Archives-January 2013

In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile environment, transmitter and receiver signals are heavily influenced by the effect of clutter surrounding both the transmitter and the receiver. Therefore the ability to optimize a CDMA system is dependent on the initial system configuration at the deployment stage. This includes the site location, antenna type, orientation, beam-tilt and the choice of propagation model which contributes greedily to a better optimization of the network. The proposed study provides an insight to two live CDMA2000 operators, on the sensitivity of received signals at the mobile terminal to adjustment of antenna beam-tilt angle to maintain good coverage. The operators transmit at 1900MHz and 800MHz frequency band respectively. The investigation was conducted in a series of field-tests. The result obtained from RSS coverage rate analysis, shows that the adjustment of beam-tilt angle to optimum value has great improvement on the coverage of the two CDMA operator networks.

The glory of Islamic civilization since the year 750 AD has shown that the economic institutions of Islam brought by the very strong and managed to survive so many years. This paper aims to explore the development of economic institutions in the glory of Islamic civilization. This study used qualitative methods, through literature review and document analysis of past studies. The results showed that the economy is one factor that contributed towards the rise of Islam in line with the administrative aspects, political, military and others. In addition to not shirk their duties within the community, economic development should be incorporated with Islamic values outlined by the Qur’an and Hadith.

Five derivatives of oxazolone were synthesized by using Erlenmeyer azlactone synthesis. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of these oxazolones was evaluated on selected skin microorganisms. Preliminary screening was performed to identify growth inhibition, and MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) was determined for the active compounds. Results obtained were very promising and the most active compound in our screen was the dimethoxy substituted oxazolone, which demonstrated a significant enhancement of antimicrobial activity both against selected bacterial and fungal strains. The MIC value of the highly active compound was found to be 12.5µg/ml.

Recently, massive interest was paid to new technologies dealing with environmental aspect. Perpetuation of natural resources such as natural fibre reinforced polymeric composite leads the upcoming manufacturing industry to search and scrutinize eco-friendly materials. The use of composites in manufacturing equipment and products is taking a very important space in the industry in general. Moreover these materials have unique characteristics when analyzed separately from constituents who are part of them. However, it is known that care must be taken in their manufacture, as the use of appropriate process and the composition of each element, in addition to adherence of fibre, which is a major factor in obtaining the final mechanical strength of the product. One should also take into account whether the composites are environmentally friendly. For this reason, in this work, a composite partially ecological was made, using sisal as reinforcement, which is a natural fibre with renowned mechanical properties as dispersed phase of the composite in the polypropylene resin, in quest of improving the mechanical behaviour of NFRP composite.

The involvement of the community in sustainable forest management needs to be anchored on sound knowledge and vast understanding of forests, forest resources and their sustainable exploitation mechanisms. Humans encroachment into the Nandi Hills Forests, compounded by urban expansion, unsustainable timber harvesting and agricultural practices have over the years threatened to annihilate this catchment area. The study was undertaken in three districts; Nandi South, Nandi Hills and Nandi North Districts. A mixed methodological approach was used in this study, where concurrent triangulation and nested/embedded designs prevailed. The study reveals that environmental education has been institutionalized in the Nandi County and is yielding sustainable forest management. However, some institutional and capacity gaps do exist. Government agencies, international organizations and community-based organizations have been profiled as the predominant institutions that are involved in building the capacities of the locals through environmental education and forest conservation. Change detection, undertaken by way of GIS and remote sensing, has corroborated the perceptions and undertakings of the locals and institutions on forest management; exemplified by the level of awareness on the state of forest cover, and the ensuing consequences. The study proposes a heuristic for community environmental education centered on institutional arrangements, policy frameworks, formal and informal education approaches, GIS and remote sensing. Integrated community environmental education, epitomized in the heuristic, could be a robust tool for sustainable forest management once it is rolled out.

