Promoting a low cost energy future in Africa

With a large part of the population not having access to modern energy services in their daily life, energy poverty remains one of the most pressing development challenges on the African continent. Africa’s fossil fuel resources as well as its renewable energy potential can serve as the means to achieve this. For Africa’s social and economic development in the 21st century, however, the benchmark for these sources is to deliver energy that is affordable, reliable and sustainable. The following study offers a comparison between the two energy sources according to economic, social and environmental indicators. As the analysis shows, renewable energy technologies increasingly become the preferred option for Africa’s energy challenge. The study then concludes with a description of policies for African countries to realize the up-scaling of these technologies.Key words: Renewable energy, green growth, energy transition

Carcass characteristics and serum metabolites of finishing broiler chickens fed 8% crude fibre diets at three energy levels with or without enzyme

This study evaluated the carcass characteristics and serum metabolites of broiler finishers fed 8% CF diets with or without Roxazyme®G2G inclusion at three energy levels maintained at constant, calorie: protein ratio, for 56 days. One hundred and forty-four unsexed Obamarshal day-old broiler chickens were allotted to six dietary treatments at 24 birds per treatment of three replicates. The six treatments diet were produced from three basal diets for each phase at caloric concentrations of 2600, 2800 and 3000 ME (kcal/kg) to which 0 and 200 mg of Roxazyme®G2G were added per kg diet. Each replicate group was provided feed and water ad libitum in the deep litter and battery cage cells during the starter and finisher phases each of 28-day period respectively. Carcass parameters, gut length, organ weights and serum metabolites were measured according to established standard methods. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance in accordance with 2x3 factorial arrangement and means separated by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at P < 0.05. Results showed that carcass yield of the birds fed 8% CF diet at 2600 ME (kcal/kg) diet with enzyme was comparable to those on 2800 and 3000 ME (kcal/kg) diets with or without enzyme. Gizzard fat, abdominal fat, serum glucose and cholesterol were also minimized in birds fed 2600 ME diet in addition to enzyme. Serum total protein, albumin, urea and creatinine were not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by treatment diets. It was therefore, concluded that higher dietary ME levels with or without enzyme increased carcass fat, blood glucose and cholesterol levels which must be considered in broiler chicken production for the health benefit of broiler consumers. Thus, it is recommended to produce broiler chickens on 8% CF diet at 2600 ME (kcal/kg) diet with the supplemental Roxazyme®G2G in order to reduce carcass fat, blood cholesterol and glucose without compromising carcass yield

Preparation of Waste Paper Fibrous Cement and Studying of Some Physical Properties

Waste paper is available in environment from different sources, such as office, newspaper and markets. Waste papers are the abundant source of cellulose and may be used as landfill. Using of these wastes in building materials has two benefits, the first one has reduced the environmental pollution and the second improves the physical properties of concrete and building bricks (or blocks). Addition of waste paper cellulose to concrete at certain percentage improve its thermal insulation properties and affect its density to produce lightweight and insulating building materials. The material which produces by using waste paper is called papercrete. It is a mixture of waste paper pulp, sand, cement and water by replacing the cement by waste paper pulp at a certain percentage. Also fibrous cement could be produced by mixing of waste paper pulp with cement and water. In the current work the waste paper was processed to obtain the raw materials of papercrete and fibrous cement. The processing method includes a sequence of processes which are shredding, soaking, mixing, dewatering and drying. In the dewatering process, a wet pulp was obtained and it can be used as it is in the mixtures of papercrete or fibrous cement. A dry pulp also could be used. It is observed that one kilogram of office paper and that of newspaper produces 3.24 kg and 3.26 kg of wet paper pulp respectively. The dry pulp, which is produced during the drying process is 0.954 kg and 0.949 kg for 1 kg of office paper and newspaper respectively. Design of mix proportion, test of water absorption, apparent porosity and drying curve of samples with different percentage of paper pulp were investigated in the present work. Keywords: wastepaper, papercrete, fibrous cement, porosity, water absorption, bulk densit

Perceived dietary pattern and existing non communicable diseases among people living in Egor and Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria

Background: Poor dietary pattern and increased consumption of processed foods, use of alcohol and physical inactivity are the leading cause of increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria, affecting people of all age group. Objective: The study examined the perceived dietary pattern and existing NCDs among people living in Egor and Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. Method: Survey research design was adopted for the study. A total of four hundred and seventy five thousand, six hundred and forty three (475,643) make up the population. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting a sample size of two hundred and fifty (250) respondents in the local government area (LGA). Structured questionnaire was used for data collection and cronbach alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument, a coefficient of 0.81 was obtained. The questionnaire was administered and collected; Four (4) research questions guided the study. Data collected was statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviation. The null hypotheses was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics at 0.05 level of significance at which null hypotheses was either accepted or rejected. In determination of the level of nutrition knowledge and food consumption pattern, scores of 50% and above was regarded as positive knowledge while daily consumption of food from the five food groupings was regarded as having good dietary pattern. Result: Findings showed that respondent sources of information was the radio/television, respondent also had good nutrition knowledge. It was also revealed that hypertension and obesity was the most prevalent non communicable diseases among the people, and dietary pattern significantly influenced NCDs among the people. Conclusion: Dietary pattern significantly influence prevalence of NCDs among the respondents despite the good level of nutritional knowledge of the respondents

