Web services: designing and developing for manageability

Paper presented at ICT conference of 2008. Theme : ICT's Role towards a Knowledge Economy.Paper presented at ICT conference of 2008. Theme : ICT's Role towards a Knowledge Economy

The Psychosocial Effects Of Mobile Phone Usage Among The Youth: The Case Of A Selected Christian University

This study’s aim was to investigate the psychosocial effects of mobile phone among the youth. This is because the mobile phone has become ‘a must have’ technological tool among many youths in Kenya and beyond. It has ended up bringing different effects in the lives of many users and of great concern to the negative ones. Through the findings of this research, it was found that some negative psychological and social effects amongst the students can be attributed to their mobile phone usage. The study was carried out in a Christian University among the students aged between 18 and 25 years. 120 respondents were selected in a stratified manner from the various programmes and years of study. All of them had used mobile phone with majority (98%), for a period between 2 – 10 years. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The findings revealed that majority of the students (83.8%) were aware of the negative effects that might result from the continued use of mobile phone. The following were some of the negative psychosocial effects found among the respondents: financial challenges, cheating, stealing, stress, anxiety, and mobile phone addiction.&nbsp

Change Management Practices on Organization Performance: A Case Study of Mandera Kenya Prisons Service

In the last decade Kenya Prisons Service has been implementing changes. The widespread perception is that the reforms process has lost momentum. Some reports reveal that prisons in Kenya have problems touching on financial mismanagement, poor governance, and congestion and overcrowding, rights buses, emerging technologies putting pressure on the organization and warders are still living miserably in ramshackle houses across the country, as reforms started in 2003 are painstakingly slow. Therefore the study sought to determine influence of change management practices on organization performance of prisons service in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To determine the influence of communication, stakeholder’s participation, management skills and finances on organization performance in Mandera Kenya Prisons Service. The study used descriptive research design. This design involved gathering data that describe events and then organizes, tabulates, depicts, and describes the data. The study target population included 100 prisoners, 28 Kenya Prisons Officers and 5 professionals who work in Mandera Kenya Prisons Service making the total target population of the study to be 133. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used. A sample of 85 respondents was considered. The study used quantitative data analysis approaches.Quantitative data was analysed by use of descriptive statistics with an aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Data was then presented in graphs and tables. Further, a multiple regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The study concluded that the mostly commonly used mode of communication used was face to face communication. Further from the findings the researcher concluded that communication is very effective in delegation of duties, forwarding of grievances and enacting disciplinary procedures. Inadequate and less effective communication is a major factor that impacts on the change management process. The researcher recommended that Communication should be done to the entire workforce, it must also occur frequently and the organization should encourage its executives and middle level managers to initiate change. Keywords: Change, implementation, performance

Risk Management in Financial Information Systems using Bayesian Networks

During the last 20 years many technological advances have inundated the entire spectrum of our everyday lives. None of these advances has had such an impact like the IT revolution which can only compare with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century. The advent and acceptance of Information Technology as the norm rather the exception has seen this sector move from a tedious and cumbersome manually managed and run sector, to an almost paperless industry that is almost entirely dependent on Information Systems. With the growth of the dependency on IT, the impact of risk concerns on the development and exploitation of information systems has also increased exponentially. Within the financial services industry, risk management involves assessing and quantifying business risks, then taking measures to control or reduce them. These methods are generally built around a well structured process. However, the product coming from the different risk management steps is still largely informal, and often not analytical enough. This lack of formality hinders the automation of the management of risk-related information. Furthermore, these risk management system focuses on specific phases of the software life cycle, without recognizing that risks in one stage can have an impact on other stages. This necessitates the proposed study in order to propose a generic approach that may be deployed to mitigate risks from the early stages of financial information systems development for daily financial institution operations until the post-implementation phases. This paper proposes a new approach for performing a risk analysis study of financial information systems. It is aimed at developing a generic approach for Risk Analysis and Management applicable from the early phases of information system development unlike in the existing models which are applied after the development process. It can be utilized for identifying and valuating the assets, threats, and vulnerabilities of the information system, followed by a graphical modeling of their interrelationships using Bayesian Networks. The proposed approach will exploit the results of the risk analysis for developing a Bayesian Network model, which presents concisely all the interactions of the undesirable events for the system. Based on “what–if” studies of system operation, the Bayesian Network model identifies and prioritizes the most critical events. Keywords: Riks, risk management, Bayesian Network mode

An enhanced Least Significant Bit Steganographic Method for Information Hiding

The least significant bit (LSB) insertion method is a simple steganographic algorithm that takes the least significant bit in some bytes of the cover medium and swaps them with a sequence of bytes containing the secret data in order to conceal the information in the cover medium. However its imperceptibility and hiding capacity are relatively low. This is as revealed by the statistical characteristics of its resultant stego images compared to the original cover images. To increase the level of imperceptibility and the hiding capacity in the LSB insertion method, this research proposes an enhanced LSB method that employs a selective and randomized approach in picking specific number of target image bits to swap with the secret data bits during the embedding process. To facilitate the selective picking of the target image bits, the standard minimal linear congruential number generator (LCG) is used. The message digest (digital signature) of a user supplied password is used to seed the LCG and to extract the message from the cover medium. In measuring the effectiveness of the proposed method, the study adopted an experimental research design where the statistical characteristics of the proposed method stego images were compared with those of the traditional LSB method in a comparative experiment designed to establish the levels of image distortion (noise) introduced in the original cover image when either of the methods is used under the same payload and image. The experiment results indicated improved levels of imperceptibility and hiding capacity in the proposed method. Key Words: Steganography, Steganalysis, Stego image, payload, imperceptibilit

