Archives-October 2014

The traditional medicines (i.e. herbal medicines / Spices) are cost effective & have negligible side effects. There is a need for credible research to investigate the proper use, adverse effects and precautions associated with these products. Hence, the current study was carried out to observe the hepatoprotective effect of Curcuma Longa (C.L) in Nitro-Methane Sulfonamide (N-MS) induced hepatotoxicity. 40 male albino wistar rats were divided into four groups. In group A, normal diet was given for 09 days while in group B, N- MS was given for 09 days followed by CL powder for next 09 days; while CL powder for 09 days followed by N- MS for next 09 days was used in group C. Group D received N-MS in adjunct with C.L powder for 09 days. Blood samples from each group were taken for biochemical analysis of serum levels of ALT, AST, Alkaline Phosphatase and GGT. The results of present study have concluded that the administration of C.L significantly offered protection against damaging effects of N-MS.

Core mathematics is a compulsory subject for all Senior High School students in Ghana and many other African countries. Students are expected to pass in this subject before moving on to any tertiary institution. In spite of the compulsory nature of the subject, underachievement of students in mathematics at the Senior High School level has been a matter of concern to the West African Examination Chief Examiner over the years. Though available literature is replete with factors such as pupil-teacher ratio, socio-economic status of students, class size, family background that account for students’ achievement, it is clear that the success of many students depends on the teacher. It is however unclear which aspect of the teacher is statistically significant predictor of what students learn. This paper focuses on the extent to which teachers’ knowledge for teaching correlates with students’ achievement in algebra at the Senior High School level in Ghana. In all, 17 Elective Mathematics¬ teachers and 617 form Three Elective Mathematics students from ten public Senior High Schools in the Central Region of Ghana participated in the study. The samples were selected at random from four school categories; A, B, C and D according to Ghana Education Service classification. Two forms of instruments were administered; form one to students and form two to teachers, and the responses retrieved on the same day. A correlational analysis was used to test for statistical significance in the scores at 0.05 level of significance. Teachers’ knowledge for teaching was found to be significantly related to students’ achievement in algebra.

This study evaluated the presence of ochratoxin producing fungi and levels of ochratoxin A contamination in the most popular cassava food product (garri) in West Africa circulating in Ogun State, Nigeria. Results obtained revealed that the rate of total filamentous fungal contamination in all the sampled zones of Ogun State, Nigeria were not statistically significant (F= 0.327, P>0.05). For the black Aspergilli, the maximum contamination rate was 4.2 x 107 CFug-1 for a sample in Egba zone while the minimum concentration of 2.5x102 CFug-1 was obtained in a particular market in Remo zone. It was noted, that Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus carbonarius have the highest isolation rate of 21(24%) among the isolated filamentous fungi (F= 88.167, p< 0.05). 918 (92%) of the total samples of 1000 examined, contained detectable levels of OTA while samples from egba region have highest contamination rate (Fvalue = 3.504, P<0.005). These detectable levels found in our study satisfies the 0-5.0ppb recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (1997). It can be concluded, that garri found in Ogun State are variously contaminated by different filamentous fungi, however black aspergilli remain the main ochratoxigenic moulds present in this staple food.

Phosphate ores are used for phosphoric acid, fertilizers and animal feed production. In Egypt phosphate ore reserves are present in three main localities namely; Nile valley, new valley in western desert, and the eastern desert along the red sea coast. Currently, newly discovered phosphate ores are being mined from Nile valley areas mainly for exportation and partially for local production of fertilizers. However, in exporting such ores, the mining companies export only the coarse fractions of the run of mine ores of high grade (over 30 % P2O5) while the fine fractions of low grade (~ 18-22 % P2O5 content), for the time being, are rejected. This is because such fine fractions contain different gangue minerals such as calcite and silica. This paper aims at studying the amenability of upgrading such rejected fine fractions of Nile valley areas through application of froth flotation process. Such flotation technique is investigated to separate the associated gangues (silica and calcite) from the fine fractions of phosphate ores. The different operating conditions affecting on the efficiency of separation of phosphate mineral from its associated gangues are studied. These parameters, among others, are collector dosage, depressant dose, and pH. At the optimum conditions of flotation, a phospho-concentrate of about P2O5 of 29.5 % and 7.6 % A.I. is obtained from a feed sample containing about 21.13 % P2O5 and 19 % A.I.

Twenty samples of domestic water sourced from different underground wells in Gidan Dare and Gidan Igwai areas of Sokoto were collected and analyzed in the laboratory. The pH and the electrical conductivities (EC) of the water samples were also determined. The mean results obtained from the analyses were pH (7.68, 6.72) and electrical conductivities (1061µs/cm, 1057µs/cm) for Gidan Dare and Gidan Igwai, respectively. The results also showed mean arsenic concentrations of 0.110mg/L and 0.217mg/L for Gidan Dare and Gidan Igwai water samples respectively, which are above the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water guideline. Wells in Gidan Dare and Gidan Igwai were found to be contaminated with abnormal concentration of arsenic, high enough to cause serious adverse health effects to its consumers. The high arsenic concentrations could be attributed to both natural and anthropogenic activities such as erosion, underground weathering, toxic chemicals, improper waste and sewage disposal waste from industries, agricultural activities and vehicular emissions.

