Samuel Marfo --- Degraft Arthur Dominic --- John Yaw Akparep (2016). Conflict and Food Insecurity: An Exploration of the Situation in Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of Northern Ghana. Abstract of Applied Sciences and Engineering, 13: 5. DOI: 10.18488/journal.1001/2016.13/1001.13
Food insecurity has been a major problem confronting developing nations including Ghana as it results in considerable health, social and psychological consequences, which invariably undermine human security. This study sought to explore how inter-ethnic conflicts affect household food security in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District in the Northern Region of Ghana, which in contemporary times has witnessed occasional destructive conflicts notably between the Konkombas and the Bimobas. Given the objective of the study, both purposive and quota sampling techniques were used in selecting 107 respondents from four conflict prone communities namely Bimbagu, Jimbale, Kpemale and Nankpanduri. Data gathered through semi-structured interview between June, 2015 and December, 2015 in an exploratory study revealed that food insecurity in the study locality has been partly facilitated by the burning of farms, including food stock, food thefts, and insecurity and induced migration resulting in low economic activities. This paper therefore advocates for continuous dialogue, swift intervention into conflict situations by the police, as well as periodic education and training for traditional and opinion leaders in conflict detection and management as a way of managing disagreements among the various (ethnic) groups in the study locality without the recourse to violence.
Characterization of Portevin - Le Chatelier Effect in the Industrial Alloy Al - 2.5% Mg
Chibane Nouara --- Ait-Amokhtar Hakim (2016). Characterization of Portevin - Le Chatelier Effect in the Industrial Alloy Al - 2.5% Mg. Abstract of Applied Sciences and Engineering, 13: 4. DOI: 10.18488/journal.1001/2016.13/1001.13
The instable plastic flow constitutes a major inconvenient during the formability of metallic materials. The Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) is one of these plastic heterogeneities. It leads to heterogeneous mechanical properties, reduces the ductility of the deformed material and creates areas very sensitive to the corrosion. The strain localization zones are characterized by a dilating behavior which can cause the material rupture and, consequently, the failure of structures. The optimization of the homogeneous material formability is based mainly on the results of characterization and modelling of the unstable plastic flow. PLC instabilities are observed in different materials with different histories and in different conditions. The microscopic origin of the PLC effect is associated to the dynamic strain aging (DSA) phenomenon resulting from the interaction between mobile dislocations and the clouds of impurities. The solute atoms diffuse towards dislocations during their temporary arrests at local obstacles and increases, consequently, the plastic flow stress. The purpose of the present work is focused on the analysis of the temporal aspects of the PLC effect in the Al-2.5%Mg alloy at room temperature. We are interested to the determination of the domain of appearance of PLC plastic instabilities and to the study of the influence of the strain and the strain rate on the characteristic parameters of the unstable plastic flow. The most important parameters of nonuniform deformation of the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect are re-examined. Through uniaxial tensile tests, along the rolling direction, the amplitude of serrated yielding, the reloading time, the strain rate sensitivity and the critical strain for the onset of jerky flow have been studied and discussed as a function of strain and strain rate at room temperature.
Development of Portable Solar Powered Generator Bag
Luisito L. Lacatan --- Christian Ralph Antonio --- Aizel Lois Barcia --- Erwin James Formaran --- Fil Edwin Pangilinan (2016). Development of Portable Solar Powered Generator Bag. Abstract of Applied Sciences and Engineering, 13: 3. DOI: 10.18488/journal.1001/2016.13/1001.13
This project entitled “Heavy Bag Embedded with Piezoelectric as an Energy Storage Device for USB-Based Mobile Devices” aims to integrate an energy harvesting system into a heavy bag for energy harvesting and generate electrical power when the bag is hit. The study coversdeveloping a prototype utilizing a heavy bag for energy harvesting. The system will provide power to charge USB-based mobile devices. Also, an indicator whether the device is charging, full charge or discharging is provided. The energy harvesting system comprises of piezoelectric disk transducers that produces energy when stress is applied, an energy harvesting module circuit that processes the energy from the transducers, a 5V DC to DC boost converter and a 4400mah Power Bank that will store the harvested energy and provide the charging indicator. The results of the study were that utilizing the energy harvested from the system will take approximately 48 hours of charging to fully-charged the power bank.
