An Enhanced Multi-Level Authentication Electronic Voting System

Originally, manual voting systems are surrounded with issues like results manipulation, errors and long result computation time, ineligible voters, void votes among others. Electronic voting system helped in overcoming the challenges with manual voting system, to engendered other problems of phishing, men in the middle attack alongside voter’s impersonation. By these challenges, the integrity of an election results in a distributed system has become another top concern for e-voting system based on reliability. To achieve an improved voters’ authentication and result validation with excellent user experience, here, a Facial Recognition Electronic Voting System that is power-driven by Blockchain Technology was developed. The entire election engineering activities are decentralised with improved security features to enhance transparency, verifiability, and accountability for each vote count. The self-service voting system was built by smart contract and implemented on the Ethereum network. The obtained reports and evaluations reflected a non-editable and self-sufficiently certifiable system for voting. It also has a competitive edge over fingerprint enabled e-voting system. Aside it’s excellent usability and general acceptance, the developed method discarded to a larger extend, intended fraudulent actions from election activities by eliminating the involvement of a middleman while facilitating privacy, convenience, eligibility and satisfactory voters’ righ

Parameters for Design and Construction of a Pilot Scale Pyrolysis Gas-Furnace

The objective of this study is to analyse the design parameters for a pyrolysis furnace designed and built for experimental purposes using the principle of heat transfer. The furnace was made of a casing of low carbon steel sheets inside which the refractory bricks were moulded, forming the furnace cavity to prevent heat loss. The pyrolysis capsule was made of high carbon steel tube with flanges which can be opened for batch loading of the precursors and evacuation of products. The furnace was designed to be gas-fired due to high efficiency and cleaner nature of gas energy. The pyrolysis capsule is installed along the centre of the furnace cavity where combustion takes place. The heat energy accumulated around the capsule is being absorbed into the pyrolysis chamber where precursors are being loaded, the regulation of the temperature of the combustion chamber via the installed feedback mechanism to monitor and control the system. The capsule has a Nitrogen gas inlet for the inert environment needed for effective pyrolysis process and an outlet duct for pyrolysis oil collection and gas recovery. The experimental initial conditions were inputted in Solidworks Flow Simulation to determine the heat distribution at different regions of the furnace and thus made it easy to determine the furnace combustion chamber temperature at which the pyrolysis temperature will be attained inside the pyrolysis chambe

Knowledge, attitude and willingness to accept Caesarean Section among women in Ogbomoso , southwest Nigeria

Introduction: Caesarean section (CS) is a common procedure in obstetrics and has contributed immensely to improving maternal and foetal outcome; there are still concerns about the knowledge, attitude and willingness to accept the procedure among women especially those in the developing world.Objective: This study seeks to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and acceptance of women about CS in Ogbomoso. These women were more educated than most of their counterparts in South Sudan but because of the political situation we are unlikely to get similar data from South Sudan and therefore this study is of interest.Methodology: This is a descriptive study which was carried out in four health facilities. Respondents were selected using the systematic random technique with a sample interval of 2. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 16.Results: Of the 410 respondents, 63.2% of the women have a good knowledge of CS as a method of delivery. When CS was compared to vaginal delivery, 33.5% said that CS was preferable to vaginal delivery because the pain involved was much less; this view was however disagreed upon by 54.8% of the respondents. Only 75.6% of the respondents were ready to accept CS if there was a need for it.Conclusion: Mothers should be educated on the process involved in Caesarean delivery, the indication, advantages and complications in order to help them make the right informed decision.Keywords: Women knowledge, attitude, Caesarean section, Nigeri

Mechanical and Microstructural Characteristics of Rice Husk Reinforced Polylactide Nano Composite

The application of polylactides in tissue engineering is attracting significant interest. Using renewable; low cost; health and environmental friendly agro waste as reinforcement in electrospun polylactide nano composite fibres reduces the need for petroleum based fillers and enhances the strength of polylactides. In this paper, the morphological, mechanical and water permeability properties of electrospun treated and untreated rice- husk reinforced polylactide- nano- composite fibres are presented. The treated rice- husk particulates were ground, subjected to steam explosion and chemical treatment to remove its lignin and hemi-cellulose contents so as to increase the crystallinity of the filler. The addition of 4wt. and 6 wt. % untreated rice- husk filler increased the tensile strength by 95% and 43% respectively. Young’s modulus, fracture stress, water permeability and other properties are also enhanced. This work shows that; the mechanical properties and biodegradability of scaffolds for tissue engineering can be improved by reinforcing polylactide with rice-husk instead of petroleum- based polymeric- nano- fiber composites

Mechanical Strength and Biocompatibility Properties of Materials for Bone Internal Fixation: A Brief Overview

