Environmental Pollution from Road Transport System in Ogbomosoland, Southwestern Nigeria

Environmental pollutions from road transport system in Nigeria poses serious health hazards to the ecosystem because of presence of heavy metals and other pollutants. There are researches on assessment of heavy metals contamination of road side soils but most of them investigated the concentration of the heavy metals at the edge of the road pavements but did not considered the concentration at various distances away from the edge of the road pavement. This research therefore focussed on the investigation of the concentration of the contaminants at the edge of the road and at various distances away from the road pavement. A total of 225 soil samples were collected at three sampling depths (0, 10 and 20cm) using three sampling distances of 0.2, 1.5 and 3.0m from Federal, State and Local roads. The soil samples were digested using perchloric acid and trioxonitrate (v) acid and the resulting filterate was analysed using Atomic absorption spectrophotometer for concentrations of Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni) and Cadmium (Cd) at each road. The heavy metals concentration at depth 0cm and distance 0.2m show that the  Federal roads had the highest mean concentration of 154.67, 49.43, 124.71, 27.40 and 2.19µg/g for Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni and Cd respectively and the least being Local roads (110.60, 35.57, 104.26, 23.99 and 1.12µg/g). The mean heavy metals concentrations decreased with increasing soil depths and sampling distance for Federal, State and Local roads. Some of the heavy metals concentrations were above the permissible limit (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, 2004). The study revealed that there are heavy metals in the road-side soils and concentrations for some of the roads were found to be above the permissible limits and this possesses serious health challenges to people around the neighbourhood. The concentrations also decreased with increasing sampling depth and distance for all the roads. Keywords: Environmental Pollution, Heavy metals, Road-side Soils, Sampling depth and distanc

Medication adherence in type 2 diabetes patients: study of patients in Alimosho General Hospital, Igando, Lagos, Nigeria.

Background: Poor adherence is an obstacle in therapeutic control of diabetes. Despite the advances in the treatment of diabetes mellitus over the years, diabetes places an immense burden on the individuals living with the condition, their families and the overall health care system.Objective: Evaluation of the impact of medication adherence on the clinical outcomes of type 2 diabetes patients at Alimosho general hospital, Igando Lagos state.Method: The medication adherence study was both descriptive (retrospective) and prospective. The retrospective study assessed the prevalence of medication non-adherence leading to poor glycemic control. This involved the review of case notes of one-hundred and fifty two randomly selected patients. Prospective study was done by counselling and educating the patients on medication adherence and assessing their medication adherence and the impact of medication adherence on glycemic control.Results: The proportions of females/males with type 2 DM was found to be 69% and 31% respectively. 51.32% of these patients viewed their medications to be unaffordable. 56.6% of the patient population were 61 years and above in age. There was a significant relationship between patient age, gender and adherence to medication. There was however no significant P ≥ 0.05 association between educational level and adherence. Health education and counselling resulted in adherence rate and clinical parameters improvements.Conclusion: Non-adherence is a major factor that could lead to morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. The overall improvement in adherence rate of 86.8% was observed with a decline in non- adherence rate after interventions.Key words: Diabetes type 2, adherence, glycemic level, health education and counselling

Evaluation of Level of Service of Traffic at Major Road Intersections in Ibadan, Nigeria

Transportation has been of immense benefits to the social, economic and political development of communities, however, it is sometimes characterised with negative impacts such as traffic congestions, delays, environmental pollutions and crashes. In this study, the level of service of selected major road intersections in Ibadan were investigated. Traffic volume of each intersection approach was conducted from 7am - 7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, delay studies were carried out during the morning, afternoon and evening peak hours and level of service for each approach was determined from the average delay per vehicle. The traffic volume reveals that passenger cars are the predominant vehicles at all the approaches and the morning and afternoon peak hours occurred between 8 to 9am and 2 to 3pm, respectively. The level of service for all the approaches is B, indicating slight reduction in capacity of the intersections. Keywords: Transport, Traffic volume, Traffic delay, Traffic congestion and Road intersection DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/9-7-05 Publication date: December 31st 201

Schematic Structure of National Data Harmonization System for Identity Management

