Impact of geometrical construction on students’ creativity skills for sustainable development

The study investigated the perception of teachers and students on the impact of geometrical construction on students’ creativity skills for sustainable development in Edo State technical colleges using descriptive survey research design. The sample for comprised of 20 technical drawing teachers and 150 year II students randomly selected from the six technical colleges Edo State. A 20-item questionnaire was derived from literature reviewed was the instrument for data collection. The instrument was subjected to face validation by three experts. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the internal consistency of the instrument and a reliability index of 0.85 was obtained. Mean statistic was used to answer the research questions while the t-test was used to test the null hypothesis at .05 level of significance. The findings from the study indicated among others that geometrical construction enhances students’ diversity thinking; there was no significant difference between the perception of technical drawing teachers and students on the impact of geometrical construction on students’ creativity skills for sustainable development. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that: technical drawing teachers should utilize problem-solving instructional methods and strategies in their lessons in order to carry each student along, enhance students divergent thinking and creative skills, foster scientific and technological discoveries.

Chemistry laboratory management techniques massive open online course: Development and evaluation on students’ perception

To date, statistics in OpenLearning have demonstrated that the number of Massive Open Online Courses developed by Malaysia higher education institution is not achieving the target of DePAN 2.0. Hence, this study is aimed at developing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Chemistry Laboratory Management Techniques (CLMT) course and investigating the students’ perception of the MOOC. The CLMT MOOC is developed by applying the ADDIE model as the instructional design model. In this regard, analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation are the phases involved. Three experts were appointed to evaluate the content validity of the e-content module and e-assessment module in the MOOC by filling the content validity evaluation form. According to the results, both e-content and e-assessment modules obtained validity index of 1.00. A group of 27 students was involved in the pilot study to answer the reliability questionnaire and the Cronbach’s alpha for the two modules was found to be 0.99 and 0.97, respectively. Another group of 152 students were randomly selected as the respondents of the perception survey. Results from perception questionnaire showed the highest mean score in acceptance construct (M = 4.05, SD = 0.54), followed by instructional design construct (M = 3.96, SD = 0.59) and lastly usage barrier construct (M = 3.03, SD = 0.84). In conclusion, both the e-content and e-assessment modules used in the CLMT MOOC are valid and reliable. Meanwhile, the mean score of undergraduate students on the perception toward the CLMT MOOC was found to be moderately higher. Therefore, it can be inferred that this MOOC will be a useful self-learning and flipped classroom platform for the chemistry degree students, especially amidst the outbreak of COVID-19.

Determination of heavy metals concentration in drinking water of Potiskum Metropolitan, North Eastern, Nigeria

The mean concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) such as Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn), and Iron (Fe) in drinking water of Potiskum metropolitan were investigated. The water samples were collected from the following locations; ARK, PMP, MMD, ABB, NHT, FCE, and JGW. The sample's physic-chemical parameters such as pH, Temperature, and Conductivity were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The pH result for the three sample locations ABB (9.6), PMP (9.2), and JGW (8.8) was recorded and found to be above the recommended value set by Standard Organization of Nigerian (SON). Meanwhile, there Conductivities values were reported to be below the limit value (1ms/cm) set by SON. The results obtained the highest mean concentration of cadmium was recorded in FCE (0.004±0.01 ppm) and observed above the recommended value set by WHO(0.003ppm), the highest mean concentration of lead was found in FCE (0.090±0.012 ppm) and all mean concentrations of lead were recorded above the recommended values set by WHO(0.01ppm) and SON(0.01ppm), the highest concentration of zinc was recorded in JGW (0.024±0.026 ppm) and all sampling points have recorded the concentrations of zinc below the recommended value set by WHO(5.0ppm) and SON(3.0ppm). The highest mean concentration of iron was recorded in ARK (0.310±0.063 ppm) and all sampling points have recorded the concentrations of iron below the recommended value set by SON (0.3ppm) except ARK (recorded above).