Reinforcing Kenya Power National Grid Using Statcom Devices
C. Ndungu --- J.Nderu --- L. Ngoo --- P. Hinga (2016). Reinforcing Kenya Power National Grid Using Statcom Devices. Abstract of Applied Sciences and Engineering, 13: 2. DOI: 10.18488/journal.1001/2016.13/1001.13
Modern power system is a complex network comprising of numerous distributed generators, transmission lines, switchgears, distribution network and variety of loads. Due to the recent increase of connected load as a result of Government of Kenya and Kenya Power initiative projects such as last mile, Global Partnership On Output Based Aid (GPOBA), and school electrification, transmission lines and primary substations are getting more loaded than they were initially designed. Further, the quality of the power supplied to the end users is deteriorating as network expand due to inherent system disturbances such as voltage dips, harmonic distortions and phase angle deviations caused by low voltage network faults. This has resulted to high level of customers’ dissatisfaction and complains. Research has shown that over 60% of system perturbations are caused by natural events such as lightning strikes and system faults. There are various methods power utilities are employing to realize a robust and reliable power transmission system. Such methods include re-conducting of transmission lines, construction of new transmission lines and in recent time installation of Flexible AC transmission system (FACTs) devices. The FACTS are power electronic devices that have ability of controlling the network voltage condition both in steady and transient state of complex power system. The most common power electronic controllers are, Dynamic voltage stabilizer (DVS), Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOM), shunt compensators and Unified power flow controller (UPFC). The STATCOM devices are the most widely installed power electronic controllers as they provide excellent performance in stabilizing the power system both in steady state and non-steady state (system disturbances) conditions. It is for this reason the author propose installation of STATCOMs to reinforce the Kenya Power national power grid to achieve a robust and resilience system which improves the power quality supplied to the end users.
Economic Assessment of Weeds Management Methods in Bambara Groundnut (Vigna Subterranean (L) Verdc) At Sabon Gari in the Northern Guinea Savanna of Borno State, Nigeria
Economic Assessment of Weeds Management Methods in Bambara Groundnut (Vigna Subterranean (L) Verdc) At Sabon Gari in the Northern Guinea Savanna of Borno State, Nigeria
A.L. Banta --- I.A. Sodangi (2016). Economic Assessment of Weeds Management Methods in Bambara Groundnut (Vigna Subterranean (L) Verdc) At Sabon Gari in the Northern Guinea Savanna of Borno State, Nigeria. Abstract of Applied Sciences and Engineering, 13: 1. DOI: 10.18488/journal.1001/2016.13/1001.13
Bambara Groundnut though cultivated majorly by women, remains a crop of high value to some local communities. Field trials were conducted in the rainy seasons of 2010 and 2011 to assess the effect of weed control methods on the yield and profitability of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc) at Sabon Gari in the Northern Guinea Savannah of Borno State, Nigeria. The experiment was made up of eight treatments (weedy check, pendimenthalin only, pendimenthalin followed by one hoe weeding, butachlor only, butachlor followed by one hoe weeding, hoe weeding once, hoe weeding twice and hoe weeding thrice) all arranged in a randomnized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times. The weedy check and the plots that were treated with pendimenthalin only supported statistically similar weed dry matter in both years, which was significantly higher than the other treatments. In 2010, all the hoe weeded plots produced significantly grain yields than the weedy check and the herbicide treated plots except pendimenthalin followed by hoe weeding once. None of the herbicide treatments out-yielded the weedy check. In 2011, however, all the hoe weeding once and hoe weeding twice treatments out-yielded the hoe weeding trice treatment, although the difference was not significant. The result shows that bambara groundnut production was profitable in the two years of the study. The mean of the two years experiment shows that pendimenthalin followed by one hoe weeding had the highest net benefit of N60,875, while the least was recorded by butachlor followed by one hoe weeding (N17,494). The mean MRR indicate that hoe weeding once recorded 1.56 as the highest while the least was observed in hoe weeding thrice (0.42). It was therefore recommended that the weeds management methods be tried in larger field for economic impact, the application of pendimenthalin herbicide followed by one hoe weeding be studied further on bambara groundnut weeding practices.
