Archives-December 

The knowledge of the women farmers on renewability potential of natural resources are critical determinants of the attitude and farmland conservation measures adopted to achieve a sustainable use. This study was carried out in Ekiti state, Nigeria to reveal the socio-economic characteristics of women farmers and their attitude towards sustainable farmland management practices in food crop production. Multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting a total of 345 women farmers drawn from eight (8) Local Government Area of the state. Data were collected on socio-economic characteristics and attitude towards farm land management practices. The data were t analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that majority (92.8%) of women farmers fell between the age categories of 31 -55 years and most of the farmers (69.5%) were married. Majority of the farmers inherited their farmland and majorly practiced crop rotation system. The correlation analysis revealed that there was a strong positive correlation (r=0.67, P< 0.05) between the attitude score and farmland management practices adopted by the women farmers, there is neutral attitude towards sustainable farm land management practices among women farmers in the study area. This study therefore recommend increase in awareness campaigns on farmland fertility conservation through appropriate management practices and women farmers should be given opportunity to have access to land resources like male counterpart which could be possible through adequate policy formulation on agriculture.

In this paper we present a slightly modified Binary Inversion Algorithm (BIA) to speed up scalar point multiplication of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommended elliptic curve with moduli 2521 -1. The effectiveness of the above method is mathematically analyzed by using statistical analysis and by computing series of scalar point multiplications Q= k.P for randomly generated k. Our method uses 2 random generators for generating ‘k’ namely, Random number generator based on Elliptic Curve Operations and Blum-Blum-Shub Generator. The mathematical analysis shows that above technique speeds up the inversion operation and consequently the scalar point multiplication of the above NIST recommended curve. New architecture based on the modified BIA is proposed. The results show that the modified BIA can be implemented in the hardware to speed up the scalar point multiplication.

Research and investigation was carried out on “Assessing the impacts of climate change on Surface Water Resources of Dal Catchment”. Two catchments of Dal Lake viz. Dachigam and Telbal were selected for the study purpose; since the two alone contribute about 80% to the waters of Dal Lake. The stream discharges and climatic data were obtained for the previous 20 years. The three main variables of study were discharge, temperature and precipitation; discharge being the response variable with respect to the remaining two. Trend lines were established for each of the variables with the help of the 5 year moving averages; which revealed the increasing trend in the temperature and the stream discharge, while a decreasing trend was visible in the precipitation. The trend of the three parameters was in accordance with the global climatic and hydrological findings. Further, to analyze the findings, Mann-Kendal’s test was used to ascertain the results. As per this test, discharge displays a significant trend over the given period of study at 5% significance levels with a p-value of 0.006; temperature also indicates a significant trend at 10% significance level with a p-value of 0.086 while the precipitation could not reveal any significant trend over the limited time frame of study even at 10% significance level, which could be a result of the seasonal dimension to it. The given study concluded that there was an adverse effect of the climate change on the catchment of the Dal Lake.

Moringa preparations and its consumption have become popular among Ghanaians. In the present study a survey was carried out in Techiman in the Brong Ahafo to determine the existing socio-economic status and Moringa safety knowledge of consumers. Data on socio –economic profile of 100 consumers were obtained through questionnaires. Results from the study showed that more of the respondents got the information on Moringa from family (46 %,) followed by other sources (20%), from the media (18%) and from friends (16%) in that order. Results also indicated that majority of the manufacturers fail to indicate the exact amount of metal concentrations incurred by consumers after consumption.

Educational blogs are used to allow educators to interact with students from any location. Teachers sharing ideas through blogs is a promising way to communicate teaching ideas and allows multicultural teaching methods to be disseminated. The blogs that tell the educator how to use technology within the classroom are informative as many teachers would have no idea about such teaching methods. Research based blogs allow users to see different educational topics discussed in more depth. This paper provides an overview of the impact blogs are having in an educational context.

