ABSTRACT In this study, the short-term load pattern for the University of Ibadan was investigated and a multilayered feed-forward artificial neural networks (ANN) model was developed to forecast the time series half-hourly load pattern of the system using the load data for a period of 5 years (2000 to 2004). The study showed that the mean half hourly load for the period of study ranged between 1.3 and 2.2 MW, and the coefficient of determination (R2 -values) of the ANN predicted and the measu...
ABSTRACT Commercial act~vated carbons are produced from bituminous and lignite coal. The environmental impacts and potentially increasing cost of coal has encouraged the search for other alternatives in agricultural wastes. The objectives of this study were to develop process flow diagrams for the large scale production of activated carbon from three agricultural wastes namely: coconut shells, oil-palm shells, and sugarcane bagasse as well as carrying out an economic evaluation to estimate th...
ABSTRACT This study explores the potentiality of decimal digits distribution to differentiate between chaotic and random numbers. Ten thousand (10000) random and chaotic numbers each were generated using computer inbuilt random number generator and Logistic equation respectively. The random and chaotic numbers were obtained using FORTRAN codes. Logistic equation was solved for only parameters (Ks7) known to exhibit chaotic behaviour with initial value of 0.3 for all cases. Graphs of decimal d...
ABSTRACT Smoking and drying are major methods of processing and preserving fish in Nigeria. However, inadequate packaging using cartons, baskets, jute and mat bags with transparent polyethylene are the most common which offer little protection against external agents and has been a major challenge. There is dearth of information on the developments of appropriate fish packaging thereby limiting fishery preservation to small scale business. The use of composite packaging materials for storage ...
Abstract A simulation study of the effect of shear stresses in non-reinforced and reinforced structures was carried in this work. Using the Finite Element Method and equations of elasticity, columns and concrete deck of a simple storey structure were subjected to plane strain conditions. The results showed that proper reinforcement causes stresses to be directed into the reinforcements with the resultant shear stresses in the steel reinforcements far below the yield stresses of the steels. In...
ABSTRACT Modeled grain structures of normalized carbon steels using voronoi tessellation is reported in this work. Three stages of programming were used in modeling the microstructures. The first stage was iteration of the voronoi cells in order to obtain equivalent grain size with experimental specimens. In the second stage, the pearlite phase was introduced using the lever rule represented by a plot of random points. The third layer was modeled to reveal the grain boundaries of the carbon s...
Abstract Timber log processing is an energy intensive process which involves converting log into lumber of different sizes and shapes using different and varied methods. The energy supply problems facing Nigeria have adversely affected many log processing industry in the country leading to self-generation of energy. There have been various energy audits in some industries but with little or no attention on the log processing industry in Nigeria. Thus, this study investigated the pattern of en...
ABSTRACT Locally processed rice (Oryza sativa L.) is characterized with high percentage of broken grains and impurities which impair the quality and reduces the market value. Reducing the proportion of broken rice and impurities after milling remains a challenge. There is therefore a need to develop a machine which cleans and grades the rice kernels based on quality. The objective of this work was to develop a cleaner - grader to improve the quality of milled rice. The physical and aerodyna...
ABSTRACT Runge-Kutta scheme is one of the versatile numerical tools for the simulation of engineering systems. Despite its wide and acceptable engineering use, there is dearth of relevant literature bordering on visual impression possibility among different schemes coefficients which is the strong motivation for the present investigation of the third and fourth order schemes. The present study capitalise on results of tedious computation involving Taylor series expansion equivalent supplement...
Abstract- This study investigated the parameters space of simple and familiar quadratic equation often encounter in science based disciplines and in particular engineering. The aim is strange images creation to excite and launch novices to quest for general understanding of fractal taking parallel clue from Julia and Mandelbrot sets creation using the iterative mechanism of complex quadratic mapping. Preliminary computation of a Julia and Mandelbrot sets was performed on a square complex plan...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Lycoperscium spp.) is an important component of daily dietary intake with seasonal and geographical variation in its production. They are usually in short supply in the dry season and effective storage in the fresh state still poses a challenge. Pre-treatment methods have been reported to improve drying characteristics of fruits and vegetables but there is dearth of information on drying of indigenous variety of tomato despite its high nutritional value. Pre-treatment methods...
ABSTRACT Soil displacement by tillage is a major contributor to the redistribution of soil particles within the soil profile. The extent of soil redistribution eventually has an effect on the performance of crop production. It is, therefore, valuable to investigate soil displacement by disc plough since it is known to be the widely used primary tillage implement in Ghana. Consequently, a study was conducted at the Livestock and Poultry Research Centre of the University of Ghana (LIPREC) with ...
Abstract This research work investigated the modeling of Von Mises stress in LNG Spherical Carbon Steel Storage tank using assumed displacement Finite Element analysis based on shallow shell triangular elements. Using equations of elasticity, constant thickness carbon steel spherical storage tanks were subjected to different loading conditions. This paper stresses the need for proper definition of shallow element using sector angles to obtain the shallowness. The shallow spherical triangular ...
ABSTRACT Two field experiments were conducted to compare the growth and yield of tomatoes using experimentation and FAO AquaCrop model at the University of Cape Coast Teaching and Research Farm in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly of the Central Region of Ghana. The Randomized Complete Block Design was used with four (4) treatments and four(4) replications for the two experiments. The treatments used for both experiments were T1 – Full irrigation (100 %), T2 – 90 % irrigation, T3 –...
Abstract This research work investigated the corrosion resistance of nickel plated low carbon steel in tomato fluid. It simulated the effect of continuous use of the material in a tomato environment where corrosion products are left in place. Low carbon steel samples were nickel electroplated at 4V for 20, 25, 30 and 35 mins using Watts solution.The plated samples were then subjected to tomato fluid environment for for 30 days. The electrode potentials mV (SCE) were measured every day. Weight...