School of Engineering (SEng.) Collections

Permanent URI for this collection

http://10.29.1.53:4000/handle/10570/180

Browse

Browsing School of Engineering (SEng.) Collections by Issue Date

Jump to a point in the index:
  • Item
    Potential of public-private partnerships in road infrastructure development in Uganda.
    (Makerere University, 2005-09) Kagoda, Andrew Festus
    Lack of sufficient public funding to adequately develop and maintain the country’s road network is one reason why the government of Uganda is studying the prospect of using private finance initiatives as a way of bridging the funding gap. Several forms of Public – Private Partnerships (PPPs) already exist in other sectors within the country but no such initiatives are yet in place in the roads sub-sector in Uganda. Benefits attributed to the use of PPPs include acceleration of infrastructure provision, faster implementation, reduced whole life costs, better allocation of risk, better incentives to perform, improved quality of service, generation of additional revenues, and enhanced public management. The objective of this study was to delineate the concept of PPPs, identify prerequisites for their successful implementation in the road sector in Uganda, analyse the extent to which the success factors are in place, and to make recommendations for the successful implementation of the PPP framework in the road sector in Uganda. The study was a desk study that involved assessment of the roads sub-sector performance, the private sector capacity and the country framework/attractiveness to the private sector using interviews with selected experts and official reports available at government ministries and departments. A case study of a hypothetical project, Kampala (Kibuye) – Entebbe (Airport) Road II, was also used to investigate the financial viability of the PPP framework from a Project Finance point of view, using a toolkit developed by the World Bank. The study identified five success prerequisites for a PPP policy and scored their existence in Uganda at 72% on a measurement scale developed. The case study showed a positive project Net Present Value (NPV) and acceptable project economics ratios, from which could be concluded therefore, that some roads within the national road network have relatively high potential for success as Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) projects. Recommendations made from the study included: broadening of private sector participation in road infrastructure maintenance and development towards the PPP framework; deliberate domestic private sector capacity building; establishment of PPP policy and concession specific laws; creation of a government department for PPPs; and conducting appropriate personnel training and fact-finding tours.
  • Item
    A study of the impact of water supply network expansions on water network hydraulics: a case study of zone 8, Kampala Water
    (Makerere University, 2006-08) Nyende, Stephen
    The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) in a drive to provide wide water supply coverage and to maximise profits has increased the number of customer connections through a massive network expansion. At the same time, service levels have drastically dropped, with customers receiving intermittent water supply, and in many cases, not at all. This background prompted this research with the chief aim of studying the hydraulic impact of the water supply network extensions. Specifically, the research was aimed at studying the effects of the expansions on pipe pressures, velocities and flows and suggest remedial measures; and recommend the extent to which extensions should be made in order to maintain satisfactory hydraulic properties. The methodology involved the assessment of the water supply situation before and after major extensions were made. Consumption patterns were generated from the block maps and water audits of the GIS records of Kampala Water. A simulation of the network was carried out using the EPANET-2 software. The modeling process involved data collection, system operation and monitoring, network schematization, model building, model testing and the analysis of the problem. Most notably, it was found that pressure zones are not well marked out and transmission mains were no longer functionally differentiated from distribution mains. Pressures were found to fall with more extensions being made. Head losses were also found to be high. Velocities and flows in the pipes reduced with more extensions. The conclusions drawn from the study show a strong relationship between the network extensions and the reduce service levels. Recommendations have therefore been made and include among others, carrying out careful hydraulic considerations before any extensions are made, encourage installation of tanks in consumer units to act as reservoirs, marking out and respecting hydraulic zones, maintaining the transmission mains intact, rationalizing the network and installing boosters where necessary.
  • Item
    Evaluation of quality management in construction of public buildings under the decentralized system: the case of Busia and Pallisa Districts of Uganda
    (Makerere University, 2007-06) Drici, Louis Ibiya
    Over the past few years, Local Governments in Uganda have constructed substantial quantities of public buildings in fulfilment of the Government's initiatives to develop its social infrastructure facilities. This study was prompted by the prevalent concerns of the public and local government Development partners about the supposedly substandard quality of the public buildings delivered by the local governments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the construction quality management practices employed, in an attempt to determine conformance to established standards, identify Deficiencies and propose suitable strategies for improvement. The study was carried out in the Local Governments of Busia and Pallisa. Organizations and institutions representing relevant Government Ministries, donor agencies and beneficiary communities as well as building contractors also formed part of the study. Questionnaire surveys And inspection reports formed the basis of the data for this study. The results of the study present a comparable pattern of quality achievement in the two districts, with79%of the public buildings not conforming to established quality standards. Factors that were found to bring about this scenario mainly arise from deficiencies in the quality systems and Practices used by the local government sand the private contractors, and to a lesser extent by the loopholes in the strategic approaches employed by the Government and funding agencies. Recommendations for improving and upholding the quality standards were made, including; recognition of the quality problem, provision for quality management costs, methods for establishing and upholding functional quality management systems and procedures, and the advancement of effective quality management techniques by the State and funding agencies.