Engineering has played a critical role in increasing the health, technology and quality of life of humans in the last 50 years. For efficient and effective practice of engineering, people who aspire to be engineers should be groomed in an environment where quality is assured. In Ghana, the need to train more engineers and governments policy of increasing student’s intake by about 10% each year has raised the number of student’s enrolment in all the engineering disciplines to higher levels. Over the past twenty five years, the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), with its strategic location, industrial environment, good academic facilities and capable staff has been an excellent place for training graduates of proven ability in the engineering disciplines. UMaT has produced a high caliber of engineering graduate in the mining and its allied disciplines. Student enrolment in the University has seen a gradual increase from the early 1990’s to date. With increasing students’ intake and the slow level of infrastructural development, lecture theatres cannot cater for combined classes for courses being undertaken by students. This has resulted in pressure on academic facilities such as lecture rooms, laboratories, libraries and computers. This also implies an additional work for technicians, laboratory assistant and lecturers handling such students. It is important that government and stake holders in the tertiary education restructure and provide more funding for engineering education. The study looks at the challenges of increasing student intake in the engineering discipline and effort to be made in solving these problems. To provide an in-depth analysis to the issue at stake, available literatures were examined, available facilities were assessed and a general interaction with stakeholders including students, laboratory technicians, lecturers and administrators were employed.

Basically a society cannot be silent towards a crime which threatens its entity but, instead it should apply all its efforts in order to challenge control and campaign any criminal behaviour so as to achieve individual and social order. Such issue, for sure, will require targeted and proactive planning and policy making, since one cannot arbitrarily fight against social anomalies. How should we proceed with such planning and policy making? What programs one must follow to contain these wrong doings? Who will administer and carry out such Tasks? The answers for these questions are given in the meaning of the criminal policy. barristers have different meanings for this term . Still one cannot find a cut and dried answer for it since they are ambiguous. When we study the development process of this term as from the beginning we will find out that such policy starts from narrowly defined concept and ends to an absolute broad sense .In each of these processes one should observe such behaviors which destroy social norms. These behavior starts from attempting a crime and ends with committing or consummation a criminal wrongdoing. Agents and administrator charged with controlling and containing anti – social behaviours start with government– oriented attitude and ends to society – oriented tasks. Finally they include words such as preventing from criminal offense and advising the wrongdoers. In This article we will try to study such term in all aspects.

Corporate governance is leadership that has the rules, processes, or laws by which businesses are operated, regulated, and controlled, the internal factors are defined by the officers, stockholders or constitution of a corporation, as well as to external forces such as consumer groups, clients, and government regulations. A corporate governance perspective committed to ethical behaviours in business is very essential for business growth, the organization ethical operations and culture has been on the periphery of corporate governance and board leadership, linked mainly to corporate reputation. However, in today’s globalized and interconnected world, investors and other stakeholders have come to recognize that environmental, social, and governance based on the ethical responsibilities of a company as integral to its performance and long-term sustainability. Internal control procedures and policies implemented by an entity's board of directors must be in line with the values of the organization, audit committee, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance of the entity in achieving its objectives related to reliable financial reporting, operating efficiency, and compliance with laws and regulations. Internal auditors in an organization should be able to test the design and implementation of the entity's internal control procedures and the reliability of its financial reporting. The global financial crisis has heightened the need for corporate boards of directors to provide well informed strategic direction and engage in oversight that stretches beyond short-term financial performance. Doing so prepares companies to more comprehensively address risks, by anticipating potentially adverse impacts on people and the environment and managing tangible and reputational risks. It can also generate wealth by creating shareholder value through an increase in business opportunities and broader access to markets. In recent years, corporate governance based on the ethical values has received increased attention because of high-profile scandals involving abuse of corporate power and, in some cases, alleged criminal activity by corporate officers. An integral part of an effective corporate governance regime includes provisions for civil or criminal prosecution of individuals who conduct unethical or illegal acts in the name of the enterprise.

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.

Trypsin protease inhibitor have been identified and purified from extracts of Mucuna Pruriens. Mucuna Pruriens seed sample were purified using ammonium sulphate precipitation, Saphadex G-75 gel filtration chromatography technique including analysis of trypsin inhibitors by dot-blot method, and electrophoretic analysis and visualization of protease inhibitor bands by gel X-ray film contact print method. Saphadex G-75 gel filtration chromatography identified a small molecular weight trypsin inhibitory fraction. In the present paper we described, a simple and inexpensive procedure to detect protease inhibitors of seed by the gel-x-ray film contact print technique.