INFLUENCE OF SAFETY STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES IMPLEMENTATION ON TRANSPORTATION SAFETY IN PUBLIC BOARDING SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KITUI COUNTY, KENYA

There a current concern caused by rampant tragedies in secondary schools in Kenya which demands for the need to look at the school safety system. The aim of this research was to look into the implementation of safety standards and guidelines on transportation safety in public boarding secondary schools in Kitui County. The objective was to find out the influence of transportation safety implementation. The investigation was led by the securitization and disaster managing theories. The mixed methodology approach was adopted and the design was concurrent triangulation. Targeted population was 16,875 which included; 1,940 teachers and 14,903 students, 16 education officers and 16 senior police officers. The sample was 650 participants which included: 240 teachers, 400 students, 5 education officers and 5 security personnel. Stratified sampling was used to get 5 schools from each of the 8 constituencies; then random sampling was used to get 20 schools. Principals and deputies were purposively sampled. The researcher used random sampling for teachers and leaners and purposive for education and security officers. Likert scale surveys were utilized in the case of teachers and learners. Interview schedules were used for education and security officers and an observation checklist was used too. The data collection tools were tested in 2 boarding institutions which were not included in the last study sample. The specialists examined data collection tools for validity and test retest technique was done for reliability with coefficient of .902. For credibility, simultaneous triangulation was employed. Quantitative data were evaluated in expressive data using tables, frequencies and percentages. Chi-square was employed to find out the degree to which the variables related with one another. Qualitative data were explained through narrative form. The study established that there was need to check the use of safety belts and overloading among other issues. It was recommended that strict measures be put in place to safeguard learners using school vehicles. Further research was recommended in security in tertiary institutions and universities.  Article visualizations

Využití asociačních pravidel při analýze alarmových trendů

This article deals with acquired alarm logs analyses, the alarm logs from control systems, and explains the reasons for its collecting and implication of the analyses. Several existing platform solutions can be used to analyze the alarms from the historical trends, and solutions, which offer the filtering of events based on time units to obtain the data about the maximum and average number of logs. This paper contributes to this area by developing a graphical interface for a system that makes it possible to use the analysis by association rules and brings the possibility of detecting frequent and repeating patterns in acquired alarm data files.Tento článek se zabývá sběrem a analýzami alarmových logů, alarmových hlášení z řídicích systémů, a vysvětluje důvody pro jejich sběr a důsledky analýz. Několik stávajících řešení na softwarových platformách může být k analýze alarmů použito z ukládaných historických trendů a řešení, která nabízejí filtrování událostí na základě časových období a údajů o maximálním a průměrném počtu logů. Tento příspěvek přispívá k této oblasti vytvořením grafického rozhraní pro systém, který umožňuje použití analýzy pomocí asociačních pravidel a přináší možnost detekce častých a opakujících se vzorů v získaných datových souborech s alarmy

‘Turnaround’ of Indian Railways: Increasing the Axle Loading

Axle loading had contributed significantly to the ‘turnaround’ of the Indian Railways (IR) in the two years 2004-06. As the Minister of Railways (MR) stated, “A one ton extra loading per wagon implied additional revenue of Rs 500 crore per annum for IR.” The axle loading initiative was a significant step by IR, though sustainability was a concern. This paper focuses on the key driving events, process issues, impact and implications, and sustainability of the initiative of taking the load per wagon from its carrying capacity (CC) to CC+8. Axle loading for a wagon had traditionally been 20.32 tons, except for the mainline versions of steam locomotives. In the early 1980s, the then Chairman of the Railway Board took initiative of increasing axle loading on an experimental basis which after his tenure, could not be sustained on the grounds of safety. In the late 90s, there were initiatives of regularizing the two ton slack normally permitted for excess loading for certain commodities which were usually on a short haul. The railway minister, during inspections in 2004, noticed significant overloading of many wagons in the iron ore and coal routes. This set him thinking on the axle loading initiative. When one of the Zonal Railways (ZR) proposed an increase of up to ten tons per four axled wagon, various directorates in the Railway Board (RB) gave their views, many of which opposed the initiative. The minister, through the RB, directed a variety of processes to bring about inter-departmental alignment, and the initiative was taken forward in a step by step manner over the two years over a large part of IR. The safety and research institutions of IR also had to be taken along. The initiative is still treated as an ‘experiment,’ with many issues that need resolution and strategizing.

