Motor Bike Research Articles

Epidemiology and Treatment Outcomes of Head Injury in Bangladesh: Perspective from the Largest Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. Economic impact is much worse in developing countries like Bangladesh, as victims are frequently male, productive, and breadwinners of the families. Objectives The objective of our study was to highlight the etiological pattern and distribution of varieties of head injuries in Bangladesh and give recommendations regarding how this problem can be solved or reduce to some extent at least. Methods From January 2017 to December 2019, a total of 14,552 patients presenting with head injury at emergency got admitted in Neurosurgery department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and were included in this study. Results The most common age group was 21 to 30 years (36%: 5,239) with a male-to-female ratio of 2.6:1. Injury was mostly caused by road traffic accident (RTA [58.3%: 8,484]), followed by fall (25%: 3,638) and history of assault (15.3%: 2,226). The common varieties of head injury were: acute extradural hematoma (AEDH [42.30%: 1,987]), skull fracture either linear or depressed (28.86%: 1,347), acute subdural hematoma (ASDH [12.30%: 574]), brain contusion (10.2%: 476), and others (6.04%: 282). Conclusion RTA is the commonest cause of TBI, and among them motor bike accident is the severe most form of TBI. AEDH is the commonest variety of head injuries. Proper steps taken by the Government, vehicle owners, and drivers, and proper referral system and prompt management in the hospital can reduce the mortality and morbidity from TBI in Bangladesh.

The bionomic of road users: a new perspective of individual mobility approach

Mostly, transport studies are centered on the factors of transportation rather than human movements. In a similar vein, communication technology revolution influence to people mobility. The performance of traffic pattern does not tend to deliver utmost needs of people mobility, because less attention of the substance of inhabitant movements. The importance of bionomic patterns of road users is based on the fact that behavior approach and adaptation will create pattern of people mobility. The aim of this research is to determine whether they adapt to nearby environment or not. Taking this, variables surveyed are individual attribute, time, duration, location, vehicle, communication to transport and purpose of trips. Investigation is conducted by providing questionnaire. The main result of this study are that the bionomic pattern of road users of selected population shows that they prefer to use simple mode vehicle to transport such as motor bike and walking. Moreover, these choices are preferred to be taken as a response to higher dense of traffic population and worsen road network system. It would be wise for planning if it considers potential effect not only to traffic but also regular road users need including goods supply, proper access and facilities for unmotorized vehicle.

Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Influence on Social Health Risk Behaviour Change Among Motorcycle Riders in the Transport Industry in Kimili Subcounty, Bungoma County, Kenya

Most urban centres and cities globally are vulnerable to the fast spread of Covid-19 due to their high population and many interactive activities including movement of people. The transport industry has been targeted in many parts of the world in the effort to curb the spread of pandemic as it is believed to be the main conduit of the spread of the pandemic. However, the lockdown of major cities all over the world has led to the development of under ways to facilitate illegal movement of people in and out of the lockdown epicentre cities. In Kenya for instance Nairobi and Mombasa which are believed to be the main epicentres of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic were put under lockdown by the government of Kenya for three months. Consequently, the government through the ministry of health banned motorists especially public transport vehicles from entering and leaving the epicentre cities. During the lockdown motorcycle became the major mode of public transport illegally sneaking people in and out of these cities thus endangering lives of many Kenyans as they aided in the spread of the pandemic. The lifting of the lockdown of Mombasa and Nairobi has seen tremendous rise in infections and even deaths doubling the previous statistics. The objective of this study was therefore to investigate Covid-19 pandemic and its influence on the social risk behaviour change among motorcycle riders in the transport industry in Kimilili Sub county Bungoma County Kenya. The study population were all the motorcycle riders within Kimilili town. The sample size comprised of 60 motor bike riders selected through simple random sampling from 12 motorcycle stage points in Kimilili town. The study adopted quantitative research design where descriptive survey was employed. Simple structured questionnaire was developed and administered to the respondents. Data was collected and analyzed through descriptive statistics and presented in tables of frequencies and percentages. The results revealed that motorbike riders had failed to comply with the ministry of health guidelines in the transport industry to help fight the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The extent to which the respondents complied with the government regulations was generally low. Therefore, the noncompliance behaviour of bike motorists to the government directives was a serious social health risk behaviour that the ministry of health should address to minimise the spread of Covid-19 through motorbike transport system in Kenya.

