Volume 4, Issue 11, November 2013 Edition


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Calorific Value of Manure from some Nigerian Livestock and Poultry as Affected by Age[ ]


The increasing demand for energy and the high cost of fossil fuels have led to increased interest in such renewable energy sources as animal manure. Manure can be subjected to different thermochemical conversion processes such as direct combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, etc. Many researchers have determined the calorific value (CV) of animal manure but these were obtained with animals from mostly developed countries where animals are better fed with possibly improved manure characteristic. In this study, the CV of manure form Nigerian beef cattle, poultry chickens and pigs were determined including the effect of time of storage on the CV. Results showed that pig manure had the least average CV of 2.870 MJ/kg. This was followed by poultry with a value of 3.423 MJ/kg and beef cattle with a value of 4.158 MJ/kg. These values are lower than those reported by other researchers and may be attributed to the nature of manure, breed of animal and type of feed on which the animals were raised. Results also showed that the older the manure the higher the CV. Also the higher the ash content of the residue after the combustion process, the lower the CV.

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A Novel Design of Metamaterial to Enhance the Characteristics of a Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna[ ]


A Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna with “Circular Rings” shaped metamaterial connected with each other using strip lines, is designed at a height of 3.276mm from the ground plane. The antenna along with the proposed metamaterial cover is designed to resonate at 2.72 GHz frequency (in S-Band). Proposed metamaterial cover significantly increases the return loss and reduces the size of the antenna in comparison to rectangular microstrip patch antenna (RMPA) alone. This metamaterial also improve the gain and directivity of rectangular microstrip patch antenna. The objective of this paper is to design and simulate the proposed artificial structure with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability and design a RMPA using this structure to enhance the performance of RMPA. Nicolson-Ross-Weir approach has been used for verifying the double-negative properties of the proposed metamaterial. The proposed structure is fabricated on dielectric substrate FR-4 using conventional microstrip integrated circuit technology. The fabricated antenna was tested and compared the results. The simulated and measured results are having close agreement.

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An Efficient Tripartite Signcryption Scheme Without Bilinear Pairings[ ]


Authentication and confidentiality are the most important security goals to be achieved. This paper proposes a new tripartite signcryption scheme without bilinear pairings. The proposed tripartite signcryption scheme is efficient when three entities want to perform secure transactions as in mobile communication or in e-commerce. The proposed scheme is based on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP) and achieves the seven security requirements; confidentiality, unforgeability, public verifiability, non-repudiation, integrity, authentication, and forward secrecy. Also, the proposed scheme supports public verifiability without using any short or long term keys. The performance of the proposed scheme is examined.

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Food poisoning in Morocco: Evolution and Risk factors[ ]


In order to contribute in reducing the morbidity and the mortality resulting from food poisoning in Morocco and improving the treatment of patients, this study is an analysis of the current situation of this pathology over a period of five years. This analysis consists of describing the different characteristics linked to food poisoning cases recorded in the Anti Poison and Pharmacovigilance Center of Morocco (CAPM) between 2007 and 2011 in Morocco, as well as identifying the risk factors that are related to these cases. During the study period, 6 960 poisoning cases have been collected, included 24 deaths. The average age of patients was 24 years. The two sexes were affected in the same way. The males were more exposed to fatal poisonings. Meat and meat products were the most incriminated. However, the fatal poisoning was mainly linked to dairy products. The urban areas were the most affected, while the rural areas were more exposed to fatal poisonings (RR=5, p<0,001). The majority of reported cases had showed clinical signs from which the most frequent ones were disorders in the gastrointestinal system (89%).

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The use of hybrid SVR-PSO model to predict Pipes failure rates[ ]


In this paper, By Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) a hybrid model is proposed to predict pipe failure rates dataset. In this model, SVR used for simulation of the pipe failure rates and by PSO algorithms tries to find the best SVR related parameters. So, it can find the most appropriate relations of pipe failure rates and take necessary actions for decision-making that leads to resolve problems due to it. The results of this research indicate that the hybrid model is able to extract the optimal and effective parameters on the pipes failure rate among the factors affecting failure rates.

