Developing Flood Resilient Buildings in Nigeria: A Guide

Acknowledgements We acknowledge the support of the UI Ibadan TETFUND IBR 2016 Research Project Fund. Abstract Recently, the damage caused by flood in Nigeria has become unbearable leading to series of economic losses. Several post flood measures taken has proved to be inadequate because they are temporary. Hence, the needful is the flood risk management. Managing the risk of flood can be achieved by enhancing the resilient of the buildings in Nigeria. This requires a pragmatic approach from the concerned stakeholders. In this paper, we observed and discussed some of the drawbacks in Nigeria buildings leading to its vulnerability to flood. Also, guide was developed for government and stakeholders to achieve the incorporation of resilience in Nigeria building and its environment. Expected resilience was proposed and a flowchart to assist the prospective builders was developed. This will assist in developing the necessary blueprint towards achieving this goal. Necessary suggestions made will aid in the actualization of a resilient buildings within Nigeria. Keywords: Flood, resilience, Nigeria, flood risk management, buildin

Relevance and Applicability of Multi-objective Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem: Review Article

Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) is a Non Polynomial (NP) - Hard optimization problem that considers how to assign activities to available resources in order to meet predefined objectives. The problem is usually characterized by precedence relationship between activities with limited capacity of renewable resources. In an environment where resources are limited, projects still have to be finished on time, within the approved budget and in accordance with the preset specifications. Inherently, these tend to make RCPSP, a multi-objective problem. However, it has been treated as a single objective problem with project makespan often recognized as the most relevant objective. As a result of not understanding the multi-objective dimension of some projects, where these objectives need to be simultaneously considered, distraction and conflict of interest have ultimately lead to abandoned or totally failed projects. The aim of this article is to holistically review the relevance and applicability of multi-objective performance dimension of RCPSP in an environment where optimal use of limited resources is important

Relevance of Energy Storage Technology in the Development of Solar Power

There is a growing concern in the operating of solar power as a stand-alone and its connection to the grid. This is because; its power quality and sustainability are being affected by intermittency and variability. As the time of the day and the solar intensity changes, the quality of power generation is affected. This has made the use of energy storage inevitable for a quality power generation. This paper considers some existing technologies of energy storage that is applicable in mitigating the challenge facing the deployment of solar power systems. The variability and effectiveness of these storage techniques were considered in terms of technology, efficiency, environmental impact, and response. In conclusion, it was resolved that a self-sufficient solar power system requires appropriate storage techniques to complement its operation. Therefore, understanding the different options of storage is required for a careful selection of the technology which can support the required level of efficiency and effectiveness in electrical energy generation. Keywords: Solar Power, Storage Technologies, Solar Energy, Limitations DOI: 10.7176/JETP/9-3-03 Publication date:March 31st 201

Towards measuring resilience of flood-prone communities: a conceptual framework

Community resilience has become an important policy and research concept for understanding and addressing the challenges associated with the interplay of climate change, urbanization, population growth, land use, sustainability, vulnerability and increased frequency of extreme flooding. Although measuring resilience has been identified as a fundamental step toward its understanding and effective management, there is, however, lack of an operational measurement framework due to the difficulty of systematically integrating socioeconomic and techno-ecological factors. The study examines the challenges, constraints and construct ramifications that have complicated the development of an operational framework for measuring resilience of flood-prone communities. Among others, the study highlights the issues of proliferation of definitions and conceptual frameworks of resilience, challenges of data availability, data variability and data compatibility. Adopting the National Academies’ definition of resilience, a conceptual and mathematical model was developed using the dimensions, quantities and relationships established by the definition. A fuzzy logic equivalent of the model was implemented to generate resilience indices for three flood-prone communities in the United States. The results indicate that the proposed framework offers a viable approach for measuring community flood resilience, even when there is a limitation on data availability and compatibility

EVALUATION OF THE AVAILABILITY AND USE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES BY SANDWICH STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF LEAD CITY UNIVERSITY, IBADAN, OYO STATE.

Abstract Part-time and Distance education is fast gaining global acceptance with millions of enrolments annually. Stakeholders have argued that, just like regular students, those who chose this mode of study deserve the highest quality services available. As a result, Library and Information service providers are seeking to understand this group of users in order to properly meet their information needs and design services that best fit their unique characteristics. The study thus examined the availability and use of Library and Information Services by Part-time, Students at Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria. A self administered questionnaire was used to gather data. The data collected were analyzed using the SPSS for Windows Version 20. Descriptive analysis was performed on the data which yielded percentages, frequencies, means, and standard deviation that described the central tendency and sample distribution. The study found that, although they have diverse information needs, part -time students have limited access to the resources and services of the Lead City University Library and majority of them turn to other sources that are easily within reach like the internet. In the light of the findings, the study recommended that libraries should take the advantage of ICT in facilitating remote access to electronic format of books and journals and extend Information literacy services to part-time students

Work-Family Conflict and Coping Strategies among Women: Evidenc~ from Commercial Banks in Nigeria