Customer satisfaction and trust interaction model

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the interaction between customer satisfaction and trust in a structural model. Sample consists of 210 Suzuki motor bikes’ users, aged 17-64, domiciled in Medan. Structural equation model approach is used to process raw data. Respondents' opinions were taken proportionally throughout the Medan city sub-districts. Questionnaires were submitted accidentally. The results show that customer satisfaction and trust partially had positive and significant effect on brand equity and repurchase intention. Brand equity did not show any indirect causal relationship mediator of the three exogenous variables to repurchase intention. Programs related to customer satisfaction and trust better increase brand equity and repurchase intention directly. Interaction variable existence in research model increases Chi-Square probability, decreases standard deviation, and increases t-value. Interaction variable creates synergy on the influence of customer satisfaction and trust to increase brand trust. Any programs to increase brand equity through customer satisfaction and trust should be implemented, simultaneously. The two exogenous variables will bring out the synergy that comes from this interaction.

The Rapid Spread of Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Psychosocial and Economic Challenges on Motorcycle Riders in the Transport Industry in Kimili Subcounty, Bungoma County, Kenya

The spread of Covid-19 pandemic in East Africa has greatly undermined the daily economic activities of the motorbike operators in the region during its first phase. The motor bike riders (boda boda) have been condemned for the fast spread of Covid-19 due to the nature of their business of moving people from place to place and deep into communities. Boda boda transport system has been embraced by most people in East Africa since it is fast, flexible and cheap and has become more popular among the poor segments of the society. However, with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic the East African governments have put spotlight on the motorbike transport industry as a weak link in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In Uganda for instance President Yoweri Museveni had to ban boda boda operators from carrying passengers for the fear of community-to-community spread of the pandemic. The consequences of the negative perception against the boda boda operators carried psychosocial as well as economic repercussions with it such as intense fear, obsessive behaviour, anxiety and stigma. The purpose of this study was to investigate Covid-19 pandemic and its psychosocial as well as economic challenges on the motorbike transport in Kimilili Sub County, Bungoma County, Kenya. The study population comprised of all the motorcycle riders within Kimilili town. The sample size comprised of 24 motor bike riders sampled from the 12 main town stages from which 2 participants were selected through simple random sampling. The study adopted qualitative research design where descriptive survey was employed. The study employed Focused group Discussion (FGD) tool for data collection. The FGD involved the participants in a discussion on common psychosocial problems affecting the boda boda operators. Data was collected and analyzed qualitatively then presented in prose. The results revealed that motorbike riders had faced numerous challenges ranging from reduced income and stigma to police harassment and corruption. The study recommends reforms that can restore sanity and dignity to the boda boda public transport industry such as financial empowerment, social protection, training of staff and counselling services.

