Perceived Sources Stress: A Cross Sectional Survey among Urban and Rural Public Secondary School Teachers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Work-related stress as an imbalance between working demands and environmental or personal resources at work. Workers, especially teachers, can experience stress when the work demands placed on them do not match their skills or ability to cope at work. The aim of the study was to determine the perceived sources of stress among urban and rural public secondary school teachers in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. A sample 436 teachers was investigated. The instrument used for data collection was a 36-item valid and reliable (α = 0.81) questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was administered on the participants on face to face approach. Out of 436 copies of the questionnaire given out, 405 copies (Urban 159, Rural 246) representing about 92.9% return rate, were used for analysis. Data were analyzed using percentages, mean, standard deviation and independent sample t-test statistic. The results of the study showed stress among secondary school teachers was high, no matter location of school, and the difference existing in the stress levels was significant (p < 0.05). The stress suffered by the teachers is a serious problem that requires serious attention. Secondary school teachers may need to adopt positive coping strategies, such as regular physical activities and rest in order to ward off stress. Keywords: Stress, cross sectional, urban and rural, secondary school teachers DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/133-04 Publication date:June 30th 202

Stripping the 21st Century Classroom Naked: Treachery or Technique?

Some things at a glance though not desirable could be tolerated and ignored in this 21st century regarding the outlook of a typical classroom but not a naked classroom The paradigm shift in the age of the technology driven instructional delivery is a classroom equipped with modern technological tools for enhancing teaching and learning The new age schools and educational institutions pride themselves as having learning delivered by state-of-the-art technology thus classrooms having the touch of information and communication technology equipment and teachers who are trained in the art students as digital natives etc Anyone who thinks otherwise stripping classroom naked must be living in the past would be the immediate response to such postulation This paper take a critical look at a naked classroom in bid to unravel whether so doing has any relevance a technique or a fallacy The paper makes conclusion and recommendations amongst others that our classrooms should be reserved for useful face-to-face discussions and engaging students by using technology outside the classroo

SPATIAL VARIATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL

An investigative study on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils of different sampling stations in Effurun metropolis and its environs of the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria was carried out with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Among the 16 US EPA priority PAHs determined, pyrene was observed to be the most abundant compound at all sites (20 %), followed by fluoranthene (14 %), phenanthrene (12 %), chrysene (10 %) and benzo(ghi)perylene (6 %). High concentrations of pyrene could be attributed to anthropogenic source such as industrial and vehicular emissions. On the other hand, naphthalene, acenathalene and anthracene accounted for 3.2 %, 1.6 %, and 1.1 %, respectively. The observed trend: Refinery > Ekpan > Enerhen > Water Resources > Alegbo > Ugborikoko > Ugboroke could be attributed to the density of industrial and commercial activities in each area. Clear differences in the total PAH between urban/industrial and rural areas were observed. The results showed that PAH levels in soils from heavily industrial sites were higher in concentrations to the effect that Refinery locations were comparatively higher than all other locations. The higher levels of PAHs observed in the Refinery location are clear indications of combustion emissions and gas flaring from fractionating towers. KEY WORDS: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Soil poolution, Niger Delta Area (Nigeria) Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2007, 21(3), 331-340

CARCINOGENIC POTENCY OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL

Carcinogenic potency of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils obtained from seven different sampling locations in Effurun metropolis and its environs of Niger Delta Area of Nigeria were evaluated. The 16 US EPA priority PAHs were determined with GC-MS. The concentrations of individual PAHs observed were used to compute the carcinogenic risk potency of the PAHs relative to benzo(a)pyrene (reference carcinogen). Benzo(a)pyrene equivalent concentration in soils from industrial sites, possess about 22 times carcinogenic potencies than soils from residential areas. KEY WORDS: Benzo(a)pyrene, Carcinogen, Carcinogenic risk potency, Tumours, Soil Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2007, 21(3), 437-443

Gender Differences in Perceived Sources of Stress: A Cross Sectional Survey of Public Secondary School Teachers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Individuals, especially teachers, who work in serving professions involving interaction with other people, may be more liable to suffer psychological discomfort as a result of stress. However, the level of stress suffered may be dependent on the sources that generate the stress. The study, therefore, was conducted to determine the perceived sources of stress among male and female public secondary school teachers in Ebonyi state. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 4,360. A sample size of 436 (male 220, female 216) teachers participated in the study. This sample size was arrived following the suggestions of Nwana (2014) that if the population of a study is in a few thousands, 10% could be used. A self-developed questionnaire titled: Sources of Stress Questionnaire (SSQ) was used as instrument for data collection. The instrument was subjected to face validation by five experts in the field of Health Education and Psychology. The reliability of the instrument was computed using Cronbach alpha procedure which yielded a coefficient of 0.81. Data collected for the study were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Independent samples t-test was used to test the hypothesis at an alpha level of 0.05. The results revealed that the public secondary school teachers in Ebonyi state studied had a high level stress which was perceived to have been generated by administrative-related, workload-related, environmental-related and economic-related sources. It was recommended that government should improve the working condition of the teachers in order to scale down their stress levels. Keywords: Gender, Stress, Secondary School teachers, Public DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-15-13 Publication date:May 31st 202

