Ambient hues and audible cues: An approach to automotive user interface design using multi-modal feedback

The use of touchscreen interfaces for in-vehicle information, entertainment, and for the control of comfort settings is proliferating. Moreover, using these interfaces requires the same visual and manual resources needed for safe driving. Guided by much of the prevalent research in the areas of the human visual system, attention, and multimodal redundancy the Hues and Cues design paradigm was developed to make touchscreen automotive user interfaces more suitable to use while driving. This paradigm was applied to a prototype of an automotive user interface and evaluated with respects to driver performance using the dual-task, Lane Change Test (LCT). Each level of the design paradigm was evaluated in light of possible gender differences. The results of the repeated measures experiment suggests that when compared to interfaces without both the Hues and the Cues paradigm applied, the Hues and Cues interface requires less mental effort to operate, is more usable, and is more preferred. However, the results differ in the degradation in driver performance with interfaces that only have visual feedback resulting in better task times and significant gender differences in the driving task with interfaces that only have auditory feedback. Overall, the results reported show that the presentation of multimodal feedback can be useful in design automotive interfaces, but must be flexible enough to account for individual differences

Neurobehavioral and Immunohistochemical Assessment of the Cerebellum in Adult Male Albino Wistar Rats Following Cannabis Sativa Administration

Reports abound on the use and effects of Cannabis sativa. High consumption may result in schizophrenia. It put some consumers in a state of coma, while some become unconscious after its consumption. Besides, it restores emotional stability in others and fills some consumers with a sense of wellbeing. Epidemiologic data suggest that Cannabis sativa use is a serious public health problem because it is highly addictive and is associated with a variety of neurological complications. The cerebellum is implicated in locomotor  activity and is richly endowed with cannabinoid-1, CB1 receptors; there was the need to assess the microstructure of the cerebellum and to evaluate locomotor activity on an animal model  following consumption of Cannabis sativa via various routes of administration. Graded doses of various preparations of Cannabis sativa were administered daily for 28 days as follows: Group B: 0.41 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg, and 0.13 mg/kg body weight of soxtlet extract of Cannabis sativa via oral ingestion. Group C: 4grams, 2grams and 1grams of grounded dried leaves of Cannabis sativa via inhalation.  Group D: A mixture of 8grams, 4grams and 2 grams of grounded dried leaves of Cannabis sativa and 90grams of animal feed in each case. Group A served as the control while rats in Group E were given 1gm of 10% Tween 80 via oral ingestion. Before and after 28 days of administration of Cannabis sativa, the  open field maze and Morris water maze experiments on neurobehavioral were carried out. Data were expressed as means ± standard error of the mean (M±SEM) and subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using PRIMER, EXE, version 3.01. Significant difference between means was assessed by Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc test. 95% level of significance (P = .05) was used for the statistical analysis; while Microsoft excel 2010 package was used for graphs and error bars.  The findings of this study thus suggest that the extract of Cannabis sativa obtained via soxtlet extraction technique has a mild and lesser psychoactive effect compared to other preparations of Cannabis sativa, thus presents a better method to be adopted in preparation of medical Cannabis. Keywords: Cannabis sativa. Cerebellum.  Albino  Wistar rat

Effects of co-treatment of Rauwolfia vomitoria and Gongronema latifolium on neurobehaviour and the neurohistology of the cerebral cortex in mice

Rauwolfia vomitoria and Gongronema latifolium are medicinal plants with antioxidant, antidiabetic and analgesic properties among others. R. vomitoria is reported to possess adverse neural effects, which G. latifolium has shown the potential to address. This study therefore investigated the effects of co-treatment of R. vomitoria and G. latifolium on the neurobehaviour and histology of the cerebral cortex of female mice. Twenty female Wistar mice were divided into 4 groups (A, B, C and D). Group A designated as the control received 0.4 mL of 20 % Tween, while groups B, C and D received oral doses of 150 mg/kg of R. vomitoria (RV), 200 mg/kg of G. latifolium (GL) and a combination of 150 mg/kg of R. vomitoria and 200 mg/kg of G. latifolium (RV+GL), respectively for seven days. Light and dark field behaviour test was carried out on day 8 and the animals were immediately sacrificed. Their brains were excised and routinely processed by haematoxylin and eosin method. There was no difference in body and brain weights, and the behavioural parameters. Cellular cyto-architecture showed higher glial population with no apparent histopathology. The cellular population was higher (p<0.0001) in the RV and RV+GL groups, while the GL group was less (p<0.0001) populated all compared to the control.In conclusion, the reported treatment regimes, RV administered singly and in combination with GL may not affect some neurobehavioural activities, but may result in cellular increase in the cerebral cortex.KEY WORDS: Rauwolfia vomitoria; Gongronema latifolium; Cerebral cortex; Mic

