Volume 13, Issue 3, March 2022 Edition - IJSER Journal Publication


Publication for Volume 13, Issue 3, March 2022 Edition - IJSER Journal Publication

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Students' Compromised Physical Health in Remote Learning and How they Cope with it: A Phenomenological Study []


Abstract: Notably, the school program has been rocked by an unparalleled medical issue. Considering the state of uncertainty, it is critical to better comprehend learners' distant educational opportunities throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Though research has been conducted in this field, little detail is known on the deteriorated physical health of distant learning students and the precise measures they use to manage it. As such, this research seeks to fulfill the gap. The results, based on a phenomenological qualitative technique, demonstrated that university learners' perspectives with distant learning differed in aspects of kind and scope. As a result, physical health problems are associated with their domestic educational setting. Students' academic performance, mental health, and subsequent health problems were all negatively affected, according to the findings of the COVID-19 crisis. The most often utilized tactics by learners were managing resources and consumption, assistance wanting, goal setting, and regulation of the school setting. Finally, the article considers the impact on distant learning experience, strategic planning, and areas for further studies.

Effect of opening size and location on punching shear resistance for edge and corner column-slab connection []


Punching is one of the most important phenomena to be considered during the design of reinforced concrete flat slabs. There are many factors affect the punching behavior of flat slabs, the most critical factor of them is the presence of opening adjacent to column which reduces the punching shear strength of slab-column connection. the effect of opening size and location on punching shear strength of edge and corner column – slab connection are investigated in this paper. finite element models for eight specimens were developed using Finite Element Program (ABAQUES). The studied specimens were divided to two groups; the first group represents edge column- slab connection and consists of four specimens with openings with slab dimensions (4000x2000x200) mm, and one control specimen without opening. The second group represents the corner column-slab connection with slab dimensions (2000x2000x200) and consists of four specimens with opening and one control specimen without opening. All specimens were supported on a square column of dimensions (400x400) mm. It was found that for edge column –slab connection increasing opening size from size equal to column size to 1.5 column size, the cracking load decreased by 21.40% and 32.41% respectively when compared to control specimen without opening, and the ultimate punching load decreased by 31.65% and 43.80% respectively when compared to control specimen without opening. And for corner column –slab connection, the cracking load decreased by 29.60% and 46.30% respectively when compared to control specimen without opening, and the ultimate punching load decreased by 39.20% and 51.10% respectively when compared to control specimen without opening. Also, the location of opening has a significant effect on the cracking and ultimate loads. when the opening was located at column’s corner the cracking and ultimate loads decreased by 12.10% and 21.30% respectively compared to control specimen without opening for edge column-slab connection and the cracking and ultimate loads decreased by 18.50% and 28.80% respectively for corner column-slab connection, but when the opening was located in front of column the cracking and ultimate loads decreased by 21.40% and 31.65% respectively for edge column-slab connection and decreased 29.60% and 39.20% respectively for corner column-slab connection.

App-based motorbike taxi driver: The career trend in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 2021-2026 []


Recently, app-based motorbike taxi drivers have been one of Vietnam's most popular jobs, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a job with simple requirements and a stable income, and it makes travelling convenient for city dwellers and is a source of livelihood for many people of this largest city. The aim of this paper is to prove that app-base motorbike taxi driver is the career trend in Ho Chi Minh City from 2021 to 2026 by using a literature review method because the method used in this paper is supported by relevant sources. Although severely affected by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic during the past two years like other occupations, technology motorbikes taxi driver will still attract many people in the next five years. Keywords: app-based motorbike taxi, driver, Ho Chi Minh City, career trend, from 2021 to 2026.

Supporting Families Who Lost Their Parents Due to COVID-19 []


On July 7, 2021, the global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 4 million as the crisis devolved into a race between the vaccine and highly contagious variants. According to estimates from the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, the number of lives lost in the last year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is roughly equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982 (Segarra, 2021). Among those who died from COVID-19, many people were parents in their families. Their deaths have severely affected their children's physical and mental health. Therefore, through a review of various reports, this paper will develop a familiarity with families whose parents have died of Covid-19. These families have received counseling and other types of support. Keywords: COVID-19, died, parents, families, counseling.

THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF WORK ENGAGEMENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SATISFACTION AND PERFORMANCE []


This study was conducted to determine the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between job satisfaction and performance. Descriptive-correlation quantitative non-experimental design was utilized to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and performance, job satisfaction and work engagement, and work engagement and performance. This study also used testing of mediation in which the connections of the three variables were exposed. The respondents of the study were 450 elementary school teachers of the selected schools in the Division of Davao del Sur. Only permanent teachers who have 10 years and above experience were included in this study. The schools included were 3 schools from Hagonoy, Davao del Sur; 3 in Padada, Davao del Sur; 3 schools from Sulop, Davao del Sur; 3 schools from Kiblawan, Davao del Sur and 3 schools from Malalag, Davao del Sur. Using a multiple path analysis, the results revealed that the level of job satisfaction was very high. Similarly, the level of performance was very high. Finally, the level of work engagement was very high. Moreover, a significant relationship between job satisfaction and work engagement. Similarly, there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction and performance. Likewise, a positive significant correlation was found between work engagement and performance. Finally, work engagement was found to partially mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and performance. Keywords Job satisfaction, job performance, work engagement

