MMTI Theses and Dissertations (2014)
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- ItemA compression-based mobile data collection system: a test case with climatepal project(Strathmore University, 2014) Rutto, RoyData collection is the process of preparing and collecting data as part of accountability and process improvement. Organizations globally, and particularly in the developing countries, are being forced to internalize and account for costs and impacts of environmental and community projects through monitoring and evaluation. Data collection and aggregation is conducted for this purpose and is done using various tools, the most common being paper-based methods. The use of mobile phones for quick-time data collection is increasing rapidly around the world. Mobile-based data collection has proven to be a more efficient tool to perform data collection activities. While current mobile data collection solutions provide the necessary requirements for data collection, they are inefficient in terms of network bandwidth consumed during data transmission, especially when collecting significantly large amounts of data from a large population and a large number of surveyors. This is because as quantity of data increases, this increases the amount of data bandwidth, increasing the time it takes to upload surveys, data bundles consumed and stretches local memory which is limited. There is need to solve these problems through implementation of more efficient data collection systems. This research proposes a mobile-based data collection system that uses data compression methods in order to improve data collection efficiency. To test the proposed data collection model a mobile- web based monitoring and evaluation system was implemented to collect data for an on-going environmental project by Climate Pal Kenya. The findings indicate the efficiency of this approach for mobile-based data collection tool and the effectiveness of the chosen data compression method in reducing the amount of data collected, saving on time, data transmission costs and device storage.
- ItemDevelopment of a mobile advertising application for Kenyan businesses: a case study of Mr. Price clothing Store(iLabAfrica, 2014) Gitau, Stacy WairimuThe main goal for advertising is to increase sales of the advertised product. An advertisement portrays a particular product in an attractive way so that the product may draw the customer’s attention. An advertisement seeks to convince the consumer that the product is the best choice for the consumer. The current mediums of advertisements being used in Kenya are billboards, newspapers, flyers, radio announcements and advertising through websites on the internet.The aforementioned media of adverting bring with them a number of challenges and the main challenge being high costs of advertising. While this may not be the case for advertising through a website, advertising through the internet faces the problem of customer reach as not all consumers can access the internet all the time to keep themselves updated with the current products being sold. The issue of high costs has made most businesses shy away from advertising themselves since they cannot afford the high costs that are brought along with these traditional mediums of advertising.This dissertation presents the analysis of the Rapid Application Development methodology and development of a mobile advertising application system for businesses in Kenya. The Rapid Application development was considered the suitable methodology for this dissertation because of the time constraint and the methodology’s flexibility to accommodate customer’s changing requirements. The dissertation objectives are; to develop a mobile advertising application for Mr Price clothing store. To test the mobile advertising application developed and to investigate the customer attitude towards the developed mobile advertising application. The investigation of customer attitudes towards the mobile application was done by conducting a survey. The survey was conducted on the customers of Mr Price clothing store. The customers had a positive attitude towards the mobile advertising application and they indicated that they would recommend the application to their friends. The dissertation was carried out successfully and it was indicated that the mobile advertising application would be well received by the Mr Price clothing stores customers. From the study the customers indicate that the developed application is a reliable and efficient platform to showcase products from Mr. Price store. The customers also suggested that the application should have an M-Pesa feature and a reservation feature to make purchase easier.
