Development of Improved Dual-Purpose Fitness Bike for Electricity Generation

This research work is on development of dual purpose fitness bike for electricity. It is aimed at improving electricity generated during cycling exercise and reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and its attendant emissions of green house gases especially carbon dioxide, this can eventually lead to reduction in the risk of global warming. In recent times, attempts have been made to harvest energy generated from human powered fitness bicycles and convert it to electricity. The existing fitness bicycle designs were unable to generate feasible electricity that can compensate for the considered financial investment. Therefore, the existing fitness bicycle designs were analyzed and improvements needed in the area of energy conversion were noted and carried out. With this improved dual-purpose fitness bike, the electrical power output of an average adult at an average speed of 60 rpm of cycling is about 3, 500 watts in one hour, as against 150W – 250W reported in the literature. This is an equivalent of 1.3 MW of electricity in one year which equals about 307,442 litres of carbon dioxide emission cut back in one year. This is considered a substantial improvement of electricity generation over the electricity generated by retrofitted fitness bicycles design already in existence. Keywords: Electricity generation; Fitness bicycle; Fossil fuels; Global warming; Green house gases

Performance Evaluation of Machine Learning Techniques for Identifying Forged and Phony Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

Since the invention of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), there has been a great shift from the erstwhile traditional approach of handling information across the globe to the usage of this innovation. The application of this initiative cut across almost all areas of human endeavours. ICT is widely utilized in education and production sectors as well as in various financial institutions. It is of note that many people are using it genuinely to carry out their day to day activities while others are using it to perform nefarious activities at the detriment of other cyber users. According to several reports which are discussed in the introductory part of this work, millions of people have become victims of fake Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) sent to their mails by spammers. Financial institutions are not left out in the monumental loss recorded through this illicit act over the years. It is worth mentioning that, despite several approaches currently in place, none could confidently be confirmed to provide the best and reliable solution. According to several research findings reported in the literature, researchers have demonstrated how machine learning algorithms could be employed to verify and confirm compromised and fake URLs in the cyberspace. Inconsistencies have however been noticed in the researchers’ findings and also their corresponding results are not dependable based on the values obtained and conclusions drawn from them. Against this backdrop, the authors carried out a comparative analysis of three learning algorithms (Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree and Logistics Regression Model) for verification of compromised, suspicious and fake URLs and determine which is the best of all based on the metrics (F-Measure, Precision and Recall) used for evaluation. Based on the confusion metrics measurement, the result obtained shows that the Decision Tree (ID3) algorithm achieves the highest values for recall, precision and f-measure. It unarguably provides efficient and credible means of maximizing the detection of compromised and malicious URLs. Finally, for future work, authors are of the opinion that two or more supervised learning algorithms can be hybridized to form a single effective and more efficient algorithm for fake URLs verification.Keywords: Learning-algorithms, Forged-URL, Phoney-URL, performance-compariso

Chemical Analysis and Short-term Toxicological Evaluation of Garcinia mangostana Seed Residue in Albino Rats

The short-term toxicological evaluation of defatted Garcinia mangostana seed residue in rat feed has been investigated in order to determine its suitability as an additive in feed supplement. Proximate analysis of the G. mangostana seed residue (GMSR) showed that it had a high carbohydrate and low protein values: 71.02±0.79 % and 8.09±0.21 % respectively. In vivo experiment with albino rats fed with feed that had its wheat constituent totally replaced by GMSR lasted for six weeks. The albino rats appeared to suffer no toxicological effect and weekly monitoring of the rats showed good physical appearance. The rats in the test group displayed fairly similar body weight gain when compared with those from the control group. There was no significant difference between the haematological and histopathological results obtained for both the experimental and control groups. GMSR seemed to be a good replacement for wheat in rat feed. Key words: Diet, Garcinia mangostana, proximate composition, total replacement, wheat

Can tight necktie be a risk factor in development and progression of primary- Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG)?

