International Journal of Applied Science and Research

S.D. Iboroma*, C.C. Obunwo and G.A. Cookey

Department of Chemistry, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT:The sedimentation rate of barium phosphate (BP) precipitate in aqueous medium has been determined with respect to barium-to-phosphate (Ba:P) volume ratio, concentration of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC), temperature and stirring, using the batch-wise ‘Simultaneous Ion Variation Method’. The results show that BP precipitate sedimentation is strongly influenced by stirring and high temperature conditions but weakly affected by Na-CMC biopolymer. It is also influenced by Ba:P volume ratio if low volume of barium or phosphate ions is mixed with high volume of phosphate or barium ions. Sedimentation rate of BP precipitate increased by 79% between first and second stirrings, 179% between 30 and 50oC rise in temperature and 42% between 200 and 2000ppm Na-CMC addition. BP precipitate formed at 0.1, 0.7 and 0.8 Ba:P volume fractions produced high sedimentation rate values (4.46cmminute-1, 4.49 cmminute-1 and 4.96 cmminute-1) while other volume fractions (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) gave lower values (2.46 cmminute-1, 3.74 cmminute-1, 1.96 cmminute-1, 1.90 cmminute-1 and 2.42 cmminute-1). These results have been discussed based on change in amount of particles formed, interactions between particles in suspension and with aqueous medium.

Keyword: barium phosphate, stirring, temperature, Ba:P volume ratio, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, sedimentation rate.

Md Abdul Bakir Bhuiyan1, Dr. Shahroz Mahean Haque2, Dr. Binay Kumar Chakraborty3, Parvez Chowdhury4 and *Md. Moshiur Rahman5

1. Department of Fisheries Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202. 2. Professor, Department of Fisheries Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202. 3. Project Director, Department of Fisheries, Bangladesh. 4. Scientific officer, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Headquarters, Mymensingh-2201. 5. Senior Scientific officer, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Freshwater Station, Mymensingh-2201.

ABSTRACT:Halda is the only river in Bangladesh where major Indian carps spawn naturally which makes this river an irreplaceable heritage of this country. For this reason a study was conducted to observe present status of Indian major carp breeding and collection management procedures of carp spawn and fry from the Halda River along with marketing process and economic conditions of the fishermen and other people related with it during March 2015 to July 2015. Data were collected through direct interview. During this study it was found that in spawn and fry marketing system of River Halda, a number of intermediaries were involved actively for selling eggs, spawn and fry. Four different types of marketing systems were identified in Halda fry distribution fry seller to final consumer. Fertilized Halda eggs were collected and hatched by the local people using their indigenous method. Those egg collectors sold per kg of spawn and fry at a cost of 50,000-80,000 Tk. to the hatchery owners. Again, hatchery owners sold each and every fry at a cost of 5.0-6.0 Tk. to the local fish farmers. Yearly survey information about Halda River’s egg, spawn and fry collection in RaozanUpazila showed that there were ups and downs in the production rate of Halda fry during last 4-5 years. The production status in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 year was 61.72 kg, 302.65 kg, 80.9 kg, 178.38 kg and 38.42 kg respectively and these types of ups and down indicated a major concerning issue. Different types of transports were used to carry spawn and fry of Halda River. Investigation was also made to find out the economic condition, average income during breeding season and off season, education background, family status etc. of the local people of Halda region involving themselves in fry collecting and marketing process. This study recommends that the habitat of Indian major carp with ecological factors and protection of the breeding ground is needed to ensure availability of eggs, spawn and fry in the Halda River.

Keyword: Halda river, Carp Spawn and fry, Marketing channel, Economic Condition.