Theoretical Elastic Moduli of TeO2 – B2O3 – SiO2 Glasses

In this work, the elastic moduli of silica based borotellurite glass system with compositional formula; [(TeO2)0.7 (B2O3)0.3]1-x (SiO2)x with x= 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 was studied using theoretical models. Makishima and Mackenzie, bond compression, Rocherulle, and ring deformation models were employed in the calculation of the elastic moduli, Poisson ratio, packing density, dissociation energy, cross-link density, average stretching force constant and the glass network ring size of the studied glasses. The values of the elastic moduli obtained from the Makishima and Mackenzie model were found to be lower than those obtained from the Rocherulle model and the value from the bond compression model was reported to be highest among the three models. In all the models, the elastic moduli increased with an increase in the concentration of silica in the glass composition. Therefore, it satisfied the original intention of improving mechanical strength to achieve high Young modulus which is considered in glasses fiber drawing/ manufacturing.

On becoming a 21st Century teacher: Exploring math student teachers’ perception of the math teacher through communities of practices

Field Study 6 “On Becoming a 21st Century Teacher” of math student teachers through the framework communities of practices was observed and purposely used for this study. Thus, analyses their induction experiences. The primary research question was apprehensive with how math student teachers perceived to what bands the professional community practices of the math educators. A qualitative research study (Narrative) was designed. Written journals and face-to-face interviews by the participants were tools to collect data. Engaging, imagining, and aligning was the three ways of belonging in communities of practice framework used to analyse the data. Result shows that participants have valuable opinions and observations with regards to the faculty set-up (arrangement), teaching loads of cooperating teachers and professional relationships such as being approachable among mathematics teachers. It was revealed from the data how mathematics student teachers aligned themselves with values and norms of the university -where they finish three years of their undergraduate education and school cultures. Moreover, experiences and proficiencies in their cooperating schools strengthened views about what was upheld in the college of teacher education curriculum such as formative assessment and its importance, teaching methodologies, techniques and approaches. Strong subject knowledge were also strengthened as a product of observations in their cooperating school was significantly importance.

Effect of Different Chemical Formulation on Agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis) Resin Weight

Agarwood is described as fragrance, smelling wood that is usually derived from the trunk of genus Aquilaria The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate four chemical-based inoculants to induce karas tree to form agarwood resin. Four chemical inoculants were applied into 6 years old karas tree (Aquilaria malaccensis) plantations in Slim River, Perak, Malaysia using dripping techniques. The inoculant used were labelled as A, B, C and D. Commercial inoculant was also used for comparison purposes and labelled as K while a healthy tree, act as control was labelled as N. After four months of inoculation, these samples were cut down and discoloured tissue samples were collected. Solvent extraction method using dichloromethane (DCM) was carried out to obtain the resin crude extract from plant tissues of the samples. All chemical formulation used were succesfully stimulated sample trees to produce resin. Inoculant B produced the highest crude extract recovery (5.49%) compared to inoculant C (4.78%) followed by A (4.32%), D (2.98%), K (1.07%) and N (0.13%). From this study, inoculant B showed the highest yield of resin. Hence, result from current study has the potential to contribute in enhancing new types of inoculant production for the agarwood industries in Malaysia.

Solar radiation modelling and measurement techniques in Lafia Zone, Nasarawa state, Nigeria

