Optimizing Hot Dip Galvanizing Operations of Steel Sheets for Better Quality

Hot dip galvanizing operations were conducted in the laboratory for steel sheets of 0.20 mm, 0.60 mm and 1.0 mm thicknesses. The operations  were carried out using 99.8% zinc with small amounts of aluminium addition at 450oC   for  1.0 min immersion duration at withdrawal speeds of 3 m/min, 4 m/min and 5 m/min.   Steel plates were withdrawn into a clean area in an open space where they were rapidly cooled. The quality of the galvanized coatings produced was evaluated by their appearance, lustre and uniformity. The results obtained showed varying quality parameters for different thicknesses.  Gauges 18, 22 and 28 steel sheets had best quality in terms of coating lustre and uniformity at respective withdrawal speeds of 3m/min, 4 m/min and 5 m/min. The differences in the heat capacities of different gauges led to their different responses in cooling time which accounted for the results obtained

The Influence of Phosphate Modified and Pregelatinized Plantain (Musa Paradisiaca, Family: Musaceae) Starches as Disintegrants In Paracetamol Tablet Formulations

Background: Starch is the commonest disintegrant used in tablet formulation. The use of starch is however limited by its poor functional properties of flow, compressibility and compatibility. Hence, starches are chemically, physically or enzymatically modified to improve the aforementioned properties.Objective: This study was aimed at investigating the disintegrant property of simultaneously phosphorylated and pregelatinized plantain starch (PPPS) obtained from Musa paradisiaca (Family: Musaceae) in directly compressed paracetamol tablet formulations in comparison with formulations containing natural plantain starch (PS) and sodium starch glycollate BP (SSG).Method: The extracted plantain starch was purified to yield PS. A portion of PS was simultaneously modified by phosphorylation in 50% v/v monosodium phosphate medium and pregelatinized in the same medium to yield PPPS. The powdered PPPS was characterized using density measurements and Kawakita equations before incorporation as a disintegrant in directly compressed paracetamol tablet formulations at concentrations of 10, 15, 20 and 25 %w/w in comparison with PS and SSG. The tablets were evaluated for their mechanical and release properties. Statistical data was carried out using ANOVA at a significance level of p-values < 0.05.Result: The yield of PS was 57.6 % w/w. The bulk and tapped densities are of the order PPPS (0.61±0.05 and 0.71±0.13) > PS (0.47±0.05 and 0.53±0.11) > SSG (0.38±0.01 and 0.50±0.01), while the angle of repose are of the order PS (57.100±0.14) > PPPS (35.600±0.01) > SSG (33.700±0.13). The ranking for friability values was PS Tablets>SSG tablets >PPPS tablets. Tensile strength values were of the reverse order for the tablets. Tablets containing PS had the highest disintegration time values at all concentrations, while onset of paracetamol release was fastest from PPPS tablets.Conclusion: Modification of plantain starch by simultaneous phosphorylation and pregelatinization showed better disintegrant properties than unmodified plantain starch, but comparable with sodium starch glycollate BP.Keywords: Pregelatinized plantain starch, Phosphate modification, Disintegrant, Paracetamo

Sustainable construction: a web-based performance assessment tool

The quest towards sustainable development, both nationally and globally, puts the construction industry in the foreground as the main consumer of natural resources. The industry has profound economic, social and environmental impacts. Sustainable construction is one of the most important challenges faced by the construction industry today. In the UK, sustainability is being driven and enforced by the government through stringent fiscal policies and regulations, voluntary initiatives combined with naming and shaming strategies. Stakeholders are becoming more aware of the global challenges and are using their power to exert pressure on companies. Increasingly, construction clients are demanding that their business partners submit: their corporate sustainability policies with tender packages to demonstrate their performance in dealing with opportunities and risks stemming from economic, environmental and social aspect of sustainability. However, the lack of understanding of the concept and its practical application has been a recurrent problem. The conceptual confusion; its vagueness and ambiguity, the complexity of the myriad of challenges and fluidity of the sustainability concept, compounded with the myopic attitude of the industry, lack of clear-cut and practical framework are causing frustration in the construction industry. Consequently, a number of sustainability management frameworks have been proposed. There are probably more than one hundred frameworks for sustainable business strategy. However, the majority of these are either complicated to implement or lack sound theoretical base, effective change management and completeness. These, therefore, do not make the situation any easier. Many are still baffled as to what they should do and how they should go about affecting change. Corporate sustainability in the construction industry is a challenge to many companies. The industry is still under-performing in each of the key themes of sustainable construction and this has lead to a 'blame culture’ where each sector of the industry allocates responsibility for its current failings to others (CIRIA C563, 2001). Such a situation poses a need for a comprehensive, practical and easy to use tool that would aid the implementation and management of sustainability at the core of business process. The tool will complement the existing frameworks, which breaks down the strategic and management issues into manageable components. This will enable companies to focus on individual areas and identify actions needed to facilitate change. The problem is that such a tool is virtually non-existent. The main focal point of this research is the development of a tool to facilitate the implementation, management and integration of sustainability issues at the strategic level and promote wider uptake of the concept in the construction industry. This requires a thorough understanding of the concepts of sustainable development, sustainable construction and related issues as well as drivers, benefits, barriers and enablers for achieving corporate sustainability. It also demands an examination of existing management frameworks and collation of case studies from the early adopters to establish critical factors for strategic and management issues involved in achieving corporate sustainability. Through, diverse research epistemologies (quantitative, qualitative and triangulation methods), the research established four main critical factors and thirty-six sub-critical factors for achieving corporate sustainability. These factors underpinned the development of a web-based prototype software (ConPass). This thesis presents the development and evaluation ConPass Model and the prototype software