Influence of Geographical Location on Key Nutritional Properties of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Pulp

Citrullus lanatus (watermelon) which was only cultivated in Northern Nigeria in the past, is now cultivated in other parts of Nigeria. However, there is no data to show the nutritional quality of C. lanatus as it relates to the location of cultivation. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the nutritional properties of the pulp of Citrullus lanatus cultivated in four states, representing four geopolitical regions of Nigeria. C. lanatus samples were collected from the northeast, southwest, southeast and south-south geopolitical zones of Nigeria. They were thoroughly washed, then the pulp was separated, homogenized and freeze-dried.  The amino acid profile, vitamins, proximate and mineral analyses of the freeze-dried samples were done by standard protocols. The amino acid profile results showed the presence of varied amino acids in the different zones, with the southwest giving the highest concentrations of the amino acids and the least concentration obtained from the south-south zone. The presence of vitamin C and A, and the minerals: Ca, Mg, K, Na, Fe, Pb, and Mn were detected in the pulp of C. lanatus at diverse concentrations in the various zones, with samples from the southwest zone also giving the highest composition of both vita by mins and mineral contents.  The proximate composition analysis results revealed a higher (p < 0.05) percentage of moisture, protein and fiber from the southwest sample when compared with other zones, and higher (p < 0.05) percentage composition of carbohydrate, ash and fat contents from the northeast samples relative to other zones. Thus, the nutritional value of the C. lanatus samples was in the order: Southwest > northeast > southeast > south-south. Conclusively, the results showed that the location of cultivation affects the nutritional value of Citrullus lanatus fruit

Microbial community structure of a low sulfate oil producing facility indicate dominance of oil degrading/nitrate reducing bacteria and Methanogens

Analysis of microbial community structure of a low sulfate oil producing facility in Nigeria using 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique revealed dominance of oil degrading and nitrate reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea in produced waters and oil samples namely, Marinobacter (37%), Azovibrio (21%), Thauera (10–28%), and Methanolobus (22%). On the contrary, the associated oil pipeline samples revealed massive dominance of potentially corrosive Methanolobus (60%) and Methanobacterium (25-27%). Further experimentation shows that the methanogens implicated in oil pipelines are corrosive moderate halophile that utilizes H2/CO2 and methanol as substrates. More emphasis should therefore be on methanogenic archaea as opposed to sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs) during mitigation plans for microbially induced corrosion (MIC) in a low sulfate oil producing facilit

Double-stator switched flux permanent magnet machines having low rotor pole numbers

In this paper, double-stator switched flux permanent magnet (DS-SFPM) machines having low rotor numbers and whose stator teeth and rotor pole numbers are relatively same is investigated. Quantitative comparison of their electromagnetic performance is also given. Two-dimensional finite element (2D-FEA) analysis is employed in the prediction of the developed machines’ performance. It is observed that the open circuit flux-linkage waveforms of the analysed machines having odd rotor poles are both symmetrical and sinusoidal in contrast to its even number rotor pole counterparts whose waveforms are asymmetrical, non-sinusoidal and unbalanced. More importantly, the developed machines with odd rotor pole numbers exhibit higher torque density than its even rotor pole equivalents.Keywords: Harmonics, low rotor pole, PM usage, and unbalanced back-EMF

Souring and Corrosion Potentials of Onshore and Offshore Oil-producing Facilities in the Nigerian Oil-rich Niger Delta

Souring and corrosion potentials of two oil producing facilities were determined by monitoring microbial activities in CSB-K medium and MPN counts of SRB and APB in API RP-38 and ZPRA-5 broth medium, respectively. Corrosion rate measurements were carried out by weight loss method. Our investigation revealed that microbiological activities at the onshore facility were dominated by methanogenesis with zero potential for souring and high potential for corrosion while that of offshore facility were dominated by sulfate reduction with high potential for both souring and corrosion. Biocide treatments were effective against the sulfate-reducing bacteria but not effective against the methanogens associated with corrosion