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Human activities such as development of urban area and reducing vegetation cause dramatic changes in surface runoff generation. In the present study effects of Land use and Land cover (LU/LC) changes on surface runoff in Siahroud watershed in north of Iran has been assessed. LU/LC was derived from an Aster imagery (acquired in 2002) and a Landsat 8 imagery (acquired in 2013) for two different periods using object-oriented classification. For this purpose preprocessing and Image enhancement on remotely sensed data were applied. The images were segmented to objects and then objects assigned into 5 classes based on spectral features and physical characteristics such as texture and size of the segmented objects. Accuracy assessment of Classifications was computed by calculation of total accuracy for each classification, user, producer`s accuracy for individual classes and also KAPPA index. In order to determine the average Curve Number for each year, LULC maps were combined with Soil Hydrologic Groups map of study area in ArcGIS. The surface runoff was calculated for 7 events in each year using SCS-CN method. Finally direct runoff has been calculated from the same rainfall for both years. Results showed that urban area has increased during the last 11 year resulting in 5to 40 percent increase in surface runoff.

Several synthetic chemicals used as preservative of food crops have been banned in some countries because of their toxicological effects (adverse reactions). This study aims the use of plant extracts as natural preservatives of a sorghum beer "tchakpalo". The drink has been produced following the traditional technology improved by the addition of the Mentha spicata L. essential oil. This essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation with a Clevenger type apparatus and analyzed by gas chromatography and by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The antifungal activity of this oil was evaluated by the method of diffusion in agar against the strains responsible of the alteration (Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus and Penicillium digitatum) isolated from "tchakpalo". The extraction yield of essential oil was 0.27% after 135 minutes. The major compounds identified in this essential oil were: carvone (66.57%), limonene (16.33%) and 1.8-cineole (7.22%). Antifungal activity evaluation showed fungicidal effect of this essential oil on A. flavus at a concentration of 0.27 mg/ml and has shown fungistatic effect on the other two fungi at the concentrations tested. The addition of this essential oil at 0.05 % in the beverage produced has made it stable during two (02) months. It would therefore be advisable to continue the studies on a longer "shelf life" in order to confirm the conservative effect of this essential oil.

In a previous related article the author described a trade union initiative to improve the health and safety performance of small enterprises in the agricultural sector through the introduction of a scheme for employee participation based on the appointment of a number of regional safety representatives (Walters, 1998). The article concluded that the scheme had achieved only limited success. The fundamental obstacles to its implementation were the aggressive attitudes of the employers’ organisation and the embedded insularity and anti-collectivist culture of farmers. . It suggested that many of its detailed findings in this respect, as well as those on the operation the scheme itself, would be relevant for the development of strategies on this form of representation for employees in small enterprises in other sectors of employment in the India. These points are taken up and further elaborated in the present article, which considers the possible role of schemes for regional representation in health and safety, as one means to improve health and safety management in small enterprises, and provides an analysis of the factors necessary to make them effective and support their development. The purpose of the present article is to explore their significance in the context of the development of forms of regional representation for employees in small enterprises. The article begins by reviewing the problem of health and safety in small enterprises, before considering the role of employee representation in improving health and safety organisation and the factors that make it effective. Its significance for small enterprises is explored with reference to the relevance of the existing legislative provisions and, more importantly, in the light of findings on the factors that promote or limit the effectiveness of the operation of employee representatives in small enterprises.

It will impossible to attain competitiveness capability without using IT and communications; thus enterprises require redefining what they are as regards this technology and finding a new architecture for their own organization. The country's auto part manufacturing industry needs a model whereby various aspects of enterprise architecture are appropriately expanded and upon which suitable strategies for implementing an integrated system is created. This paper seeks to offer a reference model for preparing and formulating an appropriate enterprise architecture regarding the implementation of integrated systems in auto parts manufacturing firms. To design model, principles of Axiomatic designing and generalized enterprise reference architecture and methods are applied. With the identification of 120 pieces of requirements and conversion of them to business capabilities, the recommended reference model, based on a service-oriented architecture consists of 6 layers of architecture, 17 components and 71 business capabilities.

Estimating soil temperature from air temperature is very necessary in some areas that are difficult to reach for the purpose of measuring soil temperature. In this research There are three Station Automatic Weather were selected in the study areas located in the North (Almosul), Middle (Abu-Ghraib), west (Hadethaa) and South (Alkahlaa) of Iraq (36.33° N, 43.16° E), (33.32° N, 44.23° E), (42.00°N, 34.35°E) ,(47.19°N, 31.80° E) respectively. The results referred to strong relationships between the averaged daily air temperature and averaged daily soil temperature at the 10 cm depth for sites. The correlations (R2) values were very high 0.93, 0.939, 0.980, 0.937 in Almosul, Abu-Ghraib , Hadethaa and Alkahlaa sites respectively. Linear equations to estimate soil temperature from air temperature were y=1.274x-6.517 in the north of Iraq, y=1.084x-0.305 in the middle of Iraq, y=1.065x+0.154 in the west of Iraq, y=0.849x+5.14 in the south of Iraq.

