On the digital transformation of micro-finance institutions in the context of developing countries: A case from Democratic Republic of the Congo
April 2024
Blockchain can be used to improve microfinance management in several ways. This can help reduce the costs of microfinance by eliminating the need for intermediaries such as banks and credit bureaus and increase transparency in the microfinance sector by making all transactions visible to everyone. stakeholders. This can help reduce fraud and build trust. Blockchain technology can also be used to improve access to...
Design of a novel control panel for 24-Volt automatic fish feeders
February 2024
This paper describes a novel control panel for programmable feeders in a production fish hatchery. This system used digital interval timers in electrical box to control three parallel rails of power outlets. Transformers were used to step down the voltage from 120 to 24-V for use by 24-V feeders. A photo-eye was incorporated into the system so that the feeder would only dispense during the daylight hours. The system...
Optimal support spacing for composite oil and gas pipelines
November 2023
Problems of premature breakage or failure may be encountered with composite pipelines used in the transportation of oil and gas products due to the manner in which these lines are laid or installed, especially in cases where the lines traverse long distances with rapidly varying topograghy over which considerable twisting and bending of the pipelines may occur. To overcome such problems, an analytical model is developed...
Heat and mass transfer investigation of unsteady magnetohydro dynamic nanofluid flow in a porous pipe in the presence of chemical reactions
September 2023
This article presents a numerical investigation of mass and heat transfer effects on an unsteady Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) nanofluid flow in a permeable pipe. The influences of the chemical reaction and magnetic flux are considered. With the central finite-difference technique, the fundamental equations are discretized. The resulting equations are solved numerically using methods of lines, bvp4, and shooting methods....
Effect of speed, feed rate and tray angle on the dehulling, cleaning and grain loss from an acha (Digitaria exilis) dehulling machine
June 2023
This study determined the effect of cylinder speed, feed rate and tray angle on the dehulling efficiency and the effect of fan speed, feed rate and tray angle on the cleaning efficiency and grain loss from an acha (Digitaria exilis) dehulling machine in a 3 × 3 factorial experimental design in three replicates. The cylinder speeds were 1500, 2000 and 2500 rpm and the fan speeds were 160, 185 and 213 rpm. The feed...
Economic impacts of optimizing energy recovery in clinker cooler using clinker cooler bed as a case study
May 2023
This paper tends to analyze one critical area “pyro system” in cement production process where energy is been lose and ways on how some of these energies can be recovered back into the system and also analyzing the cost benefits. This led to the modeling of a clinker cooler known as “test rig”. This model was used to study the operating system of the existing running plant. The test rig was...
The impact of electronic-electrical waste on human health and environment: A systematic literature review
March 2023
Sub-Saharan Africa has become one of the leading destinations for used equipment or Electronic-Electrical waste (e-waste-or-EEW) from developed economies, making its management more urgent than ever. Most studies have articulated the serious impact of e-waste disposal to the environment and public human health. Little attention or consideration has been devoted to the management of e-waste in Uganda despite the...
Evaluation of the impact of partial shading on the performance of photovoltaic panels
September 2022
This experimental work presents an investigation on the impact of partial shading of a photovoltaic (PV) solar cell on the performance of different types of PV solar panels. A mono-crystalline panel and a polycrystalline panel were used for the experiments as well as three types of covering materials with different transmittance levels (white leaf, tree leaf and transparent paper). The shaded cell area varies by 20, 50...
Effects of in-situ moisture conservation techniques on maize (Zea mays) yield and yield components in moisture deficit area of Dugda Woreda, Ethiopia
August 2021
The study was conducted during 2018 cropping season at Dugda Woreda to investigate the effect of in situ moisture conservation techniques on grain yield and yield components of maize. Treatments comprised of tied ridge, furrow closed at both end and farmer’s practices (as the control). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replication. The grain yield and thousand seed...
Tractor fuel consumption dependence on speed and height of ridging on a sandy loam soil
December 2020
The effect of tractor forward travel speed and ridge height on the amount of fuel consumed by a tractor during ridging operation on a sandy loam soil in a humid tropical environment was investigated. The investigation was the Agricultural Development Programme farm at Rumuodumanya, Rivers State, Nigeria. The experimental plot of 160 by 32.5 m, totaling 5,200 m2, was divided into three major blocks; and further...
