Evaluation of the Potential use of Bagasse and Sugar Millswaste Water as Substrate for Biogas Production

Biogas is a sustainable alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. Its production also serves as sink for biological wastes and it is a pollution control measure. Most of biogas generation units in Kenya utilize animal wastes as the substrate. However, the bio fuel potential of bagasse, the abundant crop residues like co-products in sugarcane-based industries remain underutilized. The idea of converting bagasse into additional energy is gaining attention, especially through government commitments on increasing the renewable energy generation combined with the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. In this study bagasse samples collected from Chemelil sugar mills were passed through multiple sieves of different sizes to obtain different particle sizes. Mills waste water was also collected from Chemelil sugar factory and analyzed for pH and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) to establish their biogas production potential, the analyzed mills waste water was then mixed with different particle sizes of bagasse and allowed to be digested anaerobically. Volume of the gas collected from each flask containing different particle sizes of bagasse was measured to identify the optimum conditions for biogas production. The study showed that the mills waste water that had the highest TDS (130g/L) yielded relatively higher volumes of biogas when mixed with bagasse of different particle sizes. Bagasse of particle size ≤0.600mm produced the highest volume when mixed with the mills waste water with TDS and pH of130g/l and 4.67 respectively. Designing and installing a digester system that allows for the control of TDS and pH in mills wastewater and utilizes bagasse of particle size ≤0.600mm would be expected to produce reasonable amount of biofuel and put a check on environmental pollution problems associated with bagasse and sugar mill waste waters in sugar factories

Analysis of the Structure and Performance of the Beans Marketing System in Nairobi

Beans are widely grown as a major food crop in Eastern and Southern Africa. It is the most important staple food crop after maize in Kenya (ECABREN, 2000). The beans industry in Kenya is faced with problems of shortages, seasonal supply and price fluctuations and inadequate information on production, marketing and consumption. These problems are more acute in urban areas. This paper analyzes the structure and performance of the beans marketing system in Nairobi metropolitan area, the single most important beans market in Kenya. Data from a sample of 102 traders augmented by secondary data were used to analyze the marketing system by applying descriptive statistics, concentration ratios and co-integration models. The results showed that the beans marketing structure approached that of pure competition; however, lack of capital was a barrier to entry into the wholesale and retail trade. The Johansen likelihood-based vector autoregressive model showed that there was no significant co-integration of the major markets in the city possibly due to inefficient market information flow.Beans, Competitive Structure, Co-integration and Efficiency., Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

Lithopedion Causing Intestinal Obstruction

The formation of a mummifi ed intra-abdominal pregnancy (lithopedion) is rare. A 25 year old Para 4 + 0 gravida 5 presented with features of intestinalobstruction and a four year history of an intra abdominal mass. Examination revealed a solid mass in the right upper quadrant. Ultrasound imaging showed a poor echo-calcifi ed mass while an erect abdominal x ray revealed foetal bones within the abdominal cavity. At laparatomy a lithopedion witha normal uterus was found. Her last normal delivery was one year prior to this current presentation. A lithopedion causing a mass effect (intestinal  obstruction) and predating a normal intra uterine pregnancy followed by spontenous vertex delivery has not been reported in Kenya

Role of ICT and usability of Honeypots in Kenet member institutions in Western Kenya as proactive detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidences

With the advent of the ever changing technology and the intense sophistication in methods and means of committing illegal activities, crime is no longer narrowly defined vies-a-vie the law but there is need to be able to handle technologically oriented crimes commonly referred to as Cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are crimes that involve the use of computers to undertake illegal. Collection of statistics associated with cybercrimes can be quite tricky and daunting, since their collection and tabulation can only be done when aggrieved parties report them. Some of these illegal activities that constitute cybercrimes include, but not limited to, creation of counterfeit currency or official documents using computer scanners and graphics programs, embezzlement of funds using computers to skim very small sums of money from a large number of accounts, distribution of child pornography on the Internet, and theft of digital property. Other crimes that can also be committed include fraud, hate crimes, stalking, gambling, hacking; spread of malware, phishing, spamming, Botnet attacks, DDoS attacks, espionage and money laundering. In this paper we present results on usability of HoneyPots in KENET member institutions in western Kenya as proactive detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidences.Â

Deployment of honeypots as proactive detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidences and their applications to information technology

