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Time Domain Feature Extraction Technique for earth's electric field signal prior to the Earthquake
Get PDFEarthquake is one of the most destructive of natural disasters that killed many people and destroyed a lot of properties. By considering these catastrophic effects, it is highly important of knowing ahead of earthquakes in order to reduce the number of victims and material losses. Earth's electric field is one of the features that can be used to predict earthquakes (EQs), since it has significant changes in the amplitude of the signal prior to the earthquake. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the earth’s electric field due to earthquakes which occurred in Greece, between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2008. In that period of time, 13 earthquakes had occurred. 6 of them were recorded with magnitudes greater than Ms= 5R (5R), while 7 of them were recorded with magnitudes greater than Ms= 6R (6R). Time domain feature extraction technique is applied to analyze the 1st significant changes in the earth’s electric field prior to the earthquake. Two different time domain feature extraction techniques are applied in this work, namely Simple Square Integral (SSI) and Root Mean Square (RMS). The 1st significant change of the earth's electric field signal in each of monitoring sites is extracted using those two techniques. The feature extraction result can be used as input parameter for an earthquake prediction system
Development of a realtime microcomputer-based logging system for diagnosis and research
Get PDFIn this research, a realtime temperature logging system that logs human temperature into the computer
over a period was developed and the temperature chart produced is useful for diagnosis and research
purposes. The graphical representation within the threshold temperature (36°C) depicts normal body
temperature of a healthy person. An upshot beyond this temperature makes the logger to signal an
audible alarm for medical attention. It consists of hardware and software units. The hardware consists
of sensor NTC (negative coefficient of temperature) thermistor, pre-amp; analog to digital converter,
buffer between analog to digital converter and computer interface port. The software was developed in
Visual Basic 6.0 for interfacing through the parallel port of the computer and the program designed to
provide a user-friendly environment where the measurement can be read. There is high correlation
between the approach developed by this study and other standard measuring equipments —
correlation of 0.994574 with standard thermistor, and correlation of 0.997785 with standard
thermocouple. The temperature logged to the PC can also be viewed from another PC remotely located
over a network thus providing a good framework for telemedicine
An exploratory study of work-life balance in Nigeria: Employees’ perspectives of coping with the role conflicts
Get PDFUsing a phenomenological methodology, the purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of work-life conflicts (WLC) in Nigeria. Evidently, work-life research is a social concept originating from the western societies but over the years, advanced management and business studies are beginning to emerge showcasing the relevance, significance and challenges of Work-Life Balance (WLB) practices in developing nations. Against this backdrop, 51 in-depth interviews were conducted with employees working in the Nigerian service industry (ie banks, call center, hotel services and insurance firms) about their cultural perceptions and knowledge of work-life balance. Study findings manifested views alleging the prominence of role conflict situations rather than desired expectations of available social incentives for appropriate management of employees’ work and family affairs. This were attributed to the adverse macro environmental conditions entrenched in so many social-economic upheavals found to be plaguing Nigeria as a whole. Thus, the antecedents of these national issues have necessitated personal coping strategies utilized by participants of current study as moderating buffers against role imbalances encountered. Thus, this paper provides a preliminary study that provides an academic platform for further research into circumstances instigating role conflicts in African societies by presenting major impediments detected to hinder workable WLB practices in Nigeria
Degradation of spiked pyrene and non-pyrene hydrocarbons in soil microcosms by Pseudomonas species isolated from petroleum polluted soils
No full textThe abilities of three Pseudomonads, Pseudomonas sp. strain LP1, Pseudomonas aeruginosa LP5 and P. aeruginosa LP6 to survive and enhance the degradation of pyrene and non-pyrene hydrocarbons in soil were tested in field-moist microcosms. All three organisms were able to survive and maintain high densities > × 107 in soil. In sterilized soils inoculated with bacterial isolates, 37.34%, 50.30%, and 42.21% were degraded by LP1, LP5, and LP6, respectively. The rates of pyrene degradation in soil microcosms were 0.046, 0.041, and 0.061 mg kg−1 h−1 for LP1, LP5, and LP6, respectively. A mixture of the three isolated degraded 7.73% was degraded in sterilized soil and 87.65% in native unsterilized soil (NS). The isolates also degraded non-pyrene hydrocarbon in the soils by more than 80%. The potentials these pseudomonads isolates for use as seed for bioremediation was successfully demonstrated
Quality assessment of Sandcrete blocks in Ibadan – A review
Get PDFSandcrete blocks have been widely used for modern building construction in Nigeria; however cases of incessant building collapse are rampant. The usage of substandard sandcrete blocks is a contributing factor. This research was carried out to assess the engineering properties of sandcrete blocks produced in Ibadan and its environs. Two blocks each of size 450 x 225 x 225mm were purchased from selected block industries at eight sampled locations within the study area. Few units of blocks (450 x 225 x 225mm) conforming to the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS 87: 2007) were also produced to serve as control samples. The 28th day dry compressive strength test result obtained for the sampled blocks ranges between 0.39-2.34 N/mm2. For the control block samples, the average 28th day dry compressive strength of the three tested blocks was 3.02 N/mm2. Conclusively, it was observed that the sandcrete blocks produced in major parts of Ibadan were of low quality and substandard; while the control samples were of adequate strength
Aerobic Degradation of Naphthalene, Fluoranthene, Pyrene and Chrysene Using Indigenous Strains of Bacteria Isolated from a former Industrial Site
No full textFour bacterial strains were isolated from a former industrial site contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants for decades. The isolation was done using naphthalene as sole source of carbon and energy during the enrichment. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses of the four isolates (OC1, OC2, OC3, and OC4) assigned the strains to the genus, Enterobacter (OC1) and Pseudomonas (OC2, OC3, and OC4). The degradation and growth behavior of the four isolates was investigated on naphthalene, fluoranthene, pyrene and chrysene. All the strains utilized naphthalene, fluoranthene, chrysene but pyrene partially, as sole sources of carbon and energy. The time course studies using relative concentration > 100ppm, >115ppm, > 89ppm and > 12 ppm for naphthalene, fluoranthene, pyrene and chrysene respectively, resulted in rapid exponential increases in cell numbers and concomitant disappearance of the test substrates. Naphthalene was degraded between the range of 25 % and 99%, while chrysene degradation ranged between of 35 and 69%, pyrene 4 - 21% and fluoranthene 7 -19 %. Our results suggest that contaminated, former industrial sites contain a capable microbial community that may be used for bioremediation of the site
Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in the presence of nickel and cobalt
No full textBioremediation of environments co-contaminated with hydrocarbons and heavy metals often pose
a challenge as heavy metals exert toxicity to existing communities of hydrocarbon degraders.
