Analysis of Developers’ Network and Change Burst Metrics as Predictors of Software Faults

Introduction: Many software quality metrics that can be used as proxies of measuring software quality by predicting software faults have previously been proposed. However determining a superior predictor of software faults given a set of metrics is difficult since prediction performances of the proposed metrics have been evaluated in non–uniform experimental contexts. There is need for software metrics that can guarantee consistent superior fault prediction performances across different contexts. Such software metrics would enable software developers and users to establish software quality. Objectives: This research sought to determine a predictor for software faults that requires least effort to detect software faults and has least cost of misclassifying software components as faulty or not given developers’ network metrics and change burst metrics. Methods: Experimental data for this study was derived from Jmeter, Gedit, POI and Gimp open source software projects. Logistic regression was used to predict faultiness of a file while linear regression was used to predict number of faults per file. Results: Change burst metrics model exhibited the highest fault detection probabilities with least cost of mis-classification of components as compared to the developers’ network model. Conclusion: The study found that change burst metrics could effectively predict software faults.

Robust posture tracking control of stable coaxial two-wheeled AGV using the approximate inverse system and LMI

This paper describes the design of the posture controller for two-wheeled AGV. The objective is to improve the posture stability when running on ramps by balancing between vehicle body attitude angle and wheel angular velocity target value. The effectiveness of the controller by simulation and experiment was confirmed.

Influence of Duration of Agroforestry on Physico-Chemical Soil Quality Parameters in Machakos County, Kenya

The role of agroforestry in improving soil quality is well appreciated. However, there is debate as to how duration of agroforestry practice affects soil quality especially in the tropical region of Sub Saharan Africa where adoption of the practice is fairly recently. Therefore, objective this study was to investigate the influence of duration of agroforestry on physico-chemical soil quality parameters. The study was conducted using survey research design from a sample of 73 individual farmers, selected using stratified and random sampling. Soils were sampled from adopters and non adopters using soil auger. At least five sub-samples of soils were collected from each of the farmers and the soil mixed to get an integrated soil sample for analysis. The soil were packaged in two-kg khaki papers and taken to the laboratory for further physical attributes (sand, clay, silt and bulk density) and chemical analyses (pH, TN, TP, TOC, C/N and C/P). The exchangeable bases (K, Ca, Mg and Na) as well as micronutrients (Mn, Cu, Fe and Zn) were also analyzed. The results indicated that proportion of sand particles was significantly (P < 0.05) higher among non adopters compared to adopters while silt and bulk density was significantly (P < 0.05) higher among the adopters compared to the non adopters. Sand particle decreased with increasing duration of agroforestry adoption while proportion of silt and bulk density showed a significant increase in tandem to stand duration of agroforestry. The TN, TOC and C/P ratio was significantly (P < 0.05) higher among adopters and increased consistently with age of adoption, while C/N was higher among non adopters and decreased with increasing age of tree stand and duration of agroforestry. The trend in exchangeable bases and mineral contents in the soil were similar where higher concentrations occurred among adopters and displayed an increase with regard to length of adoption of agroforestry. The current study lends support to assertion that duration of agroforestry positively improves soil quality and therefore urges for mass adoption of the agroforestry practice to enhance increased agricultural productivity.

Kenya’s Human Capital Development and Economic Growth: Best Practicesfrom South Korea and Singapore (2002-2014)

