FUOYE Journal of Engineering and Technology (FUOYEJET - Federal University Oye-Ekiti)
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Irrigation Practice and its Management Programme in Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority, Nigeria
Get PDFThe present level of irrigation system and poor output level of agricultural and horticultural products have triggered the need to look for a better management strategy under the current irrigation system. In order to suggest a feasible option, this study examines the present irrigation management structure in Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority in Nigeria. Questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results indicated that majority, (86 %), of the farmers were educated, 77 % were practising commercial farming, 50 % of the farmers have been practicing irrigation for over 20 years and 60 % adopted sprinkler methods, followed by drip (27%) and the most rarely used was basin with 3 %. The sources of water used were 30 % of stream, 29 % of well and 7 % lake. Findings indicated that (30 %) of the farmers were trained and visited by the workers of Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority, (20 %) of the farmers were helped in their irrigation development, and only a few of the workers of Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority (10 and 15 %) that assisted the farmers one way or the other were the professional expert in irrigation and related fields. Majority, (70 %), of the farmers were not fully integrated into the activities of the river-basin irrigation management structure. Hence, Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority should be restructured to incorporate the irrigation stakeholders into the river-basin irrigation management structur
Cost and Calorie Analysis of Food Consumption in Artisanal Fishery Households in North-Western and North-Central Nigeria
Get PDFA study was conducted to assess- the food calorie intake and factors that determine food security status of fisherfolks in North-Central and North-Western Nigeria. Data were collected from 267 rural fishery households using a multi-stage random sampling procedure. The main tools of analysis include descriptive statistics, Cost of calorie intake and Tobit models. The study revealed that the fishery household heads were male dominated (94%); average age of 49 years with mean adjusted household size of 8. The estimated mean years of schooling of sampled fisherfolks were 3.5 years, largely skewed towards the informal education and below 2015 UNDP mean education index of 5 years for Nigeria. The calorie intake for the secured fisherfolks households recorded higher values for the entire food intake than the insecured households. The result showed that only 35.58% of the sampled fisheries households were food secured while majority (64.42%) of the sampled households were food insecured. The determinants of food insecurity status were socio-economic variables and those factors that influenced the food secured fisherfolks showed slight variation from those influenced households that were food insecured and where it did, it was not by the same magnitude and direction. There is need for an appropriate policy mix that will promote the increased production of legumes and animal protein foods in the study area to raise and meet the minimum average protein required per caput per day. Food insecure households should be educate by extension agents through their cooperative societies to increase production of maize, sorghum, millet, rice and cowpea to enhance their food security status
Casting and Performance Evaluation of Pump Impeller and Housing using Local Raw Materials
Get PDFCasting of pump impeller and its housing was carried out using locally available materials. Performance evaluation was conducted to show if the locally produced pump impeller and its housing could be compared favourably in terms of performances with the imported ones. The sand used for the moulding of the pump housing and impeller was blended in the sand mixer with bentonite, wood dust, water and others as desired in their correct proportions (Bentonite-3.5%, Water 3.5%; Wood dust 4.2%). Pouring of the molten metal unto the assembled mould was done at a temperature of about 1380oC. Portable optical pyrometer was used to measure the temperatures. The charge make ups was 135kg of cast iron scraps, 0.58% FeSi, 0.035% Femn and 0.0045% Inoculants. Replica of the two components were carefully produced in wooden patterns to make the sand mould easy, while the casting was made using grey cast iron because of the need to machine it to its final dimensions with ease. The results obtained from the various test carried out shows no significant difference from the standard result of the imported ones
Capacity Analysis of a Full Duplex Device-to-Device Wireless Network using Voronoi diagrams and Distance Distributions
