Vehicle Classification Algorithm using Size and Shape

Automatic classification of vehicles into different classes based on their sizes and shapes is very useful for traffic control and toll collection process. Effective intelligent transportation system that incorporates vehicle classification technique is needed in many cities to prevent road accident and traffic congestion caused by illegal movement of vehicles. This work presents method of getting structural information from detected vehicle images and then uses it to classify vehicles into different classes. The technique involves extraction of contour features from vehicle images side view using morphological operations. The extracted features were combined and used to generate feature vector that serve as input data to vehicle classification algorithm based on Euclidean distance measure. Impressive result was achieved from the proposed vehicle classification method

Evaluation of Some Microbiological and Physico-chemical Composition of Domestic Wastewater in Rivers and Bayelsa States

Aims: This research study aims at ascertaining the inhibitive contributions of these domestic effluents even as they flow from drains into the rivers. Study Design: The microbiological and physico-chemical composition of domestic wastewater in Rivers and Bayelsa States was achieved experimentally. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Rivers and Bayelsa states, Nigeria, between August 20016 and January 2017. Methodology: The waste water samples were aseptically collected from domestic points using 1 litre sterile polyethylene bottles filled with ice and was immediately taken to the laboratory for analysis to improve reliability of data and they were stored at 4°C for further analysis. Results: The physicochemical analysis of wastewater collected from 20 stations were investigated. These parameters were analyzed by standard methods. The color of the collected sewage water was pale yellow to black and was turbid in some selected stations. Unpleasant odor was observed in all selected stations. The pH of the wastewater varied from 6.0 to 7.3, while the water conductivity ranges from 650 to 2390 μScm-1. The maximum total suspended solid was 182 mg/l, and the maximum biological oxygen demand was 569.5 mg/l. The chemical oxygen demand of the selected stations varied widely (507.1 – 602.9 mg/l), and the dissolved oxygen content varied from 0.01 to 0.242 mg/l. The nitrate content was found to be maximum in station G (18.5 ppm), and the samples show high content of bacteria in all the stations. Conclusion: This study anchors on the need for effective sewage treatment of domestic, industrial and municipal effluent before they are discharged into the environment. This will help to meet up with the long-term challenges of environmental pollution, improve standard of living and health, and also enhance economic opportunities and good sustainable development

Investigation of Suitable Foundation for Storey Building in Surcharged Swampy Soil (A Case Study of Lagos State)

In Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria, the land area has been developed such that there are insufficient land spaces for building construction. It therefore becomes imperative that construction of storey buildings is inevitable to accommodate buildings within the limited land spaces. The percentage of swampy – land is high, thus restricting people to build on the little available land with little or no convenience and to effectively utilize the available land, there is need to improve the large percentage of swampy–land for construction of storey building with suitable foundation. This study therefore focused on determination of soil properties for building foundations at 1.5km South of Lagos – Epe Expressway Oloja, Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State.Soil samples were collected from open pits in five different locations within the study area. The undisturbed samples were obtained at depths of  3m and  were carefully transported by putting each of the samples in polythene bag and then kept in sealed container before being transported.The particle size distribution analysis of selected soil samples from the study area was carried out in accordance with the provision of BS1377: Part 2, 1990. Compaction test, Unconfined compression Strength (UCS) test and bearing capacity test  were all carried out on the collected soil samples.The results of the tests carried out on the selected soil samples showed that the soil in the study area was largely made up of silty-clay material with OMC and MDD ranging from 9.60-12.5% and 1.82-1.91 g/cm3 respectively; UCS values between 22.24 – 56.67 kN/m2 and allowable soil bearing capacity ranging from 90.95 to 106.26 kN/m2. It is recommended that Raft foundation be used for bungalows while beam/slab raft should be used for structures that have 2-5 storeys and pile foundation for structures above 5 storeys in order to cater for silt-clay nature of the soil and to prevent differential settlement in future. Keywords: Swampy Soil, consolidation, foundation, storey building

Efficient Item Image Retrieval System

Content based image retrieval system is a very effective means of searching and retrieving similar images from large database. This method is faster and easy to implement compare to text based image retrieval method. Ability to extract discriminative low level feature from these images and use them with appropriate classifier is factor in determining retrieval result. In this work efficient item image retrieval system is proposed. The system utilizes Haar wavelet transform, Phase Congruency and Support Vector Machine. Haar wavelet transform acted on image to form four sub-images. Texture feature is extracted from smaller image blocks from detailed bands and it was combined with shape feature from approximation band to form feature vector. Feature distance margin is achieved between query image and images in the database using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The effectiveness of the system is confirmed from output retrieval results

Critical Review of Different Methods for Siting and Sizing Distributed-generators

Due to several benefits attached to distributed generators such as reduction in line losses, improved voltage profile, reliable system etc., the study on how to optimally site and size distributed generators has been on the increase for more than two decades. This has propelled several researchers to explore various scientific and engineering powerful simulation tools, valid and reliable scientific methods like analytical, meta-heuristic and hybrid methods to optimally place and size distributed generator(s) for optimal benefits. This study gives a critical review of different methods used in siting and sizing distributed generators alongside their results, test systems and gaps in literature

Potential benefits of genetic modification (GM) technology for food security and health improvement in West Africa: Assessing the perception of farmers in Ghana and Nigeria

