383 research outputs found
Sort by
Jowe-Jowe: Traditional Kalanga Girls Song Game
No full textProceedings of the 9th Biennial Conference for African Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance (AFAHPER-SD)This paper describes jowe-jowe, one of the traditional indigenous games of the Kalanga
people of Zimbabwe and assesses the games? potential in providing overt educational,
psychomotor and social out comes to the participants. Kalanga constitutes the people and language from south western parts of Zimbabwe in Bulilima and Mangwe Districts. Jowe-jowe is a girls? play game song that is associated with the Kalanga speaking people of Masendu area. Data was collected from a population of the Kalanga women of Masendu ward. Focus group discussions, individual interviews, demonstrations, observations, visual recordings and audio recordings assisted in capturing of physical skills, techniques and game patterns. The study established that the game?s content of jowe-jowe is designed along gender lines based on women domestic chores of pounding and grinding grain for meals. The game involves getting astride one or two wooden pestles placed horizontally on the ground forming a cross with the other. The girls shuffle their feet backwards astride one or more pounding wooden pestles, with arms akimbo as
they sing. It sets one form of practice suitable for the women and not men, where the main theme is aesthetic modelling for self-esteem realization in young girls as they perform the domestic chores. The main implements for the game were the same wooden pestles used for pounding grain in a mortar. It was concluded that this game has a lot of merit and can be easily introduced to schools
with little cost to ensure that the game is preserved.The financial assistance provided for this study by the W.W.Kellog Foundation through the Institute for Rural Technologies (IRT
Assessing the impact of educational campaigns on controlling HCV among women in prison settings.
No full textPrior studies have shown that imprisonment is a major risk factor for hepatitis C infection,
with the risk of infection directly proportional to the length of incarceration. Women are at
least twice as likely as men to contract HCV as they have limited access to information,
health services and safe intravenous drug injecting equipments. We develop a mathematical
model to assess the impact of educational campaigns on controlling HCV among
women in prison settings. Equilibria for the model are determined and their stability are
examined. Population-level effects of increased educational campaigns to encourage safe
injecting practices among women in prison are evaluated through numerical simulations.
The results suggest that educating women prisoners about abstaining from intravenous
drug misuse may significantly reduce HCV prevalence among women in prison settings.
Targeted education campaigns, which are effective at stopping transmission of HCV more
than 80% of the time, will be highly effective at controlling the disease among women in
prisons.NSERC Discovery Grant, an Early Researcher Award and funding from MITACS
Modelling the effects of heavy alcohol consumption on the transmission dynamics of gonorrhea
No full textJournal Article (peer reviewed)Prior studies have indicated that heavy al-
cohol drinkers are likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours and thus, more likely to get sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than social drinkers. Here, we formulate a deterministic model for evaluating the im-
pact of heavy alcohol drinking on the reemerging gonorrhea epidemic. The model is rigorously analysed,showing the existence of a globally asymptotically stable disease-free equilibrium whenever the reproductive number is less than unity. If the disease threshold number is greater than unity, a unique endemic equilibrium exists and is globally asymptotically stable in
the interior of the feasible region and the disease persists at endemic proportions if it is initially present.Both analytical and numerical results are provided to ascertain whether heavy alcohol drinking has an impact on the transmission dynamics of gonorrhe
Aflatoxin Carryover during Large Scale Peanut Butter Production.
