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Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in a Columbite/Tantalite Mining Site in Edege-Mbeki, North Central Nigeria
No full textThe release of pollutants due to mining activities, especially
tailings, has negative consequences on soil and affects agricultural
productivity. This study details the assessment of metals (Ni, Mn, Pb,
Cd and Fe), physicochemical parameters of the soil and how they affect
metal bioavailability and biotoxicity. Metal concentrations were
determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AA-6800
Shimadzu). The results of the analysis show that the mean pH varied
from a minimum of 7.12\ub10.36 to a maximum of 7.60\ub10.28 across
all the study area and sampling points. The percent organic matter had
an average minimum value of 0.13\ub10.08% and a maximum value of
0.82\ub10.32% in the study area. The heavy metal analysis result
shows that concentrations in all the soil and sediments of the study
area were all below the maximum permissible limit. Mean concentrations
of Ni, Mn, Cd, Pb and Fe had minimum values of 1.45\ub10.56,
43.3\ub10.43, 1.11\ub10.22, 5.50\ub10.28 and 522\ub10.88 mg/kg
respectively, and the mean maximum concentrations had values of
11.70\ub10.90, 200\ub10.17, 20.7\ub10.11, 31.0\ub10.78 and
2716\ub10.83 mg/kg respectively. The findings show no metal
contamination. However, the enrichment factor and contamination factor
revealed that the presence of Ni, Mn, Cd and Cd in soil samples of the
study area may be due to anthropogenic activities of mining
Bio-pesticide Actions of Aqueous Extract of Ocimum gratissimum , Piper nigrum , Xylopia aethiopica , Azadirachta indica and Zingiber officinale Formulation on Cowpea Leaves
No full textThe emergence of widespread insecticide resistance and the potential
environmental problems associated with synthetic pesticides have
indicated more interest for bio-pesticide usage in pest control. This
study investigates the efficacy of a bio-pesticide formulation based on
the aqueous extract of five plants namely Ocimum gratissimum, Piper
nigrum, Xylopia aethiopica, Azadirachta indica, and Zingiber officinale
in reducing cowpea leaf damage in event of bean beetle attach. Cowpea
seeds were sown in four (4) different pots containing loamy soil and
kept separately in the field at a distance of 10meters. Seven 7 days
after foliage production, pots 1 and 2 were treated with 250ml of the
formulations daily for 7 days, while pot 3 and 4 were not treated. From
observations, the treated Cowpea plants were not attacked by bean
beetle, while the untreated Cowpea plants were attacked by bean beetle,
causing great damage on the foliage and this can lead to wilting,
chlorosis and other fungal and bacterial diseases. Synthetic pesticides
used for pests control, have adverse effects on crops and environment,
but bio-pesticides formulated in this research is environmentally
friendly, target specific and biodegradable. The extracts showed
significant effect at p<0.05
Stingless Bee Honey as Bio-Indicator of Heavy Metals Pollution in and around the University of Ilorin Environ Kwara State, Nigeria
No full textHoney from stingless bees was examined as an indicator to evaluate the
level of heavy metal pollution at six sampling locations (Oyun A, Oyun
B, Bolounduro A, Bolounduro B, Jalala and Quarters) in and around
University of Ilorin. Using the dry ashing digestion method the
concentration of metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Cu, Zn) were analyzed using Atomic
Absorption Spectrometer. The concentration of metal (\u3bcg/kg) in the
honey samples ranged from 0.010-0.001 for Cd, 3992.33-1755.67 for Zn,
2319.33-592.33 for Cu, 29.67 - 4.33 for Cr while Pb with concentration
of 1\u3bcg/kg was found in only Quarter sample. Zn was the most
abundant metal detectable in all the samples with the highest and least
concentration obtainable from Oyun B and Bolounduro B respectively.
