Archives-June... 

The world moved away from the concept that waste is something to be disposed of to recognizing it as a feedstock for energy. Therefore, the research was carried out by 2.5m3 pilot-scale Puxin digester from China to evaluate the anaerobic biodegradation of lignocellulose waste comprising cow dung, wheat straw and rice straw as feedstock is feasible at thermophilic condition (45 0C) for production biogas as a renewable energy. The addition of cow dung inoculum to fixed amount of feedstock was observed to improve biogas production. However, biogas yield was observed to decrease with use cow dung only. The ultimate biogas yield which can be determined from very long periods of anaerobic batch reaction was alternatively estimated through curve fitting. The maximum biogas yield for digester was estimated to be 233 L/Kg VS fed, while the ultimate biogas and methane yield attainable from these mixtures were estimated to be 340 L/Kg VS fed. This biogas can be burnt to produce heat and power. The results show that there are number of operating parameters affect the performance of the anaerobic digestion including the amount and type of inoculum, digestion duration, pH adjustments, temperature, C: N ratio and total solids (TS).

This paper proposes a distributed Quality of Service (QoS) oriented routing algorithm for hybrid wireless network. The wireless applications are demanding robust networks with end to end QoS requirements. Hybrid wireless networks will be the best next generation network. So providing QoS routing algorithm for such networks is on demand research. Here the QoS-Oriented Distributed routing protocol (QOD) is proposed to enhance the QoS support of hybrid wireless networks. This protocol consists of 6 algorithms. 1. Neighbor selection algorithm 2. Malicious Node Detection 3.Packet scheduling 4. Node mobility speed based packet assigning, 5. Packet data compression deflate algorithm 6.Tra?c redundancy elimination algorithm. The simulation results show that packet delay, packet loss is getting improved.

Gypsum, pressmud, farm yard manure, ETP sludge were tried to ameliorate the textile and dye effluent polluted soil habitat, using sunflower (CO4) as a test crop. The sludge along with effluent irrigation added considerable quantities of cations (calcium, magnesium and sodium) to the soil system. Application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 along with 100 per cent GR + NPK reduced the soil ESP by 44.96 per cent. The heavy metal content were also reduced due to addition of pressmud. Higher microbial population was also observed under effluent irrigation than well water. Application of 100 per cent GR + pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 + NPK under effluent irrigation increased the crop growth, yield attributes (head diameter, head weight, seed test weight) and yield of sunflower in effluent polluted soil habitat. The yield under pressmud amended plots was 36 per cent higher over control. Reclamation and restoration of textile dye effluent polluted soil habitat is possible by leaching the soil with 100 per cent GR followed by application of pressmud @ 5 t ha-1 and recommended NPK.

Drought in Kenya is not a new phenomenon. Drought is likely to become even more pronounced during the twenty first century due to climate variability whose impacts include unpredictable weather and seasons; increased frequency and intensity of droughts, floods and wind storms; warmer temperatures, resulting in heat stress, and sea level rise. Little is known and documented about Evaluation of drought mitigation and response strategies in Kenya. This study sought to contribute to closing this knowledge gap with a case study from Makueni County, Kenya. The County is located in the semi-arid environment, which is most often deficient in available moisture for meaningful agricultural engagements. Consequently, one of the unique features of the semi-arid Makueni County is vulnerability to drought events. The objective of this study was to evaluate the mitigation and response strategies adopted for drought Management in Makueni County, Kenya. To achieve the objectives of the study, both primary and secondary data were collected through a descriptive field survey design using focus group discussions, informal meetings, administration of household and institutional questionnaires, field observations, and a critical review of published and unpublished materials. Priority rank of use was used to identify the strategies. The findings of this study are anticipated to inform decision makers, development and Humanitarian actors in Kenya, whose interest is to mitigate, and respond to drought disasters on Kenyans lives, economy and development as a whole. Drought mitigation and timely responses not only saves lives but also saves funds, hence can be used to revamp the economy of the country to significant heights.

