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Effect of Drying Method on Volatile Nutraceuticals and Microbial Growth in Moringa oleifera
No full textAbstract on Effect of Drying Method on Volatile Nutraceuticals and
Microbial Growth in Moringa oleiferaFresh Moringa oleifera leaves are very rich in phytonutrients, however the leaves are also highly perishable and require processing for increased shelf-life. The method of processing, specifically drying affects the nutritional value of the product. The present study therefore, analyzed the nutraceutical value and growth of toxic microbes when the leaves were dried under different conditions i.e. room temperature, greenhouse, 50% shade net, and in the oven at 60 oC for 4 h. The experiments were carried out at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The treatments were applied in triplicate and arranged on a completely randomized design (CRD). Data on nutritional value of dried Moringa leaves was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) for parameterization and means separated using protected LSD0.05 . The study showed that drying Moringa leaves under shade, room and greenhouse conditions significantly (P <0.05) affects the nutritional value of the product. The results showed highest levels of vitamin C, vitamin A, polyphenols and terpenoids when the leaves were dried under 50% shade net and room temperature conditions. In contrast, the glucosinolate content was significantly (P<0.05) higher when the leaves were dried instantly in the oven (9.1%/wt), followed by drying under greenhouse conditions (8.7%/wt) before oven drying. However, drying of Moringa leaves under shade before oven drying resulted in growth of toxic microbial organisms such as staphylococcus, yeast, E. coli and molds that can potentially affect the safety of the product. Finally, the drying conditions also significantly (P <0.05) affected the moisture content of the powder obtained. The results of this study form an important reference for small-holder Moringa growers and processors in the development of an optimal processing regime for high value Moringa powder
Influence of corporate governance on performance of public universities in Kenya
Get PDFhttps://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v10i7.1402This study aims to determine the influence of corporate governance on performance of Public Universities in Kenya. The study was anchored on social network theory. To achieve the objective, the study was based on a pragmatic philosophy and mixed research design with a target population of 234 University top managers. Primary data was collected using a 5 point Likert type questionnaire and an interview guide. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that
corporate governance had significantly statistical influence on performance of public universities in Kenya. This study concluded that adherence to good corporate governance practices are essential strategies Public Universities can use in their endeavour to improve on their performance. It is further recommended that University top managers should adhere to good corporate governance practices, specifically to management guidelines, allow for public participation and be transparent in their
actions. Further, the results present important implications to University top managers, other corporate entities, policy makers, and stakeholders in the University education sector in Kenya and across the world
The Biological Assessment and Rehabilitation of the World’s Rivers: An Overview
Get PDFThe biological assessment of rivers i.e., their assessment through use of aquatic assemblages,
integrates the effects of multiple-stressors on these systems over time and is essential to evaluate
ecosystem condition and establish recovery measures. It has been undertaken in many countries
since the 1990s, but not globally. And where national or multi-national monitoring networks have
gathered large amounts of data, the poor water body classifications have not necessarily resulted in
the rehabilitation of rivers. Thus, here we aimed to identify major gaps in the biological assessment
and rehabilitation of rivers worldwide by focusing on the best examples in Asia, Europe, Oceania,
and North, Central, and South America. Our study showed that it is not possible so far to draw a
world map of the ecological quality of rivers. Biological assessment of rivers and streams is only
implemented officially nation-wide and regularly in the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea,
South Africa, and the USA. In Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, and Singapore it has been
implemented officially at the state/province level (in some cases using common protocols) or in
major catchments or even only once at the national level to define reference conditions (Australia). In
other cases, biological monitoring is driven by a specific problem, impact assessments, water licenses,
or the need to rehabilitate a river or a river section (as in Brazil, South Korea, China, Canada, Japan,
Australia). In some countries monitoring programs have only been explored by research teams mostly
at the catchment or local level (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam)
