Evaluation of Irrigation Water Quality from Major Water Sources in Ondo and Osun States, Nigeria

Abstracts

Aims: Irrigated agriculture is dependent on the adequate water supply of usable quality. This study was conducted to determine the quality and suitability of different water sources for irrigation in Ondo and Osun states. The water samples were collected from rivers, dams, streams, bore-holes and hand dug wells within the two states. The physicochemical properties of the sampled water were determined; physicochemical properties including pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, total dissolved solids, major ions (Ca, Mg, K, Na) were analysed in the laboratory and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (SP) and kelly's ration (KI) were calculated from the significant cations studied for the criteria of irrigation water quality and suitability for irrigation.

Place and Duration of the Study: The study was performed on main rivers, streams, wells and boreholes in Ondo and Osun states.

Methodology: Samples were collected in Ondo and Osun states, the samples were collected in clean PVC bottles washed and rinsed with distilled water and HNO3 dilute acid in eight different points across the two states as follows; in the reservoir (Dams), rivers, bore-hole and hand dug wells all channels to farms.

Results: The study revealed that the values of EC, pH, TDS, TSS, varied from 31 to 1062 mmhos/cm, 5.0 to 7.4, 42.83 to 280.96 mg/L, 28.06 to 203.46 mg/L and turbidity; 0 to 3.5 mg/l, hardness 34 to 160 mg/l and amount of Ca, Mg, K and Na varied from 38.61 to 71.64, 25.3 to 60.17, 17.26 to 35.00 and 21.08 to 33.47 and SAR, SP, KI values varied from 2.98 to 5.74, 30.58 to 49.24, and 0.18 to 0.49 respectively.  The total viable count for the microbial present in the surface water sample has the highest value of 5.5x10-3CFU/100ml in the Owena water sample. The presence of faecal indicator bacteria and fungi in the water source suggest pollution raising the possibility of the presence of pathogenic micro-organisms in the water sources, therefore adequate water treatment must be ensured before discharge.

Conclusion: The result shows that there is a higher concentration in groundwater than those in surface water; this implies surface water is good and suitable for irrigation and if groundwater is to be considered as a source for irrigation, proper irrigation management must be required and water analysis for adequate and effective irrigation practice.

 Keywords :

Irrigation; water quality; physico-chemical properties; sodium adsorption ratio.

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Thermal Performance of High Power LED on Boron Doped Aluminium Nitride Thin Film Coated Copper Substrates

Abstracts

Aims: The paper is aim to study the thermal performance of Boron doped Aluminium Nitride (B-AlN) thin film coated over Copper (Cu) substrate to improve surface configuration of the interface between two materials with different synthesis parameters.
Study Design: Synthesis of Boron doped AlN thin film by sputtering and post processed for various temperatures. The processed samples were characterized to study the behavior of B doping as well as the annealing temperature in changing the properties of B doped AlN thin film. The structural and surface properties were studied and reported.
Place and Duration of Study: Nano Optoelectronic Research Laboratory, School of Physics, University Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia, between December 2013 and July 2014.
Methodology: B-AlN thin films were prepared with five different gas ratios over Cu substrates by DC-RF coupled sputtering method and suggested for thin film based thermal interface material (TIM). 3W green LED package was tested with B-AlN thin films coated Cu substrates through thermal transient and surface analysis. The results are compared with the performance of bare Cu substrates.
Results: The thin film prepared with gas ratio of Ar 7: N₂ 13 coated at 200°C showed the lowest thermal resistance R_th (53.27 K/W), board to ambient thermal resistance R_thB-A (36.03 K/W) and the lowest junction temperature T_j(120.98°C) at higher driving current (700 mA). Surface analysis results show that the thin film mentioned above exhibits low in surface roughness (8 nm) and range of valley depth (30-80 nm), which contribute in thermal performance of LED.
Conclusion: Overall, B-AlN films coated with gas ratio of Ar 7: N2 13 are more favorable in reducing both total thermal resistance and junction temperature (T_j) of LED.