We assessed the perception of farmers towards potential adoption of genetic modification (GM) technology for improving health, food security and agricultural productivity using a semi-structured interview. A total sample of 54 small-scale farmers participated in 6 focus group meetings (FGMs) and 23 in-depth interviews at six locations in Ghana and Nigeria (West Africa). Our results reveal that most farmers have a very poor understanding of GM technology which they often misunderstood as traditional plant breeding biotechnology. While most respondents focused on the potential benefits of GM technology including high-yielding varieties, better nutritional value and shorter growing cycle crop traits, only a few respondents were concerned about the potential health and environmental risks of GM technology. Root and tuber crops such as cassava, yam and sweet potato were mostly discussed for health improvement and food security through GM technology. This study emphasizes the need to recognize challenges such as lack of awareness, inadequate training, low level of education and poor extension services among others in introducing new technology including GM technology to resource poor farmers in African countries like Ghana and Nigeria. We conclude that failure to address these challenges will impede the adoption of GM technology. Therefore, Ghanaian and Nigerian government(s) must put in place policy measures to address these problems.Keywords: Food security, health improvement, genetic modification (GM) technology, Ghana, Nigeria, West Africa farmersAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(2), pp. 245-256, 8 January, 201

Development of a Programmable Mobile Robot

In the world today, self-driving cars have proven to be a very interesting concept. The concept of self-driving cars was exploded in 2004 during the DARPA Grand Challenge competition where fully autonomous vehicles competed against each other on a desert course. The Stanford University's STANLEY was the winner of this competition. Ever since then there have been Junior by Stanford University, the Google self-driving cars, the European City Mobile Project among others. The necessary kinematic equations and algorithms for this mobile robot are obtained to ensure mobility and maneuverability of the robot. An Arduino-based controller circuit is built to implement the necessary algorithms, and servomotors are used to carry out independent wheel motion of the mobile robot. The obstacles are identified by means of tactile sensors; different shades of light are observed and in turn the zero normalized differential shade is calculated by means of the Phototransistors. The Infrared (IR) Sensors are needed to enable manual remote control escape in difficult terrains all of which make for a programmable mobile robot

Periodicity, Stability, and Boundedness of Solutions to Certain Second Order Delay Differential Equations

The behaviour of solutions to certain second order nonlinear delay differential equations with variable deviating arguments is discussed. The main procedure lies in the properties of a complete Lyapunov functional which is used to obtain suitable criteria to guarantee existence of unique solutions that are periodic, uniformly asymptotically stable, and uniformly ultimately bounded. Obtained results are new and also complement related ones that have appeared in the literature. Moreover, examples are given to illustrate the feasibility and correctness of the main results

Efficiency Analysis on Small Sized Generators in Nigeria

In this paper, efficiency analysis of small sized generators in Nigeria was considered. Experimental analyses were carried out on two (2) different samples of generators tagged “S” and “T” at different loading conditions (20%, 40%, 60% etc. of ratings) to ascertain the generators’ efficiencies as well as the maximum true power that could be drawn out from the generators. The experimental results are compared with the manufacturers ratings specified on the name plate of the generators. The results indicated an average efficiency of 44.9% and 55.7% for “T” and “S” respectively an indication that generator “S” is more efficient that “T”. The results also showed that the values of the power factor indicated on the generators are inaccurate as none of the generators could give the maximum power as indicated on their name plates based on the experimental analysis carried out. The generators selected were able to provide adequate power to the selected loads with efficiencies not up to 100% of the expected rated value of the generators. For generator “S” it was observed that the efficiency decreases from the highest rating to the lowest rating. Conclusively, this result suggests that portable generators dealers are taking advantage of the energy crises to importing generators not up to specifications to the Nigerian market at the expense of naïve customers. This paper recommends that proper standards and measures be put in place and enforced by the relevant authority for conformity of standards to all imported generators to save guard and protect the interest of potential customers and Nigerians

Ameliorative potential of quercetin and rutin on dextromethorphan-induced toxicity in Sprague-Dawley rats

Dextromethorphan as an antitussive has been reported to have deleterious effect on the testicular function. Quercetin is an extensive class of polyphenolic flavonoid compounds found in plant sources like green vegetables and tea. It is considered to be a strong antioxidant due to its ability scavenge free radicals and bind transition metal ions. Rutin is a flavonoid of the flavonol-type that is found in plant kingdom and a nutritional component of foodstuffs in apples, onions and black tea. In this study, we determined the effect of Quercetin and Rutin on Dextromethorphan-induced toxicity in males using Sprague-Dawley rats as models. Eighty male rats (150 ± 30 g) divided into four (N=20; A-D) were used for a duration of 16 weeks. Group A, control received distilled water (DW); group B-C received 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg of DM respectively. At the end of treatment period, 5 animals were selected and euthanized from each group. Seminal parameters and Hormonal milieu were analysed. The remaining 15 rats were divided into 3 groups (N=5; E-G). They received Quercetin (50 mg/kg) Rutin (25 mg/kg) and DW respectively for 16 weeks to ascertain recovery rate. The rats were sacrificed and the above parameters were analysed. Significant dose-dependent reduction in seminal parameters and hormones was observed in DM- treated groups. An increase in seminal parameters and hormonal milieu was observed when DM- treated and recovery-alone groups were compared to Rutin and Quercetin groups. The supplementation of Rutin and Quercetin showed significant increases in the parameters which could mitigate the toxic effect of Dextromethorphan and in turn translates into improved fertility in males