  • Item
    Better precipitation and evaporation estimate to improve Lake Victoria water balance
    (Makerere University, 2007-08) Mangeni, Bennie T.
    Lake Victoria and the Nile River with their catchments form the Nile Basin. Fluctuations in Lake Victoria water levels and its anomalous hydrological behavior affect the entire Nile basin water resources and their utilization. This makes it necessary to constantly monitor, predict and forecast the hydrological behavior of the lake. This is achieved using a water balance model. Existing models were not good enough for this task due to poor estimates of the model components. The objective of this research was therefore to improve the lake water balance model through better estimates of its components. This was done, through utilization of lake data and better methods in estimating the biggest water balance components of precipitation and evaporation, whose earlier poor estimates had been blamed for the model shortcomings. The precipitation and evaporation were evaluated by interpolation and the Combined Penman equation respectively. That these were better component estimates was deduced from the final model improvement and the favorable comparisons of the component estimates with results of precipitation and evaporation from isotope sampling studies of the lake. In addition, for the first time, satellite data was used with the Split Window Technique (SWT) to assess possible groundwater contribution to the lake water balance. The groundwater studies were inconclusive but will provide a way forward in determining the groundwater contribution which might be the missing link in the lake water balance model. The better precipitation and evaporation estimates resulted in an improved lake model in which the discrepancy between inflow and outflow was reduced to 50% of the original value. This was a remarkable achievement. When the groundwater contribution is ascertained, a much better model will be obtained. For this purpose it is recommended that the traditional well and piezometer convetional techniques be employed in further groundwater investigations in those littoral parts of the lake where interaction between groundwater and lake water was identified in an attempt to quantify the groundwater contribution. More research is needed to explore use of satellite data in estimating lake precipitation and evaporation to further improve the model.
  • Item
    Evaluation of contract management practices of road rehabilitation and maintenance works in Kanungu, Rukungiri and Kabale Districts
    (Makerere University, 2007-09) Magezi, Benon Denis
    Road maintenance and rehabilitation in Uganda is a quite complicated undertaking involving different stakeholders including donors, central and local governments, professionals and non professionals. Before this study, it had generally been observed that in spite of all the efforts rendered by the above stakeholders, roads which would be rehabilitated or upgraded would deteriorate shortly after such costly interventions the factor that was attributed to poor contract management practices in road rehabilitation and maintenance works. It was against this background that this study was undertaken with the objective of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of managing the contracts for road rehabilitation and maintenance works. The districts of Kanungu, Rukungiri and Kabale in Southwestern Uganda were selected as a study area. The study used quantitative descriptive methods and was evaluative in nature. It reviewed road maintenance and rehabilitation contracts in the financial years of 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05 by looking at the road inventory, financing history of road related works, performance history of the road network, the contract management practices that is; procurement, documentation, supervision and monitoring, certification, quality management and mainstreaming of cross cutting issues. Data was collected using questionnaires administered by interviews and analyzed by MS Excel and SPSS 10.0 for windows soft ware. From the study it was established that; road maintenance and rehabilitation interventions in the study area were very poorly funded and hence partly a reason for the poor state of the roads and high rates of deterioration. In spite of poor quality management practices and limited compliancy to mainstreaming of cross cutting issues of gender, environment and work place health and safety, some good contract management practices were adhered to. In addition, road condition in the study area was affected by limited capacity of contractors, poor terrain of the area and political interference. It is therefore recommended that; the contract managers should address contract management gaps in quality management and mainstreaming of crosscutting issues and in addition the Ministry of Works and Transport should review and increase the funding for road maintenance and rehabilitation works.
