Archives-j 

This paper investigates the affect of international trade and global economy through foreign direct investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade are often seen as important catalysts for economic growth in the developing countries. FDI is an important vehicle of technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries. FDI also stimulates domestic investment and facilitates improvements in human capital and institutions in the host countries. International trade is also known to be an instrument of economic growth. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) trends are likely to modify during the period 2004-2007. FDI has promoted to effective economic growth in a number of developing countries and the role of the foreign direct investment in this field has been extensively known in China and India, the world’s two most populous growing economics have been using FDI as a stimulus in the growth process. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. The growing role of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing countries in the age of globalization is rarely disputed. The nature of the impact of FDI on the growth and development of the Third World, however, is a controversial topic in contemporary international relations and economic development theory. Historically, developing countries heavily depended on the economies of the industrialized world for their own economic survival. During the past two decades, however, the world economy has increasingly "globalized" through the liberalization of world trade and capital markets, the growing internationalization of corporate production and distribution, and the destruction of barriers to the trade of goods and services through technological advances. Meanwhile, the world’s developing countries are now more important, and influential, actors in international trade and the global market.

The effect of traffic density on soil along Nwanga-Ekoi- Mfamosing road Cross River State, Nigeria, was carried out. The spatial variability of pollutant concentration in high traffic density areas exerts an importance influence on some road deposited sediment characteristics due to activities of people and vehicles. The movement of vehicles from one point to another may spread contaminants on the soil. The main processes of the movement of vehicles can spread contaminants on the soil which may include wearing of car parts (Exhaust pipes, tires, brakes, engines block, leaking of oil and corrosion metal parts). These processes may release heavy metals on the surface of the soil along roadsides. The heavy metals were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) and paired sampled T-test method were used for the statistical analysis of soil along High Traffic Density (HTD) and Low Traffic Density (LTD) sites. The results from AAS revealed that heavy metals concentration in HTD were Calcium 0.041, Copper 0.037, Iron 0.037, Manganese 0.086, Nickel 0.033, Lead 0.207 and Zinc 0.11 respectively. Heavy metals concentration in LTD were Calcium 0.007, Copper 0.008, Iron 0.007, Manganese 0.007, Nickel 0.005, Lead 0.003 and Zinc 0.003 respectively. The result for the ANOVA analysis shows significant difference of (F=9.1, p<0.05) between HTD sites and LTD sites. The paired sample t-test also indicates significant difference of (t6=2.9, p<0.05).This implies that heavy metals concentration in HTD sites were higher than heavy metals concentration in LTD sites. Therefore, high traffic density sites increases soil heavy metals concentration along roadside.

An assessment of the impacts of climate variables on water yield in Ujama Okpauku River, Yala LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria was carried out. The interplay of climatic variables particularly rainfall (its intensity, duration, area distribution and frequency of occurrence temperature, human activities (deforestation, irrigation, farming, urbanization), and catchment characteristics (basin size, shape, slope and elevation) determines the quality of water yield in a river. The rotated component matrix and regression coefficient method was used to analyze the climate variables. The model summary explained (R=83.4%), (R2=69.5%) and (Adjusted R2= 55.4%) respectively. The component matrix loads strongly on the following components rainfall 0.86, sunlight 0.88 and temperature 0.76 respectively. Components matrix i have positive regression coefficient on the following factors rainfall 0.002, temperature 0.30, and sunlight 1.68. This suggest that, water level is expected to be higher in every unite increase in the rainfall, temperature and sunlight. Similarly the component matrix loads strongly on the following components, year 0.95, wind speed 0.88 and evaporation 0.61 respectively. Components matrix ii have negative regression coefficient on the following factors year -0.92, wind speed -0.12 and evaporation -0.16 respectively. This implies that water yield is expected to be low in every unite increase in the years, wind speed and evaporation. The wind speed, evaporation and length of years were contributing factors for the low water yield in Ujama Okpauku River, Yala LGA, Cross River State, Nigeria. The study recommends a massive afforestation around Ujama Okpauku River course and restriction of farming activities along and around the river course to reduce evapo-transpiration, erosion, flood rates and boast water yield in the catchment area.

Leadership development is a new initiative that has no precedents upon which to draw. While leadership has been recognized for centuries as essential prerequisite to society’s development, there is no “school” for leadership development. Head nurse/ ward- in – charge have been an established part of the nursing structure and are expected to facilitate staff nurses in their roles as patient caregivers. Nurse leaders have a responsibility to create effective properly functioning units to support the work of nurses. This paper presents an initiative in this direction, by developing the leadership practices of head nurses using a leadership development package. A quasi experimental pretest- post test control group design was used. The findings of the study revealed that the leadership development package could bring in significant improvement in the leadership practices of the head nurses.

Cold extraction method was used extract the crude solvent extracts of leaf of Chrysophyllum albidum. The structural elucidation by spectroscopic methods (1H and 13C NMR) of a fraction of ethyl acetae extract of C. albidum yielded a new compound characterized as decyl heptadecanoate, C27H54O2. A similar compound Decyl-8-hydroxyl heptadecanoate has also been isolated from Ziziphus mauritiana leaves and has been synthesized via utilization of microwave energy using available starting compounds. Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out on the isolated compounds. Optimized geometry, IR frequencies, bond distances, bond angles and other parameters have been computationally determined for the isolated compound from the quantum chemical calculations using the GAUSSIAN 09 suite of programs. The experimentally measured and the computationally obtained IR frequencies are in good agreement.

