Rivers State University of Science and Technology

About: Rivers State University of Science and Technology is a education organization based out in Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Threatened species. The organization has 1826 authors who have published 1833 publications receiving 15183 citations.

Optimizing gas turbine rotor shaft fault detection, identification and analysis for effective condition monitoring

Abstract: Vibration analysis of rotating machinery can give warning of potential faults such as imbalance, bent shaft, shaft crack, misalignment, looseness and other malfunctions. This work considered the origin, causes and the effect of vibrations in rotor shaft and how they can be optimized to avert catastrophic downtime. The approach used in the research was vibration signature analysis. Data were taken from a gas turbine called GT18, GE Frame 9 on industrial duty for electricity generation in Ughelli Power station Delta State, Nigeria. The data collected after collation was used in a MATLAB computer program. The result shows that the engine should not be operated beyond 4.8 mm vibration displacement amplitude. A speed of 7860 rpm should also be avoided in order to prevent resonance. Furthermore, it enabled early detection of the various effects of vibration signature such as imbalance, misalignment, and crack that may lead to downtime.

Effect of Brewers Dried Grain on Growth Performance and Plasma Amino Acids of Young Pigs

Abstract: Ngodigha, E.M., Sese, B.T., Olaka, O.S. and Iyayi, E.A. 1994. Effect of brewers dried grain on growth performance and plasma amino acids of young pigs. J: Appl. Anim. Res., 6: 97–104. Sixtyfour Berkshire and Berkshire x Yorkshire female and castrated pigs of 18.8 kg average body weight and 22–27 days of age were randomly divided into eight groups of eight animals each and graded levels (0%, 5% 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%) of brewers dried grain (BDG) replacing equivalent levels of maize-soybean in isonitrogenous (18% CP) diets were fed for 51 days. The last two diets were supplemented with 0.5% lysine hydrochloride. No adverse effect was observed in the weight gain and feed conversion efficiency in pigs fed upto 20% BDG in their diets. Supplementation of 0.5% lysine-hydrochloride did not indicate any significant advantage over the corresponding unsupplemented diets. No significant (P>0.05) difference was observed in the blood hematocrit and plasma lysine and arginine values in different groups indicating ...

Screening of Yeast Cells for the Production of Wine from Banana and Pineapple Substrates

Abstract: Wine, an alcoholic beverage is usually produced from juice of variety of fruits by the fermentative action of microorganisms particularly by yeasts. Several substrates such as pineapple, banana, watermelon, pawpaw and other fruits have been used to produce wine using Saccharomyces species. This study was undertaken using nonSaccharomyces to produce table wine with pineapple and banana fruits as substrates. Standard microbiological procedures were employed for yeasts cell isolation, sugar (sucrose) fermentation test, pH, ethanol, sucrose and glucose tolerance test were carried out respectively. Alcohol production by the yeasts was screened and the isolates were identified by genomic techniques. Twenty-two (22) yeasts isolated from palm wine (YW), banana (YB) and pineapple (YP) were screened for their ability to ferment sugar and fourteen (14) of the yeast isolates were positive while eight (8) were negative. The fourteen (14) isolates were further screened for their ability to tolerate pH, ethanol, sucrose and glucose. Tolerance tests for these fourteen (14) yeast isolates recorded values between a range of 3.0-5.0, 0-10% v/v, 5-20% w/v and 5-25% w/v for pH, ethanol, sucrose and glucose concentrations respectively. Statistically, there was a significant difference in the interaction effect for pH, ethanol, sucrose and glucose tolerance (OD600 nm) for yeast isolates at p value ≤ 0.0001. Five (5) yeast isolates had high Original Research Article Alabere et al.; JAMB, 20(7): 38-55, 2020; Article no.JAMB.58684 39 tolerance ability to pH, ethanol, sucrose and glucose and were further screened for their ability to produce alcohol. The five (5) yeast isolates were identified as Meyerozyma guilliermondii strain 1621, Pichia guilliermondii strain PX-PAT, Meyerozyma caribbica strain Kw 1S7Y2, Meyerozyma caribbica strain Y-27400, Kodamaea ohmeri strain ww1-1 and they produced alcohol content of 7.6%, 6.5%, 2.9%, 2.5% and 0.3% respectively. Meyerozyma guilliermondii strain 1621 and Pichia guilliermondii strain PX-PAT 18 S isolated from palm wine exhibited good characteristics and produced high quantity of alcohol and are suitable for alcohol fermentation of substrates for wine production.

Cosmetic Use in Nigeria May Be Safe: A Human Health Risk Assessment of Metals and Metalloids in Some Common Brands.

Abstract: Twenty different brands of cosmetic products were purchased from supermarkets in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, with the aims to determine the levels of metals and assess the health risk to humans through long-term usage. The concentration of metals (arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and nickel) in the cosmetic samples was measured with atomic absorption spectrophotometry after acid digestion. The concentration of metals in these brands of cosmetic studied ranged from As: 0.001-0.0161 mg/kg, Pb: 0.289-2.873 mg/kg, Hg: 0.001-0.0014 mg/kg, Cd: 0.001-0.334 mg/kg, and Ni: 0.007-2.748 mg/kg. The metal and metalloid contents were less than the regulatory limits set for both metal impurities and as color additives. The target hazard quotient, hazard index, and cancer risk were less than the acceptable limit, indicating a measure of safety. Cosmetics sold in Nigeria may not add to the body burden of metals and metalloids.