- ItemDevelopment of a mobile application for customer data capture: a case of Cooperative Insurance Company Limited(Strathmore University, 2014) Chebet, DaizyMobile Technology has a high impact on the way of doing business for many insurance firms in Kenya today. Mobile devices are therefore quickly becoming part and parcel for insurance business; this is because mobile devices allow real time access to important insurance data and information. Mobile technology therefore accelerates the speed of mobilizing insurance customers which in turn improves the value proposition of mobile applications and solutions. Technology is inevitable for insurers and has become a catalyst that the insurance companies need so as to keep abreast with the rising needs to real-time business processes of agents and customers. Despite the wide coverage of mobile phones in Kenya, Insurance firms have not ventured a lot into mobile application as a solution to data capture. This may due to a major challenge which is the definition of the line of business to be made mobile. This is because Insurance processes are complex while mobile solutions are simple and easy to use. There are not so much studies done to evaluate the impact of mobile applications (app) on data capture in insurance business. The main goal of this study is to assess whether the implementation of mobile phone has had any influence on data capture and management as a whole. The total population of study was 80 including CYC senior and middle level management staff and back office staff. The location of study was CIC head office at CIC plaza, Mara Road, Upper Hill. The questionnaire and observation methods were used for data collection. The research findings revealed that the majority of the employees had a positive feedback on the implementation of mobile phone app for data capture. Management staff had the opinion that business has improved with the use of mobile app and the app had a relatively low cost. A greater percentage of the CIC back office staff respondents attested that customer complaints related to missing data in the system has reduced with the use of mobile application. Recommendations for further study by the researcher included: Evaluating the influence of the implementation of mobile app on the level of insurance sales, the influence of the use of mobile app for data capture on customer satisfaction and on cost of data capture. The researcher also recommended the use of other research approaches other than descriptive and explanatory models.
- ItemEvaluating the benefits and user experience of a customized java library for mobile applications menu systems(Strathmore University, 2014) Maina, Joseph MwangiDespite rapid growth of mobile solutions, their novelty has meant relatively little is known about the user's experience and costs associated in developing custom mobile applications in today's market. The main problem this dissertation aimed to address is lack of custom made menu system for mobile applications in the current market which has contributed to the existence of mobile applications without good user experiences. Developers rely on current software development kits that allow creation of menu system statically which don't offer user personalization, its complex and inefficient for developers to create custom menus with current java libraries provided. The literature revealed that there are successful Java Libraries developed for improving user experience. but none has been done to improve user experience for mobile applications menu systems. This study sought to: (1) develop a customized Java library for mobile applications menu systems; (2) evaluate mobile user's experience on the customized library for mobile applications menu systems; and (3) determine the benefits and cost trade offs involved in providing customized library for mobile applications menu systems. One of the key contributions of this study is the improvement of user experience for emerging mobile applications using a customized library for menu systems which will allow the creation of mobile solutions with rich user experience as well as forming a basis on which other future studies could be developed. Another contribution is the provision of a java library that adds value to mobile applications community by allowing the development and implementation of customized mobile solutions. This study involved gathering data in Nairobi County only The initial findings reveal that customized menu application (Interface A) scored a higher mean compared to a mobile application which was not customized (Interface B) in menus of user's perception. It was evidenced that the overall user experience was likely to be satisfactory using customized menu application (Interface A) than using non-customized menu application (Interface B). Findings revealed that customized menu application was set up and launched in a simple manner at relatively low cost and effort. In addition, it was found out that the application can be successfully downloaded and executed on the device. The results show that the benefits outweighed the cost associated while providing a customized library. This study recommends that developers should make use of device emulators in mobile applications testing since they are easy to obtain and efficient in testing. In addition, a customized Java library for creating mobile applications custom menus is recommended and developed.
