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In the shadows of truth: the polarized family
Get PDFThis eBook was published by the Globethics.net InternationalIn the shadows of truth is yet another of Rev. Can. Dr. Elly Kansiime’s interesting books that highlight the insights about family life. In his first book entitled “Integrating Faith with Work” a Ministry Transformational Model, he dealt with how poor work ethics affects Christian societies, families and individuals negatively. In his latest book, Kansiime deals with how families have been polarized due to circumstantial factors affecting parents and children. Families are living in the shadows of the realities. While life seems to be going on normally, behind scenes, there are worse things happening among the children living under the same roof with their parents, knowingly or unknowingly. The realities experienced in families have been overshadowed by the parental absence in the name of work and children’s education and these have resulted into polarizing family life. In this book the author deals with the hidden realities posed by parents who spend most of their time at work and less at home, while the children spend a lot of time at school and later with house workers. In the course of that long period of time of separation, children find intimacy with the school teachers, peers and house workers with whom they stay for longer hours as compared with what they spend with their parents. The parents knowingly or unknowingly have created a lot of space through which their children learn things that will affect them negatively for the rest of their lives. The author therefore attributes most of the negative aspects of life that are experienced in families as a result of the current trends where parents and children are separated by work and school life. These have denied parents to perform their roles and even spare some time with their children as parents. As a result the parental responsibilities have been shifted to teachers and house workers. All that children know and do, come from other most frequent sources than from their parents. He calls them “worlds” in which each world is seen as having an influence on the children. The time the children spend in those worlds is more than the time they spend with their parents, and therefore the impact of influence is greater than of parents. He points out that even when parents are available, they tend to spend their time on T.V, Radio or News Papers and seem not interested in their children’s concerns. Sometimes making children to lose confidence of their parents and suspecting them of non- responsive attitudes towards their concerns. They develop polarized relationships. The advice the author presents is that parents should not assume that their children’s concerns are dealt with at school or by the house keepers without knowing that each world of their experience responds differently against family norms, and imparts different behaviors which later contradict family norms and spill over to the wider communities. He says that despite all these, the parents tend to pretend that their children are free of bad practices and yet the truth is that many things are happening behind “curtains”, not of bricks and fabrics, but of neglect, ignorance and pretense. In that case children are found to live and do things less known and understood by their parents, even when the parents are aware that their children are highly influenced and are behaving badly, instead of helping them they protect them in order to safe guard their own parental position from those who are not happy with their behaviors. On the side the children try to hide away from their parents as if nothing is happening, yet under the same roof and in the schools they trust, many things are happening and when parents discover, it becomes too late to put them right. This book therefore focuses on parental ethical roles. It is a very moving family ethical exposition that will build parents and help them to rethink about what they have been doing without knowing that they were “killing” their families and their children’s future. I would greatly advise and invite parents and those intending to raise families in future to read this moving book with numerous examples that portray real life experience in order to guard against being held responsible for their children’s failures in life. Children also are encouraged to read it in order to be helped to guard against the influences of the “many worlds” at their disposal. It is a book that will help most parents and children to see what has been happening between them and be able to adjust where things have not been going the way they should have been. I do therefore recommend this ethical exposition to families, individuals such as house workers and schools as a tool for responsible parenting
Evaluation of novel bitter cassava film for equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging of cherry tomatoes
Get PDFThis is a research article on Equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging (EMAP) technology that offers the possibility to maintain produce postharvest quality and extend its shelf-life.Equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging (EMAP) technology offers the possibility to maintain produce postharvest quality and extend its shelf-life. However, EMAP stability depends on well-tuned packaging design
parameters to match environmental conditions. This study defined the design requirements of a biobased film EMAP that can preserve the quality and prolong the shelf-life of fresh cherry tomatoes under recommended and simulated abuse supply chain conditions. Optimum EMAP was evaluated based on headspace gas composition at 10–20 °C, 75–95% RH and verified by determining quality changes of packed cherry tomatoes in using a continuous or
micro-perforated (0.27 μm) bio-based intact bitter cassava (IBC) film. This was compared with a non-bio-based polymer film (oriented polypropylene, OPP). The IBC film attained equilibrium O2 (2–3%) after 180 h at 10 °C, with 0 and 1 perforation, for 75 and 95% RH while OPP film maintained a downward O2 fall. Continuous and micro-perforated IBC film did not show any major differences in equilibrium headspace O2, thus perforation can be neglected. Based on desirability optimisation results, biobased IBC film demonstrated a better optimized EMAP system in attaining recommended gas and stretching cherry tomato shelf-life as compared to non-biobased (OPP) film. The application of bio-based IBC film offers new possibilities in packaging fresh produce under an equilibrium modified atmosphere without compromising its quality