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Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports

Abstracts

The objective of this study is to develop a cattle monitoring system for tracking cattle combating rustling in extensive grazing areas, grazing reserves, grazing routes and ranches. The system is majorly made up of a collar that consists majorly of a GSM & GPS module. This system would not only combat cattle rustling activities but would also serve as an anti-theft system. When cattle wearing the collar exits the virtual fences, an SMS containing the coordinates of the collar is sent to the cattle farmer enabling him to check the cattle’s position and ward off a potential danger or theft. SMS alerts are also sent to the farmer also when the battery of the collar is low, the collar is unbuckled from the cattle and when the farmer calls the collar to know its location. This system would provide cattle farmers with the opportunity to fully monitor their herd within a particular grazing region.

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RTVue Optical Coherence Tomography as an Imaging Modality for Scleral Thickness

Abstracts

Purpose: To examine RTVue (Optovue, Inc) optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a method for measuring scleral thickness.
Methods: A prospective, single-center study of eyes with a variety of ocular diseases (no scleral diseases) was performed to image scleral thickness utilizing the RTVue OCT. Repeated measurements of scleral thickness were performed using a line scan 3 mm from the limbus in the inferior nasal and inferior temporal quadrants of each eye. Obtained values were analyzed statistically.
Results: A total of 25 eyes in 14 subjects were measured. An average of 3 measurements per location per eye were taken. The mean scleral thickness 3 mm from the limbus was 654.22 µm. The average standard deviation of the measurements from each location was 30.88 µm. The boundary of the conjunctiva and sclera was easily distinguishable.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that RTVue high-resolution OCT is a user-friendly modality for measuring scleral thickness.

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Modified Variance Estimators for Non Response Problems in Survey Sampling

Abstracts

In this present study, we have discussed the issue of presence and absence of non-response that we often face in survey estimation. We have suggested the estimators to estimate the finite population Variance in the absence and presence of non-response, using the linear combination of coefficient of skewness and quartiles as auxiliary information. The expression for mean square errors of suggested estimators has been derived up to the first order of approximation. The comparison of existing estimators with suggested estimators has been made through an numerical illustration to prove the efficiency of suggested estimators over existing estimators.

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Geochemical and Engineering Properties of Selected Lateritic Deposits in Akure Metropolis as Highway Subgrade Foundation Material

Abstracts

Laterite occurrences at three locations in Akure metropolis, Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria were characterized geochemically and geotechnically in order to evaluate their potentials as subgrade and subbase/base civil engineering foundation material. The geochemical analysis employed X-ray fluorescence and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) to determine the major and minor oxide geochemistry while particle size analysis, Atterberg limit test, compaction test, specific gravity, triaxial compression test and California bearing ratio were determined following the British Standard (BS-1337). Abundances of major elements show that SiO₂ (50.44 - 58.82%), Fe₂O₃ (18.34 – 24.41%), Al₂O₃ (16.30 – 53.82%) constitute over 95% of the bulk chemical compositions. Other constituents include Na₂O₃, k₂O and TiO₂. Although notable disparities exist in the SiO₂  and Fe₂O₃  contents of the samples, as the LC2 samples are more siliceous and ferrous than others. The silica: sesquioxide ratio (S_e) of the samples are generally less than 1.33 indicating true laterite. Geotechnically, the in-situ derived LC 2 samples have distinctive characteristics in terms of compaction, consistencies, and CBR as they satisfied the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing recommended liquid limits of 50% maximum, plastic limits of 30%, plasticity index of 20% for subbase and base materials; while LC 1 and LC 3 are characterized by values higher than FMWH specification This also corroborates AASHTO classification which rates samples in LC 1 and 3 as fair to poor (i.e. A-7), and LC 2 as excellent to good subgrade (A-2-4/A-2-4). Thus LC 2 samples are suitable for subbase and base foundation materials, while LC 1 and LC 3 for them to be suitable as foundation material would require stabilization, to improve their density and compaction characteristics using conventional lime, cement, and asphaltic stabilization. 