- ItemA framework for the evaluation of ICT needs of mid-sized companies in Kenya(Strathmore University, 2014) Ocharo, Harriet NyanchamaThere are a lot of studies on information systems and technology adoption and implementation in various organizations such as educational institutions. The ICT needs of various organizations have been studied and number of frameworks proposed to enable the organizations evaluate their ICT needs and to implement suitable technology for their needs. However, a study specific to the ICT needs of medium-sized enterprises in Kenya has not been carried out before, and neither has a suitable needs-evaluation framework been proposed. This study sought out to investigate the ICT needs of medium-sized enterprises in Kenya. A review of literature revealed the importance of this topic: SMEs in general are important to a developing economy such as Kenya's, and ICT is instrumental in the growth of SMEs. Various ICT needs evaluation frameworks were reviewed. The study focused on successful medium-sized enterprises and studied how they had implemented ICT for their business needs. A sample 30, from the population of the top 100 companies listed by Nation Media Group and the professional firm KPMG in 2011, was taken and queried on their lCT strategies, benefits and challenges experienced while using ICT. The results were coded and analyzed using quantitative data analysis tools. The study established that medium-sized enterprises need and do use lCT to meet their business needs. It also found out that although frameworks for evaluating lCT needs of organizations exist, there were none suitable for medium-sized enterprises in a developing economy. It was therefore established that none of the medium-sized enterprises had used a framework when adopting lCT. The study proposed a framework that can be used for a medium-sized enterprise in Kenya to evaluate its lCT needs. The framework proposed consists of three main components: frameworks support (business strategy, lCT strategy); core activities (project management, review current situation, analyze needs, and acquisition and implementation) and post implementation review (feedback from users, review implementation status). Testing was done on 9 of the companies that took part in the study to ensure its validity. The framework will provide a way to identify the ICT needs of an organization.
- ItemIntegration of ICT in assessments of large classes : a case of Strathmore University(Strathmore University, 2014) Mukandutiye, Delphine BhenyICT can contribute to the development and efficiency of education management and administration. Efforts to introduce ICT in teaching, learning and assessment aim to help meet a wide variety of goals in the education sector. This dissertation is based on a research project that was driven by challenges facing traditional assessment of large classes, such as time consuming, late feedback among others. The research aimed at studying the widely used e-assessment tools, designing and testing the e-assessment framework and evaluating if differences existed between performances of students examined with traditional assessment and those examined with e-assessment, Furthermore, the research intended to investigate the feasibility of implementing e-assessment to complement eLearning in the University. The researcher used desktop research for relevant literature reviews for the e-assessment practice. Post-surveys were also conducted with over 300 users which included students and academic staff from various faculties in Strathmore University to gather their views on eassessment. Benefits and limitations of e-assessment were discussed. 87% of the respondents preferred eassessment over traditional assessment. It was revealed that e-assessment was better than traditional assessment because students performed better and they were happy about the instant feedback, lecturers spent more time setting up CATs but enjoyed the automated marking, analysis of results was easier and reports generation was faster. The University could also save about Kshs 2,060,800 (USD 24,000) per year by implementing e-assessment. The success of this research resulted to an eLearning Support Centre that was established to spearhead e-assessment, e-feedback and mobile learning in Strathmore University. The Centre aims at bringing about a better learning experience based on successful research.
- ItemMobile application for blood appeals(Strathmore University, 2014) Ishema, NatachaThe Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) is in charge of blood collection and blood transfusion in Kenya. Despite the fact that it has six regional branches and satellite branches in the country, the blood collection that they do is not enough to have the required quantity to save lives in case of an emergency.Other organisations like blood link foundation and Wanadamu, a youth non profit organisation, have taken upon themselves to use other means to collect blood by planning campaigns or using social media for blood appeals. These different institutions contact people who might have donated blood before and cannot be eligible to donate blood again. Other potential donors are not even approached due to the lack of joined information.A mobile application was then proposed to enable all these organisations to share information, reward donors, enable donors to receive news, notifications that they can respond to and view maps where blood collection points are being done.The rewarding term in the mobile application is called ‘crowning’, frequent donors will be awarded different crowns that will represent the number of times they have donated in a year.The institution also have a system that can be viewed on a desktop or any other mobile devices (mobile phone or tablet) to enable the administrator to update information very easily from wherever he is. A survey research and a literature survey methodology were both used to find out if the application is viable. The mobile application was tested in Strathmore University using 189 students as a sample.From the results of the testing the mobile application is viable and can be implemented. In conclusion the existing systems were reviewed and implemented in such a way that they fit the local context, the crowning functionality have been added to make the application unique and respondents of the mobile application testing found the idea very unique and good.