Abundance, distribution and effects of temperature and humidity on arthropod fauna in different rice ecosystems in Uganda
Get PDFThe study is on abundance, distribution and effects of temperature and humidity on arthropod fauna was conducted in smallholder rice farming areas in three agro ecological zones of Lake Victoria basin, Northern moist farmlands and Western Savannah grasslands in UgandaThe study on abundance, distribution and effects of temperature and humidity on arthropod fauna was conducted in smallholder rice farming areas in three agro ecological zones of Lake Victoria basin, Northern moist farmlands and Western Savannah grasslands in Uganda. Arthropods were collected using a standard sweep net and a total of 17 orders representing 13,272 arthropods were recorded from the three agro – ecological zones during the study. Most arthropod fauna were collected in Bugiri, Lira and Kasese respectively. The most abundant orders throughout the survey included Homoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera. While the least abundant included Dermaptera, Zoraptera, Phasmatoda, Mantodae, Embioptera and Neuroptera. All orders except Embioptera, Mantodae, Neuroptera and Phasmatoda were collected in all the three agro ecological zones. The orders Diptera (p = 0.0282), Hymenoptera (p = 0.0051), Lepidoptera (p = 0.0149), Odonata (p = 0.0356) showed a significant difference in abundance in the three agro – ecological zones. Temperature and humidity had a significant effect on the arthropod population for example Aranea showed a positive correlation in their abundance with increase in temperature in all the agro – ecologie
Malaria incidence among children less than 5 years during and after cessation of indoor residual spraying in Northern Uganda
Get PDFThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: In June 2015, a malaria epidemic was confirmed in ten districts of Northern Uganda; after cessation of indoor residual spraying (IRS). Epidemic was defined as an increase in incidence per month beyond one standard deviation above mean incidence of previous 5 years. Trends in malaria incidence among children-under-5-years were analysed so as to describe the extent of change in incidence prior to and after cessation of IRS.
Methods: Secondary data on out-patient malaria case numbers for children-under-5-years July 2012 to June 2015 was electronically extracted from the district health management information software2 (DHIS2) for ten districts that had IRS and ten control districts that didn’t have IRS. Data was adjusted by reporting rates, cleaned by smoothing and interpolation and incidence of malaria per 1000 population derived. Population data obtained from 2002 and 2014 census reports. Data on interventions obtained from malaria programme reports, rainfall data obtained from Uganda National Meteorological Authority. Three groups of districts were created; two based on when IRS ended, the third not having IRS. Line graphs were plotted showing malaria incidence vis-à-vis implementation of IRS, mass net distribution
and rainfall. Changes in incidence after withdrawal of IRS were obtained using incidence rate ratios (IRR). IRR was calculated as incidence for each month after the last IRS divided by incidence of the IRS month. Poisson regression was used to test statistical significance.
Results: Incidence of malaria declined between spray activities in districts that had IRS. Decline in IRR for 4 months after last IRS month was greater in the sprayed than control districts. On the seventh month following cessation of IRS, incidence in sprayed districts rose above that of the last spray month [1.74: 95% CI (1.40–2.15); and 1.26: 95% CI (1.05–1.51)]. Rise in IRR continued from 1.26 to 2.62 (95% CI 2.21–3.12) in June 2015 for districts that ended IRS in April 2014. Peak in rainfall occurred in May 2015.
Conclusion: There was sustained control of malaria incidence during IRS implementation. Following withdrawal and peak in rainfall, incidence rose to epidemic proportions. This suggests a plausible link between the malaria epidemic, peak in rainfall and cessation of IRS
Diversity and distribution of African indigenous vegetable species in Uganda
Get PDFThis article is about the African indigenous vegetable species (AIVS) which provide a means of livelihood to many urban and peri-urban dwellers in UgandaAfrican indigenous vegetable species (AIVS) provide a means of livelihood to many urban and peri-urban dwellers in Uganda. It was thus deemed necessary to understand the existing diversity and distribution of the traditional African vegetable species as a basis for recommending conservation and utilization strategies against biodiversity loss. A field survey was conducted in the four major agro-ecological zones of Uganda to provide information on a recent abundance of the various AIVS. Results from the survey showed that the Solanaceae (43.4%), Amaranthaceae (15.5%) and Malvaceae (11.6%) were the most prevalent families out of seven different families encountered. Twenty-three (23) species, a number lower than that initially reported in literature and distributed unevenly in the different regions were identified. Majority of the species were the indigenous rather than introduced vegetable species. Firstly, the study is informative of the superior importance of Solanaceous species compared to other AIVS. Secondly, the survey results indicate that the AIVS are becoming increasingly more important in Uganda than their introduced counterparts since all the 43.4% that composed the Solanaceae majority were of indigenous type. Research efforts should be devoted towards improved variety development and germplasm conservation to prevent a possible biodiversity loss of the most important AIVS for increased household incomes and nutrient security among the resource-poor majority in Uganda and other sub-Saharan Africa countrie
Factors Associated with Incomplete Reporting of HIV/AIDS by Uganda’s Surveillance System
Get PDFThis study was in Uganda introduced as the District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) in 2012 to improve surveillance for better prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.Background: With support from the United States government, Uganda introduced the District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) in 2012 to improve surveillance for better prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, districts have yet to fully adopt this system given a 70.2% reporting completeness achieved nationally between April-June 2013.