Effective use of Quadcopter drones for safety and security monitoring in a building construction sites: Case study Enugu Metropolis Nigeria
October 2020
The hazardous nature of the Nigerian building construction industry due to lack of construction data and records of incidents which have led to loss of life, property damage, injuries and loss of materials in an average construction site is alarming. The aim and objective of this study is to know how effective the use of drone to monitor safety and security in Nigerian Building Construction site can improve dangerous...
Effect of variation of different additives on some selected properties of silica sand mould for aluminium castings
October 2020
The quality of castings in a green sand mould is influenced significantly by its properties, such as green compressive strength, shear strength, shatter index, compatibility, moisture content, permeability and others which depend on input parameters. Usually, the aforementioned properties of a particular casting differ due to variation in composition of the moulding sand mixtures, sand grain shape and size, bonding...
Modeling and experimental validation of drying processus of the microalgue Spirulina with consideration deformation and flow mass
August 2020
The profiles of the material transfer properties in porous products such as Spirulina platensis during drying which characterize their behavior are often determined from different experimental points by destruction of the samples. However, for a long drying time, it’s impossible to slice or cut the sample correctly because of its mechanical strength and friability. It influences the evaluation of product in...
Prediction behavior of high frequency modulated by a 16 lengths Golay code undergoing honey attenuation
July 2020
Optical microscopic analysis of honey is time consuming due to the period needed to prepare samples. Time reduction could be achieved with ultrasound microscopy. This paper investigates the behavior of 125 MHz signal modulated by 16-bits Golay code spread out through a honey sample containing pollen. A bipolar phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation of 125 MHz frequency by 16-bits Golay code was implemented in...
Agricultural tractor and machinery performance and serviceability in Delta State, Nigeria
October 2019
A sufficient tractor and implements utilizations in agricultural activities and their proper serviceability optimize agricultural productivities in farm operations. A study was conducted in Delta State, Nigeria assessing level of machinery utilization in farm operations and serviceable conditions. Eight (8) government owned tractors locations with 60 tractors and eight private owned farms with 29 tractors were studied....
Modeling of the adsorption isotherm of Pleurotus ostreatus using Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) equation
July 2019
Moisture sorption isotherms of Pleurotus ostreatus were determined at three different temperatures (10, 30 and 40) and relative humidity (6 to 88%), using standard static gravimetric method. The samples were used to determine the equilibrium moisture content and the data fitted to the Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) equation to describe the moisture adsorption characteristics within the water activity used for this...
Predicting tractor fuel consumption during ridging on a sandy loam soil in a humid tropical climate
June 2019
A predictive model for the determination of optimum fuel consumption of a tractor during ridging operation has been developed. The model development involved field experimentations to determine the various parameters affecting tractor fuel consumption, like draught, speed, depth of cut, soil moisture content, cone index and width of cut. The field investigations were carried out at the farm of Rivers State Agricultural...
Application of plasma technology in aerospace vehicles: A review
May 2019
The galactic and solar radiation effects on astronauts in space during manned-space missions is one of the issues that scientists are dealing with to come up with a reasonable solution to overcome this disaster. Furthermore, in space missions to Mars, Titan, and beyond them, a powerful propulsion system is required. Recently, with the enhancement of technology in plasma generation, scientists are trying to design and...
Fast transmission of image, reduction of energy consumption and lifetime extension in wireless cameras networks
April 2019
In this paper, a fast image processing was proposed. It ensures energy efficiency and the extension of both the lifetime and the proper functioning of the network. It is a filtered zonal discrete cosine transform that allows and optimizes an effective adjustment of the trade-off between power consumption and image distortion. This is a remarkable energy saving method, in this kind of networks. It is applied throughout...
