Going to school for the first time: inclusion committee members increasing the number of students with disabilities in primary schools in Kenya

This paper is an extension of a prior research project where Kenyan primary school teachers began using inclusive education strategies that proved beneficial for meeting the needs of diverse primary school students. Specifically, this paper highlights a project where these inclusive practices were expanded to a second region of western Kenya. This expansion of teacher training on inclusive education and critical disability studies promoted sustained school- and community-based discussions on inclusive education and sensitisation on issues related to disability. These practices also led to the development of inclusion committees, co-teaching practices, and stimulated the partial dissolution of the physical boundaries and categorical distinctions between ‘primary’ and ‘special’ schools. In conjunction, all of these factors ultimately led to an increase in the number of students with disabilities accessing any form of education for the first time. Furthermore, such approaches to the development and small-scale expansion of a sustainable inclusive education system led to the Kenyan government\u27s consideration of the replication of such practices on a national scale. As a result of this work in conjunction with a growing inclusive network of governmental and non-governmental organisations, a national review on special education policy is underway

System Elements Heterogeneity

The paper deals with the features of the systematic approach development, shows that the systematic approach lacks the definition of system elements divisibility. This fact simplifies the system description. The article shows that, depending on the selection of the criterion of divisibility, different types of elements with different properties are got. Depending on the selection of the criterion of divisibility, the system structure becomes multidimensional. The paper recommends to indicate the criterion of the system divisibility during the systems research. It increases the certainty of the description of a complex system and characterizes the system elements

Codevelopment of ADHD and externalizing behavior from childhood to adulthood

BACKGROUND: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) frequently co-occurs with externalizing disorders, but a clear understanding of the etiologic underpinnings is hampered by the limited understanding of the codevelopment of the traits from childhood into early adulthood. METHODS: Using a birth cohort of 2600 twins, the Swedish Twin study of Child and Adolescent Development study, assessed at ages 8-9, 13-14, 16-17, and 19-20, we investigated the codevelopment of ADHD and externalizing behavior from childhood to adulthood. The analyses examined ADHD-like and externalizing traits, as rated by twins and their parents using the Attention Problems scale and Externalizing scale of the Child Behavior Checklist, and estimated cross-lagged effects (one trait at one time-point predicting the other at the next). The covariation between the traits were decomposed into stable (effects carried over from the prior time-points) and innovative (new effects for each time-point) sources; each source was further decomposed into additive genetics, shared and nonshared environment. RESULTS: The analysis suggested that externalizing traits in middle childhood (age 8-9) predicted ADHD-like traits in early adolescence (age 13-14), whereas the reverse association was nonsignificant. In contrast, ADHD-like traits in lateadolescence (age 16-17) predicted externalizing traits in early adulthood (age 19-20). The correlation between ADHD-like and externalizing traits increased over time. At all time-points, innovative sources contributed substantially to maintained comorbidity. Genetic effects explained 67% of the covariation at each time-point; importantly, nearly 50% of these effects were innovative. CONCLUSIONS: This study challenges the belief that ADHD generally precedes externalizing behaviors; rather, change in the etiologic factors across the development is the rule. The effects were due to both new genetic and environmental factors emerging up to young adulthood. Clinicians and researchers needs to consider complex etiologic and developmental models for the comorbidity between ADHD and externalizing behaviors.The Swedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and WelfareThe Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social And Medical Sciences (SIMSAM)National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentAccepte

Trade Unions Strategy on Teacher Professional Development and Its Influence on Teachers Welfare in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi City County, Kenya