No full textPeanut butter was monitored for aflatoxin contamination at different stages during its large-scale production starting
from raw shelled peanuts up to the final product. Twenty five samples, weighing 2 kg each, were taken from each of the
following stages: roasting at 160?C, blanching/de-skinning and grinding. The sub-samples were ground, thoroughly
mixed and further reduced by the quartering technique until a 1 kg sub-sample was obtained. This was then analyzed
for aflatoxins using reverse phase HPLC incorporating pre-column trifluoroacetic acid derivatization. The results
showed a total aflatoxin percentage reduction of 51% after roasting, 27% after blanching/de-skinning followed by a
further 11% after grinding to make peanut butter. This meant that there was a cumulative total reduction of 89% of
aflatoxin concentration during the production process of peanut butter. These results show that there is a significant
reduction of aflatoxin levels at the roasting and blanching stages in the process of producing peanut butter
Relating Glycemia Levels in a Zimbabwean Population to some established Type 2 Diabetes Risk Factors using Multiple LinearRegression Analysis
No full textChronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and asthma are somewhat neglected in the field of medicine in favour of the more ?classic? infections such as HIV/AIDS,and tuberculosis. The overall worldwide prevalence of diabetes is gradually increasing and is mainly associated with many chronic vascular complications such as stroke, foot ulceration and coronary artery disease. For this reason a multiple linear regression model is proposed that will provide insights into the major risk factors of Type 2 diabetes. Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between glycemia and some established Type 2 diabetes risk factors; in particular, stress, age, obesity, gender, and hypertension using multiple linear regression in the Zimbabwean population. Methods: The method consists of collecting data using a structured questionnaire from a sample of 300 individuals selected from a population through the ?haphazard? sampling technique. In this study we considered Type 2 diabetes
because our assessment of glycemia was based on portable glucometer readings. We then
develop a statistical model to predict glucose levels. Results: Two predictor variables age and body mass index were found to be significant in the model. Results show an overwhelming
evidence of a strong relationship between age, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Conclusion: Our findings are in agreement with results from Sudan in Africa and also observations from affluentsocieties. However, these findings differ significantly from other African experiences such as Kenya. Without loss of generality, it is concluded that obesity and advancing age are major contributors of Type 2 diabetes
A holistic application of process capability indices
No full textFull Length Research Paper.African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(28), pp. 11413-11424,16 November, 2011Different capability measuring techniques have been proposed and are being used in industry today.Each one gives a certain portion of the quality picture, leaving out some equally important details about
the process. There is no single index which addresses the whole quality of a production process on its own, hence the need to look at all the indices holistically. Each index has its own merits and demerits.
In this paper, we consider a case study of a company which manufactures belts, and has been using only one index, Cpk . Its quality checks were indicating that the process was under control. On the other hand, customers have been complaining that the belts they are manufacturing are not strong and tend
to breaking easily. This paper concentrates on addressing the production process of belts by looking at different capability indices and come up with a method or algorithm that addresses this problem
holistically. Strengths and weaknesses of each capability index are analysed and sets of indices which address the full picture of the production process are used to check the capability of the process. Results show that customers were justified in their complaints as the new quality checks indicated that
the production process of these belts was incapable of producing belts which meet customer satisfaction. Corrective measures were recommended to the company
Waste Management Through Design Of A Biogas Digester For Municipal Solid Waste ? Case Study Of Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe
No full textProceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering and Engineering Management for Sustainable Global Development (ISEM), 21-23 September 2011, Spiers Hotel, Cape Tow
Growth of the African Library and Information Services (LIS) Sector through Dynamic Leadership
No full textPaper presented at the LIASA 2011 Conference, 3 ? 7 October 2011, East London International Convention Centre, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South AfricaThe present rates of growth and development clearly show, without doubt, that the majority of African states will not meet most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. This paper attempts to
review and analyse formal and informal leadership in the LIS sector in Africa, bringing out some elements that can and/or cannot support dynamic leadership.
Dynamic leadership generally, plays an important role in agenda setting, the apportionment of resources and the setting of action lines. Contemporary LIS in Africa are a remnant of a colonially imposed modus operandi. This has tended to perpetuate to this day albeit with some LIS emerging as
elitist and entrenched in the interests of some leadership. The paper also addresses scenarios presented by modern trends of transactional and transformational leadership of the LIS sector in Africa
Liquid Transport in Nylon 6.6. Woven Fabrics Used for Outdoor Performance Clothing
No full textBook Chapter in the book Advances in Modern Woven Fabrics Technology,Edited by Dr. Savvas Vassiliadis.2011
Dielectric barrier discharge CO2 TEA laser operated at frequencies up to 400 Hz
No full textA dielectric barrier discharge CO2 TEA laser excited by a thyratron driven power
supply has been developed and characterized. Laser output was observed at frequencies up to
25 Hz for an electrode separation of 10 mm with 1.8 mm suprasil glass covering the electrodes. At this gap separation, pulsed power output of about 9 W was detected for gas pressures
between 100 and 400 mbar. The laser has a pulse duration was about 0.3 flS with a risetime of ~100 ns. Changing the electrode separation to 5 mm and using 1.4 mm suprasil glass dielectric increased the output power to 23 Wand enabled laser output to be observed at gas pressures up
to 700 mbar and maximum pulse excitation frequencies of up to 400 Hz. The developed laser does not require water cooling since the system operates in burst pulse mode