Tight neckties have been documented to alter intraocular pressure (IOP) and thus may be a risk factor in the development and progression of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Many professionals and white- collar jobs require the use of neckties for the greater part of the day. Tight neckties wearers are unaware of its effect on intraocular pressure and glaucoma. This study investigated the effect of tight neckties on intraocular pressure (IOP)measurement using Perkins applanation tonometry method. Eighty eyes of normal 40 subjects and 40 primary open angle glaucoma patients were enrolled. IOP, blood pressure and pulse rate were measured with an open shirt collar and 5 minutes after placing a tight necktie. All measurements were made by the same examiner. The results showed significant (

Malocclusion and occlusal traits among orthodontic patients seen at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and trend of malocclusion and occlusal traits among orthodontic patients in Benin City. Method: One hundred and thirty one patients, consisting of 71 females (54.2%) and 60 males (45.8%) aged 5 - 44 years (mean 17.9 ± 7.5 years) who presented for orthodontic treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Dental Centre were assessed for sagittal molar occlusion, overjet, overbite, crossbite, open bite, crowding, spacing, median diastema, midline shift, malformed and supernumerary teeth, displaced, unerupted and impacted teeth. Statistical gender differences in the occlusal traits were evaluated with the chi-square test. Result: The results revealed high prevalence of Angle\u27s class I malocclusion (71.8%), while 9.9% of the subjects had Angle\u27s Class II division 1, 7.6% had Angle\u27s Class II division 2 and 10.7% had Angle\u27s class III malocclusion. An increased overjet greater than 3.5mm was observed in 43% while increased overbite was observed in 25.2%. Anterior open bite was seen in 8.4% while 21.4% and 12.2% had anterior and posterior crossbites respectively. Midline shift was present in 29.8%, crowding of both upper and lower anterior segments was observed in 47.3%, spacing in the upper and lower anterior segments was present in 22.1%, and midline diastema was observed in 21.4%. No statistically significant gender differences were observed for any of the occlusal variables evaluated (P>0.05). Conclusion: This study revealed high prevalence of class I malocclusion, increased overjet and crowding among the orthodontic patients seen in Benin City, Nigeria

Cloud Service Level Agreements –Issues and Development

Cloud computing is a broad paradigm that has influence across major fields of human endeavour. The unique services it offers makes organisations curious about understanding the cloud and its likely benefits. The cloud offers services such as custom built applications deployed on remote systems and ready to use platforms which reduce the efforts needed to develop and deploy applications for cloud users. In addition to these, there are other services such as storage and infrastructural resources which the cloud also avails to its users. These services are usually provided to users on a pay-per-use bases, thus necessitating the need to have documented agreements in place to ensure a smooth relationship between the providers and the users. These documented agreements are referred to as Service Level Agreements (SLAs). SLAs detail the terms, conditions and service expectation of the users from their service provider in terms of availability, redundancy, uptime, cost and penalties for violations. These ensures users’ confidence in the services being offered. In this paper, the state of the art with respect to cloud SLAs is presented. The paper seeks to answer questions related of what the current trends and developments in terms of cloud SLA are and it does so by means of a review of existing literature available. This paper therefore is a survey of cloud SLAs, their issues and developmental challenges. It provides a guide for future research and is expected to benefit prospective cloud users and cloud providers alik

Determination of the median nerve safe-zone in the carpal tunnel using the distal forearm bony prominences

Background: The compression of the median nerve (MN) in the carpal tunnel (CT) is one of the most common aetiologies of entrapment neuropathy syndromes in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of the palpable bony prominences of the distal forearm (radial styloid process [RSP] and ulnar styloid process [USP]) with MN in the CT, in order to determine a safe-zone of the MN during carpal tunnel procedures. Materials and methods: This study involved the bilateral dissection of the CT region of 30 adult cadaveric specimens (n = 60). Results: The mean distance between the RSP and USP was 49.34 mm. The mean distance of the MN from the RSP and the USP were 22.44 mm and 26.66 mm, respectively. The mean diameter of the MN within the CT deep to the flexor retinaculum was 5.93 mm. In addition, the MN was located postero-lateral and postero-medial to palmaris longus tendon (PLT) in 78.33% and 21.67% of specimens, respectively. Conclusions: This study found that the MN was located less than 60% of the RSP-USP distance from the RSP. Furthermore, the MN was mostly located postero-lateral to the PLT. Therefore, injection or surgical incision made at/medial to a point 60% of the RSP-USP distance from the RSP will be outside the safe-zone of the MN. The knowledge of this surface anatomical relationship of the MN may be useful during decompression for CT syndrome

