Development of Rainfall Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Curve for Abuja, Nigeria

Urban flooding is a major social and economic problem of any nation. The social implication is attributed to loss of lives and property, unwanted displacement and emotional disturbance attached. While that of economic problem is the cost of mitigation of flood and the aftermath solution. Thus, storm water drainage is part of essential modern city infrastructure. The need for proper analysis and design of drainages and other road water facilities cannot be overemphasized. To achieve this, critical analysis of available rainfall data, which is a key input, is required. A 35 years daily rainfall data were obtained from NIMET, from which the analysis was carried out using frequency method. The output generated are presented in graphical forms and model. Ultimately, an IDF curve generated, depicts Abuja rainfall pattern from which a 3-parameter model equation, I = 37Tr0.2 (t + 0.1)−0.9 was formulated. This is site or location specific. The curve and/or the formulated model can be adopted to determine rainfall intensity of Abuja city if the rainfall duration and return period are predictable

Isolation and identification of E-coli 0157:H7 amongst Sudanese patients with bloody diarrhea and in animals

E.coli 0157:H7 is present as a commensal in the intestine of animals and as a pathogen in human beings. It causes bloody diarrhoea due to the secretion of a verotoxin which may lead to lethal complications.Objective: This study is aimed at determining the presence of this organism in animals and patients. Methods: Rectal swabs were collected from 250 cows. Stool specimens were obtained from 200patients presenting with macroscopically or microscopically bloody diarrhoea. All specimens were cultured on sorbitol MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C overnight. Non-sorbitol fermenting colonies were identified by different biochemical and serological tests as E.coli 0157:H7. Antibiotic sensitivity was done for the isolates using ampicillin, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin, co-trimoxazole, gentamicin, and tetracycline. Results: Patients (n = 10, 5%) with bloody diarrhoea were found to harbour E.coli 0157:H7 in their stools. All isolates (in humans) were resistant to ampicillin. Eight (80%) were resistant to tetracycline and cephalexin, six (60%) to co-trimoxazole, and four (40%) to gentamicin. All isolates were sensitive to ciprofloxacin. Sixty percent of the human isolates were resistant to three antibiotics and 40% to four antibiotics. Twenty of the cows (8%) were found to be carriers of E.coli0157:H7. All isolates (in animals) were resistant to ampicillin, five (25%) to tetracycline and cephalexin and four (20%) to co-trimoxazole. All animal isolates were sensitive to gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Thirty five percent of the animal isolates were resistant to two antibiotics and 25% to three antibiotics. Conclusion: The isolation of E.coli 0157:H7 from animals and patients should direct the attentionof physicians and paediatricians to consider the possibility of infection and complications by this organism.Key words: Antibiotic sensitivity, sorbitol MacConkey agar, serological tests

Estimation of Pollutants’ Emission Rates and Associated Impact on Local Air Quality: A Case Study of Cottage Industry in Ibadan Metropolis

Major urban cities in the developing countries are faced with the peculiar problem of poor air quality, which has resulted into millions of untimely death as well as other adverse environmental impacts including climate change. To combat this negative trend, regular documentation of the emission rates and concentrations of the various air pollutants has been identified as a suitable means of designing a sound mitigation approach. Here, we estimated the emission rates of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) generated from an industrial setting; as well as the associated environmental impact on local air quality, using emission inventory methodology and air dispersion model. In the study area, the energy consumption pattern was reported and the emission rates of associated gaseous pollutants were observed to range from 0.22 to 85500 kg/day. Similarly, the concentrations of major pollutants were observed to be within the thresholds stipulated by the World Health Organization

Do grain reserves necessarily contribute to prices stability and food security in Sudan? An assessment

AbstractMost governments in Africa implement policies aiming to stabilize the prices of staple foods, which often include building up grain reserves, besides other trade measures insulating their domestic market from the world market. The mechanism should ideally work as follows, grains should be bought and stored from areas, during the surplus seasons (after harvest) so as to assure fair prices to producers and should be distributed during deficit seasons, in deficit areas besides in cases of emergencies. However, ideal approaches are not necessarily followed in many developing countries due to different constraints and situations. The Strategic Reserve Corporation (SRC) is an institution that is established ten years ago to play such a role in Sudan. This paper tries to assess the performance of the SRC against the overall goals and to study the related obstacles if any. We use a sample of 112 respondents from the SRC staff, related and grain farmers as our data source. Results of the research revealed numerous financial and administrative constraints that obstruct SRC from playing the intended role, which need to be considered so as to contribute to price stability and food security in Sudan

Influence of Swimming Deprivation on Behavior, Performance and some Blood Parameters of Muscovy Ducks

This experiment was done to determine the effect of swimming deprivation on drinking behaviour, feather pecking behavior, feed consumption, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, live body weight, slaughter weight, carcass weight and dressing percentage, serum corticosterone, triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine (T4) of Muscovy ducks. Two groups were used; the first one is the control group fed on basal diet with free access to swimming pond, and the second fed on basal diet without access to swimming pond. The previous parameters were recorded daily or weekly during the experiment or after slaughtering for collecting blood parameters. The results explained that, there was an insignificant decrease in drinking behavior and significant increase in feather pecking. However, there was an insignificant decrease in feed consumption, live body weight, feed conversion, weight gain, dressing percentage, liver weight and serum corticosterone level. There was an insignificant decrease in T3 and T4 level and significant increase in feather pecking behaviour. It could be concluded that, swimming deprivation at the end of the fattening period of ducks had an adverse effect on some duck behaviors but it have no significant effect on improvement of performance parameters and carcass characters

