Archives-  

Agroforestry does not only provide tree products and services but more importantly has the potential to increase agricultural production. Despite these benefits, its adoption in developing countries, Kenya included, does not match the scientific significance, because, farmers continue to use indigenous technical knowledge (ITK). We examined the adoption of agroforestry technologies in the Maseno region of Kisumu County, Kenya where it has remained low despite the area being sufficiently served by agroforestry extension. The objective was to investigating the potential of integrating the existing indigenous technical knowledge into the current agroforestry technologies. I addition, the study investigated the potential of indigenous technical knowledge in supplementing agroforestry extension. We used purposive and proportional simple random sampling to select a sample of 150 household heads out of 4,070 farm households in the region. We collected primary data from household heads using a structured questionnaire. The results of the study showed that indigenous technical knowledge plays a significant role in the adoption of agroforestry technologies that help in management of fuel wood, fodder, soil and weeds. Gender significantly influenced the dissemination of indigenous technical knowledge related to agroforestry. The level of adoption of recommended agroforestry technologies in the study area was low. There is need to develop new farmer-centred agroforestry technologies that should not be seen by farmers as mere modifications of traditional farming systems. We recommended that further studies on how effectively integrate modern agroforestry and indigenous technical knowledge for sustainability in improving agricultural production.

In this paper we work on Frechet distribution with Bayesian paradigm. Posterior distribution is obtained by using Uniform, Jeffreys and generalization of non-informative priors. We use the quadrature numerical integration to solve the posterior distribution. Bayes estimator and their risk have been obtaining four loss functions. The performances of Bayes estimators are compared by using Monte Carlo simulation study.

In this paper, we propose Bayes estimator of parameter of exponential distri¬bution Under General Entropy Loss Function (GELF) for Progressive Type-II censored data with random scheme. The proposed estimator has been com¬pared with corresponding Bayes estimator under Square Error Loss Function (SELF) and Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) in terms of their risks based on simulated samples from exponential distribution.

IT-Business alignment has been consistently rated as one of the top ten IT management concern for last three decades. Theoretically, alignment can be defined as the degree of fit and combination between an organization’s IS (Information System) strategy and business strategy. More precisely, banks operates in a strategic Information System environment, where the alignment between IT and business should be significantly focused on organizational performance. However, this study suggests that technological innovation, strategic alignment, human resources are not an isolated source of improvement, but part of a system which mutually-reinforcing organizational performances. This research followed quantitative approach and survey questionnaire, so therefore, all 46 Bangladeshi bank (excluding foreign banks) were approached, a total number of 40 observations were usable and giving the study repose rate of 87%, which utilized for subsequent analysis. For this research, different type of analysis has been done, such as Factor analysis, Multiple-regression, t-test, ANOVA, where finding of the study is, technological innovation, strategic alignment and qualified human resources on organizational performance was identified to have a significant impact on organizational performances.

Over the recent years, lives and property worth millions of shillings have been destroyed in fire disasters in secondary schools in the world. Cases of fire disasters in Kenyan secondary schools have been experienced in the last decade with increasing frequency and severity. It was therefore necessary to determine the causes of fire disasters in secondary schools. The main objective of this study was to assess causes of fire disasters in secondary schools in Kenya. An evaluation research design was used. Stratified simple random sampling was used to select the schools and the respondents. The study population was composed of secondary school principals, teachers, laboratory technicians, students and the District Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (DQASO) in Vihiga County. Data was collected by use of structured questionnaires designed for teachers, students and laboratory technicians, in-depth interviews with school principals and the DQASOs and an observation checklist. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 11.5 was used in the analysis of data with Chi-square being used to test independence and variation of responses. A spearman’s rank order correlation was run to determine the relationship between teachers’ and students’ responses. According to the findings of this study, Faulty electrical appliances, arson, flammable materials, gas leakages, waste burning, students unrest and lighting were cited as main hazards that lead to fire disasters in secondary schools. It was also established that: five out of the thirty five schools that participated in the study had experienced fire disasters in the last 10 years; in all the schools that had experienced fire disasters causes were clearly known; It was concluded that: fire disasters in Vihiga are frequent and severe; that the trends as to the causes of fire disasters in the county are dynamic; most of the administrators and even teachers were not trained in fire fighting skills; most of the schools dint have safety committees and were not practicing fire drills and that most of the general requirements for fire disaster preparedness were not in place. The findings of the study will enable schools to be aware of fire hazards and empower them to reduce their vulnerability to fire disasters. It will also be important to education policy makers who will use this information in formulating and implementing policies on fire safety in schools.

