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An Economic Assessment of the Impact of ICT on Performance Indicators of Water Resource Management in Africa: A Suggested Strategy for avoiding the eminent International Water Wars
No full textUsing data from 16 West African countries, this paper examines the links between Per Capita Income, Trade and Financial indicators, Education and Freedom indicators. Others are Internet users, Broadband and Mobile Cell phone Subscribers. Mean while Fresh Water Supply (which is assumed as a bench mark public sector-led water resource management performance indicators) and Access to Safe Drinking Water (a bench mark private sector-led water resource management performance indicators) represents indicators of water resources management. The results show that income, ICT and government trade policies influence the efficient management of cross-country water resource. Freedom indicators strongly affect water resource management performance indicators (WRMPI). Moreso, Internet Users, Broadband Subscribers, and Mobile cell phones Subscribers have a positive association with WRMPI. Contrary to wide spread expectations, education does not influence WRMPI
Service Quality Variables for Assessing Students’ Satisfaction in Higher Learning Institutions: Evidence from Empirical Literature Review
No full textThe relationship between service quality and students’ satisfaction is an important aspect to be observed by Higher learning institutions in order to promote students’ enrolment. Service quality influences the students’ satisfaction and it is a prerequisite for increased number of graduates and hence educated people in any country. Parasuraman et al. (1988) argued that the assessment of the customers’ overall superiority of service offered is based on service quality. This paper discusses the relationship between service quality and university students’ satisfaction from empirical literature review. The objective of this paper was to assess the influence of service quality on students’ satisfaction basing on studies conducted in various countries in the world. The findings are, to the authors’ best knowledge that few studies have been done to assess the influence of service quality on students’ satisfaction in Tanzania. The study recommends that there is a need to conduct more studies in higher learning institutions in Tanzania
The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Business Performance: Empirical Evidence from Selected Tanzanian SME's
No full textThe objective of the study is to assess the effects of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on business performance among SMEs in Tanzania. This study was conducted in Dar es Salaam employing a sample of 143 SMEs. The study attempted to differentiate EO into five theoretical dimensions, namely product innovation, risk taking, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to fit the model, where EO dimensions were independent variables and SME performance was the dependent variable. The researchers used cluster analysis (CA), multiple discriminant analysis (DA) and factor analysis (FA) to assess whether the SMEs are following divergent EO dimensions. MANOVA was performed for the clusters to assess significant difference between EO-dimensions. The study gleaned the following; first EO does play a crucial role in influencing profitability, particularly autonomy was negatively related to performance hence suggesting that personnel tend to underperform when given sufficient freedom to act. The relationship to performance for the other dimensions of EO was positive. Secondly, EO exhibits a possibility of multidimensionality based on a maximum of three dimensions, namely; aggressiveness, innovation, and pro-activeness, while risk-taking blended into these prior dimensions autonomy was embedded within aggressiveness. Â
SECURITY AWARENESS IN VIRTUALIZED SERVER BASED COMPUTING: THREAT SOURCES AND ATTACK TYPES IN HYPERVISORS
No full textThis paper presents the state of security awareness among key personnel managing virtualized server-based infrastructures. Major security issues assessed are those associated with hypervisor Threat Sources and Attack Types. An inductive approach was used to determine six Threat Sources and six Attack Types through documentary review of relevant literature. The Threat Sources include virtual machine communication, hypervisor intrusion, network sources and malpractices of server administrators. The Attack Types include hypervisor modification, denial of service, isolation breakage in hypervisor, multitenancy issues, virtualization sprawl and data compliance issues across multiple virtual machines. A statistical approach using the Mann-Whitney U statistical test was used to quantify 38 sets of data collected inform of a 5Likert scale questionnaire submitted by 24 public and private organizations based in Tanzania. In assessing reliability analysis, a Cronbach's Alpha with values of 0.986 and 0.960 were obtained for Threat Sources and Attack Types respectively signifying high reliability and excellent internal consistency of test items. Generally, for the Threat Sources tested, a moderate awareness level was found. On the other hand, awareness level of Attack Types was found to be not satisfactory. There is a notably low level of awareness of attacks due to isolation breakage in hypervisors, multi-tenancy issues, virtualization sprawls and data compliance issues. Isolation breakage was the most unknown attack types by far; hence the risk of spreading infected virtual machines across computing infrastructures is high. About 50% of the adopters cannot handle data compliance issues especially in heterogeneous environment. More specifically, the Mann-Whitney U was also used to determine association between awareness levels of threats and attacks in public and private adopters. Private adopters had higher mean ranks showing higher awareness of all security aspects compared to public adopters. A significant association was seen in the awareness of hypervisor modification and multi-tenancy issues by private adopters. Awareness levels of hypervisor Threat Sources and Attack Types is not acceptable enough to ensure maximum protection of systems and data in virtualized infrastructures. The study reveals existence of a serious knowledge gap among adopters which implies high operational risks. The need to capacitate skills development is vital for adopters to attain maximum security of their assets.Â
Conservation and Endangered African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Western Tanzania: A Call for Research and Action
No full text The African wild dog is among the most endangered carnivores. Yet, the remaining populations are small and patchily distributed as a result of factors like human persecution, poaching, diseases, habitat loss, loss of prey and competition from other predators. Regrettably, research has paid little attention to the effectiveness of local conservation measures in tackling these challenges in some small wild dog populations especially in east African ecosystems. This paper focuses on the Ugalla ecosystem of western Tanzania as it outlines the pressing conservation need to conduct research and explore the influence of anti-poaching patrols and participatory conservation on the prey abundance and habitat availability for African wild dogs. Wildlife poaching in Ugalla is likely to bring about local prey depletion. Furthermore, unsustainable agricultural practices, illegal settlements and logging are important causes of wildlife habitat loss. There is a critical need for wildlife researchers to address these challenges and put forth handy recommendations in the context of antipoaching measures and participatory conservation owing to the urgency of wild dog protection and the fact that the species is wide-ranging. Â