English

The aim of the survey was to assess artificial insemination (AI) service delivery system and identify the challenges and opportunities of AI service in cattle production in Western Zone of Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Twenty Kebeles (lowest administrative units) and 353 respondents were purposively involved in face-to-face interview. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and mainly summarized by frequency and percentages. Chi-square test was the statistical method used to test proportions of variables. There was statistically significant (P<0.05) differences in AI service interruptions in both regular working hours and weekends and holiday hours. AI service interruption was a critical challenge in regular working days and in weekends and holidays. This is because 73% of the respondents reported that AI service was interrupted in Monday through Friday and 75% of the respondents also reported that Artificial Insemination Technicians (AITs) were not available to deliver AI service in weekends and holidays. Above half (63%) of the small scale farmers reported that AITs were very poor. Most of the very poor AITs were in midland (48%) and lowland (36%) agro-ecologies compared to the AITs in highland (16%) agro-ecology. Mobile AI service delivery system through motor bikes was the most common AI service delivery system used. The major challenges of AI service in order of their importance were lack of community awareness, poor animal management, unskilled AITs and inadequacy of AITs. The government and NGOs should solve the current challenges of AI service. The current approach and system of AI delivery should be restructured. Adequate numbers of skilled manpower should be assigned based on the standard numbers of breedable cows per AI center or per AIT. Moreover, agro-ecology based human management system and infrastructure development should be adequately addressed. Key words: Communication means, AI service interruption, distance between homestead and AI service center, AI service delivery system, agro-ecology.

Design of Battery Pack Cooling System using a Peltier Device

This study evaluates the design of a battery pack thermal control system for an Indonesian electric motor bike. A lithium battery can explode when it reaches a high temperature, so it is necessary to keep the battery pack at no more than +40°C, even in high-temperature environmental conditions. Battery thermal management for the Gesits electric bike was investigated during battery discharge under high-temperature conditions. In this study, a battery discharge test was performed while hot soaking the battery at +40°C; the performance of a battery that was temperature-controlled with the proposed cooling system was compared against a battery without a cooling system. Using the proposed method, the cooling was carried out with a Peltier TEC1-12710 thermoelectric cooling module. From the results, we observed that the Peltier module can improve the performance of an electric vehicle by up to 6%.

Incidence of Motor Cycle Accidents in Female Traveller in the Neurosurgery Ward of Rangpur Medical College Hospital

Background: Motor bike is a popular two wheeler vehicle in Bangladesh especially among young generation, newly married couple and service holders. It is also popular vehicle among female NGO workers. Female like to travel on motor bike along with life partner or with guardian hanging their both legs on one side of seat increasing the tendency to fall down from motor cycle due to imbalance body weight during turning the road or crossing the uneven road or sudden increasing the speed of the motor bike or crossing on a speed breaker.&#x0D; Aims: Encourage female to travel on motor bike hanging their legs on both sides of the seat to maintain the body weight balance for reducing the mortality and morbidity of RTA.&#x0D; Methods: All the female patients admitted in neurosurgery ward having motor cycle accident from January/2019- December/2019 were included in this study.&#x0D; Results: There is a strong association between fall from motor cycle (RTA) and hanging two legs on one side in female motor cycle traveler.&#x0D; Conclusions: female should travel on motor cycle hanging their legs on both side of seat to avoid avoidable head injury due to RTA.&#x0D; Bang. J Neurosurgery 2020; 10(1): 33-38

Varying of horse power and torque in two wheeler’s by using sprockets

The objective of this project is to vary the horse power and torque completely in motor bikes by using sprockets. Normally, sprockets can be manufactured based on the specifications of bike. This Project describes that the two sprockets with different dimensions used to vary the horse power and torque. Normally, the torque and Horse power can be defined as the ratio of output teeth to the input teeth. If the result value is between 2 and 2.5, then the Sprocket is designed for Purely Horse Power and when the result value is greater than 3, then it is surely produce high Torque. Whether the speed may be based on Horse Power or Torque. For Instance, if a 200 cc bike has a necessity to ride in a hills. The bike must be run in second or third gear. During second and third gear the engine needs more torque. A sprocket made for a horse power cannot produce sufficient torque to ride in a hills and fuel consumption is high. To overcome this problem, an input shaft which contains two sprockets of which one is purely for horse power and another one is purely for Torque. And the derailleur is introduced to shift the roller chain. Normally, Sprockets are made up of Cast Iron and Carbon Steels. In this work, instead of Cast Iron Sprocket, it is made up of 4140 Alloy Steel is used for Torque. A virtual model of Sprocket is designed by using CATIA 2018. Model is imported in ANSYS 15.0. The model has been analyzed and results have been recorded.

