Human Development as Integral Development: The Social Teaching of the Church in an African Context

It has been commonly held that the main cause of underdevelopment is the lack of capital. This dissertation is based on the observation that underdevelopment still persists in Kenya despite billions of dollars in foreign aid from Western Europe and North America. The main focus of this dissertation is an attempt to understand an effective remedial action to such an economic situation of underdevelopment. The dissertation seeks to find the remedy for underdevelopment by the methodological means of demonstrating how a holistic understanding of human development entails integral development in Kenya. The thesis and the overview of this dissertation are in the introduction. The claim that Kenya is still a developing nation is demonstrated in the first chapter. Chapter two seeks a holistic understanding of human development as integral development with a view to overcoming underdevelopment in the methodological light of the pre-Vatican II social teaching of the Church. Chapter three illustrates such a holistic understanding as a rights-based concept of human development. Chapter four attempts to specify the post-conciliar holistic understanding of human development as integral development with a view to overcoming underdevelopment. Chapter five seeks the remedy for underdevelopment within the conceptual framework of a rights-based understanding of human development as integral development. The concluding chapter six seeks to contextualize the findings of the dissertation within the historical background of the nation-state of Kenya. It proposes a cross-cultural encounter between African socialism and Western liberalism. This chapter concludes with other propositions for a mutual complementation or reciprocal enrichment between the African Weltanschauung and Western thought, for example, in the interdisciplinary field of inculturated African ethics

EXPLORING FACTORS THAT AFFECTING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AMONG GRADUATE STUDENTS IN KENYA

The aim of this study was to adopt and test the validity of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and explore the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among graduate students using structural equation modeling. Since most literature agreed that using Theory of Planned Behavior could determine entrepreneurial intention, this theory is used as a theoretical framework in this study. 206 graduate students of United States International University-Africa were selected as the respondents. A set of questionnaire on Entrepreneurial Intention and its antecedents, which consists of several semi-structured questions, was used for data collection. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results revealed that personal attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are the predictors of entrepreneurial intention accounting for 75%.  Personal attitude and perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on entrepreneurial intention while subjective norms had a negative effect on the same.Keywords: Theory of planned behavior, graduate students, entrepreneurial intention, Kenya

The Influence of Organizational Leadership on M-commerce Performance in Kenya’s Commercial Banks

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of organizational leadership on performance of mobile commerce (m-commerce), in relation to strategy implementation in Kenya’s commercial banks. The study was motivated by the fact that banks are experiencing competition from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). In the developed countries, several mobile money payment initiatives have developed and despite promising high returns, some have either stagnated or failed. Studies indicate that traditional banks could have up to 35 percent of their revenues taken by MNOs. The study used correlation to establish the relationship between organizational leadership and m-commerce performance, Chi square test to determine association of variables and ANOVA analysis and SEM to test the hypotheses. The findings demonstrated that organizational leadership in commercial banking sector in Kenya was found to have a significant and positive relationship with m-commerce performance. The study recommends that banks need experienced people with well-developed leadership capabilities and business acumen. Bank leaders should build a strong relationship with their teams, be flexible in the current environment to support new innovations and to be seen to be the visible vision bearer of innovations in the bank. Keywords: Organizational leadership, strategy implementation, m-commerce performance, Kenya’s Commercial Banks

Participatory-based development of early bulking cassava varieties for the semi-arid areas of Eastern Kenya.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food security crop in the semi-arid areas of Eastern Kenya. It provides food for more days in a calendar year than any other crop grown. Kenya has relied on varieties bred in other countries and because of this, local breeding methodologies and expertise are lacking. Access to appropriate varieties and adequate planting materials are major limiting factors to cassava production. Farmers grow late bulking landraces that take up to 18 mo to harvest. Efforts to introduce early bulking genotypes from IITA failed because of poor end-use quality. Local cassava breeding is necessary to alleviate the production constraints. Before a local breeding program can be established, farmers' preferences and production constraints must be identified and methodology appropriate to the Kenyan environment must be developed. The aims of this study were to identify farmer production constraints and preferences, to develop methods appropriate for cassava breeding in the semi-arid areas of Kenya, develop a population segregating for bulking period to estimate genetic variances that would explain the gene effects controlling yield components, and through participatory selection identify varieties that combine early bulking and preferred end-user traits. PRA tools, focus groups and individual interviews were used to identify production constraints and farmer preferences for cassava varieties. The PRA found that farmers grow 13 landraces in the area and 11 production constraints were identified and prioritised. The four most limiting in the order of importance were drought, lack of planting material, pests and diseases. Crosses between cassava varieties often do not produce much seed and the seed produced does not germinate well. Germination studies were done with open pollinated seeds to identify conditions favourable for seed germination in Kenya. The highest germination of the seeds was at 36°C. The control seeds had a higher germination percent (77%) compared to the seeds which were pre-heated at 36°C (57%). Crosses were made between selected IITA and local Kenyan genotypes following the NC 11 mating design to develop new genotypes which combine early bulking along with other farmer/end-user preferred characteristics. The hybrid progenies were evaluated in a seedling trial and clone genotypes advanced to a clonal trial and performance trial. The clonal trial was destroyed by red spider mites and cassava green mites, and only the tolerant 225 genotypes were planted in a performance trial that was harvested at 6, 7 and 8 mo after planting. The SCA effects were estimated to be 57% to 75% for most of the traits, except root number, which was mainly controlled by GCA effects (55%). Participatory selection of genotypes that combined early bulking and end-user qualities at the 7 and 8 mo after planting was done by farmers. Thirty genotypes that combined early bulking and end-user qualities were identified and ranked according to their performance in both agronomic and end-use traits using a selection index. A number of selected genotypes yielded more than three times the yield of the best parents, showing strong progress in breeding. Combining the farmers' preference aggregate score and the selection index based on the agronomic data, assisted in the final identification of the best genotypes developed in the breeding process. These results clearly demonstrated that it is possible to breed early bulking varieties with good end-use quality in the semiarid areas

