Traffic Congestion Problems in Central Business District (CBD) Ikeja, Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Central Business Districts (CBD) are indisputable areas of traffic attraction occasioned by the growing population concentration, rapid urbanization, and increasing commercial and economic activities. High population generates heavy vehicular traffic, leading to vehicular conflict and congestion as well as other mobility related challenges, which adversely affect the ultimate goal of people’s mobility. The CBD is expected to offer high accessibility and mobility advantages, coupled with the provision of transportation infrastructures which paradoxically, are being threatened by mobility challenges resulting in low productivity and loss of man-hours within Ikeja CBD, thus adversely affecting the overall wellbeing of Lagos residents. This research examines the challenges of traffic congestion and management problems within Ikeja CBD. Data were collected through questionnaire administration, based on 100 per cent physical characteristics survey, while another 200 socio-economic characteristics survey were administered using quota sampling method to gather relevant information on traffic and transportation issues. Also, desk study of relevant documents, and interviews were equally conducted. Inferential and non-inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. Findings revealed a haphazard land use pattern, resulting into traffic and transportation bottleneck, vehicular conflict and avoidable traffic congestion, longer travel time and low productivity among others. The paper considers the need for a review of Ikeja CBD development guide as well as effective traffic management through enforcement and compliance with planning and parking rules and regulations among other suggestions. Keywords: Central Business District, Commercial activities, Mobility, Parking, and Traffic Congestio

Characterization of the urethane based tissue equivalent substitute for phantom construction: model molding, XCOM and MCNPX studies

The Soft and Lung tissue equivalent substitute (STES and LTES) were developed from urethane PMC121/30 Dry (A and B) of Smooth-On, USA. The part A and B were mixed in the ratio 1:1 and further mixed with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) at a ratio 2:1 by mass. Air moisture was extracted from the mixture for 10minutes. This is the STES and the density after air extraction was 1.04gcm-3. The LTES was developed by mixing the STES and polystyrene beads at a ratio 10:1 by mass. The density of the LTES was 0.25gcm-3 after air extraction. The STES and the LTES were subjected to compression test for stress-strain analysis. The elemental composition of STES and LTES was achieved using XCOM software with the IUPAC nomenclatures of the source compounds as inputs. The elemental composition obtained was used to modify the lung and the soft tissue material of the AMALE and AFEMALE computational phantom of ORNL. The phantom was subjected to photon exposure (0.06MeV-15.00MeV) using MCNPX Version 27e. The results from MCNPX provided the bremsstrahlung, positron annihilation, and the fluorescence energies that was used to estimate the g-factor. The mass-energy transfer coefficient (μtra/ρ) and the mass-energy absorption coefficient (μen/ρ) were calculated using the values of g-factor, the fluence and the Kerma. The μen/ρ of the tissue-equivalent agrees with the National Institute of Standard values and the ICRU 44. The STES and LTES are technically proper research and teaching models for dose measurements with these results

Effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on viscosity of transesterified neem oil

Efforts have been made worldwide to find alternative fluids for industrial applications. Vegetable oil appears to be a perfect alternative, but using most of the vegetable oil as a feedstock made its use for industrial purposes challenging. The recent trend is to develop coolants/lubricants from non-edible seed oil. This work investigates the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles on viscosity of transesterified neem oil. The crude neem oil was purified, transesterified and nanoparticles were dispersed in the transesterified oil at concentrations ranging from 0.0% to 1.0% at 0.2% intervals. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra were used to examine the structures of the samples and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses were used to examine the surface morphology of the samples. Viscosity were examined. Among other things, it was found that a small amount of ZnO (0.6%) nanoparticles in the oil could improve the viscosity of the fluid. The nanoliquid with a ZnO concentration of 0.6% appears to have optimal properties

Facile synthesis of solar active charcoal passivated Ag₃PO₄ and their two-channel mechanisms for H₂O₂ formation in aerated water

This work presents the use of activated charcoal passivated-Ag3PO4 (CAgP) and bare Ag3PO4(AgP) nanoparticles (NPs) as effective photocatalysts for the generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in air-saturated water containing either formic acid (FA) or silver nitrate (AgNO3). The synthesized CAgP and pristine AgP were characterized using various state-of-the-art optical and electron microscopy techniques. The CAgP composites showed remarkable photocatalyzed H2O2 formation compared to bare AgP NPs. The CAgP photocatalyzed-assisted H2O2 formation from O2-saturated water under sunlight was achieved via two-channel mechanisms. First, in the presence of FA as a hole scavenger, enhanced H2O2 formation was facilitated by the decomposition of FA to produce proton (H+), followed by a spontaneous reduction of dissolved molecular oxygen by the valence band electrons. The second pathway involves the formation of H2O2 in the absence of electrons (using AgNO3 as an electron scavenger) which occurs via the oxidation of H2O by photo-induced holes to generate hydroxyl radicals (•HO) and the combination of •HO radicals to produce H2O2. The most notable feature of CAgP composite as a photocatalyst is the ease of H2O2 formation in O2/H2O and O2/H2O/FA system, as well as the ability to reuse the recovered CAgP catalyst for a few reaction cycles without losing substantial catalytic activity or mass.</p