  • Item
    The effect of environmental factors and traffic volume on the performance of low-volume labour-based roads
    (Makerere University, 2008-08) Were-Higenyi, Frederick Millan
    In road works labour-based technology refers to the appropriate and efficient use of labour in construction and maintenance, with equipment only playing a supportive role. The technical specifications related to the technology were developed and modified to suit efficiency and safety requirements in the utilisation of labour. However, lack of road deterioration relationships to determine performance and improve the specifications and designs is still a problem. The objective of this research was to study influence of the environment and traffic factors on the performance of unpaved low-volume labour-based roads in Uganda. The research methodology included review of the existing literature, road condition surveys and material sampling and testing, performance-monitoring on labour-based roads for 2.5 years and development of road deterioration models. This research established that roughness index is a function of traffic volume, dust ratio of wearing course, rainfall and road geometry. The rate of gravel loss is a function of traffic volume, rainfall and plasticity product, dust ratio and grading modulus of wearing course. The IRI roughness index is 6.1 m/km and rate of gravel loss is 15.3 mm per year for the low-volume roads. It was further established that the annual gravel loss due to environment effects is 15.2 mm for low plasticity gravels and 11.5 mm for high plasticity gravels. Further analysis established that road deterioration can be estimated by the HDM-4 Model using calibration factors of 0.44 for roughness and 0.97 for gravel loss. In conclusion the research achieved its objective by developing road deterioration relationships which can be used to improve designs, specifications and determination of maintenance standards for low-volume labour-based roads. However, it is recommended that further research could be undertaken to model the effect of more climatic factors (precipitation, evapo-transpiration and storage capacity of the soils) not covered under this research.
  • Item
    Development of a decision support tool for certification of road contracts in Uganda: a case study of the Central Region
    (Makerere University, 2008-10) Ssembatya, Patrick
    This dissertation entails information about a Master’s Research work in Construction Management on Development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) for Certification of Road contracts in Uganda. The researcher undertook an analysis of the contract deficiencies in five Central districts and to design a DST emphasizing a knowledge management perspective to facilitate decision making in certification practices and hence improve on the effectiveness in contract administration and management. The five districts selected at random were Kampala, Luwero, Mpigi, Mukono and Wakiso. They were investigated and data on contract deficiencies on roads was collected to find out the response rate on each of the deficiency. This data was supplemented by interviews and focused discussions with some key district personnel. The research was done in two phases which included desk research and field objective research. The desk research involved publications, Journals and Magazines on Contract management. The descriptive technique was adopted to develop a management system for the certification practices in Uganda. The developed system was configured into a computer program using a php scripting language and with MySQL Database at the back end. The developed model was tested on real world data and test results showed that the system output is consistent with what would be achieved if the decisions were taken from a personnal judgment. However, the system showed that a better accurate and timely solution would be given. Therefore, the developed DST would go along way in addressing the need for an automated certification practice not only in the central region but it can also be adopted for other regions in the country.
  • Item
    Development of a decision support tool for certification of road contracts in Uganda: A case study of the Central Region.
    (Makerere University, 2008-10) Ssembatya, Patrick
    This dissertation entails information about a Master’s Research work in Construction Management on Development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) for Certification of Road contracts in Uganda. The researcher undertook an analysis of the contract deficiencies in five Central districts and to design a DST emphasizing a knowledge management perspective to facilitate decision making in certification practices and hence improve on the effectiveness in contract administration and management. The five districts selected at random were Kampala, Luwero, Mpigi, Mukono and Wakiso. They were investigated and data on contract deficiencies on roads was collected to find out the response rate on each of the deficiency. This data was supplemented by interviews and focused discussions with some key district personnel. The research was done in two phases which included desk research and field objective research. The desk research involved publications, Journals and Magazines on Contract management. The descriptive technique was adopted to develop a management system for the certification practices in Uganda. The developed system was configured into a computer program using a php scripting language and with MySQL Database at the back end. The developed model was tested on real world data and test results showed that the system output is consistent with what would be achieved if the decisions were taken from a personnal judgment. However, the system showed that a better accurate and timely solution would be given. Therefore, the developed DST would go along way in addressing the need for an automated certification practice not only in the central region but it can also be adopted for other regions in the country.
  • Item
    An investigation of the performance of laterite in flexible pavements in a humid tropical environment
    (Makerere University, 2008-12) Odongo, Michael Moses
    Self-hardening of laterite especially within pavement layers is still an enigmatic subject to engineers and researchers. Being a pedogenic concretionary soil commonly used in the construction of some layers in flexible pavements in the tropics, self-hardening has great significance towards its engineering value and associated selection standards. Sesquioxide-enrichment of its fabric is thought to be responsible for this phenomenon though existing knowledge about its occurrence is still inconclusive. The general objective of the research was to study the phenomenon in Ugandan laterites in pavement layers in a humid tropical setting and determine its implications on material selection standards. The study methods were literature review, questionnaire surveys and experimentations. The experimentation method involved fieldwork to measure performance of the material in tests roads and laboratory tests on laterite samples. It was found out that self-hardening in Ugandan laterites was possible only in the immature classes such as plinthites especially when formed under distinctive tropical conditions of alternating wet and dry seasons. Such conditions exist in northern Uganda where one test road was established. However, the performance of the immature classes of the material in road pavements entailed serious performance defects. Such classes of laterite are unsuitable for pavement works. The effect of the insitu pedogenic process was evident in the particle size grading of most classes of the materials and to some extent, plasticity characteristics. The clay fraction affinity for sesquioxides through particle impregnation and nodulation converted a significant fraction of the clay fraction into pseudo-silts and pseudo-sands. This altered the grading and some plasticity characteristics of the materials but not strength. The effects of seasonal factors of climate and traffic were found to mask any self-hardening that the material may undergo. It was concluded that self-hardening in Ugandan laterites is not significant enough to warrant substantial revision of material selection specifications. The research accordingly recommended augmentation of existing selection specification through incorporation of specific gravity as a criterion and revision of expression for grading coefficient. Recognising the limitations of time and resources experienced, further areas of research have been proposed.