- ItemMobile application for sharing patient data across health facilitiesBore, Nelson Kipbichii; Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Orero, Joseph Onderi; Kiraka, RuthInformation technology has tremendously improved healthcare delivery with the implementations of electronic medical record system (EMRs). It has allowed health facilities to document interactions with patients, view medical records and recording of laboratory tests. Despite the widely documented benefits of EMRs, many health practitioners are still faced with a number of challenges: Patient data cannot be shared across health facilities and clinicians cannot enter patient data in real time to EMRs hence lack of real time patient medical history. Currently, EMRs' are hospital dependent and they cannot communicate with other hospitals to share information when necessesary. This makes it hard for health practitioners to share patient data and access medical history which aids in patients diagnosis. This research sought to investigate why hospitals cannot share patient data yet they have EMR systems implemented and also identify some of the possible platforms that are there for sharing patient data across different hospitals. To achieve this , the author sent out pre questionnaire to get general information on sharing ofpatient data. Findings indicated that there is no system that health officers can use to share patient data across health centers. A total of66% agreed that there is need of sharing data and they are currently using patient notes to share patient data , this implied that there is need for a system to share patient data. This research developed a mobile application as a proof of concept for sharing data across health centers, the application was then distributed via Google play store for users to download and test. Test findings indicated that 53% strongly agreed that the application was usable and able to share patient data effectively, this meant that having such a system many people will find it useful. Despite the high possibility ofadoption, there were also challenges that could hinder its wide usage that were found e.g. lack of a modular EMR system implemented in hospitals. With the availability of modular EMR implemented in the hospital, the proposed mobile application for sharing patient data across health centers could be of help. This would allow health practitioners to record , access and share patient data with ease across all the different health centers that the patient will visit. This solution will improve the whole interaction of health practitioners with patient data, improve the speed of recording patient observation and provide meaningful tracking of patient data over time.
- ItemMobile application for tutor matching(Strathmore University, 2014-06) Kipleting, Yego KennethNowadays most learners who need to be assisted do not know where to find information about tutors of a particular subject the growing phenomenon of supplementary tutoring in developing countries such as Kenya can be attributed to competition in school and the urge to maintain good performance or learn new subjects and skills. Tutors for low-level education have been using posters to advertise themselves while higher level education tutors have been relying on referrals from friends and fellow tutors of different subjects. Interested students face difficulty in trying to connect to an experienced tutor. Tutors too find it difficult to get students to teach and rely on friends, referrals and newspapers to advertise themselves. The proposed solution is such that tutors and students will find choices to match their specific needs. An android-based mobile application was designed, built and tested for use by tutors and students to match their needs and interests. User evaluation was conducted to test the functionality of the developed system. The testing of the application was successful and it was strongly agreed by the participants that the application will provide a channel by which tutors and learners fink. The application was found to be easy to use because the participants in the testing completed the tasks required of them. The recommendations noted from the testing were that the application should be extended to include the tutoring sessions by tutors where tutors can post material so that learners can learn via the application. Overall, the application was rated highly most of the respondents involved in the testing. Some of the respondents, however, would use the application only if extra functionalities are incorporated. Other recommendations noted included that of creating chat sessions where tutors and learners can interact by discussions online and implementation of advanced search functionality.
- ItemA mobile based application to provide baby care information to mothers(Strathmore University, 2014) Mberi, Tabitha WanjiruAfter nine months of carrying a baby and the challenges that come with pregnancy, a mother's joy becomes true when she gives birth to a healthy baby. Though delivery of a baby is a difficult moment, a mother should ensure that her new born survives. This can only be assured by knowing how to take care of her baby for example, ensure the umbilical cord is well cleaned so as not to be infected among other safety measures. Although doctors assure mothers and give them advice on how to take care of their child, most have questions that they prefer asking their friends who are mothers or buying locally available Baby magazines, books and Newspapers but with the high cost of living this has become very expensive to most mothers. A mobile application, Baby World was developed to provide information to mothers. The application gives information such as how to recognize symptoms on a baby, a list of hospitals she can visit when her child becomes sick, shops to buy baby supplies and recommended nannies and day care centres. It also allows users to share challenges they face when taking care of their babies and other users can answer and give solutions to such problems. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used with the researcher using questionnaires and focus group discussions to collect the data after testing the application with 103 respondents who were mothers. The research findings show that after using the application, 85% of the 103 respondents were very satisfied in using the application as it was very easy to use. It also offered them a convenient, cheap way of accessing the information especially what they urgently needed. 80% of the users said they would highly recommend the application to others mothers sot that they would easily access baby care information. The users also made a few recommendations to the features they would like added to make the user experience even much better. The application has a high potential of growth as the modern mother wants such vital information at their fingertips.
