Prospects, Barriers and Development Control Implications in the use of Green Roofs in Lagos State, Nigeria

Green roofs are gaining importance as “soft” engineering approach to urban environmental management and have been found to be beneficial in stormwater management, noise and thermal insulation, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, carbon sequestration and ultimately climate change mitigation. Lagos, a fast growing megacity is characterized by a rapidly growing population within a very limited land area. The resultant development pressure on land has given rise to dense urban fabric with associated loss of green cover especially within the inner city thereby eliciting suggestions for the adoption of green roofs. The present paper examined the prospects and the barriers to the adoption of green roofs as well as the attendant development control implications in Lagos, Nigeria. A combined quantitative and qualitative research strategy was adopted for the study. For quantitative data, pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 60 purposively selected built environment professionals in academics, consultancy and in government while qualitative data were obtained from interview of four key stakeholders. Secondary data were obtained from literature. Analysis of primary data was by the use of descriptive statistics and relative importance index while content analysis was used for the analysis of qualitative data. The study found that while opportunities for adoption of green roofs exist, they were not popular in the study area because of cost, technical challenges, poor knowledge as well as limitations imposed by the interpretation of planning laws. The paper proposed context-relevant application of green roofs as a complement to ongoing green infrastructure programme in the study area

Adoption of Sustainable Site Planning Strategies by Beach Resorts in Lagos, Nigeria

Resorts are commercial establishments specialised to meet vacationers needs through the provision of specialised services such as food, entertainment and accommodation. Most of the facilities provided by beach resorts are outdoor-based, therefore detailed attention should be paid to the landscape and external environment and this implies that the implementation of sustainable site planning strategies is crucial in achieving sustainable development. This paper seeks to investigate the adoption of sustainable site strategies by Beach Resorts in Lagos, Nigeria to understand how the various strategies could be applied in Site planning. The study was limited to beach resorts in Lagos, Nigeria and three resorts were carefully selected through purposive sampling. A qualitative data collection method was adopted and data collected were analysed through content analysis and findings revealed that there is high adoption of sustainable site planning strategies by beach resorts. Design strategies for site planning in a bid to create more sustainable developments in Nigeria were recommended

User Experience of Architectural Promenade in Art and Cultural Centres in Calabar, Crossriver State, Nigeria

The architectural success of any structure depends on how well people experience spaces. In order to improve the overall user experience in spaces, the architectural promenade concept has become a part of modern architectural design. Despite this, little is known about it or how it affects the user experience, particularly in Art and Cultural Centres. This research aims to assess the user experience of architectural promenade in selected Art and Cultural Centres in Calabar, Cross-river state, Nigeria. A quantitative methodology was applied to gather data from the selected arts and Cultural Centres in Calabar, Crossriver. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 2021 software was employed to analyse the acquired data. The findings indicated that many users did not necessarily enjoy the architectural promenade in Cultural Centres, affecting their overall experience of spaces. The study recommended architectural promenade as an area of user experience that researchers could focus on in research. It also suggests Architects architectural promenade as a conscious consideration in the design of art and Cultural Centres

Implementation of Epilepsy Multigene Panel Testing in Ontario, Canada

Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological condition that shows a marked genetic predisposition. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has transformed clinical genetic testing by allowing the rapid screen for causative variants in multiple genes. There are currently no NGS-based multigene panel diagnostic tests available for epilepsy as a licensed clinical diagnostic test in Ontario, Canada. Eligible patient samples are sent out of country for testing by commercial laboratories, which incurs significant cost to the public healthcare system.Objective: An expert Working Group of medical geneticists, pediatric neurologists/epileptologists, biochemical geneticists, and clinical molecular geneticists from Ontario was formed by the Laboratories and Genetics Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to develop a programmatic approach to implementing epilepsy panel testing as a provincial service.Results: The Working Group made several recommendations for testing to support the clinical delivery of care in Ontario. First, an extension of community healthcare outcomes-based program should be incorporated to inform and educate ordering providers when requesting and interpreting a genetic panel test. Second, any gene panel testing must be evidence-based and takes into account varied clinical indications to reduce the chance of uncertain and secondary results. Finally, an ongoing evaluative process was recommended to ensure continued test improvement for the future.Conclusion: This epilepsy panel testing implementation plan will be a model for genetic care directed toward a specific set of conditions in the province and serve as a prototype for genetic testing for other genetically heterogeneous diseases

