Push-pull is a cereal cropping system that has recently been reported to reduce incidences of ear rots and mycotoxins in maize. However, the effectiveness and mechanism involved is not yet understood. In the current study, the (i) socio-economic and agronomic factors associated with the occurrence of ear rots and contamination of maize with mycotoxins in different cropping systems in western Kenya, (ii) impact of insect management under push-pull cropping system in managing aflatoxin and fumonisins, (iii) role of soil health improvement under push-pull on the population of mycotoxin-producing fungi and (iv) effect of desmodium roots exudates on mycotoxin producing fungi of maize were determined. A household survey covering 116 farmers who practiced push-pull and 139 farmers practicing other cropping systems was conducted in five counties of western Kenya. At least 10 maize ears were sampled per farm during harvest and analyzed for ear rot fungal pathogens, aflatoxin and fumonisins. Sixty push-pull farms, each with a neighboring control farm were examined for damage due to stem borer, fall armyworm, ear rots, ear rot fungal pathogens, aflatoxin and fumonisin levels. Soil was sampled and analyzed for mycotoxigenic fungi and nutrient content at planting, flowering and at harvest. Dried desmodium roots exudates were extracted with methanol and dichloromethane and tested in vitro for growth inhibition of toxigenic isolates of A. flavus and F. verticillioides. All the respondents were small holder farmers with over 50% being female. Twenty six percent of the respondents had knowledge on aflatoxin while over 50% had knowledge of maize ear rots. Most farming practices were similar between cropping systems but significantly (P < 0.05) lower population of F. verticillioides and A. flavus were isolated from the maize samples from push-pull farms. All push-pull samples were contaminated with aflatoxin below 10 µg/kg (Kenyan regulatory threshold) while 4.3% of the samples from non-push-pull had levels above 10 µg/kg. xvFive percent and 9.4% of the maize from push-pull and non-push-pull farms, respectively, had fumonisin above 1000 µg/kg European Commission regulatory threshold. Knowledge on aflatoxin was 7.5 times higher among elderly aged 45 to 60 years while knowledge of ear rots increased 6 times with level of education (P < 0.05) and non-push-pull respondents were 34% more knowledgeable. Fumonisin and aflatoxin contamination in maize increased 3.9 times and by 28%, respectively, with application of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer during planting (P < 0.05). Aflatoxin levels also significantly increased 2 times with stemborer infestation of maize. Stemborer and fall armyworm damage on foliage and ears of maize were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by slightly over 50% under push-pull cropping system. Fusarium ear rot was the most common ear rot with mean incidence of 5 and 10% under push-pull and non-push-pull, respectively (P < 0.05). Populations of F. verticillioides and A. flavus were significantly low under push-pull. Aflatoxin levels were not significantly different between cropping systems, but fumonisin were significantly lower by 39% under push-pull cropping system. There was positive and significant correlation among insect damage, ear rot, ear rot fungi and mycotoxin levels in maize. Populations of fungi and nutrients in soils were not significantly different between the cropping systems and did not have significant correlation between them. Methanolic extracts of desmodium roots showed significant reduction in radial growth of toxigenic A. flavus by 11-17% and F. verticillioides by 53-61% through reduced spore germination and germ tube elongation. The results showed that planting maize under push-pull cropping system indirectly reduced mycotoxin contamination through reduced insect damage. Reduced growth of toxigenic fungi in soils under push-pull by chemicals produced into the rhizosphere by desmodium roots was suggested as a potential mechanism of reducing mycotoxin contamination.

