Volume 5, Issue 12, December 2017 Edition - GSJ Journal Publication


COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SELECTED INFILTRATION MODELS FOR ESTIMATING SOIL CUMULATIVE INFILTRATION []


Prediction of flooding, erosion and pollutant transport all depend on the rate of runoff which is directly affected by rate of infiltration, and also necessary to determine availability of water for crop growth. Hence, the need for an optimum model to estimate infiltration process. In this study, field experiment was conducted to evaluate predictive ability of Kostiakov, Philip and Horton models and compare with measured cumulative infiltration. A double ring infiltrometer was used to conduct field measurement at 10m interval within 50m by 30m of the sites (A, B and C). From the results of cumulative infiltration and time intervals measured, model parameters were determined. Applying the calibrated models, predictions of cumulative infiltration were made using SPSS statistical package to analyze the results. Coefficient of determination (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were use to determine the predictability of the models, while, t – test gave the accuracy of the models by ranking. The results shows that infiltration predicted by K, P and H models were slightly close to the measured cumulative infiltration as shown from the average values of R2 between the measured and predicted, by K, P and H models (0.970, 0.976, 0.893) respectively. T – test results indicates that all the models predicted cumulative infiltration satisfactorily, as average t – test values for K, P and H models (1.001, -0.022, -1.082) were less than table value (2.131), while the average RMSE for the K, P and H models (0.037, 0.041, 0.109) were used to rank the models in the order K > P > H. Hence, Kostiakov’s model gave the optimum predicted values to the measured cumulative infiltration. Though, Philip’s and Horton’s models provide a good fit with measured values for the sites under study.

INFLUENCE OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP ON WOMEN OWNED SMES IN WEST AFRICA []


A cooperative can be defined as a social enterprise or organization created voluntarily by members with the full support and assistance from members in order to cater for the economic needs and interest of members. The aim is majorly to join members’ economic forces together to ease their access to finance and other social-economic resources. Cooperative societies are based on the value of self-help, self responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity (UN, 2011). They operate a significant scale in developing nations. Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) have been promoted greatly by Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) such as cooperatives. Based on statistics, more than 7% of African population is affiliated to cooperatives (Delvestere, 2008; Pollet, 2009). It is a general view that panacea to economic problems lies in the human factor; and that more can be achieved when people coordinate their efforts with each other and take concerns and talents of other into considerations. Cameron (1972) opined that for an economy to experience development, two conditions are necessary and sufficient. These are the presence or availability of entrepreneur and providers of external finance. Thus, there is necessity to empower the Nigerian citizen in this regard especially the women who are more prone to poverty. Pollet (2009) finds that co-operatives have a significant direct impact on women’s lives through the services they deliver.

A CASE REPORT OF MALIGNANT PERIPHERAL NERVE SHEATH TUMOR IN NEUROFIBROMATOSIS I []


NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1 (NF1) is one of the most common autosomal dominant conditions affecting the nervous system, occurring with an estimated incidence of 1 in 2500 to 3000 individuals independent of ethnicity, race, and gender. Patients with NF1 harbor a 10% lifetime risk of developing a highly aggressive spindle cell sarcoma termed Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor. We therefore present a 46-year-old Liberian female with Neurofibroma Type I complicated by a Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor.

AN APPROACH TO NEURO-TRAUMA IN LIBERIA- A CASE SERIES OF OPEN SKULL FRACTURE AND BRAIN EVISCERATION INVOLVING FOUR PATIENTS []


Head injuries and skull fractures are on a steep rise worldwide. Road traffic accidents are the major cause of skull fractures secondary to the rise in road traffic accident. Out of these, many skull fractures presented as open skull fractures with brain matter being exposed into wound.

PENETRATING NECK INJURIES IN LIBERIA-A REPORT OF SIX CASES []


Penetrating neck injuries account for 5 % to 10 % of all trauma admissions globally. The management of these injuries is controversial. Due to improvement in imaging modalities selective neck exploration is now accepted as a standard of care in resource rich countries; while mandatory neck exploration remains a viable option for injuries penetrating platysma in limited resource setting. However; mandatory neck exploration poses a challenge to surgeons in low trauma volume centers.

CREAMING OF PRESERVED FIELD LATEX BEFORE AND AFTER PREVULCANIZATION []


Natural rubber latex collected from the fields of RRII was used in the study. The field latex collected was stabilized and preserved as one percentage ammonia preserved field latex (PFL). This was used to prepare prevulcanized preserved field latex (PPFL). Both the above latices PPFL and PFL was creamed and from this process prevulcanized preserved field creamed latex (PPFCL) and creamed latex (CL) was obtained. The latter CL was also compounded using the same formulation used in PPFL. Thus unvulcanized creamed latex compound (UVCLC) i.e. the ordinary creamed latex compound (control) and PPFCL were compared for their processing parameters, physical properties and morphological studies. Cast films prepared from the PPFCL showed better or similar properties when compared to UVCLC. From the above studies it is proved that through this economic method, a product of same or improved quality can be manufactured from this starting material “preserved field latex”.

