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Time Dependent- Density Functional Theory calculations on frequency-dependent photophysical properties of 2, 3-diphenylcyclopropenone
Get PDFTime Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT/B3LYP/6-31G*) calculations have been performed on the optimized structure of 2, 3-diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) in the UV region of the spectra; giving energies, oscillator strength, dipole moment, µ and polarizability, α in solvents of different polarities. The study was also extended to the number of transitions, frontier orbital energy gaps (ELUMO - EHOMO) analysis of this strained ring donor - acceptor (D-A) molecular system to calculate its ionization potential (I), electron affinity (EA) and global hardness (η) in the solvent of choice. This aids in understanding the relationship between the structure and properties of this molecule.TD-DFT/B3LYP/6-31G* calculation results, when compared with the reported experimental studies results of the solvatochromic shift properties of this molecule, showed ten excited singlet states for DPCP in the UV region. This indicates minimum overlap of the electronic transition bands computationally. The increased ΔELUMO-HOMO (4.09 - 4.31eV), I and ƞ, the lower dipole moments and polarizability values as solvent polarity increased, suggests high stability of this compound in polar solvents. The excess polarizabilities obtained for its singlet excited states show that the excited state of this compound is more polar than its ground state, and that, the molecule is chemically active
Production of Proteolytic Enzyme from Catfish Waste Using Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, and Arthrobacter aurescens
Get PDFThe world marine captured fishes contribute to more than 50 % of the total world fish production. About 70 % of fish is processed before final sale, resulting in 20-80 % of fish waste depending on the level of processing and type of fish. The majority of fish wastes are disposed of in the ocean as well as on land. The discards from the processing plants amount to 20 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 25 % of the world\u27s total production from marine captured fisheries. The fish processing industry generates considerable amounts of by-products such as waste that includes shells, scales, fins and bone frames. Interestingly, they are all often high in protein, which can be processed into useful products. Three organisms Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, and Arthrobacter aurescens were isolated and used in the production of the proteolytic enzyme in three different protease production media. B. subtilis, P. vulgaris and A. aurescens were observed to have produced protease best at 48 hr of the second production, 72 hr of the third production, and 72 hr of first production, respectively. Fish waste should not be discarded into the environment, which can cause adverse effect on human health and environmental pollution, but rather they can be used in industries such as food industry in the production of baby foods to help break down the available protein into amino acids required by the body.
Keywords: Environmental pollution, Marine habitat, Fish processing, Food protein, Food industr
Evaluating the Causality Effect of Exchange Rate and Nigeria Balance of Payment: An Empirical Analysis
Get PDFAbstractA country’s exchange rate and balance of payment are usually regarded as one of the indicator by which a nation’s strength can be measured especially its economic strength. Exchange rate plays a major role in international trade because no nation can remain in autarky due to varying factor endowments. Nigerian economy experienced chronic deficit on the balance of payment account, fall in the price of Naira and grossdomestic product growth rate due to over-dependency on imported products, reliance of revenues from oil exports, massive imports of refined petroleum, and other related products. The study evaluates the causality effect of foreign exchange rate and Nigeria balance of payment between the periods of 1970 and 2015. The data obtained were subjected to VECM Granger Causality method of analysis. The results revealed thatexchange rate and balance of payment granger cause each other at 5% level of significance. The study recommended that there should be a restriction on trade openness of goods or services that can be produced locally and diversification of Nigerian economy by the economy managers. The study concluded that there is high propensity for Nigerian economy to achieve favourable balance of payment, if the above recommendations are implemented
Resource Endowment and Economic Growth in Selected African Countries
Get PDFAbstractNatural resources endowment is expected to boost wealth and purchasing power in resource endowed economies. It is expected that resource availability should be able to drive investment and consequently boost growth in these economies. However, experiences with some resource - rich economies suggest that resource endowment may not be a blessing and can actually be categorized as a curse. To this end therefore, this study investigates the relationship between resource endowment and economicgrowth using nine resource-rich African countries as a case study. The study used the fixed effect model with cross section as well as time dummy variables. The study did not establish the significant positive impact of resource extraction on economic growth in these economies and therefore concludes that resource curse is indeed true in countries under the study. This paper recommends that as resources’ booms are occurring, governments of resource rich economies can channel the surplus funds intothe development of other sectors of the economy to enhance their competitiveness and capacity and boost their productivity so that when resources rents becomes low, other sector can cushion the effect. This is a form of diversification for a resource rich economy among others