*Md. Maidul Husain1, Biplab Biswas1, Anjuman Ara1 and Asmaul Husna1

(1) Department of Statistics, Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman Science and Technology University, Gopalganj-8100, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT:Total number of child death under 5 years is an indicator of child health and overalldevelopment of a country, as it reflects the socio-economic condition of a country where children are growing up. Despite substantial progress in reducing child mortality over the world, remains child death under 5 years urgent concern for many developing country specially in Bangladesh is 32 per 1,000 live births, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, WHO, the UN Population Division, and the World Bank Group. There are many factors contributed to child mortality such as mother education, place of residence, awareness of caring child, maternal age of mother etc. In this paper we have modeled the number of under-5 children deaths experienced by a mother to the associated available factors suggested by the literature. In BDHS 2014 survey, nearly 84.83% of the mothers never experienced any under-5 child death. That means, our response variable is zero-inflated, which motivated us to fit Zero inflated negative Binomial (ZINB) models to the data. ZINB combines of binomial distribution and logit distribution, model has statistical advantage to modeling over dispersion and the excess no. zeros in the data set. The empirical results of this study support the hypothesis about children deaths under 5 years age in a household.

Keyword: Child Mortality, Count Model, ZINB, BDHS

Nkamigbo, D.C1*. and Isibor, A. C2

1Department of Agric Tech, Anambra State Polytechnic Mgbakwu. 2Department of Agric Economics and Extension, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

ABSTRACT:The study examined the economic efficiency and profitability of watermelon marketing in Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described profitability, economic efficiency and constraints to watermelon marketing. Multistage sampling procedure which involved purposive and random sampling methods was used to select 240 marketers (120 wholesalers and 120 retailers). Data were collected from primary source using structured questionnaire and were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, enterprise budgeting and Sherpherd-Futrell techniques. From the result, profitability indicators such as net marketing income, return on investment, net return on investment and coefficient of marketing efficiency of N 85, 809, 01.6 and N 24, 407,78.7; 1.11 and 1.37; 0.11 and 0.37; 89.46 and 72.57 for wholesalers and retailers respectively, proved the business profitable at both levels. The implication of the net return on investment figures is that the wholesalers and retailers respectively return 11 kobo and 37 kobo for every 1 Naira invested in the business. Findings also indicated marketing efficiency levels of 89.46% for wholesalers and 72.57% for retailers implying that the retailers were more efficient in the marketing of watermelon than the wholesalers. Findings on the constraints showed that high cost of products and high cost of transportation militated against watermelon marketing on the wholesale level whereas high cost of produce and spoilage of fruits (perishability) were noticed on the retail levels. Government should reconstruct dilapidated roads, construct new railways, expand water transport facilities, improve and modernize existing market infrastructural facilities. Watermelon marketers should form cooperative societies to enable them access government grants and loans to alleviate their financial challenges, improve their volume of trade and earn more income.

Keyword: Economic, Efficiency, Profitability, Watermelon

Gosbert T Msogoya1 & Dr Job A Chaula2

1Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI)-Ifakara Division of Crop Research, Program of Agricultural Engineering and Natural Resources Management, P/Bag, TARI-Ifakara 2Ardhi University School of Earth Science, Real Estate, informatics and Business (SERBI), Department of Computer Systems and Mathematics, P.O.BOX Dar es salaam

