Missions involvement in the African Inland Church- Kenya

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1575/thumbnail.jp

Roman Catholic liturgical music in urban Kenya: Processes of inculturation at St. Veronica parish Syokimau, Nairobi

The Roman Catholic Church has formally allowed and encouraged different congregations throughout the world to practise liturgy in a manner that incorporates and gives meaning to their cultural expressions. One of the aspects of liturgy that has undergone inculturation is liturgical music. Among the metropolitan and cosmopolitan congregations in urban areas however, cultural expressions are much more diverse than among the more homogenous congregations in rural areas. This dissertation explores ways in which inculturation of liturgical music is practised in urban areas in Kenya. The questions of whether and how urban congregations find cultural meaning in a culturally diverse setting are explored through a number of theoretical discussions. St. Veronica Catholic Parish Syokimau is the case study. Through ethnographic fieldwork, I study the relationship between the choir and the congregation of St. Veronica parish. I study how different aspects of this relationship interweave to provide a platform for inculturation of liturgical music in a way adapted to the unique urban characteristics of the parish. A historical context is provided as well as an overview of the development of liturgical music in the country. The incorporation of aspects of inculturation into that music is then explained, thereby laying the framework and background for the case study. The findings from the ethnographic fieldwork, which entailed participant observation and interviewee perspectives, are spread across three chapters. Firstly, inculturation is discussed in terms of repertoire. Here I lay out repertoire in terms of its nature and sources, and how they factor into the discussion on inculturation at the parish. Secondly, I look at instrumentation and accompaniment, similarly laying out their importance in a discussion on inculturation. An account of soundscape is presented in this section and its significance to inculturation is also elucidated. Lastly, the discussion focuses on the role of the congregation as conduit, catalyst and factor in the inculturation of liturgical music. In various ways, the congregation is seen as an active player in the inculturation of liturgical music at the parish, and therefore a worthwhile subject of special consideration in this research. The conclusion summarises the overall discussions and arguments of the dissertation and makes recommendations for further studies

Moderating effect of Firm Characteristics in the Financing Diversification – Performance nexus among Credit Unions in Kakamega County, Kenya

The last two decades has seen a lot of creativity and diversity in the funding strategies pursued by credit unions as a result of financial sector liberalization and competitive pressure in the financial system. Research has shown that this diversification is both beneficial and hurting at the same time. However, firm characteristics have not mostly been factored in the diversification – performance analysis though studies in other sectors underline their importance. This therefore prompted this study to analyze the moderation effect that firm characteristics – specifically age, size, members’ occupation and management structure of credit unions – could have on the relationship between diversification and performance of credit unions in Kenya. The study used a correlation analysis approach on a data set of sixteen credit unions in Kakamega County and found that whereas financing diversification had a significantly positive relationship with credit union performance; credit union size and members’ occupation significantly improved this relationship while age and management structure significant suppressed the relationship

A proposal for the evaluation of adaptive information retrieval systems using simulated interaction

The Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL) is involved in building interactive adaptive systems which combine Information Retrieval (IR), Adaptive Hypermedia (AH) and adaptive web techniques and technologies. The complex functionality of these systems coupled with the variety of potential users means that the experiments necessary to evaluate such systems are difficult to plan, implement and execute. This evaluation requires both component-level scientific evaluation and user-based evaluation. Automated replication of experiments and simulation of user interaction would be hugely beneficial in the evaluation of adaptive information retrieval systems (AIRS). This paper proposes a methodology for the evaluation of AIRS which leverages simulated interaction. The hybrid approach detailed combines: (i) user-centred methods for simulating interaction and personalisation; (ii) evaluation metrics that combine Human Computer Interaction (HCI), AH and IR techniques; and (iii) the use of qualitative and quantitative evaluations. The benefits and limitations of evaluations based on user simulations are also discussed

Sectoral credit diversification, bank performance and monitoring effectiveness; a cross-country analysis of east African banking industries

Traditionally, banking has been viewed as a pathway to reducing the frictions of transaction costs and information asymmetries. However, innovations in information technologies, deregulation, and financial deepening have deprived banks of the intermediation advantages by reducing the costs and information gaps. The emergence of shadow banking model further erodes these advantages. Banks have often responded by ameliorating their intermediation costs, through sectoral diversification. Indeed intermediation theories advocate for diversification to attain efficiency by reducing costs. However, given the nature of their operations, banks never hold sufficient balances to guarantee full liquidity. This exposes them to runs and portfolio losses if they don’t efficiently monitor and recover the advances. This scenario raises two questions that are critical to the very core of bank intermediation. First, does sectoral credit diversification enhance bank profitability; and secondly, are banks able to effectively monitor the many portfolios resulting from diversification? To answer these questions, secondary data was collected from Bank Supervision reports of the central banks in four East African Community (EAC) countries for eight firm years from 2008 to 2015 and analysed using Generalized Linear Models (GLM). A positive and significant effect of sectoral credit diversification on banking industry returns on assets was observed while a significant negative relationship between diversification and asset quality as a proxy for monitoring effectiveness was reported. This shows that sectoral credit diversification improve the monitoring effectiveness of banks. The paper recommends a diversified loan portfolio where intermediaries distribute their credit offerings across various economic sectors

