ABSTRACT Magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow involving a fluid of varying viscosity subject to thermal radiation and Newtonian heating has various applications in industry and engineering some of the applications include designing of cooling systems used in electronic devices, cooling of nuclear reactors, harvesting of solar energy, thermal insulation, heat exchangers and in geothermal reservoirs. Heat transfer by thermal radiation is of significance to engineering processes that occurs ...
In Cameroon, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is amongst the legumes which are greatly consumed. Farmers in Cameroon especially the Menoua Division grow different common bean cultivars which after harvest, are stored to be used as food over the storage period or for sale. Storage of agricultural products become prone to fungal infection over time. Studies on the microbiology of stored common bean has identified fungi as a major contaminant. However it is possible that the incidence an...
ABSTRACT Vacuum evaporation is one of the mostly commonly used method for depositing thin films of metals, semiconductors or dielectrics on various substrates. Either molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), electron-beam (e-beam) or resistance heating is employed for heating the evaporant source material in vacuum. Resistive evaporation is the oldest method of depositing thin films in magnetron sputtering systems. As a problem common to deposition of films using resistive evaporation, the source mater...
Globally, there is a high demand for clean, sustainable and renewable energy for domestic and industrial use. Current photovoltaic cell technology relies heavily on crystalline silicon wafers. Silicon based solar cell are expensive because of their initial cost of production and they require complex deposition method. Due to these challenges, great research interest is now directed towards thin-film solar cells. In this research, chemical bath deposition (CBD) method is preferred because...
Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is recognized as the leading bacterial pathogen in children hospitalized for acute diarrheal illness reflecting a significant cost in health resources. However, asymptomatic carriage of EAEC is also high making it difficult to distinguish the pathogenic and the non-pathogenic strains of EAEC. Establishing a marker which corresponds with diarrheal illness would be of significant value in routine detection of pathogenic EAEC and its differentiation...
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond. Failure to exclusively breastfeed for six months is associated with increased risk of childhood mortality and morbidity. There is paucity of information that analyses the disparity in Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) among primiparous and multiparous mothers. This study aimed to compare the KAP of EBF betwee...
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the third most valuable food crop in Kenya and the main source of proteins to smallholder farmers. However, its production is constrained by insufficient nitrogen (N) in the soil exacerbated by acidic soil conditions and phosphorus (P) fixation. Majority of smallholder farmers are resource limited hence apply negligible amount of inorganic fertilizers. Therefore, enhancing biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by bean germplasms grown by smallholder fa...
ABSTRACT Turbulent flow is a type of fluid flow in which the fluid undergoes irregular fluctuations. The velocity of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction. Turbulent natural convection has been studied both numerically and theoretically. It plays an important role in the field of heat transfer and buildings environment. A numerical study was performed on a rectangular enclosure with varying Rayleigh numbers to determine velocity, temperature ...
ABSTRACT Heavy metal pollution in soil and water arising from anthropogenic sources continue to pose a great challenge to human and animal population. In Samburu County conflicts arising from cattle rustling, military trainings in the county which have led to heavy use and disposal of arms, a growing population without proper sewerage facilities, increase in the number of aging automobiles and fertilizers from the wheat and barley farms in the highlands of Lorroki are the biggest contributors...
Genetic modification has come a long way since its inception with the first genetically engineered human insulin in 1982 and the first genetically modified tomato in 1994. The use of genetic engineering to modify crops has been a controversial issue which has raised scientific, environmental, economic, social and ethical/moral as well as religious concerns. In Kenya, the debate has been conducted with little involvement of key stakeholders, in particular farmers and consumers. Thorough e...
ABSTRACT The Kenya Vision 2030 aims at achieving a 10 percent per annum growth rate in the economy. Investments have been identified as a major channel through which this objective can be met. The government has undertaken various public investments to fuel economic growth. However, for this to be even more effective, private investments have to be taken into consideration. The government has taken various measures such as relying more on external debt to avoid crowding out private investmen...
Malaria imposes a huge burden upon the health and economic development of tropical nations and has been identified as a major obstacle to sustainable development by the world’s poorest regions. Diagnosis of malaria still remains a major challenge towards effective case management more so in areas with limited diagnostic facilities and lack of access to skilled health personnel. Clinical diagnosis which is the most widely used approach has several limitations leading to its low sensiti...
ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a major food-borne pathogen that poses a serious threat to public health. In Kenya, with the continuous water shortage, proper sanitary conditions are not sufficiently met and hence pre-disposing the community to S. aureus infections. One of the difficulties of controlling S. aureus food poisoning is that food can contain a very high population of the bacteria without being noticeably identified. It has been suggested that food-borne diseases represent one of...
Natural activities like volcanic eruptions and anthropogenic activities such as excavation of rocks for buildings and road constructions expose originally concealed radioactive elements in the rocks within the earth crust. Poor agricultural practices such as excessive use of fertilizers lead to accumulation of radioactive elements in the environment. Transport agents like run-off water and rivers accumulate these radionuclides in lakes and other water bodies. Lake Nakuru is situated clo...
ABSTRACT Tomato is rated the second most important horticultural crop after potato in most parts of the world. However, its cultivation is threatened by infestations of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). The pest originated from South America and is now invading fields and greenhouse production sites in the world. Tuta absoluta was first officially reported in Kenya in March 2014 at Isiolo and has spread to all parts where tomato is grown. The pest has been nicknamed tomato ‗Al–sha...