bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Physical, chemical and mechanical properties of corn sheath as pulp and paper raw material
Authors: E Alagbe E. , Bassey E. S. , Daniel O. E. , Shongwe M. B. , Ojewumi M. E. , Igwe C. C. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractMost papers are made from virgin wood-based pulp of hardwood sources but recently, softwood have received enormous attention as alternative to hard wood because the hardwood takes a significant number of years to mature enough for use in the pulp and paper industry unlike softwood which are majorly annual plants. The annual crop in focus in this work is the yellow open-pollinated variety of corn which generates tons of waste at harvest. A novel attempt is made to ascertain the viability of corn sheaths as raw material for the pulp and paper industry by carrying out a comprehensive analysis on the pulp and paper made from the pulp. The sheaths were dried, shred and cut into pieces suitable for the digester and the pulps obtained were analysed for physico-chemical properties. Hand sheets were also made using the generated pulp and its physico-mechanical properties were analysed. Results obtained were compared with pulp from corn husks from other parts of the country, three Nigerian fibre sources – silk cotton, bagasse and rice straw and other foreign non-wood sources and found to be of competitive properties. Pulp properties of Lignin content, ash content, cellulose, hot and cold water solubility of the fibres were 13.72 ± 1.21%, 1.27 ± 0.23%, 53.26 ± 1.11%, 15.20 ± 2.11 and 6.14 ± 2.43 respectively while the mechanical properties of paper from the pulp were Bursting strength (282.163 KPa m2/g), Tear strength (146.119), Tensile strength (257.6N/m) and Tensile Index (3.9Nm/g). It was found that in all properties, the corn sheath was better than the rice straw fibers but not as good as the silk cotton and bagasse fibers. However, the corn sheath has been identified, as a viable raw material for the pulp and paper industry in Nigeria.
Fantasy theme analysis: rhetorical visions of political corruption in nigerian newspapers
Authors: Afolayan Tayo-Adigboluja , Nelson Okorie , Opeyemi Oredola , Peter Ada 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This research lays emphasis on predominant corruption stories in popular Nigerian newspapers, by means of fantasy-theme analysis in reviewing issues that concern corruption within the Nigerian political sphere. Particularly, this analysis compares stories about Nigerian politicians who have been reported at various points in time by Nigerian newspapers as corrupt individuals, who in one way or the other were found guilty of syphoning funds and falsifying relevant information. Through a thorough examination of fantasy themes roles on these accounts and recognizing which parts of reality are significant, we conceive what the messages are able to achieve with regards to the creation of rhetorical visions within contexts of symbolic convergence theory. In this study, fantasy themes analysed disclose meanings regarding morality, personal decisions, and class privilege. This study also highlights how stories on corruption cases by political leaders could help in the establishment of proper, honourable societies that punish or reprimand certain corrupt behaviours via normative impact on audiences. Fundamentally, rhetorical visions derived in this paper suggest that decision to be corrupt or not, as a politician lies with the politician himself.
Experimental Comparison of Video Streaming Platforms and Devices with Objective Quality of Experience Metrics Towards Reliable Multimedia Applications in Education
Authors: Adetiba Emmanuel , Akanle Matthew B. , Babalola Daniel T. , Akande Victor , Sheidu Peter , Ariyo Bolaji , Thakur Surendra , Raymond Kala Jules 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This paper presents the result of experimental comparison of the video quality of streamed videos using streaming devices and streaming platforms. The objective metrics considered for the comparison of these media are the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity (SSIM), Visual Information Fidelity (VIF), Information Fidelity Criterion (IFC), and Visual Signal-to-Noise Ratio (VSNR). To determine the better platform for effective multimedia applications especially for educational purposes, videos were obtained and streamed via Data video, YouTube and Facebook. In the first two scenarios, Data video at two different settings were engaged at the encoding end and PotPlayer was used for decoding and recording of the transmitted videos. In the third and fourth scenarios, Videos were streamed via YouTube and Facebook. The aforementioned objective metrics were implemented in MATLAB R2017b for the experimental analyses and our results showed that YouTube produced streamed videos of the best quality with PNSR of 37.98, SIMM of 0.98 and VSNR of 33.12.
