Applied Sciences Research Periodicals

Feasibility Assessment MRR and Surface Roughness on Inconel 825 by Abrasive Water Jet Machining Process

2025-12-04T08:42:48+00:00

The creation of rectangular pockets is a developing area where abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) is utilized. The current trend highlights an increasing focus on milling applications in the AWJM process. This research included performing experiments on Inconel 825 to evaluate the practicality of using the AWJM technique for producing 3D features, such as pockets sized 10mm x 10mm. A design of experiments based on the Taguchi method was utilized, concentrating on the input variables: step over (SO), traverse speed (TS), pressure (P), and abrasive flow rate (AFR) as the variables of the process. The parameters were changed at three levels, maintaining a standoff distance (SOD) of 2 mm, an orifice diameter of 0.35 mm, and using garnet 85# for the abrasive material size. The output parameters obtained, specifically Depth Of Cut (DOC), Material Removal Rate (MRR), and Surface Roughness (Ra), were evaluated through two methods: Hatch strategy and Spiral strategy. A variance analysis was conducted to investigate the interactions between the process parameters and to calculate the F value. The results showed that the traverse speed and step over greatly affected the output parameters DOC, MRR, and Ra.

Evaluating Seasonal Patterns in Pediatric Diarrhea and Pneumonia using SARIMA: A Comparative Analysis of Simulated and Real Time Series in Rivers State, Nigeria

2025-12-23T07:28:43+00:00

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models in forecasting trends of Pediatric Diarrhea and Pneumonia in Rivers State, Nigeria, with particular emphasis on handling auto-correlated errors. The objectives include analyzing seasonal patterns, assessing autocorrelation structures, comparing alternative SARIMA specifications, and identifying the most suitable model using both real and simulated datasets. The empirical data comprise monthly records of reported cases among children under five years, obtained from the Rivers State Primary Healthcare Database. Additionally, a synthetic time series was generated to replicate similar autocorrelation characteristics for robustness testing. Autocorrelation diagnostics, including the Ljung-Box test and ACF/PACF plots, revealed significant serial dependencies across all series, underscoring the limitations of models that ignore autocorrelation. Competing SARIMA models were estimated and evaluated based on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and residual diagnostic checks. Among the models assessed, SARIMA(0,1,2)(0,0,2)[12][12][12] emerged as the best-fitting model, particularly for pediatric diarrhea, demonstrating strong predictive performance and adherence to diagnostic assumptions. Although Auto ARIMA achieved comparable results for pneumonia, SARIMA models exhibited superior residual behaviour and diagnostic reliability. By integrating actual and simulated data, this research addresses gaps in previous studies that overlooked seasonality and autocorrelation in padiatric health time series modeling. The findings affirm the usefulness of SARIMA for time series epidemiology and highlight its potential for enhancing disease investigation and informing public health interventions in resource-constrained settings such as Rivers State.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Universal Precautions at a Tertiary Health Facility in Bauchi, Northeast Nigeria

2025-12-30T18:50:55+00:00

Background: Universal precautions require healthcare workers to treat all blood and body fluids as infectious and apply protective measures to prevent exposure to pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis B and C. Despite their long-standing role in infection prevention, compliance remains uneven, especially in resource-limited hospitals. Improving healthcare workers’ knowledge, awareness, and consistent practice of universal precautions is essential for reducing occupational risks and strengthening infection prevention across all clinical settings. Methods: A 31-item questionnaire was self-administered to clinical staff working at the health facility. The questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics as well as knowledge, awareness, and practice of universal precaution measures. Results were expressed using descriptive statistics, including simple frequencies and percentages. Results: The study enrolled 173 participants comprising medical doctors (n = 28, 16.2%), nurses (n = 39, 22.6%), laboratory scientists (n = 21, 12.1%), ward assistants (n = 46, 28.8%), pharmacists (n = 13, 7.5%), and technologists, social workers, and other clinical staff (n = 26, 15.1%). Six participants (4 males and 2 females) did not respond, giving a response rate of 96.5%. Of the 167 respondents, 91 (54.5%) were males and 76 (45.5%) were females. Overall, 32 (18.5%) participants fully identified the universal precaution guidelines, while 63 (36.4%) practiced hand hygiene during clinical procedures. Conclusion: This study demonstrated poor knowledge, awareness, and practice of universal precaution measures among healthcare workers at a tertiary health facility in Northeast Nigeria. There is an urgent need for periodic training and retraining on universal precaution measures among workers in the study population.