Satellite images are used to extract linear features, like roads, etc. The extraction of linear features or boundaries defining the extents of lands, land covers features are important in Cadastral Surveying. Cadastral Surveying is the cornerstone of any Cadastral System. A two dimensional cadastral plan is a model which represents both the cadastral and geometrical information of a two dimensional labeled Image. This paper aims at using a combination of canny and morphological operations for extracting representations of cadastral boundaries from high resolution Satellite imagery hence minimizing the human interventions. The Satellite imagery is initially rectified hence establishing the satellite imagery in the correct orientation and spatial location for further analysis. We, then employ the much available Satellite imagery to segment the relevant cadastral features using the above mentioned methods. We evaluate the potential of using high resolution Satellite imagery to achieve Cadastral goals of boundary detection and extraction of farmlands using image processing algorithms. This method proves effective as it minimizes the human demerits hence providing another perspective of achieving cadastral goals as emphasized by the UN cadastral vision for an improved socio economic development.

According to traditional financial theory, the world and its participants are, for the most part, rational "wealth maximizers". However, there are many instances where emotion and psychology persuade our decisions, causing us to act in irregular or irrational ways. Behavioral finance is a rather new area that seeks to combine behavioral and cognitive psychological theory with conventional economics and finance to provide explanations for why people make irrational financial decisions. There are some irregularities that conventional financial theories have failed to explain. And what are the original reasons and biases that cause some people to behave irrationally and often in opposition to their top benefits. When using the labels "conventional" or "modern" to describe finance, we are talking about the type of finance that is based on rational and logical theories, such as the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). These theories assume that people, for the most part, behave rationally and predictable in making decisions.

This paper investigates the influence of terrorist activities taking place in Pakistan on KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange) for the period of 01/2005 to 12/2010 using the GARCH & GARCH- EVT to identify the relationship between these two variables, the study establishes that the terrorist activities adversely affect the financial markets and in case of KSE, it is highly significant relation. Reason for the negative relationship exists because of the foremost increase in number of terrorism attacks in Pakistan.

Today, consumers can go through different online channels by which they are able to interact with sellers. This research has specifically examined the factors essential for the acceptance of online shopping in Pakistan. These factors have been selected on the basis of international market literature that will provide ways to implement online shopping in Pakistan including the personal choices of the users. Four hypotheses were developed and tested with the help of a systematically designed questionnaire, comprising of over fifty questions. Where, H1: Muslims are more reluctant to adopt online shopping option as compared to consumers from Pakistani Christian community. H2: Females from urban background are more inclined to purchase online than the females from rural background. H3: Fear of insecure dealing of personal information is positively associated with refusing online shopping websites. H4: The choice of online shopping is more dependent on the quantity of information provided about the product with suitable illustrations on the website than the colour or font of the website content. The questionnaires were distributed among 500 students of the selected institutes throughout Islamabad, Pakistan at random. H1 and H4 were supported while H2 and H3 were not supported by the data. The findings of this research are helpful for the e-marketers and managers to better understand the methods of increasing the online sales via online retailing in Pakistan. The major limitation of this study is that it is focused on the students studying in the universities of the single geographical location, therefore the results may not be generalizable to other geographical locations.

We have conducted a meta-analysis, a detailed literature review has been studied on hydrogen economy and it’s important in both regions. We have also seen that how useful a hydrogen can be and how it can affect the overall economy of both regions (China and Pakistan). The reason for conducting meta-analysis is to compare the hydrogen economy performance in both countries. This analysis would also give a wider perspective that how hydrogen economy with its different functions, especially hydrogen in the energy sector can enhance the overall growth of the economy. In our analysis, we have compared the different statistics of hydrogen with different factors of economy and tried to assess the impact of hydrogen in those sectors. Our findings indicate that large-scale use of hydrogen is not a significant environmental hazard. If appropriate technical standards and safety standards are used, hydrogen is no longer hazardous to conventional fuels. The hydrogen economy has the potential to provide many benefits for the country, including reduced dependence on imported oil, environmental sustainability, and economic competitiveness. But without serious effort, there is no serious difficulty. Recommendations are made to guide Pakistan towards the path to the hydrogen economy. It must be a clear political support for the development of hydrogen. We need to establish a partnership with countries related to hydrogen technology. In order to overcome the technical obstacles, investment in the research and development of hydrogen and fuel cells is necessary. Current study is not only beneficial for policymakers but also for scholars.

Pulverized fruits (500g) of Lantana camara on hydrodistillation, afforded oil in the yield of 0.4% (v/w). Analysis of the oil using GC and GC-MS showed that the bulk of the oil is characterized by the abundance of sesquiterpenoids (91.9%). The percentage composition of monoterpenoids in the oil was 7.1%, while phenylpropernoids were detected in trace amounts. The principal constituents of the oil were; germacrene D (38.1%), germacrene-D-4-ol (19.6%), ?-caryophyllene (17.7%) and germacrene B (16.5%). The abundance of germacrene D in the oil shows that the oil is of germacrene D chemotype.

