volume 5 ~ issue 8

Cables are invaluable structural elements. They have been used in guyed towers, bridges marine vehicles, offshore structures, transmission lines and tensioning applications etc. Briefly, cables are necessary elements for long spans. As known, cables are tension elements; they cannot carry any compression load due to its unique geometry. This tangential convoluted geometry makes them hard to analyze. Engineers solve cables assuming them as linear elements even now, because cables cannot be solved by classical finite element methods. Having almost zero bending rigidity makes it vulnerable to drastic vertical movements............

Keywords - Single-Segment Cable, Catenary, Rope, Newton-Raphson.

Environmental and health degradation due to poor solid waste management has been a major source of concern in all parts of Nigeria. Municipal solid waste samples were collected during the months of February, March and April and during the rainy season in August for three years in major cities of the north western Nigeria. These cities are Birnin Kebbi, Gusau and Sokoto with high population densities and intense industrial activities. The refuse physical characteristics were then evaluated by sifting through the waste and separated into wood, grass, metal, plastic, paper and sand. The refuse samples were analyzed by proximate and ultimate analyses.........

Keywords -North western Nigeria, municipal solid waste, ultimate analysis, proximate analysis, calorific value, electricity generation.

The scope of discussion in this scientific papers, on development of strategic management is expected to give an understanding to academics and practitioners of that science in development of strategic management paradigm shift based on changes in environment of the military strategy theory towards a strategy to achieve competitive advantage.

Keywords -Development, strategic management, competitive advantage

Computer security is of great concern to users and corporate bodies now ever than before due to activities of criminals and hackers on the Internet. Software piracy and the breach of the copyright laws, intentionally or unintentionally is very common these days. Software piracy is a menace to software developers and computer users all over the world. Software hackers have become nuisance to many organizations, corporate bodies and government alike. Pirating software has caused lost of several billions US Dollars and the problem continued unabated. There have been a lot of security threats in recent past due to the activities of hackers. Several financial organizations and national securities have been threatened and even some have been compromised. In this paper, we proposed the code encryption technique for combating software piracy.........

Keywords -Software piracy, code encryption, computer software, computer security, software developers

Digital communications has evolved rapidly with a lot of success. The new trend seems to be the reinvention of already existing and even discredited or discarded theories or in this case, channels. Extensive research into optimizing or enhancing already existing schemes is still gaining momentum with practical results for all to experience and utilize. This paper describes the design and BER performance of an M-ary frequency shift keyed (FSK) signaling and demodulation scheme improved by MIMO antenna technology for wireless communications. MFSK and MIMO systems were briefly reviewed including AWGN, Non LOS fading and an important factor employed to estimate the performance of digital transmission. The research was performed using MATLAB for simulation and evaluation of the BER

Keywords -MIMO, MFSK, Modulation, BER, AWGN, Fading channels

The wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) mobilewireless networks is among the lot of experiences digital communication has had for its tremendous growth. WCDMAnetworks are meant to provide a diverse amount/range of multimedia services tomobile users with assured quality of service (QoS). To achieve this, our report is dwelling mainly on the analysis of the performanceof Phase Shift Keying modulation(M-PSK)and M-Ary Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)in WCDMA with different modulation channels,by comparing channel element like Bit Error Ratein RAYLEIGH fading and AWGN Channels using Matlab/Simulink. This research analysis will assist/enable us determine which modulation technique is performance effective in WCDMAsystem via any of these channelsat higher run time and M-Ary number.

Keywords -M-PSK, M-Ary PAM, Bit Error Rate, WCDMA

Increased motor vehicle population will affect the increase in fuel oil consumption. The existence of oil is now very limited and not renewable. And therefore required an alternative fuel. The author conducted research using Arak Bali as a substitute fuel. Because Arak Bali has physical properties similar to gasoline fuel, such as flammable in air atmospheric conditions. How is the writer doing research on the effects of the use of Arak Bali to Torque, Power and Specific fuel consumption of the four Stroke engine. Testing was conducted on a four-stroke engine with a compression ratio of 7.8, concentration of Arak Bali are: 81.2%, 88.7%, 93.4%, 95.6%, testing was conducted on the variation of the engine speeds are: 1000 rpm , 1500 rpm , 2000 rpm , 2500 rpm and 3000 rpm. The result is that variations in the concentration of Arak Bali and engine speed at the same compression ratio can improve the performance generated from machine...........

Keywords -Arak Bali, concentration, engine, performance.

