20 research outputs found
A Functional Grammar Approach to the Analysis of Gikuyu Emphatic Clauses
No full textThere is need to preserve and popularise African languages and scholars like Momanyi (2007) call for research, documentation and preservation ofthe languages by the native speakers. This work is a response to this need. It is a work divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction which provides a background to the study and the statement of the problem. The section also shows the need to study the emphatic structures of Gikuyu, being an area that has been neglected in the past. Also noted is the need to analyse the Gikuyu emphatic clauses functionally, another relatively neglected area since many of the
past scholars have used a formal approach. The study has established the categories of Gikuyu emphatic structures, described the order of the linguistic elements in them, identified the kind of prominence they achieve and established how they can be analysed functionally. The chapter also highlights the significance of the study, justifying it in terms of its applied, practical and theoretical significance. It closes with the scope and
limitations of the study. The second chapter provides a review ofliterature relevant to the study. The literature includes studies on Gikuyu and other Bantu languages. Some studies that have applied Functional Grammar theories have also been reviewed. The section then provides a description ofthe theory to be applied, Functional Grammar Theory by Halliday (1985). The methodology used is described in the third chapter. It starts with the research design, which is qualitative, followed by the sampling size and procedure. Purposive sampling has been applied. Data collection procedure follows. The chapter ends with data analysis and presentation method. The data is analysed thematically. Chapter four presents and analyses the data. It is divided into two sections. Section one presents the syntactic emphatic categories that have been identified in Gikuyu. They are classified into three broad categories: the reordering class, the postponement class and the dislocation class. Categories under each class are discussed in details, giving the order of elements in the categories and the kinds of prominence assigned to the highlighted elements in them. The second part applies Halliday's Functional Grammar Theory (1985) to analyse the clauses in terms of clause as exchange. The last chapter, chapter five, summarizes the findings ofthe study. It further draws the conclusion, gives recommendations and finally suggests some areas related to the study for further research
Reordering for prominence and consequent reconfiguration of the mood structure in Gikuyu clauses
No full textCertain communication situations may need emphasis on specific sentence elements. Speakers utilise their linguistic competence to choose from various emphatic structures for the need, structures resulting from reconstruction of the basic sentence. This reconstruction could be through reordering of clause elements through processes like: passivisation, cleft and pseudo-cleft structuring, topicalisation, and inversion of clause elements. This paper aimed at establishing the realization of these processes in Gĩkũyũ and their effects on the syntactic analysis of the mood structure in the clause as exchange analysis within Functional Grammar theory. The data for the paper was Gĩkũyũ clauses portraying the reordering processes. The paper adopted a descriptive research design, purposively sampling the clauses and their sources. The clauses were grouped under the various reordering processes and subjected to clause as exchange analysis, which was compared to that of their kernel sentences for the effect of the reordering on the mood structure. The reordering processes were found in Gĩkũyũ and the processes discovered to affect the mood structure of the kernel clauses, either in the reconfiguration of the structure or reconstitution of its elements. Some instances of passivisation were discovered to drop some mood elements like Complement, while the subject-complement inversion led to a Mood Residue inversion. The paper concludes that Gikuyu has resources enabling its users to strategically place specific elements for prominence as required by a given communication context. The findings significantly revealed the flexibility of Gikuyu clauses and the applicability of Systemic Functional Linguistics in analyzing Gikuyu emphatic clauses
Emerging Non-OECD Countries: Global Shifts in Power and Geopolitical Regionalization