Hydrodistilled flowers (500g) of Ageratum conyzoides yielded 0.25% v/w of essential oil. Characterization of the oil using GC, GC-MS revealed the predominance of demothoxyageratochromene. Other principal constituents were; ?-caryophyllene (19.5%), ?-cubebene (5.2%), germacrene D (3.9%), ?-caryophyllene (2.9%) and trans-?-farnesene (2.4%).

The study sought to explore reflective pedagogical needs of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lecturers for promoting creativity in teacher education in south-south Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 217 TVET lecturers, consisted of 165 TVET lecturers from Colleges of Education and 52 TVET lecturers as experts form Vocational Education University of Uyo. Using simple random technique, the sample size consisted of 80 TVET lecturers from Colleges of Education and 42 TVET lecturers form Vocational Education University of Uyo. A-40 item structured questionnaire instrument tagged Reflective Pedagogical Questionnaire (REPEQ) was used to collect data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by two experts from Vocational Education, University of Uyo, Nigeria and one expert from Vocational Teacher Education University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained after trial test. The research questions were answered using Improvement Need Index (INI) while Z-test was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that peer observation skill, lesson recording skill, teachers’ dairy and evaluation skills of reflective pedagogy were needed by TVET lecturers for promoting creativity in College of Education, South-South Nigeria. It was recommended that the officials of state the Ministry of Education in conjunction with Faculty of Education in the Federal Universities should embark on massive training and re-training of TVET lecturers in College of Education, in the reflective pedagogy skills. It was concluded that the COE lecturers should be abreast with the innovative pedagogy for the 21st century instructional delivery.

Faced with soil impoverishment due to the population explosion, a study was undertaken on maize cultivation at kilometer point 12 in the hinterlands of the city of Kisangani. The objective was to test, on degraded soil, the effect of a small amount of pig manure, integrated with the compost of hedge trimmings from the green carpet and enriched with increasing microdoses of NPK, on the growth and yield of maize grown in the Plates under Green Carpet (ATV) system. The experimental design was a split-plot, with the first factor being the production systems (ATV and CIB) and the second, the fertilisers. The results showed that organo-mineral fertilisation under ATV influenced the duration of the vegetative and reproductive phases in addition to yield. The organo-mineral fertilisers under ATV with composts resulted in a yield that was 1.2 times higher than that obtained with the control and the CIB. Also, the organo-mineral manures under ATV tended to shorten the crop cycle and promote better plant growth and development. The use of these fertilizers in maize cultivation could constitute an alternative to the drastic consequences of soil degradation.

In the present study, we tested the possibility of developing an appropriate technical itinerary for the green carpet crop system (ATV) involving pruning of grass hedges, composting of their clippings, direct seeding and fertiliser application that would ensure high overall productivity and major agroecological benefits. Compost with NPK 17- 17- 17 was applied to some plots of degraded soil in the ATV production system, while other plots were either treated with pig manure with NPK 17- 17- 17 on the side of the Slash and Burn production system. All treated plots are then used for maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation. A split-plot design was used with five replications per treatment. The study showed that the large amount of both forage and soil biomass was observed on the plots that received composts and chemical fertilizers in the ATV production system. These different results show that the ATV production system combined with organo-mineral fertilisation is a good source of mineral elements and make it possible to envisage its use in programmes to restore degraded soils.

Chicken feather disposal has contributed significantly in the galloping elephantiasis in our society; hence this research work was targeted on recycling chicken feathers into a more useful material that would find its applications in virtually all discipline. These natural Fibres are low-cost with low density and good mechanical properties. This study uses Taguchi’s robust design on the basis of the higher the better to investigate the effect of (A: Volume fraction, B: Fibre length and C: Fibre orientation) to determine the optimum Tensile strength, Flexural strength and Hardness strength of the chicken feather barbs (CFB) and chicken feather rachis (CFR) when reinforced with epoxy. The optimum tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness strength of the chicken feather barbs are (34.40MPa, 60.05MPa and 18.87MPa) while that of the chicken feather rachis are (34.00MPa, 70.30MPa and 19.1MPa), respectively. This study shows that the composite of the CFB are better in tensile, while the CFR are better both in flexural and hardness strength. The young’s Moduli of the CFB ranges from 0.81GPa to 1.63GPa, while that of the CFR ranges from 0.58GPa to 1.90GPa. Higher proportion of the chicken feather barbs, however, showed significant reduction in the density and void fraction of the composite material. It can therefore be concluded that a low cost composite material could be processed from the chicken feather thereby reducing the risk of pollution and disease associated with it.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is located in Southern part of the country and by Nigeria’s political arrangement is in the South-South geo-political zone. The region is made up of nine oil-producing states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. The region is almost the size of England and is dominated by mangrove-lined creeks. The region is an ethnographic watershed made up of ethnic groups such as Ibibio, Efik, Izon, (Ijaw), Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Kalabari,, Okrika, Andoni, Igbo, Bini, Ogoni and so on. From the 2006 census, the region has a population of about 32 million people. Although many European powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch, French and Germans did business in the region, the footprints of the British remain indelible in the area. Diverse British agents such as the explorers, traders, missionaries and administrators contributed to the annexation of the area as part of the British Empire. One of the potent instruments adopted by the imperialist agents was the gunboat diplomacy which involved the use of superior military capability to bombard and threaten various communities in a bid to extract anti-slave and protection treaties as well as other favourable privileges against the will of the people. The paper examines the process from 1836 when the British traders implemented the first major gunboat diplomatic act and secured a treaty with the Bonny monarch. The discourse ends in 1885, when the British declared a Protectorate over the Oil Rivers, an episode which marked the genesis of the colonization of that part of Nigeria. The present resort to the use of arms by the youths of the oil rich region to press for improved condition appears to be a reenactment of the British gunboat policy. The paper adopts a historical analytical methodology.