Comparison of bioremediation capabilities of poultry droppings and avocado pear seed cake in petroleum polluted soil
December 2018
A crude oil polluted soil remediation was investigated using a mixture of avocado pear seed cake and poultry droppings. The seed cake was obtained through the Soxhlet method by extracting the oil from the pear seed. The experiment was carried out within a span of two months. Contamination was done by applying crude oil on 10 experimental reactors containing agricultural soil. The therapeutic treatment was then applied...
Analytic network process in petroleum hydrocarbon decontamination management in Nigeria
August 2018
This study examined the application of the Analytic Network Process (ANP), a multi-criteria decision analysis tool, in the selection of the best bioremediation technique for the remediation of a hydrocarbon-polluted site at Kwawa (4°36'29.26''N, 7°28'55.70''E) in Ogoniland, Niger Delta province, Nigeria. The decision-making problem involved four bioremediation techniques (that is,...
Development of hot spring fed incubator for duck eggs
June 2018
The development of hot spring heat source incubator for duck eggs was deemed necessary to design the utilization of hot spring as heat source for incubating duck eggs, to reduce the use of electricity. This study addressed issues such as replacing conventional source of energy with geothermal energy in Los Baňos, Laguna, Philippines for incubation of eggs (ducklings, ballot and penoy). The experimental design used was...
Impact of pre-treatment by torrefaction and carbonization on temperature field, energy efficiency and tar content during the gasification of cotton stalks
May 2018
The present study focused on the gasification of raw and pre-treated cotton stalks (CS) by torrefaction and carbonization. Temperature fields, mass balance, energy balance, energy efficiency and tar content of the gas were investigated for the gasification of different types of biomass materials (raw, torrefied and carbonized CS). High temperature and thick reduction zone were obtained during the gasification of...
Online electronic laboratory notebook: A secured cloud storage system scripted in Hypertext Pre-processor (PHP) programming language
March 2018
Notebooks in research are an important part in tracking information of both wet and dry analytical data. Paper books or excel sheets remain the most popular and conventional ways of record keeping. To meet these demands, an open source electronic laboratory notebook is developed that can track users research need. Based on the user specifications, this suite is written in Hypertext Pre-processor (PHP) and based on a...
An improved frequency based agglomerative clustering algorithm for detecting distinct clusters on two dimensional dataset
December 2017
In this study, a frequency based Dynamic Automatic Agglomerative Clustering (DAAC) is developed and presented. The DAAC scheme aims to automatically identify the appropriate number of divergent clusters over the two dimensional dataset based on count of distinct representative objects with higher intra thickness and lesser intra separation. The Distinct Representative Object Count (DROC) is introduced to automatically...
Graded PA6/PA12 blends prepared by selective laser sintering
September 2017
In this study, the manufacturing of graded PA6/PA12 blends by selective laser sintering (SLS) was investigated. Sintered blend specimens were analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy and flexural tests. The PA6/PA12 parts with functionally-graded composition in the Y and Z directions were built by SLS. Information on the pure component properties and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the sintered blend...
Determination of dispersivity in the subsurface foreshores of River Mersey Outer Estuary
August 2017
This paper determines contaminant dispersivity in the coastal sand of River Mersey Outer Estuary using results of field measurement from dye solute injection. Dispersivity is an alternative parameter for describing the characteristic behaviour of porous media. In this case, 3-D plumes in 2-D Photo-images were taken from multiple injection zones across the foreshore. The colour images were calibrated, standardized and...
Theoretical modeling of strain in the single screw feeder of cassava flash dryer
July 2017
The aim of this study is to model screw feeder unit to handle granulated wet cassava to the flash dryer column. The knowledge of the flow behavior, physical and mechanical properties, rheology of the product and the geometrical characteristics of feeders unit were essential to evaluate the best conditions of handling granulated cassava based on the theory of virtual works. The effect of granular media strain on the...
Life cycle assessment of cassava flour production: A case study in Southwest Nigeria
July 2017
Global climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution remain a serious threat to the world. Food processing industries is one of the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC) reported that greenhouse gas emission should be reduced to avert the worst effects of climate change. One of the ways to reducing greenhouse...
