Cobalt oxide-modified titanium dioxide nanoparticle photocatalyst for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) has been recognized as a possibly carcinogenic compound to human, therefore, 2,4-D should be treated before it is discharged to the environment. Photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-D has been proposed as one of the best methods that offer environmentally safe process. In the present research, titanium dioxide (TiO2) was modified with cobalt oxide (CoO) and tested for photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-D under UV light irradiation. Different amounts of CoO (0.1, 0.5, 1 and 5 mol%) were added onto TiO2 by an impregnation method. The photocatalytic reaction was monitored and analyzed by measurement of 2,4-D absorbance using UV spectrophotometer. After 1 h photocatalytic reaction, it was confirmed that the sample with low loading of 0.1 mol% gave the highest photocatalytic activity among the bare and modified TiO2 photocatalysts. The photocatalytic activity was decreased with the increase of CoO loading, suggesting that the optimum amount of CoO was an important factor to improve the performance of TiO2. Based on fluorescence spectroscopy, such addition of CoO resulted in the reduced emission intensity, which showed the successful decrease in the electron-hole recombination

Cost Estimation of Structural Work for Residential Building with Seismic Design Consideration

The Sumatra-Andaman earthquakes had triggered local earthquakes in Malaysia by reactivation of ancient inactive faults. Previously on 5th June 2015, Ranau, a region located in Sabah, Malaysia, had experienced a moderate earthquake of Mw6.1. The structural failures occurred because all existing buildings only designed for gravity load without any seismic provision. Recent research work exhibits the seismic designs’ impact on the cost of material and its parameters that impact the cost. There are two types reinforced concrete residential buildings called Type 1 and Type 2 for two storey and four storey which had been used as models. This research applied four seismicity levels to the reference peak ground acceleration value, αgR = 0.07g, 0.10g, 0.13g & 0.16g, and two soil types: Soil Types B and D. The result shows that for two storey reinforced concrete residential buildings on soil types B and D, seismic design increases structural work costs, which is around 0.62% to 1.31% and 0.61% to 2.16%, respectively, for Type 1 model compared to non-seismic design. Besides, model Type 2, the increment is around 0.24% to 1.22% and 0.20% to 1.71%, respectively. Otherwise, for reinforced concrete residential building with four storey on soil types B and D, the result shows that seismic design tends to have a higher structural work’s cost around 0.41% to 2.48% and 0.98% to 11.23%, respectively, for Type 1 model. Besides, for model Type 2 the increment is around 1.80% to 2.05% and 2.34% to 8.53%, respectively, compared to nonseismic design

Cost Estimation of Structural Work for Residential Building with Seismic Design Consideration

The Sumatra-Andaman earthquakes had triggered local earthquakes in Malaysia by reactivation of ancient inactive faults. Previously on 5th June 2015, Ranau, a region located in Sabah, Malaysia, had experienced a moderate earthquake of Mw6.1. The structural failures occurred because all existing buildings only designed for gravity load without any seismic provision. Recent research work exhibits the seismic designs’ impact on the cost of material and its parameters that impact the cost. There are two types reinforced concrete residential buildings called Type 1 and Type 2 for two storey and four storey which had been used as models. This research applied four seismicity levels to the reference peak ground acceleration value, αgR = 0.07g, 0.10g, 0.13g & 0.16g, and two soil types: Soil Types B and D. The result shows that for two storey reinforced concrete residential buildings on soil types B and D, seismic design increases structural work costs, which is around 0.62% to 1.31% and 0.61% to 2.16%, respectively, for Type 1 model compared to non-seismic design. Besides, model Type 2, the increment is around 0.24% to 1.22% and 0.20% to 1.71%, respectively. Otherwise, for reinforced concrete residential building with four storey on soil types B and D, the result shows that seismic design tends to have a higher structural work’s cost around 0.41% to 2.48% and 0.98% to 11.23%, respectively, for Type 1 model. Besides, for model Type 2 the increment is around 1.80% to 2.05% and 2.34% to 8.53%, respectively, compared to nonseismic design

The Impact of Microfinance Institution on Development of Small and Medium Enterprises: a Case Study of Lagos State

The major target of this study is to evaluate the effect of Microfinance Institution (MFIs) on the development of SMEs (Small and medium enterprises) in Lagos state Nigeria. Simple random techniques of sampling were employed in this study in selecting 70 SMEs which constituted the size of the sample of the research. To facilitate the obtaining of relevant data that was used for analysis in this study, a structured questionnaire was designed. Descriptive statistics involving simple graphical charts and tables were strategically applied in presentation and analysis of data. The outcome of the findings indicates that a large number of SMEs are benefiting from the loans granted by the MFIs, despite the fact that few of them have sufficient ability to secure the needed amount. Interestingly, most of the SMEs admit positive MFIs loans contribution towards advancing their market share, the economic competitive advantage of the company and achieving market excellence through product innovation

The Effect of Mobile Banking on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

Today, commercial banks are confronted with challenges that range from debt crises to the tight competition in the market. Customers\u27 impatience has increased considerably as they are more knowledgeable than before. Thus, the introduction of mobile services in the banking industry has added to the challenges facing commercial banks as they have to embrace the new technology or lose business. Mobile banking in Nigeria has completely transformed the banking industry and any commercial bank operating in Nigeria can only ignore that fact at its own risk. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the mobile banking effects on Commercial Banks financial performance in Nigeria. Simple random techniques were employed in this study in selecting 22 commercial banks. To facilitate the obtaining of relevant data that was used for analysis in this study, a structured questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics involving simple graphical charts was applied in the presentation and analysis of data. The study, therefore, concludes that mobile banking positively and significantly affects the financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The study recommends that commercial banks should keep adopting and using mobile banking in their operations because the number of people with access to a mobile handset is increasing every day

