The Relevance Of Policy And Practice On Sanitation Effort In Developing Nations: The Experience Of A Semi-Urban City In South-West Nigeria

Inappropriate waste management and poor sanitation practices have become major concerns in many developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The objectives of this study are to appraise the relevance of institutional policy and practice on sanitation effort with the case study of a semi-urban city in Southwest Nigeria. The study involved the assessment of procedures and techniques available in waste collection, treatment, disposal practices and compliances with institutional rules and regulations. The survey involved the use of structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews, on-site observations and focus group discussions in the various local communities and villages drawn across the 16 wards of the municipality. The data assessed captured social demographic-, housing-, socio culturalcharacteristics, sanitation and hygiene behaviour and problems with poor water and sanitation. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques in data collection and analysis were utilized as main instruments. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software application was employed for the purpose of analysis. Responses collected were coded using a linkert scaling procedure. The procedure combines descriptive analysis and bivariate regression estimation in arriving at the results obtained. Results of the study showed that there is no connection between institutional policies and the people's sanitation practices in the communities and more so, the management practices in most communities expose the inhabitants to unnecessary health risks. This has put a challenge on sanitation effort at reaching the Millelium Development Goal (MDG) target. It is therefore recommended, that a sustained cooperation be developed among all key actors (government, waste managers, public health workers and inhabitants) so as to implement an economic, sustainable, safe and reliable sanitation strategy and practices. This should not only be limited to legislation and policy formulation but also in its monitoring and enforcement. In addition, there is need for sensitizing the general public and raising their awareness level on environmental risks associated with poor sanitation practices

Ecological risk estimation of heavy metal pollution in roadside dust of Ado-Odo Ota, Southwestern Nigeria

Increased industrial, commercial and transport activities have constantly introduced air pollutants such as heavy metals in the atmosphere. Roadside dust samples were collected from 10 locations along Ota-Benin road, analysed for Cr, Cd, Co, Ni, Pb, Fe, Mn, Cu, As and Zn, and the ecological risk was evaluated for the heavy metals’ concentration in the roadside dust particles using the Hakanson method. The results revealed that Cd (3.103 mg/kg) and Cu (mg/kg) surpassed the threshold effect level. Pollutant source identification analysis revealed possible origin from motor oil, plastics, metalliferous extraction, dyes, and paints industries. The contamination factor for Ni was found to be at a moderate level in location SM8, SM9 and SM10 and a similar category was observed for Pb in location SM7, SM8, SM9 and SM10. Zn concentration in location SM5, SM6, SM7, SM8, SM9 and SM10 fell within the moderate contamination factor zone as well. Furthermore, the mean i r E of the individual metals in the sample region followed the order of Cd > Ni > Pb > As > Cu > Zn > Cr indicating a high risk associated with cadmium within the sample region

LIFE AVERAGE DAILY DOSE OF RADIUM-226 ON SOME WATER SAMPLES COLLECTED AT GIRI AND KUJE AREA OF ABUJA, NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

226Ra concentrations were studied to represent the radiological risk of groundwater of the Giri and Kuje areas of Abuja, North-Central Nigeria. Two borehole water samples were collected from the Giri and Kuje areas of Abuja with a hand-dug well and Abuja Water Board as control. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to measure the concentrations of radionuclide of 226Ra exposed to the dwellers. The activity concentrations of 226R in groundwater supplies for drinking and domestic purposes ranges from 44

Natural radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in commercial building materials and their lifetime cancer risk assessment in dwellers

Elevated radioactivity levels of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in building materials were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry and their associated lifetime cancer risks were also determined. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K are 45.72 § 0.55, 65.90 § 8.89, and 487.32 § 15.20 Bq kg¡1, respectively. Statistically, the principal component (PC) analysis indicates that higher loadings were recorded in Principal Component One (PC1) with large contribution from 232Th and 40K. The leverage studies indicate that BN Ceramics (BNC) contributes more to the loadings in PC1 followed by Golden Crown Ceramic (GCC) sample and GC. The mean values of 0.399 mSv y¡1 for annual effective dose from the samples surpassed the world’s average value of 0.07 mSv y¡1 by a factor of 5.7. The mean gamma index from the measured samples is 0.644, whereas a mean value of 0.271 for alpha index is noted in the samples. The activity utilization index (AUI) from the samples satisfied the AUI <2, which corresponded with the annual effective dose of <0.3 mSv y¡1, except interlock Site 2 and Gomez Spain tiles. Significantly, the mean value of excess lifetime cancer risk of 0.0014 is slightly lower than the world average value of 0.29 £ 10¡3

ASSESSMENT OF DOSE INTAKE OF TOXIC ELEMENTS IN GROUNDWATER SAMPLES FROM ABUJA, NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

This study measured the concentrations of toxic carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic elements present in groundwater using Inductively Coupled-Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The concentration values obtained were used to calculate the life average daily dose (LADD) exposure of the people whom rely on groundwater for consumption in Abuja, Nigeria. The highest LADD for the carcinogenic toxic element chromium (Cr) was 2.7 x 10-5 μg kg‒1 day‒1, whereas it was 3.3 x 10-4 μg kg‒1 day‒1 for the non-carcinogenic toxic element lead (Pb), identified in water samples collected by the Water Board. These LADD magnitudes of 10-5 and 10-4 for both carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic toxic elements in groundwater are far below the International Reference Dose according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 2008, which has a value of 10-1. The low magnitudes found in water samples may not pose significant health risks to the local population. The relevant authorities should, therefore, continue to monitor the impact of human activities on metal pollution in this area and take effective measures to control contamination of the public water suppl

