Community policing through local collective action in Tanzania: Sungusungu to Ulinzi Shirikishi

Community policing (polisi jamii) was officially introduced in Tanzania in 2006 as part of an ongoing police reform programme. In addition to attempting to improve communication between police and the public, the police have promoted ulinzi shirikishi (participatory security), whereby citizens are encouraged to form neighbourhood policing institutions to prevent and detect crime. This thesis presents the findings of research conducted in the city of Mwanza that explored the extent to which community policing has improved residents’ perceptions of local security and constitutes a form of policing which is responsive, accountable and sustainable. Whilst ulinzi shirikishi is widely credited with having improved local safety, it has proved difficult to sustain collective action through community policing and the costs and benefits of participation have been unequally distributed across ‘communities’. These outcomes should be understood in terms of the context of how local development is organised and understood in Tanzania. Firstly, existing local governance institutions lack transparency and meaningful accountability mechanisms and are highly dependent upon personal preferences and capacity. Secondly, local development is politicised and liable to become subject to inter-party competition. Thirdly, historical understandings of ‘participation’ in Tanzania tend to emphasise obligation and material contributions rather than popular influence over initiatives, however this is increasingly being contested in today’s multiparty context. The apparent shortcomings of community policing are not necessarily inconsistent with police objectives for the reform, which often prioritise cost-effective crime prevention rather than the reorientation and ‘democratisation’ of policing envisaged by advocates of community policing

Sex differences in the use of social information emerge under conditions of risk

The research was funded by a John Templeton Foundation grant, awarded to lead principal investigators Kevin Laland (School of Biology, University of St Andrews) and Andrew Whiten (School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews).Social learning provides an effective route to gaining up-to-date information, particularly when information is costly to obtain asocially. Theoretical work predicts that the willingness to switch between using asocial and social sources of information will vary between individuals according to their risk tolerance. We tested the prediction that, where there are sex differences in risk tolerance, altering the variance of the payoffs of using asocial and social information differentially influences the probability of social information use by sex. In a computer-based task that involved building a virtual spaceship, men and women (N = 88) were given the option of using either asocial or social sources of information to improve their performance. When the asocial option was risky (i.e., the participant’s score could markedly increase or decrease) and the social option was safe (i.e., their score could slightly increase or remain the same), women, but not men, were more likely to use the social option than the asocial option. In all other conditions, both women and men preferentially used the asocial option to a similar degree. We therefore found both a sex difference in risk aversion and a sex difference in the preference for social information when relying on asocial information was risky, consistent with the hypothesis that levels of risk-aversion influence the use of social information.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Clemson Libraries Inclusive Description Task Force Report

This report summarizes the findings of the Inclusive Description Task Force presented to the Libraries administration in December 2022. It serves as the final deliverable of the Task Force that outlines the research completed from July to December, presents recommendations on how Clemson Libraries can systemically implement inclusive description practices across all descriptive records, and lists the next steps and prioritized tasks to complete

Ephrin/Eph receptor interaction facilitates macrophage recognition of differentiating human erythroblasts

Erythropoiesis is one of the most efficient cellular processes in the human body producing approximately 2.5 million red blood cells every second. This process occurs in a bone marrow niche comprised of a central resident macrophage surrounded by differentiating erythroblasts, termed an erythroblastic island. It is not known what initially attracts the macrophage to erythroblasts to form these islands. The ephrin/EPH receptor family are known to regulate heterophilic cell-cell adhesion. We find that human VCAM1+ and VCAM1- bone marrow macrophages and in vitro cultured macrophages are ephrin-B2 positive, whereas differentiating human erythroblasts express EPHB4, EPHB6 and EPHA4. Furthermore, we detect a rise in integrin activation on erythroblasts at the stage at which the cells bind which is independent of EPH receptor presence. Using a live cell imaging assay, we show that specific inhibitory peptides or shRNA depletion of EPHB4 cause a significant reduction in the ability of macrophages to interact with erythroblasts but does not affect integrin activation. This study demonstrates for the first time that EPHB4 expression is required on erythroblasts to facilitate the initial recognition and subsequent interaction with macrophages, alongside the presence of active integrins

Misunderstandings, communicative expectations and resources in illness narratives: Insights from beyond interview transcripts.

Interactional misunderstandings in interviews are often glossed over in analysing narratives, so overlooking important clues about how interactants frame the interview discussion. Such misunderstandings will influence ongoing talk, shaping knowledge researchers produce about participants. We discuss whether interpretations of illness narratives may be enhanced if we analyse misunderstandings in conjunction with other contextually-available data not visible within interview transcripts. Using research interviews with people with asthma, we adopted linguistic ethnographic methods to analyse the manifestation and specific consequences of interactional tensions and misunderstandings between interviewer and interviewee. Misunderstandings can indicate inequalities in communicative expectations and discursive resources available to interactants, which may lead to participants’ talk being inappropriately identified as indicating a particular narrative. Incorporating ethnographic contextual features may make visible pertinent discourses not overtly evident within interviews. This may help theorise interview talk, like health and illness narratives, as manifesting within cycles of discourse that will intersect differently in each interaction

Do antenatal preparation and obstetric complications and procedures interact to affect birth experience and postnatal mental health?