The Kenya government is striving to roll out its Vision 2030 programme where ICT plays a major role in achieving the components of the Pillars associated with it. The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which deployment of HoneyPots as early warning detection tools for monitoring cyber related incidents had been embraced within KENET member institutions in Western Kenya, how they are aiding the institutions in knowing and understanding their adversaries; and allowing them to implement solutions that work in defending the critical internet and network infrastructures they manage. The study was guided by a descriptive study design with a study population of 117 staff members working in various institutions in western Kenya. Using simple random sampling technique, a sample size of 80 respondents were picked and administered with questionnaires, 70 questionnaires were returned for data entry and analysis using Statistical Package for social Sciences version 20. This implies that 87.5% of the respondents turned up for the study. According to the major findings, the study established that most of the KENET member institutions in western Kenyan, despite experiencing cyber security related incidents, had not setup CIRT teams nor deployed Honeypots to help them study cyber security incidents and take appropriate action to defend their constituencies. As a recommendation, the Government, being one of the economic stakeholders, and KENET, should come up with intervention measures through the Ministry of ICT making it mandatory for setup CIRTs. All CIRTs should then be required to direct part of their traffic to the national CERT which ideally should be based at Communication Authority of Kenya to form a Honey Net, which can further be linked with other internationally recognized Honey Net projects.Â

Sorghum Landraces Production Practices in Nyanza, Coast and Eastern Regions, Kenya

Sorghum Sorghum bicolar L. is an important cereal crop grown in the semi-arid areas. It is rank as the fifth key cereal crop worldwide. The ability of sorghum to adapt to drought, salinity, infertile soils, and high temperatures makes it a critical crop in the dry regions. However, farmers grow many landraces some of which do not perform well since the majority cannot afford nitrogenous fertilizers to boost their harvest. Therefore, a baseline survey was conducted in Eastern, Nyanza and Coastal regions to assess the production systems for sorghum. Structured questionnaires were used to gather information from a total of 76 randomly selected farmers in the study regions. Data on socio-economic characteristics, sorghum varieties, use of farm inputs, and source of seeds, farming systems, traits preference, farm sizes, yields and constraints in production of the crop was collected. Parameters studied were analyzed using Statistical Programmes for Social Sciences (SPSS) (IBM SPSS Statistics 20). Results showed that majority of respondents in Eastern (99%), 80% in Nyanza and all respondents in the coastal region cultivated landraces. Most of the respondents had farm sizes between 0.5-5acres. A larger proportion of respondents in the three regions reported low harvests from their farms, recording below 5 bags every season. Most of the farmers across the three regions intercrop sorghum with other crops with all respondents in Eastern, 80% in Coast and 68% in Nyanza. Some farmers plant sorghum without fertilizers, others used either inorganic or organic fertilizers while the rest use both organic and inorganic. The traits desired by farmers in the region included high yields, early maturity, resistance to pest and diseases, sweetness and tolerance to drought. Farmers cited pests and diseases, weeds such as striga, and drought as the key constraints to sorghum production in the regions. Key words: drought, landraces, sorghum, tolerance, traits DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-10-16 Publication date:May 31st 201

Considering effects of temperature and photoperiod on growth and development of lablab purpureus (l.) Sweet in the search of short-season accessions for smallholder farming systems

Legumes have gained increased importance in smallholder farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa due to their contribution to household nutrition and health and their ability to grow in low fertility soils. With unpredictable and highly variable rainfall characteristics of the semi-arid areas, short-season grain types are seen as a promising option for drought avoidance. Knowledge of phenological development and, in particular, time to flowering is crucial information needed for estimating the possible production success of new accessions to new environments. The photoperiod-sensitivity of 10 promising short-season Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet accessions (CPI 525313, CPI 52533, CPI 52535, CPI 52535, CPI 52552, CPI 52554, CPI 60795, CPI 81364, CQ 3620, Q 6880B) were evaluated for their response to varying temperature and daylength regimes in field trials in Limpopo province, South Africa and under controlled conditions in growth chamber experiments in Göttingen, Germany. Photoperiod sensitivity was quantified using the triple-plane rate model of flowering response with time to flowering expressed in thermal time (Tt, °Cd). Additionally, piecewise regression analysis was conducted to estimate the critical photoperiod (Pc) above which time to flowering was delayed significantly. Relatively high variation of time to flowering amongst and within accessions in days after planting (DAP) was observed, ranging from 60 to 120 DAP depending on sowing date or daylength/temperature regime. Furthermore, a clear positive effect of temperature on growth and development of the tested accessions was found and time to flowering expressed as thermal time were consistent for the tested accessions, ranging from 600 to 800 °Cd for daylength 110 DAP. The tested lablab accessions are therefore considered photoperiod insensitive, or weakly photoperiod responsive and are classified as short-day plants (SDP). Since daylength does not exceed 13 h between the latitudes 30 N to 30 S, these lablab accessions are recommended for further testing as short-duration grain legumes

Antileishmanial activity of Aloe Secundiflora plant extracts against Leishmania Major (2013).

