Archives-April 2018

This paper is designed to educate many Nigerians and and foreigners alike on the meaning, relevance and modalities for acquiring patent rights in Nigeria because of the ignorance displayed by many Nigerians and foreigners resident in Nigeria in this area of the law. Patents rights depend for their recognition on compliance with certain formalities. Patents are registered rights and these rights are only enforceable when they have been granted. Registered patent rights, may be proved simply by producing the certificate of grant. The onus rests on the person who wishes to attack the validity of the registration of a patent to prove the invalidity. In Nigeria, legislation on patent rights is obsolete. Ineffective implementation is another problem. As a result, Nigeria is a choice destination for counterfeit products from all over the world. Consequently inventors are discouraged and the government loses revenue from taxes. The flaws in the system have been examined and recommendations have been made.

This paper examines the legal framework for copyright protection in Nigeria and the USA. This work critically analyses laws in both countries for copyright protection. The USA and Nigeria Copyright Acts extend protection to computer software by treating software as a literary work. Copyright based industries operating in the country contribute trillions of naira to Nigeria’s gross domestic product. Despite the enormous benefits which the country has derived from computer related products, Nigeria remains the largest piracy destination and markets in the world though these same products are ostensibly protected by the Copyright Act, Similarly, according to a study titled: “Addressing global software piracy” conducted by Microsoft in partnership with the US government agencies and consumers in 2010, software piracy recorded $750 billion dollars in lost revenues and millions of lost jobs in software industries. Causes of piracy and counterfeiting have been discussed and recommendations have been made on how to eliminate them.

The study examined the economic impact of Tinapa Business Resort and the Export Processing Zone on economic diversification in Calabar, Cross River State. The study looks at the importance of Tinapa Business Resort and Export Processing Zone in economic diversification of the State economy within Calabar. The study adopted the survey research design and data was collected through the use of questionnaires administered on the staff of Tinapa Business Resort, the Export Processing Zone and members of the host communities. The study used descriptive statistics in analysing the data and the chi-square test was used to test the hypothesis formulated. The findings from the study show that Tinapa Business Resort and the Export Processing Zone have contributed to the economic diversification of Cross River State through generation of foreign exchange earnings, attracting of Foreign Direct Investment and tourism into the state. Furthermore, the study reveals that Tinapa Business Resort and the Export Processing Zone have affected the lives of the host communities through employment and the provision of basic infrastructure. Based on the findings, the study recommends the dredging of the Calabar Sea Port in order to attract more economic activities into the State and the proper funding Tinapa Business Resort to enable it fulfilled its vision of being Africa’s Business hub in global trading and exportation of goods.

Adders are the most vital part of any digital system. Providing an efficient adder design which satisfies the tradeoff between speed and space aides in increasing the performance of the system. parallel prefix adders are the ones widely used in digital design. This is primarily because of the flexibility in designing the adders. Brent kung adder is low power adder, as it uses minimum circuitry and also decrease the speed and memory to obtain the result. The 16-bit design is extended to 32-bit, implemented in the physical level.

The ligand, 4-butanoyl-3-methyl-1-phenylpyrazol-5-one (HBPy) and its complexes with Mn (II), La (III), Zr (III), V (V) and W (VI) were tested for antibacterial activity relative to streptomycin and penicillin antibiotics. The filter paper scraps diffusion method was used. The compounds were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against G(+) Staphylococcus aureus, G(+) Hay bacillus and G(-) Eschericha coli. It could be observed from the results that the antibacterial effect of the Mn(BPy)2.2H2O and the VO2(BPy).HBPy complexes were similar to that of penicillin against the two G(+) strains. The other three complexes also had such antibacterial activity, but a little weaker than that of penicillin. The test data also indicated that streptomycin was intermediately effective against G(+) Hay bacillus. The five complexes at a concentration of 2 ?g/disc, showed antibacterial activity against G(+) Hay bacillus comparable to that of streptomycin with a concentration of 10 ?g/disc. The ligand and its complexes showed none or much weaker antibacterial activity compared to penicillin and streptomycin against G(-) Eschericha coli. It is therefore concluded that the metal complexes studied are potent against the Gram-positive bacteria studied; hence the compounds have great potentials in the exploration of new chemotherapy agents.

Present study revealed that thermophile fungal species richness on different substrate in different temperature gradients like room, 35,45,55,650C.Total 23 fungal species were found from six different organic substrate. Among six substrates, vermiompost (57) and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) (52) were recorded highest species richness and % incidence while less in ash (14). Among isolated thermophilic fungi, Aspergillus species found abundant in all the substrate and temperature ranges while poor incidence in case of Trichoderma harzianum, Rhizoctonia, Geotrichum, Alternaria species, Aspergillus tamari and Peniillium cinnamon. Among the thermophiles Aspergillus niger and A. flavus were found on all the substrates itself act as thermotolerent. Every temperature gradient showed the growth incidence in all substrate but room temp and 350C showed richness of fungal incidence. Even some species showed the growth on some substrate at higher temp (65^•C) in some extent.

