Attitudes and practices of caregivers on adherence to antiretroviral (ARV) Drugs among HIV-Infected children attending comprehensive care clinic in Kenyatta National Hospital

Background: Ensuring high level of adherence to anti-retroviral medication (ARV) is a priority in treating people living with HIV and AIDS. Adherence in children cannot be fully studied if we do not recognize the involvement of primary caregivers who largely determine how well and often the ARV medication is taken.Objective: To determine attitude and practices of the primary caregivers on adherence of ARV in HIV+ve children.Methods: A cross-sectional study involving primary caregivers of HIV +ve children. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 126 primary caregivers. The data was complemented with key informant in-depth interviews with the health workers at the Comprehensive Care Centre (CCC) and two focus group discussions (FGD) of the primary caregivers.Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital comprehensive care centre for HIV/AIDS.Results: Adherence of 97.2 % to antiretroviral drugs was reported. The primary caregivers reported various methods they used to remind them when to give the medication e.g. clock alarms. 99.2% of the caregivers were aware of the ARV side effects. Out of the 126 caregivers interviewed, 96% of them recommended that caregivers of HIV+ve children should know their HIV Status.Conclusion: This study has revealed that practices and attitude of the caregivers of HIV +ve primary caregivers of HIV+ve children influence the ARV adherence levels. Primary care givers are susceptible to or do suffer stress and HIV/AIDs Comprehensive Care Centres should consider establishment of pychosocial support groups. More studies and follow up especially in the rural settings for comparison with urban areas are recommended.Keywords: antiretroviral treatment, children, primary caregivers, adherenceAfr J Health Sci. 2013; 26:330-33

Dependence of Sheet Resistivity on Urbach Energy of Nano TiO2 - Graphene-based Electrode for DSSC Application

The importance of renewable energy cannot be over-emphasized. Titanium IV oxide (TiO2 ) is the most suitable semiconductor for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) due to its chemical stability, non-toxicity and excellent optoelectronic properties. In this research, TiO2 is coated on Graphene to enhance its charge transport, aiming to reduce recombination, a main setback in DSSCs. Understanding Graphene- TiO2 contact is, therefore, essential for DSSC application. Using doctor blading, TiO2 thin films were deposited on single-layer graphene (SLG) and fluorine tin oxide (FTO). The films were annealed at 2 °C /min and 1 °C/min up to a temperature of 450 °C, then sintering at this temperature for 30 minutes. Four four-point probes SRM -232 were used to measure the samples' sheet resistance. The film thickness was obtained from transmittance using pointwise unconstrained minimization approximation (PUMA). UV–VIS spectrophotometer was employed to measure transmittance. The resistivity of TiO2 on both FTO and Graphene was of order 10-4 Ω cm. However, TiO2 annealed on graphene matrix exhibited a slightly lower resistivity, 5.6 x10-4 Ω cm, compared to 6.0 x10-4 Ω cm on FTO. Optical transmittance on the visible region was lower for TiO2 on FTO than on SLG, 71.48% and 80.11%, respectively. The annealing rate decreased the weak absorption region's Urbach energy (Eu). Urbach energies for 1oC/min TiO2 on FTO and SLG were 361 meV and 261 meV, respectively. This accounted for the decrease in film disorders due to annealing. A striking relation between sheet resistivity and Urbach was reported, suggesting SLG as a suitable candidate for the photoanode of a DSSC

The Influence of marketing mix strategies on organizational performance: a case of Asset Management Companies in Nairobi County

A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Masters of Business Administration at Strathmore University Business SchoolAsset Management Companies (AMCs) play a critical role in the economy as they channel funds from savers to investors therefore providing an efficient way of pooling funds for investment in the capital markets. Stiff competition and a challenging business environment has forced organizations to device strategies for increasing their performance with limited resources. One such strategy is the marketing mix strategy. The relationship between marketing mix strategy and performance has been observed in past studies revealing mixed findings with limited attention in the context of AMCs in the Kenyan setting. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of marketing mix strategies on organizational performance of AMCs in Nairobi County. Primary data was collected through use of structured questionnaires. The population of the study was 21 AMCs licensed in Kenya. A census survey was carried out on all the AMCs due to their small size. Judgmental sampling technique was used in selecting 163 AMC managers consisting of senior managers, business development managers and customer service managers as key informants. A cross sectional research design was used in the study. The relationship between the marketing mix strategies and performance of AMCs was analyzed using regression analysis. Significance of the study was tested at 5% level. From estimation, price, place, people and physical evidence strategies were found to be statistically significant whereas product, promotion and process strategies were not statistically significant. Among those variables that significantly influenced performance of AMCs, price strategy (β=0.4468, P value=0.000) and physical evidence (β=0.7794, P value=0.000) had a positive influence whereas people strategy (β= -0.4186, P value =0.012) and place strategy (β= -0.2557, P value =0.004) had a negative effect. Based on the study results, it was suggested that firms need to arrive at the right price which often requires significant resources and some human, social and system capabilities. Further, AMCs need to focus on strengthening appearance and physical setting which both demonstrates and promises quality. AMCs also need to have continuous engagement with their employees in order to improve their skills and competencies while ensuring their distribution strategies deliver the same quality of service across all channels in order to enhance the customer experience and grow their assets under management

Are dormancy management and physiological age the achilles' heel of aeroponic minituber production in seed potato value chains in SSA?

