* General Repository
Permanent URI for this community
This is a general Repository that offers an inclusive platform for individuals to freely upload and share their diverse research outputs, fostering open access to knowledge within and beyond Africa's academic community. Join us in contributing to a vibrant repository for scholarly content, amplifying African voices in global research.
Browse
Browsing * General Repository by Issue Date
Now showing 1 - 20 of 1009
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item LES PERES BLANCS 1868 – 1892 DEPUIS L’ORIGINE DE LA SOCIETE JUSQU’A LA MORT DU FONDATEUR(Fides Caritas Spes, 1901) Duchêne, Le Père Lucien; Rutazibwa, Privat; Minnaert, Le Père, StefaanLe Père Lucien Duchêne (1857-1934) est le premier Père Blanc (Missionnaire d’Afrique) qui a écrit une histoire de sa Société missionnaire. Son œuvre fut publiée en trois tomes au début du 20e siècle, entre 1901 et 1903. Elle couvre la période de 1868 jusqu’à la mort de Mgr Lavigerie, fondateur des Pères Blancs, en 1892. Dans son œuvre, le P. Duchêne fait souvent référence aux documents qu’il avait consulté dans les archives. Il était habité par le souci de raconter la vérité. Il évite aussi les interprétations qui pourraient influencer le lecteur. Plus tard des historiens parmi les Pères Blancs écriront leurs « histoires » plutôt au service de l’image de leur société. Ils embelliront la réalité pour encourager des jeunes à devenir missionnaires et aussi pour susciter la générosité de leurs bienfaiteurs. Certains penseront même à une éventuelle canonisation de leur fondateur, le cardinal Lavigerie.Item A Simple Guide (Handbook) to On-Farm Tree Nurseries in Asals Kitui District(Kenya Forestry Research Institute, 1993-10) Ongw'eya, C.N.; Yamauchi, K.Item A Manual for Tree Nursery Management(Kenya Forestry Research Institute, 2000) Kimondo, James; Kioko, JosephThis nursery manual was written to guide the development and management of both public and private tree nurseries. The manual provides practical guidelines for nursery workers, extensionists and farmers. We are confident that it will be a useful reference material for those who have past practical knowledge of raising tree seedlings.Item Facts on Growing and Use of Eucalyptus in Kenya(Kenya Forestry Research Institute, 2010-09) Oballa, P.O.; Konuche, P.K.; Muchiri, M.N.; Kigomo, B.N.Eucalypts are the most widely cultivated forest trees in the world. The genus Eucalyptus comprises more than 900 species and various hybrids and varieties. Most eucalypts occur naturally in Australia. In Kenya, eucalypts were introduced in 1902 to provide fuelwood for the Kenya-Uganda railway. Currently, eucalypts are used for fuelwood, timber, plywood, transmission poles, pulp, building materials, fencing posts, windbreaks and ornamentals. Eucalypts are grown in most ecological zones in Kenya and on a variety of soils, including infertile sands and heavy clays. The total area under eucalypts in Kenya is about 100,000 ha distributed in gazetted forests and land owned by large private companies, small-scale farmers and local authorities. The area under Eucalyptus is likely to increase as a result of the high demand for transmission poles to cater for the ongoing expansion in rural electrification and for construction, fuelwood, carbon sequestration and mitigation of the effects of climate change. A ready market for Eucalyptus products has motivated farmers to grow the species to improve their livelihoods through increased income. However, the extensive growth of eucalypts has generated controversy on high water use by the species and negative effects on soil fertility and biodiversity. Concerns have also been expressed about the adverse effects of growing eucalypts near water sources because of the observed drying of streams, rivers and springs. Nevertheless, farmers continue to grow Eucalyptus because of its fast growth and good economic returns. To address these concerns, the government has recently provided guidelines on growing Eucalyptus trees and is presently working on a policy to guide the growth of the species in Kenya. As a third government effort, this booklet presents important facts on the growing and use of Eucalyptus in Kenya. The booklet will contribute to the effective growth of Eucalyptus with minimum adverse effects on the environment, leading to increased forest cover, carbon storage and renewable energy, improved livelihood and creating wealth for the citizens.Item An exploratory study of early letter-sound knowledge in a low socio-economic context in South Africa(Aosis publishing, 2011) O'Carroll, ShelleyThis paper explores one aspect of early literacy development in a low socio-economic context in South Africa. Assessments conducted with a sample of children from two disadvantaged communities in Cape Town indicated that in this context, almost half of the learners entering Grade One were unable to recognise any letters. A