Study of Seasonal Surface Refractivity over North-Central Nigeria

Tropospheric radio wave signals experience loss due to multipath effect, scattering and other forms of attenuation through the atmospheric medium, primarily due to variations in weather conditions with time. The knowledge of surface refractivity profile is important for optimal planning of Very High Frequency/Ultra High Frequency (VHF/UHF) terrestrial radio links in a region. The study of surface refractivity (Ns) over the North-Central Nigeria was carried out using meteorological data from seven locations in North-Central zone of Nigeria. The seasonal variations of Ns were also derived using the monthly summaries of surface data obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) over seven stations of Abuja, Lafia, Lokoja, Makurdi, Jos, Minna and Ilorin between 2005 and 2010.The results indicated that the monthly averages of radio refractivity during the rainy season months (April to October) are greater than the Ns values during the dry season months (November to March) for all the locations throughout the years of the study. The computed of mean monthly Ns over all the seven stations in the first 1 km above the ground level is 348 N-units, which gives mean refractivity gradient (dN/dh) of -49 N/k, these shows that the region is characterised by low scale super-refraction. The mean k-factor over the entire region in the first 1 km above the ground level is 1.4; the mean Field Strength Variability (FSV) in first 1 km of height in the region was calculated to be 14 dB. The mean Radio Horizon distance within 1 km height for a transmitter height of 100 m over the stations is 42 km. The results provide useful information needed by radio engineers to set up new terrestrial radio propagation links or to improve on the existing ones especially at VHF, UHF in the North-Central region of Nigeria, as recommended by International Telecommunication Union Recommendations (ITU-R P.453, 2013), which observed the need for local reference data on refractivity and refractivity gradients all over the world.

Power Density Measurement within Kaduna North Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

The measurement of possible presence of radiofrequency (RF) radiations from telecommunication base stations was carried out within Kaduna North Area of Kaduna State, to estimate the maximum level of power density from RF radiations to which the member of the populace within specific radius from the base transceiver station (BTS) are exposed to in relation to the existing guidelines to human exposure. Power density S (µWm-2) measurements were made at interval of 20 m to check the exposure level at public locations from 10 RF antenna sites starting from the foot of each BS to distance (radius) of 100 m using Aaronia Spectran HF-4060 Analyser and the electric field strength E (Vm-1) were calculated. The highest and lowest value obtained from measured mean power densities were 108.27 µWm-2 and 94.74 µWm-2 from a distance of 100 m and 40 m respectively. Also, the highest and lowest average electric field strength were 202.03 (Vm-1) and 188.99 (Vm-1) at 100 m and 40 m respectively. The result obtained, indicates that the measured values were far less than the permissible exposure limits for both workers and the general public as set by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). These results shows that the exposure levels in these areas are low and as such will not pose significant health risks to the people living in the study area.

Detection Efficiency of a NaI (Tl) Gamma Spectrometry System for Measurement of Low Level Radioactivity

Qualitative analysis of radionuclides requires the use of reliable gamma-ray detection system. The NaI(Tl) detector has been widely used and still one of the most used detectors today. It is therefore imperative to validate the reliability of the 5x5 cm2 NaI(Tl) gamma spectrometry system used in carrying out gamma-ray analysis of soil samples in the Radiation and Health Laboratory, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria. The gamma ray spectrometer is housed in a 5 cm thick cylindrical lead shield. Calibration was executed using standard materials produced under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Resolution and detection limit (LD) of the detector were determined using full width at half the maximum of the energy peak of 137Cs and background signal level of the reference materials respectively. Counting efficiencies of the detector was calculated using energies of 1460 keV, 1764keV and 2615 keV for 40K, 226Ra and 232Th respectively. Secondary samples, RGMIX1 and RGMIX2 were formulated and counted to calculate activity concentrations using the NaI(Tl) detector. Resolution of the detector was calculated to be 7.8% of 137Cs, which is good for a NaI(Tl) detector. The counting efficiency of the detector is seen to depend on the gamma ray energy. The results from this work shows that the detector system is suitable gamma spectrometry, and will give quality measurements when used for quantitative determination of radionuclides in environmental samples. The efficiency and resolution of the NaI(Tl) detector should also be determined using photon energies obtained from other radioactive sources.

Effect of Doping Concentration on Structural Stability and Formation Energy of the Fluorine Doped Hexagonal Molybdenum Dioxide (MoO2). A First Principle Study.

