Enhancement of fish production in Borno State with extension services

Borno State possesses great potentials for fish production both from inland fisheries and aquaculture. The socio-economic and environmental production factors are suitable for fish production. If the potential of the State were well harnessed, it would be playing significant roles in achieving self-sufficiency in fish production in Nigeria. But the situation at the moment is that its fisheries potentials are not being optimally utilized. While the inland waters of Lake Chad are currently being recklessly exploited, aquaculture development is given little or no attention. It is evident that there is a missing link between research results and the potential end users. Because information in fish production variables is a pre-requisite for fisheries development, the gap that exists between two poles must be bridged, fisheries Extension provides this important link between research result and the end users of research findings. The paper examines the importance of extension services as the key to unlock fish production information that are usually consigned to the pages of academic journals and research publications

Laser-driven inertial ion focusing

A Hohlraum-like configuration is proposed for realizing a simple compact source for neutrons. A laser pulse enters a tiny thin-shelled hollow-sphere target through a small opening and is self-consistently trapped in the cavity. The electrons in the inner shell-wall region are expelled by the light pressure. The resulting space-charge field compresses the local ions into a thin layer that becomes strongly heated. An inward expansion of ions into the shell cavity then occurs, resulting in the formation at the cavity center of a hot spot of ions at high density and temperature, similar to that in inertial electrostatic confinement.

Statistical and econometric analysis of the treatment of HIV/AIDS

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the United States is constantly changing and evolving, starting from patient zero to now an estimated 650,000 to 900,000 Americans infected. The nature and course of HIV changed dramatically with the introduction of antiretrovirals. This discourse examines many different facets of HIV from the beginning where there wasn't any treatment for HIV until the present era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). By utilizing statistical analysis of clinical data, this paper examines where we were, where we are and projections as to where treatment of HIV/AIDS is headed.

Chapter Two describes the datasets that were used for the analyses. The primary database utilized was collected by myself from an outpatient HIV clinic. The data included dates from 1984 until the present. The second database was from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) public dataset. The data from the MACS cover the time between 1984 and October 1992. Comparisons are made between both datasets.

Chapter Three discusses where we were. Before the first anti-HIV drugs (called antiretrovirals) were approved, there was no treatment to slow the progression of HIV. The first generation of antiretrovirals, reverse transcriptase inhibitors such as AZT (zidovudine), DDI (didanosine), DDC (zalcitabine), and D4T (stavudine) provided the first treatment for HIV. The first clinical trials showed that these antiretrovirals had a significant impact on increasing patient survival. The trials also showed that patients on these drugs had increased CD4+ T cell counts. Chapter Three examines the distributions of CD4 T cell counts. The results show that the estimated distributions of CD4 T cell counts are distinctly non-Gaussian. Thus distributional assumptions regarding CD4 T cell counts must be taken, into account when performing analyses with this marker. The results also show the estimated CD4 T cell distributions for each disease stage: asymptomatic, symptomatic and AIDS are non-Gaussian. Interestingly, the distribution of CD4 T cell counts for the asymptomatic period is significantly below that of the CD4 T cell distribution for the uninfected population suggesting that even in patients with no outward symptoms of HIV infection, there exists high levels of immunosuppression.

Chapter Four discusses where we are at present. HIV quickly grew resistant to reverse transcriptase inhibitors which were given sequentially as mono or dual therapy. As resistance grew, the positive effects of the reverse transcriptase inhibitors on CD4 T cell counts and survival dissipated. As the old era faded a new era characterized by a new class of drugs and new technology changed the way that we treat HIV-infected patients. Viral load assays were able to quantify the levels of HIV RNA in the blood. By quantifying the viral load, one now had a faster, more direct way to test antiretroviral regimen efficacy. Protease inhibitors, which attacked a different region of HIV than reverse transcriptase inhibitors, when used in combination with other antiretroviral agents were found to dramatically and significantly reduce the HIV RNA levels in the blood. Patients also experienced significant increases in CD4 T cell counts. For the first time in the epidemic, there was hope. It was hypothesized that with HAART, viral levels could be kept so low that the immune system as measured by CD4 T cell counts would be able to recover. If these viral levels could be kept low enough, it would be possible for the immune system to eradicate the virus. The hypothesis of immune reconstitution, that is bringing CD4 T cell counts up to levels seen in uninfected patients, is tested in Chapter Four. It was found that for these patients, there was not enough of a CD4 T cell increase to be consistent with the hypothesis of immune reconstitution.

