Forced Imbibition - a Tool for Determining Laplace Pressure, Drag Force and Slip Length in Capillary Filling Experiments

When a very thin capillary is inserted into a liquid, the liquid is sucked into it: this imbibition process is controlled by a balance of capillary and drag forces, which are hard to quantify experimentally, in particularly considering flow on the nanoscale. By computer experiments using a generic coarse-grained model, it is shown that an analysis of imbibition forced by a controllable external pressure quantifies relevant physical parameter such as the Laplace pressure, Darcy's permeability, effective pore radius, effective viscosity, dynamic contact angle and slip length of the fluid flowing into the pore. In determining all these parameters independently, the consistency of our analysis of such forced imbibition processes is demonstrated.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Kant and Heidegger on Environmental Ethics: A Comparative Study

Immanuel Kant is a German modern philosopher. His contribution to philosophy is that he reconciled rationalism and empiricism. However, Kant believes that human beings are the cause of environmental hazards and not animals directly. Martin Heidegger is a German contemporary philosopher. He is called “the philosopher of Beings”. He is not against science and technology but the abuse that destroy nature. From him, he says: “Let beings be”, The problem is that both Kant and Heidegger accept that human beings are the cause of environmental troubles. Humans are to be warned and they should know that we are only care takers of nature and we should not destroy it so that generations after us will not suffer. Our method is textual analysis. It means a critical look at the original works of Kant and Heidegger and commentaries written on them by other writers to discover the similarities and differences in our authors

In vivo Efficacy of Vernonia amygdalina (Compositae) Against Natural Helminth Infection in Bunaji (Bos indicus) Calves

Fifteen Bunaji calves (Bos indicus) averaging 105±12.5 Kg liveweight and approximately nine months of age with natural helminth infection were distributed into three treatment groups of five animals each. Animals were either treated orally with aqueous extract of Vernonia amygdalina at a dose concentration of 1.1g/Kg body weight, a conventional anthelmintic or left untreated. V. amygdalina treatment produced 59.5% reduction in eggs per gram (EPG) of faeces which was significantly different (P<0.001) from the untreated control (-17.24%), whereas levamisol hydrochloride treatment produced 100% reduction in EPG. A total of six genera of helminths were recovered from the gastrointestinal tracts and liver of experimental animals. These were Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus spp, Bunostomum spp, Oesophagostomum spp, Fasciola spp and Dicrocoelium spp. There was significant difference (P<0.001) in worm load between the different treatment groups. Except for Haemonchus spp, animals in the untreated group had significantly (P<0.001) higher worm load for all the genera of helminth recovered than those of the V. amygdalina treated group, indicating that V. amygdalina had no effect on Haemonchus contortus

The place of phenomenology and existentialism in African society, in particular, Nigeria: a philosophical analysis

Phenomenology and Existentialism represent an attitude or qualities that emphasize human existence, that is, the distinctive qualities of individual persons rather than man in the abstract or nature and the world in general. Phenomenology and Existentialism are closely related movements; this is because they revolt against the methods of traditional African society. However, we have a problem and the problem is that Phenomenology and Existentialism are personal and individualistic philosophy. How can it be relevant to the African society that is communal? In this work, we tried to make Phenomenology and Existentialism relevant to the African society, especially Nigeria judging from the fact that individual persons make up the community. Our method is a critical look at the works written on phenomenology and existentialism and also on Africa in order to discover the relevance in Nigeria.Keywords: Phenomenology, Existentialism, Africa, Nigeri

Martin Heidegger on Temporality: Its Moral Implication on Society

Martin Heidegger is one of the contemporary philosophers; he is a mystic reflecting on Being. He believes that all philosophers from ancient to contemporary periods had forgotten Being. His contribution to philosophy is to recover the real meaning of Being. For him, Being is spacio-temporal which means Being is anchored in space and time. According to Heidegger “Being” is a mystery that can be approached but it cannot be penetrated. Heidegger’s temporality includes: past, present and future and they are interconnected. Heidegger’s discussion on time as future does not involve lasting future but immediate future. Therefore, Heidegger’s temporality lacks “eternity”. Indeed, any society that the members accept only “now” and “immediate future” and they do not believe in “eternity” life becomes a do-or-die affair. It means that the society is materialistic, and we are running the race of self-survival, self-preservation, that we cannot donate for the welfare of others and also for good neighbourliness. Our method is to reflect on the original works of Heidegger and commentaries written on him by other authors to see the implications for the society

The effects of liquidity and share restrictions on hedge fund performance in bull and bear markets

Hedge funds are increasingly becoming a popular alternative investment vehicle. They are much more flexible and can freely choose from a pool of investment strategies due to their limited regulations. This gives them the flexibility to exploit opportunities in order to generate high returns at low risk. In order to have access to the freedom and flexibility to engage in different investment strategies, hedge funds often impose share restrictions in the form of lockup, redemption notice period and redemption frequency period to limit the ease with which investors can have access to their investment (limited liquidity). In this study, we evaluate the effects that share restriction could have on the performance of hedge funds in both crisis and non-crisis periods. We find that consistent with previous studies hedge fund performance is positively related with share restrictions. That is, funds that impose stricter share restriction have a better performance in terms of returns and alphas. This is especially seen in the non-crisis period where funds that are more illiquid are able to generate and illiquidity premium for investors to reward them for limiting their investment. However, in the crisis period we find out that this illiquidity premium changes into an illiquidity discount. We also find that funds that impose stricter share restrictions are more volatile and are more likely to take on more risky investment in order reap an illiquidity premium. Our results show a positive correlation between the three share restrictions. Thus, in our study we find that funds that impose one share restriction are more likely to impose the others. Hedge funds with stricter share restriction mostly invest in illiquid assets. We find that the underperformance of illiquid funds during the crisis was majorly driven by styles consisting mostly of illiquid funds such as relative value and event driven styles. We also investigate the performance of funds with an asset-liability mismatch- funds holding a combination of illiquid asset portfolios and weak share restrictions. Our findings suggest that funds that have an asset-liability mismatch perform particularly poorly during the crisis and that there are possibilities to prevent an asset-liability mismatch by ensuring a proper alignment of share restrictions with asset portfolio liquidity. This study contributes to previous academic studies by investigating whether after the crisis period hedge funds yielded comparatively high returns as prior to the crisis period. We compare hedge funds returns from before, during and after the crisis to see if during the period preceding the crisis hedge funds continued reaping high return as they did prior to the crisis. We do this to prevent generalizing the effect of share restrictions on hedge fund performance to all market conditions. The results from our contribution shows that just like most industries the hedge fund industry did not earn as high returns as they did before the crisis (even though they had positive returns). It seems that they were struck severely by the financial crisis and have been unable to pick up quickly to where they were (in terms of returns) prior to the financial crisi