Covid-19, SWA-algorithm and f-constant: the potential nature and dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 []


The purpose of this research was finding new information of SARS-CoV-2, by means of analytical processes based on SWA-algorithm (Scientific Writing Automation) and f-constant. The analysis was divided into two parts. First, we applied SWA-algorithm to a linguistic sample containing f-constant and derived a few deductions from there. Second, we applied SWA-algorithm to another linguistic sample containing the concept of SARS-CoV-2 and f-constant, and derived a few deductions from there as well. We ended up finding some aspects of the potential nature and dynamics of SARS-CoV-2.

Blind Person Bus Travelling and Blind Person Bus Travelling and Accident Detection Detection []


Travel Bus information is a vital component of many intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications. In recent years the number of vehicles in India has increased tremendously, leading to serving traffic congestion and pollution in urban areas, particularly during peak periods. A desirable strategy to deal with such issues is to shift more people from personal vehicles to public transport by providing better services like comfort, convenience, and so on. The scope of this project is to use a blind guide system that will be placed in a blind stick system for sensing the obstacle user will get a vibration and announcement using voice module as well as it informs the blind person about the coming bus and bus information using the radiofrequency. The performance of the proposed system is found to be promising and expected to be valuable in the development of the Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS) in India. The main advantage of this device is to provide a bus alerting system for easy navigation i.e., the user gets the voices that pronounce the bus details along with destination alerts. The system also supports another protection feature for the blind, when any sudden accidents occur which is detected using MEMS accelerometer sensor and sends location global positioning system-based alerts to the predefined concerned person in the form of SMS.

FACTORS AFFECTING PROPER BID EVALUATION IN THE OIL AND GAS ENGINEERING, PROCUREMENT AND CONSTRUCTION (EPC) PROJECTS []


The Oil & Gas industry is viewed as a significant industry, requiring cautious operations, particularly during the procurement process. Although some progress has been made in the development of innovative procurement strategies in other sectors, the Oil and Gas industry still has a long way to go, this is possibly because the oil and gas industry must is known to be a unique and complex industry. The goal of this paper, and the objectives were set at assessing the factors affecting proper bid evaluation on Oil& Gas EPC projects, the challenge encountered in developing a bid is that the delivery project often has a high degree of uncertainty, meaning the aftermaths in terms of timelines and costs is difficult to predict, Uncertainties often have a bigger impact on the project deliverables than risks. In this study it was revealed that the factor mostly affecting proper bid evaluation is Knowledge on how and to what degree uncertainties/risks have been passed to or shared among parties. This is evident from the research carried out, other identified factors have significantly affected the selected Oil and Gas firms. However, as there remains a variance in responses from the Oil and Gas firms on two of the identified factors namely; Essential characteristics of the project to fulfill client's expectation and Confidentiality of Contract information. Information on proper risk management and risk analysis should be efficiently and timely communicated amongst shareholders and bid evaluation team.

FLUID AND LITHOLOGY DISCRIMINATION USING CROSS PLOTS ANALYSIS OF THE ROCK PROPERTIES OF AN ONSHORE FIELD OF NIGER DELTA BASIN []


Cross plots of computed attributes were used to accurately delineate the lithology and discriminate the fluids, so as to further characterize the existence of fluid and lithology in the reservoir. The cross plots analysis has indicate that Lambda-rho (λρ) is more robust than (Mu-rho) μρ in the analysis of fluids in the field of study, and that μρ values are relatively low for the reservoir sand. The Acoustic impedance (Zp), Lambda-rho (λρ), Mu-rho (μρ), and Poisson impedance (PI) attributes were found to be most robust in lithology and fluid discrimination within the reservoir in the cross-plot analysis. The λ-μ-ρ technique was able to identify gas sands, because of the separation in responses of both the λρ and μρ sections to gas sands versus shale. Many different lithologies could also be identified by the cross plot of λρ versus μρ. This is possible because each lithology has a different rock properties response subject to fluid content and mineral properties

Surface Modified Adsorbent for Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Aqueous Solution []


Environment is deteriorating day by day due to industrial pollution, toxic chemicals leads to the accumulation of heavy metals contamination in the waste water. In view of their toxicity, non-biodegradability and persistent nature their removal becomes an absolute necessity. Hexavalent chromium metal is one of the carcinogenic pollutant in the environment and is frequently present in wastewater from various industrial units. The present research article reports the characterization and use of chitosan-coated activated carbon derived from the bark of Pongamia pinnata (CCPPAC) as a potential adsorbent after for removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution. SEM analysis proved the mesoporous nature of the material under investigation. The batch experiment was carried out to study the effect of significant process parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent doses and initial Cr(VI) concentration. The maximum adsorption efficacy for Cr(VI) removal by CCPPAC was found at pH 4.5, 5 gm/lit of adsorbent dose and 140 min contact time. Under optimum condition, 96% Cr(VI) was removed from aqueous solution. This investigation verifies that CCPPAC, a mesoporous material can be successfully used as an excellent sorbent material for removal of hexavalent chromium from contaminated water and thus can be applied in wastewater treatment.

