6 research outputs found
Board Effectiveness in Small Nonprofits: A Case Study of a Nonprofit with Three-Person Board
No full textSmall nonprofits face unique challenges that often make “best practices” and traditional governance models unrealistic for them to adopt. The governance practices adopted by most small nonprofits, in order to meet their unique challenges, therefore often fall outside of generally accepted best practice governance models. How then, does a small nonprofit judge or measure board effectiveness? The research undertaken for this study, and the study findings themselves, suggest there is a gap between accepted “best practices”, and actual practices in small nonprofits, and that the criteria for judging board effectiveness in small nonprofits also differs. The study concludes by offering recommendations on how small nonprofits with unique challenges and unconventional board models can enhance their governance practices and effectiveness
Rapid Quantification of C. difficile Glutamate Dehydrogenase and Toxin B (TcdB) with a NanoBiT Split-Luciferase Assay
No full textC. difficile infection (CDI) is a leading healthcare-associated infection with a high morbidity and mortality and is a financial burden. No current standalone point-of-care test (POCT) is sufficient for the identification of true CDI over a disease-free carriage of C. difficile, so one is urgently required to ensure timely, appropriate treatment. Here, two types of binding proteins, Affimers and nanobodies, targeting two C. difficile biomarkers, glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and toxin B (TcdB), are combined in NanoBiT (NanoLuc Binary Technology) split-luciferase assays. The assays were optimized and their performance controlling parameters were examined. The 44 fM limit of detection (LoD), 4–5 log range and 1300-fold signal gain of the TcdB assay in buffer is the best observed for a NanoBiT assay to date. In the stool sample matrix, the GDH and TcdB assay sensitivity (LoD = 4.5 and 2 pM, respectively) and time to result (32 min) are similar to a current, commercial lateral flow POCT, but the NanoBit assay has no wash steps, detects clinically relevant TcdB over TcdA, and is quantitative. Development of the assay into a POCT may drive sensitivity further and offer an urgently needed ultrasensitive TcdB test for the rapid diagnosis of true CDI. The NanoBiTBiP (NanoBiT with Binding Proteins) system offers advantages over NanoBiT assays with antibodies as binding elements in terms of ease of production and assay performance. We expect this methodology and approach to be generally applicable to other biomarkers
A Feminist Evaluation of Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
No full textFeminism came into use in English Language as a concept for evaluating the politics of equal rights for women in 1890’s. Ogundipe-Leslie (222) notes that the word feminism is derived from the Latin word ‘femina’, which means all things that are related to ‘woman’. Before 1890’s however; there had been occasions of feminist protests in some places in Europe, for example, the 18th century document by Mary Astell ‘Some Reflections upon Marriage’ (1700) and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) are written documents of feminist protests. What can actually be regarded as feminist literary criticism, however, started in the West in late nineteenth century with the works of writers and critics such as Virginia Woolf who wrote A Room of One’s Own (1929), Simon de Beauvoir, Second Sex (1974), Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own. British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing (1977), Eva Figes, Patriarchal Attitudes (1970), Kate Millett, Sexual Politics (1969), Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963), Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (1970).
It took a long time for feminist criticism to take root in Africa. It actually started emerging in the 1980s and flourished in the 1990s. A few feminist critics from the West had written about the works of Flora Nwapa and Buchi Emecheta, who are among the first generation of female writers. Such Western feminist critics include: Sabine Jell Bahlsen, The Concept of mammy water in Flora Nwapa’s Novels (1995), Brenda F. Berrian, The Reinvention of Woman through Conversation and Humour in Flora Nwapa’s One is Enough (1990), Katherine Frank, Women without Men (1987), Kenneth Little, The Sociology of Urban Woman’s Image in African Literature (1980). It was however, not until African women critics, most of whom were Nigerians, came into the field of criticism that the women writers received the attention they deserved. Among the prominent feminist critics that changed the face of Nigerian literary criticism in the 20th century by analysing the works of women writers were Chikwenye Okonjo-Ogunyemi author of African Wo/man Palava, (1995), Helen Chukwuma, editor of Feminism in African Literature, (1994), Molara Ogundipe, author of Recreating ourselves, African Women and Critical Transformations, (1994), Catherine Acholonu, author of Motherism: The Afrocentric Alternative to Feminism, (1995), Akachi Ezeigbo, author of Gender Issues in Nigeria: a Feminist Perspective (1996), Mary E. Modupe Kolawole, author of Womanism and African Consciousness (1997), Mabel Evwierhoma, author of Female Empowerment and Dramatic Creativity in Nigeria (2000), Obioma Nnaemeka, author of “Nego-Feminism: Theorizing, Practicing and Pruning Africa’s Way” (2004). The challenge of putting women writers on the platform of criticism was taken up by these critics. Some of the women writers whose works have been critiqued by feminist scholars include Flora Nwapa (Efuru, 1966), Buchi Emecheta (The Joys of Motherhood, 1979), Tess Onwueme (The Reign of Wazobia,1988), Zaynab Alkali (The Stillborn, 1984), Ifeoma Okoye (Behind the Cloud, 1982).
