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The rise of China and conflicts in Africa: The case of Sudan
Get PDFAs China‟s economy rise in the world order, there is a higher demand for more resources in Africa. China has relative scarcity of crucial resources notably oil, gas, and minerals. The growing China-Africa relation is seen by some international relation scholars as part of the “foundation” on which their broader strategic ambitions are built. It is from this perspective that the growing relation seems to suggest that Africa is somehow “critical” for Chinese economy. Africa‟s rich natural resources and underdeveloped market create abundant business potential for Chinese products. China‟s interests in Africa not only include economic interests but also political, security and ideological interests. This rapidly evolving relationship presents opportunities and challenges for Africa. Chinese trade, investment and infrastructure aid are fundamentally re-shaping Africa‟s economies. Nevertheless, the rise of China is also posing a „security dilemma‟ in the global balance of power. U.S being a super power is not happy with the rise of China. US sees Africa continent hungry for their investment, expertise, and rule of law. However, there are contentious issues affecting this relationship: African continent was a victim of„western colonization‟ and „strings attached‟ approaches. „Strings attached‟ approach is brought about by quasi- state actors and is often being criticized by most Africa leaders for meddling with internal affairs of some Africa states and also making the continent dependent on western foreign aid. This paper offers a critical analysis of the China‟s-Africa relations and conflicts in Africa, using Sudan as case study. This paper examines how china‟s activities in Africa are contributing to conflicts by looking at the transfer of Chinese-made arms to Sudan in the name of acquiring oil to protect her national interest
Spatial and temporal variation in community structure of phytoplankton in chebara reservoir-Kenya
Get PDFRiver impoundments create reservoirs for many of varying, sizes which serve one or more functions, and change transform lotic aquatic systems to lentic ones, with changes in physical and chemical properties, biotic assemblage and productivity. Chebara reservoir is located at 36o E and 22o S and situated within Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The reservoir was formed as a result of damming the Moiben River to supply water to Eldoret town. A study was conducted on composition and relative abundance of phytoplankton in the reservoir from December 2007 to April 2008. Sampling was done every month at six stations distributed over the reservoir; one station at inlet of Moiben River, one station at the outlet, three at minor inlets and one within the reservoir. Phytoplankton were collected using a 28nm diameter plankton net immersed vertically below the photic depth. Photic depth was measured using 25cm diameter Secchi disk. Phytoplankton were identified and enumerated using a compound microscope. All statistical analyses were performed with STATIGRAPHIC 2.1 Plus and STATISTICA 6.0 procedures. Six phytoplankton classes were identified which included Cyanophyceae (22 genera) Bacillariophycae (25 genera), Chlorophyceae (55 genera), Euglenophyceae (3 genera), Rhodophyceae (2 genera) Pyraphyceae (6 genera) and
Crysophyceae (8 genera) similar to observations made in tropical oligotrophic lakes. The order of abundance was Pyraphyceae> Cyanophyceae> Chlorophyceae> Bacillariophyceae>
Crysophyceae>Euglenophyceae>Rhodophyceae. Members of the Class Chlorophyceae
showed the highest species diversity and abundance. The results obtained from this study
can be used track the effects of catchment land use in the drainage basin investigate the
cumulative, long term effects of climate change, and river impoundment on the algal evolution.
