Economic Valuation of Poor Road Infrastructure Lagos: A Focus on Urban Households

The inefficiency and lack of urban transport services and infrastructure is a major impediment to economic growth and urban productivity in cities of developing countries like Nigeria This study is aimed at assessing the impact of poor road infrastructure on urban households using environmental valuation techniques The study is based on a survey research carried out with the distribution of structured questionnaires to 1040 households in eight metropolitan local government areas namely Alimosho Apapa Eti-osa Ikeja Kosofe Mushin Shomolu and Surulere in Lagos State to elicit information on current condition of infrastructure in the area household consequential cost due to poor road condition willingness to pay for improved road condition preferred service option for road infrastructure Analysis was carried out using descriptive statistical tools Results from the study shows that urban roads in Lagos are in a deplorable condition and households suffer a lot of consequential damages arising from it The results also show that households are willing to pay for improved road conditions The paper recommends that the government should formulate a good infrastructure policy that will enhance the sustainability of infrastructure over time and should also encourage public participation in urban infrastructure provision and maintenanc

Publishing in the Top Journals of the ABDC Journal List: A Cross-Disciplinary Study

The purpose of this research is to determine the probability that faculty will publish in the top journals in their respective fields, and if the probability of publishing in those top journals is equally likely across accounting, finance, and management disciplines. To address these questions we collected data from the top journals on the ABDC Journal list for the years 2013-2014. Specifically, we wanted to know how many publication opportunities in the top journals were available during the those two years, how many schools were able to publish in the top journals, and which schools had the most success in publishing in the top journals. For example, a total of 788 papers were published in accounting, compared to about 7,000 papers in the top A* management journals. Our findings prove that the probability of a faculty member to publish in a top A* journal is higher for a management faculty member than it is for accounting or finance faculty. This paper focuses on the statistics and analysis of the data collected

Mrub_2836, Mrub_1595, and Mrub_1596 are orthologs of b_1857, b_1859 and b_1858 in \u3cem\u3eEscherichia Coli\u3c/em\u3e Coding for a Zinc Uptake ABC Transporter System

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_2836, Mrub_1595, and Mrub_1596 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a Zn2+ ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporter: 1) Mrub_2836 (DNA coordinates 1878670-2879569 on the complement strand) encodes the substrate binding protein (aka periplasmic protein), predicted to be an ortho; and 2) Mrub_1595 (DNA coordinates 1628074-1628865 on the complement strand) encodes the permease component (aka transmembrane domain); and 3) Mrub_1596 (DNA coordinates 1628867-1629637 on the complement strand) encodes the ATP-binding protein (aka nucleotide binding domain). This is an ATP transport system that imports Zinc into the cell. This is done by coupling ATP hydrolysis to the system in order to move Zinc against the cell potential gradient. This project is part of the Meiothermus ruber genome analysis project, which predicts gene function using the bioinformatics tools collected under the umbrella of the Guiding Education through Novel Investigation –Annotation Collaboration Toolkit (GENI-ACT)

Unsafe at any Campus: Don\u27t Let Colleges Become the Next Cruise Ships, Nursing Homes, and Food Processing Plants

The decision to educate our students via in-person or online learning environments while COVID-19 is unrestrained is a false choice, when the clear path to achieve our chief objective safely, the education of our students, can be done online. Our decision-making should be guided by the overriding principle that people matter more than money. We recognize that lost tuition revenue if students delay or defer education is an institutional concern, but we posit that many students and parents would prefer a safer online alternative to riskier in-person options, especially as we get closer to fall, and American death tolls rise. This Article argues the extra stress of trying to maintain safety from infection with a return to campus will make teaching and learning less effective. While high density classrooms promote virus transmission and potentially super-spreader events, we can take the lessons we learned during the spring and provide courses without the stressors of spreading the virus. We argue the socially responsible decision is to deliver compassionate, healthy, and first-rate online pedagogy, and we offer a vision of how to move forward into this brave new world

Academic Staff Use of Electronic Resources (ER) in Nigerian University Libraries During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period

ABSTARCT Purpose: This study investigated the Academic staff Use of Electronic Resources (ER) in the Nigerian University of Nigeria Libraries during the Corona Virus (Covid 19) lockdown Design/ Methodology/Approach: The study adopted a Descriptive survey research design. The total population of study was 3130. A sample size of 313 was selected for the study using the simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The benchmark score for decision on the analysis was the real limits of numbers Findings: The finding from the study revealed that the Academic staff and the Librarians in the University Library obeyed the Government Lock down and stay at home order. The University Library that used to be a beehive of activities was on lock and key. Result revealed that while on lockdown, the library made provision for online use of its information resources for users. The result also showed good use of Electronic resources (ER) by Academic staff during this Covid 19 period. The academic staff mostly used the Electronic Resources (ER) for writing research papers. Some academic staff were unaware of these resources while other non users accepted to learn how to use it at the least opportunity. Practical Implication: Based on the finding it has been established that library users including Academic staff had the opportunity of using library resources irrespective of distance during the period of the lock down. This implies that Academic staff does not necessarily need to be at the library building to make use of library resources. Originality/Value: The findings and recommendations of this study are expected to be beneficial to academic staff, Librarians and administrations, in the Universities in Nigeria specifically in knowing the needs of Academic staff and what they prefer and the challenges they face when searching electronic resources without assistance from specialists . Keywords: Academic Staff, Use, Electronic Resources, Nigerian Universities, Libraries, Covid 19 Paper Type: Empirical Researc

