Influence of counselling on career preference among secondary school students in Ekiti State,

ABSTRAC

Dispersion Modelling of Air Emission from a Rice Milling Plant

The study investigated the air quality impacts of Rice Mill using the ISC-AERMOD View. Contributions of steam boiler and electric power generators in the mill to ground level concentrations of criteria air emissions were established.The maximum ground level concentrations of air pollutants presently emitted by the steam boiler are 1-hour averaging period concentrations of 1.4 – 177.3 µg/m3 with 24-hour level of 0.3 – 43.5 µg/m3 . Simultaneous operations of the steam boiler and electric power generators give 1-hour averaging period concentrations of 29.7 – 257.8 µg/m3 with 24-hour levels of 8.8 – 95.8 µg/m3 . The simultaneous operations of the steam boiler and the electric power generators add about 0.41 – 84.78% of the respective investigated air pollutants limits to the ambient air quality of the host environment. Occasionally the daily NOX limits from this scenario 2 could breach the ambient limit whenever all the three electric power generators are simultaneously operated with the steam boile

Investigation of Air Emissions from Artisanal Petroleum Refineries in the Niger-Delta Nigeria

The increase in price of the available refined petroleum products for local consumption in Nigeria had led to the emergence of indigenous technology for petroleum refining in some parts of the Niger Delta region. This study, therefore characterized and quantified artisanal refineries’ gaseous emissions for possible air pollutants based on various unit operations involved and evaluated their impacts. It measured the emissions directly from source using E8500 Portable Combustion Analyzer. It also categorized oven sizes/processing capacity of the refineries into various ranges in order to estimate emissions according to processing capacity. The result revealed that; pollutants emission varied significantly between the unit operations and increased with increase in processing capacity. When the emissions were compared with daily limits set by the Environmental Guidelines and Standard for Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN) 2002, the emissions (CO, NOx, and SO2) breached the available set limits. While with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), 1991 set limits for emissions from stationary source; HC and CO breached their limits. SO2 and H2S breached their lower limits but were below the upper limit, while NOx emissions were found within its set limit. The study concluded that, Nigeria Artisanal Petroleum Refineries are sources of air pollution, as they impact the host environment

GASEOUS EMISSIONS CHARACTERIZATION FROM POTASSIUM NITRATE-BASED ROCKET COMPOSITE PROPELLANT COMBUSTION

This paper reports the gaseous compositions produced from the combustion of a laboratory-synthesized potassium nitrate (KNO3)-based rocket composite propellant. The exhaust emissions produced from the combustion of 10 different propellant formulations were analyzed using an E8500 portable industrial emission analyzer. The concentrations, emission factor, and emission rates of the gaseous pollutants were computed. The measured concentrations were then compared with the stationary source limit by the Federal Ministry of Environment standard (Nigeria) to establish their impact on air quality. The obtained concentrations were as follows: hydrocarbon (HC) ranged from 56 to 290 mg/m3, with an the average concentration of 145.72 ± 20.12 mg/m3; carbon monoxide (CO) ranged from 234 to 2030 mg/m3, with an average concentration of 1177.3 ± 154.2 mg/m3; nitrogen oxides ranged from 19.8 to 53.7 mg/m3, with an average concentration of 33.9 ± 4.18 mg/m3; sulfur dioxide ranged from 8.2 to 156.8 mg/m3, with an average concentration of 25.4 ± 14.67 mg/m3; and hydrogen sulfide ranged from 1 to 6 mg/m3, with an average concentration of 2.44 ± 0.50 mg/m3. The results indicate that HC and CO emissions from the combustion of KNO3-based composite propellant represent a great threat and concern in relation to air quality. Thus, the proper management and control of rocket launches using KNO3-based composite propellants needs to be immediately addressed; otherwise, such emissions could have negative effects on the atmospheric environment of rocket routers

In-vehicle and pedestrian exposure to carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds in a mega city

This study is to determine in-vehicle and pedestrian exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in six roadways in Lagos mega city. Measurements were made twice a day for two weeks for four major modes of transportation in the city using the MultiRae ambient gas monitor. The levels of CO measured were 4.40–39.78 ppm while that of VOCs were 0.00–0.39 ppm. Highest average CO and VOCs concentrations were obtained inside car during morning commuting periods. These average concentrations were found to be statistically significant when compared with other three transportation modes studied. The average concentrations of the pollutants in the morning were statistically similar to average concentration in the afternoon as Student's t test indicated no statistical significant difference (p N 0.05). This study revealed that car commuters are exposed to higher concentrations of CO and VOCs than bus and BRT commuters with pedestrians having the lowest exposure to the pollutants