Grade R intervention conducted by volunteers showed that children from this context were able to learn letter-sounds in Grade R through a programme that focused on teaching letter-sounds in the context of building language skills, emergent writing and concepts about print. In order to strengthen the effectiveness of the intervention, the volunteer programme was supplemented by support for the Grade R teacher and teaching assistant. Follow-up assessments of one of the intervention groups at the end of Grade One revealed significant correlations between early Grade One letter knowledge and end of Grade One word reading and spelling skills. The findings of this exploratory study are in line with research that shows the importance of letter-sound knowledge in the earliest stages of learning to read. This raises concerns about the historical lack of emphasis in the Grade R curriculum on this aspect of early literacy development. Although the study has a narrow focus and conclusions cannot be drawn about other aspects of early literacy learning in this context, the results suggest an urgent need for quality Grade R teacher training programmes with a specific focus on emergent literacy.Item Entwicklung Oder Profit? Die Staatliche Und Private Presse In Ghana(2012-02-01) Kuehnhenrich, DanielGhana gilt als ein demokratisches Musterland des afrikanischen Kontinents. Betrachtet man die Pressefreiheit liegt das westafrikanische Entwicklungsland noch vor Ländern wie Spanien und Frankreich. Das ghanaische Pressewesen ist durch ein Nebeneinander von staatlicher und privater Presse gekennzeichnet. Im subsaharischen Afrika orientieren sich die Medien am Entwicklungsjournalismus und am westlichen Journalismusverständnis. Daniel Kuehnhenrich untersucht mit verschiedenen Methoden die Ausprägung dieser Konzepte in den ghanaischen Zeitungen. Seine umfassende Analyse beruht auf der ersten Journalistenbefragung in Westafrika, teilnehmenden Beobachtungen in zwei großen Zeitungsredaktionen, qualitativen Interviews mit deren Chefredakteuren und einer quantitativen Inhaltsanalyse von über 1100 Zeitungsartikeln. Die detaillierte und umfangreiche Literaturanalyse ordnet die empirischen Ergebnisse in die subsaharische Presselandschaft ein. Die Studie leistet damit einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Verständnis der Presse in Ghana und stellt eine erste Anlaufstelle für jeden dar, der sich mit den ghanaischen oder afrikanischen Medien beschäftigt.Item The Nandi County Political Code of Conduct(2012-04-01) Nandi Kaburwo Council of EldersIn April 2012, more than a year before Kenya’s 2013 elections, the Nandi Kaburwo Council of Elders in Nandi Hills undertook the original task of writing the Nandi County Political Code of Conduct (NCPCC). Throughout Kenya, the pre-election period was characterized by a significant involvement of councils of elders in spreading messages of peace and promoting “good leadership”, unlike 2007 when these councils played an active role in mobilizing Kenyans to take part in the post-electoral violence. Printed as an 8-page booklet, the NCPCC was targeting local candidates, their supporters and political parties. It displayed regulations aimed to contribute to the “transformation of Nandi County” into a prosperous place, an “island of new politics, free of political madness.” Inspired from the role models of the Kenyan “Goodwill Ambassadors” for peace put in place in 2012, and based on oral narratives about iconic pre-colonial Nandi leaders—such as Kimnyolei and Koitalel Samoei—, this code of conduct brings to light cultural, social, economic and political dynamics mobilized by a wide range of actors (NGO, elders, candidates, entrepreneurs) during electoral times.Item Generic Competitive Business Strategies and Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises in Nairobi: An Empirical Validation of the MSE Typology(University of Nairobi, 2014-11) Ogot, MadaraCompetitive business strategy typologies classify business strategies based on common elements and provide a framework for gaining competitive advantage in the market. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that the informal sector, mainly consisting of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) accounts for approximately 90% of all new jobs and up to 85% of total employment. In Kenya, the significance is evident in that the sector employs approximately 8.8 million people or 81.1% of those employed. In Nairobi, informal manufacturing MSEs have sprung up in clusters in areas that have combinations of high vehicular and human traffic, high populations densities, as well as transport arteries. Despite the significant role informal sector MSEs play in Sub-Saharan Africa national economies, few transition to formal medium or large size enterprises due to a wide array of challenges that include lack of access to markets; information on and access to finance; low ability to acquire