Abstract: Excessive vibration means increased wear, increased
repair efforts, bad product selection & quality and high energy
consumption. This may be sometimes experienced by cavitation or
suction/discharge recirculation which could occur only when net
positive suction head available NPSHA drops below the net positive
suction head required NPSHR. Cavitation can cause axial surging, if it
is excessive, will damage mechanical seals, bearings, possibly other
pump components frequently, and shorten the life of the impeller.
Efforts have been made to explain Suction Energy (SE), Specific
Speed (Ns), Suction Specific Speed (Nss), NPSHA, NPSHR & their
significance, possible reasons of cavitation /internal recirculation, its
diagnostics and remedial measures to arrest and prevent cavitation in
this paper. A case study is presented by the author highlighting that
the root cause of unwanted noise and vibration is due to cavitation,
caused by high specific speeds or inadequate net- positive suction
head available which results in damages to material surfaces of
impeller & suction bells and degradation of machine performance, its
capacity and efficiency too. Author strongly recommends revisiting
the technical specifications of CW pumps to provide sufficient NPSH
margin ratios >1.5, for future projects and Nss be limited to 8500 -
9000 for cavitation free operation.
Abstract: Geological structure formed by volcanic activities shows polymorphic characteristics due to repeated cooling and hardening of lava. The Jeju region is showing polymorphic characteristics in which clinker layers are irregularly distributed along with vesicular basalt due to volcanic activities. Accordingly, resident damages and environmental disputes occur frequently in the Jeju region due to blasting. The purpose of this study is to develop a blast vibration equation considering the polymorphic characteristics of basaltic ground in Jeju. The blast vibration equation consists of a functional formula of the blasting vibration constant K that changes according to ground characteristics, and attenuation index n. The case study results in Jeju showed that if there are clinker layers, attenuation index n showed a distribution of -1.32~-1.81, whereas if there are no clinker layers, n was -2.79. Moreover, if there are no clinker layers, the frequency of blast vibration showed a high frequency band from 30Hz to 100Hz, while in rocks with clinker layers it showed a low frequency band from 10Hz to 20Hz.
Abstract: Electro-osmosis in clayey soils and sediments, for
purposes of clay consolidation, dewatering, or cleanup, and electro
injection in porous media is widespread recent decades. It is
experimentally found that the chemical properties of porous media
especially PH change the characteristics of media. Electro-osmotic
conductivity is a function of soil and grout material chemistry,
altering with time. Many numerical approaches exist to simulate the
of electro kinetic flow rate considering chemical changes. This paper
presents a simplified analytical solution for constant flow rate based
on varying electro osmotic conductivity and time dependent viscosity
for injection of colloidal silica.
Abstract: Nanotechnology in pristine sense refers to building of
structures at atomic and molecular scale. Meticulously
nanotechnology encompasses the nanomaterials with at least one
dimension size ranging from 1 to 100 nanometres. Unlike the literal
meaning of its name, nanotechnology is a massive concept beyond
imagination. This paper predominantly deals with relevance of
nanotechnology in automotive industries. New generation of
automotives looks at nanotechnology as an emerging trend of
manufacturing revolution. Intricate shapes can be made out of fairly
inexpensive raw materials instead of conventional fabrication
process. Though the current era have enough technology to face
competition, nanotechnology can give futuristic implications to pick
up the modern pace. Nanotechnology intends to bridge the gap
between automotives with superior technical performance and their
cost fluctuation. Preliminarily, it is an area of great scientific interest
and a major shaper of many new technologies. Nanotechnology can
be an ideal building block for automotive industries, under constant
evolution offering a very wide scope of activity. It possesses huge
potential and is still in the embryonic form of research and
development.