TAXONOMIC STUDIES OF MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY MORACEAE IN SELECTED AREAS OF BENUESTATE, NIGERIA []


A study was carried out to determine the taxonomic spread of the family Moraceae in selected areas of Benue State between May, 2012 and December, 2014. The selected areas are namely: Agan forest Reserve in Makurdi Local Government Area, Ikwe wildlife Resort in Gwer-east Local Government Area, and Leke Forest Reserve in Konshisha Local Government Area. Also, the taxonomic characters of the members of the family found were analysed to find out how these species are related to each other phylogenetically.. Flowering patterns such as flowering time, flowering frequency, and flowering duration, and other morphological characters were observed and noted forthnightly for one year. Chemical composition of the Moraceae plant species was determined by phytochemical screening using standard qualitative methods, while determination of chromosome number was carried out by root tip squashing technique. Cluster analysis was carried out using Euclidean test to place the identified plants into a number of different groups such that similar plants were placed in the same group on the basis of the set of measured variables. A stepwise discriminate elimination of set of characters was employed to find out which combination of the three sets of characters as measured gave the best fit of relationship between the eight species against the backdrop of the established classifications. The phytochemical constituents and the chromosomal numbers in this study are considered to be more true taxonomic characters to be considered in the classification of these plants. The combination revealed that Ficus ingens and Ficus exasperata are more similar to each other than they are to Ficus platyphylla and Ficus sur, i.e. their connections (clades) are the closest links to the bottom (Euclidean distance = 96% and 93% respectively). In the same vein, Ficus ingens, Ficus exasperata, Ficus platyphylla and Ficus sur in the next upper clade (Euclidean distance =89%) are more similar to each other than they are to Ficus polita, Ficus trichopoda and Ficus thonningii in the next upper clade (Euclidean distance =82.5%). Artocarpus heterophyllus is completely separate from all the other seven species and is said to be simplicifolious (one-leaved). In conclusion, a combination of phytochemical and chromosomal attributes gave a better indication of the relationship between the 8 species of Moraceae in line with the established classification scheme for the family. Phenological events in the eight species did not appear to be important in the classification of the species.

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF THE PHYSICIANS TOWARD TELEMEDICINE []


Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have great potential to address some of the challenges faced by both developed and developing countries in providing accessible, cost-effective, high-quality health care services. Telemedicine uses ICTs to deliver service and exchanging information related to health care issues across distance. This study explores the current knowledge and attitude of physicians toward telemedicine at a ‘micro level’. A cross sectional survey was carried out among 200 physicians from Mohammadpur and Mohakhali area of Dhaka city by convenience sampling. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and attitude of the respondents. It was revealed that majority (92%) of the respondents were aware of telemedicine. Out of 200 respondents, 48.5% had good knowledge of telemedicine. About 37% had average knowledge and 14.5% had poor knowledge of telemedicine. Among the respondents 48% had positive attitude, 32.5% had moderate and 19.5% had negative attitude toward telemedicine. Though it was found that their knowledge level is high but there was lacking of understanding telemedicine concept clearly. Majority (75.5%) of the respondents thought that telemedicine is used for treatment over telephone. Associations between the knowledge level and age, rank, specialities and service length of the respondents were found in the study. Statistically significant differences were found in attitude level and the respondents who are user of telemedicine and who are nonuser of telemedicine. Though majority (82.5%) of respondents said that they have never attended any formal training on telemedicine, 82% of the respondents had expressed interest to attend any conference or seminars related to telemedicine and 73.5% of them wanted to use telemedicine at their place of work. The results of this study are expected to help in future successful implementation of telemedicine systems in Bangladesh.

Comparative Study on Compressive Strength of Locally Produced Fired Clay Bricks and Stabilized Clay Bricks with Cement and Lime []