In Chapter Five, the effectiveness of long-term HAART is analyzed. Survival analysis was conducted on 213 patients on long-term HAART. The primary endpoint was presence of an AIDS defining illness. A high level of clinical failure, or progression to an endpoint, was found.

Chapter Six yields insights into where we are going. New technology such as viral genotypic testing, that looks at the genetic structure of HIV and determines where mutations have occurred, has shown that HIV is capable of producing resistance mutations that confer multiple drug resistance. This section looks at resistance issues and speculates, ceterus parabis, where the state of HIV is going. This section first addresses viral genotype and the correlates of viral load and disease progression. A second analysis looks at patients who have failed their primary attempts at HAART and subsequent salvage therapy. It was found that salvage regimens, efforts to control viral replication through the administration of different combinations of antiretrovirals, were not effective in 90 percent of the population in controlling viral replication. Thus, primary attempts at therapy offer the best change of viral suppression and delay of disease progression. Documentation of transmission of drug-resistant virus suggests that the public health crisis of HIV is far from over. Drug resistant HIV can sustain the epidemic and hamper our efforts to treat HIV infection. The data presented suggest that the decrease in the morbidity and mortality due to HIV/AIDS is transient. Deaths due to HIV will increase and public health officials must prepare for this eventuality unless new treatments become available. These results also underscore the importance of the vaccine effort.

The final chapter looks at the economic issues related to HIV. The direct and indirect costs of treating HIV/AIDS are very high. For the first time in the epidemic, there exists treatment that can actually slow disease progression. The direct costs for HAART are estimated. It is estimated that the direct lifetime costs for treating each HIV infected patient with HAART is between $353,000 to $598,000 depending on how long HAART prolongs life. If one looks at the incremental cost per year of life saved it is only $101,000. This is comparable with the incremental costs per year of life saved from coronary artery bypass surgery.

Policy makers need to be aware that although HAART can delay disease progression, it is not a cure and HIV is not over. The results presented here suggest that the decreases in the morbidity and mortality due to HIV are transient. Policymakers need to be prepared for the eventual increase in AIDS incidence and mortality. Costs associated with HIV/AIDS are also projected to increase. The cost savings seen recently have been from the dramatic decreases in the incidence of AIDS defining opportunistic infections. As patients who have been on HAART the longest start to progress to AIDS, policymakers and insurance companies will find that the cost of treating HIV/AIDS will increase.

溶胶-凝胶光波导环形谐振腔的挥发性有机化合物传感特性

采用溶胶-凝胶法制作波导环形谐振腔, 讨论了环形谐振腔器件的传输特性。测量了在不同物质、不同体积分数的挥发性有机化合物(VOC)蒸气气氛下器件的传输光谱的敏感性。结果表明, 谐振波长随甲醇、乙醇、丙醇等醇类化合物, 以及丙酮、甲醛等蒸气体积分数的上升而向长波方向移动, 具有高的灵敏度, 且两者基本呈线性关系。其中, 对丙醇最敏感, 灵敏度达到1.403 pm/10-6。对甲烷和二甲苯也有微弱反应, 但是其灵敏度很低。也测量了水蒸气对传输谱特性的影响。观察到传输谱衬比度对不同挥发性有机化合物物质蒸气的不同敏

Development of Microfluidic Devices with the Use of Nanotechnology to Aid in the Analysis of Biological Systems Including Membrane Protein Separation, Single Cell Analysis, and Genetic Markers

