EFFECTIVENESS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH INTERVENTION PROGRAMME ON WORK PLACE ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT AMONG NURSES IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA

The nurse’s role has long been regarded as stress filled based on the physical labour human suffering, work hours, staffing and interpersonal relationships that are central to the work nurses do. Occupational stress is thus, a recognized problem among health care workers in general. Nursing has therefore been identified as an occupation that has high level of risks and stress in the work place environment. Therefore the study investigated the effects of occupational health intervention programme on environmental risks and stress management of staff nurses in South-west Nigeria. A pretest, posttest, control group, quasi-experimental research design was adopted. Two hundred and twenty five (225) respondents were selected for the study.  One hundred and twelve (112) respondents were used as experimental group while one hundred and thirteen (113) respondents were used as control group. Fish bowl method was used for grouping the participants into experimental and control groups respectively. A self-developed questionnaire tagged ‘Occupational Health Intervention Programme, Environmental Risks and Stress Management Questionnaire OHIPERSMQ’ with a reliability coefficient of 0.88 was used. The experimentation lasted 8 weeks. Analysis was done using ANCOVA and Multiple Classification Analysis. Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed that occupational health intervention programme has significant effect on risk management knowledge of staff nurses. The experimental group had mean = 4.44, better than the control group that had mean = 2.92. Also, occupational health intervention programme had significant effect on stress management knowledge of nurses with experimental group mean = 7.78, better than the control group mean = 2.36. Based on these findings, it was recommended that medical social workers should ensure that nurses participate in educational training in skills associated with risk reduction, stress reduction and safety promotion so as to guarantee their wellbeing and good job performance. 

Experimental Optimization of Lead (II) Bioadsorption from Aqueous Solution onto Banana Stalk using Central Composite Design

This study investigated the effect of operating parameters on the bioadsorption process of Pb(II) from its aqueous solution using three Banana Stalk (BS) bioadsorbents [Raw (RBS), Acid Activated (AABS) and Base Activated (BABS) ]. A five-factor, three-level Central Composite Design (CCD) was applied to determine the effects of independent variables (initial metal concentration, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dosage and solution pH) on percentage Pb(II) removal. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the parameters in the experiment. AABS had the highest percentage removal (96.13%) from the preliminary experiment and was then used for the optimisation experiment. Data analysis showed that all the variables significantly affected the percentage Pb(II) removal at p < 0.05. The square of the adjusted coefficient of determination for regression model of percentage Pb(II) removal is 0.9355. Optimum percentage removal of 96.41% was obtained using AABS when the Pb(II) concentration, contact time, temperature, dosage and solution pH were 21.83g/mL, 152.21minutes, 50oC, 0.90g and 8.00,  respectively. There absolute error between the experimental and the predicted optimum percentage removal was less than 1%. Keywords: Banana stalk, optimization, bioadsorption, acid, base

Improvement of hydroelectric power generation using pumped storage system

Hydroelectric power is a renewable source of energy. By principle, hydroelectric power generation relies on the law of conservation of energy where kinetic energy that resulted from the movement of the mass of water from the river is translated into electr icity, the quantum of which depends on systemic variables viz: plant efficiency, volumetric water flow through the turbine and the head of the water from the water surface to the turbine. Understanding the dynamics of these variables, and the correlation b etween them are core to proper planning and management of a hydroelectric power station. In this Study, simple mathematical methods that include linear programming and statistical analysis based on simulation techniques were used to evaluate vital parameters based on the data obtained from the Hydrologic units of the Shiroro Power Stations in Nigeria. The overall aim of the study is to idealize power generation at Shiroro dam in and out of raining season so as to ensure optimum generation of electricity all year round in order to achieve energy sufficiency in Nigeria. The result of the study is encouraging as it supports the viability of the pumped storage system for generating hydroelectric power all year round. The coupling of the hydroelectric power with pumped storage system if properly harnessed could be the needed panacea for the erratic power supply in Nigeria. Keywords: hydroelectric power, pumped storage, reservoir inflows, turbine, hydrological variables, simulation technique