or implemented by citizen science groups (e.g., Southern Africa, Gambia, East Africa, Australia,
Brazil, Canada). The existing large-extent assessments show a striking loss of biodiversity in the last
2–3 decades in Japanese and New Zealand rivers (e.g., 42% and 70% of fish species threatened or
endangered, respectively). A poor condition (below Good condition) exists in 25% of South Korean
rivers, half of the European water bodies, and 44% of USA rivers, while in Australia 30% of the
reaches sampled were significantly impaired in 2006. Regarding river rehabilitation, the greatest
implementation has occurred in North America, Australia, Northern Europe, Japan, Singapore, and
the Republic of Korea. Most rehabilitation measures have been related to improving water quality
and river connectivity for fish or the improvement of riparian vegetation. The limited extent of most
rehabilitation measures (i.e., not considering the entire catchment) often constrains the improvement
of biological condition. Yet, many rehabilitation projects also lack pre-and/or post-monitoring
of ecological condition, which prevents assessing the success and shortcomings of the recovery
measures. Economic constraints are the most cited limitation for implementing monitoring programs
and rehabilitation actions, followed by technical limitations, limited knowledge of the fauna and flora
and their life-history traits (especially in Africa, South America and Mexico), and poor awareness
by decision-makers. On the other hand, citizen involvement is recognized as key to the success and
sustainability of rehabilitation projects. Thus, establishing rehabilitation needs, defining clear goals,
tracking progress towards achieving them, and involving local populations and stakeholders are
key recommendations for rehabilitation projects (Table 1). Large-extent and long-term monitoring
programs are also essential to provide a realistic overview of the condition of rivers worldwide. Soon,
the use of DNA biological samples and eDNA to investigate aquatic diversity could contribute to
reducing costs and thus increase monitoring efforts and a more complete assessment of biodiversity.
Finally, we propose developing transcontinental teams to elaborate and improve technical guidelines
for implementing biological monitoring programs and river rehabilitation and establishing common
Water 2021, 13, 371 3 of 45
financial and technical frameworks for managing international catchments. We also recommend
providing such expert teams through the United Nations Environment Program to aid the extension
of biomonitoring, bioassessment, and river rehabilitation knowledge globally
Interest rate Risk and Value of the Firm among Private Equity Firms in Frontier Markets: Insights from Deposits Taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Kenya
No full textSavings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) form an integral part of the financial sector across the globe. However, in pursuit of their wealth creation goals, these cooperatives are exposed to numerous risks that threaten their performance and survival. One such risk is interest rate risk arising from variations in interest rates as a result of unpredictable movements in interest rates. This variation in interest rates may adversely affect the value of such institutions. In spite of the
critical role played by deposit taking SACCOs and the relevance of interest rate risks management on their value, the relationship existing between the variables has not been given due attention by previous scholarship. Majority of scholars focus on commercial banks and others concentrating on other elements of financial risk such as credit risk, default risk, and exchange risk. The study therefore sought to establish the effect of interest rate risk on the value of the firm among deposit taking SACCOs in Kenya. The study was anchored on the Trade-off theory which opines that firm management must trade-off between the risk of bankruptcy and agency cost and the interest tax shield benefits associated with utilisation of debt in the capital structure. Positivism research philosophy was deployed with descriptive research design and causal research design being adopted. The target population for this study consisted of all the 164 deposit taking SACCOs licensed by Sacco Societies
Regulatory Authority (SASRA) from which a sample size of 115 deposit taking SACCOs were selected using stratified sampling technique. The study exclusively utilized secondary data obtained from audited financial statements and Sacco offices using a data collection sheet. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were used. Inferential data analysis was conducted using Pearson correlation coefficient and panel regression model involving cross-sectional data. In testing the fitness of the model, the coefficient of determination R2 was used. F-statistic was also computed at 5% significance level to test whether there is any significant relationship between interest rate risk and SACCO value. The study concluded that
interest rate risk has a significant effect on the value of the firm among deposit taking SACCOs in Kenya. The study therefore
