Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa最新文献

{"title":"Generic Strategies and Competitiveness of Tea Brokerage Firms in Kenya","authors":"Peter, Situma Sasaka Peter, Situma Sasaka","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.48","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.48","url":null,"abstract":"The general objective of the study was to investigate the effect of generic strategies on the competitiveness of tea brokerage firms in Kenya. The generic strategies used in this study were; cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, innovation strategy and focus strategy. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine the effect of cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, innovation strategy and focus strategy on the competitiveness of tea brokerage firms in Kenya. The study adopted a mixed research design with the specific research design being a descriptive design and cross-sectional research design. The population of the study comprised of the managers of tea brokerage firms in Kenya. The sampling frame consisted of 60 tea brokerage firms whereby 100 managers formed a sample size which ascertained the effect of competitive strategies on the competitiveness of tea brokerage firms in Kenya. The unit of analysis were the managers. The sampling technique used was stratified random sampling. Primary data was collected by use of questionnaires which were administered through drop and pick method. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics through the software SPSS version 24. Descriptive statistics included standard deviations and mean scores. Inferential statistics included Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis for testing of hypotheses. If the p-value was below the significance level (0.05) the study rejected the null hypothesis. The study showed that only two variables had positive and significant effect on Firm Competitiveness, with the most influential being Innovation Strategy which had regression coefficient of 0.572 and a p-value of 0.000 and was also less than 0.005. This was then followed by Cost Leadership Strategy which had regression coefficient of 0.135 and a p-value of 0.005. However, there was no significant relationship between Differentiation Strategy and Firm Competitiveness (0.343), Focus Strategy and Firm Competitiveness (0.417) respectively. This leads to conclusion that Cost Leadership Strategy and Innovation Strategy significantly affects competitiveness of Tea Brokerage firms in Kenya. The study recommends that: Kenyan firms should understand and adopt 2 competitive strategies that have been proven to help them gain a competitive advantage and improve its performance. Therefore, Kenyan firms can wade of competition from their international competitors using proven competitive strategies; and the Kenyan market should foster economic development by encouraging and promoting strategies that ensure the sustainability of tea brokerage firms and SMEs.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128020793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficiency of Sum Constructed Automorphic Symmetric Balanced Incomplete Block Designs","authors":"Cyrilus Otulo, Wandera","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.47","url":null,"abstract":"Several construction methods have been introduced to build the elements of balanced incomplete block designs (BIBDs) for specific parameters, with different techniques suggested for testing their existence. There is still no general technique to determine the existence of the designs that have been realized. In this study the efficiencies of some given automorphic symmetric balanced incomplete block designs (AUSBIBD) formed by sum construction method have been presented in details alongside existence and non-existence of such designs. The process involved the application of sum construction method to give new designs of parameters D (v, b, λ1+λ2) and an application of Bruck Ryser Chwola theorem extensively. A test design constructed using the described method was found to be existing with an efficiency of 76.38%. Sum constructed designs are more applicable in agricultural fields as witness in case of KEFRI-Kenya.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127525867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Review on the Role of Microbes in Polyethene Degradation","authors":"Beryle Atieno Okoth, H. M. Makonde, C. Bosire, June Mwajuma, Jeophita, C. Kibiti","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.42","url":null,"abstract":"Polyethene is a polyolefin produced from polymerization of the olefin ethylene (C2H4). It is one of the most commonly used plastic and one of the most resistant to degradation. Its accumulation in the surrounding has caught the attention of many governments and researchers with attempts to come up with better disposal methods. This review focused on the role played by microorganisms in the degradation of polyethene. The references reviewed were obtained from journals and databases including PubMed, Google Scholar (http: //scholar. google.com) and Science Direct (http://www.science direct.com). We focused on data published from 2010 up to 2021. The findings obtained indicated that 19 genera of bacteria and actinomycetes and 5 fungal genera have the ability to degrade polyethene through secretion of extracellular depolymerases. The enzymes cleave polymer chains into low molecular weight fragments, which are then assimilated through the microbial cell membrane and mineralized. Microbial degradation is a sustainable and promising idea. However, there is need for more research to clearly determine the mechanism of enzymatic degradation, which will be useful in the development of novel biotechnological tools for degradation of a variety of plastic materials by microorganisms.