ABSTRACT:Loss of prime agriculture land, forest, bio-diversity, encroachment of protected areas and land degradation are among the emerging impacts of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) dynamics in Kilombero district. Owing to the agricultural and ecological of Kilombero district periodic quantification and prediction of LULC change is vital for sustainable monitoring of natural resources. GIS-based Landsat image classification for change detection and prediction of LULC dynamics, provide basis understand how land have evolved in relation to anthropogenic activities hence guiding in establishing bylaws, policy, regulatory actions and activities for managing the environment. The overall objective was to characterize and predict LULC dynamics using Land sat image classification and GIS based LULC models Cellular Automata-Markov (CA-Markov) model in Kilombero district of Tanzania. The Landsat data were downloaded from the USGS website and classified using ERDAS Imagine software while adopting Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) algorithm. LULC composition in year 1985 were 553,217; 136,935; 9,596; 243,763, 346,811 and 70, 466 ha of forest, bush lands, impervious, agriculture, wetlands, water bodies LULC category. In year 1996 there was about 517492; 279050; 120982; 181243; 217996 and 44025 ha of forest, bush lands, impervious, agriculture, wetlands, water bodies LULC category, correspondingly. In year 2018 the composition of LULC were 303,923; 506,058; 106,296; 365, 954; 70399 and 8158 ha of forest, bush lands, impervious, agriculture, wetlands, water bodies, respectively. Land Change Modeler (LCM) and Cross Tab tool were used for quantifying the LULC changes and its spatial location. Forest land cover decreased from 797438 ha to 517492 ha in year 1985-1996 while contributing about 124548 to agriculture. In 1996-2007 forest increased to 517492 ha while in year 2007-2018 out of 524685 ha of forest only 202260 ha remained forest in year 2018. In year 1985-1996 agriculture land increased from 42856 to 181243 ha with high gains from forest, wetlands and bush lands with area of 124548, 22601, and 25213 ha, correspondingly. In year 2007-2018 out of 349591 ha of agriculture only 280006 ha remained agriculture in year 2018. While out of 1450421 ha of wetlands only 38055 ha remained wetlands in year 2007-2018. CA-Markov model was used for predicting the LULC dynamics for year 2048. The first-order Markov probability was obtained using LULC map of year 1985-1996, 1996-2007 and 2007- 2018. In year 2007-2018 and 1996-2007 agriculture was most stable class remaining unchanged with the probability of 0.31 (31%) and 0.34 (34%), respectively. The chances of forest remaining forest was 0.4 (40%) and 0.4 (40%) in year 1985-1996, 1996-2007 and 2007-2018, respectively. The possibilities of water bodies to remain water bodies was about 0.07 (7%), 0.01 (1%) and 0.07 (7%) for year 1985- 1996, 1996-2007 and 2007-2018, correspondingly. In year 2048 a notable decline to about 241001 ha, (17.71%), 347000 ha (25.50%), 68731 ha (5.05%) and 4990 ha (0.37%) were recorded for forest, bush lands, wetlands and water bodies, correspondingly. Agriculture and impervious land cover will increase to 537000 ha (39.46%) and 162066 ha (11.91%), correspondingly. Wetlands and water bodies will be reduced to 68731ha (5.05%), 4990 ha (0.37%), correspondingly. Agro-forestry farming, mitigation options such AFOLU, LULU, GEOGLAM and GEOBIOM highly recommended to reverse the current and future deforestation, wetlands and water bodies’ losses in Kilombero district.