Assessment of Textile Industrial Effluent by Wastewater Quality Standards[ ]


The current study was initiated to examine the effects of highly polluted pollution by the textile industry in the textile industry of Karachi, Pakistan. During the study the focus was on physico-chemical parameters for example temperature, color, pH, total hardness, BOD, COD, TDS, TSS, turbidity, alkalinity, Cl, CO3, HCO3, Mg, Ca, Ma, K, NO3, PO4 and fats and oils. Thirty samples of wastewater were collected from ten different fabric mills and analyzed three times. Pollution was heavily polluted by high levels of COD, BOD, TDS, Cl, and TSS. The effects of fabric contamination were compared with NEQS & PEPA.

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Evaluation of Unstable Traffic Flow Characteristics within Port Harcourt Road Intersections using the Trip Generation Model []


Congestion has become a major problem in the City of Port Harcourt especially during rush hours, basically due to the vast increase in population growth and poor behaviour of road users which eventually results in a significant increase in travel time. Hence, it became imperative to carry out a trip distribution analysis in some major intersections of the city. From the analysis carried out adopting the doubly constrained gravity model, the traffic assignment loading was generated to identify the unstable flows for each zone in trips per day and trips per hour. Consequently, Agip/Ada-George amounted to 10,635/day and 443/hr, Ada-George/Iwofe 49,602/day and 2,067/hr, Location/NTA 50,375/day and 2,099/hr, Rumuokwuta rotary 73,486/day and 3,062/hr while Wimpey/Iwofe 79,913/day,3,330/hr. However, referring to the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), the LOS from our analysis was established between LOS D and LOS E ascertaining the unstable nature of the traffic flow network with a class II highway having a maximum delay (PTSF) of 70 to 85% of the time. Our recommendation is that the Government and transportation agencies should carry out proper traffic analysis to generate present day traffic data to better understand the travel demand before the improvement of any intersection.

Design and Analysis of an Artificial Neural Network-based Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm for PV System []


The demand for renewable energy integration into the electrical grid is growing day by day. Solar photovoltaic (PV) generation is crucial for battery charging, grid-tied applications, and other uses. It is critical to find the maximum feasible energy harvest from PV panels to increase the output power of a solar PV system. Therefore, to obtain maximum power from the PV system, this paper proposes an artificial neural network (ANN)-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for a solar PV system. The proposed ANN system can track a PV system's maximum power point (MPP) under quickly changing irradiance conditions at a fast and accurate rate. The performance of the proposed ANN system has been verified through simulation analysis, and it is compared with the perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithm. The simulation result indicates that the proposed ANN system effectively extracts maximum power from the PV panel under varying atmospheric conditions

The Hydrogeological Regimen and Saltwater Intrusion in Parts of Bonny Island, Rivers State. []


Saltwater intrusion is a common form water pollution in coastal areas. Bonny Island situates in the tidal zone of the Niger River Delta and has a very limited supply of potable water. Chloride, a prevalent ion in seawater, indicates intrusion when found in significant amounts in groundwater. The concentration of chlorides in groundwater on the Island ranged between 247mg/l to 20501mg/l, which exceeds the saline intrusion threshold value of 250mg/l. Chloride/bicarbonate ratio ranged between 35.55 in August to 106.39 in January, far in excess of the threshold value of 2.0 indicating intrusion. Aquifer recharge is entirely through rainfall which is highest in October and lowest in February and is reflected in a sinusoidal curve of static water levels that characterises the hydrogeological regimen on the island. Electrical conductivity ranged between 162μs/cm to 7190μs/cm, where 800μs/cm is described as brackish. Inferring from the Chloride/bicarbonate ratio, only few wells in Abalamabie and Oguede, situate towards the centre of Bonny Island were moderately saline. Thus, of the wells sampled, 33.33% were classified as moderately saline, 54.41% were saline and 9.26% were highly saline.

