Examination of Students’ Academic Performance in Selected Mechanical Engineering Courses Prior-to-and-During COVID-19 Era

Advances in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as well as the present challenges of COVID-19 have led to a new paradigm causing an absolute or partial transition from in-person classroom teaching-learning to online. There is little information available on research efforts that investigated the impact of an online learning approach on the academic performance of students in mechanical engineering-based courses. Therefore, the objective of this paper is the impact study of online learning mode as compared to in-person on academic performance of students in selected mechanical engineering courses in one of the Universities in South Pacific Islands prior-to-and-during COVID-19 Era. Data on grades obtained for 178 students that offered Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Advanced Thermofluids (FTHA) courses were subjected to descriptive and non-parametric (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis) statistical tests. Although descriptive analysis showed that online mode of instruction might influence a better academic performance in FTHA courses in comparison with in-person mode of instruction, the outcome of Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests at specific p-values and corresponding z-values generally exhibited p-values higher than of 0.05, implying insignificant difference in performance between the two modes of learning investigated. Though the non-parametric statistical test results showed there was no significant difference in academic performance of students when online and in-person modes of learning were used, this, however, does not imply that a difference does not exist at all. Although the difference may be very trivial, descriptive analysis has shown that the online learning mode has at least exhibited better students’ academic performance when compared to in-person. It can be inferred from the foregoing that the online learning mode does not yield a negative response in respect of the performance of students who offered all four mechanical engineering courses. Based on the findings of this study, online is considered a reliable alternative to in-person or at least a suitable complement to in-person in the in-person-online hybrid mode during the ongoing COVID-19 era and other inevitable constraints in the future. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2022-SPER-017 Full Text: PD

Foreign aid, instability and governance in Africa

This study contributes to the attendant literature by bundling governance dynamics and focusing on foreign aid instability instead of foreign aid. We assess the role of foreign aid instability on governance dynamics in fifty three African countries for the period 1996-2010. An autoregressive endogeneity-robust Generalized Method of Moments is employed. Instabilities are measured in terms of variance of the errors and standard deviations. Three main aid indicators are used, namely: total aid, aid from multilateral donors and bilateral aid. Principal Component Analysis is used to bundle governance indicators, namely: political governance (voice & accountability and political stability/no violence), economic governance (regulation quality and government effectiveness), institutional governance (rule of law and corruption-control) and general governance (political, economic and institutional governance). Our findings show that foreign aid instability increases governance standards, especially political and general governance. Policy implications are discussed

Basic Formal Education Quality, Information Technology and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study assesses the relevance of basic formal education in information technology for inclusive human development in 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2012. The question it aims to answer is the following: what is the relevance of basic formal education in the effect of mobile phone penetration on inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa when initial levels of inclusive human development are taken into account? The empirical evidence is based on instrumental quantile regressions. Poor primary education dampens the positive effect of mobile phone penetration on inclusive human development. This main finding should be understood in the perspective that, the education quality indicator represents a policy syndrome because of the way it is computed, notably: the ratio of pupils to teachers. Hence, an increasing ratio indicates decreasing quality of education. It follows that decreasing quality of education dampens the positive effect of mobile phone on inclusive development. This tendency is consistent throughout the conditional distribution of inclusive human development. Policy implications for sustainable development are discussed

The Comparative Economics of ICT, Environmental Degradation and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines how information and communication technology (ICT) could be employed to dampen the potentially damaging effects of environmental degradation in order to promote inclusive human development in a panel of 44 Sub-Saharan African countries. ICT is captured with internet and mobile phone penetration rates whereas environmental degradation is measured in terms of CO2 emissions per capita and CO2 intensity. The empirical evidence is based on Fixed Effects and Tobit regressions using data from 2000-2012. In order to increase the policy relevance of this study, the dataset is decomposed into fundamental characteristics of inclusive development and environmental degradation based on income levels (Low income versus (vs.) Middle income); legal origins (English Common law vs. French Civil law); religious domination (Christianity vs. Islam); openness to sea (Landlocked vs. Coastal); resource-wealth (Oil-rich vs. Oil-poor) and political stability (Stable vs. Unstable).Baseline findings broadly show that improvement in both of measures of ICT would significantly diminish the possibly harmful effect of CO2 emissions on inclusive human development. When the analysis is extended with the abovementioned fundamental characteristics, we observe that the moderating influence of both our ICT variables on CO2 emissions is higher in the group of English Common law, Middle income and Oil-wealthy countries than in the French Civil law, Low income countries and Oil-poor countries respectively. Theoretical and practical policy implications are discussed

Thermal Characterization of Straight and Curve Edge Blade Liquid Fuel Swirl Burner

Accurate monitoring and controlling of the temperature in the combustion chamber can raise the burner efficiency, combustion intensity, fuel consumption and reduce pollutant emission. However, except combustion is accurately monitored and controlled, high concentration of pollutant gases and products like carbon monoxide (CO) and soot can form in the combustion chamber. This paper compares the combustion thermal profiles in a liquid fuel swirl burner using developed straight edge and curve edge blade swirlers at (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60)° for 6, 8, 10 and 12 number of blades in order to optimize the temperature of the burner. Measurements were made in straight and curve blades liquid fuel swirl burner in order to study and compare the thermal characteristics of the straight and curve edge blades in optimizing the combustion dynamics. Similarly, measurements were made for burner without swirl generator and the combustion temperature assessed. Thermal profile was measured in the direction of flow via the six axial ports at distance ((d) =150, 350, 550, 750, 950 and 1150 mm) from the burner exit using Chromium-Zinc thermocouple. Results showed that the wavelength and oscillation of temperature decay in the same type of blade followed the same trend and the peak of combustion intensity is nearer the nozzle for curve edge blades than the straight edge blade. Six (6) blades performed best with the highest temperature in all the ports, while 12 blades gave the least performance. Findings further show that curve edge blade swirlers gave better performance than straight edge blade swirlers with highest temperature of (1065 and 1015) °C, respectively. Hence, it is recommended especially where high temperature and stability application is desirabl

Antibacterial Efficacies of Extracts of Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus) on Some Clinical Microbial Isolates

The spread of new infections and the emergence of multidrug resistant strains of microorganisms necessitate the search for new antimicrobials with focus on plant extracts. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of the extracts (aqueous and ethanolic) of lemon grass known usually for bioactive essential oil (Cymbopogon citratus) was investigated in-vitro, against selected clinical isolates (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans). Antimicrobial efficacy of the extracts was assessed using the agar-well diffusion and broth-dilution techniques. The aqueous extract of C. citratus was more efficacious as it showed higher antimicrobial activity against all the test isolates at all tested concentrations. In contrast, only two of the test isolates; P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were susceptible to the ethanolic extract with minimum inhibitory (MIC) concentrations of 2 mg/mL (against S. aureus) and 12.5 mg/mL (against P. aeruginosa). The MIC of the aqueous extract were (mg/mL): 2, 6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50 against S. aureus, E. faecalis, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and C. albicans respectively. Meanwhile, both the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of C. citratus exerted only a bacteriostatic effect against the five test isolates at all concentrations. Quantitative phytochemical screening of the two extracts revealed the presence of more concentration of active compounds in the aqueous extract than the ethanolic extract which plausibly accounts for its greater antimicrobial activity. This study has shown that, in difference to the use of its conventional essential oil, solvent extraction of Cymbopogon citratus is also a potent source of efficacious antimicrobials. Further works to determine the respective mechanisms of action(s) of the extracts’ active principle is being projected.  Keywords: Lemon grass, Clinical isolates, Antimicrobial efficacies, Bioactive compounds