Assessment of Selected Dams in Kwara State, Nigeria

In Nigeria, more than 50% of the geographical area lies in the Savannah. Over time, this area has been vulnerable to the vagaries of periodic and severe droughts, affecting the survival of man and animals. Safe and economic design and construction of dams to store surplus river waters thus assumed greater urgency. However, dam failures and flood issues has caused catastrophic damages and losses of lives and properties. The uncertainties associated with deteriorating dams have necessitated proper and timely assessment and rehabilitation of these structures. This study identifies and investigates relapse in four (4) selected dams in Kwara State namely: Unilorin-, Malete-, Okuta- Oja- and Asa-dam. A series of field inspection was carried out and results obtained were analyzed. Amongst the four dams, Okuta-Oja dam displayed the worst case of relapse with seepages through the foundation and body of the dam. About 20 baffle blocks out of 30 have been damaged in Unilorin dam, while Malete dam was undergoing re-construction owing to seepage failure. Asa dam however remains intact with no physical and structural defect. Unless appropriately handled, ageing and relapsing infrastructural systems can pose a significant problem, threatening economic prosperity and public safety. Thus, monitoring the state of dam structures to ensure timely maintenance is critically important to preventing catastrophic disasters

DIABETES AND LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION AWARENESS AMONG NIGERIANS

Health they say is wealth. This statement is responsible for the importance of well-being to the individual in question and the development of a society at large. Therefore, health communication is becoming an area all over the world that cannot be neglected. The numerous problems related to health issues have been fully identified mostly with developing countries ranging from the continent of Asia, and Sub-Sahara Africa. World Bank group affirms that heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory conditions and other noncommunicable diseases increasingly threaten the health and economic security of many low-and middleincome countries. According to Africa Development Bank, this is creating a double disease burden which Africa health systems are ill equipped to handle. In Nigeria, the figure may likely rise by almost 1.0% in the next 10 years considering the nonchalant attitude of Nigerian generally to health (Osain, 2011). The High rate of diabetes that exists in Nigeria will also raise the rate of obesity in those affected. This study examined the awareness trend of diabetes and its associated lifestyle against the backdrop of increase in the rate of the disease. The rate of increase in diabetes in Africa is predicted to witness a rise from 10m to 20m by 2015. Using survey method, 50 respondents were interrogated. The study reveals that media information are not sufficient in few cases and are not available in most cases on diabetes and has no relationship with a healthy lifestyle. Also, respondents believe bad diet lifestyle is not a determinant for diabetes which is hereditary. Aside promoting communication campaign through edutainment programmes on the mass media, this study suggest other ways of communicating with the public to provide the knowledge needed in order to reduce the outbreak of diabetes in Nigeri

PH-Controlled Assembly of DNA Tiles

We demonstrate a strategy to trigger and finely control the assembly of supramolecular DNA nanostructures with pH. Control is achieved via a rationally designed strand displacement circuit that responds to pH and activates a downstream DNA tile self-assembly process. We observe that the DNA structures form under neutral/basic conditions, while the self-assembly process is suppressed under acidic conditions. The strategy presented here demonstrates a modular approach toward building systems capable of processing biochemical inputs and finely controlling the assembly of DNA-based nanostructures under isothermal conditions. In particular, the presented architecture is relevant for the development of complex DNA devices able to sense and respond to molecular markers associated with abnormal metabolism

Evidence-Based Design of University Zoological Gardens: a Perception Study in South-west Nigeria

