Archives-January 2014

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.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an important African cereal crop and is listed among Africa’s lost crops but is now gaining popularity as other cereals are declining in production due to climatic change. To promote food security, many researchers and policy makers are shifting the focus on production of sorghum. In Kenya, sorghum is primarily grown in ASALs whose suitability is climatic factors but the extent is not known. This paper modeled the potential sorghum suitable areas of current and the years 2050 and 2080 climatic periods. The sorghum location data were downloaded from GENESYS and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute while climate data was from world climate database website. Analysis was done using Maxent and DIVA-GIS softwares. The model generated an excellent AUC of 0.97 and the suitable areas in the future are shown to expand in both 2050 and 2080 climatic periods though not in same magnitude. The main variables contributing more than 10 % of change in suitability areas in decreasing order are precipitation of wettest period, temperature seasonality (STD * 100), precipitation of warmest quarter, and precipitation of driest month. The generated information will guide the policy makers and stakeholders in making informed decisions with regard to the efforts of re-introduction and promotion of sorghum production in ASALs.

This research study was conducted on the prevailing learners’ perceptions and preferences towards Blended Learning in Higher Education. This was a case study involving one private University in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to assess the learners’ perspectives of Blended Learning, identify their experiences and make recommendations for improvement of program design and delivery. The study design adopted a mixed research approach and was situated within Garrison (2008) theoretical framework of Community of Inquiry (CoL). The research addressed the following research objectives: What are the reasons for choosing the Blended Learning program? What are the learners’ perceptions towards the quality of preparation and delivery of blended learning programs? How do learners compare the Blended Learning and traditional classroom learning? What are the suggestions for the future development of Blended Learning? Participants were drawn from cohorts of learners enrolled at different stages of study in the Blended Learning program at the University. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify participants. The participants responded to questionnaire that was emailed to them by their course instructors. The completed questionnaires were subsequently emailed back to the researcher. Analysis of data was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson-Product moment correlation coefficient was used to describe relationships between variables. The findings from the study indicate that when there is greater social and teaching presence, learner’s satisfaction increases. Provision of support in terms of teaching presence and instructional resources needs to be enhanced. Facilitators of Blended Learning courses have to be more proactive and initiate frequent online discussions to enrich their courses.

Inhibition of ?-amylase, enzyme that plays a role in digestion of starch and glycogen, is considered a strategy for the treatment of disorders in carbohydrate uptake, such as diabetes and obesity, etc. Plants are an important source of chemical constituents with potential for inhibition of ?-amylase and can be used as therapeutic or functional food sources. In this study methanolic extracts from Mimosa pudica plant source that have been tested for ?-amylase & acid phosphatase inhibitory activity has been done. Amongst the phyto-constituents that have been investigated, flavonoids are one of them that demonstrated the highest inhibitory activities with the potential of inhibition related to number of hydroxyl groups in the molecule of the compound.The inhibition of acid phosphatase could be due to the rupture of lysosomal membrane in the presence of Mimosa pudica. Methanol crude extracts of the (whole plant) of Mimosa pudica (Mimosaceae) were screened in vitro for cytotoxicity studies by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and antioxidant activity using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. The methanol crude extracts of the whole plant showed potential cytotoxic activities (IC50 82.50?g/ml). The methanol crude extract of the whole plant showed moderate antioxidant activity (IC50 48.54?g/ml) compared to Rutin (IC50 34.60?g/ml). The % of inhibition of alpha Amylase & Acid Phosphatase of Mimosa pudica was found to be 41% & 47.8% in the concentration of 5mg/ml respectively with membrane stability 61.5%. The overall experimental results suggested that biologically active constituents present in the methanolic extract of Mimosa pudica and justifies its use in folkloric remedies.

This paper presents realization of semi Gaussian (S-G) shaper circuits for detector readout front ends. The circuits are based on current difference transconductance amplifier (CDTA) and differential difference current conveyor transconductance amplifier (DDCCTA) and can operate in voltage and current mode. The proposed circuits use grounded capacitors and thus make these suitable from integration viewpoint. The theoretical propositions are verified through extensive SPICE simulations using 0.25?m TSMC CMOS technology model parameters. The performance of proposed topologies is compared in terms of total harmonic distortion, power dissipation, dynamic range, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and output noise.