Computation technology has dramatically changed the world around us; you can hardly find an area where cell phones have not saturated the market, yet there is a significant lack of breakthroughs in the development to integrate the computer with biological environments. This is largely the result of the incompatibility of the materials used in both environments; biological environments and experiments tend to need aqueous environments. To help aid in these development chemists, engineers, physicists and biologists have begun to develop microfluidics to help bridge this divide. Unfortunately, the microfluidic devices required large external support equipment to run the device. This thesis presents a series of several microfluidic methods that can help integrate engineering and biology by exploiting nanotechnology to help push the field of microfluidics back to its intended purpose, small integrated biological and electrical devices. I demonstrate this goal by developing different methods and devices to (1) separate membrane bound proteins with the use of microfluidics, (2) use optical technology to make fiber optic cables into protein sensors, (3) generate new fluidic devices using semiconductor material to manipulate single cells, and (4) develop a new genetic microfluidic based diagnostic assay that works with current PCR methodology to provide faster and cheaper results. All of these methods and systems can be used as components to build a self-contained biomedical device.

Parallel optical negabinary signed-digit computing: algorithm and optical implementation

Negabinary is a component of the positional number system. A complete set of negabinary arithmetic operations are presented, including the basic addition/subtraction logic, the two-step carry-free addition/subtraction algorithm based on negabinary signed-digit (NSD) representation, parallel multiplication, and the fast conversion from NSD to the normal negabinary in the carry-look-ahead mode. All the arithmetic operations can be performed with binary logic. By programming the binary reference bits, addition and subtraction can be realized in parallel with the same binary logic functions. This offers a technique to perform space-variant arithmetic-logic functions with space-invariant instructions. Multiplication can be performed in the tree structure and it is simpler than the modified signed-digit (MSD) counterpart. The parallelism of the algorithms is very suitable for optical implementation. Correspondingly, a general-purpose optical logic system using an electron trapping device is suggested. Various complex logic functions can be performed by programming the illumination of the data arrays without additional temporal latency of the intermediate results. The system can be compact. These properties make the proposed negabinary arithmetic-logic system a strong candidate for future applications in digital optical computing with the development of smart pixel arrays. (C) 1999 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(99)00803-X].

一种高性能硅片曝光场分布优化算法

以提高光刻机应用性能为目的，提出了一种高性能硅片曝光场分布优化算法。由芯片尺寸计算得到最佳曝光场尺寸，使其最接近于光刻机提供的曝光场最大尺寸，提高了曝光系统的利用率；引入曝光场交错分布，减少了硅片边缘曝光场的交叠，提高了光刻产率；建立产率优先和良率优先两种优化方案，实现了产率和良率的共优。以实际芯片产品的参量为例，将本算法用于曝光过程，采用产率优先标准，曝光场数量减少了10％，而内场数量基本不变，提高了光刻的产率也确保了良率；采用良率优先标准，内场数量增长了10％，总的场数也有所减少，提高了光刻良率的可靠

一种基于PSD器件的改进型角度测量方法

提出一种基于平行平板干涉仪的改进型角度测量方法。为了实现较大的偏转角度测量，该平行平板干涉仪引入了一位置探测系统。平面反射镜的引入提高了角度测量的分辨率。实验验证了可在近3度的范围内实现被测偏转角度的高精度测量。并且作为一位相调制型干涉仪，其小角位移测量实验的重复精度可达5.5×10^(-8)rad。

Large three-photon absorption cross-section in a novel class of bis-(N-carbazolyl) fluorene derivatives

Two novel symmetrical charge transfer fluorene derivatives (abbreviated as BCZF and BVCZF) with carbazole end-group as the donor moieties have been synthesized. Three-photon absorption cross-sections of these two compounds have been determined by using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pumped with 38 ps pulses at 1064 nm in DMF. The measured 3PA cross-sections are 140 x 10(-78) and 400 x 10(-78) cm(6) s(2) for BCZF and BVCZF, respectively. The geometries, electronic structures and electronic spectra of these two compounds are systematically studied by AM1 and ZINDO/S methods. On the basis of correct UV-vis spectra, the influence of different molecular structure on three-photon absorption cross-sections is discussed micromechanically. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calculations of bond dissociation energies and dipole moments in energetic materials using density-functional methods

