The reports of ringing in the ears, dizziness and intoxication become relevant in understanding the first signs indicative of injury promoted by pesticides. Thus, in a study about the self-perception of auditory and vestibular health in rural workers in Teresópolis exposed to pesticides, it was stated that in 76% of the subjects, dizziness was reported at one point in life and 58% still feeling dizzy, 54% felt ringing in the ears; 46% felt congested ears, 74% thought they had good auditory acuity, but 70% felt they had difficulties understanding words, suggesting that pesticides can induce alterations of the auditory and vestibular system through a slow and silent intoxication . In a study involving rural workers exposed to pesticides and noise, it was observed that most of the individuals sampled presented as auditory complaints ringing in the ears and dizziness after the working day. These auditory complaints are frequent among those who presented some type of auditory impairment . Among the rural workers exposed to pesticides in Piedade de Caratinga, the slow and silent effect of the pesticide on hearing health was also observed, promoting the presence of signs and symptoms such as ringing in the ears, dizziness and intoxication. They were more frequent, especially in those who declared they did not use PPE and were older than 30 years. Through this study it can be observed that the auditory and vestibular system of the rural workers exposed to these toxic agents deserve to be evaluated periodically by health teams. In addition to receiving training on the prevention of risk factors, appropriate use of PPE and management of these agents that does so much harm to the health as a whole.
The significant association between work period and otorrhea found in our results showed a higher frequency among individuals under the age of 30 years. In the literature, several factors, such as viral and bacterial infections, structural and physiological impairment of the Eustachian tube, cigarette and allergic response are observed as causes of otorrhea . The pesticides were related to allergies that afflict the skin, the respiratory system and other body sites . However, the absence of information regarding the presence of allergic disease in the individuals analyzed in the sample of this study makes it impossible to prove the relationship between higher frequency of allergic response to pesticides among the youngest individuals in the sample and the presence of otorrhea. The relationship between otorrhea and conductive loss described here is consistent with those developed by different authors such as Silva who investigated the hearing loss ratio in children and adolescents diagnosed with HIV.Our findings are consistent with what these authors claim.Landscape is the art of designing,hydroponic nft system planning and management of land, arrangement of natural and man-made elements there on, through application of cultural and scientific knowledge with concern for resources conservation so that the resultant environment can serve a useful, healthy and enjoyable purpose . It deals with the beautification and management of the environment by the organization of spaces with adequate cognizance of the basic principles of design. Landscaping is an integral part of our culture and plays an essential role in the quality of our environment, economic wellbeing of the people, as well as their physical and psychological health. Smith believes that it is a way of maintaining and enhancing the quality of human life by protecting the health of the biosphere and husbanding the key resources of the air, water, land and minerals . Landscape is one of the most cost effective tools for improving and sustaining the quality of the environment whether in the school environment, the city, the suburbs or the country . Through our garden and landscapes, we acquire a personal awareness and responsibilities for the environment while we relieve the tensions and frustrations of everyday life.
As rightly observed, environmental sustainability programs attempt to reduce the use of physical and renewable resources, rather than toxic materials, the protection and restoration of natural habitats and environmental values for their livability or beauty . Many great campuses are defined by the strength of their landscapes and open spaces, and depend on these assets as a means of attracting students. Landscape planning is a creative conservation with the purpose of reconciling competing land uses without destroying the natural and cultural resources with which societies are recognized; making the best use for mankind of the acquired space while conserving its beauty and fertility. The role of landscape design and planning in the improvement and sustainability of the existing universities’ open spaces is fundamental, in establishing a working relationship between landscaping and open space management. However, Falade stresses the need for adequate knowledge of the concept of open spaces and its super imposition nature on other concepts such as garden, parks, and landscaping generally . The campus open spaces and public realm play an important role in defining the University and in creating memorable first impressions of the campus environment and experience. The open spaces and streetscapes on the campus should represent landmark status that constitutes attractive spaces that represent campus identity, reflect the quality of the campus environment, and draw attention to the campus as a unique and distinct institution. With careful consideration of the campus design, functionality, and materials, a lasting and memorable experience of the campus’ public realm is established. The entire campus environment becomes a landmark space with the gateways, and associated academic, residential, commercial and celebratory uses. The overall landscaping, hence, reinforces the vision of the campus in its park setting, and defines the character of the various open spaces. This paper, therefore, advocates the evolving roles of landscape in campus space management, with a view to sustaining the Ekiti State University’s campus environment.