No full textSince 1990 the banning of ethnic and other identity-based parties has become the norm in sub-Saharan Africa. This article focuses on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as three East African countries that have opted for different ways of dealing with such parties. Using case studies, it traces the origins of the party bans in Tanzania and Uganda and explores the reasons for the absence of a ban in Kenya. The analysis shows that the laws on particularistic parties have actually been implemented by the appropriate institutions. However,these laws have only marginally influenced the character of the political parties in the three countries: A comparison of regional voting patterns suggests that bans on particularistic parties have not ensured the emergence of aggregative parties with a national following in Tanzania and Uganda. In Kenya on the other hand, where such a ban was nonexistent until 2008, parties have not proven to be more regional.Sub-Saharan Africa, party ban, ethnic parties, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,party regulation, party nationalization
Making it clearer: Elaboration strategies in Gĩkũyũ, a Bantu language
No full textTypically, spontaneous language comprises sequences of logically joined clauses. Studies have revealed that such structures contribute to fluency in speech or writing as they reduce the use of simple structures. Simple structures have been found to make texts more disjointed. The combined clauses, which Systemic Functional linguistics calls clause complexes, are fundamentally held together by two forms of logico-semantic relations: expansion and projection. These relations are achieved through different strategies, among them conjunctive resources. An individual’s knowledge of conjunctive patterns of a language, and logico-semantic relations by extension, influences one’s selection of conjunctive resources. This article aims at exploring the logico-semantic relation of elaboration, a mode of expansion, in Gĩkũyũ clause complexes. Its data, Gĩkũyũ clause complexes, were purposively sampled majorly from spoken and written sources. The findings reveal different categories of paratactic and hypotactic elaboration in Gĩkũyũ. The different categories were found to employ varied elaboration strategies such as overt conjunctive expressions that mark certain relations, acting as linkers and binders in the clause complexes. The strategies are significant in promoting communicative competence as they have previously been noted to contribute to cohesion in Gĩkũyũ texts
National and sub-national variation in patterns of febrile case management in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textGiven national healthcare coverage gaps, understanding treatment-seeking behaviour for fever is crucial for the management of childhood illness and to reduce deaths. Here, we conduct a modelling study triangulating household survey data for fever in children under the age of five years with georeferenced public health facility databases (n = 86,442 facilities) in 29 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, to estimate the probability of seeking treatment for fever at public facilities. A Bayesian item response theory framework is used to estimate this probability based on reported fever episodes, treatment choice, residence, and estimated travel-time to the nearest public-sector health facility. Findings show inter- and intra-country variation, with the likelihood of seeking treatment for fever less than 50% in 16 countries. Results highlight the need to invest in public healthcare and related databases. The variation in public sector use illustrates the need to include such modelling in future infectious disease burden estimation. © 2018, The Author(s)
INTEGRATION OF ROBOTIC ACTIVITIES IN STEM AND ITS EFFECT TO STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF THE SUBJECTS
No full textAbstract: In most countries, Secondary schools play a great role in preparing students in their future careers. STEM subjects are perceived to be difficult and as such, there has been low interest by the secondary school students in these subjects. This calls for reconsideration of the way teaching is done in the STEM subjects in order to make STEM careers attractive and to retain students in these fields. This study developed robotic activities and integrated them in the STEM subjects and assessed the effects of the activities to the perception and interest in these subjects. The study was conducted in the secondary schools in Murang’a County in Kenya. The target population included 200 students selected through simple random sampling method. The selected students were introduced to robotics activities integrated in Physics and Mathematics topics. Questionnaires were used to collect data and were administered to the students before and after exposure to the robotic activities integrated in the subjects. The quantitative data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. From the findings of this study, the robotic activities had a significant effect on students’ perception of Physics and Mathematics. The study recommends that the government should facilitate the integration of educational robotic activities in the current STEM curriculum in order to improve interest towards the STEM fields.
Keywords: STEM, Careers, Robotic activities, Integration, teaching and learning.
