Democratic Transition in Africa: Proceedings of the Symposium on Democratic Transition in Africa. Ibadan, June 16-19, 1992

Proceedings of the Symposium on Democratic Transition in Africa. Ibadan, June 16-19, 1992.24 papers were read at the symposium on Democratic Transition in Africa, organized by CREDU (Centre de Recherches et de Documentation Universitaire / Centre for Research, Documentation and University Exchances) in Ibadan, Nigeria on September 16-19, 1992. They have been gathered under seven headings : 1) The international environment of democratic transition; 2) Democratic theory and retionale for transition; 3) The civil society context of democratic transition ; 4) The military context of democratic transition ; 5) Legal and institutional mechanisms for democratic transition; 6) The economic context of democratic transition ; 7) The future of democracy in Africa. Beyond the transition. Contributors include: Victor Adetula; C.O. Ajila; S.T. Akindele; Olabode O. Alokan; 'Kunle Amuwo; Wilfred Jingwa Awung; Sam Obadiah Ayele; Solomon Akhere Aziegbe; Kola Babarinde; Daniel Bach; I.L. Bashir; Gilbert Keith Bluweh; Mathew A. Dayomi; Peter P. Ekeh; Jibrin Ibrahim; 'Sina Kawonise; Abubakar Momoh; A. Niandou Souley; Ben Nwabueze; Kris Obodumu; Biodun Ogunyemi; Chike F. Okolocha; Wale Are Olaitan; Eghosa E. Osaghae; A. Olayiwola Owolabi; Rotimi T. Suberu; Samuel M. Woldu

Gestational and Hormonal Effects on Magnesium Sulfate's Ability to Inhibit Mouse Uterine Contractility.

Magnesium sulfate is used as a tocolytic, but clinical efficacy has been seriously questioned. Our objective was to use controlled ex vivo conditions and known pregnancy stages, to investigate how 2 key factors, hormones and gestation, affect magnesium's tocolytic ability. We hypothesized that these factors could underlie the varying clinical findings around magnesium's efficacy. Myometrial strips were obtained from nonpregnant (n = 10), mid-pregnant (n = 12), and term-pregnant (n = 11) mouse uterus. The strips were mounted in organ baths superfused with oxygenated physiological saline at pH 7.4 and 37°C. The effect of different concentrations of MgSO4 (2-20 mM) was examined on spontaneous and oxytocin-induced (0.5-1 nM) contractions. Contractile properties (amplitude, frequency, and area under the curve) were measured before and after application of magnesium. Magnesium sulfate had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on both spontaneous and oxytocin-induced contractions but was less effective in the presence of oxytocin. In spontaneous contractions, magnesium was more potent as gestation progressed ( P < .0001). In the presence of oxytocin, however, there were no significant gestational differences in its effects on contraction. The rapid onset and reversal of magnesium's effects suggest an extracellular action on calcium entry. Taken together, we conclude that magnesium's actions are influenced by both gestational state and hormones, such that, at least in mice, it is least effective in early gestation with oxytocin present and most effective at term in the absence of oxytocin. That magnesium is least effective preterm and oxytocin decreases its effectiveness throughout gestation, may explain its disappointing clinical effects as a tocolytic

Design and Implementation of an Iris Biometric Door Access Control System

Over the years, security has soared in importance as concerned individuals, companies and organizations continue to implement measures to improve the security of lives and properties. Door-access control is a physical security system that secures a room or building by limiting access to specific people and keeping records of such accesses. The significance of iris technology among others, for security and access control applications are numerous. In terms of physical security, iris technology is already making inroads into the access control market because of the reliability of its authentication process. In this paper, the researchers present an aspect of the system relating to the design and construction of an iris biometric door access control. The system was developed as a means of getting into a specified area by securing the door and limiting access. The database created contains the particulars of those allowed access in order to work in tandem with the mandatory iris authentication process. The implemented design worked satisfactorily

Perspectives on local government’s place in federal systems and central–local relations

To expand on the themes identified by Tomas Hachard’s paper 'Capacity, voice and opportunity: advancing municipal engagement in Canadian federal relations', the Journal commissioned six personal ‘perspectives’ from a diverse group of other Commonwealth countries – Australia, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom. This replicated the model adopted in Issue 26 for Zack Taylor’s paper on 'Regionalism from above: intergovernmental relations in Canadian metropolitan governance'. Similarly, the purpose was to establish a broader picture of issues and trends across the Commonwealth, rather than ‘review’ Hachard’s work

Ethno-religious voting in Nigeria: interrogating voting patterns in the 2019 presidential election

This article analyses voting patterns in Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election. Its main objective is to gauge continuity or change in ethnic, regional and religious voting in Nigeria’s elections. The paper takes a historical approach in examining voting patterns in the past elections as a background to the examination of the 2019 presidential election. It was discovered that ethnic, regional and religious sentiments were still major factors that shaped voting choice in the election

Performance of MPLS-based virtual private networks and classic virtual private networks using advanced metrics