Taxation of Road Goods Vehicles – An Economic Assessment

This paper reviews the current position, recent research and potential future areas of research relating to road track costs, with particular reference to Heavy Goods Vehicles. It opens with a theoretical discussion, which concludes that the appropriate basis for changing is long run marginal social cost, but casts some doubt on whether the existing cost allocation procedure achieves this. The main reason for this is the likelihood that the marginal capital cost per unit of traffic of coping with an increase in traffic volumes greatly exceeds the average capital cost per unit of traffic at the present time. The DTp method of allocating track costs is then outlined, and the sensitivity of the results to variations in a number of the key assumptions is tested. The results show that the DTp method may only be allocating HGVfs as little as half of their costs. Hence instead of covering their allocated costs by some 30% to allow for environmental effects, as the DTp. claim, it may be that these lorries are only meeting 65% of their allocated cost. The sensitivity tests that yield the above results reflect the following concerns: (1) FUEL CONSUMPTION DTp measures lorry mileage and deduces fuel used and hence fuel tax paid. However, their fuel consumption figures look implausibly high. We have used FTA figures instead. (2) TRAFFIC FLOW DTp currently allocate many costs to vehicle kilometres (e.g. drainage, winter maintenance, traffic signs etc.), but accepts that the demand for a new road arises in proportion to PCUs (passenger car units), i.e. giving more weight to lorries. Our view is that once a road is opened any general costs involved in its continued use should also be allocated by PCUs. (3) LORRY WEIGHTS DTp use lorry weights as reported on a self completion questionnaire, which naturally omit any overloading. We have used observed values from a large study in Cheshire. (4) CAPITAL EXPENDITURE DTp charge only what is currently being spent. Following cutbacks in all government expenditure, this amount is now some 50% lower than in the early 1970s. Since capital expenditure was roughly 60% of total road expenditure, this implies that cost allocations have fallen by 30% on this account. Our view is that even this understates the true long run marginal cost of road traffic. Although the precise figures are subject to much doubt, in every case there seems good reason to suppose that the proposition is broadly correct. Taken cumulatively, they would be sufficient to convert the existing overpayment by HGVs (which presumably is intended to reflect unquantified environmental costs) into a substantial underpayment. If the increase in road haulage taxation which these figures would imply is politically unacceptable, then there is a good case for corresponding action to relieve the rail and water modes of part of their infrastructure costs

Goodbye to projects? The institutional impact of sustainable livelihoods approaches on development interventions

The research goodbye to projects grew out of the increasing interest in sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLA) and growing disillusion with projects as mechanisms for addressing the development needs of the poor. Its aim was to investigate the implication of the adoption of SLA on the management of development interventions and in particular of the future of development projects. The underlying research questions were: a) How are elements of the sustainable livelihoods principles being applied in practice b) What are the problems and challenges for managing livelihoods-oriented development interventions? c) What is the future for development projects, given the increase in direct budget and sectoral assistance?Livelihoods, Projects, Economic development, EPRC, Muhumuza, Sustainable development, Financial Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Livestock Production/Industries, Political Economy,

Governing land: reflections from IFPRI research

"Land is still among the most important assets of the rural population in the developing world. Land resources are governed by a variety of tenure systems based on statutory, customary, or religious law. At the same time, many national, subnational, and local institutions administer the application and enforcement of these laws, relying on a wide variety of policies, rules, and regulations that promote different practices for using and managing land and land-based resources. IFPRI contributes to land policy debates by demonstrating the importance of land policy and its impact on rural people. This occurs across multiple dimensions, including people's livelihoods, the sustainability of the resource base, and the effectiveness of the institutions that govern land. This brief summarizes findings of relevant IFPRI research on land management and governance to promote strategies and policies targeted toward the achievement of gender equity, poverty reduction, and sustainable resource management." Author's SummaryGovernance, Poverty reduction, Sustainability, Gender equality, Gender, Environmental management, Devolution,

Perspectives for Electronic Books in the World Wide Web Age

While the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) is steadily expanding, electronic books (e-books) remain a niche market. In this article, it is first postulated that specialized contents and device independence can make Web-based e-books compete with paper prints; and that adaptive features that can be implemented by client-side computing are relevant for e-books, while more complex forms of adaptation requiring server-side computations are not. Then, enhancements of the WWW standards (specifically of XML, XHTML, of the style-sheet languages CSS and XSL, and of the linking language XLink) are proposed for a better support of client-side adaptation and device independent content modeling. Finally, advanced browsing functionalities desirable for e-books as well as their implementation in the WWW context are described

FORGE enabling FIRE facilities for the eLearning community

International audienceMany engineering students at third-level institutions across the world will not have the advantage of using real-world experimentation equipment, as the infrastructure and resources required for this activity are too expensive. This paper explains how the FORGE (Forging Online Education through FIRE) FP7 project transforms Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE) testbed facilities into educational resources for the eLearning community. This is achieved by providing a framework for remote experimentation that supports easy access and control to testbed infrastructure for students and educators. Moreover, we identify a list of recommendations to support development of eLearning courses that access these facilities and highlight some of the challenges encountered by FORGE