Archives-December 2012

The quantity of inclusion of three types of cereals for the preparation cereal mix as main component in Nutri-composite bar preparation such as whole wheat flour (WWF), proso millet flour (PMF), and germinated finger millet flour (GFMF) was optimized using central composite rotatable design for three variables with five level of each. The analyzed responses were carbohydrate, protein, fat, crude fibre, ash and moisture content. The influence of independent variables on responses and optimized level of incorporation was studied through second order polynomial quadratic regression models. The independent variables imposed significant effect on fat at linear level; carbohydrate, protein and crude fiber at quadratic level; moisture and crude fiber at interactive level. The optimum level of mixing of WWF, PMF and GFMF in cereal mix with validated means of response as 4.6g moisture, 71g carbohydrate, 11.18g protein, 1.7g fat, 2.7 g ash and 5.7 g crude fiber was 46.18 g, 35 g and 32.5 g respectively.

The purpose of this work is to physically characterize wood-cement composite materials. The wood species used are Ayous, Movingui, African Padouk and Sapelli. The cement used is Portland cement CPJ35. For that purpose, we made specimens with wood species cited above. Then we carried out the drying and the humidification of these samples and made necessary measurements to characterize these materials physically. We determined most important physical properties of wood (density, the total volume shrinkage and swelling, moisture content and specific gravity) to characterize these materials. It comes out from this study that wood-cement composite materials are lighter than usual building materials such as mortar and concrete. We noted that, of four wood-composite materials elaborated, the sapelli-cement composite is that which presents the best physical properties, in particular the hygroscopic properties.

Library computerization projects at Nimbe Adedipe library, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and Keneth- Dike Library, university of Ibadan were evaluated. The total population of the respondents was 331 which include two university librarians, twenty-two library staff and two hundred users. The data collection instruments used for this study were a questionnaire and interview. The instruments were structured to identify important measurable variables associated with the provision and utilization of library computerized services. Out of 200 copies of questionnaire administered to the users, only one hundred and ninety two were completed and used for the study. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics involving tables and simple percentages. Based on the questionnaire survey of the library staff and the interview granted by university librarians, the information technology resources in the university libraries were inadequate for successful implementation of the library computerization project, however, computerized services such as CD-ROM services, internet search online journal subscription proved by the libraries have tremendous impacts on the organization, management and dissemination of information. There was a low number of satisfied users which was an indication that much remain to be done to fully grow the automated information services profiles in the university libraries.

Present research intended to find out various problems faced by the schools administrators pertaining to how much principals and head of institutions are responsible in planning and developing an educational institution, how much they are empowered or struggling the quality education and healthy comfortable environment to the students and whether expectations attached to their role are realistic or not. The main objective of this study was to explore these issues, and also find their impact on the public and private institutions. Population of the research was comprised of head of institutes, Principals or campus administrators and section heads of public and private schools and colleges of Islamabad. A random sample of 153 respondents was collected from various public, private (chain schools) and individual owned schools with the help to research questionnaire. The results showed a dissatisfaction of educational administrators towards the organizational procedures, availability of resources and funds, implementation of modern methodology and concerns about advanced and updated curriculum and general facilities.

We prove that the upper domination number of a graph does not increase when a vertex is removed from the graph. Moreover, we consider well-dominated graphs and their upper domination number. We also define approximately well-dominated graphs.

Performance of a domestic split type air conditioner was evaluated by using two different refrigerants, i.e., R22 and R290. This paper presents the outcomes of this comparative study. The experimental investigation was conducted by using a 1 hp air conditioning unit. Power consumptions by the complete system including the evaporator as well the by the compressor alone were measured by clamp meter. Temperature was also measured at different locations by digital fluke thermometer whereas digital multimeter was used to measure the current supplied to the system. The air conditioner was run for six hours each time by setting three different set point temperatures, i.e., the cold air temperature coming out from the evaporator. From the measured information, coefficient of performance (COP), and energy efficiency ratio (ERR) were calculated for each refrigerant. The results revealed that R290 refrigerant has better COP and EER compared to R22 refrigerant. The usage of R290 refrigerant can reduce energy consumption up to 11 %. In addition to that, at the same air conditioning unit, the amount of R290 refrigerant required is relatively half of that required by R22 refrigerant.

The buildings situated on hill slopes in earthquake prone areas are generally irregular, torsionally coupled & hence, susceptible to serve damage when affected by earthquake ground motion. Such buildings have mass & stiffness varying along the vertical & horizontal planes, resulting the center of mass & center of rigidity do not coincide on various floors, hence they demand torsional analysis, in addition to lateral forces under the action of earthquakes. These unsymmetrical buildings require great attention in the analysis & design. Analysis of hill buildings is somewhat different than the buildings on leveled ground, since the column of hill building rests at different levels on the slope. The shorter column attracts more forces & undergoes damage, when subjected to earthquakes.

The present paper involves the application of chemical and photochemical homogeneous advanced oxidation processes on the decolourization of textile effluent and Methyl Orange (MO) Dye. The decolourization efficiency of various oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), fenton reagent i.e. hydrogen peroxide and hydrated ferrous sulphate (H₂O₂/Fe²⁺), sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), UV/H₂O₂/Fe²⁺, Solar/H₂O₂/Fe²⁺, UV/NaClO and Solar/NaClO has been investigated. The effect of process parameters viz., oxidant dose, pH, concentration of dye and source of light (UV/Solar) for decolourization and COD reduction of dye effluent and MO has been studied. The decolourization efficiency was estimated from residual concentration spectrophotometrically. The experimental results show that the maximum decolourisation (more than 95 %) and COD reduction (40 %) of effluent occurred using combined Solar/NaClO (20 mg/L) system at pH 6 within 20 minutes. The decolourization efficiency of MO dye with H₂O₂ or UV alone was found to be negligible but more than 95% efficiency could be achieved either with UV/H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ (450 mg/L /150 mg/L) at pH 2 or Solar/NaClO (120 mg/L) at pH 6 within 30 minutes.

In connection with conversion of Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) from the use of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) fuel to the use of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel with power upgrading which started in 2006, it is imperative to know how the spent fuel is stored. After the conversion process, the current HEU core will need a Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) storage cask to store the HEU fuel. Studies into suitable spent fuel storage cask are ongoing to help solve this challenge. The photon source densities of fission products, actinides and activation products relevant for assessing radiological consequence as well as designing and fabricating Spent Nuclear Fuel storage cask for GHARR-1 using local shielding material has been estimated for its 90.2% HEU fuel. Results showed that the bounding radiological dose due to hypothetical accidents can be evaluated at the end of irradiation (at discharge). Results have also proven key to the selection of shielding materials for the SNF cask.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the realm of gender-bound language. A myriad of studies in this area are devoted to different speech acts. To expand the scope of speech act studies, the present contribution highlights the gender differences in frequency of utilizing five most common gratitude expressions ranging from least affective to most affective in Persian language. To this aim, the data employed includes a corpus of 40 naturally-occurring gratitude exchanges, 20 for men and 20 for women of academic context, collected through giving participants a researcher-made 20 items questionnaire. The results revealed that there is a meaningful difference between men and women in using these gratitude expressions, in the way that, contrary to the men, women tend to use more affective ones.