Assessment of Health Related Quality of Life in Post Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs as a result of an outside force, e.g. a blow to the head in a fall or traffic accident, and is a major cause of death and disability all over the world, especially in children and young adults.Objective: To determine the Assessment of health related quality of life in post traumatic brain injury. Methods:It was the cross-sectional observational study. Data was collected by 40 TBI patients on basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality of life after traumatic brain injury questionnaire was used in this study to see the QoL in post TBI patients.Results: In general males were more affected then females and main reason of TBI was motor bike. The quality of life much affected in feeling, physical work and social relationship. The QoL didn’t depend upon time since injury but depend on severity of injury. Conclusion: Physical work issue was the fundamental predictive factor of hundered personal satisfaction of TBI individuals perhaps, there was no relationship among impairment and QoL. This change of QOL has clinical implications and features the need of more endeavors to improve the rehabilitation interventions.

Hospital-Based Case Series Analysis of Road Traffic Trauma Patients in Sri Lanka.

Road traffic accidents claim many lives each year worldwide and cause significant disability among survivors. Resulting socioeconomic burden is severe in low- and middle-income countries. Global emphasis currently focuses on trauma education and prevention in addition to improving post-injury care. Sri Lankan government recently made compulsory legislation to improve the safety standards of imported motor vehicles. Such regulations would not directly protect vulnerable road users (VRUs) who form the main bulk of Sri Lankan and South Asian automobile trauma casualties. With the objective of reviewing the management outcome of automobile trauma in order to correlate the potential impact of new legislation on injury prevention, data of all admitted road traffic injury victims were audited for 2 months. Out of 473 eligible cases (332 (70.2%)—males; mean age 37.2 years), there were 14 (3%) fatalities. Of 459 (97%) survivors, 77 (16%) suffered major injuries. Twelve out of 14 (85.7%) fatalities, 64 of 77 (83.1%) survivors with major injuries and 263 of 382 (68.8%) cases of lesser injuries were VRUs (p value = 0.02: chi-square). VRUs had a significantly higher mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 10.96 ± 8.43 SD than non-VRUs who had a mean ISS of 8.14 ± 6.04 SD (p = 0.003: t test). Among all survivors, 33/39 (84.6%) with permanent disability, 95/110 (86.4%) with temporary disability and 199/310 (64.2%) with no residual disability were VRUs (p value < 0.0001: chi-square). Of 222 drivers/riders, 45 (20.3%) had consumed alcohol prior to the incident and 20 (9%) were driving without a valid licence. Thirty-four out of 162 (21%) motor bike travellers were not wearing a protecting helmet. Results denote that VRUs suffer significant majority of the fatalities and major injuries after road traffic trauma and to have higher residual temporary/permanent disability among survivors. Recent compulsory motor vehicle safety measures are unlikely to directly protect majority of automobile trauma victims in Sri Lanka. To obtain a higher impact on road traffic injury prevention, main emphasis has to be given to improve the safety standards of VRUs in developing countries.

Can Special Light Glasses Reduce Sleepiness and Improve Sleep of Nightshift Workers? A Placebo-Controlled Explorative Field Study.

Nightshift workers go against the natural sleep–wake rhythm. Light can shift the circadian clock but can also induce acute alertness. This placebo-controlled exploratory field study examined the effectiveness of light glasses to improve alertness while reducing the sleep complaints of hospital nurses working nightshifts. In a crossover within-subjects design, 23 nurses participated, using treatment glasses and placebo glasses. Sleepiness and sleep parameters were measured. A linear mixed model analysis on sleepiness revealed no significant main effect of the light intervention. An interaction effect was found indicating that under the placebo condition, sleepiness was significantly higher on the first nightshift than on the last night, while under the treatment condition, sleepiness remained stable across nightshift sessions. Sleepiness during the commute home also showed a significant interaction effect, demonstrating that after the first nightshift, driver sleepiness was higher for placebo than for treatment. Subjective sleep quality showed a negative main effect of treatment vs. placebo, particularly after the first nightshift. In retrospect, both types of light glasses were self-rated as effective. The use of light glasses during the nightshift may help to reduce driver sleepiness during the commute home, which is relevant, as all participants drove home by car or (motor) bike.