Imagine a web-application in which a user can query varieties of information about an individual (like name, age, state of origin, driver’s license number, national identification number, etc.). This information would be stored on different databases, each having its own schema. Often times, these resources are replicated in different locations and on different platforms. Hence, the need for data harmonization or integration. Data harmonization addresses this issue by considering these external resources as materialized views over a virtual mediated schema resulting in “virtual data integration”. When mediated schema is queried, the solution transforms the result into appropriate queries over the various and existing data sources. This paper focuses on data harmonization that cuts across different governmental database and incorporating them all into a centralized view and this is possible as a result of development and implementation of a webbased databank application

Evaluation of the quality indices of the final effluents of two wastewater treatment plants in buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province

Waste waters can be sources of pollution to surface water and the environment with severe implications for public health. Most treatment plants in the Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province discharge their treated effluent into the surface waters which directly and indirectly impacts on the quality of surface waters in the region. The objective of this study was to determine the microbiological and physicochemical qualities of the final effluents of two wastewater treatment plants in the Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa over a period of 12 months (September 2012 to August 2013). The qualities of the final effluents of WW-Ama Wastewater Treatment Plant with respect to phosphate (3.9 mg/l - 20.6 mg/l), free chlorine (0.05 mg/l - 0.71 mg/l), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (4.7 mg/l - 211 mg/l), and faecal coliform (0 - 2.92 × 104 CFU/100 ml) were not in compliance with the permissible limits set for effluent discharged to surface water by South Africa guidelines for effluent discharge. Other physicochemical parameters like biological oxygen demand (BOD) (2.2 mg/l - 9.0 mg/l), total dissolve solid (TDS) (253 mg/l - 336.3 mg/l) and turbidity (4.8 NTU - 43.20 NTU) with no SA regulatory set limits were compared to other regulatory standards and they do not comply with the limits. Also, at the second WWTP’s, the WW-Dim Treatment Plant effluent quality for free chlorine (0.06 mg/l - 7.2 mg/l), BOD (0.1 mg/l - 7.4 mg/l), and turbidity (4.02 NTU - 24.3 NTU) also did not comply. For microbiological qualities, counts of presumptive E. coli and Vibrio ranged between 0 - 2.92 × PROFESSOR ANTHONY I. OKOHAntibiogram of the bacterial isolates were determined using the disk diffusion method. A total of 107 confirmed E. coli and 100 confirmed Vibrio spp. were used for this assay. Results of antibiotic sensitivity test revealed that 63.6% of the E. coli isolates were resistance to ampicillin while 49.5% were resistant to tetracycline and cephalothin. The least resistances were observed against gentamicin (3.7%) and cefotaxime (1.9%). No resistance was observed against meropenem. For the Vibrio spp, resistance was most frequently observed against tetracycline (38%) ampicillin (26%), chloramphenicol (16%), cefotaxime (14%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (13%) and the least resistance observed was against ciprofloxacin (1%). This study demonstrates that poorly treated wastewater effluent can be a source of eutrophic water with high nutrient levels and pathogenic bacteria and enteric viruses as well as antibiotic resistance determinants that could impact negatively on human health. The finding of this study also suggests that WWTPs have to be properly monitored and controlled to ensure compliance to set guidelines. This could be attained through the application of appropriate treatment processes, which will help to minimize possible dangers to public environment health

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXERGY, ENERGY, ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT

Energy analysis of process has gained popularity overtime and has been used in detecting, quantifying and minimising inefficiencies in processes. This paper illustrates these and goes a step further in showing the relationship between exergy, energy, economics and environment. In today’s world of energy sensitivity, environmental concern and economics nose diving an understanding of exergy and its impact among these ties becomes highly significant. The study shows the potential usefulness of exergy analysis in solving energy related environmental problems, and in reducing cost of operating and designing process and hence, ultimately leading to sustainable development

Travel Behaviour Of University Enviroment: Inter-Relationship Between Trip Distance And Travel Mode Choice In South-Western Nigeria