A simple, precise and accurate kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed for determination of tranexamic acid. The method was based on a kinetic investigation of the coupling reaction between tranexamic acid and ascorbic acid after heating to form a purple-pink colored complex. The reaction was followed up spectrophotometrically by measuring the increase in absorbance at 530nm & 390nm as a function of time. The initial rate, rate constant, fixed time and fixed absorption time methods were adopted for constructing the calibration curves and examined for their suitability for the assay of tranexamic acid in pure and capsules forms.

Normal concrete was prepared with a water-cement ratio of 0.50. cube specimens were cast for testing the compressive strength at 7 and 28 days of curing respectively using three curing methods namely immersion, sprinkling and Plastic sheeting, curing to cure the cube specimens until the day of testing. Test results indicates that water curing (WAC) as well as sprinkling (spraying) curing provided much better results than membrane (Plastic Sheeting) method of curing. The rate of drying was significant when the specimens were subjected to membrane (Plastic sheeting) method of curing. This thus hampered the hydration process and thus affected the compressive strength property of the hardened concrete. The overall finding of this study suggests that concrete should be cured by water curing to achieve a better compressive strength.

The main objective of the study is to assess the nature, magnitude and extent of the environmental and social impacts of the conflict in swat valley. Current study is conducted in order to assess the damage done to the social lives of the local population and to local environment. For this purpose number of field visits was conducted in the area and two sampling campaigns were done in wet and dry seasons. Surface and Ground water samples were collected in dry and wet seasons from the affected villages in order to determine the damage done to water quality due to the conflict. Soil samples were collected from six different villages in the Mata district of Swat Pakistan. Six different impact points of bombing were selected which were still undisturbed by the local residence. Total of 270 questioners were also filled on the basis of 94% confidence level and 6 % error from the six selected villages. The negative impacts of military operation on the social lives of local residents were very much evident from the current study. Environment has also paid its price in term of burned forest and decrease in local wild life but overall the water and soil quality is not been disturbed and no traces of TNT were found in the soil and water.

A comprehensive study of thermal radiation on a steady two-dimensional laminar flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting micropolar fluid past a stretching surface embedded in a non-Darcian porous medium is analyzed numerically. The governing equations of momentum, angular momentum, and energy equations are solved numerically using Runge- Kutta fourth order method with shooting technique. The effects of various parameters on the velocity, microrotation, and temperature field as well as skin friction coefficient, and Nusselt number are shown graphically and in tabulated. It is observed that the micropolar fluid helps in the reduction of drag forces and also acts as a cooling agent.

Nigeria was ranked 14th in global assessment of under-five mortality rate due to infants poor nutrition. (The Punch 2011) The Wheat, genus Triticum, tribe,Triticeae family, is limiting in lysine but has adequate amount of sulphur-containing amino acids (Adeyeye & Aye 2005).The cultivation of Triticum durum yields well in Nigeria. It is mainly consumed by adults who eatit in bread and other pastries (The Compass 2011).There have been cases of hypersensitive response to wheat gluten causing celiac disease which in children, prompts symptoms like bloating, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation (Nagano et al., 2003). During fermentation some microorganic enzymes hydrolyze and degrade wheat gluten by almost 80% making it hypoallergenic thus preventing the celiac disease (2007 www; mhtml fermented wheat protein and Gluten intolerance/Love to know Assessed on 6/10/2011). Cowpea (Vignaunguiculata(L) Walp.):the black-eyed variety called drum is widely cultivated in Nigeria. It is limiting in methionine. The dry beans is cooked without prior fermentation or dehullingand because the whole beans are unsuitable for infants, the broth or soup of the cooked beans may contain high levels of tannins and phytates extracted from the seed coats of colored beans during cooking thisis served the infants resulting in poor protein digestibility, diarrhea, as the liquid portion (Lyimo et al., 1992). Phytates and tannin are responsible for the low availability of calcium, zinc, iron magnesium and poor protein digestibility from cereals and some leguminous foods.