Intelligent Speed Control in Motor Bikes for Accident Prevention Using Internet of Things

Over speeding is an important factor for occurring accidents. Road accident statistics shows two wheelers account for 25% of total road crash deaths and also one third of accidents are due to over speeding. But there is lagging of research in preventing the accidents for two wheeler. An effective prevention mechanism is to provide safety mechanism to the drivers with the advancement of wireless communication. The Objective of this paper is to develop a automatic speed control system to avoid accidents by controlling the speed of a motor bike using intelligent based automatic speed control. Intelligent based automatic speed control system consist of electronic acceleration system, Ultrasonicsensor, MQ3 alcohol sensors eye blink sensors. The existing system of acceleration in two wheelers can be replaced by electronic acceleration system. The signal from ultrasonic sensor will be sent continuously and monitors other obstacles that are in front of motor bike. The distance coverage of ultrasonic sensor is upto 4 m. When it detects obstacle, Vehicle is controlled automatically without any manual operation. This system detects the driver if he is under the influence of alcohol. MQ3 alcohol sensor is used to analyze breath to determine alcohol consumption in the body The eye blink sensor detects the eye blink of driver and if eye is closed more than 30 sec, vehicle will be stopped automatically, and gives alarm to driver alert. Speed Information will be sent to the server and from the server authorized user can view the speed information and control the speed. This system will be more efficient to control the speed of two wheelers so that the accidents can be prevented.

“We are free when water is available”: gendered livelihood implications of sporadic water supply in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACTWater shortages may present different and diverse implications for gender subgroups particularly in low-income settings. Yet, little research has documented the gendered livelihood implications of water shortages in Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional mixed method research involving a survey of 250 household heads and complemented with a qualitative study of 86 participants, the paper examines the differential effects of sporadic water supply in Tatale-Sanguli District of Northern Ghana. Our findings suggest that the livelihood effects of sporadic water supply in Tatale-Sanguli area are gendered, with females being disproportionately affected as compared to males. These differential effects are often framed by both gender role differentiation and inequities in access to vital productive resources and critical assets such as bicycles, tricycles and motor bikes. These findings highlight not only the need for local government and non-governmental organisations to step up efforts in water provision, but also to recognise the gendered effects of water shortages in Tatale-Sanguli District. Key to policy is also to ensure that programmatic interventions during water shortages take account of the likely gendered effects and differentiated burdens.

Biking Acculturation Incidence on the Cameroon Urban Activity Fluxes: A Traffic Congestion Panacea or Palliative in Bamenda?

City activity fluxes are reminiscent of stakeholder mobility in the urban sphere service and functions. Such mobility affects income and work assiduity though often creating accidents, material damage and pollution of varied forms of urban transportation that has lately witnessed the adaption to motorbikes as an alternatively favoured means of movement to that car. Salvaging economic depression and affordability has given biking an edge of success of recent which raises the recurrent question of its spatio-temporal and technical sustainability in in the freight sector. This paper evaluates the commercialisation of bike riding despite levied negativism perceptions in providing an alternative to the major urban problem of traffic congestion and its contribution to peter the pitfalls of the congestion. To assess the urban congestion intensity, traffic flow count was conducted during the rainy and dry season of spatio-temporal of vehicles (from the city centre to the suburbs). Findings agree to the fact that vehicular traffic congestion with increasing number of bikes was found to be higher along the N-E than the N-W road axis in direct conformity with sampled urban congestion triggers for Bamenda related to road infrastructural traits and vehicular numbers. Though motor bikes initially were a panacea, the sum effect of congestion reveals the urgent need for urban mass transport systems that should be complemented by a holistic urban transport governance involving the creation of deviation routes and enforcing traffic congestion rules.