Between 1960 and 1991, few issues attracted Nigeria’s diplomatic attention than the obnoxious apartheid policy in South Africa. Apartheid was a policy consolidated by the white minority supremacist government in South Africa in 1948, which emphasized separate development among the races in the country. As Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria considered her own independence as incomplete as long as the dehumanizing policy which treated Africans like sub-human beings was in vogue; hence, she was enthusiastically committed to its elimination. Nigeria devised workable diplomatic methods and strategies such as sanctions, boycott, threats, financial assistance and collaboration with the international community toward the actualization of the goal. Eventually, in 1990, Nelson Mandela, the symbol of African resistance and other political prisoners were released from prison and the apartheid machinery was reformed. In 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as the first black President, after winning a landslide victory in the first multi-coloured election in the country. However, in recent times, South Africa has been contending for the leadership of the African continent against Nigeria, instead of complimenting Nigeria’s leadership role on the continent, while some misguided South Africans have engaged in alleged xenophobic attacks against African nationals in South Africa, including Nigerians. The paper suggests that the two countries should cooperate rather than compete with each other and that South Africa should support Nigeria’s aspiration for a permanent seat at the United Nations as a reward for Nigeria’s support for her in the dark days of apartheid. This paper adopts a historical analytical method.

One of the main tasks that Nigeria set for herself at independence in October 1960, in the area of foreign policy was the vigorous pursuit of the total decolonization of Africa and the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. Nigeria firmly pursued and won these battles through finances, alliances, meetings and aid. The confidence which the African countries reposed in Nigeria resulted in conferring on her, the status of the continent’s mouthpiece. Indeed, the application of vibrant diplomatic skills in the pursuit of the task of decolonization by the Nigerian government could be aptly viewed from the efforts of the activist regime of General Murtala Mohammed between July 1975, and February 1976, which resulted in liberation of Angola from the claws of the Portuguese colonialism. Although the diplomatic engagements did not result in immediate economic gains for Nigeria, it strengthened Nigeria’s image as the “giant of Africa”. This paper assesses Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements toward Angola’s liberation and suggests that Nigeria should mainstream economic dimension in her diplomatic relations with Angola on the basis of national interest still focusing on her Afrocentric foreign policy posture for the good of the continent. The paper adopts a historical descriptive methodology.

The study – Professionalism, Gender and Media Competences in Broadcast Organisations in Nigeria – was aimed at ascertaining if women, as a result of their gender, were deprived of some duties in the media; if the broadcast organisations engaged in gender balancing in assigning news beats and if women occupied decision-making positions in the news organisations. It was also meant to ascertain, from the women’s point of view, the attitude of men towards women in decision-making positions. The study covered female journalists and producers in four broadcast organisations in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, namely Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation, AKBC, both Television and Radio Services; Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 12, Uyo and Atlantic FM, Uyo. Fifty three female media operatives constituted the population of the study, and all of them were polled. The measuring instrument was the questionnaire. The findings showed that women had, on merit, without any gender balancing act, risen to positions of trust in the media, and were no longer restricted to the soft beats hitherto reserved for women. It was concluded that the growing influence of women both in number and position in the peripheral media was a signpost to the revolution which was imminent in the media at the centre.

The present paper focuses on the problems faced be prospective teachers during teaching practice in teacher training institutions. The teacher training institutions responsible for preparing prospective secondary school teachers just like Institute of Education and Research. Teaching practice is the essential part of teacher training programmes in Pakistan. It provides opportunities to prospective teachers to develop and improve their professional practices. The research study aims at identifying the level of problems experienced by prospective teachers of Institute of Education and Research (IER) during their teaching practice in different schools. The sample for this study was contained 125 female prospective teachers. A questionnaire and informal discussion with schools heads and teachers were used as data collection tools. The questionnaire contained 25 close ended and 5 open ended questions. Data was collected from all the personnel concerned with this activity. The results of research show that the time period allocated for teaching practice was insufficient. Prospective teachers were not completely guided before teaching practice. The allocated supervisors were not adequate to evaluate the performance of Prospective teachers effectively.

This moisture level detector has two alternative power sources (3W, 11.5V solar panel and 9V battery) which supply voltages to the system and then regulated by a 7805IC voltage regulator to 5V required by a programmable hardware (microcontroller) with embedded analog digital converter (ADC). The microcontroller receives information from the probe (sensor) inserted into the soil, processes the information and displays the output on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) within few seconds. The moisture contents of four soil samples A, B, C and D (respectively clay soil, loamy soil, sandy soil and silt soil) obtained from different locations were determined using this detector. Samples A, B, C and D respectively showed moisture percentages of 85%, 71%, 43% and 21%. From the obtained results, sample A showed that the moisture level is above average, sample B showed that the moisture level is just average, sample C and D showed that the moisture levels are respectively below average and poor. From the obtained result, clay soil retained more water than other soil samples due to its high water holding capacity. The moisture level detector performed at an efficiency of 85%.