Title: INTEGRATION OF ROBOTIC ACTIVITIES IN STEM AND ITS EFFECT TO STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE SUBJECTS
Author: Mwangi Peter Ngugi, Muriithi Christopher Maina, Agufana Peace Byrne
International Journal of Novel Research in Education and Learning
ISSN 2394-9686
Vol. 9, Issue 4, July 2022 - August 2022
Page No: 82-90
Novelty Journals
Website: www.noveltyjournals.com
Published Date: 23-August-2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7016736
Paper Download Link (Source)
https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/INTEGRATION%20OF%20ROBOTIC%20ACTIVITIES-23082022-4.pdfInternational Journal of Novel Research in Education and Learning, ISSN 2394-9686, Novelty Journals, Website: www.noveltyjournals.co
Never be silent : publishing & imperialism in Kenya, 1884-1963
No full textSocial communications are central to any social struggle. There is a sizable body of literature from other countries on the use of oral medium, newspapers, books and other forms of communications being used as tools for organising against a powerful enemy, as a training ground for cadres and for clarifying and developing revolutionary theory, ideology, organisation and practice. All this ensures a greater unity among those resisting oppression and exploitation. Thus revolutionary and liberation forces of Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of China, and in Vietnam had developed theories and practices of revolutionary publishing as part of their revolutionary work. This has also been the case during anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles in Africa, but very little of this has been systematically documented as an aspect of revolutionary communications policy and practice. While the
colonial communications systems have been reasonably well documented, the resistance communication systems remain largely undocumented and ignored. This book is an initial attempt to document this dynamic communications process in Kenya with its external struggles against colonialism and its complex internal struggles with overlaying divisions of race and class, Kenyan and foreign peoples. The main theme emerging from this experience is that people struggling to change their society always find ways of establishing their own system of communicating with the people they lead
and by whom they are led. Their mission of revolution, of change, of peace, of social and economic justice requires that they should never be silent. This was well understood and practised by the liberation forces in Kenya. They
were never silent
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
Perioperative Bleeding Requiring Blood Transfusions is Associated With Increased Risk of Stroke After Transcatheter and Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement
No full textObjectives: The authors aimed to investigate the impact of severe bleeding and use of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion on the development of postoperative stroke after surgical (SAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), taken from the FinnValve registry. Design: Nationwide, retrospective observational study. Setting: Five Finnish university hospitals participated in the registry. Participants: A total of 6,463 patients who underwent SAVR (n = 4,333) or TAVR (n = 2,130). Interventions: Patients who underwent TAVR or SAVR with a bioprosthesis with or without coronary revascularization. Measurements and Main Results: The incidence of postoperative stroke after SAVR was 3.8%. In multivariate analysis, the number of trans-fused RBC units (odds ratio [OR], 1.098; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.064-1.133) was one of the independent predictors of postoperative stroke. The incidence of stroke increased, along with the severity of perioperative bleeding, according to the European Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (E-CABG) bleeding grades were as follows: grade 0, 2.2% (reference group); grade 1, 3.4% (adjusted OR, 1.841; 95% CI, 1.105-3.066); grade 2, 5.5% (adjusted OR, 3.282; 95% CI, 1.948-5.529); and grade 3, 14.8% (adjusted OR, 7.103; 95% CI, 3.612-13.966). The inci-dence of postoperative stroke after TAVR was 2.5%. The number of transfused RBC units was an independent predictor of stroke after TAVR (adjusted OR, 1.155; 95% CI, 1.058-1.261). The incidence of postoperative stroke increased, along with the severity of perioperative bleeding, as stratified by the E-CABG bleeding grades: E-CABG grade 0, 1.7%; grade 1, 5.3% (adjusted OR, 1.270; 95% CI, 0.532-3.035); grade 2, 10.0% (adjusted OR, 2.898; 95% CI, 1.101-7.627); and grade 3, 30.0% (adjusted OR, 10.706; 95% CI, 2.389-47.987). Conclusions: Perioperative bleeding requiring RBC transfusion and/or reoperation for intrathoracic bleeding is associated with an increased risk of postoperative stroke after SAVR and TAVR. Patient blood management and meticulous preprocedural planning and operative technique aiming to avoid significant perioperative bleeding may reduce the risk of cerebrovascular complications. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Peer reviewe