Spontaneous Settlements: Roles and Challenges to Urban Planning

Spontaneous settlements are referred to as an outward spread of built-up areas caused by expansion, with inadequate provision of facilities. The formation of spontaneous settlements is as a result of urbanization, where rents go high as the city evolves thereby moving the low income earners to the suburbs for easy access to places of opportunity for casual work at the same time not far away from the city. This study examines the characteristics of Spontaneous settlements, factors responsible for their existence, basic problems associated with Spontaneous settlements, their challenges to urban planning, efforts that have been put in place for checking spontaneous settlements and how effective they have been over time. The study specifically focuses on settlements in Iyana Iyesi, Mupin, Ayetoro areas in Ota, Ogun State. Data was collected through physical observations and questionnaires. Data was also obtained from published articles and from the National Population Commission census publication. Examination of an interpretation key, plotting of the study area, geo-referencing and editing of maps with ground data were done to have a precise view of the study area. From the analysis, the existence of high residential density, overcrowding, poor drainage network or lack of it and general poor basic infrastructure shows that, the study area is a typical depiction of a Spontaneous settlement. In concluding the paper, it posits making planning proposals and recommendations based on the findings, for upgrading of the Spontaneous settlement to be functionally effective. The paper also makes room for assisted spontaneous settlements to be considered as alternatives to administered settlements which will allow land to be invaded and then regularize the occupiers

Analysis of Thermal and Electrical Properties of Laterite, Clay and Sand Samples and Their Effects on Inhabited Buildings in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

Buildings are faced with situations bothering on effects of heat and electric current flow on occupants. Thermal comfort as well as the quantity of current expected in buildings is of paramount importance. Core materials used in erecting buildings were considered during this study.   This study is meant to analyze the thermal and electrical properties of laterite, clay and sand samples thereby picking out the most suitable for inhabited buildings. Each sample of laterite, sand and clay was placed in the sample chamber of Lee's disc apparatus and sufficient heat was passed to the samples through the conical chamber. The in and out temperatures of the specimens were determined. The cooling curves of temperature against time were employed to determine their thermal conductivities while the resistivity was obtained through the thermocouple and multi-meter. A very low thermal conductivity of 3.5 x 101kgms-2ÆŸ-1 and high resistivity of 0.0337Ωm were obtained for laterite samples. The results obtained revealed that the samples considered have different thermal conductivities, electrical resistivity and rates of cooling. The rate of cooling of laterite sample showed that it has low temperature fluctuations when it absorbs heat. The salt content of laterite sample in Ota was observed to be very minimal due to small quantity of current flowing through buildings constructed with such laterite sample analyzed. The electrical and thermal conductivity of laterites show they can easily withstand high current and intense heat much more than clay and sand. Based on the thermal and electrical properties of laterites obtained, it is therefore imperative to establish the need to embrace it as local building material while sand and clay could be used in the production of pipes, roof tiles and interior floor where the heat conductivity is of secondary concern. Laterite based buildings using NBRRI interlocking should be encouraged more in Nigeria especially those living in hot regions

Investigation of the Effect of Bamboo Leaf Ash Blended Cement on Engineering Properties of Lateritic Blocks

Laterite is the commonly used building materials in rural Nigeria. It has been observed that it became the traditional building construction material due to its availability, low processing cost and ease of handling with little or no equipment and skill requirements. However, studies have shown that lateritic soils are generally weak in compression and tend to absorb moisture and become soften. Consequently, walling materials such as lateritic blocks has been the subject of investigation for decades; partly, to serve as an alternative to the conventional sand Crete blocks. Such effort is especially desirable as it is well known that the production processes of cement; which is the main binder employed in the production of sand Crete blocks is associated with huge energy consumption and emission of harmful gases such as CO2. This study investigated the effect of bamboo leaf ash blended with cement on some engineering properties of lateritic blocks. The bamboo leaves used for this study were collected in the campus of the University of Uyo and the laterite was obtained from a borrow pit in Itu L.G.A. of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The leaves were sun-dried, burnt in an open atmosphere and then heated in a muffle furnace at 600oC for 2hours to obtain the bamboo leaf ash (BLA). Tests on the physical and chemical properties of bamboo leaf ash blended with cement were conducted in accordance with BS 4550: 1978 and BS 12: 1996. The chemical analysis of the BLA showed that the combined Silica Oxide (SiO₂), Aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and Ferrous oxide (Fe₂O₃) content was above the 70% minimum standard requirement specified by ASTM (ASTM C 618, 2008) for pozzolanic materials. Varying levels of percentage replacement of cement with bamboo leaf ash was obtained at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. A total of 72 blocks comprising of 12 blocks for each percentage replacement of the lateritic block size of 225mm x 113mm x 75mm of mix ratio 1:20 and water-cement ratio of 0.8 were cast, cured and crushed at 7, 14, 28, and 56 days curing respectively. Analysis of the compressive strength, moisture absorption resistance and the abrasion resistance of the lateritic blocks produced from cement blended with bamboo leaf ash (BLA) showed that the 5% and 10% cement replacements is suitable for load bearing outer walls whereas the 20% and 25% substitution was found more suitable for non-load bearing indoor walls. The 15% substitution was however found to be suitable for non-load bearing outer walls