ABSTRACT Owing to the depletion rates of coastal limestone, the characterization of cementitious materials occurring on the dry land is important in order to assess their potential as alternative materials for the manufacture of cement. In this study, a naturally occurring terrestrial rock herein referred to as “Matisaa gray rock” has been studied to determine its potential for the manufacture of cement. Matisaa gray rock is found in Matisaa village, Kitui County, Kenya, and it covers an ...
Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if the Boophilus species spectrum of ticks infesting cattle owned by resource limited farmers in the state owned communal land areas of Zimbabwe, are resistant to Amitraz. The study was also aimed at finding a concentration of the acaricide that the tick species are susceptible to, and can give at least 99.9% mortality. Five districts were selected from the Matabeleland South province and five farms were randomly selected from each district...
ABSTRACT Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions data from large-scale agricultural activities are available. In developing countries, e.g. Kenya, agriculture is dominated by smallholder farming, data on the assessment of possible contributions of smallholder agriculture to GHG emissions and GHG fluxes data from smallholder farming systems in the tropics is scarce. The study area is a 10 square km area also called the ―Lower Nyando Block‖ in Western Kenya. The basin varies in landscapes (low la...
ABSTRACT Population growth and harvest modeling is an active area of current research. There has been an effort to move from deterministic Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) to Stochastic Differential Equations (SDE) modeling. Moreover, the latter is most realistic in describing life systems that are often perturbed by unpredictable environmental activity. Bamboo growth and harvest modeling was motivated by the “Tobacco to Bamboo” (TTB) Project where farmers in selected sections of Hom...
Abstract The concept of unbounded operators provides an abstract framework for dealing with dierential operators and unbounded observable such as in quantum mechanics. The theory of unbounded operators was developed by John Von Neumann in the late 1920s and early 1930s in an eort to solve problems related to quantum mechanics and other physical ob- servables. This has provided the background on which other scholars have developed their work in dierential operators. Higher order dieren- tial o...
Abstract Preliminary bioassay analysis was done on all parts of the three plants under study as explained in section 4.2.1. The antiplasmodial activity of the DCM extract of the leaves of E. abyssinica was significantly high (p≤0.05) against W2 and D6 clones of P. falciparum with IC50 values 165.1 and 215.1 g/mL, respectively. Similarly, the DCM extract of the stem bark of L. eriocalyx showed high activity (p≤0.05) of 423.0 and 365.2 g/mL against the two clones. Likewise, the DCM ex...
ABSTRACT Maps are an important tool for the development planning of a nation and it is necessary to study the development of mapping with a view to evaluating the extent to which it has been geared towards the satisfaction of the requirements of national development planners and various other users. Official mapping was started in Nigeria by colonial administrators in the first decade of the 20th century eventhough several maps of Nigeria had been drawn by explorers, navigators, scientists an...
ABSTRACT Use of contaminated water risks human lives hence should be treated to meet drinking water quality guidelines. The most applied technique is municipal water treatment technology (MWTT) though inaccessible in peri-urban/rural settings leading to use of untreated water like borehole waters. Desirable water treatment processes need to be developed for provision of portable water. Local materials such as Moringa oleifera seed, activated clay, activated charcoal and natural zeolite have b...
Abstract The impact of potentially toxic metals (PTM) on humans and other organisms depends on their concentration, toxicity and bioavailability, which in turn, depend in part on reactivity and solubility. The total concentrations of PTM do not determine the mobility, bioavailability and uptake by plants but the fraction of these metals in soils or sediments, hence the development of sequential extraction method which has been widely used for speciation or fractionation studies. The limitatio...
ABSTRACT Incidence of Salmonella resistance to various antibiotic agents, especially to the commonly available antibiotics in Kenya, is rising. Genetic elements such as Class 1 integrons have an important role in development and spread of resistance. In western Kenya, integron-mediated antibiotic resistance was reported in clinical Salmonella enteric serovars. However, no similar studies have been done to elucidate the role of class 1 integrons in fish isolates for multidrug resistant Salmone...
Background of Study Petroleum is a major source of energy in the world and Nigeria is one of the major oil producing countries. Petroleum production and operations are often accompanied with serious ecological problems. Oil exploitation, exploration, transportation, consumption, attendant spills and disposals are some of the ways in which oil pollutants get into aquatic and soil environments. This has become a major concern to governments, individuals, environmental activists and the communit...
ABSTRACT Green gram(Vigna radiataL.) has recently become an important crop in Kitui County because of its high economic returns and short growing season.The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a GIS-based Multi-criteria analysis for Green gram production in Kitui County using Geographic Information Sytem (GIS) based multi-criteria evaluation. Three main criteria were selected for analysis (soil, climate and topography) and 8 sub criteria (soil texture, soil dept...
ABSTRACT The discharge of coloured wastewaters into water-bodies has serious implications for the environmental and public health. Furthermore, the usual colour removal methods often result in aromatic amines which are toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic. Developing a method that can both decolourise azo dyes and degrade the corresponding aromatic amines formed is expedient. In this study, the ability of newly isolated indigenous bacteria to decolourise textile/non-textile azo dyes and degrade ...
ABSTRACT The school curriculum consists of formal, informal and non-formal dimensions. Formal dimension refers to official timetabled subjects such as Physics. Informal dimension is the school environment that influences a learner’s behaviour. Non-formal dimension refers to out of class activities such as field trips and science club activities. The common assumption is that participation in non-formal activities enhances perception and achievement in the formal curriculum. However, seconda...
ABSTRACT The Mwitika-Makongo research area occurs within the Neoproterozoic Mozambique metamorphic belt in Kenya and is located in Kitui East sub-county of Kitui County. The area is bounded by longitudes 38° 18'E and 38° 26'E and latitudes 1° 22'S and 1° 32'S. This area is easily accessed from the Nairobi-Thika-Kitui-Zombe road or the Nairobi –Machakos-Kitui-Zombe road. From previous geological works, it had been established that several mineral resources of economic potential like iron...