The study examined the role played by HCD in the economic development of Kenya between 2002 and 2014 by interrogating the development models adopted by South Korea and Singapore as a benchmark to determine the gaps in the model adopted by Kenya. Despite Kenya, Singapore and South Korea exhibiting similar income levels in the 1960s, the gap between Kenya’s economic growth and those of South Korea and Singapore has widened tremendously since independence in 1963. Kenya has recorded low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the two Asian countries. The researcher relied on secondary data sourced from national, regional and international websites and organizations. The data collected was corroborated with data sourced from government offices and websites. Data sets from the three countries was used to examine the extent to which HCD practices affect economic growth for the purposes of deriving the best HCD practices from South Korea and Singapore that influence economic growth. The design therefore necessitated causality analysis using the Granger Causality Test and correlational and regression analysis that facilitated the measurement, development and assessment of the statistical significance of the causal relationships among the study variables. The model variables included GDP as the response variable explained by six predictor variables; government expenditure on education, human development index, average years of schooling as a proxy for percentage of population that has attained education, patents filed by the countries, government effectiveness and government expenditure on research and development. Findings revealed that HCD had a great influence on economic development of a country. Findings further revealed that whereas human development index was found to be positively correlated to economic growth in South Korea and Singapore, it was negatively (inversely) correlated to economic growth in Kenya. To achieve sustained economic growth, the study recommends that the provision of education be strengthened to ensure successful implementation of Competency Based Curriculum with the government laying more emphasis on applied R&D.

Maize crop monitoring with sentinel-1 radar satellite- case study of Endebess,Kenya

Monitoring of crop status coupled with knowledge of growth stages of each crop is a requirement for sustainable agriculture management. Monitoring the crop condition manually in the field is labour, cost and time intensive. Remote sensing therefore provides fast, cost effective and timely tools necessary for the effective monitoring of the crops. The acquisition of cloud free optical images in tropical regions remains a big challenge since the cropping season is characterized by high cloud cover. Radar images which are independent of weather conditions were therefore preferred in this study due to their consistent acquisitions. The objective of this study was to analyse the performance of Sentinel-1 (S-1) C-band radar images in monitoring the maize growth by investigating the transferability of the maize phenological characteristics from one season to the other. This was accomplished by comparing the S-1 back scatter values for the 2015 and 2016cropping seasons. The acquired S-1 images were divided into three, according to the acquisition modes: ascending IW1; descending IW1; descending IW3. 18ADCOlngatongo Company maize fields were selected, with the principal maize growth and development stages being defined by the BBCH scale. From the results, the maize phenological development stages could be identified from the images. The backscatter values for fields having coincident planting dates for both 2015 and2016 had higher similarities compared to fields whose planting dates were far apart.The ascending IW1 had the best results. The results were however inconclusive since fewer images were available for 2015 for comparison with 2016. Thus,a comparison across the entire cropping season could not be conclusively undertaken.From the study, it was concluded that the phenological characteristics extracted for one cropping season can establish a baseline for the monitoring of the subsequent cropping seasons, which can be an indicator of expected yields.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 5TH DeKUT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

The 5th DeKUT International Conference on Science, Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship (STI&E) was held on 13th – 15th November, 2019 at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) Main Campus in Nyeri. The theme of the conference was ‘Leveraging Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development’. Conference sub themes were; Engineering Technologies and Innovations for Industrialization. Business Management and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development. Basic and Applied Sciences for Advancement of Research and Innovations. Innovative Agricultural Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security. Water, Energy, GIS and Remote Sensing, Environment, and Climate Change. Health Sciences and Community Development. Information and Communication Technology for Development. Tourism, Wildlife and Hospitality Management. Policy, Culture and Governance for Sustainable Development Security Trends and Innovations. Trends in Technical Education and Training. African Development and Harnessing Traditional Knowledge Data Science The conference provided researchers from local and international institutions, a forum to discuss and share ideas on latest innovations and research outputs that address local and global challenges and those that improve the quality of life for the people and inform the decision-making process in matters of development by government and businesses. International delegates came from countries such as Germany, Japan, and Uganda. Selected papers will be published in the Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology for Development. This journal has a reputation of high international standards and a reference in engineering, applied sciences and development. We continue to seek collaboration with the largest number of authors and institutions, to assist us in maintaining our reputation. The conference organizing committee would like to thank all the key note speakers, authors and exhibitors for their great effort to make this outstanding conference come true. We are hopeful that you enjoyed the conference. We look forward to seeing you again during the 6th DeKUT International Conference on STI&E to be held on 11th – 13th November, 2020.