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Geotechnical Evaluation of Quaternary Gravels Quarries Exposed along New Upper Egypt-Red Sea Road, Eastern Desert, Egypt[ ]


A new Upper Egypt-Red Sea road was constructed to develop Upper Egypt in different fields including an urban expansion, commerce, agriculture and different economic activities. This road connects Upper Egypt cities in the Nile valley (Qena, Sohag and Assiut) with Red Sea cities along the Red Sea coast. In this work, geotechnical properties of Quaternary gravels exposed along the studied road were investigated to evaluate their geotechnical behavior and their suitability for using as quarries. To achieve these aims, several specimens of the studied Quaternary gravels were collected from different six sites represented six proposed gravels quarries distributed along the studied road. Chemical and mineralogical analyses of the studied gravels were carried out. A percent of dissolved sulfates and chlorides of the studied gravels were determined. Petrographical examination of the gravels grains was conducted to determine their lithology. Physical and geotechnical parameters including specific gravity, water absorption, degradation in water, particle size analysis, adhering clay lumps percent, elongate/flatness percent, Les Angeles percent and California bearing ratio of the studied Quaternary gravels were measured. The results showed that the studied gravels distributed at the studied area along the road were belonging to Quaternary alluvial fans and stream sediments and the main source rocks were Maaza plateau including both Serai and Drunka Formations (Lower Eocene) which composed of different carbonate facieses and flints at the base. The results showed also that the studied gravels were suitable for quarrying. They could be used in road constructions, asphalt mixtures and cement concretes except the gravels at Wadi Qena which were not suitable for using in cement concretes. Because the studied gravels at Wadi Qena contained a high percent of dissolved chlorides and sulfates.

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Agronomic Approach For Abating Deleterious Effects Of Brackish Water On Rice And Wheat[ ]


Most of the agricultural land in Pakistan falls in arid and semi-arid regions where both surface and ground water contains high concentrations of salts. As a result of the continuous use of brackish water for irrigation, secondary Stalinization / sodification is increasing in agricultural land. Therefore, the present study was designed to find out the effective agronomic and engineering practices to minimize the deleterious effect of brackish water on crops (Wheat and Rice) and soil at Soil Salinity Research Institute, Pindi Bhattian Research Farm, during 2007 to 2011. Six treatments i.e T1 = Conventional seed bed preparation (cultivator only), T2=Use of Rotavator (once) + T1, T3=Use of Disc plough (once) + T1, T4=Use of Chisel plough (once) + T1 , T5= T3 + Chisel plough (once) and T6= T2 + Chisel plough (once) were compared. The source of irrigation was tube well water having ECe=1.54 (dS m-1), SAR=7.60 (mmol L-1)1/2 and RSC=4.80 (meq L-1). A normal field {pHs=8.22, ECe=1.50 (dS m-1) and SAR=13.11 (mmol L-1)1/2} was selected for this study. Rice (Shaheen Basmati) and Wheat (Inqulab-91) were grown as test crops. The results showed that maximum paddy (3.593 t.ha-1) and wheat grain yield (3.883 t.ha-1) were obtained with T5 {(T3+ chisel plough (once) used. It was concluded that bad effect of brackish water could be minimized in soil by using Disc plough (once) + Chisel plough (once).

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Efficacy of an organic formulated product developed from Ocimum sanctum L. essential oil as plant protectant especially in Rice blast disease management[ ]


The residual effect of the organically derived product is relatively shorter than synthetic products such as fungicides like carbendazim etc. when applied extraneously on the surface of host plant. Hence Ocimum sanctum essential oil was combined with a formulating agent (coded A+) and named Oscilene-eo, bioassayed under in-vitro condition against Pyricularia grisea Sacc. causing blast disease of rice. Fungitoxic patterns such as complete inhibition, granulation in cytoplasm, branched and granulated germ tube registered in conidial germination coupled with complete inhibition of mycelial growth at 0.1 percent through various experiments confirms the fungitoxic strength of the formulated product. Oscilene-eo retained its fungitoxicity till 24 months storage period in all treatments. In a separate test of the product in green house and under field condition, it was not only found effectively reducing the foliar blast of rice crop but also found at par with a standard fungicide Carbendazim (Bavistin 50% w.p.) at 0.1% concentration.