Investigating the pathway and fate of inorganic impurities in a bisulfite dissolving pulp production process.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2011.This study sought to investigate the pathway and fate of metals and Si in a bisulfite pulp production process, at the same time providing a means to mitigate on the residual metals bound in the final pulp. The metals pathway and fate was traced from the Eucalyptus plantation, through the pulp production process. Principal component analysis was employed to determine the correlation between the observations and the variable of interest. It was established that Fe is a limiting factor in the growth of the Eucalyptus trees in the forest under study. The main pathway for the metals and silicon was found to be the exchangeable soil fraction. The residual metals in the pulp material during pulping and bleaching process are influenced by the media pH, the accessibility of the active sites, the affinity of the metal towards the active sites and the degree of delignification and hemicelluloses extraction. Metal desorption under the influence of acetylacetone at both pH 6 and 8 were best described by Langmuir desorption model. Pulp metal desorption under the influence of EDTA was also best described by the Langmuir model except for Al (R2) 0.572 and 0.004, at pH 6 and 8 respectively. This implies that most of the metals in the dissolving pulp sample were chemically adsorbed on the surface of the pulp. However, aluminum was poorly described by the Langmuir isotherm model. This is because polyvalent metals like Al are hard Lewis acids, capable of strong and specific bonding to hard Lewis base functional groups on organic molecules. The Freundlich model described Mg, Al and Cu desorption suggesting some fraction of these metals to have been physically adsorbed onto the pulp material. It is possible that the metal fraction being physically desorbed was introduced onto the pulp during the pulp bleaching process. Voltammetry was employed to investigate the effect of organic ligands on metal mobility in bleaching filtrates. It was observed that filtrate samples obtained from the alkaline-oxygen bleaching stage produced higher current peak suppression at pH 2 as compared to the filtrate samples obtained from alkaline bleaching stage; this indicates the presence of stronger none-labile metal ligands. At a higher pH of 3.6 the voltammograms of the filtrates obtained from the alkaline-oxygen delignification produced higher cathodic peak shifts. The extent to which the peak potential shifts cathodically is indicative of the magnitude of the stability constant. This may imply that the samples obtained from the alkaline-oxygen delignification comprise of ligands that form strong metal-ligand complexe

The Impact of Systems Thinking as a Construct of Organizational Learning on Competitive Advantage in Kenya’s Oil Marketing Sector

Introduction: Systems thinking has emerged as the convergence point between sciences, a fundamental way of interpreting nature and mastering the ever increasing complexity of the products of human intelligence. Objective: This study aimed to determine the impact of systems thinking as a construct of organizational learning on competitive advantage in Kenya’s Oil Marketing Sector. The latent aspects of competitive advantage; organization agility, innovation, barriers to entry, mass customization and inimitability (difficulty to duplicate) were investigated against the independent variable. Methodology: The research design was explanatory, non-contrived and cross-sectional study on Kenya’s oil marketing sector. A sample size of 425 was drawn from oil marketing companies that had a market share above 1% according to the Petroleum Institute of East Africa. Structured questionnaires were used as the data collection tool. Correlation, regression and SEM model were used to analyze the study findings. Findings: The study found that systems thinking significantly predicted competitive advantage which indicated rejection of the null hypothesis. Keywords: Organizational Learning, Systems Thinking, Competitive Advantage, Oil Marketing Sector

The Impact of Mental Models as a Construct of Organizational Learning on Competitive Advantage in Kenya’s Oil Marketing Sector

Introduction: Despite the growing popularity of organizational learning (OL) and its constructs, the concept remains complex and vague for researchers as well as managers. Mental models are inherently difficult to study and several methods have been developed that essentially document a mental model in the form of a mind map or concept diagram. Objective: This study aimed to determine the impact of mental models as a construct of organizational learning on competitive advantage in Kenya’s Oil Marketing Sector. The latent aspects of competitive advantage; organization agility, innovation, barriers to entry, mass customization and inimitability (difficulty to duplicate) were investigated against the independent variable. Methodology: The research design was explanatory, non-contrived and cross-sectional study on Kenya’s oil marketing sector. A sample size of 425 was drawn from oil marketing companies that had a market share above 1% according to the Petroleum Institute of East Africa. Structured questionnaires were used as the data collection tool. Correlation, regression and SEM model were used to analyze the study findings. Findings: The study found that mental models significantly predicted competitive advantage which indicated rejection of the null hypothesis. Keywords: Organizational Learning, Mental Models, Competitive Advantage, Oil Marketing Sector

Hybrid Power Systems for Commercial Application in Kenya

The cost, availability and stability of power are parameters that greatly define the quality of energy supplied by a generating system. A hybrid power system with different sources of energy must be properly designed in order to capitalize on the positive features of the deployed resources. Hybrid power system optimization is a process that allows for deliberate attainment of desired output from a power system. In this paper, a learning institution, East African School of Aviation (EASA) was selected as a case study for investigating the outcome of harnessing local energy resources to serve a commercial consumer in Kenya. A cost competitive hybrid power system was obtained through Simulation and optimization processes