necessary technical and managerial skills, and limited access to technology. The MSE competitive business strategies typology posits that combining Porter’s theory of competency and strategic alliance theory is better suited to MSEs than the use of competency theory alone, as has traditionally been the case. Using manufacturing and agro-food processing MSEs in Nairobi as the study population, the research objective of this study was to empirically determine if the use of competitive business strategies based on a combination of competency and strategic alliance theories by informal sector MSEs leads to better business performance, as compared to those who employ competency-based theories only. The results from the study established the following. First, from the study population, the adoption of Broad Hybrid, Hybrid Differentiation, Hybrid Mentor and Peer differentiation strategies corresponded to better performance, providing support to the proposition that collaboration may provide MSEs with access to additional resources that they may have lacked due to their small size, allowing them to better address threats and take advantage of opportunities available to them. Adoption of Mentor Differentiation, Peer Low Cost, Mentor Low Cost, Hybrid Peer and Hybrid Low-cost strategies, however, did not correspond to better performance. Businesses adopting these strategies were statistically neither better nor worse than those businesses that adopted none. Lack of support for Hybrid Peer, Hybrid Low Cost and Peer Low Cost may have been due to the low numbers of businesses that were within these categories, which may have affected the validity of the statistics tests. Third, the study compared the business performance of those adopting Porter’s strategies (competency-based) with those adopting strategies in the MSE typology. From the results, MSEs adopting strategies defined within the Peer Differentiation, Hybrid Differentiation, Hybrid Mentor or Broad Hybrid ideal types performed better than those adopting low cost, differentiation or mixed strategies under the Porter typology. These results suggest that strategies that incorporate collaboration both with peers and mentors, should lead to superior business performance of MSEs.Item LES SAVOIRS ENDOGENES DANS L'ENSEIGNEMENT DES SCIENCES AU CAMEROUN : Enjeux et stratégies d'intégration dans le curriculum(2014-12-31) Mboa Nkoudou, Thomas HervéNombre d’auteurs considèrent l’enseignement et l’apprentissage à l’école, comme la transmission et l’acquisition d’une culture. En Afrique, il s’agit de la culture occidentale qui est transmise et acquise au détriment de la culture propre des enseignants et des élèves. Cette hégémonie, qui s’est installée avec la colonisation, est entretenue jusqu’à nos jours par nousmêmes, sujets de l’assimilation culturelle. Cependant, des voix s’élèvent de par le monde, pour réclamer la prise en compte à l’école des cultures locales, ou encore mieux des savoirs endogènes. Dans cet essai, nous verrons qu’en considérant les savoirs endogènes dans l’enseignement des sciences, le Cameroun gagnerait tant aux niveaux économique et éthique, qu’aux niveaux de la santé et du développement durable. A cet effet, pour une prise en compte effective des savoirs endogènes dans le curriculum, nous proposons une stratégie basée sur le principe d’équivalence épistémologique et l’approche Science-Technologie-Société (STS). Laquelle stratégie prend pour exemple la Culturally-Aligning Classroom Science (CACS), qui est un modèle théorique développé par des chercheurs sud-africains.Item Open Peer Review: Fast Forward for a New Science(2015-06-30) Hachani, SamirPeer review has been with humans for a long time. Its effective inception dates back to World War II resulting information overload, which imposed a quantitative and qualitative screening of publications. Peer review was beset by a number of accusations and critics largely from the biases and subjective aspects of the process including the secrecy in which the processes became standard. Advent of the Internet in the early 1990s provided a manner to open peer review up to make it more transparent, less iniquitous, and more objective. This chapter investigates whether this openness led to a more objective manner of judging scientific publications. Three sites are examined: Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (ETAI), Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP), and Faculty of 1000 (F1000). These sites practice open peer review wherein reviewers and authors and their reviews and rebuttals are available for all to see. The chapter examines the different steps taken to allow reviewers and authors to interact and how this allows for the entire community to participate. This new prepublication reviewing of papers has to some extent, alleviated the biases that were previously preponderant and, furthermore, seems to give positive results and feedback. Although