Archives-June... 

A substantial part of Nigeria is part of semi-arid areas of the world, underlain by basement complex (hard) rocks which are very poor in both transmission and storage of appreciable quantity of water. Recently, a growing attention is being paid on the need to develop water resources in these areas largely due to concerns about increasing droughts and the need to maintain water security challenges. While there is ample body of knowledge that captures the hydrological behaviours of the sedimentary part, reported research which unambiguously illustrates water distribution in the basement complex of the Sokoto basin remains sparse. Considering the growing need to meet the water requirements of those living in this region necessitated the call for accurate water balance estimations that can inform a sustainable planning and development to address water security challenges for the area. To meet this task, a one-dimensional soil water balance model was developed and utilised to assess the state of water distribution within the Sokoto basin basement complex using measured meteorological variables and information about different landscapes within the complex. The model simulated the soil water storage and rates of input and output of water in response to climate and irrigation where applicable using data from 2001 to 2010 inclusive. The results revealed areas within the Sokoto basin basement complex that are rich and deficient in groundwater resource. The high potential areas identified includes the fadama, the fractured rocks and the cultivated lands, while the low potential areas are the sealed surfaces and non-fractured rocks. This study concludes that the modelling approach is a useful tool for assessing the hydrological behaviour and for better understanding the water resource availability within a basement complex.

A survey method was employed to evaluate library computerization project at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria and University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire and interview were the instrument adopted. The instrument were validated by pre-test analysis using Pearson Product Correlation; there was a strong reliability (0.92) of the instrument. A total number of 39 copies of questionnaires were administered to the library staff which were all completed and returned. Out 0f 300 copies of questionnaires administered to users, only 277 were completed, returned and used for the study. The data generated was analyzed using descriptive statistics involving tables and percentages. The findings show that much progress has not been recorded by the libraries under study towards the effective automation of their libraries operations; information technology (IT) resources are inadequate and there was low percentage (32.1) of satisfied users. It was also discovered that the university libraries under this study were lagging behind in the pace of automation due to inadequate funding, inadequate IT resources, problem of software, lack of policy guidelines, lack of culture of evaluation to access performance of the computerized project and logistic problem. It can be concluded that some Nigeria University libraries are still on developing stride towards improving their IT profiles. Thus, it is recommended that periodic evaluation to assess performance of the computerized library projects services should be institutionalized within University libraries in order to continually improve the implementation, operation and cost-effectiveness of automated information services.

Sorghum is an under-utilized crop in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa due to its antinutrient properties but high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. Drying, soaking, and malting appears to reduce tannin which is an antinutrient in sorghum. The aim of this project was to evaluate malted sorghum-wheat flour biscuit. Sorghum grains were malted, dried and milled into flour and biscuit was produced from blends of wheat flour and the flour of malted sorghum (l00:0, 95:5, 90:10, 80:20 and 70:30). The proximate composition and sensory properties of the biscuits were evaluated. The proximate composition of different flour mixes ranged from 6.75 to 7.12% moisture, 2.14 to 2.53% ash, 3.85 to 4.10 fat, 10.40 to 12.78% protein, 1.05 to 1.22% fiber and 73.18 to 74.88% carbohydrate. However, the protein (12.64-10.19%), fat ( 2.48-2.15%) and moisture (7.35-5.92% ) contents of the biscuit decreased as the level of substitution increases while increasing trends were observed for ash (2.17- 2.57%), fibre (1.06-1.55%) and carbohydrate ( 74.30-77.62%). Sensory evaluation showed that up to 30% substitution levels of malted sorghum could be used as a supplement with wheat flour for biscuit production, an indication that acceptable biscuit could be produced from low gluten flour. This has the potential to eradicate the problem of celiac disease associated with the intake of wheat gluten.

This paper deals with the development of technique for planning the location of a substation. In this work, we propose a STatistical INformation Grid based (STING) approach for distribution of load points with suitable allocation of substation. A real- life data, that is, the power map of Bihar is taken for the planning purpose. At present there are six substations located in Bihar. Google Earth is used for finding the location (latitude and longitude) of the demand sites. By implementing STING algorithm and simulating it in MatLab we have determined five substations that can feed the entire Bihar area with minimum distribution losses. The substations determined by STING algorithm are centrally located for a particular area (cluster). The methodology will be a very useful tool for power distribution planners.

Heat pipe technology becomes popular in waste heat recovery applications and in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in recent years, especially in increasing the dehumidification efficiency and cooling capacity of the cooling coil especially in warm-climate countries. An experimental study was carried out on air-to-air thermosyphon heat pipe heat exchanger (THPHE) filled with R134a as the working fluid and a fill ratio of 60% of the evaporator volume. Two configurations were tested; plain and grooved (rifled) inner surface THPHE. For each THPHE module, the lengths of the evaporator and condenser sections were 300 mm and the central adiabatic section was 100 mm. There were 6 rows of 48 copper tubes with 12 mm outside diameter. Aluminum wavy plate fins were fixed between the tubes to increase the heat transfer area. A test rig was set up to study the thermal performance of the THPHE, different sets of experiments were carried out by varying the heat load as well as the mass flow rate inlet to evaporator section of the heat exchanger; the two THPHEs were examined under low temperature (30-60?C) operating conditions. Four evaporator section air face velocities namely, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 m/s were tested while ambient air flowed through condenser section with air face velocity controlled at 1.5 m/s. The results shows that the THPHE effectiveness values are shown to vary with the evaporator inlet temperature and mass flow rates. Also, the inner grooved THPHE showed a significant effect on increasing the thermal performance of the heat exchanger as compared with the plain inner surface THPHE