Get PDFFull duplex (FD) and Device-to-Device (D2D) communication are two revolutionary protocols that have enabled better spectrum utilization and more reliable data delivery in wireless networks. In addition, stochastic geometry tools have become necessary to characterize the randomness in the present networks with respect to the irregular architecture and the competing access schemes. This work analyses the performance of a mobile network comprising nodes which are randomly distributed in a square area, which are equipped with FD radios, and can communicate using D2D. The base station (BS) nodes and user nodes in the network are modelled as points of a homogenous binomial point process (BPP) and a homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP) respectively. The network area is tessellated into cells using Voronoi diagrams which approximates to a nearest BS-to-user node association policy. The user nodes can cache popular file objects which are available in a centralized server in the network and other nodes in proximity can request for such objects and receive them using D2D. Using well known distance distribution expressions and stochastic geometry analysis, the distribution of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), the D2D and FD collaboration probabilities and the average coverage probability are derived. It is shown that a network-wide quality of service is maintained without additional spectrum utilization when the user nodes can be intelligently tuned to transmit and receive using FD and/or D2D modes. Keywords— Device-to-Device Communication, Full Duplex Communication, stochastic geometry analysis, Voronoi diagrams, Distance Distribution
Characteristics of Blended Cements Produced from Selected Hardwood Ashes
Get PDFIn an attempt to find an alternative binding material for construction industry, this study considered the use of wood ash from three different hardwoods namely: Tectonagrandis, Cassia siamea and Vitellariaparadoxa as a pozzolan in cement production. The study investigates the chemical composition (silica (SiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), ferric oxide (Fe2O3), calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO), sulphur trioxide (SO3), sodium oxide (Na2O) and potassium Oxide (K2O)) of the ashes and the clinker. The production of blended cements were carried out in the factory by replacing 5- 50% by weight of Ordinary Portland Cement Clinker with the ashes during the manufacturing process. The cement without wood ash serves as the control. The physical characteristic (fineness, initial and final setting times, heat of hydration and residue on 45µm sieve), and the chemical composition of the blended cements were also investigated. The results showed that all the wood ashes (Tectonagrandis ash (TGA), Cassia siamea ash (CSA) and Vitellariaparadoxa ash (VPA)) were suitable material for use as pozzolan since they satisfied the requirement for such a material by having a combined SiO2, Fe2O3 and Al2O3 of more than 70%. The TGA, CSA and VPA blended cements satisfied standard requirements for up to 20% replacement level. It was concluded that all the wood ashes were suitable for use in the production of blended cements
Development and Performance Evaluation of a Manually-Operated Multipurpose Fruit Juice Extractor
Get PDFA simply and manually-operated multipurpose fruit juice extractor was designed, constructed and its performance was evaluated in terms of juice yield, extraction efficiency, juice content, extraction loss and extraction capacity. The machine has two major parts which are: the extraction chamber and the structural frame. The extraction chamber is made of stainless steel and consists of a turning handle (f24.5 x 400mm), screw rod (f32 x 620 mm), compression plate (f100 mm), perforated inner cylinder (f115 x 180 mm), non-perforated outer cylinder (f120 x 180 mm) and discharge pipe. The structural frame (350 mm x 415 mm x 60 mm) is made of mild steel of U-channel section. The machine basically works on the principle of transmission of compressive force to rupture the juice cells of the fruit for the liberation of juice. Sweet orange, watermelon, red apple, green apple, pineapple, lime, lemon and grape were used for the performance evaluation process. Results obtained showed that pineapple had the highest values of juice yield (68.74%),juice content (66.40%), extraction capacity (92.85 g/min) and extraction efficiency (82.99%) while sweet orange and lime had the lowest extraction loss and extraction capacity of 1.67% and 29.81 (g/min) respectively
Corrosion Behaviours of Aged Haynes 282 and Inconel 718 in Acidic and Alkaline Environments
Get PDFHaynes 282 and Inconel 718 are superalloy materials originally designed and used in aero- and land-based gas turbine engines. However, they are being considered and used in challenging environments such as nuclear power plants, chemical, and petrochemical plants due largely to their high creep strength and corrosion resistance at low and high temperatures. Recently, there is quest for their uses in the oil and gas refineries. This work examines the corrosion behaviour of these two materials in acidic and alkaline environments; similar to that in the petroleum refinery. The samples were cut, aged, and electrochemically characterized using VersaSTAT 3 model potentiostat with graphite counter electrode and Ag-AgCl SCE. The Linear polarization corrosion test conducted revealed that the corrosion rate, break down potential(Ecorr) and the corrosion current(Icorr) of the aged Haynes 218 are 0.05mmpy, 0.198V, 5.032µA in dilute HNO3 ; 0.145mmpy,16.23V,13.48 µA in dilute NaOH while those of aged Inconel 718 are 0.068mmpy,96.5V,63.56 µA in the dilute HNO3 and 0.026mmpy,0.41V,2.478 µA in the dilute NaOH respectively. These results showed that aged Haynes 282 has a higher corrosion resistance than aged Inconel 718 in the acidic medium ,but, the reverse in the alkaline medium .However better corrosion passivation was obtained in HNO3 for the two materials than in NaOH.Keywords- Superalloys, Haynes 282, Inconel 718, Tafel Extrapolation Method
