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Graffiti takes the form of written language whose authorship always remains anonymous. It precisely refers to any wall writing, pictures and symbols or markings of any kind on any surface anywhere no matter what motivates the writer. Most graffiti are viewed as illegal or vandalism of property by those in authority. Secondary school students use graffiti as a form of communication when they feel other channels to express themselves, have been blocked by those in authority. The study at aimed at identifying the communicative strategies employed in graffiti writing and the influence of graffiti on learning of English language and classroom learning environment in our schools. Graffiti texts were collected in ten secondary schools purposively sampled in the Larger Laikipia East District in Laikipia County. Out of one thousand graffiti texts collected, two hundred were randomly sampled for analysis. Twenty English teachers were purposively sampled to take part in an interview. One hundred students were randomly sampled to fill in questionnaires. A Focused Group Discussion (FGD) was carried out with another group of five students randomly sampled across the classes in each school. The data collected from this exercise were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to arrive at inferences and conclusions. The study used a sociolinguistic approach to the study of graffiti. The study was guided by General System Theory. The findings of the study were that students used varied communicative strategies like humour, symbolism, irony, short forms, acronyms and abbreviations in their graffiti writings. It was also established that teachers expressed varied opinions that graffiti influenced learning of English language and classroom learning environment in secondary schools. The findings of this research may contribute to the study of sociolinguistics in general and communication in schools in particular. It has been established that students use graffiti to communicate a lot of information that would be beneficial to the head teachers, quality assurance officers, students’ counsellors, policy makers and other stakeholders. Classroom teachers may also use graffiti to establish the unspoken students problems and behaviour and thus prevent entropy of the school system.

Recently in this laboratory the economical, environmental, solvent free, mild and having simple work-up reaction condition was developed for the green synthesis of a novel series of 1-substituted-3-(4-pyridinoimino)thiocarbamides (IIIa-e) having high product yield and avoid treacherous byproducts. The interactions of 4-cyanopyridine (I), concentrated hydrochloric acid and various thiourea (IIa-e) were carried out in microwave oven to synthesize (IIIa-e). The green chemistry parameters were maintained. The synthesized compounds were recrystalised and the structure of synthesized compounds were justified and established on the basis of elemental analysis, chemical characteristics and spectral studies.

Good optical quality single crystals of pure and glycine doped zinc tris thiourea sulphate (ZTS) were grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique at ambient temperature. The grown crystals were subjected to various studies such as powder X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectral analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA)-Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies and second harmonic generation (SHG). Powder X-ray diffraction of pure and glycine doped samples reveals some minor structural variations. Changes in intensity patterns and slight shift in peak positions are observed because of doping. The UV-vis spectrum shows that the materials have wide optical transparency in the entire visible region. The SHG efficiency of the crystals was found to increase substantially with increase in glycine concentration. The presence of dopant has been confirmed and analyzed by FTIR. TGA and DSC analysis confirmed that the thermal stability of grown crystal is increasing with the doping concentration of glycine. Mechanical properties of the grown pure and glycine doped crystals were studied by using HMV-2T microhardness testor.

This study is aimed at assessing & comparing the levels of some heavy metals in most commonly sold and/or consumed soft and alcoholic drinks in Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. Three brands each of soft drink (Coke, 7Up & Maltina) and alcoholic drinks (Orijin, Trophy & Goldberg) were bought and analyzed for copper, chromium & lead using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric technique. 30 mL of each of the sample was digested, after allowing the sample to stand for 24 hrs for gas evaporation, using dry ashing method; 10 mL of concentrated HNO3 was added to the ash, filtered and made up to 30 mL mark with 0.1 M HNO3. The digested samples were analyzed for Cu, Cr & Pb using Buck Scientific Model 210VGP Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Results showed that overall mean levels of Cu were 0.05 ± 0.03 mg/L and 0.09 ± 0.04 mg/L for soft & alcoholic drinks respectively. Chromium was below detection limit of the FAAS and can be inferred to be below tolerance limit set by NIS (0.05mg/L). Lead was detected in both sampled drinks at a concentration ranging from 0.010 - 0.140 mg/L for soft drinks and

This paper analysed cowpea markets and consumers’ preferences in Ogbomoso metropolis using a household hedonic approach. 60 cowpea sellers were selected by a purposive random sampling technique in four major markets from Ogbomoso North (Sabo market and New Waso market) and Ogbomoso South (Arada market and Caretaker market) Local Government Areas of Oyo State, Nigeria. 50% of the cowpea sellers were male and female respectively. 96.67% of them sell more than one varieties. 96.67% of respondents sell a combination of varieties i.e. Peu/Drum, Sokoto, Mala, Olo and Oloyin for their nutritive value, popularity and availability which may be used for boiled whole grain cooking, fried cowpea balls (akara), and steamed cowpea cake (moin-moin). Over 50% of respondents (cowpea marketers) use storage chemical which reduces the attack of weevils to be able to sell cowpea that has no or few numbers of bruchid holes. The mean prices of peu/drum cowpea, sokoto cowpea, mala cowpea, olo cowpea and oloyin cowpea are ?359.67, ?291.83, ?324.00, ?376.00, and ?394.17. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) which was used capture price-quality relationship of the type of cowpea purchased by consumers revealed that there is a significant relationship between the number of holes in each of the cowpea varieties and their respective prices in the various markets sampled in the study area. Hence, the numbers of holes appear to be the major determining factors affecting the prices of various cowpea types in the study area.