Уголовная ответственность военнослужащих за похищение, присвоение оружия, военного имущества, боеприпасов: историко-правовой аспект
No full textРусанова, Л. В. Кримінальна відповідальність військовослужбовців за викрадення, привласнення зброї, військового майна, бойових припасів: історико-правовий аспект / Людмила Василівна Русанова // Вісник Кримінологічної асоціації України. - 2017. - № 2 (16). - С. 210-220.Rusanova, L. V. (2017), “Criminal Liability of Military Servicemen for Theft,
Embezzlement of Weapons, Military Property, Ammunition: Historical and
Legal Aspect” [Kryminalna vidpovidalnist viiskovosluzhbovtsiv za vykradennia,
pryvlasnennia zbroi, viiskovoho maina, boiovykh prypasiv: istoryko-pravovyi
aspekt], Visnyk Kryminolohichnoi asotsiatsii Ukrainy, No. 2 (16), pp. 210–220.Стаття присвячена вивченню ґенези встановлення у кримінальному законодавстві норми про відповідальність військовослужбовців за викрадення, привласнення зброї, військового
майна, бойових припасів. З’ясовано, що першим актом, яким
криміналізується цей злочин, було Соборне Уложення 1649 р.,
наступним стали «Права, за якими судиться малоросійський
народ», а також те, що КК УРСР 1960 р. включав майже
аналогічну норму тій, що закріплена в сучасному КК України.The article is focused on studying the history of the establishment of the liability
for theft, embezzlement of weapons, military property, ammunition within criminal
legislation. It has been found out that the first act, which provided the liability for this
crime, was the Code of Law of 1649, and hence its adoption was a significant event in the history of criminal legislation. The Code has clearly defined sanctions for military crimes,
including the theft, embezzlement of weapons, military property, etc.
It is also important that for the first time the author has accomplished the di-vision of
the crimes of “warriors” into the groups: I – actions defined as military treason (“informing
the enemy the data about the army, the transfer to the enemy side, the handing over to
the enemy of the city”, etc.); II – crimes against life, health and dignity, caused by warriors
during campaigns (murder, rape, bodily harm, etc.); ІІІ – crimes against the property of
local residents (theft, robbery, devastation of yards and cities, seizure of grain stocks), and
IV – crimes against the property of their comrades (theft of weapons and horses), they
included the Art. 28 of the Section VII “On the Service of All Warriors of the Moscow State”.
Thus, during the studied period, the list of acts that were under criminal liability is almost
the same as that enshrined in the Section XIX of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The next act was “The Rights that are the Basis for the Judiciary of the Little
Russian People”. Thus, the the list (types) of war crimes (which included the unauthorized
abandonment of military service without valid reasons, the absence for military service
without valid reasons (p. 2 of the clause 11), murder, robbery, rape of civilians during
a campaign or march-off (p. 1 of the clause 15); attack, injuring each other, disputes,
fightings, (p. 2 of the clause 15), borrowing of weapons, the horse to show the chief
(the clause 16), etc.) contained the clause 20, which dealt with the theft of weapons.
It has been established that the Military clause of Peter I, which contains the norms
of only criminal law, is actually the Military Criminal Code without the Ge-neral Part. Thus,
the Section 6 “On Military Ammunition, Weapons, Uniform, Their Theft and Its Negligence”,
which specifies the duties of military servicemen regarding the handling of their weapons,
as well as the sanctions imposed for their violation, contains the clause 66, which deals with
the possession of military property by the way of fraud (money, food products, uniform).
It is believed that this clause establishes provisions similar to the p. 1 of the Art. 410 of
the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In Soviet times, the first special norm that established the liability for one types of
theft – was the embezzlement of weapons of military servicemen, appeared in the Criminal
Code of the RSFSR in 1922. More fully, the liability for the theft of weapons was enshrined in
the Criminal Code of Ukrainian SSR in 1960, which was almost the same as the current one.
It has been confirmed that military and criminal legislation from the time of its
origin was constantly changed, acquired sufficiently structured form; the very concept of
the “war crime” was improved (more deeply and objectively interpreted).Статья посвящена изучению генезиса установления в уголовном законодательстве нормы об ответственности военнослужащих за похищение, присвоение оружия, военного имущества, боевых припасов. Выяснено, что первым
актом, в соответствие с которым криминализируется это преступление,
было Соборное Уложение 1649 г., следующим стали «Права, по которым судится
малороссийский народ», а также то, что УК УССР 1960 г. включал почти аналогичную норму той, что закреплена в современном УК Украины