The local fired brick production technique is the known method of brick making especially in Jimma Town. Firing of bricks in local brick production method is conducted by burning of much amount of woods. But this method of firing bricks by burning of woods will affect the environment. The locale firing technique is difficult to control the firing temperature, which will result in non-uniform burnt bricks. The major objective of this experimental study was to compare the compressive strengths of locally fired clay bricks and the local unfired cement and lime stabilized clay bricks. Specifically, the index properties of soil used for brick production, the compressive strength of locally fired clay bricks and stabilized clay bricks had been determined and to compare with the standard specifications. This study, it was used contents of the stabilizer for cement and lime of 10%, 12% and 14%, respectively. The mix ratio applied 1:9, 1:7 and 1:6 by volume of clay with stabilizer 10%, 12% and 14%. Based on the result at 28th day, the mean compressive strength test, the 10%, 12% and 14% cement Stabilized clay bricks have compressive strengths of 2.91Mpa, 3.28Mpa, and 3.79Mpa respectively, which are better than the mean compressive strength of the locally fired clay bricks which is 2.73Mpa. On the other hand, the 28th day mean compressive strengths of the lime stabilized clay bricks were 2.19Mpa, 2.51Mpa and 2.69Mpa, respectively. Therefore, these results showed that the Fired Clay Brick fails the minimum mean compressive strength requirement based on the ES, ASTM and IS standards. But the Stabilized Clay Bricks fulfill the minimum compressive strength requirements of IS standard for stabilized bricks. Among these three methods, the cement stabilized clay bricks indicated better in quality than both locally fired and lime stabilized bricks.

IMPROVEMENT OF WEAK SUBGRADE SOIL STRENGTH USING WASTE TILES []


In many parts of India, the soil is found to be weak in sustaining heavy loads. This scenario becomes more prominent at areas covered by expansive and problematic soils like soft clays. The containment of pavement structures over these weak regions becomes more pensive, as the durability of the pavement structure depends on the strength and stability of the underlying soils. Thus in these cases, the underlying soil or the subgrade becomes ineffective and these ineffective soil need to be transformed into effective earth material for the effectual functioning of the pavements. Thus to strengthen the weak subgrade soil layer and to achieve sustainability, construction and demolition waste are used. In this study, the problematic and weak black cotton soil (BCS) is taken from Chittor region of Palakkad district of Kerala and the waste broken tile pieces are taken to conduct the study. The crushed Mangalore pattern tiles and the soil is tested in CBR test apparatus at different proportions and the results are evaluated. The California Bearing Ratio value increased with the increase in h/T ratio of 0.0 to 1.0 from 6.2% to 59.5% indicating an increase in its strength. Thus the utilization of the waste tile in pavement construction helps to reduce the pavement thickness as well as the need of very complicated and expansive stabilization methods.

DETERMINATION OF CROP WATER USE OF OKRA USING MINI-LYSIMETER IN ILORIN, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA []


This study describes the use of mini-lysimeter to investigate the of crop water use of okra crop (Abelmoschus esculentus).The mini-lysimeter consist of plastic container which served as lysimeter tank and inner tyre tube filled with water connected to a glass U- tube manometer for the weighing system. The daily displacement of water in the glass U- tube manometer due to change in weight of lysimeter were translated to crop water use. The average daily water use ranged from 1.18 to 5.11mm/day. This increased from 1.81mm/day at the early growth season to 5.11mm/day at the mid-season and declined to1.18mm/day at the end of the season. This information will serve as a guide to our farmers as to the amount of water to apply to okra crop for optimum performance.

MULTIPROTOCOL LABEL SWITCHING: REIVEW []


The paper discusses the mechanics of using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to enable scalability and creating end-to-end networks across any kind of transport medium using any protocol. MPLS eliminates the dependence of OSI model data link layer technologies like ATM, Frame Relay or Ethernet .MPLS is used in the backbone network to facilitate the virtual private networks, quality of service, traffic engineering. This paper presents a detailed overview on MPLS, its architectural terminology, working, services and applications.

VOLUMETRIC AND VISCOMETRIC STUDIES OF ENORMOUS MEDICINE N-ACETYL-L-CYSTEINE IN ETHANOL AND WATER []


N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), the preacetylysed form of simple amino acid cysteine, a synthetic precursor of cysteine and reduced glutathione has been used in clinical widely as medicine. It is a powerful intracellular antioxidant, antitoxin improves immunity. NAC is a thiol compound which is also called acetylcysteine, is an amino acid with the molecular formula C5H9NO3S. NAC converts into cysteine which is a nonessential amino acid produced by the human body. The unambiguous intentions of this study are comprehending interaction between Water+NAC and Ethanol+NAC and change of thermodynamic properties of NAC in water and ethanol. Volumetric and viscometric studies of binary mixtures of ethanolNAC and waterNAC were done.Density and viscosity of liquids is important physicochemical properties which affect mass and heat transfer of solutions. NAC had been investigated in binary system over a concentration range of (1-18) % (w/v) at 298.15 to 323.15 K at 5 K intervals. Apparent molar volumes,φ_v, apparent molar volumes at infinite dilution (φ_v^o), apparent molar expansivities are calculated by measuring density and thermodynamic properties are calculated from viscosity.

