Archives-October 2018

Concrete is the most extensively used construction material. Despite the rising cost of production, the demand for concrete is increasing. The negative consequences of the increasing demand for concrete include depletion of aggregate deposits, environmental degradation and ecological imbalance. Recently river sand mining was banned. To this effect, the work is carried out to study the prospects of the uses of manufactured sand (M-sand) in our country. In this present experimental investigation M20 and M25 concrete is used as control mix with M-sand in various percentages. Strength of M-sand concrete is compared with normal concrete. The results show that the significant improvement in the strength of the M-sand concrete. 

Cricket is known as the most popular sports in Bangladesh. Female participation in professional cricket is increasing day by day. The Present study was conducted to find out the cricket injuries & its related pattern among injured female cricketers. A cross-sectional study was carried out by a self-constructed questionnaire. 51 injured female cricketer comprising 21 Bowlers, 21 Batsmen & 9 Wicket keepers were included in this study. The maximum age range was 18 to 20 years old (56.9%) where a greater percentage of participants had 4 years of cricket experience. Results indicated that Bowlers are more prone to injury than any other cricketing role. Shoulder, Elbow, & Ankle injury were founded as the high prevalence of injury compares to other anatomical sites of injury. Senior female cricketers were reported more likely to experience a recurrence injury than junior cricketers. Proper Knowledge about the mechanism of injury & its related factors might help to reduce the prevalence of injury.

The main purpose for this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) among children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in selected primary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. The rise in defiance cases among children in schools in Kenya and the social, educational and economic impact it has on the children and their families have led for need for proper diagnosis and effective intervention. The objective of this study was to determine the risk factors associated with oppositional defiant disorder among children. Quasi experimental research design was used in the study with a sample of 180 participants .The study involved children aged between 9 to 14 years. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the two schools. 315 respondents completed the demographic questionnaires; the respondent’s parents also completed the social-demographic questionnaires. Teachers and parents completed the CADBI after a baseline assessment to identify those with symptoms of ODD. Systematic sampling method was applied on 249 participants who met the criteria for ODD because the number exceeded the required sample size. Risk factors associated with ODD were; religion, educational level of the respondents, conflicted relationship with parents, punishment in school, social- economic status and suspension from school, respondents whose parents were casual laborers, the level of education of the respondent’s parents. Significance was reported at p < 0.05. In conclusion, primary schools children need to have professional psychologists to provide counseling services to the children presenting with ODD symptoms and devise intervention that will help in the management of ODD which will help the children function well both socially and academically. This will also stop the progression ODD to other mental disorders when they are adults for example; Depression, anxiety, antisocial disorder which causes problems with adjustment in the community.

The workforce is arguably the most important input to any health system since they have a strong impact on overall health system performance. The quality of patient care may be related in an important way to the quality of life experienced by staff at work. This is because the human factor is central to healthcare, yet its proper management has remained beyond the reach of healthcare organizations. Organizations must understand their strategic imperatives and implement HR practices that will result in employee behaviors that are supportive of those strategic objectives. SHRM practices are concerned with how people are employed and managed in organizations so as to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce. As complex systems, hospitals house an assortment of professionals, medical and administrative, with varying backgrounds and affiliations who exchange ideas, experiences and information, make decisions and enact them. With this background information, the study sought to examine the influence of strategic human resource management practices on sustainable growth of private hospitals in Kenya in this research Sustainable growth in the private hospitals is presumed to apply when the hospitals are able to deliver effective, safe, quality health services to those in need, with a minimum waste of resources while ensuring compliance to the government regulations. The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population for this study was 712 staff from the 178 private hospitals licensed by Kenya Medical and Dentist Board. The study found that Strategic human resource management practices was statistically significant in explaining sustainable growth of private hospitals. Thus, hospitals managers should emphasize on implementation of Strategic human resource practices in order to foster hospital growth.HR managers and practitioners should understand the critical nature and utmost importance of strategic human resource practices in creating value for the organization so as to enhance organizational productivity and growth.

This paper is aimed at evaluating the prospecting potential of the reservoir sands of D-field onshore Niger Delta located around 23km west of Uyo, Nigeria. The field covers an area of approximately 6.9km2, located around latitudes 6o 13’N and 6o 14’N and longitudes 7o18’E and 7o20’E. Well logs from eight wells were used – together with the seismic section, to evaluate these potentials from two reservoirs (D-A and D-B) in the field. D-A revealed average porosity and permeability of 0.22 and 7,390md respectively while D-B revealed average porosity and permeability of 0.21 and 3,714md respectively. D-A has 23MBO of oil while D-B has 80MBO. Both reservoirs will yield their oil at irreducible water saturation condition.

