Archives-December 

Steel-concrete composite systems for buildings are composed of concrete components that interact with structural steel components within the same system. By their integral behavior, these components give the required attributes of strength, stiffness and stability to the overall system. Composite members, as individual elements of a system, have been in use for a considerable number of years. In this paper, a review of the research carried out on composite columns with infills is given with emphasis on experimental work.

Generally, tourism is seen as an essential component to the growth and well-being of the economy of Mombasa County as whole. The main stakeholders of this industry are; the hotelier, and the Mombasa County local tour operators. Mombasa is the bedrock of the Kenyan tourism industry with a high annual influx of domestic and foreign tourists. There is also presence of wild life activity in Mombasa County with the presence of Bamburi nature trail. There has been a decline in recent years in the sector. Tourism and insecurity have contributed hugely to the dip. This has led to the decline in tourist numbers and thus led to the closure of majority of the hotels in the County which were a major source of employment and commerce for the locals. The presence of dilapidated infrastructure, mainly roads, has made Mombasa County not to be an attractive tourist destination that lives up to its tourist arrivals potential. An example is the Likoni ferry crossing channel which has made the south coast seem inaccessible thus stifling the potential that areas like Shelly beach have. Solutions must be sought to reverse this negative trend. There are strategic factors that will play a key role in ensuring the growth of the tourism sector in Mombasa County. Some examples of these strategic factors are; customer retention strategies, stakeholder participation and capacity building. Chapter one dealt with the introductory part, problem statement, objectives of the research, justification of the study, and scope of the study and limitation of the study. Chapter two of the study is the literature review which mainly deals with an introductory part, theoretical literature, empirical literature, conceptual framework, summary of literature, critique of existing literature and research gaps. Chapter three involved the study research design which used stratified random sampling technique to select the 30% of the target population whereby a random sample from each stratum was taken in a number proportional to the stratum`s size when compared to the population. The subset was then be pooled to form a random sample. The target population of the study was 112 members of staff from tour operators and 280 members of staff from local tourist hotels. The sample size was thus 118 respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were used in to collect primary data. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and findings were presented in a prose form. Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS Version 20) was used to analyze quantitative data. The quantitative data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. Data was then presented in tables, bar-charts and pie-charts. The study showed that there was a clear cause and effect relationship between customer retention strategies and the growth of tourism in Mombasa County. Stakeholder participation played an essential role in ensuring that there is growth in the tourism sector in Mombasa County and capacity building positively affected financial growth of output in the tourism in the county of Mombasa. The study showed that there was an influencing relationship between strategic factors studied in the research and the growth of tourism industry in Mombasa County.

The tridentate Schiff base, 3-{[(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)imino]methyl}naphthalen-2-ol, formed by condensation of 5-amino-2-methoxypyridine and 2-hydroxy-1-napthaldehyde coordinates to some Metal(II) ions, forming complexes of the type [M(L2)]½H2O {where M = Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pd}. These complexes are characterized by percentage metal, melting point, conductance measurements, electronic and IR spectroscopies. The IR data confirms that coordination is via the imine nitrogen and napthanenol oxygen atoms; while electronic data support a 4-coordinate tetrahedral/squareplanar geometry for the metal complexes. The complexes are air-stable solids which melt/decompose on heating in the temperature range 196-232oC; and none is an electrolyte in nitromethane. The in-vitro antibacterial activities of the complexes against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella oxytoca are reported. Notably, the Pd(II) complex exhibits broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against these bacteria with the exception of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with inhibitory zones range in the range 8.0-12.0 mm.

The paper sought to establish teachers’ perception of thematic intergraded approach in teaching learners in ECD in in Wareng Sub County. The study adopted the use of quantitative and qualitative research methodology (mixed approach of research methodology). This study was carried out in Wareng Sub-County in Uasin Gishu County. The research therefore sampled 43 Head Teachers and 85 ECD teachers ECD teachers since the larger the sample the higher the reliability. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the types of respondents in schools whereby 30% of the target population was selected as the sample size. The data collection instruments employed were; questionnaire, interview schedule and observation checklist. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and measure of central tendency (modes standard deviation and means) qualitative data was analyzed in tabular form. the study revealed that the school provides learners with age appropriate assignments and that the school provides learners with appropriate learning activities. In addition, the learners are provided with thematic activities that make the learner engage in authentic communication, the learners in these schools are provided with self-initiated learning activities that make them learn experimentally and the school provides learning materials like books and play materials to the learners. The study made the following recommendations; the head teachers need to ensure that the schools provide curriculum centered books that are appropriate for the learners’ respective levels and the school should provide learning that accommodates individual learners and abilities.