Force feeding as a Stress Factor on Muscovy Ducks

The experiment was done to determine the effects of force feeding on drinking, panting behaviors, feed consumption, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, live body weight, slaughter weight, carcass weight and dressing percentage, serum corticosterone, triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine (T4) of Muscovy ducks. Two groups were used; the first one was the control group, which fed on basal diet only and the second group was force fed by grabbing the neck, and a metal or plastic tube 8 to 12 inches long was inserted down the esophagus. Ducklings were forced to ingest a greater amount of food than what they would eat voluntarily. The previous parameters were recorded daily or weekly during the experiment or after slaughtering. Blood samples for separation of serum were collected after slaughtering. The results explained that, there was an insignificant increase in drinking behavior. However, there was a significant increase in feed consumption, live body weight, feed conversion, weight gain, dressing percentage, panting behavior, liver weight and serum corticosterone level while there was a significant decrease in T3 and T4 level. It could be concluded that, force feeding at the end of the fattening period of ducks had adverse effect on some duck behaviors and some blood parameters but led to improvement in performance parameters and carcass characters

DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF SERIAL ROBOT MANIPULATOR

Optimal design of three links and four links serial manipulator involves striking a balance between an appropriate link length, radius, link exact end effecter deflection and the amount of stress induced in each link. Optimization has been applied for getting a minimum robot weight through making the robot arm section tapered while keeping the first link as cylindrical tube as it represent the robot base only. The synthesis optimization problem involves setting up guess values for links length and radius subjected to constraints of deflection, stress and geometric constraints of total robot length. The optimization process focuses on minimization of robot weight as an objective function, the guess values has taken from three links manipulator and the industrial robot as four links serial manipulator. The results of optimization has been plotted and represented through the different relations between the design parameters (Link radius, length and total robot deflection, total robot weight, stress…etc). The results shows a good agreement minimizing the total deflection to(2x10-5 m) with this degree of precision an optimum design features may be obtained that gives a robot structure with high stiffness and minimum weight that enables the robot to do its tasks with minimum inertia effect

Creep and morphological evaluation of polypropylene waste modified asphalt for pavement applications

Synoptic findings by researchers have revealed tremendous physic-chemical improvements of polymer modified mixes over the conventional asphalt. Traditionally, laboratory mechanical properties were carried out for asphalt testing, but cannot calibrate simple performance test (SPTs) criteria for fatigue and field performance. Marshall test-sized specimens of polymer asphalt mixtures were engineered with arbitrary contents of 0 to 3.0% polypropylene waste admixed with 4.5 to 6.5% bitumen contents based on relevant literature. Creep deformation involves uniaxial static creep (USC) test using BS 598-111. Morphological examinations were test with Hitachi S-4700 field-emission scan-electron-microscope (FE-SEM). Thirdly, thermal degradation was determined using Shimadzu TGA-50 thermo-gravimetric analyzer. The results showed creep resistivity with fatigue recovery of 23.2% and 28.9% strain reduction at 10oC and 60oC respectively from the optimal 2.0% polypropylene and 6.0% bitumen compared to the control mix. Also, the same mix produced well dispersed and better enhanced pore packaging micro-structure capable of resisting ageing volatization under severe traffic and environmental loading conditions considered. Keywords: Asphalt pavement, polypropylene, creep deformation, age volatization and microstructur

Theoretical and Experimental Sets of Choice Anode/Cathode Architectonics for High-Performance Full-Scale LIB Built-up Models

To control the power hierarchy design of lithium-ion battery (LIB) built-up sets for electric vehicles (EVs), we offer intensive theoretical and experimental sets of choice anode/cathode architectonics that can be modulated in full-scale LIB built-up models. As primary structural tectonics, heterogeneous composite superstructures of full-cell-LIB (anode//cathode) electrodes were designed in closely packed flower agave rosettes TiO2@C (FRTO@C anode) and vertical-star-tower LiFePO4@C (VST@C cathode) building blocks to regulate the electron/ion movement in the three-dimensional axes and orientation pathways. The superpower hierarchy surfaces and multi-directional orientation components may create isosurface potential electrodes with mobile electron movements, in-to-out interplay electron dominances, and electron/charge cloud distributions. This study is the first to evaluate the hotkeys of choice anode/cathode architectonics to assemble different LIB–electrode platforms with high-mobility electron/ion flows and high-performance capacity functionalities. Density functional theory calculation revealed that the FRTO@C anode and VST-(i)@C cathode architectonics are a superior choice for the configuration of full-scale LIB built-up models. The integrated FRTO@C//VST-(i)@C full-scale LIB retains a huge discharge capacity (~ 94.2%), an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.85% after 2000 cycles at 1 C, and a high energy density of 127 Wh kg−1, thereby satisfying scale-up commercial EV requirements