Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

6-18

Authors: Kemal Çelik, Ahmet Bozkurt

Seasonal dynamics in the zooplankton community and its relations with certain physicochemical parameters (water temperature, Secchidisk transparency, conductivity, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), pH and chlorophyll-a) were studied in the eutrophic Ikizcetepeler Reservoir from February 2007 to March 2008. Daphnia longispina, Bosmina longirostris, Ceriodaphnia pulcella and Cyclops vicinus was dominant throughout the year; Acanthocyclops robustus was dominant in fall and summer and Asplanchna priodonta was dominant in fall and spring at all stations. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that Cyclops vicinus had high correlations to water temperature, Bosmina longirostris and Daphnia longispina were correlated to pH the dominant species were cosmopolitan and characteristic to the eutrophic temperate lake zooplankton community members.

29-34

Authors: Hazim Moria, Taib Iskandar Mohamad, Fayez Aldawi

Solar simulator plays a vital role in the research and development of solar photovoltaic, solar thermal and builds environment. Producing uniformity in spatial, temporal and spectral radiation distribution are the key parameters when developing a solar simulator so the sun radiation is matched as closely as possible in the laboratory environment. This paper presents a development of a solar simulator for education and research purpose. The objective is to achieve a uniform spatial distribution of radiation from a set of halogen lamps. The simulator was built with eight 500W halogen lamps powered by typical domestic 220V source. The lamps are connected in two parallel four-in-series arrangement and placed perpendicularly from each other about halogen bulb axis. The distance between lamp reflectors edge was varied and total radiation measured by a pyranometer at various distance from the lamp. The findings showed that the optimal distance between reflector edges is 0.15 m which produced good spatially uniform radiation between 500 and 1100 W/m2 at distance between 0.20 and 0.40 cm within the test area of 0.4 m2.

42-57

Authors: Dodi Kosrianto, Mulyo Puji Hadi, Humiras Hardi Purba

Lately the mining industry experienced a shock that was superb ranging from a ban on exports from the government to the commodity prices continue to fall every year it makes the mining industry is increasingly sluggish as to be able to survive the company should be able to improve the competitiveness of its manner of efficiency on all fronts, a good strategy and improve company performance. To achieve the PT. Riung Mitra Lestari implementing performance measurement balanced scorecard method that aims to design a good performance management system and determine measures and policies that will take the company forward. Balanced scorecard has four perspectives: financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business perspective and the perspective of learning and growth perspectives of four can conclude PT. Riung Mitra Lestari experiencing poor conditions in the financial and internal business, namely financial and production continues to decline but had excellent conditions on customers and growth is by increasing award received by the company as well as increased investment HR 15% annually with the training activity is controlled.

61-69

Authors: Achebe CH, Ohiafi BO, Chukwuneke JL, Obika EN

Analysis of coolant usage during turning operation of mild steel was carried out to determine the coolant ratio required to improve productivity at a spindle speed of 1000 rpm and a feed rate of 0.5 rev/min. Different coolant ratios of 1:100, 1:50, 1:30, 1:25, 1:20, 1:15, 1:10, were experimented upon and it was found from analysis using surface response and regression analysis that 1:30 gave the optimum coolant ratio using the HSS cutting tool of specification (14x14x200) on mild steel work piece with respect to the conventional coolant ratio of 1:20 frequently used by machinists. It was observed from the experiment that coolant ratios of 1:30, 1:25, 1:20, 1:15 and 1:10 have a constant wear of 0.01g at a depth of cut of 0.6mm while from the analysis; it was found that optimum depth of cut was at 0.2mm to 0.4mm using coolant ratios of 1:30 to 1:10. Also, at depth of cut of 0.6mm to 0.8mm in coolant ratios of 1:100 to 1:50, the wear was more rapid and was observed to be stable at coolant ratios of 1:30 to 1:10; hence, it was seen that depth of cut and coolant ratio had a significant effect on tool wear.

75-80

Authors: Kura AM

The motives behind Nigeria’s interest in biofuel production, includes to decrease the huge capital it spend on procuring refine petrol from abroad, to enable the country reduce its harmful emission into the environment and also the expectation that the bioethanol project would serve as an avenue for stimulating sustainable socioeconomic development especially in the rural areas of the country. But In the developing countries cassava is an important source of carbohydrate for nearly 500 million people more especially in Nigeria where about 90 percent of the 40 million metric tonnes of cassava output is used as food by the vast majority of the poor people living in both rural and urban centres. Moreover there are other industrial demand for the cassava as raw materials for producing other products such as glue, pharmaceuticals, starch, confectionaries etc. Therefore the study conclude that the production of bioethanol from cassava feedstock is unsustainable and may pose threat to food security in Nigeria.

86-92

Authors: Abubakar Fu’ad Abubakar, Ibrahim Umaru, Isa Zubairu

Black cotton soil (BCS) has been described as problematic soil because of significant amounts of clay minerals present in it. Its swell-shrink movement has been reported to pose serious problems to engineering structures. This paper looked into the influence of adding sand to BCS (0-100 %, by dry weight of soil sample at 10 % interval) on compaction characteristics and properties of the soil. The study utilized three different compaction standards: British Standard Light (BSL), British Standard Heavy (BSH) and West African Standard (WAS). Index properties of the natural soil sample showed that the soil is clay of high plasticity or CH, which is of poor engineering benefits. There was a gradual decrease in liquid limit (from 50 % to 29.4 %) and plasticity index (from 30 %to19.9 %) of BCS as sand content of the mixture was increased from 0 to 100 %respectively. The Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) of BCS-sand mixture decreased by 48.8 %, 57.1 % and 41.1 % while the Maximum Dry Density (MDD) increased by about 20.4 %, 14.3 % and 15.4 % for BSL, BSH and WAS respectively. The study recommended the addition of 10-100 % [at least 10%] sand to the natural BCS for use as sub-grade layer, but not for sub-base or lateritic base layers in highway construction.

101-112

Authors: Ricardo Daher Oliveira, Carlos Cesar Ronchi, Nehemias Pinto Bandeira

This study investigates if an association exists among the level of the knowledge management organization, manifested by the managerial practices adopted by the studied companies, and the consolidation of the programs of total quality. Growing competitiveness and the need of maintenance of the strategic positions makes the modern company constantly seek the application of models, techniques and managerial practices that look for get better and to monitor the acting that companies. Among these, the programs of administration of the quality became an important tool for the improvement of processes and transfer interns of the knowledge organization. This study identifies and compares managerial practices used in different areas that organizations of companies certified and not certified by International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The sample is composed of fifty six (56) companies, being twenty-seven (27) certified and twenty-nine (29) not certified. In general, the results suggest that the group of certified companies presents a larger index of adoption of the investigated managerial practices, as well as a larger perception of the usefulness of these you practice. However, some differences arise when the comparison is made at the level of the organization area, suggesting that certain areas are more important than other in a context of quality control and certification. The results also demonstrate that the difference in adoption terms and usefulness of the practice managerial is sensitive to the size of the companies and the industrial section. For instance, the difference is larger and more significant among companies certified and not certified of small and medium size, as well as within companies of the section of services, as in the case of companies of the engineering section and building site (construction).

116-124

Authors: Camilius A Sanga, Joseph PhillipoMasamaki, Kadeghe G Fue, Malongo R. Mlozi, Siza D Tumbo

This paper presents results from the application of Open Data System to improve coverage of agricultural extension services using web-based and mobile-based farmers’ advisory information Ushaurikilimo in Kilosa District. The research adopted a participatory action research method to develop the interventions. The findings from this study show that farmers and other actors get timely, relevant and personalized advisory services. The user interface of the Open System hosting Open Data is in Swahili language, a language widely spoken in the study area, which enhanced adoption of the system. The Open System did not require farmers and other actors to pay for the services, which motivated to attract farmers and actors to adopt the system. In order to lower the cost of implementing the project, agricultural extension officers in study villages were used to receive questions from farmers and provided answers, and sent difficulty questions to experts from Sokoine University of Agriculture to answer via their mobile phones.

131-138

Authors: M Zulman Harja Utama, Sunadi, Widodo Haryoko

In 2013 production reached 71,279,709 Mg of dry grain milled (DGM) equivalent to 44,528,434 Mg of rice consumption. Data from the Ministry of Health, shows approximately 100 million people in Indonesia, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies (iron and iodine) because of their inability to purchase nutritious food, but only rely on the nutrition of rice. Deficiency of iron (Fe) in the child, will lead to anemia, recurrent infections, lower intelligence, emotional disturbances, and even can cause permanent brain damage. In-Indonesia about 30-60% of the child under five years old and pregnant women who suffer from the deficiency of micronutrients. The high level of the national rice consumption reaches 137 kg capita-1 year-1, is an opportunity to correct micronutrient deficiencies, especially iron by the method of bio-fortification, with cultivation rice plants in paddy fields of new openings that are rich in iron (Fe) soluble. The research objective is to increase productivity in the fields of new opening gripped Fe, with a target of >7 Mg ha-1 with bio-fortification methods to harvest rice high iron levels with targets of >30 mg kg-1. The results showed that the application of packet technology to increase production and iron levels in rice grain with the method of bio-fortification, show the results as follows: 1) The number of tillers that is highest in Inpari 29 variety in the control treatment, the number of seedlings reached 114.69 tillers; 2) Production of the highest DGM produced Mekongga varieties with coconut water treatment, namely 7,417.9 Mg; and 3) the levels of iron in grains, on all varieties with PGR treatments, show the results between 18.8-36.2 mg kg-1. Information application technology package (varieties tolerant + ameliorant piles of 10 Mg ha-1 + spacing of the square [(10 x 10cm) x 25 cm x 10x10cm)] so that per clumps are 4 seed + young seedling age 10 days + PGR) in SRI method can be used to increase production and iron content in the grains by the method of bio-fortification on land seized Fe.

145-152

Authors: Laila A Guirguis, Nagwa I Falilia

Some phosphatic salts are prepared from the purified industrial phosphoric acid. Namely sodium ammonium phosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate and potassium magnesium phosphate. The structure of each product was confirmed by means of infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), EDAX and complete chemical analysis. The obtained results indicate that the prepared salts could be a suitable material. Chemical analyses of these products are in close agreement with their theoretical value.

156-162

Authors: Zahra’a S. R. Al-Shamsi, Abbas H. Mohammed1, Hamid T. Al-Saad

In The present study we determined the concentrations of eight heavy metals ( Lead, Nickel, Copper, Chrome, Zinc, Cobalt, Cadmium and Iron) in exchangeable phase by using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS)‎ for sediment core at six stations along Shatt Al-Arab estuary they are: ‎( Al-Qurna, Al-Deer, Al-Qarma, Al-Ashar, Abu-Alkasib and Al-Fao ). The Total Organic Carbon (TOC %) and Grain Size were also analyzed. The results obtained for the sediment samples were high except ‎for ‎Cd ‎and Co which were ‎relatively low. They were followed in ‎order as: Fe >‎Cr > Ni > Zn >‎Pb>‎Cu > Co > Cd.‎ Higher concentrations of some ‎heavy metals in sediments indicated that the sediments acted as a sink ‎and source for these metals. Also we observed decreasing values with ‎increasing depth because these layers are ‎oldest age so the ‎decomposition processes took place for a long time as compared ‎with ‎the layers above it. The lowest mean concentration in some stations ‎because of the fewness sources of pollution in this region whereas the ‎highest mean‎ concentration in other stations such as Al-Ashar and Al-‎Fao station because of the‎re are a lot of pollution sources such as : ‎Sewage pollutants, Industrial wastes, Oil Pollution (Al-Muftia oil ‎refineries ) and Municipal Wastes ( Al-Ashar river ). The highest ‎rate of Total Organic Carbon recorded in Al-Qarma amounted to ‎‎(1.67%) ‎while the lowest rate recorded in Al-Fao (0.049%) due to the ‎lack of ‎pollution sources in this region. The Grain Size of sediment were ‎‎ also analyzed, the silt and clay was predominate in‎ most of the study ‎stations. There is mainly a significant Correlation between metals and ‎Total Organic Carbon ‎and there is no significant Correlation ‎with grain ‎size.

173-187

Authors: SM Abo-Dahab, Mohamed IA Othman, Ohoud NS Alsebaey

In the present paper, we introduced the coupled theory, Lord–Schulman theory, and Green–Lindsay theory to study the rotation on a two-dimensional problem of thermoelasticity subject to thermal loading by a laser pulse. The material is a homogeneous isotropic elastic half-space and is heated by a non-Gaussian laser beam with a pulse. The method applied here is to use normal mode analysis to solve a thermal shock problem. Deformation of a body depends on the nature of the force applied as well as the type of boundary conditions. Numerical results for the temperature, displacement, and thermal stress components are given and illustrated graphically in the presence of rotation, reinforcement, and for different values of time.

200-206

Authors: Rizal Ferdiansyah, Indra Sagita, Humiras Hardi Purba

Two of the fundamental aspects of a company's operations are the performance management and continuous improvement. Similarly, in the warehouse activity, performance measurement is required. This research is to develop a balanced scorecard model used for internal performance measurement warehouse at PT. Multi Indocitra, Tbk. In this study, it was carried out deployment strategy from business strategy to warehouse strategy. Balanced scorecard was used in this study because the developed basic concept translates a vision, mission and strategy of the company into determining scorecard objectives and measures. Measurement of performance should be monitored periodically. The results of this study showed that it was needed a handling related to four aspects of the balanced scorecard that exist in the KPI of a company.

222-227

Authors: Yuri L Menshikov, Margarita S Barannik

The problem of construction of the adequate mathematical description of real dynamic process by a method of identification is considered. Two basic approaches for the solution of this problem are offered. On the basis of real measurements the synthesis of the adequate mathematical description is suggested for dynamic systems with the inexactly defined mathematical model. The example was given.

233-237

Authors: Hasan Keleş

In this study, the matrix division that I described in 2010, is brought on developments in measurement and evaluation. Mathematics education takes the goals the development of thought and finalization. Therefore; the role multiple division (division of matrix) is very important. Today, there are one 1st, one 2nd and 3the,… in the scoring system of the Group. This operation explains 1st, 2nd and 3the ,… in the scoring system of the group. Thus avoided fragility of success. This process reveals the diversity of different individuals. If considering the growing population and its functions then solidarity and improving their success soul in society, by destroying the vicious bickering, continues integrity and continuity in education.

252-261

Authors: Chukwuedozie N Ezema, Eric C Okafor, Christiana C Okezie

Just in Time systems are kanban-controlled production systems where the flow of material is controlled by the presence or absence of a kanban, and where kanbans travel in the system according to certain rules. Kanban means signal card or token. Kanban cards represent a visual control tool that regulates the flow of materials between cells and aim to respond to demand by delivering parts and products Just-in-Time. Therefore, it is a method of controlling the flow of information between the workstations while eliminating the WIP levels. The essence of kanban-controlled production systems is to use single or multiple closed loops to provide information flow feedback using kanbans. By doing this, the systems keep tight controls over inventory levels, while providing satisfactory production rates. To achieve the goals of this research, stochastic mathematical models and efficient analytical methods for evaluating the performance of systems are required. The actual system must be totally modeled and simulated. Secondly, issues concerning the structure of JIT systems that employ the previously studied Common Frequency Routing (CFR) problems will be explored to understand their impacts on operational costs of the system. Finally, a discrete event simulation model will be developed to study the JIT system by looking at different types of variations in demand and studying their impacts on the stability of inventory levels in the system. The integrated simulation model is tested and validated by analysis of variance. The optimum (most fitted) JIT design is developed and tested by modeling actual system’s limitations and its dynamic behavior. The framework is applied and tested for a just-in-time production line (Juhel Drug Process Plant).

269-271

Authors: Kanzari S

The study of the risks of groundwater contamination is a major issue in the semi-arid regions. However, the role of the unsaturated zone is often overlooked in the assessment of groundwater recharge. In this paper, a literature review is presented to show the important role of the soil unsaturated zone in the process of groundwater recharge in semi-arid regions.

279-288

Authors: Ohimor E. Onoghwarite, Ndirika V.I. Obiora, Eke A. Ben

Bioethanol production involves the fermentation of feedstock from raw lignocellulosic biomass to chemical fuel via biological routes. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was considered as a tool to represent the optimization of ethanol production as a function of the fermentation independent variables i.e. fermentation temperature and time, pH of the hydrolysate and yeast concentration (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), in a batch fermentation. The effect of fermentation independent variables and their combined interactions on the production of bioethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated to improve the bioethanol fermentation performance. The interactions of the fermentation independent variables using RSM indicated that the highest yield could be reached near the center point of the operating conditions. The range of temperatures, time and pH were established to optimize the fermentation condition by RSM which could save experiment times and cost.

298-306

Authors: Zoltán Kapros, István Farkas

The spread of smart metering to improve energy efficiency can be an important tool. One of the most related advantages is the possibility to achieve some demand response to a GHG emission reduction at system level. The spectacular decrease in the cost of solar small scale systems causes previously unthinkable levels of growth of the photovoltaic (PV) electricity production capacity. Therefore, the resulting distribution network problems and related higher costs hinder the further growth. Game theoretic approaches to the problems are still missing. Opportunities in the smart meters have not yet used to prevent the spread of difficulties. The smart tariffs have great potential to influence the deployment, so the grid problems can be reduced before the occurrence. In this paper it will be examined by net metering systems that a defined tariff structure which encourages a PV systems for sizing to winter maximum globally could be useful or not. Furthermore, the purpose of the investigation is bringing ideas to stimulate further thinking.

