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Clean production and Employment Outcomes: An Eco-efficiency Firm Level Analysis in Kenya
No full textThis study explores the correlation between environmental performance and employment outcomes in the manufacturing industry in Kenya. Specifically, the study seeks to achieve three primary goals: first, to examine the impact of eco-efficiency on various types of employment outcomes; second, to examine the effect of adopting an Environmental Management System (EMS) on employment outcomes; and lastly, to compare the impact of using either a commitment-based approach (proactive firms) or a compliance-based approach (reactive firms) on different types of employment outcomes. The study uses a 2-year panel data of Kenya's manufacturing firms from the Regional Programme Enterprise Development (RPED). Analysis is done using a pooled panel regression model that utilizes eco-efficiency scores as explanatory variables and employment outcomes as the dependent variable. The study findings indicate that by improving eco-efficiency in resource allocation, there is a potential gain in employment outcomes – though this gain varies depending on the type of employment outcome being considered. Moreover, proactive firms were found to perform better than reactive firms in employment outcomes, implying that adopting a commitment-based approach towards environmental management is more beneficial for manufacturing firms in terms of bolstering their employment outcomes
Synthesis, characterization, antibacterial and toxicological studies of heteroleptic acetylsalicylic acid and anthranilic acid metal complexes
No full textThis present study aims at evauating the antibacterial, analgesic, and toxicologic al activities of new metals [Ni(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Zn(II)] complexes deri v ed from acetylsalicylic acid and anthranilic acid via refluxing method in a 1:1:1 stoichiometry ratio. Characterization was executed using melting point, molar conductance, infrared and ultraviolet visible spectroscopies . The antibacterial activities were investigated by the agar well diffusion method. The toxicological effect of the test compounds in serum and kidney homogenates of Wister rats was investigated. The screened complexes showed better antibacterial activities than their free ligands. The result of the analysis indicated that acetylsalicylic acid possessed a good significant analgesic activity, while toxicological studies confirmed that the complexes were toxic at the level of administered dosage
Mild steel corrosion inhibition in acidic media using Sarcocephalus latifolius leaves extract
No full textAt temperatures between 303K and 323K, three different concentrations of the methanol extract from Sarcocephalus latifolius were utilized to inhibit the corrosion of mild steel coupons in a 0.9M HCl solution. The plant extract adhered to the surface of mild steel metal under the investigated conditions, according to surface characterization techniques including SEM and FT-IR. It has been proven through weight loss trials in this work that the plant extract's ability to suppress growth improves with both an increase in its concentration and a decrease in temperature. The corrosion and inhibition processes were presented as being viable and spontaneous using thermodynamic parameters. Additionally, it was determined that the inhibitory process followed first order kinetics, with half life values rising as plant extract concentration did. Calculated activation energy values and isotherm characteristics demonstrated that the process adheres to the physical adsorption mechanism
Oral administration of an integrative supplement (CogniCaps®) improves cognitive scores in aging dogs with canine cognitive dysfunction for at least two months: An open-label investigation in 10 dogs
Full text linkBackground: Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), the dog analog of human Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that presents many treatment challenges. There are few effective drugs with acceptable side effects for AD/CCD, which has prompted investigation into non-drug options, collectively termed nutraceuticals. Nutraceutical supplements are conceptually divided into conventional (Western) and non-conventional (Eastern) ingredients. Many of these individual supplements have shown in vitro and/or in vivo efficacy in ameliorating neuronal damage in rodent models, and some have demonstrated positive effects on cognition in rodent models and clinical trials in dogs and humans with cognitive impairment.Aim: The purpose of this open-label clinical trial was to investigate the effect of an oral integrative (combination of conventional nutraceuticals and Chinese herbals) supplement (CogniCaps®) on cognitive scores when administered to aging dogs with CCD over a 2-month period.Methods: Ten aging (>9-year-old) dogs with moderate (16–33) cognitive scores were recruited and administered oral CogniCaps® for two months. No additional drugs or nutraceuticals directed at improving cognitive function were allowed during the study period. Baseline cognitive scores were compared with those procured at 30 and 60 days. Cognitive scores for baseline, 30- and 60-days post-treatment were compared.Results: Cognitive scores improved at 30 days (38% reduction) and 60 days (41% reduction) post-treatment (p = 0.002). Scores did not differ between 30- and 60-day assessments (p = 0.7).Conclusion: The results of this small preliminary study suggest that the integrative supplement CogniCaps® might improve cognitive scores in dogs with CCD within the first 30 days of administration and that this improvement is sustained at 60-day follow up
Identification of reference genes for expression studies in the liver and spleen of laying hens housed in cage and cage-free systems
Full text linkBackground: The liver and spleen play a pivotal role in metabolism and immune response. During stress, neuroendocrine response induces changes in gene expression, and its assessment demands the validation of the stability of the reference genes to perform relative gene expression experiments.Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the expression stability of four reference genes (GAPDH, ACTB, RNA18S, and HMBS) in the liver and spleen tissues from laying hens housed in a conventional cage (CC) and cage-free (CF) egg production systems.Methods: Liver and spleen from Hy-Line Brown hens housed in CC and CF egg production systems were used. mRNA transcript levels were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and the gene expression stability was evaluated using geNorm, BestKeeper, and NormFinder algorithms.Results: The most stable gene from liver tissue was ACTB in CC, CF, and CC-CF groups (overall data). In the spleen, the most stable genes were GAPDH (CC), HMBS (CF), and ACTB (CC-CF).Conclusion: The ACTB gene was the most stable gene in the liver, and GAPDH and HMBS genes were stable in spleen tissues that could be used for the normalization in qPCR experiments performed in liver and spleen tissues of laying hens housed CC and CF production systems
Factors Associated with Severe Malaria among Patients under Reference to District Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rusizi District, Rwanda
