In this project, it was proposed to carry out research that involves the development of a central- ized Equipment Scheduling System Using AI-Based Authentication for researchers and research institutions in Uganda, based on the microservices system architecture. The system develop- ment involved the usage of the agile method of software development to achieve continuous delivery and integration. Simultaneously, a face recognition model was trained using a com- bination of data collection, localization, transfer learning and classication of processed data. The model was then integrated into the system as a service. The system allows users to login with a face recognition option, and browse through the cat- alogue of available resources, enabling them to request access to use special equipment or a resource that is owned by other institutions after which the system schedules the request.

This project was aimed at determining the effects of wood ash admixture on the engineering properties of burnt clay bricks. Sieve analysis and Atterberg’s limits tests were carried out to classify the clay soil used. These tests indicated that it was poorly graded clay soil of intermediate upper plasticity. The clay soil had a liquid limit of 45.1%, Plastic Limit of 13.4% and Plastic Index of 31.7 %. Bricks were made with partial replacement of clay using wood ash in percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. These bricks were tested for water absorption, dry compressive strength, wet compressive strength and density. Density was observed to gradually decrease with increase in wood ash content. Maximum density was observed at 1833 kg/m3. A maximum dry compressive strength of 14.3 N/mm2 and maximum wet compressive strength of 9.7 N/mm2 were observed at 5% clay soil replacement with wood ash. The lowest water absorption of 14.78% and highest softening coefficient of 0.68 were also observed for bricks of 5% wood ash content. Bricks made with 5% wood ash content had the highest dry and wet compressive strength, lowest water absorption, highest softening coefficient and were less dense than the control (normal) bricks. We recommend that these bricks be adopted for use in the construction industry since they have improved engineering properties as compared to the normal bricks. Using these bricks can help reduce damages that occur due to breakages during transportation, handling and construction.

The main aim of the study was to investigate the spatial distribution and usability of KCCA public toilets in Central division. The specific objectives for this study included; • To investigate the spatial distribution of KCCA public toilets and how it influences their usability in Central division of Kampala • To investigate the challenges faced by the management and the users of the KCCA public toilets • To suggest strategies that would optimize the usability of KCCA public toilets in central division of Kampala Various methods and techniques of data collection were used to collect the data and these included, observation, photography, mapping, questionnaire, interview. Analysis of the data collected was done inform of maps, tables, pie charts and descriptive analysis. In this study, analysis shows that the KCCA public toilets are unevenly distributed and are concentrated in the civic area and Nakasero areas within the central division of Kampala. The study revealed a total of nine KCCA toilets within central division of Kampala and each of them has two cleaners to cater for both sex cubicles. Additionally, the users of these toilets prefer to use these KCCA public toilets because they are free of charge and additionally most of these toilets favor the pedestrians as they lack packing space for people who use vehicles. The study also analyzed the challenges faced by the management and users of the KCCA public toilets. Some of the key research findings reveal there is limited information about the location of these toilets, absence of showering facilities for the users, lack of parking space for users like the boda boda men. Furthermore, other challenges include politically driven decisions which influence the location of these toilets. Public toilets are very important for any country as their usability is dependent upon their spatial distribution and therefore, they ought to be designed to cater for all users and provide adequate facilities.

The project was about the design and the development of desktop application client software for running iLabs experiments. In the past years, internet labs were accessed through web browsers which required installation of additional software, and also consumed much RAM hence some students couldn't run them on some of their computers. They also needed old server technology which is incompatible with current browser versions. This brought the need to design a new system to eliminate these shortcomings. A desktop application was designed using open source tools like C# windows forms with some controls fixed i.e. the frequency and amplitude knobs, while other controls were generated according to the lab specifications. A data socket was used to acquire real time lab data to be displayed on the waveform graphs. The student was given provision to take screenshots and generate a lab report. The development of this application called for a new server software design to interact with. With this new system, a student can access the lab with any computer at any time when their scheduled time has reached. Student researcher work was reduced as redesign of lab interfaces was eliminated through the dynamic interface design. Despite the fact that problems of the old iLabs architecture have been eliminated, a recommendation is made to the fellow student researchers to design a fully functional service broker that will enable students register, schedule and do assessment for labs.