- ItemA mobile based health-monitoring system for patients with diabetes(Strathmore University, 2014) Otieno, Francis OdhiamboDiabetes is a chronic disease that needs to be regularly monitored to keep the blood sugar level within normal ranges. This monitoring depends on a diabetic treatment plan that is periodically reviewed by the doctor. Currently, patients have to do the medical checkups and examinations from prescribed appointments after every periodic Doctor visit. According to the result of this medical checkups and examination, the doctor may need to modify the treatment plan. This creates a major problem since this process is tiring and time consuming while it creates a challenge of untimely monitoring due to lack of consistency and accuracy records of glucose levels making diabetes management unmanageable and a threat to the patient's life. Mobile computing can improve the quality of the patients' life by providing systems that help diabetes patients to monitor and control their diseases. These applications can help the doctors by providing remote monitoring to the patient. A mobile-based monitoring solution can be combined with communication technologies to present an integrated diabetesmonitoring tool. In this work we propose, a smartphone based monitoring and analysis application that automatically gathers inference for diabetes monitoring parameters such as blood glucose and weight, diet and exercise done by patient, in a manner that is transparent to the patient. This work includes an inference, which provides notifications while remotely monitoring patient health condition at the convenience of the patient and health practitioners. Generation of inference rules was done with the aid of two medical doctors. The work was tested and the results analyzed showed that it was able to gather inference and monitor patient conditions while giving alerts and notifications. All of the components yielded accurate analyses of glucose levels of the patients and it proved to be a novel utility in helping in monitoring of Diabetic cases. The patients reported satisfaction with the system because they felt connected to their physician and also giving them reminders for checking their sugar level, taking insulin or notification in case of critical levels.
- ItemMobile based HIV patient identification for antiretroviral drugs dispensing(Strathmore University, 2014) Sang, Jonah MwogiHIV/AIDs remain highly prevalent among persons in developing countries. Despite the government of Kenya’s efforts to fight the epidemic, numerous challenges keep arising that counter its efforts. One notable challenge is patient identification among HIV patients especially those who receive antiretroviral drugs and are put on nutritional supplements. The inability to identify patients appropriately can lead to fatal errors in patient health care. We need to identify a suitable method to identify patients especially those in critical care programs like HIV where patients evade the identification process by not turning with their identification cards and claiming to be new patients calling for a fresh registration or using another patient’s card so as to obtain nutritional supplements. This leaves the ARV drug dispensing faced with the challenge of issuing drugs to patients who are not intended. In this study, we propose a mobile based solution and develop a suitable HIV patient identification system using biometric fingerprint technology to aid in curbing misidentification of patients. To achieve this, a patient’s fingerprint is scanned on enrolment and stored on a remote database. Identification and verification of the patient is then done on subsequent visits by having their fingerprint scanned, processed and associated with existing records. Artificial neural network is employed to link a fingerprint to a patient’s stored fingerprint record by association. Finally, the application is then tested by 8 clinical staff and 5 developers who then provided their feedback on its suitability for HIV patient identification.
