Archives-December 

The present study assessed the contributions of Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan (AKESP) in Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Chitral. The study aimed to find out head teachers, teachers and parents’ views about contributions of AKESP in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers at Chitral, and to assess their views about contributions of ECD centers in physical, social, cognitive, emotional, academic and moral development of children. The study was descriptive. Data were collected from parents, teachers and heads of ECD centers from valleys of Chitral through two sets of questionnaires. Findings report that ECD centers are contributing a lot in providing facilities for children at these centers and that ECD centers are contributing a lot in the social, emotional, moral, academic and physical development of children. However, ECD Centers of AKESP may focus on launching more programs for cognitive development of children and programs of teachers training in ECD.

This work focused at designing and fabricating of an aluminium mould for the production of motorcycle brake lever. The pattern making, sand mould and the casting are the major step used to achieve the work. The thermal stress exerted on the mould stood at 0.67GPa which did not exceed the permissible thermal stress for aluminium. In the design of the motorcycle brake lever, it was discovered that a force of 0.58N is required to operate the lever at an effective length of 9cm from the motorcycle head. It shows that the production of motorcycle brake lever can be done locally since aluminium is largely available in the country and hence recommends that more effort should be put in by the Nigerian government for sustainability and development in this area.

The general objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of capital budgeting decision on merchandising companies in Mogadishu. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of company size, degree of risk and capital intensity on merchandising companies in Mogadishu. Capital budgeting decision rank among the most critical types of managerial decisions made in a company and can have major long-term implications, both positive and negative. Merchandise companies was only succeed if their capital budgeting decisions are made well In order to ensure the importance of capital budgeting decisions for merchandise companies and its determinants play the effectiveness and efficiency in merchandise companies. This study was conducted through a descriptive study. In addition the study employed a survey research design in data collection. The sampling procedure of this study is used non-probability sampling procedure particularly purposive sampling or judgmental sampling. This research employed quantitative data collection method whereby data is gathered by the use of closed ended questionnaires which are self-administered. The data collected was analyzed using the software called Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and results shown in terms of frequency distribution and percentages. A regression model was applied to determine the relationship between Company size, Degree of risk and Capital intensity as the independent variables and Capital Budgeting Decision for merchandise as the dependent variable. Results confirm the varying importance of the determinants of capital budgeting decision on merchandising companies in Mogadishu. In general, the results reveal that Company sizes, degree of risk and capital intensity have significant and positive effects on capital budgeting decision. The study recommends that to improve capital budgeting decision on merchandising companies in Mogadishu, Managers should make use of the DPB on all the projects when the economic situation is not certain, and the use of NPV, DPB and PI should be more frequent as these techniques have been proved to be the best.

Energy input for technological, industrial, social and economical development of a nation. Gasification means the transformation of solid fuels into combustible gases in presence of an oxygen carrier (air, O2, H2O, CO2) at high temperatures. The gasification process occurs at temperatures between 600-1000 °C and decomposes the complex hydrocarbons of wood. The gasification process, with high temperature, produces ash and char, tars, methane, charcoal and other hydrocarbons. Well-designed updraft gasifier is simplest type of gasifier. A biomass up draft gasifier was specially developed to meet the heat requirements of Indian kitchens as well as industrial applications. The physical properties and proximate analysis of maize cob and biomass briquettes was determined. The combustion zone temperature is vary in between 955 to 974.00 and 731 to 820,40 °C at four fuel consumption rate i.e. 4,6,8 and 10 kg/h using maize cob and biomass briquettes as a fuel in the system respectively. The up draft biomass gasifier efficiency is vary in between 68.06 to 75.63 per cent and 65.38 to 72.65 per cent at four fuel, consumption rate i.e. 4,6,8 and 10 kg/h using maize cob and biomass briquettes as a fuel in the system respectively.

Nowadays water scarcity existing in many countries even though earth is covered by three –fourth of water. Worldwide rapid growth of industries and the immeasurable population are the major reasons for scarcity of water. Solar still is the only effective solution for water problems in dry areas where the scarcity of water and electricity exists. Solar still is a efficient solar device which converts the available brackish water into potable water. An extensive review on different methods to enhance the evaporation rate using photo-catalyst in solar still has been carried out in this paper.

This study examined the impact oil price volatility and selected macroeconomic indicators on stock return Nigeria for the period of 2000 to 2015 using Exponential Generalized Autoregressive conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model for the volatility Error correction model for long and short dynamics. The results are in three folds: First, the results revealed that oil price volatility has a significant negative impact on stock returns in Nigeria. Second, the results also revealed that there were leverage and volatility persistence in the Nigeria Stock Market. Third, the study confirms co-movement between oil price shock and equity returns in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that the government should monitor developments in the world crude oil market with a view to diversifying the economy away from crude oil dependence to minimize the consequences of oil shocks on the stock market and the economy at large.

