Reforming Copyright Law to Encourage Creativity in Kenya: A Comparative Study of Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States

This thesis proposes reform to Kenyan copyright law for the encouragement of creativity. It is argued that the encouragement of creativity is the key objective of copyright law. Creativity is a highly derivative process drawing on existing ideas and concepts. Kenyan creativity draws heavily on its culture, particularly its traditional cultural expressions. Kenya’s traditional cultural expressions are currently protected under a sui generis regime that restricts the creative re-use of ideas. It is therefore urged that the tried and true edifice of copyright law is a more appropriate regime for the regulation of traditional cultural expressions, in order to encourage creativity. However, as will emerge, copyright law is not free from its own inadequacies. As its methodology this thesis employs legal and theoretical perspectives. Regarding legal perspectives, an examination, review and comparison of the copyright laws of Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrates that the structure of copyright law has led to a failure in it adequately encouraging creativity. Instead of understanding and providing for the true nature of creativity, as a derivative process, copyright law valorises the Romantic “author-genius”. Theoretical perspectives reveal that this position has arisen due to copyright law being dominated by economic concerns. The domination of law as well as culture by economic concerns is cautioned in the theory of social three-folding put forward by the economist Rudolf Steiner. Social three-folding calls for a freeing of law and culture from economic dictates. This research draws on Steiner’s theory of social three-folding as a framework through which Kenyan copyright law can be reformed and conceptualises creativity, primarily, with regard to John Locke’s “theory of knowledge”. On this backdrop an online database for traditional cultural expressions in Kenya is proposed. The unique aspect of this database would be that it would contain a guiding statement on what may be deemed as ideas, the building blocks of creativity, in a particular traditional cultural expression

Trends in childhood mortality in Kenya: the urban advantage has seemingly been wiped out

Background: we describe trends in childhood mortality in Kenya, paying attention to the urban–rural and intra-urban differentials.Methods: we use data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) collected between 1993 and 2008 and the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) collected in two Nairobi slums between 2003 and 2010, to estimate infant mortality rate (IMR), child mortality rate (CMR) and under-five mortality rate (U5MR).Results: between 1993 and 2008, there was a downward trend in IMR, CMR and U5MR in both rural and urban areas. The decline was more rapid and statistically significant in rural areas but not in urban areas, hence the gap in urban–rural differentials narrowed over time. There was also a downward trend in childhood mortality in the slums between 2003 and 2010 from 83 to 57 for IMR, 33 to 24 for CMR, and 113 to 79 for U5MR, although the rates remained higher compared to those for rural and non-slum urban areas in Kenya.Conclusions: the narrowing gap between urban and rural areas may be attributed to the deplorable living conditions in urban slums. To reduce childhood mortality, extra emphasis is needed on the urban slums

Census and ear-notching of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis michaeli) in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya

This paper updates the status of the black rhino population in Tsavo East National Park (NP). Data were acquired through aerial counts of the black rhino between 3 and 9 October 2010 using three fixed-wing husky aircrafts and a Bell 206L helicopter in an area of about 3,300 km2. Based on previous sightings of rhinos, the area was divided into 14 blocks, with each block subdivided into 400 m transects. An aircraft flying at about 500 m above the ground was assigned to carry out the aerial survey following these transects within each block. Observers scanned for rhinos about 200 m on either sides of the flight paths. Intensive searches in areas with dense vegetation, especially along the Galana and Voi Rivers and other known rhino range areas was also carried out by both the huskies and the helicopter. The count resulted in sighting of 11 black rhinos. Seven of these individuals were ear notched and fitted with radio transmitters and the horns were tipped off to discourage poaching. Three of the seven captured rhinos were among the 49 animals translocated to Tsavo East between 1993 and 1999. The other four animals were born in Tsavo East. Two female rhinos and their calves were not ear-notched or fitted with transmitters. It is recommended that another count be carried out immediately after the wet season as the rhinos spend more time in the open areas while the vegetation is still green. The repeat aerail count is to include blocks north of River Galana

Unique paraphilic event: a Kenyan case report

Paraphilia is considered any sexual expression not in conformity with societal norms. Society defines what is deviant and this may vary from regions and even change with time. The topic on paraphilias has remained controversial with an increasingly liberal approach to definition and common views. We share a strikingly unique case of a 23-year-old male who presented to our Urology Clinic as a referral thought to have multiple bladder stones on imaging. Surgery revealed a 105cm electric cord used for sexual pleasure and coiled in the bladder to resemble bladder stones. A review of literature and how it relates to this case is discussed

The APSIM manure module: improvements in predictability and application to laboratory studies

