Jonathan’s Constitutional Conference in Nigeria: A reflection and a radical critique

The process of bringing forth a constitution is as crucial and important as the constitution itself. However, while this ideal has been institutionalized in many liberal democracies, it is yet to be fully embraced in many illiberal countries. In Nigeria, the focus of this discourse, the process of constitution-making is as old as the country itself but such processes had always followed the same pattern: elite engineered, paternalistically-driven and above all, devoid of citizens’ imprints via a referendum. It is against this backdrop that this article, in a retrospective and analytical manner, examines and offers a democratic critique ofNigeria’s most recent attempt at Nigeria’s constitutional engineering, the Jonathan’s Constitutional Conference (JCC) of 2014. It observes that President Jonathan-initiated Constitutional Conference mimicked the paternalistic character of the previous attempts at constitution-making and as such the process is not markedly different from the old. It submits that as long as the state elites, acting on behalf of the hegemonic faction of the dominant class, continue to see constitution-making as their exclusive reserve and are always willing to defend even a bad constitution, the search for a people’s constitution would continue.Keywords: constitution, Nigerian state, referendum, hegemony, paternalism, Goodluck Jonatha

Investigation of the Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient of the Hand and Fingers in Firefighter Gloves Using a Thermal Hand

The heat transfer coefficients of the hands are critical inputs of the thermoregulation model that can simulate thermal responses of the hand and fingers. Besides, the hand has a greater surface area to mass ratio and complex anthropometric parameters, thus is extremely important in heat transfer and thermoregulation. However, the convective heat transfer coefficients of the fingers, palm, and dorsal of the hand are not fully investigated and understood. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for full understanding of the convective heat transfer coefficients in both the whole-hand and regional segments. The results of this study will provide guidance for the thermal model development, cold and burn injuries assessment, and design of high-performance protective gloves

Investigating the Effects of Size on Glove Thermal Insulation Using a Thermal Hand

Thermal insulation for gloves has also been measured to assess comfort using thermal hands. However, the previous studies mainly focused on the thermal insulation among different types of gloves, rather than across different-sized gloves of the same type. Actually, the air gap thickness and volume between the skin of the hand and the gloves varies with the size of the gloves and on different locations on the hand, thereby affecting the heat and mass transfer between the skin and its thermal environment. Consequently, different-sized gloves will affect the thermal responses of hand and fingers as well as the thermal comfort. To design the next generation of highperformance gloves, it is critical to investigate the effects of size/fit on thermal insulation of gloves to enable both thermal protection and thermal comfort. In this study, the thermal insulation of two types of gloves with different sizes was measured and the effect of size/fit on thermal insulation was established

Development and thermal characterization of polydiacetylene (PDA) nanofiber composites for smart wound dressing applications

2016 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Conventional methods of identification of microbiological pathogens infection in wound have many challenges such as the need for specialized instruments and trained personnel, and the long detection time. There is a critical need for an innovative method that is simple, accurate, sensitive, reliable, and rapid in pathogen detection practices. Wound dressings containing PDA nanofibers could be used as a diagnostic tool for the detection of onsite bacterial infection. By early wound infection diagnosis, the smart wound dressing would allow physicians to start timely treatment which would reduce hospitalization time and patient suffering. PDAs are of great interest in the development of chromatic sensors due to their unique optical property of undergoing a chromatic transition from blue to red upon external stimuli. 10,12-Pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA) and poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) were used in this study to develop fiber composites via an electrospinning method at various mass ratios of PEO to PCDA, solution concentrations, and injection speeds. High mass ratios of PEO to PCDA, low polymer concentrations, and low injection speed promoted fine fibers with smooth surfaces. The colorimetric transition of the fibers was investigated by heating the fibers at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 120 °C. A color switch from blue to red was observed when the fibers were treated at temperatures higher than 60 °C. The color transition was more sensitive in the fibers made with a low mass ratio of PEO to PCDA due to the high fraction of PDA in the fibers. The large diameter fibers also promoted the color switch due to the high reflectance area in the fibers. All of the fibers were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and compared before and after the color change occurred. The colorimetric transitional mechanism is proposed to occur due to conformational changes in the PDA macromolecules

Performance evaluation of the children’s sleepwear against hot water splash

The objective of this research is to examine, for the first time, the hot splash protection provided by the commercially available children’s sleepwear. Three types of commercially available children’s sleepwear, knitted in different fabric structures with different fiber composition, were evaluated. Polyester fabrics, due to better wicking property, spread hot water faster in both horizontal and vertical directions. As a result, a larger body surface area of the wearer would get burnt quickly. Cotton/modacrylic interlock fabrics, due to cotton excellent absorption of water and high thickness of the interlock structure, less body surface area was affected, indicating superior splash protection provided. The performance could be further improved if the fabric were made modacrylic rich. This research would provide a critical insight into the selection of fiber and fabric structure in designing this sophisticated class of fabric for superior flame and splash protection to children.</p