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Behavioral Modeling and simulation of Two Stroke Engine and Designed Catalytic Convertor with Improved Design for Implementation[ ]


To control the exhaust emissions from two stroke spark ignition engine, copper nano-particles coated on wire mesh at the junction of improved design as catalytic converter, AVL-422 gas analyzer was used for measurement and comparision for CO and unburnt hydrocarbon in the exhaust of the engine at various speeds and loads. In the present work, an improved design is proposed which is more suitable for implementation along with improved performance and efficiency in reducing the exhaust emissions from two stroke spark ignition engine. This research paper basically deals with the behavioral modeling and simulation of two stroke engine with developed catalytic convertor. The basic idea of behavioral modeling starts from analyzing the practical behavior of two stroke engine and designed catalytic convertor, and then approximating obtained behavior in terms of mathematical equations. These obtained equations actually represent behavior of concern system. Once mathematical equations are obtained, next stage is to implementation of these equations in Simulink platform. The last process is the validation check by the simulation of developed model. This research opens a new gateway to achieve clean and green environment by reducing pollution from two stroke vehicles.

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The Causality Direction Between Financial Development and Economic Growth. Case of Albania[ ]


There is an ongoing debate about the fact that is the financial development that cause economic growth or the vice versa. This paper begins with a review of economic theory for the causality relationship between financial development and economic growth. Later using a time series data which employed quarterly data from 2002 - 2012 we will try to investigate about this relationship in the case Albania. Based on that analysis we show that in Albania exist a bi - directional causality relationship between financial development and economic growth.

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Demographic Analysis On The Proximate (Direct) And Contextual Determinants Of Fertility In Nigeria[ ]


The study is on the Demographic analysis on proximate and contextual determinant of fertility in Nigeria. It employs the use of secondary source of data from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey between 2003 - 2008.The aim is to study how proximate and contextual determinant contribute to the reduction of fertility among currently married women in Nigeria. The methodology are the use of Bongaart model for the analysis of proximate determinant of fertility. The percentage, proportion and chi- square were also used in the area of analysis. The results of the analysis shows that contextual determinants can influence fertility only through the proximate determinant. The proportion of married women remains the most important proximate determinant responsible for reduction in fertility in Nigeria. The analysis revealed that age at first marriage rose from 16.6years to 18.3years,contraceptive used increased from 12.6% to 14.6%.Result of chi-square test shows that contextual determinant is statistically significant in relation to the proximate determinant of fertility.

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Geomorphological investigations of Bor River Basin (Tributary of Pedi River) Amravati District, Maharashtra using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques[ ]


Detailed morphometric analysis of the Bor River basin in Amravati district has been attempted to delineate the various groundwater potential zones based on hydrogeomorphological investigations Morphometric analysis is the measurement and mathematical analysis of the configuration of the earth's surface, shape and dimension of its landforms (Clarke, 1966). This analysis can be achieved through measurement of linear, aerial and relief aspects of the basin and slope contribution (Nag and Chakraborty, 2003). The present study area of Bor River basin is a tributary of Pedi River lying in the Amravati district. For the Morphometric analysis Geographic information system techniques has been used and Strahler (1964) stream order method used for stream ordering. The drainage density (D) of study area is 1.9674 km indicating low to moderate drainage density.

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Skeletonization of Image Patterns using Medial Axis Transform[ ]


The skeleton of an image object is a powerful tool in order to reduce the storage sace when working online. This enebles the faster testing of image analysis algoritms. The medial axis of 2-D image patterns provides a conceptual design base, with transition to a detailed design occurring when the radius function is added to the medial axis or surface. To make such a design tool practicable, however, it is essential to be able to convert from an MAT format to a boundary representation of an object. The medial axis of an image pattern is the loci of all inscribed disks that touch two or more boundary points without crossing any of the boundaries. The medial axis transform (MAT) is a powerful representation for objects with inherent symmetry or near-symmetry.