Methods: The study has one dependent variable: Districts’ reporting completeness and four independent variables. 1) Number of client visits; 2) Number of district health units; 3) Number of NGOs delivering HIV/AIDS services; and 4) Regional location. We used cross-sectional study design which allows researchers to compare many different variables at the same time. HIV/AIDS program data that were reported by districts into DHIS2 during the period of April to June 2013 were used to assess for statistical analysis.
Findings: Districts reporting the lowest number of client visits (under 2500) achieved the highest mean reporting completeness (81.6%), whereas a range of
2501 – 5000, or over 5001 client visits recorded 72.4% and 51.7% respectively. The higher the number of client visits the lower the reporting completeness (p <0.05).
Districts that were receiving support from only one NGO recorded a mere 56.7% whereas those from two recorded 67.2%. Districts supported by over three NGOs had the highest (80.6%) mean reporting completeness. The number of NGOs was statistically associated with reporting completeness (p <0.05). The number of health units operated by a district was also significantly associated with reporting completeness (p <0.05). The regional location of a district was not associated with reporting completeness (p =0.674).
Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that districts with higher patient volume for HIV/AIDS services should be identified and targeted with additional NGO support. Newly funded NGOs should be established in districts operating over 40 health units. Incomplete reporting undermines identification of HIV- affected individuals and limits the ability to make evidence-based decisions regarding program planning and service delivery for HIV prevention and antiretroviral therapy for this needy population
Mahatma Gandhi’s Perspective of Discipline: An Understanding of African Proverbs on Peace.
Get PDFThis is a report on Mahatma Gandhi’s Perspective of Discipline: An Understanding of African Proverbs on PeaceMahatma Gandhi’s perspective of discipline, which is also the basis of respect for the self and others comprises of truth (Satya), non-violence (ahmsa), self-control (brahmachaya) non-stealing (a steya) and non-possession (paragraph). To these major characteristics of discipline, he adds fearlessness, removal of untouchability, bread labour, tolerance, humility and silence. Many Africans have proverbs, which describe these virtues of discipline
Kinene-nyo-kitono-nyo
No full textThis is a story about caring for little babies by their fellow siblings.This is a story about caring for little babies by their fellow siblings
Gender and traditional pottery practice in Ankole region, western Uganda.
Get PDFThis research article was submitted to the Net Journal of Social Sciences, 5(3): 42-54.he study investigated traditional pottery practices in the Ankole region of Western Uganda, focusing on indigenous technological knowledge, socio-economic and environmental issues. The main objective was to investigate how the traditional pottery is produced, pottery use, and impact on the environment. Most of the field work component of the study involved interviews with potters, observation and documentation of pottery activities in the region. Findings indicate that traditional pottery is primarily in the hands of women, apart from the Batwa where pottery is done by both gender. Pottery is carried out during the dry season apart from the Batwa tribe who practice pottery throughout the year
Morphological distinctiveness between Solanum aethiopicum Shum group and its progenitor
Get PDFThis paper invested on the use of morphological markers offers an alternative in germplasm discrimination of research-neglected crop species.Use of morphological markers offers an alternative in germplasm discrimination of research-neglected crop species. A collection of 25 accessions including five wild progenitors was evaluated in screen house to identify the morphological difference between Solanum aethiopicum Shum and Solanum anguivi. An Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean hierarchical clustering revealed presence of moderate structure with a cophenetic correlation coefficient of 0.73. Five distinct clusters were produced; the progenitor accessions for the S. aethiopicum Shum were grouped in their own cluster. The Richness, Shannon-Weaver and Simpson indices were also different among qualitative variable categories. A ‘prcomp’ function based Principal component analysis (PCA) in R on quantitative variables indicated that days to germination and emergence, cotyledonous leaf length, cotyledonous leaf width, shoot biomass, plant height, petiole length, days to first flowering opening, plant width, plant branching, and number of leaves per plant are the major drivers of variability in the study accessions.
Further, results from canonical discriminant analysis to discern between the S. aethiopicum and its progenitor accession groups showed that the days to germination and emergence provide the best separation; with the former emerging earlier than the latter. The mean values for flowering time, leaves per plant, number of branches per plant and plant height were more favorable for the Shum than its wild progenitor accessions. The study revealed that morphological markers are useful in distinguishing between the S. aethiopicum Shum and its progenitor accessions