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An Interesting Case of Sphingobacterium Multivorum Neck Abscess

Abstracts

Soft tissue infections due to gram negative microorganism are very rare. Sphingobacterium multivorum related respiratory tract infections, cellulitis, necrotizing fasciitis and septic shock have been reported in literature mostly in immunosuppressed population. We present an interesting and rare case of neck abscess due to sphingobacterium multivorum in an immunocompetent patient, diagnosed by abscess fluid culture and neck imaging and treated with course of oral antibiotics.

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Nature (Impact Factor: 41.6) confirmed high standard of SCIENCEDOMAIN international journal and its editors

We are happy to inform that Nature (Impact Factor: 41.6) confirmed high standard of SDI journal and its editors (Article link: http://bit.ly/nature-sdi). As per the article, an investigation found that dozens of academic journals offered ' Anna Szust --Dr Fraud' — a sham, unqualified scientist — a place on their editorial board. Thousands of academic journals do not aspire to quality. They exist primarily to extract fees from authors. These 'predatory' journals exhibit questionable marketing schemes, follow lax or non-existent peer-review procedures and fail to provide scientific rigour or transparency. Crucial to a journal's quality is its editors. Editors decide whether a paper is reviewed and by whom, and whether a submission should be rejected, revised or accepted. Such roles have usually been assigned to established experts in the journal's field, and are considered prestigious positions. Many predatory journals hoping to cash in seem to aggressively and indiscriminately recruit academics to build legitimate-looking editorial boards. The authors of the article conceived a sting operation and submitted a fake application for an editor position to 360 journals, a mix of legitimate titles and suspected predators. Forty-eight journals accepted the application.

One of our journals was also targeted by the authors of this NATURE article as part of the sting operation. They also sent the application. But SDI editorial screening committee rejected that the application as it was very low quality and suspicious. The profile was dismally inadequate for a role as editor. In fact, ScienceDomain International never bothered to send a reply to the applicant. ScienceDomain International has not sent even a rejection mail.

The original mail is here: http://bit.ly/first-mail-1

The source code of the mail is here (for authenticity checking): http://bit.ly/mail-sourcecode

The CV of the applicant is here: http://bit.ly/fake-cv

At ScienceDomain we maintain a very high-quality stringent evaluation process during the selection of editors. Our editors are chosen after a 6 steps checking process. SDI selects the editors, who only pass these six-step evaluation criteria. Additionally, SDI publicly publishes profile link, the institutional link of the editors. To maintain the highest level of transparency, SDI follows ‘open peer review’ process. Along with the published paper, SDI journals publicly publish all the peer review reports, editorial reports, different versions of the revised manuscript. Names of the editors and reviewers are also published publicly along with any published paper.

SDI congratulates all our esteemed editors to maintain the high standard of our journals. SDI is also thankful to the editors, as they do tremendous hard-work in different rounds of peer review process to uplift the quality of published papers. SDI is also thankful to the reviewers of our journals, who relentlessly work to evaluate manuscripts. Without the sincere, dedicated and honest help of editors and reviewers from the very beginning, SDI journals cannot maintain this high quality. 

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Oncologists Discover the Cell Type That Gives Rise to Soft Tissue Cancer in Children – News from Journal World

Oncologists Discover the Cell Type That Gives Rise to Soft Tissue Cancer in Children – News from Journal World

JANUARY 8, 2018

St. Jude researchers show that rhabdomyosarcoma also originates from endothelial cells lining blood vessels. The image shows red endothelial progenitor cells expanding and proliferating forming tumors between the green muscle fibers.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital oncologists have discovered the cell type that gives rise to rhabdomyosarcoma, the most prevalent soft tissue cancer in children. Previously, scientists thought the cancer arose from immature muscle cells, because the tumor resembled muscle under the microscope. However, the St. Jude researchers discovered the cancer arises from immature progenitors that would normally develop into cells lining blood vessels.

The researchers, led by Mark Hatley, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Oncology, published their findings in the January 8 issue of the scientific journal Cancer Cell.