The watershed resources management (WRM) model is a basin-scale model for continuous simulation. It is applicable in planning, forecasting and operational hydrology. Hydrological simulation requires calibration to match reality. In automatic calibration, optimization is carried out using selected model parameters. WRM model originally calibrated heuristically in FORTRAN for Curley’s and Mayne’s sub-watersheds Canada was converted to C# (C sharp) to allow flexibility in programming and to enable Graphic User Interface (GUI) creation, and autocalibrated for tropical watersheds. The WRM model was repackaged to run in normal and autocalibration mode. Two software programs, WRMGA and WRMGUI, were successfully developed, tested and applied. Genetic algorithm (GA) was employed as optimization technique. Four parameters (genomes) namely, the Manning roughness coefficient for land surface (MANN1), Manning roughness coefficient for stream surface (MANN2), Manning roughness coefficient for terrace surface (MANN3) and surface retention parameter (KRET) with high sensitivity were used to adjust the four input files (FOR001.DAT, FOR003.DAT, FOR005.DAT, optimized.dat and WRM.DAT.optimized.dat) for the autocalibration. Genomes were generated using a random number generator within specified ranges. The generated values were stored in a file, Optimized.dat, which the program calls up and uses to compute the best fit. For MANN1, MANN2, MANN3 and KRET, minimum values of 0.10, 0.01, 0.00 and 0.01 and maximum values of 0.18, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.05 respectively were set and used for optimization process. The optimization process with up to 1000 trials using these sets of minimum and maximum values gave optimized values of 0.1272, 0.0214, 0.0201 and 0.0102 for MANN1, MANN2, MANN3 and KRET respectively, with a best fitness test of 0.9998. Hydrograph plots of both the originally heuristically calibrated simulations for the watersheds and the autocalibration simulations for the same watershed were compared with measured hydrographs and statistically validated. WRM originally calibrated to the watersheds gave a regression coefficient (R) of 34.8% while the autocalibrated model gave 37% showing an improvement in the autocalibration scheme. The WRM model was successfully repackaged for autocalibration in this paper and could be employed by non-expert in hydrologic modelling.

In this world of technology and scientific development, there has been great need to intensify researches on the development of security alarming systems in our agricultural farms and farmsteads. The pressure mat auto-light (PMAL) security control system is a sensory device consisting of two separate sensory units (Pressure Mat (PM) unit and Auto-Light (AL) unit) integrated into an efficient single sensory security system. It is designed and constructed with mat transmitter (MT) under a foot mat signaler receiver (FMSR) 12V, 223A buzzer, light emitting diode (LED), integrated circuit (IC), transistor (L8050), LM358N op-amp, a 2-1.5V battery, and resistors of 0.5? and 4.5? served as signaler receiver (SR), Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), a relay of 1000mA, 1000W/12V power transformation and power source of 220V to 240V. Efficiency of 70%, 95.8% and 90% for the frequency of loop gain , transmitter ( ) and receiver ( ) circuits respectively showed reliability of the PMAL designed and constructed. From evaluation and testing of the device, the receiver can sense any pressure or weight upon the triggering spring at a distance 150m away from its area of installation, within which the buzzer beeps (sounds out), signaling wave presence in the receiver unit, thereby alerting the presence of intruder(s) in farmstead(s) and thus automatically shut-close the farmstead with the aid of a LDR, so that wild animals such as fox, jackals, wolfs etc will be kept away from fields of forest nursery and confined animals.

The increase of Oxygen Deficit in rivers used for irrigating agricultural land, aquaculture and domestic purposes is of great concern to Nigerian watershed. To determine this effect along the Nworie river,suntex model TS-2 and Hanna HIDR 83200 for physiochemical and biological water quality analysis was conducted at three random locations namely: Amakohia bridge road where biodegradable and non biodegradable wastes are discharged; Assumpta, Holy Ghost college road where municipal waste and sewage are discharged into the river; and Umezurike Hospital road where household and medical wastes are discharged. Development of the Watershed Resources Management (WRM) for the river resulted in application of Galerkin’s Weighted residual (GWR) finite element model from the lab experimented results to determine the oxygen deficits at discharged nodes (points). The oxygen deficit results at the five discretized nodes were: 2.528, 2.498, 2.395, and 2.325 and 2.252mg/l respectively. The result in this research could be applied to watershed resources management for irrigation and public health engineers in predicting the effects of water pollution on downstream users,with minimally associated errors.

Environmenatal factors such as climate change, gradual decrease in water resources and threatened habitants prompted the need to monitor our environment and implement better policies to protect it, thus monitoring soil pF (potential factor) values become increasingly important for environmental monitoring. The commonly available instrument(tensiometer) do not measure the range of available moisture in all soil types rather measures soil water suction. The need to measure the range of available moisture in all soil types with accuracy led to the modification of tensiometer for satisfactory laboratory results. Due to the shortcomings associated with tensiometer readings, the pressure membrane apparatus is an important instrument for optimizing irrigation and erosion prediction models.This pressure membrane with extractor has two main components:a porous plate with air entry pressure and a sealed pressure cell. The soil from which pF value was to be determined was placed in a chamber in which the pressure increased above atmospheric pressure. The side of the chamber which supports the soil consists of a pressure relief valve supported on a pressure hose. This is to ensure that the extractor chamber was not over-pressurized. The soil water potential with the corresponding mositure contents of four soil samples: A (clay soil), B(loamy soil), C (sandy soil) and D (silt) obtained from different locations were determined using pressure membrane apparatus. At a potential of 104hPa, samples A,B,C,D showed moisture content of 0.05,0.25,0.30, and 0.45cm3/cm3respectively. From the obtained results, at potentail close to zero, sandy soil is close to saturation and moisture held in the soil, primarily by capillary forces. From the laboratory analysis, moisture content decreases with high moisture cohesion.

