Decision Support Tool for Electric Power Generation Development: A Feasibility Analysis for a Nigerian Case

Electricity is a crucial component of sustainable development in developing countries, providing opportunities to supply low-cost clean energy to their populations. This paper presents a decision support tool for the Nigerian case, allowing users to rank different enhancement options to meet future scenarios. The tool enables feasibility checks on infrastructure capacity and can handle various generation options, including low-cost renewable resources. It is easy to use for non-experts and decision-makers and incorporates an optimal power flow algorithm to minimize costs. Demonstrated on a modified IEEE 30-bus system informed by Nigerian scenarios, this tool can provide policymakers with valuable insights for long-term investment decisions and facilitate the delivery of low-cost, clean energy to developing countries

Off-Site Technologies: Can Panelised Off-Site Construction Be The Solution To London's Housing Crisis?

House prices in the UK have risen in the last ten years, yet house construction is at its lowest level since 1924. According to estimates, Britain will face a housing shortage of roughly a million homes by 2025 in a nation where up to 70% of adults are accustomed to owning their own home. The UK is known to have the highest rates of homeownership in Europe, but it is getting more difficult due to lack of affordable housing due to low wages and high standard of living increases. LSBU's Centre for the Integrated Delivery of the Built Environment (IDoBE) is at the forefront of this research looking at developing solutions for sustainable living. The aim of this study is to investigate how the use of Panelised systems and materials can increase the current housing shortage. The housing industry is generally dominated by traditional method of construction which has a limited range of products to resolve this housing crisis. The methodology adopted will be the use of both qualitative and quantitative data which includes carrying out extensive literature review and case study analysis. The findings suggest that the housing shortage in London is a crisis that stems from affordability/availability and subsequently suggests the adoption of Panelised Offsite Construction as a smart and affordable solution to the problem. However, it is necessary to implement new policies that would effectively support, stimulate, and maintain housing growth. This outcome will be used to understand how best to implement modern methods of construction

Removal of heavy metal ions from water using nanocellulose-based membranes derived from macroalgae Chara corallina

Chara corallina is a freshwater macroalgae found in aquatic-terrestrial boundary environments. Their cellulose fibers have a crystallinity and biosynthesis similar to those of terrestrial plants. The algal nanocellulose (NC) was prepared through a series of chemical treatments, including alkaline, bleaching, grinding, and acid hydrolysis. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) crystallinity index of nanocellulose was 85.64%. The cellulose nanocrystals are seen in the form of nanorods, and the specific surface area of the sample of NC found was 5.823 m2g-1. The study aimed to test the effectiveness of a nanocellulose composite membrane in removing heavy metal ions, specifically cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) ions, from an aqueous solution. A vacuum filtration unit was used for the experiment, where up to five filter layers of composite membranes were examined for their ability to remove heavy metal ions. The results showed that the highest removal rates of Cd2+, Ni2+, and Pb2+ ions were 98.20%, 95.15%, and 93.80%, respectively, when using five layers of membranes of NC with the adsorbent dose set at 20 ppm. Cellulose and its derivatives are essential in sustainable technology for wastewater treatment, as they demonstrate exceptional performance in removing various types of pollutants, including heavy metals, dyes, and other pollutants. Cellulose is preferred due to its low cost, biodegradability, eco-friendliness, and simple surface modification

Intelligent Fault Detection and Identification System for Analog Electronic Circuits Based on Fuzzy Logic Classifier

Analog electronic circuits play an essential role in many industrial applications and control systems. The traditional way of diagnosing failures in such circuits can be an inaccurate and time-consuming process; therefore, it can affect the industrial outcome negatively. In this paper, an intelligent fault diagnosis and identification approach for analog electronic circuits is proposed and investigated. The proposed method relies on a simple statistical analysis approach of the frequency response of the analog circuit and a simple rule-based fuzzy logic classification model to detect and identify the faulty component in the circuit. The proposed approach is tested and evaluated using a commonly used low-pass filter circuit. The test result of the presented approach shows that it can identify the fault and detect the faulty component in the circuit with an average of 98% F-score accuracy. The proposed approach shows comparable performance to more intricate related works

The Influence of Dy2O3 doping on the Electrical Properties of ZnO-Based Varistor

ZnO is a ceramic material which tends to intrinsically form as an n-type semiconductor material. In this paper, the effect of Dy2O3 doping on the grain size and the electrical properties of ZnO-based varistor has been investigated, where we studied the I-V nonlinear coefficient behavior, the breakdown voltage, the potential gradient, leakage current, voltage per grain boundary before and after doping with Dy2O3 at concentration of 10-3 mol% and sintering temperature of 1050, 1100, and 1150oC. Keywords: ZnO varistor, Dy2O3 doping, electrical properties

Anti-Disturbance Compensation-Based Nonlinear Control for a Class of MIMO Uncertain Nonlinear Systems

Multi-Inputs-Multi-Outputs (MIMO) systems are recognized mainly in industrial applications with both input and state couplings, and uncertainties. The essential principle to deal with such difficulties is to eliminate the input couplings, then estimate the remaining issues in real-time, followed by an elimination process from the input channels. These difficulties are resolved in this research paper, where a decentralized control scheme is suggested using an Improved Active Disturbance Rejection Control (IADRC) configuration. A theoretical analysis using a state-space eigenvalue test followed by numerical simulations on a general uncertain nonlinear highly coupled MIMO system validated the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in controlling such MIMO systems. Time-domain comparisons with the Conventional Active Disturbance Rejection Control (CADRC)-based decentralizing control scheme are also included