FUTOSpace (Federal Univ. of Technology, Owerri)
Not a member yet
636 research outputs found
Sort by
Development of suitable failure criteria for designing sufficient mud weights for Niger Delta well
No full textThis thesis is for the award of Masters of Engineering (M.Eng) in Petroleum EngineeringDrilling the well to the target depth comes with it a lot of challenges; part of the issues related to drilling both vertical and deviated wellbores is related to the type of formation failures and well problems observed during drilling. Wellbore direction and deviation changes during drilling while the formation is the same, the effect of transformed stresses around the wellbore wall will be different. This is obvious that neither rock properties nor in-situ stresses can be changed to mitigate the failures of the wellbore. However, the density of the drilling mud can significantly control the situation. Large wellbore pressure due to using high mud density could enforce the formation to open in tensile mode, which in due course may result in mud loss or ultimately fracturing the formation. Also, using a low density mud, corresponding to low wellbore pressure may result in rock failure in shear mode and consequently breakouts. Most drilling engineers do not incorporate thorough wellbore stability analysis as part of well planning due to the complexity of wellbore stability models and thus employs the traditional practice which is identifying the pore pressure and adding extra pressure typically 100-200psi in mud equivalent as safety margin. Predicted mud weights in this manner end up in failed states resulting in several types of problems such as stuck pipe, lost circulation, formation damage and well control problems simply because either the mud weights designed are not sufficiently screened or those operating them lack the basic understanding of such mud systems. Five case studies were considered in this work to analyze the well and mud data from previously drilled wells with typical wellbore stability issues in the Niger Delta Region. A problem diagnostic was conducted to determine the main cause of the instability issues in these wells. Based on our findings, an excel based spreadsheet was developed for all the data and to perform all calculations. A coupled Mogi-Coulomb criterion further developed predicts the safe mud weight window in an iterative manner and describes the rock failure more accurately than does the traditional Mohr-Coulomb criterion which is independent of the intermediate principal stress, and presents a very slim mud weight window. Results of this study can help well trajectory optimization, proper mud weight determination, hydraulic fracturing job, sanding analysis and reduce non-productive time (NPT) while drilling
Antioxidant and antihyperlipidaemic potentials of ethanolic leaf extract of Diodia sarmentosa on wistar rats
No full textMaster's thesis on ethanolic leaf extract of Diodia sarmentosa on wistar ratsThis study investigated the antioxidant and antihyperlipidaemic potentials of ethanolic leaf extract of Diodia sarmentosa on high fat diet-induced male wistar rats. The antioxidant potentials of the extract was ascertained by scavenging for hydroxyl and nitric oxide radicals. Thirty (30) male wistar rats (150g-200g) were divided into five (5) groups; Negative control (NC) group which was not induced nor treated, Positive control (PC) was induced but not treated, Low dose extract (LDE) was treated with 250mg/kg of the extract, High dose extract (HDE) was treated with 500mg/kg of the extract and Standard antihyperlipidaemic drug (SAD) group treated with 5mg/kg of Simvastatin. Hyperlipidaemia was induced by feeding the rats with high fat diet in form of Ghee and Coconut oil in the ratio of 3:1 for a period of six (6) weeks, and administration of the treatments started in the 4th week till the 6th week. Parameters like Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Malondialdehyde (MDA), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were assessed in the serum and heart tissue. In the serum, Lipid profiles like Total cholesterol (TC), High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), Very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL), Triglycerides (TG) and Atherogenic coefficient and indices were also assessed. Liver enzymes and other biomarkers like Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Total Bilirubin (TB), Total Protein (TP), Albumin and Globulin were also assessed. Results obtained showed that extract inhibited nitric oxide and hydroxyl radicals in a concentration dependent manner, showing an inhibitory concentration at 50% (IC50) of 907.17µg/ml ± 45.36 and 2173.44 µg/ml ± 100.11 respectively. Both doses of the extract increased SOD, GPx and CAT activities in the serum and heart tissue, but increase in CAT activity in the heart by the low dose was not significant compared to the PC. GST activities was decreased in both heart tissue and serum, but only the decrease in the heart tissue by the high dose was significant, and MDA levels was significantly decreased by both dose in the heart tissue and serum. LDH activity in the heart tissue was not significantly different in the LDE and HDE groups, while in the serum, LDH activity was significantly different in the LDE and HDE groups when compared to the PC group. The concentration ranges of the lipid profiles of the various study groups are; TC (80.53–177.25 mg/dl), TG (45.64–159.74 mg/dl), HDL (35.18–57.80 mg/dl), LDL (18.09–36.77 mg/dl) and VLDL (9.12–31.59 mg/dl). TC, TG, LDL, VLDL and Atherogenic indices and coefficient were significantly decreased (p0.05) in the LDE and HDE groups when compared to the PC group, while Total protein (54.05–67.78 g/l) levels were significantly different (p0.05), while in the HDE groups they were significantly different (p<0.05) when compared to the PC group. The efficacy of the extract in balancing lipid profiles, enzymes levels and oxidative stress indices showed little or no difference to the Simvastatin used a the standard antihyperlipidaemic drug, which accounts for its antioxidant and antihyperlipidaemic potentials
