Assessment of the Skills Possessed By the Teachers of Metalwork in the Use of Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tools in Technical Colleges in Oyo State

The purpose of this study was to assess the skills possessed by the teachers of metalwork in the use of computer  numerically controlled machine tools in technical colleges in Oyo State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised of all the 35 metalwork teachers in the technical colleges in Oyo State. A structured questionnaire consisting of 41 items was used for data collection. Two experts from the Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and one expert from the Advanced Manufacturing Unit, Scientific Equipment Development Institute, Akuke, Enugu, face validated the instrument. The reliability co-efficience of the instrument was 0.86. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions while t-test was used for testing the null hypotheses. It was found from the study that six skills were not possessed by metalwork teachers in the use of computer numerically controlled lathe and grinding machine, while seven skills were not possessed in using computer numerically controlled milling machine.  It was recommended that regular and systematic retraining should be organized for metalwork teachers who lack required skills in using these machines. Keywords: Assessment, Technical College, Metalwork, Computer Numerically Controlled Machines, Skill

Planetary Layer Lapse Rate Comparison of Tropical,Montane and Hot Semi-Arid Climates of Nigeria

This study assessed the pattern of planetary layer lapse rate across the major climate belts of Nigeria. Six years’ data (2010-2015) for air temperature values between 1000 mbar and 850 mbar atmospheric pressure levels were acquired from Era-Interim Re-analysis data centre. The data was retrieved at 6-hourly synoptic hours: 0000H, 0600H, 1200H and 1800H at 0.125o grid resolution. Results showed that the lower tropospheric layers throughout the various climate belts has a positive lapse rate. Findings also revealed that the average annual lapse rate condition were: Tropical wet zone (Port Harcourt) -5.6 oC/km; Bi-modal Tropical continental zone (Enugu) 5.8 oC/km; Montane zone (Jos) -6.5 oC/km; Mono-modal Tropical continental zone (Kano) -6.6 oC/km; and Hot semi-arid zone (Maiduguri) -6.6 oC/km. This average values presents the lapse rates to be close to the Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate (SALR). Average diurnal results for the climate belts showed that lapse rate is higher during the afternoon and transition periods than the rest periods and increases from the coastal areas northward. The seasonal periods of highest lapse rates during the day time are from December – May (i.e. 5.8-9.5 oC/km) with slight decrease from June – November. The positive lapse rate of range -1.8 –    -5.9 oC/km observed during the period of dawn across the entire region showed that infrared radiation was still being released and modified by less energetic mechanical turbulence that characterizes the surface layer across Nigeria. This also indicates that global warming is real and in substantial effect. The study findings imply that conditional instability prevailed over the entire region, therefore, the planetary layer environment will be of slow to moderate dispersive potential and will require forceful mechanism to lift emissions are introduced into it. It is recommended that industrial stacks are above 50 m to enhance the dispersion of emissions aloft

Use of Building Information Modelling Tools for Structural Health Monitoring

The study of Information and Communication Technology applications in construction industry have developed greatly for computer programming and management strategies. As a response to the increasing challenges of construction projects, extensive researches have brought about numerous ICT tools such as Building Information Modelling tools, Lean Construction and Lean Design tools, and Integrated Project Delivery management tools to succour the construction industry. Building Information Modelling in particular is acknowledged in the industrial and academic circles as the new Computer Aided Design paradigm and hence, repositions it as the preferred approach to managing design, construction, maintenance and documentation of building projects. But the use of Building Information Modelling tools for structural health monitoring have not been adequately explored. This study employs Building Information Modelling as a tool for diagnosing and correcting structural design flaws in a building under construction. The design flaws in a complex staircase was identified while more realistic options of the design were quickly created and articulated for a safer outcome of the project. The results obtained highlights the benefits of Building Information Modelling applications such as enhanced safety, improved cost, time savings, quality improvements and better project management and execution

Use of Advanced Plastic Materials in Nigeria: Performance Assessment of Expanded Polystyrene Building Technology System