应用RACE方法获得斜带石斑鱼膜结合型免疫球蛋白M（membrane-bound immu-noglobulin M,mIgM）,膜结合型免疫球蛋白D（mIgD）,分泌型免疫球蛋白Z（secretory immu-noglobulin Z,sIgZ）的重链基因。斜带石斑鱼膜结合型IgM重链恒定区包含3个恒定区结构域（μ1,μ2,μ3）以及两个跨膜外显子（TM1,TM2）,TM1外显子与μ3结构域末端相连接。氨基酸序列相似性分析结果显示,斜带石斑鱼mIgM各恒定区与牙鲆mIgM恒定区相似性最高,为53%-78%。mIgD的cDNA全长为3 375 bp,开放阅读框包含3 006 bp,其恒定区由1个μ1外显子,7个δ外显子以及跨膜区组成。斜带石斑鱼IgD恒定区与鳜IgD各恒定区氨基酸序列相似性最高,δ1-δ7的相似性分别为75.5%、75.8%、65.4%、76.6%、88.1%、90.6%、82.8%,TM结构域为82.7%。sIgZ的基因结构与其他硬骨鱼类sIgZ的结构相似,包括4个外显子和3个内含子,内含子长度分别为222、129和458 bp。利用半定量PCR分别检测了这3种基因在斜带石斑鱼各器官/组织中的表达,发现mIgM在头肾、肾脏、脑、脾脏、肠、鳃、心脏和胸腺中均有表达;mIgD的mRNA在头肾、肾脏以及胸腺中有较高的表达,在肠中表达量较低;sIgZ mRNA主要分布于淋巴组织如头肾、肾及脾脏中,而在鳃、心脏和胸腺中的丰度较低

Similarities in functional attributes and nutritional effects of magadi soda and bean debris-ash used in cooking African traditional dishes

Magadi soda and bean debris-ash have been used as condiments for a long time by various ethnic groups in East and Central Africa in cooking traditional dishes. The aim of the study was to investigate whether magadi soda and bean debris-ash had similar effects and functional attributes when added to traditional dishes during cooking. Reason for the addition of the two condiments has not been revealed by researchers. Mineral content, in-vitro bioavailability studies and pH of non-ashed and ashed magadi soda and bean debris were evaluated. The results indicated that high concentrations of sodium ions (30.2%) and potassium ions (64.2%) were observed in magadi soda and bean debris-ash, respectively. In-vitro iron and zinc bioavailability decreased significantly with the addition of magadi soda and bean debris-ash in maize, beans and sorghum. Equally, the cooking time was significantly reduced. The mean pH for both magadi soda (9.66) and bean debris-ash (9.75) were not significantly different indicating that both aqueous solutions had alkaline properties. The similarity in properties especially in mineral profile, alkalinity, decreased cooking time and lowered mineral uptake by magadi soda and bean  debris-ash explain similar functionality in foods they are added to during cooking. Despite the similarities  observed, communities should be informed of the negative nutritional effects of these condiments so as to diversify their meal patterns accordingly.Key words: Magadi soda, bean ash, traditional dishes, minerals, in-vitro bioavailabilit

Avifauna of Ishaqbini Community Conservancy in Ijara District, NE Kenya

Ishaqbini community conservancy, in the arid northern-eastern Kenya was established in 2006 by local pastoralists as a community initiative to safeguard their wildlife heritage especially the endemic Hirola Beatragus hunteri. Prior to this survey there were no known recent avifaunal surveys for the area despite the fact that the conservancy lies adjacent to the relatively well-known lower Tana River forests, an important bird area (Bennun & Njoroge 1999), as well as the East Africa coast forests endemic bird area (Stattersfield et al. 1998). In this paper we present the results of an avifaunal survey of the conservancy that includes a description of the bird assemblages in the conservancy, and an annotated account of some species of global and regional conservation concern occurring there

The birds of Uaso Narok Forest Reserve, Central Kenya

The birds of the Uaso Narok Forest, Central Kenya, were surveyed between June 2008 and April 2009. We recorded 161 species representing 49 families in total. Of these species, 34 were representative of the Afrotropical Highland Biome, representing 51% of all Kenyan species of this biome; two species were representative of the Somali-Masai biome. In addition to the Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni (listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List), there were 27 species of regional conservation concern. Breeding activity was recorded for 39 species, while a new population of Black-billed Weaver Ploceus melanogaster was discovered here, thus extending the species’ known range. The main human activities recorded in this forest included firewood collection, illegal logging and charcoal burning. This survey revealed that Uaso Narok Forest is important for the conservation of Kenya’s montane forest avifauna and deserves immediate official protection, as well as further biological research

Cattle Identification Using Muzzle Images and Deep Learning Techniques

Traditional animal identification methods such as ear-tagging, ear notching, and branding have been effective but pose risks to the animal and have scalability issues. Electrical methods offer better tracking and monitoring but require specialized equipment and are susceptible to attacks. Biometric identification using time-immutable dermatoglyphic features such as muzzle prints and iris patterns is a promising solution. This project explores cattle identification using 4923 muzzle images collected from 268 beef cattle. Two deep learning classification models are implemented - wide ResNet50 and VGG16\_BN and image compression is done to lower the image quality and adapt the models to work for the African context. From the experiments run, a maximum accuracy of 99.5\% is achieved while using the wide ResNet50 model with a compression retaining 25\% of the original image. From the study, it is noted that the time required by the models to train and converge as well as recognition time are dependent on the machine used to run the model.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 table