1,350 research outputs found
Replication Data for: Impact of Plasmodium falciparum small-sized extracellular vesicles (PfsEVs) on host peripheral blood mononuclear cells
No full textThis is a replication dataset for the manuscript titled "Impact of Plasmodium falciparum small-sized extracellular vesicles (PfsEVs) on host peripheral blood mononuclear cells" submitted to WellcomeOpe
A Literary Critic of Socialization on Gender Stereotype in Three Children’s Books by Meja Mwangi
No full textThe study sought to critically analyze how gender stereotype has been portrayed in Meja Mwangi children’s books; Little White Man, The Boy Gift and Striving for the Wind. Children’s literature has focused on children’s social and moral development in the children’s books. However, the issue of gender stereotype is present in many children’s books. This is likely to affect children’s social life from the way they view children’s books with gender stereotype. Objectives of this study analyzed how gender roles, character’s personalities and socialization portray gender stereotype in children’s books. The study analyzed children’s books, specifically for ages 10 and 14. The study hoped to create awareness of how children get exposed to gender stereotype in children’s books. In addition, the study anticipated in drawing the attention of the parents, to gender stereotyped children’s books. This research study is therefore a useful material for reference to other researchers and readers. The study was guided by Lawrence Kohlberg's Cognitive Development Theory: The concept of Gender Constancy. The study was conducted through qualitative research design. The three story books were selected from the target population using purposive sampling technique. Then researcher used content analysis, as a method of qualitative analysis in order to analyze the selected sample. From research findings, gender stereotype is evident in the children’s books by Meja Mwangi. The author portrays roles according to the genders. There are those roles that are only meant for male characters and female characters. The personality traits that are portrayed for the women and girls are weak and they depend on the male characters. While the men do not depend on the women and instead, they are brave and tough. The society highly regards the male characters as opposed to the female characters. From the conclusions made from the analysis of the research data, there are situations where the author challenges gender stereotype. In a particular illustration, the female character is portrayed having strong and courageous personalities. Also, the male character is portrayed performing chores associated with the women. However, much needs to be done, in curbing gender stereotype in children’s books. Both genders should be portrayed with equal roles, having some personalities. Social set-up should accommodate both female and male characters, in order to avoid gender stereotype portrayed in children’s books. In conclusion, the study suggested recommendations to parents and teachers in using gender neutral children’s books, which promote gender equality among girls and boys. Hence, the study provided sufficient and effective information in order to improve the quality of children’s books and a positive impact in children’s social life and moral development.
Keywords: Gender Stereotype, Children's Literature, Socialization, Literary Criticism, Meja Mwang
Maximizing the impact of print media in church development in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (P.C.E.A.) (Kenya), 1997
No full textAccording to the report of the Communications Committee of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (P.C.E.A.) to the 15th General Assembly, the church is aware of the immensity of information, education and revelation that can be shared and disseminated through the print media in the church. 1 However, to effectively disseminate the Gospel through the print media requires some creativity and administrative initiatives in the national office and particularly in the division of Communications and Publishing. As an initiative proposal, this dissertation examines how the P.C.E.A. has used print media from the missionary period (early 1900) to the mid-1990s, and offers proposals for maximizing print media impact in church development and social transformation. This dissertation is the final stage and result of a Doctor of Ministry project study and research conducted in Kenya and the United States between 1993 and 1997. Four parts comprised of eight chapters compose the dissertation. Part I is the ministry setting, containing chapters One and Two. Chapter One is a brief description of the nation of Kenya in terms of geography, history and politics. It is the wider context of this project. Chapter Two introduces the Presbyterian Church of East Africa as the central setting of the project. The history, the organizational structure and theological stance of this church are here discussed. Part II is the main body of the dissertation. It is the ministry issue, and it is divided into Chapters Three and Four. Chapter Three contains the history of print media in the P.C.E.A., with some remarks on the early beginnings of print media in Europe. Chapter Four is a brief examination of biblical and theological basis for print media use. Part III is the project, containing Chapters Five and Six. Chapter Five includes a review of six key texts which have been helpful in this research. The texts are: Keeping Your Church Informed by Austin Brodie; 2 Let the People Know: A Media Handbook for Churches by Charles Austin; 3Communications Media in the Nigerian Church Today by Boniface Ntomchukwu; 4 How to Publicize Church Activities by William J. Barrows, Jr.; 5 Communication for Development by Karl Lundstrom; 6 and Hope for Africa by G. Kinoti. 