The provision of affordable residential houses for the masses in the developing nations has been a mirage over the years and the future does not portend good as the cost of adopting conventional concrete material technologies is escalating while so many environmental issues like climate change are being raised in the recent times.To circumvent this poor housing provision trend, some innovative construction materials and technologies are being introduced to facilitate unique modular designs, reduction of labour, decline in the depletion of exhaustible materials,savings of time and fund. One of such materials is the expanded polystyrene. The introduction of advanced plastic materials and in particular the expanded polystyrene building technologies in the Nigerian constructionindustry will be a very useful and brilliant initiative that will aid the reduction of cost of construction and facilitate access to affordable houses for the masses.This researchaims at studying the applications of this innovative plastic material in the Nigerian building industry with special regard to the performance perception by the clients and the end users. A building estate where expanded polystyrene building technology has been predominantly used in Abuja is considered as a case study. Questionnaires were distributed among clients and residents of the building estate and statistical tools were used to analyse the data collected. Great satisfaction verified among the clients and residents and the high ranking performance confirmed for recyclability, reliability, versatility and moisture resistance of EPS building products all herald a great future for the applications of this advanced building products in the Nigerian building industry

Experimental Investigation of Yield Strengths of Steel Reinforcing Bars Used in Nigerian Concrete Structures

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world and is best used in conjunction with reinforcing steel for optimal results. But a lot of behavioral and durability issues affect the performance of this composite material. The level of understanding of these durability issues depends on the sophistication of the environment of application of the material. In the developing nations such as Nigeria, where the incidence of building collapse is very frequent and over 95% of the cases of collapse affect reinforced concrete structures, a lot need to be done to understand effectively the true causes of the building collapses. Among these include the behavior of the reinforcing steel adopted in Nigerian construction industry. This research evaluates the behavior of reinforcing steel used in Nigerian concrete structures. The research considers the test results of 12mm and 16mm reinforcing bars adopted for structural purposes within Lagos State environment which have experienced the most cases of building collapse in Nigeria. A total of 433 samples from sites located in 10 Local Government Areas of Lagos State were analyzed with statistical tools. About 42% of the 12mm bars and 46% of 16mm bars failed to meet the BS code prescription of 460N/mm2 yield strength and about 28 % and 33% of 12mm and 16mm bars, respectively, failed to meet the Nigerian’s professional’s prescription of 410N/mm2

Sustainable Green Environment through Utilization of Waste Soda-Lime Glass for Production of Concrete

Recycling and reuse of waste materials remains a major option for waste reduction, preserving the natural resources from further depletion and reduction in greenhouse gases emission thereby contributing to sustainable green environment. In this study, focus on the reuse of waste soda-lime glass crushed into coarse aggregate sizes as a substitute for natural coarse aggregate in normal concrete was investigated. The variables in this study is coarse aggregate while the cement, sand and water-cement ratio were held constant. The crushed waste glass was varied from 0 – 100% in steps of 25% by weight to replace the coarse aggregate in the concrete mix. Concrete mixes were prepared using a mix proportion of 1:2:4 (cement: sand: granite) at water-cement ratio of 0.5 targeting a design strength of 20 MPa. Slump tests were carried out on fresh concrete mixes and tests were also carried out on total number of 60 concrete cube specimens of size 150 x 150 x 150 mm and 60 concrete cylinder specimens of dimension 100 mm diameter by 200 mm height after 3, 7, 28 and 90 days of curing. Results on the slump tests shows a decrease in the concrete workability as the glass content increases. Test results also indicated that the compressive and split tensile strength of the hardened concrete decreases with increasing waste glass content compared with the control. However, concrete mix made with 25% waste glass content compared significantly well with the control and can be suitably adopted for production of normal concrete

Modelling, Analysis and Design of a Multi-Storey Helipad-Car Park: a Proposal for Canaan Land