Keyword: Image classification; change detection; prediction of LULC dynamic

Peter Chihwai, Zeleke Worku and Vinessa Naidoo

Tshwane University of Technology Business School

ABSTRACT:The study had two purposes. Firstly, the thesis examined the extant literature pertaining to SERVQUAL analysis (Parasuraman, Berry & Zeithml, 1988) , customer satisfaction and the South African safari tourism industry with a view to propose additional elements to SERVQUAL analysis. Secondly, the soundness and rigour of the SAFSERV scale was tested. Data was gathered by use of a structured, pre-tested and validated questionnaire on factors that affect the quality of safari game-viewing and accommodation services that are provided to tourists from five different continents and countries namely South Africa, United States of America, Britain, Australia and China. The sample size of the study was equal to n=625 tourists. Stratified random sampling was used as a sampling technique. Examples of variables on which data was gathered are as follows: reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, accessibility, price, authenticity, communication, corporate image, safety and security, transparency, hygiene, climatic conditions, attitude, tourists’ personality, tourists’ knowledge, tourists’ past experience, motivation, eco tangibles, level of education, and income. Data analyses was performed by using cross-tab analyses, SAFSERV analysis based on 21 dimensions and 121 items, factor analysis, Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), and logit analysis. The study was designed in order to test the degree to which the 21 dimensions and 121 items of SAFSERV were helpful in accounting for service quality in the South African safari tourism industry. The results showed that more variables besides the original five dimensions of service quality propounded by the above authors, could be used for measuring service quality in the South African safari tourism and game viewing industry. The study also rigorously interrogated later versions of the adapted SERVQUAL model such as Service Performance by Cronin and Taylor (1992). The results showed that such models were inadequate based on a thorough review of the relevant literature and empirical results estimated from data analyses. The results showed that service quality measurement based on the original five dimensions of service quality (reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness) was not a reliable estimator of the degree of satisfaction of tourists in the South African game viewing context. The study found that the degree of satisfaction of tourists in a game viewing context cannot be restricted to the original five dimensions alone. The study found that there was a statistically significant difference between expected and perceived service quality at Kruger National Park, and that employees and managers working at Kruger National Park do not always satisfy and meet the service quality expectations of the tourists. The study showed that the SAFSERV model is more comprehensive and appropriate as a model for measuring the degree of satisfaction of tourists interested in safari tourism and game viewing. The SAFSERV model could also be used by managers and marketers as a toolkit for branding and marketing services and related products in a safari tourism and game viewing context. The study showed that the SAFSERV model consisting of 21 dimensions and 121 items was much more robust and useful in comparison with the classic SERVQUAL model consisting of 5 dimensions and 22 items for measuring the degree of satisfaction of tourists interested in safari tourism and game viewing. Results obtained from the study showed that the degree of satisfaction of customers with the quality of services provided to them was significantly influenced by 3 predictor variables. These predictor variables were previous safari experience, availability of all animals of interest, and transparency between service provider and visitors, in a decreasing order of strength. The degree of satisfaction of tourists with the quality of services provided to them at Kruger National Park was assessed by using a composite index developed by Dolnicar, Coltman and Sharma (2015) for conducting a similar study. The results showed that about 85% of the 625 visitors who were selected for the study were satisfied with the quality of services provided to them by employees of Kruger National Park, whereas about 15% of them were not satisfied with the quality of services provided to them by the standards of Dolnicar, Coltman and Sharma International Journal of Applied Science and Research 55 www.ijasr.org Copyright © 2019 IJASR All rights reserved (2015). The results showed that 112 of the 121 gap scores used for SAFSERV analysis were significant at the 5% level of significance. Only 9 of the 121 gap scores obtained from data analyses were insignificant at the 5% level of significance. The conclusion drawn from the study was that SAFSERV model is the most appropriate model or scale to measure service quality in wildlife viewing context. All the 121 items on SAFSERV achieved coefficients of more than seventy five (75) percent which proves their validity and reliability to measure service quality in the game viewing environment. There are three (3) predictors of tourists’ of tourists’ satisfaction in a wildlife viewing context from the structural equation modelling applied in the study which are ‘previous safari experience, ‘availability of animals of interest’ and ‘transparency of services’ .112 significant gap scores of items on SAFSERV scale show disparity between expected and perceived values with services provided to tourists in Kruger National Park which shows that these items are useful in achieving tourists satisfaction in a wildlife viewing context. Eighty five (85) percent of tourists who visited Kruger National Park were satisfied with services provided whilst fifteen (15) percent of tourists were not. It is recommended that managers, marketers, and owners of game viewing sites apply the SASERV model in their search for tourists’ satisfaction in this environment. It is further recommended that management and marketers of Kruger National Park improve the services they provide to the tourists. It is recommended to consider the key predictors of tourists’ satisfaction by managers, owners and marketers of Kruger National park and similar game reserves and national parks throughout the world. It is recommended that each activity in tourism sector have its own peculiar service quality scale to accurately measure service quality and customer satisfaction in that particular setting to avoid generalizing measuring service quality in different settings. Furthermore it is recommended that managers and employees of Kruger National Park be upskilled through training to improve their service delivery at all levels. Areas of future study are replicating this SAFSERV model in other national parks especially in Africa or even elsewhere in the world .Further areas of study emanating from the research will be to develop specific service quality measurement scales for specific different tourism activities, avoiding generalizations of service quality measurement in tourism fraternity. Areas of further research would be to develop specific service quality measurement scales or models for different activities in other service industry settings.