Moving Hotspot Improvement Based on Adaptive Nomadic Re-lay Station Optimization Algorithm []


The RS location optimization introduced in the most of reseaches were based on FRS location optimization. The optimum locations were estimated depending on uniform distribution assumption for UEs. However, in the practical network, the UEs distribution is randomly distributed and the hotspots positions are varying with the time. Moreover, the effect of the scheduling schemes was neglected in that study. Therefore, the results of the above study may not be considered as optimum placement of the RSs all over the simulation time. Stated in other words, in real networks the optimum location may vary according to the time varying parameters of the channel, number of RBs allocated to each UE, number of active UEs, and their locations. In order to improve the performance of the network adopted in [8], Nomadic Relay Station (NRS) with adaptive optimized location is proposed in the current study. The NRSs can be a candidate solution for time varying parameters, and moving hotspots improvement. Hotspot Improvement (HI) can be considered as a feature of LTE-B (Rel.12, and 13)

THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF SMEs AT BURAO;SOMALILAND. []


ABSTRACT The impact of sex on financial performance of small-medium enterprise had been discussed extensively by scholars; somehow with controversial results. The purpose of study is to examine effect of gender; characteristics of gender and characteristics of firm as explanatory variables on financial achievement of SMEs in the Burao district. With cross sectional survey; sample of 278 participants had been selected equally based on gender from population of 1000 SMEs under judgmental sampling method. Specific variables studied were; growth of sales; profits-earned; savings of income; microcredit financing opportunities; risk taking; and gender-based comparisons. Multivariate regression analyses (MANOVA) predicted that gender has significant positive direct effect on financial performance of the enterprise; P (0.000). Apart from gender; the characteristics of firm and characteristics of gender such years of experiences on business; age of business owner; size of firm; and education were other explanatory demographic variables its effects on the outcome variables has been measured. Found three of them contributed insignificant except education was significant; P (0.0861); P (0.460); P (0.141); P (0.001) respectively. Gender has moderated interaction effects between independent and dependent variables. Descriptive average Mean of male and female groups scored 3.64 and 3.56 respectively for comparisons. Female groups showed less in terms of years of experience in business and their level of education than men. Finally; implementation of additional scientific studies about gender’s achievements in business was recommendation.

A Predictor-Corrector Hybrid Method for Numerical Approximation of Third–Order Initial Value Problems []


For solving third order ordinary differential equations, this work discusses a numerical integrator with continuous coefficients. For the approximate solution of the differential equations, a combination of power series and exponential function has been employed as the basis function in the formulation of the integrators. To produce a system of linear equations, the approximation solution and the accompanying differential system were interpolated and collocated, respectively. The method developed is accurate to a high order, stable, and convergent, making it suited for the integration of stiff systems of initial value problems of odes. The idea of creating initial values with a lower order of accuracy than the main scheme was avoided in this study by providing the same order of accuracy as the main technique. The integration identities as equal areas under the various segments of the solution curves over the integration intervals brought to the natural retention of symmetry as a result of this novel idea. The application of this newly discovered multistep integration method to a number of well-known issues in the literature yields correct results at a cheap cost of computing. When compared to previous methods, the results appear to be more accurate.

DETERMINATION OF PHYSIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF A SOIL AT BLOCKS (P) IN SAVANNAH SUGAR COMPANY (DANGOTE GROUP) NUMAN, ADAMAWA STATE. []


ABSTRACT: The study was carried out to assess the physiochemical properties of Block (P) of soils at Savannah Sugar Company (SSC) (Dangote Group). A total of 27 soil samples were collected at 9 selected units. The results indicated that the pH 6.97±0.29 to 6.97±0.76, EC 0.69±0.03 to 0.73±0.08 dSm-1CEC (33.19±2.37 to 61.63±7.29), SAR (0.18±0.03 to 0.43±0.06) and an ESP of (1.90±0.17 to 4.07±0.40.29). Organic Matter Content range from 0.50±0.09 to 0.1.36±0.03. The research concluded that green cane harvesting should be encouraged and regular soil testing should be done to monitor the physiochemical properties of the soil at SSC farm.

INFLUENCE OF FORMALDEHYDE ON SEED GERMINATION OF OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) []


A research was conducted on the influence of varying concentrations of formaldehyde: 0 %( w/v), 30% (w/v), 60% (w/v) and 90 %( w/v) on the germination percentage of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) seeds at Eastern Research Farm of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. This research was informed by the need to increase variability and availability of okra fruits as a step to close the gap created by increase in consumption demand due to its pile of nutrients. Four different sets of okra seeds were soaked in afore mentioned concentrations respectively for 30minutes after which they were sieved out and washed under running water for 10 minutes and allowed to sun dry before planting. First mutant (M0) generation was raised in polythene bags in a completely randomized design (CRD) and data on germination percentage was generated. However, the germinated okra seeds were allowed to grow to maturity and harvested seeds served as parent stock for the second (M1) generation planting which was carried out in the open field using randomized complete block design (RCBD). Germination percentage date from both generations were statistically analyzed for variance using the GenStat. The treatment (P≤ 0.05) led to a significant reduction in the germination percentage of the okra seeds with increasing treatment concentrations. 0% (w/v) treatment gave the highest germination percentages (95.00% and 100%) in both generations while the 90% (w/v) treatment concentration gave the lowest germination percentages (64.50 and 69.80) in both generation. This research reveals that high concentration doses of chemical mutagens has the capacity to interfere with the viability of seed embryo which reduced the germination rate in A. esculentus L. Moench