The structural properties of undoped and Fluorine doped Hexagonal Molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) with different doping concentrations have been calculated using Density Functional Theory (DFT) within Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) as implemented in Quantum Espresso (QE). The calculated results were for the formation energy of 4.17%, 8.33%, 12.5%, of F doped MoO2 are 232.5eV, 463.0eV, and 698.5eV respectively, which show the variation of energy based on the increase in the doping concentration that led to having the breakage of bond in the structure of the compound. The undoped and 4.17% of F doped MoO2 have three free atoms, which maintain the stability of the structure, but when the doping concentration was increased, the bond breaks simultaneously which led to having four and five free atoms for 8.33%, and 12.5% of F doped MoO2 respectively. This makes 4.17% of F doped MoO2 with 17.09Ry more stable. Similarly, the bond length of undoped MoO2 was 2.2505pm, but when doped with 4.17% of F it changes to 2.3030pm which indicates a greater stability of the structure concentrations of the dopant above 4.17% reduced the bond length, which made the structure less stable.

Investigation of Groundwater Potential Using Electromagnetic Method at a Basement Complex Area of University of Abuja, Gwagwalada

The Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic Method (VLF-EM) was used in view of detecting fractured or weathered zones within the University of Abuja Staff Quarters, Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory. The VLF -EM data measured along seventeen profiles of 400m at inter profile distance of 25m and interstation separation of 10m were done using the Scintrex ENVI Instrument. The VLF-EM survey revealed features significant to groundwater potential as conductive zones in the Fraser Filter maps and current density pseudosections. Three distinct zones were delineated based on the current density distribution. The fresh basement terrain corresponds to the highly resistive zone with current density value less than -20. The intermediate zone has current density value range of -20 to 25 typical of rocks and soil component which are slightly resistive to slightly conductive and corresponds to the partially saturated units. The third zone is highly conductive with current density value greater than 30 which includes the saturated weathered or fractured basement, fault zones, clay units and saturated sandy units within the study area. The north eastern, north western (profiles 1-8) and some parts of the southern region (profiles 16 and 17) of the study area show higher conductive zones than the central parts of the study area. This survey has helped in detecting sites that are suitable for groundwater exploration by identifying water bearing fractures and weathered zones in the study area. The areas with high conductivity response are areas with conductive overburden material such as clayey soil, saturated soil, water filled fractures and faults or weathered zone within the basement.

Synthesis of carbon nanostructures using microwave enhanced chemical vapor deposition and its potential application to ammonia sensing

In this paper, Carbon Nanostructures (CNS) were directly synthesized on gallium orthophosphate (GaPO4). An alternative microwave enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MECVD) technique was used to synthesized the CNS via commercial microwave oven with operating power of 600 W at 2.45 GHz. Microwave heating provides the temperature for catalytic decomposition of polyethylene at 750 °C for 4 minutes under atmosperic pressure of 0.81 mbar. Characterization of the as-grown CNS was carried out using Raman spectroscopy and Field Emission Scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Raman spectroscopic investigation reveals the CNS quality of 0.92 and the field emission Scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis shows twisted hollow-like CNS structures. The material was deployed as a sensor without any post treatment so as to investigate its potential application in the sensor industry. Different concentrations of ammonia (NH3) gas from 0.06% to 1% were exposed.

Geophysical Investigation of a Fault Zone from Aeromagnetic Data over the Ageva Area of Okene Kogi State, Nigeria

High-resolution aeromagnetic data over a part of Ageva fault zone in Nigeria have been analyzed with a view to estimate sedimentary thicknesses within the studied area. The data set of this study area, was subjected to various corrections and interpretation techniques. Regional residual correction was done and the noise level of the data was reduced via upward continuation to a height of 250 m thereby enhancing the reliability of the results obtained. Qualitative interpretation techniques which include: Second Vertical Derivative, Analytic Signal, Tilt derivative were used to delineate the trending pattern of the anomalies in the study area which are in the E-W, NE-SW, NW-SE, and N-S directions. The result suggests that fault zone within Ageva and Owo may be mineralized and also that the faults within Ageva and Ibilo extend by a quarter of their exposed length. The Werner solutions revealed that inferred faults within Owo and Ibilo may have relatively low susceptibilities as compared with others in the study area and the range of the depth extent of linear features is 401.5 m – 982.5 m.