Keyword: Safari tourism, Tourists satisfaction, Service quality, SAFSERV model, Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), Factor analysis, Logit analysis

1Pascal MwinaMbatha, 2Patrick OumaNyabul, 3John Muhenda

1*Department of Philosophy, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya 2Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya 3Department of Philosophy, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

ABSTRACT:Human beings are classified under kingdom animalia together with the nonhuman animals. Then where does the difference in value of human life over that of the nonhuman animals originate from? We have always conceived that human beings have inherent value unlike with the nonhuman animals. Life is conceived to be sacred, simply because man is seen to be created in image and likeness of God. Such a conception is also solidifies considering humanity as the center of what exist in the universe. The existence of humanity is rendered purposiveness unlike that of the nonhuman animals. Singer argues for nonhuman as having right for life on basis of ability to experience pain. Using analytic method, the researcher wishes to strengthen Singer’s argument for nonhuman animals’ right to life by saying that: we should be affectionate to nonhuman animals’lives, just as we love our lives.

Keyword: Nonhuman, Animals, Right, Life.

P. O. Ogbuchukwu1, O.C. Okeke1, C.A. Ahiarakwem1, O.C. Ozotta2

1.Department of Geology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria 2.Harold Hamn School of Geology and Geological Engineering, Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States

ABSTRACT:Failures of engineering structures such as buildings and roads erected on expansive soils that occur extensively in the study area have been observed. Expansive soils are a clayey soil that swells or increases in volume when in contact with water but also shrinks or decreases in volume when the water is removed. This study was undertaken to evaluate the geotechnical properties of expansive soils in the study area Awka and environs, in relation to the failure of engineering structures (roads and buildings) in the areas. A total of eight (8) expansive soil samples were collected in different locations of the study area to represent soils derived from the different geologic Formations (Ameki Formation and Imo Shale); and their geotechnical properties determined in the laboratory. The geotechnical properties used in the study includes; grain size, Atterberg limit test, linear shrinkage, natural moisture content, free swell, specific gravity, dry and bulk density, compaction test and California Bearing Ratio test (soaked and unsoaked). The results of the tests indicate that the parent rock/geologic Formations from which the soils were derived influence the geotechnical properties of the soils. Soils derived from Imo Shale generally have higher values of liquid limit (LL), plasticity index(PI) and activity 68.40 to 77.40%, 37.45 to 46.45% and 1.31 to 1.55 respectively (at Ugwuoba, Akpugoeze, Ufuma, Umunze and Amansea) than similar values from Ameki Formation 63.10 to 66.80%, 33.55 to 34.05% and 0.98 to 1.16 (at Nibo, Nise and Enugwu –Agidi. On the basis of swelling potential classification, the expansive soils derived from Ameki Formation are classified as high while soils derived from Imo Shale are classified as very high but on the basis of degree of expansion classification, soils derived from both Ameki Formation and Imo Shale are classified as high using free swell values 53.00 to 71.00%, and critical using linear shrinkage (LS) 10.70 to 20.00%. On the Casagrande plasticity chart, all the studied soils plots as CH soils (fat clays). All the studied soils also have low CBR values (soaked CBR 1.00 to 3.00% and Unsoaked CBR 10.00 to 18.00%) and low compaction values using maximum dry density (1.49 to 1.75Mg/m3) , thus making them poor subgrade soils for high way construction and poor foundation soils (due to unacceptable Atterberg limit/ activity) for building construction.

Keyword: Expansive soils, swelling potential, Atterberg limit, degree of expansion, failure, strength characteristics

Sagni Bedassa Miressa

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Machinery Engineering(M.Sc.) Ambo UniversityInstitution of Technology, Ambo,Ethiopia