Drug-related problems include medication errors and adverse drug reactions. Liver is the hub of metabolic activity of the body indeed, most drugs are modified or metabolized in liver. Thus, drugs that are dependent primarily on the liver for their systemic clearance are like to have reduced elimination and subsequent accumulation, leading to excessive plasma drug concentration and adverse effects. However the effects of hepatic insufficiency on the pharmacokinetics of the drug are not consistent or predictable. The pharmacokinetic properties of an administered drug may be modified due to alterations in hemodynamics and/or in the so-called intrinsic clearance. Drugs with first pass metabolism require reduction in oral dosages; for high clearance drugs both loading and maintenance dosages need adjustment whereas for low clearance drugs maintenance dose only needs adjustment whenever possible, measuring drug level in the blood and monitoring of adverse events should be done fairly frequently. To sum up thus there are a large category of drugs used for different therapeutic indications which are toxic to the liver and kidney and thus should be cautiously administered; particularly when given at high doses or used for chronic or long term administration. This review pitches light on various drugs which induce renal and hepatotoxicity, with their mechanism of damage and clinical scenario.

This research work reflects the effect of open waste dump on groundwater quality at Rukpokwu, Port Harcourt. Water quality contamination due to open waste disposal has been assuming menacing proportion. In the area in consideration, groundwater is unsafe for drinking due to the alteration that has been caused to the ground water hydrology because of the open waste dumping site. Ground water and leachate samples from the open waste dump site were collected and analyzed in the laboratory for their physical and chemical characteristics. From the results obtained, it was discovered that the mean concentration values of TDS, DO, NH4+, SO4+, NO3- , pH, and TSS are 94.97mg/l, 4.075mg/l, 0.24mg/l 0.446mg/l, 0.67mg/l, 28.36mg/l, 7.12mg/l and 0.172mg/l for leachate samples. Also the mean concentration values for Mn, Cl, Mg in groundwater samples are 60mg/l, 0.10mg/l and 1.09mg/l and for well water samples and 70mg/l, Nil and 2.908mg/l respectively. The mean concentration for measured parameters except COD, BOD, Total Coliform, Manganese, Colour, appearance and odour conform to WHO standard for drinking water.

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) is a statistical method that determines if test measurements distinguish abilities by comparing two sub-population outcomes on an item. The Logistic Regression (LR) statistic provides an effect size measure that can give the magnitude of DIF. The purpose of the study was to investigate through simulation the effects of sample size, ability distribution and test length on the Effect Size (ES) of DIF and their influence on detection of DIF using LR method. A Factorial research design was used in the study. The population of the study consisted of 2000 examinee responses. A stratified random sampling technique was used with the stratifying criteria as the reference (r) and focal (f) groups. A small sample size (60r/60f) and a large sample size (1000r/1000f) were established. WinGen3 statistical software was used to generate dichotomous item response data which was replicated 1000 times. The findings of the study showed that whereas sample size and ability distribution had significant effects on the ES of DIF items when LR was used, test length had no statistically significant effect on the ES of DIF items. However, the number of DIF detections using LR statistic increased with test length regardless of the nature of Ability Distribution, The findings of the study are of great significance to teachers, educational policy makers, test developers and test users.

Organization need to have set objectives and goals for sustainability and profitability. These can only be achieved through strategic management practices. Mission vision and goal setting in an organization can only give an organization a desired goal to be achieved .this proposal therefore seeks to identify effect of strategic management practices on the performance of an organization. The study general objective is to assess the effect of strategic management practices on the performance of shabelle relief & development organization (SHARDO) Mogadishu Somalia the study specifically sought to achieve this objective through the investigating the effect of strategic direction on performance of shabelle relief & development organization (SHARDO) Mogadishu Somalia, examine the effect of strategic innovation on the performance shabelle relief & development organization (SHARDO) Mogadishu Somalia, establish the effect of strategic communication on the shabelle relief & development organization (SHARDO) Mogadishu Somalia and identify the effect of organization culture on the performance shabelle relief & development organization (SHARDO) Mogadishu Somalia. The study used descriptive research design. The study targeted a population of 128 employees of Shabelle Relief & Development Organization in Mogadishu Somalia. The study sample size was 91 employees of Shabelle Relief & Development Organization in Mogadishu Somalia. Both secondary data and primary data were used in the study. Primary data collected with the aid of questionnaire was edited, analyzed quantitatively using SPSS version 24. Inferential statistics was done with regression analysis model where the researcher tested the correlation between strategy implementation and performances of NGO’s. from the findings, the four independent variables collectively accounted for 77.4% of the variations in organization performance at SHARDO. The study further indicated that organization culture, strategic communication and strategic innovation had a positive and significant effect on organization performance at SHARD.