  • Item
    Hybrid e-learning for rural secondary schools in Uganda: Co-evolution in triple helix processes
    (Makerere University, 2009-01) Okidi-Lating, Peter
    For the last two decades, a number of policies aimed at increasing participation of female students in higher education have been implemented by Uganda Government. However, the participation of female students in the engineering courses in Makerere University, Uganda’s biggest University, has remained between 17% to 20% only. Furthermore, over 90% of the female engineering students are from the ‘elite’ and advantaged urban schools located in the capital city, Kampala, and its surrounding Districts of Mukono and Wakiso. Rural secondary schools perform poorly in Physics and Mathematics; the key technology and engineering subjects. One rural District, which has failed to send female students to Makerere University for engineering training, is Arua- a remote, poor and insecure District in the West Nile Region of Uganda. The main objective of the doctoral research was to improve the performance in Physics and Mathematics, at Advanced Level Examinations, of two rural girls’ secondary schools in Arua (Muni and Ediofe) through application of e-learning. Both schools have no functional science laboratories and libraries. They also have no qualified and committed teachers who can competently teach at that level of education. The research included participatory action research methodology and the use of interactive multimedia CD-ROMs for Physics and Mathematics as the main course delivery platform. During the study, twenty nine female students from the two schools effectively used the hybrid e-learning tools and applications for six months in 2007 and they were independently examined four times. The repeated measures data that were collected were analysed using multilevel methods to establish the effects of the hybrid e-learning intervention and school contexts on the performance of the students in external examinations. Results of the analysis showed that, 41% of the students passed and were eligible for university admission. Furthermore, it was found that within-student factors were chiefly responsible for the performance of students in Physics, while for Mathematics, the school contexts were more dominant. However, after extrapolation of the performance of the students over twelve months, up to 72% of the students would have passed and be eligible to join higher institutions of learning. The study, which focused e-learning for two schools in the rural district of Arua, included co-evolving elements in Triple Helix Processes. The results were the setting up of the ICT/GIS Research Centre in Arua. The Centre is not only helping the community in the West Nile region of Uganda but also near by communities in Southern Sudan and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Centre has helped to establish an Information Society in the region. Keywords: Secondary Schools, Hybrid E-Learning, Multilevel Analysis, Rural, Gender, Triple Helix, Physics and Mathematics, Mode 2, CD-ROMs, ICT/GIS Research Centre, Information Society, Uganda.
  • Item
    Analyzing the effectiveness of gasifier-produced biochar as a soil amendment in the humid tropics
    (Makerere University, 2009-05) Deal, Christopher William
    Biochar is the solid, carbonaceous byproduct from thermal treatment of biomass that is produced specifically for application to soils. Studies have shown that when biochar is added to soils it is able to increase yields, prevent erosion, and effectively store carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. Sizeable research has been conducted using biochar from traditional charcoal kilns as this is the method that maximizes biochar production. Biochar from gasification, however, has been relatively unexamined. The intent of this research, therefore, was to determine if gasifier-produced biochar would act as an effective soil amendment. The motivation behind this study was to create a valuable byproduct from gasification that would also allow the entire process to be considered “carbon-negative.” This investigation was designed to analyze the effectiveness of gasifier-produced biochar through a comparison with kiln-produced biochar. Two types of biomass – maize cobs and eucalyptus wood chunks – were used in the creation of biochar from a gasifier and traditional charcoal kiln. The biochar samples were combined with undisturbed soil from the Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute at Kabanyolo in a 45 day pot experiment to compare effects on plant growth. The experimental results show that, on average, soils amended with gasifier-produced biochar have higher yields than soils amended with kiln-produced biochar. The magnitude of this increase, however, was varied, and