Metal mining processes in general, cause environmental heavy metal pollution over time. Extraction and processing of metals, therefore, comes with the responsibility of ensuring that any of by-products are treated before disposal as requirement. This study determined the levels of heavy metal concentrations; cadmium, arsenic, chromium, mercury, lead, copper and zinc in environmental samples, in order to assess the extent of heavy metal pollution in Kilimapesa Gold mine processing plant in Narok County. A total of forty-one (41) samples, from nineteen (19) sites, namely; nine (9) sub-surface soils, eight (8) sediments, fourteen (14) Sodom apple (Solanum incanum) leaves and ten (10) water samples, from the nearby river streams were analysed for heavy metal content. The sediments, soils and plants samples were dried, crushed, sieved and made into thin pellets for analysis using the EDXRF spectrometer available at the Department of Physics, University of Nairobi. Gallium was added to the water samples as an internal standard, mixed before analysis for heavy metal content, using the TXRF spectrometer at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining Laboratories. The metals concentrations levels in water samples (mg/l) were distributed as follows; Cd (< 4.4), Hg (< 1.0), As (< 1.5), Cr (< 6.5 - 391), Zn (< 3.0 -187), Ni (< 4.0 - 830), Pb (< 3.0) and Cu (< 1.1 470). The highest concentrations were recorded at the confluence of the river streams; this could be due to an accumulation of sediments at the convergence point. The levels in soil samples (mg/kg) were; Cd (< 3.00), Hg (< 1.9-23.5), As (14.6 – 935), Cr (111 - 406), Zn (61.5-156), Ni (24.4-164), Pb (26.6-148) and Cu (42.3-174. The variations of the metals concentration levels in Sodom apple (Solanum incanum) samples (mg/kg) were; Cd (< 3.0), Hg (< 1.9-3.2), As (< 1.1 - 2.0), Cr (< 3.0-10.0), Zn (24.5-40.9), Ni (< 2.0 - 14.3), Pb (< 2.07.2) and Cu (17.9-33.3). These levels are comparable to those found in other undisturbed environment, except for arsenic and lead, which may be attributed to mining activities in Lolgorian.There was a significant difference in metals levels among the three media sampled following ANOVA analyses. Pearson's correlation for all trace elements of interest in Sodom apple (Solanum incanum) and soils were very weak except for mercury. The same trend is replicated betweensoilsand water, and between water and plants, for all heavy metals of interest in this study, except for Zn and Ni, respectively. In general, Kilimapesa soils are moderately to extremely contaminated with these metals. The study therefore recommends the introduction of heavy metals bio-accumulators, like water hyacinth in the waste disposal treatment ponds and for enforcement of disposal regulations and for epidemiological studies.

The purpose of this study was to establish whether Computer Adaptive Testing can be successfully adopted in educational assessment in Kenya by focusing on factors likely to affect its adoption. The study objectives were to determine a) the extent to which adoption of CAT is affected by students and teachers perceptions b) the extent to which adoption of CAT is affected by the existing technological infrastructure; and c) the extent to which adoption of CAT is affected by levels of computer literacy. The study used a sample selected from public secondary schools in Makueni County through simple random sampling technique. Questionnaires with both open and closed questions were used to collect primary data from the respondents while secondary data was obtained from the Ministry of Education, Makueni County Office. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) where Descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, percentages, means and standard deviations as well as inferential statistics such as Pearson Correlation and ANOVA tests were utilized. The findings of the study indicate that teachers and students perceptions are positively related with adoption of CAT (0.085) although the relationship is weak; there is significant relationship between ICT infrastructure and adoption of CAT (0.336) and the relationship between teachers and students level of computer literacy and adoption of CAT is negligible (0.049).

Industrialrelationsisvitalforthesmoothflowofwork.Inthecourseofworking together,theemployersandtheemployeeshavedivergentexpectationsfrom eachotherandthesehavetobeharmonizedtoensuretherealizationofthefirms’ objectives.Inthisprocessthereareoftencomplaints,disputesandconflicts.The idealsituationasenvisionedintheindustrialrelationsactisfortheemployerand theemployeeunionstosittogetherandamicablyworktowardsresolution.Thisis howevernotthecaseinmostinstancesastheseconflictsoftenspillovertothird partyinvolvement.Thestudywasthusaimedatdeterminingtheperceived influenceofthirdpartyinterventionsintradedisputeresolution.Theobjectiveof thestudywastodeterminetheperceivedinfluenceofthirdpartyinterventionsin tradedisputeresolutionamongtradeunionsinKakamegaCounty,Kenya.This calledforacrosssectionaldescriptiveresearchdesignaswellasaqualitative design.Thequantitativeaspectoftheresearchusedmeanandstandarddeviation whilethequalitativeaspectusedphraseanalysisandfactoranalysisqualitative research.ThestudytargetedofficialsfromthetradeunionsinKakamegaCounty fromwhomresponseswerecollectedusingsemistructuredquestionnaires.The datawasthensortedthenanalyzedusingdescriptivestatisticsfollowedby qualitativeanalysis.Thestudyfoundthatmostoftheindustrialrelationsconflicts reachedlevelsofthirdpartyinterventiontoimplythattheagreementsbetween tradeunionsandemployersaregettingfewerwithtimewithnearlyallconflicts solvedbythirdparties.Thestudyalsofoundthatthethirdpartiesareperceivedto beneutral,havelegalknowledge,areperceivedtobewisehaveahigherformal powerthanbothpartiesintheconflict,havehighmoralandethicalstanding,are credible,accessibleandarefairaswellashavecharisma.Thelimitationsofthe studywasthatitwascarriedwithinKakamegaCountyandnotthewholecountry andthereforethereisneedforfurtherstudy