312-317

Authors: Fayez Aldawi, Hazim Moria, Taib Iskandar Mohamad, Firoz Alam

For global warming and climatic change, the residential houses are used by the greenhouse gas which will consume more amount of fossil fuel energy. This energy is used for heating/cooling the house inside and some energy is waste or lost through the house wall. The modern house requires more space because of this energy efficient can reduce the dependency on fossil fuel at the same time the smart house wall systems are required to get better energy conservation. Here the study was considered on different climatic zones with all major cities. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare their performances with a conventional house envelope. The performance of heat loss through the wall has been evaluated using modeling software.

324-332

Authors: Adiela UP, Omoboriowo AO, Acra EJ

This study examined the application of 3-D seismic and well log data for proper optimization and development of hydrocarbon potential in “ABI” field of Niger-Delta Province. For accurate reservoir modelling and property determination, three well logs and seismic data of 1560 to 1800 Xline and 6800 to 7200 Inline ranges were used to delineate reservoirs of interest and to determine the average petrophysical properties of the reservoirs. The data were conditioned for interpretation using Petrel software. These delineated reservoirs found in each well were then correlated across the field. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of 3-D static modeling technique as a tool for better understanding of spatial distribution of discrete and continuous reservoir properties, hence, has provided a framework for future prediction of reservoir performance and production behavior of the reservoirs. However, appraisal wells should be drilled within the identified prospect areas to enhance optimization of the reservoir.

342-351

Authors: Grant C Amadi, Okechukwu S Amadi, Sam B Kalagbo

The basic problems of social existence arise in the fact that men of unequal abilities, needs and desires interact and share from the limited resources of nature. Social contradictions are mostly products of the inability of society to determine the best criteria for the distribution of these resources to these different individuals. The questions that a social engineer must answer can be summarized as thus: Does trying to make men of different abilities equal justice if not, what is the basis for the determination of criteria for sharing social values? On what basis inimically or harmoniously is equality related to justice? This piece attempts to show, through the philosophies of Mill and Marx, that equality and justice are naturally and conjugally linked to one another, and thus mutually orchestrating. It argues that where there is no equality, there is no justice which is the most consequential function of society.

356-365

Authors: Antai, Raphael Eduk

In Nigeria, like many developing nations, the causes of air pollution are legion: aggravated bush burning, combustion, gas flaring, improper disposal of domestic and industrial wastes; pollution through oil spillage; car exhausts, unsanitary and unsafe housing, etc. All these affect human well-being especially health and socio-economic well-being of the people of the Niger Delta in Nigeria in particular and in the world as a whole. Therefore, this paper highlights the dimensions, nature and characteristics of these phenomena and further examines the implications of air pollution on the health and socio-economic well-being of the people of Uyo in the Niger Delta.

378-386

Authors: Ette Harrison Etuk

Many economic and business time series exhibit seasonal tendencies. Analytical techniques for such series which take into account these tendencies have engaged the attention of researchers of recent. One such modelling technique is the Box- Jenkins seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) technique. A novel algorithm is hereby proposed. This algorithm which is based on autoregressive-moving average duality arguments is applied to model daily exchange rates of the British pound sterling and the European Euro currencies. The data analyzed are 178 daily pound/euro exchange rates 13th December 2015 to 7th June 2016. Application of the algorithm using the SARIMA(1,1,1)x(1,1,1)7 template as proposed yields a SARIMA(1,1,1)x(0,1,1)7 model. Further 8 values from 8th June to 15th June 2016 are used for out-of-sample comparison of observations with forecasts. The adequacy of the chosen model is not in doubt since the residuals are uncorrelated and are normally distributed. Moreover out-of-sample forecasts closely agree with the observed values. This additive-multiplicative model may be used for forecasting and simulation purposes.

390-397

Authors: Fatemeh Rezaee, Sayed Gholamreza Jalali Naini, Ahmad Makui, Saeed

This paper presents the exports role as an opportunity in the economic development of a country. Then using the gravity model was analyzed the export competition and Interactions of competitors. The gravity model was estimated using the annual International data from 2001-2013 by Panel Data. Thus, was considered factors such as cost of transportation and economic items in the expression of export. Finally, to determine the case study after many searches pistachio was chosen. Taking advantage of the model is focused interactions between Iran and America on export of pistachio. And finally export was forecasted in 2018. The results obtained show that the export of both countries is increasing, but the export rate of Iran is decline while it is rising for America. Distance parameter as transport costs represent was recognized the important factor affecting the export. Iran should use marketing strategies such as promotion and quality improve to maintain their own place.

405-409

Authors: Okwelle P Chijioke, Wordu Chiduhiegem C.R.

The study examined the challenges of unemployment among technologists in Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of both technology educators and managers of industry operating in Rivers State. A total of 560 respondents (360 technology educators and 200 managers of industries) was the sample of the study selected through purposive sampling technique. One research question was posed and one hypothesis formulated for this study. A structured questionnaire validated and with reliability coefficient of 0.78 was the instrument used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using statistical mean to answer the research question while z-test was used to test the null hypothesis at 5% level of significance. The result showed that unemployment among technologists is as a result of factors such as lack of technical skill and creativity, engagement or recruitment of expatriates, lack of support, over dependence on white collar jobs than blue collar jobs and discrimination between technologists and their engineers’ counterparts in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that supports, aids and grants should be given to Nigerian technologists for self-reliance; Nigerian polytechnics should endeavour to properly implement the polytechnic curricula; Government and society should patronize Nigerian technological products and services; Private sectors should enter into partnership with technologists and its association for the training, research and development purposes among others.

421-425

Authors: Salisu I. Kunya, Sadiq G. Abdu, Muhammad Y. Onimisi

The result of total cross section for electron strontium collision shows the dependence on energy ranging from 100e V to 1000e V. The numerical calculations were performed with eikonal approximation and the FORTRAN Code developed by Koonin and Meredith (1989). The results obtained were significant at higher energies.

433-445

Authors: Kalidou Mamadou SY, Alassane DIENE, Séni TAMBA, Marcel SitorDIOUF, Ibrahima DIATTA, Mayoro DIEYE, Youssou TRAORE, Grégoire SISSOKO

The resolution of the transcendental equation connecting, junction and back surface recombination velocities (Sf, Sb), minority carrier diffusion coefficient (D) and base thickness (H) obtained from silicon solar cell transient decay, has shown theoretical and experimental limits. This paper deals with transient study, that takes into account the temperature effect trough out, diffusion coefficient D(T) as function of temperature and both, junction and back surface recombination velocities respectively Sf(T) and Sb(T). The time t0(T) indicates the moment that fundamental mode predominates over the harmonics is shown.

452-453

Authors: Matthew N. O. Sadiku, Sarhan M. Musa, Sudarshan R. Nelatury

As governments and organizations around the world move their services and transactions online, there is the need for regulation. Digital law is digital responsibility for actions and deeds online. It deals with issues on the intersection of law and the Internet. This paper provides a brief introduction to the concept of digital law.

460-464

Authors: Datukun Kalamba Aristarkus, Sellappan Palaniappan, Tatchanaamoorti Purnshatman

This paper is about the computer network of Plateau State University Bokkos, which is located in Plateau State, Nigeria, in the western part of Africa. The existing network topology of Plateau State University Bokkos (PSU) was a concern, resulting to poor internet service delivery. It was investigated via interview and observation, designed and simulated for performance outputs, towards proposing a topology for improving network performance. The interview questions used for existing network is also used for the intending topology and is presented in the appendix. This is being used to collect the network data of the proposed topology and was confirmed with the observed data. The topography of the University was observed for specific characterization of the proposed topology and subjected to technical critism for customer satisfaction. Hence, this paper presents the matrix formulation for binary matrix representation of the graph model of the proposed topology. The graph model is being generated from the obtained binary matrix, manually derived by applying the formulated matrix that was formulated from the tabulated network data that characterized the intending topology. The graph model is further generated by keying the binary matrix into online software (graphonline.ur) and presented for physical design, configuration and simulation for performance outputs.

468-472

Authors: Galal Ahmed Al Askari, Ezzy Ahmed Faqeh

This research paper investigated the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of twenty dates syrup (Dibs) samples from Hodaidah regions. The microbiological characteristics evaluated were total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, total coliforms, moulds and yeasts while the physicochemical properties were pH, moisture content, ash content and electrical conductivity, total solids, total solids soluble, protein content and fiber. Results showed that good properties of dates syrup (Dibs) were produced in two regions from Hodaidah Governorate. There was significant difference in the pH of the Dibs samples obtained from different regions. Minimum pH of 4.50 was observed from Dibs sample collected from AL- GahAlala`a, while the highest pH value of 4.63 was from Dibs collected from AL- GahAlasfal. Electrical conductivity varied from 31.3 and 78.4 μS/cm while moisture content between 18.2% to 22.7%, the values of ash content varied in the range of 1.79 and 2.8 % and the total sugar contents of the sample varied between 74.7 and 78.8 %. Results of the microbiological characteristics showed that the microbial profile was very low for all the microorganisms studied. The TAMB varied from 100–6x103 cfu g-1 whereas total coliform and yeast were not detected in any of the samples while moulds were also present at low counts in all the Dibs samples obtained from two regions .These results obtained indicate that the investigated product is suitable for internal and external marketing.

479-487

Authors: AA Feyzullayev, DA Hüseynov, I Lerche

Results are given of geochemical studies of oils and pyrolysis of core samples from fields of the Middle-Kura depression. The majority of the studied oils originated from organic matter deposited in a saline lacustrine environment with some terrestrial input. Slight differences in the steranes and hopane distributions together with a lack of -carotane of the West Gyurzundag-1, Palantekian-2 oils were established. Based on biomarker data, rock pyrolysis and paleo- and recent temperature conditions the oils in the Middle Kura basin were generated from middle mature Tertiary (and probably also from Cretaceous) sediments.

494-501

Authors: Odiongenyi AO, Essien NB, Ukpe RA

Rheological and Fourier transformed infra red spectroscopy methods were used to characterized and compared starches extracted from corn with that of the commercial food starch, imported into Nigeria. The aim of the study was to source for possible sources of food starch from plant of Nigerian origin. Results obtained from rheological analysis indicated that both starches displayed similar trend in variation of relative viscosity with concentration,. Values of their intrinsic viscosity obtained from Kraemer’s plots (58.31 dl/g and 70.87 dl/g for the commercial (CS) and potato (PS) starches respectively) were relatively closer to each other and were within the range of values expected for food starch. Molecular conformation study, deduced from the power law plots reveals that the two starches have rod like structure. Calculated values of entropy of flow (∆S_V) were -178.77 and -234.78 J/mol while ∆H_V were 14.77 and 16.38 J/g for CS and PS respectively while ∆H_V values were 14.77 and 16.38 J/g for CS and PS respectively. Therefore, the range of values obtained for the thermodynamic properties of the starches indicated that the attainment of transition state of flow by the two starches was achieved by bond breaking. Activation energy of flow for the two starches (12.15 and 13.78 J/g for CS and PS respectively) were also low and indicated the existent of few inter and intra-interactions between the polysaccharide chains. FT-IR spectra of the two starches gave convincing evidence that they have common absorption band at 994, 1078, 1151 and 1639 cm-1. The ratio of the absorbance at these common wave numbers (i.e. 1639:1151, 1151: 1078 and 1078:994) indicated that there was no significant difference between the produced starch and the commercial food starch.

502-512

Authors: Syeda Zehan Farzana, Md. Abu Zafor, GiasUddin Ahmed, Md. Abul Kalam

Rice production in north-East part of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate variability. Thus the present study has been conducted in Sylhet region, in the district of Sylhet, Sunamgonj, Hobiganj & Moulvibazar, Bangladesh to analyze the trend of various climatic parameters on which the production of rice depends. The average seasonal climate change trend was found that, the tendency of temperature (mean, maximum and minimum) rainfall, sunshine hours and wind speed was increasing for the Ausseason, but the tendency of relative humidity was decreasing and for the Amon season the tendency of temperature (mean, maximum and minimum) rainfall, sunshine hours and wind speed was increasing, the tendency of relative humidity was mostly decreasing for the Boro season. The trend of Aus, Amon and Boro production for Sylhet region is increasing which indicates there is a positive linear relationship between Aus, Amon and Boro production with time. In multiple regression analysis with Rice production and climatic variables, it is revealed that, 80.2%, 81.5%, and 62.3% of the variance in Aman, Aus, and Boro respectively.

10-25

Authors: Mohamed I. A. Othman, Ezaira R. M. Edeeb

A new model of generalized rotation-thermoelastic in an isotropic elastic medium with voids and two-temperature is established. The entire elastic medium is rotated with a uniform angular velocity. The formulation is applied under three theories of generalized thermoelasticity: Lord-Schulman with one relaxation time, Green-Lindsay with two relaxation times, as well as the coupled theory. The normal mode analysis is used to obtain the exact expressions for the considered variables. Some particular cases are also discussed in the context of the problem. Numerical results for the considered variables are obtained and illustrated graphically. Comparisons are also made with the results predicted by different theories (CD), (L-S), (G-L) in the absence and presence of rotation, initial, as well as two-temperature parameters.

33-38

Authors: Fatih Killi, Seval Örnek

Seed cotton is transferred from the harvesting machinery to the warehouse where it is stored until ginning. During this time, trash and moisture content of seed cotton, and temperature and relative humidity of storage contributed to the deterioration of seed cotton. This study has been carried out in order to find out the impact on fiber quality parameters (length, fineness, strength, uniformity, elongation, short fiber content and yellowness) of different storage times (S1: Ginning without storage, S2: Ginning after 30 days stored, S3: Ginning after 60 days stored, S4: Ginning after 90 days stored and S5: Ginning after 120 days stored) in mechanically harvested seed cotton of two cotton (Maras-92 and BA-308) cultivars (G. hirsutum L.). There were no differences between cultivars for fiber length, fineness, strength and uniformity. The mean values of fiber length, fineness, strength and uniformity were 30.7 mm, 4.49 micronaire, 30.6 (g tex-1) and 83.52% respectively. BA-308 had higher elongation and yellowness, lower short fiber content than the characters of Maras-92. In the study, it was detected that all characteristics except fineness and uniformity showed significant differences among storage times. Cultivar-storage time interaction was significant only for strength. At the end of experiment, when storage times were delayed from S1 to S5 treatment, fiber length, strength, elongation, short fiber content and degree of yellowness were negatively changed.

46-55

Authors: Nasrin Sohrabi, Nahid Rasouli, Mahnaz Karimi

In this study, the potential of low cost activated carbon obtained from Hibiscus Sabdariffa stem as biosorbent was investigated for the adsorption of Direct red 81 (DR 81) from aqueous solution. The effect of parameters such as temperature, pH, adsorbent dose, contact time, initial dye concentration and ultrasonic irradiation were evaluated. Also, experimental equilibrium and kinetic data were fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively. The results obtained from kinetic experiments showed that the adsorption of DR onto activated carbon can be described with pseudo second-order model and the equilibrium isotherm results were described by the Langmuir model. The negative values of thermodynamic parameters of ΔHo and ΔGo showed that the adsorption process is an endothermic and occurs spontaneously. The overall results showed that the synthesized activated carbon can be an efficient adsorbent due to its low cost and high efficiency.

63-71

Authors: Samy S Abu Naser

Intelligent Tutoring System Builder (ITSB) is an authoring tool designed and developed to aid teachers in constructing intelligent tutoring systems in multidisciplinary fields. The teacher is needed to create a set of pedagogical fundamentals, which, in line, are inured to automatically build up a broad tutor framework and construct an intelligent tutoring system. In this paper an explanation of the theory and the architecture of the tool are outlined. A presentation of several system components, the requirements of the different components, integration of these components in ITSB tool are shown. Furthermore, implanting of requirements, cognitive principle, and common design fundamentals in the tool to ease the use of teachers. A variety of design matters, an example of building an intelligent tutoring system for teaching Java language using ITSB tool and an evaluation are presented.

77-84

Authors: Ahad Ouria, Taher Baher Talari

A conceptual constitutive model is presented for consolidation and yield of structured clays. The effect of the soil structure is introduced in the model by variable parameters for slope of isotropic compression curve, pre-compression pressure and the slope of the critical state line. Generalized thermodynamic principals with the specific form of free energy and dissipative energy functions are used to derive the yield function and elastic-plastic response of the model. Free energy and dissipative energy functions are introduced by an additional term related to the work of the additional volumetric plastic strain due to the soil structure and the disturbed state concept is employed to derive the incremental response of the model.

89-91

Authors: Matthew N O Sadiku, Mahamadou Tembely, Sarhan M Musa

This introductory study provides how companies are using business intelligence to improve the effectiveness of decision-making. Business intelligence is increasingly becoming necessary for business leaders to visualize, analyze, and prepare their strategic planning. In recent years, several organizations have implemented business intelligence and analytics for big data solutions. The organizations are governed by information, knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.