Statistical analysis of the studied metals showed Cu and Zn differ
significantly out of the five studied metals. The highest concentration
of Cu was observed in Oyun A sample the least was found in the
Bolounduro A. Highest concentration for Cr was found in Oyun B while
the least was obtained in Oyun A sample. Cd presented the lowest
concentration level in all tested samples.All the detected heavy metals
in the honey samples were at concentrations within their respective WHO
permissible limit.Physicochemical Parameters like density, moisture
content, free acidity, pH, ash content and electrical conductivity of
the honey samples were also predetermined. The mean density of the
honeys is 1.44\ub10.02, moisture content 14.25\ub12.52, pH
4.61\ub10.25, free acidity 44.08\ub12.46, Ash 1.48\ub10.64 and
electrical conductivity 0.04\ub10.03. There was significant
difference noted between the studied physicochemical parameters and
strong correlations observed among some of the studied parameters.Some
of the positive and negative detection of the result were found to
correlate with activity and suspected pollutant in some of these
sampling locations
Analysis of a Malaria Transmission Model in Children
No full textIn this paper, a nine compartmental model for malaria transmission in
children was developed and a threshold parameter called control
reproduction number which is known to be a vital threshold quantity in
controlling the spread of malaria was derived. The model has a disease
free equilibrium which is locally asymptotically stable if the control
reproduction number is less than one and an endemic equilibrium point
which is also locally asymptotically stable if the control reproduction
number is greater than one. The model undergoes a backward bifurcation
which is caused by loss of acquired immunity of recovered children and
the rate at which exposed children progress to the mild stage of
infection
Comparative Assessment of Crude Oil Degradation by Monocillium sp. and Aspergillus niger
No full textFungi dwelling in soils contaminated by petroleum products can survive
on these hydrocarbons due to the highly effective extracellular
enzymes. Species belonging to the genus, Aspergillus are known to be
efficient degraders of various classes of hydrocarbons as well as other
organic contaminants. In this study, the biodegradation of crude oil by
Aspergillus niger and Monocillium sp. were compared using laboratory
microcosms. The moulds were isolated from a site receiving effluent
from a petroleum refinery. They were identified using their macroscopic
and microscopic characteristics and subsequently screened for their
ability to utilize hydrocarbons for their metabolic requirements.
Following the biodegradation studies, Aspergillus niger and Monocillium
sp. recorded an increase in hydrocarbon utilizing fungal counts of 8.5
x 107 spores/ml and 6.1 x 107 spores/ml and crude oil weight loss of 80
% and 70 %. Both fungi were tested singly and in a consortium for their
ability to degrade crude oil, it was observed that Monocillium sp. and
A.niger performed better when tested individually (94.2 %; 92.8 %) than
in consortium (76.3 %). This may suggest that their combined metabolism
may have created some antagonistic effect on the degradation process as
opposed to their enzymatic capabilities which appeared to be more
favourable to the process. The biodegradation experiment analysis
showed that contact time plays a significant role in biodegradation of
crude oil (p<0.05), and Monocillium sp. and Aspergillus niger are
excellent crude oil degraders and can be used in the bioremediation of
petroleum-contaminated soil and water
Evaluation of Perception, Attitude, and Impact of Club-house Noise Pollution on Mental Health of Individuals Living within Proximity of Club-houses in Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria
No full textNoise pollution is becoming a major public health concern with all of
its potential biological, social, physiological and psychological
effects on the body. This study evaluated the perception, attitude, and
impact of noise pollution from club houses on the mental health of
individuals living within proximity of club houses in Abraka, Delta
State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was
conducted among 400 randomly selected respondents who resided within
proximity to nine different club houses. A well-structured
questionnaire was used to collect data for the study and the data was
presented as percentage using descriptive statistics. The respondents
of this study (400) had a mean age of 25.06 (\ub1 0.62), most were
students (78%) and majority were single (84.5%). Most respondents
(50.75%) reported that noise generated from these club houses were in
forms of party noise (50.75%) and loud music (49.5%) occurring mostly
at night. A larger proportion (84%) of the respondents reported
inability to cope with the noise, and 91.75% reported that their sleep
was affected by noise. The noise resulted in depression in fewer
respondents (33.5%), although most respondents experienced nervousness
(59.25%), headache (87.75%), fear (71.5%), and were stressed (75.25%)
as a result of the noise. Sleep disorders, anxiety and depressive
symptoms were more prevalent in people living in the vicinity of high
noise generation than people who reside further away
Information Extraction from Electronic Medical Records using Natural Language Processing Techniques
No full textPatients share key information about their health with medical
practitioners during clinic consultations. These key information may
include their past medications and allergies, current
situations/issues, and expectations. The healthcare professionals store
this information in an Electronic Medical Record (EMR). EMRs have
empowered research in healthcare; information hidden in them if
harnessed properly through Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be
used for disease registries, drug safety, epidemic surveillance,
disease prediction, and treatment. This work illustrates the
application of NLP techniques to design and implement a Key Information
Retrieval System (KIRS framework) using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation
algorithm. The cross-industry standard process for data mining
methodology was applied in an experiment with an EMR dataset from
PubMed to demonstrate the framework. The new system extracted the
common problems (ailments) and prescriptions across the five (5)
countries presented in the dataset. The system promises to assist
health organizations in making informed decisions with the flood of key
information data available in their domain
Determinants of Full Vaccination Status in Children Attending Immunization Clinic in a Tertiary Hospital in Benin City, Nigeria
Get PDFImmunization is a cost-effective approach aimed at improving child
survival. Coverage is an indicator to monitor the progress towards
achieving child survival and the strategy to reduce childhood morbidity
and mortality. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study among
300 mothers /caregivers attending a tertiary institution clinic for
immunization of the children using immunization card and verbal
response of the mother. Findings from the study showed that 220 (73.3%)
of the index children were fully vaccinated for age while 80 (26.7%)
were not. BCG was the commonest vaccine received by the respondents as
280 (93.3%) received it, followed by OPV, 261 (87.0%) and Pentavalent
vaccine, 246 (82.0%). Majority of the index children were vaccinated
for age with high BCG, OPV and Pentavalent vaccine coverage rates.
