Archives-May 2012

The object of this work was to study the quality of drinking water from boreholes in selected towns in the Akuapem North District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. In all nineteen (19) boreholes were sampled for trace metals physico-chemical and nutrient analysis. A combination of pH and conductivity meter, potentiometric titration, neutron activation, atomic absorption spectroscopic and ultra violet spectrophotometric techniques were used for the analysis of the water samples. It was observed that about 90% of the samples had pH values below the recommended World Health Organisation (WHO) threshold for drinking water. Analysis of the trace elements revealed that the sampled boreholes have concentration of iron (Fe) in the range (0.09- 3.99mg/l) some of which are above the recommended levels of iron in drinking water. The concentrations of manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al) and Iron are in the range 0.02-1.20mg/l, 10.65-23.12mg/l and 0.09-3.99mg/l respectively.

The relationship between ICT and the environment has a key role in today’s environmental discussions. This paper evaluates and analyses how “ICT” initiatives and applications, can play a major role in reducing CO2 emissions, and ensuring sustainable development and green growth in order to meet development goals and improve quality of life in some developed and developing countries by using dynamic panel estimation by Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with 43 economies for the period from 2003 to 2008 .The results indicate that despite the positive effect of the economic growth on the environmental pollution, ICT advances, ,has played an important role in the reduction of carbon dioxide as air pollutant.

The study was carried out to isolate Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) from cow feces meat as well as screening bioactive compound produced from isolated LAB via well-in agar method. The identification of LAB through biochemical test consists of sugar test and milk curdles. Isolated LAB was ferment at 37°C for 24 hours. One type of LAB was successfully isolated, namely Lactococcus sp.

Desertification is a phenomenon that happens in arid, semi arid and sub-humid areas. Iran is an arid and semi arid country and has two deserts: Lut desert and Kavir plain. Sistan plain is a part of Lut desert and has a very dry territory which impress by driest situation. In Sistan plain, desertification is considered as the main cause of soil lose and biomass decreasing and cause to a fragile environment. The MEDALUS1 model is one of the most important projects that were provided by European commission for desertification assessment. One of the advantages of this model is its high precision. More over particular weighing of layers and usage of geographic information system (GIS) in overlying of indices maps are the other superiorities of this model that increase subtlety and speed of evaluation and preparation of desertification map as well as reducing expert's mistakes. In this research, the MEDALUS methodology was used to assess desertification rate in GHORGHORI region of Sistan plain. In first step, main indices and parameters in desertification process identified. Then, two main indices according to local conditions were selected: wind and water erosions. In second step, considering the main indicators in wind and water erosions, every indicator was quantified according to its quality and was given a weighting based on MEDALUS methodology. In next step, the quality maps of wind and water erosions were prepared using geometric mean of indicators using ArcGIS software. Ultimately, the final desertification map was developed by integration of wind and water erosion quality maps using GIS. Results shows that wind erosion index with average value of 2.84 and water erosion index with average of 1.86 take the high and medium class of desertification. Among main indicators of indices, land use with average of 3.25, percent of plant crown cover with 3.16, dusty days indicator with 2.98 and wind erosion intensity with 2.93 have the highest effects. Water erosion intensity with average of 1.01 has the lowest effect on desertification process. Desertification intensity for studied area was 2.3 that show the critical class (C3).

One of the main concerns of economists and economic policymakers is predicting future values of economic variables. One of these variables is stock index that, according to the importance of financial markets in economic development and also attractiveness of investing in this market could have many costumers. Therefore, in this study, with the daily data of years 2006 to 2012 the total index of Tehran Stock Exchange (TIPEX) using artificial neural networks (ANN), auto regressive moving average (ARIMA), and models accuracy comparison have been predicted. Results suggest that, there is no significant difference between the accuracy of neural networks models and moving auto regressive average.

The zone wise Sindh land resources analysis finds sufficient evidence that Sindh Southern Province of Pakistan is naturally divided in different zones and every zone offers excellent product potential of its own. The central cropping zone has been found suitable for crop cultivation and horticultural farms. The coastal and hilly areas are suitable for forest tourism and fishing. The arid zone boasts of great potential for live stock breeding and hunting grounds with range land forest. The policy makers neglected the absolute advantages of each and every zone during policy formulation since long. This paper tries to finds potential of livestock’s in Sindh, main problems in its development and feasible policy recommendations for further development of the sector and concludes that low level of feeding, traditional method of breeding, inadequate health facilities institutional mismanagements and low extent of markets and infrastructure are major obstacles in its development. The study also concludes that livestock sub sector naturally offer great potential particularly in arid zone and need policy maker’s immediate attention.

The study explored maths attitudes of gifted and talented students in form one, two and three of Mukumu girl High School. Eight of the nine domains of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scale (MAS) were used to survey the math attitudes of two hundred girls. The domains included; attitude towards success, mother’s attitudes, father’s attitudes, anxiety and motivation in learning math. K.C.P.E and present classroom/teacher scores are contrasted MAS. The study was based on Bandura’s Social Learning Theory which emphasizes that much of learning of gifted and talented is mainly through observation and imitation. Questionnaire technique will be used to collect the data. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS with a predetermined alpha level of 0.5, and MANOVA. Results of the study may be used as a vehicle or catalyst for the implication of assisting children to enhance learning of the subject spawn discussion with counselors and others investigating the emotional and academic implications of the GT girls. The study recommends that policies be put in place to eliminate negative cultural teaching of mathematics through open-ended techniques.

Well-2 of Koko field was drilled as an exploratory well, and various analytical tests aimed at determining the petrochemical characteristics of the reservoir sand, was utilized in the evaluation of the hydrocarbon prospect of the area. The gamma ray log, resistivety/inductivity log, compensated neutron were used in getting the above information, through the identification of the various lithologic units present in the well. From the information got from the various logs, it can be inferred that the hydrocarbon prospect of the area is low at the present depth of investigation.

Module is an important structure in successfully implementing the complex software system in computer software engineering. Borrowing the module thought in brain functional memory network modeling we put forward the brain memory complex network model from neuron and cortex level. The results of bi-modular network model in brain memory show that it is reasonable to explain the structure and function of the brain memory. We also highlight some of the technical challenges and key questions to be addressed by future developments in this rapidly moving field.

Student violence has been a problem in the Kenyan educational system for a long time now. The first case of student unrest in Kenya was reported at Maseno School at the beginning of the 20th century (1908). To date, the situation is still unabated. The trend is rather alarming and the magnitude of violent acts by students is high and worrying. The paper therefore using a random sample of 251 students who were selected from five purposively chosen secondary schools in Njoro division were interviewed using a standardized research questionnaire. The students were selected using a combination of stratified random sampling and the systematic sampling techniques, which are probability sampling procedures. The data collected was analysed using both the descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found out that three factors related to the school social environment determined the students’ participation in violence in secondary schools as discussed in this paper. The paper recommends that there should be a better understanding of the school social environment factors as aggravators of student violence in secondary schools.