Human leishmaniases are a spectrum of diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. In this study antileishmanial activity of the methanolic and water leaf extracts from Aloe secundiflora plant were analysed by determining the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC), nitric oxide (NO) production stimulation, infection rates (IR) and multiplication index (MI). Cytotoxicity of these plant extracts was also assessed. The MIC levels of water and methanolic plant extracts, amphotericin B and pentostam were 2000 µg/ml, 1000 µg/ml, 125µg/ml and 250 µg/ml respectively against Leishamnia major promastigotes. This study revealed that water and methanolic plant extracts significantly inhibited the growth of Leishmania parasites (P ? 0.05) as compared to amphotericin B with respect to the parasite infection rates and MIC levels. The IC50 for the water and methanolic plant extracts was 279.488 µg/ml and 42.824 µg/ml respectively. The elevated inhibitory activity observed in this study against Leishmania major parasites provides evidence and basis for their potential use as therapeutic agents against leishmaniasis. Key words: Aloe secundiflora, Plant extracts, Leishmania major and Minimum Inhibition Concentrations (MIC

Knowledge, practices and perceptions of trachoma and its control among communities of Narok County, Kenya

© 2016 The Author(s). Background: Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world. It is commonly found in cultural groups with poor hygiene. Trachoma control includes Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environmental Improvement (SAFE). Potentially blinding and active trachoma are monitored using trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults and trachoma inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years respectively. A cross-sectional study to assess the knowledge, practices and perceptions of trachoma and its control was conducted in the endemic communities in Narok County. Methods: Qualitative methods were used for data collection. Using purposive sampling, 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) with single sex adult and young men and women groups of homogenous characteristics, 12 key informant interviews with opinion leaders and 5 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with trichiasis patients and 6 with persons who have undergone trichiasis surgery were conducted. Data was audio recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed manually by study themes; knowledge, practices and perceptions of trachoma transmission, infection signs, prevention and control. Results: Majority of the community members had knowledge of trachoma and its transmission. The practices that contributed to transmission of infection included: failure to wash faces and bathe regularly, sharing of water basins and towels for face washing, traditional methods of trachoma treatment and dirty household environment. Due to socio-cultural perceptions, toilets were unacceptable and use of bushes for human waste disposal was common. Poor perceptions on disease susceptibility, flies on children's faces, latrine ownership and usage and separation of human and animal dwellings also played a role in the transmission of trachoma. Fear of loss of sight during surgery was a deterrent to its uptake and a desire to be able to see and take care of domestic animals promoted surgery uptake. Majority of the community members were appreciative of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) though side effect such as vomiting and diarrhoea were reported. Conclusion: Poor practices and related socio-cultural perceptions are important risk factors in sustaining trachoma infection and transmission. Community members require health education for behavior change and awareness creation about surgery, MDA and its potential side effects for elimination of trachoma in Narok County, Kenya. Trial registration: KEMRI SSC 2785. Registered 2 September 2014

Webuye Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems Baseline Survey of Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Intestinal Protozoa among Children up to Five Years

Background. The intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are globally endemic, and they constitute the greatest cause of illness and disease worldwide. Transmission of IPIs occurs as a result of inadequate sanitation, inaccessibility to potable water, and poor living conditions. Objectives. To determine a baseline prevalence of IPIs among children of five years and below at Webuye Health and Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) area in western Kenya. Methods. Cross-sectional survey was used to collect data. Direct saline and formal-ether-sedimentation techniques were used to process the specimens. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as Chi-square statistics were used to analyze the data. Results. A prevalence of 52.3% (417/797) was obtained with the male child slightly more infected than the female (53.5% versus 51%), but this was not significant ( 2 = 0.482, > 0.05). Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica were the most common pathogenic IPIs with a prevalence of 26.1% (208/797) and 11.2% (89/797), respectively. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) were less common with a prevalence of 4.8% (38/797), 3.8% (30/797), and 0.13% (1/797) for Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworms, and Trichuris trichiura, respectively. Conclusions. Giardia lamblia and E. histolytica were the most prevalent pathogenic intestinal protozoa, while STHs were less common. Community-based health promotion techniques are recommended for controlling these parasites