7 This chapter also includes questionnaire responses from a cross section of participants in Kenya and America, including the P.C.E.A. ministers living in Atlanta at the time, and members of the International Class of First Presbyterian Church-Atlanta. Chapter Six includes interviews, briefs from some P.C.E.A. leaders, and workshop proceedings from the P.C.E.A. Nkoroi and Chuka churches and from First Presbyterian Church-Atlanta. Part IV is the project evaluation. This final part contains Chapters Seven and Eight. Chapter Seven discusses recommendations for possible implementation of the proposals or suggestions made in the dissertation. These primarily relate to finance, training and structural innovations and changes. Chapter Eight is the conclusion, restating the purpose of the project. It emphasizes questions of faith and the sense of urgency in doing whatever it takes to maximize the impact of print media in the P.C.E.A. for God's glory and the blessing of the church
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'You Crazy': Examination of Black Transnational Collegians' Mental Health at Historically White Institutions
No full textEven though Black transnational collegians are an increasingly growing population with representation on campuses across the United States (see George Mwangi, 2014; George Mwangi et al., 2019; Williams, 2021), historically white institutions (HWIs) have yet to cater its student support services to these groups of students. This critical qualitative study explored 20 Black transnational collegians’ perceptions of and lived experiences with mental health through the use of in-depth interviews and a 2-D art-based educational approach. With intersectionality theory and the liberation health model as guiding principles, I answered the following research questions: How do Black transnational collegians at HWIs perceive the quality of their mental health? In what ways do Black transnational collegians at HWIs perceive familial socialization, their campus environment, and societal oppressions influencing their mental health? How do Black transnational collegians at HWIs perceive their mental health impacting their college-going experience? What resources do Black transnational collegians at HWIs utilize to address their mental health needs? Three major themes with sub-themes emerged from the data: (1) Mental health socialization & connection to college experience (2) Perceived quality of mental health (3) Seeking mental health resources. Black transnational collegians at HWIs perceive familial socialization, their campus environment, and societal oppressions influencing their mental health and the ways their mental health impacts their college-going experience. The participants perceived their mental health as bleak or wavering based on the stressors in their lives. The participants had complex definitions of mental health that included having the ability to manage the stressors in life and having joy. The participants’ definitions stemmed from their religious upbringing, their family’s values, and their college experience. The participants’ help-seeking behaviors were connected to their understanding of mental health and their Black transnational identities. All the participants viewed therapy as a healthy resource that others should use; yet some of the participants chose to not use therapy as a mental health resource due to ingrained cultural views about therapy. The participants found community support from BIPOC and transnational folx, therapeutic activities, and religion to address their mental health needs.EducationDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
Collective action and property rights for poverty reduction: A review of methods and approaches
No full text"While much attention has been given to examining various aspects of poverty, a number of studies have shown that institutional environment in which the poor exist conditions welfare outcomes, thus highlighting the inherently crucial importance of institutions for poverty reduction. The institutions of property rights and collective action are among those identified as playing a major role in the livelihood strategies of the poor. This paper highlights ways to operationalize the conceptual framework developed by Di Gregorio and colleagues (2008), which provides an analytical tool to study poverty through the institutional lens with a special focus on collective action and property rights. By emphasizing the multidimensionality of poverty, the authors advocate the importance of applying various approaches and tools to conceptualizing and measuring it. They also emphasize the crucial role that institutions of collective action and property rights play in poverty reduction and sketch out theoretical nuances and methods of examining such institutions. In addition, power relations and political context are seen to be of outmost importance in poverty-related studies; the authors provide suggestions on how to understand and operationalize various dimensions of power and institutional environment in research. Outcomes are approached from the evaluative standpoint, which moves beyond straightforward empirical measurement of certain indicators to a comprehensive analysis that would involve a range of methods and approaches to both the definition and measurement of criteria that affect the complex reality of the poor." authors' abstractCollective action, Property rights, Poverty reduction, evaluation, Vulnerability, Power, Institutions, Wellbeing,
