FIT Scholarly Articles

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A Mobile solution for road accident data collection
Kenga , Derdus Mosoti; Ozianyi (Dr.), Vitalis Gavole
Road accidents are a major cause of injuries and death in developing countries. 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. This study focuses on improving accident data collection by using a Smartphone-based application. The application's aim is to improve data collection, while supporting mobility, ubiquity and accuracy.The name of the application is CrashData; it has been developed and tested in Kenya. Using the application, data are 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 other accident data sets. Location information recording is supported and depends entirely on Smartphone inbuilt GPS module and Google places API.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.
A mobile-based leave application (M-La) for government institutions: the case of the Teachers Service Commission of Kenya
Makhanu, Everlyne; Kipkoech, Bernard
In government institutions in Kenya and particularly the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), leave management has been done, but little 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. This paper therefore reports about the current systems being used for leave management and the success factors that can lead to the use of a Mobile Leave Application (M-LA). The research also analyses successful m-application in the government and also in different parts of the world and considers the applicability of the same in the TSC. From the literature reviewed, it was found out that there have been some successful m-government applications in different sectors which include 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 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 has becomes a difficult task. As a solution, a Mobile-based Leave Application system (M-LA) should be used for leave management in the TSC. Apart from phones being available to over 70% of the population, more trust has developed on m-applications in Kenya since the advent of m-pesa. M-apps are also reliable and they eliminate a lot of paper work with security also being assured. M-LA additionally enables faster and reliable processing of data since the interaction between the employer and the user is through a mobile phone which is easily accessible. 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. The Mobile Leave Application (M-LA) will be implemented within the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and for the teaching staff only to solve problems associated with leave management. A formal observation and interview with experienced staff that are using the current manual application was conducted to gain more information. 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 paper 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.
A Possibility to enhance rural electrification with small solar home systems using light emitting diodes
Da Silva, I. P; Simonis, P
A pricing proposal for a QoS enabled UMTS network
Ozianyi (Dr.), Vitalis Gavole
Third generation networks e.g. the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) provide higher data transfer rates which enables the transport of real-time multimedia traffic e.g. streaming video. The cost of Internet access over mobile networks remains high yet user demand for mobile services is increasing rapidly. In order for mobile computing to become viable, the deployment of charging schemes that would see the cost of communication reflect the utilization of resources on the network is necessary. A dynamic charging scheme is an attractive solution. When prices change, users need to indicate their willingness to continue using the service especially when a price increase is beyond the level they anticipated. In this paper we propose a charging scheme that relies on the congestion at the RNC of the UMTS to calculate pricing coefficients, which are in turn used in determining the charge incurred for using the network. The use of user profiles and network agents in the management of the charging scheme is also explored.
A Survey of the State of Dataspaces
(International Journal of Computer and Information Technology, ) Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Shibwabo, Bernard Kasamani; Wanyembi, Gregory Wabuke
This paper presents a survey of the state of dataspaces . With dataspaces becoming the modern technique of systems integration, the ach ievement of complete dataspace development is a critical issue. This has led to the design and implementation of dataspace systems using various approaches. Dataspaces are data integration approaches that target for data coexistence in the spatial domain. Unlike traditional data integration techniques, they do not require up front semantic integration of data. In this paper, we outline and compare the properties and implementations of dataspaces including the approaches of optimizing dataspace development. We finally present actual dataspace development recommendations to provide a global overview of this significant research topic .
Afya App : the mobile personal health management platform
(IJRSSET, 2015-01) Kasamani, Bernard Shibwabo; Mabusi, Erick
The provision of Health services in developing countries is hampered by various challenges. One area that has not been fully ventured into is formulating a holistic way to help improve health of people by enabling use of mobile technologies to get health services on the go. In general, Patients using current information systems face the problem of not accessing medical services outside the hospital premises. These problems can be solved by using a mobile application that is linked with current and any possible future hospital information system. The solution consists of an application that allows patients to first record their health records and keep track of their general health changes in real-time, enabling patients to get medical assistance by having direct communication with their respective doctor(s) and accessing public health and emergency data on the go. This way, health problems are solved fast, efficiently and at any time of the day.