Climate change adaptation and sustainable agricultural intensification in developing countries

The recent threat of climate change has exacerbated the inherent risks in smallholder farming such as soil degradation, resulting in an unprecedented decline in agricultural yields in developing countries. This has threatened the livelihoods of large segments of populations that are heavily dependent on agriculture for survival in these regions. This dissertation focuses on identifying barriers and enablers of effective management of these risks, with an aim of coming up with potential policy interventions that can reduce vulnerability to the mentioned risks. To achieve this, the dissertation utilizes various methods and approaches as well as diverse datasets in two countries in sub Saharan Africa i.e. Namibia and Kenya. Diversification into non-farm activities is seen by many as a risk management strategy in rural areas where highly variable low farm incomes are transformed into stable high non-farm incomes, thus improving the welfare of the rural populations. While this theory of change is uncontested, the importance that the agricultural sector plays as a source of livelihood for rural populations, as well as food provisioning for urban populations, cannot be downplayed. This is more so given the limited non-farm opportunities in developing countries and the exponential population growth in these countries. The two factors combined impede on the envisioned transformation of rural production sectors and also create a sub-population of food insecure urban poor due to rural-urban migration. To mitigate these problems, rural agricultural development is still paramount and strategies that enhance resilience to risks in the sector are still vital. Chapter 2 of this dissertation focuses on this issue and addresses how farm diversification can be leveraged for improved food security in the rural areas, which has potential spill-over effects to other segments of the population. Focusing on northern Namibia, the study evaluates how different levels of diversification in both crop and livestock farming affect household food security outcomes i.e. per capita food expenditure and dietary diversity score. The study employs relatively new econometric methods in these type of studies to evaluate the joint determinants to both crop and livestock diversification, as well as their singular and joint effect on mentioned food security outcomes. The results show that high levels of diversification in either enterprise leads to high food security outcomes. Combined with climate change adaptation strategies that create resilience of agricultural production to climatic shocks, the use of sustainable agricultural intensification practices can further enhance productivity in the sector. Inputs like inorganic fertilizer, organic manure and improved seeds can further build on resilient systems to improve yields. Chapter 3 of this dissertation addresses this issue by looking at whether changes in the larger agri-food systems can be used to incentivize take up of such practices at the farm level. The study evaluates how the emergence of large traders in smallholder grain markets can drive the uptake of inorganic and organic fertilizer and improved seeds. The study thus expands the intervention space available to policy makers who have in the past resorted to potentially distortionary direct policies in the input markets e.g. through subsidy provision, as well as in the output markets e.g. through regulation of prices. To achieve this, the study uses a large panel dataset from Kenya spanning over a decade to evaluate how engagements between farmers and these market actors can be leveraged to drive adoption of these sustainable intensification inputs. Results show that engagements between large grain traders and farmers enhance use of inorganic fertilizer. There is no evidence that these engagements lead to enhanced use of improved seeds or manure. However, past use of improved seeds and manure are shown to affect their subsequent use, implying path dependency in the use of these sustainable inputs hence low dis-adoption rates. Traditional technology adoption studies show that access to information is a critical success factor for the uptake of new technology. Proxy variables for information access, for example proximity to extension services or frequency of extension contact, have consistently been shown to be positively correlated with technology adoption. In the context of climate change, access to weather information can be a critical factor to adoption of adaptation technology. Chapter 4 of this dissertation deals with this issue and assesses whether provision of weather information to farmers can enhance adoption of improved farming technologies that are resilient to climatic shocks. The study focuses on northern Namibia where access to such information, as the study shows, is very limited. A framed experiment approach is utilised to evaluate how climate change-induced uncertainty affects farmers' decision making in a farming season, based on their elicited behavioural attitudes towards risk and uncertainty. Further, the study tests whether providing weather information that reduces this uncertainty leads to adoption of technologies that are welfare improving. Lastly, the demand for weather information is assessed by eliciting the willingness to pay for information under various levels of weather uncertainty. Results indicate that high levels of uncertainty dampen uptake of welfare improving technologies, regardless of individual attitudes towards uncertainty. Availing of weather information leads to welfare improving technology choice, given the prevailing levels of weather uncertainty. There is also a high demand for weather information which is shown to increase with increase in the level of weather uncertainty. The chapters in the dissertation therefore identify key policy variables that can be used to manage vulnerability to risks emanating from climate change and unsustainable production in smallholder farming. Access to comprehensive climate information encompassing weather information and climate change-specific management information on both crop and livestock farming is shown to be a key factor in the uptake of adaptation strategies like use of resilient inputs and farm diversification. Interventions along the value chain like teaming up with large market actors in a private-public engagement is shown to be a potential pathway towards enhancing uptake of sustainable intensification inputs. Other policy variables like credit provision, high education and access to off-farm incomes are also key in explaining uptake of risk management strategies by smallholder farmers in Namibia and Kenya