95-100

Authors: Duha Saleh Karem, Hamzah Abdulhasan Kadhim, Hamid T Al-Saad

The objective of this study was to determine the levels of Noise pollutants, emitted from the industrial area of West Qurna-2 oil field, Southern Iraq. Fieldwork carried out during 2015-2016 at ten selected stations. The results of the regional Noise levels was shown that the highest mean at station 10 (79.150Db) while the lowest at station 1(44.725Db),while seasonal levels showed that higher mean concentrations was recorded during winter (68.31Db), and the lower mean concentrations recorded during summer (64.12Db). With respect to spatial variably of studied parameters, the parameters concentrations in studied stations gradually increased from station 1 to station 5, and then significantly decreased at station 6 and finally increased to station 10. The fluctuation in concentrations of stations is due to distance from the flame of the flare which near to the stations 8,9,10 and far to the stations 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, while the seasonal concentration arrange as following: winter >spring >autumn>summer. By comprising the result concentration of this study with literature reviews and standard level of the variable concentration, the concentration levels lie within the recommended guidelines.

105-111

Authors: Rahmon A. Suraj, Popoola O. Monsuru, Shittu O. Jeleel, Musa A. Ibrahim

The work investigates the potential of using elevated curing at different temperature to improve the mechanical properties of mortar mixes made from ternary blend of industrial by-products and Portland cement. Mortar mixes combination comprising OPC (50%) – GGBS (45%) - BPD (5%), OPC (60%) – GGBS (25%) - SF (15%), OPC (50%) and OPC (60%) – PFA (25%)- SF (15%) was subjected to elevating curing temperature at 30 oC, 35 oC and 40 oC for 24 hours to determine the mechanical properties. The mixes were tested for both split tensile and compressive strength at 3, 7, 14 and 28 days and there is significant strength improvement at 40OC for OPC (50%) – GGBS (45%) - BPD (5%) compared to the other mixes at different curing temperature. The results obtained from the study shows improvement that can translate into reducing the uses of cement in construction industry.

121-127

Authors: Shuker Mahmood

In this work, we prove that if is a prime with for some integer number , where . Then is a divisor of , where ( positive integer), is the number of solutions for the Frobenius equation in group of order , and is a cardinality of (conjugacy class of ) in . Moreover, in this research we prove that if all elements of the solutions set are conjugate to for some , then divides . Next, we show that, if (mod ). Then is a multiple of.

131-143

Authors: Loveth N Emembolu, Domonic O Onukwuli, Joseph T Nwabanne

In this study, the basic flow properties of cotton seed methyl ester like density, viscosity, cloud and pour points was carried out to determine the changes when fatty acid methyl ester was blended with diesel fuel. Empirical and generalized equations, validated by using measured values, to predict the density, viscosity, cloud and pour points of the blends. In order to predict these properties, mixing rule was evaluated as a function of the volume fraction of biodiesel in the blend. The effect of biodiesel fraction on each of these properties and to the effects of temperature on the density and viscosity were investigated. The blends (B10 –B100) were prepared on a volume basis. Generalized equations and Arrhenius equation for predicting the density and viscosity of the blends were used. The low values of the absolute average deviations (AAD) and the maximum absolute deviations (MAD) obtained confirmed the solubility of the mixing rule used. For all the blends, it was observed that the results obtained from the measured and estimated values of density and viscosities were in good agreement. From the results, the density and viscosities of the blends decreased with increase in temperature while these properties increased with increase in biodiesel content in the fuel blend. The cloud point and pour point of the blend increased as the biodiesel concentration increased. The values obtained from empirical equations for predicting the relationship between cloud points, pour point and biodiesel content in the blends were in good agreement with the experimental value.

153-160

Authors: Okon U Abakedi, James E Asuquo, Mfon A James, Nsikan E Ituen

The inhibition action of Maesobatrya barteri leaf (LF) and root (RT) extracts on mild steel corrosion in 1M H2SO4 solution was studied using weight loss method. The results obtained reveal that the extracts functioned as good inhibitors of mild steel in H2SO4 solution. Inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increase in extract concentration and temperature, and followed the trend: LF > RT. Chemical adsorption mechanism has been proposed for the adsorption of the plant extracts onto mild steel surface. Thermodynamic parameters revealed that the adsorption of the extracts onto metal surface was endothermic and spontaneous. The experimental data for the LF extract obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm while that of the RT extract followed the Freundlich adsorption isotherm.

166-173

Authors: Titus Bitek Watmon, Fredrick Joseph Otim, Peter Okello-Obeli

This paper presents results of a long study for different types of tool materials ranging from TiN coated tungsten carbides, uncoated tungsten carbides, plain ceramic carbides and high speed steel. These tool inserts were used to cutmild steel grade EN1-A. Cutting speed of 300m/min was used and the cutting lasted for 15 minutes for each tip with sufficient mist coolant supply to the tool-work and chip-tool interface. Mild steel is sometimes referred to as carbon steel or plain steel. Typically, it is stiff and strong. This type of mild steel does not rust easily and they can be easily painted or primed. Wear on rake face takes place in the form of a crater away from the cutting edge in a zone where the temperature is highest. Primary wear mechanism is by way of abrasion caused by the chip rubbing against the tool surface. Results show that at the speed investigated, the coated tungsten carbide inserts have a much higher resistance to wear. All the inserts failed by abrasion action as result of friction at the tool-work interface except for plain ceramics carbides which failed catastrophically by chipping. The criterion used for failurewere both work surfaceroughness criterion and tool flank wear measurement criterion.

183-191

Authors: Nasrin Sohrabi, Alireza Amini Khouzani

Employing spectroscopic methods and elemental analysis, copper (II) complex with 1,10-phenanthroline based ligand,[Cu(FIP)2](OAC)2 (1) in which FIP = 2-(Furan-2-yl)-1H-Imidazo[4,5-f][1,10] phenanthroline (FIP) as ligand was synthesized and characterized in this study. The interaction of[Cu(FIP)2](OAC)2 (1) with calf-thymus DNA (ct-DNA) was studied by UV/Vis absorption fluorescence spectroscopy and viscosity measurements in 20 mMTris/HCl buffer solution, pH 7.0 at 25 °C. The[Cu(FIP)2](OAC)2 (1) complex bind to ct-DNA via hydrophobic mode as illustrated by hyperchromism in the UV/Vis absorption band of[Cu(FIP)2](OAC)2 (1), and also the decreasing of ethidium bromide (EtBr)-DNA solution fluorescence. The Copper complex interacts with ct-DNA while having an intrinsic binding constant of 1.65 × 105 M-1. Furthermore, the thermodynamic studies suggested that the interaction processes were endothermic disfavored (ΔH >0) and entropy favored (ΔS >0). This was an indication to the fact that the Copper complex might interact with ct-DNA by a non-traditional intercalation mode of binding via hydrophobic force. The viscosity-related explorations showed no considerable increasing changes in the viscosity of ct-DNA with the increasing of the concentration of Copper complex.

203-211

Authors: Anaeto FC, Chukwu-Okoya C, Okoroma E, Achuko G, Asiabaka CC, Ani AO, Ibeabuchi II

This study analysed the adoption and discontinuance utilization of Alley farming by farmers in Aguata Local Government Area Anambra State Nigeria. Data were Collected with structured and Validated questionnaire from 120 randomly selected Alley farming technology farmers who adopted and discontinued the utilization of the technology. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics: mean scores, percentages and frequency distribution and z-test was used to established the hypothesized relationships. Results of the study show that majority of the farmers who adopted the technology initially later discontinued and major factors that led to the discontinuance among others included: financial implications, inadequate information sources as only farmers and neighbours were found to be major sources of information, environmental factors, inadequate extension contact etc. The discontinuance behaviour of farmers were found to take various forms but gradual form was more than other forms. The discontinuance behaviour in Aguata was not total. The study recommended among others that Extension Service should overhaul the mechanism and channels used in introducing the technology, with intensive follow-up and adequate extension contact between the farmers and extension service.

215-220

Authors: Anaeto FC, Ajaero JO, Anyoha NP, Chukwu-Okonya C, Ani AO, Nnadi FN, Onwukwe SC, Ugwoke FO, Asiabaka CC

This study comparatively analyzed the actual and assigned roles of extension personnel in Imo State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP). Data were collected with structured questionnaire and interview schedule from 100 farmers and 120 extension personnel randomly selected from the three agricultural zones in the state. Data were analyzed and interpreted using appropriate statistical tools such as frequency distribution table, percentages, mean score and chi-square was used to test if there is any significant difference between the actual and assigned roles of the respondents. The results among others showed that the assigned roles performed by the extension workers differ greatly from their actual role in the field. Most of the assigned roles performed by the extension personnel include; visitations to farmers, conducting trails and attending trainings (FNT & BM), while most of the actual role performed include; Tax collection, revenue generation, selling of materials, school runs, office work, farm hands and helping farmers have access to loan. Factors which influence these roles include; motivation, level of education of the staff, income level and the policy of the agency which had great influence on the assigned roles of the extension workers while greed, low income level and low motivation of the staff had great influence on their actual roles. The recommendations among others include the following: Policy should be developed by which the extension workers gain adequate incentive on the job, the agents should be given necessary transportation facilities and more in-service training for extension workers should be provided.

226-233

Authors: Aladeitan, Yetunde M, Udebhulu Dickson Okhira

The importance of designing a horizontal well completion for the purpose of optimizing production can never be overemphasized. In thin oil columns wherethe problem of gas and water coning is predominant, it is important to optimize the perforation length so as to get as much oil as possible from the thin oil rim reservoirprior to the onset of water and gas coning. It is very critical to know exactly how much of the horizontal length should be perforated. In this study, the effect of perforation lengthsand densitieson oil production is from a thin oil rim reservoir wereanalyzed.The results show that horizontal well performance is directly affected by the distribution/location and length of the perforated intervals i.e. the higher the length of fraction perforated the less dependent is the production on the distribution,the more uniform the distribution of the perforations along the entire length of the reservoir, the lower the gas oil ratio(GOR) The same fraction length uniformly perforated across the entire length of the well yields a higher production when compared to when perforated length is concentrated at the heelor toe.

240-251

Authors: Omoruyi Kenneth, Ogbewe Jennifer

This study was carried out to determine the effects of bleeding and gutting procedures on the microbial load of smoke- dried Clarias gariepinus. Sixteen fish samples of C. gariepinus of average weight 0.9 kg were subjected to various bleeding and gutting treatments as follows; [A] Neither bled nor gutted, [B] bled but not gutted, [C] gutted but not bled and [D]bled and gutted. Microbial analyses were carried out on them. The mean total bacteria count of the fresh fish samples was highest in sample A which was neither bled nor gutted [28.0 ×103 cfu/g], while the lowest was observed in sample D which was bled and gutted [8.0 × 103 cfu/g]. The mean total fungi count was highest in sample A [9.3 ×103cfu/g] and the lowest was recorded in sample D [6.0×103cfu/g]. The mean total bacteria count of the smoke-dried samples was highest in sample B which was bled but not gutted [10.0 × 103 cfu/g] and lowest in Sample D [4.0 × 103cfu/g]. The mean total fungi count was highest in Sample A [8.3 ×103cfu/g], while the least was observed in Sample D [4.3×103 cfu/g]. The mean total bacteria count for the smoke-dried samples after two months of storage was highest in sample A [69.3×103cfu/g] and was lowest in Sample D [31.0 ×103cfu/g] Sample A [93.0 ×103cfu/g] had the highest mean fungi count while the least was seen in Sample C which was gutted but not bled [33.7 ×103 cfu/g]. Microbial count of the fresh fish samples was reduced after smoke-drying and increased during storage at ambient temperature. Gutting was more efficient in reducing microbial load of the samples than bleeding. This shows that gutted fish will have a longer shelf life than bled fish but both will last longer than fish species that are neither bled nor gutted when subjected to similar storage condition.

258-266

Authors: Guillermo Alfonso De la Torre-Gea, Irving César Ortiz Vázquez, Enrique Rico García, Ramón Guevara González, Karla Adriana Morales Vázquez, Rodriguez-Mendez Lilia Irene, Rodrigo Fernandez-Loyola, Juan Francisco Pérez Robles

In recent years it has been considered absorption ammonium zeolite for obtaining hydrogen. For which it is important to know the best gravimetry and optimal concentration of ammonium used in zeolite-based devices. In this research, ammonio at 5, 10 and 15 g/l through three different gravimetries of zeolite were simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics, to measure its performance as ammonium remover. The zeolite was activated with NaCl at 200 °C with the aim of presented better physical and chemical characteristics. The laboratory results allowed us to obtain the initial values and to develop the calibration computer models. The results obtained by the models showed that the concentration of 10 g/L and particle zeolite size between 1.00 mm to 1.55 mm, were the most effective values in absorbing ammonium. To increase the performance to ammonium absortion process, we apply a multivariate analysis method based in Bayesian networks, in order to obtain inferences and determine the variables of greatest significance in the absorption of ammonia process. Analysis by Bayesian networks, using Naïves Bayes determined that the height of the device simulated had influencia to absorption.

281-284

Authors: Intikhab A Ansari, Syed S Ghani, Iqbal Hussain

The toxicity of arsenic and its severe effect on human-beings are reported in this study. The different exposure limits of various materials are described during the synthesis of iron-based superconductor as a time-weighted average (TWA) over an 8-hours workday. This report reveals that the element arsenic is found to be highly toxic in case of inhalation or ingestion by the employers amongst the starting materials during the synthesis of oxyarsenide superconductor. All the exposure limits are taken from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations. This study helps to increase the primary care provider’s knowledge of hazardous substances such as arsenic in the environment and to promote the adoption of medical practices that aid in the evaluation and care of potentially exposed patients.

4-14

Authors: Samy S Abu Naser, Mazen J Al-Shobaki, Youssef M Abu Amuna

The paper assesses Knowledge Management Maturity (KMM) in the universities to determine the impact of knowledge management on performance excellence. This study was applied on Al-Azhar University and Al-Quds Open University in Gaza strip, Palestine. This paper depends on Asian productivity organization model that used to assess KMM. Second dimension which assess performance excellence was developed by the authors. The controlled sample was (610). Several statistical tools were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing, including reliability Correlation using Cronbach’s alpha, “ANOVA”, Simple Linear Regression and Step Wise Regression. The overall findings of the current study suggest that KMM is suitable for measuring performance excellence. KMM assessment shows that both universities maturity level is in level three. Findings also support the main hypothesis and it is sub- hypotheses. The most important factors effecting performance excellence are: Processes, KM leadership, People, KM Outcomes. Furthermore the current study is unique by the virtue of its nature, scope and way of implied investigation, as it is the first comparative study in the universities of Palestine explores the status of KMM using the Asian productivity Model.

23-33

Authors: Kompella Venkata Ramana

This paper discusses erosion in multiscale as well as iterative environment. The morphological operations are main source for defining composite morphological operations. These are applied in various image processing operations. In addition to them morphological operations are having special applications also. So the study of morphological operations in various environments will provide broad look of these operations, which throws light on understanding of these basic principles which will help in further new applications of this mathematical morphology. So in this paper a morphological operation is discussed in a new dimension.

41-49

Authors: Nor Azwin Ahad, Sahrim Hj Ahmad

Thermoplastic polyurethane blending with natural rubber has changed the properties of both origin of these polymer materials. Then, this blend was added with NiZn ferrite as the magnetic filler, at low loading between 1 to 5% only. Other than that, liquid natural rubber (LNR) was also added as compatibilizer. This process was carried out using melt mixing technique to produce polymer magnetic composites. The study found, NiZn ferrite at 3% is the optimum filler loading. The thermal stability of the composites increased with the increasing of NiZn ferrite. LNR was not successful in its role as compatibilizer. The addition of NiZn ferrite improved the magnetic properties on saturation magnetization and remenance magnetization but decreases the value of coercivity force.

55-61

Authors: Man Ki Kang, Man Kyu Huh

Cephalanthera longibracteata (Blume) is an herbaceous and a member of the genus Cephalanthera in the family Orchidaceae. It has been investigated the population density and spatial distribution of this species at Mt. Yeon-ae in Korea during 2015. The spatial pattern of C. longibracteata was analyzed according to several patchiness indexes, population uniformity or aggregation under different sizes of plots by dispersion indices, and spatial autocorrelation. Population densities (D) varied from 0.207 to 2.111, with a mean of 1.049. The small plots (from 3 m x 3 m to 12 m x 24 m) of C. longibracteata were uniformly distributed in the forest community. However, two large plots (24 m x 24 m and 24 m x 48 m were aggregately distributed. At spatial autocorrelation by Moran’s I, significant aggregations were partially observed within III classes (9 m). The comparison of Moran’s I values to a logistic regression indicated that a highly significant percentage of individual dispersion in C. longibracteata populations at Mt. Yeon-ae could be explained by isolation by distance.