We compare the effectiveness of six exchange/correlation functional combinations (Becke/Lee, Yang and Parr; Becke-3/Lee, Yang and Parr; Becke/Perdew-Wang 91; Becke-3/Perdew-Wang 91; Becke/Perdew 86; Becke-3/Perdew 86) for computing C-N, O-O and N-NO2 dissociation energies and dipole moments of five compounds. The studied compounds are hexabydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), dimethylnitramine, cyanogen, nitromethane and ozone. The Becke-3/Perdew 86 in conjunction with 6-31G

铒离子浓度对掺Er^3＋碲酸盐玻璃的Judd-Ofelt理论参数的影响

制备了四种不同铒离子掺杂浓度的碲酸盐玻璃，通过测定吸收光谱计算了吸收谱线的振子强度，根据Judd-Ofelt理论计算了不同浓度下Er^3＋离子发光光谱的强度参数Ω（i=2，4，6），计算了自发辐射电偶和磁偶跃迁概率、辐射寿命、荧光分支比等参数，讨论了Er^3＋离子浓度变化对以上这些参数的影响。测试了Er^3＋：^4I13／2→^4I15／2跃迁对应的荧光光谱和Er^3＋：^4I13／2能级荧光寿命。最后应用McCumber理论计算了玻璃中Er^3＋：^4I13／2→^4I15／2跃迁对应的受激发射截面大小

Investigation on upconversion luminescence in Er3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses and fibers

The upconversion properties of Er3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite glasses and glass fibers with D-shape cladding under 980 mu excitation were investigated. Intense emission bands centered at 531, 546 and 658 nm corresponding to the transitions Er3+: H-2(11/2) -> I-4(15/2) , S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2) and F-4(9/2) -> I-4(15/2), respectively, were observed at room temperature. Compared with that in Er3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite bulk glass, the upconversion luminescence becomes more efficient in the fiber geometry. The dependence of upconversion intensities on fiber geometry and possible upconversion mechanism are discussed and evaluated. The presented Er3+/Yb3+ codoped tellurite fibers with intense upconversion luminescence can be used as potential host materials for upconversion fiber lasers. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of CdF2 addition on thermal stability and upconversion luminescence properties in Tm3+-Yb3+ codoped oxyfluoride silicate glasses

Tm3+-Yb3+ codoped oxyfluoride silicate glasses suitable for upconversion laser has been fabricated. In this paper, effect of CdF2 addition on thermal stability and upconversion luminescence properties in Tm3+-Yb3+ codoped oxyfluoride silicate glasses have been systematically investigated. The experimental results indicate that, with the substitution CdF2 for PbF2, the glass thermal stability increases and the UV cutoff edge moves to short-wave band slightly. With increasing CdF2 content, the blue and red upconversion luminescence intensity increases slightly at first, and then increases rapidly. While the near infrared (NIR) upconversion emission intensity increases notably at first and then increases slightly. However, the blue and NIR luminescence intensity are much stronger than that of red, indicating these oxyfluoride silicate glasses are more preferable for blue and NIR emissions than red emission. The possible upconversion mechanisms for the blue, red and NIR fluorescence are also estimated and evaluated. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High Er3+ concentration low refractive index fluorophosphate glass for evanescent wave optical amplifiers

This is about the first reported laser glass with very low no, high Er3+ concentration and no quenching. In this work, a series of high Er3+ concentration (10.6-12.2 x 10(20) ions/cm(3)), low refractive index (n(1550) < 1.47) and relatively high fluorescence lifetime (6.8-12.6 ms) fluorophosphate glasses were made. A cw-pumping evanescent wave optical amplifier experiment was performed with it, and a relative gain of around 2dB at 1550 nm wavelength was achieved while the noise level was almost unchanged. To our knowledge, this is the first successful relative gain in evanescent wave optical amplifiers (EWOA) demonstrated with cw pumping. It is a valuable study of specially designed fluorophosphate glass suitable for EWOA communication experiment. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.