The rapid growth of urbanization and the ever increasing population of urban centers in modern age of today, has brought about increase in the use of cars, roads and other transportation facilities. This singular factor has created constrains on traffic management system and parking of cars in most of these areas. That is why new innovations and technology need to be put in place to help address this issue and reduce some of the constrains on traffic management system of urban centers and also help improve their parking system. One of these innovations is the introduction of multi-storey car park. The multi-storey car park is one major innovation put in place to help with traffic management system of urban centers in most developed countries and introducing this kind of innovation into the developing countries such as Nigeria would help the traffic management system of major urban centers, bring less environmental hazards with the attendant social and economic gains for the society. That is why this research aims at the modelling, analysis and design of a multi-storey car park which would improve the traffic management of a functional modern society like that of Canaan land. Autodesk Revit and Robot soft wares are adopted and the results obtained are promising and replicable

Appraisal of Municipal Solid Waste Management, Its Effect and Resource Potential in A Semi-Urban City: a Case Study

Managing municipal solid wastes (MSW) is progressively becoming a major challenge in many cities of developing nations because of rapid urbanization and rise in population. This can be described by ineffective collection methods, inadequate coverage of the collection, processing system and inappropriate disposal. This paper presents the current state of solid waste management in a semi-urban city, its associated challenges and prospects that are within. A field work that involves the characterization and types of the waste generated, and frequency of collection was carried out within the study area. Four locations where the major waste bins are located within the city were considered. A representative sample of 280 kg was used for the waste characterization, and the results show that about 64% of the wastes are recyclable with lots of organic waste that can be used as compost. The only dump site in the city was visited in order to obtain useful information concerning the present state of solid waste management. The study revealed that there is presently no investment made to the existing development plan to introduce a modern waste management system. The study suggests new approach that could be used by institutions and government agencies for MSW management to realize a sustainable and efficient sanitation, and possible resources generation potentials that could be harnessed from the waste stream

Comparative analysis of diagnostic applications of autoscan tools on vehicle systems

The study was carried out in five institutions where motor vehicle mechanics trade is offered as automobile technology which includes, three centers where auto scan tools are used for vehicle repairs and two technical colleges in Enugu state that offer motor vehicle mechanics (MVM) trade. A total of 83 MVM trainers, teachers and instructors comprise the population for the study. Five research questions were raised and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05and 0.01 significance levels guided the study. A structured questionnaire with 3 items questions as checklist, 2 Auto scan tools were used for the study and test carried out on 5 vehicle systems at the 3 centers where Innova 1360B with snap shoot (AST1) was compared with Innova 1360B without snap shoot (AST2) were used for vehicle diagnosis. The instrument was validated by five experts and modifications were made in the instrument according to their recommendations. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of a two- way classification experiment data with two observations per experimental unit was used for the evaluation. The results revealed that the efficiencies of AST1 and AST2 in performing the diagnosis because at 1% level of significance, the F-cal was 0.04 and F-tab was 8.65 but differ in performances on various vehicle systems because at 1% level of significance, the F-cal was 7.38 and F-tab was 7.01.Key words: vehicle systems, auto scan - tool, diagnostic application, comparative analysis, evaluation

Challenges of Car Pack Design in Nigeria

Problems of parking space in urban towns and in all places of large congregation is becoming a common issue around the world. Over the years engineers and architects have come up with a lot of solutions finding a way to create more parking spaces within minimum size of land by the design and construction of multi-storey car parks. This is line with the trend in modern cities all over the world of developing high-rise buildings as to overcome the challenges of urban over population, for optimal use of scarce land resources, as status symbol, etc. Standing on the advances made so far and the frequent problematics verified on existing multi-storey car parks, this research presents the design of a multi-storey car park for the mitigation of traffic challenges in public areas using Canaan land, Ota Nigeria as a case study. Canaan land, the seat of Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State of Nigeria is used as a case study because of the amount of vehicles that compete for parking space on Sundays or on other days of events. The research consist of the creation of the architectural drawings of the multi-storey car park with AutoCAD drafting and the modelling, structural analysis and design using the software Orion R16. The structural analysis and design were challenging but good results were obtained, approach for more innovative multi-storey car park identifie