Democratization and the Challenge of Electoral Violence in Nigeria: Reflections on 2003 Elections in Rivers State
Get PDFAbstractAs Nigeria returned to civil rule, expectations were high that democratic governance would facilitate the constructive resolution of conflicts threatening to tear the nation apart. Rather than aid the amelioration of conflict especially in the Niger Delta, the violence that has characterised democratic competition since 1999 has worsened the situation by introducing new dynamics to the region’s conflict trajectories. Using thequalitative research method where data is gathered through primary and secondary sources this study assesses the high stake politics and how actions of political stakeholders have worsened the conflict situation in the region. It discusses the commodification of violence, the militarisation of anti-state oil protests, and violence that ravaged the wider Niger Delta focusing on Rivers State. It argues that the spectre of violence in Rivers State and the region in general can be located within the context of the nature of Nigerian politics, in particular the struggle for the capture of the state and the control of oil rents. The Nigerian experience highlights the important position of contextual variables in the discussion of the conflict mitigating potential of democratic governance
Poverty and Democratization Process in Nigeria: Lesson from the Fourth Republic
Get PDFAbstractThe desired goal(s) of any democratic experiment the world over is to make life comfortable for the generality of the citizenry through provision of food, adequate shelter, habitable housing, functional and free education, avoidable and accessible health care system, functional public/social infrastructures among others. The realization of these democratic dividends since the return of the country to democraticrule in 1999 is dampened by the existence of wide spread poverty among the citizens.Poverty has seriously impacted on the democratic process in such a way that the type of leadership that have emerged in the present republic were not people friendly as they lack patriotism, sincerity, management skills, vision, morality and political will to put in place necessary programmes that will ameliorate the already worsening situation of the masses. This paper examines the diverse ways through which poverty has negatively influence our democratic process. It argues that no meaningful dividends of democracy will come out of the present experiment until the issues underlying the continue slavery of the people are addressed. Possible suggestions to ameliorate the poverty induced pathetic conditions of the masses are suggested, these include: the need on the various tiers of government to redistribute the revenue of the state in way that benefit lower income groups; government should support hospital and schools; give aids to the families to reduces the risk of crime and political conflict since poorer families are likely to seek illegal means of earning income or to unite in protest over their living conditions; there is need to fight the menace of corruption through control mechanism, provision of job- training and job - search programmes for adults and compensatory education programmes for the children so they are better able to find well-paying job. There is serious need to change the way we do things so as to benefit the poor through altering the tax system; encouraging the creation of good jobs, reducing discrimination, and the like.Keywords  Poverty, democracy, dividends of democracy, leadership, corrupt practices,  electoral proces
Women’s Ambition, Ambitious Women: The Case of Caesar’s Household During The Julio-Claudian Era
Get PDFAbstractMost scholarship on women and their position in antiquity generally agrees that women’s status was largely low. Relatedly, in the ancient Republican Rome, women had no significant political, economic, legal and social rights. However, by the Imperial period, it appeared that the status quo was altered as many Roman women pursued tall ambitions such as desire for wealth, political power, fame, elegance, adornment and control of their families. Using the mistresses, wives, mothers, and daughters that were either married or related to first century Julio-Claudian Caesars as a case study, this paper examined women’s struggle for ambition, dominance, and control of the Roman Empire. Approached chronologically through a method of content analysis of archival materials and the evidence provided by Roman writers such as Tacitus, Livy, Sallust, and Seneca, the paper highlighted some ambitious behaviours of selected women within the period 31B.C. – A.D.68. Rather than exude the virtues of true matronae (noble women) to advance their society, Caesars’ women exhibited flagrant indiscipline, immorality, and wickedness in form of subtle naggings, conspiracies, promiscuity, prostitution, debaucheries, poisonings, and murders of relations in order to achieve their varied notorious ambitions. The paper concluded specifically that these women’s drives ultimately contributed to the collapse of sociopolitical order under the Julio-Claudian dynasty.Keywords  Women, ambition, Julio-Claudian dynasty, imperial Rom
Maternal Health and Millennium Development Goal 5(MGD5): Discussing the faux pas in Nigeria