Evaluation of emission level increment in urban and sub urban highway work zones

A highway work zone is where a rehabilitation of an existing highway is being carried out. It can result in reduced flow, reduced capacity, and average speed. Also there is a high risk of safety involved in every work zone. Highway work zones are of particular importance when it comes to efficient travel operations of a road network, especially in areas where there is high traffic flow, such as urban areas. Impact of work zones related to emission and air quality monitoring is often overlooked in such projects. Impact of a work zone for emission is higher in a developing country due to the nature of vehicle fleet. In this study, in order to evaluate the impact of work zones in emission in urban highway work zones and major arterial roads in Sri Lanka, emission modelling was done for a major arterial road in Sri Lanka, using HDM-4 (2008) software for five main vehicle types. Analysis included two road sections, one where rehabilitation is carried out and one where the road is operating under normal flow conditions, for emission levels during peak and off peak, for each vehicle type, and various volumes. It was shown that emission levels significantly vary with vehicle type and volume, which suggests that vehicle composition and road traffic volumes are significant factors when considering the impact of a work zone. Also roughness variation has resulted in 50-70% increase on emissions over a normal section. Further, increase of motor bikes and three wheels has resulted in 8-12% in emission increase on the same type of road based on the roadway classification. These findings can be used to set up a minimum standard in work zone maintenance which could result in millions of cost savings to the economy.

Evaluation of proximal femoral plate in peritrochanteric fractures

Background Peritrochanteric fracture is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity of the elderly, in whom the fracture can occur from just a simple fall. In younger individuals, it occurs owing to severe trauma such as motor car accident or fall from a height. These type can occur in any age but got a higher incidence in the fifth and seventh decade of life. Multiple intramedullary and surface fixation implants have been designed to fix such a fracture, such as the dynamic hip screw, the anatomic proximal femoral plate, and the proximal femoral nail, but there is no single design that got the best results in all types of proximal femoral fracture. Aim To evaluate the outcomes of using proximal femoral plate in peritrochanteric fractures. Patients and methods A prospective study was conducted on 20 patients with proximal femoral fracture fixed by proximal femoral plate presented to the Cairo University Hospital from August 2014 to June 2016. The study included 14 male and six females. Their age ranged from 29 to 71 years old (mean 57 years old). The mode of trauma was three patients (15%) with motor car accident, three patients (15%) with motor bike accidents, 12 patients (60%) with fall on the ground, and two patients (10%) with fall from height. According to orthopeadic trauma association (OTA) classification, eight patients (40%) had 31-A2.1 pattern, six patients (30%) had 31-A2.2 pattern, and 2 patients (10%) had 31-A2 pattern. Results Radiological outcome was anatomical in eight patients (40%), satisfactory in nine patients (45%), and poor in three patients (15%). The follow-up was from 7 to 20 months (average 11 months). Fracture healing time ranged from 7 to 29 week (average 14 weeks). The modified Harris hip score was used to evaluate patients at 3 and 6 months postoperatively, which ranged from 60 to 74 (mean was 66.5±3.5) at 3 months and 68 to 93 (84.4±9.5) at 6 months. Conclusion Proximal femoral plate is an easy, safe, and dependable alternative for fixation proximal femoral fracture, giving satisfactory results comparable to other surface and intramedullary fixation devices, when applied in the accurate recommended position.