An anatomical investigation of the carotid canal

Background: The carotid canal (CC) located in the petrous temporal bone transmits the internal carotid artery, internal carotid venous plexus and sympathetic nerve plexus from the neck into the cranial cavity. It is an accessible passage into the cranial cavity and is considered an important anatomical landmark for neurosurgeons. The aim of this study was to investigate the topographical, morphometric and morphological parameters of the CC. Materials and methods: An examination of the CC and related adjacent structures in 81 dry skull specimens was performed. Distribution of sample by sex was 34 females and 47 males, and by race 77 African and 4 Caucasian. The mean age was 50 years (range: 14–100 years). Results: The external opening of the CC was found to be round-shaped, oval-shaped and tear-drop-shaped in 28.4%, 49.4% and 22.2% of the specimens, respectively. (1) Mean diameters [mm]: (a) medio-lateral 7.52 mm and (b) antero-posterior 5.41mm. Statistically significant difference in the vertical diameter was recorded in the race groups and laterality of the samples. (2) Mean distances [mm] between: (a) medial margins of external opening of CC was 50.03 mm, (b) lateral margins of external opening of CC was 62.73 mm and (c) external openings of CC and foramen lacerum was 15.6 mm. There was a statistically significant correlation between race and location of the opening of external CC in relation to foramen lacerum (viz. postero-lateral, lateral and diagonal, and lateral). Conclusions: The present study corroborated previous reports on the CC; however, the tear-drop shaped external CC opening was a unique finding. The knowledge of the reference measurements pertaining to the CC and its relationship to adjacent structures may postulate a suitable surgical “safe-zone” range within the CC area

Time-resolved energy transfer from single chloride terminated nanocrystals to graphene

We examine the time-resolved resonance energy transfer of excitons from single n-butyl amine-bound, chloride-terminated nanocrystals to two-dimensional graphene through time-correlated single photon counting. The radiative biexponential lifetime kinetics and blinking statistics of the individual surface-modified nanocrystal elucidate the non-radiative decay channels. Blinking modification as well as a 4 times reduction in spontaneous emission were observed with the short chloride and n-butylamine ligands, probing the energy transfer pathways for the development of graphene-nanocrystal nanophotonic devices

Short-Term Toxicological Evaluation of AnacardiumOccidentale Oil in Albino Rats

Anacardium occidentale L. nut oil was characterized after which 5% of it was incorporated in the feed formulation for albino rats. Two diets were formulated; one of these diets had 5 % A. occidentale oil (test diet) while the other had 5% of groundnut oil as a representative of conventional edible oil (control diet).  Proximate analysis result indicated that the nut comprises of 5.82 ± 0.16% moisture, 25.54 ± 0.25% protein, 6.28 ± 0.02% crude fibre, 42.52 ± 0.45% fat, 2.90 ± 0.09% ash and 16.97 ± 0.84% carbohydrate.  A. occidentale nut was found to be rich in potassium and magnesium.  Physicochemical analysis of cashew nut oil gave 22.03 ± 0.04 mgKOH/g acid value, 22.03 ± 0.40 g/100g iodine value, 1.96 ± 0.23 mgKOH/g free fatty acid, 97.98 ± 0.99 mgKOH/g saponification value, 2.96 ± 0.59 peroxide value and 1.64 ± 0.02 refractive index.  Fatty acid analysis of A. occidentale nut oil showed that it has high level of unsaturation (77.5754%).  This is evident from the values obtained for oleic acid (61.02%), linoleic acid (15.34%) and linolenic acid (0.13%). There was weight gain by the rats during the feeding period of eight weeks and no mortality was recorded. Haematological and biochemical parameters were investigated for in the test and control rats and the results obtained revealed no adverse effect on the rats’ blood.  The cholesterol level in the test and control rat tissues was not significantly different at p<0.05.  The result of the histopathology of some of  the rat tissues showed no visible lesion.  A. occidentale nut oil might be suitable for edible purposes. Key words:A. occidentale, fatty acid, proximate composition, toxicolog