Assessment of drinking water quality using principal component analysis and partial least square discriminant analysis: a case study at water treatment plants, Selangor

This study characterizes the drinking water quality on 28 water treatmentt plants in Selangor from 2009 to 2012 using multivariate techniques. The objectives of this study are to analyze the quality of collected drinking water and to detect the source of pollution for the most revealing  parameters.  The  Partial  Least  Square  Discriminant  Analysis (PLS-DA)  model showed a high correlation matrix of analysis for physicochemical quality of two types of water with  99.43% significant  value.  The classification  matrix  accuracy of the principal component  analysis  (PCA) highlighted  13  significant  physico-chemical water quality parameters and 14 significant heavy metal parameters. PCA was carried out to identify the origin and source of pollution of each water quality parameters. Therefore, this study proves that chemometric method is the principle way to characterize the drinking water quality.Keywords: partial least square, discriminant analysis; principal component analysis; drinking water qualit

Impacts of various high beam headlight intensities on driver visibility and road safety

Based on several studies, driving above certain speed at night while using low beam headlights has been found to result in insufficient visibility to respond to road hazards. Luckily, vehicle headlight technology has advanced so much and the system is commercially available in many parts of the world. However, the technical development for optimal photometric performance raises a few questions. The use of high beam headlight system creates a glare to drivers of oncoming and preceding vehicles (because of both oncoming headlights and preceding taillights), to the extent that it has become necessary to determine the need to put a limit on the luminous intensity of high-beam headlights. This study shall therefore summarize and investigate visual performance that allows for evaluation of the potential benefits of increased luminous intensity by considering glare rating related to safety. Two different car models; the Proton Prevé and the Perodua Myvi were used in the experiments. The results showed that the highest average illuminance [lux] for single vehicle was 17.5, 7.5, 5.0 and 1.0 for the distances of 30m, 60m, 120m and 150m. However, the average illuminance based on total number of vehicles was 1.0, 0.5, 0.0 and 0.0 at distances of 30m, 60m, 120m and 150m, which were considered below maximum recommended safety level (max. 9.0 – 11.0 lux). The current average vehicle high-beam headlight control was found at the level of acceptable glare control (glare to oncoming and preceding drivers) and below the maximum level of illuminance rate with the normal speed of 40 km/h

An inhibitive determination method for heavy metals using tomato crude proteases

A new inhibitive heavy metals determination method using extract from Lycopersicon esculentum or tomato from has been developed. The enzyme was assayed using the casein-Coomassie-dye-binding method. In the absence of inhibitors, casein was hydrolysed to completion and the Coomassie-dye was unable to stain the protein and the solution became brown. In the presence of metals, the hydrolysis of casein was inhibited and the solution remained blue. The inhibitions shown by lead, chromium and zinc were, 67.9, 53.1 and 53 %, respectively. The IC50 (concentration causing 50% inhibition) values were 1.407, 0.835 and 0.707 mg/l, respectively. The limits of quantitation (LOQ), for zinc, chromium and lead were 0.729, 0.506 and 0.541 mg/l, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) for zinc, chromium and lead were 0.032, 0.0317 and 0.0317 mg/l, respectively. The IC50 value for zinc was much lower than the IC50 values for papain and Rainbow trout assays. The IC50 value for zinc was lower than the immobilized urease assay. Other toxic heavy metals, such as silver, arsenic, copper, mercury and cadmium, did not inhibit the crude proteolytic enzyme activity. Based on the characteristics, crude protease enzyme from L. esculentum (tomato) can be used to detect heavy metals in various samples in conjunction with the dye-binding assay

Effect of nano-sized Co3O4 addition on the transport properties of YBa2Cu3O7−δ

The effect of nano-sized Co3O4 (10 - 30 nm) addition on YBa2Cu3O7−δ(Co3O4)x with x = 0 to 0.12 wt.% has been investigated by powder X-ray diffraction method, dc electrical resistance measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The Co3O4 particle size was larger than the coherence length but smaller than the penetration depth of the YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductor. The onset transition temperature (T c onset) showed no significant changes for low Co3O4 addition (x ≤ 0.02 wt. %) and then decreased monotonically with the increase in Co3O4 content indicating a pair-breaking like mechanism in T c suppression for x = 0.03 to 0.12 wt. %. A sudden broadening of the superconducting-transition-width for x ≥ 0.11 wt. % was also observed. The transport properties were measured and related to the microstructure. Scanning electron micrographs showed homogeneous distribution of Co3O4 throughout the samples and the distance between particles was smaller than 1 μm but larger than the typical Abrikosov vortex lattice constant

Caputo-fabrizio time fractional derivative applied to visco elastic MHD fluid flow in the porous medium

In this paper the laminar fluid flow in the axially symmetric porous cylindrical channel subjected to the magnetic field was studied. Fluid model was non-Newtonian and visco elastic. The effects of magnetic field and pressure gradient on the fluid velocity were studied by using a new trend of fractional derivative without singular kernel. The governing equations consisted of fractional partial differential equations based on the Caputo-Fabrizio new time-fractional derivatives NFDt. Velocity profiles for various fractional parameter a, Hartmann number, permeability parameter and elasticity were reported. The fluid velocity inside the cylindrical artery decreased with respect to Hartmann number, permeability parameter and elasticity. The results obtained from the fractional derivative model are significantly different from those of the ordinary model