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Item type:Item, Item type:Item, Positioning Strategies, Customer Experience and Market Performance of Insurance Firms in Kenya(UoK, 2025-11) ISAAC KIPYEGON BOSUBENPositioning strategy plays a crucial role in marketing the product and brand of insurance firms to the employee if integrated with positive customer experience leading to customer satisfaction and high market performance. However, high competition from international insurance and banc-assurance products from commercial banks have affected the performance of insurance in Kenya leading to low market share and overall performance. Kenyan insurance products are facing high competition; low penetration as evident by constant dropped in market penetration between 2015 to 2022 from 2.7% to 2.2% showing that the insurance sector is constantly losing its market share to competing financial products. This is accelerated by poor customer experience leading to high default rate among customers. The insurance firms require continuous branding of the product and the firm; however, most marketers make an error of under positioning, over positioning or confused positioning creating dissonance between customer’s expectations and experience. Therefore, there is need to examine positioning strategies in relation to customer experience and market performance. The general objective of the study was to examine the relationship among positioning strategies, customer experience and market performance of insurance firms in Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the relationship between brand focus positioning and market performance, customer focus positioning, and price focus positioning, and market performance in Kenya. The study also assessed the moderating effect of customer experience on positioning strategies and market performance of insurance firms in Kenya. The study adopted theory of customer satisfaction, assimilation-contrast theory, Keller Expectancy Theory and Market Base View Theory. The study adopted positivism research design. A mixed research design was employed which, incorporated cross-sectional and correlation designs. The target population of the study was 220 top management respondents who are responsible in implementing positioning strategies in the firm. Using census method data was collected from all the 220 target respondents. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Experts in the area of study and supervisors assisted in scrutinizing the questionnaire for validity in terms of face, content and construct. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient where a threshold of 0.7 is deemed reliable. For data summarization, descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was employed in the study. Inferential statistics: - regression and correlation were used to test the relationship between variables. The study found that brand focus positioning (B=0.266, p<0.05), customer focus positioning (B=0.302, p<0.05) and price focus positioning (B=0.689, p<0.05) had a positive significant influence on market performance of insurance firms in Kenya. It was also found that customer experience significantly moderates the relationship between positioning strategies and market performance (B = 0.785, p < 0.05). The moderating effect of customer experience contributed 7.3% to change in market performance (R2 -Change = 0.073). The findings highlight the importance of integrating a positive customer experience with positioning strategies to improve market performance. The study concluded that positioning strategies that is brand, customer and price focus play a significant role in market performance. Consequently, customer experience plays an important role in enhancing positioning strategies leading to higher market performance. The study recommended that businesses should focus on customer experience when implementing positioning strategies creating a competitive advantage of insurance products in the market and better market performance. These results might be beneficial to insurance and related firms who are looking for market of their products in a competitive market environment.Item type:Item, Phytochemical Investigation of Compounds from Vepris Glandulosa Leaf Extracts and Their Antibacterial Activities(2025-11) Derrick Kibet KiruiHistorically mankind has relied on plants for curing various bacterial diseases with great success but with modernization mankind turned to synthetic drugs which had great success initially but overtime began facing challenges such as resistance, toxicity and low drug discovery in recent times. Mankind had no option but to turn to plants for medicine because plants have an abundance of natural products which if exploited could be used for man’s benefit. Plants from the genus Vepris are known to be good sources of medicines curing a variety of bacterial diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea and brucellosis. Vepris glandulosa is a tree that is endemic to Kenya was collected at Muguga South Forest Reserve. It is known ethno botanically to cure complications such as malaria, pains, fever and brucellosis. There are no known documented phytochemical and antibacterial assays done on Vepris glandulosa and the study helped to bridge that gap. The crude leaf extract of V. glandulosa obtained after soaking in hexane was subjected to phytochemical qualitative analysis which showed presence of saponins, tannins, phenol, flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids. The crude extract was subjected to repeated column and thin layer chromatography for isolation and purification. Compound 1 was as a white threadlike crystal isolated at 10 % ethyl acetate, 90 % hexane. Compound 1 was subjected to 1H NMR, 13C NMR, COSY, DEPT, HSQC and HMBC analyses. Spectral data from these spectroscopic techniques showed compound 1 as a Lupane type pentacyclic triterpene characteristics with 6 quaternary, 6 methine, 7 methyl and 11 methylene carbons. There were olefinic carbon resonance of exocyclic double bond that appeared at δc 79.01 ppm for carbon bonded to an OH group, δc 150.95 ppm for the quaternary carbon and δc 109.3 ppm for the methylene carbon which had olefinic of δH 4.57 and δH 4.68. The 13C NMR showed thirty carbon signals and 1H NMR integration values gave 50 proton signals with a molecular formula of C30H50. Compound 1 was confirmed to be Lupeol after literature comparison. Zone of inhibition assay on the crude extract showed moderate sensitivity against Staphylococcus aureus with 13.66 mm while resistance was observed for Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa with zone of inhibition values falling below 13 mm. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration values were 6 μg/ml for P. aeruginosa and 4 μg/ml for S. aureus. The Minimum Bactericidal Concentration values were 8 μg/ml for both S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. These values showed that the crude extract has bactericidal activity against both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration assays are sufficient in concluding that the crude extract is a viable antibacterial agent because clinicians use their results to determine choice of chemotherapy. It is recommended that further phytochemical and antibacterial assays be done on Vepris glandulosa leaf extracts and also stem bark and root extracts.Item type:Item, Modeling the Effects of Vaccination and Incubation on Covid-19 Transmission Dynamics(UoK, 2025-11) PETER KIBII CHERUIYOTThe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) is a strain of Coron- avirus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019 in Wuhan city, China. Mathematical modeling has enabled the epidemiologist to understand the dynamics of the disease, its impact and future predictions in order to provide the governments with the best policies and strategies to curb the spread of the virus. Deterministic susceptible-vaccinated-asymptomatic-infectious- recovered (SVAIR) model was formulated incorporated with time delay. The delay accounts for the time lapsed between exposure and infectious period. In this study delay differential equations (DDEs) were formulated for the purposes of determining the stability of both disease free equilibrium (DFE) and endemic equilibrium point (EEP). It was found that the model was stable at both Disease Free Equilibrium (DFE) and Endemic Equilibrium Point (EEP) and was attained whenever R0 < 1 and R0 > 1 respectively. Calculations based on secondary data from various works of literature and the WHO dashboard was used. The basic reproduction number (R0) was computed using the next generation matrix (NGM) approach. The sensitivity analysis was carried out, it was found out that for all model parameters under study, the signs of the sensitivity indices of R0 were all negative. This implied that the model parameters under consideration contributed to the decline in the spread of the COVID-19 infection. It was noted that the rate of progression from asymptomatic to infectious δ1 was more sensitive than other model parameters since it contributed the most negative sensitivity index of -0.9265. Finally, numerical simulation was done using MATLAB for validation of the analytical results. Graphical representation shows that stability is achieved when τ >5 days and that R0 = 0.95 at DFE. Furthermore at EEP it was noted that R0 = 1.02 hence stability was guaranteed.Item type:Item, Influence of Self-Regulation on Students’ Academic Performance in Mixed Day Public Secondary Schools in Belgut Sub-County, Kericho County, Kenya(UoK, 2025-10) CHEPKIRUI MERCY LANGATResearch on how students’ personal factors affect academic performance has mostly focused on family background, gender, and attitude, with less emphasis on psychological factors. Academic performance in mixed day public secondary schools has been poor in Belgut Sub-County and other parts of Kenya. Whereas efforts have been made by the government and stakeholders in the education sector to address disparities in achievement, most mixed day public secondary schools continue to perform below boarding schools. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of self-regulation on students’ academic performance in mixed day public secondary schools in Belgut Sub-County, Kericho County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study comprised: to examine the influence of goal setting, selfefficacy, information seeking and self-assessment on students’ academic performance in mixed day public secondary schools in Belgut Sub-County. The study was anchored on social cognitive theory. The study used quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and adopted a concurrent triangulation research design to establish predictive relationships among the variables. The study population were all students from mixed day public secondary schools in Belgut Sub-County. The target population consisted of 2213 form III students and 56 class teachers (in charge of Form III class) from which a sample of 306 students and 17 teachers were obtained using simple random sampling technique. Semi-Structured questionnaires were adopted for students. The interview guide for teachers was in semi-structure form to mainly collect qualitative data. Further, document analysis checklist was used to obtain students’ examination scores from school records (continuous and end term results). Validity of the research instruments was determined through content validation method where recommendations received were incorporated in the final questionnaire. Thereafter, a pilot study was conducted on 30 Form III students selected from mixed day public secondary schools in Bureti Sub-County whereby Cronbach Alpha above 0.7 was obtained, hence the instrument was reliable. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. Specifically, multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. The results revealed that students were often able to set goals as well as develop daily and weekly schedules. Therefore, goal setting had positive statistical significant influence on academic performance of students. The findings also revealed that the students were self-driven and chose their learning environment. The self-efficacy had positive statistically significant influence on student’s academic performance. The students were able to ask questions during learning and liaise with classmates in identifying difficult areas. Therefore, information seeking had positive significant influence on student’s academic performance. The study found that students were able to ask questions on the subject as well as identify deviation of the results. Self-assessment was found to have positive statistically significant influence on students’ academic performance. The study concluded that self-regulation through setting a goal, selfefficacy, information seeking and self-assessment had a statistically significant positive influence on academic performance. The study recommended that students should be trained on how to set standards for their long-term improvement and to do selfevaluation. Parents and teachers were also encouraged to motivate their students.