An ideal bone internal fixation material does more than just fracture union. It ensures the preservation of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and body-bone’s integrity. This has been a major fight in osteosynthesis from the ancient time till date. Animal skeletons that were first used as internal fixations though had some desirable mechanical properties comparable to bones, their usage resulted in mild pus formation, difficulty with resorption of sterile bones and non-union. A shift to metallic bone implants resulted in corrosion and bio-incompatibility, stress shielding, imaging and radiotherapy interference, temperature sensitivity, revision surgery with extreme difficulty, growth restriction, metal-in tissue accumulation, bone-metal elastic modulus mismatch to mention but a few. Advances in osteosynthesis have, however, led to great improvement on metallic bone fixations, yet leaving some fundamental issues unresolved. Exploration of biodegradable polymers and their composites is fast solving most of the problems encountered through the use of skeletal and metallic fixations. Their low Young's moduli and excellent biocompatibility, non-carcinogenicity and bioresorbability have made them viable materials for bone fracture healing. This brief overview covers the biomechanical properties of popular biological materials, metallic fixations and polymeric scaffold

Patterns and predictors of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in Ile Ife, Nigeria

Background: Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) is a cost effective intervention in saving under-five children’s lives in the resource poor settings. However, EBF rates have been shown to be low in these regions with variation in the duration of EBF.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess pattern and predictors of EBF among mothers attending well infant clinic at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) Ile Ife.Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out between October and December 2014. A total of 250 eligible mothers were selected by simple random sampling among women attending well infant clinic OAUTHC, Ile Ife.A semi-structured selfadministered questionnaire was used.Results: The prevalence of EBF in this study was 23%. The pattern of EBF seen was in the duration of EBF. About 60% gave breast milk alone to their children only in the first month of life. Only 23% was breastfed exclusively for four to five months, while 5% breastfed exclusively for at least six months. About 40% practiced mixed feeding right from the first day of life.The predictors of EBF identified include; ANC attendance, a birth interval greater than or equal to 2 years, husband's positive attitude, giving breast milk as the first feed in life, and vaginal delivery.Conclusion: The practice of EBF within 4 to 6 months of life is still very low. Strategies that target improving access to quality ANC, and emphasize husbands’ roles in encouraging EBF should be giving priority.Keywords: Pattern, predictors, exclusive breastfeedin

Comparative effects of organic and inorganic bio-fillers on the hydrophobicity of polylactic acid

The use of Polylactic acid (PLA) has been limited in the biomedical field because of its slow degradation profile which is traceable to its degree of hydrophobicity. In this work, 16.67 wt. % of chitosan (Ch), chitin (Ct) and titanium (Ti-6Al-2Sn-2Mo-2Cr-0.25Si) (Ti) powders weremelt blended with PLA and the resulting composites examined using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Chitosan was found to reduce the hydrophobic peak due to δs(CH3) in PLA by 13.92%, chitin by 10.65% and titanium by 8.04%. Summarily, the organic biofillers produced more hydrophilic PLA composites than the inorganic filler. The percentage reduction in hydrophobicity renders the developed composites more suitable for orthopaedic applications

A Reliability-Centered Maintenance Study for an Individual Section-Forming Machine

This study investigated the breakdown trend in an automated production with an aim to recommend the application of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) for improved productivity via a new preventive maintenance (PM) program. An individual section-forming machine (ISM)—a glass blowing machine for making glass bottles—was used as the case study for an automated production system. The machine parts and the working mechanisms were analysed with a special focus on methods of processes and procedures. This will enable the ISM maintenance department to run more effectively and achieve its essential goal of ensuring effective machine operation and reduction in machine downtime. In this work, information is provided on the steps and procedures to identify critical components of the ISM using failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) as a tool to come up with an optimal and efficient maintenance program using the reliability data of the equipment’s functional components. A relationship between the failure rate of the machine components and the maintenance costs was established such that using the recommended PM program demonstrates evidence of an improvement in the machine’s availability, safety, and cost-effectiveness and will result in an increase in the company’s profit margin

Mechanical Characterisation and Modelling of a Pulverised Palm Kernel Shell based Spur Gear

Advances in power transmission using spur gear technology in some specific mechanical devices required lightweight to strength ratio of the gear material. This study evaluated the mechanical properties of a particulate palm kernel shell reinforced polyester composite (PPKSRPC) for spur gear application. The PPKSRPC sample was prepared and examined experimentally to determine its mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and shear modulus. The experimental result for 5% weight fraction of PPKSRPC gave a tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and shear modulus of 90.3 MPa, 2.35 GPa and 0.89 GPa, respectively. The value obtained was used to model the PPKSRPC spur gear under a torque of 140 N-m in ANSYS environment. The observed values of the responses (mechanical properties) of the PPKSRPC under loading conditions are lower compared to the conventional steel in spur gear application