Abstract: E-government has been adopted and used by many governments/countries around the world including Ghana to provide citizens and businesses with more accurate, real-time, and high quality services and information. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the Government of Ghana’s (GoG) adoption and implement of e-government and its usage by the Ministries, Departments and its agencies (MDAs) as well as other public sector institutions to deliver efficient public service to the general public i.e. citizens, business etc. Government implementation of e-government focused on facilitating effective delivery of government service to the public and ultimately to provide efficient government-wide electronic means of sharing information and knowledge through a network infrastructure developed to connect all major towns and cities, Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other public sector organizations in Ghana. One aim for the Government of Ghana use of ICT in public administration is to improve productivity in government administration and service by facilitating exchange of information to enable better interaction and coordination of work among MDAs, citizens and private businesses. The study was prepared using secondary sources of data from government policy documents, national and international published reports, journal articles, and web sources. This study indicates that through the e-government initiative, currently citizens and businesses can access and pay for services such as renewal of driving license, business registration, payment of taxes, acquisition of marriage and birth certificates as well as application for passport through the GoG electronic service (eservice) and electronic payment (epay) portal. Further, this study shows that there is enormous commitment from GoG to adopt and implement e-government as a tool not only to transform the business of government but also to bring efficiency in public services delivered by the MDAs. To ascertain this, a further study need to be carried out to determine if the use of e-government has brought about the anticipated improvements and efficiency in service delivery of MDAs and other state institutions in Ghana.
Abstract: In order to retrieve images efficiently from a large
database, a unique method integrating color and texture features
using genetic programming has been proposed. Opponent color
histogram which gives shadow, shade, and light intensity invariant
property is employed in the proposed framework for extracting color
features. For texture feature extraction, fast discrete curvelet
transform which captures more orientation information at different
scales is incorporated to represent curved like edges. The recent
scenario in the issues of image retrieval is to reduce the semantic gap
between user’s preference and low level features. To address this
concern, genetic algorithm combined with relevance feedback is
embedded to reduce semantic gap and retrieve user’s preference
images. Extensive and comparative experiments have been conducted
to evaluate proposed framework for content based image retrieval on
two databases, i.e., COIL-100 and Corel-1000. Experimental results
clearly show that the proposed system surpassed other existing
systems in terms of precision and recall. The proposed work achieves
highest performance with average precision of 88.2% on COIL-100
and 76.3% on Corel, the average recall of 69.9% on COIL and 76.3%
on Corel. Thus, the experimental results confirm that the proposed
content based image retrieval system architecture attains better
solution for image retrieval.
Abstract: The out-of-band impedance environment is considered
to be of paramount importance in engineering the in-band impedance
environment. Presenting the frequency independent and constant outof-
band impedances across the wide modulation bandwidth is
extremely important for reliable device characterization for future
wireless systems. This paper presents an out-of-band impedance
optimization scheme based on simultaneous engineering of
significant baseband components IF1 (twice the modulation
frequency) and IF2 (four times the modulation frequency) and higher
baseband components such as IF3 (six times the modulation
frequency) and IF4 (eight times the modulation frequency) to
engineer the in-band impedance environment. The investigations
were carried out on a 10W GaN HEMT device driven to deliver a
peak envelope power of approximately 40.5dBm under modulated
excitation. The presentation of frequency independent baseband
impedances to all the significant baseband components whilst
maintaining the optimum termination for fundamental tones as well
as reactive termination for 2nd harmonic under class-J mode of
operation has outlined separate optimum impedances for best
intermodulation (IM) linearity.
Abstract: In this study, we investigated the thixotropic behavior
of two clays used in fabrication of ceramic. The structural kinetic
model (SKM) was used to characterize the thixotropic behavior of
two different kinds of clays used in fabrication of ceramic. The SKM
postulates that the change in the rheological behavior is associated
with shear-induced breakdown of the internal structure of the clays.
This model for the structure decay with time at constant shear rate
assumes nth order kinetics for the decay of the material structure with
a rate constant.
Abstract: Biodiesel is widely investigated to solve the twin
problem of depletion of fossil fuel and environmental degradation.