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125477059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Dilemma of Social Media Benefits to College Programming Students","authors":"M. Mvurya, Fullgence M. Mwakondo","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.44","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.44","url":null,"abstract":"Social media has become part and parcel of students’ life in colleges as it occupies most of their free times. Over time, results of programming units have shown a downward trend among college students at Technical University of Mombasa in Kenya. Programming, like Mathematics, requires a lot of practice that is now consumed by social media. This study investigated the impact of Social Media on Grades in terms of hours spent and the time of day Social Media is used. Descriptive statistical research was used to gain understanding of the predictive power Social Media has on the Programming Grades. A total of 142 students pursuing Degree and Diploma courses in Information Technology participated in the study. The students were drawn from Technical University of Mombasa and Kenya Coast National Polytechnic. Over 90% of the students were active Social Media users. The research was conducted in 2018-2019 academic year. Results show that social media use could predict students who scored high grades in both Degree and Diploma courses. Such students controlled their usage of Social Media. They did not use Social Media in the early morning hours up to afternoons when they were engaged in serious studies. These students used Social Media anytime of the day - which means, in between serious study sessions. On the other hand, more average students used Social Media even in the early morning and up to afternoon sessions. Notably, more average Diploma students use Social Media at bedtime than anytime. Further research is recommended with more data using Machine Learning techniques to develop a model that will predict success or failure in Programming units depending on how one uses social media.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128921260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial Note","authors":"Cosmus Munga","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.41","url":null,"abstract":"Welcome to MJTUM Volume 2 Issue No 1 which consists of both research and review articles comprising a total of 9 articles of diverse coverage. The coverage of these articles include biodegradation of plastics, accountancy, machine learning, blood transfusion in humans, applied mathematics, industry performance, technology adoption in state corporations, and online safety in this era of increased social media interaction especially by the youth. MJTUM will continue to give a platform for sharing of scientific articles of high quality to all our readers. It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy reading the wide coverage of articles presented in this current volume Issue 1 as we prepare you for the release of Issue 2 as soon as possible. \u0000Dr. Cosmas Nzaka Munga (PhD) \u0000Chief Editor, MJTUM","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132329661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Model for Mapping Graduates’ Skills to Industry Roles: Machine Learning Architecture","authors":"Fullgence Mwachoo Mwakondo, M. Mvurya","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.45","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.45","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a machine learning architecture of a hierarchical model for mapping skills to industry roles. Currently, researchers have been approaching the problem of selecting industry roles for potential employees using flat and top-down methods. Practically, top-down approach is not reliable because it negates the natural mobility of employees in the occupational industry role hierarchy while flat approach does not take advantage of not only the easier learning property of hierarchical approach but also the local information of parent child relationship for better results. The machine learning architecture has been an attempt to address this gap using experimental research design. The mapping model consists of a collection of objects that are hierarchically arranged to progressively group industry role constructs before applying bottom-up approach to select the best. The mapping begins by first selecting the most promising sub-objects at the lower levels before passing this information to the higher levels of the hierarchy to select the most promising functional (main competence), proficiency and specialty (specific competence) objects and eventually the respective constructs.  The end product is an effective machine learning architecture of a model for mapping graduates’ skills to industry roles with relevant attributes to easily work with in the academia and that correctly reflects the hierarchy of industry roles. Findings reveal while SVM (67%) optimizes the model’s accuracy better than naïve Bayes (57%), on the same benchmark dataset the model recorded better performance (85%) than reported performance (82%) in the benchmark model. The findings will benefit industry by getting evaluation tool for revealing information on graduate’s suitability for employment which they can use for decision making when filtering candidates for interview. Besides, this will provide researchers better understanding of the gap between the academia and industry and can use this information to plan on how to bridge the gap using the mapping model. Lastly, this will attempt to reduce both low job satisfaction and long-term unemployment that is one of the causes of social and economic pain both in Kenya and around the world. However, this paper recommends testing this approach with other alternative machine learning techniques as well as other alternative industry domains.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127415589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Online safety in Kenya: A snapshot of the Silicon Savannah","authors":"Sylvia Ndanu Mutua, Kai Zhang","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.50","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.50","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides an overview of online safety in Kenya by outlining key threats and the interventions that have been implemented to combat these threats. Using the social responsibility theory, this article further explores internet users' perceptions of online social responsibility in cyberspace. Results of the study indicate that the internet media environment which is characterized by interactivity significantly moderates the internet users' perception of their online social responsibility. However, despite the court suspensions of some of the laws, the existing online content regulations still have a significant influence on online safety. Consequently, the article advocates the need to associate the concept of human dignity with the responsibilities that each person must take for his or her online actions. This implies that one’s online dignity would entail one owning up to their online conduct in the quest for safe, respectful, inclusive, and harmonious cyberspace. Also, greater online social responsibility by Kenyan internet users would be necessary to foster free speech, open access, and a social culture of respecting others, and not harming others in cyberspace.