Study of the effect of dust concentration on the perception of community respiratory system disorders in Bandung Regency

Ambient air pollution is one of the problems that have an impact on public health globally. Dust (PM10 and PM2.5) is one that has a major contribution to health. The concentration of dust will affect public health, especially short-term respiratory system disorders. This research aims to measure dust concentration in Bandung Regency and its risks to public health. This dust concentration measurement was carried out for 3 time periods (morning, afternoon, and evening) in 3 sub-districts based on differences in land use (agricultural, residential, and industrial). Public health data were obtained based on a questionnaire on perception of respiratory system disorders suffered by the community. The results of the measurement of dust concentration showed that the concentrations of dust respectively the highest were industrial sector, agricultural sector, and residential sector. In the industrial sector, PM2.5 and PM10 obtained were considered to exceed the quality standard, while the agricultural and residential sectors still met the quality standard. Correlation analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between dust concentrations on perception of respiratory system disorders. Comparative analysis of dust concentrations showed a significant difference between dust concentrations in one sector and another. Based on prevalence ratio analysis, it was found that the concentration of dust increased the possibility of respiratory system disorders by 1.091 times. HQ calculation showed 1.835 which indicates there is a possibility the adverse effects of dust concentration in the area will occur

Active vibration control of a beam with piezoelectric patches: real-time implementation with xPC target

Active control of a vibrating beam using smart materials such as piezoelectric materials is examined in this paper. A model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam equation has been developed and then extended with bonded three piezoelectric patches which act as sensor, actuator and exciter. The sensor and actuator are collocated to achieve a minimum phase. The aim of this research work is to control the first three resonant modes. To achieve this, a compensated inverse PID controller is developed and tuned to damp these modes using MATLAB. The designed controller for damping each mode is then combined in parallel to damp any of the three modes. Finally, the simulation results are verified experimentally and the real-time implementation is carried out with xPC target toolbox in MATLAB

The Behavior of Rectangular and Circular Reinforced Concrete Columns under Biaxial Multiple Excitation

The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamic performance of rectangular and circular reinforced concrete (RC) columns considering biaxial multiple excitations. For this purpose, an advanced nonlinear finite element model which can simulate various features of cyclic degradation in material and structural components is used. The implemented nonlinear fiber beam-column model accounts for inelastic buckling and low-cycle fatigue degradation of longitudinal reinforcement and can simulate multiple failure modes of RC columns under dynamic loading. Hypothetical rectangular and circular columns are used to investigate the failure modes of RC columns. A detailed ground motion selection is implemented to generate real mainshock and aftershocks. It was found that multiple excitations due to aftershock has the potential of increasing the damage of the RC columns and longitudinal reinforcements are significantly affected low-cycle fatigue. Also, it was found that rectangular column is more sensitive to accumulative damage due to cyclic fatigue. This study increases the accuracy of structural analysis of RC columns and consequently improves understanding the failure modes of RC columns with different cross-sectional shapes

Development of mechatronics engineering degree program: challenges and prospects

It is now becoming common practice to include some courses in mechatronics in the traditional electrical and mechanical engineering programs. Whilst many engineering faculties have realized the need for a full-fledged multidisciplinary mechatronics engineering program, only in very few places have such programs been developed along the lines of other engineering programs. The justification for the mechatronics engineering program becomes evident, as today's engineers must be acquainted with subjects that are not taught or given much emphasis in the traditional engineering curriculum. A good knowledge in those subjects, is however required if our graduate engineers are to be relevant to industry with time. The challenges in developing such program in terms of curriculum planning, laboratory facility needs and staff requirements are discussed in this paper. Whilst there are immense advantages of such a discipline, its success depends on a balanced curriculum with good laboratory facilities and appropriate industrial links, positive attitudes and well-oriented academic staff as well as students having the ability to cope with diversified subjects

Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) Based Orthogonal Transform Approach for Earth's Electric Field Signal Processing

The Earth's electric field signal is generated from the released energy through a sudden dislocation of the segment in the earth's crust. Many researchers have reported the use of parametric modeling technique for earth's electric field signal processing. The existing earth's electric signal processing based on parametric modeling technique has suffered from the noise. Therefore, the effective earth's electric field signal processing is necessary in order to process the signal with better performance for the identification. Singular value decomposition (SVD) based parametric modeling technique is applied as feature extraction technique to the Earth's electric field signal. The projection of excitation signal on the right eigenvector of the LPC filter impulse response matrix is involved in this technique. The combination of SVD-based parametric modeling technique has perfectly classified the significant Earth's electric field data prior to the earthquake and the Earth's electric field data on the normal condition after the polynomial kernel function is applied