Analysis of scope and economic efficiency in poultry-fish enterprises in Imo State, Nigeria
No full textDoctoral thesis on "economic efficiency in poultry-fish enterprises". It contains graphs, mathematical equations and tables.This study analysed the scope and economic efficiency of poultry-fish enterprises in Imo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: examine the Socio economic and enterprise characteristics of fish and poultry farmers, estimate cost function from profit function to determine scope efficiency of poultry-fish enterprises, determine how scope and economic efficiency related to the use of specific inputs or the production of specific output, evaluate the determinants of scope efficiency and economic efficiency in poultry fish enterprises in the study area. A multi –stage sampling technique was used to select 210 respondents comprising of 60 fish farmers 60 poultry farmers and 90 joint poultry fish farmers. Structured questionnaire were used to elicit information from respondents while descriptive statistics, inferential statistics. Quadratic regression model, Tobit regression model and analysis of variance were used for data analysis. Findings from the study showed that most of the farmers in the three categories were males, 57.1% for fish, 62.3% for poultry and 66.7% for joint enterprises respectively. Most of the Respondents were between 41 and 60 years age bracket, 65.1% for fish 80.3% for poultry and 58.3 for joint enterprises. The distribution of respondents by marital status showed that most of the farmers were married 80.9% for fish, 75.4% for poultry and 81.9% for joint enterprises. Majority of the respondents had household sizes of 4 to 5 persons, 65.1% for fish, 55.7% for poultry and 63.9% for joint enterprises. 69.8% of fish farmers and 67.2% of poultry farmers had 6 to 10 years farming experience while majority of joint farmers (56.9% had 1-3 years of farming experience. Most sole farmers were small scale farmers 39.7% for fish and 42.6% for poultry while most joint farmers were large scale farmer (75%). The three categories of farmers had poor access to credit with only 19.4 % of joint farmer able to access above N300, 000 credits. In this research, cost functions were recovered from unrestricted profit functions and were used to calculate scope efficiency. The main scope efficiency was 0.025 indicating that the joint production of fish and poultry enterprises reduces total cost by 2.5%. The mean economic efficiencies were 0.72 for fish, 0.68 for poultry and 0.77 for joint enterprises. This
indicated that farms could reduce cost by producing at the lowest possible cost. The correlation of scope and economic efficiency with output quantities was positive and significant at 1% level suggesting that the joint production of fish and poultry on the same farm resulted in cost advantage. Also the correlation of scope and economic efficiency with expense ratio were all significant at 1% level which revealed that larger farms tends to have more scope and economic efficiency scores. Again scope and economic efficiency are significantly determined by level of education, farming experience, pond size, and flock size as well as credit amount. It is recommended that educational packages and appropriate training could be necessary to teach farmers those farming practices that encourages cost complementarities and financial institutions should be encouraged to improve on the volumes and terms of loans extended to farmers
Development of dynamic models to predict leakages in long distance natural gas transmission pipeline
Get PDFA Master's thesis on leakages in long distance natural gas transmission pipeline. It contains tables, Chart and Graphs.A mathematical model based simulation of pipeline flow is developed and compared with result from simulation of field data to determine if the model is capable of detecting a leak in a pipeline. This research work present the development of mathematical based model for the prediction of leakages in pipelines conveying natural gas as well as collection of transient data for the testing and validation of this model. The model developed thus is given by ��� = 1 + (1 − �/�)(�)(1�2 − 1)(147.4993 − 4.2624 �/�) and is developed by extending Fanning Equation due to pressure drop to be able to calculate the pressure drop along the length of natural gas transmission pipeline due to leakage. The characteristic changes in the flow mechanics and thermodynamics properties along the length of a pipeline were used in detecting the presence of leakages. Measurement of the pressure, flow and temperature data at both the upstream and downstream ends of the pipeline are used in developing the equations to govern the system in detecting the leak. The method was tested by obtaining field data from an existing pipeline infrastructure and subsequently simulating the pipeline in order to obtain the flow rate, pressure and temperature along the length of the pipeline; The 24 inch, 50KM export pipeline of AMENAM-KPONO field from AMP2 to Bonny in Niger Delta area of Nigeria was simulated using ASPEN HYSYS and the pressure profile along the length of the pipeline was obtained and compared with the pressure profile obtained by the solution of the mathematical model developed. The results of the developed model show that the approach is capable of theoretically determining the presence of leak in a pipeline
