ABSTRACT Newcastle Disease (ND) is a common occurrence in Suneka Division. ND is caused by Avian Paramyxovirus Type 1, is one of the most significant diseases for poultry producers around the world. This poultry disease is influenced directly or indirectly by weather as it affects the timing and the intensity of an outbreak. This thesis examined the factors influencing the outbreak and the spread of Newcastle disease in Suneka Division of Kisii County. The objectives of study were; to invest...
ABSTRACT Details of the Earth’s subsurface are largely obscured because it’s difficult to make direct observation of the Earth’s subsurface. Geophysical exploration methods, however, provide a means of remotely examining the Earth’s subsurface. This study therefore seeks to image for geothermal prospects in Arus-Bogoria area using Magnetotelluric (MT) and Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) methods. MT method has the greatest exploration depth whereas TEM has the best resolution at shall...
Abstract An investigation of heat and mass transfer in MHD ow about a horizontal plate past nite plate, in a porous medium was carried out. The eect of magnetic eld on mass and heat transfer was investigated. The study was governed by Navier- stokes equations, energy equation, Ohm's law and concentration equation. These equations were formulated inform of partial dierential equations to represent the general phenomena of mass and heat. Then, the general equations were modied into spe...
ABSTRACT Orthopaedic injuries are common globally with the highest prevalence reported in the sub-Saharan region. In hospitals, malnutrition is a significant problem in both developed and developing countries, its prevalence ranging from 20 – 60%. Malnutrition is reported to be common among orthopaedic patients due to disease, inadequate nutrient intake and low diet satisfaction associated with quality of hospital food. Untreated malnutrition is detrimental to individuals, societies and ec...
ABSTRACT Radionuclides are unstable nuclei with high ratio of proton to neutron. Natural activities like volcanic eruption and anthropogenic activities expose originally concealed radioactive elements in the rocks within the earth crust. Poor agricultural practices such as excessive use of fertilizers add radioactive elements in the soil. Transport agents like run-off water and rivers, spreads these radionuclides within the soil in Tongaren Constituency. The radionuclides disintegrate to for...
ABSTRACT This study examined Rotating Savings and Credit Associations’ (ROSCAs) socio- economic benefits to members who overcame the collective action challenges to significantly achieve ROSCA goals in Muthara Division Meru County, Kenya. The study objectives were to outline factors influencing women membership into ROSCAs; assess social economic benefits of ROSCAs that improve economic performance of women participants; determine opportunities and challenges affecting performance of ROSCAs...
ABSTRACT Scelerocarya birrea is an important fruit tree that is widely used by the rural populations in most regions in which it is found, for its fruits, bark, timber, and even its roots. Studies have shown that the tree has the potential to boost nutrition, health and income security in Africa. However, the local communities harvest the tree products from the wild with minimal attempts to grow it on-farm. The sustainability of such wild harvests is threatened by agriculture, overgrazing, a...
ABSTRACT Viral hepatitis B and C co-infections among Human immunodeficiency virus infected patients is significantly becoming a worrying public health problem worldwide. The three infectious viruses’ shares common routes of transmission including, blood transfusion, sexual intercourse, and injecting drug users among others, which could be the reason for the co-infections observed in the previous studies in sub-Sahara Africa. In Kenya, the documented data from the studies conducted indicate ...
ABSTRACT Comfrey (Symphytum asperum Lepech) is widely used in Kenya and other countries as a vegetable, herbal medicine and animal feed. It is known to have high nutritional and medicinal value. However, in some countries like the USA and Australia, its usage has been restricted to external application, and in others like Germany, its usage has been banned altogether. This is because the plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) that are associated with hepatotoxicity, mutagenicity and ter...
ABSTRACT African human trypanosomiasis (HAT) and African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) are vectorborne parasitic diseases, which are among the most neglected diseases in the world. They cause major health and economic problems in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Chemotherapy, the main means of controlling the disease is limited due to parasite resistance and toxicity of the current anti-trypanosomal drugs. The development of a vaccine has been thwarted by antigenic variation of the parasite. Thus, t...
ABSTRACT Water pollution is an overbearing environmental challenge due to increasing anthropogenic activities from industrial, agricultural and domestic fronts. While data on the water quality such as heavy metals and physico-chemical parameters is enormous, that onpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) presents a research gap. The 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the environment have increasingly become a health risk as a result of anthropogenic activities. The study was unde...
ABSTRACT Malaria remains a major public health problem affecting an estimated 40% of the world’s population and resulting in more than 650,000 deaths worldwide every year. The emergence and rapid spread of parasite resistance to affordable, easy to use and widely available anti-malarial drugs such as chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) has prompted many countries in endemic areas to switch to the more effective artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). To mitigate against...
ABSTRACT Parasitic weeds are a serious problem in agricultural production, causing large crop losses in many parts of the world and particularly Africa. One of the most economically important parasitic weed is Striga. Striga weed is considered to be the greatest biological constraint to food production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This genus includes races; Striga hermonthica, S. asiatica, S. gesnerioides, S. aspera and S. forbesii that are considered to be most harmful to crops. Striga herm...
ABSTRACT Sericulture (Silk farming) is the rearing of silk moths for the production of raw silk. Silk farming originated from China where it was secretly practiced for many years before spreading to other parts of the world. Silk moths are grouped into mulberry silk moths (domesticated) and wild silk moths. Silk moth cocoon has a double filament made of insoluble protein known as fibroin which is embedded in a water soluble protein called sericin. Prior to processing cocoons, are boiled in s...
ABSTRACT Nanostructured silicon has attracted considerable attention as a promising anode material for next generation Lithium-ion batteries for applications in portable electronic devices and hybrid electric vehicles. This interest is mainly due to its large theoretical specific charge capacity of 4,200 mAh g-1 that is ten times more than the theoretical specific charge capacity of conventional graphite anodes. This work exploits an alternative method of fabricating pure silicon nanoparticle...