9 research outputs found
An evaluation of bank SMEs lending criteria and gender bias in Gweru, Zimbabwe.
No full textDoctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The contribution of SMES and entrepreneurship to economic growth is virtually an accepted truth the world over, but there are some groups that remain marginalised in this sector. Women are viewed as unequal to men and are discriminated against, a factor which also impacts on their ability to start and grow sustainable SMESs. This is evident in Zimbabwe. This project, thus, studies gender biases in the accessibility of loans in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Guided by feminist theories, mostly perspectives of liberal and social feminists, this study aimed to establish the existence or non-existence of bias, against women entrepreneurs, in the bank lending criteria.
Positioned within the pragmatic research paradigm, this mixed method study was conducted in Gweru, Zimbabwe and constituted three (3) target populations. These were 1485 women-owned or managed SMESs in Gweru, 10 SMES finance experts and 10 bank loan managers based in Gweru. Positioned within the pragmatic research paradigm, this mixed methodology used questionnaires from women SMESs (319), as well as in-depth interviews with bank SMES loan managers (10), Finance Experts (10), to get qualitative insight into the circumstances of women entrepreneurs in Gweru.
Having determined the reliability of quantitative data through the Cronbach’s Alpha Smirnov Kolmogorov, regression models and the Kruskal Wallis tests were performed on the collected data to meet the objectives of this study. As this was a concurrent, parallel mixed methods research design, the qualitative data from interviews was used to validate and add qualitative insights to the quantitative data. The triangulation method was used to ensure validity. Findings revealed four important sub-constructs of bank SMES lending criteria for women entrepreneurs. These included 1) partnerships and guarantees, 2) financial history, 3) business planning and 4) experience and specialization.
The findings of this study showed that women entrepreneurs, who have male guarantors and partners, are more likely to secure loans than those without. The applicant’s financial history is also very crucial to accessing bank loans. Women who access bank loans can sustain their businesses, as they positively turnaround Zimbabwe’s economy. Future research should focus its attention on financial inclusivity of women owner/managers of SMESs
Tetrahydrocurcumin protects against cadmium-induced hypertension, raised arterial stiffness and vascular remodeling in mice
No full textCopyright: 2014 Sangartit et al. This is an
open-access article distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and repro-
duction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Cadmium (Cd) is a nonessential heavy metal, causing oxidative damage to various tissues and associated with hypertension. Tetrahydrocurcumin (THU), a major metabolite of curcumin, has been demonstrated to be an antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory agent. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of THU against Cd-induced hypertension, raised arterial stiffness and vascular remodeling in mice
‘Putting Life in Years’ (PLINY) telephone friendship groups research study: pilot randomised controlled trial
No full textBackground - Loneliness in older people is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We undertook a parallel-group randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telephone befriending for the maintenance of HRQoL in older people. An internal pilot tested the feasibility of the trial and intervention.
Methods - Participants aged >74 years, with good cognitive function, living independently in one UK city were recruited through general practices and other sources, then randomised to: (1) 6 weeks of short one to one telephone calls, followed by 12 weeks of group telephone calls with up to six participants, led by a trained volunteer facilitator; or (2) a control group. The main trial required the recruitment of 248 participants in a 1-year accrual window, of whom 124 were to receive telephone befriending. The pilot specified three success criteria which had to be met in order to progress the main trial to completion: recruitment of 68 participants in 95 days; retention of 80% participants at 6 months; successful delivery of telephone befriending by local franchise of national charity. The primary clinical outcome was the Short Form (36) Health Instrument (SF-36) Mental Health (MH) dimension score collected by telephone 6 months following randomisation.
Results - We informed 9,579 older people about the study. Seventy consenting participants were randomised to the pilot in 95 days, with 56 (80%) providing valid primary outcome data (26 intervention, 30 control). Twenty-four participants randomly allocated to the research arm actually received telephone befriending due to poor recruitment and retention of volunteer facilitators. The trial was closed early as a result. The mean 6-month SF-36 MH scores were 78 (SD 18) and 71 (SD 21) for the intervention and control groups, respectively (mean difference, 7; 95% CI, -3 to 16).
Conclusions - Recruitment and retention of participants to a definitive trial with a recruitment window of 1 year is feasible. For the voluntary sector to recruit sufficient volunteers to match demand for telephone befriending created by trial recruitment would require the study to be run in more than one major population centre, and/or involve dedicated management of volunteers
An investigation into the relationship between the educational context and the written product of university EFL students with implications for the teaching of writing
No full textThis study investigates the sources of difficulties that Damascus University learners face in their composition writing courses at the Department of English Language and
Literature. The research is carried out through a longitudinal study of both the context and the product of writing across a four year EFL writing course. Findings suggest that the writing problems that students face are inherent in the writing pedagogy in current practice at the University.
Most studies in ESL/EFL writing have looked at the final product in isolation from the context in which it has been produced. This work has attempted a study of the process of
teaching and evaluating writing at Damascus University across four years and analysed longitudinally, in the light of the contextual findings, the final products (written under the influence of the context described) of the same group of learners. Research on ESL writing too has focused mainly on the teaching of writing in smaller classes. This work is unique too in having to deal with a large class situation.