The solid phase FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of pyridine-2,6-dicarbonyl dichloride (PDD) have been recorded in the regions 4000-400 cm^-1 and 3500-100 cm^-1, respectively. Geometry and vibrational wavenumbers are calculated using ab-initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods employing the 6-311+G (d,p) basis set. The observed FT-IR and FT-Raman vibrational frequencies have been analyzed and assigned to different normal modes of the molecule. Using PEDs, the contributions are determined for different modes to each wavenumber.

In this paper we paper we define smooth graceful labeling and semi smooth graceful labeling for a graph. We also prove that a grid graph PnXPm is smooth graceful graph and a star K1,n is semi smooth graceful graph. Using this we proved that star of a star, star of smooth graceful tree and path union of a smooth graceful tree are graceful trees. We also get graceful labeling for comb graph and simple lobster graph.

Customer Value is a topic of growing interest to managers and researchers in business marketing. Traditionally, research on Value in business markets have been oriented towards the assessment of how suppliers create value for their customers and how customers perceive superior value in a suppliers offering compared to competition (the buyers perspective) Anderson & Narus (1999), Ulaga and chacour (2001). In recent years both academics and managers have increasingly emphasized the need to consider customers as a key asset of the firm Rust & Lemon (2000).

Rough Set Theory provides a formal framework for data mining. Feature Selection or Attribute Reduction is a preprocessing step in data mining, and it is very effective in reducing dimensionality, reducing irrelevant data, increasing learning accuracy and improving comprehensibility. The fuzzy-rough feature selection algorithm was used to handle the continuous real-valued data as well as to handle noisy data. It was implemented by standard fuzzification techniques enabling linguistic labels to be associated with attribute values. It also provides uncertainty modeling by allowing the possibility of the membership value to more than one fuzzy label. In this paper, we use an Improved Quickreduct algorithm by redefining the lower and upper approximations based on fuzzy set theory. The membership degrees of feature values to fuzzy sets are exploited in the process of dimensionality reduction. The experiments are carried out on public domain datasets available in UCI machine learning repository and real Tuberculosis data set.

In this work, the spectral properties of 5-bromo-2-methoxybenzaldehyde (BMB) are studied using density functional theory (DFT) employing B3LYP/6-311++G (d) and B3LYP/6-311++G (d, p) levels of theory. There are four conformers, C1, C2, C3, and C4 for this molecule. The computational results diagnose the most stable conformer of BMB as the C1 form. The optimized geometrical parameters obtained by B3LYP/6-311++G (d, p) method show good agreement with experimental X-ray data. The electric dipole moment (m) and first hyperpolarizability (?) values of the investigated molecule are computed using scaled quantum mechanics (SQM) method. The calculated results also show that the BMB might have microscopic non-linear optical (NLO) behavior with non-zero values. A study on the electronic properties, such as HOMO and LUMO energies, is performed. The isotropic chemical shift computed by ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts of the BMB calculated using the gauge invariant atomic orbital (GIAO) method also shows good agreement with experimental observations.

The molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies of 3-(trifluromethyl) phenyl isothiocyanate in the ground state have been analyzed using density functional theory calculation (B3LYP) with 6-311++G (d,p) and 6-311++G (2d,2p) basis sets. The optimized geometrical parameters obtained by DFT calculations are in good agreement with experimental values. Comparison of the observed fundamental vibrational frequencies of the 3-(trifluromethyl) phenyl isothiocyanate and calculated result by DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)/6-311++G (2d,2p) is superior for molecular vibrational problems. A detailed interpretation of the FTIR and FT-Raman spectra of 3-(trifluromethyl) phenyl isothiocyanate are reported on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution (PED).

In this paper, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on molecular structure; vibrational spectra of 2-hydroxy-3,5-dichlorobenzaldehyde (HDCB) have been recorded using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and FT-Raman spectra in the region of 4000?400 cm^?1 and 3500?100 cm^?1, respectively. The conformational stability, molecular geometry and harmonic vibrational frequencies were obtained by HF/6-31++G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) basis set. The calculated harmonic vibrational frequencies were compared with experimental FTIR and FT-Raman fundamentals. The observed and calculated frequencies are found to be in good agreement. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show that charge transfer occurs within the molecule. The thermodynamic functions from spectroscopic data by statistical methods were obtained for the range of temperature 100 – 1000K.

Motor cycle accidents have been increased in the last two decades. Helmet can protect the vehicle riders from severe injuries during road accident to certain extent. To design a functional helmet, it is important to analyze the shape of the helmet and visor portion. So that the attempt has been made for design and analysis of new helmet by considering the drag pressure and anti-glare visor. The drag pressure resistance presses the helmet against the neck portion of the rider. The shape of an aerodynamic helmet can be able to reduce the drag pressure. The spherical shape and a new aerodynamic shape helmets are designed with aid of Pro-E software and the drag pressure are calculated and comparison has been made on the basis of drag pressure.