Alternatives towards achieving Education For All (EFA): a case of the informal sector business institute (ISBI), Nairobi, Kenya
Momanyi, Christopher
@iLabAfrica a research Centre at Strathmore University has been established to spearhead research and innovation in the ICT for the development ecosystem towards the attainment of the UNDP Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Kenya’s vision 2030. The centre recognises that the spread of ICT technologies in developing countries remains painfully slow. The increasing ‘digital divide’ continues to condemn a large fraction of Africa’s population to ignorance, poverty, undernourishment, disease and disempowerment. This project: ‘Use of ICT in Enhancing Teaching and Curriculum delivery in marginalised Secondary Schools in Kenya’ aims at developing Open Educational Resources for secondary schools, improving IT infrastructure in schools, enabling Internet/Web access (including the local communities), mentoring secondary school students and supporting teachers in the delivery of the Computer Studies course offered as part of the official KCSE curriculum for secondary schools in Kenya. The research evaluated the impact of the use of ICT in enhancing teaching and curriculum delivery in selected marginalised secondary schools in Kenya.
The application of real - time voice recognition to control critical mobile device operations
(International Journal of Research Studies in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2015-07) Omyonga, Kevin; Shibwabo, Bernard Kasamani
The consistent increase in the number and ownership population of mobile device s introduces a variety of limitations. A set of this limitations revolve around interactivity. The overly dependent haptic mechanism of interaction has caused device falls, slower time to interaction, health concerns , and limited support for the disabled among other problems. There is need to formulate innovative techniques that facilitate our interaction with these devices fo r users. In order to achieve this, a Real - time Voice Recognition A lgorithm is formulated that lets users of mobile devices acquire freedom to move about and reduce the need for constantly glanc ing at their screen . This is achieved by allowing users to verb ally command their devices to carry out ordinary tasks such as setting an alarm, making a call, or even starting any application. An added unique feature is that i t also offers offline acc ess as any commands given by a user are processed and executed local ly on the device.
Application of structuration theory and activity theory in enterprise resources planning systems implementation for Universities
(Computer Technology and Application 3, ) Nyandiere, Clement; Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Kamuzora, Faustin
An integration of organization culture in the conceptualization and development of enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) is critical for an organization to reap potential benefits of the system. In this paper, the authors present an analytical approach through the Structuration Theory: How a university can assess its culture for the purposes of design and development of the ERPs. The authors extend the Structuration Theory by integrating it with the Activity Theory to provide the means of evaluating the activities that the system is to perform. The modified Orlikowski model is applied to depict the relationship between institutional properties, human agents, and technology in the university setup and how this offers a more inclusive approach to ERP systems development and implementation.
Applying reinforcement and mastery learning: how it works based on personalized e-learning curriculum?
(The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (SDIWC), 2014) Ballera, Melvin; Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Omar, Aziza E.
Many researchers in the field of personalized learning or topic sequencing have proposed and implemented various mechanisms to improve the learning process with the main objectives of maximizing learning and dynamically selecting the closest teaching operation in order to achieve the learning goals. However, upon recommending the personalized learning sequence, based on literature review, the e-learning instructional strategists failed to perform or address the corrective measures to immediately remediate the learning difficulty. This paper presents the combination of the reinforcement learning concepts in the area of artificial intelligence and the mastery learning in educational psychology to remediate learning difficulties of the learners. The results show that based on the presented corrective measures, which are based on students’ background performance matrixes that are collected during the learning process and summative examination, the students are able to correct their learning difficulties and improved their learning performances. The end semesters’ results show the guarantee that almost all of the students who undergo the reinforcement and mastery learning procedures can successfully pass the e-learning course.
Assessing Gameplay Emotions from physiological signals: a fuzzy decision trees based model
Orero, Joseph Onderi; Levillain, Florent; Damez-Fontaine, Marc; Rifqi, Maria; Bouchon-Meunier, Bernadette
As video games become a widespread form of entertainment, there is need to develop new evaluative methodologies for acknowledging the various aspects of the player’s subjective experience, and especially the emotional aspect. Video game developers could benefit from being aware of how the player reacts emotionally to specific game parameters. In this study, we addressed the possibility to record physiological measures on players involved in an action game, with the main objective of developing adequate models to describe emotional states. Our goal was to estimate the emotional state of the player from physiological signals so as to relate these variations of the autonomic nervous system to the specific game narratives. To achieve this, we developed a fuzzy set theory based model to recognize various episodes of the game from the user’s physiological signals. We used fuzzy decision trees to generate the rules that map these signals to game episodes characterized by a variation of challenge at stake. A specific advantage to our approach is that we automatically recognize game episodes from physiological signals with explicitly defined rules relating the signals to episodes in a continuous scale. We compare our results with the actual game statistics information associated with the game episodes.