recommends that the management should seek to increase fixed rate assets so as to reduce fixed interest rate gap as well as
variable rate assets to increase variable rate gap. This study was based on deposit taking SACCOs and therefore the findings
may not be applicable in other forms of organisation such as among non-deposit taking SACCOs, commercial banks, and
Microfinance institutions. The study thus suggests that other studies be conducted among non-deposit taking SACCOs,
commercial banks, and Microfinance institutions to establish if the findings in this study would concu
Naïve plant communities and individuals may initially suffer in the face of reintroduced megafauna: An experimental exploration of rewilding from an African savanna rangeland
No full textExcluding large native mammals is an inverse test of rewilding. A 25-year exclosure experiment in an African savanna rangeland offers insight into the potentials and pitfalls of the rewilding endeavor as they relate to the native plant community. A broad theme that has emerged from this research is that entire plant communities, as well as individual plants, adjust to the absence of herbivores in ways that can ill-prepare them for the return of these herbivores. Three lines of evidence suggest that these “naïve” individuals, populations, and communities are likely to initially suffer from herbivore rewilding. First, plots protected from wild herbivores for the past 25 years have developed rich diversity of woody plants that are absent from unfenced plots, and presumably would disappear upon rewilding. Second, individuals of the dominant tree in this system, Acacia drepanolobium, greatly reduce their defences in the absence of browsers, and the sudden arrival of these herbivores (in this case, through a temporary fence break), resulted in far greater elephant damage than for their conspecifics in adjacent plots that had been continually exposed to herbivory. Third, the removal of herbivores favoured the most palatable grass species, and a large number of rarer species, which presumably would be at risk from herbivore re-introduction. In summary, the native communities that we observe in defaunated landscapes may be very different from their pre-defaunation states, and we are likely to see some large changes to these plant communities upon rewilding with large herbivores, including potential reductions in plant diversity. Lastly, our experimental manipulation of cattle represents an additional test of the role of livestock in rewilding. Cattle are in many ways ecologically dissimilar to wildlife (in particular their greater densities), but in other ways they may serve as ecological surrogates for wildlife, which could buffer ecosystems from some of the ecological costs of rewilding. More fundamentally, African savannah ecosystems represent a challenge to traditional Western definitions of “wilderness” as ecosystems free of human impacts. We support the suggestion that as we “rewild” our biodiversity landscapes, we redefine “wildness” in the 21st Century to be inclusive of (low impact, and sometimes traditional) human practices that are compatible with the sustainability of native (and re-introduced) biodiversity
Karatina University 8th Graduation Booklet 2021
No full textKaratina University 8th graduation bookle
Effect of entrepreneurship education on innovation capability of technical and vocational and education training (TVET) graduates in Kenya
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to explore the Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Innovation Capability of TVET Graduates in Kenya. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design. The study used the entire population as a sample since the accessible population was all TVET graduates in Kenya. The main data collection instrument was semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity. The study found out that entrepreneurship education is key to the
innovation capability of TVET graduates in Kenya. The study found out that respondents were interested in pursuing entrepreneurship as a career path. However, with the absence of an adequate platform or systems at the TVET institutions, students are not engaged in entrepreneurial paths in any significant way. Further, the study determines that TVET institutions should focus on entrepreneurship education that would provide the graduates with innovation skills that offer high valued contributions to the accomplishment of quality strategy goals and organizational objectives, enabling businesses to
achieve market-leading performance and thus competitive advantage. The TVET graduates need to be equipped with entrepreneurial skills that will help them improve their firms or where employed in order to capture a higher market share
5. Absentee owners and overlapping home ranges in a territorial species