recent, experiences seem to have elicited scientists’ acceptance because openness allows for a more objective and fair judgment of research and scholarship. Yet, it will undoubtedly lead to new questions which are examined in this chapter.Item Question Banks: A Tool for Improving Higher Education Assessment Across National Resource Networks: The Polytechnic of Malawi Case Study(2015-11) Chilivumbo, ChifundoQuestion Banks are used to increase the access to quality material for assessing the students in institutions of higher learning. A good question bank which is in line with the learning orientated assessment framework, should facilitate the, learning orientated assessment tasks, developing evaluate expertise and aid in student engagement with some feedback. This paper seeks to create a solution that will allow for these properties to be streamlined by an information solution for higher institutions to be delivered over National resource networks, with one of the University of Malawi’s constituent colleges, the Polytechnic as a case study. This paper documents the work done with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Language and Communication in the Faculties of Applied Sciences and Education and Media Studies respectively. Information about the assessment creation and assessment artifact storage was gathered from these two departments through the study of existent literature, observation of processes and a self-administered questionnaire given to participants from the two departments. The first version of the software was created with work being done to improve the system to ensure it’s efficiently aids the assessment process. Although the current process is paper based the system tracks the process using an electronic solution with the aim to allow for an aid to creation and research of questions and possibly in the future for electronic delivery of assessments. The system also takes into account the issue of interoperability of the new system with the Universities existing systems that support Virtual Leaning and Student Information Management.Item Achieving Smart Resource Management for Better Disaster Management using Space-based Technology in Lowershire Basin, Malawi(2015-11) Chilonga, DonnexAdvancements in new geo-spatial technologies across the globe are seen as a way to advance the decision-making process of first responders before and after a disaster. Unstructured disaster information and an infrastructure for accurate disaster information may be accessed and retrieved successfully through present new and important tools. Such tools could help improve the performance of disaster prediction in any country across the world. This paper illustrates a method based on incorporation of space and terrestrial technologies that aims at providing vital information to first responders for smart management of floods in Loweshire Basin, Malawi.Item Economic Analysis of Forest Landscape Restoration Options in Kenya(Kenya Forestry Research Institute, 2016) Cheboiwo, Joshua; Langat, David; Muga, Meshack; Kiprop, JonahForest and land degradation is a serious global problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries experiencing high population growth and unemployment rates. It is estimated that at global level between 1 billion to over 6 billion ha of the forest landscapes are degraded. The main cause of degradation is through conversions of forests to alternative land uses that has impacted negatively on productivity and diminished the flow of products and services for human well-being. Forest landscape restoration received global endorsement for collective actions to restore health and vitality of degraded landscapes. The decision was informed by the fact that continued environmental degradation will have long term impacts on the overall human wellbeing hence the need to undertake some initiatives to address and minimize the impacts. Through the Bonn Challenge the global community has pledged to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030 (www.bonnchallenge.org/content/challenge). Underlying the Bonn Challenge is the Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach, which aims to restore ecological integrity and improve human well-being through multifunctional landscapes. The Bonn Challenge is a practical method of realizing many existing international commitments, including the CBD Aichi Target 15, the UNFCCC REDD+ goal, and the Rio+20 land degradation neutrality goal. As part of its contribution to the global effort to mitigate climate change, the Africa Continent through AFRA A100 pledged 100 million hectares. Kenyan government has pledged to restoration and reforestation of 5.1 million hectares by 2030 as part of its commitment to global Forest Landscape restoration. However, forest restoration involves investments whereas the costs and benefits of undertaking such massive project are yet to be defined in monetary terms. However, forest