73-77

Authors: Joseph Amajama, Faithpraise Fina

The power generated by a photovoltaic panel depends not only on the intensity of the sunlight, but also on the angle it is inclined towards the sun. The impact of the angle of photovoltaic panels’ inclination on its output power has been X-rayed. The output registers that power performance can be enhanced when a photovoltaic panel is inclined at an angle of between 400 to 500. There is a better power output result when the breath or thickness is the base than the length and the output performance is better when the photovoltaic panel assumes a position directly face to face with the sun than any other. An approximate model for the Output Power (Watt) of the photovoltaic panel (face to face with the sun) under similar conditions is stated thus: P = ImaxVmax SIN (2θ); where Imax = Maximum Output Current under a stated condition, Vmax = Maximum Output voltage under a stated condition as Imax and θ = Angle of inclination of the photovoltaic panel (0 <θ > 90).

85-91

Authors: Davoud Balarak, Ferdos Kord Mostafapour, Hossein Azarpira

The evaluation of the ability of maize stalks to remove Pb(ll) ions from aqueous solution was carried out. Different parameters affecting Pb(ll) removal were investigated in batch experiments to optimize the removal method. These parameters include contact time, initial metal concentration, adsorbent dose, stirring rate, temperature. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to the equilibrium data. The developed method showed high applicability to Langmuir isotherm model (R2>0.997) compared with Freuindlich model (R2>0.888) for the adsorption of Pb(ll) on maize stalks. Maximum saturated monolayer sorption capacity of maize stalks for Pb(ll) was 5.14 mg/g. The study showed that maize stalks can be used as a Cheap Biosorbent for the adsorption of Pb(ll) From water solution.

100-105

Authors: Aina, Jacob Kola

This research study used Peer Instruction (PI) as a pedagogy to investigate pre-service physics teacher’s academic performance in electromagnetism in a Nigerian college of education. PI is a research-based pedagogy developed for teaching large introductory science courses. The study is a quasi-experimental of pretest-posttest control group design. The design is an equivalent pretest-posttest where the researcher randomly assigns the participants to experimental and control groups. The underpinning theories for the study are social constructivism theory (SCT) and constructive controversy theory (CCT). 52 pre-service physics teachers of College of Education (Technical) Lafiagi was purposively sampled for the study. The pre-service teachers were sampled because of the central position teacher holds in any educational system. Instruments for the study are Electromagnetism Physics Assessment (EPA) and the Dialogical Argumentation Questionnaire (DAQ). Data collected for the study were analyzed using, descriptive statistics, t-test, and Analysis of Covariant (ANCOVA). The study provided answers to three research questions. Finding reveals that there is a significant difference between students taught with PI and those taught with the traditional lecture method. However, the study indicates that there is no significant different between male and female that was taught with PI. The study also reveals that PI helps students to get rid of misconceptions in physics. The study suggests the adoption of PI for the teaching of science at all level of education in Nigeria schools.

111-117

Authors: TO Odewumi

Calcinated sugarcane peel ash (SPCA) as a binder plays significant role in civil engineering works. This research examined the basic engineering and geotechnical properties of concrete using calcinated SPCA as a partial replacement to improve its strength. Concrete and its properties like workability, setting and strength are essential to the design of concrete structures. In this research, experiments were carried out to investigate the application of calcined sugar cane peel ash at a suitable temperature under varying proportions with cement for the production of concrete. This was carried out to determine most suitable calcinating temperature for workability, consistency, setting time and compressive strength of the concrete. The samples used were obtained from Odo-oba, enroute Ogbomosho, Oyo state. Compressive strength test was also undertaken at varying proportions of ash with cement to determine the strength of the concrete. The ash obtained from these varying temperatures were labeled A-E respectively, calcinations temperature at 8000C (sample E) met the standards ASTM C618 (2005) which specifies that any pozzolans to be used as cement binder in concrete requires a minimum of 70% for SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 and can be adjudged a suitable pozzolanic material, after which the concrete was mixed by varying the percentage (10%, 20% and 30% respectively) of SCPA at calcinations temperature of 8000C as partial replacement for cement. The obtained result showed a considerably increased in the compressive strength of the concrete when SCPA was introduced as partial replacement which gives a more suitable result at 10% after curing from 7 to 28 days (15.56,17.20,19.11 & 22.11N/mm2) respectively to attain its full strength. It was concluded that calcinations temperature has shown significant effect on SPCA characteristics. Hence, sugar cane peel ash at a calcinating temperature of 8000C should be employed as a modernized form of improving on the strength of concrete.

126-130

Authors: Joseph Amajama, Daniel Effiong Oku

Investigation of the effect of relative humidity on photovoltaic panel output has been studied and results from other research have been corroborated. Also, the relationship between relative humidity and solar illuminance/intensity has been deduced. At near similar values of air temperature, air pressure and wind direction: the solar illuminance/intensity and relative humidity have a negative correlation with output current and voltage. More so, a huge data to minimize errors, not considering similarity of solar illuminance/itensity, air temperature, air pressure and wind direction output the same results. Some characteristic models for photovoltaic panels are also presented.

136-141

Authors: Sae Hee Cheon, Man Kyu Huh, Min Kyung Lee

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between use of auxiliary oral hygiene products and sexual function on adult males. Five hundred adult males participated in this study living at Deagu-ci and Gyeongsangnamdo province in Korea. All the participants surveyed the socio-demographic characteristics, use of auxiliary oral hygiene products and international index of erectile function (IIEF) using self-administrated questionnaire. The sexual function was positively correlated with Use of Auxiliary Oral Hygiene products. Therefore the result of this study was expected to provide basic material to improve healthy sexual function through periodontal management with auxiliary oral hygiene products.

149-156

Authors: Mona A Abdel-Fatah, Marwa M Elsayed, Gh A Al Bazedi

Water shortage is an important issue facing the world today. Due to the increasing demands of fresh water in deserted and remote areas, the development of non-conventional water resources in Egypt is essential. A case study for a 3000 m3 permeates/day RO desalination plant in Ain El Sokhna-Suez, Egypt is reviewed and analyzed. According to the plant location and site characteristics, several considerations have been evaluated in the design of the RO desalination plant. The Design of the plant has been adopted using ROSA software as well as basic design equations for RO system design. Detailed economic study has been adopted to evaluate the feasibility of the plant. The cost calculations of the RO plant indicated that the main factors which affect the cost of the produced water are membrane cost and the power consumption cost, whereas the chemical treatment represents almost 10% of the total cost.

162-168

Authors: Ahad Ouria

Synthetic fibers are widely used in soil improvement in the recent years. Soil improved by randomly distributed fibers is approximately a homogeneous media in contrary to the other methods of mechanically stabilizing systems that is the main advantage of using this method. Since the orientation and location of fibers between soil particles are completely random parameters therefore extensive laboratory tests are required to estimate the mechanical behavior of these soils. In this study the shear strength of a silty sand reinforced by glass fibers is investigated in the laboratory. The effect of fiber content and fiber length on the cohesion and friction angle of the improved soil was investigated using large scale direct shear test on soil specimens prepared with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6% fiber contents with different lengths of 5, 10, 20 and 30mm with optimal water content and 85% of maximum dry density. The results of the laboratory tests indicate that the addition of glass fibers increases the shear strength of the soil increasing both cohesion and internal friction angle. There are optimal fiber content and fiber length to achieve maximum shear strength parameters. The optimal fiber content and fiber length in these experiments were about 0.4% and 10mm respectively. The values of cohesion and friction angles were increased by approximately 40% and 30% respectively in optimal conditions.

175-180

Authors: Lawal Abdu Daura

The potentials for generation of electricity from landfill gas emissions of four major municipal solid waste disposal sites in Kano metropolis from the years 2012 -2040 were determined. The methane generation potential of the dumpsites were determined using U.S. EPA LandGEM model. The result show that total average annual electricity generation potential of 6,762.159 MWh/yr from the four disposal sites. Based on average household electricity consumption of 4200 kWh/year for Kano metropolis as estimated by Kano electricity distribution company (KEDCO, 2015), the total potential electricity generation of 6,762.159 MWh/yr(18,526.46 kWh/day) would supply about 1,610 households with electricity.

187-197

Authors: Fredrick Ojija, Eliaman Sapeck, Thomas Mnyalape

Insect fauna are found almost everywhere.Yet, their abundance and diversity in some terrestrial ecosystems is still undisclosed. The present study was conducted to assess and compare the abundance, species richness and diversity of insects from grassland and woodland communities at Mbeya University of Science and Technology in Mbeya, Tanzania. A total of 1574 insects belonging to 55 insect species under 9 insect orders and 38 families were collected from study area. Evenness index, Margalef index, Shannon index, Simpson index, and Sorenson similarity index are diversity parameters used to analyse the diversity of insects. Result showed that the most abundant groups of insect were Hymenoptera (36.150%), Coleoptera (30.686%) and Orthoptera (19.123%) while the least abundant were Diptera (0.889%) and Mantodae (1.271%). The grassland community was rich in terms of species (Margalef index = 6.284), abundance (69.822%) and diversity (H = 3.208) of insects, however, the abundance of insects between grassland and woodland differed significantly (p<0.05). On both sites, Sorensen similarity index showed 55.3% similarity. Insects in the order Mantodae showed highest value of similarity index (100%) followed by the order Hymenoptera (83.3%), Odonata (80%), Coleoptera (66.7%), and Hemiptera (50%). Moreover, it was found that the mean number of species between grassland and woodland in Blattodea, Orthoptera and Odonata differed significantly. High abundance and species diversity in grassland community suggests a stable ecosystem. There fore, this study revealed that though the grassland community has the potential to support insect diversity, but also act as refugia for some insects from woodland community.

204-209

Authors: Soh Tiak Chuan

The effects of premature cure and bound rubber content (BRC) of a 3-triethoxysilyl propyltetrasulfide (TESPT) silanized natural rubber (NR) / ethylene propylene terpolymer EPDM / styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) blend added with hybridized precipitated silica and calcined clay over 6 months of storage period were investigated. The significant correlations between the cure characteristics of scorch time (T2) and cure rate index (CRI) over 6 months of ambient storage period analyzed in monthly basis were determined by using statistical correlation r technique. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) was used to observe the possible changes of chemical bonding vibration throughout this storage period in supporting the findings of cure characteristics with regard to the trend of premature cure. Solvent extraction method was used to determine the BRC of the compound over the storage period. It is observed that the sulfide groups of TESPT do not show significant crosslink tendency with rubber matrix and thus without depicting the trend of premature cure throughout the ambient storage period. However, BRC of compound is increased by 75.01 % after one month of ambient storage and level off thereafter represent a marked increase of rubber-filler interaction within the first storage month.

219-231

Authors: Kawekwune N, MN Oti

This paper investigated episodicity of shale diapirism in ‘Kofima Field’ as it relates to evolution of the mini-basins and reservoir development around it. The data used include a 3D Pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) seismic volume, two wells Kofima-1 and Kofim-2 with a biostratigraphic summary. Seismic mapping revealed: mass transport, turbidity channel and amalgamated channel and facies. Structural features: folding, faulting and mud-diapirism was also been mapped in detail. Paleo-fairway map of sands were generated with the aid of co-blended seismic attributes premised on well results and it was observed that the shale intrusion impacted on channel switching. The evolutionary trend of these mud-diapirs through time were also interpreted and dated and found to occur between 12.8 to 7.4ma MFS. Faulting and re-activation of diapirs was discovered to be as a result of gravity tectonics and abundance of undercompacted shales. Three episodes of shale diapirism occur in the block as interpreted and a simplistic model has been built for better understanding of its configuration.

250-258

Authors: Emudianughe J, Ugwu Joshua Udoka, Adiela UP

An integrated 3D seismic data, checkshot data and a suite of well logs for five wells located at the BOKA field, Niger Delta were analyzed with Petrel software for reservoir characterization and volumetric analysis. The method employed involves petrophysical analysis, structural analysis, volumetric analysis and reservoir ranking. Detailed well log petrophysical analysis revealed four potential reservoirs. Structural analysis showed fault assisted anticlinal structures which serve as structural traps that prevent the leakage of hydrocarbon from the reservoirs.

275-278

Authors: Itiowe K, Adiela UP, Odelugo Lilian

The aim of this study is aimed at determining age of sediments and their possible depositional environments using fossils as index in the study area, in order to achieve this, a biostratigraphic study of outcrops X in Anambra Basin. The samples were subjected for paeleontological analysis. The lithology is made up of shales, claystones, siltstones, sandstones, coals, silty shales and silty clays. 98.2% of the analysed samples are Arenaceous Benthonics. Biostratigraphic analysis showing foraminifera distributions and Sedimentological sieve analysis were used for the interpretation to determine the sedimentary structures and their paleoenvironment of deposition. The analyses yielded information on the percentages of Benthonics, Planktonics, Calcareous forms, Arenaceous forms ,the particle size distribution chart, foram diversity chart, foram abundance chart,planktic/benthic ratio,depositional environment, litholog and a composite log for each location.

285-294

Authors: Ijomah Azubuike Kelechi, LC Amajor, Ugwueze Charles

The study area has two recognized depositional sequences, bounded above and below by maximum flooding surfaces (MFS). The maximum flooding surfaces are Uvigerina 8, (9.5ma) and Dodo shale (11 .5ma) and the two sequence boundaries are l0.35ma and l0.6ma. Nonion 4, MFS (l0.4ma) was missing in the section, which could have been as a result of l0.6ma erosion as evidenced from the seismic section. Based on the above, systems tracts were interpreted; High stand systems tract (HST), Low stand system tract (LST) and Transgressive systems tract (TST). The hydrocarbon bearing sand units were analyzed based on systems tracts. The LST had more hydrocarbon bearing sand units, followed by HST, while none was observed for the TST. The average porosity and permeability values for the systems tracts are; for the first HST, 0 = 38%, K = l2O2mD, Second HST, 0 = 36%, K = l52mD, LST 0 = 35%, K = 37n0 and the last HST 0 = 33%, K = 34mD. The reservoirs are more of gas bearing than oil. This is attributed to the source rock type, temperature effect and low permeability values (reduced pore throat).

302-312

Authors: Gamal H Elsaeed, Medhat S Aziz, Wael M Ziada

The High Aswan Dam has been constructed during the sixties to protect Egypt from high flood hazards and to provide the required water demand during low flood years. Due to the dam construction and lake formation, the flow downstream the dam has become more controlled and the suspended sediment concentration peaks have been reduced significantly and deposited upstream the dam. These deposited sediments are affecting the storage capacity of the lake by reducing the storage capacity of the lake. This paper is an attempt to predict the future deposition in the Aswan High Dam Reservoir, in order to estimate the effective life span of the reservoir. A numerical model (Delft3D) was implemented to simulate the sedimentation along the reservoir. During the course of this study, the calibration and validation of the model for flow and sediment deposition were applied during the period 2010–2012. A good agreement, between the observed and modeled results for the whole domain, was obvious. Confident with the obtained results, the model was further used to predict the sediment deposition in the reservoir during the period 2010–2025.

320-325

Authors: Edris Bazrafshan, Davoud Balarak

Electrocoagulation (EC) process is an electrochemical method of treating polluted water whereby sacrificial anodes corrode to release active coagulant precursors into solution. At present study, EC was investigated for removal of diazinon pesticide from aqueous environments under different operating conditions such as initial pH (3-10), applied voltage (20-40 V), electrolysis time (10-60 min), and initial concentration of diazinon (10-100 mg/L) by using aluminum anode in batch mode. The results of this study showed that diazinon concentration can effect on removal efficiency and for higher concentration of diazinon, more applied voltage or higher reaction time is needed. Maximum removal efficiency of diazinon (>99%) was obtained after 60 min at pH 3. According to results of this study it can be concluded that Electrocoagulation process using aluminum electrode is an efficient method for diazinon removal from aqueous environments.

334-338

Authors: DT Ogbaka, NW Silikwa

In this paper with the help of different empirical models we have estimated the value of monthly average global solar irradiation for Yola, Nigeria (9°14'N, 12°28'E). The solar radiation data comprising of monthly mean daily global solar radiation and sunshine hours for Yola was obtained for the period of fifteen years (1999-2013). The performance of the models were evaluated on the basis of the following statistical error tests: the Mean Percentage Error (MPE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Bias Error (MBE). These tests are the ones that are applied most commonly in comparing the models of solar radiation estimations. From the results, Jain model was found as the most precise model for the prediction of global solar radiation on a horizontal surface for Yola. The values of the correlation coefficient, R, determination coefficient R2 , MPE, RMSE and MBE were 0.992, 0.984, 0.0628, - 0.012 MJ/m2 and 0.0464 MJ/m2 respectively. This model can be recommended for Yola and elsewhere with similar climatic conditions.