KNOWLEDGE REGARDING ASTHMA AMONG PARENTS OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN IN AL-NAJAF AL-ASHRAF CITY []


A descriptive cross-sectional study was applied on parents of asthmatic children in Al-Najaf city. Furthermore; the study continued from 1st October 2016 to 4th May 2017, in order to assess participants' knowledge toward asthma, as well as, to find any significant relation for parents socio-demographic characteristic with their knowledge regarding asthma. By using a nonrandomized sampling, purposive sample of 201 parents were selected from three hospitals, five primary health care centers and three Private Medical Clinics.A questionnaire composed of two parts was used, the first part included inquiry regarding socio-demographic characteristic of participants, and the second part included questions concerning knowledge about asthma, which was divided into six domains. Results: The result showed that from total 201 parents included in the study, 187 (93%) of them had total poor knowledge and only 14 (7%) of participant teachers had fair knowledge, besides no one of them had good knowledge. Furthermore, the result showed that the sociodemographic characteristic of parents had no significant relation to their level of knowledge about asthma. Conclusions and Recommendations: the conclusion and summary of the study showed very unsatisfactory knowledge about asthma among parents of asthmatic children. Therefore, the researchers recommended on establishing educational meetings for parents and community and applying further studies regarding this subject.

EVALUATION LEVELS OF PHENOLS AND ITS DERIVATIVES IN SUEZ BAY SEAWATER []


Phenols derivatives (phenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2-Nitrophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dimethylphenol, 4-chloro-3-methylphenol, 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2,4-dinitrophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and Pentachlorophenol) were measured in Suez bay seawater and sediment (northern part of the Suez Gulf). Phenols derivatives data for sea-water varied between below detected limits and 21.99. µ/l with an average of 0.46 µ/1. Average values in marine sediment ranged from below detected limits to 1.08 µg/g. The total Phenols derivatives ranked in the order D2>D5>D3>D1> D4 for the drain effluent. Stronger positive correlation between the phenol and 2-chlorophenol was noticed while weak correlation were noticed with the oceanographic parameters T, pH, , DO, BOD, OOM, salinity, TSM, Oil and grease, nutrients salts.

PERCEPTION REGARDING ACUTE RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTION AMONG MOTHERS OF UNDER FIVE CHILDREN []


It was a cross sectional study conducted among 285 mothers of under five children in selected rural areas in Tangail District during the period of January to March 2016, to assess the mothers’ perception regarding acute respiratory tract infection in children under five years of age. The interview of respondents was performed by using the semi-structured questionnaire. Majority (47.7%) of the respondents were in age group 26-30 years with mean age 26.51 (S.D of ±3.74) years, minimum 18 and maximum 38 years. Maximum mothers (46.7%) had education class 6 to class 10. Most (88.8%) of the respondents were house wife. Majority (85%) were Muslims and 52% were residing in nuclear family, maximum family size of the respondents were 3-8 persons in case of respondents with mean and S.D of 6.75(± 3.52), 76% of the respondents lived in semi pucca houses and near about 100% using tube well water and 66% used sanitary with water sealed latrine. Majority (27.7%) of the respondents had monthly family income up to 10,000 taka, mean monthly income 29535.1 taka with S.D=±21600.946, minimum and maximum income were 4000.0 and 80000.0 taka respectively. Majority (65.7%) of the respondents were full complete of vaccination status of her child, all of the respondents (100.0%) said that they gave colostrum to her child. Very few respondents (5.3%, 4.2%) were aware of giving more breast milk and food during acute respiratory tract infection respectively. The study also revealed that around all respondents heard the name of acute respiratory tract infection which were mostly (82.4%) from mass media. Fever were described by 100% of the mothers as the common symptoms of acute respiratory tract infection. Regarding health care seeking pattern, 85.6% of the respondents consulted with doctor and 68.4% preferred to visit pharmacy drug seller. Increase temperature (96.5%) and respiratory distress (84.6%) were stated as the severe symptoms of acute respiratory tract infection by the mothers. Majority (88.8%) of the respondents consulted with doctor, 87.1% continued breast feeding, 86.3% rubbed hot oil in chest and back of the child, rest of them, gave tulsi leaves juice, black tea with ginger, honey, feed the child frequently and fewer portion of respondents (0.7%) gave lemon juice to child when her child had simple cough or cold.

ECONOMIC DESIGN OF FOUNDATION OF EARTHQUAKE-RESISTANT R/C BUILDINGS []


In the context of the present work, which can be characterized as multi-parametrical, the possibilities of reducing the consumption of materials and in particular of concrete are considered. It is tried to be found from the theoretically existing infinite geometry solutions, those which provide the more economical solution based on the actual values of concrete and steel, based on the normally acceptable and constructively achievable values of the geometric parameters. Moreover, the present work considers, as different cases of bearing body structure, the number of floors, beam spans, seismicity, wall stiffness, column cross-sections, the existence or not of the basement and the type of foundations.