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The incidences of building collapse in Awka, Anambra State Nigeria recently is growing at an alarming rate and seemingly beyond control. Therefore, this study investigates the missing links in proffering solutions to the issue of building collapse in the study area. The study conducted cone penetrometer test (CPT) and borehole-drilling to determine the soil bearing capacity/adequacy of the subsoil, compressive strength and tensile stress test for concrete and steel reinforcement bars test respectively. The study revealed that Lack of sub-soil and geotechnical investigations led to improper and wrong foundation types and works, concrete mix quality was extremely low and less than the expected standard, use of substandard building materials, loading pattern tampered with or changed such that the structural elements were loaded beyond their ultimate capacities, both the yield stress, elongation and the ductility requirements of the reinforcement bars fell short with the construction standard stipulated respectively contributed to the collapses; all the findings are the missing links that contributed to building collapse in the study area. The study strongly advocates the indulgence of government in monitoring all imported building materials to ensure that only materials of good standards are brought into the country, compulsory checks and testing of the materials to be used for buildings should be made compulsory by quality control firms, subsoil/geotechnical investigations on proposed building sites should be enforced especially for multi-storey buildings, registered Builders should be enhanced to enforce the enacted building codes and regulations.

This study examined the choice of place of care by expectant mothers in a Local Government in Anambra State and factors that influence such choices in order to identify factors that militate against health -seeking behavior among the group and proffer solution. The study population was 82 pregnant women in a Primary Health Center in the State. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. Three research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Face and content validity of tool was ascertained by Experts while correlation coefficient of 0.83 was established through a pilot study. Demographic information was also obtained for the study. With SPSS version 20, descriptive analysis was done to answer the research questions while Chi-square test was adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the choice of place of care had significant correlation with level of education (r = 0.306, p0.05) and income (r = 0.207, p >0.05) of the respondents. This calls for free education programme for women by the Government to boost educational level among the group as well as organized programme for adolescent girls on the importance of health - seeking behavior in pregnancy.

The development and use of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies worldwide is considered crucial towards fulfilling an increasing global energy demand and mitigating climate change. However, the potential of a solar PV-system is location specific, influenced by the local solar resource, energy demand and cost among other factors. The main aim of this study is to conduct a detailed assessment of the potential of solar PV-systems in residential buildings in Lagos Metropolitan Area, Nigeria. Nigeria has enormous solar energy potential, it is the most populous country in Africa and occupies a significant place in the development of Africa. Yet, it is a county with one of the lowest per capita electricity consumption in the world – at 149 kWh per capita for a population of about 170 million, about 7% of Brazil's and 3% of South Africa's. To achieve this goal, this study employed the survey of 150 residential buildings in three local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos State, Nigeria to obtain electric load data. HOMER Pro was used to size the PV-systems and to determine the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The computed energy results of the study for the base case scenario revealed the PV array, lead acid battery and the converter (inverter) of the PV-systems to be in the following range: 0.3 to 76 kW; 2 to 176kWh; and 0.1 to 13.2 kW respectively. Economic analysis revealed a LCOE of the systems in the range of 0.398 USD/kWh to 0.743 USD/kWh. The use of PV-system generated electricity in the dwellings has potential for an annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 31.24 kgCO2eq to 7456.44 kgCO2eq. Clearly, the use of solar PV systems in residential buildings possesses potentials for enabling Nigeria to attain its climate change mitigation targets indicated in her National Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Open Access Journal; Published online: 21 Dec 2017 ; Objective: We aimed at determining the prevalence and characterizing the CaPV, determining the CaPV-PPRV coinfection prevalence and providing data about phylogenetic relationship between the fusion protein of PPRV and P32 gene of CaPV. Materials and methods: A total of 150 samples including animals swabs, tissues and blood were collected from unvaccinated goats in a PPR and/or Capripox outbreaks in South Kivu, Eastern of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Conventional PCR and reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR) were used respectively to amplify P32, RPO30, GPCR genes of Capripox virus and Fusion (F) protein of PPRV. Positive samples were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis. Results: Out of 150 tested animals, 64.7% (n=97/150) were PPRV positive, 52.7% (n=79/150) were Capripox positive and 38.7% (n=58/150) were positive for both PPRV and CaPV. The pairwise comparison of P32gene of CaPV and F gene of PPRV showed 99.75% of identity percentage among goatpox virus sequences, 96.95% among PPRV sequences and 47.91% between CaPV and PPRV sequences. Conclusion: The study has demonstrated high prevalence of CaP V-PPRV mixed infection in South Kivu. Lumpy skinvirus disease (LSVD) is a lineage circulating which has a genetic relationship between its P32gene and the Fgene of PPRV giving the challenge to differentiate the two diseases at the clinical farm level. ; Peer Review

This study examined the choice of place of care by expectant mothers in a Local Government in Anambra State and factors that influence such choices in order to identify factors that militate against health -seeking behavior among the group and proffer solution. The study population was 82 pregnant women in a Primary Health Center in the State. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the selection of the respondents. Three research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was structured questionnaire. Face and content validity of tool was ascertained by Experts while correlation coefficient of 0.83 was established through a pilot study. Demographic information was also obtained for the study. With SPSS version 20, descriptive analysis was done to answer the research questions while Chi-square test was adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the choice of place of care had significant correlation with level of education (r = 0.306, p0.05) and income (r = 0.207, p >0.05) of the respondents. This calls for free education programme for women by the Government to boost educational level among the group as well as organized programme for adolescent girls on the importance of health - seeking behavior in pregnancy.Read Complete Article at ijSciences: V62017031238 AND DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18483/ijSci.1238