SPARC 2021 - Against all odds : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2021 SPARC conference. Our conference is called “Against All Odds” as we celebrate the achievements of our PGRs and their supervisors, who have continued to excel despite the most challenging circumstances. For this reason, we showcase the work of our PGRs alongside the outstanding supervision that they receive, with our Doctoral School Best Supervisor awards. We also focus on developing resilience and maintaining good mental health in the research environment, supported by exceptional keynote speakers, including our very own Dr Michelle Howarth and Ruby Wax OBE, which makes this year’s conference extra special

Hemangioma of the interatrial septum: CT and MRI features

Hemangioma of the heart is a rare primary benign tumor mainly appearing as enhancing, homogenous, well-circumscribed mass. We report a case of a 61-year-old asymptomatic woman, whose echocardiography showed a cardiac mass, which was described as the atypical myxoma of the right atrium. For further imaging, contrast-enhanced computed tomography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were undertaken, which showed a tumor located in the interatrial septum with imaging characteristics of hemangioma. In the literature, cardiac hemangioma is usually described as an intensely enhancing mass. In our opinion, early peripheral puddling of contrast material with filling in on delayed images is a typical pattern of its enhancement. This characteristic, in addition to high signal intensity on T2-weighted images, allows differentiation of a hemangioma from other benign and malignant tumors

IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY-MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES IN THE PRODUCTION AND UTILISATION OF CEMENT STABILIZED LATERITE INTERLOCKING BLOCKS IN NIGERIA

The challenges associated with building materials in Nigeria have been largely blamed for the high cost of housing delivery in the country. As a result, there has been a clarion call for the introduction of cheaper building materials into the Nigerian building construction market. Consequently, various research and development efforts have resulted in the introduction of alternative building materials and their associated technologies. Building materials are expected to meet stipulated standards which will ensure not only their aesthetics but also their appropriateness for their intended uses including structural stability, safety and health of building occupants. A major criticism of alternative building materials in the country has been their non- compliance to quality management procedures in their production and use. This study explores the extent to which quality control measures have been implemented in the production and use of alternative building materials and challenges encountered. The study has been motivated by series of building collapse in the country. Qualitative research method was adopted for the study and involved interviews with purposively selected persons involved in the production and use of alternative building materials in the Lagos area. Findings indicate a low level adoption of quality management procedures due to insufficient training, non optimum performance of equipment, lack of manuals, time constraints, low education and motivation of workers involved in the production and use of alternative building materials. The paper concludes that in order for the potentials of alternative building materials to be realized in the country, there is a dire need for quality control procedures

Pedagogic Integration of Cultural Art-knowledge Contents into Architecture Curriculum: Teachers’ Gestalt Acculturation Experience

Most communities of the world acculturate their own identity by the inculcation of art cultures into the spines of citizenry education. Right from the pre-school stage to higher level education, it has been observed that the Art knowledge contents have skewed away from the gate keepers’ (Accreditation bodies) expectations and requirements in most schools today. The aim of this study is to evaluate the current art knowledge contents in the selected Universities’ curricula in order to integrate the relevant art-knowledge ingredients into the architecture curricula in southwest Nigeria. The methodology employed qualitative-content analysis on the secondary data retrieved from the curriculum of schools, Community Charrette guidelines and art-oriented pedagogic activities. The results yielded pedagogic indices from Art-based curriculum integration, Tenets from hidden curriculum, Gestalt Acculturation experiences and architectural design studio exhibitions of works. The study recommended that relevant pedagogic knowledge Art-culture content (PKC) should be integrated pragmatically into the curricula of schools to preserve the art cultures in architectural Identity and design practices of the future professionals.         Â