The study sought investigate the influence of trade unions strategy on teachers’ professional development and its influence on teachers’ welfare in public secondary schools in Nairobi city county, Kenya The study was based on the following objective; To establish the extent to which trade unions involvement in teacher professional development influence teachers’ welfare in public secondary schools in Nairobi City County, Kenya; To examine the level of influence of teachers’ professional development on teachers’ career progression; To assess the level of satisfaction by trade union involvement in sensitizing teacher professional development programs. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The target teacher population was 2236 teachers in 87 public secondary schools, 11 KNUT and 7 KUPPET officials. Thirty percent target sample consisted of size of 671 in 26 secondary schools. Teachers and schools were stratified per Sub-County and selected by simple random sampling method. Both KUPPET and KNUT officials were purposively sampled for they possessed special information relevant to the study. A total of three KNUT officials and two KUPPET official were purposively sampled. Data was collected by interview guide for the union officials. The data was descriptively analyzed and presented in frequency tables, bar graphs and pie charts. For interviews, audio recorded responses were listened to, transcribed into texts, compared with field notes and presented as direct quotations, verbatim and discussions. Content validity of the research instruments was ascertained by a team of experts in the field of Educational administration and through piloting of questionnaires. Reliability of the instruments was ascertained by a test-re test technique and a coefficient of stability for teachers’ questionnaire found to be 0.785. Permission to collect data in Nairobi County was granted by the National Council of Science and Technology. The study established that a majority of teachers (M=3.27, SD=1.22) agreed that trade unions are involved in teacher professional development. The study established that professional development on teachers’ career progression was influential representing 41.3 percent. 40.4 percent of teachers were not satisfied on unions involvement in sensitizing teachers on professional development programs. Trade unions also offer performance certificates to teachers representing 65.8 percent. There was a positive correlation (r=0.815**, p=0.003<0.05) between unions’ strategy on teachers’ professional development and teachers’ welfare. The study established that trade unions strategies of teachers’ professional development, influenced the welfare of teachers in public secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. Keywords: Teachers trade unions, teachers’ professional development, public secondary schools DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-27-04 Publication date:September 30th 2022

Twin and family studies on the development of cognitive and externalizing problems

Cognitive and externalizing problems are responsible for much personal suffering, as well as large monetary costs for society. Intervention and prevention efforts have often failed in reduction of unwanted behaviors, perhaps due to lack of understanding of the development of these complex traits. Studies on risk factors often treat the associations naively by not considering potential unmeasured common causes of the risk factor and the outcome. These common causes may be shared within families; i.e., the association is subject to familial confounding. Analyses informed of family belonging can help to further the knowledge regarding causality. Therefore, in this thesis, I used existing, and developed novel, methodologies to assess familial confounding. Models to adjust for familial confounding, as well as models identifying sources of familial confounding, were implemented. Further, I developed a genetically sensitive longitudinal design with multiple raters and time-points. In study I, advancing paternal age was associated with offspring violent offending. Advancing paternal age was found to increase the incidence of violent criminal convictions among re-offending offspring when siblings were compared; a result congruent with causal inference. Contrary, and congruent with non-causal inference, advancing paternal age did not increase the probability to ever be convicted a violent criminal offence Study II identified an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) and offspring stress coping in late adolescence. However, the association did not persist when exposure-discordant siblings were compared. This result is compatible with anon-causal interpretation, and suggests that the association is due to familial confounding; other factors shared between siblings accounts for the association. In a quantitative genetic analysis these factors were found to be of genetic origin. Study III continued the investigation of SDP, this time as a risk factor for cognitive outcomes (general cognitive ability and poor academic achievement), externalizing outcomes (criminal convictions, violent criminal convictions, and drug misuse), and pregnancy related outcomes (birth weight, preterm birth, and born small for gestational age). SDP was associated with all outcomes, but within-sibling analyses found that the association persisted only for pregnancy related outcomes, and disappeared for cognitive and externalizing outcomes. Quantitative genetic analyses found that genetics accounted for the majority of the association between SDP and cognitive and externalizing outcomes. In study IV externalizing traits in mid-childhood were found to predict ADHD-like traits in adolescence when pre-existing associations were adjusted for. Further, ADHD- like traits in late adolescence predicted externalizing behavior in young adult age. The two traits were correlated in mid-childhood (age 8-9), and become even more correlated through early (age 13-14) and late (age 16-17) adolescence and young adult age (age 19-20). Stable and new factors accounted for approximately half of the correlation between the traits each, throughout development. Genetic variation explained two thirds of the correlations. In conclusion, advancing paternal age might increase the rate of violent offending among violent re-offenders. SDP does not seem to be causing offspring cognitive and externalizing problems in adolescence and adulthood; the observed associations are better explained by shared genetic factors. Externalizing behavior predicts ADHD early in development, and ADHD predicts externalizing behavior late in development. And, although new sources of covariance arise throughout development, ADHD- like and externalizing traits become even more correlated from childhood to young adulthood

