Potentially Exploitable Base-Metal Containing Bentonite Clay Minerals of Ibeshi-Ikorodu South-Western Nigeria for Oil Bleaching

The experiment has been undertaken to evaluate the bleaching capacity of Ibeshi Montmorillonite-Bentonite clay to be used on soya bean oils (edible oils). The clay capacity for bleaching was evaluated before and after acid activation processes. The acid-activated Bentonite was prepared from raw Bentonite with sulphuric acid of concentrations 6 M, 7 M, and 8 M; this is because availability of hydrogen is a competitor at ions exchange site. Acid activation promotes catalytic activities by increasing the number of active sites of the clay samples. The results from AAS, GC-MS analysis and the spectra of the raw clay indicated that the dominant components present were Al2O3, MgO, CaO, Na2O, and K2O together with Fe2O3, TiO2, MnO2 and P2O5. The ratio of Na2O:CaO is 0.24-0.30, a value less than one, indicative the presence of montmorillonite, and the SiO2 : Al2O3 between ratio of 1.12-1.50 greater than one. The optimum acid concentration for industrial bleaching is 6 M H2SO4. However, the exchange capacity was observed at pH 7. The work has shown that activated montmorillonite/Bentonite clay has other useful organic compounds such as organic complexes 2, 4-Nonadienal; up to 8% α-Tocopherol. Tests for bleaching performance evaluation confirmed that the clay has moderately bleaching action as shown by percentage colour reduction. The colour reduction for natural clay was 9.1%, this value increases to 27.3% after 8M H2SO4 activation. Other properties include the structural characteristics, free fatty acid value, viscosity were also recorded. The availability of Bentonite across Nigeria makes it a potential industrial mineral for the economy development.Keyword: Bentonite, clay, dominant, components, acid-activate

Band Structure, Morphology, Functionality, and Size- Dependent Properties of Metal Nanoparticles

Metallic nanoparticles are gradually emerging as important materials because of their novel shape and size-dependent chemical and physical properties that differ drastically from their bulk counterparts. The main challenges in the field of nano-chemistry are the rational control and manipulation of synthesis to derive materials with one of their dimensions in nanometer regime, and upscale production of nanomaterials for device fabrication. This chapter reviews the fundamentals of the quantum properties of metals and quantum mechanical size effects with special focus on clusters of Pd, Pt, Au and Ag. Effects of reduction in size of metal nanoparticles to nanoscale on their various properties (structural, thermal, mechanical, chemical, electronic, magnetic and optical) are reviewed. The chapter concludes with a review of select medical applications of metal nanoparticles

A Microscopic Examination of the Educational system between China and Nigeria: A Comparative Study

The article uses a comparative approach to analyse the educational systems of China and Nigeria. It examines the present approaches involved in Chinese and Nigerian educational systems. And in the final analysis, it also compares the education of Chinese students and Nigerian students. Secondary qualitative data were used in both explanatory and descriptive approach. Empirical studies that are related to education system in both China and Nigeria were also assessed. These types of data are mostly used in both survey type and case study analyses. Thus, case study research method is used in the article. Data gathered were presented to compare the education system in both China and Nigeria. The gathered data were used to juxtapose and compare the education systems in both China and Nigeria. The article is expected to: provide better understanding of China and Nigeria education systems; provide a vivid comparison of educational systems of China and Nigeria; show comparisons of Chinese and Nigerian students and give suggestions as to the ways by which the education systems of both countries could be enhanced. Key Words: Chinese Education system, Nigerian Education System, Comparisons between Chinese and Nigerian Education Systems. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-32-02 Publication date: November 30th 201

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Microfinance Banks' Performance in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Over the years, few organisations are gradually coming to terms with the pertinence and essentiality of the strategic and pregnable tool of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the attainment of organisational goals. While some are facing various issues while adopting CSR practices, others are yet to know which CSR activities is best to adopt based on their physical needs. Therefore, this study empirically investigates the role of CSR in the attainment of organisational performance in Ogbomoso Microfinance Bank (MFB). Four research objectives on the relationship between CSR and key important aspect of MFB in Ogbomoso were deployed to 80 employees across Ogbomoso MFB using survey research design. Different analysis such as descriptive statistics, Pearson's Correlation and regression analysis and T-square with the aid of SPSS were used for the analysis of this survey. The findings revealed that there is a significant correlation between CSR and effectiveness of organisational performance as well as employees and environments. The analysis of the CSR and organisation performance recorded a F-statistics value of 3.648 and p-value of 0.005<0.05. The study also found out that the participation of MFBs in CSR activities is somewhat low based on the statistical analysis which recorded a T-value of 0.263 < 1.96 with significance ratio of 0.793 > 0.05 which indicates that each of the microfinance bank in Ogbomosho spend less than 10% of their profit on CSR activities. Therefore, the study recommends that Ogbomoso MFB should proactively involve in CSR for a significant contribution to productivity and stability

Comparative study of microwave assisted and conventional synthesis of novel 2-quinoxalinone3- hydrazone derivatives and its spectroscopic properties

A series of novel quinoxalin-2(1H)-one-3-hydrazone derivatives, 2a -8d were synthesized via condensation of 3-hydrazinoquinoxalin-2(1H)-one, 1, with the corresponding ketones under microwave irradiation. The microwave assisted reaction was remarkably successful and gave hydrazones in higher yield at less reaction time compared to conventional heating method. The chemical structures of the compounds prepared were confirmed by analytical and spectral data

Chemistry and pharmacological diversity of quinoxaline motifs as anticancer agents

Surpassing heart diseases, cancer is taking the lead as the deadliest disease because of its fast rate of spreading in all parts of the world. Tireless commitment to searching for novel therapeutic medicines is a worthwhile adventure in synthetic chemistry because of the drug resistance predicament and regular outbreak of new diseases due to abnormal cell growth and proliferation. Medicinal chemistry researchers and pharmacists have unveiled quinoxaline templates as precursors of importance and valuable intermediates in drug discovery because they have been established to possess diverse pharmacological potentials. Hence, this review highlights the current versatile routes to accessing functionalized quinoxaline motifs and harnessing their documented therapeutic potentials for anticancer drug development