this variance was indicative of the sample‟s composition. Biochar composition varied across feedstocks, production methods, and even within samples from the same feedstock and production method. Results indicated that the characteristic with the greatest influence on soil productivity was the soluble ash content in the biochar. Soluble ash, when introduced to soils, helped to increase pH levels. Ugandan soils, like most soils in the humid tropics, are strongly acidic, and this increase in pH allowed for more favorable growing conditions and higher nutrient availability. This study indicates that gasifier-produced biochar has significant potential for use as a soil amendment in the humid tropics. However, further research
  • Item
    To assess the performance of the current Community Based Management Systems (CBMS) in maintenance of rural water facilities in Rakai District
    (Makerere University, 2009-07) Ssentaba, Simon James
    Problems with the operations and maintenance of water supply and sanitation have long been recognized as key constraints of the sustainability of water services. In Uganda today, the operations and maintenance of Rural Water Facilities (RWF) are largely based on the Community Based Management Systems (CBMS), which emphasizes community responsibility and authority over operations and maintenance of their water facilities. This study concerned itself with assessing the performance of community based management systems in maintenance of rural water facilities taking Rakai District as the case study. The methodology consisted of administering a questionnaire to 267 respondents who included local water users, water user committee members, area pump mechanics, and local council one leadership, Sub-county Community Development Assistants, Health Assistants and hand pump spare parts distributors. A total of 48 safe water points were sampled, comprising of nineteen (19) shallow wells, three (3) springs, twenty five (25) boreholes and one (1) valley tank. Shallow wells had a 73.7% functionality rate, springs 100% functionality rate while boreholes had a functionality rate of 56%. This implied that for future investigation where applicable, technological option of providing safe water by use of protected spring should be given highest priority followed by shallow wells and least borehole as results show that communities found it earlier to maintain spring than boreholes. Unwillingness by community members to make any contribution towards operation and maintenance plus lack of spare parts within the community were noted as the major constraints towards operation and maintenance of water sources, hand pump spare parts were bought from Kampala 200km away. This led to a lot of delay plus increased costs on spare parts due to added transport, which greatly discouraged the communities in repairing their sources. Community managed water points are vulnerable to a range of social, technical, institutional, environmental, financial, monitoring and evaluation constraints. Some of the constraints established in this study are that water committees lack capacities, trained committee members or operators leave (die) the communities and are not replaced on time, women being excluded from decision making though they are the carriers of water to the family, water supply technologies are not sometimes appropriate and are complicated, spare parts are hard to find, absence of transparency in book keeping of collected maintenance fee, misuse of financial resources, political pressure/interference, poor mobilization and poverty among others. The overall conclusion is that although community based management systems of rural water facilities is the best option so far towards sustainability of rural water facilities, little has been done to ensure their performance, they exist in words, absence of a legal framework to enforce CBMS makes it worst. The researcher recommends that; government puts in place a legal framework formalising operations of CBMS, constant sensitization of the user community, availability of spare parts at least at every county level, availing of repair tools to area pump mechanics plus some form of remuneration for the WUC (certificates, exemption from other communal activities, incentives such as a bar of soap per quarter etc) are paramount towards a functional Community Based Management System of rural water facilities. To ensure sustainability of water sources, communities managing their water sources need support from different angles. It is not fair to leave communities by their own after completion of a new water source. Institutional support mechanisms, policies, legislation, proper monitoring and continued capacity building are required to support the functionality of CBMS towards maintenance of rural water sources.