Development and validation of a model to predict the need for emergency front‐of‐neck airway procedures in trauma patients

The present study aimed to develop and validate a model for predicting the need for emergency front-of neck airway (eFONA) procedures among trauma patients. This was a multicentre retrospective cohort study using data from the Japan Trauma Data Bank between January 2004 and December 2017. Only adult trauma patients were included. The cohort was divided into development and validation cohorts. A simple scoring system was developed to predict the necessity for emergency front-of neck airway procedures in the development cohort using a logistic regression model. The external validity and diagnostic ability of the scoring system was assessed in the validation cohort. In total, 198,182 out of 294,274 patients were included; emergency front-of-neck airway occurred in 467 patients (0.24%) they were divided into development (n=100,120 with 0.22% undergoing emergency front-of neck airway) and validation (n=98,062 with 0.25% undergoing emergency front-of neck airway) cohorts. The 'eFONA' prediction scoring system was developed in the development cohort, with a score of +1 for each of the following: Eye opening (no eye opening in response to any stimuli); Fall from height or motor bike; Oral-maxillofacial injury; Neck tracheal injury; and Airway management by paramedics. In the validation cohort, the C-statistic of the scoring system was 0.820. Setting the cut-off value at one for rule-out, the sensitivity and negative likelihood ratios were 0.86 and 0.22, respectively. Setting the cut-off value at two for rule-in, the specificity and positive likelihood ratios were 0.91 and 6.6, respectively. The present scoring system may assist in predicting the need for emergency front-of neck airway procedures among the general trauma population.

Outdoor Air Quality as Influenced by Vehicular Exhaust in Metropolitan City of Lahore, Pakistan

This study was conducted to estimate the contribution of vehicular exhaust gases towards ambient air quality in Lahore, Pakistan during 2017. LANDCOM-III flue gas analyzer was used for determination of vehicular exhaust pollutants (CO, SO2, NO2, NO, H2S, HC) for five vehicles groups (motor bikes, Qingqi rickshaw, local cars, imported cars and public transport vans) from April to September, 2017. Major pollutants were compared with their National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for the country. Ambient air quality was monitored using Haz scanner HIM-6000 during smog formation in the city in October and November, 2017. From the study, it was concluded that except local and imported cars, all vehicles groups emit high concentration of pollutants as compared to the standard values. It is also observed that public transport vehicles i.e. Qingqi rickshaw and vans contribute more towards atmospheric pollution as compared to other vehicle groups in the city. During smog formation in the city, PM2.5 and PM10, NO, NO2 (NOx) concentration was decreased whereas concentration of O3, H2S and VOCs increased in November than October. Ozone concentration during the smog was below NEQS indicating that smog was not totally photochemical smog but mainly originated from vehicular and industrial exhaust gases.&#x0D;

Application of multivariate statistical analysis and water quality index in health risk assessment by domestic use of river water. Case study of Tana River in Kenya

Tana River basin covers approximately 21 % of Kenya’s total land area. The basin produces about 33.5 % of the country’s surface water and 23.8 % of ground water that supports about seven million people. To assess metal and nutrient concentration of Tana River surface water, 57 and 53 water samples were collected in wet (May) and dry (August) seasons of 2018, respectively. Cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, mercury, arsenic, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum, boron, selenium, fluoride, chloride, total phosphorus and nitrate were analyzed. Water quality index (WQI) was used to classify water quality into four categories based on pollution level while hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) were used to assess non-carcinogenic risk posed to human health since majority of people in the lower reach use Tana River water without any form of treatment. Multivariate statistical analysis was applied to deduce associations and identify pollution sources. Arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel, selenium and mercury were not detected while manganese, chloride and aluminum were the principal pollutants in the two seasons. 26.3 % of all studied sites recorded HQ>1 due to high Mn contamination. WQI was noted to be unreliable risk assessment tool since it did not correlate well with HQ and HI besides portraying all sampling sites as bearing suitable water for drinking. Tana River is at risk of eutrophication since total phosphorus concentration detected exceeded recommended threshold. Leached fertilizer from encroached riparian zone, fuel from leaking irrigation pumps and cleaning of motor bikes on water ways was the main source of anthropogenic pollution. Pollution processes and practices observed can be remedied to curb detrimental effects on human health.