Scarcity of good quality seed is major obstacle to expanded potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in sub-saharan Africa (SSA). Constraints in availability and supply of seed potato are partly attributable to challenges in production of pre-basic which is an intermediary step necessary in production of seed tubers in the seed potato value chain. Aeroponic minutuber production is a relatively recent technology that has the potential to break the seed potato bottleneck in many SSA countries due to several advantages that it holds especially those related to high multiplication rates; typically (1:50-100) that arise from sequential harvesting. There are, however, a number of potential challenges which, if not addressed, can contribute to non attainment of the projected increases in seed availability and not only mess up the 3 generation (3G) revolution strategy of boosting seed tuber production in SSA but also jeopardize the adoption of the technology. Besides problems associated with failure of electricity supply and management of nutrition, the Achilles‘ heel of aeroponic minituber production is probably the large variation in physiological age of resulting tubers due to sequential harvesting that takes place over several months during the production cycle. In the absence of cold storage facilities which are few and beyond the reach of many pre-basic seed potato growers in many SSA countries, harvested minitubers can either be at dormant, apical dominance, multiple sprouting or senile stage when they are required for planting with significant impacts on subsequent yields. This paper discusses the problems associated with physiological age in seed tuber systems based on aeroponic minitubers and proposes some approaches that may overcome these challenges to ensure that the promise of aeroponic minituber production is realized. The proposed approaches include the strategic application of dormancy inhibiting and dormancy promoting substances at various stages of aeroponic minituber production combined with the use of low cost storage systems such as the diffused light storage technology depending on the dormancy period of the variety (ies) being grown

Applied Technological Direction of Power Plant Ash and Slag Waste Management when Kuznetsk Bituminous Coal is Burned

Currently a lot of power plants have a problem with storage of coal combustion solid by-products (ash and slag). Holding capacity of existing power plants available ash dumps were enlarged and modernized repeatedly. Many plants have two or even three of them. Today new ash dump construction is economically inconvenient due to need to assign new plots of land and their inconveniently big distance from a plant, which increase ash and slag transportation expenses. The goal of our research work is to find promising directions for ash and slag waste mass utilization based on Kuznetsk bituminous coals experimental data on ultimate composition and properties. The experimental research of ash, slag and their mixture samples from ash dumps brought us to conclusion that the most promising direction for these materials application in large quantities is construction industry including road construction. Be-sides, we lined up some other directions for ash, slag, and ash and slag mixture possible application. These directions might not provide mass utilization but they are promising from a point of view of the researched waste properties

Mapping of beef, sheep and goat food systems in Nairobi — A framework for policy making and the identification of structural vulnerabilities and deficiencies

Nairobi is a large rapidly-growing city whose demand for beef, mutton and goat products is expected to double by 2030. The study aimed to map the Nairobi beef, sheep and goat systems structure and flows to identify deficiencies and vulnerabilities to shocks. Cross-sectional data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews with people operating in Nairobi ruminant livestock and meat markets and in the large processing companies. Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained about the type of people, animals, products and value adding activities in the chains, and their structural, spatial and temporal interactions. Mapping analysis was done in three different dimensions: people and product profiling (interactions of people and products), geographical (routes of animals and products) and temporal mapping (seasonal fluctuations). The results obtained were used to identify structural deficiencies and vulnerability factors in the system. Results for the beef food system showed that 44–55% of the city's beef supply flows through the ‘local terminal markets’, but that 54–64% of total supply is controlled by one ‘meat market’. Numerous informal chains were identified, with independent livestock and meat traders playing a pivotal role in the functionality of these systems, and where most activities are conducted with inefficient quality control and under scarce and inadequate infrastructure and organisation, generating wastage and potential food safety risks in low quality meat products. Geographical and temporal analysis showed the critical areas influencing the different markets, with larger markets increasing their market share in the low season. Large processing companies, partly integrated, operate with high quality infrastructures, but with up to 60% of their beef supply depending on similar routes as the informal markets. Only these companies were involved in value addition activities, reaching high-end markets, but also dominating the distribution of popular products, such as beef sausages, to middle and low-end market. For the small ruminant food system, 73% of the low season supply flows through a single large informal market, Kiamaiko, located in an urban informal settlement. No grading is done for these animals or the meat produced. Large companies were reported to export up to 90% of their products. Lack of traceability and control of animal production was a common feature in all chains. The mapping presented provides a framework for policy makers and institutions to understand and design improvement plans for the Nairobi ruminant food system. The structural deficiencies and vulnerabilities identified here indicate the areas of intervention needed