Efficacy of Shielding Structure in Computed Tomography Suite in selected Radiodiagnostic centres in Uyo metropolis Akwa Ibom state Nigeria []


This study was aimed at radio-diagnostic facilities in Uyo Metropolis as some were converted from building not specified for radio- diagnostic purposes, hence questioning its efficacy. To assess this, a Radex 1212 survey meter was used to take readings of radiation inside Computed tomography room during exposure, and another meter used to take reading at the console and waiting areas simultaneously. Minimum of 15 exposures was made in each facility studied. The dimensions of the facilities were taken in the five facilities studied (represented alphabetically as A - E), they includes - the length, width, wall thickness, distance from Gantry to console and waiting areas and results recorded. The transmitted and attenuated radiation for waiting areas in the five facilities are 5.6% and 94.4%, 5.3% 94.7%, 3.9% and 96.1%, 3.0% and 97%, 7.4% and 92.6%, respectively, with mean dose of 0.18 mSv for centres A,B,C,D and E respectively. The operating console gave 5.3% and 94.7%, 4.7% and 95.3%, 7.5% and 92.3%, 2.2% and 98%, 5.5% and 95% respectively with a mean dose value of 0.170.02mSv. The estimated dose at console for a year gave a mean dose of 0.36mSv and waiting area gave 0.41mSv per year. The dimension for facility A,B,C,D and E, wall thickness are 28cm, 30.2cm, 35cm, 32cm, 30.3cm: Door thickness - 2cm, 17cm, 5cm, 8cm, 17cm: Distance from Gantry to console 4.62m, 3.28m, 4.20m, 6.50m and 3.30m: Distance from Gantry to waiting area – 7.28m, 4.60m, 6.10m, 10.4m and 4.60m respectively. The estimated dose is below the stipulated dose of 20mSv/year for workers and 1mSv/year for public members hence, the facilities are safe.

Obstacles & Possibilities to Integrate ICT-Based Primary, Secondary, Higher Secondary level Education System in Bangladesh []


Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is considered as the most effective constituent for the development of a nation. Bangladesh is striving to create an environment for rapid dissemination of ICT at all corners of the society. Over the last few decades, ICT has been used in changing the traditional education system. It has helped to improve the quality of education and the overall teaching-learning process. Unfortunately, many teachers still do not use ICT effectively; or, even if they use ICT, it is not integrated into their pedagogy in a meaningful way. In most developing countries, including Bangladesh, integrating ICT in education is thwarted by many factors, and the success of ICT implementation is dependent on addressing all of these co-related barriers. Identification of these problem areas can help in improving teacher training and policy-making. This article identifies barriers that are affecting the proper implementation of ICT in the Bangladesh education system. It intends to investigate the application of ICT at the tertiary level and the attitudes of teachers and students towards using ICT on educational grounds at this level. This study tries to provide decision makers, planners, and practitioners with a summary of what is known about the potential and conditions of effective use of ICT based education and learning by drawing on knowledge, research, and experience. Moreover, in view of this study evaluation of ICT intervention and subsequent adjustments and follow-up actions Technologies have great potential for knowledge dissemination and effective learning services.

Energy Quantization from Schwarzschild Anti-de Sitter Black Hole []


In this present work we address the study of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of Schwarzschild Anti-de Sitter (SAdS) black hole by using energy quantization method like Bohr’s atomic model. We have also shown that the change of entropy as well as purely thermal emission rate is dependent of quantum number and come close to zero for large quantum number.

Role of Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Elective Inguinal Hernia Repair in Taiz -Yemen []


Background: - A surgical-site infection (SSI) is defined as an infection that occurs at or near a surgical incision within 30 days of the procedure. The decision of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis is made according to a number of risk factors, in particular, in aseptic interventions. Objectives: to assess the significance of prophylactic antibiotic in SSI in elective inguinal hernia repair. Patients and methods: This retrospective, included 129 patients, between the1st January 2019 to December 2020, were collected their data from medical files, interview and contact with participants. Data was analyzed by used SPSS. Results: Among 129 patients, the male was the predominant with 128 (98.5%) with median age was 50 years (IQR 29-60 years). Indirect inguinal hernia was (74.4%), direct was (17.8%) and both (7.8%). The overall infection rate was 7.0% (9 out of 129), the incidence of wound infection in antibiotic group was 4 (6.1%) patients and 5 (7.9%) patients in non-antibiotic group. Antibiotic prophylaxis was associated with decreased incidence of wound infection when compared to non-antibiotic group, but the difference was not statistically significant(p=0.740). The most of the infections occurred between the 7th and 12th post-operative day, the average duration of surgery in our study was 49 minutes. All wound infections were treated with antibiotics, the wound was opened in some patients. Mesh was not removed in any of infected wound patients. Conclusion: Prophylactic antibiotic usage in patients undergoing tension free inguinal hernioplasty did not show any statistically significant beneficial effects in reduction of surgical site infection.