Hydroxypropylcellulose acrylate (HPCA) macromonomer was prepared by esterification of hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) with acryloyl chloride in homogenous solution of dimethyl formamaide (DMF). Then the produced HPCA macromonomer was copolymerized with ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA) using two types of crosslinkers and azobisisobutyronitrile(AIBN) as initiator. Several parameters were considered namely, monomers feed ratio, type and concentration of the applied crosslinkers. The synthesized macromonomer was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopic analyses. Also, the thermal properties of the crosslinked copolymers were investigated by using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, morphological properties of these crosslinked copolymers were studied through scan electron microscope (SEM) and their swelling efficiency was thoroughly investigated in heavy and light oil.

The present investigation deals with the static analysis of adhesively bonded triple stepped lap joint in laminated FRP composites using three-dimensional theory of elasticity based finite element method. The finite element model is validated with the available results in the literature for the longitudinal loading of a triple stepped lap joint made of isotropic materials and is extended for the analysis of a triple stepped lap joint made of generally orthotropic laminates subjected to longitudinal loads. Maximum stresses in FRP adherends and Adhesive are computed and the effect of fiber angle on these stresses is studied. The results of the present analysis reveals that the three-dimensional stress analysis is required for the analysis of triple stepped lap joint in laminated FRP composites.

Fatigue cracking and rutting contribute significantly to the failure of asphalt pavement. In the design of asphalt pavement, it is necessary to investigate these critical strains and design against them. In Nigeria, the only developed design method for asphalt pavement is the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) method. Most of the roads designed using the CBR method failed soon after construction by fatigue cracking and rutting deformation. This study was conducted to develop a modified Nigeria CBR procedure for low volume asphalt pavement adopting the layered elastic analysis procedure which involves selection of materials and layer thickness for specific traffic conditions such that fatigue cracking and rutting deformations are minimized. Analysis were performed for hypothetical asphalt pavement sections using the layered elastic analysis program EVERSTRESS. Regression equations were developed for predicting pavement thickness in cement-stabilized base, low-volume asphalt pavement. The result was validated by comparing calculated maximum fatigue and rutting strains developed using the modified procedure and measured strain data from the Kansa Accelerated Testing Laboratory (K-ATL). The calculated and measured fatigue and rutting strain were calibrated and compared using linear regression analysis. The calibration of calculated and measured fatigue and rutting strains resulted in R2 of 0.999 and 0.994 respectively for subgrade modulus of 31MPa, 0.997 and 0.997 respectively for subgrade modulus of 41MPa, 0.996 and 0.999 respectively for subgrade modulus of 62MPa, 0.992 and 0.995 respectively for subgrade modulus of 72MPa, 0.999 and 0.998 respectively for subgrade modulus of 93MPa, and 0.999 and 0.999 respectively for subgrade modulus of 103MPa indicating that the coefficients of determination were found to be very good.

Our research found that prenatal alcoholism leads to increase of NO induction and nitrosine stress in the brain of newborn rats, evidenced by the increasing of nitrotyrosine in citosole and mitochondria. By adjusting the ratio of mitochondrial/cytosole concentrations of NO and reactive oxygen forms, cerebrocurin and tiocetam limited the effect of these compounds on the activation or deprivation of the processes of gene expression, transcription and translation in neuronal cells of brain of animals that survived the prenatal alcoholism and, thus, may provide the normal development of the cognitive functions of central nervous system. And increased expression of the protein bcl-2 in the group of animals receiving cerebrocurin and tiocetam, testifies to the activation of antiapoptosis protection of damaged neurons.

The main endeavor of this study is to calculate the relationship and nature of relationship betweeen Employee Perceived Performance and Human Resource (HR) Practices (Compensation, Performance Evaluation, and Promotion Practices) in the Islamic Banks of Pakistan. for exploring this relationship primary data is collected from 193 employees of Islamic banks through personally administered questionnaire. The relationship and nature of the relationship is calculated by applying the Spearman’s Correlation Matrix and Multiple Regression Analysis. The Spearman’s correlation results demonstrate that, the employee perceived performance and HR practices has the positive and significant relationship. The regression results indicate that from HR practices: only performance evaluation practices is significant while remaining two compensation and promotion practices are not significant. Although little research having been done on Human Resource practices of banking sector by researchers. This study investigates the impact of Human Resource practices in Islamic banks of Pakistan by utilizing response of employees through surveys. Moreover, this research provides top-management of banking sector to design or revise their HR policies and make practices to attain high employee performance.