A Metrics-based Framework for Measuring the Reusability of Object-Oriented Software Components

The critical role played by software in socioeconomic advancement, has seen a rapid demand for software; creating a large backlog in affordable and quality software that needs to be written.  Although software reuse is capable of addressing this issue, effective reuse is seldom to come by, thus the issue still remains unresolved. In order to achieve effective reuse, practitioners need to focus on reusability: the property that makes software reusable. Although Object Oriented Software Development (OOSD) approach is capable of improving software reusability, a way of ascertaining if the required degree of reusability is being achieved during the OOSD process is required. This can be achieved through measurement. The task involved in measuring reusability of Object oriented (OO) software is to; determine major reusability attributes of reusable components, relate these characteristics with factors that influence them, link each factor with measurable OO design features that determines them, relate each feature with appropriate metrics, and find out how these metrics collectively determine the reusability of components. A novel framework for achieving this task is proposed in this paper. Keywords: Software reuse, Software Reusability, Software Metrics, Software Componen

Fiscal Asymmetric Decentralization and the Influence of County Fiscal Autonomy on Household Effects in Kenya

Fiscal asymmetric decentralization is seen as the panacea in solving persistent income inequalities facing developing economies. Despite efforts to finance County governments, about 42% of Kenyan’s 47.6 million people still live below the poverty level. This study evaluates the influence of County fiscal autonomy on household effects in Kenya. Both primary and secondary data, collected from households in 47 county governments and the Commission on Revenue Allocation, respectively. A Sample of 4,813 households was drawn from 96,251 lists of households developed by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Cochran's correction formula was used. The result finds an insignificant negative correlation between county fiscal autonomy and household effects in Kenya. Further studies are recommended with diverse indicators. Findings in this paper are generalizable and a point of reference for policymakers in Kenya

The status of Object-oriented Software Reuse and Reusability Assessment in the Kenyan Software Engineering Industry

There are published claims of widespread ad-hoc reuse within the software Engineering industry—a situation that has caused organizations not to gain optimal benefits from reuse. The general impression created by literature is that, software developers hardly consider the concept measurement as a way of assessing reusability of developed software, thus the resulting software lack adequate reusability. This result to a common conclusion that, the software Engineering industry is still grappling with software development challenges that reuse is intended to solve. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the status of reuse and reusability assessment, which should form a basis for addressing the problems that hinder effective reuse. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study that surveyed software developers who had knowledge in OO software development. From the analysis of fifty-four (54) valid responses, the study establishes the status of reuse and reusability assessment, as well as the perceptions and awareness of OO developers on the concept of software measurement, with regards to software quality. Based on the findings of the survey, we give recommendations on how organizations can improve the reuse practice. Keywords: Software reuse, Software reusability, Software Metrics, Software Measuremen

Effects of Working Capital Management on Performance of Non-Financial Companies Listed In NSE, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of working capital management on the performance of non-financial companies listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Kenya. The study employed an explanatory non-experimental research design. A census of 42 non-financial companies listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya was taken. The study used secondary panel data contained in the annual reports and financial statements of listed non-financial companies. The data were extracted from the Nairobi Securities Exchange hand books for the period 2006-2012.The study applied panel data models (random effects). Feasible Generalised Least Square (FGLS) regression results revealed that an aggressive financing policy had a significant positive effect on return on assets and return on equity while a conservative investing policy was found to affect performance positively. The study recommended that managers of listed non-financial companies should adopt an aggressive financing policy and a conservative investing policy should be employed to enhance the performance of non-financial companies listed in the NSE, Kenya. Key words: working capital management, performance, non-financial companie

Potentially Harmful Algae along the Kenyan Coast: A Norm or Threat.

Harmful algal blooms are known to cause mortalities of aquatic organisms when in high biomass through formation of anoxic conditions or production of marine biotoxins (that ultimately reach humans through food web transfer). Only a few studies of phytoplankton communities have been carried out along the Kenyan coast. Of these studies, very few have focused on potentially harmful algae. Due to the increasing economic importance of harmful algal blooms, there is need to carry out an inventory of potentially harmful algal species that are present in the Kenyan coastal waters. Phytoplankton samples were collected along the Kenya Coast from 2009-2010 and analyzed for species abundance. A total of 39 taxa of potentially harmful algae were encountered over the study period. Potentially harmful algal taxa with high abundance were Chaetoceros sp., Nitzschia sp., Coscinodiscus sp., Pseudo-nitzschia sp., Rhizosolenia sp., Anabaena sp., Protoperidinium sp., Oscillatoria sp. and Trichodesnium sp. whereas the taxa with lowest abundances were Fibrocapsa sp., Chrysochromulina sp., Umezakia sp., Dinophysis sp. and Aphanizomenom sp. Taxa such as Dinophysis sp. that is generally known to be toxic at low cell densities occurred in most sampling stations. Highest cell densities of potentially harmful algae (39.51x102cells/L) were recorded in the estuarine systems as compared to the creeks (22.83x102cells/L) and near-shore (2.86x102cells/L) ecosystems. Compared to previous studies, this study registered increased number of potentially harmful algae species, an indication of potential threat of future bloom occurrences with the risks of phycotoxins contamination in the expected scenarios of increased eutrophication and climate change. Keywords: Phycotoxins, Abundances, Oceanic, Estuarine, Phytoplankton.