Kabale University Interdisciplinary Research Journal (KURJ)
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Gender responsive climate financing as a strategy to climate change mitigation and adaptation: a legal analysis
Get PDFWomen have been noted to be key contributors in seeking strategies to mitigation and adaptation in respect to climate change. Research has acknowledged that due to women’s socially constructed gender roles, enhancing their access to economic and social resources is a key contributor to the promotion of better mitigation and adaptation outcomes. It has, however, been observed that despite this realization, climate finances are usually unequally distributed and with unequal participation of men and women during the distribution or consideration for distribution. The available research has, however, not adequately analyzed the role of law in ensuring that equal distribution is achieved. It is therefore important for the barriers against women’s equal access to climate finance to be eliminated, from a legal perspective. Although various strategies have been developed for ensuring the realization of climate finance, there is need to legally strengthen the financing through more gender equitable ways. This article therefore employs the doctrinal research method to analyze the adequacy of the existing climate change legal framework in ensuring equal distribution of climate finance in respect to women. The article also analyzes a few of the non-legal factors which are contributors to unequal distribution of climate finance. The article concludes that legal recognition of equitable climate finance distribution will go a long way in contributing to the realization of climate change mitigation and adaptation. In addition, the chapter makes recommendations on improved ways of ensuring equitable distribution of climate finance
Effects of urban land use pattern on physicochemical parameters, carbon stock and heavy metal contents of soils in Lagos, Nigeria
Get PDFIt is becoming increasingly difficult to find available land in cities due to growing competition among industrial and residential use. Most often farmers use previously abandoned land to grow their crops. Unfortunately, the pollution status of these areas is often unknown, posing a potential risk to crops being grown. This study examined the impact of land use patterns on physicochemical parameters and heavy metal concentrations of soils collected from reclaimed arable land, greenhouse field and forest dry land. The samples were analyzed for physiochemical parameters and heavy metal residues using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, Analysis of Variance and Pearson correlation coefficients. Soil physiochemical parameters and heavy metal concentrations in the soil from the different land use types differed significantly. The range of values of heavy metals in soil showed Fe = 24.71±0.20 – 94.50±10.25 mg/kg, Pb = 0.12±0.07–2.47±0.45 mg/kg, Cd=0.05±0.03–3.11±0.03 mg/kg and Mn=0.50±0.18 – 13.80±1.38 mg/kg. The accumulation of heavy metals in greenhouse fields can lead to bioaccumulation in crops, which can have serious health consequences for those who consume them. To ensure the safety of our food supply, it is best to avoid excessive use of chemical fertilizers in growing crops
Skills for collecting research data, analytical skills, and lecturer job effectiveness at Nigerian universities
Get PDFThis study sought to examine research data gathering skill, analytical skill and lecturers’ Job effectiveness in two Universities in Nigeria, namely University of Calabar of Cross River State, and Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, Nigeria respectively. The choice of these two Universities is to balance the equation of the research on both the public and private universities. Literature review was both empirical and theoretical. The design used was causal comparative (Ex-Post-Facto). Two null hypotheses formulated to direct the investigation. The population of the study was 1856, from the two Universities. The instrument for data collection was constructed by the researchers using a four likert scale questionnaire titled; Skills for Collecting Research Data, Analytical Skills, and Lecturer Job Effectiveness at Nigerian Universities. The face and content validity was checked by experts in Measurement and Evaluation who vetted the items developed. The reliability of the instrument was trial tested using the Cronbach Alpha method and the co-efficient ranged from .71 to .86. The stratified sample technique was used to sample 420 lecturers, for the study. Statistical tool employed for data analysis was the simple linear regression at 0.05 level of significance, with 341 degree of freedom. The result of the analysis revealed that research data gathering skill, analytical skill significantly relate with lecturers’ Job effectiveness. It was recommended that regular seminars and workshops on research be organized for academics to update and sustain their skills in research
Infl uence of physical school facilities on learning performance of students with physical disabilities: A case study of Dodoma city secondary schools
