Production of Clay-based Ceramic Filter for Water Purification

The spread of Diseases like Cholera and Diarrhea, which leads to loss of lives in developing countries is commonly caused by use of contaminated water. In this study ceramic pot filters for rural area water purification were developed. The clay sample was tested for physical properties and the mixtures of the clay and sawdust were made in seven (7) proportions of 75/25, 70/30, 65/35, 60/40, 55/45, 50/50, 45/55. The soil tests conducted on the different portions of the clay and sawdust material revealed that the shrinkage of the sawdust blended clay reduced to the minimum of 6.3 compared to the pure clay with 13.7. A fluid dynamic test experiment on each filter was conducted; similarly total dissolved solids (TDS), pH and turbidity tests for both raw water and filtered water were conducted. From fluid dynamic test results, filter 50/50 % tends to have higher filtration rate compared to the other two filters. From the TDS, pH, and turbidity test, the results obtained show that the filtered water quality has fallen within the world health organization (WHO) standard. It can therefore be concluded that the filtered water is safe for consumption.

IoT Based Non–Technical Loss Detection and Mitigation System for Power Distribution Networks

Electrical Energy crisis is a major problem faced in the world today and it’s increasingly significant in this part of Africa. A perfect solution seems not to be feasible as several solutions have been proposed in the past by various authors with little impact on the power sector. In this work, we present a method of Non-Technical Loss (NTL) detection consisting of a microcontroller interfaced with a current sensor that measures the current on the power line. A sensor node is placed at the supply end of the pole while two or more others sensor nodes are connected to the output of the pole depending on the number of consumers. The measured value of current is sent via the microcontroller to a web cloud that is accessible by the consumers and the utility company from any part of the world by simply logging on to the website; www.electricity-theft.herokuapp.com. The design uses the principle of Kirchhoff Current Law (KCL) to achieve this aim. The consumers can therefore monitor their power consumption from any location in the world and prevent theft on the network. The results obtained from the installation of the sensor nodes were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. A correlation analysis of the data results gave us a correlation coefficient of 0.9802, while a regression analysis provided us with a linear relationship between the dependent and independent variable expressed mathematically thus Y = 0.916x + 0.254. A regression graph is also plotted. Furthermore, a T-Test and F-Test was conducted to statistically test the sensor nodes. A NodeMCU Wi-Fi microcontroller and a self-powered Phidget current sensor is used for the sensor node design. Communication between the sensor nodes is via Wi-Fi while a 4G router was used to provide internet services.

Remote-mount Actuation Control: A Veritable Solution to Unreliability of Anti-surge Control Valves in Gas Compressors

This paper presents the design and implementation of a remotely mounted Anti-surge Control Valve (ASCV) for a mixed refrigerant gas compressor deployed in an industrial plant. The traditional ASCV model which is usually self-mounted is plagued by component failures due to stress fatigue from excessive vibrations leading to unreliability of the system. A new system with a remote-mount actuation control system was developed, tested, installed and commissioned in place of the initial self-mount system. Test results showed that average percentage of trips caused by failure of the ASCV dropped from 70% with the initial set-up to 0% with the modified set-up. Hence, a lasting solution to the issue of component fatigue failure from vibrations has been resolved using the highly reliable developed remote-mount actuation control.

Effect of Hydrological Data on Flood Management in Urban Areas

Floods can occur due to rising water levels due to above-normal rainfall, changes in temperature, broken embankments/dams, rapid snowmelt, obstruction of water flow in other places, and putting people at risk of annual disasters due to flooding. The purpose of this study was to obtain a more detailed description of hydrological conditions so that flooding in the Bandar Lampung urban area can be optimally managed or controlled. The method used in flood control research is the analysis of the calculation of the average rainfall in the watershed, and the calculation of the planned discharge. The results of the analysis show that the existing drainage channels that have been carried out for each channel point have dimensions that are not large enough so that they are not sufficient to accommodate water runoff. so that for a 5-year discharge of 28.058 m3/s, the dimensions of the channel are 3 m wide and 2.6 m deep and for a 10-year discharge of 30.609 m3/s, the channel dimensions are 3.1 m wide and 2.7 m deep.

Tomato Yield and Quality Response to Water Application Technique and Management

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is one of the most important and has the highest acreage of any vegetable crop in the world. Such quantitative analysis is based on the assessment of data from sequential collections of plant traits linked to environmental conditions, as well as yield potential under optimal growth conditions. The objective in this study was to evaluate the performance of tomato crop under furrow, basin and hosepipe irrigation techniques in Kabos, Serere District of Eastern Uganda. The materials and methods used in this study included tools like water pump (model DCX2-50D), Tomato variety Rionex, weighting scale, CROPWAT 8.0 software, CANOPEO software among others. Generally, quantitative techniques through several experiment designs were used. Daily and monthly weather variables, in-situ primary datasets of plant height, canopy cover percentages and fruit characteristics, and weight of harvested tomatoes were measured at three growth stages and analyzed using RCBD experiment with six treatments and four replications. Findings showed that overhead treatments had lowest rate of rotten yield compared to basin and furrow but had highest rate of discolored fruits attributed to sunshine and impact of water pressure during irrigation. Rotting of yield was highest in basin treatments. The rotting was attributed to water logging, poor drainage that accelerated fungal infection in the tomatoes. Furrow treatments had better drainage which reduced quantity of nonmarketable yield. There was no significant difference on the weight of tomatoes below 65g. This meant that fruit weight was independent of irrigation method. Treatments under hosepipe irrigation-overhead. Conclusively, water management practices have big impact on the crop yield giving a relationship that yield is directly proportional to water management practices, which however, should be followed by detailed soil and water analysis through such studies. The Safe-Water-for Food (SWFF) target can be reached and eventually reduce on the global hunger syndrome.

