Abstract: The paper analyzes the response of buildings and industrially structures on seismic waves (low frequency mechanical vibration) generated by blasting operations. The principles of seismic analysis can be applied for different kinds of excitation such as: earthquakes, wind, explosions, random excitation from local transportation, periodic excitation from large rotating and/or machines with reciprocating motion, metal forming processes such as forging, shearing and stamping, chemical reactions, construction and earth moving work, and other strong deterministic and random energy sources caused by human activities. The article deals with the response of seismic, low frequency, mechanical vibrations generated by nearby blasting operations on a residential home. The goal was to determine the fundamental natural frequencies of the measured structure; therefore it is important to determine the resonant frequencies to design a suitable modal damping. The article also analyzes the package of seismic waves generated by blasting (Primary waves – P-waves and Secondary waves S-waves) and investigated the transfer regions. For the detection of seismic waves resulting from an explosion, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and modal analysis, in the frequency domain, is used and the signal was acquired and analyzed also in the time domain. In the conclusions the measured results of seismic waves caused by blasting in a nearby quarry and its effect on a nearby structure (house) is analyzed. The response on the house, including the fundamental natural frequency and possible fatigue damage is also assessed.
Abstract: This study investigates the causes, effects and remedies of traffic congestion which has become a common sight in most highways in Nigeria; Mowe/Ibafo section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was used as the case-study. 300 Structured questionnaires were distributed among the road users comprising drivers (Private and Commercial), passengers, pedestrians, traffic officers, church congregations, community leaders, Mowe/Ibafo residents, and other users of the road.
300 questionnaires were given out; the average of 276 well completed returned questionnaires formed the basis of the study and was analyzed by the Relative Importance Index (R.I.I.). The result from the study showed the causes of traffic congestion as inadequate road capacity, poor road pavement, poor traffic management, poor drainage system poor driving habit, poor parking habit, poor design junctions/round-about, presence of heavy trucks, lack of pedestrian facilities, lack of road furniture, lack of parking facilities and others. Effects of road congestion from the study are waste of time, delay movement, stress, accident, inability to forecast travel of time, fuel consumption, road rage, relocation, night driving, and environmental pollution. To drastically reduce these negative effects; there must be provision for adequate parking space, construction of proper drainage, enlarging the width of the road, rehabilitate all roads needing attention, public enlightenment, traffic education, hack down all illegal buildings/shops built on the right of way (ROW), create a separate/alternative root for trucks and heavy vehicles, provision of pedestrian facilities, In-depth training of transport/traffic personnel, ban all form of road trading/hawking, and reduce the number of bus-stop where necessary. It is hoped that this study will become the foundation of further research in the area of improve road traffic management on our major highway.
Abstract: There is long history of konjac tubers being used as a cure for certain diseases in China and Japan. Konjac flour is prepared from konjac tubers and it contains high concentration of glucomannan. Konjac Glucomannan (KGM) is dietary fiber and the role of which has been demonstrated in weight reduction, lowering blood cholesterol and sugar level, promoting intestinal activity etc. Konjac glucomanan has a property of swelling by absorbing water, more than a hundred times its own weight. Therefore it helps increasing weight of feces, water content of feces, and promotes satiety feeling. Mode of actions of dietary fibre as laxatives agents includes holding water inside the bowel lumen, inhibition of water absorption in the colon and stimulating colonic motility. Number of fecal pellets did not effected in rats were fed on 300 and 600 mg/kg of konjac flour, as well as constipated control and Dulcolax treatment. Water content, weight of fecal pellets and gastrointestinal transit ratio were higher in rats treated with 600 mg/kg than 300 mg/kg of konjac flour. Rats were administered with Dulcolax showed the highest gastrointestinal transit ratio, followed by 600 mg/kg konjac flour. The lowest feed consumption was noted in 600 mg/kg konjac flour diet group.
Abstract: Shear testing is one of the most complex testing areas where available methods and specimen geometries are different from each other. Therefore, a modified shear test specimen (MSTS) combining the simple uniaxial test with a zone of interest (ZOI) is tested which gives almost the pure shear. In this study, material parameters of polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) are first measured by tensile tests with a dogbone shaped specimen. These parameters are then used as an input for the finite element analysis. Secondly, a specially designed specimen (MSTS) is used to perform the shear stress tests in a tensile testing machine to get the results in terms of forces and extension, crack initiation etc. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is also performed on the shear fracture surface to find material behavior. These experiments are then simulated by finite element method and compared with the experimental results in order to confirm the simulation model. Shear stress state is inspected to find the usability of the proposed shear specimen. Finally, a geometry correction factor can be established for these two materials in this specific loading and geometry with notch using Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM). By these results, strain energy of shear failure and stress intensity factor (SIF) of shear of these two polymers are discussed in the special application of the screw cap opening of the medical or food packages with a temper evidence safety solution.