Key words: Spatial and Temporal Variation, Community Phytoplankton, Chebara Reservoi
Morphometric Study of Senna didymobotrya (Fresen.) H. S. Irwin and Barneby in Kenya
Get PDFoai:repository.rongovarsity.ac.ke:123456789/656Herbal medicine has been used for many years and it remains widespread in developing countries while the use of complementary alternative medicine is increasing rapidly in developed countries. Senna didymobotrya is important for its medicinal use among many communities to treat a wide range of ailments. The study examines the patterns of morphological variation and phenetic relationships among 39 populations of S. didymobotrya in Kenya using17 quantitative and 17 qualitative characters. A survey was carried out in Siaya, Kisumu, Nandi and Nakuru Counties to collect S. didymobotrya plants. Results on morphometric analysis indicated that the standard
deviations were highly significant when all quantitative characters were considered. Stem diameter, plant height and stem height had the highest standard deviation of 13.14, 11.74 and 11.15 respectively. Leaf length and Internodal length had the lowest standard deviations of 0.18 each. Principal component analysis indicated that the plant height, stem height, stem diameter, habitat, pod length, pod width and number of seeds accounted for a cumulative percentage of 70% and above of the cumulative variance in a lineal combination of parameters hence can be used to separate the populations. Correlation matrix of the morphological characters indicated a high positive correlations between inflorescence length of basal stalk and inflorescence length (0.83), stem height and
plant height (0.62), leaflet width and leaflet length (0.56), leaflet number and leaf number (0.54), pod width and pod length (0.52). The cluster analysis dendrogram placed the plants in four major clusters; Cluster 1 had one plant accession PJ/NK/33 collected from Nakuru County. Cluster II had one plant PJ/KS/13 collected from Kisumu County. In Cluster IV also had one plant accession PJ/SI/2 collected from Siaya County. Cluster III consisted of 36 plants with close relationship (Plants accessions PJ/SI/4 - 10, PJ/KS/11- 18, PJ/NA/19 - 29, PJ/NK/30 - 32 and PJ/NK/34 – 39). The highest similarities and high variations in cluster I, II, and III results that call the relationship between them in question. An identification key has been constructed which, for the first time, can be used to assign herbarium specimens to their respective taxa. Further research should be carried out
to collect more samples from other regions within the country and other parts of the world to understand the morphological variations sufficiently to circumscribe the taxonomical doubts on how many species and/or lineages that do exist due to the influence of habitat type on the morphological variation between populations and if other methods like molecular markers (isozymes or microsatellites) are employed ,to reveal patterns of genetic variability. The beneficiaries of this study are the herbalists, pharmacologists, researchers, patients and the general publi
Evaluation of Existing Architecture for M-Mining Market Access Information Among Sugarcane Farmers in Migori County, Kenya
No full textThe application of mobile technology in agriculture is expanding rapidly, with new devices and applications being available for everyday use. However, the absence of seamless architecture required to integrate mobile devices with server has limited its use. Ideally this kind of architecture would enhance mining and dissemination of expert information to reach farmers on time. Consequently, farmers can hardly set prices and market their sugarcane products on time hence low income characterized by widespread poverty and low living standards. Although mobile data mining has been applied in other sectors of the economy such as transport and stock market, its
application in agriculture is still wanting. There is therefore a need to upscale service oriented mobile data mining techniques to improve discovery and dissemination of agricultural market
access knowledge. The objectives of this study were to: (i) examine existing architectures for m-mining agricultural resources; and (ii) evaluate their challenges using scenario and experienced based methods. Results showed the existence of predominantly manual system which was limited by various socio-economic and technological challenges including, inconsistency, error prone, poor internet connectivity. The results also showed that the choice of market for sugarcane greatly depended on the price and mode of payment. The study adopted service oriented architecture as the guiding model. The study recommended integration of mobile phones (SMS technology) as suitable architecture for m-mining and dissemination of market access information
Effect of Principals’ Leadership Styles on Students Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Homa-Bay County, Kenya
Get PDFThis study sought to examine the effect of principals’ leadership styles on students’ academic
performances in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Examinations in public secondary schools in Homa-bay County, Kenya. The study was premised on a combination of modified Bossert’s framework and Pitner’s moderated theoretical frameworks which contend that principal’s role is influenced by intertwined factors including external antecedent variables and prevailing external environmental conditions. The study had two fold objectives, namely i) assess teachers perceptions regarding their principals leadership styles ii) analyze the relationship between principals leadership styles and students’ academic performance. The study
adopted an ex-post facto research design. From an accessible 39 secondary schools, 36 were randomly selected to provide 36 principals and 216 teachers yielding an overall sample size of 252 respondents. Questionnaires were piloted to determine their validity and reliability before being used to collect quantitative data from sampled subjects. The study established that principals in the study locale used leadership styles that were not conducive to teacher-student interactive learner-centered learning that enhanced students’ academic performance. A test of hypothesis using the chi-square test of association (X 2 =15.67, df =5) at ∝ =.05level of
