Digital Forensic Readiness in Megacities

As megacities emerge in splendor, so also do threats to security and sustainability of these cities. Earlier research found out that the leading threat amongst several security and safety threats in megacities are organized crimes. Since technology is involved in all facets of megacities, including the threats therein, this paper seeks to stimulate scientific curiosity in finding out effective and sustainable ways of harnessing technology in readiness, to protect these cities from threats rather than reactively responding to them. Using Lagos State, an emerging mega city as a case study, we seek how to systematically execute this concern which should be built from the scratch into megacities systems.A Megacity Digital Forensic Readiness Model (MEDFORM) is proposed in this paper

Effect of contract farming on poultry farming households food security in Osun state, Nigeria

This study analyzed the effect of contract farming on food security of poultry households in Osun State, Nigeria. Primary data were used for the study and two stage sampling technique was used in selecting 180  households comprising of 90 contract and 90 non-contract farming  households. A structured questionnaire was used for the purpose of extracting needed information from the farmers. Data were analyzed using Food Security Index, Propensity Score Matching and Likert scale. The results showed that the contract farming households were more food secured (76.9%) than the non-contract farming households (46.8%). The effect of contract farming on the households that participated shows that the calorie intake increased (p < 0.05) on the average by 1047 kCal/AE/day. This shows that the program has positive impact on the Target Group. The constraints to contract farming in the study area includes: Deferred payment on the part of contract firm, no reimbursement in case of production failure, bridge of agreement, biased terms, cheating, high defaulting rate. The study therefore recommends that there should be interest payment for delay in payment to farmers as part of the agreement to curb the issue of intentional delay of payment by the contracting firms and that agreement on risk sharing in case of failures in production should be included in the agreements so as to protect the farmer from being too vulnerable.Key words: contract farming, poultry, food securit

Performance evaluation and characterization of wetted soil parameters of improvised medi-emitters installed in a drip irrigation tomato field

Field study was conducted to evaluate the emission uniformity (EU), global coefficient of variation (CGv), emitter flow variation (Qvar) and distribution uniformity (DU), and determine the wetted radius (rw) on soil surface of improvised medi-emitters installed in a tomato field. Soil water content (SWC) at four layers was determined after different periods of irrigation. Radius of wetted soil surface was determined and predicted. Irrigation frequency had no significant effect on the average discharge rate of the medi-emitters throughout the growing cycle. Average Qvar and CGv were significantly (P=0.05) influenced by the frequency of application while the EU and DU did not significantly (P=0.05) differ among the treatments. There were significant differences in the average values of SWC in different soil layers under the different periods of irrigation. Both the observed and calculated rw on the soil surface were fitted with fourth order polynomial. The model performance parameters of MAE and RMSE between the calculated and observed radii were low, indicating good prediction. Medical infusion set can successfully replace the more expensive conventional emitters for drip irrigation system

An innovative approach to biotransformation of benzaldehyde to L-PAC via free cells of Saccharomyces cerevisae in the presence of β-Cyclodextrin

Abstract- Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize L-Phenylacetylcarbinol (L-PAC) production form biotransformation of benzaldehyde via free cell of Saccharomyces cerevisae presence Beta-Cyclodextrin in this work. Specifically, response surface methodology was applied, and the effect of five variables, viz. cell weight, incubation time, acetaldehyde conc., benzaldehyde conc. and β-CD level and their reciprocal were determined. Central composite rotatable design was used to generate 50 individual experiments, which was designed to study the effects of these factors during biotransformation of benzaldehyde to L-PAC. A statistical model predicted the highest biotransformation yield of L-PAC to be 586.938 (mg/100 ml) at the following optimized variables conditions: cell weight of 5.17 g (wet. wt.), incubation time of 74.82 min, acetaldehyde conc. of 1594.05 (μg/100 ml), benzaldehyde conc. of 1300 (mg/100 ml) and β-CD level of 3.20 %. Using these variables under experimental condition in three independent replicates, an actual L-PAC yield of 587.00 (mg/100 ml) was obtained. The physical properties of the produced L-PAC suggested that its could serve as a key intermediate for the synthesis of L-ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, nor-pseudoephedrine as well as adrenaline, amphetamine, methamphetamine, phenylpropanolamine and phenylamine. Keywords: Biotransformation, Saccharomyces cerevisae, optimization, Response surface methodology, L

Energetic analysis of fruit juice processing operations in Nigeria

Abstract Energy and exergy studies were conducted in an orange juice manufacturing industry in Nigeria to determine the energy consumption pattern and methods of energy optimization in the company. An adaptation of the process analysis method of energy accounting was used to evaluate the energy requirement for each of the eight defined unit operations. The types of energy used in the manufacturing of orange juice were electrical, steam and manual with the respective proportions of 18.51%, 80.91% and 0.58% of the total energy. It was estimated that an average energy intensity of 1.12 MJ/kg was required for the manufacturing of orange juice. The most energy intensive operation was identified as the pasteurizer followed by packaging unit with energy intensities of 0.932 and 0.119 MJ/kg, respectively. The exergy analysis revealed that the pasteurizer was responsible for most of the inefficiency (over 90%) followed by packaging (6.60%). It was suggested that the capacity of the pasteurizer be increased to reduce the level of inefficiency of the plant. The suggestion has been limited to equipment modification rather than process alteration, which constitutes additional investment cost and may not be economical from an energy savings perspective.