Evidence-based design (EBD) has become an acceptable paradigm in environment-behaviour endeavours in recent years with documented benefits especially in healthcare facilities. However, little is known of its application to University Campus Open Spaces (UCOS) like University Zoological Gardens (UZGs) which accounts for the repetition of design mistakes. This study aims to assess the UZGs as a major component of UCOS in South-west Nigeria with a view to formulating EBD frameworks. It adopts a comparative post-occupancy evaluation (POE) approach through a Stratified Random Sampling protocol of users (n=3,016) of the gardens in Federal Universities in South-west Nigeria. Results of the quantitative data analyses suggest that while walk-ability is a primary satisfaction factor among thirty design considerations in the formulated model, legibility is the most primary cognitive factor for designing perceptible high quality UZGs. The study argues in favour of the developed framework as design tool-kit and recommends its application as a feed-back input into the design process of UZGs

REGULATING THE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GLOBAL RELATIONSHIPS

The emergence of ICT has opened a global platform for communication to exist locally, nationally and internationally among nations further widening globalisation. This further encourages lots of changes in culture, relationships among nations and global interactions especially changes that involves redefining the identity of many nations across borders. The presence of western power is becoming prominent while values and general way of life are being globally defined by the western culture. Of all the forms of communication platforms provided by the internet, the social media networks are the most used by all ages and category of persons with the fast growing pace at which diverse applications are developed and made available to the public for free. In light of this, there is proof that the social media in this age are driving these changes faster than imagined. This is probably because it is one of the widely used platforms for fast and immediate communication online. Consequently, the social media poses lots of challenges on a global level because of the differences that exist especially amongst cultures and them among countries. Also the platform has been used to take advantage of another user for evil purposes. There is therefore a pressing need for some forms of protection on the social media to shield the identity of nations, ensure security across borders and prevent nation to nation harassment and discrimination. This paper therefore using Blake‘s (1997) prototype proposes ways to ensure social media regulations and also identified the possible challenges that could be faced in regulating social media network

Interaction assessment and optimal design of composite action of plastered typha strawbale

The concept design of the typha strawbale masonry came up as a result of the urgent demand for a means of constructing sustainable buildings, both in rural and urban settlement, not only suitable for dwellers but for keeping farm products by structures that will respond to the environmental eco-system, coupled with the fact that such structures are also affordable, durable and easy to maintain during their service period. The effects of contact between plaster and the stacked strawbale of a masonry needs to be established and design optimization for durability and stability of the masonry be obtained. The assessment will involve the application of plaster materials (cement and natural earth) to the wall specimen panels. Past works have shown that plastered strawbale walls have adequate resistance against the appropriate vertical loads, and further showed that the earth plaster can bear higher stress than the cement plastered straw bale. There is the implication that the collapse or response of the earth-strawbale wall is significantly higher compared to that of cement-strawbale from other straw-based masonries. Therefore the allowable stresses of plastered typha strawbale shall be predicted for their optimum values using SAP2000. The stress stability of each masonry is obtained by analytical model using the best fit variables for the wall height and thickness

Binary control of enzymatic cleavage of DNA origami by structural antideterminants

Controlling DNA nanostructure interaction with protein is essential in developing nanodevices with programmable function, reactivity, and stability for biological and medical applications. Here, we show that the sequence-specific action of restriction endonucleases towards sharp triangular or rectangular DNA origami exhibits a novel, binary 'on/off' behaviour, as canonical recognition sites are either essentially fully reactive, or strongly resistant to enzymatic cutting. Moreover, introduction of structural defects in the sharp triangle can activate an otherwise unreactive site, with a site-to-defect distance of ∼50 nm. We argue that site reactivity is dependent upon programmable, mechanical coupling in the two-dimensional DNA origami, with specific structural elements, including DNA nicks and branches proximal to the sites that can function as negative(anti) determinants of reactivity. Empirically modelling the constraints to DNA degrees of freedom associated with each recognition site in the sharp triangle can rationalize the pattern of suppressed reactivity towards nine restriction endonucleases, in substantial agreement with the experimental results. These results provide a basis for a predictive understanding of structure-reactivity correlates of specific DNA nanostructures, which will allow a better understanding of the behaviour of nucleic acids under nanoscale confinement, as well as in the rational design of functional nanodevices based on self-assembling nucleic acids