ABSTRACT Global crop and energy production are fast dwindling inversely to population growth. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) yield has reduced worldwide due to soil infertility which can be reversed through application of chemical fertilizers. The chemical fertilizers used to ameliorate nitrogen, phoshorus and potassium are expensive and cause both deleterious physico‒chemical modification of soil and water mass eutrophication. The common bean has ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen s...
ABSTRACT Climate variability is now a reality and its effects continue to affect agriculture especially crop yields. Maize is said to be one of the crops adversely affected by climate variability. It is projected that unless bold steps are taken to reduce the effects of climate variability on crop yields, then the magnitude of its effect shall be enormous. It is based on this uncertainty that this paper was premised to interrogate the effects of climate variability (temperature and precipita...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a key hindrance to the improvement of health in tropical and subtropical countries of the world with more than two billion people exposed to it. One of the approaches of controlling vectors of malaria is by targeting aquatic stages at source. This would lead to significant reduction in the adult vectors as well as malaria transmission. Entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuriengiensis var israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) in the form of dispersable granular f...
ABSTRACT Diarrhoeal diseases in Kenya are among the five main causes of mortality in children younger than five years. Bacterial diarrhoea has been reported to account for up to 30 % of all cases of infantile diarrhoea. Among children of age five years and below, diarrhoeagenic E. coli (DEC) such as enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) are the most important enteric pathogens and are responsible for 30 to 40 % of all the diarrhoeal...
ABSTRACT In the area of security, industry and academia have actively conducted research and implemented several systems which can be used to enhance security. However, many of these systems are not always suitable for outdoor activities and also their cost is very high. An easily portable and a versatile device like a mobile phone become handy for enhancing personal security. In this work, an optimal mobile phone-based route detection application has been developed. It locates and monitors ...
ABSTRACT There has been considerable progress in the understanding of conventional risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as cigarette smoking, hypertension, hyperlipideamia and diabetes. However they do not fully account for cardiovascular disease-associated complications. As a result, novel risk factors such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine have come under investigation. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and interrelation of conventional and novel ris...
ABSTRACT Biodiesel as an alternative fuel for diesel engines is becoming increasingly important due to diminishing petroleum reserves and the environmental consequences of exhaust gases from petroleum-fuelled engines. The availability and sustainability of sufficient supplies of less expensive feedstock will be a crucial determinant delivering a competitive biodiesel to the commercial filling stations. Fortunately, inedible vegetable oils, mostly produced by seed-bearing trees and shrubs can...
ABSTRACT The 2014 Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) and Micronutrient Survey reportshowed malnutrition among children aged 5-11 years in Kenya. In particular,malnutrition in Machakos County manifested as stunting (26.3 %), wasting (6.3 %),underweight (12.7 %), marginal vitamin A deficiency (VAD) (33.9 %), anemia (16.5%), zinc deficiency (82.5 %) and iron deficiency (9.4 %). African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables (AILVs) such as Vigna unguiculata and Amaranthus cruentus can be usedto fight ...
ABSTRACT This study examined accommodation challenges facing seasonal commercial workers during tourism peak season in Malindi Town. Malindi Town is one of the major tourist destinations in Kenya with the tourism peak season starting from July to March each year. The town experiences an increase in population as a result of seasonal commercial workers who visit the area in search of employment and other income generating economic activities such as trade. This exerts pressure on the existing...
ABSTRACT Iron deficiency anaemia contributes to 50% cases of anaemia and it remains a concern in the public health sector in sub-Saharan Africa and children under five years are at risk. It is associated with poor cognitive development and affects growth of preschool children. The interventions in most of sub-Saharan Africa focus on the improvement of hemoglobin (Hb) levels but it is not clear if Hb and iron levels relate in areas where there are multi-factorial causes of anaemia. The preval...
ABSTRACT Land-use and land-cover changes have negative consequences on watershed management in Pangani River Basin. They increase impervious ground surfaces, decrease infiltration rate and increase runoff rate, hence causing low base flow during the dry seasons. Comparatively, little is known on the driving forces that affect land-use change and their effects on the hydrology of Weruweru-Kiladeda Sub-catchment. This study, was undertaken to achieve four specific objectives, namely i) to deter...
ABSTRACT The action of and on the cosets of their subgroups is a very active area in enumerative combinatorics. Most researchers have concentrated on the action of these groups on the cosets of their maximal subgroups. For instance Tchuda computed the subdegrees of the primitive permutation representations of . Kamuti determined the subdegrees of primitive permutation representations of . He also constructed suborbital graphs corresponding to the action of on the cosets of However many prope...
ABSTRACT The boundary layer flow, heat and mass transfer in a quiescent nanofluid driven by a continuous stretching sheet is significant in numerous engineering and industrial processes. Nanofluids posses enhanced thermo physical properties which make them more superior than convectional fluids. This study investigates numerically heat and mass transfer of asteady laminar,viscous incompressible electrically conducting micro polar nanofluid past a porous medium and over a sheet that is stretc...
ABSTRACT Study of electron impact excitation of autoionizing states of alkali metal atom is very important because it can explain the near threshold features observed in the ionization curves of these atoms. Many theoretical methods, for example, R-matrix, close coupling and distorted wave methods have been used for this study. In the distorted wave method no calculations have been performed for electron impact- excitation of cesium atom using complex distortion potential. That is why in thi...
ABSTRACT Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by increased adipose tissue mass due to positive energy balance. The epidemic of obesity is currently on the rise probably due to increasingly sedentary lifestyles combined with easy availability of palatable, high-fat foods. It presents modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairements, anxiety and motor deficits. Globally, its prevalence has shown a startling increase in all age groups and have been associated with increased mo...