The Influence of Meteorological Features on the Performance Characteristics of Solar Photovoltaic Storage System
Authors: Gbenga Afolabi , Hope Orovwode , Ademola Abdulkareem , Anthony Adoghe , Simeon Matthew 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Over the years, there has been increasing interest in exploitation of renewable energy source (RES) as a result of fast depletion of fossil fuel based conventional power generation with attendant negative environmental impact. However, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass etc are not always available because of their fluctuating nature. In view of this, it has become imperative to have an efficient energy storage system (ESS) for sustained energy availability. Batteries storage often suffers early failure due to irregular charge and discharge cycle which could eventually shorten its life span. Therefore, this research focuses on investigation of the influence of meteorological parameters on battery storage in solar PV system as well as evaluating the influence of these factors on the performance characteristics of solar PV storage system. The work examines particularly the effect of varying solar temperature and irradiance on the system output charging current and overall efficiency. A modified mathematical model of a solar PV was developed to show the relationship between meteorological parameters (irradiance and temperature), and PV output short circuit current. Analysis of meteorological data obtained for determination of state of charge (SOC) of battery storage based on the six geographical areas in Nigeria revealed that, in Bornu state (North-east) the battery attained 100% (hundred percent) state of charge in1Hr (one hour), while in Plateau state (north-central), the battery attained 60% (sixty percent) state of charge in 8hrs (eight hours), being the least in terms of charging rate. In Kaduna (North-west) region, the battery attained 88% state of charge in one hour and 96% SOC after duration of eight hours. This is quite different from Lagos (Southwest), where the battery SOC in one hour was 38% and 78% SOC in eight hours. This phenomenon therefore, revealed that solar PV system implementation should be site specific and it also account for the life span of the storage and the system efficiency.
Thermal Modelling for A Pilot Scale Pyrolytic Furnace for Production of Carbon Black
Authors: Ishola Felix A. , Inegbenebor Anthony O. , Oyawale Festus A. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Carbon black (CB) is a very important material useful for various modern applications. There are a lot of attention currently on the extraction of a form of CB obtainable from waste tyres which is usually referred to as pyrolytic Carbon black (CBp). The authors investigated the pyrolysis process of a pyrolytic furnace built for the production of CBp using the thermal numerical principles to standardise the application. SolidWorks@ Flow Simulation software was used to replicate the process by supplying the initial conditions, the boundary conditions and the operating conditions guided by the numerical analysis. The simulated behaviour of the furnace was validated by the real-life experiments performed to produce CBp from the waste tyre.
Effect of punch force on the upsetting deformation process using three-dimensional finite element analysis
Authors: Mwema F.M. , Obiko J.O. , Akinlabi E.T , Akinlabi S.A. , Fatoba O.S. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Forging is one of the conventional shaping technologies that is widely used for the manufacture of quality products for various industrial applications. The process involves the mechanical application of a punching force to deform a material to the desired shape and improved properties. In most cases, the manufacture of quality products depends on the experience of the designer and trial and error method thus making the process wasteful and costly. The present study reports on the application of finite element method (FEM) for the analysis of the effect of punch force on the stress/strain distribution during the deformation process as a step towards the reduction of trial and error methods in practice. The results show that increase in the punch force leads to inhomogeneity in the strain/stress distribution due to change in the deformation temperature resulting from the internal heat generated during plastic deformation stage and the frictional force at the punch-workpiece interface. It is also observed that the maximum effective strain occurs at the center of the deformed sample and the maximum effective stress occurs at the low effective strain regions. Moreover, the friction parameter increases as the punch force increases.
Intelligent Shunt Fault Classifier for Nigeria 33-kV Power Lines
Authors: Awelewa A. A. , Mbamaluikem P. O. , Aderemi O. S. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This paper presents a new approach to using artificial neural networks (ANNs) in improving the protection of transmission lines. The proposed method uses instantaneous values of voltages and currents during normal and fault conditions on a transmission line as inputs to four different neural network structures. The structures are then aptly combined to yield a system that can detect and classify shunt faults with improved efficiency. The details of the design procedure as well as various simulations carried out are provided in the paper. The performance of the developed system is evaluated using two performance indices, viz., accuracy and mean square error (MSE), and the results show that this approach is capable of detecting and classifying all possible shunt faults on the 33-kV Nigeria power lines in less than 1ms with high level of accuracy.
Two-Body Spinless-Salpeter equation of unequal masses interacting with Coulomb-Hulthẻ n potential
Authors: Onate C.A. , Obaseki O.S. , Onyeaju M.C. , Ikot A.N. , Ebomwonyi O. , Oladejo N.K. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
We obtained the analytical solutions of the two-body Salpeter equation via the methodology of supersymmetric quantum mechanics under a combination of Coulomb and Hulthén potentials for unequal masses. We clearly examined the energy eigenvalues for the ground state and excited states. The behaviour of energy with the sum of the masses and the screening parameter respectively, were also studied. The results showed that two bodies of unequal masses interacting within the system exhibit the same features.
Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Towards the Selection of a Perfect Location for Establishing Crude Oil Refinery in Niger Delta Nigeria
Authors: Okokpujie I.P. , Okonkwo U. C. , Akinlabi E.T. , Okokpujie K. , Atayero A. A. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Crude oil refinery is a significant manufacturing company in Nigeria, which when properly build in a good location, it will help to stable the economic instability in the country. As the end product of the crude oil process is used for different purposes such as, transportation, cooking, electricity generation and for industrial application, which will help to improve the daily living of the Nigerians. This work presents a multi-criteria analysis method for suitable selection of the refinery location in Niger Delta, Nigeria. The suggested location principle takes into consideration the technical aspect of the Environment. The four interest considered in this work are economy factor, nearness to other felicities, environment impact and traffic impact. These interest were examined for three locations alternative such as Delta state, Bayelsa state and Akwa-ibom state using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assign weight through pair-wise comparison and Multi-criteria decision-making tool to make a suitable selection. The analytical results show that Akwa-ibom state has the highest aggregative value of the rated score of 539, Delta state of 482 and Bayelsa state of 438. The result derived from this study as proven that AHP method for selection decision making is reasonable and obtainable for refinery selection location.
Empirical Modelling of a Prototype Resistance Spot Welding Machine
Authors: Ozoegwu C. G. , Oti C. N. , Okokpujie I. P. , Akinlabi E. T. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Resistance spot welding (RSW) has been extensively used in the automotive and aerospace industries over the years. The weld quality of spot welds is affected by the welding parameters like electrode force, weld time, electrode current and workpiece size/shape parameters like workpiece thickness. This study focuses on the effect of electrode force, weld time and workpiece thickness on the weld quality of mild steel samples where the aim is to correlate the weld strength to welding parameters of a portable RSW machine installed at the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Lap shear weld samples are tested for strength, and the results are used to develop an empirical model. The developed model has a coefficient of determination of 0.6365 and a correlation coefficient of 0.7978. Hypothesis testing at 5% significance level discovered that the most significant predictor is the cross interaction of the workpiece thickness and electrode force with p-value of 0.02367 and that the model is significant with a p-value = 0.0453. The model is validated by further welding operations and tensile shear tests which gave a percentage error not exceeding 12.92% but was as low as 6.35%.
Vision Algorithms for Sensing Soft Robots
Authors: Oguntosin Victoria , Akindele Ayoola , Alashiri Olaitan 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
The aim of this paper is the presentation and verification of computer vision algorithms in order to measure the geometric parameters of soft robots. The materials from which soft robots are made from possess large deformations. Embedded sensors or visual processing algorithms are often used to obtain measurement performance data from these robots. Integration of embedded sensors with soft robots can be cumbersome and expensive, also limiting the performance of a soft actuator. In this paper, implemented visual processing algorithms (thresholding, SAD, SSD and ZNCC) to measure performance data such as angle of motion, degree of bending, radius of curvature in real-time implemented with OpenCV libraries and Webcam is described. Soft RGB colour markers were also produced and firmly glued into the body of the soft robot with no hindrance to movement. Some concepts of visual processing applied include colour tracking, template matching and camera calibration. The execution of vision based motion control to a variety of soft actuators such as bending and wedge-shaped soft actuators was described.
A Proposed Mobile Voting Framework Utilizing Blockchain Technology and Multi-Factor Authentication
Authors: Abayomi-Zannu T. P. , Odun-Ayo I. A. , Barka T. F. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Voting is fundamental to any consensus-based society and is one of the most critical functions of democracy. Mobile voting (m-voting) was utilized as a means for voters to easily and conveniently cast their votes using their mobile devices which have been the most adopted means of communication but has a major problem which is safely securing the casted votes and avoiding any form of tampering. In this paper, we propose an m-voting framework that utilizes blockchain technology to securely store the casted votes and multi-factor authentication to authenticate the voters before they cast their votes while also providing an easily accessible, secure and transparent m-voting system.
Climate change and business activities: a case of cassava farmers in Ogun state, Nigeria.
Authors: Iboro Paul Udoh , Saidi Adelekan Adedeji , Uchenna Eze Benneth , Dorcas Kolo Sunday 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Climate change is an observable variation in the climate systems that are attributable to human (anthropogenic) activities and natural process (biogeographical), which alters the atmospheric composition of the earth and ultimately leads to global warming. The relationship between climate change (measured by increasing temperature trend and decreasing rainfall trend) and the business activities of cassava farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria appears not to have been fully examined; this study examines the relationship between climate change and the business activities of Cassava farmers in Ogun State.
