Evaluation of Willingness to Pay for Reliable and Sustainable household Water Use in Ilorin, Nigeria

This study focused on the evaluation of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for sustainable household water use in Ilorin, Nigeria. The study involved assessment of the existing water supply situation particularly considering water use indicators such as demography, adequacy of existing water supply system and WTP for reliable supply. Field work involved the use of structured questionnaire to obtain data on household water use and WTP for a reliable water supply of the sampled houses consisting three land use patterns. Stata/SE 8.0 and Microsoft EXCEL software were employed to evaluate the variables that affect WTP for improved household water use while ccontingency Valuation Method was adopted to evaluate the WTP for reliable and sustainable service delivery. The findings of the study revealed that: approximately 70 % of total sampled households were connected to municipal supply out of which 13 % indicated satisfaction in terms of sufficiency and 87 % used alternative sources to augment water supply; consumers are willing to pay an average sum of N737.22 per month for improved water supply services and; gender, water quality and household income level have significant impact on WTP at 5% level of significance. There is the need to put in place a framework to enhance improvement of system reliability and sustainability.Keywords: Evaluation, willingness, reliability, sustainability, household, wate

A RAPID HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN DAM

Many Dams have been constructed in different parts of the world and for different purposes. While these dams have in most cases served the reason for their construction, the resultant environmental impact have been a subject of concern. The creation of a reservoir not only changes the ecology and hydrology of the environment, the lives of nearby residents is also affected. This study assessed the impact of the University of Ilorin Dam on the health condition of the University community. The Dam was built for the main purpose of water supply to university community. Data on the water related disease reported and documented at the university clinic was obtained to cover pre and post construction period while the perception and behavioral pattern of the community as related to water and sanitation was studied with the help of a structured questionnaire. The chi-squared test was applied to establish that a relationship do exist between the dam construction and the occurrence of some diseases especially Malaria. The study have also shown that the dam imposes no significant negative health impact on the university community. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i1.28

Modeling of Reservoir Inflow for Hydropower Dams Using Artificial Neural Network

The stream flow at the three hydropower reservoirs in Nigeria were modeled using hydro-meteorological parameters and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The model revealed positive relationship between the observed and the modeled reservoir inflow with values of correlation coefficient of 0.57, 0.84 and 0.92 for Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro hydropower reservoir respectively. The established model was used to predict 20 years stream-flow for each of the hydropower reservoirs which were found to have similar statistics with the observed values.  The predicted reservoir inflow were subjected to trend analysis which revealed an upward trend with percentage increase of 4.58%, 6.34% and 5.42% for Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro hydropower reservoirs respectively. The upward trend is an indication of increase in water availability for hydropower generation at the three stations given other constraints are brought under control.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i1.

Modelling of Hydropower Reservoir Variables for Energy Generation: Neural Network Approach

Efficient management of hydropower reservoir can only be realized when there is sufficient understanding of interactions existing between reservoir variables and energy generation. Reservoir inflow, storage, reservoir elevation, turbine release, net generating had, plant use coefficient, tail race level and evaporation losses are the major hydropower reservoir variables affecting the energy generation. Thus, this paper presents the modelling of reservoir variables of two hydropower dams along the River Niger (Kainji and Jebba dams) in Nigeria for energy generation using multilayer perceptron neural network. Total monthly historical data of Kainji and Jebba hydropower reservoirs’ variables and energy generated were collected from Power Holding Company of Nigeria respectively for a period of (1970-2011) and (1984-2011) for the network training. These data were divided into training, testing and holdout data set. The neural network summary yielded a good forecast for Kainji and Jebba hydropower reservoirs with correlation coefficients of 0.89 and 0.77 respectively. These values of the correlation coefficient showed that the networks are reliable for modeling energy generation as a function of reservoir variables for future energy prediction.Key words: Hydropower, reservoir variables, neural network, energy generation, coefficient of correlatio

THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE FREE FLOW SPEED ON AN ARTERIAL IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

 Generic factors (weather, environment, vehicles, fixed roadway characteristics, pedestrian and traffic streams) singly or jointly influence the free flow speed. This paper, therefore, presents the outcome of the quantitative evaluation of the influence of these factors on the free flow speed on an arterial in a medium-sized urban settlement in Nigeria. Instantaneous speeds of forty test vehicles were observed at lull periods on the 7.1km-Offa Garage-Emir’s Road, Ilorin, with simultaneous collection of data on drivers’ and vehicle ages, passenger occupancy, roadside parked vehicles and businesses. The geometric properties of the arterial were earlier established and segmented to four uniform sections. Result of computations using the category and statistical analysis show that the environment, pedestrian and roadway geometry have negative influences on the free flow speed. This can be confirmed by the poor relationship between free flow speed and these factors, with R2 values of 14.9-55%, and lower average free flow speed of commercial saloon cars on wet pavement than on dry pavement, with 12% percentage reduction. Adoption of design and analysis of traffic stream in Ilorin and other urban settlements in Nigeria is, therefore, recommended. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v35i3.