Cloud-based human resource management system (HRMS) presents numerous benefits to an organization including cost reduction, improved efficient, elimination of errors, and optimal utilization of human resource data. The aim of this study was to assess factors that affect the adoption of cloud-based HRMS in county governments resulting in the development of adoption framework. The specific objectives of the study was to establish the effect of organizational, technological, and external environment factors on adoption of cloud-based HRMS at the Nyeri County Government offices. The study adopted a descriptive case study design with a sample of 160 staff selected from a population of 400 staff working at the Nyeri County Government headquarter offices using the clustered random sampling method. The sample size was arrived by computing 40% of the population size in line with recommendation by Mugenda and Mugenda that the sample size for population of less than 1000 individuals be at least 30% of the population. Quantitative data was collected from operational staffs using questionnaires while qualitative data was collected from senior managers using interviews. Cumullatively,110 questionnaires were resubmitted to the researcher while 7 interviews were completed. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the multiple regression technique while qualitative data analysis was done using the thematic technique. Findings revealed that Nyeri County Government has made notable progress in terms of adoption of cloud-based HRMS with adoption score of 74.1%. Organizational factors (β= 0.238, p=0.011), Technological factors (β= 0. .284, p=0.005), and external environment factors (β=0.388, p=0.00) had a positive and statistically significant effect on adoption of cloud-based HRMS in Nyeri County. External environment factors had the strongest effect followed by technological factors. Results also showed that age, gender, and education level of workers did not have a significant moderating effect on the influence of the organizational, technological, and external environment factors on cloud-based HRMS adoption. The study recommended that to improve the adoption of cloudbased HRMS, the county government should ensure adequate allocation of resource, improve internet connectivity, and find strategies for coping with a less vibrant economic environment. Keyword: Cloud computing, human resource management system, organizational factors, technological factors, external environment factors.

Public value is used when evaluating the performance of e-government. Furthermore, the performance of e-government is assessed from the citizen’s perspective. Transparency, participation, and collaboration in county governments processes should be viewed as means toward desirable ends, rather than administrative ends in themselves, as they appear to be currently treated. The creation of public value is the goal of public organizations; through public value, public organizations meet public goals with respect to substantive benefits as well as the intrinsic value of better government. Kettani (2014) states that Information and communication technologies (ICT) have tremendous potential to enhance the lives of people in general and, particularly, those in developing countries. Kettani (2014) continue to state that the use ICT can boost business, support education and healthcare systems and also enhance all levels of government in their development processes worldwide. The main objective of this research project was to assess the public value of ICT investment in public service delivery in Homa Bay county. Data was collected through questionnaires from residents, leaders and staff of Homa Bay county. Considering the nature of e-government in Kenya, four dimensions of public value creation through e-government were considered. These dimensions outline the four different ways of creating public value including the delivery of public services, the achievement of desirable outcomes, the development of trust, and the effectiveness of public organizations. The study recommends that a sensitization be done among the county residents of Homa bay on the existing electronic government channels they can use to access County services to allow more uptake of the ICT technologies for their own good. There is need to increase the services being provided through ICT e-government platforms to quicken up take of the ICT systems. This coupled with support on the usage and supporting systems such as infrastructure and power will help more services to be done through ICT platforms and more residents to use them.