  • Item
    The reliability of broadcast equipment as a factor affecting the profitability of TV stations in Uganda
    ( 2010) Ssemujju, Nicholas
    Equipment reliability is a more important issue in Africa because of meagre financial resources and lack of entrepreneurs well versed with the subject. The business entrepreneur is interested in profit, and the issue of equipment reliability, which affects his production output and hence profit needs to be addressed. The research addresses the problems of equipment reliability in TV stations, focusing on television stations in Uganda. The background of private and public television in Uganda is given in the context of equipment reliability versus profit. The objectives of research are stated centring on reliability and justifying the importance of going into the research of equipment reliability in television stations. The development of maintenance records are discussed from a historical perspective culminating in modern day methods of maintenance records gathering and storage. The different types of failure models for equipment are outlined. The interrelationship between reliability, observed failure rate and Mean Time between Failures (MTBF) is mathematically defined. Condition based maintenance as a modern method for reducing maintenance costs is outlined. Reliability figures from studio broadcast equipment are stated. The Pareto, Chi squared and two tailed t distribution methods of failure data analysis are mathematically and graphically described. The contribution of reliability analysis to engineering is outlined. The gap addressed by the research which is the use of questionnaires to generate maintenance records is stated. An overview of UTV and WBS is carried out and recent developments in TV broadcasting technology are outlined. The geographical area where the research was done and time range of data that was collected is outlined. Methods of selection of equipment types that were assessed based on quality and quantity of data that was available are stated. The challenges of maintenance in UTV and WBS are presented. The maintenance procedures and strategies in UTV and WBS are outlined Equipment failure costs are defined. The formats for tabulation of data in WBS and UTV are explained. The Mean Time between Failures and cost of spares per machine per year as reliability parameters in the research are mathematically defined. Finally the data obtained from Job cards in UTV and Questionnaires in WBS together with the calculated reliability and maintenance cost parameters are presented in a tabular form. The UTV and WBS maintenance models are discussed. The MTBF and cost of spares per machine per year for each of the two stations is calculated proving that in both UTV and WBS video tape recorders are the least reliable and most expensive to maintain whereas video monitors are the most reliable and cheapest to maintain. Pareto analysis is carried out for failure rates versus spares costs for video cassette recorders to prove that in the case of UTV 19% of the total number of defects contributed 59% of the total spares cost whereas in WBS 46% of the total number of defects contributed 59% of the total spares cost. The cost of spares is plotted against the frequency of maintenance to determine one cost saving strategy. The hypothesis is tested to with the result that the alternative hypothesis is therefore upheld i.e. ‘broadcast equipment used by TV stations in Uganda are not maintained to the reliability standards of the equipment manufacturers.’ Finally research questions on the reliability for each category of equipment in Uganda, equipment purchase criteria, reduction of maintenance costs and ways of increasing broadcast equipment reliability are discussed. The final recommendations are to improve maintenance management in Uganda by including proper specifications in procurement documents, ensuring proper environment of operation for equipment, instilling a maintenance culture in Ugandans, timely decommissioning of equipment, training and proper recruitment of maintenance personnel.
  • Item
    A study of human resource management and performance in Uganda Construction Industry
    (Makerere University, 2010-02) Adoko, Denis Abongo
    Human Resource Management (HRM) can be viewed as core processes of the construction companies, affecting the way the organization acquires and uses human resources, and how employees experience the employment relationship. Traditional sources of competitiveness in construction industry, such as production capacities, financial resources, raw materials, distribution channels, are considered necessary, but no longer sufficient for organizational success. Human resources, their knowledge, skills and competencies as well as their synergy among them, become the most valuable asset, the new source of wealth, and the key ingredient of competitive advantage. Consequently, the human resources function, which deals with planning, development, and keeping the best people, now has the opportunity to move out of the background into the mainstream of organizational strategy and management. The aim of this dissertation was to study HRM and performance in Uganda construction industry, as excellent HR policies, programs and activities enable firms to be competitive. Therefore, empirical research was conducted. The population was the active Uganda construction firms, out of which 33 companies and 60 construction workers form the final sample (response rate of 73.3 and 66.7% respectively). In order to assess the value of HRM, the Bivariate and Univariate approach based on HR indicators were used. Results indicate that the Uganda construction industry on average has insufficient HR activities. Precisely, Pearson chi square showed that training which the source of sustained competitive advantage is was not common among the construction firms. Consequently, HRM in Uganda construction industry could not be considered a solid ground for achieving competitiveness through people.
  • Item
    Evaluation of damage caused to road structural pavements by utility service providers: A case study of Kampala
    (Makerere University, 2010-06) Ssembatya, Charles
    The research is an evaluation into the damage caused to road structural pavements by service providers in Uganda. Majority of utility service provider’s infrastructure lies underground often partly or wholly beneath road pavements. Kampala road structural pavements are getting dilapidated by the activities of utility service providers and cuts not repaired in time, and those repaired fail prematurely despite provision of specifications to contractors. The study aimed at assessing road surface damage (cracks, depressions, potholes and bleeding) caused by utility cutting and their progressions overtime. Evaluating the practices of contractors when selecting materials for repair of utility cuts and compacting pavement layers, establishing the resultant effects of repaired cut distresses and recommend best practices to reduce repaired cut distresses on road pavements. Methodology comprised of literature review, questionnaire survey to technical staff of utility companies (telecommunication, electricity, water & sewerage), contactors and road authorities. Forms of distresses on repaired utility cuts were visually identified, monitored, measured and recorded on observation sheets. Their variations over 3-month period were monitored. Field tests (Dynamic Cone Penetrometer DCP) was used for establishing soil structural strength and properties on repaired utility cuts and a sand replacement method for moisture content test. For laboratory tests, soil samples were subjected to BS Heavy Compaction Test to establish the degree of compaction. The resultant effects like road service life, distresses on five traffic junctions were identified and observed. With respect to traffic jams, vehicles were timed, recorded at a pothole(s), and results presented on graphs. The study showed road surface damage (distresses) in form of cracks, bleeding, depressions and potholes and their progression overtime. Contractors flout set standards during selection of materials and compacting pavement layers during repair of utility cuts. The effects of utility cut distresses were reduction in road service life and serviceability, increased maintenance costs and unnecessary traffic jams. The recommendations were involvement of utility service companies at all stages of road construction projects, best remedial measures as trenchless technology, core boring and design based on sound engineering fundamentals. Area of further research, evaluation of impact of road drainage on the utility workability was proposed.