restoration involves investments and the costs and benefits of massive planned landscape restorations are yet to be defined in monetary terms. Therefore, access on likely costs and benefits of restoration efforts is crucial to inform all stakeholders on the best bet for achieving restoration goals. To address the data and information gaps, it is critical to quantify the likely benefits and costs of various interventions over wide range of landscapes. Economic analysis will help justify and support resource mobilization for the national forest landscape restoration targets. In addition, the analysis will quantify and identify the best options for achieving both short and long term benefits to landowners and stakeholders at national, regional and global levels. To contribute to Kenya government commitments to the Bonn Challenge and to actualize the national restoration strategy, economic analysis of restoration options was mooted to provide a comprehensive report.Item East-African Social Sciences and Humanities Journals active in 2008-2009(2016-07-14) Schmidt, NoraResearch Data of „East-African Social Sciences and Humanities Publishing: A Handmade Bibliometrics Approach“, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, València (Spain), September 14-16, 2016. Abstract of the paper: For Eastern Africa, very little information about the SSH knowledge production can be found from a European perspective. Adequate indicators like information-rich bibliographic databases that cover East-Africa-based journals and book publishers are lacking. This research in progress explores their indexing situation in detail, their development, which is closely connected to political history, their (non-)usage, and affiliations as well as career-stages of their authors. Furthermore, it also pays attention to East-Africa-based SSH researchers who use other publication venues. Any bibliometric analysis in this field needs to rely on manual data collection, otherwise it would be heavily biased. This study lays out the foundation for citation analyses, qualitative research on the publications' content and the self-description of East-African scholars against the background of an academic environment that is often described as “international”.Item East-African Social Sciences and Humanities Journals Active in 2008-2009(2016-10-18) Schmidt, NoraResearch Data of „East-African Social Sciences and Humanities Publishing: A Handmade Bibliometrics Approach“, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, València (Spain), September 14-16, 2016. Corrected second version: due to an error, the journal “Chemchemi” was not included in “1 final list merged” and “7 ceased-established”. However, this does not change the conclusions drawn in the paper. Abstract of the paper: For Eastern Africa, very little information about the SSH knowledge production can be found from a European perspective. Adequate indicators like information-rich bibliographic databases that cover East-Africa-based journals and book publishers are lacking. This research in progress explores their indexing situation in detail, their development, which is closely connected to political history, their (non-)usage, and affiliations as well as career-stages of their authors. Furthermore, it also pays attention to East-Africa-based SSH researchers who use other publication venues. Any bibliometric analysis in this field needs to rely on manual data collection, otherwise it would be heavily biased. This study lays out the foundation for citation analyses, qualitative research on the publications' content and the self-description of East-African scholars against the background of an academic environment that is often described as “international”.Item East African Social Sciences and Humanities Publishing: A Handmade Bibliometrics Approach(2016-10-20) Schmidt, NoraSlides for the presentation at the 21st International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, València (Spain), September 14-16, 2016. Abstract of the paper to be published in the proceedings: For Eastern Africa, very little information about the SSH knowledge production can be found from a European perspective. Adequate indicators like information-rich bibliographic databases that cover journals and book publishers based in East Africa are lacking. This research in progress explores their indexing situation in detail, their development, which is closely connected to political history, their (non-)usage, and affiliations as well as career-stages of their authors. Furthermore, it also pays attention to SSH researchers based in East Africa who use other publication venues. Any bibliometric analysis in this field needs to rely on manual data collection, otherwise it would be heavily biased. This study lays out the foundation for citation analyses, qualitative research on the publications' content and the self-description of East African scholars against the background