Validating Chemistry Faculty Members’ Self-Reported Familiarity with Assessment Terminology

With the increasing emphasis placed upon chemistry instructors and departments to assess and evaluate their courses and curricula, understanding the structure of chemistry faculty members’ knowledge and use of assessment terms and concepts can shed light on potential areas for targeted professional development. Survey research that might accomplish this objective often relies on self-reported responses from the target audience, and such information is sometimes difficult to assess in terms of validity. As an example of an internal mechanism to help establish validity, it is possible to include an “internal standard” item early in the survey. For the sake of understanding faculty members’ familiarity with assessment terminology, an item that asked participants to identify analogous pairs of terms comparing assessment measures (assessment validity and assessment reliability) to laboratory measures (accuracy and precision) served this purpose. Using ordered logistic regression, participants who answered the analogy question completely correctly were more likely to report higher levels of familiarity with the assessment terms. Because the self-reported data appears to be valid, these data can be further used in subsequent analyses in order to determine the general familiarity trends among chemistry faculty regarding assessment terminology

Assessing the state of rainwater for consumption in a community in dire need of clean water: Human and health risk using HERisk

This study examines the case of Ekpoma community, Edo State, Nigeria, where roof-harvested rainwater is the primary source of water for drinking and domestic purposes. Eight potentially toxic elements (PTEs), namely aluminum, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc, were detected in rainwater samples, collected and analyzed from 54 sampling locations across the community. The elemental concentrations were quantified using atomic absorption spectrophotometry and compared using the regulatory standards of the World Health Organization, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and Nigerian Drinking Water Quality Standards. The PTEs detected in the rainwater samples can be attributed to the nature of the materials used in the roof catchment systems, storage tank conditions, anthropogenic effects from industrial and agricultural processes, and fossil fuel emissions. However, only 20% of the evaluated samples contained PTE concentrations below the allowable regulatory limits. Spatio-temporal health risk analysis conducted using HERisk software showed that children in the development phase (1–18 years) are most vulnerable to health risks in the community. After age 18, the risk increased by approximately 10% and remained constant until old age. In addition, the evaluation of the studied sites showed that 33% of the evaluated sites had negligible carcinogenic risks, while the other 61% were sites with low carcinogenic risks to residents

An overview of equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies for the sequestration of Maxilon dyes

Maxilon dyes are a class of cationic dyes containing different aliphatic and aromatic radicals. Contamination of water by this class of dyes causes serious environmental concern to both man and other animals and plants. Adsorption as a process has been studied by various researchers for Maxilon dye uptake. This work represents a review of published literature discussing the adsorption of Maxilon dyes using various adsorbents. Adsorption operating parameters, kinetic and isotherm models, and thermodynamic models were discussed herein. In the study, it was observed that adsorption parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, solution pH, and temperature affect the uptake of Maxilon dyes. The highest reported uptake of Maxilon dyes by the various adsorbents is 1830 mg/g for Maxilon blue using hydrolyzed (styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) chitosan. For the adsorption of the Maxilon dyes, the pseudo-second order kinetic model was shown to provide the best fit. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models best describe the adsorption of the Maxilon dyes. There were also some proposals for the future. In conclusion, adsorption was found to be an effective approach for removing Maxilon colours from water and wastewater

A Historical Investigation into Item Formats of ACS Exams and Their Relationships to Science Practices

The release of the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards has important implications for classroom teaching and assessment. Of particular interest is the implementation of science practices in the chemistry classroom, and the definitions established by the NRC makes these objectives much more tangible. However, this still may leave some wondering about how to begin making these changes. Mid-twentieth century chemical educators and pioneers of the first ACS exams advocated for testing science thinking and skills as early as the 1930s, and this necessitates a discussion about how early ACS exams measured these attributes. More recent debates have seen arguments that multiple-choice questions cannot measure high levels of cognitive ability in chemistry, which leaves questions about how ACS exams or instructors who write tests for large scale classrooms might try to measure science practices. The possibility that an analysis of the item formats used on ACS exams from 1934 to 1970 would help inform the creation of improved item types in testing today is investigated and presented here.Reprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Chem. Educ., 2015, 92 (11), pp 1798–1806. Copyright 2015 American Chemical Society.</p

Biochemistry Instructors’ Views toward Developing and Assessing Visual Literacy in Their Courses

Biochemistry instructors are inundated with various representations from which to choose to depict biochemical phenomena. Because of the immense amount of visual know-how needed to be an expert biochemist in the 21st century, there have been calls for instructors to develop biochemistry students’ visual literacy. However, visual literacy has multiple aspects, and determining which area to develop can be quite daunting. Therefore, the goals of this study were to determine what visual literacy skills biochemistry instructors deem to be most important and how instructors develop and assess visual literacy skills in their biochemistry courses. In order to address these goals, a needs assessment was administered to a national sample of biochemistry faculty at four-year colleges and universities. Based on the results of the survey, a cluster analysis was conducted to group instructors into categories based on how they intended to develop visual literacy in their courses. A misalignment was found between the visual literacy skills that were most important and how instructors developed visual literacy. In addition, the majority of instructors assumed these skills on assessments rather than explicitly testing them. Implications focus on the need for better measures to assess visual literacy skills directly