Volume XI Issue I

Rationale The paper focuses on discussing the impact of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on the Kenyan economy. Methodology The study adopted a descriptive design. Data from secondary sources informed a predictive analysis. A review of existing literature on metropolitan rail development was also conducted with case studies from advanced economy Nations and low-income Nations for comparative analysis. Findings The country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.5% as an after-effect of the SGR project. The project has driven Kenya's economic growth by creating 46,000 jobs for local residents. The individuals working in SGR are able to get income to support their families an aspect that contributes to the economic growth of the country (Northern Corridor Integration Projects, 2018). The study concluded that SGR transport infrastructure has strengthened the domestic economic environment and enhanced regional integration of the East African community. It has also provided economic, social and strategic unity of the East African member states and played a key role in the integration of the constituent sectors as well as acting as a stabilizing factor of the region’s economy. Implications The Government of Kenya and related stakeholders can use the findings of this study to leverage on the economic growth and create more revenue. Originality This paper is built on existing literature and supports the knowledge base with fundamental principles and perspectives on the Impact of SGR to the Kenyan economy.

The high rate of construction project abandonment in Nigeria had led researches into developing means of enhancing project performance. This research developed a structural equation model of labour productivity in Nigeria building industry. To develop this model, questionnaire survey was carried out among five hundred (500) stakeholders in the building construction industry. The labour productivity factors were divided into six (6) major categories which are the Management and control (MC), Workforce(W), Material & Equipment (ME), Finance(F), Project(P), External(E). A structural equation model was developed to show how each of the labour productivity factors influence construction project performance in terms of cost, time and quality. The result showed the Management and Control to have the highest influence on project performance with high coefficients of 0.88(88%). Further validation of the model showed MC, W and ME to be highly significant as their worse construction scenario produced a high prediction of overruns in project cost, time and quality. This research showed that a solid management, workforce and material logistics structure is key to consistent productivity that enhances good project performance in the Nigeria construction industry.

The study investigated thermal transfer in magnetohydrodynamics(MHD) convective flow of Cu-H2O nanofluid in a porous medium with heat generation/absorption. A set of partial differential equations with copper nanoparticles were used. The partial differential equations were non-dimensioned with various dimensionless quantities in order to obtain forms whose solutions can be easily obtained. The partial differential equations were later transformed into ordination differential equations through a two term perturbation technique which were later solved using method of undetermined coefficient to obtain the exact solutions for the energy, concentration and momentum equations. Using the exact solutions; plots were done with the aid of standard parameters to estimate the variational effects of parameters that entered the flow field. From the plots; it was observed that thermal radiation decreased the temperature of the fluid. Heat generation/absorption parameter increased the temperature of the fluid. The effective thermal conductivity increased the temperature of the fluid. Peclet number and Reynolds number decreased the fluid velocity, increasing the Schmidt number and frequency of oscillation increased the concentration of the fluid.

The high rate and cost of construction project abandonment in Nigeria had led researchers into developing various options for efficient project delivery. To achieve that, a thorough knowledge of the project efficiency influencing factors is required. A questionnaire survey was conducted among one hundred and forty-one (141) participants across three states in Nigeria. Sixty-three (63) risks that occur on an estate construction project site was grouped into seven (7) constraints, and each participant were asked to rate the effect of theserisks separately on their severity to leading to project cost overrun and delayed completion time through a 5-point Linkert scale ranging from Strongly influence to Virtually no influence. The Friedman analysis result showed Productivity constraint as the most influential constraint with mean significance score of 4.89 followed by the resource constraint with score of 4.85 for cost overrun. This showed that the productivity of the resource crew is the most significant factor in preventing cost overrun. Statistical ranking result also showed productivity and precedence constraint as the most influential factor of project delay. This highlighted the importance of an effective schedule plan to repetitive construction as it prevents resource interruptions without limiting its productivity.

In this Covid-19 pandemic, Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a significant role and IT solutions such as the Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) have become vital. In pandemic situation, the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) integrates many tools to provide higher educational institutions with an effective and efficient method to share, manage, store, and enhance their traditional approach of teaching. The implementation of VLE During the COVID -19 Pandemic has become a need at Advanced Technological institute in the learning and teaching environment. Although there is an increased willingness to its widespread implementation among higher educational institutes in this pandemic situation. The primary goal of this study is to develop a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for Advanced Technological Institute during the COVID -19 Pandemic, as well as to identify the existing virtual learning environment status of other higher educational institutes and implement innovative tools in Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at Advanced Technological Institute in the COVID -19 Pandemic. The conduct of this study involved qualitative method, the finding of the research presented that existing system used only for downloading the notes of lectures. As per the finding, virtual system developed using the following features such as conducing online examination, quizzes, discussion forum and as a new components automatic question generation using natural language processing added to enhance the learning and teaching process. Adobe photoshop for image editing purpose, MySQL for creating database, Apache Web Server, WordPress, Natural Language processing (NLP) for prototype question generation and php for virtual environment development as well as Microsoft Visio for diagram drawing were utilized to develop this system development.