  • Item
    Adaptation of the smart methodology to value management of the Uganda School Facilities Grant programme
    (Makerere University, 2010-10) Kivumbi, A.D.
    In any construction project, the aim of the developer is to maximize profit at minimum cost within the context of the quality possible as per the required specifications. Therefore, loss of resources should be minimized as much as possible, especially in such a crucial project as the School Facilities Grant (SFG) project, so that there is perceived cost-effectiveness. This dissertation considers the adaptation of the Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART) methodology, which is easy and useful for varied decision makers, to Value Management (VM) of the Uganda SFG primary school classroom construction programme in Mukono and Kampala districts. Application of SMART involves interacting with various stakeholders and then holding a key stakeholder workshop through which a shared understanding of the issues under consideration can be reached. This understanding is translated into an information pack developed for use in the workshop. A Value Tree is used as the tool for consideration of opinions by the stakeholders. The allocation of importance weights to the lower – order attributes of the tree provides a rational basis for determining the best-valued Design Option. Each Option is assessed against each of the identified attributes in the evaluation, the assessment being performed by a process of scoring the n Option against each attribute. A Standard Analysis Form is used and the ratio of Aggregated Utility Rating to Estimated Capital Cost, U / C of the ith Design Option calculated, with the highest value of U /C providing the rational choice. The testing of the sensitivity of the outcome of the rating process to marginal changes in the key variables, or Sensitivity Analysis, is then carried out. This was applied to Value Management of the SFG school construction in the two mentioned districts. A brainstorming session was later held to generate a variety of ideas that would also enable the evaluation of the practicality of the identified Option. The SMART methodology was found to be applicable to the SFG programme with the stakeholders being easily comfortable with the common understanding reached. They were also able to make some rational decisions/evaluations of the SFG Design Options. A new policy could be formulated for the programme and the model that has been obtained could be adapted for use for other projects.
  • Item
    Improvement of the maintenance system for Uganda Clays Ltd Kamonkoli
    (Makerere University, 2010-11) Musaazi, Andrew
    This study investigated the maintenance practices at Uganda Clays Ltd Kamonkoli with an objective of improving the maintenance system. The study was prompted by the unnecessary stoppages of the automated system that occurred at a rate of nine minutes on average as different machines malfunctioned during the continuous production processes. The factory manufactured baked clay products that ranged from roofing and floor tiles, walling and partitioning blocks, suspended floor units to bricks and decorative grilles. The researcher investigated the problem using the descriptive method which involved collecting data using questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The Managers, maintenance and production staff were the population as well as the sample because the staff were not many in these departments. The findings showed that UCL Kamonkoli had a proposed organization structure, in which the Maintenance Engineer reported to the Production Manager. Some maintenance staff had titles not indicated in the proposed structure. The sections of the maintenance department were not indicated in the proposed structure. The maintenance documents used included the weekend work and maintenance checklist, note book, and a daily maintenance report book. The essential maintenance documents not used included the inventory, facility register, equipment maintenance schedule, job specification, work order, maintenance programme, job report, history record card, lubrication register, and lubrication card. The store documents used included the store issue voucher, store entry voucher, stock reading card, fuel issue voucher, and the purchase requisition form. The essential store documents not used included: spare parts list, bin card, inventory check card, and designation card. The plant maintenance system was not well-defined and without a maintenance policy. The recommendations included the proposal to adopt a preventive maintenance policy, procedures to implement a PM scheme, developing the maintenance documents and the control system. The process of improving the maintenance system be done in two different stages: Stage.1. Developing a manual maintenance system Stage.2. Computerizing the manual maintenance system in the subsequent studies in future.