Flexural Analysis of Thick Isotropic Rectangular Plates Using Orthogonal Polynomial Displacement Functions

This paper analysed the flexural behaviour of SSSS thick isotropic rectangular plates under transverse load using the Ritz method. It is assumed that the line that is normal to the mid-surface of the plate before bending does not remain the same after bending and consequently a shear deformation function f (z) is introduced. A polynomial shear deformation function f (z) was derived for this research. The total potential energy which was established by combining the strain energy and external work was subjected to direct variation to determine the governing equations for the in – plane and out-plane displacement coefficients. Numerical results for the present study were obtained for the thick isotropic SSSS rectangular plates and comparison of the results of this research and previous work done in literature showed good convergence. However, It was also observed that the result obtained in this present study are significantly upper bound as compared with the results of other researchers who employed the higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT), first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and classical plate theory (CPT) theories for the in – plane and out of plane displacements at span – depth ratio of 4. Also, at a span - depth ratio of and above, there was approximately no difference in the values obtained for the out of plane displacements and in-plane displacements between the CPT and the theory used in this study.

Electrical Power Generation System: Optimal Design for Medium-Load Industries with High-Rated Generators

The demand for electrical power is rapidly increasing due to the rise of industries in developing countries. Power generation stations are having troubles to strike a balance between demand and generation. In this situation, it is urged that appropriate remedial action be taken. Rising power demand can be met by designing an efficient electric power generation system which will also help lowering the generation cost. It is shown that while high rated electric power generators are connected in parallel the value of neutral current is rising and the cooling temperature is also increased. Here, the goal of this experimental work is to present a new model for designing an efficient power production system for average-load (ranging up to 8000 Amp, 440 V) industries to minimize the demand on centralized interconnected grid. A scheme is proposed with four generators (2500 kVA, 2000 kVA, 2000 kVA and 1250 KVA) in parallel and enough cooling arrangement is provided with minimal cost. The coolant temperature is maintained 61 °C to 61.5 °C and at that time diesel temperature is not more than 38.5 °C. The amount of neutral-current is also optimized (up to 8.5 Amp.) which was more than 12 Amp. At the morning and afternoon, the neutral current is almost constant, but it is bit fluctuating between 7.5 Amp to 8.2 Amp at mid-day. The final outcome shows, the suggested system is efficiently stable with the change of load and generates optimal electricity.

Prospective Mapping of Schistosomian Risk by Markovian Modelling and Multi-criteria Analysis in Central Côte d'Ivoire

The Bélier region and the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro, is a region of central Côte d'Ivoire that records every year cases of schistosomiasis contamination. Although the figures are low, this area is of interest for epidemiological control. The schistosomiasis infection with schistosoma haematobium or urinary bilharziasis is the most widespread and is important in some areas along the main rivers of the region. The development of maps of areas at risk schistosomiasis by 2027 by Markov modeling using Markov chains observable and by combining layers of sensitivity and vulnerability of 2027 of the infection show a change in the surface risk of contamination from 17% in 2017 to 23% in 2027 of the total area of the region. These areas are mainly located in the departments of Yamoussoukro, Toumodi and Djékanou. 15% of the localities in this region are high-risk areas in 2017 and 23% in 2027. The prediction of risk areas and localities at high risk of contamination by Markov modeling makes any preventive control strategy possible.

Characteristics of Stereo Imaging using Non-Identical Cameras for Object Detection

The fear from the continuous spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic had put lot of restrictions on the movement of goods around the world. In Egypt, the importing of goods especially electronic products from many countries including China was crucial to the research and educational purposes. The restrictions had stopped the importing of many electronic devices from China including cameras. Object detection and identification were among the hot topics of research in our university which depended mainly on imported cameras. In this paper we tackle the problem of setting up stereo cameras using old non identical cameras to do object detection. The selection of the cameras was not optional since we had to use what we found in our old laptops. OpenCV and Python programming commands were used to set the two cameras to obtain equally clear images as much as possible. A disparity map was then calculated using openCV and its accuracy was then discussed. Accuracy was dependable on the sharpness of the cameras used, Gamma parameter, number of pixels per image and matching algorithm to match the two images obtained using the stereo cameras.

Controlling Factors of the Particle Size of Spherical Silica Synthesized by Wet and Dry Processes

We clarified the controlling factors of the particle size of the amorphous silica synthesized by wet and dry processes. In the wet process using methyl-trimethoxy-silane as a starting monomer, the obtained particle size can be easily controlled by changing the reaction time appropriately. However, to obtain larger particles, a relatively long time is needed. After the condensation reaction was conducted for 50h, the silica particles (D50: 3μm) were synthesized by calcination at 550oC in air. To synthesize larger silica particles, we used silica-seed particles (8μm) to obtain very large spherical silica particles (D50: 20μm). Thus, although the wet process needs a relatively long reaction time, it is very useful for synthesizing spherical silica particles with a wide range of particle size. In the dry process, we used methyl-trimethoxy-silane (MTMS), tetra-ethoxy-silane (TEOS), and octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTSO) as the starting materials. In this process, the size of the silica particles was dominated by the molecular structure of the monomer, in particular, the number of silicon atoms contained in the monomer and the bulkiness of the substituent group. The largest silica particles were synthesized from OMCTSO, which contains the largest number of silicon atoms.