Poverty Level of Cassava Flakes (GARI) Marketers in Osogbo Agricultural Zone, Osun State, Nigeria

This study examined the poverty level of cassava flakes (gari) marketers in Orolu, Boripe and Egbedore local government areas in Osun state. A multi-stage sampling method was employed to select one hundred and eighty (180) respondents. Analytical tools employed in the study include the descriptive statistics, FGT P-alpha, budgetary, and ordinary least squares regression.  Findings revealed that nearly all (96.7%) the study respondents were female. Respondents’ mean age was 43.98 years (economic active age) and the mean household size was 9 members. Also 76.7 percent of the marketers had some level of formal education, while 23.3% had no formal education. 28% of the marketers were living below the poverty line. The poverty headcount, poverty gap and severity indexes of the marketers were 28%, 11.6% and 6.0% respectively. Marital status and household size were negatively significantly related to the respondents’ poverty level. The gross margin which was N43, 645.33, showed that gari marketing is profitable in the study area. It is therefore recommended that the marketers should be enlightened to maintain small household size by participating in family planning programme. They should also be involved in cooperatives and social groups. Keywords: poverty, garri marketers, FGT and budgetary analysi

A Study of the Effect of Home, School, and Personal Variables on Students’ Reading Comprehension Achievement.

The study was designed to investigate the effect of specific home, school and personal variables on students’ reading comprehension achievement, based on the frequency of secondary school students' poor performances in English Language examinations. Based on a sample of two hundred (200) students randomly selected from four senior secondary schools in Oyo East and Atiba Local Government Areas of Oyo State, the study sought answers to five research questions were generated for the study. A descriptive survey research was adopted and the instruments used were Students’ Questionnaire and Reading Comprehension Achievement Test (RCAT). Results from the findings showed that although all the variables examined affected students' reading comprehension achievement, the home and school variables were significant while the personal variable was not. It was concluded that the variables, when taken together, would to a large extent predict reading comprehension achievement. It was recommended that parents and teachers have major roles to play in improving students' competence in reading comprehension. Keywords: English Language; home; Nigeria; reading comprehension; school; self-concept

Effective management of faecal sludge through co-digestion for biogas generation

The use of fossil fuels as primary energy source has led to global climate change and human health problems. Renewable energy resources appear to be the efficient solutions to the problems resulting from the use of fossil fuels. In this study, biogas production efficiency from faecal sludge and its combination with three feed stocks was evaluated. Three feedstock materials (cow dung, cow intestinal waste and mixed organic waste) were fed into a 2 m3 capacity digester to mix with faecal sludge for biogas production. Standard methods were used to determine chemical and biological qualities of influent and effluent slurries. The biogas produced was analyzed using multi-gas analyzer to determine the concentrations of CO, CO2, CH4 and H2S.Methane formed major component of the biogas produced by all the substrates (40-70%) followed by carbon dioxide (20-30%) and H2S (8-10%). The macronutrients of the bio-slurries produced ranged from Carbon (5.3 + 0.11- 6.0 + 0.01%), Nitrogen (0.36 + 0.1 - 0.46 + 0.1%), Phosphate (0.11 + 0.02 – 0.24 + 0.11%) and Potassium (0.1 + 0.01 - 0.4 + 0.1%). The Carbon/Nitrogen ratio of the bio-slurries produced ranged from 12:1 to 15:1. The microbial contents of faecal sludge, only slurry had lowest total count of bacteria of 1.2 x 10-2cfu/100ml. conclusively, co-digestion was effective in converting faecal sludge mixed the three feed stocks into pure biogas and nutrient rich bio-slurries as organic fertilizer.Keywords: Cow-dung, Biogas, Escherichia coli, Faecal-sludg

