Removal of copper (II), iron (III) and lead (II) ions from Mono-component Simulated Waste Effluent by Adsorption on Coconut Husk

The use of coconut husk as a low-cost natural adsorbent for the removal of Cu (II), Fe (III) and Pb (II) from simulated industrial waste effluent was studied. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the effects of varying adsorbent loadings, pH, contact time, metal ion concentration and temperature of adsorption. The adsorption of Pb (II) was found to be maximum (94%±3.2) at pH 5, temperature of 100°C, metal ion concentration of 30 ppm and contact time of 30 min. The adsorption of Cu (II) and Fe (III) were maxima (92%±2.8 and 94%±1.4) at pH range of 5 - 7, metal ion concentration of 50 ppm, temperature of 50°C but at different times of 30 and 90 min respectively. 1 g of the adsorbent material was found to be optimal for all the metal ions; the Freundlich isotherm was found to be suitable for the adsorption of Cu(II) and Fe(III) while the Langmuir isotherm was found to be suitable for the adsorption of Pb(II). The adsorption kinetics was also studied

Climatic Pattern and Design for Indoor Comfort in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Climate is one of the basic factors for consideration in building design in Nigeria. It determine the occupants physiological conditions especially in the indoor spaces. Most climate studies in Nigeria have concentrated mainly on Agriculture and Aviation Sectors. This paper examines and analyses the climate pattern of Ogbomoso, a climatic transitional town in South West Nigeria with a view to suggesting appropriate guidelines for comfort design.Average climatic data of Ogbomoso for a period of five (5) years were examined and analysed for building design purpose using control potential zone techniques on bio-climatic chart. The climatic pattern of Ogbomoso showed that the annual mean temperature values are high for most of the years with 26.240C 24.690C, 26.210C, 26.430C and 26.640C respectively for the year 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. Annual mean minimum and maximum relative humidity are high ranging from 76.80% (2006) minimum to 81.5% (2005) as maximum. The annual mean value of solar radiation are high and constant while the average outdoor wind speed for those periods are generally low between (1.5 – 2.0 m/s). The control potential zone (CPZ) constructed on the psychometric chart of Ogbomoso showed that the length of overheated  period (Lo) is greater than length of underheated (Lu) with thermal implications of hot and humid conditions. It also shows that air movement alone cannot provide adequate thermal comfort for the occupants. Other passive controls like the mass effect with night ventilation can be combined with the air movement to produce the required comfort. Keywords: Climatic pattern, Indoor comfort, Control Potential Zone (CPZ), Bioclimatic chat, Warm humid condition

Quality Control and Teacher Effectiveness in State Public Senior Secondary Schools, Nigeria

The study investigated the relationship between quality control and teacher effectiveness in Nigerian Public Senior Secondary Schools using Kwara State as a case study. Forty Public Senior Secondary Schools out of 305 representing 36% were randomly selected while 440 teachers out of 1,207 representing 37% were proportionally selected using multi-stage sampling technique. The instruments titled “Quality Control Questionnaire” (QCQ) and “Students Academic Performance Profoma” (SAPP) were adopted to elicit data required. Three research questions and operational hypotheses each were generated and analyzed using percentage and regression statistic at 0.05 significant level. Findings of this study revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between quality control and teacher effectiveness in Nigerian Public Senior Secondary Schools. It was recommended, among others, that supervisions of schools, stimulated professional growth and development of teacher should be intensified for effective quality control of schools. The quality of education in any nation depends on teachers’ quality

Breast density segmentation based on fusion of super pixels and watershed transform

Breast density, defined as the proportion of fibroglandular tissue over the entire breast has been linked with a higher risk of developing breast cancer, in fact it has been suggested that women with a mammographic breast density higher than 75 percent have a four-to six-fold higher risk of developing breast cancer than women with little or no dense tissue. Therefore, automatic methods of measuring breast density could potentially aid clinicians to provide more precise breast cancer risk estimates.This paper proposes a novel method of segmenting breast density, which extracts objects with the same density using fusion of super pixels and a watershed based technique, this idea is based on the principle that both super pixel and watershed often results in over segmentation, for the later algorithm, over segmentation may be due to contours which have been suppressed according to similarity of contrast and topological measures, we took advantage of super pixel to consolidate space information and efficiently process the intensity non-homogeneity problem, afterward, re-introduced this contour with watershed transform to get a better segmentation.authorsversionPeer reviewe

An Evaluation of Human Resource Accounting on Corporate Performance

The accounting component of human capital has not yet been fully adopted and implemented in corporate financial reporting of corporate organizations. Determining the impact of human resource accounting on turnover, earnings per share, and capital employed of corporate performance of the listed businesses in the Nigerian stock exchange is the goal of the current study. The results of the study demonstrate that (I) human resource accounting significantly influences business turnover, (ii) human resource accounting significantly influences earnings per share, and (iii) human resource accounting significantly influences return on capital employed. In conclusion, the financial reports would be more useful for making decisions if human resources were included as an asset rather than reported in the traditional manner. Therefore, the study suggests that the listed firms adopt a culture of valuing and disclosing education, training, and ongoing retraining of their human resources to enhance performance. &nbsp