An Automatic number plate recognition system for car park management
(International Journal of Computer Applications Online, 2017-10) Shibwabo, Bernard; Mutua, Simon Mandi; Kaibiru, Raphael Mutua
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is an internationally recognized methodology that is used in vehicle identification. ANPR systems allow for real time recognition of a vehicle’s number plate. Vehicle parking is an important component within any transportation system, whereby vehicles are often parked at destinations. With an increased number of motor vehicles on roads especially in developing countries, there is need for a vehicle identification mechanism that is effective, affordable and efficient. There are also increased insecurity challenges including terrorism which call for increased surveillance. In most academic institutions and car parks, the ongoing car park entry registration process for visitors, staff or students entering the institution involves a security guard having to confirm membership details by checking for membership sticker on the windscreen of the vehicle or by checking the driver’s identification card. This process of writing is tedious and time consuming and is prone to inaccurate recordings, furthermore the backup and sharing of this vehicle information is difficult because the data is hard copy. We propose the adoption of a mobile based software solution that has ANPR capabilities to aid in vehicle identification and vehicle registration. The software application that was developed adopted an object oriented analysis and design methodology, the software developed implements Optical Character Recognition (OCR) using the mobile device camera to detect and capture the vehicle number plate. The proposed solution reduced registration time from 30 seconds to 6 seconds in addition to other benefits. It was recommended that the system be adopted and implemented to address the current challenges in vehicle registration and surveillance.
Characterizing player’s experience from physiological signals using fuzzy decision trees
(IEEE, ) Orero, Joseph Onderi; Levillain, Florent; Rifqi, Maria; Bouchon-Meunier, Bernadette
In the recent years video games have enjoyed a dramatic increase in popularity, the growing market being echoed by a genuine interest in the academic field. With this flourishing technological and theoretical efforts, there is need to develop new evaluative methodologies for acknowledging the various aspects of the player’s subjective experience, and especially the emotional aspect. In this study, we addressed the possibility of developing a model for assessing the player’s enjoyment (amusement) with respect to challenge in an action game. Our aim was to explore the viability of a generic model for assessing emotional experience during gameplay from physiological signals. In particular, we propose an approach to characterize the player’s subjective experience in different psychological levels of enjoyment from physiological signals using fuzzy decision trees.
Charging in IP multimedia networks
Ozianyi (Dr.), Vitalis Gavole
IMS charging can be performed at various planes of the IMS architecture. Different charging schemes may be utilized. The optimal charging scheme would be service dependent, but may also be influenced by user expectations. The 3GPP has standardized charging mechanisms, protocols and interfaces for IMS charging control; online and offline charging have been standardized. However, the design and development of charging systems is operator dependent. This paper presents an IMS charging prototype developed and implemented in C, in line with Open IMS research. The testbed supports flow level, subsystem level and content level charging for IPTV and VoIP. The testbed supports online and offline charging; it has been tested with the UCT IMS client and the Fokus Open IMS system. Testbed proof of concept and performance results are presented.
Collaborative problem solving using public social network media: analyzing student interaction and its impact to learning process
(The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, ) Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Ballera, Melvin; Radwan, Abdalla
This paper examines the use of social network media at three aspects in African and Libyan perspective. Firstly, to use social network media as an open network learning environment that provide service for interaction necessary for learners to support socialization and collaboration during problem solving. Secondly, to use social media as a tool to support blended learning in e-learning system and encourage non-native English students to express their ideas and fill the gap of communication problems. Thirdly, to analyze the interaction of the learner in social media threaded messages and its relation to group and individual performance using different social schema and social network analyses. Quasi-experimental results indicate that there is an increase on the cognitive level of students at different level while qualitative results reveal that it helps deepen learning, memorable, have freedom to express opinions and lessen pressure and increase communication and socialization.
Conceptual framework for integration of organisation information processing theory and activity theory in enterprise systems implementation
(SCIENCEDOMAIN international, ) Nyandiere, Clement; Kamuzora, Faustin; Ateya, Ismail Lukandu; Omwenga, Vincent O
Implementation processes of systems in organizations follow different strategies and one of these strategies is to understand the uncertainties associated with the integration of the new system into an existing system environment so as to limit any challenges that may arise during the system implementation. Systems are implemented to address specific organizational needs,that is, activities the organization engages in. This paper explores organization information processing theory (OIPT) and activity theory in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems implementation. A framework for the ERP implementation has been developed from a conceptual model on the interaction of organizational culture and structure. The modified model incorporates the activity theory and the OIPT and provides a formal way of bringing on board various interplaying variables in the system implementation process, more so for ERP systems.