Assessment of the contamination potentials of some foodborne bacteria in biofilms for food products

AbstractObjectiveTo assess biofilms formed by different bacterial strains on glass slides, and changes in biofilm mass and biofilm-associated cell populations after brief contacts between biofilms and either media agar or food products.MethodsTwo Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains and a single Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strain were inoculated separately in tryptic soy broth containing glass coupons incubated for 24, 48 or 72 h at 37 °C. The biofilms formed by individual bacterial strains and biofilm-associated cell populations were determined. Biofilms were subsequently allowed to have brief contacts (1-3 times), through gentle touching, with either agar, meat or soft white cheese (2 cm3). Changes in biofilm mass on glass slides and cell populations embedded in biofilms were quantified.ResultsA nonpathogenic E. coli formed more biofilms than an E. coli O157:H7 strain. Biofilms formed by S. aureus and Listeria monocytogenes were essentially similar. The biofilm mass increased as incubation time increased within 48 h of incubation and was not positively correlated with cellulose production. Biofilm mass at 48 and 72 h of incubation was not significantly different. More frequent contacts with agar or foods did not remove more biofilms or biofilm-associated cells from glass slides. More S. aureus biofilms were removed followed by Listeria and E. coli biofilms. Mean contamination of agar or food models was 0.00 to 7.65 log CFU/cm2. Greater contaminations in cell populations were observed with S. aureus and Listeria biofilms.ConclusionsThe results provide a clearer assessment of contaminating potential of foods that comes in contact with them

On Some Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Household Sanitation in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Different sanitation programmes introduced by government at various levels are ill-conceived and are abandoned prematurely due to numerous attitudinal, institutional and economic factors. This study examines the relationship of some socio-economic factors and house sanitation in Ado-Ekiti. Using simple bar chat and Chi-Square test of independence, the research reveals that though there seems to be variations among various socio-economic classes in relation to waste household sanitation technique, the relationship is found not to be statistically significant. It is therefore concluded that the general attitude of resident of Ado-Ekiti towards household sanitation and waste disposal is indifferent. Hence, the government and various non-governmental organizations involved in environmental sanitation and its impact should not relent in their effort in sensitizing the general public irrespective of their social and economic status.   Key words: household sanitation, social status, chi-squar

The effect of the emergency medical services vehicle location and response strategy on response times

Response time is currently considered to be an important performance indicator in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems. A number of factors may affect response times, including the location of emergency vehicles and the type of response system design used. This study aimed to assess the effects of emergency vehicle location and response system design on response time performance in a model of a large South African urban EMS system, using discrete-event simulation. Results indicated that both the emergency vehicle location and response system design factors had a significant effect on response time performance, with more decentralised vehicle location having a greater effect

Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel Test for Repeated Tests of Independence: An Application in Examining Students’ Performance

From the result of graduate of ten departments in Faculty of Science, University of Ilorin for 2011/2012 academic session, data on final cumulative grade point average (Final Grade); department (ten departments of the faculty); age at entry (below or 20 years and above 20 years) and sex (male and female) are analyzed using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics. Odds of a student graduating with Second Class Upper and above (0.5270) is about half of graduating with Second Class Lower and below. This implies that the final grade is approximately symmetrical about two groups. The first group are those with Second Class Lower and below (Low Grade) while the other is for those with Second Class Upper and above (High Grade). Breslow-Day and Tarone’s statistics show that the null hypothesis of homogeneity of odds ratio across the departments is not rejected for both age at entry and sex. This implies that the odds ratio across the ten departments (relating to age at entry & final grade and sex & final grade) are all equal. Cochran’s and Mantel-Haenszel statistics reveals the final grade of students (Low Grade or High Grade) is not associated with both sex and age students at entry. The odds in favour of a student whose age is less than 20 years graduating with Low Grade (Pass, Third Class, and Second Class Lower) is 0.865 while it is 0.670 for male students graduating with lower grade. Keywords: Test of Independence, Students’ Performance, Cochran-Mantel-Haensze