Archives-June... 

This study investigates the mechanical properties of Chrysophyllum albidum to determine its potential for utilization in Nigeria. The test samples were obtained from tree at breast height. Results of test on Chrysophyllum albidum showed that the mean impact bending was 1.08m which increased from the corewood to the outerwood and remained constant upward along the tree. The mean MOR was 155.18N/mm2, which ranged from 151.46 to 157.53N/mm2 radially. Also the axial values ranged from 158.77 to 152.58N/mm2. There was an increase in MOR from the corewood to the outerwood and there is a decrease in MOR from the top of the tree (25%) to the base (75%). The mean MOE was 39309.04N/mm2, and ranged from 36303.84 to 40409.65N/mm2 radially and from 40993.7 to 39547.57N/mm2 axially. There was an increase in MOE from corewood to the outerwood. Conversely, there was a decrease from the base to the top of the tree.The mean maximum compression strength parallel to the grain was 45.55N/mm2, the highest value was obtained at the middlewood and decrease from the base (25%, 46.91N/mm2) to the top (75%, 43.95N/mm2) of the wood. In conclusion, a comparison of the strength properties values obtained with economic tree species such as Milicia excelsa, Mansonia altissima, Khaya species e.t.c shows that Chrysophyllum albidum wood has almost the same values with these economic species.

self compacting concrete, also referred as self-consolidate concrete, is able to flow in and consolidate under its own weight and is almost completely while flowing in all type of formwork. It is cohesive enough to fill the spaces of almost any size and shape without any segregation and bleeding. This makes SCC particularly useful wherever placing is difficult, such as in heavily –reinforced concrete members or in complicated work forms. In this study it is proposed to place the constituent material by mineral admixtures and adding chemical admixtures. Also, it is proposed to use self curing compound instead of normal curing concrete. Self compacting and self curing concrete specimens in size of cubes (150mmx150mm x150mm), cylinder (300mm x150mm), and prisms (500mm x 100mmx100mm) were cast and tested. The ANN modeling also derives and compares the results.

The present study is an attempt to find out appropriate ARIMA model by using Box-Jenkins methodology to forecast the export/import of wood based panel in India on time series data for a period of 16 years from 1996-97 to 2011-12. Test criterion like lowest Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), R2 value and lowest of mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) are applied to predict the accuracy of the model. This study found ARIMA (0,1,0) with R2: 0.83 for the export and ARIMA (0,1,1) with R2: 0.87 for the import to forecast of export/import of wood based panel. The estimated export and import of wood based panels in the year 2020 would be increased by 170% and 127% in respect to 2012.

Mean shift tracking is a widely used tool for robust and quick tracking of the object in video, against partial occlusion and clutter. This paper proposes a Parzen window based mean shift tracker for visual object tracking. It combines three RGB color histogram and generates its Kernel Density estimation using Gaussian Kernel. Parzen window density estimation method is used to solve the basic problems of mean shift like, divide by zero problems in the weight computation and its association to tracking interruption. The Parzen window interpolates the histogram of target candidate. The experimental results show that proposed method performs better than traditional mean shift for fast moving objects and objects having background clutter at moderate increase in computational complexity.

The concept of pair resolving sets in graphs are defined as a generalization of resolving sets. Some properties of pair resolving sets are discussed.

Antimicrobial control programs are widely used to decrease antibiotic utilization, but effects on antimicrobial resistance and outcomes for patients remain controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of rotation of antibiotic classes used as empirical surgical prophylaxis on the emergence of bacterial resistance organisms and antibiotics drug use when compared with non-rotation period. Three core, broad spectrum agents (Cephalosporins, beta-lactam-inhibitors, and fluoroquinolones) were selected for inclusion in the quaternary rotation for 21 months, based on prior 8 months baseline data from GIT and urology surgical wards in Ibn Sina hospital. Intensive surveillance done for patients admitted to the selected settings. 1681 surveillance samples obtained from 2359 eligible inpatients admitted to hospital from Jan 2008 to May 2010. A significant reduction in the percentage of positive growth had been observed with antibiotic rotation for both wards from 65% and 49% in baseline to 59% and 33% in rotation (1) and 25% and 33% in rotation (2) in GIT and urology ward respectively (p? 0.0001). As general there was a divergent effect of the antimicrobial rotation on the prevalence of resistance among G+ve and G-ve bacteria. We concluded that antimicrobial drug use in surgical departments could be optimized after implementation of antimicrobial cycling policy, and associated in reduction in the incidence of infectious mortality and morbidity but stabilize antibiotic resistance, without significant reduction.

Exhaust of simple, reheat and inter-cooling cycle of gas turbine cycle posses a lot of energy. Sometime this energy is so much that it can run another cycle or it can be used to heat the compressed air from the compressor to the combustion charmer that results to increase the overall efficiency of the plant. Air Bottoming Cycle (ABC) was proposed as an alternative for the conventional steam bottoming cycle. In spite of the cost of reducing hardware installations it could achieve a thermal efficiency of 80%. This paper is the parametric analysis of regenerative ABC Combine Cycle. The variables are compression ratio of topping cycle, peak temperature of the combustion chamber and mass flow rate of bottoming cycle. The result shows the gain in net work output as well as efficiency of combined cycle is 14% to 33%.

The research study was design to measure the participants’ satisfaction with continuous professional development (CPD) program. Study also aims to explore the affects of demographic factors that can enhance or decrease the satisfaction level of the course participants. For the measurement of participants’ satisfaction quantitative and qualitative methods were used. For quanttative analysis a research tool comprised of 73 items were developed and for qualitative analysis interview method was used. The population of the study includes primary school teachers, head teachers and DTE’s. Cluster training and support center, district teacher educator and primary school teachers asked to response about continuous professional development program through the questionnaire and interview. Total number of sample was 66 PST’s, head teachers and DTE’s. The data collected through the questionnaires was analyzed with the help of statistical package for social sciences. Results reveled that overall teachers with less experience and professional qualification are more satisfied with this training; Moreover female teachers are more satisfied as compared to male participants.

Growing public interest and awareness of environmental issues have contributed to the global spread of pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) schemes, highlighting their effectiveness in promoting cultural change toward more responsible and sustainable consumption practices. The objective of this paper, after a systematic review of the literature, is to analyze the system, methods, and calculation of point-based taxation, focusing on the benefits: from the point of view of environmental sustainability, the application of the point-based tariff leads to a reduction in waste, while increasing sorting and recycling; from the point of view of local finances, this could reduce the costs of waste management services, through more efficient use of public resources.After outlining trends in using the PAYT system in Italian municipalities over the past five years, we focus on implementation in Benevento, a medium-sized city in southern Italy. Introducing this system involves several significant investments, funds for which can be raised from Recovery and Resilience Plan funds and through a complex administrative process.

This research work is on building reliable strategies for pension administration in Delta State Civil Service. The aim is to help the Nigeria civil service to build strategies for pension administration in Delta State. The paper adopted the system theory as the theoretical framework. The sources of data collection for this work are primary and secondary source. The study recommended that committees should be set up to conduct the performance of pension boards and other pension agencies also. And responsibilities should be assigned to the right people who have access to the right information concerning retirees.