Eutrophication is a worldwide environmental problem attributed to direct or indirect discharge of untreated or partially treated effluents from a variety of industries including slaughter-houses. Nutrient-rich water compromises its suitability for various uses and threatens human and environmental health. A study was carried out to assess the impact of effluents from Dagoreti slaughter-houses on the water quality of Kavuthi stream, one of the tributaries of Nairobi River. Samples of effluent effluents from the slaughter-houses and water from Kavuthi stream were collected in 2010 for the determination of both temporal and spatial variation of various eutrophication parameters: total phosphates (TP), soluble reactive phosphates (SRP), ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3) and nitrite (NO2). A mean concentration of 5.14± 0.30 mgL-1 for TP, 2.80±0.37mgL-1 for SRP, 18.27± 0.93 mgL-1 for NH4-N, 8.88±0.25 mgL-1 for NO3-N and 1.63±0.22 mgL-1 for NO2-N were recorded for the effluent from the slaughter-house. Significant differences were observed between sampling occasions and sites (p<0.05) along the stream. On average, 1.52±0.08 mgL-1 for TP, 0.68±0.05 mgL-1 for SRP, 5.34± 0.41 mgL-1 for NH4-N, 4.36±0.20 mgL-1 for NO3-N and 0.46±0.05 mgL-1 for NO2-N for the water samples along Kavuthi stream were recorded. Despite the significantly high concentrations of these nutrients in sites downstream of the effluent discharge point as compared to upstream sites, their levels were within the limits stipulated by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) - Water Quality Regulation for effluent discharge into the environment and source of water for domestic purpose. The study recommends that the slaughter-house operators adopt appropriate effluents treatment interventions and effluent discharge guidelines in order to safeguard human and environmental health.

Pseudo-Ludwig's phenomenon, a rare clinical entity, is characterized by non-infectious upper airway obstruction resulting from spontaneous hematoma in the sublingual area. We describe a case of pseudo-Ludwig's phenomenon in patient on anticoagulants with deranged coagulation profile.

Clinical research competencies are enhanced when there is synergy and strong internal cohesion, with the appropriate level of clinical expertise in recruitment of participants and undertaking a study from initial stages, to conclusion. When a study sponsor approaches a site to conduct a clinical trial, the site must convey accurately that it has the resources and capability to undertake a study. The clinical research site should be able to demonstrate competencies in meeting minimum clinical and research capabilities in conducting a study.  Explicit and optimal utilization of available resources and capabilities to meet clinical, regulatory, ethical, and other mandates will reflect this capability. The United States Food and Drug Administration regulatory process is demanding, exacting, time consuming and complicated.  Clinical research sites must conform to regulatory clinical research standards.  The interaction and collaboration of researchers in different roles and functions in a clinical research study may necessitate studying the factors that promote or constrain inter-professional synergy. The complex human interplay of many diverse and dedicated professionals, comprising clinical site coordinators, researchers, physicians, and research subjects, engaged in clinical research is not fully understood and merits further study. The aim of this scientific paper is to present research to map and assess human dynamics in a clinical research site, so that the results may contribute to reducing the human factors which constrain clinical research. Clinical research sites must cope with intense scrutiny and copious FDA and other regulations, which often limits clinical discovery, lowers financial success and often impedes successful research execution.  The exploratory outlook of a future and recommended research study may be deemed important, to examine the positive and negative factors that may facilitate, or impede internal team cohesion within clinical research sites, using a quantitative method and a descriptive design. A comprehensive description of a research plan and data collection methodology is detailed herewith. A study is recommended herewith, based on a research method and design founded on extensive experience in organizational management, review of pertinent literature, and the best practices in clinical research study management.   

The hip replacement or hip arthroplasty is an orthopedic surgery in which a damaged or dysfunctional hip joint is surgically replaced with a suitable artificial hip prosthesis. During this surgical procedure, a stem is inserted into the patient’s femur for stability; and the head of the femur is replaced with a ball and socket joint is replaced by an artificial cup. Literature survey reveals that various types of methodologies were used by researchers for the development of the hip prosthesis and while after surgery different complications were arise with the patients like mismatch, aseptic loosening, improper load distribution, and discomfort due to change of morphology of human being. It is present status the availability of specific prosthesis for specific patients are very difficult. Due to the high complexity of customized hip implant results in low production rates. Hence it is understood that there is a requirement of machinablity study for manufacturing of customized hip prosthesis. The one part of study is to concern with the design of different types of hip prosthesis like solid, hollow (with and without internal rib structures) to reduce the effective stiffness and due to the hollowness of prosthesis, stiffness increases which will ultimately results in increase the strain at the proximal femur in comparison to solid femur as well as weight of hip prosthesis is drastically reduced. The machining of hip prosthesis is being carried out by taking the CT scan data of the patient using MIMICS software. The data then analyzed with suitable load in ANSYS after that the CAD model of femoral stem was prepared by using the measured data. The blank size of the prosthesis is first calculated. Then the critical profile machining of top and bottom stem is being carried out using 3-Axis CNC vertical milling machine “Mikron” CNC and the parting operation by using wire cut EDM machine by preparing the necessary programme based on the profile of the prosthesis. However, in this study the machining of hip prosthesis is being carried out through conventional route to stress on economical benefits for low cost manufacturing strategy.