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115635919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of Technology Adoption Interventions on Performance of Selected Commercial State Corporations in Kenya","authors":"Juliana Hawario Asser, E. Waiganjo, A. Njeru","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.49","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.49","url":null,"abstract":"Organizations all over the world strive to remain in operation through application of change management. This implies that managers who fail to adopt changes remain irrelevant in the market. The existing literature denoted gaps in the areas of technology adoption interventions as a strategic change agent in commercial state corporations in Kenya. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between technology adoption interventions and performance of commercial state corporations in Kenya. The target was 55 commercial state corporations and a total of 48 were studied. These were obtained through stratified random sampling. The respondents of this study constituted CEOs, Finance Managers and HR Managers of each of the sampled commercial state corporations. A total of 144 respondents participated in the study through interviews using questionnaires. Regression models were fitted and hypothesis testing was carried using standard F and t tests. Technology adoption interventions was assessed by four sub-variables namely acquisition of IT infrastructure, strategic alignment, organization structure and employee training. Seven factors were subjected to factor analysis. Two factors that is, acquisition of IT and employee training were identified with the highest influence on technology adoption interventions with cumulative variance of 69.7%. Factor one had the highest with 53.2% while factor two had 16.6% of total variance. Acquisition of IT and employee training had eigen values greater than 1. Respondents on average agreed that acquisition of technology affects technology adoption interventions with a mean of 3.9449. Respondents also agreed that employee training affects technology adoption interventions with a mean of 3.8189. The results showed a strong positive and significant relationship between acquisition of technology and performance (r = 0.512; p = 0.000). The regression coefficients results of the Technology adoption interventions measures were found to be significant at 5% level of significance with a coefficient of 0.491 and p-value of 0.000. This implied that the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted that technology adoption interventions influenced performance of commercial state corporations in Kenya. Acquisition of technology, had a positive and linear relationship with performance. There was also a positive relationship between employee training and performance. This therefore, underscored the importance of technology acquisition and also training the agents involved in the change interventions. From the findings of this study, it can be concluded that technology adoption interventions which had acquisition of technology and employee training as sub-variables retained after factor analysis was found to have a significant relationship with performance of commercial state corporations in Kenya. \u0000 ","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129999485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occurrence of red blood cell abnormalities in donor blood donated at the regional blood transfusion centre, Mombasa, Kenya","authors":"Ronald Nyarambe Wigina1, Serah Njoki, Kaggia, Michael Ngugi Kahato, Suleiman Mzee Said, Victor Tunje Jeza, Peter Bundi Gichangi","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.46","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.46","url":null,"abstract":"During transfusion, components of blood including red blood cells, platelets and plasma are directly administered into the recipient to treat conditions such as anaemia and haemostatic deficiencies. In most cases, effective blood transfusions will positively impact patient prognosis. Red blood cell abnormalities greatly impact on the effectiveness of blood transfusion. This is because the efficacy of a red blood cell unit depends on the amount of blood delivered, the quality of cells and the life span of a given unit. The aim of this study was to establish the occurrence of red cell abnormalities in donor blood. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done at the regional blood transfusion centre, Mombasa and at the Technical University of Mombasa, Kenya. Consecutive blood samples were analyzed for selected red cell parameters.  A total of 676 samples were analyzed. The study found that 31.07 % of the donor samples had one or more of the abnormalities assayed. There was a significant variation (t - 0.03, CI 95%) in the total red blood cell count. A significant Pearson’s positive correlation was realized between the osmotic fragility and haemoglobin concentration (r = 0.195; p < 0.001). This shows that a significant proportion of donated red blood cells in the donor pool had intrinsic or extrinsic abnormalities. There is therefore need to develop strategies that may better help to filter out these abnormalities as well as investigate the effect of such abnormalities to the recipient.","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121445534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accounting Profession: African Perspective Review of steps into the future","authors":"Charles Guandaru Kamau, Sheila Lyona Ilamoya","doi":"10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.48039/mjtum.v2i1.43","url":null,"abstract":"The advancement of technology has resulted in significant changes in the way accountants conduct their business. The purpose of this paper was to explore the various perspectives of the effects of technology on the future outlook of the accounting profession. The perspectives explored include the relationship between the accounting profession and the world revolution, the nature of accounting and its relationship with technology, the future of accounting, and changes in accounting education. This paper employed a literature review methodology. This research found that a number of studies indicated that there has to be a shift in the way accounting professionals do their business. Apparently, the transformation has begun to take shape, gradually but surely. This study also observed that this shift in the accounting profession will have an effect on accounting education. The paper concludes that there are certain aspects of the accounting profession that are likely to be transformed by technological advancement; however, the foundations of the accounting profession remain intact. \u0000 ","PeriodicalId":144705,"journal":{"name":"Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114079339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}