Utilization of family planning services among women of childbearing age in Owerri Municipal LGA
Get PDFThis thesis is for the award of Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Promotion OptionThis study investigates the utilization of family planning services among women of childbearing age (15-49) in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria. Sociocultural factors significantly influence family planning decisions, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive approaches. To determine the factors affecting the utilization of family planning services among women of childbearing age in Owerri Municipal LGA. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 398 women of childbearing age in Owerri Municipal LGA, selected using simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected through a self-structured questionnaire and analysed using SPSS version 25. Frequency and percentages of relevant variables were calculated, and Chi-square tests and odds ratios were employed to assess significant associations, with a p-value ≤ 0.05 considered significant. Of the 397 respondents, 54% reported having heard of family planning, while 46% had not, with no significant association found between knowledge and utilization (p = 0.081). Cultural factors (37.5%) and religious affiliation (30.4%) significantly influenced family planning decisions. Notably, 48.1% faced opposition to family planning, indicating an association between sociocultural factors and service utilization (p = 0.013). Partner support (34.0%) and participation (35.9%) were identified as critical for successful family planning, and 34.0% of health workers received regular training updates. The study underscores the importance of enhancing knowledge of family planning among women and making services more accessible and affordable. Continuous training for healthcare providers is essential to improve the quality of care and support for family planning initiatives
Implementation of experimental design in evaluating the mechanical properties of ceramic composites
Get PDFThis article contain tables and figuresThe influence of independent variables (firing temperature and residue content) on mechanical properties – hardness, compressive strength, flexural strength, compression modulus and energy at the break – of ceramic composites was investigated through experimental design. Microstructural evaluation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mineralogical identification using x-ray diffraction (XRD) was also accomplished to understand the structure-property relationship. In analysing the observed data, variance analysis was employed to determine the statistical significance of the factors on the responses and regression equations showing correlations were developed. The observed data were shown to accept the null hypothesis for hardness, compression modulus and compressive strength, while flexural strength and energy at break rejected the null hypothesis judging by the p-value. The flexural strength showed a good correlation, but the influence of firing temperature and residue was minimal. However, both factors' square was shown to influence the flexural strength considerably. The study presents a systematic way to understand causal
relationships, ensuring that product specifications and quality are met
Assessment of Jatropha curcas L. as alternative nematicide in controlling root-knot nematode disease of Okra for improved yield
Get PDFA Doctoral thesis on alternative nematicide in controlling root-knot nematode disease of Okra It also contain illustrations and tablesThe assessment of Jatropha curcas L. as alternative nematicide in controlling root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) disease on Okra for improved yield was conducted in ultisols of Owerri, Nigeria. These were in 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons at the teaching and research farms of Federal University of Technology Owerri. Jatropha curcas L. cultivars; Cv ‘Illorin’, Cv ‘Kwara’ and Cv ‘Ihiagwa’ were first screened in a potted experiment for susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita naturally endemic in the area using scoring index. Results on root-knot assessment showed no root-knot infection in either of the cultivars tested. Phytochemical investigations carried out for a Plant Based Nematicide revealed the presence of Alkaloids, Saponins, Flavonoids and Tannins in the Seeds, Roots and Leaves respectively. Laboratory test for nematicidal properties against hatchability and mortality of M. incognita was conducted using a 3x4x4 factorial experiment fitted in Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Alkaloids, Saponins, Flavonoids and Tannins applied at 0, 5 and 10 mls per thirty Juveniles (J2) for mortality and twenty egg masses for hatchability were suspended in 10 mls of distilled water respectively. Petri dishes were kept at ambient temperature after 12, 24, 48, and 72 h incubation. Results show that at 10 mls, Seed Alkaloids recorded highest mortality (99.73 %) after 72 h treatment exposure while at 5 mls, Root Alkaloids recorded highest mortality (94.73 %) after 72 h treatment exposure. Most egg hatchability reduction (0.00 i.e 100%) was achieved with Seed Saponin after 12 h treatment exposure time at 10 mls, while at 5 mls (0.08) egg hatchability reduction was achieved with Seed Saponins after 12 h treatment exposure time. Individual Plant based nematicides were further evaluated for their effects on root-gall nematode susceptible Okra variety “NHAe47-4”. Four independent 3x6 factorial experiments arranged in Completely Randomized Design with five replications were conducted in the screen house. Each nematicidal extract was applied at 0,1,2,3,4, and 5 mls, and Jatropha parts with three levelsseed, root and leaves. Results showed that all plant based nematicides applied at 5 mls/pot significantly (p<0.05) reduced root-galls and increased the growth, yield, mucilaginous property, and nutritional composition of okra. This was particularly with Leaf Tannins application which increased pod weight by 67 % and 61 % over control at 4.88 g and 5.11 g in 2016 and 2017 respectively. This was followed by Root and Seed Alkaloids which increased pod weight to 4.02 g & 4.26 g indicating 71 % and 67 % increase over control in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Seed and leaf Saponins increased pod weight to 3.62 g & 3.84 g indicating 58 % & 51 % increase over control in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Seed and Leaf Flavonoids increased pod weight to 3.56 g & 3.80 g indicating 75 % & 71 % increase over control in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Correlation analysis showed that root-knot nematode correlated negatively with growth and yield parameters of Okra. Nematicidal extracts of Jatropha curcas and plant parts at the respective rates/levels-controlled root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) infection on okra, enhanced the pod weights, Mucilaginous property and nutritional composition of okra and are therefore recommended for use in Okra production
Design and performance evaluation of an improved photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector powered dryer
Get PDFA Master's thesis on performance evaluation of an improved photovoltaic thermal (PVT)This work involves the design, construction and testing of an improved Photovoltaic thermal collector (PVT) powered dryer used in the drying of agricultural products. The setup consists of a 0.989m2 PV panel, an air flow channel modified by fitting twenty curved aluminium vanes, each of height 50mm with a curvature radius of 31mm, thus covering a distance of 37mm from its base, a charge controller, temperature probes, thermo-couple temperature reader, a DC fan, a 12V battery and a 0.078m3 drying chamber constructed using a ply-wood. The PVT collector is formed by the assembly of the modified air-flow channel and the PV panel. The PVT collector outlet is connected to the drying chamber at an angle of 8.48 for maximum harvesting of solar radiation at the test location, with the setup facing due south. Air is drawn beneath the PV panel and subjected to a serpentine flow pattern through the configuration of the aluminium vanes in the air-flow channel. The air flow regime is aided by the use of a DC fan installed directly on the exit vent of the drying chamber thereby enabling the heated air drawn in from the PVT collector to be used for drying 5kg of cassava from the
initial moisture content of 65% to the final moisture content of 15% wet basis. Temperature probes are fitted to the inlet and outlet region of the air flow channel, likewise in the drying chamber and the temperature readings are displayed on the digital thermo-couple temperature reader. The 12V battery powers the fan and the temperature reader during periods of low solar insolation while the charge controller ensures that the battery is continuously charged and at the same time protects the battery from being over charged. The PVT powered solar dryer was tested for a total of thirteen days: five days unloaded test and eight days of loaded test under the meteorological conditions of FUTO from 8:00h to 17:00h daily. The maximum recorded PV surface temperature for the loaded and unloaded tests are 49°C and 50°C respectively. The upper and lower regions of the drying chamber recorded identical maximum temperatures readings of 49°C during the unloaded test which corresponds to an 11°C rise from ambient temperature. Also, during the loaded test, the upper and lower region of the drying chamber recorded maximum temperatures of 47°C and 46°C respectively, corresponding to 9°C and 8°C rise in ambient temperature respectively. The PVT collector recorded an average thermal efficiency of 48.52% while the drying chamber efficiency ranged from 44.96 – 82.72% at a moisture removal rate of 0.07 – 0.21Kg/hr. Therefore addition of the curved aluminium vanes in the air-flow channel has significantly improved waste heat recovery efficiency from PV panel leading to overall PVT powered dryer performance improvement
Development of a robust camera-based text recognition model for the visual impaired.