The main objective of the present work is to compare performance,
emissions, and combustion characteristics of biodiesel derived from
cotton seed oil in a diesel engine with the baseline results of
petrodiesel fuel. Tests have been conducted on a single cylinder, four
stroke CIDI diesel engine with a speed of 1500 rpm and a fixed
compression ratio of 17.5 at different load conditions. The
performance parameters evaluated include brake thermal efficiency,
brake specific fuel consumption, brake power, indicated mean
effective pressure, mechanical efficiency, and exhaust gas
temperature. Regarding combustion study, cylinder pressure, rate of
pressure rise, net heat release rate, cumulative heat release, mean gas
temperature, mass fraction burned, and fuel line pressure were
evaluated. The emission parameters such as carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, oxides of nitrogen, and smoke
opacity were also measured by a smoke meter and an exhaust gas
analyzer and compared with baseline results. The brake thermal
efficiency of cotton seed oil methyl ester (CSOME) was lower than
that of petrodiesel and brake specific fuel consumption was found to
be higher. However, biodiesel resulted in the reduction of carbon
dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, and smoke opacity at the expense of
nitrogen oxides. Carbon monoxide emissions for biodiesel was higher
at maximum output power. It has been found that the combustion
characteristics of cotton seed oil methyl ester closely followed those
of standard petrodiesel. The experimental results suggested that
biodiesel derived from cotton seed oil could be used as a good
substitute to petrodiesel fuel in a conventional diesel without any
modification.
Abstract: In this paper, a modified Wilkinson power divider for
GSM application is presented. The quarter–wavelength microstrip
lines in the conventional Wilkinson power divider (WPD) are
replaced by one-eighth wavelength transmission line. Wilkinson
power divider is designed using λ/4 and λ/8 transmission line. It has
the operating frequency of 915 MHz which is used in the GSM
standard. The proposed Wilkinson Power Divider is designed using
the simulation tool Advanced Design System. The results of λ/8
transmission line are very close to the results of λ/4 transmission line.
The isolation loss of λ/8 transmission line is improved by introducing
a capacitor between the output ports. The proposed Wilkinson power
divider has the best return loss of greater than -10 dB and isolation
loss of -15.25 dB. The λ/8 transmission line Wilkinson power divider
has the reduced size of 53.9 percentages than λ/4 transmission line
WPD. The proposed design has simple structure, better isolation loss
and good insertion loss.
Abstract: Scripts are one of the basic text resources to understand
broadcasting contents. Topic modeling is the method to get the
summary of the broadcasting contents from its scripts. Generally,
scripts represent contents descriptively with directions and speeches,
and provide scene segments that can be seen as semantic units.
Therefore, a script can be topic modeled by treating a scene segment
as a document. Because scene segments consist of speeches mainly,
however, relatively small co-occurrences among words in the scene
segments are observed. This causes inevitably the bad quality of
topics by statistical learning method. To tackle this problem, we
propose a method to improve topic quality with additional word
co-occurrence information obtained using scene similarities. The
main idea of improving topic quality is that the information that
two or more texts are topically related can be useful to learn high
quality of topics. In addition, more accurate topical representations
lead to get information more accurate whether two texts are related
or not. In this paper, we regard two scene segments are related
if their topical similarity is high enough. We also consider that
words are co-occurred if they are in topically related scene segments
together. By iteratively inferring topics and determining semantically
neighborhood scene segments, we draw a topic space represents
broadcasting contents well. In the experiments, we showed the
proposed method generates a higher quality of topics from Korean
drama scripts than the baselines.
Abstract: The early-stage damage detection in offshore
structures requires continuous structural health monitoring and for the
large area the position of sensors will also plays an important role in
the efficient damage detection. Determining the dynamic behavior of
offshore structures requires dense deployment of sensors. The wired
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are highly expensive
and always needs larger installation space to deploy. Wireless sensor
networks can enhance the SHM system by deployment of scalable
sensor network, which consumes lesser space. This paper presents the
results of wireless sensor network based Structural Health Monitoring
method applied to a scaled experimental model of offshore structure
that underwent wave loading. This method determines the
serviceability of the offshore structure which is subjected to various
environment loads. Wired and wireless sensors were installed in the
model and the response of the scaled BLSRP model under wave
loading was recorded. The wireless system discussed in this study is
the Raspberry pi board with Arm V6 processor which is programmed
to transmit the data acquired by the sensor to the server using Wi-Fi
adapter, the data is then hosted in the webpage. The data acquired
from the wireless and wired SHM systems were compared and the
design of the wireless system is verified.
Abstract: The paper focuses on the distance laboratory
organisation for training the electrical engineering staff and students
in the fields of electrical drive and power electronics. To support
online knowledge acquisition and professional enhancement, new
challenges in remote education based on an active learning approach
with self-assessment have been emerged by the authors. Following
the literature review and explanation of the improved assessment
methodology, the concept and technological basis of the labs
arrangement are presented. To decrease the gap between the distance
study of the up-to-date equipment and other educational activities in
electrical engineering, the improvements in the following-up the
learners’ progress and feedback composition are introduced. An
authoring methodology that helps to personalise knowledge
acquisition and enlarge Web-based possibilities is described.
