Browsing by Author "Mwangi, J."

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Development of interactive web portal for Kenyan tea.
(Chuka University, 2015) Ngige, W. J.; Kinyua, K. J.; Gitonye, W. C.; Kariuki, D.; Mwangi, J.
In Kenya the tea sector’s growth is dependent on tea production, marketing and research. For better performance of these key areas, information flow is critical. However, the information flow is still poor due to lack of an effective information delivery system. Although development of web sites and other cross platform tea information systems have made information sharing easier and faster than ever, their dynamic, unstructured nature and lack of necessary level of interaction limit their potential in the information delivery. The exponential growth of these resource platforms has also resulted to scattering of the information widely which makes it difficult for users to obtain the desired information efficiently. Marketing is also ineffective due to lack of an online marketing tool for the Kenyan tea, and with the increased global market competition posed by the major tea producers in the world including China, India and Sri Lanka, Kenya is faced with major threats in maintaining its tea market share. In this project an interactive web portal was developed as a resource platform for tea, that would bring together the tea information into an integrated “one-stop shop” for improved efficiency in information access and retrieval, and to provide a marketing platform for the Kenyan tea. The development process involved; designing of web portal architecture, development of the system components, system testing and hosting the program on World Wide Web. The following utilities with outstanding features were used to develop the portal; Joomla! 3.2, XAMPP, PHP5.3.1, MySQL 5.1.41, PhpMyAdmin, Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 and site extensions including; PixSearch, Joom!Fish, VirtueMart and JomSocial.The web portal was then evaluated in JKUAT based on organization of information, friendliness of the user interface and efficiency in information access and retrieval.
Invention, Innovation and Creativity Management in Education for Sustainable Development Towards Attainment of Vision 2030
(Chuka University, 2015) Mwangi, J.; Mwangi, J. G.; Wabore, J. N.; Maingi, N. W.
Ideas, inventions and innovations are like butterflies. They are transient, fleeting and often incompletely formed. Unless we invite them to stay by having innovation management skills they tend to wander off. The myriads of Annual High School Science Congresses and student innovation conferences in universities reveal abundance of “ideas people”, who unfortunately fade off to obscurity due to lack of management skills. Since these are not products of necessity but curiosity it calls for innovation and creativity management for sustainability by incorporating patenting of innovation in curricula to be taught just like printing, publishing and copyrighting is taught in literature. This research was pegged on John Dewey theory of education which integrates the school with the society, and the process of learning with the actual problems of life by a through application of the principles and practices of democracy. It adopted the descriptive survey research design, data was collected using interviews, phones and emails conducted to 2013 National Science Congress presenters, researchers of 2014 at the Laikipia University 2nd International Conference and Kabarak 4th International Conference, which also incorporated students’ innovation. There is no coordination of research activities among the various institutions to ensure synergy and to avoid duplication. Proven technical knowledge produced in high schools, tertiary institutions, including universities has been going down the drain with failure to transform into technologies and protect it as intellectual property in patents which are sources of information for new inventions, technology transfer to encourage research and development. Thus, educational curricula should be reviewed to include educational leadership and management of innovation and creativity with the process of protecting proven technical knowledge as intellectual property rights becoming heuristic.
Kenya’s Religious Institutions Role in Devolution for Sustainable Development
(Chuka University, 2015) Waithaka, M. N.; Mwangi, J.
This paper examined the role of religious institutions in the success of devolution in Kenya. Politics influence almost every aspect of life and so does religion. The misuse of power, bad politics, hypocrisy of democracy and corruption were identified as obstacles to devolution and the development of a country. These aspects were championed passively by powerful and privileged minority political elites who hinder national development. It is said that whenever a state fails in the proper governance, people always turn to religious institutions for solace. It would be perilous to wait until the country gets to such a state. The community of faith in Kenya has a big role to play in the success of devolution both at the national level and the county level for sustainable development and for attainment of the Vision 2030. It is a tool for empowering and mobilizing the people to become the agents of their own development and liberating themselves from these dysfunctional structures that devalue them and their dignity. For long the church has been seen to be on the opposing side, opposing transitions, especially the new constitution and blocking the path for reforms, but not all. Some clerics have bled, been detained and others have died for the course. The article recommends vibrant involvement of the religious society in governance.