Conflict resolution using statistical approach
(Academic Journals, ) Omwenga, Vincent O; Mwita, Peter N
Conflict can be described as a condition in which actions of one person prevent or compel some outcome at the resistance of the other. Quite often this can be seen as “two or more competing, often incompatible, responses to same event”. In this paper, a statistical approach to conflict resolution using the concept of bargaining game theory is presented. The approach gives chances of failure that are minimal since any offer made in a conflict situation is tied to the likelihood of it being accepted as it takes into considerations the demands from the other party. The approach presents a fair way of solving a conflict without affecting a system. An employer-employee relationship was used to illustrate the application of the approach.
Context-Aware Voip congestion control service
(The African Journal of Information and Communication, ) Agutu, Gordon; Djouani, Karim; Biermann, Elmarie; Noel, Guillaume
IP networks can have difficulty coping with delay-sensitive VoIP traffics during emergency situations caused by fires and related disasters. During emergencies there is a huge increase in voice and video traffic, causing a huge strain on the network. The strain on the network is as a result of both essential and non-essential traffic. In such crisis situations, calls originating from or destined for rescue personnel, such as doctors and police, are considered essential. Any other calls from eyewitnesses and the public are considered non-essential, since they degrade the quality of service for the emergency response teams by consuming the scarce network resources. Providing the rescue team with the quality of service that they require necessitates network access restriction for non-essential traffic. In this paper, the authors present a voice and video service that uses Context-Awareness and Semantic Web technologies to restrict network access to privileged users during crisis situations. The service monitors the network for crisis conditions, enables the network to respond appropriately when a crisis occurs, detects the end of the crisis and reverts to its default state.
Database marketing strategies in the industry: case of Kenyan organizations
(North American Institute of Science and Information Technology, 2013-03) Lukandu, Ismail A; Dimba, Beatrice A; Omwenga, Vincent O
Problem Statement: There are several organizations in both the private and public sector that collect information about their customers but do not proactively leverage on it. In most cases, the collected information would lie unused or underutilized for long periods and yet these same organizations do struggle business-wise. A major point is that they could actually utilize the information to create new avenues to the benefit of the organizations. Methodology: The methodology adopted for this research was to survey several private sector organizations. A sample of thirty-two (32) organizations out fifty (50) accepted to take part in the Database Marketing Survey. This survey consisted of organizations in the private sector ranging from airline industry, information and communication technology industry, retail and services and healthcare industries. We were interested to access information on what types of customer information they typically collected, stored and/or interpreted and how the organization’s databases were generally designed. Further, we needed to determine the frequencies of inaccuracies in the data collected, the liabilities/implications of incorrect data, the applied techniques (systems) to maintain data integrity and the maintenance systems and of the databases, which database formats were most successful, which procedures of data gathering were most reliable and subtly, which off-the-shelf programs were better for design of a customer database for the organizations. Results: Our preliminary analysis indicated these organizations routinely collected and stored customer information for various purposes. It was noticed that though most organizations collected data, it was mostly inaccurate, duplicate, inconsistent and non-standard. In this regard, it was extremely difficult to really harness or leverage on it. Due to this state of affairs, the organizations could not easily relate to the fact that the core data errors could be a pointer to lost revenue, lost opportunities or money wasted pursuing false assumptions or inaccurate accounts. Conclusions: The type of database design used by the private sector industries in Kenya is largely dependent on the “Off-the-Shelf” programs. The design of a customer database for an organization was largely related to the type of “off-the-Shelf” with a correlation coefficient of 0.738. Most organizations collected and stored data that can be described to be personal information from the customers and this information was predominantly used for the purposes of business growth, that is, sales at 73.91% and marketing at 56.62% though not strategically.
Design of a fuzzy affective agent based on typicality degrees of physiological signals
Orero, Joseph Onderi; Rifqi, Maria
Physiology-based emotionally intelligent paradigms provide an opportunity to enhance human computer interactions by continuously evoking and adapting to the user experiences in real-time. However , there are unresolved questions on how to model real- time emotionally intelligent applications through mapping of physiological patterns to users ' affective states. In ·this study, we consider an approach for design of fuzzy affective agent based on the concept of typicality. We propose the use of typicality degrees of physiological patterns to construct the fuzzy rules representing the continuous transitions of user 's affective states. The approach was tested· on experimental data in which physiological measures were recorded on players involved in an action game to characterize various gaming experiences . We show that , in addition to exploitation of the results to characterize users ' affective states through .typicality degrees, this approach is a systematic way to automatically define fuzzy rules from experimental data for an affective agent to be used in real -time continuous assessment of user's affective states.

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