Fuel consumption model for predicting tractor fuel consumption per working area for harrowing operation has been developed using dimensional analysis. Generalized reduced gradient method of Excel solver was adopted for the establishment of the model’s constant. The model was validated by simulating the experimental results into the equation and coefficient determination (r2). Graphical comparison, root mean square error, and paired t-test were also use to validate. The field experiment was carried out at Rivers Institute of Agricultural Research and Training Farm in Rivers State University, Port Harcourt. The group balanced block design was adopted. The design consisted of 9 experimental treatments with three replicates. The experimental fuel consumption per working area was determined by quantity of fuel used per working area with the aid of fuel flow meter. The field test parameters were measured accordingly with their specific standard procedures. The field test parameters including bulk density, tractor forward speed, harrowing depth, and cone index were simulated with fuel consumption to obtain the constants in the prediction model. The developed model showed good agreement between measured and predicted results with high coefficient of determination and low root mean square error. The paired t-test results showed no significant difference at 95 and 99 % confidence levels. Thus, suggested that the model could be used for predicting tractor fuel consumption for harrowing operation.

To address Nigeria's electricity shortages and overreliance on traditional methods, solar power plants are being considered. However, selecting suitable sites for this purpose is critical and often poses a serious challenge considering a range of conflicting factors. In this study, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were combined to determine suitable sites for a solar electric power plant in Ewekoro Local Government Area (LGA). The approach considered road networks, transmission lines, slope, and land use as the key criteria as well as nineteen subcriteria for the site suitability analysis. The criteria and sub-criteria importance were weighted using AHP and the weights were inputted into the weighted overlay tool in the ArcGIS 10.4 for analysis. The resulting sub-criteria weights of land use are 3.5%, 6.8%, 10.6%, 16%, and 63.1% for built-up areas, waterbody, wetlands, rocky areas, and vegetation respectively. Based on the analysis, a suitability map was generated that categorized the study area as best suitable, suitable, and not suitable. On the map, 15% of the area was best suitable, 17% was suitable, and 68% was not suitable for solar power plants. In conclusion, the site suitability analysis of Ewekoro LGA for solar power plants has been evaluated and this approach can be extended to other areas in Nigeria where solar energy integration is of high priority.

The aim of the study is to determine the quantity, composition and treatment potentials of solid waste generated in University of Nigeria Nsukka campus. To achieve these, solid waste was sampled for 1 week from Nine (9) academic buildings, sixty-two (62) academic departments administrative offices, eight (8) corridors, and three (3) cafeterias giving a total of 82 waste sampling points. In total, 4821.1kg/week of waste were separated at University of Nigeria. The total quantity of solid waste at collection points were buildings (1034.9 kg/week), corridor (910.7 kg/week), cafeteria (502.5kg/week) and departmental offices (2373 kg/week). The mean quantities of waste generated at collection points were 114.99kg/week, 113.84kg/week, 167.57kg/week and 38.27kg/week for building, corridors, cafeteria and departmental offices respectively. This shows that on the average that the highest quantity of waste is generated from cafeteria. The weighted average amount of solid waste generated in University of Nigeria Nsukka Campus per sampling point is 58.79kg/week. The weighted average percentage of the waste fractions for university of Nigeria Nsukka Campus is 37.66%, 20.23%, 6.65%, 24.86%, 3.33% and 7.28% for paper, plastic, metal, organic, glass and others respectively. The waste fractions are generated in a decreasing order as follows: paper (37.66%), organic (24.86%), plastic (20.23%). metal (6.65%), others (7.28%) and glass (3.33%). The estimated waste generation rate for the university campus was 0.019kg/capita/day from the four sources analyzed based on current student population of 36000 and weekly generation of 4821.1kg. 28.35% of the waste is compostable while 64.49 % is recyclable and these sums up to 92.84% indicating that only a small proportion that is 7.16% of generated waste which can neither be composted or recycled will be diverted to landfill. Therefore, recovery of resources and recycling call for segregation of waste at the source, through providing separate waste containers for different waste types.

Multi-criteria decision model (MCDM) is used to describe a family of techniques which considers multiple criteria in order to make a choice (among several alternatives). Sometimes, both alternatives and criteria involve qualitative definitions which have to be accounted for. Accordingly, fuzzy TOPSIS is one of several MCDM methods and it serves as a scientific way to solve selection problems that involve uncertainty in criteria definition. This work considers a beverage manufacturing company where selection problem has caused a downturn in production. Inconsistency and unreliability of previous suppliers have caused the company to loose their competitive edge. Fuzzy TOPSIS is proposed to solve the challenge in selecting suppliers of a key raw material. Three decision makers evaluated three suppliers of sugar considering eight criteria for subjective weights based on a 5-point scale. Decision matrices were constructed and normalized for the three submissions. Result obtained showed that supplier 2 had the lowest fuzzy positive ideal solution and the highest fuzzy negative ideal solution. The same supplier had the highest closeness coefficient (0.782) which implies that supplier 2 is the best option.

Even though the proliferation of handheld mobile communication devices has deepened Internet and broadband penetration in Nigeria, users of such services may not have detailed quantitative performance comparison between the services provided by different network operators. The study here reported is therefore an attempt to bridge the information gap. A measurement testbed based on the Raspberry Pi platform was developed to autonomously measure the mobile broadband performance of third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) broadband networks of the four major mobile network operators in the country. Under static access conditions, the system was set up to measure the upload throughput, download throughput and latency from a user-centric perspective. The measurements were taken by simultaneously sampling the networks of four mobile broadband service providers (9Mobile, Airtel, Globacom and MTN) over a period of three weeks in the city of Uyo, Nigeria. The results obtained revealed that Airtel achieved the highest peak download rate for 3G throughput, and this was only 1.41 Mbps higher than the least performing MNO. Also, it was found that MTN’s download rate peaked at 35.06 Mbps, and this was over 300% of the rate achieved by the fourth rated network in terms of the 4G download throughput metric. The measurement results also revealed that peak usage periods, defined as the hours between 7pm and 11pm, witnessed higher variability in throughput rates than other periods.