In this paper, the application of the Taguchi method with fuzzy logic for optimizing the electrical discharge machining process with multiple performance characteristics has been reported. A multi-response performance index is used to solve the EDM process with multiple performance characteristics. The machining parameters (discharge current (IP), pulse on time (Ton), pulse off time (Toff) and down time) are optimized with considerations of the multiple performance characteristics (electrode wear rate and material removal rate). Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

The Fourier-Finite Mellin transform is a variant of the Fourier transform; however, it certainly does not have as glorious or as predominant a history as the Fourier transform. This Fourier-Finite Mellin transform is used to correct various optical distortions, including noise in lenses, it is also used in radar classification of ships. Theoretically, the Fourier-Finite Mellin transform should provide a truly translation, rotation and scale invariant measure of an image. Fourier-Finite Mellin transform is frequently used in content-based image retrieval and digital image watermarking.The Object of the present paper is to prove an Inversion theorem for distributional Fourier-Finite Mellin transform with the help of two lemmas which are also given in this paper.

Fourier-Mellin transform has many properties such as linearity, scaling, shifting, differentiation property etc. Mainly linearity and shifting property is used for image registration in medical field. Due to such properties transform has many applications like visual odometry, detection of human face, the comparison of plant leaves which is based on Fourier-Mellin transform.In present work we discussed about linearity, scaling, shifting, differentiation, first shifting property of two-dimensional fractional Fourier-Mellin Transform.

Distribution theory is powerful tool for dealing with pseudo-functions including impulsive phenomena, absolutely divergent integrals and their Fourier transforms. A new theory of generalized functions which is an extension of classical theory of distributions has been introduced and various properties have been generalized. The purpose of this paper is two dimensional fractional cosine transform is extended in the distributional generalized sense. Operators on the testing function E and its dual space E^* are obtained.

In an automobile, the wheel plays important role. Through reverse engineering process, better alloy wheel disc designs are possible by capturing the physical dimensions of the existing wheel. The objective of the present work is to recommend better material and optimal geometric shape for the wheel disc. The wheel disc is modeled in CATIA and imported to ANSYS. Analysis is done for different models. Analysis results suggest that modified model with smaller radial slots with magnesium zk60 material gives better life. The wheel disc 1.153kg lighter than that in the original design. This design is still in safe condition.

Surveying number entering a particular stage of a stage-structured population (e.g. arthropods) using field sampling data has been subject of many studies in last 60 years. Stage-frequency data consist of count of individuals in different development stages in samples taken from a population over a period of time. Several methods are then available for deriving estimates of stage-specific survival rates and other population parameters that are of interest to the ecologists that Manly (1990) listed 23 methods. The application of some of these methods is limited by their computational difficulty and others are limited by restrictive assumption that they make. Each method has advantages and disadvantages which arise from its assumptions. The first method in this field may be offered by Richards and Waloff (1954). Richards et al (1961), Dempster (1961), and Southwood and Jepson(1962) suggested further methods and the KNM method proposed by Kiritani & Nakasuji (1967) and extended by Manly (1974). There is therefore something of a problem for the data analyst to decide what is the best for a particular set of data. The purpose of this note is presenting a review of some important and applicable methods to show differences among these. So, it is recommend that any method be used with respect to the required information and parameters.

Modern polymer chemistry is highly progressive in tailoring polymers to specific requirements such as mechanical, thermal and chemical stability, with better performance with wide range of pore size. Composite materials combine and maintain two or more distinct phases to produce a material that has properties far superior than either of the base materials. Nanoparticles made of chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer isolated from crab and shrimp shells, have shown to be promising as carriers of anticancer drugs, antitumor genes, and other novel therapeutic agents. Cross linking agents improve the properties of polymer and their products. Polymer nanocomposited are a class of reinforced polymer with low quantities of nanometric-sized clay particle, which improved their fair resistance, strength and its porosity deceases. Hence, in the present work nanochitosan was prepared using sodium tripolyphosphate and composite of nanochitosan were prepared with methylcellulose in the presence of clay. However, a greater understanding of the nanoscale features of clays, and the ability to disperse the ultrafine layers within other materials has led to increased interest in their application in composite materials; to provide properties to lightweight polymers that would usually only be found in heavier or more expensive materials (such as glass or metals). The formation of the polymer membrane made by the immersion precipitation process depends on a large number of material and process specific parameters such as choice of the polymer (molecular weight, molecular weight distribution), choice of the solvents, choice of the casting solution temperature and the casting atmosphere. The composites were analyzed for their thermal stability, porosity, X-ray diffraction studies, etc. The results show that the addition of clay along with the nanosized chitosan had decreased the transparency of methylcellulose and with decreased pore size suitable for developing as RO membranes.

The notion of -closed set was introduced and studied by R. Devi, V. Kokilavani and P. Basker [2]. In [5], the -closure and the -kernel are defined in terms of this weakly ultra- -separation and also investigate some of the properties of the -kernel and the -closure. Using this concept we introduce - -spaces, and spaces are also defined.

