Faculty of Engeneering and The Built Environment

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://koha2.tukenya.ac.ke/handle/123456789/899

Browse

Browsing Faculty of Engeneering and The Built Environment by Issue Date

Filter results by year or month
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Semi-solid processing of cast iron.
    (2002) Takita, M; Muumbo, A; Nomura, H
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An Investigation of Project Success for Engineering and Technology-Based Projects in Developing Countries
    (2006) Marwanga, R.O; Nyangara, F.M; Deleveaux, V.J.
    The success or failure of engineering and technology-based development projects is studied in this paper. A sample of one hundred and thirty three (133) completed projects funded by the World Bank are investigated to determine their level of success based on bank criteria and assessments. The assessments mainly focus on the following criteria: relevance of objectives, efficacy, efficiency, sustainability, institutional development impact, outcome, bank performance, and borrower performance. One other dimension that has been downplayed by these assessments is project management success as represented by project schedule and cost. In the current study, the level of project success is evaluated on the basis of bank criteria and performance in project management. A composite project performance index is then derived, planned schedules are compared with final closeout, and budgets are compared with final costs to determine the overall success of these projects. Finally, the effects of project sector, regional location of projects, and project size, on success are investigated. The results show that only about half (50%) of the World Bank projects are successful in achieving their goals. The results also show that the sector of a project, its geographical region, or size have no effect on project success
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Semantic markup of information on sanitation initiatives in informal settlements
    (2006) Obonyo, Esther; Omenya, Alfred
    The fundamental problem with the ‘traditional’ Web is: information is designed for human consumption and even with the evolution of powerful search engines, information filtering still remains a task that requires significant human involvement. Consequently, any application that is designed to use Web-enabled technologies will eventually encounter problems related to ‘information overload’ and ‘digital anarchy’ (the latter problem emanates from lack of interoperability across systems especially in different organisations). This paper describes a conceptual framework that addresses these issues using emerging Semantic Web Technologies. The framework will focus on demonstrating the potential benefits of using semantic markups and ontologies to augment Web content for Sanitation initiatives in informal settlements using the experience in Nairobi as a test case. It will address problems arising from the sheer scale and diversity of data on sustainable sanitation practice through the use of the Semantic Web technologies. The conceptual framework presented in this paper will be further defined through an iteration of workshops with the stakeholders and expanded into a platform for semantically matching a controlled taxonomy for Sustainable Sanitation for informal settlements.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Providing Home-based Care Using Text Messaging
    (2011) Sowon, Karen; Marwanga, Reuben O
    Th e i ncreasing miniaturization of mobile devices marks an important opportunity for the next generation health care delivery. Mobile health (mHea lth), existing at the nexus of health and technology provides a singular opportunity to take health where it is needed the most. Having had nearly mainstream adoption, may explain why the developed world is in tandem with health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On the other hand, developing countries still lag behind in meeting the same health-related goals, yet they continue to report successful stories of mobile technology growth and adoption but no major usage of the same to deliver healthcare. This resear ch sought to explore existing mHealth applications to establish their suitability for use in developing countries such as Kenya to provide home-based care. This was done by a survey of existing literature and mHealth models, and an architecture developed in light of local communication infrastructure and local mobile phone abilities. It was established that for developing countries to take advantage of this leapfrogging technology in health, they would have to take advantage of the Short Message Service (SMS) that is cheap and accessible to all. A relationship amongst mHealth stakeholders was considered as key to enhancing the adoption of mHealth in such countries
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding the tipping point of urban conflict: the case of Nairobi, Kenya
    (Urban Tipping Point, 2012) Omenya, A; Lubaale, G
    This research studies the tipping point of urban conflict in Nairobi, Kenya. It employs the concepts of tipping points and violence chains. The research studies various types of conflict and violence at city level through literature and in three of Nairobi’s hotspots: Kawangware, Kibera, and Mukuru settlements, through participatory violence appraisal (PVA). The research shows that the most significant type of violence is political violence. However, cumulatively, other types of violence, namely landlord-tenant, domestic and economic violence, are more significant. Focusing on political violence alone makes other types of violence invisible. The study shows that political violence in Kenya is rooted in colonial times in historical inequity in access to resources, and perpetuated in post-colonial times through the mediation of ethnicity. The study unpacks roles of institutions in tipping conflicts into and out of violence; it shows that an institutional analysis of actors involved in tipping conflict into violence and vice versa is important in preventing violence. It identifies the tipping points at sub-city level and shows the complex ways in which these types of conflict and violence are interlinked through chains. Breaking these violence chains is critical to preventing conflicts tipping into violence. A key way of breaking the chains is improving the overall governance framework. Further the study shows that violence in Nairobi’s sub-city is spatially linked. Thus identification of violence hotspots is critical in dealing with violence; and spatial improvements such as slum upgrading initiatives, taking into consideration hotspots, can go a long way in preventing conflict tipping into violence.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Analysis of raw iron ores in Kenya: case study of Mwingi north constituency in Kitui county
    (2014) Kiptarus, Joan J; Muumbo, AM; Makokha, AB
    Accurate prediction of downstream processing performance of a mineral ore is critical to resource evaluation and development decisions, where significant cost and productivity benefits can be realized through early determination of an ore’s properties and processing potential. This study aimed at investigating the chemical, qualitative and quantitative composition of raw iron ore from the deposits in Katse area (Mwingi North Constituency in Kitui County) which lies in the Mozambique mobile belt. The quality of the iron ore was evaluated to establish its suitability as a raw material for iron production in Kenya. Samples were obtained along the perimeter vertices and centre of a land parcel measuring 150m2 with each excavation being 50cm length, 50 cm width and 500cm depth. Detailed studies were conducted to establish the composition and properties of the 5 samples. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) techniques were employed in the investigation. XRD studies revealed magnetite (above 86%) as the major mineral with subordinate amounts of hematite and quartz. XRF studies indicated a high content of iron (above 80%) with minor amounts of (5% Al2O3, < 5%TiO2, 1-44% SiO2, <1% of MnO, P2O5, SO3, K2O, V2O5). AAS experiment results indicated that the Iron content was above 90% with minor amounts of SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, MgO, Na2O, K2O, TiO2 and MnO elements. The quality of this ore was compared to generalized world market standards and ores from other nations. The results indicated that Katse ore is a rich Magnetite grade with Fe content above 80% with minor amounts of hematite, quartz and clay as the major gangue (<1% SiO2 and <1% Al2O3) and low contents of the deleterious elements ( <1 %), which correspond to acceptable levels for commercial iron ores.