- ItemA Mobile Based Leave Application (M-LA) for government institutions: the case of the Teachers Service Commission of Kenya(Strathmore University, 2014) Ngeno, Bernard KipkoechIn government institutions in Kenya and particularly the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) , leave management has been done, but no consideration has been made for the possibility of mobile leave application. With the rapid changes in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and in particular introduction of m-government, mobile leave management is inevitable. Yet to be seen is a mobile leave management system being introduced in the TSC so as to cater for the ever changing ICT trends . The research shows that the normal way of Leave application by teachers is through the manual system which is not very efficient because a lot of paper work has to be done which takes a reasonable length of time to prepare and process. Due to the increasing number of teachers applying for leave, management of data becomes a difficult task . From the literature reviewed, it was found out that there have been some successful mgovernment applications in different sectors which included transport and energy. However, little has been done in the education sector which is still struggling to adapt to m-government. Factors that have led to failures in the current system were looked at and from them; focus was put on the applicability of M-LA in the government. The research involved development of a mobile leave application (M-LA) model that was used as a proof of concept in the research. This model application was implemented using, Java Micro Edition for mobile phones, php/html web application framework, windows operating system, MySQL as a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) and other reliable open source products. It is this application together with a questionnaire and a set of interview questions that data was collected and analyzed. From the data collected, it was found out that the main factors that will lead to the introduction of a mobile leave application (M-LA) in the TSC include its availability, acceptability and speed of data processing by the user which bases itself on the cases of preceding applications. Finally, for further research, this thesis recommends a look at the security flaws that can be encountered in an m-government application as this can lead to serious loopholes in the system.
- ItemMobile phone application for public awareness and participation in solid waste management in Kenya(Strathmore University, 2014) Birir, Lee KipngetichMobile phones or smartphones are rapidly becoming the central computer and communication device in people‟s lives. Application delivery channels such as the Google Playstore are transforming mobile phones into App Phones, capable of downloading a myriad of applications in an instant. Importantly, today's smartphones are programmable and come with a growing set of cheap powerful embedded sensors, such as GPS, microphone, and camera, which are enabling the emergence of personal, group, and community scale sensing applications. Sensor-equipped mobile phones can revolutionize many sectors of our economy and among them is environmental monitoring. This dissertation involves environmental monitoring in particular public participation in solid waste management in urban areas. Despite efforts to encourage reuse, recycling and recovery, the amount of solid waste generated remains high and appears to be on the increase. With mobile phones becoming a part of many people‟s lives in Kenya, there is an opportunity to enhance the participation and awareness of solid waste management among the public. An analysis, design and development of a solid waste management awareness mobile application have been undertaken. The application has also been tested by the intended users of the system. The application entails reporting of areas polluted with solid waste, viewing areas near the user that are polluted on a map, searching for recyclers of solid waste and managing environmental cleanup events. Its implementation has involved the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors found in smartphones to collect data of pollution reports and also locate polluted areas.
- ItemA Mobile solution for road accident data collection and presentation(iLabAfrica, 2014) Kenga, Mosoti DerdusRoad accidents are major cause of injuries and death in Kenya. The number of road accidents is the ultimate measure of the level of road safety in any country. Although there are many road safety agents used by government and non-government organizations in trying to solve and find better solutions for road safety, they seem not effective. A critical key to support road safety management is accident data. Therefore, it is crucial to build a road accident database and data retrieval system as a fundamental resource in improving road safety.Since the accident database needs to hold reliable data, accurate methods for accident data collection must be used. Access to such data is important because it enables road safety stakeholders to formulate sound safety measures, and evaluate those measures that are already in place. This study focuses on improving accident data collection by using a smart phone-based application. The application's aim is to improve data collection, while supporting mobility,ubiquity and accuracy.Using the mobile application, recorded accident data is sent to a central database for storage and can be retrieved by the same application. The type of information collected is determined by the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC), National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and accident data set used by the Kenyan police. Location information recording is supported and depends entirely on smart phone inbuilt GPS module and Google places API. Image evidence is achieved through capture of accident scene photos using the smart phone camera. The application provides a web interface for office based managers, who can use Google maps to identify accident hotspots by mining location information from the database. The application will be built on android platform, and then tested against functional and non-functional requirements.Testing will involve live demos of tasks on selected test cases while indicating utilized use cases.Primary users will be involved during the testing process.This application assumes that a driving license, driver point-based penalty and vehicle registration sub-systems exist. Integration of these systems will significantly reduce the amount of information to be recorded during accident data collection. This study found that there was need for new ways of accident data collection and the mobile application was an innovative solution for that purpose.