Oral Administration of Escherichia coli Endotoxin Caused Liver - Kidney Dysfunction and Death in Rabbits
Get PDFThis study was carried out to determine the effects of ingested endotoxin on cellular and histological parameters in European albino rabbits - Oryctolagus cuniculus. Twenty-four (24) rabbits of either sexes weighing 1.5-1.8 kg each were randomly grouped into four of six (6) rabbits per group. The control group, A was orally administered with 5 % w/v dextrose containing 0 EU/ml and hence received 0 EU/kg body weight; groups B, C and D received 50, 500 and 1000 EU/kg body weight respectively, once daily by 10 am prior feeding for a total of 21 days. On a daily basis, blood samples were taken from each animal and serum levels of alanine transferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and catalase activities; bilirubin, malondialdehyde, total protein, albumin (ALB), urea, uric acid and creatinine levels were assayed for. At the end of the 21 days a mortality of 20.83 % was recorded in the groups administered with endotoxin (500 and 1000 EU/kg bw). Also, there was significant increase (p <0.05) in the serum activities of ALT, AST and ALP; significantly reduced total protein and ALB levels with significant (p<0.05) increase in endotoxin doses and duration of the administration. There was significant increase (p<0.05) in bilirubin, urea and creatinine levels in the serum. Histopathology examinations show tissue degeneration in the liver, heart, kidney and lung related to increased dosages and durations of the orally administered endotoxin. We therefore conclude that oral ingestion of endotoxin causes damage to the liver, kidney, heart and the lungs in rabbits, especially when prolonged
Empirical Studies into Demand Based Reactor Sizing in Low-Cost Biogas Production for Domestic Utilization
Get PDFA low-cost biogas reactor incorporating a hydro-pressurizing and gas dispensing unit which was able to deliver biogas at a rate of 6.25 x 10-5m3/s and calculated pressure of 58.7N/m2 was designed and fabricated for the purpose of this study. The substrate loading intervals for the reactor were varied at 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17 and 33 days interval to determine which of the intervals gave the optimum yield in gas production. The fabricated unit had the highest average daily biogas production level and optimum total yield to substrate ratio at substrate feed interval of 13 days. Results obtained from the study were used to propose a biogas reactor sizing guideline for the low-cost biogas reactor design for domestic use. The proposed guideline would help in adequate deployment and management of resources for waste conversion and renewable energy production in rural areas
Competing Risk Modelling using Cumulative Incidence Function: Application to Recurrent Bladder Cancer Data
Get PDFIn this study, the effects of some clinical variables on the survival times of patients with bladder cancer were examined. The effects of these variables on sub-distribution of the failure types were determined using the proportional sub-distribution hazards regression model described in Fine and Gray (1999). Published dataset on 294 bladder cancer patients with four clinical outcomes were analyzed using Cumulative Incidence Function approach. The four outcomes included 184 (64%) patients that experienced recurrence of bladder cancer after receiving chemotherapy treatments. Two patients died of bladder cancer while 27 patients died of other causes and the remaining 76 patients did not experienced any of these three outcomes, and as a result, were considered censored. Among the covariates considered, only the patients’ initial number of tumors and initial size of tumor were incorporated into our analysis due to high proportion of missing observations in others. Results from this work showed that, patients with tumour recurrence have highest risk of dying than those from other causes. Further results showed that, the number of tumor was positively associated with the recurrence of cancer of the bladder. However, the size of the tumor did not demonstrate a significant effect on the patients’ survival time. It can therefore, be concluded that patients with tumor recurrence have low probability of survival from bladder cancer than patients that experienced other events. Above all, number, but not size of tumor could adversely affect the survival time of bladder cancer patients, especially those with tumor recurrence after bladder cancer treatment