This paper titled “ethical evaluation of the impacts of mining in Ebonyi State, Nigeria” was carried out to find the extent to which mining operations in Ebonyi State were consistent with named ethical principles. It was geared toward unearthing the history of mining in Ebonyi State, examining the impacts of mining in Ebonyi State and evaluating the impacts of mining in the light of some ethical principles. Data were collected through oral interviews and use of available data in printed records, reports journals, text books and so on. The following were the findings of this research:In the early 30’s, local miners in Ebonyi State (the villagers) engaged in artisanal quarrying/ mining of lead employing local methods before the coming of expatriate miners in the early 40’s. Mining has impacted positively in various dimensions to the development of the State; the negative impacts are however severe and include habitat modification, deforestation, contamination of air, land pollution, underground and surface water pollution, destruction of roof tops through fly-rocks, soil erosion, crack effect on houses resulting from blasting, noise pollution, socio-political impacts and so on. The impacts were found to be a negation to the ethical principles of justice, human rights and sustainability. The viable means of ameliorating the impacts were found to include: value re-orientation and education of miners to appreciate the above ethical principles; organizing awareness campaigns and sensitization programme for people living in mine areas; diversification of the economy of Ebonyi State through prioritizing agriculture in order to shift emphasis from mining; organizing artisanal miners into groups and co-operative societies for easy training and monitoring; enforcement of mine closure, revegetation and resettlement of fauna.

The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between export and economic growth for the Iranian economy over the period of 1966-2006. The study applies several econometric techniques that involve: unit root test, cointegration test, impulse response function (IRF), and Toda & Yamamoto (1995) causality test. The findings of the unit root test indicate that two variables are stationary in their levels. Result of cointegration confirms the existence of the long run relationship between export and growth in Iranian economy. Finally, the finding of Toda and Yamamoto test indicate the bidirectional causality between export and growth.

The facies architecture and depositional environments of the ‘X’ Field reservoirs have been studied in Wells NDI-A10, A12, A11, A7, A2P2 and A2, using wireline log data. The logs were examined and analyzed for reservoir identification, thickness distribution, continuity, and connectivity. The depositional environments were determined by closely comparing the log shapes of interest with the standard log motifs of Schlumberger (1985) and Emery (1999). Three deltaic sub-environments of deposition were recognized: beach-barrier, river mouth bar and shoreface. The sequence stratigraphic concept has been applied to these sub-environments. Six reservoirs: I, J, K, L, M and N, and five stratigraphic sequences: SEQ.I, SEQ.II, SEQ.III, SEQ.IV and SEQ.V, were identified. The reservoirs were deposited as progradational parasequences during a high-frequency highstand systems tract, while the shale units underlying and overlying the reservoirs were deposited as retrogradational parasequences. The consistent alternation of progradational sand units and retrogradational shale units have been interpreted as a tripartite union of source rock, reservoir and seal, essential for hydrocarbon generation, accumulation, and trapping in the ‘X’ Field. Well-to-well correlation across the entire field allowed a reconstruction of the depositional history of the reservoirs and delineation of the reservoir geometry. There was more development of the reservoirs in the northeastern part of the field which has been interpreted as the direction of sediment supply, but the overall depositional trend is similar to that of the present-day Niger Delta.

This paper investigates factors contributing to drug abuse among the youth in Kenya; a case of Bamburi Location. The paper also: establishes the nature and extent of drug abuse and related issues among the youths; establishes the level and sources of knowledge and awareness on drug abuse and related issues among the youth; investigates demographic factors contributing to drug abuse; investigates social-cultural factors contributing to drug abuse; investigates economic factors contributing to drug abuse; analyses the effects of drug abuse; interrogates the challenges faced against the fight of drug abuse; and recommends on how to curb and reduce drug abuse. In this paper, the authors use an explanatory study design where a study was conducted in Bamburi Location to establish factors contributing to drug abuse among youths in Kenya. The explanatory study design was adopted as it offers an explanation as to why youths engage in drug abuse in Kenya. A survey was conducted for the reason that it provides the information from the single selected sample whose findings can be used to offer a generalization for the whole country. The sample size for the study was 120 youth across all the sub locations in Bamburi location. The main findings of the study were: Demographic characteristics except gender do contribute to drug abuse in the area. Economic and social cultural factors also play a great role in influencing drug abuse in the area among the youth. Effects of drug abuse are diverse. They range from individual to societal effects such as poor health, poor personal hygiene, homosexuality, high school drop-out rate, high divorce rate, prostitution and increased crime. The main challenge facing the fight against drug abuse is corruption and lack of concern by the community in general. Suggested measures to fight the menace are to end corruption and focus on preventive education among the school-going youth. Though there are various factors leading to drug abuse, this paper focuses on demographic factors, social-cultural, and economic leading to pervasiveness of the menace in the Bamburi community/Location. Basically there are various demographic factors contributing to drug abuse such as age, occupation, religion, and marital status. Demographic factors also work in close relationship with social-cultural factors such as one’s perceived respect by others, the social environment, peer pressure influence, social learning from parents, one’s culture and cultural believes, customs, norms and values. Economic factors also play a great role in determining one’s behavior especially in cases of deviance. One’s economic status may influence one’s indulgence in such activities. This paper is, however, limited to the investigation of these factors and recommends the way forward in reducing or curbing drug abuse in Bamburi Location.

It is imperative that competent teacher educators are hired by teacher preparation institutions so as to mentor student teachers appropriately. It is expected that a well trained-educator, models teaching practices as it should be in secondary schools. However, some of the teacher-educators are not trained teachers, which raises the question; who should prepare these teachers? This paper sought to establish the factors that influence competence among teacher educators in universities. The study was conducted in six selected universities in Kenya. The research paradigm adopted for this study was social constructivism worldview. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with asample that comprised of Bachelor of Education fourth year students drawn from three Public universities and three Private universities, Teacher Educators and Heads of Departments from the faculty of Education. Stratified random sampling was used to select universities, student-teacher and Teacher Educators. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules, observation checklists and document analysis. It is strongly recommended that teacher education programmes should be urgently reviewed by addressing the various factors that are affecting preparation of teachers at university level. It is hoped that the finding of this study will be useful to University curriculum planners and teacher educators in designing courses that are responsive to the needs of the society.