during the dry periods (October to March), the efficiency of performance will be more as these period is characterized by low cloud cover, high temperature and high radiation intensities. The outcome of the study was compared with published results and it clearly demonstrates that the designed system can suitably be employed for both domestic and industrial uses

The incidence of Nypa fruticans (Wurmb) and its impact on fisheries production in the Niger Delta mangrove ecosystem

Nypa fruticans occurs in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River State, Nigeria; invading an estimated area of 821 Km super(2) mangrove dominated swamps. Human activities such as tree felling, urbanization, oil and gas exploration and exploitation and other activities led to the interference in the normal mangrove by the Nypa palm. Lack of utilization by the local population of the Nypa palm as in into-pacification has increased the population over the years. The effect includes the reduction in primary and secondary productivity, disruption of food chain and erosion of riverbanks. The eradication of the Nypa palm from the Niger delta mangrove ecosystem and replacement with red and white mangroves will restore the ecosystem health and enhance biological diversit

NIGERIA’S ENERGY CHALLENGE AND POWER DEVELOPMENT: THE WAY FORWARD

The ever increasing demand and meager supply of energy in Nigeria has been a great challenge to her development. This situation is becoming critical, with increasing population not balanced by an adequate energy development programme. The incessant power generation failure has grossly affected the economy, seriously slowing down development in rural and sub-rural settlements, with present energy policy mainly benefiting urban dwellers. Globally, energy projections stipulate that between 2002 and 2025, global energy needs may rise by over 34%, with that of developing nations doubling this percentage. A robust solution must be found to end the nation’s energy crises. This Viewpoint compares the energy potential of Nigeria with the challenges faced. Nigeria receives a huge amount of solar radiation, has abundant wind energy resources, and large deposits of fossil fuel, as well as enormous hydro-power resources from Niger and Benue Rivers. However, of these about 80% of hydro-power remains untapped, the total 5.5KW-hr/m2/day of solar radiation is not utilized and wind energy resources remain unexploited. The solution lies in creating a mixed supply of energy in which as yet untapped renewable resources are combined with abundant nonrenewable fossil fuel, including the massive quantities of gas wasted from crude oil exploitation

Initial experiences in developing e-health solutions across Scotland

The MRC funded Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES) project is a collaborative effort between e-Science, clinical and ethical research centres across the UK including the universities of Oxford, Glasgow, Imperial, Nottingham and Leicester. The project started in September 2005 and is due to run for 3 years. The primary goal of VOTES is to develop a reusable Grid framework through which a multitude of clinical trials and epidemiological studies can be supported. The National e-Science Centre (NeSC) at the University of Glasgow are looking at developing the Scottish components of this framework. This paper presents the initial experiences in developing this framework and in accessing and using existing data sets, services and software across the NHS in Scotland

Supporting UK-wide e-clinical trials and studies

As clinical trials and epidemiological studies become increasingly large, covering wider (national) geographical areas and involving ever broader populations, the need to provide an information management infrastructure that can support such endeavours is essential. A wealth of clinical data now exists at varying levels of care (primary care, secondary care, etc.). Simple, secure access to such data would greatly benefit the key processes involved in clinical trials and epidemiological studies: patient recruitment, data collection and study management. The Grid paradigm provides one model for seamless access to such data and support of these processes. The VOTES project (Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies) is a collaboration between several UK institutions to implement a generic framework that effectively leverages the available health-care information across the UK to support more efficient gathering and processing of trial information. The structure of the information available in the health-care domain in the UK itself varies broadly in-line with the national boundaries of the constituent states (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Technologies must address these political boundaries and the impact these boundaries have in terms of for example, information governance, policies, and of course large-scale heterogeneous distribution of the data sets themselves. This paper outlines the methodology in implementing the framework between three specific data sources that serve as useful case studies: Scottish data from the Scottish Care Information (SCI) Store data repository, data on the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) diabetes trial at Imperial College London, and benign prostate hypoplasia (BPH) data from the University of Nottingham. The design, implementation and wider research issues are discussed along with the technological challenges encountered in the project in the application of Grid technologies

Supporting the clinical trial recruitment process through the grid

Patient recruitment for clinical trials and studies is a large-scale task. To test a given drug for example, it is desirable that as large a pool of suitable candidates is used as possible to support reliable assessment of often moderate effects of the drugs. To make such a recruitment campaign successful, it is necessary to efficiently target the petitioning of these potential subjects. Because of the necessarily large numbers involved in such campaigns, this is a problem that naturally lends itself to the paradigm of Grid technology. However the accumulation and linkage of data sets across clinical domain boundaries poses challenges due to the sensitivity of the data involved that are atypical of other Grid domains. This includes handling the privacy and integrity of data, and importantly the process by which data can be collected and used, and ensuring for example that patient involvement and consent is dealt with appropriately throughout the clinical trials process. This paper describes a Grid infrastructure developed as part of the MRC funded VOTES project (Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies) at the National e-Science Centre in Glasgow that supports these processes and the different security requirements specific to this domain