No full textAbsentee owners and overlapping home rangesAbstract Understanding animals’ use of space can shed valuable light on multiple other aspects of behavioral ecology, including social organization, dispersal, and foraging efficiency. Home ranges, territories, core areas, and home range overlaps have been widely studied, but unless animals are directly observed or are tracked remotely on a fine temporal scale, how they actually use the space available to them and how they share (or partition) this space with a community of conspecifics over time cannot be fully understood. Using GPS technology, we tracked three adjacent groups of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in Laikipia, Kenya, for 1 year to better understand the processes involved in territoriality and home range overlaps. Home ranges overlapped with any one neighboring group by 12.7–34.7%, but intergroup encounters only occurred in restricted areas within these zones, which defined territorial boundaries. The resources closest to the territorial boundaries were nocturnal core areas with preferred sleeping sites adjacent to shortgrass areas offering fewer hiding places for ambush predators and greater visibility for predator detection. Home range overlaps were not neutral zones, the result of shifting home range boundaries over time, or based on intergroup encounters at boundaries, but resulted when groups made incursions beyond their territorial boundaries while the neighbor was far away and likely unaware of the intruders. Thus, territories can be non-exclusive but may still be perceived by the animals themselves as sole-owned, as neighbors only intrude when territory owners are absent from that area
Core Competencies and Resource Allocation in the Performance of Bottled Water Industry
No full textPerformance of Bottled Water IndustryResearch question: This paper examines the influence of core competencies, resource allocation and water sector standards
on the performance of firms in the bottled water industry. Motivation: For firms in the bottled water industry to remain afloat,
their performance against their targets needs to be assessed (Murugesan et al., 2016). Examining trends over time is essential
since stakeholders and investors are concerned with enhanced performance. This study conceptualizes that the performance
of firms dealing with bottled water are influenced by core competencies (Hirindu, 2017), resource allocation (Catherine & Lee,
2017) and that there is an intervening effect of water sector standards. Idea: The idea behind this study is to model the
relationship among core competencies, resource allocation and firm performance in the bottled water industry and also to
examine the moderating effect of water sector standards in explaining firm performance (Ichoroh, 2021). Data: The study used
quantitative cross-sectional survey design of which the population of interest comprised of 80 licensed bottled water
manufacturing firms in Kenya. Open and closed ended questionnaires were administered to managers of bottled water firms.
Data on demographic characteristics, firms core competencies, resource allocation and sector standards were collected.
Tools: Factor Analysis was used to scale, classify, delineate patterns and enhance hypothesis testing, while structural equation
modelling was applied to infer whether the survey items matched the measured constructs. Findings: The indicators of core
competences had 57% variation on firm performance and increase in core competences by a factor of 0.804% led to
improvement of firm performance by 1%. The indicators for resource allocation had 17% variation on firm performance and
the marginal effect was 1.738%. The water sector standards intervening effect in the relationship between core competence
and firm performance was found not to be significant but the intervening effect of water sector standards on resource allocation
and firm performance was significant. Contribution: The study gives indicators of repositioning strategies in the bottled water
industry and provides insights to the government on policy regulations and standard
Influence of post-merger restructuring on organizational development: A case of Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited
No full texthttps://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v10i7.1408Corporate mergers are important for organizations to position themselves for growth and development. Stanbic Bank was formed as a result of a merger between CFC Bank and Stanbic Bank. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the merger has led to positive outcomes, but specific aspects of the merger that have contributed towards the organizational development of Stanbic Bank remain unclear. The study investigated the influence of Post-Merger Restructuring on the organizational development of Stanbic
Bank Kenya. It was guided by efficiency theory and collected data from 27 branch managers and 9 senior sectional heads using a semi-structured questionnaire where a 75% response rate was achieved. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that post-merger restructuring has a positive and statistically significant influence on organizational development at Stanbic Bank. The researcher concluded that post-merger restructuring had a positive influence on the
organizational development of banks. The study recommends that banks should retrain their workforce, inculcate new culture, and redesign their operations in the post-merger period so as to realize the intended benefits