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Document from the year 2023 in the subject Engineering - General, South Eastern Kenya University, Kitui Campus, language: English, abstract:'Engineering Research Methods'is a text book intended for students and instructors in University or higher education for postgraduate students undertaking Engineering and related applied Sciences. Some of the fields which this text is relevant include Agricultural Engineering, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Hydraulics Engineering and Electrical Engineering. Other related Physical and Applied Sciences Field may include General Agriculture, Agricultural Education and Extension, Horticulture sciences The content of this text book has been presented in a coherent style, arranged in logical sequence that adheres to University and higher education curriculum as it is customized to the postgraduate research that take place in Engineering and Applied Sciences. This makes the book suitable for every postgraduate student. For proper illustrations, some examples have been quoted especially in research problem and research objectives to help postgraduate researchers to grasp knowledge and skills on research problem identification. Each chapter is well formulated with relevant diagrams and illustration for the readers to easily comprehend the details presented. For the purpose of improvement, any criticism from students, trainers and practitioners will be thankfully received by the author.

Document from the year 2020 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Geology, Mineralogy, Soil Science, Egerton University (FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY), course: AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, language: English, abstract: Soil and Water Management is a text book intended for students and instructors in University or higher education for Certificate, Diploma and Degree students in a number of courses such as General Agriculture, Agricultural Education and Extension, Horticulture and other allied professions. The content of the text book has been presented in a coherent format, arranged in an explicit style that adheres to University and higher education curriculum. The textbook is partitioned into section A and section B with Review questions at the end to explicitly help the trainees comprehend the topics. This makes the book suitable for easy reading. For the calculations, worked examples have been solved in a way of illustration and details are presented. Each chapter of the book has worked examples for the readers to expound on subject knowledge.

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2016 in the subject Engineering - Civil Engineering, grade: 80.0, Egerton University, course: AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING, language: English, abstract: Drought is a critical stochastic natural disaster that adversely affects water resources, ecosystems and people. Drought is a condition characterized by scarcity of precipitation and/or water quantity that negatively affects the global, regional and local land-scales. At both global and regional scales, drought frequency and severity have been increasing leading to direct and indirect decline in water resources. Increase in drought severity and frequency in the upper Tana River basin, Kenya, water resources systems have been adversely affected. Timely detection and forecasting of drought is crucial in planning and management of water resources. The main objective of this research was to formulate the most appropriate models for assessment and forecasting of drought using Indices and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for the basin. Hydro-meteorlogical data for the period 1970-2010 at sixteen hydrometric stations was used to test the performance of the indices in forecasting of the future drought at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24-months lead times, by constructing ANN models with different time delays. Drought conditions at monthly temporal resolution were evaluated using selected drought indices. The occurrence of drought was investigated using non-parametric Man-kendall trend test. Spatial distribution of drought severity was determined using Kriging interpolation techinique. In addition, a standard Nonlinear-Integrated Drought Index (NDI), for drought forecasting in the basin was developed using hydro-meteoroogical data for the river basin. The results of spaial drought show that the south-eastern parts of the basin are more prone to drought risks than the north-western areas. The Mann-Kendall trend test indicates an increasing drought trend in the south-eastern and no trend in north-western areas of the basin. Development of Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI) function, NDI and characteristic curves defining the return period and the probability of different drought magnitudes based on Drought Indices (DIs) was achieved. Drought Severity-Duration-Frequency (SDF) curves were developed. The formulated NDI tool can be adopted for a synchronized assessment and forecasting of all the three operational drought types in the basin. The results can be used in assisting water resources managers for timely detection and forecasting of drought conditions in prioritized planning of drought preparedness and early warning systems.