Scald Burn Protection of the Commercially Available Children’s Sleepwear

Children’s sleepwear is often recalled from the consumer market due to non-conformance; however, scholarly articles auditing the thermal protection performance of commercially available children’s sleepwear are scarce. Moreover, the protection against hot liquid exposure, a prevalent cause of child burn injury, has never been studied. This study examines the integrity of the commercially available children’s sleepwear with Flammable Fabrics Act, and thermal protection performance against hot splash. Sleepwear knitted in different structures with different fiber compositions were selected and exposed to vertical flammability tester and hot liquid tester. A very poor splash protection was observed by all the fabrics under study. Although, all of the fabrics passed the vertical flammability test; dangerous molten polymer hazard posed by the synthetic polyester fabrics calls for a careful selection of fibers for this sophisticated class of apparel. A better protection performance could be envisioned should the fabrics were made rich of inherently flame-retardant fibers.This article is published as AKM Mashud Alam, Yulin Wu and Chunhui Xiang, Scald Burn Protection of the Commercially Available Children’s Sleepwear. Journal of Textile science & fashion technology, 4(4); 2020; Doi: 10.33552/JTSFT.2020.04.000591.</p

Development of polydiacetylene based colorimetric nanofiber sensor for pesticide detection in chemical protective clothing

About 5.8 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year globally as an essential element in agricultural, residential, or recreational settings to fight against pests. mainly for. Although the use of pesticides help protecting the world food supply, it has always been detrimental to the environment and is a threat to human health and well-being due to acute toxicity and long-term carcinogenic effects. These incidents occur since the agricultural workers choose to wear regular work clothes instead of recommended protective clothing. Moreover, there is no onsite sensing system currently available for real-time monitoring the pesticide contamination. Therefore, this dissertation research envisioned the development of a novel solid-state optical chemosensing material incorporated with functionalized polydiacetylene ester for the real-time naked-eye detection of organophosphate pesticide contamination which can signal through color change and is suitable for incorporation into chemical protective clothing for the pesticide handlers. The development of lightweight cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers using electrospinning technology was studied in Chapter 2. The effect of the collector geometry and sandwich structures on the wettability was explored to obtain a combination that resembles the wettability of regular work clothes. Different collectors yielded various sizes and morphologies of the fabricated electrospun nanofibers with varying levels of surface roughness. Thicker fibers with high strength and elongation were obtained when collected on the foil collector. The regenerated cellulose (RC) membranes, obtained after hydrolysis treatment of CA membranes, exhibited a tensile strength and elongation compatible with textile structures such as plain cotton cloth. The RC-based triple-layer systems, RC-PLA-RC, exhibited a contact angle of 48.2°, comparable to the contact angle (47.0°) of the single-layer cellulosic structures. Chapter 3 incorporated the synthesis of PCDA-ester (PCDA-HBA), followed by nanocomposite fiber development and a preliminary study of sensing of OP insecticide, DFP. Aldehyde-functionalized PCDA ester, PCDA-HBA, was synthesized via a novel green route for colorimetric sensing of organophosphate (OP) compounds. PCDA-HBA was successfully incorporated into the cellulose acetate (CA) matrix via electrospinning. The NF composites were then chemically hydrolyzed to convert CA composites into regenerated cellulose (RC) composites. The hydrolysis process did not affect the added functional group into the PCDA macromolecules. The FT-IR results, along with contact angle tests, exhibited the generation of a large number of hydroxyl groups on the NF composites after hydrolysis treatment, which makes the fiber suitable for OP sensing. The pilot study showed that the NF composites could detect the presence of the DFP within a minute upon exposure and exhibited the detection via a color transition from blue to red. Chapter 4 demonstrates the synthesis, fabrication, naked-eye, and quantitative detection of OP insecticides with a polydiacetylene (PDA) ester containing nanocomposite fabric sensors. The soft solid-state sensor exhibited a blue-to-pink/red color transition within seconds of exposure to DFP, and the color change was visible to the naked eye. Nanocomposite fibers containing 10% PCDA-HBA were found to be the optimum composition for DFP detection. The limit of DFP detection was 63 ppm. The mechanism of color change was also studied. A decrease in crystallite order and arrangement in the polymer chain due to the development of hydrogen bonding was suggested as the mechanism of color change. Collectively, this dissertation discusses the synthesis of polydiacetylene ester (PCDA-HBA) via a green route followed by the fabrication of PCDA-HBA encapsulated nanocomposite fiber membranes using the electrospinning technique. The nanocomposite fiber membranes, after hydrolysis treatment, were exposed to an organophosphate pesticide DFP to study the OP detection via a colorimetric change from blue to red. The sensitivity, selectivity, limit of detection, and color-changing mechanism were also studied. The proposed OP sensor can be incorporated into pesticide worker’s work clothes, saving millions of lives from deadly consequences

Characterization of Flexible Solar Panels for sustainable smart solar powered apparel

This research is designed to investigate several consumer concerns about solar-powered apparel, including: (a) are they durable enough?, (b) are they washable?, and (c) are they thermally comfortable? Flexible solar panels were found to be strong enough to be incorporated into apparel. The very high elastic modulus was concerning about flexibility, which may impose design restrictions in the final products. The panels were also washable, which implies that they could be permanently attached to garments, thereby simplifying design requirements for solar-powered apparel. A clothing ensemble with a high value of thermal resistance is preferred in winter because it ensures less heat loss from the human body to the environment. The low value of the thermal insulation of the solar panels indicated that heat will not remain in the panels and overheated issue will not happen in the solar panels area.</p