Hepatoprotective activity and antioxidant status of ethanolic extracts of 200,400,600 mg/kg of Alpinia purpurata rhizome was evaluated against Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in rats. Acute and short-term toxicity studies were performed initially in order to ascertain the safety of ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata rhizome. After 48 hrs of CCl4 induced, the extract was administered daily for 15 days. After administration of the last dose followed by 18 h fasting, rats were then sacrificed for observation of hepatoprotective activity. The effect of ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata on the CCl4 treated rats. Ethanolic extract showed significant (p<0.05) hepatoprotective effect by lowering the serum levels of various biochemical parameters such as serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phospatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBL), total cholesterol (CHL) in the selected model and liver biochemical parameters (lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes) were estimated. These biochemical observations were in turn confirmed by histopathological examinations of liver sections and are comparable with the standard hepatoprotective drug Silymarin (25.0 mg/kg body weight, p.o) which served as a positive control. Treatment with ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation and increased the levels of glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase. The ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata rhizome exhibited hepatoprotective effect by modulating lipid peroxidation and augmenting antioxidant defense system in CCl4 treated rats.

This study was undertaken for analyzing the impact of dividend payout on the stock prices, profitability, liquidity and risk of the company. Stock price and dividend payout ratio are the dependent variables of this study. It was qualitative research in which primary data was used. Data was collected with the help of questionnaire from 30 respondents. Several statistical tools and different types of techniques such as regression analysis, T-tests, correlation and covariance were applied for getting accurate and useful results. In this research one framework model was designed, that were tested with the help of five hypotheses. Rejection of null hypothesis revealed the positive impact of profitability, leverage and liquidity on the dividend payout. It was also observed that dividend payout has significant impact on the variation of stock price.

The paper explored indoor play materials available for teaching mathematical concepts and skills in ECD centres in Eldoret West Sub-county. The study was guided by Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in children. Descriptive survey research design was adopted to assess the use of indoor play in enhancing the acquisition of Mathematical concepts and skills. The study was conducted in Eldoret West Sub-county, Kenya. The target population in this study consisted of 181 public ECDE centers with a total of 181 top class ECD teachers that are qualified to teach mathematic activities and 3620 ECDE pupils. 30% of the total number of ECD schools was sampled thus yielding a sample size of 54; that is, 54 ECDE centers out of 181. The researcher selected 362pupils who represented 10% of the target population. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample schools and ECDE pupils. Questionnaires and observation schedule was used to collect data. The data analysis employed the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Majority of the respondents were of the opinion that block play materials are available in this school whereas a significant number of the teachers felt that clay play materials are available in this school and that water and sand play materials are available in this school. The study recommended that the school administration of ECD schools should provide adequate resources and play facilities/materials for the learners to improve on acquisition of mathematical concepts and skills.

Thirty-two male male Large White weanling pigs of 8-9 weeks of age averaging 7.50 + 0.36kg were used to evaluate the effect of dietary copper on fertility of pubertal sows. The animals were randomly assigned in a Completely Randomized Design experiment to 4 diets containing 0, 100, 200 and 300ppm Cu/kg constituting the control(diet 1), diets 2, 3 and 4 respectively, in a 6-month feeding trial such that each treatment had 8 animals. The feeding trial was divided into 3 physiological phases [weanling (starter), pre-pubertal (grower) and pubertal (finisher)]. At the end of the feeding trial, 4 treated boars selected at random from each treatment were mated to 8 gilts (i.e. 1 boar to 2 gilts) following the gilts’ synchronization to determine the fertility rate of the boars. The mated gilts were sacrificed at the end of the 1st trimester and their uteri cut open longitudinally to check for conception, count the number of embryos therein and the embryo survival rate determined. The results showed significant (p<0.05) difference on fertility parameters assessed except foetal crown-rump length and litter weight. The conception rate tended to be constant across the treatment except for treatment 3 with 75%. The study revealed that male weanling pigs for breeding can be fed dietary Cu of between 100-300ppm for optimum reproductive performance.

This study aimed to assess how markets affect smallholders’ decision-making about their arecanut, pepper and banana smallholders cropping systems in Sri Lanka. An economic assessment of the markets available for different crops was made using data obtained from a market survey and village study. Study found that farmers selected different crops based on market accessibility. Majority of farmers reluctant to grow banana as smallholdings in Pannila, whilst it was a popular choice on smallholdings in Pallekiruwa . Farmers faced high risk with perishables as their price variation was higher than that of storable crops. Study recommend to improve the market infrastructure for enabling farmers’ income.