Entrepreneurs and Expertise: Making Post-Communist Capitalism in Poland

Also CSST Working Paper #89.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51255/1/489.pd

Repositioning Strategies And Performance Of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Firms In Kenya

Manufacturing in Kenya was identified as one of the four pillars in the Big 4 Agenda that was expected to spur economic growth due to its strong forward and backward linkages with other sectors of the economy. However, statistics show that there has been a downward trend on performance of firms manufacturing fast moving consumer goods. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the effect of repositioning strategies (image repositioning, intangible repositioning, tangible repositioning and product repositioning) on performance of firms manufacturing fast moving consumer goods in Kenya. The study used a causal research design. The target population was 193 firms for the period 2016 to 2021. Data was analyzed through regression analysis. The study findings indicated that an increase in adoption of both image repositioning and intangible repositioning strategies resulted to a significant increase in both annual sales and return on assets of firms manufacturing fast moving consumer goods. In addition, the study found that tangible repositioning strategy and product repositioning strategy had insignificant effect on both sales and return on assets. Based on the findings, the study recommends that management of fast moving consumer goods firms increase their investment in adoption of image and intangible repositioning strategies given their positive and significant effect on both sales and return on assets

Assessment of Household Status and Determination of the Measures Used to Overcome Food Insecurity in Kuria East Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya

The issue of food security has been of fundamental importance in the world. As a basic need, food has been a major discussion issue in many round tables held by food organizations like FAO, WFP and governments in Kenya. The aim of this paper is to assess household food status and determination of the measures used to overcome food insecurity in Kuria East Sub County, Kenya. A sample of 316 households was picked through systematic sampling technique from Kegonga and Ntimaru divisions. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the required data from household heads. The assessment of household food status was assessed based on the proportion of household land under food production and the measures used to overcome food insecurity situation was assessed based on various means used by household to acquire food during food shortage. The assessment of household food status was analysed by descriptive analysis (cross tabulation and percentages) while the measures used to overcome food insecurity situation was analysed using descriptive analysis (percentages). The data analysis showed that majority of households owned small proportion of land (1.1-2.0 acres) under food production. 83.9% (majority) offered labour services in return for food, 81.9% sold cash crop/livestock to buy food while 66.9% purchased food by selling their assets, 66.9% bought food from their fellow farmers and 43.7% borrowed food from their neighbours and relatives. The study recommended that the County government to create adequate employment opportunities both on-farm and off-farm so as to improve food purchasing power among households in the study area. Keywords: Food security, Households, Food Productio

Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness

What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place

Taste and Smell Abnormalities in Advanced Cancer: Negative Impact on Subjective Food Intake

Background: Taste and smell abnormalities (TSAs) are present in all cancer stages and may contribute to malnutrition. Despite this, they are rarely screened for. This study examined the prevalence and characteristics of TSAs and their influence on subjective food intake in advanced cancer. Methods: Consecutive patients with advanced cancer were recruited. A modified Taste and Smell Survey assessed subjective TSAs. Objective TSAs were assessed with validated taste strips and Sniffin Sticks. A six-item food intake questionnaire identified any effect TSAs had on food preferences/aversions. Nutrition status was evaluated with the abridged Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment. Results: All 30 participants had either subjective or objective TSAs. The prevalence of TSAs varied based on the assessment tool used. Participants were more aware of taste changes (TCs) than smell changes (SCs). TCs caused reduced food intake in 13 participants. Six reported SCs affected food intake. Food choices caused by TSAs were inconsistent. Some foods preferred because of TSAs were avoided by other participants. None received nutrition counseling on TSA management. Almost all were at malnutrition risk (97%). Almost half (47%) felt TSAs reduced quality of life (QoL). Participants reported not looking forward to meals and can\u27t sit down and eat anything because of TSAs. Conclusion: TSAs were highly prevalent and impactful on food intake. Both TCs and SCs were complex and varied on an individual basis. Despite the effect on health and QoL, no patients received any nutrition counseling on TSA management. Individualized screening and advice are needed for TSAs in advanced cancer

The economic, educational, and social effects of the shift in the character of the tax support of the Florida public schools

