The impact of maintaining functioning internal control systems in organizations has been insistently and vastly underscored due to its positive effects on financial performance. Several state firms in Kenya are characterized by monopolistic production, highly indigenized management and appointments of a large number of top managers based on political considerations. Capacities exist for income generation through innovation and inventions in most public sector institutions in African countries. Internal controls provide practical but not total guarantee to an entity‟s management and board of directors that the organization‟s objectives will be realized. The probability of attainment is affected by limitations integral in all systems of internal control. However, realization of full potentials of these institutions may not be possible due to several failures in their internal control systems. A number of studies have been conducted to determine the impact of internal control systems on performance of the public sector in Kenya. The main goal of this study was to fill the conceptual, contextual and methodological gaps by examining the effect of internal control systems on financial performance of state corporations in Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of control environment, risk assessment, task control and monitoring and evaluation activities on the financial performance of state corporations in Kenya. Descriptive research design was adopted for this study. The target population consisted of 187 state corporations in Kenya. Using simple random sampling, 30% of the 187 state corporations, which had head offices in Nairobi were selected. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean scores and standard deviations were adopted. Findings are presented using tables and charts. To quantify the effect of each variable, the researcher used regression analysis. Testing the significance of the coefficients at 95% confidence level, the analysis indicate that all the variables had a significance value less than 0.05 (p<0.05) thus confirming the significance of the results. In addition, from the analysis, all the variables indicated a positive coefficient indicating a positive relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study revealed that internal controls significantly affected financial performance of most of state corporations in Kenya. Internal control systems impacted on various aspects of performance such as development index, efficient operations, financial leverage, responding to risks, facilitates ethical values, organizational activities and objectives. The study concluded that there is a significant effect of control environment, risk assessment, task control and monitoring and evaluation on the financial performance of the state corporations in Kenya. The study recommended that state corporations should ensure that they have effective control environment and ensure that they establish relevant policies to ensure that their internal control environment is effective to enhance financial performance. The management of the state corporations should put in place relevant measures to determine the level of risk carefully. The management of state corporations and other public institutions should develop task control mechanisms to attract relevant feedback from the various stakeholders into their internal control system. The state corporations should develop a monitoring and evaluation system that determines compliance with internal controls and reports instances of noncompliance to the relevant authorities.

Empirical studies have proven that saccos make a huge impact to the social-economic and political growth in Kenya and other developing countries. One of the biggest obstacles in micro and small enterprises is access to financial services. Saccos in Kenya have made it easy to access these facilities hence the main stimulus of economic growth. However, they face several challenges in non-performing loans leading to insufficient funds. These nonperforming assets arise due to inadequate or lack of clear lending policies. This has led to a high level of nonperforming loans in majority of the Saccosleading to the suspension of their trading licenses by their regulator. This has prompted the need to restructure their credit appraisal. This study sought to establish the influence of credit appraisal on loan performance in deposit taking SACCO in Meru County. The specific objectives of the study involved were; to assess the influence of borrower’s character, ability to pay, availability of collateral and loan usage on loanperformance. The study was informed by the following theories, modern portfolio theories, asymmetric information theory and agency theory. All the independent variables were reviewed against the dependent variables using previous studies done by other researchers. A descriptive research design was adopted in order to analyze the topic thoroughly. The entire population of eleven saccos with their head offices in Meru county was studied. A pilot study was carried out by administering questionnaires to the selected deposit taking saccos in Meru county. Primary data was collected from the chief executive officers, finance managers credit managers and operation managers using structured questionnaires,this is because they possessed relevant information for the study. Reliability was improved by allowing the respondents sufficient time to fill the questionnaire. Computer aided software (SPSS) was used for data analysis and the research finding presented using frequency table, percentages and bar graphs. The findings from the study established that there is a significant positive relationship between the credit appraisal factors and loan performance at 95% confidence level and the conclusion was that credit appraisal factors have influence on loan performance. Regression coefficients were also developed that showed a strong relation between the dependent and independent variables. However in the cause of the study there was a major limitation in using closed ended questionnaires since the respondents were limited in the choices they could make. However this was mitigated through pre-testing the questionnaire. Validity and reliability were mitigated by ensuring that the likert table contained relevant option for each question. The study recommends that before loans are issued out a due diligence on the borrower’s character, ability to pay, availability of collateral items for surety of the loan repayment and also the intended purpose of the loan be considered as these factors significantly affect the loan performance. The study recommends a further study of the legal and regulatory procedures on loan recovery since current recovery procedures are highly monitored by the saccos regulator. Future researchers can also study on influence of nonperforming assets on financial performance of the saccos, or even introduce other independent variables apart from the ones factored in this research.

