Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Uptake of Skilled Childbirth Services Among Women in Kaiti Division, Makueni District (Kenya)

Each year, over 500,000 women die from the complications of pregnancy and child birth, almost all of them in the developing countries. This trend can be addressed by increasing the rates of skilled care during childbirth. This study therefore sought to establish the socio-cultural factors influencing uptake of skilled childbirth care which has remained low in Kaiti Division. The researchers applied a descriptive cross-sectional study design which involved women of childbearing age (15-49 years). The study was conducted in March 2010 and had a sample size of 246 women which was randomly selected from the estimated target population of 12,077. The researchers applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The tests of significance employed included Fisher's exact test, chi-square, test and logistic regression. The study established that the proportion of women attended to by the skilled attendant within various age cohorts was higher (58.9%) amongst the youth/adolescent (15-24 years) (P-value = 0.091> 0.05, c2 10.915 df 6).). Skilled attendance declined among the grand-multiparas (para4 and above) from 7.7% in Para 4-5 to 2% in Para 6+ (P-value = .000<0.05, c2 34.888 df 3; Para 1(p =0.000, OR 28.391), Para 2-3 (p =0.000, OR 7.564), Para 4-5(p=0.030, OR 3.493) Further findings indicated that the principal decision maker (46.7%) on type of assistant in the last delivery was the woman (P-value = 0.000 <0.05, c2 56.076 df 5). However, the husband was the leading (39.5%) decision maker in use of a skilled assistant in the last delivery (p=0.000, OR 15.667). More than two thirds (70.7%) of the respondents who performed a ceremony prayed for safe delivery in their last delivery. The study concluded that women's parity, decision making and religion were significant in use of skilled childbirth services

Job Satisfaction Among the Nurses of Makueni District Hospital, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the level of job satisfaction among the nurses of Makueni District Hospital. This was necessitated by the high nurse staff turnover from the facility and a myriad of complains from various departments. The study was a cross sectional descriptive survey involving about 50 nurses that was carried out between 15 and 19th July 2013. The study employed mixed method approach. Tests of significance were through use of Chi-square, Fishers exact test and logistic regression. The key results were that overall job satisfaction was low (36%). There were significant relationships between job satisfaction and cordial relationship with the nurse manager (c2 12.131 df 4 p=0.016<0.05. Logistic regression p=0.018<0.05). The plans to quit the hospital and work elsewhere indicates a relationship with job satisfaction (c2 12.749 df 4 p=0.013<0.05). The findings of this study suggest that there is no enabling working environment for the nurses and this could be a barrier to service delivery in the Hospital. These findings suggest that the Nurse Managers should build up effective relationship with the staff and other departments and should identify negative working conditions which affect staff and appropriately delegate authority to them

Impact environnemental des pneumatiques déchiquetés utilisés pour la construction d’ouvrages en remblai

Les pneumatiques usagés sont employés comme matériau de construction pour des ouvrages de génie civil et de géotechnique depuis les années 80. S’agissant de déchets, leur impact sur l’environnement doit être évalué, au regard de l’application visée et de la réglementation en vigueur. Cet article porte sur l’impact environnemental de pneumatiques usagés déchiquetés, lorsqu'ils sont utilisés en mélange avec du sable, pour la construction d’ouvrages en remblai. Des essais de lixiviation, de percolation et au lysimètre ont été réalisés, sur le matériau vierge et sur son résidu après incendie. Les liquides collectés ont été l’objet d’analyses physico-chimiques, considérant deux cents composés, et écotoxicologiques sur une bactérie et un crustacé. Les mesures révèlent un impact très limité en contexte normal. Par contre, les résidus après incendie doivent être envoyés en installation de stockage pour déchets dangereux. / This article deals with the assessment of the environmental impact of shredded scrap tyres mixed with sand to built embankments. Tests of leaching, of percolation and in a lysimeter were performed on the raw material as well as on the tailing resulting from fire. The liquids were analysed looking for 200 compounds and their toxicity on a shellfish and a bacterium was assessed. Measurements confirm the limited consequences on the environment, except in the case of fire, where tailings must be considered as hazardous waste

Influence of Selected Econonic Factors on Girl child Participation in Secondary School Education in Bureti Sub county, Kenya

This study, carried out in Bureti  Sub County,  sought to investigate selected economic factors that affect girl child’s participation in secondary school education in Bureti Sub county. The sub county had 62 secondary schools of which 15 were girls’ schools while 30 were mixed secondary schools and 17 were boys’ schools. The entire sub county had a total population of 12250 students and 406 teachers. The target populations were 5541 Female students and 62 secondary school teacher counselors in thesub countyt. Descriptive Survey research design was used in this study.  A saniple of 360 female students and 16 teacher counselors were drawn from 15 girls’  schools and mixed secondary schools in thesub county using stratified sampling technique. Students and teachers’ questionnaires were used to collect therequired data from therespondents. Research Instruments were validated through pilot study and reliability of 0.75 was determined using theCronbach’s alpha procedure. Descriptive statistics; mean, frequencies and percentages were used to analyze thedata while Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used for analysis. From thestudy, it was established that themost common factors that affected girl child participation in secondary school education were parents’ level of income. These have led to a number of girls dropping out of school. As a recommendation, the govemment should aid education of the girl child through provision of bursaries as effort to ensure equal participation by all students irrespective of their gender.. Key words: Girl Child, Participation, Economic factors,Secondary school educatio

EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON STUDENTS’ COMPLETION RATES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of leadership style on students’ completion rates in secondary schools in Meru Central Sub County, Kenya. The study was guided by the systems and benchmarking theories and adopted the descriptive survey research design. A questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. A sample of 24 principals, 120 teachers and 240 students participated in the study. The study findings revealed that principals’ leadership style influenced completion rates among students in secondary schools in the sub county. It was therefore, concluded that the principal’s leadership style influences the students’ completion rates in secondary schools. The findings are significant as they could assist in redressing challenges of students’ completion rates arising from poor leadership as well as administrative skills. The findings could also help the relevant policy makers and bodies to formulate related education policies and establish the legal framework to enhance students’ completion rates. Article visualizations

Quantity and Functionality of Protein Fractions Isolated from 3 Ecotypes of Indigenous Chicken in Kenya

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the cluster ecotype and the part of chicken on nutritional composition, and functionality of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins that are most relevant to the technological features of chicken meat. Over 50 chickens from each ecotype cluster purchased, slaughtered and the meat stored under refrigeration at -20oC and later on transferred in cooler box on ice and flown to South Africa, at the Durban University of Technology. Protein fractions were extracted with a cocktail of Sodium Chloride buffer (50mM NaCl, 50mM Tris HCl; 75mM DTT and 1mM EDTA at pH 7) and quantified by Bradford method. One dimensional Sodium Dodecyl Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) was applied to separate protein fractions. Emulsifying capacity, emulsifying stability, solubility, and in vitro digestibility were determined on the total protein isolates. Significant differences in band expressions were recorded for the myofibrillar and the sarcoplasmic proteins. The three ecotypes had high quality proteins with all the limiting and essential amino acids at concentrations higher than FAO/WHO recommended daily allowance for adults and children. Distinct protein bands at larger molecular weight proteins >100 kDa, corresponding to Myosin Heavy Chain, medium fractions 75 kDa and 45 kDa and even lower molecular weight fraction <25 kDa were present in the chicken breast and the thighs. It concludes that Indigenous chicken protein isolates’ nutritional and functional properties are affected by part of chicken and ecotype clusters

Low Mach number modeling of Type I X-ray burst deflagrations

The Low Mach Number Approximation (LMNA) is applied to 2D hydrodynamical modeling of Type I X-ray bursts on a rectangular patch on the surface of a non-rotating neutron star. Because such phenomena involve decidedly subsonic flows, the timestep increase offered by the LMNA makes routine simulations of these deflagrations feasible in an environment where strong gravity produces significant stratification, while allowing for potentially significant lateral differences in temperature and density. The model is employed to simulate the heating, peak, and initial cooling stages in the deep envelope layers of a burst. During the deflagration, Benard-like cells naturally fill up a vertically expanding convective layer. The Mach number is always less than 0.15 throughout the simulation, thus justifying the low Mach number approximation. While the convective layer is superadiabatic on average, significant fluctuations in adiabaticity occur within it on subconvective timescales. Due to convective layer expansion, significant compositional mixing naturally occurs, but tracer particle penetration through the convective layer boundaries on convective timescales is temporary and spatially limited. Thus, mixing occurs on the relatively slow burst timescale through thermal expansion of the convective layer rather than from mass penetration of the convective layer boundary through particle convection. At the convective layer boundaries where mixing is less efficient, the actual temperature gradient more closely follows the Ledoux criteria.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, accepted by ApJ, high resolution version: http://www.astro.northwestern.edu/~lin/references/Lin_LMNA_ApJ_2006.pd

The control problem in fluid mechanics

Control in Fluid Mechanics deals maily with the laminar-turbulent transition, the threshold of which is wanted to be either decreased or increased . This review article insists on the linear point of view, which reduces the problem to the control of linearized equation s in the neighbourhood of a solution of the complete set of equations . It shows that the method used in most of the published work s is in fact a pole placement method . It underlines also that in some cases, the control built on a linear basis may lead to a contro l that is robust in highly non-linear conditions .L'objet principal du contrôle en mécanique des fluides concerne la transition laminaire-turbulente, dont on souhaite soit avancer soit reculer le seuil. Cet article de revue insiste sur l'approche linéaire, laquelle consiste à n'essayer de contrôler que les équations linéarisées au voisinage d'un point de fonctionnement. Il montre que l'approche suivie se résume pour l'essentiel à du placement de pôles. Il montre également que certains contrôles conçus de cette façon sont robustes pour des perturbations finies, c'est-à-dire dans des conditions non linéaires

Hydrodynamic Model of Micrometeoroid Impact

Physic