Resilience assessment for interdependent urban infrastructure systems using dynamic network flow models

Critical infrastructure systems are becoming increasingly interdependent, which can exacerbate the impacts of disruptive events through cascading failures, hindered asset repairs and network congestion. Current resilience assessment methods fall short of fully capturing such interdependency effects as they tend to model asset reliability and network flows separately and often rely on static flow assignment methods. In this paper, we develop an integrated, dynamic modelling and simulation framework that combines network and asset representations of infrastructure systems and models the optimal response to disruptions using a rolling planning horizon. The framework considers dependencies pertaining to failure propagation, system-of-systems architecture and resources required for operating and repairing assets. Stochastic asset failure is captured by a scenario tree generation algorithm whereas the redistribution of network flows and the optimal deployment of repair resources are modelled using a minimum cost flow approach. A case study on London’s metro and electric power networks shows how the proposed methodology can be used to assess the resilience of city-scale infrastructure systems to a local flooding incident and estimate the value of the resilience loss triangle for different levels of hazard exposure and repair capabilities

Religious Pluralism, Conflict and HIV/Aids Education in Refugee-Affected Regions of North-Western Kenya

This paper examines how multi-religious factors influence the teaching and learning of HIV/AIDS education in refugee schools based on a qualitative study conducted in refugee-affected communities in North-Western Kenya. The study involved a total of 3 primary schools from Kakuma Refugee Camp (KRC) and 3 from the host community. A sample of 617 respondents of diverse nationalities, including 356 male and 160 female pupils, was used. The study utilized semi-structured interviews, observation, FGDs, documentary analysis and drawings to generate data. The findings reveal that, first; traditional ethnic cultures interacted with religion to influence the nature and level of interaction between boys and girls during HIV/AIDS education lessons, thereby determining the process of learning. Whereas Somali Muslim pupils sat and worked in same gender clusters, Christian Sudanese and Turkana boys and girls interacted across genders more freely. Consequently, the cultural and religious tendencies denied Muslim Somali boys and girls an opportunity to work together as allies in addressing pertinent and effective strategies in HIV/AIDS education. Further, unlike the Christian Turkana and Ugandan girls who seemed open and outgoing in their participation in HIV/AIDS education activities, Somali and Ethiopian Muslim girls remained quiet, reserved and shy as a way of showing respect to male teachers and pupils. In this regard, Kenyan Christian teachers interpreted the behaviour of Somali and Ethiopian Muslim girls to mean disobedience and hence, tended to exclude the girls during classroom activities.  Because religion determined the teacher’s interpretation of the content,  pupils received different and sometimes conflicting messages on similar topics depending on the teacher’s religious background. It was therefore concluded that religious beliefs influenced the learning of HIV/AIDS education in refugee schools in a complex manner, which teachers need to understand clearly  for them to be able to enhance inclusive and responsive learning Keywords: Religious Pluralism, Conflict, HIV/AIDS Education, Refugee-Affected Regions, North-Western Keny

The Relationship between Distance and Availability of Material Resources for Basic Emergency Obstetric Care in Primary Health Care Facilities in Homabay and Siaya Counties, Kenya

In Kenya, pregnancy and childbirth complications are among the leading causes of mortality among women, with an estimated 488 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births which is well above the millennium development goal (MDG) target of 147 per 100,000 by 2015. The perinatal mortality rate stands at 37/1000 live births. Nyanza region is among the county’s leading with high MMR at 670/100,000 live births (KDHS, 2009) which is higher than the national average. The main objective of this study was to determine the relationship between distance of primary health care facilities from the distribution point and the availability of material resources for basic emergency obstetric care (BEmOC) in Siaya and Homabay counties in Kenya. Various studies have been conducted focusing on distance from the community to the health facility as a contributor to increased rates of maternal mortality and complications. A literature gap exists thus motivating the author to consider other possible causes including relationship between distance and availability of material resources in primary health care facilities from their point of distribution in-order to provide an understanding of the extent to which these factors affect the quality provision of basic emergency obstetric care towards reduction of maternal mortality and disability. The availability of material resources for basic EmOC is important in reducing maternal death and improving women’s health in general. This can be achieved if primary health care facilities have equipment, supplies and drugs available. With the current initiative of beyond zero campaign by the first lady in Kenya on reducing maternal deaths, efforts should be made to ensure that these material resources are adequately available and accessible to women when they need them irrespective of the distance of health facilities from the distribution point. However, adequate drug financing from the government, flexible and supportive drug policies should be in place to achieve this goal. Keywords: Kenya-Maternal Health-Basic Emergency Obstetric Care-Life saving-Primary Health Care

Cash Management Techniques Adopted By Small And Medium Level Enterprises In Eldoret Town, Kenya

The purpose of this paper was to examine the cash management techniques adopted by small and medium level enterprises in Eldoret town. The study was carried out in 17 selected SMEs all capturing 108 personnel distributed among the said SMEs equitably. The researcher sampled 52 respondents through simple random sampling and stratified sampling to help arrive at better results and minimize research cost. Data from primary sources were then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The study concluded that cash management is a working capital management component that contributes to a great extend on survival or failure of SMEs in Kenya. Among the cash management techniques commonly used are speeding cash collection and delayed payment of creditors and they did not have a direct significance with SME performance. However optimum cash held significantly, and positively influenced SMEs performance, SMEs used cheques, cash receipt, and petty cash to control cash movement and finally non financial measures of performance did not have a significant relationship with SME performance. Key Words: Cash Management, Techniques, Small and Medium Entreprise