Get PDFThe focus of this study is an investigation on influence of supportive physical school facilities such as classrooms, ramps, laboratories, toilets and sports grounds on the learning performance of students with physical disabilities (SWPDs) in Tanzania. A case of seventeen secondary schools having students with physical disabilities in Dodoma City were visited. The study used a cross-sectional survey design and questionnaires for data collection. The study assessed the influence of classrooms, ramps, toilets, laboratories and sports grounds on learning performance of SWPDs. A multistage sampling procedure was used to obtain study sample of 350 respondents. Up to 327 participants including 294 teachers and 33 students with physical disabilities returned their questionnaires. The study employed structural equation model (SEM) in analysing quantitative data. The findings have shown that, laboratories and sports facilities (sports grounds) have significant influence on SWPDs’ learning performance (p 0.05). The toilets, ramps, and classrooms, on the other hand, do not have a direct influence on learning performance of SWPDs. The findings imply that, much improvement is needed so that the available physical school facilities can accommodate SWPD usage and fitting
Masked and unmasked face recognition model using deep learning techniques. A case of black race
Get PDFCurrently, many institutions of higher learning in Uganda are faced with major security threats ranging from burglary to cyber threats. Consequently, the institutions have recruited and deployed several trained personnel to offer the desired security. As human beings, these personnel can make errors either by commission or omission. To overcome the limitation of trained security personnel, a number of face recognition models that detect masked and unmasked faces automatically for allowing access to sensitive premises have been developed. However, the state -of -the art of these models are not generalizable across populations and probably will not work in the Ugandan context because they have not been implemented with capabilities to eliminate racial discrimination in face recognition. This study therefore developed a deep learning model for masked and unmasked face recognition based on local context. The model was trained and tested on 1000 images taken from students of Kabale University using Nikon d850 camera. Machine learning techniques such as Principal Component Analysis, Geometric Feature Based Methods and double threshold techniques were used in the development phase while results were classified using CNN pre-trained models. From results obtained, VGG19 achieved the higher accuracy of 91.2% followed by Inception V 3 at 90.3% and VGG16 with 89.69% whereas the developed model achieved 90.32%
Utilization of the Delta State contributory health scheme among teachers in government secondary schools in Delta-south senatorial district, Delta state, Nigeria
Get PDFThe Delta State Contributory Health Scheme (DSCHS) was initiated so that residents of the State would have access to affordable and quality healthcare. The study aimed to determine the knowledge and utilization of the DSCHS among teachers in government secondary schools in Delta State. It was a cross-sectional study among 350 government teachers in the Delta-South Senatorial district with data analysed using SPSS v.26. Mean age of the teachers was 45.3(±3.00) years. About 99.7% were aware of DSCHS, however only 36% of respondents had a good knowledge of the scheme. The age (p=0.023) and local government area (p<0.001) of respondents was significantly associated with their knowledge of the DSCHS. A total of 243 (69.4%) government teachers had used the scheme in the past year with LGA of practice (p=0.007) significantly associated with utilization of the scheme. Challenges to enrollees include a cumbersome registration process (67.4%), poor attitude of healthcare workers (61.7%) and delay in seeing a doctor (57.4%). In conclusion, there was a high level of awareness but a poor knowledge of the DSCHS observed among respondents. Utilization of the DSCHS was high despite self-reported programme challenges. We recommend that Government improves knowledge of the scheme to enrollees using enlightenment programmes and help resolve bureaucratic bottlenecks to improve utilization of the DSCHS
Determination of natural radioactivity and hazards in volcanic soils of Kisoro district in south-western Uganda
Get PDFIn this study, the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides U-238, Th-232, and K-40 were measured in soil samples collected from various spots where there are volcanic soils, in Kisoro district, in South Western Uganda. Then to assess the radiological hazard of the natural radioactivity, the absorbed dose rate (Dr), the radium equivalent activity (Raeq), the effective dose rate (Er), the annual effective dose equivalent (Ey), Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR), and the external (Hex) and internal (H □) hazard indices were calculated. NaI (TI) was used to determine the activity concentration of these radionuclides in soils where NPK was applied and where it was not applied. The results were compared with standard values and it was concluded that no risk may be eminent to the residents in Kisoro district with an exception of areas near quarrying places and mines. This is because these places have high activity. The use of NPK only depletes potassium from the soil where it is applied. Hence, the probability of occurrence of any of the health effects of radiation is low. The measurements have been taken as representing baseline values of these radionuclides in the volcanic soils from the area under study