This study employs survey research design, through the administration of structured questionnaire to cassava farmers in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State. The research instrument (questionnaire) was validated using content validity index, through the assessment of five academics staff (in the departments of business administration and agriculture) at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Ibogun Campus, Ogun state, while the reliability of the instrument was tested through test-retest method by conducting a pilot study. The instrument was administered twice within an interval of two weeks and the outcome of the first pilot study was correlated with that of the second and a Cronbach alpha of 0.79 was obtained, which indicated that the instrument is reliable. The regression model was tested using categorical regression with the aid of STATA version 14.
The findings revealed that climate change is negatively related to the business activities of cassava farmers in Ogun State with coefficient and probability value of: increasing temperature trend (-0.54, p-value<0.05) and decreasing rainfall trend (-0.72, p-value<0.05). It can therefore be concluded that increasing temperature trend and decreasing rainfall trend, have an inverse relationship with the business activities of cassava farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. It is recommended that the government should come up with eco-friendly policies as well as liaising with other nations to combat global warming as well as creating irrigational facilities to augment decreasing rainfall, cassava farmers should maximize the use of the raining season as well as creating small irrigational facilities.
Innovative Approach for the Management of Faecal Sludge Accumulated in Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine: A Case Study of eThekwini Municipality in Durban South Africa
Authors: Bakare B.F. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
The provision of sustainable sanitation service to all South Africans has become one of the government national priorities. This is because the government recognizes that all citizens of the country has the right to basic sanitation that is affordable, appropriate, socially acceptable and sustainable in the long run. Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIP) has been considered to be the minimum acceptable level of sanitation service. However, the provision of appropriate sanitation service in the form of VIP latrines to all goes beyond building the toilets, plans should be put in place by municipalities are for adequate operation and maintenance of the toilets before and when the toilets reaches their capacity. Major challenges faced by many of this municipalities which is also common in many developing countries is that, this on-site sanitation systems eventually becomes full to their capacity and if there is no long-term maintenance plan in place, this system becomes unusable and eventually leaves the household without an effective basic sanitation system again. This paper present innovative approaches that have been considered for the operation and maintenance of Ventilated Improved Pit latrine in and around eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa.
Water contamination: Burden and stratagems for control.
Authors: Igibah E.C. , Agashua L. O. , Sadiq A. A. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
It is tough to explain the exact degree of the significance of water to man in his strenuous climb up of the civilization ladder. It is certain, conversely, that without water there would be no life of any form in the world and that, without water readily accessible in ample quantity and free of pathogenic creatures, man’s advancement is enormously hindered. Though with no actual counting possibility, billions of man-days of labour are indubitably lost yearly because of sickness and death from water-borne diseases. Ill-advisedly, the regions which can least afford this economic damage are the dwellings where such illness and death are most proliferating. The obligation for decreasing this terrific waste falls on governments and, precisely, on health managements. It is the aim of this critique to assist the government executives who must meet this task among the health medicals officers, public health administrators and civil or sanitary engineers who engaged in public health, and sanitarians.
Impact of controlling wastes and sustainable improvement in Bwari – Abuja, Nigeria.
Authors: Igibah E.C. , Agashua L. O. , Sadiq A. A. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
The paper analysis waste management and sustainable improvement in Nigeria with specific reference to Bwari, F.C.T, Abuja. The area was divided into three regions namely: District A (south region), District B (west region) and District C (central region). Survey research stratagem was implemented with questionnaire as main tools applied for data gathering which were distributed to twenty-five families carefully picked randomly making total of 75 families that were studied. The main cause of waste management problem are illiteracy and income level, likewise city waste categorization for the Bwari - Abuja reveals paper, food leftovers and water sachets as the highest waste generated, but for transfer purposes, FLEXIBLE bag are regularly utilized to dispose waste since bags are stress-free in disposing and low-priced. The waste storing frequency is between 12 – 24 hours whereas waste throwing frequency follows frequently once and bi-weekly gatherings. Some respondents have open dumps within their vicinity where waste is stock before thrown away. However, there is great recycling event for metal and bottles since they are recycled at home and 15 % sell. Joint solid waste management practice in Bwari - Abuja are storing and highway or canal waste disposal whereas recycling and waste reduction which are waste minimization implements in the trio pyramid system which is the strength of most waste administration systems is faintly practiced.