BackgroundAntenatal preparation is commonly offered to women in pregnancy in the United Kingdom, but the content is highly variable, with some programmes orientated towards 'normal birth', whilst others may incorporate information about complications and procedures (broader focus). However, the impact of this variability on birth experience has not been explored. We examined the relationship between the content of antenatal preparation received and birth experience, taking into account obstetric complications and procedures. As birth experience can have a profound impact on a mother's postnatal well-being, we also investigated associations with mothers' postnatal mood and anxiety.MethodsN = 253 first-time mothers completed a cross-sectional survey measuring demographic and clinical factors, antenatal preparation content (categorised as normality-focused or broader-focused), obstetric complications and procedures experienced, birth experience (measured using three separate indices; the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire, emotional experiences, and presence/absence of birth trauma), postnatal depression and anxiety, and qualitative information on how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected birth experience.ResultsRegarding birth experience, receiving more broader-focused preparation was associated with a more positive birth experience irrespective of complications/procedures experienced, while receiving only normality-focused preparation was beneficial in the context of fewer complications/procedures. Regarding birth trauma, receiving more broader-focused preparation was associated with lower likelihood of reporting birth as traumatic only in the context of more complications/procedures. Degree of normality-focused preparation was unrelated to experience of birth trauma. Lastly, while more complications/procedures were associated with greater anxiety and low mood, only greater normality-focused preparation was linked with better postnatal mental health.ConclusionsAntenatal preparation including both normality- and broader-focused information is positively related to women's birth experience. While normality-focused preparation seems most beneficial if fewer complications/procedures are experienced, broader-focused preparation may be most beneficial in the context of a greater number of complications/procedures. As complications/procedures are often unpredictable, offering broader-focused preparation routinely is likely to benefit women's birth experience. This antenatal preparation should be freely available and easily accessible

The Social Pain of Cancer in East Africa: Understanding Need

Cancer is both an individual physical, social and psychological crisis for a patient with one of the many forms of this category of non-communicable disease, and also a cause of deep social pain. Cancer spreads its tentacles through families and friends, social groups and the wider economy, generating stigma, financial destruction, social and psychological damage. This chapter makes the case for a very broad social understanding of cancer need, framing cancer as a whole-society problem, with psychological, social, economic and spiritual impacts much wider than the sufferer. This framing also implies greater attention to survivability and human dignity in policies, practices and provision

Macrophage Reprogramming with Anti-miR223-Loaded Artificial Protocells Enhances In Vivo Cancer Therapeutic Potential

Several immune cell‐expressed miRNAs (miRs) are associated with altered prognostic outcome in cancer patients, suggesting that they may be potential targets for development of cancer therapies. Here, translucent zebrafish (Danio rerio) is utilized to demonstrate that genetic knockout or knockdown of one such miR, microRNA‐223 (miR223), globally or specifically in leukocytes, does indeed lead to reduced cancer progression. As a first step toward potential translation to a clinical therapy, a novel strategy is described for reprogramming neutrophils and macrophages utilizing miniature artificial protocells (PCs) to deliver anti‐miRs against the anti‐inflammatory miR223. Using genetic and live imaging approaches, it is shown that phagocytic uptake of anti‐miR223‐loaded PCs by leukocytes in zebrafish (and by human macrophages in vitro) effectively prolongs their pro‐inflammatory state by blocking the suppression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, which, in turn, drives altered immune cell‐cancer cell interactions and ultimately leads to a reduced cancer burden by driving reduced proliferation and increased cell death of tumor cells. This PC cargo delivery strategy for reprogramming leukocytes toward beneficial phenotypes has implications also for treating other systemic or local immune‐mediated pathologies

Challenging Social Cognition Models of Adherence:Cycles of Discourse, Historical Bodies, and Interactional Order

Attempts to model individual beliefs as a means of predicting how people follow clinical advice have dominated adherence research, but with limited success. In this article, we challenge assumptions underlying this individualistic philosophy and propose an alternative formulation of context and its relationship with individual actions related to illness. Borrowing from Scollon and Scollon’s three elements of social action – “historical body,” “interaction order,” and “discourses in place” – we construct an alternative set of research methods and demonstrate their application with an example of a person talking about asthma management. We argue that talk- or illness-related behavior, both viewed as forms of social action, manifest themselves as an intersection of cycles of discourse, shifting as individuals move through these cycles across time and space. We finish by discussing how these dynamics of social action can be studied and how clinicians might use this understanding when negotiating treatment with patients