An investigation into information security managerial practices in selected public sector organizations
Get PDFThe study aims to examine information security managerial practices in organisations. It was guided by three specific objectives: identification of information security practices critical to information assets management; establishment of implementation processes involved in the execution of structured information security governance; and evaluation of policies that influence information security best practices. In line with these objectives, security was acknowledged as a requisite element in protecting organizational information assets. The study covered two public sector organisations specifically, Uganda Wildlife Authority and National Forestry Authority. Focus was made on information security practices critical to managing information like human security, information classification, procedures for information labelling, compliance, standards, command and control techniques. These security practices were selected based on their importance in the protection of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets. Descriptive research design was adopted to describe the phenomenon under study. Being an in-depth inquiry, qualitative approach was used, survey questionnaires representing zero and one scores were designed to collect data. The respondents were purposively selected based on their knowledge in the subject area, cost-effectiveness and delivery of timely results. These respondents included information technology officers, administrative secretaries, data clerks and security guards. Findings from the field were analyzed and presented in meaningful tables. The research findings demonstrate that evaluation of users’ actions was hierarchical in nature; based on associations with tasks performed; information security practices are not aligned to guidelines set by National Information Technology Authority; there was need to establish appropriate measures to handle new information security risk in organizations. On the basis of these findings recommendations that reflect the importance of examining information security managerial practices in organizations were made
Design and simulation of threats management model with enhanced users’ networks performance capability
Get PDFIn this paper, a model was designed and simulated to effectively detect, prevent, share threat information and log new threats information for investigation beyond users’ networks. This is with a view to addressing threat database growth which degrades users’ networks performance as a result of constant threat update, and lack of expertise to mitigate emerging threats. The model was designed using Mobile Agent (MA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and brute force techniques. The simulation of the designed model was carried out in MATLAB 7.0 using NSL-KDD dataset. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated by comparing it with equivalent model when designed as Remote Model Invocation (RMI) based. The metrics used for the evaluation are: response time, bandwidth and fault tolerance. Simulation results showed that the proposed MA model performed better than the RMI model equivalent in all the performance metrics used during simulation. The result showed that the proposed MA model produced encouraging results and a great potentiality to enhance cyberspace protection and users’ networks performance
Resource mobilisation and allocation priorities on knowledge production in universities in Uganda: an empirical study
Get PDFKnowledge production is recognised as one of the core functions of a university, but its effective implementation has eluded many African universities, particularly those in Uganda. This paper analyses whether this situation is explained by these universities’ resource mobilisation and allocation priorities. Using a mixed research design, data was collected from purposively selected respondents and from interviews with top management officials of Universities. In addition, a structured questionnaire to faculty members who were conveniently selected from four of the largest universities in Uganda was used. Data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Results indicate that the selected universities’ resource mobilisation and allocation do not give knowledge production the priority it deserves. The priorities focus more on meeting the demands of the teaching, administrative and instructional infrastructure development functions. The research function is largely left out based on a view that it can generate its own resources not only through faculties and departments winning funded research projects and using university-industry collaborations but also through research students and faculty members sponsoring their research projects. This view however, does not always hold. Consequently, the paper concludes by urging top management of Uganda’s universities that if they are to produce the knowledge expected of them, they have to give the research function the priority it deserves when mobilising and allocating resources