Abstract: Organic farming systems still depend on intensive, mechanical soil tillage. Frequent passes by machinery traffic cause substantial soil compaction that threatens soil health. Adopting practices as reduced tillage and organic matter retention on the soil surface are considered effective ways to control soil compaction. In tropical regions, however, the acceleration of soil organic matter decomposition and soil carbon turnover on the topsoil layer is influenced more rapidly by the oscillation process of drying and wetting. It is hypothesized therefore, that rapid reduction in soil organic matter hastens the potential for compaction to occur in organic farming systems. Compaction changes soil physical properties and as a consequence it has been implicated as a causal agent in the inhibition of natural disease suppression in soils. Here we describe relationships between soil management in organic vegetable systems, soil compaction, and declining soil capacity to suppress pathogenic microorganisms.
Abstract: Real-time or in-line process monitoring frameworks are designed to give early warnings for a fault along with meaningful identification of its assignable causes. In artificial intelligence and machine learning fields of pattern recognition various promising approaches have been proposed such as kernel-based nonlinear machine learning techniques. This work presents a kernel-based empirical monitoring scheme for batch type production processes with small sample size problem of partially unbalanced data. Measurement data of normal operations are easy to collect whilst special events or faults data are difficult to collect. In such situations, noise filtering techniques can be helpful in enhancing process monitoring performance. Furthermore, preprocessing of raw process data is used to get rid of unwanted variation of data. The performance of the monitoring scheme was demonstrated using three-dimensional batch data. The results showed that the monitoring performance was improved significantly in terms of detection success rate of process fault.
Abstract: Constantly changing economic conditions require companies to design their production to be more economical, innovative, and flexible. Since workers have a decisive influence on cost, time, and quality, e.g. by monitoring indicators that determine quality, by developing processes more resistant to disturbances, or by monitoring environmental standards, a focus on personnel as a production factor is needed. This presupposes the efficient use and systematic enhancement of employees’ existing competences since greater consideration of these aspects in work planning will help to enhance competitiveness. The aim of the research project ‘Integrated Technology- and Competence-based Work Planning in Socio-Technical Systems’ is to develop a new work planning method that combines technology with work science by incorporating employees’ skills as a quality indicator. For employee competences to increase competitiveness, it is first of all necessary to assess how competences affect cost, time, and quality. A model for deriving predictions about the effects of competence-based parameters on these strategic business objectives is developed in this paper.
Abstract: Information Quality (IQ) has become a critical,
strategic issue in Accounting Information Systems (AIS) adoption. In
order to implement AIS adoption successfully, it is important to
consider the quality of information use throughout the adoption
process, which seriously impacts the effectiveness of AIS adoption
practice and the optimisation of AIS adoption decisions. There is a
growing need for research to provide insights into issues and
solutions related to IQ in AIS adoption. The need for an integrated
approach to improve IQ in AIS adoption, as well as the unique
characteristics of accounting data, demands an AIS adoption specific
IQ framework. This research aims to explore ways of managing
information quality and AIS adoption to investigate the relationship
between the IQ issues and AIS adoption process. This study has led
to the development of a framework for understanding IQ
management in AIS adoption. This research was done on 44
respondents as ten organisations from manufacturing firms in
Thailand. The findings of the research’s empirical evidence suggest
that IQ dimensions in AIS adoption to provide assistance in all
process of decision making. This research provides empirical
evidence that information quality of AIS adoption affect decision
making and suggests that these variables should be considered in
adopting AIS in order to improve the effectiveness of AIS.
Abstract: The design of temperature measuring approach for a re-configured milling machine to produce friction stir welds is reported in this paper. The product design specifications for the redesigning of a milling machine were first outlined and the ranking criteria were determined. Three different concepts were generated for the temperature measurement on the reconfigured system and the preferred or the best concept was selected based on the set design ranking criteria. Further simulation and performance analysis was then conducted on the concept. The Infrared Thermography (IRT) concept was selected for the temperature measurement among other concepts generated because it is an ideal and most effective system of measurement in this regard.