No full textDoctoral thesis on "robust camera-based text recognition model". It contains diagrams, pictures and tables.The quest to bridge the digital divide in this world of fast growing Information and Communication Technology should not only be restricted to some domains but should also be extended to all and sundry. Till date, Screen readers for the visually impaired still perform below expectation; their applications are also domain dependent. Generally, research has shown that the Visually Impaired Persons (VIPs) tend to be greatly deprived of certain job opportunities due to their visual incapacitation and as such the unemployment rates among the visually impaired are increasingly alarming irrespective of their intellectual prowess. Therefore, to improve Text Recognition capabilities of OCR and incorporate the visually impaired community into employment setting, a Robust Camera Based Text Recognition model that will enable a blind person access documents and scene images for effective work collaboration is proposed. The system was designed to come up once the user machine is turned on. To bring this Concept to light, deep learning approach precisely CRAFT (Character-Region Awareness for Text Detection) Architecture which is suitable for detecting Curved images was deployed for text detection and CRNN (Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network)
which combines the functionalities of CNN (Convolution Neural Network), RNN (Recurrent Neural Network) and CTC (Connectionist Temporal Classification) loss for an optimal Character Recognition was deployed. The Recognition Model was trained using Synth90k synthetic text dataset provided by the Visual Geometry Group (VGG) architecture which gives recognition accuracy of 98%. The system was implemented using Python Natural Language Processing Libraries. Finally, the recognized text is then communicated to the VIP in audio format
Analysis of crop farmers' vulnerability to soil degradation and adaptation strategies in the Niger Delta States of Nigeria.
Get PDFDoctoral thesis on "crop farmers' vulnerability to soil degradation and adaptation strategies". It contains tables and graphs.This study analyzed crop farmers vulnerability to soil degradation and adaptation strategies in the Niger Delta States of Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to examine the socio-economic characteristics of the crop farmers, identify the forms and perceived levels of soil degradation, determine the effect of soil degradation indicators and production factors on the output of dominant staple crops in the study area, ascertain the level of vulnerability of the crop farmers to soil degradation, determine the factors influencing the levels of vulnerability of the crop farmers to shock due to soil degradation in the study area, determine the types and perceived level of adaptation strategies to soil degradation and influencing factors and ascertain the trend in output of major staple crops namely cassava and maize in the study area. Data were collected with a well structured questionnaire from 152 randomly selected farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, vulnerability index, multiple regression analysis using ols, ordered probit model, soil degradation index and time trend analysis. Results showed that the mean age of the farmers is 51 years. Results showed that the overall perceived level of soil degradation in the study area is high with a mean of 2.1. The regression result of the effects of soil degradation and production factors on cassava output showed that loss of vegetative cover, decreased soil and water absorption, sub-surface compaction and decline in soil organic matter, labour; planting material, fertilizer and farm size were statistically significant at 1%, while leaching of soil nutrients was significant at 5% level. The regression result of the effects of soil degradation and production factors on maize output showed that loss of vegetative cover, leaching of soil nutrients, sub – surface compaction, decline in soil organic matter, planting material and farm size were statistically significant at 1% level, while the coefficients of labour and fertilizer were significant at 5% level. Result of the vulnerability level of the farmers showed that farmers in the study area are vulnerable to soil degradation with a mean value of 2.09. Results of the ordered probit model show that gender (x1), level of education (x2), age (x3) etc were statistically significant at 1% level, while extension contact (x8) and farming experience (x10) were statistically significant at 5% level, implying that these are the factors influencing the levels of farmers’ vulnerability to soil degradation in the study area. Results also showed that perceived level of adaptation is moderate in the study area with a mean of 2.24. Results of the ordered probit model show that level of education (x2), age (x3), farm income (x5), off – farm income (x6), farm size (x7), farming experience (x10) and nature of soil degradation (x11) were statistically significant at 1% level, implying that these are the socioeconomic factors influencing the levels of farmers adaptation strategies to soil degradation in the study area. The result of the trend of output of cassava and maize in the study area from 1995-2016 revealed that there is fluctuation in both cassava and maize output which can be attributed to the effect of soil degradation. It was recommended that farmers should be motivated to invest their labour and limited financial resources in the use ofadaptation strategies such as soil and water conservation technologies