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is effective in managing and utilizing available network bandwidth. It has advanced security features and a lower time delay. The existing literature has covered the performance of MPLS-based networks in relation to conventional Internet Protocol (IP) networks. But, too few literatures exist on the performance of MPLS-based Virtual Private Networks (VPN) in relation to traditional VPN networks. In this paper, a comparison is made between the effectiveness of the MPLS-VPN network and a classic VPN network using simulation studies done on OPNET®. The performance metrics used to carry out the comparison include; End to End Delay, Voice Packet Sent/Received and Label Switched Path's Traffic. The simulation study was carried out with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as the test bed. The result of the study showed that MPLS-based VPN networks outperform classic VPN networks

Geochemical investigations of a Portion Obu Hill Marble Deposit Okpella, Edo-State, Nigeria

The Obhu marble deposit is located at latitude 7o 21´ 31.2´´ to 7o 21´ 34.9´´ and longitude 6o 25´ 11.6´´ to 6o 25´ 18.0´´. The geochemical investigations of a portion of the Obhu hill marble deposit was aimed at investigating the reserve estimate in tonnage, rock mass/overburden volume and the geochemical composition of the deposit. This study was conducted by using vertical electrical sounding (VES) geophysical method to obtain the geo-electric parameters of the deposit, and to determine the reserve estimate of the Marble deposit of study area. The result shows that the reserve tonnage is 4.6 x 106 Tons and rock mass reserve/overburden volume ratio is 9:1.The chemical analysis were compared with the RMRDC of Nigeria for each element suitable for production of cement, fertilizer, iron, steel and other industrial uses. The MgO values of the samples 1 and 2 does not falls within the acceptable value of 6 % of RMRDC, with the exception of sample 3 which falls within the acceptable limit. CaO, Al2O3 and P2O5 values of the samples falls within the acceptable limits of RMRDC and so suggest that the marble can be put to industrial use, while the Fe2O3 content of sample 2 and 3 makes them probably not best suited for industrial use, except for sample 1 having a lower value of 1.85 %. The silica SiO2 content values for the three samples exceeded the recommended standard of RMRDC of 5 %. This result reveals that the marble deposit is suitable for most industrial use

Comparative analysis of the performance of various active queue management techniques to varying wireless network conditions

This paper demonstrates the robustness of active queue management techniques to varying load, link capacity and propagation delay in a wireless environment. The performances of four standard controllers used in Transmission Control Protocol/Active Queue Management (TCP/AQM) systems were compared. The active queue management controllers were the Fixed-Parameter Proportional Integral (PI), Random Early Detection (RED), Self-Tuning Regulator (STR) and the Model Predictive Control (MPC). The robustness of the congestion control algorithm of each technique was documented by simulating the varying conditions using MATLAB® and Simulink® software. From the results obtained, the MPC controller gives the best result in terms of response time and controllability in a wireless network with varying link capacity and propagation delay. Thus, the MPC controller is the best bet when adaptive algorithms are to be employed in a wireless network environment. The MPC controller can also be recommended for heterogeneous networks where the network load cannot be estimated

A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK BASED FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM WITH SMS ALERTS

Modern buildings are becoming more complex in technical depth and compartmentalization. The average city dweller also has a complex daily living schedule that sometimes span the entire day with rests taken in between. Existing fire detection technologies have not caught up with the reality of today’s complex buildings and way of living. This paper proposes a fire detection system that integrates three capabilities, namely, detection, communication and suppression. It was designed with residential buildings in mind but can be adapted for top notch performance in commercial and other kinds of buildings. It seeks to address the salient issue of real time communication in the face of an unpredictable daily routine and first line suppression moves at the onset of a fire outbreak that most advanced fire detection systems in complex buildings of today have failed to address. The proposed system uses a controller, which comprises of a microcontroller and a Global System for Mobile Communication modem to co-ordinate the operation of a network of radio frequency transmission and reception capable smoke detectors, alarms, the main source of power to the building and a water pump (sprinkler system)

Monitoring and resource management taxonomy in interconnected cloud infrastructures: a survey

Cloud users have recently expanded dramatically. The cloud service providers (CSPs) have also increased and have therefore made their infrastructure more complex. The complex infrastructure needs to be distributed appropriately to various users. Also, the advances in cloud computing have led to the development of interconnected cloud computing environments (ICCEs). For instance, ICCEs include the cloud hybrid, intercloud, multi-cloud, and federated clouds. However, the sharing of resources is not facilitated by specific proprietary technologies and access interfaces used by CSPs. Several CSPs provide similar services but have different access patterns. Data from various CSPs must be obtained and processed by cloud users. To ensure that all ICCE tenants (users and CSPs) benefit from the best CSPs, efficient resource management was suggested. Besides, it is pertinent that cloud resources be monitored regularly. Cloud monitoring is a service that works as a third-party entity between customers and CSPs. This paper discusses a complete cloud monitoring survey in ICCE, focusing on cloud monitoring and its significance. Several current open-source monitoring solutions are discussed. A taxonomy is presented and analyzed for cloud resource management. This taxonomy includes resource pricing, assignment of resources, exploration of resources, collection of resources, and disaster management