In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the thesis comprises six main chapters. The first chapter looks at the theoretical developments in the teaching of Li writing and
their impact on ESL,/EFL perceptions and writing pedagogies. Based on the insights gained from the above survey, chapters two and three attempt to evaluate the Damascus University context of teaching writing across the four year program. Chapters four and five analyse longitudinally the syntactic and the discourse level features of an authentic sample of students' written exam products, produced under the effect of the context of
writing described in chapters two and three. The aim of this is twofold, to investigate the influence of the context on the product of writing and to trace the development that learners make across the four year program. Chapter six incorporates the relevant
theoretical beliefs outlined in the work with an understanding of the Damascus University context to present suggestions for instructional practices that are to make of the writing course a more effective, purposeful and useful one.
The approach to writing pedagogy upheld in this work focuses on the 'process' and 'context' of writing without ignoring the 'product'. Its ultimate aim is not only the
improvement of the writing abilities of learners but also their growth and development through the composing experience
Iowa History and Culture : A Bibliography of Materials Published Between 1952 and 1986, 1989
No full textThis bibliography was compiled by two reference librarians, Patricia Dawson and David Hudson with the goal of making it easier of tracking down material on Iowa history and culture. This supplements the Iowa History Reference Guide published in 1952 by William Petersen
‘The art of salvation is but the art of memory’ : soul-agency, remembrance and expression in Donne and Shakespeare
No full textThis thesis examines how the dislocation of old beliefs in post-Reformation England affected perceptions of the soul in the work of Donne and Shakespeare. The introduction, using Augustinian discourses on the tri-partite soul, explores how the soul is imagined in post-Reformation England. Current debates on interiority, the climate of anxiety that surrounds religious upheaval, historical readings of the composition of the soul and the problems of its actual representation on the page and stage are discussed. The patterning of Augustine‟s tri-partite model of Reason, Will and Memory is examined, and the regenerative power of concordant Memory that can bind together a harmonic trinity is offered as a solution to the fractured soul. The first part of the thesis concentrates on writings that represent Donne‟s anxieties over the fate of the soul as he contemplates conversion from Catholicism to the new religious order. Chapter One is an enquiry into his unpublished works from 1601 to 1611 and examines the idea of the wandering soul, from The Progresse of the Soule, to the Divine Poems and finally to the redeemed soul seen in the form of Elizabeth Drury in the Anniversaries. In this chapter, I argue that Donne is searching for an alternative Marian aesthetic as he leaves behind his Catholic past, a new image of divine intercession for the Protestant world that might offer him comfort and a route to salvation. Chapter Two explores his very public sermons after he enters the ministry until his death. Here, a pattern of redemption is argued through the salvic properties of the living Word of the sermon that is relayed through the performative power of the preacher. The preacher‟s working space and the power of the Word to viscerally transform the congregation are central here to the soul‟s salvation. The second part examines how Shakespeare explores the „journey‟ of the soul through a selection of his plays, but where the limits of genre impose restrictions on Shakespeare‟s development of an image of redemption. Chapter Three examines the wandering soul in The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Through the trope of marriage, the fate of the souls of Jessica and Othello are explored as they find themselves marginalized in an inhospitable Venice, while their pasts have been forgotten in the attempt to convert to Christianity. Chapter Four explores the use of the female character as an image of Memory that can generate hope, reading Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Cordelia in King Lear as “soul agents”, whose beneficence can bring about redemptive change. However, the thesis argues that the genre of tragedy examined here limits the soul agent. Chapter Five argues for an alternative genre that opens up the possibilities for the successful portrayal of the soul agent. In the romance plays, the representation of the soul can be seen working successfully to a redemptive conclusion. Romance dramas foreground their slippages in plot and take us into dreamscapes at the centre of which is an essential female influence. Marina in Pericles, Perdita in The Winter‟s Tale, Innogen in Cymbeline and Ariel/Miranda in The Tempest provide a link with Donne‟s presentation of the soul as female in the Anniversaries. Both Donne and Shakespeare suggest the idea of the female in literature as a redemptive figure, away from earlier discourses on the soul that finds itself at the mercy of epistemological wrangling. Donne and Shakespeare re-instate that sacredness and place it within art as an image of Memory, a vital component of Augustine‟s tri-partite soul, but also as an active and vibrant image of possibilit
The Christian ministry : case studies of preachers of the Churches of Christ in Bicol, Philippines
No full textThis thesis examines the challenges faced by the ministers of religion in Churches of Christ (Restoration Movement) in Bicol, Philippines. The goal is to do theology from below, not from above, as pastoral ministry must come from the experience of those who practice it, not from textbooks. The pastoral perspectives of the dilemmas that the ministers raise are heard, observed, documented, and then reflected upon. To do this, case studies of four preachers are used and the mga problema that they present are explored with them.
As a result, first, I introduce some of those challenges which are perplexing on the ground level and which appear to be under-researched in serious theological circles, especially in an Asian context. Second, I hope that these case studies can be used to stimulate reflection in ministerial and spiritual formation. Third, I document some of the theology and methodology of the Churches of Christ, particularly as practiced in the Philippines.