This study is aimed at estimating the sedimentary thickness of the Upper Benue Trough (Nigeria) as revealed by the Aeromagnetic data using the Spectral Analysis and Euler Deconvolution techniques. The area investigated covers from 090 00’ - 100 00’N and from 110 30’ - 120 30’E. An average sediment thickness of 3.98km was estimated which could favour hydrocarbon accumulation and maturation. There is a NE-SW increase in sedimentary thickness which varied from 2.2km to around 5.2km; it is thickest in the NE region. Verification was performed using the Euler deconvolution method which revealed clusters of Euler depth solutions within the low magnetic zones of interest (between 2km and above 3km). Combining both methods implies that a sedimentary depth of up to 4km (to 5km) could be possible especially in the Yola, Mayo Balewa and Bubila regions which thus increase the probability of hydrocarbon maturation and entrapment in these areas.

This paper estimated the Overpressure magnitudes as well as the resulting “required mud weights” for safe drilling in three Niger Delta Wells (PNW1, WSW2, and WSE1) .PNW1 revealed maximum overpressure magnitude at the depth of 16,000ft with pressure value of 13,120psig. WSW2 showed maximum overpressure magnitude at the depth of 11,600ft with pressure value of 14,500psig while WSE1 revealed an overpressure value of 12,050psig at the depth of 10,700ft considered as depth of maximum pressure. These were all derived based on plots of dc-exponent versus depth; the required mud weight for safe drilling especially at the maximum overpressure were as well computed. PNW1 is located at about 77.2km, N31.6oW of Port Harcourt, WSW2 is located at about 65.2km, S61oW of Warri, while WSE1 is located around 30.3km, S14.6oE of Warri; these towns are all in Nigeria. This method can stand alone as an Overpressure prediction and estimation tool since the parameters it requires are obtained while drilling.

External auditory canal cholesteatoma is a very rare entity, representing 0.1 to 0.5% of the otological pathology, carrying the same characteristics as that the middle ear cholesteatoma. Its location may be associated to other affections due to the large variety of differential diagnosis, benign or malignant cases which are far more frequent than the cholesteatoma. The diagnosis is mainly clinical, the therapeutic management consists on a surgical procedure which depends on the stage of the disease. Known for its slow evolution, and the risk of recurrence, the external auditory canal cholesteatoma requires a clinical and radiological surveillance that can extend over several years. Our work focuses on the study of diagnostic modalities and therapeutic management through two hospitalized cases treated in the ENT and CCF department of Rabat Specialty Hospital.

The corona mortis, or crown of death, is described as an abnormal vascular connection between the obturator and external iliac or inferior epigastric veins or arteries located at the back of the superior pubic ramus in the space of Retzius. The corona mortis has been said to cause massive uncontrolled or profuse bleeding and even life-threatening hemorrhage. Detailed anatomical knowledge of its prevalence, variable anastomotic connections, and morphological characteristics is therefore crucial to reduce the risks of possible iatrogenic errors in surgical procedures in the pubic region, especially the ilio-inguinal approach to the acetabulum. Every surgeon dealing with superior pubic ramus fractures and acetabulum fractures needs to be aware of these anastomoses and avoid undue hemorrhage.

Education is important for the effective functioning of society and plays a key role in every individual’s behaviour. Alcohol abuse is defined as an alcohol use disorder. Alcoholism and alcohol dependence among teachers in Kenya have increased exponentially. The study thus sought to assess the influence the level of education on alcohol abuse among public school teachers in Nyeri County, Kenya. A mixed method approach employing self-administered structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews was used to undertake the study. The target population consisted of teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in public primary and secondary schools. A sampling frame was obtained from the TSC providing a list of all teachers in the county and the schools they teach in. The study utilized the stratified sampling methodology to select participants, where strata used was the subcounty and type of school (primary/secondary) after which a random sample was used to identify the teachers who participated in the research. A sample of 385 teachers was selected from a population of 6,264 from Nyeri County. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. An interview schedule was presented to the TSC County Director to capture the views concerning the alcohol situation in the county. Data was coded and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results on the prevalence of alcohol use revealed that 59% of teachers use alcohol while 32.7% fall under the category of hazardous use. The Chi square test and t-test for independence of means were used for inferential analysis. The level of education was noted to have a significant effect on alcohol abuse with the number of teachers with lower educational qualifications being associated with alcohol abuse. The study recommends urgent interventional strategies targeting the enhancement of personal growth through higher education in the management of alcohol abuse among teachers.