Brain swelling and ischaemia in Kenyans with cerebral malaria
No full textComputed tomography was performed on 14 unconscious Kenyan children recovering from cerebral malaria (seven of whom had another scan 12-120 days later) to elucidate the cause of intracranial hypertension and neurological sequelae. Brain swelling, defined as a loss of cerebrospinal fluid spaces, was documented in six children, while a further two had conspicuously small ventricles only. There was severe intracranial hypertension in the two children with definite brain swelling in whom intracranial pressure was monitored. There was no evidence of acute hydrocephalus or vasogenic oedema. Four children with brain swelling also had widespread low density areas suggestive of ischaemic damage. The patterns of damage were not uniform but were consistent with a critical reduction in cerebral perfusion pressure (which was documented in the two in whom this was monitored), hypoglycaemia, or status epilepticus. All four had serious neurological sequelae. These data suggest that brain injury in cerebral malaria may be due in part to secondary systemic and intracranial factors as well as to the direct effect of intravascular sequestration
Meridians 17:2 Cartographies for the Twenty-First Century
No full textThe first African feminist I ever met was Wambui Mwangi, my 1990 classmate at Smith College. It was the spring of 1988, at the Mwangi Cultural Center, where all the heads of student of color organizations on campus had gathered together to discuss and strategize our response to yet another instance of institutional racism at Smith....https://scholarworks.smith.edu/meridians/1007/thumbnail.jp
Transparency without Accountability
No full textKenya has been going through a period of political reform from 1991 when section 2A of the constitution that had made Kenya a de jure one party state was repealed. The reform followed a prolonged struggle by citizens both within and without the country. Their call for democracy was one that, post the fall of the Berlin wall, was embraced by western countries. Via diplomatic pressure and conditionality on aid, western donors played an important role in the repeal of section 2a, the return of multi-party elections and in the creation and reform of a number of political institutions and offices. In the main these changes were pushed by the donors and though supported by the opposition in Kenya they did not rise organically from the struggle over political power in Kenya. In this paper, we argue that although these reforms led to a heightened awareness of the ills of the political class, they failed to actually hold members of this class accountable for their transgressions. We argue that these institutions presupposed the existence of an electorate with an effective set of identities that belonged to the larger Kenyan nation. This broader construct of society did not exist. A history of economic and political inequality from the inception of modern Kenya had resulted in a divided population that was unable to exercise this mandate, and could ultimately discipline politicians when they failed. In actuality, since the politics was not based on broader Kenyan national interests but rather narrower personal interests construed as ethno-nationalist, the political class was not accountable to the larger Kenyan constituency. JEL Categories: O, P16, Z13Political Economy, Ethnicity, Development, Corruption, Kenya
Anti-tick biological control agents: Assessment and future perspectives
No full textINTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the twentieth century investigators have documented numerous potential tick biological control agents, including pathogens, parasitoids and predators of ticks (Jenkins, 1964; Mwangi, 1991; Mwangi et al., 1991; Samish & Rehacek, 1999; Kaaya, 2003; Ostfeld et al., 2006). Several authors have reviewed specific groups of natural enemies of ticks, including pathogens (Lipa, 1971; Hoogstraal, 1977; Chandler et al., 2000), nematodes (Samish, Alekseev & Glazer, 2000a, 2000b; Samish & Glazer, 2001), parasitoids (Cole, 1965; Trjapitzin, 1985; Davis, 1986; Mwangi & Kaaya, 1997; Hu, Hyland & Oliver, 1998; Knipling & Steelman, 2000) and predators (Barre et al., 1991; Mwangi, Newson & Kaaya, 1991; Kok & Petney, 1993; Samish & Alexseev, 2001). In practice, ticks are controlled at present mostly by chemical acaricides (see Chapter 18). However, biological control is becoming an increasingly attractive approach to tick management because of: (1) increasing concerns about environmental safety and human health (e.g. the gradual increase in use of chemical insecticides in several countries is stimulating the growing market of \u27organic\u27 food); (2) the increasing costs of chemical control; and (3) the increasing resistance of ticks to pesticides. To date, biocontrol has been targeted largely at pests of plants, with only a few efforts to introduce biocontrol agents for the control of ticks. Nevertheless, the knowledge and experience accumulated in plant protection will aid in the development of tick biocontrol methods
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