Review of Methods of Measuring Streamflow Using Hydraulic Structures

The measurement of streamflow is very critical to hydraulic engineers and hydrologists as it provides vital information for environmental monitoring issues connected to water resources. The objective of this study is to examine various means of measuring streamflow specifically application of hydraulic structures installed across the direction of flow. Weirs are restricted to small rivers where the provision for sufficient head and constriction in the river is acceptable. Sharp-crested weir is easy to construct, and it is commonly used as a flow measuring device in an open channel. Flumes are self-cleaning due to the fact that the flow velocity through a flume is usually high. Traditionally, flume is used in measuring flow in agricultural systems, and it requires low maintenance cost. It has capacity to measure more flow rates than weir. Accurate streamflow measurement using flume is within ±2–5% while that of weir is ±2%. Generally, flumes are employed to determine discharge where weirs are not useful

Local Government Internally Generated Revenue And Administrative Costs: A Question Of Efficiency.

Internally generated revenue is one the sources of revenue open to the local governments. These revenues are generated within the confines of the local government mostly through services provided to the local population. This source of revenue required some efforts to carryout such as administrative expenses like consultancy fees and stationeries. In the past, little efforts have been geared towards investigating the efficiency of revenue collection and the cost involved, as efficiency is a major criterion in the revenue collection. Therefore, this paper dwells into the relationship between the internal source of local government revenue, and the costs involved in the generation of the revenue to measure the degree of efficiency in the revenue administration. The study used survey questionnaire administered to the revenue section of local governments in North Central Nigeria to seek their opinion on the research question of whether the administrative cost of revenue impacts on the rate of revenue generated. The study applied chi-square statistical method to analyse the result of the questionnaire. From the result, where the null hypothesis was rejected shows that there is a relationship between the rate of administrative cost and revenue generated. Therefore, the study concludes that it becomes necessary for the local government to become more efficient in their revenue generating capacity due to the dwindling nature of funds from the center

The Economics of Network Reconfiguration and Shunt Compensation on a 33 kV Distribution Network

This work studies the cost benefits derivable from network reconfiguration and shunt compensation of a Nigerian 33 kV distribution network. The approach adopted requires that the base case power flow analysis of the distribution network was first carried out, after which a shunt capacitor was used for compensation. The introduction of a tie-line in the network and a combination of capacitor and tie-line on same network were also carried out. The costs analysis of compensation and reconfiguration was carried out to understand their financial worthiness. The results obtained showed that the payback period (PP) for the introduction of compensation only, reconfiguration only and combination of compensation and reconfiguration are 1286.89 hr, 328.58 hr and 1043.31 hr, respectively. Though, reconfiguration only gives the least PP, a combination of compensation and reconfiguration has a long time cost benefit. At time above 5147.57 hr, it generates more profit than others

Energy Efficient Buildings in Tropical Climate Through Passive Techniques- An Overview

The geometric increase in energy consumption in buildings due to high living standards, display of wealth and affluence and increase in population has resulted in energy crises and series of environmental problems such as sudden rise in temperature in urban areas, risk of global warming, climate change and co2 emissions. Architects and builders hence have a role in mitigating these effects through the reduction of energy consumption in buildings. This has informed various studies on climate responsive designs or what is referred to as passive cooling of buildings. Passive cooling (designs) refers to design features or technology used in heating or cooling buildings naturally without energy consumption; it takes full advantage of the micro climate by using climate responsive design parameters. Passive cooling of buildings if properly imbibed is a significant way by which energy efficiency can be ensured in buildings.This paper therefore critically reviews and analyses the various passive cooling techniques that could be adopted in the tropical climate to achieve desirable thermal comfort in buildings and factors affecting their choice of selection; with a view to contributing to the development of guidelines on how to mitigate the effect of climate change especially in Nigeria, as well as in the tropical regions. Keywords: passive cooling, techniques, climate responsive designs, energy consumption, energy efficiency, Thermal comforts

Assessment of Study Habit Skills and Peergroup Influence on Pupils Academic Performance in Mathematics in Lagos Division Nigeria

Background: Technology is the mainstay of any societal development and Mathematics is seen as a tool for the community to achieve it. However, pupils’ performance in Mathematics have not been encouraging and this has been the concern of education stakeholders in the community. Contribution:  This study therefore assessed the study habit and peer group influence on pupils’ performance in mathematics. Method: The sample comprised 450 basic-six pupils. Questionnaire and test were used to gather data. Research questions were answered using mean while research hypotheses were tested using PPMC. Results: Finding revealed that there was no significant relationship between study habit skills and pupils’ performance in Mathematics and there was significant relationship between peer group influence and pupils’ academic performance in Mathematics. Conclusion:  It was recommended that schools should organize programmes for pupils to develop good study habit and to wary of the friends to be kep