Measurement of energy requirements for size reduction of palm kernel and groundnut shells for downstream bioenergy generation
November 2016
The study estimated the amount of energy required for grinding palm kernel shell and groundnut shell using laboratory hammer mill and also characterize their ground physical properties. The material type and hammer mill screen aperture significantly influenced the energy requirement for grinding the two materials. For a given screen aperture size, groundnut shell consumed more energy than palm kernel shell. The energy...
The spraying field characteristics and distribution of deposition of droplets of electrostatic oiler
August 2016
Electrostatic oiler are made as the research object, the multiple field spray characteristics of air flow field, electric field and discrete fog field in the process of spraying were analyzed. The influence of electrostatic spray deposition characteristics has been studied by changing the electrostatic voltage and electrode gap. The experiment about electrostatic oil spray has been verified. The results show that...
Comparison of acoustic emission parameters for fiber breakage and de-lamination failure mechanisms in carbon epoxy composites
May 2016
Acoustic emissions (AE) generated by a structure under stressed condition provide a passive method to understand the flaw growth phenomenon. In complex structures, such as composites, characterisation of AE signals generated by various failure mechanisms enhances such understanding. Sample level tests have been carried out on carbon epoxy unidirectional laminate in longitudinal direction of fiber to study the AE...
Application of Webgis in the development of interactive interface for urban management in Batna City
April 2016
In the last years, the distribution of spatial and non-spatial data on the internet plays a crucial role in national development. It facilitates communication between administration, decision-makers and citizens for urban management. In order to encourage the sharing and disseminating of data, the present study aims to develop and implement WebGIS framework for urban management, which offer possibilities to access the...
Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of maleic acid: Characterization of copper/micelle templated silica-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and kinetics
March 2016
The study of catalysts enables the catalyst scientist to identify and understand the important steps such as active sites and stages in a catalysts’ lifetime. It is thus possible for scientists to design in more rational way, new and efficient catalysts. Therefore, the aim of this study was characterization of copper/micelle templated silica-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (Cu/MTS-AMP) catalyst and study of kinetic...
Enhancement or suppression of dehumidification process by surface treatments
August 2015
In many engineering applications, either the suppression or the enhancement of dehumidification is desired. If so, the dehydration in air-conditioned space can be solved, less condensation water pollution can be achieved, or the dehumidification process can be more efficient. In this study, the effects of various surface treatments were explored to enhance or suppress the condensation. It was found that optical...
Cement production optimization modeling: A case study BUA plant
July 2015
This paper deals with cement production optimization modeling using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and the results was compared with Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Pattern Search (PS). This optimization modeling took into account mixtures of primary fuel (mineral coal, pet-coke and heavy oil) and its alternative fuel which is agricultural waste (rice husk, sugar waste and ground shell). The optimization simulation models...
Wastewater discharge impact on groundwater quality of Béchar City, Southwestern Algeria: Approach by microbiological analysis and health risk index evaluation
March 2015
This manuscript studies the problem of the wastewater influence on groundwater chemistry, particularly the microbiological quality setting and risk to public health in an urban environment, in an arid climate. The study of the spatial and temporal variation in the chemical and microbiological composition of Béchar city groundwater identifies the impact intensity that directly affects its quality. Microbiological...
Hybrid diagnosing techniques for analyzing dissolved gases in power transformers
February 2015
Safe operation of elements of power systems plays a crucial role in maintaining the reliability and safety of the system. Transformers being a key element in power systems need to be maintained and monitored on a regular basis. Dissolved gas analysis has been used as a reliable tool in maintaining the safe operation of transformers for a long time. Analysis of dissolved gases is analytical and often interpreted...
Characterization and determination of catechins in green tea leaves using UV-visible spectrometer
January 2015
In this paper, characterizations of pure major catechins and method for determination of total catechins in green tea leaves have been reported using UV-visible spectrometer. Most research activities have been focused on chromatographic methods, however spectrophotometirc method is preferred because of its rapidity, high accuracy, and reproducibility. The optical transition properties of Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG)...
Analysis of differences in internet user experiences and virtual network activities in Taiwan
January 2015
Considered a crucial industrial development in the 21st century, the Internet has had a marked effect in shaping modern society. The ongoing development of handheld mobile Internet devices has enabled services in the virtual world to be updated constantly, thereby providing numerous options regarding the virtual network interactions and activities of Internet users. Among the various virtual network activities, people...