Socio-demographic factors that influenced the utilization of
immunization included the mothers\u2019 level of education,
occupation, reception of antenatal care. A better understanding of the
immunization schedule is important in the design and implementation of
immunization programmes. Educating mothers about vaccines and vaccine
preventable diseases are recommended
Comparative Analysis of Ellipsoidal Height and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission Elevation
Get PDFEllipsoidal elevation represents a precise geospatial data type within
the analysis and modelling of various hydrological and ecological
phenomenon required in preserving the human environment. Likewise,
Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) has created an unparalleled
data set of global elevations that are freely available for modelling
ubiquitous environmental applications. This research aims to carry out
a comparative analysis of ellipsoidal heights and SRTM heights with the
following objectives: downloading DEM\u2019s (SRTM) data covering the
study area, determining the spot heights within the boundary in
conventional method, extract DEM\u2019S heights within the boundary of
the study area, and compared the heights in the conventional method
with DEM\u2019S heights. South GPS and Leica Total Station were used
to acquire data for control extension and spot heightening respectively
while the elevation of SRTM data was obtained by transforming the X and
Y data from GPS observation to Longitude and Latitude before using
ArcGIS 10.6 to extract the elevation of the boundary pillar and all the
spot heights which were relatively compared in terms of its products-
heights, contour, 3-D wireframe, 3-D surface model, and overlaid of
contour on shaded relief. The results of the study showed that vertical
difference using conventional method and SRTM dataset ranges between
-2.345m to 11.026m. Also, the hypothesis tested using a two-tail
student t-test and F-test revealed that one mean is not significantly
different from the other at 95% confidence level. The research
recommends that the products obtained for the two systems can be used
interchangeably
Heavy Metals Contamination of Soil in the Vicinity of Hawassa Industrial Zone, Ethiopia
Get PDFIndustrial effluents, containing heavy metals, drain directly into
downstream water sources within the Hawassa Industrial Zone. These,
water sources are used for irrigation, drinking water and other
domestic purposes. The load of pollutants, environmental risks and
potential human impacts are generally, unknown for soil in Ethiopia.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the extent of heavy
metal pollution of soil within the Hawassa Industrial Zone and to
evaluate environmental impacts using contamination factor (CF), degree
of contamination (Cd), modified degree of contamination (mCd),
ecological risk factor (Er), ecological risk index (ERI) and pollution
load index (PLI) analyses. Seven heavy metals: Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd
and Pb were determined in soil samples from three different sites by
inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Average
concentration of metals decreased in the order of
Zn>Cu>Cr>Ni>Pb>As>Cd consistent with the normal order
of abundance in non-polluted soils. One way ANOVA revealed significant
differences (P<0.05) in the concentrations of Cu, As, Cd and Pb
among the sampling sites. Pearson\u2019s correlation, principal
component and cluster analyses revealed that heavy metals are
originating from different sources. Within the industrial area, the CF
increased in the order of Pb<Cd<Zn<As<Cu<Cr<Ni. The
result of Cd revealed that there was considerable to very high
contamination of the soil. The mCd index showed moderate contamination
of the soils. The Er increased in the order of
Zn<Cr<Pb<Cu<Ni<As<Cd and the result of the ERI value
revealed considerable ecological risk for the soils. Overall, the study
showed that the soils within the Hawassa Industrial Zone are highly
contaminated with heavy metals. Therefore, regular monitoring of heavy
metals concentration in soil and policy interventions with respect to
waste disposal are recommended