X-Ray Analysis of Igbokoda Sand, Southwestern Nigeria and its Application in Manufacturing and Construction Industries

Soils that appear whitish in colour is generally believed to contain mineral called quartz. Quartz is a metamorphic rock which is beneficial to manufacturing and construction industries. This quartz has been discovered in Igbokoda area of Ondo state, south western Nigeria. This study confirmed and examined the nature and abundance of quartz found in the study area for the purpose of recommendation to manufacturing and construction industries. Soil samples were collected within the area and examined. Geotechnical and x-ray analyses were conducted on the sample. A Phillip 71011 Goniometer at 55MA and 40KV was used to X-ray the sample at 2o/2θ/min/cm. The radiation and filter used were Copper and Nickel respectively. The specific gravity obtained classified the sample as sandy soil; the grain size distribution result according to AASHTO classified the sample as fine sand. The X-ray result confirmed that Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the sample with peak value of wavelength at 4.33Ao, 3.56Ao, 3.43Ao, 2.43Ao, 2.28Ao, 2.25Ao, 2.10Ao, 1.97Ao. Also, Kaolinite and Vermiculite traces appeared at 6.81Ao and 11.05Ao respectively. It was established that Igbokoda sand is dominated with quartz. It is therefore recommended that industries like fabricating industries can be located around the area to tap the mineral as raw material. The soil in the area is also suitable as sub base material in road construction

A Simulator for Testing Planar Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Robot Control Algorithms

In this study, we took advantage of the emergence of accurate biomechanical human hand models to develop a system in which the interaction between a human arm and a rehabilitation robot while performing a planar trajectory tracking task can be simulated. Seven biomechanical arm models were based on the 11-degree-of-freedom Dynamic Arm Simulation model and implemented in OpenSim. The model of the robot was developed in MatlabSimulink and interaction between the arm and robot models was achieved using the OpenSim API. The models were tested by simulating the performance of each model while moving the end effector of a simulated planar robot model through an elliptical trajectory with an eccentricity of 0.94. Without assistance from the robot, the average root-mean-square error (RMSE) for all subjects was 3.98 mm. With the simulated robot providing assistive torque, the average RMSE error reduced to 2.88 mm. The test was repeated after modifying the length of the robot links, and an average RMSE of 2.91 mm recorded. A single-factor ANOVA test revealed that there was no significant difference in the RMSE for the two different robot geometries (p-value = 0.479), revealing that the simulator was not sensitive to robot geometry