Design, Construction and Performance Comparison of Two Solar Stills Having Different Absorber Design

Productivity enhancement of solar stills has been one of the main goals of researchers. In this study, two designs of solar stills absorber plate were conceptualized and developed and their effects on the productivity process were investigated experimentally. A solar still using a submerged flat absorber plate and another solar still without any submerged absorber plate were designed and constructed. The designs were developed by virtue of the comparative analyses to be carried out.  The two still designs were tested under the same conditions. Comparatively, more distilled water was obtained from the solar still without submerged plate at 10litres of inlet raw water during the first day of experiment while the still with submerged flat absorber had more distillate during the second and third day of the experiment with 20 and 30 liters inlet raw water respectively. The efficiencies were 82.35 % and 83.30 % on the first day of experiment, 82.99% and 82.56% on the second day of experiment and 83.82% and 81.98% on the third day of experiment for still with submerged flat plate absorber and still without submerged flat plate absorber respectively.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i4.1

Investigating the cooling rate of cane molasses as quenching medium for 0.61% C high carbon steels

The effect of cooling rate of cane molasses as quenching medium for 0.61% C high carbon steels was investigated. Samples of high carbon steel were spheroidized annealed and then machined prior to the hardening process. Molasses solution of viscosity equals to that of engine oil was prepared by adding water. The samples were normalized and then austenitised at 800oC and soaked for 40 minutes and then quenched in water, engine oil, raw molasses and the prepared molasses solution. Cooling rate curves of all the quenching media used were developed. The highest cooling rate of 60oC/s was attained by the prepared molasses solution. Hardness of the test samples was evaluated. The test results obtained show that the highest hardness value (525 HVN) was obtained from the sample quenched in the prepared molasses solution. Microstructures of the various samples were analyzed using OM and SEM. In all the tests samples martensite structure was observed. It was observed that the prepared molasses solution has higher severity of quenching than that of engine oil but lower than that of water. The research showed that cane molasses can harden high carbon steel without cracking the component in the same way as engine oil, hence, molasses could be a very good alternative to engine oil for use as quenching medium

A Study of the Phytochemical Properties and Synergistic Action of Leaf Extracts of Dodonea Viscosa Linn, Annona Comosus (Linn) Merr Peel and Citrus Senensis Peel on Aeromonas hydrophila and Salmonella Species

The leaf of Dodonea viscosa Linn, peels of Annona comosus (Linn) Merr and Citrus senensis are widely used traditional remedies against various ailments, such as digestive system disorders like: indigestion, ulcers, diarrhoea, constipation, upset stomach and tonic to digestive system. The major chemical constituents reported from the plant parts are alkaloids, flavoniods, saponins, tannins, steroids, triterpenoids and phytosterols which show that these plant parts can be a potential candidate to be use as a therapeutic agent. The aim of the study was to determine the synergism at a concentration ratio of 1:1 between the three extracts using discs diffusion, broth tube dilution and fractional inhibitory concentration techniques against six Salmonella paratyphi B, one Salmonella typhi and three A. hydrophila. In vitro anti-salmonellae and A. hydrophila activities of the extracts were confirmed and no synergism was demonstrated (P = 0.05). Keywords: Bioactivity, phytochemicals, synergism, Dodonea viscosa, Annona comosus, Citrus senensis, MIC, MBC, FIC

EVALUATION OF BIO-NIMBECIDINE BOTANICAL POWDER IN THE CONTROL OF Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (COLEOPTERA: BRUCHIDAE) INFESTATION IN STORED GRAIN LEGUMES

The effect of Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder on Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) infestation was investigated in the laboratory at (30 - 35oC and 55 - 65% Relative Humidity) on two cowpea varieties (Borno white and Gwalam) and bambara groundnut. Ten gram grains of the two cowpea varieties and bambara groundnut were treated with three different dosages, 0.04 g, 0.06 g and 0.08 g of Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder. Each treatment had three replicates and a control (check) which were then infested with three pairs of 1 - 3 days old C. maculatus. Data on the number of eggs laid, number of adult first filial generation and severity of damage were collected. All data collected were subjected to two way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The mean number of eggs laid, adult bruchid emerged and severity of grain damage was significantly (P < 0.05) lower on all pulses treated with Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder than untreated grains. Amongst the treated grain legumes, mean values of the above three parameters assessed were all lower at higher doses of Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder (0.06 g and 0.08 g). The results indicated that higher dosages of Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder were highly effective against C. maculatus infestation and damage. It had significantly reduced the number of eggs laid, adult emergence and severity of damage by the cowpea bruchid, as lower infestation and damage were recorded on the pulse grains. Key words: Bio-nimbecidine botanical powder, grain legumes, Callosobruchus maculatus, evaluation, control, infestatio

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SMART E-LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IBRAHIM BABANGIDA LIBRARY, MODIBBO ADAMA UNIVERSITY YOLA, NIGERIA

This study investigates the design of a Conceptual framework for Smart E-library Management System for use by the Ibrahim Babangida Library, Modibbo Adama University, Yola. The study is guided by 2 objectives to help in overcoming the current challenges being encountered in the management of eResources and planning. The research study is designed to help staff enhance performance in providing library services electronically; it helps students reduce rigour of manual usage, it will guide ICT directorate develop a blueprint in developing software for libraries and add to existing body of knowledge. This study also evaluated an existing framework that is based on cloud computing and came with a server based Smart E-Library Management System. The study concluded that Smart e-Library Management System is an essential component in the academic library. The study focuses on concept, access, management, services and ease of access via the browser-based platform. This help in obtaining much resources as possible from the users for the library, and this include post graduate theses and dissertations. The design and development of Smart Elibrary Management System if adopted by the Ibrahim Babangida library, it will resolve the current e-resources management crisis

Monetering of Infectious Diseases in Katsina and Daura Zones of Katsina State: A Clustering Analysis

In this paper, data of infectious diseases were collected from the two senatorial zones of Katsina state, and analyzed using cluster analysis, a multivariate technique. This necessitated a partition of the set of diseases into groups such that the diseases with similar degree of prevalence were identified. The result of the cluster formation shows that Malaria is more prevalent in all of the two zones, followed by Cholera and Typhoid fever using the Single Linkage and Centroid methods. The Complete Linkage and Ward methods showed that Malaria is the most prevalent followed by Typhoid fever and Cholera in Katsina zone, while in Daura zone Typhoid fever is more prevalent followed by Malaria and Cholera. The number of clusters tends to vary from one zone to another. This is achieved by using Chi-square test for independence. The study concludes that the use of clustering methods provides a suitable tool for assessing the level of infections of the disease

Comparative Analysis of Some Efficient Data Security Methods among Cryptographic Techniques for Cloud Data Security

The concept of cloud computing model is to grant users access to outsource data from the cloud server without them having to worry about aspects of the hardware and software management. The owner of the data encrypts it before outsourcing to a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) server for effective deployment of sensitive data. Data confidentiality is a demanding task of cloud data protection. Thus, to solve this problem, lots of techniques are needed to defend the shared data. We focus on cryptography to secure the data while transmitting in the network. We deployed Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) used as encryption method for cloud data security, to encrypt the sensitive data which is to be transmitted from sender to receiver in the network and to decrypt so that the receiver can view the original data. Arrays of encryption systems are being deployed in the world of Information Systems by various organizations. In this paper, comparative analysis of some various encryption algorithms in cryptography have been implemented by comparing their performance in terms of stimulated time during Encryption and decryption in the network. Keywords: AES, Data Control, Data Privacy, Data Storage, Encryption Algorithms, Verification