Proposed Algorithms for Downlink LTE-A network performance Evolution []


Abstract Fourth Generation (4G) cellular networks are foreseeable to provide maximum data rates to follow the rapid increase in applications and number of subscribers. It can execute in LTE-A Network using some technologies such as Relays, Synchronous Direct and Multi-hop Transmission (SDMT), low complexity resource allocation algorithms are proposed, Adaptive MIMO, Modulation, and Coding switching (AMMCS) scheme. This paper introduces some solutions for LTE-A Downlink Performance Improvement. It will be done via four parts are studied. In the first part of the study: 4x4MIMO and AMMCS were proposed for low BER and maximum throughput. The second part proposed lower resource allocation algorithms named Optimum Time Fair Work Conserving (OTFWC) based on SDMT. The third part of the study is deciding the optimum number of RSS. And the fourth part optimum location estimated for n-fixed RSS.

Managing Industrial Raw Materials and Its Operational Hazard/Risk Evaluation for Maximum Utilization: A Case of Selected OCTG Companies in Nigeria. []


Generally, industrial operational activities are associated with several inherent risk, which comes in different forms depending on the type of industrial activity going on. This article focused on Managing Industrial Raw Materials and Its Operational Hazard/Risk Evaluation for Maximum Utilization, using two OCTG Companies (oil country tubular goods) in Nigeria as a case study, whose major operations is on OCTG Pipe threading. In this article, we will be considering examples of raw materials used in the pipe-threading operational process of an OCTG Company (oil country tubular goods), management of the different raw materials, associated risk, its evaluation and mitigation. The aim of this article is to proffer a better way of handling and managing of raw materials for maximum utilization and to protect the health and safety of but the material handlers, the end users and protection against its negative impact on the environment. The paper concludes that, should practitioners become proactive by applying proffered solutions, efficiency will be achieved in management of operational raw materials and the safety of material handlers and the end users will be assured and the negative impact on the environment resulting from poor management, will be greatly minimized.

Effect of Using Polypropylene Fibers on the Mechanical Properties of Asphalt Mixture []


Flexible pavement consists of different layers. These layers contain bitumen substances, which together with the aggregate are arranged to reduce cohesion from top to bottom. The problems related with the flexible pavements are their premature distress in the form of cracks, instability, raveling, surface undulations and segregation. These results in huge maintenance cost. To minimize the maintenance cost, the proper quality of work and material are needed. There are several kinds of fiber materials are available in the market such as carbon fiber, glass fiber, polyester fiber, polypropylene fiber, etc. In this research an attempt has been made to use polypropylene fiber in asphalt mixture. Different percentages were used from 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%, 3%, 3.5%, 4%, 4.5%, and 5% polypropylene fiber of 12mm long in asphalt mixture by total aggregates mixture at 4% optimum bitumen binder. The Marshall Stability test was conducted to analyze the behavior of asphalt mixture in terms of stability and flow. The results indicate that the addition of polypropylene fibers increases the stability. As the percentage of polypropylene fibersincreases the stability of modified asphalt mixture increases, and the flow value decreases. Further study can be carried out by determining other mechanical properties. Index Terms— Flexible Pavement, Hot Mix Asphalt, Polypropylene Fiber, Optimum Asphalt Content, Stability, Flow.

Effect of Rice Husk Ash and Rice Husk Fiber on the Mechanical Properties of Asphalt mix []


In Pakistan most of pavements are flexible that faces problems like rutting, thermal cracking, and fatigue cracking. On other side Pakistan produces 7.5 million tonnes and ranked 10th in largest rice producing countries due to which a large amount of rice husk is generated. For comparison of results normal asphalt mix samples were created at 3.8% Bitumen content that is found to be optimum by Marshall mix method. To utilize the waste material, Rice husk ash is replaced with the filler material in Asphalt mix at different percentages of 15, 30, 45 & 60% and 3 samples on each percentage were created for average results then Marshall stability and flow tests were conducted and according to result the optimum percentage of RHA is 30% in replacement of filler material, Rice husk ash modified asphalt mix increases stability by 4.18% in comparison with Normal Asphalt mix. And Rice husk is also used as fiber reinforcement in asphalt mix with different percentages of 0.5, 1, 1.5 & 2% by total weight of Aggregates and 3 samples were created on each percentage, Marshall stability and flow tests were conducted result show optimum value at 0.5% RHF that increases the stability of Asphalt mix by 0.92% in comparison with Normal Asphalt mix. Also 3 samples for combined RHA & RHF modified asphalt mix were created in which optimum percentage of RHA and RHF were used, and result shows increase in stability of modified Asphalt mix by 7.39% in comparison with Normal asphalt mix. Further study can be carried out by using smaller percentages of RHF.