- ItemA Mobile-Based Data Collection System for Researchers(Strathmore University, 2014) Chemwolo, Leslie KimaiyoData collection by use of questionnaires is the most popular method of data collection. Paper-based data collection is however prone to challenges such as the fact that it is tedious, insecure and is susceptible to data inaccuracies. This study has explored existing mobile-based data collection tools with the aim of identifying gaps in the use of these tools for data collection. Analysis of the requirements for a mobile-based data collection tool has been performed. A prototype meeting the identified requirements and addressing gaps in existing tools has been designed, developed and tested. The tool was subjected to pilot use in a real data collection exercise in Kisumu and Eldoret towns of Kenya. A survey was done to understand if the prototype developed adequately meets the needs of data collection. The prototype allows researchers to create questionnaires using a web-based application and to publish them to respondents through two channels: web and mobile application. The target respondents can then respond to the surveys using either a web application or a mobile application. Researchers are able to collect data in offline mode when there is no network connectivity. The application also shows a map of the locations that data collectors visited. It makes use of end-to-end encryption to protect data. The dynamic nature of questionnaires has been catered for by allowing hiding of questions that are not applicable based on previous answers. It allows for encoding of questions and possible answers at questionnaire creation time and provides for downloading of collected responses in CSV format. The results of testing and the responses from the usability questionnaire demonstrate that the tool adequately meets the needs of researchers in data collection. Offline execution makes the application perform fast. Validation of responses both at the client side and the server side increases the accuracy by blocking out bad responses.
- ItemMobile-based security agency sound monitor and alert system(Strathmore University, 2014) Machanje, Daniel I.The security state of the country has deteriorated over time with an attribution to the low police to population ratio currently at 1:1150. Kenyan households have suffered the worst given the poor focus given to them with the assumption that they are accountable of their own security. This has caused many household owners to turn to the assistance of the many security agencies, most of which still employ outdated means of implementing security. These outdated means include physically stationing ill-equipped personnel in household vicinities to monitor and provide security response in case any arises. Their deficiency in equipment has, however, exposed households to the same initial dangers of insecurity. In this study, I propose a Mobile-Based Security Agency Monitor and Alert System. This system relies on the integration of the vital solutions of Natural Language Processing (NLP) in voice and sound recognition, GPS location services, and message broadcasting to detect sound variations in the environment and alert security agents at the user end. An automatic analysis of the recorded sound is responsible for determining the need for a notification on the admin end. Abnormal sound variations based on the pitch measured in decibels on the user end will be responsible for alert notifications on the admin end that will trigger immediate response by security guards on the ground. This innovation is aimed at eliminating the need of physically stationing security agents at households, thus reducing any excesses in expenditure, and implement a strategy to only deploy response when needed. This will improve effectiveness and reduce cases of inadequacy of security guards. The innovation also facilitates an alert broadcast system in case of security breaches that does not require user’s manual manipulation or prompting, motivated by the impulse reaction by humans in drastic situations to produce high-pitched voices. The testing of the implemented application took place among the respondents that were sampled in earlier stages of user requirement analysis. After initial education, distribution, and installation, testers were informed to focus on issues of functionality, user interface, learnability, and usability. Sampling of the eventual testing results indicated a positive response to the implementation, displaying a good acceptability margin, and potential of quick adoption among users.