Hatley said understanding the cell of origin will bring badly needed insights to aid diagnosis and treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma. “We are still using the same chemotherapy that was in use 46 years ago, with the same outcomes,” Hatley said. “A better understanding of the machinery of rhabdomyosarcoma could enable entirely new treatment approaches.

Science Domain International: an Open Peer Reviewed Journal

Science Domain International is a new and promising publisher of STM journals from India. The transparent and robust “Open Peer Review” model of SDI journals is very appreciable and significant for the academic community. They publish the entire Review History along with the manuscripts after completion of review process depending on the expert reviewers’ suggestions and recommendations. In 2013 an article published in famous Science journal (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full), which reported that out of total 304 journals, only 20 journals rejected a fake article after substantial peer review. Science Domain International journal was among these few successful journals. It also provides wide indexing coverage and provides public proof for every claim of indexing. It also renders the service of perpetual archiving with Portico, DOI for every article, plagiarism checking for each submission, etc. Their remarkable contributions are recognized by many academic organizations as mentioned below:

1. Science Domain International is a voting member of Crossref

(Please see here: http://www.crossref.org/01company/06publishers.html). CrossRef is an association of scholarly publishers that develops shared infrastructure to support more effective scholarly communications. Famous publishers like Elsevier, Nature, Springer, etc are also voting members of crossref.

2. Many respected indexing organizations indexed our journals after strict evaluation. Quality and authenticity of any journal is evaluated by these official organizations. Please see here: http://sciencedomain.org/page/abstracting-indexing

3. Many scientists from world famous universities like Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, etc kept faith on the quality of our journals and published their valuable papers with us. Please see here: http://sciencedomain.org/page/author-profiles

4. We publish peer review reports of all published papers. This transparent OPEN peer review process is considered most authentic and robust by many researchers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_peer_review).

5. Famous Science journal (IF: 31) report confirmed the high standard of Science Domain International  journal. Please see here: http://sciencedomain.org/announcement/science-if-31-report-confirmed-the-high-standard-of-sdi-journal

6. Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland Govt. included Science Domain International  journals in its official report. Please see here: http://sciencedomain.org/announcement/polish-ministry-of-science-and-higher-education-included-18-sdi-journals-in-its-official-report-of-2013

7. Index Medicus (under World Health organization) selected our journals http://sciencedomain.org/announcement/index-medicus-selected-15-sdi-journals

8. Science Domain International is now member of PORTICO for Permanent Digital Archiving of SDI journals

9. US National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog included Science Domain International journals please see here: http://sciencedomain.org/page/abstracting-indexing

As a result of these achievements, many scientists from world’s famous universities like Harvard, Columbia University, Cambridge, University of Chicago, Yale University, University of Göttingen, etc. published their scientific works with Science Domain journals. All these examples clearly indicates their stand against the working principle of some fake publishers, who don’t provide any peer review service and don’t provide the basic services of a standard scholarly publisher.

Science Domain Journals

Science Domain journals are determined to promote integrity in research publication. ScienceDomain journals follow the guidelines, given by COPE for any publication disputes (http://sciencedomain.org/page/sdi-general-editorial-policy).

Publication charge of Science Domain international journals is extremely low compared to other open access publishers. It is commendable that even at such low cost they are providing transparent OPEN Peer review and post-publication peer review, DOI, permanent digital Archiving, wide indexing, etc.

Science Domain journals follow the guidelines regarding ‘Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing’, established by the COPE, the DOAJ, the OASPA. Science Domain journals additionally publicly publish a ‘self-compliance report’ for public and scholarly scrutiny (http://sciencedomain.org/journal/32/odc-compliance).

Since inception, this publisher is making constant efforts to promote integrity and transparency. It is completely baseless libel that SCIENCE DOMAIN international is a predatory publisher, as no other publisher put these much efforts to adhere to best publishing practices.

Please see more information below

1. https://www.facebook.com/sciencedomain.org

2. http://nouw.com/sciencedomain