Strategies for Improving Staff Personnel for Effective Implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State

This study investigated the strategies for improving staff personnel for effective implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) program in junior secondary schools in Rivers State. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population comprised 8,687 junior secondary school teachers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 720 teachers out of which 120 were from urban schools while 600 were from rural schools. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study.  The instrument for data collection was questionnaire captioned Strategies for Improving Staff Personnel Questionnaire (SISPQ). The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity by experts in the department of Educational Management, University of Port Harcourt. Data collected were analyzed using mean for research questions and z-test for the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed among others that in-service training programs in the areas of sandwich, workshops, and conferences were strategies for improving staff personnel for effective implementation of Universal Basic Education in junior secondary schools in Rivers State.  There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of urban and rural teachers on the in-service training programs provided in junior secondary schools in Rivers State.  Recommendations were made based on the findings that government should develop more interest in the area of distance learning and refresher courses for teachers and teachers should from time to time update their knowledge, on the pedagogical skills so as to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in service delivering. Keywords: Strategies, Improving, Staff Personnel and Effective implementation

Epidemiology of skin diseases in university of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State

Background: Several studies have been carried out to determine the patterns of skin diseases across Nigeria and results have shown changing patterns with the trend reflecting a higher tendency for allergic dermatoses in a majority of these studies. This study was carried out to evaluate the current clinical picture of patients presenting to our clinic.Materials and Methods: A prospective study of new patients seen in the skin clinic of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, between November 2013 and August 2014 was carried out. A total of 387 patients' data was analysed. Data collected on patients' sociodemographic status and diagnosis were entered into SPSS Version 17 and analyzed. Diagnosis was based on clinical findings, laboratory diagnosis including biopsy and histopathology were requested when necessary to make a diagnosis.Results: There were more females 245(63%) than males 142 (37%). Most of the patients (81.9%) were aged above 16 years and the commonest skin disease was infections (29.5%) followed by allergic skin diseases (13.6%). There was a significant difference in levels of income of study participants across gender and females who were engaged in unskilled labour were more likely to earn lower than males.Conclusion: Comparing the study findings with an earlier one from the same center, there is a change in pattern with infections being the most common skin disease. These are largely preventable; public enlightenment campaigns and policies to discourage over the counter purchase of prescription strength corticosteroid creams are highly desirable.Keywords: Epidemiology, Skin diseases, Prevention, Public enlightenmen

Epidemiology of skin diseases in University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State

Background: Several studies have been carried out to determine the patterns of skin diseases across Nigeria and results have shown changing patterns with the trend reflecting a higher tendency for allergic dermatoses in a majority of these studies. This study was carried out to evaluate the current clinical picture of patients presenting to our clinic.Materials and Methods: A prospective study of new patients seen in the skin clinic of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku- Ozalla, between November 2013 and August 2014 was carried out. A total of 387 patients' data was analysed. Data collected on patients' sociodemographic status and diagnosis were entered into SPSS Version 17 and analyzed. Diagnosis was based on clinical findings, laboratory diagnosis including biopsy and histopathology were requested when necessary to make a diagnosis.Results: There were more females 245 (63%) than males 142 (37%). Most of the patients (81.9%) were aged above 16years and the commonest skin disease was infections (29.5%) followed by allergic skin diseases (13.6%). There was a significant difference in levels of income of study participants across gender and females who were engaged in unskilled labour were more likely to earn lower than males.Conclusion: Comparing the study findings with an earlier one from the same center, there is a change in pattern with infections being the most common skin disease. These are largely preventable; public enlightenment campaigns and policies to discourage over the counter purchase of prescription strength corticosteroid creams are highly desirable.Keywords: Epidemiology, Skin diseases, Prevention, Public enlightenmen

Membrane purification techniques for recovery of succinic acid obtained from fermentation broth during bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass : current advances and future perspectives

