Co-innovation: the future of telemedicine in developing countries

Telemedicine which has been widely adopted in developed countries to reach all its citizens irrespective of their location is only being used for education purposes or disaster relief in developing countries. Since developing countries already suffer inadequate healthcare provision especially in remote areas, it would be essential to implement telemedicine practices for daily clinical uses rather than education use. This research argues that to understand the future of telemedicine in developing countries, both well-established technology innovations adoption factors as well as co-innovation factors should be addressed. In the context of healthcare provision, we propose a conceptual framework that integrates the healthcare resources and the organisational affiliations in co-innovation

Nuclear Energy: An Overview

Nuclear energy is the way of the future. It is definitely economical. The only question has to do with the environment and the destruction of human cells of the workers giving them cancer and other unpalatable maladies: skin burns, blood conditions etc. A little mass of uranium gives rise to much energy: the loss of one gram of matter in Einstein’s equation releases energy sufficient to heat about 200 tonnes of water from 0 oC to 100 oC. Running a nuclear energy programme contends with the risk of radiation, accident, waste management , nuclear weapon proliferation, inadequate technology, negative and frightful politics, weak and inefficient government e.g in the third world. For all that, Fast Breeder Reactors seem to hold the promise of consuming present day nuclear waste stockpiles of U-238 while also meeting the world’s energy demands. Keywords: energy, fission, fusion, reactor,  moderator, isotope, breeder reactor, fast reactor, chain reaction, half life, radioactive decay, nuclear waste

Breathing life into dead theories about property rights : de Soto and land relations in rural Africa

Presumption of a direct causal link between formalisation of property rights and economic productivity is back on the international development agenda. Belief in such a direct causal relationship had been abandoned in the early 1990s, following four decades of land tenure reform experiments that failed to produce the anticipated efficiency results. The work of Hernando de Soto has provided the springboard for this revival. De Soto argues that formal property rights hold the key to poverty reduction by unlocking the capital potential of assets held informally by poor people. De Soto’s justifications of formal title do not differ much from justifications that were advanced for ambitious land tenure reforms in various sub-Saharan African countries, starting with Kenya in the 1950s. Introduction of formal title in the African areas was seen as the key to solving problems of land degradation and improving agriculture by providing farmers with security of tenure that would create incentives for further investment in the land. This paper argues that there are five shortcomings in both the old and contemporary arguments for formalisation of land title. First, legality is constructed narrowly to mean only formal legality. Therefore legal pluralism is equated with extra-legality. Second, there is an underlying social evolutionist bias that presumes inevitability of the transition to private (conflated with individual) ownership as the destiny of all societies. Third, the presumed link between formal title and access to credit facilities has not been borne out by empirical evidence. Fourth, markets in land are understood narrowly to refer only to ’formal markets’. Fifth, the arguments in favour of formulisation of title as the means to secure tenure ignore the fact that formal title could also generate insecurity. Keywords: property rights; land relations; agriculture; poverty reduction; land tenure; Africa

How to Satisfy the One Third Gender Rule in Kenya

Kenyan politics, public and private institutions, as well as  family life today is largely male dominated. Many incidents in daily life reinforce male chauvinism. The constitution of Kenya, 2010, calls for not more than 2/3 gender representation in public institutions and in government appointments. This is an attempt to empower women to contest for public and political positions in parliament, Senate, MCA etc. This paper demonstrates the use of mathematical statistics to solve a social problem. Taking the case of Governor’s seat, the use of IEBC boundaries gives 47 regions in Kenya. These are divided into three equal groups A, B and C by the method of picking lots. In doing so, random numbers can also be consulted. To legalize, these groups are gazetted, early and in good time, so that all Kenyans know which counties will produce women leaders in the general elections held in which year. Keywords: constitution, mid-term, continuity, gender, two thirds, random number, MP, MCA, nomination, IEBC, DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-8-04 Publication date: April 30th 201

Fatigue in High Strength Reinforcement Bars: An Overview

Fatigue is a process of progressive structural change in a material subjected to transient loads, stresses or strains. Fatigue strength is defined as the maximum transient stress range (S) that may be repeated without causing failure for a specified number of loading cycles (N). The stress range is defined as the algebraic difference between the maximum and the minimum stress in a stress cycle: S = fmax - fmin; that is: the transient stress. Most ferrous materials exhibit an ‘endurance limit’ or ‘fatigue limit’ below which failure does not occur for an unlimited number of cycles, N. High strength bars can optimize design and cost as a result of high strength concrete, shallower sections of concrete and shuttering; with smaller foundations to carry the smaller loads. It is noted that normal allowable design stress is not invalidated by fatigue considerations. Keywords: Fatigue, endurance limit, stress range, ADTT, relative rib area, AASHTO, DL, ADTTSL, ADT, tensile strength, welded wire fabric, yield strength, anchorage, offshore, salinit

Kenyan civil society perspectives on rights, rights-based approaches to development, and participation

This paper goes beyond conceptual debates to explore country level practice around emergent rightsbased approaches to development, and their relationship with more established practices of participatory development. Drawing from the perspectives of a cross-section of Kenyan civil society groups, the paper examines the extent to which these approaches overlap, and evaluates the prospects for an integrated and sustained approach to civil society’s questioning of institutional arrangements that foster unequal relations. Current trends suggest a gradual closing of the chasm between the practice of participatory community development and the practice of rights advocacy: community development NGOs are taking more seriously the notion of people’s rights and entitlements as the starting point for their work, and the need for greater engagement with macro-level political institutions to build accountability; rights advocacy NGOs are responding to demands for active and meaningful participation of marginalised groups in shaping a rights advocacy agenda that is genuinely rooted in communities; and community-based networks are looking inward to ensure internal legitimacy, inclusiveness and non-discrimination. These trends hold promise for an integrated and sustained approach that is potentially more effective in Kenya’s new political climate characterised by stronger demands for accountability at different levels. The paper concludes with suggestions on how these emerging trends can be strengthened. Keywords: rights, participation, civil society, social movements