Full text linkBackgroundSevere malaria is a key global public health issue, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for over 80% of global malaria deaths. Rwanda has experienced about 11-fold annual increase in reported malaria cases since 2012 to 2016. Severe malaria accounted for 13,092 cases in 2015 to 17,248 cases in 2016.Objective
To determine factors associated with severe malaria among patients under reference to Gihundwe and Mibilizi Hospitals.MethodsA cross-sectional study that included 228 febrile patients diagnosed with malaria at Gihundwe and Mibilizi Hospitals was conducted. Data were collected from patients’ files. Logistic regressions were computed to establish determinants of severe anemia. Odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence level (CI) and p-value were reported.ResultsThe proportion of severe malaria was 64.03%. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that patients under five years (aOR = 8.169; 95%CI = 3.646-18.304); being males (aOR = 2.539; 95%CI = 1.299-4.965); farmers (aOR = 2.757; 95%CI = 1.339-5.678) and limited access to health facilities (aOR = 2.740: 95%CI = 1.038-7.232) were the main factors associated with severe malaria.ConclusionSevere malaria was high with various associated factors. There is a need to strengthen malaria control and prevention interventions for young children, men and farmers. Furthermore, beside public health interventions, health facilities should be accessible to people residing in malaria endemic areas.Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2023;6(1):36-4
Accelerated Histogram of Oriented Gradients for Human Detection
Full text linkHistogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) is an object detection algorithm used to detect people from an image. It involves features extraction called ‘HOG descriptor’ which are used to identify a person in the image. Several operations are involved in the feature extraction process. Hence performing numerous computations in order to obtain HOG descriptors takes some considerable amount of time. This slow computation speed limits HOG’s application in real-time systems. This paper investigates HOG with a view to improve its speed, modify the feature computation process to develop a faster version of HOG and finally evaluate against existing HOG. The technique of asymptotic notation in particular Big-O notation was applied to each stage of HOG and the complexity for the binning stage was modified. This results in a HOG version with a reduced complexity from n4 to n2 thereby having an improved speed as compared to the original HOG
Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Atlantic Horse Mackerel (Trachurus Trachurus) from Cold Storage in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria
Full text linkHeavy metals can contaminate fish and water which in turn present a risk to humans. The dearth of eco-toxicological data on the heavy metal content in Trachurus trachurus particularly from cold storage in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria, warranted this research, which was achieved via Atomic Absorption Spectrometric technique. The mean concentrations (mg/kg, wet weight) of heavy metals in T. trachurus by cold storage point ranged from 0.242 for Cd at Uselu to 52.98 for Zn also at Uselu with significant differences (p<0.05) in the mean concentrations of heavy metals in T. trachurus between cold storage points. The total toxicity of mixtures (TTM) value for heavy metals was 0.845 while the estimated annual intake (EAI) and estimated daily intake (EDI) of heavy metals peaked for Zn with values of 1.345 mg/person/year and 0.00368 mg/person/day respectively. The target hazard quotient (THQ) values ranged from 0.0000276 (Cd) to 0.0000135 (Zn) with a total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) value of 0.0000267 while the quota for heavy metals in T. trachurus ranged from 0.36% for Cd to 87.80% for Zn. The total heavy metal burden in T. trachurus by cold storage point ranged from 46.95 mg/kg at Oliha to 54.37 mg/kg at Uselu. T. trachurus from cold storage were safe for human consumption with regard to heavy metal levels as International thresholds for heavy metals in fish were not surpassed. It was proffered that continuous monitoring of the heavy metal status of this fish species is maintained in order to protect the health of potential consumers
Evaluation, computation and coding of iterative function using recursive approach
Full text linkIteration and recursion are very pivotal concepts in understanding the logic and building blocks of all computer programs across all programming paradigms. Although the theory of iteration together with the development and implementation of iterative algorithm is easy to grasp, that of recursion remains elusive to programmers especially novice programmers. In this research, functions composition is applied in the explanation of iteration using recursion. The method demonstrates an easy and elaborate way of writing iterative programs using recursion by identifying the significant variables in both constructs. Function composition is used to write the recursive function, the recursive variable is identified as a variable that converges towards the base case, also the base case is also identified as being the terminating point of the function call else the function call runs and fill the stack memory causing stack overflow. The recursive part is the loop update and base case the termination condition in iterative programs. The results obtained simplifies how to write iterative codes using recursion
Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Job Performance among Faculty in Selected Faith-Based Universities in Haiti
Full text linkThis study sought to establish the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance among faculty in selected faith-based universities in Haiti. The study employed a quantitative method using the descriptive-correlational design. The population for this study was constituted by 200 faculty members from three most prominent faith-based universities in Haiti. Due to their limited number, the whole population was involved in the study by filling a questionnaire and data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The study established a moderate level of job satisfaction and job performance among faculty members in selected faith-based universities. Job performance is positively correlated with job satisfaction and the best predictors of job performance include promotion, benefits, nature of work, communication and supervision. The study recommended that since pay, promotion, benefits and contingent rewards are positively correlated with job performance, administrators should strive to improve salary, promote those who are qualified and provide more possible benefits and contingent rewards in the workplace so as to motivate employees to perform better. Furthermore, administrators need to provide faculty with pathways to being promoted. They should also improve working conditions, communication modalities and supervision since all of these variables are important predictors for job performance