346-349

Authors: Fatih Killi, Fatih Tekeli

Oilseeds production of Turkey is not available to meet domestic requirements. Turkey has been facing a recurring shortage of vegetable oils for many years. Presently, about 50% of vegetable oil being consumed in Turkey has to be imported. To improve our country sunflower production, it should be increased sunflower sowing area and used high yielding varieties in the production. Therefore, there is need to study determining high-yielding varieties. This research was conducted to determine the seed yield with some yield components of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) genotypes in Kahramanmaras (Turkey) conditions using a randomized complete block design with four replications in 2013. In the study, twelve sunflower genotypes (Sanbro, Imera C5, DT3017IR, Pactol, P-4223, Aitana, Isera, Armada, Tunca, C70165, Pactol F1 and Sanay ) were used as the plant material. These twelve sunflower genotypes were evaluated for plant height, head diameter, 1000-seed weight, dehulled seed ratio and seed yield. The results showed that plant height, head diameter, 1000-seed weight, dehulled seed ratio and seed yield for twelve sunflower genotypes ranged between 134.36-181.70 cm, 11.05-15.14 cm, 36.85-58.69 g, 54.65-73.51 % and 1838.07-3417.07 kg ha-1 respectively. The highest head diameter and seed yield were obtained from the variety P-4223 while Pactol variety had the lowest seed yield.

358-366

Authors: Usiayo Victor Afoke, Baridor Samuel Odagme, Osuman Lawrence Osazuwa

The fact that most wells are produced with a constant oil flow rate with constant gas-oil ratio (GOR) before gas or/and water breakthrough is conventional. However, Gas coning in Production wells may reduce the oil production. From operational and economic point of view, this occurrence is not good for several reasons: the gas price is much lower than the oil price, the affected wells may be abandoned early, and the gas handling capacity is often a problem. Therefore, there is the need to produce such wells before gas or/and water breakthrough for an extended period of time. In this work, a simple equation that relates gas breakthrough time with oil flow rate in Horizontal wells was developed based on Papatzacos equation and the dimensionless variables were derived. Sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to see how other parameters affect the breakthrough time, to enable operators handle the gas coning problem effectively. The results showed that, increase in oil flow rate reduces breakthrough time, hence accelerates the rate of coning in horizontal wells. Also, the sensitivity analysis also indicated that gas breakthrough time increases with increasing oil column thickness and porosity.

375-382

Authors: Odewumi TO, Okeniyi AG, Agbede OA

The adverse effect of poor waste management practices in Nigeria metropolitan cities cannot be underestimated due to their negative influence on health, environment and the residence of such areas. It is therefore necessary to investigate the existing solid waste management structure in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria with a view to design, predict and recommend effective strategies that would produce efficient solid waste management techniques, systems and culture. This paper focused on investigating the solid waste management practices in the study area to ascertain why solid waste remains the feature on the streets in certain part of Ibadan. Data for the study was gathered through consultation, interview and field work at various dump sites in the metropolis. Improvement was recorded in collection of solid waste compared to the previous years, but expected pragmatic approach had not been effectively adopted in its transportation, disposal and conversion. Efficient solid waste management requires recycling, even when disposal is not a problem. The required technocracy in upgrading the existing system for proper handling is purely engineering and inevitable. It is therefore recommended that the capacity of the agency in waste management should be improved; Research and development (R&D) must be adequately funded for possibility of good result and there should be education and awareness among the residence of such area. This will ensure effective waste management control in the metropolis.

392-399

Authors: Peter M Dass, Mikyitsabu A Atoshi, Mathias Bifam, Alheri Andrew

Extraction, modification and testing of natural dye from Cissus populnea stem bark and its application on cotton fabric was studied. Modification of dye was carried out using 3, 7-bis (dimethylamino) phenothiazine-5-ium chloride and 2-(N, N-dimethyl)-4-aminophenyl. These gave a variety of colours as the pH tends to shift towards the acidic scale. Blue-violet-purple coloration was observed when 3, 7-bis (dimethylamino) phenothiazine-5-ium chloride was used as modifier and violet-red coloration was observed when 2-(N, N-dimethyl)-4-aminophenyl was used as modifier (absorbs at 592 nm to 540 nm). Wash fastness test was carried out with and without a mordant. It was obtained that, without a mordant, there was a fair dyed-cotton fastness but excellent dyed-cotton fastness was achieved using a mordant, i.e. the dye works best with a mordant than without a mordant. This research has create a scientific means of effecting color change on natural dye by either increasing or reducing the dye pH, hence improving the wash fastness of cotton fabric.

417-422

Authors: Dabbabi Turkia, Lamia Bouafif, Ellouze Noureddine

In this paper, we will present a new sound indexing of multimedia documents in order to accelerate the audio documents retrieval in the net or their research in digital libraries. The main difficulty of this operation is the parameterization, modelling and discrimination of the sound track and its transcription. To resolve this problem, we have developed a hybrid method constituted by four procedures: parameterization, training, modelling and classification. The first step is based on the extraction of new temporal and spectral features and descriptors, however the others procedures are associated with MMG and RN classifier. The implementation of our algorithm is integrated in an embedded Matlab platform. The system performances are evaluated on a database constituted of music songs with speech segments under several noisy environments.

428-434

Authors: Mohamed Elsawy, Basuony El-Garhy

Soft soil is located in important regions all over the world along rivers and seas. Construction on natural soft soil is a risk due to its low shear strength and high compressibility. Using granular piles in soft soils is an effectively improvement technique. In this research the behavior of raft footing constructed on soft soil reinforced by end bearing or floating granular piles is studied numerically by using Plaxis 3D. A parametric study for a raft footing subjected to uniform loads under drained conditions is carried out by varying spacing distance, diameter and length of the piles. This study is done to investigate the effect of the various parameters on the bearing capacity, the settlement control, and bending moment of the footing. The results show that using granular piles in soft soil under raft footing decreases effectively the settlement and bending moment. These improvements increase as the increase of area replacement ratio and pile length, and as the decrease of the spacing ratio. Utilizing floating granular piles with length ratio of 0.75 is considered effective in reinforcing soft soil from the sides of improvement performance and economic.

442-448

Authors: O Abu, MA Emeje

In this paper, deterministic and stochastic differential equation models of the vertical/heterosexual transmission dynamics of HIV/AIDS in a population are formulated. The objectives are, first, to compare the effects of condom use, antiretroviral therapy (ART) separately and the combination of both as control strategies; and second, to compare the performance of the two models. The models were solved numerically for varying values of the control parameters and fixed published data. The numerical results show that ART outweighs condom use in performance, with the effective combination of both as a control strategy the best. At the level of model performance, both models compete favorably well, especially, when there is no or little control. However, under effective control strategy, either at ART or condom use level or a combination of both, the sample paths of the stochastic differential equation model demonstrate strong components of stochasticity as some paths tend to the disease-free equilibrium point while the trajectory of the deterministic model shows disease growth. The findings in this study that effective combination of ART and condom use as a control strategy are crucial for the control of HIV/AIDS.

457-460

Authors: Mehdi Mazraei

Drought stress is a major abiotic factor that limits agricultural production more importantly in the rain-fed areas of the world. Drought stress affects 40 to 60% of the world’s agriculture lands. Along with proteins, lipids are the most abundant component of membranes and they play a role in the resistance of plant cells to environmental stresses. Strong water deficit leads to a disturbance of the association between membrane lipids and proteins as well as to a decrease in the enzyme activity and transport capacity of the bilayer. Photosynthetic carbon reduction and carbon oxidation cycles are the main electron sink for PS2 activity during mild drought. It was shown that PS2 functioning and its regulation were not quantitatively changed during desiccation. The CO2 molar fraction in the chloroplasts declines as stomata close in drying leaves. As a consequence, in C3 plants RuBP oxygenation increases and becomes the main sink for photosynthetic electrons.

473-477

Authors: LI Ling, WU Weidong

natural disasters caused great loss to human world every year, based on the polar stationary satellite ground receiving system, doppler radar detection system as the foundation, using satellite remote sensing technology, doppler radar data results, application technology, local geographical information system and statistical mathematical model, such as the combination of through the influence of Harbin meteorological disasters such as ecological environment more hail monitoring data analysis and research, the development process of the meteorological disasters and possible to forecast the result of the ecological environment impact assessment, information service for the decision of the government response to meteorological disasters.

487-494

Authors: Emine U Gocer, Mehmet Karaca

Four species of the genus Gossypium L. is considered as the backbone of the plant based textile industry in the world. Gossypium hirsutum L. is the only cotton species commercially grown in Turkey for fiber and oil production. Cotton production in Turkey is still considered as organic cotton since there are no commercial genetically engineered cotton varieties growing. Almost 100 commercial cotton varieties are currently being grown in the four major cotton production areas of Turkey. In the present study we investigated genetic relationships among some commercial varieties and accessions developed in Turkey, Syria, Uzbekistan and the Unites States using a touchdown-directed amplification of minisatellite-region DNA polymerase chain reaction (Td-DAMD-PCR) technique. Analyses revealed that 10 minisatellite primers, which were selected from 22 primers, were suitable in genetic and molecular breeding studies of cotton. Commercial varieties and accessions of cottons were separated into 3 main clusters, each of which consisted of commercial varieties and accessions belonging to species of G. hirsutum, G. barbadense and G. herbaceum. Based on the analyses the following conclusions were drawn; i) commercial cotton varieties widely grown in Turkey have very narrow genetic base, ii) higher genetic similarities among the cultivars indicated that most of the cotton cultivars studied in the present study were developed from similar parental lines, iii) Td-DAMD-PCR technique may not be suitable for genetic diversity studies of commercial cotton cultivars with similar genetic background.

499-505

Authors: Roshan Lal

Let be a polynomial of degree and let be any real or complex number, then the polar derivative of denoted by , is defined as The polynomial is of degree at most and it generalizes the ordinary derivative of in the sense that For a polynomial p(z) having all its zeros in and for all with , , ,....., ,

511-517

Authors: Bui ThiNga, Luong Minh Nghia, Tran HuuCuong

This study based on standard questionnaires to collect primary data from all 80 officers engage in settlement of complaints and denunciation in 14 communes in Long Bien district, Hanoi capital of Vietnam. Five-point LIKERT scale was used to assess the working conditions of the officers. The results showed that the Long Bien district has a high quality of human resource, engage in settlement of complaints and denunciation. Most of them were in middle age (88.8%), male (67.5%). They had high qualification (31% post graduates) with many years of experience (74% from 10 and more years) and good technology skills to handle the complaints and denunciations. The officers felt that law, bylaws on settlement of complaints and denunciation was good, butthe provisions were assessed not very well. Employers created a good atmosphere of collective psychology and opportunity to develop, provided the necessary equipment and facilities for working, but the related and supported working condition was not considered good. Salary was evaluated not good, could not ensure their living. A half of the officers felt dissatisfaction with the bonus scheme, and allowances did not commensurate with their responsibilities. The study recommends that salary of these officers should be increased, bonus and allowance scheme should be reconsidered to improve their living standard, encourage them to work more efficiently. Moreover, provisions of law, the bylaws should be more clear, easy to understand and implement.

532-538

Authors: Mahdis Sayyadizadeh, Amir Behzad Bazrgar, Saeed Bakhtiyari

Effects of Nano-particles of unknown and their effect on living organisms and ecosystems, causes a lot of concern. In order to investigate the effect of dioxide titanium along with lead stress on Melissa, an experiment was conducted at experimental greenhouse of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, in 2014. Experimental design was factorial with six lead levels (0, 100, 300, 600, 900 and 1200 PPM) and six titanium dioxide (control, 2, 4, 6 and 8 PPM) based on completely randomized design with 3 replications. Low concentration of dioxide titanium increased some characteristics as wet and dry root weight, aerial dry weight, leaf area, chlorophyll content and the percentage of essential oils. Mean comparison showed that lead stress decrease the percentage of essential oils while had no significant effects on other traits. The results of analysis of variance showed that taking titanium dioxide in low concentrations may have a positive effect on lead stress.

543-557

Authors: A. M. M. Al-Naggar, M. M. M. Atta, M. A. Ahmed, A. S. M. Younis

The main objective of the present investigation was to determine the optimum plant density combined with irrigation regime for obtaining the highest grain protein, oil and starch contents and yields of different maize genotypes. Six inbreds and their 15 diallel hybrids were evaluated in the field for grain protein (GPC), oil (GOC) and starch (GSC) contents, grain (GYPH), protein (PYPH), oil (OYPH), and starch (SYPH) yield per hectare under three plant densities (PD), i.e. low (47,600), medium (71,400) and high (95,200) plants/ha in combination with two irrigation regimes, i.e. well watering (WW) and water stress (WS) at flowering. Results combined across two seasons revealed that elevated combined stress caused a decrease in GOC and GYPP and an increase in GPC and GSC. The traits GYPH, PYPH, OYPH and SYPH showed a trend of increase from non-stressed to high-density stressed environment followed by a trend of decrease reaching maximum reduction at the most stressed one (WS-high PD). Regression functions revealed that for GYPH, PYPH, OYPH and SYPH, the three highest-yielding hybrids to the elevated plant density combined with deficit irrigation showed a curvilinear response of decrease with an optimum environment of well watering combined with high plant density, except the hybrid L20 x L53, which showed a continuous response of increase. The highest hybrids in GPC and GSC showed near linear regression of decrease, except L18 x L28, which showed a curvilinear regression with optimum environment of the WW-high PD. The highest hybrids in GOC showed a quadratic response of increase with optimum environment of WW-high PD (L53 x Sd7) and WS-low PD (Sk5 x Sd7). The best hybrids for PYPH, OYPH, SYPH and GYPH (L20 x L53, L53 x Sd7 and L53 x Sk5) showed differential response depending on the genetic background of the hybrid and the trait of interest. The optimum environment for obtaining the highest yield/ha for protein, oil or starch was identified for each hybrid.

565-570

Authors: MH Saad, MD Abd-Alla

Maxwell equations are utilized to obtain a useful expression for the equation of motion of the magnetic moment. By imposing certain physical constrains on the conductivity, magnetic and electric susceptibility it is possible to have a powerful magnetic field.

9-12

Authors: Rui-Lin Lin

Inflatables are often necessary for water activities during summer. These products need to be inflated before use. However, industrial inflators pose concerns about current leakage. In addition, deflating these items after usage is time consuming. Therefore, an inflator with deflate function for easy storage is needed to resolve these current issues. Such an inflator can be used to deflate inflatables rapidly for storage. It is also equipped with a fool-proof pressure-sensitive device that automatically turns off when the object being inflated is full to avoid rupture caused by over-inflating. It possesses low and high pressure selections and is easy to operate with just one button.

24-30

Authors: Nwokocha FI, Oti MN

A sequence stratigraphic analysis was carried out on the sedimentary packages of parts of the Niger Delta hydrocarbon province. This paper focuses on the identification and classification of depositional sequences as well as their systems tracts. Well log data using log signatures and parasequence stacking patterns, reflection terminations and continuity of events in seismic sections from ten wells and biofacies data from two wells were employed. Two complete and one incomplete depositional sequences and their associated facies were identified from middle – late Miocene. Sequences reveal the presence of two major system tracts, namely Transgressive system tract and the Highest and system tract. Six key stratigraphic surfaces: SB 8.5Ma, MFS 9.5Ma, SB10.35Ma, MFS 10.4Ma, SB 10.6Ma and MFS 11.5Ma were identified. Well log patterns indicate a regime of low to high energy environment and subenvironments ranging from proximal marine through lower shoreface and upper shoreface to fluvitile. Biostratigraphic analysis reveals that the sediments were deposited in the coastal deltaic to middle neritic environment. Sand distribution in the highst and system tracts have good reservoir characteristics with net-gross of 70-80%, high porosity values of 25-35% and and good permeability values of 3000 to 4000mD. The transgressive shale forms excellent seals for potential stratigraphic traps in the area. The study indicates that the integration of well log data, biostratigraphy and seismic data provides a powerful tool for petroleum system analysis, improved stratigraphic correlation, source rock prediction and most importantly reduces risk in prospect generation..

39-42

Authors: MS Adamu, AI Abdullahi Bilal S, AH Mashi

This paper reports on the production and characterization of biodegradable grease from neem seed oil. The extracted neem oil was purchased from National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria. The base oil (neem oil), thickener (calcium hydroxide and steric acid) and additives were mixed together to form a solid grease. Work penetration, un-worked penetration, dropping point and biodegradability tests were carried out to determine the quality of the biodegradable grease produced. Ammagrease was used as control and standard. The production condition, measurement standards and results were obtained. The grease was produced at 3 different temperatures; 100oC, 160oC and 200oC. The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test results were within the acceptable range of 4.0 – 8.0 ppm. The results for the worked penetration level, un-worked penetration level, and the dropping point were within the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) standard values of 248, 257 and 180 respectively. This shows that neem oil can be used as a substitute to synthetic/fossil (petroleum) base oil in the production of grease for industrial and commercial uses.

50-54

Authors: Rui-Lin Lin

In this paper, the natural elements of the wormwood plant were used to make skin care products. Wormwood was also the source of inspiration for the packaging’s visual imagery, with emphasis on pure and natural care of the skin. The simple, low-saturation rendering of the packaging’s visual design generates a new concept of environmental pollution reduction. Hopefully, this design will make Taiwanese people pay attention to the local industry, as well as environmental protection practices.

64-66

Authors: Matthew NO Sadiku, Adebowale E Shadare, Sarhan M Musa

Social engineering may be regarded as a umbrella term for computer exploitations that employ a variety of strategies to manipulate a user. It represents a real threat to individuals, companies, organizations, and governments. This paper explains the concept of social engineering and the impact it has on society.

