Archives-July 2018

The use of industrial by-products in concrete is becoming more popular for producing high performance concrete. Industrial by-products act as pozzolanic reaction and hydration reaction as well as micro fillers in concrete. Industrial by-products such as silica fume, bottom ash and steel slag aggregate are introduced to enhance the overall performance of concrete. Their use in high performance concrete (HPC) enhances its properties of strength and durability. The scope of the present study is to investigate the effect of industrial by-products of silica fume, bottom ash and steel slag aggregate replaced by cement, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate respectively towards the functioning performance of HPC. An effort has been made to focus on the influence of industrial by-products on strength properties and load carrying capacities of RC beams. The need for the present study arises from the requirements to improve the overall utilization of combination of industrial by-products in correct proportions in concrete particularly in aggressive environment depending upon the requirements. The effect of those industrial by-products towards the enhancement of the strength and durability of HPC needs to be researched.

The logistic regression model has had a remarkable growth in the field of statistics. It is particularly useful for predicting continuous and categorical explanatory variables using categorical dependent variable. This work studies 111 cases of HIV/AIDS infected patients and fits a binary logistic model. The results show that presence of tuberculosis, CD4 cell count and Regimens are significant risk factors of mortality of HIV/AIDS patients, obtained from the records Department of the General Hospital Wukari, Taraba State of Nigeria.

Negotiation is a valuable skill in every part of life. It is most enjoyable when the conflicting parties gain something and develop positive working environment. Negotiations in conflicts management have been widely studied by many scholars around the world. But not much of research is carried out for the negotiation skills requirement of Bangladeshi HR professionals. Conflict results in poor work performance and low productivity; therefore, it?s suggested to acquire knowledge on negotiation skills for all HR professionals in the early stage of their career. This research provides a holistic view of the causes and effects of negotiation and its skills required for Bangladesh private business organization. An effort has been taken to know as to how HR managers can resolve the conflicts effectively. Fifteen experienced HR professionals were gathered together to discuss the issue while a presentation was made on “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In” by Roger Fisher and Willium Ury (1991). The model or theory that is discussed in this paper may be helpful for the HR professionals of Bangladesh.

This book, Transitional Justice and After by Nzau Mumo, set out to examine Kenya’s transitional justice since the 2007/2008 post election violence. It provides an insight into whether resettlement was the best solution to the IDP problem in the Rift Valley and Kenya as a whole. In so doing, the book puts into perspective the peacebuilding processes undertaken in the Rift valley of Kenya as a result of Post Election Violence, the challenges faced and the contributions of IDPs resettlement programmes to peacebuilding in Kenya. A critical analysis of the book indicates that the author, to a greater extent, achieves the stated purpose of the book. This book is well researched and written in easy English to understand and therefore should be recommended for scholars at various levels in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies as a resource book. The author of this book, Dr. Mumo Nzau is a Fulbright scholar who holds MA and Ph.D degrees in Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. He is a senior lecturer in Political Science at the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA) and Adjunct Faculty at the United States International University (USIU). The book is arranged thematically into resettlement and peacebuilding, retrogressive account of internal displacement phenomenon in Kenya, resettlement and peacebuilding in the rift valley region since 2008 and critical analysis of Kenya’s experience with IDP resettlement as a transitional justice mechanism. All these are elaborately discussed in an easy-to-understand language.

A Primary cutaneous leiomyosarcoma located in the left thigh is reported in a 83-year-old patient. The clinical examination found a voluminous ulcero-budding infected tumor, measuring 15 cm long axis. The result of the histological examination and the immuno-histochemical profile revealed the diagnosis of a leiomyosarcoma. The patient underwent extensive excision with cutaneous margins of three to five cm and carried the Gracilis muscle deep down. After one year of control we did not notice local recurrence. The prognosis remains poor. We recommend long-term follow-up of patients to prevent recurrence. The purpose of this work is to show the difficulties to make the diagnosis and describe our management of this rare case.

The FT-Raman and FT-Infrared spectra of Guaiacol have been recorded in the regions 3500?100 cm?1 and 4000?500 cm?1 respectively. The observed frequencies were assigned to various modes of vibrations on the basis of normal coordinate calculations, assuming C1 point group symmetry. The assignment of fundamental vibrations agrees well with the calculated frequencies. Second order perturbation energies and electron density (ED) transfer from filled lone pairs of Lewis base to unfilled Lewis acid sites of Guaiacol are discussed on the basis of NBO analysis. The theoretically calculated harmonic frequencies are scaled by common scale factor. The observed and the calculated frequencies are found to be in good agreement. The thermodynamic functions were obtained for the range of temperature 100–1000 K. The polarizability, first hyperpolarizability, anisotropy polarizability invariant has been computed using quantum chemical calculations. The chemical parameters were calculated from the HOMO and LUMO values. The NMR chemical shielding anisotropy (CSA) parameters were also computed for the title molecule.