The number of solar radiations measuring stations in Nigeria has been observed not to effectively describe the necessary variability; as such prediction models are necessary for estimation of solar radiation values using readily available meteorological variables. In this study, solar radiation parameters were determined for Lafia zone, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Twelve (12) location were carefully selected to avoid sunshine and wind obstruction using a systematic random sampling technique. Three-hour daily measurement (12.00 pm to 2.00 pm) was done on three 12V, 5W solar panels using a pyranometer and the output was estimated using the Angstrom-Prescott Regression Equation. The continuity in the assembled system was measured using an Avometer. The result revealed that solar radiation intensity was found to range from 165.5 W/m2 to 298.6W/m2 with the mean value of 241.24 W/m2.The highest global solar radiation value of 29.8MJ/m2was observed in April while the lowest value of 16.5MJ/m2was observed in August. The extraterrestrial solar radiation was found to range from 9.06 MJ/m2 in August to 26.60 MJ/m2 in February with average value of 20.96MJ/m2. The atmospheric transmission coefficient over the year is found to range from 0.7 in July and September to 1.4 in December. The obtained atmospheric transmission coefficient determined for the year (2019) is a good indication for solar radiation application in Lafia geo-political zone, Nasarawa State. The performance of the developed model is observed to imply that it can be used to predict global solar radiation for Lafia zone in Nasarawa State.

A Review: Antibacterial activities, antioxidant properties and toxicity profile of centella asiatica

Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) has been widely used as traditional or alternative medicine for thousand years due to its capabilities to cure various kinds of diseases. This plant has been used widely to prepare numerous kinds of food and beverages in many countries due to its beneficial functional properties. Active compounds that contribute to its antimicrobial properties are madecassic acid, asiatic acid, madecassoside, and asiaticoside. C. asiatica extract can inhibit majorities of foodborne pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. It also contained antioxidant properties and has been proven to have an insignificant toxicity effect on human consumption. Currently, there is an increase of interest in research development for natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents to replace the synthetic types in the food industry. This review presents information on the antioxidant capabilities of C. asiatica and its function to inhibit, reduce or minimize microbial growth. The toxicity and safety aspects of consuming C. asiatica extract has also been highlighted to provide essential data for the development of natural preservatives.

Evaluation of real time rain-rate on downlink satellite signal attenuation in Abuja, Nigeria

Natural phenomenon and other human activities in the atmosphere have caused serious variations in rainfall which leads to rain-rates that has resulted in the mitigation of signal transmission in satellite communication. This is due to absorption and scattering of the radio waves, resulting in the reduction of the overall link availability. In this study, the cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) for the predicted rain rate and rain attenuation in Abuja, Nigeria was evaluated using the Moupfouma and Chebil models purposely designed for tropical regions. One year data of signal attenuation and amount of rainfall in the study area for 2018 was collected from Nigerian Communication Satellite limited (NIGECOMSAT) and Nigeria Metrological Center (NiMET). The Ajayi (ITU-R P) models alongside with relevant statistics were employed for evaluation of the rain attenuation in the study area. Results show that the highest rainfall value with mean of 128.07 mm was recorded in August while the lowest value 01.87 m was recorded in November. The estimated value of rain-rate in the study area were 1.95 mm/hr and 5.57 mm/hr in August and September with high attenuation value of 11.01dB – 19.67dB and 15.84dB – 18.64dB both on C – band and Ku – band. The result Show that, attenuation due to rain in the frequency above 10GHz is much higher than that for frequency of 4GHz. Therefore, as the size of the rain drop approaches the wavelength of the signal, the more it absorbs its strength and the higher the rain rate attenuation on signal. The result is useful for designing highly reliable microwave links in the study area.

A Comparative study of log volume estimation by using statistical method

Log volume estimation is a measurement of the amount of merchantable volume and precise estimation of log volume plays an important role in sustainable forest management. There are several log volume formula which commonly used in estimating the log volume, however, there are significant differences between each formula. Therefore, this paper evaluates the performance of three different log volume formula which are Smalian’s, Huber’s and Bruce’s formula against several log sectional length. The performance of each log volume formula will be evaluated in terms of the bias, precision and accuracy of the estimation. The result shows that Huber’s formula performs the best for log sectional length of 2 m, 4 m, 6 m and 8 m log sectional length. The log sectional length and prediction accuracy is inversely related whereby the shorter the log sectional length, the better the prediction accuracy is.