Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports

The ligand, L is the Schiff base formed by condensation of 1- naphthaldehyde with semicarbazide and its Cu(II) complex have been synthesized and characterized by elemental and thermogravimetric analysis and molar conductivity, magnetic and spectroscopic measurements. Elemental analysis of the chelate suggests the stoichiometry is 1:1 (metal-ligand). Infrared spectra of the complex agree with the coordination to the central metal atom through the nitrogen of the azomethine (-HC=N-) group and the carbonyl oxygen atom. Magnetic susceptibility data suggest a tetrahedral geometry for the complex. ESI-MS data also supports the proposed structure of the synthesized compounds. The ligand and its copper complex have been screened for their antibacterial activity against Enterobacter aerogenes and Bacillus cereus. The metal complex were shown to possess more antibacterial activity than the uncomplexed ligand.

Sweet potato (SP) popularly known as Ipomoea batatas, has played an important role as an energy and a phytochemical source in human nutrition and animal feeding as well as herbal medicine to treat inflammatory and infectious oral diseases in Nigeria. This research aims to evaluate the secondary metabolites (phytochemical), antioxidants and antimicrobial activities as well as proximate analysis and to determine the minerals content of sweet potato ethanolic leaf extracts. The screenings were performed for triterpenes, steroids, alkaloids, anthraquinones, coumarins, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and phenolic acids. The color intensity of the precipitate formation was used as analytical responses to these tests. The antioxidant capacity was evaluated and antimicrobial activity was done by agar well diffusion method. The phytochemical screening showed the presence of secondary metabolites. Alkaloids, saponin, cardiac glycosides, tannin, terpenoidand steriod respectively with the following values 13.649%, 2.545 mg/g, 8.271 mg/g, 4.726 mg/g, 6.888 mg/g and 0.276%. Flavonoids were 0.852 while negative results were obtained for phlobatannin and anthraquinone. Proximate analysis of SP leaf, moisture content(MC), crude fat (CF), crude protein (CP),ash content (ASH), cured fat (CFAT) and carbohydrate(CHO) as 32.98%, 0.725%, 14.953%, 5.863%, 0.319% and 45.16%, respectively. Ca, Mg, Fe, Na and K were the mineral contents determined for SP. The zones of inhibition of bacterial growth at different concentrations (100 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 25 mg/ml and 12.5 mg/ml) of SP leaf extracts showed the highest antibacterial activity to Salmonella typhi with 25 mm zones of inhibition at 100 mg/ml and lowest activity to Listeria monocytogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholea and Pseudomonas aeruginosa all with 20 mm zones of inhibition and 12.5 mg/ml. However, the leaf extracts had the lowest antimicrobial activity to Enterrococcus faecalis, with 7 mm diameter. SP leaves demonstrated the presence of secondary metabolites with potential biological activities. Therefore it can be concluded that bioactive components and antimicrobial activity of sweet potato leaf ethanol extract against bacteria show its medicinal value and supports the widespread use of the plant as local remedy for a variety of ailment.

Each year the members of PostEurop issue EUROPA stamps on a common theme. One new twist is that all stamp issuers in the PostEurop area are using the same motif. The 2016 year's theme was the environment. PostNord works actively to take environmental and sustainability responsibilities seriously and have set clear, measurable goals.

EUROPA stamps are special stamps issued by European postal administrations and bears the official EUROPA logo, a PostEurop registered trademark under the aegis of PostEurop in which Europe is the central theme. EUROPA stamps underlines cooperation in the posts domain, taking into account promotion of philately. They also build awareness of the common roots, culture and history of Europe and its common goals. As such, EUROPA stamp issues are among the most collected and most popular stamps in the world.

Since the first issue in 1956, EUROPA stamps have been a tangible symbol of Europe’s desire for closer integration and cooperation. In 1993, PostEurop became responsible for issuing EUROPA stamps. Each year, PostEurop's Stamps & Philately Working Group selects the EUROPA stamp theme. “Think green!” was the 2016 theme.

In this paper we propose an insight into the actual history of Europe preoccupations for environmental protection, and bring into limelight the significant concerns in promoting ecological educational via thematic issues (“Think green!” stamps). The main objective is to identify, index and describe the remain philatelic pieces issued in European countries, starting with the Iceland post administration issues and ending with ones from Vatican.

The study assesses the relevance of Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) programme competency on agricultural extension service delivery in North-Western Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 225 samples of the study. Two categories of respondents were used for data collection namely: SAFE beneficiaries (212) and lecturers’ in the departments of Agricultural Economics and Extension/Extension and Rural Sociology/Extension and Rural Development (13) of the three SAFE participating Universities in North-Western Nigeria. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics (such as percentage counts, means, standard deviation and ranking) and inferential statistics (Logit regression). The study revealed that job competencies identified were highly relevant to extension service delivery and the SAFE beneficiaries were competent enough to handle any agricultural extension role. More so, the beneficiaries had reported a lot of benefits derived from the programme such as increased extension knowledge, field demonstration, job integrity, increased salary and self-esteem. The study established significant influenced of the SAFE beneficiaries’ selected demographic characteristics on their job competency. The study concludes that SAFE programme had positively influenced job competencies and a lot of benefits are derived by the agricultural extension workers as a result of programme participation. The study further recommends that there is need for more female incorporated in agricultural extension services and inclusiveness of the SAFE programme curricula across the Universities in Nigeria.

This work focuses on valuation scheme of European and American options of single asset with meshless radial basis approximations. The prices are governed by Black – Scholes equations. The option price is approximated with three infinitely smooth positive definite radial basis functions (RBFs), namely, Gaussian (GA), Multiquadrics (MQ), Inverse Multiquadrics (IMQ). The RBFs were used for discretizing the space variables while Runge-Kutta method was used as a time-stepping marching method to integrate the resulting systems of differential equations. Numerical examples are shown to illustrate the strength of the method developed. The findings show that the RBFs has proven to be adaptable interpolation method because it does not depend on the locations of the approximation nodes which have overcome frequently evolving problems in computational finance such as slow convergent numerical solutions. Thus, the results allow concluding that the RBF-FD-GA and RBF-FD-MQ methods are well suited for modeling and analyzing Black and Scholes equation.