The objectives of the study are to: 1) examine the existing landscape pattern of the University; 2) investigate the activities of the Planning and Horticulture units of the institution; 3) assess the quality of opens space management therein; and 4) examine the level at which sustainable campus environment is achieved with the present landscape.Nuttgens defines the term landscape in its widest sense and equated it with the environment which is literally our surrounding . Landscape evolves as a result of interaction between man and “non-human” . It is the back-cloth against which we can measure the importance of our activities and the scale of our personalities. There is a clear distinction between landscape planning and landscape design. Landscape planning is likened to environmental planning which embraces a broad field of activities within the ambit of the outdoor scene and other components of man’s environment . It is a process concerned with activities geared toward the articulation of existing open space for the purpose of enhancing the quality of the environment . Landscape design on the other hand, nft channel is defined primarily as a fine art whose most important function is to create and preserve beauty in the surroundings of human habitations and broader natural scenery of the country . The enormous and the accelerating expansion of the technological development of human race have produced a corresponding expansion in the humanization, urbanization and the sterilization of the landscape. This has aggravated the misuse of land resources, haphazard urban development, piece meal and uncharted rural development. Fadamiro opines that the objective of landscaping is to consider the entire landscape as experienced by individual human beings, and general design processes as key issues which are applied to specific projects like gardens, parks and cities . Professions like planning, engineering, architecture and landscape architecture are most directly involved in the design of landscape, in which graphic design, object design, industrial design, painting and sculpture play important roles. Mitchell identified three basic types of landscape, viz: Primary, natural and cultural landscapes. Primary landscape occurs from the purely natural factors without human interference . The natural landscape is a creation that emanates from the first stage of transformation of the natural environment by human interference. The cultural landscape becomes obvious when the changes introduced by human activities are so deep and basically involve maintenance of the newly attained stability only by constant interference of man. Two main types of cultura1landscapes exist.
These include; harmonious landscape which occurs when the landscape is adopted and fits well into the character of the natural environment and the degraded cultural landscape which occurs when man, after using its new economic activities looks for excessive benefits, thus, causing the permanent and progressive growth of desirable changes in the natural environment . The elements of importance in landscaping include plant materials, such as trees, shrubs, ground covers and grasses . They are used in different areas for design according to their required functions like accent, softening, screening, framing and shading. Man-made structural materials are used for enclosure, surfacing and transmission or circulation within and between spaces provided. However, the essential principles for their effective use include the knowledge of the inherent characteristic and proper-ties of the materials. Invariably, landscape elements are all forms of planting and vegetation, adjustments, refinements or designed developments in ground forms, rock groupings and water patterns; all constructions excluding completely enclosed buildings or primary institution, engineering structures such as walks, terraces, steps, walls, screens, shelters, play area, and so on . These are the elements used to develop and refine spaces between, around, or within buildings and vehicular routes when they occur either intentionally or accidentally. Hard landscapes are the inorganic materials which are inert in nature and the synthetic elements of space. These include the roads, buildings, paths, wall fences, paved areas, sculptures and statues, engineering bricks, metals, carvings, glass and plastics. Others include paving, wall steps, ramps, sculpture; out-door lightening and road furniture-benches. Soft landscape refers to the living or natural materials used in landscaping. These include vegetation, plant materials and water bodied including artificial falls, ponds, lakes, pool and fountains . The use of line, focal point or emphasis, simplicity, form, texture, color, balance, repetition, variety, grouping, mass, scale and proportion, rhythm, sequence and scale are the basic principles of landscape design to be applied to organize landscape space . Above all, there are five keys to effective space management as far as college campuses are concerned which include: Improvement of space utilization, increase in scale of campus buildings, optimizing the mix and flexibility of space, coordination of repairs and modernization as well as addition by removal . Diane argues that a well-designed landscape will help in the reduction of soil erosion, global warming, conservation of natural resources, and pollution prevention. This is because plants and trees used for landscaping can absorb carbon oxide from the atmosphere , improve air quality and screen busy streets from traffic noise. The assertion of Environmental Protection Agency is that urban forests reduce urban air temperatures significantly by shading buildings and concrete and returning humidity to the air through evaporation and cooling. Trees shading homes can reduce attic temperatures to as much as 40 degrees. Generally, the sun, wind, surrounding landforms and landscaping interact with each other to determine the microclimate of an environment. The target population for this research includes students, staff and the heads of the Planning and Horticulture Units of the University. There are about 25,000 students in the study area, 30 students and 20 staff members were taken as samples from each of the eight faculties which summed up to 240 and 160 respectively. Two heads of the Planning and Horticulture Units were also interviewed, making a total of 402 samples considered for the study. Essentially, the sources of data for this research were both primary and secondary. The primary data were obtained through personal observation and the administration of multiple-choice questionnaires randomly on the students and staff. The selection of the students was based on their availability while the selection of the staff was based on their knowledge of the subject matter. The secondary data were obtained from textbooks, project dissertations, seminar papers, journals and research materials on campus landscape. Simple descriptive statistics was used in data analysis. Tables and charts were employed to present the magnitude of occurrences of the variables that were obtained.