Over two decades, Somalia has been intense fighting, population displacement, food insecurity, humanitarian crisis and generalized lack of centralized governance structures. Somalia has been lacking a functioning state since the overthrow of the military government. However, personal interests, power and economic ambitions of warlords caused the rebel factions to fail in the formation of inclusive government to settle the country from what was perceived by them as social, economic and political injustices committed by the military regime. Somalia civil war went through different phases and caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Somalis in different ways, while many others left the country to get peace and life in other countries. Throughout the lawlessness of the country, warlords and clan militias fought for the control of power and resources. That situation affects peaceful, co-existence and the attainment of sustainable development goals of the people and country at large. Political instability mainly resulted of the inability of government to perform and the weakness of national institutions and competency of rule of law in the country. The general objective of this study was to assess the factors influencing the political stability in Somalia by measuring strategic leadership, corruption and government policies. The researcher used descriptive statistics research design both in qualitative and quantitative. The target population of this study were the members of Parliaments and Cabinet of the Federal Government of Somalia and selected 80 people as sample size using Slovene?s formula. Data was collected through questionnaire and finally processed and analyzed the result using computer SPSS. During the study found that the examined factors have a significant influence on political stability. It was obtained that strategic leadership and government policies have a positive significant influence on political stability while corruption has negative significant influence on political stability. Interpretation is to mean that the above variables are very important to overall the political stability issues in Somalia. The study by (Kew 2006), (Harriman, 2006), (Adejumobi, 2004) and (Adejimi, 2005) is partially supports by the findings of this study. Also indicates that strategic leadership and government policies are the most effective and enhanced factors of political stability of Somalia and but corruption influences negatively with stability which causes instability. This researcher recommends on two issues; corruption and leadership which meant to address policy makers those willing to make a positive change in attainment political stability.

The book under review is an outcome of the author’s successful completion of post-graduate studies hence the title, “Family Influences on Creativity of School Children” is perfect chioce shared by both the thesis and this book . Written against a background of empirical research conducted in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya, the book provides authoritative and incisive analysis of factors ingrained in the family that influence the development of creative talents in children. The first set of factors are those that parents and/or those significant others in the family can readily execute toward the child. Secondly are factors that are naturally predetermined. Factors in the first set include parental love; parent-child interaction; socio-economic status of parents; quantity and quality of time spent with child; home-based activities; and language. The second consists of gender, and a child’s position of birth in relation to other siblings. These factors are discussed in detail in Chapter Three. Save for a few misgivings such as substituting painting and drawing for arts and craft and vice versa, this book qualifies to make profound academic mileage among scholars especially those inclined towards early childhood education and development. Also, it can make good educative piece among the general public.

Fintech is a short form of financial technology. It is completely revolutionizing the speed, the scale and the cost of getting financial services to the people by offering new services within the traditional banks, while potentially offering new opportunities within their competitive propositions such as alternative payments and lending mechanisms. Today, mobile payment solutions are available to those without a traditional bank account. Kenya is a world leader in the adoption of mobile payments. M-Pesa, Kenya?s first mobile wallet launched in 2007 to seamlessly transfer funds throughout Kenya, had over Kshs 7 trillion transacted and in 2017, the platform had over 1.7 billion transactions (Safaricom MPESA report, 2017). The transaction value processed through M-Pesa in 2018 shall be higher than the Kenya?s GDP which is Approx. USD 72Billion. Fintechs services offer diverse new opportunities to the banks and they should be embraced. Proper security measure should be put in place to protect the clients who use the services. Banks should also come up with strategies and ways of approaching and dealing with FinTech firms, to ensure that their interest is safeguarded.

This paper focusses on the flow behavior of quaternary blended HPC using modified slump cone test. 49 HPC mixes including control mix were developed incorporating mineral admixture combinations of metkaolin, slag and fly ash up to 92.5% replacement levels. Semi-empirical models were proposed for yield stress and plastic viscosity as the function of the slump and slump time. It was found that the fluidity of concrete increased moderately and the plastic viscosity and yield stress decreased noticeably, when mineral admixture combinations were substituted partially for cement. Out of 49 HPC mixes, the quaternary HPC mix developed with 57.5% cement, 7.5% metakaolin, 25% slag, and 10% fly ash, gives a minimum yield stress of 878 Pa and plastic viscosity of 179 Pa.s.

As an engineer we need to solve the problems facing the present society. One among them is pollution it is very serious problem. One of the major cause for the pollution releasing of methane gas to the environment from the vehicle. To reduce this folding electrical cycle is a small effort which helps to reduce the pollution and provide more comforts to the rider. In this cycle we are arranging lithium battery to reduce the mechanical work done by the rider & folding experiences the rider more reliable,comfortable & portable to the rider