The difficulties associated with attempts to strike balance between the interacting and permeable boundaries of work and family roles require understanding of the complexities of both spheres. The nature of family and work structures in Nigeria makes coping with work and family roles a challenging one especially for women. The study specifically examined the determinants .of work-family balance experience among women in the banking sector. It investigated the features of work schedules of women in the banking sector that enable them cope or unable to cope with multitask banking and home;front activities. A review of literature was carried out while the study was anchored on two theoretical theories of social exchange and role theory. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Samples were drawn randomly among the women employees of purposively selected banks within Lagos metropolis and Ogun State, Nigeria. Only 730 respondents were successfully covered. In addition, 30 key informants who were principal official in selected banks and family heads were interviewed. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study. The first hypothesis revealed that age of the respondents, children ever born (parity), marital status, staff category and religion are significant determinants of work-family balance. Women with children in parity ratio of 1-2,3-4 and 5 and above are 1.654, 1.455 and 1.235 times more likely to be unable to balance work-family roles compared to those with zero parity (i.e. the reference category). The third hypothesis estimated significant influence of work status on the work-family balance; this is statistically significant at p-values of 0.005, 0.003, and 0.01 for senior staff, supervisors and junior staff respectively. The study concludes that if work demands become heavy, marital roles cannot be shelved or neglected and tension between the two boundaries will req"uire a compromise. In this instance, women will prefer to stake the job rather than losing their families. The study suggests effective policy intervention from organisation and effective family support from the familybase to reduce the complexities of balancing work and family demand

Insight into Re-emergence of Cassava Brown Streak Disease: the Need to explore Diverse Approaches for Effective Control

The consumption of cassava crop per capita calories in many Africa countries ranked it as the second most important staple food crop. Despite its diverse utilities, the yield potential of cassava is greatly hampered by viral diseases and these differ from country to country, depending on the type of viruses present. Unfortunately, the recent sudden re-emergence of cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in East and Central Africa is currently gaining more aggressive international attention in Africa and other concerned countries, due to the significant economic yield losses imparting to most poor resource farmers fields. However, selfless efforts from scientific researches to manage CBSD, including recommendations, still seems not to be complimented as expected with pro-active measures from relevant stakeholders, nevertheless the concerned farmers. Overall, the present review revisited a brief glance of the historical development of CBSD, progresses made so far with respect to management strategies. Even more, the paper suggests opinions which could be explore by the ones interested to help within research findings, as well as to bring the awareness and to prevent further spread in countries and/or regions where there is currently the outbreak of CBSD and which had not been yet affected

Tourism and Climate Change: Combating Climate Change Effects on Tourism Participation in Nigeria

Tourism is married to good climate conditions, any attempt to divorce them could lead to danger. The issue of combating climate change should be more paramount than ever before. It is obvious that tourism cannot be at its best amidst adverse climatic change resulting in hash climatic conditions, flood, irregular rainfall pattern, drought leading to poverty etc. Efforts of all stakeholders in the tourism sectors should be geared towards a safer cleaner environment in Nigeria. The study spelt out certain challenges relating to climate issues in Nigeria and give recommendations to all tourism related industry. It is also recommended that environmental friendly products should be produced and promoted. The tourism industry must adapt to climate change, improved technology and facilities that will help tackle the challenge of climate change should be highly canvassed or by all stakeholders. Keywords: Tourism, Climate Change, Industry, Tourism Sector

Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: A Gender Gap Approach

Ability to have access and use financial goods and services such as bank and mobile money accounts indicates the overall financial inclusion level of an economy and the higher the indices are in any economy, the better that economy is. Financial inclusion is important to realize inclusive growth in any country. It has direct impacts on the level of growth and development experienced by any economy. It can however, be skewed along gender lines as noticed overtime in the Nigerian economy and other developing economies. This study examined financial inclusion in Nigeria: a gender gap approach. It also determined the factors responsible for the gender gaps. The Global Findex (2014) dataset of Nigeria from World Bank database was used to analyse the aims of the study. In the study, 61% of the men were financially included, while only 43% of the female were financially included, with 18% gap. The gap in endowments accounted for the huge difference of the gap in outcomes as males seemed to be more naturally favoured by society than females. The level of education, wealth quintile, saved in past 12 months for farm/business purposes, sent domestic remittances in the past 12 months, paid utility bills in the past 12 months, and received wage payments in the past 12 months are the factors explaining the gender gaps in Nigeria. Thus the government and other relevant stakeholders should encourage females along these factors

Short CommunicationAttitude of Infertile Women to Child Adoption in Nigeria

Infertility has serious consequences especially in Africa where a high premium is place on child bearing. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was administered on 396 consenting women seeking infertility treatment at the gynaecological clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan in an attempt to assess the attitude of infertile women in Nigeria to child adoption and its acceptability as a management option for infertility. Most (64%) believed its culturally unacceptable and only 17% will try it as an option. Sustained advocacy, community mobilization and enactment of supportive laws were some of the suggestions made by respondents to improve its uptake.Keywords; Infertility, Adoption, Assisted ConceptionNig. J. Physiol. Sci. 25(2010) 47 – 4