Development of a New Concept for Fire Fighting Robot Propulsion System

An additional cost to human loss and property destruction during fire disaster is fire fighters injuries and death. The recent statistics of 63,350 fire fighters injuries that occurred during the year 2014 confirms that firefighting still presents great risks of personal injury to the fire fighters [1]. The lack of details on information about the victims trapped in fire and situation in the fire zone increase the risk to fire fighters [2, 3]. To reduce these fatalities fire fighting robots (FFRs) emerged as possible solutions therefore they are developed and researched on. The FFRs are designed for either prevention or emergency (same as intervention) tasks of fire and are applied indoor or outdoor. However, the prime movers of the majority of the FFRs are electrically powered [4] which made them to be suitable for preventive task alone and inappropriate for the emergency task. Their inappropriateness is due to the vulnerability in high temperature environment that characterised fire emergency. Thus, alternative propulsion systems for the mobility of fire fighting robots in emergency setting are evolving. Furthermore, literature survey reveals that water powered hydraulic propulsion system has been the only alternative to the drawbacks of dc motors in the hot environment. The mechanism was implemented on snake fire fighting robot for tunnel fire application [5]. In the mechanism, hydraulic motor was used to actuate the snake joints for mobility while water provides power for the hydraulic motors. However, the snake robot was designed for outdoor application. Consequently, the need for an autonomous fire fighting robot with a novel propulsion system becomes imminent

Optimizing Hydroelectric Power Generation: The Case of Shiroro Dam

Abstract—Hydroelectric power, one of the most important sources of mass generation of electric power, is a renewable source of energy. The amount of electricity that can be produced by a hydro-electricity generating system depends on systemic variables viz; plant efficiency, volumetric water flow through the turbine and the head of the water from the water surface to the turbine. The availability of the Water in the reservoir is a function of some hydrological variables principal among which are rainfall, reservoir inflows and evaporation. Understanding the dynamics of these variables, and the correlation between them are core to proper planning and management of a hydroelectric power station. In this Study, simple mathematical methods that include linear programming and statistical analysis based on simulation techniques were used to evaluate vital parameters based on the hydrologic data obtained from the Hydrologic Units of the Shiroro Power Stations in Nigeria. The overall aim of the study is to idealize power generation at Shiroro dam in and out of rain season so as to ensure optimum generation of electricity all year round in order to achieve energy sufficiency in Nigeria

Application of Computer Graphics Technique to Computer System Assembling

Computer graphics is the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer using various technology to create and manipulate images (Shirley et.al., 2005). The development of computer graphics has made computer easier to interact with, and better for understanding and interpreting different types of data. Three-Dimensional (3D) computer graphics represent geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purpose of performing calculations and rendering 2D images which may be for lateral display or for real-time viewing. In this work, 3D computer graphic software is used to produce a model of a real - life assembling of computer devices into a full-blown desktop computer. The work is presented in a video viewing format tat will facilitate independent coupling of systems through a ‘watch-and-fix’ paradigm. Keywords: 2D, 3D, IDE, Assembling, Photo-realistic, Data-visualization, Rasterization

Prediction of dry ice mass for firefighting robot actuation

The limitation in the performance of electric actuated firefighting robots in hightemperature fire environment has led to research on the alternative propulsion system for the mobility of firefighting robots in such environment. Capitalizing on the limitations of these electric actuators we suggested a gas-actuated propulsion system in our earlier study. The propulsion system is made up of a pneumatic motor as the actuator (for the robot) and carbon dioxide gas (self-generated from dry ice) as the power source. To satisfy the consumption requirement (9cfm) of the motor for efficient actuation of the robot in the fire environment, the volume of carbon dioxide gas, as well as the corresponding mass of the dry ice that will produce the required volume for powering and actuation of the robot, must be determined. This article, therefore, presents the computational analysis to predict the volumetric requirement and the dry ice mass sufficient to power a carbon dioxide gas propelled autonomous firefighting robot in a high-temperature environment. The governing equation of the sublimation of dry ice to carbon dioxide is established. An operating time of 2105.53s and operating pressure ranges from 137.9kPa to 482.65kPa were achieved following the consumption rate of the motor. Thus, 8.85m3 is computed as the volume requirement of the CAFFR while the corresponding dry ice mass for the CAFFR actuation ranges from 21.67kg to 75.83kg depending on the operating pressure