Spatial and temporal fluctuations in bird communities along a forest-farmland gradient in western Kenya

The impacts of human activities, notably the conversion of tropical forests into farmland habitat, has profound impacts on biological diversity and ecosystem functions (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). It is widely debated to what extent human modified landscapes can maintain tropical biodiversity and their ecosystem functionality (e.g. Waltert et al. 2004, Sekercioglu et al. 2007). In this thesis, I have used a huge and temporarily replicated dataset to assess the value of different habitat types differing in land-use intensities for bird communities in tropical East Africa. I investigated bird abundance and species richness along a forest-farmland habitat gradient and assessed spatial and temporal fluctuations of bird assemblages and their food resources. I could show that forest and farmland habitats harbor distinct bird communities. Moreover, the protection of natural forests merits the highest priority for conserving the high diversity of forest-dependent bird species. My study, however, also shows that farmland habitats in the proximity of natural forest can support a high bird diversity. High bird diversity in tropical farmlands depends on a high structural complexity, such as in small-scale subsistence farmlands. From my findings, I conclude that the conversion of forest to farmland leads to substantial losses in bird diversity, in particular in specialized feeding guilds such as insectivores, while the conversion of structurally heterogeneous subsistence farmlands to sugarcane plantation causes erosion of bird diversity in agricultural ecosystems. Both findings are important for conservation planning in times when tropical forests and agroecosystems are under constantly high pressure due to increasing human population numbers and global demands for biofuel crops (Gibbs et al. 2008). From an ecosystem function perspective, my study demonstrates the potential of agroecosystems in supporting important ecosystem functions, such as seed dispersal by frugivorous birds and pest control by insectivorous birds. I could show that bird abundances in both frugivorous and insectivorous guilds were strongly predicted by their respective food resources, implying that seasonal shifts in fruit and invertebrate abundance at Kakamega forest and surrounding farmlands affect community dynamics and appear to influence local movement patterns of birds. The most interesting finding of this study was that feeding guilds responded idiosyncratically to resource fluctuations. Frugivore richness fluctuated asynchronously in forest and farmland habitats, suggesting foraging movements and fruit tracking across habitat borders. In contrast, I found that insectivores fluctuated synchronously in the two habitat types, suggesting a lack of inter-habitat movements. I therefore predict that insectivorous bird communities in this forest-farmland landscape may be more susceptible to the combined effects of land-use and climate change, due to their narrow habitat niche and limited capacity to track their resources. The fact that a number of bird species regularly moved across the landscape mosaic in my study system implies that birds are able to provide long-distance seed dispersal across habitat borders. Thus, birds may enhance forest regeneration in human-modified landscapes, such as those in most parts of tropical Africa, given that forest remnants are protected within an agricultural habitat matrix. In order to effectively conserve tropical biodiversity within forest-farmland mosaics, this study advocates for conservation strategies that go beyond forest protection and explicitly integrate farmlands into forest management plans and policies. This should emphasize the retention of keystone habitat elements within tropical farmland landscapes, such as indigenous trees, forest galleries and hedgerows, whose presence enhance species diversity. Such grassroot-level approaches can be operationalized for instance through providing incentives to farmers to maintain their traditional subsistence land-use practices and through community-based livelihood projects aiming at enhancing local habitat heterogeneity and inter-habitat connectivity

Leadership integrity in Kenya : the best leadership practices that promote leadership integrity among leaders in Christian institutions of higher learning in Kenya

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/2571/thumbnail.jp

Difficulties Encountered by Students in the Learning and Usage of Mathematical Terminology: A Critical Literature Review

This study sought to review literature pertinent to difficulties encountered by students in the learning and usage of mathematical terminology. The need to carry out this study arose from the concern by the Kenya National Examinations Council, and the general public, over the poor annual results in mathematics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which the meanings of some mathematical terms are understood and/or confused by students for whom English is a second language. The basis of this study was the constructivist theory by J. Bruner and the cognitive flexibility theory of R. Spiro, P. Heltovitch and R. Coulson which advocates for teaching learners to construct the meanings of mathematical terms. This study’s objectives were achieved through the use of document analysis. Data analysis involved document review. The findings of this study showed that students have difficulties in using mathematical terms and their related concepts. Possible ways of teaching these terms so as to generate more meaning to the learners were also suggested. It is hoped that this will assist mathematics teachers, curriculum planners and textbook authors to counter the poor performance in the subject in Kenya. Keywords: Mathematical Concept, Capability; Confusion, Mathematical Curriculum Mathematical Terminology, Related Concepts, Colloquial Expressions, Second Languag