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Application of Modulo-2 Arithmetic in Securing Communicated Messages[ ]


Today, the word encryption has become very popular even among non-computer professionals. There is no doubt that some works have been carried out in this area, but more works need to be done. Presently, most of the works on encryption is concentrated on the sender of the message without paying any attention to the message recipient. However, it is a good practice if any message sent to someone is received by the particular person whom the message is sent to. This work seeks to ensure that at the receiving end of the message, there is a security to ensure that the recipient computes a key that would enable the encrypted message to be accessed. This key would be in form of password. This would make it possible for a given message to be sent to several people at the same time. When this happens, it is only those people who computes the key correctly that would be given the opportunity to access even the encrypted message, which can in turn be decrypted using the appropriate key.

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Computer labs:Training undergraduate students on an online lab by using asynchronous discussion forum as an online learning tool[ ]


This paper focuses on an online computer lab attempting to improve the students' attendance. It also explores the differences in the students' degree of participation in an online computer lab compared to students' participation in traditional computer lab. Hence it will reduce students' excuses and help students perform their assignments and exercises anytime and anywhere. The method used was a lab experiment with participants using online learning tools on asynchronous communication mode. The instructor created discussion forum and gave specific guidelines on what is supposed to happen in the discussion board and students post their work in discussion forums. The results have shown that there are significant differences between the two classes in an online lab compared to traditional lab.

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Assessment of Coping Strategies for Residential Electrical Energy usage in Ekiti State[ ]


Electrical energy is a major driver for industrial process, commercial services and residential comforts. The erratic nature of the grid electricity in Ekiti State has constituted hindrances to improved standard of living. The social requirement of the people then required that strategies be developed to make up for the inadequacies. This include the use of generators, inverters, stabilizers, rechargeable lamps, candle and kerosene lamps to meet lighting needs, security and other pressing necessities for residential comfort. There has been a consistent rise in the ownership of generators, inverters and stabilizers to augment for the poor quality and unreliable electric power supply. Data for the work were obtained through the use of structured questionnaires, and physical inspection and patrol of the streets during outage periods especially at peak hour between 7.00 and 9.00 pm. The parameters of these supplement equipment were got from manufacturer’s manual while secondary data were obtained to form the basis for the analysis. It was discovered that over one hundred thousand Naira(N100,000.00) was unknowingly been expended to make up for poor power profile and that the paper recommends that improved grid electricity supply which is clean, cheap and healthy should be provided to alleviate the suffering of the populace and reduce their expenses on electrical energy usage.

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Color Image Compression Using Polynomial and Quadtree Coding Techniques[ ]


The aim of this research is to introduce a simple and fast hybrid image color which implies polynomial image technique and quadtree coding. Image blocks are approximated by polynomial functions, and the residue image signal is coded by a hierarchal quantization scheme followed by quadtree coding. Quadtree is applied to encode the nearly sparse blocks of quantized residue signal. The conducted tests of this proposed color image coding scheme have shown encouraging compression performance (in compression with other existing coding schemes). In addition to the good performance aspects the scheme is simple and fast.

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A Study On The Use Of Crushed Stone Aggregate And Crusher Dust Mixes In Flexible Pavements[ ]


An excellent road network is an asset to any developing country and India in particular, as it is one of the largest countries in the world and a perfect road network would complement its development. Flexible pavements are the most commonly used form of pavements and have four component layers namely Sub-grade, Sub-base and base and surface courses, which are made up of materials like natural soils, sand, morrum etc., are proved to be costly in terms of construction as well as maintenance. The performance of plastic fines and their sticky characteristics in natural soils hampered the performance of the pavement. To reduce the impact of failures alternative materials are to be studied. In this an attempt is made by using Crushed Stone Aggregate and Crusher Dust as road component materials. Gradation mixes were prepared to meet the specifications of MORTH and subjected for various geo-technical characterizations such as gradation, compaction, strength etc. The strength characteristics of compacted crusher dust and Crushed Stone mixes have been evaluated through a series of CBR tests by varying the crusher dust and sand contents from 60% to 10%. In addition to that the suitability of compacted crusher dust as a road base and sub-base materials have been verified in accordance with MORTH specifications and identified that 20-30% in place of sand can satisfy the materials used as sub-base and base courses.

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