Chapter 1 explores the dichotomy between the perceived satisfaction in the pastoral ministry with the crisis of role and identity. In particular, issues such as forced exits and stress are presented while baptism and preaching are scrutinized. Chapter 2 centres on the conundrums experienced in planting a new church and being the lone planter. Chapter 3 examines three challenges–the task of ministering in a home congregation, the issue of accreditation in ministerial training, and how the minister can be a success and grow the church. Never far from the thoughts and actions of any of the Bicolano ministers is the problema of poverty, so Chapter 4 considers some of the Filipino, personal, and spiritual complexities of poverty, delineates a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration in any effort to overcome this malady and concludes with a particular reference to ministry
Shakespeare in purgatory : a study of the Catholicising movement in Shakespeare biography
No full textThe twentieth and the twenty-first centuries have Catholicised Shakespeare. At the
heart of this movement lie the so-called Lancastrian theories: that Shakespeare spent
some time during his `lost years' in Lancashire and that he is to be identified with
`Will[i]am Shakeshafte' in the will of the Catholic magnate, Alexander Hoghton of
Lea. Although the proponents of the theories - aptly called `Lancastrians' - agree in
terms of the identification of `Shakeshafte' with Shakespeare, their arguments vary
and sometimes even contradict each other. We have, therefore, Lancastrian theories
(plural). They are attempts to investigate the whereabouts of Shakespeare during the
`lost years' and to find out the means by which he entered the London theatre.
The Lancastrian theories can be seen in part as a counter-movement against
recent Shakespeare scholarship that has been preoccupied with theory. Paradoxically,
another stimulus for the revival of biographical studies is literary critics' interest in
early modem history, which materialist criticism, especially new historicism, has
brought in since the 1980s. Religion has become a major issue in Shakespeare studies.
The modem historiography of the English Reformation, especially `revisionism',
which emphasises the continuation of medieval Catholicism after the Reformation,
has provided significant energy for the development of the Lancastrian theories.
Furthermore, the Lancastrians have their own agenda - personal ambitions and
motivations, some of which are not altogether scholarly.
However, these theories are for the most part based on a chain of speculations,
and tend to state them as fact. The biographers, whether Lancastrians or not, who
believe Shakespeare and his family to have been Catholics are unfamiliar with the
religious condition in Elizabethan England, including anti-Catholic acts and the
penalties imposed on recusants. Their arguments also neglect other Elizabethan
customs. These biographers' lack of profound knowledge of socio-political and
religious history of Elizabethan England has produced inaccurate dramatisation of
Shakespeare's life. One other disabling tendency among these biographers is to
neglect negative evidence and disregard alternative interpretations. Their approaches
to Shakespeare biography simplify the complexity of documentary evidence and
produce narrowness of view.
In Elizabethan England a series of continuous religious negotiations and
renegotiations took place. Through this struggle, the clear-cut division between
Catholicism and Protestantism was deconstructed, and there emerged `religious
pluralism' -a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism. It was in this
complex matrix that Shakespeare was born, grew up and wrote plays and poems. It is
against this cultural background that we should study Shakespeare's life (or lives)
Power, management and complexity in the NHS : a Foucauldian perspective
No full textThis thesis is a critical and post-structural exploration of the discourse of
managerialism in the NHS secondary care sector in Wales. Its central intent is to
destabilise the dominant thinking about NHS management practice and to evoke
intellectual debate about alternative discourses of management that
ontologically perceive the organisation as a complex adaptive human system.
The emergent theoretical framework conjoins the discipline of Complexity with
post-structural conjecture, posing a novel conceptualisation of a fractal self
where relations of power are seen as essential for harmonising diverse
influences and legitimising a local discourse that informs and regulates practice.
Using Foucault’s insights on power and knowledge the thesis critiques the
strategic nature of NHS discourse, exposing the discursive dominance of
managerialism and its inherent relations of power and debates what this
predicates for a local negotiation and a flexible, safe and innovative
environment. The methodological approach employs a reflexive and micro-level
interpretative strategy to emphasise the singularity of agents and to explore the
way in which the discursive constitution of the self influences agent practice.
My profound experience of the secondary care system requires I situate my self
reflexively within the context where I explore and liberate my own voice in
conjunction with my participants. The research adopts a biographical narrative
method of data collection and uses Foucauldian discourse analysis as a
framework for exploring the underlying discourse in agent stories. The findings
demonstrate the polyphonic nature of the secondary care context and reveal the demonstrate the polyphonic nature of the secondary care context and reveal the
diverse ways in which agents legitimise, negotiate or resist the conflicting truth
claims of various discourse in order to strategically sustain an image of health
care historically constituted in their self. The results portray a web of discourses
that endorse conformity or complicity through oppressive mechanisms of
disciplinary control and surveillance, perpetuating authoritative and dualist
structures, dissipating relations of trust and removing intellectual thinking from
the front-line. The conclusion asserts that this significantly jeopardises the
ability of agents to legitimise local ‘discourse’, severely limiting their capacity for adaptive practice and the generation of new order