Green Technology Market projects have immensely developed in the 21st Century with global spotlight on design of green techniques for preservation of farm produce and Environmental conservation at the market. However, the pragmatic literature posits that they maneuver on colossal budgets and yet mainstream of the projects have aborted in less than five years. Perhaps, the project drivers are not well expressed at the design phase obstructing their performance. In the luminosity of this, study seeks to establish the influence of project design factors on the performance of Green Technology Market projects in Meru County, Kenya. Design factors under study are infrastructure, Stakeholders’ Involvement, Quality management practices and beneficiary Selection. The study was twirl on theory of Value-Belief-Norm, Environmentally Responsible Behavior, Diffusion of Innovation and Stakeholder. The sample size was 85 total populations of 204 sampled using stratified random sampling criteria. Questionnaires were administered to collect primary data. Descriptive statistics and multiple regressions were utilized whereas qualitatively open-ended questions were analyzed using conceptual content analysis method. The multiple regressions established the influence amid variables. The results across the area of study on major gaps were analyzed objectively using statistical packages SPSS version 25. The data was tabulated for presentation. There was a spike in years of operation of Green Technology Market Projects for the last five years. Traders share facilities at the market. Traders accessed quality facilities at the market. Furthermore, to great extent traders comprised of project committee identified in fair process and had knowledge and skill on project design. Locals supplied labor needed in the project design where beneficiary’s selection was fair prioritizing the local traders and also tenders were awarded to locals. The study also found that traders accessed quality of services. The study initiate that a unit increase in project infrastructure would lead to 0.067 increase in the performance of Green Technology Market Projects in Meru County, Kenya; a unit change in beneficiary’s selection would lead to 0.050 increase in performance of the project; a unit change in the score of stakeholders’ involvement would lead to a 0.046 change in performance of the project and a unit change in the score of quality management practices would lead to a 0.040 change in performance of the project. The variables were significant since pvalues were more than 0.05 and alternative hypothesis were accepted while the values for Fcalculated were greater than F-critical (4.001). The study concluded that project infrastructure had the greatest influence, followed by stakeholders’ involvement, Quality Management Practices while Beneficiary’s selection had the least influence on the performance of Green Technology Market Projects in Meru County, Kenya. The study also recommends that market designs should embrace greener technologies such as harness of solar energy through roofing of markets with solar panel materials, proper waste disposal with biogas production technologies from green wastes, proper clean water supply, proper parking and green landscapes for aeration, adequate refrigeration facilities to preserve agri-foods from yield loss hence enhancing food security for growing population and achieve poverty reduction as a key focus in the sustainable development goals and also achieve the Big Four Agenda of the Kenyan Government. KEY WORDS: Green Technology Markets, Project infrastructure, Beneficiary’s Selection, Stakeholders’ involvement, Quality Management Practices, Project Design.

Street children are a common phenomenon in urban settlements. 25% of the 100 million children globally living in urban settlements live as street as children. Kenya is estimated to have 250,000 to 300,000 street children. 40% are living in the streets of Nairobi and this number is expected to rise exponentially with increase in unemployment rate, early mortality rate caused by HIV/AIDS and high divorce rate which subsequently leaves young children vulnerable to abuse and neglect. The Government of Kenya through various child protection services and programs has made huge strides to curb the rise and infiltration of street children in urban centers. It has created rehabilitation centers, schools and children homes. Street children are placed in these facilities for the purposes of rehabilitation, education, and training on vocational skills to equip them with right skills for potential employment opportunities and sustenance. However, there have been challenges in implementation and sustainability of the government funded street children rehabilitation programs which have led to relapse of street children back to the streets. Some of these challenges include lack of schooling equipment, lack of enough food in the rehabilitation projects and centers, mistreatment and unprofessionalism in handling street children. This study investigated the determinants of sustainability of government funded street children programs in Nairobi County. The study sought to examine how financial resource, stakeholder involvement, capacity development and management styles determined sustainability of government funded street children rehabilitation programs in Nairobi County. Descriptive survey design was used in the study. The target population was 140 staff working in government rehabilitation centers in Nairobi County. A census approach was employed because the target population was small hence the need to reduce errors and provide as detailed information as possible. There was use of Statistical package for social sciences to analyze both descriptive and inferential data. Frequencies, analysis of variances, regression, and correlation were used to interpret the data. Findings revealed that there was an association between financial resource, stakeholder involvement, capacity development and management styles and sustainability of government funded street children rehabilitation programs. It was found that there was inadequate funding with late disbursement of funds, consultative meetings were inadequate, trainings were not frequent and preference of bottoms up approach style of management. Based on the findings, the study recommended allocation of more funds to government funded street children rehabilitation programs, increased consultative meetings, frequent trainings, with encouragement for staff to mobilize for resources and an open channel for communication. This would improve sustainability of government funded street children rehabilitation programs. The research project will benefit government and policy makers, program managers in street rehabilitation programs, street children, the community and other researchers.