APPLICATION OF RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY (RSM) AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (ANN) FOR ACHIEVING DESIRE BA IN THE BIOTRANSFORMATION OF BENZALDEHYDE USING FREE CELLS OF SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISAE AND THE EFFECT OF Β-CYCLODEXTRIN

This work dwells on the production of benzene alcohol (BA) from the biotransformation of benzaldehyde using free cells of Saccharomyces cerevisae and effects of β-Cyclodextrin. Meanwhile, the properties of BA produced was evaluated. The effects of five variables considered in this research work were evaluated using RSM and ANN. The root mean square error, the coefficient of determination, the adjusted coefficient of determination and the predicted values were used to compare the performance of the RSM and ANN models. The RMSE and R2 of RSM and ANN were 2.00 and 0.0739; 0.9898 and 0.99206, respectively. The R2 adj. and the predicted values of RSM and ANN were found to be 0.98416 and 0.9889 and 327.259 mg/100 ml and 351.50 mg/100 ml. The quality of BA showed that at room temperature, BA was colourless liquid with density 1.030 kg/dm3, the boiling point and refractive index was found to be 204 ± 2 0C and 1.5453, respectively. The results indicated the ANN model to have higher predictive capability than RSM model. Thus, the ANN methodology presents a better alternative than the RSM model. The quality of produced BA was found to be in line with Analytic grade values

Anaerobic conversion of Chromolaena odorata (Siam weed) to biogas

This study evaluated the anaerobic mono-digestion of two different samples of Chromolaena odorata. Combinations of mechanical and thermo-alkaline pretreatments were applied to one of the two samples and labeled as ‘‘X’’ while the second had no thermo-alkaline treatment and was labeled as ‘‘Y’’. The Central Composite Design was used to design the pretreatments. The physicochemical characteristics of the substrates were carried out using standard methods after appropriate pretreatments. From the experimental set-ups, the most probable actual biogas yields in experiments ‘‘X’’ and ’’Y’’ were 0.3554 m3/kg Total Solid (TS)fed and 0.1803 m3/kg TSfed with the desirability of 99 and 100%, respectively. Further shown in the result is a 49.2% higher experimental (actual) biogas yield in experiment ‘‘X’’ over ‘‘Y’’. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed the CH4 and CO2 content of both experiments to be 65±1.5%; 21±3% and 53.5±2.5%; 26±3%, respectively. Combination of different pretreatment methods enhanced enormous biogas yield from the digested substrates. Optimization of the generated biogas data was carried out using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The coefficient of determination (R2) for RSM was lower compared to that of ANN. This shows that ANN

Anaerobic conversion of Chromolaena odorata (Siam weed) to biogas

This study evaluated the anaerobic mono-digestion of two different samples of Chromolaena odorata. Combinations of mechanical and thermo-alkaline pretreatments were applied to one of the two samples and labeled as ‘‘X’’ while the second had no thermo-alkaline treatment and was labeled as ‘‘Y’’. The Central Composite Design was used to design the pretreatments. The physicochemical characteristics of the substrates were carried out using standard methods after appropriate pretreatments. From the experimental set-ups, the most probable actual biogas yields in experiments ‘‘X’’ and ’’Y’’ were 0.3554 m3/kg Total Solid (TS)fed and 0.1803 m3/kg TSfed with the desirability of 99 and 100%, respectively. Further shown in the result is a 49.2% higher experimental (actual) biogas yield in experiment ‘‘X’’ over ‘‘Y’’. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed the CH4 and CO2 content of both experiments to be 65±1.5%; 21±3% and 53.5±2.5%; 26±3%, respectively. Combination of different pretreatment methods enhanced enormous biogas yield from the digested substrates. Optimization of the generated biogas data was carried out using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The coefficient of determination (R2) for RSM was lower compared to that of ANN. This shows that ANN

Modelling of moisture diffusivity during solar drying of locust beans with thermal storage material under forced and natural convection mode

This study investigated the modelling of moisture diffusivity of processed locust beans under forced and natural convection mode using solar drying with thermal storage materials (gravel). The experimental data obtained were fitted into eleven existing thin layer models and the best model choice was based on a comparison of statistical parameters including determination coefficient (R2), reduced chi-square (ᵪ2), root mean square error (RMSE), square error sum (SSE) and normalised root mean square error (NRMSE) between the experimental and predicted data. The results showed that the Lewis model gave the best description of solar drying of locust beans under forced and natural convection mode. Thus, this model may be adjudged to represent the drying characteristics of locust beans in a thin layer within the experimental range of study. The obtained moisture diffusivity values were 2.73496 and 1.82331 � 10-11 m2/s for the solar drying of locust beans under forced and natural convection mode respectively. The predicted Arrhenius constant and activation energy values were respectively 2.54 � 10-11 m2/s and 21.65 kJ/mo

Evaluating the Drying Characteristics of Paddy Rice Using Superheated Steam Dryer

It has been recorded in literature that superheated steam has the ability to combine the parboiling operation (steaming and drying) of paddy (Oryza sativa - UPL1) rice into a single unit. According to literature, this process has not been fully explored and implemented in rice processing. In this research work, superheated steam dryer was used to parboil (steam and dry) paddy rice. Soaking time and temperature used was 12hours at 60o C, with steaming time ranging from 10 to 24mins, while the drying conditions used were; temperature (160, 170 and 180o C), bed depth (1, 3 and 5cm) and tempering time (20 and 40 minutes). In addition, paddy rice was dried from initial moisture content ranging from 26-43% (d.b) to a final moisture content of 2 – 8% (d.b). It was observed that the milled rice yield ranged from 71.32 to 94.5%, head rice yield ranged from 70.5 and 90.6%, broken rice ranged from 3.2 to 7.7%, chalkiness ranged from 3.4 to 10.6% and drying capacity ranged from 0.1 to 0.36kg/h. The results obtained shows that drying with superheated steam can be used to improve rice qualit