ABSTRACT:Potato is one of the major staple food items in Ethiopia. Potato planting in Ethiopia has been accomplished by traditional methods to planting the potato tubers on the field, which is labor intensive, time consuming and low yields of potato per hectare. This is due to lack of suitable row planting machine. In order to solve above problem, this study aimed todesign and development of automatic potato planter which capable of plantings potato tubers in rows at desired depth and spacing. The developed tractor drawn potato planter machine consists of trapezoidal shape hopper, cup feed seed metering mechanism, shovel type furrow opener, ground wheel and furrow covering device. The physical properties of five varieties of potato were studied. The sphericity result was 79.27 % to 86.6 %. The angles of repose of all varieties were nearly equal to 35.5º.The performances of tractor drawn potato planter were evaluated in the laboratory and field. Row to row spacing can be 60 cm and average depth of seed placement was found 12.18 cm as per potato agronomic requirement. The seed rate was calibrated and observed that 2,027.4 kg/ha which is laying in the acceptable range of 18 to 22 quintal/ha. The preliminary test conducted at speed of 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 km/h speed show good seed rate but 3.5 km/h speed gave better operation result than other operating speed. The theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency of the machine were 0.525 ha/hr, 0.351 ha/hr and 67.18 % respectively.The average germination of the metered seed was observed 88.54 % seeds. The cost of fabrication of the planter was estimated approximately 10,927.07 ETB Birr. The saving in Man-h/ha requirement and in terms of cost of planting were quite substantial and justified the use of planter.

Keyword: Potato Planter, Design, Speed, Seed rate,Fieldtest, Field efficiency, Performance.

Sagni Bedassa Miressa

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Machinery Engineering(M.Sc.) Ambo UniversityInstitution of Technology, Ambo,Ethiopia

ABSTRACT:Bioethanol fuel is mainly produced by the sugar fermentation process. Ethanol or ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) is a clear, colourless biodegradable liquid and is less toxic and causes less environmental pollution. It is a high-octane fuel and has replaced lead as octane enhancer in petrol. Mango peel waste collection and disposal creates a range of environmental problems in our environment. A considerable amount of waste ends up in open dumps or drainage system, threatening both surface water and ground water quality and causing flooding, which provides a breeding ground for diseases-carrying pests. Open air burning of waste, spontaneous combustion in landfills and incinerating plants that lack effective treatment for gas emissions are causing air pollution. Waste disposal has become one of the major concerns for our city juice house, Ambo, Addis Ababa etc. The objective of this study Production of bioethanol from mango peels using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and to determine the properties of bioethanol. The mango peels were crushed in to 3-5 cm sizes for easy drying and grinding. Sample drying was carried out in oven (600C for 72hr) to obtain easily crushable material. After drying, each of the samples was milled separately. The maximum particle sizes of the ground mixed sample were 2 mm. Laboratory experiments of 16 run were conducted to produce bio-ethanol mango peel wastes. The mill samples of 100gm sample were taken and mixed, then passed through steam pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation and distillation process respectively to produce bio-ethanol. The present study was done with objectives to produce bioethanol from mango peel which solves the waste disposal problem. In a country like Ethiopia, it is very hard to do proper disposal of wastes and thus generation of infectious diseases is rapid here. So, using these wastes not only provide a use of those wastes but also help to be beneficial economically. We recommended that government or other investor’s to recover this very valuable product as well as to contribute to the country in reducing the highly rising quantity of wastes. To conclude the recommendation, there is an urgent need for proper collection, documentation and assessment of fruit peel yields of mango well as their seasonal variation in our country.

Keyword: Mango, Bio-ethanol, Production, Fermentation.

1 Chukwuemeka Kelechi Iheme, 2 Patrick Ouma Nyabul

1 Department of Philosophy, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, 2 Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

ABSTRACT:Historically, speaking, there have been variations when it comes to the content of virtues. It could be said that the constant features of human life are indeed constant but the virtues that have been recognized at different times and by different cultures vary considerably. This variation of the meaning of virtue across the years has led to Ayn Rand as it were, to see selfishness as a virtue and not a vice. Rand contends that the meaning ascribed in popular usage to the word “selfishness” is not merely wrong, but it equally depicts a devastating intellectual “package deal”. And this she says is responsible for the arrested moral development of mankind compared to any other factor. For Rand, “selfishness” in common parlance, is a synonym of evil; it portrays the image of a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his or her own ends; who does not care for any living being; who engages only in the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment. However, Rand takes to the dictionary and says that the exact meaning of the word “selfishness” is concern with one’s interests. For her, this definition does not include a moral evaluation neither does it tell us whether concern with one’s own interests is good or evil. It does not equally tell us what constitutes man’s actual interests. It is based on this dictionary meaning of selfishness that Rand totally condemns and rejects altruism as a virtue. She says ethics of altruism has created the image of the brute, as its answer in order to make men accept two inhuman tenets namely: that concern with one’s own interests is evil, regardless of what these interests might be; and that the brute’s activities are in fact to one’s own interest, which altruism enjoins man to renounce for the sake of his neighbours. Rand contends that concern with one’s interests is the essence of a moral existence, and that one must be the beneficiary of one’s own actions. This is why she says objectivist ethics is a morality of a rational selfinterest or a rational selfishness. The researcher has employed critical method to bring out the shortcomings of Rand’s views.