A cowpea thresher that uses petrol engine was developed to overcome drudgery of threshing with manually operated thresher and also to replace motorized cowpea thresher that cannot be used in areas where there is no supply of electricity. The performance tests on the machine were replicated three times using 10000, 8000 and 6000 grams of kannanado cowpea pods at the threshing cylinder speed of 700, 800 and 900 rpm each and moisture contents of 11.05%, 13.65% and 14.75% respectively based on the following parameters; Threshing efficiency, throughput capacity and percentage seed damage. The findings of the tests showed that the thresher had highest threshing efficiency of 98% at moisture content of 11.05%, threshing cylinder speed of 900 rpm and feed rate of 6 kg/hr. The maximum throughput capacity was observed to be 46.18 kg/hr at the feed rate of 10 kg/hr, 11.05% grain moisture content and threshing cylinder speed of 900 rpm. A highest cleaning efficiency and grain damage of 93.06% and 4.90% respectively were observed. This revealed that as the cylinder speed increased the threshing and cleaning efficiency and the throughput capacity also increased whereas feed rate and moisture content were decreased. The test also showed that high moisture content has a tendency to reduce the mechanical seed damage for the variety (kannanado) of cowpea investigated. Therefore, cowpea moisture contents of 11.05 % and threshing cylinder speeds of 900 rpm are the crop-machine parameters combination for optimum thresher performance. The performance of the machine is satisfactory; small-scale farmers will find more comfort in using it for threshing.

The off-grid coastal areas of Delta State are rich in energy resources including natural gas and solar irradiation; but do not have access to electricity. Accordingly, this paper proposes a sustainable solution for power supply in these areas using the method of simulation. Specifically, using the Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, the most feasible or optimal design configuration for sustainable means of power supply for off-grid areas was presented. The result obtained was then assessed based on the various available funding options. In particular, the Public-Private-Community- Oil and Gas Partnership (PPCOP) funding model presents the most feasible solution that delivers the lowest cost of electricity (COE) to the consumer, based on the premise that some of the components of the power supply value chain are donated to the project rather than bought.

The spate of building collapse across the country over the years has raised questions about the quality of building materials and the need to investigate their suitability for construction. Sandcrete blocks are of interest been the most popular masonry unit widely employed in construction of walling units for building structures, hoardings of construction sites and foundations, in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of commercial Sandcrete blocks produced in Minna metropolis, Niger State, for compliance with existing standards: Nigerian Industrial Standard and Nigerian Building Code. The research was appraised through field surveys methods, sampling and laboratory experiments conducted on sixteen (16) selected block factories in Minna metropolis. A total of eighty (80) nine-inch blocks, five (5) each, were sampled from each factory and subjected to dimensional checks, water absorption and compressive strength tests. The results obtained from the laboratory experiments showed that the dimension, compressive strength and water absorption capacity of the sampled blocks were below standard specifications. The highlight of the field survey carried out showed discrepancies in the mix proportioning, curing practices and age of blocks utilized in the factories against those of the standards. Consequently, it was recommended that blocks produced in Minna should never be used for load bearing walls.

It has been established that the construction industry, especially with regards to the production and use of cement generates lots of toxic gases, as well as consumes large quantities of natural resources. Cement itself is an expensive constituent of concrete. In order to reduce environmental pollution, improve cost-savings in production, achieve carbon neutrality and sustainability, the focus should be directed at using alternative waste materials such as ceramic waste, waste glass, palm oil waste, and rice husk, among others. This paper presents a widescale review of the incorporation of pozzolans into concrete and mortar, highlighting the effects on its strength and durability. The review revealed that while the existing literature agrees that the incorporation of pozzolans into mortar and concrete generally improves their durability, there is an apparent contradiction in various research findings on the effect of pozzolans on their strength. The review has shown however that whether the inclusion of pozzolan will increase or decrease strength depends on a number of factors such as Portland cement replacement level, fineness of the pozzolan (particle size of the ash), the reactivity of the pozzolan, concrete/mortar age, type of pozzolan, water-cement ratio, burning temperature, the microstructure of the pozzolan (weakly or strongly amorphous).

Natural fibres are possible substitutes for glass fibre in composite production because of their light weight, ease of production and biodegradability. The present study involves the use of Taguchi grey relational analysis to optimize the production process parameters of an epoxy based composite reinforced with sisal fibre. The process parameters optimized are Percentage by weight of the sisal reinforcement, curing temperature, post curing time and compounding pressure. A Taguchi L16 orthogonal array was designed and sixteen experimental runs were performed based on the designed experiments. Tensile strength and flexural modulus (stiffness) were recorded for each experiment based on the average responses computed from the Taguchi grey relational analysis. From the response table of the grey relational grades, the optimal set of parameters for enhanced tensile strength and flexural strength performance of the sisal-epoxy composite were identified to be 35% by weight of fibre, 1100C curing temperature, 1hr post curing time and 13MPa compounding pressure. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to identify the predominant factor and established that percentage by weight W has the highest effect of 61 % on the GRG. The optimum composite material had the following values, Ultimate Tensile Strength 27.22 MPa, Flexural Strength 51.84 MPa. The DMA results of the material showed a glass transition temperature of 61.90C.