An important duty of the mathematics teacher is to train and to develop thinking for students. To accomplish this duty, teachers can organize creative activities for students through activities of solving problems. In particular, there is an effective way to train students to think is that teachers can organize activities of solving problems in many different ways. Based on this idea, we implement an experiment for students in grade 12 to calculate integrals in various ways. The results of the study showed that students were active to find out different solutions to the given problem.

Keywords -Calculus teaching, mathematics education, multi-solution to a problem, problem solving

The objective of this paper is to study the effect of irradiation crumb rubber on the mechanical properties of rubberized concrete. An experimental model was carried out on 30 standard cubes to determine how some properties of rubberized concrete affected by the two percents (30% and 70%) of irradiated treated crumb rubber content as a sand replacement. The Scanning Electron Microscopy for irradiated rubber powder, the ultimate compressive strength and nondestructive tests for rubberized concrete with slump, wet and dry densities and absorption tests were performed. The irradiation process was achieved by gamma ray in air medium with a source of Co-60 radiation unit and dose rate 0.3kGy/h with a total absorbed dose of 70kGy. The experimental results had been recorded a noticeable reduction in the ultimate compressive strength of rubberized concrete relative to normal concrete...........

Keywords -Rubberized Concrete; Ultimate Compressive Strength; Irradiated Crumb Rubber; Scanning Electron Macroscopy.

Four maize flour samples comprising non-malted non-fermented maize (NMNFZ), non-malted fermented maize (NMFZ), malted non-fermented maize (MNFZ), malted fermented maize (MFZ) flour were blended with African yam bean flour to yield test flours consisting of NMNFZB, NMFZB, MNFZB and MFZB with 16g protein/100g flour each. Native maize flour was used as control. The test flours were used for production of tortilla designated as NMNFZBT, NMFZBT, MNFZBT and MFZBT respectively with NT (native tortilla) as control. Proximate composition and sensory attributes of the tortilla products were evaluated using standard methods. Malting and fermentation resulted in apparent increase in protein content of maize from 11.25g/100g solids (NMNFZ) to 11.67g/100g solids (MFZ).............

Keywords - African yam bean, fermentation, malting, maize, tortilla

The study depends on analyses of slabs, thin sections, and smear slides of 44 samples of 18 outcrops of Naokelekan Formation from Iraqi Kurdistan. The study revealed that the age of Naokelekan Formation is Callovian-Upper Oxfordian. The Cyclagelosphaera margerelii sp. indicates restricted marine environment while the Watznaueria barnesiae sp. point to high latitude geographic location of depositional basin which was warm water that was characterized by low-nutrient. The field observations and nannofossils revealed that the Middle and Upper parts of Naokelekan Formation either eroded or were not deposited in uppermost northwestern Iraq.

Keywords -Naokelekan, Upper Jurassic, Nannofossils, Coal bed, Mottled bed, Iraqi Kurdistan

Pseudo-injectivity is a generalization of quasi- injectivity. An essential Pseudo-injective module wasintroduced by R. Jaiswal, P.C. Bharadwaj and S. Wongwai [7]. This paper is generalization of above notion with new properties.

Keywords -Pseudo-injective module, essential pseudo-injective module, essential –Principally submodule and essential pseudo-Principally-injective module.

In the distributed generation systems, energy sources such as wind energy, fuel cells (FCs), photovoltaic cells (PVs), batteries, etc all, play a vital role to decrease the energy crises in this current scenario. By utilizing the principles of electronic interfaces, the alternative and renewable energy sources are interconnected. To achieve the aim of integration, a multi input converter (MIC) is a perfect choice. This paper introduces the application of a switched diode inductor current and capacitor voltage accumulator (SDICVA) on conventional boost converter. This paper aims to obtain two different kinds of dual input boost converters one is based on the serial SDICVA and the other based on the parallel SDICVA with low component stresses, high voltage gains, low ripples, high conversion efficiencies and simple PWM control. The simulations are done in MATLAB/SIMULINK

Keywords -Boost Converter, Dual input, High Gain, MIC, SDICVA.

DC-DC converters with ripple on input source current inject harmonics to the power system which in turn cause harmful to other connected devices. These converters with high efficiency and low input current ripple are essential in most common applications. Cuk converter provide reduction in the ripple of input and output current compared to other traditional converters which can be used for either step up or step down applications. Generally, a conventional cuk converter in continuous conduction mode brings in large current ripple on input side which in turn injects harmonics to the source. This undesirable input current ripple is mitigated by employing the interleaved cuk converter (ICC)............

Keywords -Cuk converter, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), High gain ICC, Interleaved cuk converter (ICC), Phase shifted PWM.