Pragmatic approach to the combination and selection of tanks for water distribution pipe network based on pressure simulation

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Evaluation of Municipal Solid Waste Management System and Willingness-To-Pay for its Improvements in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

This paper reports the evaluation of households’ usage of the current solid waste management system (SWMS) within the city of Ilorin, central Nigeria and investigates the determinants of household’s willingness-to-Pay (WTP) for its improvement. Data was collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire administered to households within four neighbourhoods that represent the major subdivisions in the metropolis. The multiple regression model was applied in explaining household’s usage of the current system and WTP.The study found that 36% and 64% respectively of the households were unsatisfied and moderately satisfied with the current waste management system.The combined effect of household’s demographic profiles, geometric profile and position of waste management facility gave a significant fitted model to show the relationship between household’s willingness to pay and the considered predictors.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i4.2

The association between alcohol use, alcohol use disorders and tuberculosis (TB). A systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2004, tuberculosis (TB) was responsible for 2.5% of global mortality (among men 3.1%; among women 1.8%) and 2.2% of global burden of disease (men 2.7%; women 1.7%). The present work portrays accumulated evidence on the association between alcohol consumption and TB with the aim to clarify the nature of the relationship.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review of existing scientific data on the association between alcohol consumption and TB, and on studies relevant for clarification of causality was undertaken.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There is a strong association between heavy alcohol use/alcohol use disorders (AUD) and TB. A meta-analysis on the risk of TB for these factors yielded a pooled relative risk of 2.94 (95% CI: 1.89-4.59). Numerous studies show pathogenic impact of alcohol on the immune system causing susceptibility to TB among heavy drinkers. In addition, there are potential social pathways linking AUD and TB. Heavy alcohol use strongly influences both the incidence and the outcome of the disease and was found to be linked to altered pharmacokinetics of medicines used in treatment of TB, social marginalization and drift, higher rate of re-infection, higher rate of treatment defaults and development of drug-resistant forms of TB. Based on the available data, about 10% of the TB cases globally were estimated to be attributable to alcohol.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The epidemiological and other evidence presented indicates that heavy alcohol use/AUD constitute a risk factor for incidence and re-infection of TB. Consequences for prevention and clinical interventions are discussed.</p

Exploration of Shared Genetic Architecture Between Subcortical Brain Volumes and Anorexia Nervosa

In MRI scans of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), reductions in brain volume are often apparent. However, it is unknown whether such brain abnormalities are influenced by genetic determinants that partially overlap with those underlying AN. Here, we used a battery of methods (LD score regression, genetic risk scores, sign test, SNP effect concordance analysis, and Mendelian randomization) to investigate the genetic covariation between subcortical brain volumes and risk for AN based on summary measures retrieved from genome-wide association studies of regional brain volumes (ENIGMA consortium, n = 13,170) and genetic risk for AN (PGC-ED consortium, n = 14,477). Genetic correlations ranged from − 0.10 to 0.23 (all p > 0.05). There were some signs of an inverse concordance between greater thalamus volume and risk for AN (permuted p = 0.009, 95% CI: [0.005, 0.017]). A genetic variant in the vicinity of ZW10, a gene involved in cell division, and neurotransmitter and immune system relevant genes, in particular DRD2, was significantly associated with AN only after conditioning on its association with caudate volume (pFDR = 0.025). Another genetic variant linked to LRRC4C, important in axonal and synaptic development, reached significance after conditioning on hippocampal volume (pFDR = 0.021). In this comprehensive set of analyses and based on the largest available sample sizes to date, there was weak evidence for associations between risk for AN and risk for abnormal subcortical brain volumes at a global level (that is, common variant genetic architecture), but suggestive evidence for effects of single genetic markers. Highly powered multimodal brain- and disorder-related genome-wide studies are needed to further dissect the shared genetic influences on brain structure and risk for AN

Improvement on the Performance of Canal Network and Method of on-Farm Water Application Systems

This paper presents the required improvement on the performance of canal network and method of on-farm water application systems at Tunga-Kawo irrigation scheme, Wushishi, Niger state. The problems of poor delivery of water to the farmland were identified to include erosion of canal embarkment, lack of water regulating structures along the secondary canals and some parts of the irrigable farmland are not leveled thereby making the farmland higher than the canal full supply level. The suggested solution include the alignment of the affected part of the secondary canal, the use of check gates structures for controlling the water level, modification of the longitudinal slope(s) of the main canal and that of the secondary canals to increase the canal conveyance capacity. The use of siphon tubes is also suggested for lifting water from the distributary channels to the irrigating farmland to minimize water loss to percolation. The uncontrolled flooding method of irrigation in use, leads to wastage of water. The pounding basin irrigation method is suggested for rice cultivation on the farm and the irrigation schedule was established to be six days. JARD Vol. 3 2004: pp. 7-2