Get PDFAbstractThe paper examines Maternal Health and recently concluded Millennium Development Goal 5(MGD5) and why there were obstacle(s) to its success in Nigerian society and the need for integrated interventions for the newly developed Sustainable Development Goals. Culture, poverty and lack of political will act as major causes for nonperformance of the (MGD5). The main reasons for this among other things are low utilization of quality of maternal healthcare services, negative opinion of important referents, social, cultural, physical and economic barriers such as patriarchy, long distances, high transport and other indirect costs. The review therefore examined the existing level of maternal and child mortality/morbidity within the extant literatures/statistical abstracts and it was found out that inadequate health care/maternity centres, paucity of physicians and insufficient budgetary allocation were stumbling blocks to effective maternal health and success of MDG5. It is therefore suggested that government should make available functional primary health care facilities including maternity centres equipped with up to date infrastructures which would be funded equitably to facilitate patronage and easy access to both rural and urban residents. Effort should be made to retain trained professionals in all ramificationsKeywordsMillennium Development Goal 5(MDG5), maternal health, culture contour, faux pas, infrastructur
Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Pseudomonas Species Isolated From Clinical and Environmental Samples in Awba Dam, Ibadan
Get PDFPseudomonas species are common pathogenic Gram negative bacteria frequently found in both environmental and clinical samples. They are opportunistic pathogen and could be multidrug resistant (MDR); their presence in the environment signifies threat to the public health. Water from Awba dam is used as municipal water supply for drinking, fishing and agricultural purposes in the University of Ibadan which gives reason for proper monitoring. The study was designed to isolate and characterize Pseudomonas species present in Awba dam reservoir and also to compare its antimicrobial resistance pattern with clinical isolates. Pseudomonas was isolated using Centrimide agar (Oxoid) and identification was done to species level using classical method. Disk diffusion method was applied to test antibiotic sensitivity according to clinical and laboratory standard guidelines. A total of 200 bacteria isolates were obtained from water and sediment, of which 30 were found positive for Pseudomonas giving a prevalence of 15.0% (30/200). Eighteen clinical samples were collected from University College Hospital with about 50% from urine, 27.8% (Ear), 11.1% (wound) and 5.6% each from pleural effusion and nasopharyngeal tube. Two species of Pseudomonas; aeruginosa and fluorescens were identified. Out of the 10 antibiotics used, environmental isolates showed no resistance to gentamicin, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline and imipinem while clinical isolates showed 83.3, 16.7, 83.3, 100 and 11.1% resistance to the antibiotics respectively. Amikacin and Imipinem was the most effective drug for both environmental and clinical Pseudomonas isolates. High rates of MDR Pseudomonas (94.4%) from clinical strains and 13.3% of the environmental strains were observed. In conclusion, the result shows that Pseudomonas isolates from the clinical specimens are more exposed to antibiotics, and MDR isolates in the water system can be transferred to humans and animals.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, water, multidrug resistance (MDR), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescen
Game-Based Learning for Effective Teaching of Computer Studies in Secondary Schools
Get PDFGame-based learning among Nigerian secondary schools is not common. In foreign countries where game-based learning is widely used, it is often believed that it could be more distracting and may not align with learning goals. Considering this stance, it is imperative to investigate among teachers and students if this approach would be effective for teaching computer studies before it could be recommended for implementation. Thus, the need for this study which investigated students and teachers’ perception on game-based learning for effective teaching of computer studies in secondary schools, Ilorin. Specifically, the study investigated secondary school teachers and students’ awareness of game-based learning, their attitude to game-based learning and their readiness toward game-based learning for effective teaching. It also examined the respondents’ perception toward the usefulness of game-based learning for effective teaching. The researcher demonstrated the use of game-based learning with the teaching of Network Routing by playing the orange game as found on CS unplugged. This is to ensure that both teachers and students understand the concept of game-based learning before attempting the survey. This study adopted a descriptive research using a survey method. A purposive sampling of one hundred and twenty-five (125) students and twenty-five (25) teachers were used on the target population of schools in Ilorin South local government, Kwara state, Nigeria. Percentage (%) statistical method and standard deviation were used to analyze the data obtained. The findings implied that teachers should be encouraged to use student-centered approach in their teaching for effective learning. It was recommended among others that secondary school teachers should make use of game-based learning since they are all aware and ready to use it for their teaching of computer studies.
Keywords: Game-based learning, Educational games, Computer games, Computer studie