Predictive Maintenance Modelling for Through-Life Engineering Services

Predictive maintenance needs to forecast the numbers of rejections at any overhaul point before any failure occurs in order to accurately and proactively take adequate maintenance action. In healthcare, prediction has been applied to foretell when and how to administer medication to improve the health condition of the patient. The same is true for maintenance where the application of prognostics can help make better decisions. In this paper, an overview of prognostic maintenance strategies is presented. The proposed data-driven prognostics approach employs a statistical technique of (i) the parameter estimation methods of the time-to-failure data to predict the relevant statistical model parameters and (ii) prognostics modelling incorporating the reliability Weibull Cumulative Distribution Function to predict part rejection, replacement, and reuse. The analysis of the modelling uses synthetic data validated by industry domain experts. The outcome of the prediction can further proffer solution to designers, manufacturers and operators of industrial product-service systems. The novelty in this paper is the development of the through-life performance approach. The approach ascertains when the system needs to undergo maintenance, repair and overhaul before failure occurs

Maintenance Informatics Dashboard Design for Through-life Engineering Services

This article introduces maintenance informatics dashboard design approach for visualising maintenance, repair and overhaul events on a timeline. This paper presents a proposed methodology for aggregate visualisation techniques and a 2D graphical plot method as well as a summary of events on a timeline. In this paper, these events are occurrences which are classified and categorised into levels. The occurrences are accumulated over time as historical information and represented in a visual format over a timeline based on an entity relationship diagram. The information modelling technique with respect to data visualisation is emphasised. The result is a single-page-view of maintenance activities. The maintenance activities of aircraft engines are visualised to ease the accessibility of getting accurate and relevant information for making better maintenance decision. The result can be used to gain insight of the root cause of the events from inception to end of life of the engine

Assessment of Subsurface Conditions in a Coastal Area of Lagos using Geophysical Methods

An integrated geophysical and geotechnical survey was carried out at Magodo Estate, Lagos, Nigeria. The buildings in this area are either sinking or intensively affected by severe cracks showing structural instability. The survey was aimed at characterizing the shallow subsurface in order to delineate features that may have caused structural instability that led to cracking and sinking of the residential buildings in the area. To image the subsurface, resistivity profiling (2-D) using a Wenner array and Cone Penetration Test (CPT) was carried out on five profiles of length 180 m each. The acquired data were processed and interpreted integrally to image the shallow geotechnical setting of the site. Integrated interpretation led to the delineation of low resistivity, low bearing capacity clay which is identified as the main cause of instability that resulted in potentially dangerous cracking and sinking of residential buildings in the area.Keywords: Geo-materials, resistivity, geotechnical, geophysica

Assessment of water quality of Obueyinomo River, Ovia North East Local Government Area, Edo State, Southern Nigeria

This study was carried out to assess the water quality of Obueyinomo River using water quality index. Ambient and water temperatures were determined in-situ while total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), total solids (TS), turbidity, pH, conductivity, hardness, alkalinity, dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), chloride, nitrate, phosphate, calcium and magnesium levels were analyzed in the laboratory using standard techniques. With the exception of DO, the other physicochemical parameters showed no significant difference (p>0.05) across the stations. Distribution patterns of physicochemical parameters in stations 1, 2 and 3 were analyzed using PCA. There was a strong association for stations 1, 2 and 3 which was also highly associated with nitrates. Hardness, magnesium calcium and phosphate formed a cluster showing the contributions of these ions to water hardness. Alkalinity, suspended solids and chloride formed a cluster suggesting that the suspended solids are largely composed of chlorides. Turbidity, pH, BOD and DO at all the stations exceeded the Federal Ministry of Environment standards for surface water. The water quality index (WQI) values at stations 1, 2 and 3 were 138.45, 122.70 and 170.01 respectively. The parameters responsible for the high values of WQI as indicated by the water quality rating include turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen demand. The high WQI values in all the stations studied which exceeded the benchmark of 100 showed that the water from this river is unfit for drinking purposes and should be treated before consumption by inhabitants of the area.Keywords:  Physicochemical parameters, River, Water quality index, Contaminatio

Exploration of Aquifer Levels in Abraka, Obiaruku and Umutu Communities in Delta State, Nigeria

The Schlumberger vertical electrical sounding method was used to detect aquifer levels in Abraka, Obiaruku and Umutu communities in Delta State respectively.  The study recorded the aquifer level in Obiaruku to be between 26m to 34m.  In Abraka the aquifer level lied between 20m to about 30m while in Umutu, it was between 50m to 100m. Borehole data showed that portable drinking water lies between 20m to 100m and could easily be assessed in these areas

Biochemical effects of ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) on cadmium treated maize (Zea mays L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.)

The effects of ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) on germination, length of stem, area of leaf, fresh weight, level of lipid per oxidation, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, super oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase in the roots of cadmium (Cd) treated maize (Zea mays L) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L) seedlings after 7 and 21 days of germination were determined in this study. The results obtained, indicate that at the end of 7 and 21 days of exposure to Cd, percentage germination of the seeds were not significantly different in both control and test soil (p>0.05). Morphological parameters (area of leaf, length of stem and fresh weight) were significantly reduced by Cd after 7 and 21 days. The supplementation of the soil sample with EDTA (0.5 mM or 1.0 mM) reversed the effect of Cd on these parameters as it significantly increased length of stems, area of leaf and plant fresh weight. There was a significant decrease in root acid phosphatase, root alkaline phosphatase, super-oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activity in both plant species. Both used doses of EDTA to ameliorate the above biochemical parameters. Increased level of root lipid peroxidation in Cd treated maize and cowpea seedlings was observed after 7 and 21 days of germination. Albeit, the level of lipid peroxidation in the root of Cd treated maize was significantly higher than that of cowpea, an indication that cowpea may be more tolerant than maize to Cd toxicity. The treatment of plant with, concentrations of EDTA (0.5 and 1.0 mM) failed to decrease the Cd induced, but increased the level of root lipid peroxidation. These results indicate that EDTA (0.5 mM and 1.0 mM) could be used for the treatment of Cd toxicity in plants; although, EDTA did not totally protect cowpea seedling from oxidative stress.Key words: Heavy metal, phytoremediation

