Spatial modelling of population at risk and PM2.5 exposure index: A case study of Nigeria

Particulate matter is a primary air pollutant, widely reported as important for public health especially for respiratory problems. However, monitoring, spatial representation and development of associated risk indicators have been major problems undermining formulation of relevant policy on air quality. This study used remotely sensed PM data complemented with population data to quantify population at risk and develop an Exposure Index (EI). Population at risk was computed from the population density data using the percentage contribution of two different ages groups (ages of 0-19 and 65+) and intersecting this with the PM concentration classes. EI is the sum product of the air quality measure and the population of vulnerable group per unit area. Almost the entire study area has PM2.5 concentration above the WHO guideline. Change in PM2.5 concentration showed that, around 54% of the study area remains the same, 43% improved and the remaining areas showed reduction. Between 77million and 81million of young vulnerable people were at risk over the period and about 4million elders were at risk. EI ranges between 1.5 x 10-4 and 8.3 x 10-2 per capita in 2001 and 1.9 x 10-4 and 1.5 x 10-1 per capita in 2010. This situation presents an environmental health burden in relation to potential risk of continuous exposure to dangerous levels of PM2.5. This information is necessary for rapid assessment of environmental health risk. However, research on the computation and exploration of other risk measures such as relative and attributable risks would further enhance policy making in relation to environmental health.Key Words: Population at risk, PM2.5; Spatial modeling, GIS, Exposure index, environmental healt

Effect of Mobile Telecommunication Technologies on Globalization of Nigerian Rural Areas

The globalization of a country is today measured with respect to indices of globalization such as the Maastricht Globalization Index (MGI) and the Konjunkturforschungsstelle (KOF). These indices of national globalization often have an urban bias. This study however explores the extent to which these international measures include rural environments of the globalizing country. Application of the MGI/KOF indices for determination of the Nigerian rural environment inclusion in globalization showed that the country’s rural communities were mainly integrated technologically by virtue of telephony (communication technology) penetration of rural areas. An attempt to modify the MGI/KOF globalization indexes for rural inclusion showed that the Nigerian rural communities were technologically integrated but only partially integrated politically and socio-culturally. Based on this, it was recommended that a globalization index for rural inclusion needs to be developed to establish countrywide globalization in absolute terms

MIGRATING BUSINESS SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS INTO THE CLOUD

Cloud computing has attracted a lot of hyperbole since it became a trendy topic for IT managers to talk about. Companiesfrequently trumpet their cloud enabled services but rarely give up details on precisely how they achieved this or how muchof their infrastructure has been fully migrated. Security and reliability of cloud services are often raised as concerns. Byunderstanding the basics of cloud computing and knowing how to assess important factors such as security and theidentification of systems that are suitable for migration, it becomes much easier to design and implement a cloud strategy.This paper provides the essential facts about the cloud computing, list some factors to prepare for when adopting cloudcomputing, consideration for managers migrating their services and applications into the cloud. It also discussed the meritsof going into the cloud.Keywords: Cloud Computing, Public Cloud, Service as a Service, Application Migration, Decision Makin

The pragmatics of children’s representation in selected yoruba proverbs

The study primarily investigates children‘s representation in Yoruba proverbs, verbal forms of handed-down traditions known for their  archetypal knowledge accumulated by people. How children are portrayed in this discourse is significant to the situational usage of proverbs for character molding and cultural value sustainer in any society: an area less explored by scholars. Purposively, fifty English medium children-related Yoruba proverbs were selected from the corpus of Nigerian proverbs with Mey‘s Pragmeme adopted to track children‘s representation in the discourse. The study reveals that children are represented as a prototype of homes, malleable,  sustainers, innocent and delinquent. These are framed within contexts of societal collectivism and parenting; with inference, reference, metaphor and voice as contextual features. These project pragmatic functions of behaviour-regulating and responsibility-motivating practs. Largely, the foregoing cumulatively portrays children as heirs whose upbringing rests on homes and society at large. The study therefore concludes that the awareness of the above, expectedly, should aid appropriate usage of proverbs sine-qua-non to the proper indoctrination of children into adulthood for sustaining cherished cultural values, shape their worldview and enhance a sanitized   society. Keywords: Yoruba proverbs, Children‘s representation, Pragmeme, Indoctrination and Cultural value

Determination of the constituents and suitability of Azara barytes for industrial applications

Azara baryte was analyzed and had an average specific gravity of 4.3g/cm3 and loss on ignition of 1.71wt%. Atomic Absorption spectrometery was used to determine the Fe2O3,Al2O3 and BaO contents. SiO2 and SO3 were determined by gravimetry while CaO, MgO, Na2O and K2O were determined by flame photometry. The percentage average values for the chemical oxides in the baryte samples were BaO (57.29wt%), SO3(25.99wt%), CaO(1.40wt%), MgO(0.40wt%), Fe2O3(3.46wt%), Al2O3(0.97wt%), Na2O(2.82wt%), K2O(0.30wt%) and SiO2(6.23wt%). These results indicate that Azara baryte lies within the range for use in glass production and as a filler or extender in paint and rubber production, but will require further beneficiation in order to be a suitable component of oil drill mud.Keywords: Azara Baryte, Specific gravity, Gravimetery, Atomic Absorption Spectrometery. Flame photometry