River Enyau sub-catchment, the main source of surface water for Arua Municipality and the surrounding areas is experiencing increasing frequency of hydrological droughts attributed to climate and land use/cover change. The increasing frequency of hydrological drought in the sub-catchment threatens 72% of the household’s access to safe water and increases their vulnerability to food insecurity, water and sanitation challenges. The aim of this study was to i) reconstruct past (1980 – 2009) and ii) project near future (2025 - 2039) hydrological drought characteristics under changing climate and land use/cover in River Enyau sub-catchment. Past and future discharges were analyzed for hydrological drought frequency, duration and severity using the Threshold Level Method in R software version 3.5.2. Future climate was downscaled from 29 Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase Five (CMIP5) models following the Agricultural Model Inter-comparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) protocol for scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5 using the delta method. Future (2039) land use/cover was projected using the Markov chain model in Land Change Modeler of the TerrSet software. The projected climate (2025-2039) and land use/cover (2039) data were used as inputs in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate the future discharge of the sub-catchment. Result showed that most of the hydrological drought in the past started in the month of March and ended in April. Same results were projected under RCP 4.5 while most drought are projected to start and end in April under RCP 8.5. Increase in the land area of bareland and built up areas and decrease in the area of woodlot contributed to increase in hydrological drought frequency and duration in the past period. Significant differences (p<0.001) in the annual hydrological drought characteristics among the different drought years of the past and for the near future were observed. Comparison of the past and projected hydrological drought characteristics under RCP 4.5 and 8.5 showed a significant difference in frequency (p<0.001) and no significant difference for duration and severity (p>0.05). Therefore, there is need to i) protect the woodlot in the sub-catchment from destrcution and ii) identify best management options for reducing the impact of bareland and built up areas on hydrological drought in River Enyau sub-catchment.

The effectiveness of different storage technologies for sorghum grains under conditions of smallholder farmers were tested at Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo (MUARIK). Three improved storage methods were used to store either infested or un-infested sorghum grains. These storage methods were: Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, SuperGrain (SG) bags, and plastic bottles. These were compared against the conventional woven polypropylene (PP) bags as the control for grain storage during a period of 90 days. Quality parameters such as grain moisture content, germination, insect mortality, grain damage, and weight loss were measured every 15 days for 90 days. The dominant insect pests identified in the stored grains were Sitophilus granarius. Insect mortality of infested grains reached 100% in PICS bags, SG bags, and plastic bottle by 75 days of storage, while it remained close to 0% for infested grains stored in PP bags. Moisture content, germination, grain damage and weight loss of sorghum grains stored in hermetic bags in both infested and un-infested grains remained nearly the same at end of storage as they were at the beginning. In the PP bags, grain quality significantly changed in both infested and uninfested grains. In terms of economic analysis, hermetic storage technologies were found to be economically viable as opposed to conventional methods (PP bags) without synthetic insecticide for long term storage. In conclusion, all the hermetic storage technologies tested were effective in maintaining the integrity of the grains for three months, while substantial quality deterioration occurred for grains stored in PP bags without any protection. Keywords: hermetic storage, Sitophilus granarius.

The main objective of this study was to establish the effect of taxation on the cost of living with the general objectives being; to establish the effects of income tax, VAT, excise tax and export duty on the cost of living in Uganda. The study used quantitative secondary data; data on tax revenues and consumer price index collected from Uganda Revenue Authority and Bank of Uganda respectively. The researcher adopted the multiple regression analysis of the ordinary least squares (OLS) method to analyze the data collected for the purpose of this study. The research revealed that the average CPI is 111.72 implying that cost of living increased by 11.72 percent every year for the past fifteen years with reference to the base year 2009/10. With maximum CPI being 169.69 implying the cost of living increased by about 69.69 percent from FY 2009/10 to FY 2017/18. Also, the average tax revenues from income tax, value added tax, excise duty and export duty were UGX 1993.001 billion, UGX 1021.535 billion, UGX 402.4304 billion and UGX 548.4889 billion respectively. Furthermore, the results of the regression; the imply that on average, a unit increase in income tax rate leads to a 5.7 percent increase in the cost of living when all other independent variables are held constant, a unit increase in value added tax rate leads to a 3.8 percent increase in the cost of living when all other independent variables are held constant, a unit increase in excise duty rate leads to a 14.4 percent increase in the cost of living when all other independent variables are held constant and a unit increase in export duty rate leads to a 4.6 percent decrease in the cost of living when all other independent variables are held constant. The researcher found out that there is positive and significant overall effect of taxation on the cost of living in Uganda. Furthermore, it was found that income tax, value added tax and excise duty had a statistically positive effects on the cost of living though value added tax and excise duty were not significant. Contrary to these results, export duty had a negative but insignificant effect on the cost of living and this is desirable to the people of Uganda as its increase makes the cost of living relatively cheaper and affordable to the common Ugandan. Based on the outcome of this study, the following are recommended; Reforms that improve incentives, reduce existing distortionary subsidies, avoid windfall gains, and avoid increase in the prices of goods and services will have more positive effects on the long-term desired and affordable cost of living in the economy, to revise its macroeconomic policies relating tax revenues to improve the efficiency and productivity of recourses allocation in the economy and to reexamine its tax revenues by way of increasing tax rate and introducing new taxes in such a way that it does not distort the prices of goods and services but rather improves on the standard and cost of living in the economy.