Concentration and Toxicological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Dumpsite Soils within Benin City, Nigeria

Indiscriminate disposal of refuse and industrial effluents is a challenge in Nigeria. This poses a plethora of health and ecological risks from heavy metal contamination of soils. This study investigated the levels of heavy metal contamination in dumpsite soils and its effects on human health within Benin metropolis, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the human and ecological risks via different exposure pathways. Soil samples were collected from three sampling stations, digested and analyzed for lead, cadmium, zinc, chromium, iron, nickel, manganese and copper using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Pollution Indices and Human health risk were estimated using appropriate formulae. Results showed that that the mean concentrations of the investigated metals in the three stations were chromium (17.12±1.00, 17.65±1.05 and, 17.24±1.05 mg/kg), nickel (37.60±7.95, 40.98±1.46 and, 41.25±0.92 mg/kg), copper (48.57±4.91, 47.76±3.66 and, 48.05±3.46 mg/kg), lead (8.2±0.22, 8.17±0.52 and, 8.25±0.16 mg/kg), manganese (94.52±4.90, 94.98±6.69 and, 95.06±4.63), iron (467.98±36.69, 464.90±22.36 and, 462.15±10.64 mg/kg), cadmium (2.30±0.16, 2.22±0.11 and, 2.22±0.10 mg/kg) and zinc (142.93±3.93, 142.29±3.41 and, 142.87±3.86 mg/kg) respectively. Human health risk assessment revealed that the highest and lowest daily intake for the ingestion, inhalation and dermal pathway for both adults and children were Zinc and lead. Daily intake for children was higher than for adults via the three pathways with lifetime cancer risk (LCR) higher for children than adults. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk assessment shows that there were minimal risks from heavy metal contamination of the soils. Effective management and continuous monitoring of dumpsite soils is recommended to prevent negative impacts to man and the environment

Assessing Participation in Secondary Education Quality Enhancement: Teachers, Parents and Communities in Cross River State

The study examined some factors responsible for low participation of teachers, parents and communities in quality enhancement of secondary education in Cross River State, Nigeria. Teachers and parents of students in public secondary schools were used. A total of 8,590 subjects constituted the population of the study. However, only 840 teachers and 100 parents i.e. 940 subjects formed the sample from where data were obtained through questionnaires and interview methods respectively. Twenty (20) indicators of reasons for low participation of stakeholders in school affairs were built into the questionnaire. A survey design was adopted and multistage sampling technique was used. Teststatistics used for data analysis were weighted mean (X) and standard deviation (SD), and a mean score of 2.5 and above formed the level of significance/acceptance. The findings indicated poor motivation of teachers, inadequate school facilities, unrealistic pupils assessment, poor knowledge of subject matter and inadequate supervision as teachers factors, while large family size, state and national ailing economy, low moral values and philosophy of the end justifies the means were reasons for low parents and communities involvement in secondary education-quality improvement. It was recommended that the quality of instruction in teachers training institutions be improved, as well as intense public enlightenment programme were among the recommendations made.Keywords: Participation, Quality, Enhancement, Parents-teachers Association and Communitie

Proximate composition, functional, and sensory properties of kadal (fermented grain flour) produced from whole and decorticated maize and pearl millet grains

Kadals are normally prepared from fermented cereal grains and the kadal flours are usually transformed into stiff dough called tuwo and consumed as staple food in many West African countries. Pearl millet (Mi) and maize (Mz) grains were decorticated and each of them was divided into four portions. The first portion was unfermented and the other portions were soaked in water separately for 48h (K2), for 72h (K3) and 96h (K4). Four portions each of whole maize and millet were subjected to the same soaking time, respectively. At the expiration of soaking time, each portion was washed, thoroughly rinsed, sun dried, milled and sieved to produce kadal flours. The unfermented whole and decorticated millet and maize flours served as the experimental controls. The functional properties and proximate compositions of twenty samples were evaluated using standard procedures and the organoleptic properties of the tuwo (kadal dough) prepared from them were evaluated without soup, and with okro soup. Results revealed significant variations (p<0.05) existed in the functional properties and proximate composition of kadal flours as well as the sensory attributes of the tuwo. Wettability of the kadal flours improved with soaking time, water absorption capacities decreased with fermentation time, as well as bulk densities though marginally. Dispersibility of the kadal flours were generally high (70.50-77%) and no significant difference was observed. Ash, protein and fat contents of the whole grain kadal flours were higher than that of decorticated, and there was slight decrease in these nutrients with soaking time. Again, moisture and carbohydrate were lower in whole grain kadal flours than in decorticated counterparts. On sensory attributes of the various tuwo produced, colour improved with soaking time more in the decorticated millet kadals. Decorticated millet had greater desirable flavor, which was not significantly different from that of whole millet kadals. Texture of 4th day kadal tuwo was better, with whole millet kadal tuwo rated better than that of the decorticated, unlike the texture of maize kadal tuwo. Control tuwo in general had poorer flavour, colour, texture and taste. The overall acceptability of the kadal tuwo was generally higher than the control. Millet kadal tuwo progressively improved with soaking time. The bottom line was that nutritional values were sacrificed to the improvement of sensory properties of the prepared kadal flours

Blended cooperative/technology interactive strategy with conventional lecture technique and its impacts on student's learning outcomes in organic chemistry

As the nation strives to catch up with growing challenges in improving students’ performance in science, it has become imperative to design new approaches of instructional delivery that will positively impact on students learning outcomes. Several alternative methods have been proposed, one of which is the blended learning approach. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of blended instructional strategies on senior secondary students’ learning outcomes in Chemistry. A 2 X 2 factorial quasi experimental nonequivalent pretest, posttest control group design was adopted for this study. A sample of 200 chemistry students (118 male and 82 female) randomly drawn from four schools were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. The post test scores were subjected to t- test and analysis of covariance to test the five hypotheses stated. Findings showed that students taught using the blended cooperative/technology interactive strategy performed significantly better than their counterparts taught using the conventional lecture method. Also, boys performed significantly better than girls with both learning strategies. Based on the findings it was recommended that blended cooperative/technology interactive strategy should be introduced in all the secondary schools in Nigeria to help boost students’ performance

Responses of Nigerian Universities to the Use of Technology- Based Teaching Strategies: Students’ Perspective From Cross River University of Technology, Nigeria

As we move into a technology-based society, the use of technology-based teaching strategies in the training of tomorrow’s workforce has become inevitable. The purpose of this study is to examine undergraduates’ level of exposure to technology-based teaching strategies, and to further determine if such level is a function of their area and year of study. A sample of 624 students was randomly selected from Cross River University of Technology students. A questionnaire was the instrument for data collection and three null hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. The results indicated that students sampled revealed that their level of exposure to technology-based teaching strategies was significantly low. Based on this, certain recommendations were made.Keywords: Technology-based teaching strategies, Cross River University ofTechnology, ANOVA