Annals of Science and Engineering Research (ASER) is a peer-reviewed online journal, which welcomes high-quality manuscripts that include original research articles, review articles, book reviews, case reports and discussions covering all fields of science, engineering and technology. Annals of Science and Engineering Research (ASER) encourages researchers and academic practitioners to publish their experimental and theoretical details, which aims to advance the development in the fields of science, engineering and technology.
Published
2020-11-23
Articles
Comparative effects of exotic Raanan and local feeds on growth performances of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) reared in engineered multi-constructed ponds for efficient water use
Purpose: Growth performance of 30 randomly sampled tilapias were examined fortnightly for 12 weeks.
Research methodology: Growth of male Oreochromis niloticus in two-by-two Completely Randomized Block Design (CRBD) with four treatments [New Water with Raanan (NWR), New Water with Local feed (NWL), Old Water with Local feed (OWL) and Old Water with Raanan (OWR)] was monitored in four ponds measuring 360 m2 each. Pond Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen were assessed using the multi parameter-probe. Fish total body weights and lengths were measured using electronic scale and 30 cm rule.
Results: Temperatures ranged from 26.2 °C (OWR) < 26.4 °C (OWL) < 26.5 °C (NWR) < 26.8 °C (NWL). Highest mean pH of 6.7 was recorded in NWR compared to the lowest (6.1) in NWL. Dissolved oxygen was 3.0 mg/l for all treatments, except in OWR (3.7 mg/l). There were significant differences among entire physicochemical parameters (p < 0.05). The NWR produced highest tilapia body weights (88.3 g) followed by OWL (47.9 g), NWL (47.1 g) and OWR (44.0 g). Final fish body lengths were in order of OWR (9.1 cm) < OWL (9.2 cm) < NWL (9.7 cm) < NWR (12.1 cm) respectively with significant variations. Raanan cultured tilapia grew better than the local feed comprised of energy sources.
Limitation: Null hypothesis failed to confirm significant differences in fish growths (p < 0.05).
Contribution: Use of old water is recommended in absence of fresh, if pond is completely drained/limed to eliminate leeches, tilapia eggs, fry which may infest introduced fingerlings.
Keywords: Growth performance, Male tilapia, Raanan, New water, Old water
Investigation of Functional and Sensory Properties of Plantain Flour in Citric Acid
Purpose: This Study investigated the effects of process variables on the proximate, functional, and sensory properties of plantain flour.
Research Methodology: Plantain fruit was sorted and hand-peeled using kitchen knives. It was then cut into various slices of 2 – 6 mm and steeped in citric acid solutions with concentrations ranging between 1 – 5 %. The steeping time varied between 30 – 120 min. The pretreated plantain slices were processed into flours. Process parameters were analyzed using the response surface methodology of Design Expert software.
Results: The proximate parameters of the flour samples showed no significant difference (p > 0.05), but there were significant effects (p< 0.05) on the functional and sensory properties of the flour samples. The functional properties were found to differ significantly.
Limitation: This study did not consider the application of other optimization methods such as genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization in estimating the optimum points. Future studies could focus on these areas.
Contribution: The validation of the optimization processes showed success in the application of citric acid in the production of novel plantain flour.
A mathematical model of routing problem for hazardous biomedical waste: A multi-objective particle swarm optimization solution approach
Purpose: This model aims at solving a Green Heterogeneous and Stochastic Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem that takes into account the risks and environmental hazards.
Research Methodology: Regarding an NP-hard and complex problem, and after confirming the accuracy of the problem-solving in smaller dimensions by GAMS software, the problem is solved by the metaheuristic algorithm of multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) and its coding in MATLAB software.
Results: The results urge that using random sampling and probability distribution, non-deterministic parameters turned into deterministic ones, and high-quality solutions were obtained.
Limitation: The proposed method is a routing problem and has been applied for the Green Heterogeneous and Stochastic Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. Future researchers may work on real data sets and hazardous biomedical waste data.
Contribution: Based on the results presented, the model derived in this paper can support decisions such as routing, prioritization, time to reach each node, etc. so that the costs of routing, system reliability, environmental issues, and penalties for violation of the priority and maximum time elapsed for vehicles are taken into account.