Open Access Article; Published online: 21 May 2020 ; This study explored the potential of the Innovation Platform approach, in improving the participation of rural female farmers in Maize value chain. It intends to identify the peculiarities, in terms of challenges and opportunities related to its application to the rural women realities. The study collected data from 120 small scale maize producers in South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 2015 to 2017, using individual interview and focus group discussion (FGD) for data confirmation. Data was analyzed using the Average Effect of Treatment of treated (ATT) and the propensity matching score to assess the effect of IP approach on rural women, who were randomly selected to participate in an innovation platform composed solely of women (100%) against those participating in a mixed innovation platform, made of 70% of men. The results show that the Innovation platform approach allowed women to address their basic challenges and improve their participation in the maize value chain. Average individual income from participation to the Innovation Platform increased from $ 100 to $ 300 per cropping season and the average earning of a women in a platform made of women solely was $552.6 higher than that of women participating in mixed platform $432.4. We hypothesized that the main benefits from the female IP would be increased maize yields. However, the analysis shows that although yield increased, the main effect was due to improved market access provided by the IP." The implementation of the innovation platform process encountered several challenges, in particular: building a consensus when the interests of the groups in place have proven to be divergent, the barrier of social consideration (social stereotype), inability of smallholder's farmers to learn quickly and fully play expected role, the traditional culture of learning, visioning the process. Despite these challenges, IPs offered small-scale maize producers many technical, organizational and material opportunities, including income generation, access to inputs and to lucrative markets, acquisition of diversified knowledge and skills, ability to work in a commercial environment, benefiting from the services of experts, accessing new sources of financing, they could not benefit otherwise. These findings imply that to be effective for rural women, an innovation platform should include individuals with no wide social disparity and diversify the sources of income, including livestock and others off farm activities

Construction clients and governments recognise the significant impact the design, construction and occupation of buildings have on the environment and society. The construction industry and governments have a central role in driving the sustainable development agenda. Good sustainable design can deliver buildings with low running costs-an attribute that is highly attractive to both the society and businesses. The aim of this paper was therefore to examine the integration of sustainability principles into construction projects. The review provided key evidence of the link between sustainability and better project performance, through the integration of sustainability principles. In addition, it proposed a sustainable framework for better construction project, based on the philosophies of sustainable construction

Open Access Journal ; Non-farm activities have been generally considered as important strategy for overcoming credit constraints faced by rural households as well as for reducing poverty through income effect. This paper employs binary probit and average treatment effect to estimate the impact of participation in non-farm activities on adoption of improved cassava and beans varieties in South-Kivu, DR Congo. Results showed on one hand that the participation rate in non-farm activities in South-Kivu was 38% and 52.1% respectively for crafts and small businesses. On the other hand, the rate of adoption of new cassava and beans varieties were 14 and 28% respectively. Factors affecting the adoption rate were gender, education, household size, the presence of non-farm activities, household assets in terms of livestock owned, market access and access to the information on new technologies. These results demonstrate the tendency of rural households to include the practice of non-farm activities among their strategies for survival and diversify their sources of income or supplement farm income. Results of this study indicate a positive relationship between engagement of rural households in non-farm activities and their propensity to adopt improved varieties. There is still a huge gap between potential adoption rate and actual rate of adoption for cassava and beans improved varieties in the study area. Therefore, actors involved in the development of the agricultural sector have to be aware of the importance of these factors even when they are working for the promotion of purely agricultural activities. ; Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Belgium ; Peer Review

This study identifies entry points for innovation for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems. An agricultural innovation systems approach is used to provide a holistic image of (relations between) constraints faced by different stakeholder groups, the dimensions and causes of these constraints, and intervention levels, timeframes and types of innovations needed. Our data shows that constraints for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems are mainly of economic and institutional nature. Constraints are caused by the absence, or poor functioning of institutions such as policies and markets, limited capabilities and financial resources, and ineffective interaction and collaboration between stakeholders. Addressing these constraints would mainly require short- and middle-term productivity and institutional innovations, combined with middle- to long-term NRM innovations across farm and national levels. Institutional innovation (e.g. better access to credit, services, inputs and markets) is required to address 69% of the constraints for sustainable intensification in the Central Africa Highlands. This needs to go hand in hand with productivity innovation (e.g. improved knowhow of agricultural production techniques, and effective use of inputs) and NRM innovation (e.g. targeted nutrient applications, climate smart agriculture). Constraint network analysis shows that institutional innovation to address government constraints at national level related to poor interaction and collaboration will have a positive impact on constraints faced by other stakeholder groups. We conclude that much of the R4D investments and innovation in the Central Africa Highlands remain targeting household productivity at farm level. Reasons for that include (1) a narrow focus on sustainable intensification, (2) institutional mandates and pre-analytical choices based project objectives and disciplinary bias, (3) short project cycles that impede work on middle- and long-term NRM and institutional innovation, (4) the likelihood that institutional experimentation can become political, and (5) complexity in terms of expanded systems boundaries and measuring impact. ; Peer Review