Keyword: Virtue, Selfishness, Altruism, Objectivist Ethics

1.Donatus Nyaaba, 2. John Ayuekanbey Awaab, 3. DuwaraAweh Moses, 4.Tule Clement Kani

1.Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Department of Statistics, P. O. Box 767, Ghana -West Africa, 2.University for Development Studies, Department of Statistics, P. O. Box 1350, Ghana,-West Africa, 3.Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Department of Statistics, P. O. Box 767, Ghana -West Africa, 4.Zuarungu Senior High School, P. O. Box 133, Ghana - West Africa.

ABSTRACT:The study assessed water demand in WA municipality. The methodology employed time series technique using Box-Jenkins methodology to describe the water demand situation in WA municipality. The findings revealed that water demand are skewed to the left, indicating that most of the values are concentrated at the left of the mean and this means that majority of the values are below the average indicating high water demand in the WA municipality. The peakness demonstrated that a platykurtic has a flattened than normal peak and this suggests that most of the water demands are spread to the extreme sides of the curve also exhibiting high water demand in the WA Municipality . The findings also revealed that ARIMA (1, 1, 0) best fit the water demand in WA municipality. Based on the findings of the study the researcher can conclude that water demand in the WA municipality is likely to experience steady increase from 2019-2021. ARIMA (1, 1, 0) was identified to be the best fit model for water demand situation in the WA municipality. Nevertheless, quadratic trend model was noted to be the best model that described the water demand. The management of Ghana Water Company can resort from Donor countries to come to the aid of the company by donating money or equipment for the improvement of the water demand situation in the urban areas. The government of Ghana should allocate more resources to the water companies in order to acquire water plants so as to increase water distribution in the urban areas.

Keyword: Time Series Analysis, Linear trend model, Quadratic trend model, Autocorrelation Function, Partial Autocorrelation Function, Stationarity, Parameter Estimation, Parsimonious model and Differencing.

1. Donatus Nyaaba, 2. John Ayuekanbey Awaab, 3. Duwara Aweh Moses, 4.Tule Clement Kani

1.Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Department of Statistics, P. O. Box 767, Ghana -West Africa, 2.University for Development Studies, Department of Statistics P. O. Box 1350, Ghana,-West Africa, 3. Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Department of Statistics, P. O. Box 767, Ghana -West Africa, 4.Zuarungu Senior High School , P. O. Box 133, Ghana -West Africa.