Effect of Crumb Rubber and Fly Ash on the Mechanical Properties of Semi Rigid Pavement []


Mostly used flexible pavements in Pakistan have major problems, i.e., rutting, surface wear and cracks. Therefore, enhancement in its prop-erties is necessary. The Semi-rigid pavement is a composite pavement that forms the combination of flexible and rigid pavement materials, it has an open-graded asphalt concrete structure consists of 25-30% air voids which fills with portland cement grout. For the improvement of properties and cost of a semi-rigid pavement, some new materials like crumb rubber and fly ash are used in flexible portion and rigid portion respectively are introduced to overcome the environmental impacts of waste and the mechanical properties of SRP is determined. This study is divided in three main parts, while making f samples. Firstly, replacement crumb rubber-CR (waste) 5%, 10% & 15% with aggregates mix while fly ash-FA (waste) has no replacement with cement. Secondly, no replacement of CR has been made with aggregate mix and FA replaced with cement as 5%, 10% & 15%. Third, 5%, 10% & 15% replacement of CR and FA with aggregate mix and cement respectively. After curing, the compressive strength results achieved are significantly great as compared to normal semi-rigid pavement samples. The samples showed great initial strength after 3 days curing which is 17.11% more than normal SRP samples. The maximum results among curing days and percentage replacement of CR & FA achieved 9.34 MPa after 28 days curing at 15% CR & FA replacement with aggregate mix & cement respectively. Index Terms— Semi rigid pavement (SRP), Open-graded asphalt concrete (OGAC), Optimum asphalt content (OAC), Crumb rubber (CR), Fly ash (FA), Grout & Compressive strength.

RIJNDAEL ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM A SOLUTION TO PRIVATE ISSUES OF INTERNET OF THINGS []


Because of the high complexities issues in the Internet of Things and its applications, there is a need to propose an appropriate security model that would help in managing and controlling it. This paper critically examined Rijndael’s encryption algorithm in terms of design choices, method of implementation, performance, strength, weaknesses and to determine its applicability in the Internet of things devices and applications. In this paper, Round transformation will be studied extensively so as to and know and determine the number of rounds that would be added to strengthen the encryption method. With the sole purpose of being able to make a recommendation on its use in the context of IoT with their requirement.

Gas Turbine Blade Reliability Of Generator Availability For Electric Power Supply Using Optimal Estimation Of Weilbull Probability Distribution []


The increasing demand of electricity power supply and its availability is indispensable to manage economically following to the rapid growth of population to energy consumption capacity which is a major concern making the electricity sector industries to experienced significant implication for power plant operation to provide basic energy services to the people particularly to the reliability of the engineering component under review To achieve this goal the study will engage the application of reliability technique in order to analyse the activities of the failure times of ten identical gas-turbine blade of similar “make” and mode of operations subjected to the same conditions in Afam power station over a period of ten years, from the results obtained, the gas-turbine blades were in their wear-out period of reliable maintenance to give out efficient performance following to the reliability of the three parameter weilbull distribution R(t) given as 0.60 this means that turbine blade actually required reliable maintenance. While, the failure rate of the turbine-blade , the mean time to failure (MTTF) : 13.55hours. The results obtained through the simulation of TPC windchill quality solution software estimated the parameters which shows suitable behaviour of the system components for early response for reliable maintenance. The reliability , failure rate and meantime to failure (MTTF) were successively computed. Conclusively, the probability that the gas turbine blades under investigation will continue to be operational in service without failures is about 70% while the mean time to failure of the gas turbine blade is about 14hours.

Design and Development of Generic Algorithm for Patients’ e-Diagnosis System []


Technology has become a driving force that is fast changing the duties or routines of physicians and their co-workers in healthcare industries. Developing countries around the world are facing many healthcare challenges among which are insufficient medical personnel, shortage of modern medical equipment, shortage of modern hospitals in the rural areas and general inaccuracy and imprecision prescriptions. This has culminate in high mortality rate and loss of precious lives. Therefore, we design and developed a generic patient e-Diagnosis system for common diseases (malaria, Tuberculosis, Diarrhea, and Cough) in sub-Saharan Africa. The system is proposed to handle accurate and prompt diagnosis of common ailment. MySql database, CSS (Cascading Stylesheet), PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), dart programming language, Java Scripts and HTML were used for software development. The developed system functions as a medical assistant, capable of providing fast medical e-based diagnosis for common medical disorders based on user inputs and their personal health records, as well as generating medical advice for patients based on the outcomes of their diagnostic.

Evaluation of the transformation models of ellipsoidal heights (h) into Orthometric height (H) for Albania []


Several GNSS measurement campaigns have been carried out in Albania (October 1994, February 1998, September 1998) for the connection of the State Geodetic Network with the Global or European Reference System. The latest GNSS measurement campaign of Fall 2007-Spring 2008 has found the best relationship until now between the ellipsoidal heights h and so-called geoidal (natural) H, which are the basis of vertical positioning in geodesy, cartography and geoinformation. Model of transformation of h into H developed from Military Geographical Institute of Firenze, Italy used as official model in Albania, despite not being officially tested in the field. The lack of a precise gravimetric geoid for the territory of Albania has led to the impossibility of direct transformation of the ellipsoidal heights h into geoidal height H. The problem of height transformation continues to be widely addressed in the contemporary literature, where different authors propose different ways. Aim of this study is to present the different transformation models of the ellipsoidal heights h into so-called orthometric heights H of the Albanian vertical system, as well as the test results of the transformation models in different areas of Albania.