Educational management based on self-assessment is discussed.
Abstract: This paper presents the experimental results of 11 kV
and 33 kV silicon composite insulators under artificial salt and urea
polluted conditions. The tests were carried out under different
seasons like summer, winter, and monsoon. The artificial pollution is
prepared by properly dissolving the salt and urea in the water. The
prepared salt and urea pollutions are sprayed on the insulators and
dried up for sufficiently large time. The process is continued until a
uniform layer is formed on the surface of insulator. For each insulator
rating, four samples were tested. The maximum leakage current and
breakdown voltage were measured. From experimental data,
performance of test specimen is evaluated by comparing breakdown
voltage and leakage current during different seasons when exposed to
salt and urea polluted conditions. From these results the performance
of the insulators can be predicted when they are installed in
industrial, agricultural, and coastal areas. The experimental tests were
carried out in the High Voltage laboratory using two stage cascade
transformer having the rating of 1000 kVA, 500 kV.
Abstract: The study assessed the effectiveness of Pawpaw
(Carica papaya) wood in reducing the concentrations of heavy
metals in wastewater acting as a bio-sorbent. The following heavy
metals were considered; Zinc, Cadmium, Lead, Copper, Iron,
Selenium, Nickel and Manganese. The physiochemical properties of
Carica papaya stem were studied. The experimental sample was
sourced from the trunk of a felled matured pawpaw tree. Wastewater
for experimental use was prepared by dissolving soil samples
collected from a dump site at Owerri, Imo state of Nigeria in water.
The concentration of each metal remaining in solution as residual
metal after bio-sorption was determined using Atomic absorption
Spectrometer. The effects of pH and initial heavy metal concentration
were studied in a batch reactor. The results of Spectrometer test
showed that there were different functional groups detected in the
Carica papaya stem biomass. There was increase in metal removal as
the pH increased for all the metals considered except for Nickel and
Manganese. Optimum bio-sorption occurred at pH 5.9 with 5g/100ml
solution of bio-sorbent. The results of the study showed that the
treated wastewater is fit for irrigation purpose based on Canada
wastewater quality guideline for the protection of Agricultural
standard. This approach thus provides a cost effective and
environmentally friendly option for treating wastewater.
Abstract: The research aims to investigate the occurrence of
multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter, in carrot and estimate the role of
carrot in its transmission in a rapidly growing urban population.
Thus, 50 carrot samples were collected from Jakara wastewater
irrigation farms and are analyzed on MacConkey agar and screened
by Microbact 24E (Oxoid) and susceptibility of isolates is tested
against 10 commonly used antibiotics. Acinetobacter baumannii and
A. lwoffii were isolated in 22.00% and 16% of samples respectively.
Resistance to ceporex and penicillin of 36.36% and 27.27% in A.
baumannii, and sensitivity to ofloxacin, pefloxacin, gentimycin and
co-trimoxazole were observed. However, for A. lwoffii apart from
37.50% resistance to ceporex, it was also resistant to all other drugs
tested. There were similarities in the resistances shown by A.
baumannii and A. lwoffii to fluoroquinolones and β- lactame drug
families in addition to between sulfonamide and animoglycoside
demonstrated by A. lwoffii. Significant correlation in similarities were
observed at P < 0.05 to CPX to NA (46.2%), and SXT to AU (52.6%)
A. baumannii and A. lwoffii respectively and high multi drug
resistance (MDR) of 27.27% and 62.50% by A. baumannii and A.
lwoffii respectively. The occurrence of multidrug-resistance pathogen
in carrot is a serious challenge to public health care, especially in a
rapidly growing urban population where subsistence agriculture
contributes greatly to urban livelihood and source of vegetables.
