Human Brucellosis in Febrile Patients Seeking Treatment at Remote Hospitals, Northeastern Kenya, 2014-2015

During 2014–2015, patients in northeastern Kenya were assessed for brucellosis and characteristics that might help clinicians identify brucellosis. Among 146 confirmed brucellosis patients, 29 (20%) had negative serologic tests. No clinical feature was a good indicator of infection, which was associated with animal contact and drinking raw milk

Modelling and Forecasting Electricity Demand for Commercial and Industrial Consumers in Kenya to 2035

Commercial and industrial consumers are the largest users of electrical energy in Kenya. They play a central role in driving electricity demand by contributing to over 70% of the electricity demand in the country. Despite their consumption of electricity being the highest, there is a gap on the drivers of their demand. There are significant deviations between past official forecasts and actual putting into question the official forecast assumptions.This study adressed this gap by estimating the drivers of commercial and industrial electricity demand.The drivers included supply side constraints represented by hydro inflows hence contributing to literature. A demand forecast upto to the year 2035 was also undertaken and compared with the official forecast. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method and time series data from 1985 to 2016 was used in undertaking the analysis. The results indicated that commercial and industrial consumers’ electricity demand is income elastic. Other drivers include efficiency, electricity price and hydro inflows. A projection of the demand indicated the official forecast could be overstated and may need to be reviewed

Inadequate Insurance Claims Reserving and Financial Distress in Non-Life Insurance Companies in Kenya: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Financial distress (FD) is a common occurrence in Kenyan commercial sector and is not lacking in non-life insurance companies in Kenya. Several insurance companies have been placed under statutory management for failure to pay genuine claims and other creditors. Insurance companies provide unique financial services, not only to individuals but also to the growth and development of the economy; giving employment to workers and dividends to investors. Financial distress places insurable properties and businesses at risk thus reducing the general public confidence in the insurance sector. For this paper, the goal was to investigate whether inadequate reserving of claims (IRC) causes financial distress in non-life insurance companies in Kenya. In accounting for insurance claims reserves, increases in reserves mean a reduction of profitability of an insurer, whereas a decrease in reserves increases the profitability resulting in higher taxation and payment of dividends, which drains the insurer’s cash flow, thus causing financial distress. Out of 37 non-life insurance companies, registered in 2018 in Kenya, four insurers were subjected to Pilot Testing and another four companies declined to participate in the survey. Secondary data from Insurance Regulatory Authority website was retrieved for calculations of Z-scores as per Altman (1993), amended formula. Primary data was also collected through a questionnaire. A partial least squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to assess the mediating effect of Insurance Regulatory Association (IRA) supervision on the association between inadequate reserving of claims and financial distress. Goodness-of-fit (GoF) indices were used to assess the model’s goodness of fit. By using the discriminative Z-score formula, 52% of the institutions considered in 2018 were financially distressed, compared to 48% in 2017. However, when considering the average of ten years (2009 to 2018), financially distressed..............Keywords: Non-life  insurance  companies,  Policyholders,  Insurance  Regulatory  Authority,  Claims Reserving, Z-Scores, Structural Equation Modelling DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/12-12-06 Publication date:June 30th 2021

Effects of selected drivers of information and communication on awareness and perception of tomato post-harvest loss-reduction technologies in Kaduna, Nigeria

The Nigerian government\u27s policy on agriculture has supported productivity enhancements among smallholder farmers, yet tomato production is constrained by post-harvest losses leading to over 45 % (750,000 metric tons) loss. Various initiatives are constantly being introduced to make technologies and practices available to reduce these losses. This study was carried out to determine the level of awareness and perception of four technologies. A total of 420 tomato farmers were selected in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Awareness and perception were modelled using the Multivariate Probit Model. The results showed that one or more of the independent variables including cooperative affiliation (p<0.001, for awareness of Reusable Plastic Crate {RP} technique), frequency of extension visit (p<0.001, for awareness of RP), and farm area cultivated (p<0.05, for awareness of Refrigerated Truck {RT}/ Machine Drying {MD}) were significant. For perception, some of the independent variables explored and found significant included multiple sources of information for CS/RT, losses through transit/storage (P<0.01) and the number of technologies adopted (P<0.001) for cheapness; credit access (P<0.001) and farm area (P<0.001) for availability; marital status (P<0.01) and losses through storage (P<0.021) for labour saving perceptions. The awareness and perception of the tomato PHL reduction technologies do not provide common determinants. The study concluded that the communication channels such as Farmer to Farmer, Radio and extension agents (57.9%, 9.3%, 33% for RP, respectively), among others, influenced awareness of the new technologies among farmers. The study recommends the need to drive farmers’ awareness using suitable advocacy channels. A better understanding of constraints that influence farmers\u27 perceptions is important while designing and rolling out technologies

Assessment of factors influencing adoption of tomato post-harvest loss-reduction technologies in Kaduna state, Nigeria

