Parametric Effect of Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Carbonate on the Potency of a Degreaser

Experimental and statistical analysis was carried out on the comparative effect of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate on the potency of a laboratory produced degreaser in this work. The materials used include; octadecyl benzene sulphonic acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium metasilicate, carboxyl methyl cellulose (C.M.C), formadelhyde, perfume, colourant and distilled water. Different samples of degreaser were produced with varying composition of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate respectively. Statistical significance through methods like analysis of variance (ANOVA) of some parameters on various concentrations of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate was investigated. The effect of the varying compositions of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate was also determined by using a gray scale (GS) test, and also subjecting surfaces heavily stained with crude oil to determine and characterize the cleansing action of the degreaser. It was found that as the concentration of sodium hydroxide increases, the cleansing ability also increases, whereas the increase in concentration of sodium carbonate had no effect on the cleansing ability. The work would enable production of effective, useful and property controlled degreasers at moderate cost

Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel in Tetraoxosulphate (VI) Acid Using Mangifera Indica and Citrus Sinensis Peels Extracts

The effects of corrosion and inhibitive effects of two plants peel extracts of mango (Mangifera indica) and orange (Citrus sinensis) were investigated on samples of mild steel immersed in 1 M tetraoxosulphate(VI) acid at ambient temperatures. Statistical probe with ANOVA and Bonferroni-Holm Posthoc Significance Test was used. The inhibitive effect of Mangifera indica and Citrus sinensis peels extracts on mild steel corrosion in H2SO4 solution was studied using weight loss techniques for ten days. The results showed that the inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increasing concentration for both plant peels extracts with concentrations ranging from 0.2 g per litre to 1.0 g per litre of solution. A maximum inhibition efficiency of 50.54 and 50.21% was observed in the concentration of 1.0 g per litre of Mangifera indica and Citrus sinensis peels extracts respectively. Results obtained revealed that corrosion inhibition of mild steel in H2SO4 acid depends on the relative concentration of the inhibitors applied. Mangifera indica peel extracts was slightly more effective against corrosion in 1 M H2SO4 solution for mild steel

Development of a Yoruba Text-to-Speech System Using Festival

This paper presents a Text-to-Speech (TTS) synthesis system for Yorúbà language using the open-source Festival TTS engine. Yorúbà being a resource scarce language like most African languages however presents a major challenge to conventional speech synthesis approaches, which typically require large corpora for the training of such system. Speech data were recorded in a quiet environment with a noise cancelling microphone on a typical multimedia computer system using the Speech Filing System software (SFS), analysed and annotated using PRAAT speech processing software. Evaluation of the system was done using the intelligibility and naturalness metrics through mean opinion score. The result shows that the level of intelligibility and naturalness of the system on word-level is 55.56% and 50% respectively, but the system performs poorly for both intelligibility and naturalness test on sentence level. Hence, there is a need for further research to improve the quality of the synthesized speech. Keywords: Text-to-Speech, Festival, Yorúbà, Syllabl

Neighbourhood revitalisation and housing satisfaction : enhancing residents’ quality of life in public low-income housing in Lagos metropolis Nigeria.

Doctor of Philosophy Urban and Regional Planning. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2018.This study examines declining housing quality and neighbourhood degeneration as factors that contribute to low levels of residential satisfaction and quality of life in public low-income housing estates in Lagos metropolis. Its main objective was to establish the relationship between housing quality and residential satisfaction and its implications for neighbourhood revitalisation. In developed countries, such conditions as residential neighbourhood blight and decay are often addressed by means of clearance and renewal programmes. In a developing country like Nigeria, such options are not feasible due to resource constraints and a shortage of housing stock. The study, motivated by an effort to particularly address the problem of housing for the low income group, adopted the needs theory, hedonic price theory, housing adjustment theory and new urbanism as it’s theoretical framework. It’s conceptual framework rested on the issues of neighbourhood’s habitability, affordability, residential satisfaction, urban blight and quality of life. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods was used for data collection and analysis. The quantitative approach was utilized in which 646 completed questionnaires measuring housing and neighbourhood quality, residential satisfaction, quality of life and the respondents’ willingness to participate in a revitalisation scheme to examine the interrelation among the conceptual issues. Observation, key informant in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were also used to gather data. Chi-square test was used to test the relationship between housing quality and residential satisfaction. The Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to determine whether there is significant variation in the level of residential satisfaction between the housing estates. The findings of the chi-square test revealed a significant positive relationship between residential satisfaction and housing quality variables. The result of the Kruskal-Wallis test revealed there was no significant variation in the level of residential satisfaction between these estates. The postulation that housing improvement through urban revitalisation made by low income households themselves in partnership with private sector will be a potent factor on housing quality improvement for an enhanced quality of life is a general policy approach to sustainable housing development. The research practically assists planners and policy makers who work on public low income housing on how to avoid adverse issues associated with poor residential neighbourhood and opens a way of thinking about future public low income housing programmes

Geostatistical features of streambed vertical hydraulic conductivities in Frenchman Creek Watershed in Western Nebraska