Abstract: The focus of this study was to determine the factors associated with the use of substances for sport performance of youth in Lagos state sport. Questionnaire was the instrument used for the study. Descriptive research method was used. The estimated population for the study was 2000 sport men and women. The sample size was 200 respondents for purposive sampling techniques were used. The instrument was validated in it content and constructs value. The instrument was administered with the assistance of the coaches. Same 200 copies administered were returned. The data obtained was analysed using simple percentage and chi-square (x2) for stated hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The finding reveal that sport injuries exercise induced and anaphylaxis and asthma and feeling of loss of efficacy associated with alcohol used on sport performance among the users of substances. Alcohol users are recommended to partake in sport like swimming, basketball and volleyball because they have space of time for resting while at play. Government should be fully in charge of the health of sport men and women.
Abstract: In this research, we propose to conduct diagnostic and
predictive analysis about the key factors and consequences of urban
population relocation. To achieve this goal, urban simulation models
extract the urban development trends as land use change patterns from
a variety of data sources. The results are treated as part of urban big
data with other information such as population change and economic
conditions. Multiple data mining methods are deployed on this data to
analyze nonlinear relationships between parameters. The result
determines the driving force of population relocation with respect to
urban sprawl and urban sustainability and their related parameters.
This work sets the stage for developing a comprehensive urban
simulation model for catering to specific questions by targeted users. It
contributes towards achieving sustainability as a whole.
Abstract: Objective: Acute coronary syndrome is a clinical
condition encompassing ST segments elevation myocardial
infraction, Non ST segment is elevation myocardial infraction and un
stable angina is characterized by ruptured coronary plaque, stress and
myocardial injury. Angina pectoris is a pressure like pain in the chest
that is induced by exertion or stress and relived with in the minute
after cessation of effort or using sublingual nitroglycerin. The present
research was undertaken to study the drug utilization pattern of
antiplatelet drugs for the ischemic heart disease in a tertiary care
hospital. Method: The present study is retrospective drug utilization
study and study period is 6months. The data is collected from the
discharge case sheet of general medicine department from medical
department Rajiv Gandhi institute of medical sciences, Kadapa. The
tentative sample size fixed was 250 patients. Out of 250 cases 19
cases was excluded because of unrelated data. Results: A total of 250
prescriptions were collected for the study according to the inclusion
criteria 233 prescriptions were diagnosed with ischemic heart disease
17 prescriptions were excluded due to unrelated information. out of
233 prescriptions 128 are male (54.9%) and 105 patients are were
female (45%). According to the gender distribution, the prevalence of
ischemic heart disease in males are 90 (70.31%) and females are 39
(37.1%). In the same way the prevalence of ischemic heart disease
along with cerebrovascular disease in males are 39 (29.6%) and
females are 66 (62.6%). Conclusion: We found that 94.8% of drug
utilization of antiplatelet drugs was achieved in the Rajiv Gandhi
institute of medical sciences, Kadapa from 2011-2012.
Abstract: Dietary cholesterol has elicited the most public
interest as it relates with coronary heart disease. Thus, humans have
been paying more attention to health, thereby reducing consumption
of cholesterol enriched food. Egg is considered as one of the major
sources of human dietary cholesterol. However, an alternative way to
reduce the potential cholesterolemic effect of eggs is to modify the
fatty acid composition of the yolk. The effect of palm oil (PO),
soybean oil (SO), sesame seed oil (SSO) and fish oil (FO)
supplementation in the diets of layers on egg yolk fatty acid,
cholesterol, egg production and egg quality parameters were
evaluated in a 42-day feeding trial. One hundred and five Isa Brown
laying hens of 34 weeks of age were randomly distributed into seven
groups of five replicates and three birds per replicate in a completely
randomized design. Seven corn-soybean basal diets (BD) were
formulated: BD+No oil (T1), BD+1.5% PO (T2), BD+1.5% SO (T3),
BD+1.5% SSO (T4), BD+1.5% FO (T5), BD+0.75% SO+0.75% FO
(T6) and BD+0.75% SSO+0.75% FO (T7). Five eggs were randomly
sampled at day 42 from each replicate to assay for the cholesterol,
fatty acid profile of egg yolk and egg quality assessment. Results
showed that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences observed
in production performance, egg cholesterol and egg quality
parameters except for yolk height, albumen height, yolk index, egg
shape index, haugh unit, and yolk colour. There were no significant
differences (P>0.05) observed in total cholesterol, high density
lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein levels of egg yolk across the
treatments. However, diets had effect (P