Abstract/Overview This paper presents study on the application of multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) to distinguish between languages with a focus on five languages of the Coastal region of Kenya. Chapter one gives an introduction of the paper, chapter two explains the methodology used, chapter three presents the results, chapter four gives a brief discussion of the findings, and lastly chapter five presents the conclusions and recommendations.
Abstract Climate change will lead to extreme droughts, but it is difficult to predict how this will affect crop pests. In particular, it is unclear how interactions between natural en- emies and pests will be influenced. In the field, bird cherry- oat aphids (Rhopalosiphum padi (L.)) have been observed to reside close to, or below the ground surface during dry conditions. We hypothesized that this will increase the niche overlap between R. padi and ground- dwelling predators such as carabid ...
Abstract/Overview A probability distribution can be constructed by mixing two distributions. Binomial distribution when compounded with beta distribution as prior forms a binomial mixture that is a continuous distribution. Skellam 1948, mixed a binomial distribution with its parameter being the probability of success considered as a random variable taking beta distribution. Probability distributions with binomial outcome tend to fail to fit empirical data due to over-dispersion. To addres...
Abstract rotalaria brevidens: and C. ochroleuca commonly grown as vegetables have been extensively studied. However, information on breeding techniques is scanty. This study aimed to develop an artificial interspecific pollination protocol for two genotypes of Crotalaria with contrasting leaf and pod morphological features. The two are landraces that were previously collected from two counties in Kenya. The experimental design was a completely randomized design (CRD) in a greenhouse with C. ...
Abstract The emergence and persistence of antibiotic resistance remain formidable health challenges. This study aimed at detecting and profiling antibiotic resistance of bacterial contaminants in vended food and the environment. Seventy antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolates were isolated from fried fish, African sausages, roasted meat, smokies, samosa, chips (potato fries), vegetable salads, and soil samples collected from Embu Town and Kangaru Market in Embu County, Kenya. The antibiotic ...
Abstract Management practices such as tillage, crop rotation, irrigation, organic and inorganic inputs application are known to influence diversity and function of soil microbial populations. In this study, we investigated the effect of conventional versus organic farming systems at low and high input levels on structure and diversity of prokaryotic microbial communities. Soil samples were collected from the ongoing long-term farming system comparison trials established in 2007 at Chuka and ...
Abstract Background: Fungus-cultivating termites make use of an obligate mutualism with fungi from the genus Termitomyces, which are acquired through either vertical transmission via reproductive alates or horizontally transmitted during the formation of new mounds. Termitomyces taxonomy, and thus estimating diversity and host specificity of these fungi, is challenging because fruiting bodies are rarely found. Molecular techniques can be applied but need not necessarily yield the same outcom...
Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study compared the genome, mutations, and infectivity/ transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 with selected betacoronaviruses (beta-CoVs). This study further examined the origin, risk factors, and outbreaks caused by beta-CoVs. We searched the following databases for relevant studies: PubMed, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization COVID-19 databas...
Abstract/Overview In this paper, we characterize the centre of dense irreducible subalgebras of compact elementary operators that are spectrally bounded. We show that the centre is a unital, irreducible and commutative C∗ -subalgebra. Furthermore, the supports from the centre are orthogonal and the intersection of a nonzero ideal with the centre is non-zero.
Abstract/Overview Spectrally bounded compact elementary operators on dense irreducible subalgebras of C ∗ -algebras are characterized. Also, it is shown that left multiplications, right multiplications, generalized derivations and basic elementary operators are spec trally bounded compact elementary operators. Furthermore, several properties of spectrally bounded compact elementary operators such as completeness, convergence, continuity and total boundedness in a general Banach setting ...
Abstract/Overview Various aspects of elementary operators have been characterized by many mathematicians. In this paper, we consider norm-attainability and orthogonality of these operators in Banach spaces. Characterizations and generalizations of norm-attainability and orthogonality are given in details. We first give necessary and sufficient conditions for norm-attainability of Hilbert space operators then we give results on orthogonality of the range and the kernel of elementary operat...
Abstract/Overview In this paper, a nonlinear fourth order evolution equation is investigated by the Lie symmetry analysis approach. All the geometric vector fields and the Lie groups of the evolution equation are obtained. Finally, the symmetry reduction and the exact solutions of the equation are obtained by means of power series method.
Abstract Mangrove forests occur across a diversity of coastal landforms that influence their structural development and productivity. Preliminary studies in Kenya indicate that mangroves growing in the region north and south of Tana River delta have different structural attributes. We hypothesise a close relationship between mangrove distribution, climate and landform types. Floristic composition of mangroves along the coast of Kenya was characterised and differences illustrated using non-m...
Abstract Cell migration plays a vital role in both health and disease. It is driven by reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, which is regulated by actin-binding proteins cofilin and profilin. Stress-inducible phosphoprotein 1 (STIP1) is a well-described co-chaperone of the Hsp90 chaperone system, and our findings identify a potential regulatory role of STIP1 in actin dynamics. We show that STIP1 can be isolated in complex with actin and Hsp90 from HEK293T cells and directly interacts wit...
Abstract Culture-independent studies show that soda lake environments harbour diverse groups of bacteria and archaea. In this study different enrichment and isolation media were used in an attempt to isolate novel groups of bacteria from Lake Elmenteita. Different media were prepared using filter-sterilised water from the lake. The isolates recovered were purified on tryptic soy agar supplemented with 1% sodium carbonate and 4% sodium chloride. Phylogenetic analysis of 181 partial 16S rRNA g...