This study evaluated the spatial variability of streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv) in different stream morphologies in the Frenchman Creek Watershed, Western Nebraska, using different variogram models. Streambed Kv values were determined in situ using permeameter tests at 10 sites in Frenchman, Stinking Water and Spring Creeks during the dry season at baseflow conditions. Measurements were taken both in straight and meandering stream channels during a 5 day period at similar flow conditions. Each test site comprised of at least three transects and each transect comprised of at least three Kv measurements. Linear, Gaussian, exponential and spherical variogram models were used with Kriging gridding method for the 10 sites. As a goodness-of-fit statistic for the variogram models, cross-validation results showed differences in the median absolute deviation and the standard deviation of the cross-validation residuals. Results show that using the geometric means of the 10 sites for gridding performs better than using either all the Kv values from the 93 permeameter tests or 10 Kv values from the middle transects and centre permeameters. Incorporating both the spatial variability and the uncertainty involved in the measurement at a reach segment can yield more accurate grid results that can be useful in calibrating Kv at watershed or sub-watershed scales in distributed hydrological models

Modeling and Prioritizing Interventions Using Pollution Hotspots for Reducing Nutrients, Atrazine and \u3cem\u3eE. coli\u3c/em\u3e Concentrations in a Watershed

Excess nutrients and herbicides remain two major causes of waterbody impairment globally. In an attempt to better understand pollutant sources in the Big Sandy Creek Watershed (BSCW) and the prospects for successful remediation, a program was initiated to assist agricultural producers with the implementation of best management practices (BMPs). The objectives were to (1) simulate BMPs within hotspots to determine reductions in pollutant loads and (2) to determine if water-quality standards are met at the watershed outlet. Regression-based load estimator (LOADEST) was used for determining sediment, nutrient and atrazine loads, while artificial neural networks (ANN) were used for determining E. coli concentrations. With respect to reducing sediment, total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads at hotspots with individual BMPs, implementing grassed waterways resulted in average reductions of 97%, 53% and 65% respectively if implemented all over the hotspots. Although reducing atrazine application rate by 50% in all hotspots was the most effective BMP for reducing atrazine concentrations (21%) at the gauging station 06883940, this reduction was still six times higher than the target concentration. Similarly, with grassed waterways established in all hotspots, the 64% reduction in E. coli concentration was not enough to meet the target at the gauging station. With scaled-down acreage based on the proposed implementation plan, filter strip led to more pollutant reductions at the targeted hotspots. Overall, a combination of filter strip, grassed waterway and atrazine rate reduction will most likely yield measureable improvement both in the hotspots (\u3e20% reduction in sediment, total nitrogen and total phosphorus pollution) and at the gauging station. Despite the model’s uncertainties, the results showed a possibility of using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to assess the effectiveness of various BMPs in agricultural watersheds

Investigation of Energy Use Pattern and Emission Discharge in Nigeria: A Case Study of South West Zone

Electricity demand has increased with population growth, industrialization and civilization. Most householders are barely conscious of the conservative measures for available limited supply, while the environmental impact has rarely been taken into cognizance by consumers. The study examines end-users attitude to energy consumption in Nigeria based on four scenarios. Gaseous emissions data obtained from prepaid and post-paid metering systems usage in low-income and high-income housing types were analyzed. Results obtained indicate strong relationship between energy use and emissions with significantly different emission generation. About 38% and 23% reduction in global warming and acidification potential is achieved by a switch to prepaid meters for both income earners. Post-paid low-income earners utilized the highest energy (59.8kW/hr) while the prepaid high-income earners had the minimum (31.1kW/hr). Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from both earners followed similar trend. Prepaid metering system usage improves energy consumption, thereby offsetting global warming and acidification impacts

Development and testing of a graphical FORTRAN learning tool for novice programmers

To address the difficulties associated with computer programming, this article first looks at some reasons why students, especially engineering students, find programming such a daunting prospect, and it proposes a programming learning tool managed by a Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA). The DFA machine used a graphical environment provided by Simulink to teach the FOR-mula TRANslator (FORTRAN) programming language to science students. The proposed programming learning tool and the traditional method of teaching were compared and evaluated. The results of evaluation indicated that there was an improvement in learning effectiveness of the proposed learning tool

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF POINT-OF-LAY BIRDS TO FROZEN CHICKEN PRODUCTION IN A TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

The study examined four scenarios for reduction of environmental impacts with use of 100 % purchased electricity in all processing activities as first scenario while second scenario was the use of 100 % electricity from diesel generators. Third and fourth scenarios were to use 50 % each of both purchased electricity and diesel-generated electricity in all activities. Most of the Energy Use (EU) came during the freezing process. Global Warming Potential (GWP) value for Scenario 2 is predominantly higher than the values for other three scenarios. The results show that the major source for global warming potential for Scenario 2 is the freezing process, whereas for the other three scenarios the animal management represents the main contributor. Similar to GWP, the Acidification Potential and Eutrophication Potential values for Scenario 2 were higher, although very small and this may be attributed to diesel generators emitting slightly higher amounts of NOx and SOx

Calibration of Hybrid-Maize Model for Simulation of Soil Moisture and Yield in Production Corn Fields

Model calibration is essential for acceptable model performance and applications. The Hybrid-Maize model, developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a process-based crop simulation model that simulates maize growth as a function of crop and field management and environmental conditions. In this study, we calibrated and validated the Hybrid-Maize model using soil moisture and yield data from eight commercial production fields in two years. We used a new method for the calibration and multi-parameter optimization (MPO) based on kriging with modified criteria for selecting the parameter combinations. The soil moisture-related parameter combination (SM-PC3) improved simulations of soil water dynamics, but improvement in model performance is still required. The grain yield-related parameter combination significantly improved the yield simulation. We concluded that the calibrated model is good enough for irrigation water management at the field scale. Future studies should focus on improving the model performance in simulating total soil water (TSW) dynamics at different soil depths by including more soil water processes in a more dynamic manner