Lack of capital has been identified as one of the constraints faced by small scale farmers. The aim of this research work was to examine the effect of agricultural credit on agricultural production among small scale farmers with specific objectives to; (1) determine its effect on farm size and (2) evaluate the quantity of inputs and outputs among small scale farmers. Structured questionnaires were administered to 136 farmers, who had been selected using the stratified random sampling technique, and the data obtained were summarized into percentages. Regression analysis was adopted to assess the impacts of socio-economic factors on loan size among farmers, while Cobb-Douglas Production Function Analysis (CDPFA) was used to test the relationship between key independent variables such as loan amount, farm size, inputs and farm output as the dependent variable. The analysis revealed a significantly high (R2= 0.922) degree of relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables; gender, age, education, family size, farm size, farming experience. The Adjusted coefficient (R2 = 0.918) revealed that 91.8 % variation in the size of loan explained by the changes in variables. The F-test significantly showed the joint effect of variables in the model on the size of loan. And on the hypothesis two, the independent variables; loan amount, farm size, and inputs explained the variation in the total value of output of the farmers. The study therefore shows that access to agricultural credit impacts positively on agricultural production. Government and the organized private sector should regularly and timely offer credit to farmers.

Management behaviour of women managers in Nigeria is base on agenda. It is truly believed, that management behaviour is expected of all manager be they male or female. Previous seminars on women in management major factors against more woman getting into management positions plus the problems they face on the job identified and discussed. The barriers to, reaching management position are both internal and external. These include socialization process, sex stereotyping process of jobs, education, family responsibilities, societal attitudes. Also a lot of constraints on job performance, have been identified as, lack of management training, lack of the need/will to manage, lack of the need for power, lack of the relevant experience, non-membership use of informal professional networks and lack of support by husbands. To acquire the right attitude and behavior consistent with effect with management, women ought to be aware of their constraints and struggle# to overcome them before they can be accepted by men in leadership roles.

In this work, the exp(−Φ(η)) -expansion method is applied to solve the (2+1)-dimensional ZK-BBM equation. The traveling wave solutions are expressed in terms of the exponential functions, the hyperbolic functions, the trigonometric functions and the rational functions. The procedure is simple, direct and constructive without the help of a computer algebra system. The exp(−Φ(η)) -expansion method will be used in further works to establish more entirely new solutions for other kinds of nonlinear evolution equations arising in mathematical physics and engineering.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the epidemiology, and outcome of abdominoplasty at four different plastic units in Khartoum state. Methods: It is a descriptive, prospective, cross sectional study conducted at Soba University Hospital, Khartoum Teaching Hospital, Omdurman Teaching Hospital and Omdurman Military Hospital in the period between 1st of October 2012 to 1st October 2013 . Forty four abdominoplasty procedures performed were included. Follow-up period was for one year from time of surgery. Variables studied included patient characteristics, clinical presentation, indications, complications, and patient satisfaction with the final result. Results: Most of the patients (95%) were female, 76% of them were married. Mean age at the time of operation was 45 ± years. The youngest patient was 28 years old and the oldst was 71 years old .The majority of patients (72.7%) were from central Sudan. Average body mass index (BMI) was 25kg/m2. Seventy-sevent percent of patients (34 patients) presented with hernia as the main complain. 79% were seeking cosmetic outcome. 54% had pain and 50% reported interference with acivities. The commonest type of procedure performed was mini abdominoplasty in ( 37) of patients followed by full abominoplasty in (6) patients and one patient had reverse abdominoplasty. The most common postoperative complications were decreased skin sensation (25%), infection (22.7%), seroma (9.1%), and cutaneous necrosis (6.8%). Veinous thromboembolisms (VTE) had not been reported in the studied group patients. Previous surgery and the comorbidity increased incidence of complications. Minor wound complications occurred in young age group(66.6% vs.33.4%), while major in elder. No death encountered. Average duration of hospital stay was four days. Fourty three patients feel satisfied by the results of surgery. Conclusions: Abdominoplasty is a safe procedure in experienced hands. Selected patients with huge ventral hernia should be offered the p

The study examined the economics of catfish production in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained from 120 catfish farmers in Akwa Ibom State using multi-stage sampling procedure, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and budgeting technique. Results show that 36.7% of the respondents were aged between 41-50 years with 85.8% being married and 80% having formal education. The costs and returns analysis indicates that the fixed cost constituted 65.37% of the total cost of production while the variable cost constituted 34.63%. The total cost of catfish production was N37, 845,240.00; the total revenue was N56, 385,000.00 and the net income was N18, 539,760.00 indicating that catfish production was profitable in the study area. Findings also reveal that high cost of feeds, high cost of pond construction and lack of capital/finance were the most severe constraints to catfish farming in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It is recommended that prices of feeds and access to feeds be regulated by the State Government in order to reduce the problems of high cost of feeds/inadequate supply of feeds to catfish farmers in the State.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship among education, environmental pollution and economic growth in Bangladesh. Perhaps this is the first research done using time series data for 37 years from 1974-2010. Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) techniques is applied to establish the long run and short run relationships among the variables in the model. Using Johansen cointegration method, the empirical findings indicate that there exists long run cointegration among the variables. Unit root test were performed to test the statistical properties of the data used in variables. Results show strong positive relationship among environmental pollution, education expenditure and economic growth. The results of this study will help the environmental authorities to understand the effects of economic growth for degrading the environmental quality and manage the environmental pollution by creating awareness through education.

Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to establish the elements of human capital that are influential in steering the performance of medium and large manufacturing firms (MLMC). Design/methodology /approach: A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey on 359 MLMCs (256 Medium firms and 103 large manufacturing companies) and 897 respondents that are representative of 397 MLMCs and 1,087 respondents. Correlation and regression analysis were conducted to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses. Findings- It was established that human capital elements (employee educational level, experience and motivation) are associated with MLMC`s performance. Furthermore, human capital as a whole accounts for 55.9 percent of the variation in performance Uganda`s MLMCs. Research limitations/implications- Only a single research methodological approach was employed, future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate. Multiple respondents in MLMCs (CEO, finance manager and human & administrative manager and senior employees) were studied neglecting others. Furthermore, the study used the crosssectional approach- a longitudinal approach should be employed to study the trend over years. Finally, human capital was studied and by the virtual of the results, there are other factors that contribute to MLMC`s performance that were not part of this study. Practical implications- There is need to intensify initiatives to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of human capital, Select appropriate elements that includes employee education, experience and motivation in order to have quality workforce to establish and grow MLMCs, provide employment, be competitive and contribute to countries GDP. Originality/value- This is the first paper in sub-Saharan Africa to test empirically the relationship between human capital and performance of MLMCs in the Ugandan context.

Wetlands in Eastern Africa present an important and so far largely undocumented potential in terms of area and agricultural production. This potential is linked to the availability of water and the quality of soil resources. This study characterized representative wetlands and categorizes their diversity based on soil, hydrology and socio-economic attributes. A multidisciplinary regional assessment of more than 50 wetlands and over 150 wetland subunits was conducted in 2008 and 2009 in four regions of East Africa. The wetlands were located within the major landscape units comprising (i) the floodplain in the semi-arid highlands; (ii) floodplain in the sub-humid lowlands; (iii) inland valley swamps in the humid mid-hills; and (iv) inland valley swamps in the humid highlands. Based on multivariate statistical approaches of their biophysical and socio-economic attributes, the wetlands were categorized into five cluster groups which were further differentiated based on land use intensity, soil parameters and hydrology. These cluster groups included (i) permanently flooded wetlands under extensive use with moderate C and N contents; (ii) permanently flooded swamps located in remote areas that were largely unused and had high contents in C and N; (iii) seasonally flooded wetlands under medium use intensity for upland food crops and rainfed lowland rice and which had low to moderate soil nutrient and C contents; (iv) completely drained wetlands under intensive subsistence crop production and low soil N and P; and (v) seasonally wet valley bottoms under permanent and year-round horticultural production and high input use hence high C and N contents. Thus, the permanently flooded wetland soils and those under subsistence food production with organic inputs had more C and N than seasonally flooded, completely drained and intensively cultivated wetlands.

In pursuit of improving the safety of automobile, many companies have invested in developing various systems. Engine Immobiliser is one such innovation. Eventually, the RFID based Engine Immobiliser is becoming prone to getting hacked which compromises the very purpose of the device. Ethical hacker Karsten Nohl of Security Research Labs was able to crack the Hitag 2 car immobiliser algorithm used by Dutch firm NXP Semiconductors in around six hours. The need of the hour is to design an infallible system which enhances the security of the vehicle. We propose a system with a Face Recognition System which replaces the RFID based system. Additionally, a Passive Defense System (PDS) is also implemented that further reduces the chances of vehicle theft. The system also has a Driving Assistant Module (DAM) to help the driver drive in reduced visibility conditions like torrential rainfall, dense fog and the like. Another addition is the alcohol detection which is useful in avoiding drunken driving.

The bio-degradable starch interaction with various surfactants has been studied for the investigation of ability and cleansing activity of starch-surfactant-water system. The surfactants investigated were sodium dodecyl sulphate, sodium octanoate, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide and tween-20. The DS of starch is 0.8 and the concentrations of starch were varied from 0.01 to 1% wt/v. The effect of mixing on the micellisation of the ternary surfactant solutions can be described to a good approximation by taking into account only the effects of the volume difference between the hydrocarbon chains length. Mixed micelle formation with starch depends on the chain-length difference in the same way as for starchsurfactant micelle. Aggregation of the mixed micelles of the surfactants and the polymer coils produced a gel-like complex phase. The water content of the gel phase in equilibrium with aqueous solution increased when the chain-length difference between the two surfactants increased. The more surfaceactive component is strongly enriched in the polymer complexes of gels and it showed maximum cleansing activity of respective detergent. From the experimental results of viscosity, surface tension and other physical properties it indicated that adding starch in detergent as soap filler these properties have changed which also indicated the more cleansing activity of polymeric starch (potato) were cheaply available indoor market in Bangladesh. Biodegradable starch interactions with ionic surfactants by the way of H-bond formation to ensure complexation and reduced the harmful criteria of living organism also to ensure maximum protection of our green chemistry. The formed complexes were analyzed and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD and SEM instrument. Some of the complexes exhibited excellent emulsifying efficiency and surfactants performance properties with this biodegradable starch polymer.