statistical significance further established that there was a significant relationship between the leadership styles applied by principals as perceived by teachers and students’ academic performance. The schools that embraced more democratic and participatory leadership styles that encouraged group work and team spirit performed significantly better than those that used more autocratic leadership styles that were largely dictatorial. Several recommendations were made key among them being that the Ministry of Education through the Kenya Education Staff Institute (KEMI) should intensify in-service training for school principals on use of learnercentered leadership styles geared towards enhancing students’ academic performance not only in the study
locale of Homa-Bay County but other counties with similar management challenges[302 words]
Understanding Database Security Metrics: A Review
Get PDFThe ever increasing demand for high software reliability requires more robust techniques for software quality and security level prediction. Databases are the core of Information Systems (IS), it is therefore necessary to ensure that the quality of the databases in order to ensure the quality of the IS. Recently, it has been a challenge to determine on what is a good database model or design. Therefore, in our discussion we have considered measuring specific features and factors in a particular database implementation. The variant features and characteristics inherent to a particular database serve to come up with a metric of assessment
The efficacy of some medicinal plants used locally within Transmara west, Narok County, Kenya against selected Enterobacteria and Candida
Get PDFThe bacterial family Enterobacteriaceae and fungal genus Candida have continued to be a great
challenge worldwide including resistance to antibiotics and relapse of infections mediated by them. Among these organisms, Salmonella typhi, Shigella species, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli strains have emerged as the most frequent cause of diarrheal illnesses which account for an annual mortality rate of 4.6 million people worldwide and many other infections. Candida albicans has been reported as a causative agent of all types of candidiasis. In the present study, the efficacy of plants commonly used plants in Transmara west, Kenya against these microbes was investigated. An ethnobotanical survey using semi-structured questionnaire was done. Plant extracts were obtained through methanolic extraction. Antimicrobial susceptibility assay was done using Kirby Bauer disk diffusion technique. Minimum inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum
Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) for the bacterial test stains and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) for C. albicans were determined using microtitre broth dilution method. Phytochemical tests were done using standard procedures. The study validates the ethno-medicinal use of Pterolobium stellatum, Rhamnus prinoides, Phyllanthus urinaria, Carissa edulis, Clutia abyssinica, Clerodendrum rotundifolium, Clerodendron myricoides and Dovyalis abyssinica and recommends consideration for the use of the studied plants as possible sources of antimicrobial agents in the development of drugs for treatment of Enterobacteria and Candida related infection
Discourse of Traditional Medicine Street Advertisement in Kisumu, Kenya
Get PDFInformation is a very important concept during an interaction between interlocutors within a particular health communicative context. In matters concerning individuals' health and other emotive issues, subjective information of any kind would provide sustaining knowledge to the seeker of knowledge. It is, therefore, of immense significance for people to have access to credible information that would satisfy their questions, curiosity and emerging problems of wellness. In
Kenyan towns and villages, certain strategic street pathways are replete with Traditional Medicine advertisements by herbalists and witchdoctors. As a vehicle for promoting social modernization, the impact of utilizing advertising to promote trade in developing society remains a key subject. Although audiences are exposed to a number of advertisements, advertising may deceive either by increasing a consumer's false belief or by exploiting true beliefs in the ways designed to sell the product or offer services. This paper has interest in the discourse of advertisement of traditional
medicine. Health issues have always been an important and emotive phenomenon in the lives of humans. Being in good health and able to go about one’s business without ill-health is a desire longed for by everyone. Hence, people become very matters touching on their health and the inherent rhetoric accompanying the offered ‘solutions’ as a means of persuasion. Are herbal medicine practitioners’ genuinely reaching out to fill the void possibly left out by modern medicine? Are these practitioners ably ‘treating’ all the ‘illnesses’ they advertise? These questions form the discourse matters sought in this pape
Trainees internet usage in psychotherapy practice in teacher training colleges, Kenya
Get PDFInformation Communication and technology in particular internet aimed at widening access to flexible distance education and psychotherapy in learning institutions. In developed countries online psychotherapy has been practiced in learning institutions. However there is limited information on whether it has been established in public teacher training colleges in Kenya as an alternative approach to psychotherapy practice. Teacher trainees in Kenya are at the early
adulthood stage of human growth and development. This is a critical period with myriads of psychological, social, and academic issues which affect them, most of which require a personal and confidential psychotherapeutic intervention. One of the key objectives of the study
was to establish the trainees’ internet usage in Psychotherapy practice in Public Teacher Training Colleges in the Lake Region, Kenya. This paper explores the teacher trainees’ level of internet usage within their workbased training situation, especially for psychotherapy practice with a
view of giving a critical perspective of evidence based approach for this practice. Teacher trainees will be able to access and interact online with their psychotherapist, give reports, and provide peer reviewed presentations that relate to psychotherapy practice. The study findings will challenge trainees to embrace technology integration policy within the college, especially the internet in psychotherapy practice. The findings may assist the government, non-governmental organization and professional psychotherapists to allocate more resources for the development of psychotherapy practice in Teacher Training Colleges