73-77

Authors: Apri Heri Iswanto

Adhesive and wood is main raw materials to make of OSB. Phenol Formaldehyde (PF) and MDI Isocyanat adhesive were common used in OSB manufacturing. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of adhesive type to properties of OSB made from Gmelina wood. The resin level of MDI, Urea Formaldehyde (UF) and PF were using amount of 5, 10, and 8 % respectively based on the oven dry weight of strand. OSB was produced with the size 25 by 25 cm2 and the density and thickness target were 0.7 gcm-3 and 1 cm respectively. Strand was oriented of perpendicular between surface and core layers. The ratio of face:core:back layers was set at 1:2:1. After mat forming, mold was pressed at 160°C (MDI), 170°C (PF), 130°C (UF), for 10 minutes at 25 kgcm-2 pressure. The results showed that MDI resin for exterior adhesive resulted the better properties. In general, boards that produces with MDI resin almost met of standard excepted for MoE parameter. MDI and PF were suitable for binding in the manufacturing process of OSB made from Gmelina wood.

85-93

Authors: Inemesit A Akpan

Partial molar free energy, entropy and heat of solution of H2SO4 as solute in a fixed volume of water have been studied in a non-ideal solution through thermodynamic provisions for ideal system. The behaviour of the binary solution have been explained using the values of the measured potentials. Other thermal quantities measured have been used to calculate the molecular mass of the H2SO4 completely ionized

105-110

Authors: Okon U Abakedi

The inhibition and adsorption characteristics of Stachytarpheta indica (STA) leaf extract for the corrosion of aluminium in hydrochloric acid solution have been studied using weight loss and thermometric methods. The results obtained reveal that various concentrations of STA leaf extract inhibited the corrosion of aluminium in HCl solution at both 30°C and 60°C. The inhibition efficiency was found to decrease with increase in extract concentration but increased with increase in temperature. Thermodynamic parameters indicate that the extract chemically adsorbed onto aluminium surface. The adsorption of STA leaf extract on aluminium surface conformed to the Temkin adsorption isotherm.

128-139

Authors: Mikayel Melkumyan

Several remarkable projects on retrofitting by base isolation of the existing buildings like apartment, school and bank buildings, as well as hospital and city hall municipality buildings are briefly mentioned in the paper to demonstrate the retrofitting experience accumulated in Armenia. The given paper, however, mainly focused on retrofitting design of the existing damaged stone school building constructed in the city of Yerevan in 1959. Structural concept of retrofitting by base isolation developed for this building on the basis of the acquired experience is presented. In the same time special attention is given to strengthening by reinforced concrete (R/C) jackets of the damaged parts of existing stone load-bearing walls. Created solution envisages extension of the basement throughout the whole built surface of the building. Results of the earthquake response analysis of the base isolated school building by the Armenian Seismic Code and acceleration time histories are also given in the paper.

148-154

Authors: Davoud Balarak*, Ferdos Kord Mostafapour

In this investigation, the mechanism of the adsorption of Acid Red 97 dye (AR97) from aqueous solution using an Canola stalks was studied. Different parameters affecting dye removal were studied. These parameters include contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose, stirring rate and adsorbent particle size. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to the equilibrium data. Equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model and adsorption capacity (qmax) obtained from the Langmuir isotherm was 19.8 mg/g at initial pH 7. The optimum conditions for the removal of BPA within the experiment range of variables studies were 10 mg/L of initial dye concentration, 3.5 g/L of adsorbent dose, stirring rate 180 rpm, adsorbent particle size 20 mesh and 75 min of contact time. Under these conditions the maximum removal efficiency was 96.4%.

165-168

Authors: Tamilselvan NR, Kumararaman S, Murata K, Yoshino H, Arumugam S, Kanagaraj M

The pressure dependence of the electrical resistivity of (TSO) doped-polypyrrole as a function of temperature was measured up to 6 GPa for the first time using cubic anvil high pressure cell. It is observed that the room temperature resistivity decreases with increasing the pressure up to 6 GPa and the increasing in resistivity found at low temperature is suppressed steadily with increasing the pressure. The value of residual resistivity and electron scattering factor decreases with the application of pressure, indicating that the pressure decreases the inter-chain distance and enhances the charge transfer of carriers of (TSO) doped- polypyrrole.

172-180

Authors: Oji A, Ekpat PP, Evbuomwan BO

Pawpaw fruit is a very abundant fruit in Nigeria. Considering its easy perishability, a study on the production of wine from the pawpaw juice was carried out in this work. The pawpaw juice was extracted from the pawpaw pulp with the aid of a slow freezingmethod by allowing the pulp to remain frozen for 3days, after which it was allowed to thaw and the juice was expressed from it in a mechanical screw press. This was followed by batch fermentation of the pawpaw juice to wine using pure yeast strain (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae), isolated and cultured from locally tapped palm wine following standard microbiology procedures. The primary fermentation process lasted for 4days in a laboratory scale anaerobic batch fermenter, into which 99ml of the yeast broth with a microbial count of 9.1 × 106 CFU/ml was inoculated andsamples were withdrawn atintervals of 24 hours to analyse the changes in microbial load, glucose concentration (%), specific gravity, and ethanol concentration (%v/v). The yeast growth was observed to follow an exponential growth phase and tended towards the stationary growth phase between the 3-4th day. The specific gravity of the wine decreased from 1.0374 to 1.0204 during primary fermentation and 1.0201 at the end of secondary fermentation. The glucose concentration decreased from an initial 31.25% to 4.54% at the end of primary fermentation while the ethanol concentration of the wine increased from 0.3% to 12.5% at the end of primary fermentation which was immediately followed by a secondary fermentation of the pawpaw wine in a clean bottle placed in a refrigerator at a temperature of about 5-10oC for 2 weeks. At the end of secondary fermentation, the alcohol content of the wine was 12.7(%v/v). The wine produced from pawpaw juice meets the characteristics of a good table wine in terms of its flavour, colour, clarity and alcohol content.

188-193

Authors: Musah M*, Yisa J, Mann A, Suleiman MAT, Auta M

The removal of cadmium ions from aqueous solution was studied using activated carbon prepared from Bombax buonopozense Calyx. The effects of variables such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, concentration and pH of solution were studied. A 24 factorial experimental design technique was used to study the adsorption of cadmium ions onto the adsorbent. The factorial design model allows the prediction of the extent of different adsorption conditions of the variables. Analysis of variance used to validate the model showed that there is no lack of fit at 95 % confidence level. The correlation coefficient between the experimental and calculated results showed a good performance of the model. Maximum experimental adsorption of 95.53 % was achieved under optimum condition.

203-210

Authors: Fredrick Ojija

This study was done in Belgium (North Sea, Middelkerre-Oostende) as part of excursion in 2013. The objective was to compare the fishes’ body weight (W), length (L), biomass and total catch of the two gears (otter and beam trawl) used to collect the fishes. The relationship between total length (L) in cm and total weight (W) in kg for all fish species was expressed by the equation W = aLb, a (intercept) and b (slope) are species specific constant. Two tailed t-test and Mann Whitney U-test were used to compare the length frequency distribution (LFD) between two gears within species. More than 10 fish species were collected from each fishing gear; nevertheless, 8 common species from every gear were used for this analysis. The biomass, abundance, LFD and length weight relationship (LWR) varied among species and between gears. The main species in terms of biomass were L. limanda and P.platesa, which together accounted for 81% and 89% of the total biomass in otter and beam trawl respectively. S. spratus, L. dupurator and L. limanda in otter trawl were the main species in terms of abundance accounting together for 54%. LWR was positively correlated for all eight species in both gears. S. sprattus, L. limanda, S. solea, O. eperlanus, Gobiidae spp, C. crangon and L. depurator showed no significant difference in LFD between gears within species (p>0.05) and P. platessa showed a significant difference in LFD between gears (p<0.05).

215-217

Authors: MS Adamu, UM Bello, Bilal S, AH Mashi

Pectin was extracted by varying temperature and time to determine their effects on the percentage yield. Pectin is a family of complex polysaccharides with applications that cut across mainly food and medicine/ pharmaceuticals, it was extracted from sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) using alcohol precipitation method. 10g of orange peels produced 3.5g percentage yield of pectin at 40˚C in 5 mins and 4.2g at 80˚C in 7 mins. FTIR analysis was used to show the presence of carboxylic acid and ester which was used to calculate the degree of esterification (DE) of pectin as 58.86% which makes it a high methoxyl pectin. The result shows that, the higher the extraction time and temperature, the higher the pectin yield.

238-250

Authors: Oloro John, Happy Chidi Onyeoru, Fakrogha Julius

Determination of electrical rock properties by electrical log resistivity measurement and direct saturation measurement are methods most researcher use in the determination of rock properties. In this paper, Resistivity Measurements of Fluid-Saturated Rocks was used on various size of core samples to determine properties, such as Saturation exponent (n), Cementation factor (m), water Resistivity (Rw) Formation, Formation resistivity (Rt) Tortuosity (τ) and water saturation in Niger Delta formation. The result shows that the various rock properties depend on several factors, e.g., length and diameter of the core samples, from the result, we can also see that the formation factor increases with increase in length, cementation factor was constant for the five core samples, and tortuosity also increases with increase in length of the different core samples.

261-265

Authors: Chinur Hadi Mohamood, Shnrwe Bakr Mustafa, Lava anwer Bakr, Hezha Adil Omer, Shene Azwar Karem, Renas Omer Hama Salih

This study was conducted for improve head yield and some horticultural characteristics by spraying summer cabbage (Brassica oleraceae var. capitata) with organic material (Vinas organic fertilizer), Treatments includes : without application (T1 or control), folair spraying with Organic material (2.5%) after 20 days of transplanting(T2), folair spraying with Organic material (2.5%) after 35 days of transplanting(T3) and folair spraying with Organic material (2.5%) after 50 days of transplanting(T4) with Vinas organic fertilizer, the results showed non-significant (p>0.05) effect of organic material in head diameter, head length, No. of leaves, No. of plant, No. of lost plant, weight of head, yield of plot, yield of hectare, length of outer leaves, width of outer leaves, length of inner leaves, width of outer leaves, Chlorophyll (%) in outer leaves, Chlorophyll (%) in inner leaves, Nitrogen (%) in outer leaves, Nitrogen (%) in inner leaves, wet weight (%) in inner leaves and dry weight (%) in inner leaves , while effect significantly (p≤0.05) in Chlorophyll (%)in outer leaves, wet weight (%) in outer leaves and dry weight (%) in outer leaves. We can concluded that using of this organic material not affected in most of cabbage parameters, and not using may decreases the economic cost of this type of cabbage production.

273-278

Authors: Rajendra Prasad, SV Seshagiri, Debasish Das, RK Mishra

The total sericulture industry revolves round the seed sector and production of quality seed is the vital aspect in silk industry. Tasar silk sector qualifies as one of the most appropriate agro based cottage industry which provides employment to tribal and weaker section of the farmers and the activities are of forest based agricultural activity and industrial in nature. The activities covers production of egg, cultivation of host plants, silkworm rearing and cocoon production. Tasar silkworm growth and subsequent cocoon production are normally influenced by the breed, feed and the rearing environment. To ensure the production of quality tasar seed and their supply to the tribal farmers, Central silk Board (CSB) has established Basic Tasar Silkworm Seed Organization (BTSSO) and it undertakes the responsibility of producing the entire basic seed requirement of the Tasar sector, generated through a three tier multiplication system. The basic seed produced by the Basic Seed Multiplication Training Centre (BSMTCs) would be further multiplied by the State grainages and private grainuers. Under BTSSO, one Central Tasar Silkworm Seed Station (CTSSS) and 21 BSMTC’s were established in tropical areas of the country. The CTSSS conduct rearings of elite seed and produces and supply nucleus seed to BSMTCs under replenishment programme. These centers conduct the rearings of nucleus seed and produce the basic seed before reaching to the farmers. In the present paper the role of CTSSS is discussed in ensuring quality Tasar Dfls production for the growth of tasar industry.

289-296

Authors: James M Kombiok, Jean M Sogbedji, Samuel Saaka J Buah, John K Bidzakin

Soils in the northern savanna zone of Ghana are poor in plant nutrients and are prone to compaction. Some amount of tillage and the application of fertilizers to enhance crop yields are necessary. To assess the performance of maize (cv: Obatanpa) on two tillage systems (Manual and bullock plough) by the application of different fertilizers on the same plots for two years, a field experiment was laid in a split-plot design with four replicates. The main plots were the tillage systems and the sub-plots were different fertilizers made up of recommended rates of in-organic fertilizers (64 kg N/ha, 15 kg P205/ha and 15kg K20/ha), 6 tons/ha of animal manure, half the rate of in-organic (32 kg N/ha, 7.5 kg P205/ha and 7.5kg K20/ha), and half the rate of animal manure (3 tons/ha) and no fertilizer as the control in 2008 and 2009 at Nyankpala, Ghana. Tillage loosened the soil and thus reduced soil bulk density, increased porosity and could have enhanced the availability of water and nutrients for better crop growth. The application of animal manure alone increased maize yields in the second year by 57% as compared to 25% and 35% for the recommended fertilizer rates and half the rates, respectively. However, maize yields from the recommended fertilizer rates and the half rates of both in-organic fertilizers and animal manure in each year were similar but significantly (p<0.05) higher than yields from the manure and the control treatments. For sustainability, the application of half rates of the in-organic and animal manure could be recommended. Bullock plough with higher benefit-cost ratios and benefits than the manual system was a better tillage method in terms of economic returns to investment.

303-313

Authors: Onyegbadue Ikenna A, Ukagu Stephen Nwachukwu, Ugada Chukwuemeka Martin, Guiawa Mathurine

This research work analyses the behaviour of the Nigerian 330kV medium transmission line network to controlled signals. To carry out this work successfully, the medium transmission line network was modelled using Laplace transform in the S-domain. The state space equations for the lines in the network was also obtained. The network was tested for stability using the Eigen values for the state variables. The Unit-step signals and the Impulse signal were injected into the medium transmission line network. The response of the network was obtained. The work was based on the effect of varying shunt capacitance on the medium transmission line. It was observed that for a capacitance of 0.0000015pu on the medium transmission line, the settling time was 0.059sec and the steady state time was 0.08sec.this was the best time recorded.

319-324

Authors: Nawal Hussein Balal Siddig

In this paper, the solutes transport mechanism was studied from mathematical view. Three models were established to model and analyze solutes transportation inside arteries, in arterial lumen and though arterial walls. The Navier-stokes equations were used with the second and the third models, to model blood velocity and pressure. Blood is considered to be viscous incompressible, Newtonian in large arteries and Non-Newtonian in the capillaries.

328-334

Authors: OLALERE SS

The study examined the impact of inflation on Economic growth in Nigeria between 1980 and 2009. Error Correction Model was employed to test for the impacts of inflation on Economic growth in Nigeria. The data for the variables were sourced from CBN statistical Bulletin. The result of the test established a significant long run positive relationship between inflation and economic growth in Nigeria. Based on the above result, the paper now make following recommendations. The monetary authority should encourage moderate level of inflation in other to stimulate economic growth in Nigeria.

339-346

Authors: Tijjani AR, Chikaire JU

Biodiversity conservation is key to poverty and hunger reduction among rural dwellers whose major occupation is farming. This study seeks to establish the veritable role agro-biodiversity play in food provisioning, thereby reducing hunger and poverty. A total of 250 respondents were randomly selected from 3 South-east States (Abia, Imo and Ebonyi) of Nigeria. Data were collected with questionnaire complimented by oral interview and analyzed using percentages and mean presented in tabular forms. The results revealed that majority (55.6%) were males, and 45.7 % were females, with a mean age of 50.2 years. On marital status, 50 percent were married, while 35.2% were widows. Again, 52 % had primary education, while 33.6 % had secondary education, with a mean farm size of 1.90 hectares, and mean household size of 8.2 persons. The respondents had a mean farming experience of 25.6 years. The prevalent agro-ecosystems included cropping systems, aquaculture systems, lakes, wetlands, forests, rice paddies, among others. The traditional agro-biodiversity practices included crop rotation/diversification with mean response of 2.50, agro-forestry (M = 2.41), reduced tillage (M=2.52), contour planting (M=2.36), drainage control (M=2.53), terracing (M=2.48) among others practices. Agro-biodiversity conservation play the following roles in reducing hunger and poverty: improve crop yield, improve income of farmers, guarantee access to markets, reduces vulnerability of crops to death and pressures, improves soil texture and fertility, reduces economic loss, provision of medicines and many more. It was recommended that to encourage and sustain conservation of biodiversity, conservation education and training be given to farmers regularly by agricultural extension personnel. The prevailing tenure systems should be reformed to make access to land easy and secure to enterprising farmers.