The response of a neutral atom to a strong laser field probed by transient absorption near the ionisation threshold

We present transient absorption spectra of an extreme ultraviolet attosecond pulse train in helium dressed by an 800 nm laser field with intensity ranging from $2times10^{12}$ W/cm$^2$ to $2times10^{14}$ W/cm$^2$. The energy range probed spans 16-42 eV, straddling the first ionisation energy of helium (24.59 eV). By changing the relative polarisation of the dressing field with respect to the attosecond pulse train polarisation we observe a large change in the modulation of the absorption reflecting the vectorial response to the dressing field. With parallel polarized dressing and probing fields, we observe significant modulations with periods of one half and one quarter of the dressing field period. With perpendicularly polarized dressing and probing fields, the modulations of the harmonics above the ionisation threshold are significantly suppressed. A full-dimensionality solution of the single-atom time-dependent Schr odinger equation obtained using the recently developed ab-initio time-dependent B-spline ADC method reproduce some of our observations

The Effects of Sport Specific, Governed, and Non-Controllable Focal Point on Female Vertical Jump Performance

Graduate Applie

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used increasingly to map instances of environmental injustice, the disproportionate exposure of certain populations to environmental hazards. Some of the technical and analytic difficulties of mapping environmental injustice are outlined in this article, along with suggestions for using GIS to better assess and predict environmental health and equity. I examine 13 GIS-based environmental equity studies conducted within the past decade and use a study of noxious land use locations in the Bronx, New York, to illustrate and evaluate the differences in two common methods of determining exposure extent and the characteristics of proximate populations. Unresolved issues in mapping environmental equity and health include lack of comprehensive hazards databases; the inadequacy of current exposure indices; the need to develop realistic methodologies for determining the geographic extent of exposure and the characteristics of the affected populations; and the paucity and insufficiency of health assessment data. GIS have great potential to help us understand the spatial relationship between pollution and health. Refinements in exposure indices; the use of dispersion modeling and advanced proximity analysis; the application of neighborhood-scale analysis; and the consideration of other factors such as zoning and planning policies will enable more conclusive findings. The environmental equity studies reviewed in this article found a disproportionate environmental burden based on race and/or income. It is critical now to demonstrate correspondence between environmental burdens and adverse health impacts--to show the disproportionate effects of pollution rather than just the disproportionate distribution of pollution sources

A COMPUTATAIONALLY EFFICIENT METHOD FOR ONLINE IDENTIFICATION OF TRAFFIC CONTROL INTERVENTION MEASURES

Abstract Adaptive traffic control systems such as SCOOT and SCATS are designed to respond to changes in traffic conditions and provide heuristically optimised traffic signal settings. However, these systems make gradual changes to signal settings in response to changing traffic conditions. In the EPSRC and TSB funded FREEFLOW project, a tool is being designed to rapidly identify severe traffic problems using traffic sensor data and recommend traffic signal plans and UTC parameters that have worked well in the past under similar traffic conditions for immediate implementation. This paper will present an overview of this tool, called the Intelligent Decision Support (IDS),that is designed to complement adaptive traffic control systems. The IDS is essentially a learning based system. It requires an historic database of traffic sensor data and traffic control intervention data for the application area as a knowledge base. The IDS, when deployed online, will monitor traffic sensor data to determine if the network is congested using traffic state estimation models. When IDS identifies congestion in the network, the historic database is queried for similar congestion events, where the similarity is based on both the severity and the spatial pattern of congestion. Traffic control interventions implemented during similar congestion events in the historic database are then evaluated for their effectiveness to mitigate congestion. The most effective traffic control interventions are recommended by IDS for implementation, along with an associated confidence indicator. The IDS is designed to work online against large historic datasets, and is based on traffic state estimation models developed at Imperial College London and pattern matching tools developed at the University of York. The IDS is tested offline using Inductive Loop Detector (ILD) data obtained from the ASTRID system and traffic control intervention data obtained from the UTC system at Transport for London (TfL) during its development. This paper presents the preliminary results using TfL data and outlines future research avenues in the development of IDS