Abstract. A brief review of the literature on the effects of nitrate and ammonium nitrogen sources on plant growth, and the assimilation of those nitrogen sources, has been presented. A water culture technique for the growth of maize was developed. The use of a gravel rooting medium with nutrients recycling through the rooting medium, and an iron supplement in the form of ferric citrate, resulted in superior growth of nitrate-fed plants in comparison to that observed with a hydroponic growth...
Abstract This thesis consists of two chapters, of which the first presents a categorial study of the concept of initiality (also known as projective generation) and the second gives applications in the.theory of uniform and quasi-uniform spaces, The' first three sections of chapter 1 expound basic aspects of initiality, such as its relation to categorial limits and to embeddings, the· latter being defined with respect to a faithful functor to a bicategory. The notion of a separated object wi...
Thesis on A Study Of Oil Bearing Seeds From Some Indigenous Plants. The everyday use of fats and oils can roughly be divided into the following two classes. Firstly, they are one of the basic ingredients) directly and indirectly, in the diet of the, human being. .Secondly, they are used for soap-making, for the manufacture of paints and other drying vehicles, and also for making greases and other miscellaneous, industrial products. For each purpose a different type ·of oil is needed, so tha...
ABSTRACT Africa green monkeys (AGMs, Chlorocebus aethiops) (Gray, 1870) and olive baboons (Papio anubis anubis) (Lesson, 1827) are common non-human primates (NHPs) found within major urban centres in Kenya. The widely distributed AGMs are naturally infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) of the genus Lentivirus. While a baboon specific SIV has not been reported so far, studies have demonstrated that baboons are non-receptive to SIV infection leading to low prevalence in these speci...
ABSTRACT Agrochemical industries are faced with inadequate supply of molasses that is the main raw material for ethanol production creating a need to develop an alternative feedstock. The use of sweet sorghum will alleviate the problem. Three sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) genotypes, EUSS10, EUSS11, and EUSS17 were tested against five controls, SS21, SS17, SS14, ACFC003/12 and SS04 to evaluate their ethanol yield potential, stability, and adaptability in Busia, Siaya and Kisumu Cou...
ABSTRACT A sampling design that provides estimates of population mean and abundance with small variance is important to researchers. Estimates that are accurate even with minimal sampling efforts allow researchers to easily and confidently investigate rare populations. In the determination of efficient sampling design for rare and clustered population, mean square errors have been applied in many previous research works. However, this method only captures the variability of the estimator and...
Abstract rviodel reconstruction using photoconsistency refers to a method that creates a photohull, an approximate computer model, using multiple calibrated camera views of an object. The term photoconsistency refers to the concept that is used to calculate the photohull from the camera views. A computer model surface is considered photoconsistent if the appearance of that surface agrees with the appearance of the surface of the real world object from all camera viewpoints. This thesis pres...
Abstract This project focussed on the investigation, development and evaluation of a closed loop control system on a rougher flotation cell that could improve PGM flotation performance. A PGM rougher flotation cell equipped with Online Stream Analysis (OSA) and machine vision system (SmartFroth) was used during the investigation. Online measurements included bubble velocity, average bubble area, bubble colour; Pt, Ni and Cu concentrate grade and concentrate flow rate and density. Air additio...
ABSTRACT An infant’s anthropometry (weight and length) at birth are important public health indicators for its survival and later development. Low birth weight (LBW) and stunting at birth are among the major causes of infant mortality which is still a worldwide problem. Despite the government’s effort to improve healthcare services, LBW is still a problem at the Provincial General Hospital (PGH) maternity, Nakuru. The main objective of this study was therefore to determine the relationshi...
ABSTRACT The United Nations Population Division publishes fertility projections for all countries in the World Population Prospects (WPP). These are the most widely used projections for planning and policy implementation. Despite a substantial body of literature that suggests education has a significant impact on fertility, these projections do not incorporate changes in the composition of the population by level of education. We therefore propose and implement a method that incorporates edu...
ABSTRACT Raw camel milk production and marketing chain in Kenya was investigated for microbial infections and implications. Milk samples were taken using simple random sampling method in a clustered sampling plan. There were three cluster levels, the production, processing and market levels. Analysis of samples in the laboratory for enumeration and characterization was by standard methods as described in the methodology. Data analysis was done by Pearson correlation coefficient and chi-squar...
ABSTRACT In sub-Saharan Africa, the high infant mortality is mainly due to diarrhoea, respiratory infections, typhoid and measles. The control of these diseases relies heavily on the use of synthetic drugs. However, due to the high cost of these drugs and increased bacterial resistance to available anti-biotics, their use is increasingly becoming unpopular. Plant– derived herbal medicines are feasible alternatives that can be used to reduce incidence of these diseases. Since they are readi...
ABSTRACT The wide range of applications, the industrial processing techniques and storage of collagenous materials expose them to a variety of environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and solar ultraviolet (UV) radiations. In this study, a freshly flayed hide from a mature Boran bovine was prepared to pickling stage using conventional tanning processes. The hide was then cut into two halves along the backbone. One half was left at pickled stage while the other half was tanned us...
ABSTRACT Head smut caused by Tolyposporium penicillariae Bref, is a devastating fungal disease that cause up to 30% yield losses in pearl millet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.). Pearl millet is the most drought tolerant cereal grown mainly by small scale farmers who cannot afford fungicides. Development of resistant genotypes offers the most economical means of head smut control however this depends primarily on the availability of sources of resistance. The study evaluated host plant resistan...
ABSTRACT Agricultural productivity in Kenya, as in many developing countries, is significantly affected by rainfall variability. The reliability of the rain for agricultural purposes has reduced in the recent years due to climate variability. In the study area, there is a continued trend of more frequent and intense climate related disasters which is expected to have significant impacts on the livelihood activities. Most studies on the impact of climate variability on farming practices and th...