Banana pulp and peel were analysed for their major nutrient contents, phytochemical constituents namely phenol and flavanoid, antioxidant and anti-hemolytic activity. The selected variety was Sirumalai banana variety. The result revealed the presence of nutrient constituent comprising moisture (71.12±0.03% for pulp and 6.03±0.05% for peel); ash (06.57±0.07% for pulp and 08.52±0.01% for peel); Carbohydrate (41.82±0.09% for pulp and 25.31±0.04% for peel); protein (07.62±1.02% for pulp and 03.23±0.015% for peel); fat (11.91±0.28% for pulp and 0.986±0.02% for peel) and fiber (22.78±0.12% for pulp and 23.24±0.01% for peel). Phenol content of pulp and peel were found to be 0.98±0.09mg/g and 0.52±0.11mg/g respectively. Flavanoid content of pulp and peel were found to be 29.92±0.24 mg/g and 22.76±0.07 mg/g respectively. Antioxidant activity of the banana variety was analysed by DPPH and hydroxyl scavenging activity. DPPH scavenging percentage of pulp and peel was found to be 81.72±0.06% and 71.95±0.21%. Hydroxyl scavenging percentage of pulp and peel was found to be 70.04±0.13% and 58.98±0.17%. Percentage anti-hemolytic activity of Sirumalai pulp ranged from 31.18±0.01% to 76.22±0.16; peel ranged from 24.31±0.02% to 64.69±0.04% at a concentration of 100-500 mg/ml. The results revealed that banana pulp and peel consist of essential chemical constituents that have good antioxidant and anti-hemolytic activity.

Pyrano[2,3-b]quinolin-2-ones was synthesized by cyclic condensation of 2-chloro-3-formylquinolines with sodium acetate and acetic acid in microwave reactor. Microwave reactions are very inexpensive, operational simplicity, eco-friendly method and good yield in a very short reaction time. Unexpectedly, 3-formylquinolin-2(1H)-ones were exclusively formed in very high yield by changing the molar ratio of acetic acid and sodium acetate in just 1.5 to 2.5 min. The synthesized compounds were characterised by IR, NMR, and Mass Spectra.

Closed sequential pattern mining has attracted increasing concerns in recent data mining research because it is more efficient than sequential pattern mining and produces more compact result set. Genetic algorithms perform global search and have less time complexity compared to other algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm GCSP for mining closed sequential patterns using genetic approach. It uses an efficient fitness function to improve the performance. The results show that the proposed algorithm GCSP can find closed sequential patterns efficiently and outperforms CloSpan and ClaSP.

Sequential pattern mining has been a focused theme in data mining. Sequential pattern mining algorithms provide better performance for short sequences but are inefficient at mining long sequences, since long sequences generate a large number of frequent subsequences. To avoid the limitations of sequential pattern mining algorithms, closed sequential pattern mining algorithms were developed. Closed sequential pattern mining produces less number of patterns and works more efficiently than sequential pattern mining. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm CSPgrow to find out closed sequential patterns. To improve the performance, we developed an Extension Checking pruning method. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm CSPgrow outperforms ClaSP.

Polymeric insulating materials are increasingly being used in outdoor and radiation environments such as space, nuclear power plants etc. It is well known that polymeric materials used for electrical insulations may suffer from tracking. It is necessary to form a credible database about the tracking resistance of different polymeric insulating materials and their behaviour under ac/dc voltage stresses as affected by the radiation. The investigations here show that, the DC resistance to tracking of all the materials investigated were significantly lower than that for AC. It is therefore necessary to formulate separate standards for tracking under DC voltage stresses. Also, the test results show that Silicone rubber and High Density Poly Ethylene samples are reliable for radiation environments.

XML makes data flexible in representation and easily portable on the Web but it also substantially inflates data size as a consequence of using tags to describe data. Although many effective XML compressors, such as XMill, have been recently proposed to solve this data inflation problem, they do not address the problem of running queries on compressed XML data. More recently, some compressors have been proposed to query compressed XML data. However, the compression ratio of these compressors is usually worse than that of XMill and that of the generic compressor gzip, while their query performance and the expressive power of the query language they support are inadequate. In this paper we propose our approach a XML compressor which support querring compress XML data with partial de-compressor. Our approach address the compressor time and adaptive compression ratio of existing XML compressor.

The paper investigated the effect of radiation and chemical reaction on unsteady MHD mixed convection flow past an infinite vertical plate with Ohmic heating and viscous dissipation has been is discussed. Approximate solutions have been derived for the velocity, temperature field, concentration profiles, skin friction and Nusselt number using multi-parameter perturbation technique. The obtained results are discussed with the help of the graphs to observe the effect of various parameters like Schmidt number (Sc), Prandtl number (Pr), Magnetic parameter (M), radiation parameter (F) and porosity parameter (K).

Monitoring technology has advanced dramatically in recent years in various locations, both urban and rural. The Internet of Things (IoT) enables the remote control and collecting of data from sensors for their subsequence analysis. Thus, LiFi was proposed as an enabling technology for IoT in indoor environments. This enables the supermarket automation through the use of IoT topology. However, the absence of mutual trust can create a barrier to implementation. To conduct cryptocurrency transactions, blockchain technology has been widely employed. It has recently shown to be effective in establishing confidence in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. This paper offered a method for integrating IoT features into supply chains. While strengthening the security of IoT-based supply chain management, our suggested architecture streamlines data sharing and decreases computational, storage, and latency needs.