Socio-economic Values and Performance of Zebu Cattle Indigenous in Ukerewe and Bunda Districts of Tanzania
No full textSocio-economic values and performance of indigenous cattle were compared between Ukerewe and Bunda districts. Crops and livestock were among major sources of income and food for households in the study area, but fishing was another significant source of income and food in Ukerewe than Bunda. Fishing was reported as important source of income and food by 22.4% and 18.5% of the respondents in Ukerewe and Bunda districts respectively. Forty six purposively selected households were interviewed on socio-economic attributes. Body weights from adult cattle owned by randomly selected 169 households were taken. Data were analyzed using ANOVA procedures of SPSS programme. Frequencies and crosstabs were generated and analysed. With the exception of sheep whose importance was low and restricted by social-cultural factors in Ukerewe, generally cattle numbers were higher (about 12.6 higher) in Bunda than in Ukerewe. Cattle were ranked the first in importance among livestock in both districts and sheep were ranked second by 30% of the respondents in Bunda district only. Sheep were rarely kept in Ukerewe due to society beliefs. Cattle were valued more as draught animals in Bunda district of which 20.8% of the households had draught animals. In Ukerewe cattle was kept mainly for meat purpose. In general, all the socio-economic attributes of cattle studied showed a significant association with households’ purposes. Nonetheless Ukerewe cattle performance in terms of meat body conformation was superior over Bunda cattle. It can be conclude that indigenous cattle were highly valued by owners because of the ethnic socio-cultural values. Â
Farm Technologies and Production Risk in the Face of Climate Change in Tanzania
No full textIn countries where insurance and credit markets are thin or missing, production and consumption risks play a critical role in the choice and use of production inputs and adoption of new farm technologies. This paper investigated the effect of selected farm technologies and their risk implications in different rainfall patterns of Pangani river basin in Tanzania. Given the production risks posed by climate change, such information can be used by decision makers to identify appropriate agricultural practices that act as a buffer against climate change. Using a household and plot-level data set, Just and Pope framework was applied to using a quadratic production function to investigate the impact of selected farm technologies on average crop yields and the variance of crop yields, while controlling for several household and plot level factors. The results revealed that farm technologies perform differently in different rainfall areas, which underscores the importance of careful geographical targeting when promoting and up-scaling farm technologies adoption to climate change.Â
Industrializing Secondary Schools in Tanzania through Scientific Innovations
No full textThere has been a gap between the role played by universities and industries in improving the quality of science education in Tanzania as there is no established link between the three parties. The objective of this paper is to analyze the possible opportunities for industrializing secondary schools by up scaling scientific innovations using secondary schools, possible challenges and the way forward. The study has surveyed undergraduate students and instructors teaching and learning experiences at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and found out that very few industrial or outdoor practices are integrated with teaching. Also, University students’ expectations are basically unrealistic as they are less informed about the way they will apply theoretical perspectives in the field of work. These observed experiences are rooted in schools where university instructors and students emanate. Through review of various innovations developed by universities including SUA, it was established that there are several innovations in different fields especially in crop cultivation, animal husbandry and natural resource management that can be introduced and then amplified in secondary schools as there are unutilized opportunities in such schools. It means, schools can be turned into industrial centers that can directly and indirectly benefit the community, production industries and more importantly improve the quality of science education at all levels as an engine for advancing development of science and technology. Though there are foreseen challenges in industrializing the schools, collective efforts of various stakeholders backed with political will can break through the challenges successfully
Impacts of Urban Development Pressure on Coastal Local Communities in Tanzania: A Case Study of Ununio, Kaole and Kilwa-Masoko Settlements
No full textThe study examined the socio-economic and cultural impacts of urban development pressure on the lives of coastal local communities in Tanzania, in line with the implementation of basic Human Rights, and the National Land and Human Settlement Development Policy. It has suggested measures to manage or prevent the adverse impacts and enhance beneficial impacts. Social Impact Assessment (SIA) principles were employed to study the social, economic and cultural impacts of urban development pressure on coastal local communities of Kaole, Ununio and Kilwa-Masoko. Qualitative data was collected from 12 informants and 6 focus groups, while quantitative data was collected from 150 heads of household and their spouses using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using the SPSS computer software. It was found out that there were more negative impacts than positive ones. Positive impacts included; expanded market for goods, water supply, electric supply, presence of schools, and cultural harmonization. Negative impacts included: insecurity over land, depeasantisation, low incomes due to lack of integration into respective urban areas, food insecurity, poor access to sea resources, unfair compensation for loss of land, discrimination in urban planning and poor access to social services. These could be regarded as short term impacts. The vulnerability of local coastal people to poverty was the long term impact. It is recommended that land allocation processes should implement Human Rights and the National Land and Human Settlement Development Policy properly so as to bring more positive impacts. Â
The Importance of play During Childhood: The Lesson for care Givers, Parents and Pre-schools in Tanzania
No full textAs early as infancy, children immerse themselves in playful activities with the purpose of making sense of the world around them. However, their effort to achieve this is most frequently halted by parents, care givers and teachers who work around with them. There have been questions surrounding the importance of play for children in Tanzania. The major question has been what children learn when they play. Lack of knowledge on the importance of play for children has led parents, care givers and pre-school teachers deny children their rights to play, instead they have placed more emphasis on reading and arithmetic. This paper is based on literature review, and presents the developmental stages of childhood and discusses the importance of play for cognitive, social, emotional and physical development of children. The paper suggests that parents, community and preschools, and society as a whole should create conducive and safe environment for children to play, so as to help children to develop their capabilities to their full potentials