ABSTRACT:Birth weights and subsequent weights of babies play vital role in early childhood development and have important effect on later lives as adults. It also presented a model to explain the growth trajectory of infants monitored in seven health facilities providing post-natal services in Bolgatanga Municipality.Records of three hundred weights of babies were taken from January to December 2013 in these facilities for the study. Sixty five of these records were left out due to the inability of the nursing mothers to attend at most six post-natal cares within the year. The available records of number of children qualified for the analysis were 235 making up 3055 observations. However, later months exhibited high level of missing data which we used multiple imputation method to provide reasonable data points to replace the missingness. Gompertz and logistic growth models were used to fit the data and both models fitted the data well and could be used for prediction. Both Gompertz and Logistic growth models proved a significant increase pattern in the growth of babies and estimating the maximum growth rate at 1.517 and 4.59 kg respectively for a month with high reliability and variability in monitoring the growth rate of babies. The general growth pattern of the baby weight disclosed that while Gompertz model showed an increasing exponential growth pattern and is asymmetrical about inflection, Logistic growth pattern showed a function which is increasing in a quadratic growth pattern of mean weights of babies in the Bolgatanga Municipality overtime with high level of significance of all the parameters in the model at 5% significant level and is symmetrical about the inflection. Prediction of baby weight with time as measure of growth is to be done with high accuracy and precision. Even-though the two growth models have approximately the same high degree of variability indicating high reliability in their prediction of baby weights, Gompertz model proved to be relatively better because it gave the least values of root mean square error and residual deviance. Hence Gompertz model was selected as the better model for prediction of the mean change of weights of babies over time in the municipality with the growth equation weight=9.688 exp⁡(-exp⁡(0.221-0.462t) )and increasing at a growth rate of d(weight)/d(t) = 0.462y exp (0.221 - 0.462t) with the maximum achievable weight increment per month as 1.517kg.Finally, all the weights of babies that we considered in our study established that growth of weights of babies studied is not linear but indicated non-linear growth pattern of Gompertz and/or logistic over time. From the study conducted, Gompertz model and the reduced mixed model are more suitable for explaining the mean weights of babies in the municipality overtime.The Gompertz model equation is given as: weight=9.688 exp⁡(-exp⁡(-0.221(x-0.462) ) ) Whilst the reduced model equation is given as: (Y ) ̂ = 1.1259w_1+ 0.5412w_2+ 0.3185w_3+0.3724w_4-0.1707w_5

Keyword:Gompertz, logistic, missingness, multiple imputations, post-natal.

Reginald Legoabe and Zeleke Worku

Tshwane University of Technology Business School 159 Nana Sita Street, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

ABSTRACT:The aim of study was to assess and evaluate the effect of shortage of civil engineers on the quality of municipal service delivery in South African local municipalities. The design of study was cross-sectional, descriptive and evaluative. The study was conducted against the background of shortage of suitably qualified, adequately motivated and skilled civil engineers working in local municipalities. The degree of job satisfaction of respondents was assessed by using a composite index developed by Turkyilmaz, Akman, Ozkan & Pastuszak (2011) for conducting a similar study. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analyses were used in the study. As part of the quantitative aspect of study, data was collected from a stratified random sample of size 250 civil engineers working in various South African local municipalities. As part of the qualitative aspect of study, individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 37 civil engineers working in various local municipalities. Four focus group interviews were conducted as part of the study. Respondents who took part in the study came from municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, North West, the Free State, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. No responses were received from local municipalities in the Northern Cape Province. Four focus groups were used in the study in which focus groups were established in Gauteng (Pretoria), North West (Rustenburg), the Free State (Bloemfontein) and Mpumalanga (Middleburg) provinces in the period between April and November 2016. The survey was conducted by collecting data from respondents by using a structured, pretested and validated questionnaire of study. Quantitative data analyses were conducted by using methods such as frequency tables, cross-tab analyses (Pearson’s chi-square tests of associations) and logit analysis. The results showed that 171 of the 250 respondents who took part in the study (68.40%) were satisfied with the job that they were performing in the various local municipalities, whereas the remaining 79 of the 250 respondents in the study (31.60%) were not satisfied with their jobs. Based on results obtained from cross-tab analyses at the 5% level of significance, the degree of job satisfaction of civil engineers at the workplace was significantly and adversely affected by too much workload, poor working conditions, lack of budget for construction projects, low salary and remuneration, lack of training opportunities, lack of cooperation and appreciation, too much bureaucracy and red tape, short duration of service, and poor relationship with supervisors, in a decreasing order of strength. Results obtained from logit analysis showed that the degree of job satisfaction of civil engineers at the workplace was significantly and adversely affected by 3 factors. These 3 factors were too much workload, poor working conditions, and lack of budget for construction projects in a decreasing order of strength. Results obtained from individual and focus group in-depth interviews were fairly similar to those obtained from logit analysis.

Keyword:Local municipalities, Civil engineers, Municipal service delivery, Logit analysis.