This study examines Lola Shoneyin’s debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, using Akachi Ezeigbo’s snail-sense feminism, a recent model of indigenous feminist theory as a viable model for solving women’s problems orchestrated by patriarchy. Snail-sense feminism complements other contemporary African feminist variants that deemphasise the controversies that have deterred the progress of improvement in the integrity of the woman. According to Maduka (109), each feminist writer has used literary work to expose, and analyse the significance of the ‘quest for female identity in Nigeria/Africa’
Rapid Quantification of <i>C. difficile</i> Glutamate Dehydrogenase and Toxin B (TcdB) with a NanoBiT Split-Luciferase Assay
No full textC. difficile infection (CDI) is a leading healthcare-associated
infection with a high morbidity and mortality and is a financial burden.
No current standalone point-of-care test (POCT) is sufficient for
the identification of true CDI over a disease-free carriage of C. difficile, so one is urgently required to ensure timely,
appropriate treatment. Here, two types of binding proteins, Affimers
and nanobodies, targeting two C. difficile biomarkers,
glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and toxin B (TcdB), are combined in
NanoBiT (NanoLuc Binary Technology) split-luciferase assays. The assays
were optimized and their performance controlling parameters were examined.
The 44 fM limit of detection (LoD), 4–5 log range and 1300-fold
signal gain of the TcdB assay in buffer is the best observed for a
NanoBiT assay to date. In the stool sample matrix, the GDH and TcdB
assay sensitivity (LoD = 4.5 and 2 pM, respectively) and time to result
(32 min) are similar to a current, commercial lateral flow POCT, but
the NanoBit assay has no wash steps, detects clinically relevant TcdB
over TcdA, and is quantitative. Development of the assay into a POCT
may drive sensitivity further and offer an urgently needed ultrasensitive
TcdB test for the rapid diagnosis of true CDI. The NanoBiTBiP (NanoBiT
with Binding Proteins) system offers advantages over NanoBiT assays
with antibodies as binding elements in terms of ease of production
and assay performance. We expect this methodology and approach to
be generally applicable to other biomarkers
Factors associated with willingness to pay for primary health care services in South Africa : a cross-sectional survey of medical schemes members
No full textAVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS :
Data used for the study is available from the corresponding
author on reasonable request.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 1 : STROBE Statement—checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 2 : Appendix B: Willingness to Pay Questionnaire.The cost of healthcare is an issue of concern for both consumers and funders of healthcare in South Africa. The country spends approximately 8% of GDP on health care. Health care is financed through the public sector which covers 86% of the population and the private sector which covers 14% of the population. Medical schemes are the main source of healthcare financing in the private sector. Services covered by medical schemes include chronic diseases, emergencies, diagnosis, and treatment of a selected number of diseases. Primary health care services such as screening are limited. The aim of this study was to assess factors associated with members of medical schemes’ willingness to pay for a primary health care package in the private sector. A cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst principal members of medical schemes between July and September 2020. All principal members with access to an online questionnaire were eligible to participate in this study. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with willingness to pay for primary health care services. A total of 6512 members of medical schemes participated in the study. Thirty-five percent of the participants were willing to pay for the primary health care package. Factors influencing willingness to pay included marital status, employment status, income and household size. The study highlights the need for policymakers to consider socioeconomic factors when designing health care policies.https://journals.sagepub.com/home/HIShj2024School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH)SDG-03:Good heatlh and well-beingSDG-17:Partnerships for the goal
The challenge of feminism in Kenya : towards an Afrocentric worldview
No full textThis study deals with African women's literature, and specifically creative writing by Kenyan women, in the context of feminism and Afrocentricity. In the words of Obioma Nnaemeka (1995) critics of African women's literature have tended to rename, misname or silence women's voices in an attempt to make them fit into a feminist! Afrocentricity either or mould. This thesis argues that when attention is paid to African women
themselves, and the cultures from which and within which they write, it is clear that they embrace both feminism and Afrocentricity. By feminism I refer to African women's vision and activism for sexual equality and women's liberation while by Afrocentricity I am thinking of their commitment and pride in their African cultures and
traditions.
The first chapter argues that Kenyan women, in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times, have been active and voiced in their stance against oppression of any kind. In the second chapter, I explore the relationship between feminism and Afrocentricity in a wider sense. I pay attention to the ways in which the two concepts have manifested themselves in Africa and her Diaspora as well as in the western world. In chapter three, domestic violence, rape, poverty, and a gender insensitive legal and judiciary
system are the dominant issues of concern to short stories writers from Kenya. In the fourth chapter, Ogot is seen as a liberal Afrocentric feminist in her call for African
women to create room for themselves within African systems of thought and practice. Chapter five, on Oludhe Macgoye, argues that to be Afrocentric is cultural rather than
racial. In Chapter six Rebeka Njau and Margaret Ogola are seen as Afrocentric while Tsitsi Dangarembga and Alice Walker are seen as Eurocentric. The thesis concludes that feminism in practice is not necessarily an occidental phenomenon. An African woman writer can be both feminist and Afrocentric