Paternal antisocial behavior and sons' cognitive ability : a population-based quasiexperimental study

Parents’ antisocial behavior is associated with developmental risks for the offspring but effects on cognitive ability are unknown. We used linked Swedish register data for a large sample of adolescent men (N = 1,177,173) and their parents to estimate associations between fathers’ criminal convictions and sons’ cognitive ability assessed at compulsory military conscription. Mechanisms behind the association were tested in children-of-siblings models across three types of sibling fathers (half-siblings, full-siblings, and monozygotic twins) with increasing genetic relatedness, and in quantitative genetic models. Fathers’ convictions associated with lower cognitive ability in sons (any crime: Cohen’s d = -.28; violent crimes: Cohen’s d = -.49). Adjusting for more genetic factors gradually reduced and eventually eliminated the association. Nuclear family environmental factors did not contribute to the association. Our results suggest that the association between paternal antisocial behavior and offspring cognitive ability is not causal but mostly due to underlying genetic factors.The Alfred Kordelin FoundationThe Swedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and WelfareAccepte

AMIGO and its friends in developing and adult brain

The purpose for this PhD research is to find a novel gene induced by neurite outgrowth on amphoterin substrate. The finding was a gene that codes type-I transmembrane protein with six leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs and one immunoglobulin domain followed by a short cytoplasmic tail. We named this gene as amphoterin-induced gene and ORF (Amigo). Further characterization of AMIGO protein revealed that AMIGO itself is a neurite outgrowth promoting factor and it is also required for the fasciculation of neurites both in vitro and in vivo. The mode of these functions was shown to be homophilic, which puts AMIGO in a group of homophilic cell adhesion molecules. We crystallized the extracellular domain of AMIGO to elucidate the mechanism for its functions. AMIGO crystallized as a homophilic dimer where the concave face of the LRR domain was the interface for dimerization. The isolation of Amigo allowed us to characterize two other homologous genes called Amigo2 and Amigo3 and together they form the novel Amigo gene family. AMIGO protein was found to be an auxiliary subunit of the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv2.1 in adult animals. AMIGO mediates the regulation of the voltage-gating properties of Kv2.1. This AMIGO/Kv2.1 interaction was also studied at the whole animal level by using Amigo knockout mice whereby the lack of Amigo changed voltage-gated potassium currents and resulted in behavioral problems related to human schizophrenia. All these findings suggest that AMIGO has two separate roles in the central nervous system (CNS). First, AMIGO is a homophilic adhesion molecule that supports neurite outgrowth and fasciculation of the neurites during development. Second, the AMIGO regulates the properties of the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv2.1 in the mature CNS.Väitöskirjatutkimuksen tarkoitus oli löytää uusi aivospesifinen geeni, joka ilmentyy neuriittien ulokekasvun aikana amphoteriini alustalla. Löytönä näistä kokeista oli ennen julkaisematon geeni joka koodaa tyypin I solukalvoproteiinia. Löydetty proteiini muodostuu solunulkoisista leusiinirikkaasta toistoalueesta sekä immunoglobuliini -domeenista sekä lyhyestä solunsisäisestä osasta. Geeni nimettiin toimestamme Amigoksi (amphoterin-induced gene and ORF). AMIGO proteiini osoittautui tutkimuksissamme neuriittien ulokekasvua lisääväksi tekijäksi ja sen todettiin olevan osallisena neuriittien