The present investigation was carried out in the Laica University "Eloy Alfaro" of Manabí, El Carmen, Province of Manabí - Ecuador, in the premises of La Granja Experimental Río Suma, in Km 30 of the road Santo Domingo El Carmen. The goal was the in vivo digestibility of four grazing grasses (Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania, Panicum maximum cv. Mombaza, Brachiaria Brizantha cv. Xaraes, Brachiaria Brizantha cv. Marandú) under foliar fertilization with zinc metallosite. A 4 x 4 Square Latin design was used. A total of 4 rows (regrowth ages), 4 columns (sheep) and 4 treatments (grazing grass varieties) were used. The factors under study were cut or regrowth age (20, 25, 30 and 35 days) and grazing grass varieties under foliar fertilization with 2 lts ha-1 of zinc metallosite (Tanzania, Mombaza, Xaráes and Marandú) and the variable under study were: protein content and protein bioavailability (Digestibility of protein in vivo). The digestibility of the protein in grazing grasses under complementary fertilization with 2 liters ha-1 of zinc metallosite showed positive effects, highlighting the Xaraes, Marandú and Mombaza varieties. Cutting age did not infer the protein digestibility of grazing grasses.

Global economic growth since 1990s especially in Asia countries like China, India, has not only brought a significant spreading of their high speed road network, also encourage a wave of immigrants and commercial investment from Asia into nearby countries such as Australia and Canada. Therefore the building industry broom and traffic congestion appears in all major cities of these countries as result because of the design capacity of old freeway in these countries will not be able to accommodate these changes. When mobility and road safety both challenge the road system, Australian community update their philosophy of road safety and apply innovation of road infrastructure to embrace these opportunities. This article uses major freeway upgrade works in Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia to demonstrate some recent innovation and approach to improve road safety and mobility.

Local poultry farming at the national level seems to be unknown to all, in the sense that there are hardly any large farms and also publications. The objective of this study was to study the characteristics of local poultry farming, mainly hens and guinea fowl, and to establish a better knowledge of the behavior of guinea fowl and hens farming in Lubumbashi. A survey was conducted randomly in the city of Lubumbashi. Thus, 117 breeders in the various communes of Lubumbashi formed the basis of our investigation. The results revealed a large number of hens farmers (91%) compared to those of the guinea fowl (9%). Wandering remains the mode of rearing practiced for the two species where the food is mainly based on the waste of the hens. The major constraint remains the problem of diseases. The number of guinea fowl eggs and cubs is significantly higher than those of the hens (p <0.05). The price of guinea fowl is higher than that of the hens with an average price of 14091 ± 3666 FC (the equivalent of 11.27 $) against 5769 ± 1974 FC (the equivalent of 4.61 $).Guineafowl is the livestock that pays more, but it is less practiced in the city in favor of the local hen which is a matter of all.

In Kenya, many farmers are engaging in wheat production throughout the year, this makes the availability of straws huge. However, the presence of lignocellulosic complex makes their palatability and general intake limited. Intake also has been reduced by the rigid procedures available to the farmers. The nutritional value for wheat crop residue to ruminants is constrained by low nitrogen and high fibre contents. Livestock farmers accept that fibrous straws from wheat are a poor feed resource because of their low crude protein content and high fibre levels. However, these residues are often the only livestock feed available in smallholder mixed farming systems. Introducing the continuous procedure of urea – ammonization and liming intends to take advantage of the excess ammonia on the already cured feed and the peak volumes of urease enzymes to quickly break urea to ammonia which is known to cure feeds in synergy with lime. Urea-Ammonization and liming of straws seem to be a feasible option for improving nutritive value, hence reducing the limiting effects of livestock production through feeds in the country. Treated wheat straws samples were ground in the laboratory hammer mill and the sample sieved through a 1mm screen and then analyzed in a laboratory to study the associative effect of ammonia and lime on the chemical composition of straws. The study analyzed for dry matter, total ash and crude protein of feed types. The results were tabulated to shows the efficiency and benefit of using either continuous or single batch method. Data collection covered result from the three dairy cows in the two replicates. The dairy cows selected were those on zero-grazing setup and feeding will be uniform. The six dairy cows, in two replicates were put on trials for a period of ninety days. Specific data is on palatability and production of milk from benefits from treated straws on procedures of continuous and single batch methods of applying treatment.

Lobster is a fishery commodity with high economic value and potential to be developed in Indonesia. One of the lobster producing regions in Indonesia is Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara Province. There are two species, Panulirus ornatus sp and Panulirus homarus sp which are commonly cultivated by farmers. Although specifically Panulirus ornatus sp has several advantages compared to Panulirus homarus sp, this species is relatively less cultivated by farmers. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence the decision making of farmers to use Panulirus ornatus sp seeds in lobster farming business in Lombok Island. Data analysis was performed using logistic regression models. The results of this study conclude that the factors that significantly influence the decision of farmers to use Panulirus ornatus sp seeds are farmer’s business experience, access to credit and access to seeds. Factor of lenght time of lobster farming has significant negative effect on farmer’s decision to use Panulirus ornatus sp seeds. While the factors of age, education, number of family members and cage area did not significantly influence the decision of farmers in using Panulirus ornatus sp seeds.

Tanning is the process by which animal hides and skins are converted into leather. Basically, leather is formed by the reaction of collagen fibers with tannin, chromium, alum or other tanning agents which pollute the environment. Tanneries generate wastewater in the range of 30-35 L /kg skin/hide processed with variable p Hand high concentrations of suspended solids, BOD, COD, tannins and chromium (Nandyet al.,1999).In developing and newly industrialized countries solid waste and wastewater treatments facilities are notstate of the art due to cost and technical know-how and there is a high labour content in leather processes. Therefore, adequate knowledge of pollution prevention and control measures should be thought and practised.