A Biology and Chemistry Primer for Undergraduate Students

A Biology and Chemistry Primer for Undergraduate Students (ABACUS-1) is a project that has so far developed a General Chemistry Primer which introduces basic chemistry concepts and integrated relevant practical experiments to allow a refresher for Undergraduate students and enhance better performance in science related courses regardless of pre-university subjects studied. Data on applicants’ education background, enrolment and performance was obtained from the Uganda Christian University Faculty of Science and Technology and Admissions Office. Chemistry experts developed ten chapters of the Primer that was made available to students as a reference text. Feedback was obtained in a structured Knowledge, Attitude and Practice survey. Continuous performance tracking was done on tests and exams of students with whom the Primer was piloted. Data was analysed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel 2010. In the 2013/14 Bachelor of Environmental Science (BES) cohort, 3 out of 15 students had sat for Advanced Level Chemistry, 53 % of the students in this program scored below 70% in General Chemistry course unit and all scored above 65% in Environmental Chemistry I before piloting the Primer. After piloting the Primer, 80% of the students in BES program that did not sit for Advanced Level Chemistry scored above 65% in Environmental Chemistry II. In the 2013/14 Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering (BSCEE) cohort, 26 out of 74 students had sat for Advanced Level Chemistry, 81% of these scored above 71% in Environmental Chemistry I and 4 students who scored below 65% did not sit for Advanced Level Chemistry. After piloting the Primer, 74 % of the students in the BSCEE program who did not sit for Advanced Level Chemistry scored above 65%. The Primer could have increased the confidence of the students who did not sit for Advanced Level Chemistry thus boosting students’ education and training.

Estimation of Viewpoint Direction and Viewing Angle Using EOG

This paper presents the feasibility study of EOG signal for the input signal of the man-machine system. This research focuses on the relationship between the eye movements and EOG signal. When the trial subjects look right, left, up and down, the EOG signal was measured and compared with the eye movements and later analyzed. We found that there was a linear relationship between the eye movements and EOG signal. The presented method demonstrates the high possibility of using EOG signal for the man-machine interface system.

Two-degree-of-freedom control of a multilink flexible manipulator using filtered inverse feedforward controller and strain feedback controller

This research paper presents a hybrid solution to both residue vibration and transient vibration as addressed using filtered inverse feedforward controller and strain feedback controller on a 3D 2 links flexible manipulator. The feedforward filtered inverse will minimize on the transient vibration due to sudden starting followed sudden stopping of the manipulator arm while the strain feedback will ensure rapid decay of the residue vibrations. Transient and residue vibrations stand in the way to reaping all the numerous advantages of the flexible manipulator. Transient vibration refers to vibrations resulting from sudden changes in the direction of the links while residue vibrations means that the arm takes too long to settle to do some useful work. Modelling of the manipulator and development of the inverse controller was carried out in Maple, MapleSim and MATLAB softwares. Experiments carried out in dSPACE control desk environment considering the manipulator without load and a case where a load of 100g was attached at the distal end of link 2.

Energy consumption, operating cost and treatment of tea effluent using electrocoagulation

The effluents from tea processing plants are characterized by a strong colour and high turbidity due to the presence of large amounts of suspended solids, dissolved organic matter and inorganic wastes which include detergents, grease/waste oil from machine parts. These altogether poses an environmental and legal challenge calling for appropriate means of treatment. In this regard the study was designed to evaluate energy consumption, operating cost in treatment of tea effluent using electrocoagulation method at optimum conditions of electrode distance 6 mm, electrolysis time 18 min, Current intensity 250 mA The study adopted an experimental research design. From the study findings Energy consumption was found to be 0.0018Kwh/m3 at an operating cost of US$ 0.004179032 /m^3at laboratory scale. The findings further showed that at industrial scale design parameters such as Diameter, height, electrode spacing, retention time, current intensity and reactor volume were 100 cm, 150 cm, 60 mm, 59.94 minutes, 25 Amps and 1.2 m3 respectively which equally reduces COD and Colour removal at 99.43 % and 98.62 with energy consumption of 4.8Kwh/m3 at an operating cost US$ 0.744. In conclusion EC provides the most feasible alternative for treatment of tea effluent with a view of COD reduction and colour removal.