Preliminary assessment of vertebral heart score of the Nigerian mongrel dog

Vertebral Heart Score is a reliable method of determining cardiac size changes because it is able to assess cardiac enlargement. The canine heart has considerable breed variation than any other organ. It is assessed by a measurement of the cardiac silhouette by involving its long axis taken from the left main stem bronchus ventral border to the cardiac apex and short axis taken from central third region of the heart perpendicular to the longitudinal axis with a measuring scale on a lateral radiograph against the length of the vertebral column beginning from the fourth thoracic vertebra. Six Nigerian Mongrel Dogs (NMD) comprising 2 males and 4 females of about a year old weighing 14 ± 2.3kg were used for this study. Right lateral radiographs were taken and the measurements of long and short axes were taken and compared with thoracic vertebrae to calculate the VHS. A mean VHS value of 9.6 ± 0.8 was determined. The mean VHS value of the male which represented 33.3% was 10.35 while that of female which represented 66.7% was 9.2. The VHS value for clinically healthy NMD was found to be 9.6 ± 0.8 which is slightly below the VHS average for dogs in the same medium weight class such as the Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Bull dog and this may be due to differences in weight within the medium range weight among breeds or a sedentary existence of most of these dogs. This VHS value will be useful for determining cardiac enlargement specifically within this breed of dogs.Keywords: Vertebral Heart Score, Radiography, Right Lateral view, Mongrel dog

Heat Transfer Analysis in Internal Combustion Engine Piston Using Comsol Multiphysics: A Case Study of Tri-Cycle

This present study is aimed at analyzing the heat transfer rate of an internal combustion engines piston using finite element methods (FEM).The transient nature of heat flowing involving more than single variable, complicated method of measuring temperature across the length of the liner and ambiguous boundary conditions pose serious problems for the analysis of heat transfer rate on the piston of an internal combustion engine using FEM (Finite Element Method). This present study analyzed the heat transfer rate on the piston of a Tri-cycle engine. The studied piston was selected based on its applications in automobile and other engineering applications. The analysis was basically on the transient state forced-convection and conduction heat transfer. As initial condition, the temperature distributions were considered along the piston at a range of 523K – 673K. The parameter used for the simulation were liquid (Gasoline), Gases (Air) and Aluminium silicon UNSA96061 (Piston). The modeling and simulation were performed by using COMSOL-Multiphysics 4.3a software. The mesh optimization was undertaken by using FEM techniques to predict the maximum and mimimum temperature on the piston at every stages of simulation with time dependent. It was discovered that the temperature along the piston of the try-cycle varies with respect to time. The transient analysis revealed that the temperature of the piston at the TDC (Top Dead Center) in the first power stroke is higher compare to the subsequent power strokes, which is an indication that more heat is transfer at subsequent power strokes. Probable recommendations were later made.Self-sponsore

Parametric Studies on a Mitchell-Ossberger Turbine (Numerical Approach)

This present study focuses on some selected parameter towards designing an efficient MOT hydro turbine via MOT-model formulation, parametric analysis for optimal performance, as well as development of computational interface with Visual Basic 10 programming software.The parametric studies play important role when it comes to performance optimization of the locally manufactured Mitchell-Ossberger Turbine (MOT). Several literatures on hydro-turbine had discussed extensively on the design of MOTs as well as their advantages over the other types of hydro-turbines. But none had ever discussed extensively, the parametric studies involved in optimizing an efficient MOT. This present study focused on some selected parameter towards designing an efficient and optimal MOT. This was achieved via formulation of a turbine parametric model, development of turbine computational interface (module) and decoding of the obtained data with Visual Basic (VB) 10. The algorithm, which contains step by step solution to the problem, was developed for the program. The flow formed was designed to have a data grid view which displays data loaded into the application. The flow interface had eight buttons based on certain parametric entries. The strength of this interface lied in its codes and after data which were sorted on descending order has been loaded to the memory via Visual Basic programming software. It was discovered from the obtained results that as the angle of attack increases, the turbine power developed and the efficiency decreases marginally. The effect of the flow rate was that, it increases as other parameter increases. Then, all necessary recommendations were made.Self-sponsore

Conductivity and Chemiresistive H2S Gas Sensitivity of Graphene (75 wt%)/ Cu (25 wt%) Composite Thin Film

This paper studies the conductivity and chemiresistive H2S gas sensitivity of graphene(75wt%)-Cu(25wt%) composite thin film, using self-made chamber and common laboratory apparatus. The method adopted involves mixture of 2 drops of ethanol with the synthesized composite and prepared on a glass substrate by tape casting method. Two small copper metal sheets were used as electrodes for clipping of crocodile which were also connected to digital meter for resistance readings and its changes. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) shows that annealing temperature reduced the crystallite sizes. The Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation (FTIR) spectra show the functional groups present to be transition metal carbonyls or aromatic combination bands, terminal alkyne (monosubstituted), isothiocyanate and that between 2300 and 2400 cm-1 indicates N=C=S functional group and evidence of CO2 interaction with external surface of the material or intercalating in the interlayer of the host material Also, increase in the conductivity was observed due to decrease in resistivity. The response/sensitivity peak of the sensor to hydrogen sulfide was seen to rise proportionally as temperature rose with percentage 3.97% for as grown, annealed at 200°C is at 12.98% while the annealed at 400°C is at 27.34%

Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene-Cu Composite Via Hydrothermal Method

In this paper, graphene-copper composite was synthesized via hydrothermal method using different compositions from 5 to 25%. The grain size and copper composition are observed to decrease proportionally to increase in band gap. The effect of composition fluctuate the peaks shift. The peak increased linearly with increasing temperature for each composition. The band gap reduces with increasing temperature for each composition. Short calcined duration on samples is observed to cause a little lower band gap value than that of longer duration. The thermal treatment of graphene oxide (GO) has been observed to cause changes in its quality, size and shape. &nbsp

GENERATION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY VIA WIND ENERGY IN ILORIN: AN EXPLORATION OF A LOCALLY CONSTRUCTED WIND TURBINE

Wind energy is a renewable source of energy which has a definite place in the future of the generation of electricity. To harness the energy from the wind, a wind turbine is employed. Wind turbines assist in the production of power to compensate for the moderate intensity of the breeze to drive a generator. With the use of wind turbines, the energy in the wind can be converted into electrical energy. A small scale horizontal wind turbine was constructed with readily available and locally sourced materials. The height of the turbine was varied from 3 to 6 meters and two different locations in Ilorin, a tropical region, was used to observe how theturbine generates electricity via the wind turbine. The dam site, one of the locations, gives very high wind speed which in turn produces high open circuit voltage of around 4000 mV. Electrical energy generation from wind energy is observed to be largely dependent, not only on the electric motor used, but on the wind speed available for the turbine.&nbsp

Adoption of Recommended Crop Protection Practices By Sesame Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to investigate fanners practices and adoption of improved sesame crop protection practices in Benue state, Nigeria. Using survey research, a pre-tested structured interview schedule was used to elicit informationfrom 120 sesamefanners that were randomly selectedfrom ten villages in two agricultural blocks in the northern zone from a samplingframe of sesamefanners. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Low adoption level was observed for all the crop protection practices , namely herbicide use (2.9%), disease control (2.0%) insect control(2.0%) and seed dressing (2.9%). Only 1%of the respondents hadfull package adoption, 5%hadpartial adoption while 94%didnot adopt any of the cropprotectionpractices. The study further revealed a significant relationship between adoption and the following variables: awareness (r=0.21;p<0.05), household size involvedinfarming (r=0.248;p<0.01), andyears offarming experience (r = 0.370; p<0.01). Stepwise regression analysis revealed that years of farming experience was a critical variable in the adoption of crop protection practices by sesame farmers and accountedfor 17% of the determinants of adoption. Based on this study it is recommended that efforts should be geared towards increasing the awareness of all crop protection practices in order to increase their adoption using a multimedia approach. These crop protection practices shouldfocus mainly on integrated approaches with little or no chemical and more ofpractices that are compatible with thefarmerspractices

Adoption of Recommended Crop Protection Practices By Sesame Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to investigate fanners practices and adoption of improved sesame crop protection practices in Benue state, Nigeria. Using survey research, a pre-tested structured interview schedule was used to elicit informationfrom 120 sesamefanners that were randomly selectedfrom ten villages in two agricultural blocks in the northern zone from a samplingframe of sesamefanners. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Low adoption level was observed for all the crop protection practices , namely herbicide use (2.9%), disease control (2.0%) insect control(2.0%) and seed dressing (2.9%). Only 1%of the respondents hadfull package adoption, 5%hadpartial adoption while 94%didnot adopt any of the cropprotectionpractices. The study further revealed a significant relationship between adoption and the following variables: awareness (r=0.21;p<0.05), household size involvedinfarming (r=0.248;p<0.01), andyears offarming experience (r = 0.370; p<0.01). Stepwise regression analysis revealed that years of farming experience was a critical variable in the adoption of crop protection practices by sesame farmers and accountedfor 17% of the determinants of adoption. Based on this study it is recommended that efforts should be geared towards increasing the awareness of all crop protection practices in order to increase their adoption using a multimedia approach. These crop protection practices shouldfocus mainly on integrated approaches with little or no chemical and more ofpractices that are compatible with thefarmerspractices

Globular clusters in the stellar stream surrounding the Milky Way analog NGC 5907

We study the globular clusters (GCs) in the spiral galaxy NGC~5907 well-known for its spectacular stellar stream -- to better understand its origin. Using wide-field Subaru/Suprime-Cam $gri$ images and deep Keck/DEIMOS multi-object spectroscopy, we identify and obtain the kinematics of several GCs superimposed on the stellar stream and the galaxy disk. We estimate the total number of globular clusters in NGC 5907 to be $154\pm44$, with a specific frequency of $0.73\pm0.21$. Our analysis also reveals a significant, new population of young star cluster candidates found mostly along the outskirts of the stellar disk. Using the properties of the stream GCs, we estimate that the disrupted galaxy has a stellar mass similar to the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy accreted by the Milky Way, i.e. $\sim10^8~M_\odot$.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, catalog of GCs is available in online versio