Most researchers, who have paid attention to code-switching, have however been concerned with the sociological interpretation and discourse functions, i.e. the socio-pragmatic aspect, of code-switching. For this reason, linguists who do not specialize in bilingualism often automatically assume that research in code-switching means sociolinguistic research. It is certainly an interesting issue to investigate when and why a speaker chooses one linguistic variety rather than another: this can be explained by stylistic or metaphorical motivation, where factors such as the interlocutor, social role, domain, topic, venue, medium, and type of interaction play an important role. In this case, language alternation can also serve as a conversational cue, expressing attitudes towards language or marking linguistic identity.

The purpose of this study was to relate the effect of intelligent development and personality development in communication oral skill. This article is based on the author’s reflections and interpretations on extended literature reviews. The author had a particular interest in relating both intelligent development and personality development through student’s co-curricular activity of debate. The debate orator’s cultures gives positive impacts on the development areas focused by the author.

This study investigates the effects of malaria drugs on children of different gender under the age of five in Nigeria (Umuahia in Abia State as a case study). It was carried out by applying descriptive statistical methods and Poisson log linear regression model on different malaria drugs. To achieve this, five age groups in months (<12, 12-23, 24-35, 36-47, 48-59) and gender (male and female) were used. Secondary datasets were collected from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2013 and department of Health and Human Services, Abia State University, Uturu. The result shows that the rate of usage of all malaria drugs considered in this study is similar for all age groups. However more males than females received Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy (ACT). The only significant difference found is between the Amodiaquine and Chloroquine, The study therefore concludes that the effect of malaria drugs is dependent on age and gender. Apart from all the main effects of all the variables being significant, there is also a statistically significant interaction between gender, age and drug, p = 0.00134. The poissson regression result predict that in the last 12months, there is a 4.9% and 6.7% increase in the number of gender and drugs respectively considered yearly with (95% CI. 0.281 to 1.678 and 0.006 to 1.033), and also a statistical significant results, P-value = 0.010 & 0.004 respectively.

Using the initial value problem approach, the evolution of linearized perturbations in a stratified shear flow with rotation is studied. Here the resulting equation in time posed by using Fourier transformation and Square transformation is solved for the Fourier amplitudes for bounded couette flow with a point source of the field of transverse velocity and density as the initial distributions. Perturbation solutions are obtained and the velocity and density plots are drawn to find the effect of density variation and rotation

Climate change is attributed directly or indirectly to human activities rhesulting in the alteration of the composition of global atmosphere in addition to natural climate variability observed over a comparable time periods. Climate change has adversely affected agriculture and food security in Nigeria and other West African Countries. It is estimated that by 2100 Nigeria and other West African Countries would have agriculture losses of up to 4% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to climate change. Agricultural experts has also observed that parts of the Country that experience soil erosion and operate rain-fed agriculture would have decline in agriculture yield of up to 5% between 2000 and 2020. In 2012, most states (Balyasae, Rivers, Bauchi, Kogi, Adamawa and Imo) in Nigeria witnessed serious floodind which affected adversely humans, farm lands and livestocks. Te flood which resulted from excessive rainfall attributed to climate change constituted a threat to agriculture and food security in all the geo-political zones of the Country. Desertification in the Northern part of Nigeria has also dealt a great blow to agriculture. The ravaging impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security calls for coping or adaptable measures such as construction of gas re-injection plants, public awareness campaigns, forest conservation, Taungaya and agrosiliviculture. However, the ultimate remediation is drastic reduction of the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The [Persian] Gulf cooperation council (GCC) was funded on May 25, 1981 by six littoral Persian Gulf states just two years after the occurrence of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. This article explains the interaction between Islamic Republic of Iran and the GCC member states (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain). In the first part this article is going to summarize the main reasons of founding the GCC since 1981 and explains the interaction between Iran and the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council and the influence of the decisions of GCC on Iran’s security policies during the past thirty years; and in third part, we will evaluate the workbook of the GCC conservative states regarding to Iran and influences of struggle between Iran and the GCC states. At the end, according to the results of the research, writers will recommend some new parameters that must be considered to maintain peace and security in the Persian Gulf region.