- ItemMobile-phone-based solution for disease outbreak reporting and surveillance(Strathmore University, 2014) Mutegi, Lorna MwendeEffective disease surveillance demands timely dissemination of information to parties responsible for disease prevention and control to warrant necessary action. The level of efficiency and effectiveness is dependent on the tools used for disease surveillance. The use of traditional reporting tools, such as paper based disease case reporting tools is a compromise to timeliness, completeness, and correctness of reported data. Mobile applications are a revolution in efficiency to all sectors. With the current Kenyan mobile penetration nearing 78%, there are an unprecedented opportunities that Kenya can tap to improve the state of disease surveillance. This study analyzes the current state of disease surveillance models in Kenya to identify its challenges. A comprehensive investigation on previous research done in Kenya and internationally is covered. International research focuses on the two world’s largest economies; China and United States of America. The key data collection instrument employed was questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. The results of the data analysis helped inform System Analysis and Design stage and Applications development (Mobile and Web Applications). A USSD based mobile application was developed. This tool offers an interactive menu based platform where users can report disease outbreaks. A web application was also designed. This application provides information on the state of disease surveillance to disease surveillance focal persons and the public. The application also provides a portal via which epidemiologists or medical lab technicians can view reported disease outbreaks and record results of the epidemiological tests carried out to confirm the outbreak. They can also recommend prevention and control measures to take for each case. System testing was done to ensure correctness, completeness, reliability, and usability of both applications.
- ItemA smart-phone mobile application solution for the management of hypertension(Strathmore University, 2014) Njenga, Margaret NyamburaPopulation health of a country is a very important aspect especially when it comes to the nation's productivity. With the increase in industrialization, lifestyle diseases are on the rise. These diseases have to be managed since individuals have to live with them in their lifetime. Hypertension has been identified as one of the major lifestyle diseases and is also one of the main causes of cardio-vascular diseases. A new integrated model that helps patients of hypertension to be able to monitor their lifestyle and manage it accordingly was designed and a mobile architecture developed. The application captures parameters important to monitor factors that cause hypertension. This information can be used by the medical practitioners to effectively monitor patients' health condition and as a result have a more informed judgment when giving a prescription. The patient in turn, is able to monitor him or herself in order to ensure compliance, with the kind of lifestyle and medication. The resulting mobile application's functionalities were tested with users, doctors and nurses. The doctors and nurses found that the parameters captured to test various factors were accurate and could be used to ensure compliance to change in lifestyle among patients. The patients found the mobile application user friendly, relevant and easy to use. This study can be used as a framework for other systems to be built upon. Mobile developers can use this application as a starting point to develop even better systems for other lifestyle diseases. Researchers may also build upon this work as a platform for improved frameworks and models.
- ItemSmartphone-based Mobile Child Emergency Response and Reporting Application(Strathmore University, 2014) Mwangi, Bernard Leo ChiiraMany children succumb to home related injuries such as chocking, suffocation, poisoning and drowning in developing countries every year. Poor emergency response and reporting can be attributed to many of these fatalities that result from unintentional child injuries at home. Currently inadequate and insufficient public emergency response and reporting mechanisms in most developing countries, forces families to rely on the help of the nearest friend or family member during an emergency. In case of a child injury related emergency at home, families seek close neighbors’, friends’ or family members’ help physically or by phone call which in many cases could be time consuming and frustrating. This work presents a mobile-based application that provides the users with vital and more effective emergency response and reporting mechanisms. To ensure effective emergency reporting, the study proposes a location-based emergency reporting mobile application that enables child guardians to get help such as transportation from the nearest person saved as an emergency contact in the application. The application finds the location and distance of the emergency contact in terms of longitudes and latitudes using the Google Distance Matrix API. It can also be used to send text-based emergency alerts to all in-case of emergency contacts in just five seconds. The emergency response and reporting solution also provides guardians with information on the nearest emergency response units such as hospitals as well as critical emergency response skills and knowledge such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and child injury prevention tips. Usability and functionality tests performed indicated that the application was an effective emergency response and reporting tool.