Community based solutions for sustainability of rural sanitation behaviour change in Kenya

Kenya loses USD 324 million per year due to poor sanitation (World Bank, 2012), and 19,500 Kenyans, including 17,100 children under 5 die each year due to diarrhea. Communities’ knowledge on desirable behaviors and their willingness to adopt these desired practices are greatly influenced by their surroundings. Certain aspects and conditions must be met for these communities to adopt desired behaviors and also to ensure that they do not relapse. This paper seeks to demonstrate how through simple community based solutions the Kenya Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement Programme (K-SHIP) has been able to identify hindering factors to collective behavior change and how to remedy these factors. KSHIP is funded by Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) through Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) and implemented by Amref Health Africa in Kenya

Optimal supply chain resilience with consideration of failure propagation and repair logistics

The joint optimisation of investments in capacity and repair capability of production and logistics systems at risk of being damaged is an important aspect of supply chain resilience that is not sufficiently addressed by state-of-the-art modelling approaches. Furthermore, logistical issues of procuring repair resources impact speed of recovery but are not considered in most existing models. This paper presents a novel multi-stage stochastic programming model that optimizes pre-disruption investment decisions, as well as post-disruption dynamic adjustment of supply chain operations and allocation of repair resources. A case study demonstrates how the method can quantify the effects of pooling repair resources

The Effect of Domestic Public Debt on Financial Market Development in The East African Community

Purpose -- The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between public debt and financial market development in the East African Community Countries. Methodology – The study adopted a descriptive study and used secondary data collected from the National Treasury, Central Bank of Kenya and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The study period was between the financial years 2012 - 2016. The data was analyzed using descriptive and multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between Domestic Public Debt and Financial Market Development in East African Community Countries. Findings – The results of the study found a negative relationship between domestic debt and financial markets development. Furthermore, there was a weak relationship between inflation rate and financial markets development. The study also revealed that there was a high variation on domestic debts due to various policies of debt management, Political instability, external debts and grants received from foreign donors, in the various countries in EAC community. Implications – Most countries depend on external borrowings for their development projects and minimal domestic borrowings are acquired from the domestic market owing to the fact that domestic debt is has high interest rates when compared to the external debt which is acquired mainly on a concessional term, therefore it can be expensive to maintain. Domestic debt should be reduced by use of privatization programs, grants from donors. The government should, therefore, develop a framework to monitor and manage domestic public debt since it is growing at a high rate, reforms on private investments in Treasury bonds and treasury bills and commercial papers should be encouraged since it does not involve foreign currencies that have higher rate of interest. Value – The study will be of great impact to the financial market sectors stakeholders would get a clear understanding of the major role they play in assisting the development of the country, how the domestic debt increases financial market development and reduces external public debt that tends to affect the country’s interest rates. The government of Kenya being the main beneficiary of the domestic Public debt will clearly see and align their internal debt borrowings from the financial markets institutions to promote development in the financial markets. The investors in the Bond Markets and Financial Institutions will be informed of the factors that lead to Government issuance of Treasury Bonds and Treasury Bills to the market and the impact it has on financial markets development and the economy at large

Characterization of Eggshells Nanocatalyst: Synthesized by Bottom-Up Technology

The sol-gel technique was used to prepare the nanocatalyst from waste egg shells for the production of yellow oleander biodiesel. In this study, the physicochemical and catalytic properties of the nanocatalysts were investigated using: X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) model to quantify the pore structure of the samples, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) to calculate the exact surface area were the techniques used. The results of the EDX, and XRF analysis showed that the synthesized nanocatalyst was majorly CaO. At 90.46 ± 1.73%, this was higher than the control for incinerated eggshells. From TEM images the particles were spherical in shape with particle sizes ranging from ≈ 7 to 41 nm. BET analysis results indicated that the nanocatalyst was mesoporous with surface area, average pore diameter, and pore volume was; 5.54 ± 0.48 m2/g, 18.57 ± 2.16 nm, and ≈ 0.016 ± 0.0 – 0.017 ± 0.0 cm³/g, respectively. The surface area to volume ratios were 3.27 ± 108 m-1, 2.52 ± 108, and 1.95 ± 108 m-1, respectively. Incinerated eggshells highest followed the synthesized nanocatalyst and CaO, respectively. The synthesized eggshell nanocatalyst was found to be a potential nanocatalyst

Characterization of Eggshells Nanocatalyst: Synthesized by Bottom-Up Technology

The sol-gel technique was used to prepare the nanocatalyst from waste egg shells for the production of yellow oleander biodiesel. In this study, the physicochemical and catalytic properties of the nanocatalysts were investigated using: X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) model to quantify the pore structure of the samples, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) to calculate the exact surface area were the techniques used. The results of the EDX, and XRF analysis showed that the synthesized nanocatalyst was majorly CaO. At 90.46 ± 1.73%, this was higher than the control for incinerated eggshells. From TEM images the particles were spherical in shape with particle sizes ranging from ≈ 7 to 41 nm. BET analysis results indicated that the nanocatalyst was mesoporous with surface area, average pore diameter, and pore volume was; 5.54 ± 0.48 m2/g, 18.57 ± 2.16 nm, and ≈ 0.016 ± 0.0 – 0.017 ± 0.0 cm³/g, respectively. The surface area to volume ratios were 3.27 ± 108 m-1, 2.52 ± 108, and 1.95 ± 108 m-1, respectively. Incinerated eggshells highest followed the synthesized nanocatalyst and CaO, respectively. The synthesized eggshell nanocatalyst was found to be a potential nanocatalyst