For many decades conflict resolution between Turkana and Pokot communities in Northern Kenya has been very elusive. Understanding the local politics and their influence towards continuous cross border conflicts informs this study. The study examined major political factor influencing cross border conflict between Turkana and Pokot with the aim of determining the extent to which local politics influence conflict and potential interventions for durable conflict resolution. Cross border conflict has been evolving taking many forms currently manifested through regular cattle raids, highway banditry, and conflict over resources such as land, pasture and water. The study was conducted in two divisions; Kainuk in Turkana County and Sigor in West Pokot County. Data collection instruments used was questionnaires and focus group discussions. Data analysis was done with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences tool. Correlation and regression techniques were used in data analysis and based on the results of the data analysis, the study findings show that local politics influence conflict at the cross border. Respondents pointed out to local leaders’ interference with peace building by incitements, disregard of the traditional governance systems, and lack of local communities to participate in development activities and implementation thus cross border conflict. The study concludes that tribal politics and unethical politician and entrepreneur are the main influencers of cross border conflict in Northern Kenya. Bad politics affects growth and development thus the study recommends that the Government should enforce laws that prohibit tribal politics and local politicians from interfering in peace building efforts.

Indigenous knowledge in community based early warning systems is essential for drought monitoring and management. In remote areas, modern technologies for early warning are rare thus indigenous knowledge based hazard monitoring systems are commonly used. This promotes a more effective methodology of disaster management in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Northern Kenya. Communities living in the northern part of Kenya have a wealth of indigenous knowledge passed down from generations and is internalised by the communities through a process of socialisation as part of their lifestyles. Most of this knowledge is not documented and is overlooked whereas this community based practices exhibit a deep understanding and ability to cope with disasters through local actions. This creates a firm basis for assessing indigenous Knowledge (IK) for early warning for Turkana nation and adaptive strategies therein. Descriptive survey research design was used in the study. A population sample size of 902 persons was chosen using the simple random sampling technique. A study sample size was taken at 95% level of confidence. More emphasis was placed in people over the age of 60 years who were able to recall trends of drought occurrences over the study period. The data collection instruments applied included questionnaires, observation checklists and interview guides. The findings of the study showed that indigenous knowledge was invaluable if accurate and reliable drought prediction was to be achieved, hence the need for adoption of this indigenous method for early warning system. Cooperation among the local people in drought forecast improve ownership of findings hence ability to forge sustainable drought mitigation and prevention efforts. The study recommends that there is an urgent need to recognize indigenous knowledge in planning and decision making in relation to matters of drought prediction.

In a dynamic of protection of the environment and sustainable development, solar energy is one of the essential solutions to the energy problems of developing countries and to limiting greenhouse gas emissions. In this work, we compare the energy productivities of photovoltaic installations in four cities of two countries (Morocco and Burkina Faso). Government energy policies in both countries place a strong emphasis on solar photovoltaics. We then chose to make a detailed evaluation of the performances of the various photovoltaic technologies under various climatic conditions in these countries. PVsyst software is used to model the performance of a photovoltaic solar power plant connected to the 6kWc network (2kWc per technology) using three silicon-based photovoltaic technologies, namely: polycrystalline (pc-Si), monocrystalline (mc-Si) and amorphous (a-Si) in two cities per country. The comparative analysis included annual energy efficiency, performance ratio, annual energy density and system efficiency. From these performances, it can be observed that PV installations with a-Si have the highest energy yields and performance ratios (Er-Rachidia, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso), while in Mohammedia, energy efficiency and maximum performance ratio are given by pc-Si technology. The mc-Si installation has the maximum overall efficiency of the system as well as the annual energy density in the cities selected for this study. The production of the city of Mohammedia is validated by the actual production of a 6kWc installation (2kWc per technology) made up of three mini-power plants, one with polycrystalline silicon, one with monocrystalline silicon and the other with amorphous silicon. Comparing the data validates our results.

Cholesterol is a component of cell membrane and a precursor for steroid hormones and bile acids synthesized by the body cells and absorbed with food. Cholesterol has been identified as one of the major factors that affect and sometimes destroy the normal functions of the heart blood vessel. This study determines the cholesterol level of some selected bank workers of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) at Accra New Town Municipality between the ages of thirty five – forty five years respectively. Out of the twenty five (25) samples assayed four males were found above the normal cholesterol range of 3.5 - 5.5 mmol/l, and six females were found above the normal cholesterol range. In all 10 were found above the normal range while 15 were found within the normal range (3.5 - 5.5 mmol/l). The result shows that 40% of the women had high level of cholesterol while 60% of the men had a high level of cholesterol. In all 60% of the bank workers had high cholesterol level as compared to the reference range while 40% of the bank workers had their cholesterol levels within the reference range. About 26.66% were found to be females who were obese whilst 40% were also obese males.