of an academic environment that is often described as “international”.Item A Technical Evaluation of the Performance of Classical Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Methods Based on Computational Intelligence (CI) i.e Supervised Learning, Unsupervised Learning And Ensemble Algorithms in Intrusion Detection Systems(2016-11) Zvarevashe, Kudakwashe; Mapanga, Innocent; Kadebu, PrudenceThe emergence of new technologies in this dynamic information era has caused a tremendous increase in the rate at which data is being generated through interactive applications thereby increasing the movement of information and data on communication networks as individuals, organizations and business interact on a daily basis. Big Data is flooding our networks and storage devices stimulating a cause for concern in terms of processing, storage, access and security of large blocks of data in most networks. The facilitation of online research services is always under the risk of intruders and malicious activity. Most techniques used in today's Intrusion Detection Systems are not able to deal with the dynamic and complex nature of cyber-attacks on computer networks. Over the years, Intrusion Detection Systems .Various methods have been developed by many researchers to detect intrusions aimed at networks as well as standalone devices which are based on machine learning algorithms, neural networks, statistical methods etc. In this paper, we study several such schemes and compare their performance. The experiments are done using WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) and one of the most popular Intrusion Detection Systems datasets which is NSL-KDD99 so as to analyse the consistency of each algorithm. We divide the schemes into methods based on classical artificial intelligence (AI) and methods based on computational intelligence (CI) i.e supervised learning, unsupervised learning, ensemble and immune algorithms. We explain how various characteristics of CI techniques can be used to build efficient IDS. This paper will further evaluate the performance of the algorithms using the following parameters: accuracy, detection rate and false alarm.Item The Ik language: Dictionary and Grammar Sketch(2017-03-01) Schrock, TerrillThis book is a dictionary and grammar sketch of Icétôd (Ik), one of the three Kuliak languages spoken in northeastern Uganda, in the Karamoja region. It is the lexical sequel to A grammar of Ik (Icé-tód): Northeast Uganda’s last thriving Kuliak language (Schrock 2014). This volume includes an Icétôd-English dictionary with roughly 8,700 entries, followed by a reversed English-Icétôd index. This is then supplemented with a sketch of Icétôd grammar that is nearly comprehensive in its coverage of topics and is written in a simple style, using standard linguistic terminology, but in a way that is accessible to non-linguists. As a whole, this book may be useful for language and curriculum development for the Ik people, as a reference for non-Ik language-learners, and as a source of data not only for the comparative study of Kuliak but also the Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan language families.Item A Dictionary And Grammatical Outline Of Chakali(2017-03-01) Brindle, JonathanThis book is the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to Chakali, a Southwestern Grusi language spoken by less than 3500 people in northwest Ghana. The dictionary offers a consistent description of word meaning and provides the basis for future research in the linguistic area. It is also designed to provide an inventory of correspondence with English usage in a reversal index. The concepts used in the dictionary are explained in a grammar outline, which is of interest to specialists in Gur and Grusi linguistics, as well as any language researchers working in this part of the world.Item Multiple Exponence In The Lusoga Verb Stem(2017-04-06) Hyman, Larry; Inkelas, Sharon; Jenga, FredIn this paper we address an unusual pattern of multiple exponence in Lusoga, a Bantu language spoken in Uganda, which bears on the questions of whether affix order is reducible to syntactic structure, whether derivation is always ordered before inflection, and what motivates multiple exponence in the first place. In Lusoga, both derivational and inflectional categories may be multiply exponed. The trigger of multiple exponence is the reciprocal suffix, which optionally triggers the doubling both of preceding derivational suffixes and of following inflectional suffixes. In these cases, each of the doubled affixes appear both before (closer to the root) and after the reciprocal. We attribute this pattern to restructuring, arguing that the inherited Bantu stem consisting of a root + suffixes has been reanalyzed as a compound-like structure with two internal constituents, the second headed by the reciprocal morpheme, each potentially undergoing parallel derivation and inflection.