Although alternate system of medicine is still the choice of masses in developing countries. Unani system of medicine being one of them. UNANI was derived from the word IONIAN which indicates it origin to Greece TIBB means medicine. Unani system of medicine is a synthesis of Greek and Arabs system .Unani physicians were the first to classify the disease on the basis of different anatomical and physiological symptoms of the body. Hippocrates explained that the disease was a normal process and its symptoms were the reaction of the body to the disease. Inspite of time tested mode of treatment, Unani system of medicine is yet to gain the due popularity in masses. With this preview a cross sectional study was conducted on 100 participants by using a close ended questionnaire tested amd pretested before use to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of Unani in new comers of A& U Tibbia college & Hospital, Karol bagh ,New Delhi in 2011 and it was found that although they had fair knowledge of Unani but still their preferred medicine was allopathy.It can be concluded that Unani system of medicine can be propagated and promoted by educating masses about Unani and increasing dispensaries and hospitals of Unani.

The primary purpose of the present investigation is to examine the role of involvement and employment in the perception of stress and coping abilities of married women. The study involves 2 (working versus non-working) x 2 (involved versus less-involved) factorial design. Non-working women are categorized into involved and less-involved subgroups on the basis of the median split of their scores on family involvement. Working women are categorized into similar subgroups on the basis of the median split of their combined scores on family involvement and work involvement. The participants of all the four groups are compared with respect to their perception of stress and coping abilities . The result indicated that involved women perceived less stress and indicated more coping abilities in personal, family and finance related matters and also in overall stressful encounters. The finding also revealed that working women perceived more stress in personal and family related events where as non-working women perceived more stress in finance related events. The overall level of stress experienced by working women is also higher than that of the non-working women.

After more than a decade of derivatives trading in Indian bourses, our markets have experienced a sea change in activity, behavior and trade in different instruments and products available. Here in this paper, we have examined and compared which market among cash and futures reacts to the flow of information faster and hence leads the other. A cross correlation test followed by Granger casualty, VAR and GARCH models establish relationship between returns and volatilities being experienced by some of the blue chip sensex stocks in two different markets. Our results suggest that there exists a strong bi-directional and contemporaneous relationship among the returns in the spot and futures market. The results for few stocks indicate lagged futures return coefficient is significant which means futures play a leading role in explaining the movement in the spot market. Also for some other stocks, exact reverse situation is observed showing significant leading futures return coefficient which means spot market returns lead the other. As far as interdependence among stock return volatility is concerned, it has been found that for more number of stocks, volatility spillover from futures to spot market is significant. This implies that stock futures market play a leading role both in terms of return and volatility thereby contributing in price discovery process.

Micronutrient malnutrition affects almost two billion people worldwide and food fortification is considered as a major cost effective and sustainable solution. To enhance the micronutrient content of cakes by food fortification using locally available under exploited but nutritionally rich indigenous food fortificants. Lotus stem and Carrots were chosen as food fortificants. The nutrient analysis of the fortificants was carried out. Lotus stem powder (LS) and carrot powder (CA) were incorporated individually (15, 20 and 25 percent) as well as in mixed form(MF) (2:1, 1:1, 1:2.) in Chocolate(CH) and Orange cake(OR) and the highly acceptable cakes were analyzed for iron, ? carotene and quality parameters. Lotus stem powder had iron(80mg/100g),? carotene (543 µg/100g) and fibre(31.6 g/100g).Carrot powder had iron(5 mg/100g),? carotene(6875 µg/100g) and fibre(1.46g/100g).Among all the variations LSCK2 (84.5 percent), CAOR1 (84 percent) MFCK1 (88 percent) and MFOR1 (87.3 percent) cakes were highly acceptable.LSCK2 had the highest iron content (12.50mg/100g) and CAOR1(760µg/100g) had highest ? carotene content. Total solids were above the standard value of 60 percent. pH of MFCK1 and MFOR1 were 6.2.The microbial count of the cakes was found to be within the satisfactory limit. Conclusion: Fortification of cakes is a possible venture to alleviate micronutrient malnutrition in people.

This paper attempts to design a vane type feed inlet device to study the flow of vapour in vacuum column containing feed inlet device. The flow of inlet feed has been analysed for pure vapour and mixture streams. The primary function of the flash zone is to separate the entrained liquid feed from the vapour. This is achieved with a feed entry device that changes the direction and reduces the feed velocity as well as by providing adequate height between the wash and the flash zones. Liquid flow behaviour, such as velocity distribution, in the feed inlet device is of considerable importance in determining column performance. Using the volume-average method, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was proposed to describe the liquid flow behaviour in a structured vane type feed inlet device. The values of the geometrical parameters and operation Reynolds number that mark the transitions of flow regime in the inlet device and column are reported. The model of inlet device in column has been developed and meshed in Gambit and the velocity distribution of the flow has been studied at different sections of the column. The proposed study of flow in a column containing feed inlet device has been done in Fluent.