The Shea is an economic tree found in West and Central Africa with huge industrial uses in the confectionery, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors worldwide. Its rapid multiplication has been hampered by its slow growt...The Shea is an economic tree found in West and Central Africa with huge industrial uses in the confectionery, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors worldwide. Its rapid multiplication has been hampered by its slow growth and long gestation period. Successes in cutting propagation have been achieved (between 60% - 80%), however weaning of the rooted cuttings for establishment has been a major challenge. Two factorial experiments were carried out in a study in 2012. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of propagating structures and seedling types on the weaning and subsequent field establishment of propagules of Shea tree for plantation establishment. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Survival of the rooted cuttings in the mist propagator was very high (93.3%) and comparable to that of the seedlings (100%). The rooted cuttings in mist propagator produced the highest number of leaves, 11 times greater than the least number of leaves produced by seedlings in the lath house. Comparing the seedling types, the rooted cuttings produced significantly greater number of leaves, 4.8 times than the normal seedlings. Rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the biggest stem girth significantly greater than the seedlings kept in all the structures. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced 4.4 times bigger stem girths than the seedlings in the lath house which had the smallest stem girth. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the tallest plants, 1.4 times and 1.9 times significantly taller than the seedlings in the propagating pit and lath house, respectively, which produced the shortest plants. There was a significant relationship between field survival of propagules and the month of establishment expressed as Y (percent survival) = -2844 + 0.070 × (month);P < 0.001;R2 = 0.68;n = 90. Rooted cuttings transplanted in a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the biggest stem girth, 5.6 times bigger than the stem girth of the seedlings transplanted into any of the three hole depths. Rooted cuttings transplanted into a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the highest number of leaves, three times more than the seedlings in 26 cm hole depth, which produced the least number of leaves. The study concluded that the mist propagator was the most suitable propagating structure for weaning rooted cuttings of sheanut tree since it resulted in higher survival of the rooted cuttings as well as promoted the growth of the rooted cuttings. For field establishment, rooted cuttings transplanted into hole depth of 52 cm resulted in higher survival rates and performed better in terms of growth than the seedlings. Furthermore, the month of establishment was very critical for the rate of survival of the transplanted propagules of Shea tree.展开更多
Pipeline plays a vital role in transporting fluids like oils, water, and petrochemical substances for longer distances. Based on the materials they carry</span><span style="white-space:normal;font-size:1...Pipeline plays a vital role in transporting fluids like oils, water, and petrochemical substances for longer distances. Based on the materials they carry</span><span style="white-space:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:"">,</span><span style="white-space:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:""> prolonged usage may cause the initiation of defects in the pipeline. These defects occur due to the formed salt deposits, chemical reaction happens between the inner surface and the transferring substance, prevailing environmental conditions, etc. These defects, if not identified earlier may lead to significant losses to the industry. In this work, an in-line inspection system utilizes the nondestructive way for analyzing the internal defects in the petrochemical pipeline. This system consists of a pipeline inspection robot having two major units namely the visual inspection unit and the power carrier unit. The visual inspection unit makes use of a ring-type laser diode and the camera. The laser diode serves as a light source for capturing good quality images of inspection. This unit is controlled by the Arduino in the power carrier unit which provides the necessary movement throughout the pipe. The inspected images captured by the camera are further processed with the aid of NI vision assistant software. After applying the processing function parameters provided by this software, the defect location can be clearly visualized with high precision. Three sets of defects are introduced in a Polylactide (PLA) pipe based on its position and angle along the circumference of the pipe. Further, this robot system serves as a real-time interactive image synchronization system for acquiring the inspected images. By comparing the actual and calculated defect size, the error percentage obtained was less than 5%.展开更多
文摘The Shea is an economic tree found in West and Central Africa with huge industrial uses in the confectionery, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors worldwide. Its rapid multiplication has been hampered by its slow growth and long gestation period. Successes in cutting propagation have been achieved (between 60% - 80%), however weaning of the rooted cuttings for establishment has been a major challenge. Two factorial experiments were carried out in a study in 2012. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of propagating structures and seedling types on the weaning and subsequent field establishment of propagules of Shea tree for plantation establishment. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Survival of the rooted cuttings in the mist propagator was very high (93.3%) and comparable to that of the seedlings (100%). The rooted cuttings in mist propagator produced the highest number of leaves, 11 times greater than the least number of leaves produced by seedlings in the lath house. Comparing the seedling types, the rooted cuttings produced significantly greater number of leaves, 4.8 times than the normal seedlings. Rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the biggest stem girth significantly greater than the seedlings kept in all the structures. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced 4.4 times bigger stem girths than the seedlings in the lath house which had the smallest stem girth. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the tallest plants, 1.4 times and 1.9 times significantly taller than the seedlings in the propagating pit and lath house, respectively, which produced the shortest plants. There was a significant relationship between field survival of propagules and the month of establishment expressed as Y (percent survival) = -2844 + 0.070 × (month);P < 0.001;R2 = 0.68;n = 90. Rooted cuttings transplanted in a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the biggest stem girth, 5.6 times bigger than the stem girth of the seedlings transplanted into any of the three hole depths. Rooted cuttings transplanted into a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the highest number of leaves, three times more than the seedlings in 26 cm hole depth, which produced the least number of leaves. The study concluded that the mist propagator was the most suitable propagating structure for weaning rooted cuttings of sheanut tree since it resulted in higher survival of the rooted cuttings as well as promoted the growth of the rooted cuttings. For field establishment, rooted cuttings transplanted into hole depth of 52 cm resulted in higher survival rates and performed better in terms of growth than the seedlings. Furthermore, the month of establishment was very critical for the rate of survival of the transplanted propagules of Shea tree.
文摘Pipeline plays a vital role in transporting fluids like oils, water, and petrochemical substances for longer distances. Based on the materials they carry</span><span style="white-space:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:"">,</span><span style="white-space:normal;font-size:10pt;font-family:""> prolonged usage may cause the initiation of defects in the pipeline. These defects occur due to the formed salt deposits, chemical reaction happens between the inner surface and the transferring substance, prevailing environmental conditions, etc. These defects, if not identified earlier may lead to significant losses to the industry. In this work, an in-line inspection system utilizes the nondestructive way for analyzing the internal defects in the petrochemical pipeline. This system consists of a pipeline inspection robot having two major units namely the visual inspection unit and the power carrier unit. The visual inspection unit makes use of a ring-type laser diode and the camera. The laser diode serves as a light source for capturing good quality images of inspection. This unit is controlled by the Arduino in the power carrier unit which provides the necessary movement throughout the pipe. The inspected images captured by the camera are further processed with the aid of NI vision assistant software. After applying the processing function parameters provided by this software, the defect location can be clearly visualized with high precision. Three sets of defects are introduced in a Polylactide (PLA) pipe based on its position and angle along the circumference of the pipe. Further, this robot system serves as a real-time interactive image synchronization system for acquiring the inspected images. By comparing the actual and calculated defect size, the error percentage obtained was less than 5%.