kimppuuntumisessa sekä soluviljelyssä että eläinmalleissa. AMIGO osoittautui kokeissamme olevan homofiilinen solujen adheesiomolekyyli yksilönkehityksen aikana. Tämä homofiilinen sitoutuminen ilmeni myös tekemissämme rakennetutkimuksissa. AMIGO kiteytettiin sen tarkemman rakenteen selvittämiseksi, jolloin paljastui, että AMIGO muodostaa dimeerin leusiinirikkaan toistoalueen kautta. Amigo geenin löytäminen mahdollisti myös kahden sukulaismolekyylin tunnistamisen sekvenssitietokannoista. Nämä kaksi muuta geeniä nimettiin Amigo2:ksi ja Amigo3:ksi ja yhdessä nämä kolme geeniä muodostavat uuden Amigo geeniperheen. Aikuisessa eläimessä AMIGO osoittautui olevan osa jänniteohjattua kaliumkanavaa Kv2.1. Tässä roolissa AMIGO säätää Kv2.1 -kanavan jänniteohjausta. AMIGOn ja Kv2.1:den välistä kanssakäymistä tutkittiin myös eläintasolla analysoimalla tekemäämme Amigo poistogeenistä hiirtä. Amigon poistaminen hiirestä sai aikaa muutoksia jänniteohjatuissa kaliumvirroissa sekä käyttäytymishäiriöitä, jotka muistuttavat ihmisen vastaavia skitsofreniassa. Tutkimustuloksemme viittaavat että AMIGOlla on kaksijakoinen rooli keskushermostossa. Kehityksen aikana AMIGO osallistuu neuriittien kasvuun ja kimppuuntumiseen homofiilisenä soluadheesiomolekyylinä. Puolestaan aikuisessa keskushermostossa AMIGO toimii jänniteohjatun Kv2.1 kaliumkanavan säätelijänä

Cognitive ability and risk for substance misuse in men : genetic and environmental correlations in a longitudinal nation-wide family study.

Aims. To investigate the association between cognitive ability in late adolescence and subsequent substance misuse-related events in men, and to study the underlying genetic and environmental correlations. Design. A population-based longitudinal study with three different family-based designs. Cox proportional hazards models were conducted to investigate the association at the individual level. Bivariate quantitative genetic modeling in (1) full brothers and maternal half-brothers, (2) full brothers reared together and apart, and (3) monozygotic and dizygotic twin brothers was used to estimate genetic and environmental correlations. Setting. Register-based study in Sweden. Participants. The full sample included 1,402,333 Swedish men born 1958-1991 and conscripted at mean age 18.2 (SD=0.5) years. 1,361,066 men who had no substance misuse events before cognitive assessment at mandatory military conscription were included in the Cox regression models with a follow-up time of up to 35.6 years. Measures. Cognitive ability was assessed at conscription with the Swedish Enlistment Battery. Substance misuse events included alcohol and drug related court convictions, medical treatments, and deaths, available from governmental registries Findings. Lower cognitive ability in late adolescence predicted an increased risk for substance misuse events (hazard ratio [HR] for a 1-stanine unit decrease in cognitive ability: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.29-1.30). The association was somewhat attenuated within clusters of full brothers (HR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.20-1.23). Quantitative genetic analyses indicated that the association was primarily due to genetic influences; the genetic correlations ranged between -.39 (95% CI: -.45, -.34) and -.52 (-.55, -.48) in the three different designs. Conclusions. Our findings from different family designs indicate that shared genetic influences underlie the association between low cognitive ability and subsequent risk for substance misuse events.The Academy of FinlandThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare.The Swedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Research Council through the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social And Medical Sciences (SIMSAM)Manuscrip