354-366

Authors: Abdulbariu Ibrahim

Both geological and geophysical campaign was carried out in Ado-Awaiye and its environs part of Iseyin in Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria. The work was focused on the geological mapping, study of the different rock units and geomagnetic investigation of the subsurface in order to determine the structural elements and mineral resources of the area. Information such as strike, dip alongside with total magnetic intensity etc acquired on the field were used to establish field relations and geological boundaries which aided in the deduction of origin and evolution of the different rock units and the geological history of the area.Field traversing, rock sample collections and petrographic investigations revealed migmatite-gneiss and hornblende granite-gneiss with some associated minor rock units such as amphibolite and pegmatite characterized by minerals: biotite, muscovite, k-feldspar, Plagioclase feldspar, quartz, hornblende and microcline. The rocks are also characterized by structures such as ptygmatic folds, joints, fault, foliation, mineral lineation, veins and also bears the imprints of Pan African orogeny. Magnetic traverses were also designed to deduce the character of buried subsurface rock and the depth to their top aimed at revealing the subsurface basement lithology and its mineralization. Total magnetic field intensity ranging from 30446.47nT to 33536.10nT (nanotesla) characterized the area. Regional-residual separation and half - width methods were applied and results presented as magnetic map and profiles. Qualitative and quantitative interpretations were made based on the maps and profiles. Differences in the magnetic data reveals variation in the lithological and mineralogical content of the basement with the higher value corresponding probably to the amphibolite (basic) component and the lower value corresponding to the granitic or gneissic component of the migmatite-gneiss being higher at the west and lower at the east with basement depth ranging from 2.5m to 15.5mwith few basement lineament, suprabasement and intrabasement block.

377-382

Authors: Ekenta Chukwuemeka, Kalu IU

The non-consideration of relevant socio-economic parameters affecting accessibility to land by real property appraisers and analysts has been identified as the major reason for the challenges confronting real property investment in Rivers State and Obio/Akpor Local Government Area inclusive. Significantly, this phenomenon has led to wastage of scarce resources and creation of an apathetic environment. Premised on this foregoing, this study examines the socio-economic factors that affect accessibility to land, in the determination of qualitative and quantitative real property investment in Obio/Akpor L.G.A., Nigeria. Data analysis was descriptive statistics and Relative Importance Index (RII). The result showed that high and unnecessary costs was the most ranked (RII = 0.9432), while restriction of landowners (RII = 0.9158) was the least ranked. The study recommended that government should establish a framework that ensures simplified and relatively cheaper statutory fees on land transactions so as to prevent conflict of professional undertakings and undue extortion

390-397

Authors: Anjorin SA, Ogundana TO

Some selected wood species: Rubus hawaiensis, Gmelina arborea, Mansonia altissima, Milicea excelsa, Alstonia congensis, Khaya senegalensis, Tectona grandis, Cordia platythyrsa, Pterygota macrocarpa, Aningeria spp, Hevea brasiliences and Pterocarpus mildreadiiwere examined from the vantage point of ignitability, using an induction furnace. The calorific values of the various woods were also determined using the e2k-bomb calorimeter. The result of ignition data obtained from ignitability test showed that; Hevea brasiliences (softwood) with density 497.33 kg/m3 ignites at temperature 306 oC at 1436 sec., while Tectona grandis with density 800.00 kg/m3 ignites at temperature 342 oC at 1531 sec. This showed that the higher the density, the higher the temperature at which the wood ignites. Tectona grandis, Aningeria spp, Khaya senegalensis, Milicea excelsa, Mansonia altissima and Rubus hawaiensis with moisture contents 9.15%, 9.104%, 8.535%, 7.92%, and 6.85% respectively have better fire resistance, while Alstonia congensis, Gmelina arborea, Pterygota macrocarpa and, Hevea brasiliences with moisture contents; 7.69%, 7.252%, 7.106% and 6.746% respectively have the least fire resistance. These results obtained showed that wood with high moisture content had better fire performance, while wood with the least moisture content had the least resistance to fire propagation. The values obtained for the calorific values of the samples increases from sample K (Hevea brasiliences), 16.146 MJ/kg to the highest value for sample G (Tectona grandis), and 18.232 MJ/kg.

401-407

Authors: Anjorin SA, Arojojoye AO, Komolafe OD

Concrete without any fibres will develop cracks due to shrinkage in volume. The development of this micro crack causes elastic deformation of concrete. Plain concrete is a brittle material, having low values of modulus of rupture and strain capacity is low. In order to enhance high flexural strengths and to reduce shrinkage, glass fibres were used to reinforce plain concrete. The main objective of this research is to study the effect of glass fibres reinforcement on the mechanical properties of Portland cement. Experiments were carried out to determine compressive strengths, ultimate drying shrinkage, consistency and setting times of both plain concrete and concrete reinforced with glass fibre. Ultimate drying shrinkage decreased exponentially as the sand/cement ratio increased. Increasing the glass fibres percentage assisted tremendously in reducing the drying shrinkage of the concrete-glass fibre aggregate. Compressive strengths of the concrete/glass fibres aggregates were measured after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of curing. Compressive strength in all the samples increased with increasing percentages of glass fibres. It was observed that increase in percentage of glass fibre facilitated early initial and final setting times

414-422

Authors: UcheFelix Ikechukwu, John Ezeokonkwo

The quality of sandcrete blocks produced in Nigeria is a suspect oweing to the fact that there is no appropriate standards and lack of compliance to the existing ones in the country. For this reason, the study seeks to work towards improving the quality of sandcrete blocks produced in the Warm Humid Climate (WHC) of Nigeria through the production process. Laboratory tests were conducted on some block samples collected from about 50 per-cent of the major block producing firms in Owerri Metropolis (part of the WHC in Nigeria). Statistical analysis were carried out on the tests results of the various block samples collected in the area to obtain Statistical Arithmetic mean, Mean variation, Standard deviation and Coefficient of Variation for the respective types of block. It was therefore discovered that the mix design, mechanical method of compaction, and 28-day curing age improve the properties of the blocks. Qualities of the blocks aremaximized especially, when the three conditionalities (factors) are applied simultaneously. Coefficient of variations of the blocks produced in the area however, are high in the range of 0.041 to 0.105 but; it was recorded very low on blocks involving mix design and the mechanical method of production respectively at range (0.001 – 0.041). Besides, the least values were noted on blocks that were mix designed and mechanically produced at a time. The three factors in the blocks production process are very significant in their influences on quality of sandcrete blocks produced in the area. Thus, it is suggested that strong emphasis be placed especially, on the mix design approach in the batching stage of the production process, with a view to making ‘a difference’ in the blocks quality particularly; when it is not a common practice in the Nigeria construction industry.

429-438

Authors: Young Ezenwa Obioha, Akuunne A Onunkwo, Chikwendu N Okereke, Sablnus I Ibeneme, Sam Onyekuru, Hope Isreal, Bridget Ubechu

Geochemical investigation of granitoids in Northwest Obudu, Southeastern Nigeria, was carried out in order to determine their petrogenetic significance to crustal evolution of African Continent. Results reveal that, granites, granodiorites, pegmatites and aplites constitute the main granitic rocks outcrops in the area. These are closely associated with migmatites gneisses, schists and granulites/charnockites which they intrude, Modal analysis shows that all the granitic rocks are enriched in quartz (16-31), plagioclase (An32-48 16-37), orthoclase (3-20), biotite (10-15), but relatively depleted in garnet (4-6 vol. %), hornblende, sphene and hematite. This is in accordance with their acid characteristics. Bulk rock geochemistry shows that all the granitic rocks are depleted in Fe2O3(total), CaO and MgO, with average values of 3.97wt.%, 2.58wt.%, and 1.03wt% respectively, but relatively enriched in SiO2 (70.7 wt.%), Al2O3 (13.81wt.%) and alkalis (6.37wt.%) average values, which is consistent with their intermediate-acid character. The CIPW Norm shows enrichment of Q(s) and Ab and depletion of Ol and Mt corroborating their granitic character. Chemical discrimination diagrams show that the granites were late-stage magmatic protoliths, emplaced dominantly in within plate to syn-collision tectonic setting. They played significant role in the tectonothermal evolution of the Pan African Continent.

448-456

Authors: Kenneth K Dagde, Saviour A James

The industrial and commercial applications of the coir pitha waste product obtained from coir industries have so far been very limited. Disposing coir pith has been found to be very expensive and difficult. Thus, a laboratory scale study was conducted to determine the possibility of Converting coir pith into bio-fertilizer using the microorganism for solid state fermentation. The first step in the conversion of coir pith to bio-fertilizer was delignification using microorganism (Aspergillus Niger). The nitrogen content of the biofertilizer was enhanced by using the nitrogen fixing bacteria, (Azotobacter). The results obtained showed 3.30% (wt.%) nitrogen,16.60% moisture content, 46.0% volatile matter , 10.0% carbon content, 4.02% phosphorus,4.37% potassium, 4.60% conductivity and a pH of 6.60 within the period of 45 days of sub-culturing there by making it a better soil conditioner and a slow releasing nitrogenous fertilizer.

462-472

Authors: EI Okoye, AN Eboatu

Timber is an essential raw material needed in constructing one thing or the other in all fields of human endevour. It is combustible. In this research, fire characteristics of fifty-seven (57) tropical timbers were investigated. The characteristics studied are: average metal concentration (AMC) and oven dry density (ODD). The tropical timbers with the highest of these characteristics are P. africana and Manilkara while the ones with the least of these fire characteristics were C. pulcherima and B. bonopozense respectively. Although some tropical timbers with lower ODDs possess high AMC, some of the timber with higher ODDs possess lower AMC, it can be said that there is neither inverse nor direct relationship between the AMC of the tropical timbers and their oven dry densities. Though density is an important factor, in determining the fire characteristics of timber, the cellular structure, molecular composition, orientation of fiber (direction of grain) and timber extractives (e.g. resins) deserve a special attention in explaining the results. The aims and objectives of this work is to identify the timbers that are fire resistant and those that are not and to compare the AMC of these tropical timbers with their oven dry densities.

477-481

Authors: Kenneth K Dagde, Saviour A James

Some metals in trace quantities have deleterious effects on certain processes in petroleum industry. It therefore, becomes very imperative to determine the concentration of these metals prior to refinery operations. This is particularly necessary for Nigeria crude where well-head crude analysis is scanty. In this research, five different well-head petroleum crude were quantitatively analyzed for nine metallic elements using frame atomic absorption spectroscopic method. Unicam Atormic Absorption spectrometer 939 (for vanadium) and Instrumentation laboratories Spectrometer 451 were used. These results were compared. All the crude studied showed higher vanadium concentration than nickel Yorla, Brass blend and gulf/shell crude have the highest vanadium/nickel ratio, while Bonny L2 and Bonny L1 have the least vanadium/Nickel ratio..

490-496

Authors: Bui Thi Nga

Frequency of milk consuming has been increasing rapidly, ranked the third, just behind food and spice sauce in Vietnam in recent years. This study aimed to find out which factors impact on the milk consumption behavior of Vietnamese. The data came from standard questionnaires in a survey of 100 representative respondents in a case study in Long Bien district, Hanoi, Vietnam. Results showed that three factors: the average monthly income of the household, education and career of the respondents (also decision makers in milk consumption of the household) had positive and significant influence to consumer behavior of milk consumption. Consumers had a more professional career, higher education levels and higher incomes also consumed milk more often.

505-514

Authors: BF Sule, T Ige

A major challenge in water resources planning, design and operation in developing countries such as Nigeria is the paucity of relevant and accurate hydrological and meteorological data. The estimation of design storm for example depends on availabilty of rainfall quantities and their durations. Meteorological data collected at several synoptic stations in Nigeria show that daily records are available for rainfall. These records do not contain the durations of storms with their corresponding depths which are needed to generate intensity- duration –frequency (IDF) relations for storm drainage designs. The study generated annual series of daily maximum rainfall at seven synoptic station in central Nigeria. The series were fitted with Gumbel Extreme Value Type I distribution and rainfall depths at various return periods (2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 years) were obtained. Proportionate depths of ranfall at short times scale (15, 30, 45, 60, 90 120 and 240 minutes) were obtained using USDA generalised accumulated rainfall curve for storm type A. After calculating the intensities, IDF equations were fitted for each station. These were then converted to isopluvial maps. The maps can be used to obtain rainfall depth at short durations (15, 30, 60 minutes) and frequencies when needed for design of storm drainage in agricultural lands and urban systems.

519-526

Authors: Amajama Joseph

The bizarre design and engineering physics of two kinds of small/medium/pico/family hydro-electric power generating plants/farms have been analysed. One utilizes a stream/river with a dam constructed so that the water falls from a height and turn a turbine while, the other maximizes the energy of a falling mass of water from a reservior at a particular height to also turn a turbine. The latter, in addition uses a solar pump to raise the water from a receptacle at the ground level back to the elevated reservior and it can also make use of a public water supply, running at high pressure to raise water to the reservior. Also, employing the relevant engineering physics, a mini power plant/farm has been designed with calculations on how to generate about then thousand watt (10000W) of electricity.

537-548

Authors: Sule BF, Ajala OF

This study investigated the degree of non-stationarity in the monthly rainfall data of Ilorin meteorological station from 1960 – 2010 (51 years). The methodology adopted included trend test with regression analysis and Mann-Kendell trend analysis, Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, auto-correlation function (ACF), and spectral analysis. The results showed that the series contained non-significant negative trend. The Autocorrelation function (ACF) plot, and Partial Autocorrelation function (PACF) plot indicated several significant spikes at different lags which confirmed the non-stationarity in the data. The spectrum analysis however indicated that the historical rainfall series of Ilorin contains periodicities of 12 months, 6 months, and 4 months, all which are analysed to be statistically significant. Non-stationarity was therefore generally observed in the form of both monotonic trends and abrupt change over time. It is therefore recommended that non stationarity should be incorporated into subsequent hydrological analysis and design issues based on the historical rainfall data at Ilorin, north central Nigeria.

562-566

Authors: Yi-Jen Mon, Jey-In Leu, Chen-Jer Hon

In this paper, the wireless sensor network (WSN) is used to teach students to understand the methods and experiments for monitoring temperature and humidity. WSN is based on Zigbee protocal which has benefits of low cost, low power consumption, etc. By using WSN’s Application Program Interface (API), the environment conditions of temperature and humidity can be obtained easily. The teaching example of verifying the performance of WSN will be presented in this paper. The results reveal that the teaching method and experiments are good and satisfied.

574-589

Authors: Ugonabo VI, Menkiti MC, Onukwuli OD

Micro-kinetics evaluation of coag-flocculation factors for Telfairia occidentalis seed biomass in pharmaceutical industry effluent (PIE) system has been investigated at room temperature, following standard method of bench scale jar test. Telfairia occidentalis seed biomass (TOSC) was prepared according to work reported by Ugonabo, et al., 2012. The data obtained were fitted into specified kinetic model for the evaluation of functional parameters. The optimal values of pH, dosage and settling time were recorded at 13, 0.1x10-3kg/m3and 2400secs respectively. The result of the major functional parameters, obtained are 2,7.5 E – 05m3/kg.s, and 12.68secs for order of reaction, coag-flocculation rate constant and coagulation period, respectively. At optimum, the total dissolved and suspended solids (TDSS) was reduced from 2070 mg/l to 211.97mg/l, representing 89.76% removal efficiency. Comparatively, Telfairia occidentalis seed biomass has reaffirmed its effectiveness even at the pH domain of alum as an alternative resource for water purification at the prevailing condition of the experiment.

599-610

Authors: Joseph KM, Magaji AS, Peter A, Tijani NZ

The effect ofvariable suction on unsteady MHD oscillatory flow of Jeffrey fluid in a horizontal channel with heat and mass transfer has been studied. The temperature prescribed at plates is uniform and asymmetric. A perturbation method is employed to solve the momentum and energy equations. The effects of various dimensionless parameters on velocity and temperature profiles are considered and discussed in details through graphs. It is found that, the velocity u increases with increase in h_2,α_1,λ_1,Gr,Gc,N,Re and Sc. The velocity also increases with decrease in h_1,α_2,Ha,and K_c. It is also observed that the temperature θ increases with increase in N and Pe. Increase in Schmidt number Sc and chemical parameter K_c respectively increase and decrease the species concentration or the concentration boundary layer thickness of the flow field.

618-623

Authors: Peter Anthony

In this article, we improve on previous results in Anthony (2016)[2] where phase-portrait analysis was used to obtain bounds for Navier-Stokes Equations in uniformly local spaces; this concerned situation where the pressure term had been removed artificially. This paper focused on using a new approach termed Loop Argument method to handle a more general situation than the phase-portrait one that applies only on deliberate pressure omission in the momentum equation.

639-645

Authors: Adiela UP, Acra EJ, Iwuoma Juliet Onyinyechukwu

The 3-D geologic model of the X-Field presented in this study demonstrates application of a detailed reservoir characterization and modeling workflow for a field. The static modeling methodology incorporates seismic structural information, geologic layering schemes, and petrophysical rock properties. Fault polygons were used in building the structural model. Pillar gridding method was used in the fault modeling. The cell geometries have been kept orthogonal to avoid any anticipated simulation problems. In this research work, lithofacies modeling using wireline-log signatures, coupled with geologically constraining variables provided accurate lithofacies models at well to field scales. Differences in petrophysical properties among lithofacies and within a lithofacies among different porosities illustrate the importance of integrated lithological-petrophysical modeling and of the need for closely defining these properties and their relationships. Lithofacies models, coupled with lithofacies-dependent petrophysical properties, allowed the construction of a 3-D model for the X-Field that has been effective at the well scale.