For low output voltage, high output current systems applications, Synchronous switching power converters give better performance than non synchronous converters. This paper presents an interleaved synchronous buck converter which has low switch voltage stress with high conversion ratio. The input current can be shared among the inductors so that high reliability and efficiency can be obtained and ripples also reduced, the converter performance can be improved. Thus converter features automatic uniform current sharing characteristic of the interleaved phases without adding extra circuitry or complex control methods. Capacitors switching circuits are combined with interleaved four-phase buck converter for getting a high step-down conversion ratio without adopting an extreme short duty ratio. Synchronous rectifier technology is adopted to increase the converter efficiency. A 30V input voltage, 1.8V output voltage, circuit is simulated to verify the performance. The simulation is done in MATLAB/SIMULINK R2012a

Keywords -Buck Converter, Four phase, Interleaved, MATLAB/SIMULINK, Synchronous

The primary objectives of this study is to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS) for soil loss based upon the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) method, and to determine erosion risk zones in the Sapanca lake watershed. In this study, rainfall erosivity (R) factor was computed from monthly and annual precipitation data of six methodological stations. Soil erodibility (K) factor were extracted from soil map by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. Land cover and management (C) factor were derived from Landsat TM imagery and from Statip 2009 map. Topographic (LS) factor was interpolated from a digital elevation model (DEM). Support practice (P) factor was assigned a value of 1 due to lack of support practices in the watershed...........

Keywords -Erosion Risk Analysis, GIS, Watershed Management, USLE method

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is defined by a constellation of interconnected physiological, biochemical, clinical, and metabolic factors that directly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and all cause mortality. It is estimated that around a quarter of the world's adult population have MetS and they are twice as likely to die from and three times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared with people without the syndrome. Data from a total of 401 healthy individuals was analysed and there it was found the prevalence of MetS and there were evaluated the risk factors of CVD in people with MetS. The prevalence of MetS resulted 22%. It was found that in the group of people with MetS there was insulin resistance and a lower insulin sensitivity comparing to the group without MetS............

Keywords -...........

In this paper, a high voltage boosting converter based on bootstrap capacitor and boost inductor is designed for improving the voltage conversion ratio. This is based on the fact that the number of inductors and capacitors are increased, and these inductors and capacitors are connected in series during the demagnetizing period, thereby pumping the energy created by the input voltage and the energy stored in the inductors into the output terminal. By changing the connection position of the anode of the diode and by using different pulse-width- modulation control strategies, different voltage conversion ratios can be obtained. The boost converter is controlled by PID controller. This makes a very high voltage conversion ratio than existing methods. Simulation study has been carried out in MATLAB/Simulink.

Keywords -Boost converter, bootstrap capacitor, improved high voltage boosting converter, voltage conversion ratio

Feature selection is considered as a problem of global combinatorial optimization in machine learning, which reduces the number of features, removes irrelevant, noisy and redundant data. However, identification of useful features from hundreds or even thousands of related features is not an easy task. Selecting relevant genes from microarray data becomes even more challenging owing to the high dimensionality of features, multiclass categories involved and the usually small sample size............

Keywords -Machine Learning, Feature Selection, Filter, Wrapper, Classification

In an effort to reduce the alarming levels of pollutions in Delhi, the government implemented the odd – even traffic program as an emergency action, the first phase of which was implemented from the 1st to 15th of January 2016, where exclusively odd or even numbered vehicles were allowed to ply on the roads on odd and even dates respectively. The present study was carried out to assess the impact of this decreased vehicular pollution on the photosynthetic activity of Cassiafistula trees growing along some selected roads of the city associated with heavy vehicular pollution and high traffic congestion during normal times. Sampling was done from trees growing close to the roads (less than 5m) at four locations faced with heavy traffic volume normally, while control sampling was done from a location away from traffic exposure. Measurement of photosynthetic pigments was done spectrophotometrically............

Keywords -Odd- even formula, chlorophyll pigments, carotenoids, vehicular pollution

Software defects are very predominant especially in large software these days because programmers do not take the pain to properly debug and test their software before releasing them to customers and users. When these software are put into use, the defects manifest themselves especially if they are dormant or inactive at the time the software is being developed. As a result, they do cause errors and eventually failure if not quickly handled thereby causing serious damages in terms of human and material loss. This paper proposed the Bayesian network model for predicting software defects. In the model, certain software inputs are tested to determine the number of defects in them............

Keywords -Software, software defects, Bayesian network, defect prediction model, NASA metric, software failure