Universities’ trip pattern is an important component of overall transportation demand of a province but it is often not well represented in travel demand models. This research assessed the spatial commuting patterns of the three categories of universities in Southwestern Nigeria. This was achieved with the uniform distribution of 3000 questionnaires with 80% return rate using face to face approach. Statistical software was employed in the analysis of the data. Distance was found to be a function of commuting pattern as it has a coefficient of determination (R2) value of o.64. Moreover, 81% and 65% of staff in private and government owned universities respectively adopted the use of private cars, while walking and the use of shuttle buses were predominantly used by students for both long and short trip distances. The study showed that the use of shuttle is not affected by trip distance as compared to the other modes. However, cycling and walking should be encouraged to minimize the overdependence on the use of shuttle for both short and long distance trips. In addition, emission of greenhouse gases in universities’ environments in Nigeria could be reduced if adopte

Strength and Workability Improvement Potential of Admixture of Corn Cob Ash and Cement for Stabilizing Lateritic Soil

A natural lateritic soil classified as A-7-5 (10) and CL based on AASHTO and USCS classification systems, was stabilized with up to 5% cement admixed with up to 12% CCA to assess their effect on its basic geotechnical properties such as particle size distribution, Atterberg limits, compaction, unconfined compressive strength and California bearing ratio. The liquid limit decreased and plastic limit increased while there is a reduction in corresponding plasticity index of the clay soil. There was an increase in Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) of the stabilized soil sample, which increased with the increasing content of CCA and cement. Both the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of the soil increased with increasing percentage of cement and CCA. Based on the results of this study, corn cob ash (CCA) cannot be used as a stand-alone stabilizer for this lateritic soil but with a more potent stabilizer for clay soil such as lime. It is therefore recommended that the mixture of 12% CCA and 2.5% cement could be used to stabilize A-7-5 (10) lateritic soil for use as subbase material and 12% CCA and 5.0% cement could be used to stabilize A-7-5 (10) lateritic soil for use as base material for improving pavement structure in terms of strength, stability and workability. Keywords: Lateritic soil, Corn cob ash, Cement, Stabilization, Strength and Workability DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/9-7-06 Publication date: December 31st 201

Effects of Different Substrates and Temperature on the Growth and Yield of Oyster Mushroom (Lentinus sajor-caju Fr.)

The study evaluated the effects of three saw dust substrates on the growth and yield of Lentinus sajor-caju at the pathology laboratory of Forestry Research Institute of  Nigeria (FRIN) under indoor and outdoor temperatures of 28.6ºC and 29.1ºC  respectively.  The saw dust substrate includes; Triplochiton scleroxylon, Gmelina arborea, and Cordia Millenii. Wheat bran and lime (CaCo3) were incorporated to the substrates as supplements.  The mycelial growth was faster at 28.6ºC giving full colonization at 3 weeks in all the substrates, while full colonization was observed in 4 weeks at 29.1ºC. T. scleroxylon substrate recorded best heights at both indoor and outdoor temperatures with 28.1±10.2cm and 14.6±4.40 respectively.  G. arborea substrate gave the highest yield at both outdoor and indoor temperatures with 69.5±30.6 g 53.5±10.8 g respectively. There was no significant difference on the growth and yield of   L. sajor-caju at the two temperature ranges. Based on the results obtained, G. arborea saw dust was the most suitable substrate and could be recommended for the cultivation of Lentinus sajor-caju

EFFECT OF COMPACTION DELAY ON THE STRENGTH OF CEMENT STABILISED LATERITIC SOIL

Soil stabilisation is a major technique in enhancing the engineering properties of Lateritic soil. There is need to investigate the effect of scenarios when there is elapsed time between when the soil-cement is mixed and when it is spread and compacted. Therefore, this study focussed on the influence of this compaction delay on the engineering properties of cement-stabilised lateritic soil. The lateritic soil was stabilised with 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0% cement by weight of soil. The mixture of the soil-cement was left for elapsed time of 1, 3, and 5 h. The natural, stabilised and the stabilised soils with compaction delay were subjected to Sieve analysis, LL, PL. BSL, WAS and AASHTO compaction, UCS and CBR tests. The natural soil was suitable for highway construction except for base course. The MDD of the stabilised soil decrease while the MDD, UCS and CBR increase with increase in cement content. The optimal cement content for the A-2-4(0) soil is 4.5% and the effect of the compaction delay was more prominent after 2 h elapsed time