Ransomware have become a real threat to the use of technology, unlike other form of malware which could target systems by deleting some files, editing some files and some creating backdoor for the attacker to access the system, ransomware have gone a notch higher by targeting human. This is achieved when ransomware encrypt data of the infected computer and a note demanding for a ransom to be paid is printed on the screen. Due to the advancement in technology, ransomware use advanced and secure encryption algorithm which is difficult to decrypt even when the computational power is not limited. Ransomware is mostly spread through the use of a phishing email which tricks the victim into clicking on a link that is loaded with malicious files or downloading an attachment which is loaded with malicious files. Due to this, it is of benefit to educate the employees so as to be more careful when interacting with emails of unknown origin. Attackers are capitalizing on the fact that ransomware attack is highly automated and therefore there are limited chances of getting the attacker, the whole process from attack to ransom payment is fully automated. There is no system that have so far been developed to get rid of ransomware and therefore prevention of attack is of paramount importance. This study therefore seek to investigate the distinctive features of ransomware that are not available to other forms of malware. These features can be used to help detect an impeding ransomware attack and thereby stop any possible data encryption midway. The conventional antivirus have no capability to fully detect and stop ransomware attack and therefore necessitating some more extra measure to keep the system secure against the ransomware. This study will also seek to study the state and preparedness of Kenyan companies in regard to ransomware attacks. The fact that very few companies in Kenya take cyber security with seriousness it deserve makes Kenyan companies an easy target to cyber criminals. There is a major cyber security professional gap in Kenya and the few available come at an added cost to the company, therefore, small and medium companies fail to meet this important requirement to safeguard their digital asset.

Reliable road infrastructure is key for any nation’s development, but the inability to achieve suitable standards in road infrastructure is a major problem worldwide. Contractors play a central role and the success in implementation of road infrastructure projects depends majorly on the performance of the contractor. This study sought to establish the influence of contractor’s capacity on the implementation of road infrastructure projects in Meru County. This was guided by the following objectives; To determine the influence of contractors’ technical capacity on the implementation of road infrastructure construction projects in Meru County, Kenya; To establish the influence of contractors’ financial capacity on the successful implementation of road infrastructure construction projects in Meru County, Kenya; To investigate the influence of contractors’ quality management on the implementation of road infrastructure construction projects in Meru County, Kenya; To determine the influence of contractors’ management structure on the implementation of road infrastructure construction projects in Meru County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the institutional and resource dependency theories. A correlational research design was used to determine the strength and direction of relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The target population for the study was all the 140 road infrastructure contractors in Meru County, 1 county roads engineer, 1 county accountant, 1 KURA roads engineer, and 40 subcounty projects committee members. The sample size for the study was 126 which was arrived at using Alemeda’s formula. The contractors were stratified based on the sub-counties in Meru County, then simple random sampling was used to get the contractors from each sub-county whose number had been proportionately allocated, while purposive sampling was used for the County Roads Engineer, County Accountant and KURA Roads Engineer. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides. A pilot study was carried out in Tharaka Nithi County with a sample of 10 contractors. The validity of the research instrument was checked by an expert in the field and reliability was done using the Cronbach Alpha. Quantitative data collected was coded into SPSS v23, then cleaned and analyzed for descriptive statistics, that is, mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. A Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to check the strength of relationship between the variables and a regression model was developed then testing on the hypothesis will be done using ANOVA, then presented in tables. Qualitative data was grouped then analyzed thematically after which the outcome was combined with the quantitative output. The results showed that contractor’s technical capacity has an influence of 0.364 on implementation of road projects, contractor’s financial capacity has an influence of 0.812 on implementation of road projects, contractor’s quality management has an influence of 0.574 on implementation of road projects, and contractor’s management structure has an influence of 0.133 on implementation of road projects. It was also found that contractor’s capacity which was made up of technical, financial, quality management and management structure capacities accounted for a change of 86% in implementation of road infrastructure projects in Meru County. The findings will be useful to the road infrastructure contractors, the ministry in charge of roads and the world of academia. The research recommends that a study be done on other factors influencing the implementation of road construction projects as well as the gender perspective in road construction projects.