656-662

Authors: Mehmet Karaca, Ayse Gul Ince, Emine U Gocer, Adnan Aydin

Reliable analysis of DNA cytosine methylation of bisulfite sequencing mainly depends on the selection of target regions and primer pairs that flank differentially methylated cytosine contexts. Bisulfite sequencing method is still the choice of method in cytosine DNA methylation studies of polyploid species. One of the most important aspects of bisulfite sequencing is the development of primer pairs. A total of 82 primer pairs were designed, 18 reliably amplified bisulfite treated and control genomic DNA of G. hirsutum L. cv. TM and G. barbadense L. cv. Pima 3-79. Target regions of the primer pairs consist of promoters, intergenic and gene body regions. With the exception of two primer pairs specific to mitochondrial and chloroplast regions, nuclear genome specific 16 primer pairs produced varying degree of cytosine methylation polymorphisms between Upland cotton and Pima cotton cultivars. Level and pattern methylation differences within and between the tissues and developmental stages detected with the use of primer pairs reported in this study could provide information on allele specific methylation and their epigenetic effects in cotton.

669-679

Authors: Shashi Shekhar Mishra, Kushal Johari, Prasoon Johari

Recent advances in wireless data networking and portable information appliances have engendered a new paradigm of computing, known as mobile computing; in which users carrying portable devices have access to data and information services regardless of their physical location or movement behaviour. As Mobile Computing becomes more dominant, system and applications must deal with a growing disparity in resources types and availability of the user interface device. Although the challenges of effectively managing these resources are partially addressed by the existing system, their solutions are hindered by the system’s lack of knowledge about the application. In the recent time, research addressing information access in mobile environments has proliferated. In this survey, we provide a concrete framework and categorization of the different ways to support mobile client-server computing for information access. We examine characteristics of mobility that distinguish mobile client-server computing from its traditional computing.

8-10

Authors: MNO Sadiku, SM Musa, Sudarshan R Nelatury

We live in a digital world and are overwhelmed by the massive information we are surrounded with. Informatics is a discipline that deals with information. It is the study and practice of creating, storing, manipulating and sharing information. This paper provides a brief introduction to the field of informatics. It covers health informatics, cognitive informatics, business informatics, security informatics, and social informatics.

16-23

Authors: Oriji A Boniface, Madugba Blessing

The production of carbon dioxide from the conventional fuel is eliminated in biodiesel because all of the carbon dioxide that would have been released during combustion is sequestrated out of the atmosphere during crop growth, thereby making the biodiesel more environmentally friendly. This study was on the production and analysis of biodiesel from refined rubber seeds obtained from the rubber research institute in Benin, Edo State Nigeria. The rubber seeds collected were cleaned and air-dried to constant weight. The rubber seed oil (RSO) was extracted using n-hexane solvent with soxhlet apparatus. From the analysis of the extracted refined RSO which was transesterified with ethanol using Potassium Hydroxide, the following physicochemical properties were obtained: the acid value, the saponification value, the Iodine value, the specific gravity, the free fatty acid value, the pH value, the peroxide value and the refractive index. These values were compared to the values of the corresponding physicochemical properties of crude RSO, and it was confirmed that the both sets of values were similar. The refined RSO was characterized according to ASTM standard based on the following properties: Flash point, water and sediment value, kinematic viscosity, sulphated ash value and the acid number value, it was confirmed that these values were in line with the ASTM standard values except for the flash point value that fell below the ASTM standard. This study confirmed that RSO from Nigeria is a viable feedstock for biodiesel production and the shortfall in the flash point value can be corrected by proper ethanol-oil blend and improved refining.

34-38

Authors: Onyemaleze Friday, Oloro O John, Fakrogha Julius

This paper is aimed at determining and comparing the rheological property, mud weight, pH and sand content of the suspected bentonite clay from Ejeme-aniogor of Aniocha South Local Government Area in Delta State. The clay was collected from a depth of about 3ft, dried, crushed and sieved using 212 mesh size, low, mid and high viscous mud was prepared using the fann-VG meter and the various parameters were analyzed. Before beneficiation, it was observed that the sand content was 0.25 % using the sand content kit which is very good compare to API standard for mud sand content of 1-2 %. The mud pH was also observed to be 7 and upon beneficiation using 0.1g of potassium hydroxide (KOH) the pH was observed to increase to a value of 12 which is appreciably good with reference to minimum and maximum of 9.5-12.5 for API standard. The viscosity of the clay at various concentrations in grams of 17.5, 21.0 and 24.5 was also observed to be far below the required value of 30 cp at 600 rpm, but upon beneficiation with 1.0 g of hydroxyl ethyl cellulose and allowed to age for a period of five days the viscosity was observed to meet up to standard of 30 cp at 600 rpm. The mud weight was also improved to meet up with standard using 0.5 g of barite. From the analysis it could be seen that if properly beneficiated and allowed to age, the clay could serve as substitute for foreign clay used in drilling.

47-51

Authors: Rajib Biswas, Samir Kumar Bandhyapadhyay

This electronic document represents the comparative study of transmission of encrypted data packet using different cryptographic algorithm.

57-66

Authors: David Adugh Kuhe, Raymond Chukwuka Egemba

This study employs a univariate Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) homoskedastic model in conjunction with Box and Jenkins modeling procedure to model and forecast annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) data in Nigeria from 1950 to 2014. The annual data on Consumer Price Index is obtained as secondary data from Penn World Table, the National Bureau of Statistics and the Central bank of Nigeria over the period 1950 to 2014. We examine the graphical, statistical, unit root and stationarity properties of the series using time plots, ACF, PACF, Phillips-Perron as well as Dickey-Fuller Generalized Least Squares unit root tests. The results show that the CPI data in Nigeria is non-stationary in level but stationary in logged first difference and thus integrated of order one, I(1). We then applied Box-Jenkins modeling methodology to search for an optimal model and found that ARIMA (3, 1, 0) was the best fitting model to describe CPI data series in Nigeria. The model was validated and found to be adequate and good. Based on this model, we forecast the future annual CPI in Nigeria for a period of 6 years from 2015 to 2020. The forecasts show a steady increase in the annual values of CPI in Nigeria. The study predicts that inflation will increase in Nigeria from 2015 since the confidence intervals of the forecast suggest a consistent increase in annual CPI during the forecasted period of 2015 to 2020.

71-78

Authors: Mohamed S Mahjoob, Mohammed A Elsheikh, Yousif E El Mahi, Khalid A Ibrahim

A field trial was carried out at the University of Khartoum farm, Shambat, Sudan, for two consecutive seasons (2006-2007) and (2007-2008).The aim of the research was to determine the effect of the time and depth of application of aqueous waste ammonia, as a nitrogen fertilizer, on a leaf of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and its efficiency as compared to urea fertilizer. The split block design was used for the layout of 76 experimental plots representing 19 treatments replicated four times each. Eighty kg N/ha of urea and of ammonia were applied at different depths: 5, 10, and 15cm into the soil at different times of application: one week before sowing , two weeks after sowing and four weeks after sowing . The results showed that the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by application of both ammonia and urea. In conclusion, waste ammonia produced by Khartoum Refinery can be disposed of safely in soil by using it as a cheap nitrogen fertilizer for forage sorghum and that it is practically as efficient as urea fertilizer.

84-96

Authors: Nabawia A Abdel-Zaher, Manal TH Moselhey, Osiris W Guirguis

Thin films of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) are prepared by solution casting technique and exposed to UV/ozone for different exposure times. The effect of exposure on the optical properties such as: near infrared (NIR), transmittance spectra in the spectral region 250–2500 nm of the films are studied. The changes in the optical parameters including: The CIE tristimulus values, color parameters, absorption coefficient, absorption edge, band tail width, optical band gap, extinction coefficient and color strength as well as refractive index, dispersion parameters and optical dielectric constant are determined as a function of UV/ozone exposure times. The results indicate that, the NIR spectra showed variations in the intensity, area, band width, and the absorbance values of some bands. These variations mean that there are changes in the molecular configuration as well as the bond vibration and structure of HPMC as the exposure time increases. It is also noticed from the data that the variations in the values of band tail and optical band gap with increase the exposure time may be due to HPMC-induced structural change in the system. In addition, it is recognized that exposure with UV/ozone plays a role in microstructure and macrostructure change occurring in the polymer matrix.

106-108

Authors: Matthew N O Sadiku, Mahamadou Tembely, Sarhan M Musa

Big data refers to massive amount of data that are so large that traditional processing tools cannot cope. It is produced by emails, online transactions, medical records, etc. It is a high-volume, high-velocity, and high-variety information that require special information processing tools. This paper presents a brief introduction on big data for engineers.

116-118

Authors: Matthew NO Sadiku, Adebowale E Shadare, Sarhan M Musa

DNA computing is essential computation using biological molecules rather than traditional silicon chips. In recent years, DNA computing has been a research tool for solving complex problems. Despite this, it is still not easy to understand. The aim of this paper is present DNA computing in simple terms that a beginner can understand.

125-131

Authors: Ogunlade Joseph Olurotimi, Maimuna Nimulola

This study examined the influence of sexuality education on moral behavior of adolescents in Senior Secondary Schools in Wamakko Local Government, Sokoto State, Nigeria. The research specifically found out the influence of sex education awareness, sexuality education program and school support program on adolescents’ moral behavior. The population of the study was 2640. Samples of two hundred and forty three (243) students were selected from the total population. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed questionnaire titled; Influence of Sexuality Education on Moral Behavior of Adolescents in Senior Secondary Schools (ISEMBASSSQ).The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages and mean) and Pearson correlation statistical tool for the inferential analysis. Findings from this study revealed that sex education awareness influence adolescents’ moral behavior through sexual messages in public areas, discussion of sex in the presence of children, making sexual jokes about adolescents and showing pornography to adolescence. Overall, there is moderate influence of sex education awareness on adolescents’ moral behavior (with overall mean of 2.15). Similarly, sexuality education program influence adolescents’ moral behavior through sex abstinence, responsible decision about sex, avoidance of unwanted pregnancies and the need for sex education program in school. Overall, there is high influence of sexuality education program on adolescents’ moral behavior (with overall mean of 3.02). Also, school support program influence adolescents’ moral behavior by allowing posters to be posted in schools, financial support for sexuality program, allocation of venue for sexuality program, giving school counselor the necessary support. Overall, there is a high influence of school support program on adolescents’ moral behavior (with overall mean of 2.99).The following recommendations were made, Sex education should be introduced into the curriculum of secondary school education. However, students at the junior secondary level should not be exposed to sex education as it might only increase their sexual libido, the government should work hand in hand with the individual schools in collaboration with the other non-governmental organizations in order to curb this problem. There is a need for improvement on budgetary funding from local government to schools. This is probably to provide the facilitation of the counselors when carrying out their Counseling programs to students.

140-147

Authors: Adeola GL, Ogunlusi G

Since the industrial revolution, the world has not witnessed at a grand scale and at such a speed a revolution such as the digitalization of virtually every facet of human Endeavour. Through electronic governance, business with government is exceedingly facilitated rapidly and probably with less stress. Like globalization which affects countries and regions differently, so is electronic governance. As a mechanism of governance, its positive impact is enormous when viewed in relation to time, volume of materials transmitted, speed, accuracy etc. in fact, its unfolding transformation of the world is unspeakable. In this study positioned to explore the impact of e-governance in Nigeria vis-à-vis citizen participation and political leadership responsibility; primary data were used through structured Likert Scale Questionnaire. The survey research design covered different segment of society such as the civil servant, trader, teacher/lecturer, civil society, lawyer and students. The non-probability sampling method as well as the systematic random sampling method was used. Finally, the hypothesis was tested using non-parametric test, (Chi-Square) while the data was analyzed with the aid of statistical package for Social Sciences, 20.0 SPSS. From the Chi-Square, x^2= 21.34 P>0.05. It can be concluded that there exist an association between the citizen educations and application of e-governance; suggesting that e-governance will thrive better where citizens are educated. Furtherance in Nigerian type of society, from the Chi-Square Value (x^212.209 P>0.05, DF = 4). It was well appreciated that money spent on e-governance was not in any way a waste of resources.

163-170

Authors: A Muhittin Albora

Hittite civilisation is an historical imperial in Sivas-Kusakli during B.C. 2000 to B.C. 8000. Many geophysicians and archaeologist are still working upon the ruins of this empire. In this paper, our aim is to bring to light the archaeological structure of the North of Sivas-Kusakli using total magnetic anomalies. For this reason, wavelet and horizontal gradient-boundary analysis have been applied. The methods are also tested for synthetic examples and satisfactory results are obtained. We have extracted the historical walls which assumed to be used as towers. The circular structures closer to the considered walls are also being extracted in our studies.

177-182

Authors: Bilal S,Mohammed-Dabo IA, Dewu BBM, Momoh OR, Funtua II, Oladipo MOA, Arabi AS, Muhammad T

The Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of the Nigerian bentonitic clay samples obtained from the North Eastern Nigeria, namely:Garin Hamza, Pindiga, Tongo, BulabulinMaiduwa and SabonGarinNgalda were investigated using Methylene Blue method. The raw samples were beneficiated using wet beneficiation method to reduce the excess silica content and further activated with Na2CO3 to become Sodium based bentonite used for drilling fluid formulation.The CEC values for raw Nigerian Bentonitic clay samples ranges from 12 to 44 meq/100 g which have low values compared to standard (57.9 meq/100g). The CEC values significantly increased compared to the raw samples after silica (Quartz) reduction between 31.3 to 46.0meq/100g. The CEC values remain relatively the same even after activation with Na2CO3, except Tongo bentonite with CEC value of 38.9 meq/100g for raw bentonite that reduced to 34.9 after silica reduction but on activation with Na2CO3 the value rose to 39.7 meq/100g. It was generally observed that the CEC values of all the formulated drilling fluid for the treated samples slightly reduced due to the effect of the viscosifier (Poly anionic cellulose) used during formulation.

187-192

Authors: Ruben S Asatryan, Hamlet S Karayan, Norayr R Khachatryan

The results of development of the air infrared radiometer for the realization of monitoring of the environment from an aircraft, and also methods of him some applied applications are presented. The development results of a new methods of aerial (on a helicopter or airplane) infrared (IR) scanning of extensive spaces with the purpose of detecting weak heat sources (fire centers at an early stage of their development) to prevent the occurrence of large-scale fires are presented, and for probing gas main pipelines and detecting gas leaks also is described. IR scanning of pipelines was performed in the wavelength range 8–12 µm by a helicopter flying along the routes of pipelines. In the paper there is presented the description of the IR radiometer as well as the measurement method of point and extended thermal sources in the wavelength range of 2.5 to 5.5 and 8-12 microns.

198-213

Authors: Saber SM, Youssef MS, Arafa RF, Hassane AMA

Aspergillus ostianus Wehmer was a new record to the Mycological Laboratories in Egypt, isolated form cabbage seeds and tested for aflatoxins and ochratoxin A production. Aflatoxins B1 and G1 and ochratoxin A were demonstrated in the crude extracts of Aspergillus ostianus cultivated on different media for mycotoxins production. Both of essential oil and ethanol extract of clove were tested in order to control Aspergillus ostianus. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 46.77 and 500 mg/ml for essential oil and ethanol extract, respectively. Also, qualitative phytochemical screening of the extracts and their chemical components using GC/MS analysis were determined.

235-242

Authors: Kalyan Das, Aromita Sen, Samir Kumar Bandyopadhyay

Visual cryptography is a method for protecting image-based secrets that has a computation-free decoding process. In this paper we propose a new color visual cryptography scheme. Pixel Sieve method was proposed recently to encode an image into shares. Our proposed method suggested a way to encrypt multiple color images using symmetric key encryption procedure where we are using the idea of LSBR and pixel sieve method in a modified way. The proposed method is applied on several images and showed good result without any distortion. The algorithm proposed by this scheme reduces a considerable time for encryption and decryption in a much easier way and ensures the lossless transmissions of images.

253-260

Authors: Oyinki WT, Asima M, Ohochuku OP

A heat exchanger (cooling fin) made of an aluminum alloy with thermal properties of 170W/mK isotropic thermal conductivity, 870J/kgK specific heat and 2800kg/m3 density was analyzed with Transient Thermal system from ANSYS software package. Additional conditions were ambient temperature and Film coefficient of 20 °C and 30W/m2 °C respectively. The initial (room) temperature of the alloy was set at 20 °C, heat source temperature of 90 °C, step end time 200s, initial time step 2s, minimum time step 0.2s and maximum time step at 20s. As the cooling process continues, it was observed that while at a time of 33.537s the temperature at fin-base juncture (probe 2) assumed a steady state and becomes uniform from 132.17s until the maximum time (200s) where the temperature increased to 89.114 °C, the tip of the base without fin (probe 3) assumed a steady state at a time of 37.83s and becomes uniformly distributed from 152.17s until the maximum time where the maximum temperature was 89.321 °C. It was also observed that no other part attained or exceeded 90 °C.