Effect of oxygen plasma treatments on the structural and optical properties of polyimide films
January 2015
A detailed study of some physical properties of Polyimide films after exposing them to oxygen plasma is presented. The structure of the sample has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) and is found to be semi crystalline. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) studies revealed that the thermal stability of polyimide films have improved after being exposed to oxygen plasma, at different time intervals, ranging...
PSO-ANN’s based suspended sediment concentration in Ksob basin, Algeria
December 2014
Suspended sediment concentration estimation has a major influence on river basin planning and management. Prediction of such parameter with artificial neural network (ANN) has shown its performance, because of this, Back Propagation Neural Network model trained with particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to forecast the daily sediment concentration for Ksob river, Tebessa using 22 years data set from Morsott gauging...
Relocation of source of sporadic production using genetic algorithm in distribution network
December 2014
Today, due to the development of distribution systems and increase of demand and load, the use of the source of scattered production has developed. The establishment of the installation place and the size of the source of scattered production decrease network loss, lead to best action of network as well as the recovery of the voltage profile. In this article, we use the genetic algorithm for relocating and finding the...
Geothermal Energy
December 2014
The term Geothermal originates from two Greek words 'GEO' and 'THERM'. The Greek word ‘geo’ means the earth whilst their word for ‘therm’ means heat from the earth. Geothermal energy is energy derived from the heat of the earth. The earth’s centre is a distance of approximately 4000 miles and is so hot that it is molten. Temperatures are understood to be at least 5000°C....
Analysis and parametric optimization of flux cored arc welding process for IS 2062 mild steel plates using Taguchi method and utility concept
November 2014
Optimization of flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process parameters were carried out to obtain optimum weld bead geometry in mild steel plates of IS 2062 by using an alternate Taguchi method. Design of experiments based on multi-objective Taguchi approach was employed for development of mathematical model correlating important process parameters like welding voltage (V), welding current (I), stick out (N) and wire speed...
Applications of intelligent multi-agent systems for smart distribution systems
November 2014
Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be applied to service restoration planning of distribution systems. The main purpose of service restoration planning is to restore as many customers as possible. In this paper, a MAS-based service restoration planner with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is developed to solve group and zone service restoration problems in power distribution systems. Intelligent software agents embedded inside...
New technique based on uterine electromyography nonlinearity for preterm delivery detection
November 2014
Detecting uterine electromyography (EMG) signals can yield a promising approach to determine and take actions to prevent preterm deliveries. This paper objective is to predict this risk using such uterine signals. Previous classification studies have used only linear signal processing which depends on the spectral characteristics of the uterine EMG signals that did not give clinically acceptable results. On the other...
Performance of reactive powder concrete slabs with different curing conditions
October 2014
In this paper, the material performance of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) with two different curing conditions, water-curing of 25°C and heat-treatment of 90°C and 95% relative humidity was experimentally studied. An experimental investigation is carried out to study the influence of using steel fiber and heat-treatment on RPC slab specimens. All the slabs are simply supported along the four edges and loaded...
Effect of battery effluent on plasticity and swelling characteristics of expansive soil
September 2014
Ground pollution is perpetuated by humans due to many reasons. Industrial activity is necessary for the socio-economic progress of a country, but at the same time, it generates large amount of solid and liquid wastes. Among various means available, disposal through land is simple and widely used. All types of pollution have either direct or indirect effect on soil properties. Behaviour of any contaminant in soil depends...
Effect of immersion speed on the mechanical properties and micro-structure of oil quenched AISI 1020 steel
September 2014
Steel is one of the most important commodities in the engineering world due to its usefulness and availability. Its application is wider than any other metal, ranging from domestic use in the forms of utensils and many more to its use in construction and manufacturing industries. The wide range of application of steel in engineering practices has prompted the desire to increase certain mechanical properties to meet...
Page 1 of 4, showing 50 records out of 198 total, starting on record 1, ending on 50