  • Item
    A comparative analysis of the potential of robust coding schemes in emerging wireless technologies
    (Makerere University, 2010-12) Kaluuba, Livingstone Listone
    This study investigates the critical design parameters for robust codes used for data transmission systems in a wireless environment. Robustness refers to the ability of a given code to withstand transmission channel impairments, and thus deliver a useable signal despite the unavoidable signal corruption of the channel. One of the major obstacles to the accurate delivery of information from the source to some destination is the unpredictable and random behaviour of the wireless communication channel. There are several factors/processes which influence the performance of the communication channel, namely: noise, distortion, shadowing, multipath fading, and many others. Most of these are stochastic in nature and we have often to deal with probabilistic variables. The main culprit of the channel impairments in a mobile environment, however, is multipath fading. Several methods exist for combating the multipath problem, such as space diversity, frequency diversity, polarization diversity, and adaptive modulation, but we believe that forward error coding is the most versatile method for mobile communications. This thesis deals with the fundamental issues related to the recovery of a useful signal from the corrupted signal using the forward error correction coding technique in a wireless environment. This is only possible through the use of robust codes whose mathematical origin is rather interesting, extending from the binary number system, to information theory and finally coding theory. The thesis discusses the background to the wireless transmission problem, how it manifests itself in terms of path loss, shadowing, multipath attenuation, wave absorption, etc., mathematical modeling of these processes, multipath fading mitigation methods, and finally gives a comparative presentation of the critical design parameters of turbo codes as a representative example of robust codes. From the error performance analysis and results, it is evident that turbo codes are quite suitable for the emerging wireless communications technologies and applications. However, low density parity check codes are preferred to turbo codes in some applications because of their more efficient implementation as well as better performance.
  • Item
    Improvement of salt mining and processing at Lake Katwe
    (Makerere University, 2011) Ssemukuutu, Dominic
    Uganda is considered to be one of the few countries South of the Sahara endowed with a number of natural resources, in terms of minerals like salt, iron ore, ceramic raw materials etc. However, most of the Ugandan natural resources have not been well exploited, and those which have been exploited haven’t been done to full potential. Its paramount for a country to develop products from its natural resources as far as industrialization is concerned. Presently, Uganda imports a lot of industrial and domestic consumable goods like salts yet the demand could be met locally if some of the resources were exploited to commercial status. Considering the abundance of salt raw materials and the demand for processed salt for human and animal consumption, it is pertinent to develop deposits like Katwe to become the major salt source in Uganda and the Great Lakes Region. This thesis thus, concerns the characterization of raw materials (Brine) from Lake Katwe with the aim of refining this into table salt for domestic consumption. Lake Katwe salt raw materials were investigated to assess their potential in the manufacture of domestic/table salt. Raw brine samples were investigated by means of laboratory study using the physico-chemical method of salt purification. 20-25ml of aluminium sulphate and 3-4g of lime and a general salt refining process scheme for manufacture of salt were used to make significant improvements to produce edible salt. Experimental results from the characterization and refining processes reveal that it’s possible to produce up to 97.5% NaCl from the brine composition of approximately 75% NaCl using the physico-chemical techniques of salt refining. For every liter of the saline sample, approximately 60 g of salt (NaCl) were obtained. A salt production process scheme has thus been developed for this particular brine deposit at Lake Katwe.
  • Item
    Evaluation of optimum use of pozzolan aggregates in road bituminous mixtures using the marshall-mix design method
    (Makerere University, 2011-07) Ndizala, Tom
    This research documents an extensive study on the optimization of pozzolan and granitic aggregates in road bituminous mixes using the Marshall Mix design method. The Marshall parameters formed the basis for evaluation of the various resultant mixtures using both individual aggregates and combinations. The main objective of this study was to establish an optimum way of utilizing a mix of pozzolan and granitic aggregates in road bituminous mixtures using the Marshall method. The two aggregate types (pozzolan and conventional granitic type) were mixed with one bitumen type (80/100 pen). The materials were characterized to determine their properties. The tests conducted on aggregates included toughness, water absorption, specific gravity and gradation. Those conducted on the bitumen were; penetration, softening point and flash and fire point tests. The Marshall mix design was then carried out on the test specimens in accordance with ASTM 1559-89. Results obtained for bituminous mixtures comprising of conventional aggregates, namely stability, flow, and VFA all conformed to the specification ranges for suitability of use in HMA construction. Those obtained for mixtures comprising of only the pozzolanic type of aggregates (with mean stability of 1360lbf and VFA value of 85%) did not conform to the specification requirements of minimum stability 1500lbf and VFA range of 70-80%). However, mixes having a combination of pozzolan aggregates with conventional aggregates in the filler produced acceptable results for stability (1617lbf), though the voids filled with asphalt (VFA) value (86%) still fell outside the specification range. The fineness of the pozzolanic powder (filler) probably makes it unsuitable for use in bituminous mixtures as they rendered the mixtures unsuitable. On the contrary, the granitic dust (filler) was suitable for use in preparing mixtures and it improved the stability and other Marshall properties of pozzolan aggregates used in the study. High optimum asphalt contents were obtained for mixes that comprised of pozzolans especially in the coarse portion unlike the conventional granitic types.