The amino acid composition of the muscle and skin of the matured female guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) was determined on a dry weight basis. The total essential amino acids ranged from 30.4 g/100g to 43.5 g/100g crude protein or from 49.7% - 51.2% of the total amino acid. The amino acid score showed that lysine ranged from 0.66-1.17 (on whole hen’s egg comparison), 0.75-1.31 (on provisional essential amino acid scoring pattern) and 0.71-1.25 (on suggested requirement of the essential amino acid of a preschool child). The predicted protein efficiency ratio was 1.81-2.25 and the essential amino acid index range was 0.87-1.28. The correlation coefficient (?xy) was positive and significant at r = 0.05 for the total amino acids, amino acid scores (on whole hen’s egg basis) and other parameters in the two samples. Results have good comparison with whole hen’s egg protein.

The choice of the similarity coefficient used in clustering could have great impact on the resulting classification, there is need to study and understand these coefficients better to be able to make the right choice for specific situations. In this study, variations caused by three similarity coefficients: Dice, Jaccard and Simple matching with five clustering methods: (Unweighted Pair-Group Mean Arithmetic (UPGMA), Weighted Pair-Group Mean Arithmetic(WPGMA), complete linkage, single linkage and Neighbour-Joining with AFLP markers in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolates from yam were assessed. Comparison among the similarity coefficients and clustering methods were made using correlation analysis, multidimensional scaling and principal component analysis. Dendrogram topology was compared using consensus fork index (CFI) and node counts. The grouping of the pathogens by the markers is not related to their agro-ecological zones. The CFI results showed varying level of similarity for the cluster analysis CA methods. It was observed that high correlation does not necessarily imply similarity in the topology of a tree, therefore care should be taken in its interpretation. The cophenetic correlation with original distances suggests that the UPGMA method gives consistent results with respect to grouping irrespective of the similarity coefficient. The use of UPGMA method is therefore recommended for its consistency.

Job satisfaction is the sense of well- being, good feeling and positive mental state that emerge in an incumbent worker when his obtained reward consequent upon his performance is congruent with his equitable reward. Extant literature in other sectors of the economy points to the fact that factors such as poor working conditions, below competitive salaries, a lack of promotional opportunities are some of the factors contributing to employee dissatisfaction.The aim of this study is to ascertain the levels of job satisfaction amongst quantity surveyors in consulting firms in Lagos, Nigeria. Biographical and job descriptive index questionnaires (JDI) were administered to gather the data. The JDI measures job satisfaction on five facets, namely, pay, promotions, supervision, co-workers and the work itself. A total of 100 questionnaires were collected and used for the study. The survey covered quantity surveyors in consulting firms in Lagos and the respondents were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Data collected were analysed using mean item score, spearman rank correlation, correlation matrix, linear regression analysis where appropriate. Findings of the study revealed that the respondents were satisfied with the relationship with co-workers, nature of work and the supervision they receive. Major sources of dissatisfaction are promotion and salaries of the respondents. This finding is a bold step and necessary benchmark for resolving major sources of dissatisfaction among quantity surveyors in consulting firms. The roles of other contextual factors on job satisfaction need to be contemplated for future research.

L-proline monohydrate an intriguing new organic material for frequency conversion has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature. Their structural, optical and physicochemical properties were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR and FT-Raman spectra. The crystal belongs to orthorhombic system with space group Pbca. The mechanical response of the crystal has been studied using Vickers microhardness technique.

Modern polymer chemistry is highly progressive in tailoring polymers to specific requirements such as mechanical, thermal and chemical stability, with better performance with wide range of pore size. Composite materials combine and maintain two or more distinct phases to produce a material that has properties far superior than either of the base materials. Nanoparticles made of chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer isolated from crab and shrimp shells, have shown to be promising as carriers of anticancer drugs, antitumor genes, and other novel therapeutic agents. Cross linking agents improve the properties of polymer and their products. Polymer nanocomposited are a class of reinforced polymer with low quantities of nanometric-sized clay particle, which improved their fair resistance, strength and its porosity deceases. Hence, in the present work nanochitosan was prepared using sodium tripolyphosphate and composite of nanochitosan were prepared with methylcellulose in the presence of clay. However, a greater understanding of the nanoscale features of clays, and the ability to disperse the ultrafine layers within other materials has led to increased interest in their application in composite materials; to provide properties to lightweight polymers that would usually only be found in heavier or more expensive materials (such as glass or metals). The formation of the polymer membrane made by the immersion precipitation process depends on a large number of material and process specific parameters such as choice of the polymer (molecular weight, molecular weight distribution), choice of the solvents, choice of the casting solution temperature and the casting atmosphere. The composites were analyzed for their thermal stability, porosity, X-ray diffraction studies, etc. The results show that the addition of clay along with the nanosized chitosan had decreased the transparency of methylcellulose and with decreased pore size suitable for developing as RO membranes.