Units of modular group algebras

Let RG denote the group ring of the group G over the ring R and U(RG) denote the unit group of RG. The objective of this thesis is to become familiar with the techniques used to establish U(RG) in a recently published article. We begin with an introduction to groups, rings and elds. Group rings are then discussed and in particular, the decomposition of RG. We conclude with the structure of U(F3kD6)

Pathogenomics of Virulence Traits of Plesiomonas shigelloides That Were Deemed Inconclusive by Traditional Experimental Approaches

One of the major challenges of modern medicine includes the failure of conventional protocols to characterize the pathogenicity of emerging pathogens. This is particularly apparent in the case of Plesiomonas shigelloides. Although a number of infections have been linked to this microorganism, experimental evidence of its virulence factors (VFs), obtained by traditional approaches, is somewhat inconclusive. Hence, it remains unclear whether P. shigelloides is a true or opportunistic one. In the current study, four publicly available whole-genome sequences of P. shigelloides (GN7, NCTC10360, 302-73, and LS1) were profiled using bioinformatics platforms to determine the putative candidate VFs to characterize the bacterial pathogenicity. Overall, 134 unique open reading frames (ORFs) were identified that were homologous or orthologous to virulence genes identified in other pathogens. Of these, 52.24% (70/134) were jointly shared by the strains. The numbers of strain-specific virulence traits were 4 in LS1; 7 in NCTC10360; 10 in 302-73; and 15 in GN7. The pathogenicity islands (PAIs) common to all the strains accounted for 24.07% ORFs. The numbers of PAIs exclusive to each strain were 8 in 302-73; 11 in NCTC10360; 14 in GN7; and 18 in LS1. A PAI encoding Vibrio cholerae ToxR-activated gene d protein was specific to 302-73, GN7, and NCTC10360 strains. Out of 33 antibiotic multi-resistance genes identified, 16 (48.48%) genes were intrinsic to all strains. Further, 17 (22.08%) of 77 antibiotic resistance islands were found in all the strains. Out of 23 identified distinct insertion sequences, 13 were only harbored by strain LS1. The number of intact prophages identified in the strains was 1 in GN7; 2 in 302-73; and 2 in NCTC10360. Further, 1 CRISPR element was identified in LS1; 2 in NCTC10360; and 8 in 302-73. Fifteen (78.95%) of 19 secretion systems and secretion effector variants were identified in all the strains. In conclusion, certain P. shigelloides strains might possess VFs associated with gastroenteritis and extraintestinal infections. However, the role of host factors in the onset of infections should not be undermined

Chemical composition, antimicrobial activity, proximate analysis and mineral content of the seed of Detarium senegalense JF Gmelin

Detarium senegalense JF Gmelin (Caesalpiniaceae), commonly known as tallow tree, is used traditionally for the treatment of bronchitis, pneumonia, internal complaints and skin diseases in Tropical Africa. The seed is used as a soup thickener in Eastern Nigeria. Analysis of the petroleum ether extract of the seeds with GC-MS produced ten constituents of which oleic and linoleic acids were the most prominent (30.8 and 44.1% respectively). The extract showed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcus kristinae, Streptococcus faecalis, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumonia, Serratia marcescens and antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium notatum. Proximate analysis revealed that the seeds contain 24.43% carbohydrate, 7.23% protein, 31.16% fiber, 5.89% moisture and 1.93% ash. Mineral content analysis revealed the concentrations of potassium (99.26 mg/g), calcium (71.11mg/g), magnesium (77.83 mg/g), sodium (55.26 mg/g), iron (30.21 mg/g), manganese (7.89 mg/g), zinc (5.26 mg/g) and copper (4.29 mg/g). These results show the nutritional value of the seeds of D. senegalense and justified its use in the traditional treatment of skin diseases.Key words: Detarium, GC-MS, antimicrobial, proximate analysis, mineral content

Market Sanitation: A Case Study of Oregbeni Market Benin - City Edo State, Nigeria

Poor market sanitation is an intractable problem in Nigeria and has contributed to the spread of infectious diseases and environmental degradation. This study was undertaken to determine the awareness and practice of solid waste management in market places among market users. It involved 180 store owners and customers recruited from Oregbeni market in Benin City, Nigeria. They were administered questionnaires while an in depth interview was conducted with the waste managers in the market. Checklist was used to carry out observation of the market place sanitation status. The data obtained was then analyzed and compared using SPSS. The results showed that a high proportion of respondents were aware of improper waste management (133; 62.8%) and agreed (174; 96.7%) that it is associated with many risks. Despite this high level of awareness, the practice of open dumping of waste was prevalent (108; 60.0%). Interestingly, 96.1% expressed willingness to pay for an improved waste disposal system while 55.6% rated the existing system as poor. Our findings suggest therefore that there is an urgent needs to improve waste collection, and disposal at market places.Keywords: Market sanitation, Solid Waste Management, Health hazards, Environmental degradation