Multi-resistant bacterial strains were studied for ability to degrade hydrocarbons in chemically
defined media amended with 5.0 mM Ni2þ, and Co2þ. The bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
CA207Ni, Burkholderia cepacia AL96Co, and Corynebacterium kutscheri FL108Hg, utilized crude oil and
anthracene without lag phase at specific growth rate spanning 0.3848–0.8259 per day. The
bacterial populations grew in hydrocarbon media amended with nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) at
0.8393–1.801 days generation time (period of exponential growth, t ¼ 15 days). The bacteria
degraded 96.24–98.97, and 92.94–96.24% of crude oil, and anthracene, respectively, within
30 days without any impedance due to metal toxicity (at 5.0 mM). Rather, there was reduction of
Ni and Co concentrations in the axenic culture 30 days post-inoculation to 0.08–0.12 and 0.11–
0.15 mM, respectively. The metabolic functions of the bacteria are active in the presence of toxic
metals (Ni and Co) while utilizing petroleum hydrocarbons for increase in biomass. These findings
are useful to other baseline studies on decommissioning of sites co-contaminated with
hydrocarbons and toxic metals
Migration Prospects of Youths Employed in Nigerian Cities
Get PDFThis paper explores the challenge of youth employment in the Nigerian context with a bid to demonstrate interconnections among socio-economic characteristics and incessant youth migration. Univariate and multivariate analysis were carried out with the use of youth data (N= 1353) culled from a survey of street traders in urban centres of Nigeria. The analysis results indicate gender, employment status, marital commitments, migrant status and mode of trading as statistically significant determinants of youth migration in search of better opportunities. Owing to the non-availability of desirable jobs for the educated youths, majority seek further migration from their current business locations in search of better job opportunities: both at home and abroad. In order to reduce the incidence of skilled migration we recommend that policy emphasis be placed on vocational and entrepreneurship training. Further, given the growing incidence of urbanization, we noted the crucial need for an employment-generating macroeconomic framework
Hidden Markov model for human to computer interaction: a study on human hand gesture recognition
Get PDFHuman hand recognition plays an important role in a wide range of applications
ranging from sign language translators, gesture recognition, augmented reality, surveillance
and medical image processing to various Human Computer Interaction (HCI) domains.
Human hand is a complex articulated object consisting of many connected parts and joints.
Therefore, for applications that involve HCI one can find many challenges to establish a
system with high detection and recognition accuracy for hand posture and/or gesture. Hand
posture is defined as a static hand configuration without anymovement involved. Meanwhile,
hand gesture is a sequence of hand postures connected by continuous motions. During the
past decades, many approaches have been presented for hand posture and/or gesture recognition.
In this paper, we provide a survey on approaches which are based on Hidden Markov
Models (HMM) for hand posture and gesture recognition for HCI applications
Metabolism of Atrazine in Liquid Cultures and Soil Microcosms by Nocardioides Strains Isolated from a Contaminated Nigerian Agricultural Soil
No full textAtrazine-degrading microorganisms designated EAA-3 and EAA-4, belonging to the genus
Nocardioides, were obtained from an agricultural soil in Nigeria. The degradation kinetics of the two
strains revealed total disappearance of 25 mg l-1 of atrazine in less than 72 h of incubation at the rate
of 0.42 mg l-1 h-1 and 0.35 mg l-1 h-1, respectively. Screening for atrazine catabolic genes in these
organisms revealed the presence of trzN, atzB, and atzC. Other genes, specifically atzD, were not
detected. Potential intermediates of atrazine catabolic route such as hydroxyatrazine, desethylatrazine,
and desisopropylatrazine, and desisopropylatrazine were utilized as sources of carbon and energy,
while desisoprophl desethyl-2-hydroxyatrazine and desisopropyl-2-hydroxyatrazine were attacked but
in the presence of glucose. A soil microcosm study showed that degradation was faster in
microcosms contaminated with 13 mg of atrazine per g-1 of soil compared with 480 mg g-1 of soil. In
the former, degradation was 10% higher in the inoculated soil than the non-inoculated control (natural
attenuation) over the 28-day study period. Corresponding value obtained for the latter was nearly 70
% higher. This study has demonstrated that the bacterial strains isolated enhanced atrazine
degradation and the catabolic activities of these strains were not affected with increasing soil atrazine
concentration