Altruism, Its Relevance for the Individual in the Contemporary Society: A Philosophical Perspective

In our contemporary society, people no longer care for others, not because of the recession but because they are egotistic. The individuals are only after what they can gain or collect from other people without rendering any service and this is problematic. In this work, we are to reject and correct this bad behaviour in our society and introduce “altruism” which means selfless-concern for others. This is because life is not only about duration but is all about donation. Our method is textual analysis. It is a critical look at what is written on altruism, egoism, universalistic life in order to know what Altruism really is and how it can influence the individual in the society so that the world can be a better place.Key words: Altruism, Egoism, Universalistic and societ

The effect of European Merger and acquisition deals on firms performance in the crisis and pre-crisis period

Mergers and Acquisitions are considered as one of the most important corporate events for a company’s growth strategy. This concept dates as far back as the early 1900s, when it began on a domestic scale. In this study, we evaluate the effect of M&A deals on firm performance in the crisis and pre-crisis period. We intend to figure out whether the financial crisis presented a great increase to the bargaining power of business entities in the European financial market. We do this through examining the stock performance surrounding the days leading to the announcement of an M&A deal. We then turn to divide our data into two to examine the separate effect of M&A’s in the crisis and pre-crisis period on the returns to both target and acquiring firms. Next we look at the role that a particular method of M&A financing and industry relatedness play in determining the CAR of acquirer and target firms around the M&A announcement. Firstly, we find with our full sample of 181 M&A deals that in general M&A’s have a positive effect on the performance of the target and acquirer firm although the positive effect is more pronounced (significant) for the target firm than for the acquirer firm. Secondly, we investigate the separate effect of a crisis and pre-crisis period on the CAR of the acquirer and target around the announcement day. We find that Acquirer firms earn positive CAR in the crisis period but they turn negative in the pre-crisis period. However, for the target firms, we find significantly positive CARs during the pre-crisis period than during the crisis period. Thirdly, we investigate the effect that a chosen method of financing will have on the acquirer’s performance during the crisis period and find more highly positive CARs for the acquirer’s that use cash instead of stock as a means of financing their deals. Therefore during the crisis, cash financed deals have a more positive impact on the acquirer’s performance than do stock financed deals. We finally turn to look at the effect of the direction of a firm’s diversification on its performance during the financial crisis period, and find that during the crisis period acquisition made in related industries have a positive effect on the acquiring firm’s performance. The CAR to the acquirer for acquiring targets in unrelated industries is negative which implies that during the crisis period acquisition made in unrelated industries have a negative effect on the acquiring firm’s performance. In a nutshell, we see that most of our results are in line with previous empirical studies. The result of this thesis is beneficial for both institutional and individual investors as they might be prone to a lot of lemon investment if they don’t meticulously scan the M&A market. In accordance with the signaling theory, investors can now have an idea about the current and future condition of the acquiring firm. Investors should be on the lookout for firms that use more cash financing than equity financing since the use of cash is a signal of good new but the use of stock is a signal of bad new to investors. Also acquirers should not relent in their due diligence process especially during the crisis period when it would prove to be most valuable. By undergoing a proper due diligence process acquirer are sure to make accurate and informative decision that may have a positive impact on their overall performance

The Problem of Being in Hegel

The answer to the question &#8216;what is being&#8217;? it is a difficult question. The difficulty comes because the term &#8220;being&#8221; has different understanding right from ancient to contemporary period. But we have a problem and the person who created this problem is Parmenides of Elea who says being &#8220;is&#8221; and non-being &#8220;is not&#8221;. This problem continues among philosophers those who accepted Parmenides position and those who rejected it. But it was Hegel who attempted to give solution to this problem by saying that in being there is non-being.LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 9(3), 235-246, 201

Improving Community Healthcare: A Qualitative Evaluation Of The Neighborhood Team Model In West Essex

A qualitative study was conducted to evaluate the Neighbourhood Team Model of the National Health Service in West Essex. The West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) initiated the community healthcare-based neighbourhood teams in West Essex in October 2015. A neighbourhood team consists of all levels of health and social care providers but is concentrated on a smaller, local population. The proposed Neighbourhood Team Model was developed to allow providers to better deliver efficient patient-centred healthcare. For the past six months, the West Essex CCG encountered challenges in implementing the model to seven local areas within West Essex. To evaluate the progress of this initiative, 24 participants were purposely selected for interviews to assess the challenges and potential for the Neighbourhood Team Model. Participants consisted of key stakeholders from the West Essex CCG, primary care, the voluntary sector, social care, and one of the main health centres in West Essex, Princess Alexandra Hospital. Ten major themes, 30 sub-themes, and over 30 practical suggestions for the implementation of the model were identified through the interview transcripts