A Comprehensive Literature Review on Approaches, Techniques & Challenges of Mashup Development []


After revolutionary invention of Web 2.0 in field of World Wide Web, Mashup development has got a lot of attention of software practitioners and researchers as an End-user Development (EuD) application area. In this era of emerging technologies in field of EuD, researchers are exploring different aspects of Mashup development to help individuals and enterprises build effective and efficient mashups and mashup development tools for themselves to enhance the performance of their business processes and to cop up with evolving requirements of their businesses and at individual level for making EuD effective, user friendly and feasible specifically for novice and non-technical users. Having a huge amount of researches that are being conducted and published in last few years, when an enterprise or individual decides to move towards adoption of Mashup development they face a lot of difficulty while collecting required information of approaches and techniques for their business specific requirements. Main purpose of this study is to build a broader leel understanding related to different aspects of Mashup Development by presenting current state of literature on the approaches and techniques for the Mashup development and challenges being faced by practitioners regarding Mashup development in order to make users aware of effective approaches that they can adopt for themselves in accordance to their needs. In this paper, we have presented a comprehensive literature review based study exploring the approaches and techniques that are being proposed by different researchers for Mashup development. We have explored the literature from the past decade and analyzed the findings of researchers in field of mashup development. This study also has a detailed discussion on the challenges that are faced by practitioners in process of implementation of the mashups development and in use of various mashup tools.

Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Internship Placement Recommendation System: A Case Study of Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji, Nigeria. []


Every year, thousands of graduates of Nigeria's tertiary institutions are being role out into the labor market, a greater percentage of these graduates are not employable, because they lacked the relevant and requisite skills required to function in the industries, this is due to the noticeable gap between the theoretical teaching and industry practices. An internship provides a platform for students to acquire skills required in the industries. It exposes the student to industries' work situations, skills, and experience in handling machinery and equipment used in the workplace. Many students are unable to find a suitable and relevant placement that will add to their skills level and experience. This paper reports a work that developed a robust, flexible, and web-based hybrid recommendation system for Federal polytechnic, ile Oluji, it combines content-based filtering (CBF), collaborative filtering (CF), and knowledge-based filtering (KBF) methods to recommend relevant internship organizations that meet student’s aspiration and enhance their skills. The dataset used for the development of the system was obtained from the SIWES unit of the institution and the SIWES office in Akure. In addition to the previous companies uploaded, the system allows an organization that needed students on an internship to register and upload their profile into the system. The system allowed students to make multiple applications to recommended organizations based on their course of study and areas of expertise. The system is highly scalable, easy to use, understand and respond quickly to users' requests.

Influence du regime d'arrosage sur la germination et la croissance en pepiniere des plants de deux especes alimentaires : Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del. et Ziziphus mauritiana Lam []


The objective of this study is to evaluate the germinate capacities and to appreciate the growth parameters under an irrigation regime of 2 species of socio-economic importance B. aegyptiaca and Z. mauritiana. Metrology and Results: An experimental device consisting of complete random blocks with three treatments in four repetitions was set up in polyethylene bags. The treatments used are: T1; T2 and T3 followed for 100 days. According to the treatments, B. aegyptiaca showed a variation of the latency time from 6 to 11 and Z. mauritiana to 3 days with a germination rate respectively 96% for Z. mauritiana and 89% for B. aegyptiaca followed by the T2 treatment of 84% and 78%, finally, with T3 treatment 76% and 66%. The analysis of the variance of the height growth variables of the two species in response to the three irrigation regimes after 30, 60 and 100 days shows that the average heights of the two species are significantly different. The lowest average height after 100 days was observed at treatment T1 followed by T2 then T3 in the species. For diametric and root growth, the T2 treatment recorded the best growth. Conclusion and Application: Given the socio-economic importance of these species and the degradation of their environment, it seems necessary to control the ecology of these species for a sustainable conservation of these natural resources. This work provides a scientific orientation in order to reconstruct in its medium.

Locative prepositions “at, in, on” and translation to Vietnamese representational meaning []


Starting with the role of the reference frame under the influence of the perspective culture of the British and Vietnamese used as a cognitive premise of translation, the article presents the rationale for the procurement process on reasons, similarities, and differences in the representational meaning. The representational meaning of differences between the English locative preposition “at, in, on” and the corresponding linguistic units of Vietnamese through a particular communication context. According to the research results, when the reference object (DTQC) of the English locative position in the reference system is assimilated with the Vietnamese speaker [similar to the reference frame of the reference system], the translation semantics of the locative prepositions which is "at, in, on" is like the expression representational semantics of the corresponding units in Vietnamese. The dissimilarity of the reference frames results in different structural semantics.

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