The Nigerian government\u27s policy on agriculture supports productivity enhancements, yet tomato production is constrained by post-harvest losses of up to over 45%. 420 tomato farmers were selected for study in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Multinomial Logit Model was used to determine factors influencing losses while factors influencing adoption and intensity were modelled using Tobit. The results showed the adoption rate of (new technologies) RP was 3.57%, CS = 0.47%, RT = 0.71%, MD =0.71%, CD = 100%. Adoption rate of (traditional method) raffia basket was 100%. For farmers, the highest source of losses was those in storage (70.5%), followed by farm level (14.5%). Results on factors influencing PHL showed that in transit, Modern Technology accentuated losses (p<0.10), while Car/truck ownership mitigated losses (p<0.01) In storage, Modern Technology (p<0.05), Farm Distance (p<0.05), Farm Size (p<0.10), and Own Car/truck ownership (p<0.10) mitigated losses, while only Multiple Cropping (p<0.05) accentuated losses. In marketing, education (p<0.05), modern technology (p<0.10), multiple cropping (P<0.10), and credit access (P<0.10) accentuated losses while age of farmer (p<0.10), years of technology adoption (p<0.10), farm size (p<0.10), and wealth status of farmer (p<0.05) mitigated losses. The results factors influencing adoption and adoption intensity of PHL-reducing technology show that Education (p<0.05), Age (p<0.10), Extension (p<0.10), CS_Information_Sources (p<0.01), RT_Information_Sources (p<0.01), MD_Information_Sources (p<0.05), Labour_sourcesT (p<0.01), Credit_sourcesT (p<0.10), and Farm_Size (p<0.01) were positive and had a significant influence. Education had a quadratic (Education2) negative influence on adoption of PHL reducing technologies. In conclusion, extension services exposure, large farm holding, and multiple information sources positively influenced adoption of post-harvest loss reduction technologies. The field survey also showed a 100% willingness of the farmers to adopt improved/modern technologies. The study recommended using PPP model to make these modern technologies and farm practices within the financial reach of farmers to mitigate post-harvest losses

The Nexus between the Maasai Culture and the Education of Girls: the Case of Narok North Sub-county, Kenya

Niniejszy artykuł prezentuje badania, które miały na celu ustalenie, w jaki sposób kultura Masajów wpływa na edukację dziewcząt i kobiet w północnym hrabstwie Narok w Kenii. Edukacja jest instrumentem wyzwolenia, dominacji, rozwoju osobistego i wspólnotowego. Kształcenie dziewczynki zapewnia, że korzyści płynące z edukacji są odczuwalne na poziomie rodziny, a nawet przekazywane przyszłym pokoleniom. Mimo że rząd Kenii zrealizował politykę bezpłatnej edukacji podstawowej w 2003 roku i zadeklarował w 2020 roku przejście wszystkich uczniów ze szkoły podstawowej do szkół średnich, to nauka nadal pozostaje mirażem dla niektórych rodzin z północnego okręgu Narok. Dominująca kultura Masajów utrudnia aktualizację edukacji dziewcząt. Niniejsze badanie zostało przeprowadzone z zastosowaniem podejścia etnograficznego. Przeprowadzono również wywiady z różnymi grupami osób za pomocą wywiadów częściowo ustrukturyzowanych. Uzyskane dane poddano analizie tematycznej analizy narracji. Badanie wykazało, że społeczność nie była entuzjastycznie nastawiona do zabierania dziewcząt i kobiet do szkoły. Jeśli chodzi o zapisy do szkół w hrabstwie Narok, niewiele dziewcząt w porównaniu z chłopcami zapisywano do pierwszej klasy, podczas gdy przejście uczniów ze szkół podstawowych do szkół średnich wynosiło nieco ponad 60%. Niniejszy artykuł wskazuje na potrzebę połączenie wysiłków wszystkich interesariuszy w celu zwiększenia wysiłków na rzecz uzyskania wykształcenia. Wśród tych zaleceń jest włączenie Masajów do tego szlachetnego zadania, a także wspieranie programów edukacji dorosłych dla młodych matek i kobiet.This research seeks to establish how the Maasai culture impacts the education of girls and women in Narok North Sub-County, Kenya. Education is the instrument of liberation, domination, personal and communal development. Educating a girl ensures that the benefits of education are felt at the family level and even transmitted to future generations. Even though the Government of Kenya accomplished the free primary education policy in 2003 and went further and declared 100% transition of students from primary education to secondary education level in 2020, learning still remains a mirage for some families of the Narok North Sub-County. The dominant Maasai culture has hindered the actualization of the education of girls. This study was conducted using the ethnographic approach. Various groups of people were also interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The data obtained was analyzed using thematic narrative analysis. The study inferred that the community wasn’t enthusiastic about taking their girls and women to school. On school enrollments within Narok County, few girls, compared to boys, enrolled in grade 1 while the transition of leaners from primary schools to secondary schools stood slightly above 60%. This paper recommends radical combined efforts of all stakeholders as a technique of persuading the community to scale up its efforts on education attainment. Among these recommendations is incorporating the Maasai elders in this noble task and also supporting adult education literacy programs for young mothers and women.Uniwersytet Loránda Eötvösa (Węgry)45346

Digital Signal Processing Research Program

Contains table of contents for Part III, table of contents for Section 1, an introduction and reports on seventeen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-90-J-1544Charles S. Draper Laboratory Contract DL-H-404158Rockwell Corporation Doctoral FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1489U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-90-J-1109The Federative Republic of Brazil ScholarshipLockheed Sanders, Inc.National Science Foundation Grant MIP 87-14969AT&T Bell Laboratories Doctoral ProgramBell Northern Research Ltd.Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Contract N00014-87-K-0825IBM CorporationSloan FoundationU.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research FellowshipU.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant AFOSR-91-0034National Science Foundation Graduate FellowshipCanada, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council ScholarshipU.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant AFOSR-91-0034Texas Instruments, Inc