To many people the implications of taxation for the support of public schools are far too complicated to be widely discussed by anyone who is neither a finance expert nor a dependent school administrator. This shibboleth has acted somewhat as a brake on improving the methods of financing Florida's public schools when the need and the circumstances demanded an increase in funds. The old story of cause and effect was indelibly written into school history in Florida and the effects which may be identified as economic, educational, and social are even now being experienced

Subjective and Objective Assessment of Taste and Smell Sensation in Advanced Cancer

Context: Taste and smell abnormalities (TSA) occur throughout the cancer trajectory regardless of cancer primary site and contribute to cancer-associated malnutrition. TSA etiology is poorly understood. Tumor-related inflammation is a possible cause. Objective: This study examined the prevalence, characteristics, and severity of TSA in advanced cancer and explored the relationship between TSA and nutritional status. No previous study combined subjective and objective measures for both taste and smell assessment in this population. Method: Consecutive advanced cancer hospice patients were recruited. A modified version of the “Taste and Smell Survey” assessed subjective TSA. Validated taste strips and “Sniffin’ Sticks” were the objective measures. The abridged patient-generated subjective global assessment evaluated nutritional status. Results: A 93% prevalence of TSA in 30 patients with advanced cancer was identified. When subjective and objective evaluations were combined, 28 had taste abnormalities, 24 smell abnormalities, and 24 both. Taste changes included “persistent bad taste” (n ¼ 18) and changes in how basic tastes were perceived. Half reported smell was not “as strong” as prediagnosis, while more than half (n ¼ 16) had an objective smell abnormality. Most (97%) were at risk of malnutrition. Fatigue, dry mouth, early satiety, and anorexia were common nutrition-impact symptoms. No statistically significant relationship was found between TSA and malnutrition scores. Conclusions: TSA were highly prevalent. Subjective taste and smell changes did not always accord with objective TSA, suggesting both assessments are valuable. TSA characteristics varied, and particular foods tasted and smelled different and were not enjoyed as before. TSA are common, high-impact problems in advanced cancer

Impact of two rounds of praziquantel mass drug administration on Schistosoma mansoni infection prevalence and intensity: a comparison between community wide treatment and school based treatment in western Kenya

AbstractThis study compared the effectiveness of the community-wide treatment and school-based treatment approaches in the control of Schistosoma mansoni infections in villages with ⩾25% prevalence in western Kenya. Stool samples from first year students, 9–12year olds and adults (20–55years) were analyzed by the Kato–Katz technique for S. mansoni eggs. After two rounds of treatment, S. mansoni prevalence and intensity levels significantly declined in both treatment approaches. Prevalence comparisons between the two approaches did not show any significant differences following treatment. However, infection intensity levels in the 9–12year old school-attending pupils were significantly higher in the community-wide treatment arm than in the school-based treatment arm. Nevertheless, significant reductions in S. mansoni infection prevalence and intensity levels were achieved among school-age children regardless of the treatment approach used

Environmental drivers of aquatic macrophyte communities in southern tropical African rivers:Zambia as a case study

The first-ever extensive macrophyte survey of Zambian rivers and associated floodplain waterbodies, conducted during 2006–2012, collected 271 samples from 228 sites, mainly located in five freshwater ecoregions of the world primarily represented in Zambia. The results supported the hypothesis that variation in macrophyte community structure (measured as species composition and diversity) in southern tropical African river systems, using Zambia as a case study area, is driven primarily by geographical variation in water physico-chemical conditions. In total, 335 macrophyte taxa were recorded, and a chronological cumulative species records curve for the dataset showed no sign of asymptoting: clearly many additional macrophyte species remain to be found in Zambian rivers. Emergent macrophytes were predominant (236 taxa), together with 26 floating and 73 submerged taxa. Several species were rare in a regional or international context, including two IUCN Red Data List species: Aponogeton rehmanii and Nymphaea divaricata. Ordination and classification analysis of the data found little evidence for temporal change in vegetation, at repeatedly-sampled sites, but strong evidence for the existence of seven groups of samples from geographically-varied study sites. These supported differing sets of vegetation (with eight species assemblages present in the sample-groups) and showed substantial inter-group differences in both macrophyte alpha-diversity, and geographically-varying physico-chemical parameters. The evidence suggested that the main environmental drivers of macrophyte community composition and diversity were altitude, stream order, shade, pH, alkalinity, NO3-N, and underwater light availability, while PO4-P showed slightly lower, but still significant variation between sample-groups