Competencia matemática en alumnos de Segundo Grado de la Institución Educativa 16741, Kusu Kubaim, Cenepa, 2022

El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo determinar el nivel de desarrollo de la competencia matemática en alumnos de segundo grado de primaria de la institución educativa 16741 de Kusu Kubaim, Cenepa, la investigación es descriptiva simple, y fue desarrollada con la participación de 18 estudiantes matriculados en el año 2022, para la recolección de datos, se utilizó una prueba escrita EVAMAT 1, conformada por preguntas asociadas a las dimensiones de la variable de estudio; y los resultados encontrados son los siguientes: en la dimensión de numeración, el 6% alcanza el nivel alto, y el 78% se ubica en el nivel bajo; en la dimensión de comparación, el 11% se encuentra en el nivel alto, y el 61% en el nivel bajo; y en la dimensión de resolución de problemas, el 6% logra llegar al nivel alto, el 22% alcanza el nivel medio, y el 72% se ubica en el nivel bajo; en cuanto a los hallazgos asociados al género, se observa que, ninguna niña llegar al nivel alto, mientras que, en los varones, el 20% alcanza ese nivel; además, el 88% de las niñas están en el nivel bajo, frente al 60% de los niños, en ese mismo nivel; concluyendo que, los estudiantes de Kusu Kubaim, presentan dificultades en el desarrollo de sus competencias matemáticas, dado que no logran resolver ejercicios propuestos para su edad, de acuerdo al currículo nacional de educación básica

Modelo de gestión financiera para optimizar los recursos económicos y financieros de Confort Sport en la ciudad de Puyo, provincia de Pastaza

El objetivo del presente estudio es diseñar un modelo de gestión financiera para contribuir al control eficiente de los recursos económicos y financieros de Confort Sport de la ciudad de Puyo, provincia de Pastaza. En base a los métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos, de tipo no experimental longitudinal, bibliográfica, de campo, aplicada, inductiva y deductiva; se maneja técnicas, métodos e instrumentos que logra recopilar información concreta del escenario económico y financiero de la empresa. Además, se elabora un análisis financiero utilizando los estados financieros proporcionado por la empresa de los últimos tres años, identificando los niveles de liquidez, solvencia, gestión y rentabilidad. En Confort Sport no se ha planteado estrategias a corto y largo plazo por la carencia de planificación financiera y no cuenta con la base necesaria para tomar decisiones con relación a la necesidad que requiere la empresa. Por otro lado la elaboración del matiz FODA para conocer las fortalezas, debilidades, oportunidades y amenazas que posee. Ante lo presentado se plantea el modelo de gestión financiera basado en el recuadro de mando integral con el objetivo de planificar y controlar estratégicamente sus recursos. El recuadro de mando integral está compuesto por la perspectiva financiera, clientes, procesos internos y desarrollo. Cada uno de ellos constituida por factores claves de éxito, estrategias e indicadores de gestiónThe objective of this study is to design a financial management model to provide for the efficient control of the economic and financial resources of Comfort Sport in the city of Puyo, province of Pastaza. Based on quantitative and qualitative non-experimental, longitudinal, bibliographic, field- applied, inductive, and deductive methods, techniques, methods, and instruments are used to gather concrete information on the economic and financial scenario of the company. In addition, a financial analysis is conducted using the financial statements provided by the company for the last three years, identifying the levels of liquidity, solvency, management, and profitability. Short-and long-term strategies have not been proposed due to the lack of financial planning, and the company does not have the necessary basis to make decisions in relation to the needs it has. On the other hand, the elaboration of a SWOT analysis to know the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in view of the above, a financial management model based on the balanced scorecard is proposed to strategically plan and control its resources. The balanced scorecard is composed of the financial perspective, customers, internal processes, and development. Each of them is constituted by key success factors, strategies, and management indicators