Recently, the bioconversion of biomass into biofuels and biocommodities has received significant attention. Although green technologies for biofuel and biocommodity production are advancing, the productivity and yield from these techniques are low. Over the past years, various recovery and purification techniques have been developed and successfully employed to improve these technologies. However, these technologies still require improvement regarding the energyconsumption-related costs, low yield and product purity. In the context of sustainable green production, this review presents a broad review of membrane purification technologies/methods for succinic acid, a biocommodity obtained from lignocellulosic biomass. In addition, a short overview of the global market for sustainable green chemistry and circular economy systems or zero waste approach towards a sustainable waste management is presented. Succinic acid, the available feedstocks for its production and its industrial applications are also highlighted. Downstream separation processes of succinic acid and the current studies on different downstream processing techniques are critically reviewed. Furthermore, critical analysis of membrane-based downstream processes of succinic acid production from fermentation broth is highlighted. A short review of the integrated-membrane-based process is discussed, as well, because integrating “one-pot” lignocellulosic bioconversion to succinic acid with downstream separation processing is considered a critical issue to address. In conclusion, speculations on outlook are suggested.The National Research Foundation of South Africa.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilityChemical Engineerin

Biological and Non-Biological Methods for Lignocellulosic Biomass Deconstruction

Owing to their abundance and cost-effectiveness, lignocellulosic materials have attracted increasing attention in clean energy technologies over the last decade. However, the complex polymer structure in these residues makes it difficult to extract the fermentable sugars. Therefore, various pretreatment regimes have been used resulting in the breaking of lignocelluloses’ physical and chemical structures, thereby enhancing the availability of the polysaccharides which are subsequently hydrolysed into different biocommodities. This chapter provides an evaluation of some of the latest exploited methodologies that are used in the pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials. Moreover, the chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method

Pesticide exposure in agricultural workers in Nigeria

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Fostering Creativity Through Play in Pre-Primary School Children in Nigeria

Acquisition of entrepreneurial skills is an imperative for job creation and employment of labour, and for this to thrive, creativity plays a significant role in this direction. Besides, creativity also engenders remarkable progress and advancement of society as well as technological inventions. It is against this background that this discourse focused on fostering creativity through play among children in pre-primary schools in Nigeria. In this article, creativity, its characteristics and importance were reviewed. The concept of play, types and importance were reiterated and strategies to harness creativity skills through the use of play were brought to the fore. The conditions necessary for development of creative skills were emphasized. The article recommended among others, that creative activities should be encouraged among children in the classroom by teachers not strictly tying activities to time and schedules, and that opportunities should be given to children to be cognitively active than basing all children's learning on a curriculum which is geared towards assessment and examination

Development of non-derivatizing hydrate salt pre-treatment solvent for pre-treatment and fractionation of corn cob

Major concern in beneficiating lignocellulose is overcoming biomass recalcitrance through pre-treatment. Molten hydrate salts (MHS) is a green solvent with ability to swell and dissolve cellulose and biomass in a non-derivatizing way. Over the last decade, MHSs have been used for isolated cellulose dissolution, however very few studies have been reported on their effectiveness in pre-treating lignocellulosic biomass. Therefore, effectiveness of their application as solvent for pre-treating and fractionating corn cob is presented in this article. In this study, seven molten hydrate salt pre-treatment solvent systems such as unary, binary and ternary mixtures of ZnCl2.4H2O, LiClO4.3H2O and Urea were investigated for their ability to pre-treat and fractionate biomass. The pre-treatment experiments were carried out in a shaking incubator at 70°C for 60 minutes at a biomass: solvent ratio of 1:10. The surface chemistry of the biomass was checked before and after pretreatment using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were employed to check the crystallinity and surface morphology of the biomass. Physicochemical analysis consistently indicated a disruption in the structure of corncob due to removal of lignin and hemicellulose during the pre-treatment process. Additionally, results showed a decrease in crystallinity and a change in surface morphology after the pre-treatment using all the seven solvent systems (MHS solvents). The use of ZnCl2.4H2O/ Urea solvent displayed 100% recovery of cellulose, 42% recovery of hemicellulose and 44% recovery of lignin from the corn-cob when compared to the performance of the other proposed solvent systems in this study.The National Research Foundation, South Africa and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/oaen20pm2021Chemical Engineerin