Abstract: The current desire in food and industrial emulsification is the use of natural emulsifiers. Bambara groundnut flour (BGNF) and its starch (BGNS) will serve both emulsifying and nutritional purposes if found suitable. This current study was aimed at investigating the emulsifying properties of BGNF/BGNS. BGNS was extracted from the BGNF. Emulsions were prepared using a wide range of flour-oil-water and starch-oil-water composition as generated through the application of Response Surface (D-optimal) design. Prepared emulsions were investigated for stability to creaming/sedimentation (using the kinetic information from turbiscan) and flocculation/coalescence (by monitoring the droplet diameter growth using optical microscope) over 5 days. The most stable emulsions (one BGNF-stabilized and the other BGNS-stabilized) were determined. The optimal emulsifier/oil composition was 9g/39g for BGNF and 5g/30g for BGNS. The two emulsions had only 30% and 50% growth in oil droplet diameter respectively by day 5, compared to over 3000% in the unstable ones. The BGNF-stabilized emulsions were more stable than the BGNS-stabilized ones. Emulsions were successfully stabilized with BGNF and BGNS.
Abstract: This paper examines the development of one step, five hybrid point method for the solution of first order initial value problems. We adopted the method of collocation and interpolation of power series approximate solution to generate a continuous linear multistep method. The continuous linear multistep method was evaluated at selected grid points to give the discrete linear multistep method. The method was implemented using a constant order predictor of order seven over an overlapping interval. The basic properties of the derived corrector was investigated and found to be zero stable, consistent and convergent. The region of absolute stability was also investigated. The method was tested on some numerical experiments and found to compete favorably with the existing methods.
Abstract: The use of Technological tools in the classroom setting has drawn the interest of researchers all over the world in the recent time. Technology has been identified in the recent time as potentials tools to aid learning especially during early childhood stage. The main objective of this is to assist the upcoming younger generations to acquire necessary skills for cognitive development which later enhances effective teaching learning process. The integration of Technology in early childhood requires a careful selection of devices that will both assist the children and the teachers or care givers. This paper therefore, examines some selected literature evidences and highlighted the efficacy of various technologies tools in enhancing the development and learning of children (0 – 5 years). Conclusion and recommendations were also drawn in this paper.
Abstract: Technology has moved into the classroom, and it becomes difficult talking of achievement in and attitude to learning without making mention of it. The use of technology makes learning easy, real and practical as it motivates learners, sustains their interest and improves their attitude to learning. This study, therefore examined the pre-service teachers’ assessment of information technology application to instruction. The use of technology emphasizes and encourages active learning in the classroom. The study involved 100 pre-service teachers in the selected two (2) Colleges of Education, Nigeria. Purposive random sampling was used in selecting the participants and ex-post facto design was adopted the in which there is no manipulation of variables. Two valid and reliable instruments were used for data collection: Access Point ICT facilities and Application of ICT. The study established that pre-service teachers have less access to ICT facilities and Application of ICT in the college, apart from those students having the access outside the college. Also fewer pre-service teachers used ICT facilities on weekly and monthly bases. It was concluded that the establishment of students’ resources centres and Campus wide wireless connectivity must be implemented so as to improve and enhance students’ achievement in and attitude to learning. The time and attention devoted to learning activities and strategic specialized ICT skills and requisite entrepreneur skills should be increased so as to have easy access to information sources and be able to apply it in teaching process.
Abstract: Large patients’ queues at pharmacies and hospitals are a problem that faces the supposedly smooth and healthy environment in United Arab Emirates. As this sometimes leads to dissatisfaction from visiting patients, we tried to solve this problem with additional beneficial functions by developing the Hospital-Pharmacy Management System. The primary purpose of this research is to develop a system that joins the databases of a hospital and a pharmacy together for a better integrated system that provides a better coherent working environment. Three methods are used to design the system. These methods are detailed literature review, an extensive feasibility study and surveys for doctors, hospital IT managers and End-users. Interviews and surveys with related stakeholders were done to depict system’s requirements; design and prototype. The prototype illustrates system’s features and its client and server architecture. The system has a mobile application for visiting patients to, mainly, keep track of their prescriptions and access to their personal information. The server side allows doctors to submit the prescriptions online to pharmacists who will process them. This system is expected to reduce the long waiting queues of patients and increase their satisfaction while also reducing doctors and pharmacists’ stress and facilitating their work. It will be deployed to users of Android devices only. This limitation will be resolved, as one of main future enhancements, once the system finds acceptance from hospitals and pharmacies in United Arab Emirates.
