The influence of culture, beliefs and experience on the sustainable end-of-life management of buildings in Nigeria

While it is usually believed that economic incentives are behind waste management practices in developing countries, this article discusses culture, belief and experience as the other major influences in the management practices of building demolition waste in Nigeria. Practitioners in the building demolition sub-sector were interviewed to identify the influences that contribute to the emergence of reuse as a preferable demolition waste management technique in society, in addition to the economic incentives. This study will give an insight into some practices in a pre-industrial society with potential for recognition and contribution of the development of formal waste management systems in developing countries

Is the concept of waste universal? Handling building demolition by-products in the city of Kano, Nigeria

While old and new studies such as the works of Henry Lewis Morgan in 1871 on kinship and Geert Hofstede in 1980 on management theories show that what works in one cultural setting may not work in another, the United Nation policies on environmental governance to-date tend to be a uniform approach for all nations irrespective of the differences in cultural orientation. This paper investigates and demonstrates that in the context of construction and demolition wastes, what may be considered as waste in one society may be a wealth in another society; and the waste management policies that work in one society may not work in another. Therefore the one-way traffic approach in international environmental governance whereby the waste management practices of the rich countries are considered as a perfect model to be emulated by the poorer countries may be wrong. In some instance, such as the building demolition management practices in Nigeria, the systems of the developing countries may even be more sustainable than what is obtainable in the rich countries. Instead of dismissing the systems of the developing countries as informal and inferior, such systems may be holding the key to the sustainable solutions for waste management that the world needs so much

Betwixt Civil Liberty and National Sensibility: Implications of Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Law

This paper interrogates Nigeria’s anti-gay sentiment and law in the context of the contemporary global gay rights controversy. By way of qualitative discourse, predicated of the secondary sources, the paper posits that the Nigerian anti-gay sentiment/law is a reflection of deep-seated socio-cultural cum ideological complexes of the generality of Nigerians vis-a-vis gay practice. The paper observes that the gay rights/law controversy in Nigeria adumbrates a clash of democracy and culture, which holds strategic implications for the country’s national interest and aspirations. Keywords: National sensibility; civil liberty; gay practice; gay movement; anti-gay law (Nigeria)

Evaluating Design Strategies for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings in the Middle East and North Africa Regions

There is international pressure for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed as the main cause of climate change. The countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region heavily rely on fossil fuel as the main energy source for buildings. The concept of nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) has been defined and standardized for some developed countries. While most of the developing countries located in the MENA region with hot and tropical climate lack building energy efficiency standards. With pressure to improve energy and environmental performance of buildings, nZEB buildings are expected to grow over the coming years and employing these buildings in the MENA region can reduce building energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Therefore, the paper focuses on: (a) reviewing the current established nZEB standards and definitions for countries in the hot and warm climate of Europe, (b) investigate the primary energy consumption for current existing buildings in the MENA region, and (c) establishing a standard for nZEB and positive energy buildings in kWh/m2/year for the MENA region using a building simulation platform represented using Autodesk Insight 360. The result of the simulation reveals high energy use intensity for existing buildings in the MENA region. By improving building fabric and applying solar photovoltaics (PV) in the base model, significant reductions in primary energy consumption was achieved. Further design improvements, such as increasing the airtightness and using high efficiency solar PV, also contributed to positive energy buildings that produce more energy than they consume

Analyzing and Detecting the De-Authentication Attack by Creating an Automated Scanner using Scapy

with the rapid spread of internet technologies around the world, the number of people that are using the internet is increasing enormously in the last 10 years. with the increase in the number of people that are using the internet and the increase in the devices that depend on the internet such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones are raised the challenges of internet security against hackers who can steal sensitive information and exploits personal data. In this paper, we’re focusing on the home security threads and one of its famous attacks called the De-authentication attacks. The de-authentication frame is one of the Management frames that is transmitted between the AP and the connected devices and it can be used by attackers to apply a Dos attack and deny the devices from connecting to the network. In this paper. We will analyze the normal de-authentication frame and compare it with the attacking de-authentication frames to create an automated Scanner to identify whether it’s an attack, or it's a normal frame transmitted between AP and its connected devices, or vice versa

Thermosyphon Heat Pipe Technology

Heat pipes play vital roles in increasing heat transfer performance of many engineering systems such as solar collectors and this leads to an increase in their usage. Investigation on the performance of heat pipes under different operation conditions and inclination angles is required for effective utilization. In this chapter, a general overview on the construction, operation, advantages, and classifications of heat pipes is presented. Particular attention is given to the heat pipe without wick material in the inner diameter (thermosyphon). Intensive discussions are presented on the construction, operations, advantages and applications of thermosyphon heat pipe. The experimental and numerical approaches on the performance evaluation and characterization of thermosyphon are discussed. A detailed procedure on how experimental work is carried out on thermosyphon is discussed including instrumentation and calibration of the devices. Modelling and simulation of the performance of thermosyphon are discussed, including the model set-up procedure. Factors affecting the performance of thermosyphon such as fill ratio, working fluid, heat input, inclination angles, are analysed based on the overall thermal resistance and thermosyphon performance. Current researches on the effects of major factors affecting the operation of thermosyphon are presented, as well as their current development and various applications in engineering systems

Utilization of Neem Leaf Meal: Effect on growth response, haematology and serum biochemistry of rabbit does

This study determined the effect of Neem Leaf Meal (NLM) based - diets on growth response, haematological and serum biochemical indices of female rabbits (does). Twenty four (24) weaned rabbits (5 - 6 weeks old with average body weight of 600 ±1.05g) were used. The NLM was included in the diets at 0, 5, 10, and 15% levels as treatments TI , T2, T3, and T4, respectively. The rabbits were divided into four groups of six (6) each and randomly assigned to experimental diets using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Water was provided ad libitum and the rabbits were housed in disinfected wooden hutches for 56 days. Data on growth response, haematological and serum biochemical indices were collected and analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results revealed that the growth performance parameters showed significant (P<0.05) differences between dietary treatments with progressive decrease in values as the levels of NLM inclusion increased across the diets. The final weight gain ranged between 860 and 970 g/rabbit. The total weight gain was between 310 and 380 g/rabbit, total feed intake ranged between 2150 and 2221 g/rabbit while FCR ranged between 5.84 and 6.94. Growth parameters beyond 10% inclusion level were least compared with values in the control diet. The haematological indices showed that all parameters were significantly (P<0.05) affected by dietary treatments and within the normal ranges for apparently healthy rabbits. The serum biochemical indices were within normal ranges but not significantly affected (P>0.05) by dietary treatments. The study concluded that 10% NLM can be included in the diets meant for rabbits without fear of compromising growth performance and blood characteristics.Key words: Neem, female rabbit, growth, blood indice

Assessment of off-shore wind turbines for application in Saudi Arabia

This paper presents models and economic analysis of ten different wind turbines for the region of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia using the hybrid optimization models for energy resources (HOMER) software. This study serves as a guide for decision makers to choose the most suitable wind turbine for Yanbu to meet the target of 58.7GW of renewable energy as part of Saudi Vision 2030. The analysis was carried out based on the turbines initial capital cost, operating cost, net present cost (NPC) and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Additionally, the wind turbines were compared based on their electricity production, excess energy and the size of the storage devices required. The results show that Enercon E-126 EP4 wind turbine has the least LCOE (0.0885 $/kWh) and NPC ($23.8), while WES 30 has the highest LCOE (0.142 $/kWh) and NPC ($38.3) for a typical load profile of a village in Yanbu