The philosophy of existentialism is a philosophy which draws attention to how human beings can insulate their distinct being in the world through the reality of individual being and the freedom of choice under the stance that existence precedes essence. The idea ‘existence precedes essence’ means that human nature is determined by the course of life rather than life by nature. However, pragmatic, progressive and reconstructive societal tides negate the individual being and freedom of choice. An attempt to recover individual being and freedom necessitates the need for education and lifelong learning. This study focused on existentialism as the cause of lifelong learning. The theory of determinism which holds that all events are instigated by other prevalent causes was therefore used to explain that lifelong learning is the outcome arising from the fact that human beings are susceptible to alienation and estrangement, and they use education to situate themselves. In this treatise, coherent abstractions revealed that the distinctiveness of human beings is contracted by existentialism, while teaching and learning is used to assist human beings to come to terms with issues of existence over essence, being and nothingness, anxiety and authenticity, absurdity and irrationality, freedom and independence, situatedness, alienation and estrangement. The implication is that these existential negations substantiate why human beings strive as individuals to transmute their essence or nature through lifelong learning.

Children of incarcerated parents are a group who experience serious emotional, behavioral and psychological suffering that often receives little attention. They might face unique difficulties such economic and residential instability, experienced trauma due to the sudden separation from their sole caregivers and they also display more behavioral problems than their counterparts. The relationship between children’s well-being score and factors affect were examined in 10 children aged 8 to 15 years old. Children’s well-being score were assessed using selected domains based on the suggestions from Land and colleagues (2001). All twelve items that predicted would affect children’s well-being were included from three groups; economic resources, relationships with peers and social support. Economic resources, social support and relationship with peers groups were important predictors which give an insight into how it would affect children’s well-being score. Though the findings indicated that well-being of the children with an incarcerated family were influenced by eight items from the three groups; works, income, stigmatization, bullied, disturbance, isolation, help in study and much time with children. This research revealed that children with higher attention from their caregivers had higher level of children’s well-being score. In addition, it was found that relationship with peers, family’s income and works also played important roles in determining children’s well-being.

This paper represents the results of a descriptive study investigating the factors influencing teaching Process at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (Pakistan). The university is located in the province of KPK and is established in 2009. The major factors influencing teaching process are Professional Commitment, Working Environment, and Job Satisfaction. No Significant difference was found between natural and social science departments. While differences was found designation wise i.e lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and professors and also qualification wise. It can be concluded that designation and qualification matter in factors influencing teaching process.

Shipping covers 90% of goods transport globally. According to current estimates presented in Third IMO GHG Study 2014, international shipping emitted 796 million tones of CO2 in 2012, which is about 2.2% of the total global CO2 emission. One of the methods of reducing CO2 is by applying wind energy devices such as Flettner rotor for ship propulsion. Ships fitted with Flettner rotors are tested and simulated over various ship routes claiming a fuel saving up to 30% for average ship speed. In this paper the progress of Flettner rotor application exclusively for ship propulsion is reviewed and summarized.

The present study comprises of an investigation of captopril a potent ACE inhibitors used orally to treat hypertension, as a feasible candidate for transdermal drug delivery. The present research work was undertaking to formulate a Transdermal drug delivery system of captopril, to investigate the effect of different penetration enhancers, and to study the in vitro permeation characteristics of the drug through the excised rat skin. In the present study, Transdermal patches of captopril were formulated using EC, PVA, PVP, PEG6000. All the formulation were used in combinations and penetration enhancers like DMSO, DMF, PG used in each groups. The effect of penetration enhancer in permeation through rat skin, revealed that DMF showed better result. In vitro skin permeation studies indicated that PVA: PEG6000 matrix type film may be fabricated in to effective system and DMF showed better result. The penetration enhancer DMF demonstrated the highest flux of 0.102 mg/cm2/hr and followed by PG 0.073 mg/cm2/hr from CE2 AND DE2 respectively.

Invasive Salmonella Typhimurium infection is in a flux in resource poor settings in Kenya. However, sequence analysis of the strains in the study areas have not been determined. This study aimed to determine the distribution and genetic diversity of S.Typhimurium. Single locus sequence typing (SLST) based on fliC gene indicated S.Typhimurium isolates exhibited geographic restriction in addition to intraspecies diversity. The dominant strain isolated belonged to S.Typhimurium strain UK-1 lineage in both study areas. Data on genetic diversity is vital in monitoring the disease in the study areas.