IMPLICATIONS OF LACK OF MAINTENANCE OF VEHICLES ON AMBIENT AIR QUALITY

This paper reported the results of the investigation of vehicular emissions in selected roads in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Five roads: Olorunsogo, Alabata, Onibode, Kobape, and Ibara-Orile roads were considered with eight different vehicle types (Honda, Mazda, Mercedez Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Toyota, and Volkswagen) on each road. Vehicles were parked 8.0m away from the main road in downwind direction. The vehicular exhaust emissions monitored were CO2, O2, CO, and HC emissions. The total mean concentration of measured CO2 emission from vehicular exhaust on all the roads, ranged between 389100 ppm for Nissan and 465600 ppm for Mitsubishi; O2 emission ranged between 99000 ppm for Toyota and 192000 ppm for Peugeot, also CO emission ranged between 319400 ppm for Peugeot and 460800 ppm for Nissan while HC emission ranged between 2360 ppm for Toyota and 4652 ppm for Volkswagen. It could be noted that the air pollutants are high for most of the vehicles irrespective of the type and higher than both the European and Nigerian standards. This implies that vehicles are poorly maintained in Nigeria. This study therefore concluded that vehicular pollution in Abeokuta is significant with possible serious health and environmental consequences

Spatial Dispersion Modelling of Air Emissions from a Farm Using Gaussian Model

Agricultural activities may cause significant air pollution at the local, regional, and global scales due to the uncontrolled release of pollutants into the environment. This study therefore provided model-based spatial estimates of ground-level concentrations of air emissions from Landmark University Farm. The emission inventory and meteorological parameters of the farm were used to execute a Gaussian dispersion model over a distance of 2 km. Elevated ground-level concentrations were recorded, which continued to decrease as the distances increased. These concentrations exceeded threshold limits stipulated by National Ambient Air Quality Standard. The study concluded that high levels of air emissions obtained in this study are indications of tendencies for possible violation of permissible limits at locations not too far from the University Farm

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Exploring UK medical school differences: the MedDifs study of selection, teaching, student and F1 perceptions, postgraduate outcomes and fitness to practise

BACKGROUND: Medical schools differ, particularly in their teaching, but it is unclear whether such differences matter, although influential claims are often made. The Medical School Differences (MedDifs) study brings together a wide range of measures of UK medical schools, including postgraduate performance, fitness to practise issues, specialty choice, preparedness, satisfaction, teaching styles, entry criteria and institutional factors. METHOD: Aggregated data were collected for 50 measures across 29 UK medical schools. Data include institutional history (e.g. rate of production of hospital and GP specialists in the past), curricular influences (e.g. PBL schools, spend per student, staff-student ratio), selection measures (e.g. entry grades), teaching and assessment (e.g. traditional vs PBL, specialty teaching, self-regulated learning), student satisfaction, Foundation selection scores, Foundation satisfaction, postgraduate examination performance and fitness to practise (postgraduate progression, GMC sanctions). Six specialties (General Practice, Psychiatry, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery) were examined in more detail. RESULTS: Medical school differences are stable across time (median alpha = 0.835). The 50 measures were highly correlated, 395 (32.2%) of 1225 correlations being significant with p < 0.05, and 201 (16.4%) reached a Tukey-adjusted criterion of p < 0.0025. Problem-based learning (PBL) schools differ on many measures, including lower performance on postgraduate assessments. While these are in part explained by lower entry grades, a surprising finding is that schools such as PBL schools which reported greater student satisfaction with feedback also showed lower performance at postgraduate examinations. More medical school teaching of psychiatry, surgery and anaesthetics did not result in more specialist trainees. Schools that taught more general practice did have more graduates entering GP training, but those graduates performed less well in MRCGP examinations, the negative correlation resulting from numbers of GP trainees and exam outcomes being affected both by non-traditional teaching and by greater historical production of GPs. Postgraduate exam outcomes were also higher in schools with more self-regulated learning, but lower in larger medical schools. A path model for 29 measures found a complex causal nexus, most measures causing or being caused by other measures. Postgraduate exam performance was influenced by earlier attainment, at entry to Foundation and entry to medical school (the so-called academic backbone), and by self-regulated learning. Foundation measures of satisfaction, including preparedness, had no subsequent influence on outcomes. Fitness to practise issues were more frequent in schools producing more male graduates and more GPs. CONCLUSIONS: Medical schools differ in large numbers of ways that are causally interconnected. Differences between schools in postgraduate examination performance, training problems and GMC sanctions have important implications for the quality of patient care and patient safety