Abstract: The flow of suspensions of wood pulp fibers in circular pipes has been investigated experimentally. The flow characteristics of pulp suspensions are discussed with regard to five flow regimes designated by the author. In particular, the effects of the shear stress at the pipe wall on the disruption and dispersion of networks of pulp fibers are examined. The values of the disruptive and dispersive shear stresses are formulated as simple expressions depending on only the fiber concentration. Furthermore, the flow properties of the suspensions are described using the yield shear stress.
Abstract: In the present paper, a gyrotron cavity is analyzed in the absence of electron beam for dispersion, attenuation and RF efficiency. For all these characteristics, azimuthally symmetric TE0n modes have been considered. The attenuation characteristics for TE0n modes indicated decrease in attenuation constant as the frequency is increased. Interestingly, the lowest order TE01 mode resulted in lowest attenuation. Further, three different cavity wall materials have been selected for attenuation characteristics. The cavity made of material with higher conductivity resulted in lower attenuation. The effect of material electrical conductivity on the RF efficiency has also been observed and has been found that the RF efficiency rapidly decreases as the electrical conductivity of the cavity material decreases. The RF efficiency rapidly decreases with increasing diffractive quality factor. The ohmic loss variation as a function of frequency of operation for three different cavities made of copper, aluminum and nickel has been observed. The ohmic losses are lowest for the copper cavity and hence the highest RF efficiency.
Abstract: Planar systems of electrodes arranged on both sides of dielectric piezoelectric layer are applied in numerous transducers. They are capable of electronic beam-steering of generated wave both in azimuth and elevation. The wave-beam control is achieved by addressable driving of two-dimensional transducer through proper voltage supply of electrodes on opposite surfaces of the layer. In this paper a semi-analytical method of analysis of the considered transducer is proposed, which is a generalization of the well-known BIS-expansion method. It was earlier exploited with great success in the theory of interdigital transducers of surface acoustic waves, theory of elastic wave scattering by cracks and certain advanced electrostatic problems. The corresponding nontrivial electrostatic problem is formulated and solved numerically.
Abstract: Cloud computing technology is very useful in present day to day life, it uses the internet and the central remote servers to provide and maintain data as well as applications. Such applications in turn can be used by the end users via the cloud communications without any installation. Moreover, the end users’ data files can be accessed and manipulated from any other computer using the internet services. Despite the flexibility of data and application accessing and usage that cloud computing environments provide, there are many questions still coming up on how to gain a trusted environment that protect data and applications in clouds from hackers and intruders. This paper surveys the “keys generation and management” mechanism and encryption/decryption algorithms used in cloud computing environments, we proposed new security architecture for cloud computing environment that considers the various security gaps as much as possible. A new cryptographic environment that implements quantum mechanics in order to gain more trusted with less computation cloud communications is given.
Abstract: In this paper the effects of adding an extra layer within a sandwich panel and core- types in top and bottom cores on quasi- static loading are studied experimentally. The panel includes polymer composite laminated sheets for faces and the internal laminated sheet called extra layer sheet, and two types of crushable foams are selected as the core material. Quasi- static tests were done by ZWICK testing machine on fully backed specimens with two foam cores, Poly Urethane Rigid (PUR) and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). It was found that the core material type has made significant role on improving the sandwich panel’s behavior compared with the effect of extra layer location.
Abstract: Strut-and-Tie Models (STM) for the design of concrete beams, comprising of struts, ties, nodes as the basic tools, is conceptually simple, but its realization for complex concrete structure is not straightforward and depends on flow of internal forces in the structure. STM technique has won wide acceptance for deep member and shear design. STM technique is a unified approach that considers all load effects (bending, axial, shear, and torsion) simultaneously, not just applicable to shear loading only. The present study is to portray Strut-and-Tie Modeling based on Load-Transfer-Mechanisms as a unified method to analyze, design and detailing for deep and slender concrete beams. Three shear span- effective depth ratio (a/ d) are recommended for the modeling of STM elements corresponding to dominant load paths. The study also discusses the research work conduct on effective stress of concrete, tie end anchorage, and transverse reinforcement demand under different load transfer mechanism. It is also highlighted that to make the STM versatile tool for design of beams applicable to all shear spans, the effective stress of concrete and, transverse reinforcement demand, inclined angle of strut, and anchorage requirements of tie bars is required to be correlated with respect to load transfer mechanism. The country code provisions are to be modified and updated to apply for generalized design of concrete deep and slender member using load transfer mechanism based STM technique. Examples available in literature are reanalyzed with refined STM based on load transfer mechanisms and results are compared. It is concluded from the results that proposed approach will require true reinforcement demand depending on dominant force transfer action in concrete beam.