From Disparity to Parity in Health” Eliminating Health Disparities - Call to Action

Shortly after Governor Mike Easley appointed her as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Carmen Hooker Odom declared eliminating health disparities a priority for the department. The Secretary charged the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities with lead responsibility for developing the DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities. A Steering Committee on the Elimination of Health Disparities was also established. The committee, which guides the work of the department in building the department’s capacity to identify and address disparities in each division, is made up of representatives from fourteen divisions and offices in DHHS. The DHHS Call to Action to Eliminate Health Disparities represents the work of the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the DHHS Steering Committee of Eliminating Health Disparities. The Call to Action provides an overview of North Carolina demographics and health disparities. Although the health status of North Carolinians has continued to improve over the last decade, the health status of a large segment of North Carolinians continues to lag behind that of the general population. Recent reports from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics document persisting racial and ethnic disparities in health status for almost all conditions. The reports show that African Americans, American Indians and Hispanics in North Carolina are more likely to be in poorer health than the White population in the state.http://communityrelations.duhs.duke.edu/wysiwyg/downloads/CallToAction.pd

Inclusive Education in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya

The sustainable development Goal 4 on Quality education aims to "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." In pursuit of this goal it is necessary for education experts and institutions in Kenya to relook at the issue of inclusive education especially in the Higher education institutions. With the adoption of laws by various Governments to support free and compulsory basic education and the expansion of human rights and anti-discrimination laws in many countries, it is prudent that the children with special needs be supported to access education just like their normal counterparts. The aim of inclusive education is to remove the historical exclusion within and outside of the school through enactment or modification of legislation, policies and educational management practices in order to promote the reorganization of the educational systems and the acceptance of all students irrespective of their differences. The main challenges to inclusive education in Kenya are; lack of policy, attitude, inadequately trained staff, learner-based challenges and inadequate resources. Governments should invest in overcoming these challenges in order to ensure equal access to education among all learners. Keywords: Special needs education, Inclusive education, Children with disabilities, Higher education, Special education DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-3-0

Determinants of the Informal Sector Performance in the Semi-Arid Areas of Kenya: Evidence from Makueni District

The general objective of this article was to investigate the factors that determine the performance of woodwork and metalwork enterprises in Makueni District. The results showed that working capital, licensing, competition and the level of education were statistically significant in determination of profits. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the government and other stakeholders should provide both financial and non-financial services at affordable rates to the small business operators and entrepreneurs. Loans inform of money or kind should be made available through relevant lending institutions to supplement the working capital. Seminars and conferences should be held to create awareness to the entrepreneurs of the various incentives and credit facilities provided by the government and other stakeholders. To reduce the level of competition, the government should allocate land to the entrepreneurs and structures put up at affordable rates

Blade fault diagnosis using artificial intelligence technique

Blade fault diagnosis is conventionally based on interpretation of vibration spectrum and wavelet map. These methods are however found to be difficult and subjective as it requires visual interpretation of chart and wavelet color map. To overcome this problem, important features for blade fault diagnosis in a multi row of rotor blade system was selected to develop a novel blade fault diagnosis method based on artificial intelligence techniques to reduce subjective interpretation. Three artificial neural network models were developed to detect blade fault, classify the type of blade fault, and locate the blade fault location. An experimental study was conducted to simulate different types of blade faults involving blade rubbing, loss of blade part, and twisted blade. Vibration signals for all blade fault conditions were measured with a sampling rate of 5 kHz under steady-state conditions at a constant rotating speed. Continuous wavelet transform was used to analyse the vibration signals and its results were used subsequently for feature extraction. Statistical features were extracted from the continuous wavelet coefficients of the rotor operating frequency and its corresponding blade passing frequencies. The extracted statistical features were grouped into three different feature sets. In addition, two new feature sets were proposed: blade statistical curve area and blade statistical summation. The effectiveness of the five different feature sets for blade fault detection, classification, and localisation was investigated. Classification results showed that the statistical features extracted from the operating frequency to be more effective for blade fault detection, classification, and localisation than the statistical features from blade passing frequencies. Feature sets of blade statistical curve area was found to be more effective for blade fault classification, while feature sets of blade statistical summation were more effective for blade fault localisation. The application of feature selection using genetic algorithm showed good accuracy performance with fewer features achieved. The neural network developed for blade fault detection, classification, and localisation achieved accuracy of 100%, 98.15% and 83.47% respectively. With the developed blade fault diagnosis methods, manual interpretation solely dependent on knowledge and the experience of individuals can be reduced. The novel methods can therefore be used as an alternative method for blade fault diagnosis

Impact of training nursing and social services students on caring for victims of human trafficking

Human trafficking is a global health issue that requires a combination of responsive intervention as well as focused identification of victims of human trafficking by social and health care professionals. Health and social welfare professionals are not equipped with competences to identify support and care for victims of human trafficking. The goal of this study was to assess whether the level of competences of social services and nursing students would improve after a lecture on identification and care for victims of human trafficking by conducting a quasi-experimental study, while the objectives of this study is to examine the effects of training social service and nursing students on the concept of human trafficking, the warning signs of human trafficking, the effects of human trafficking and the role of the social and healthcare providers in identifying victims of human trafficking. A quasi/experimental study was conducted with participants being students of Laurea University of Applied Sciences Tikkurila campus. All the participants pursued their bachelor’s degree in English. The study was conducted in three (3) parts; pre-test questionnaire, a class lecture on human trafficking followed by a post-test questionnaire. There were 85 participants, of which one participant’s questionnaire was not used. 75% of participants were female, while 25% were male. The majority of the participants, 54%, were pursuing their nursing degree while 46% were pursuing a degree in social services. The questionnaire items represented four (4) themes and the results were presented according to the themes. The data was entered in the SPSS software, descriptive statistics were used to find the mean score of the pre-test and post-test in their perspective themes. Pre-test and post-test results were measured against each other using paired sample T-tests. The results showed slight improvement in the mean scores of the pre-test and post-test. On the paired sample T-test however, significant difference was not seen on all the thematic themes. The most significant difference was seen in the theme of the role of the healthcare provider in human trafficking, which was the objective of this thesis. A developmental task is recommended to create a curriculum for nursing and social welfare studies that will focus on identification and care of victims of human trafficking. Keywords: Human trafficking, victims of human trafficking, vulnerability, trauma-informed care, trainin

Monograph No. 20: Cannabis use disorder treatment and associated health care costs in New South Wales, 2007

Aims The aim of this monograph is to estimate the costs of treatment and health care related to cannabis use disorders in New South Wales (NSW) for the year 2007. It describes the costs associated with treatment for cannabis use disorder and the health care costs attributable to cannabis use. The rationale for this study was to identify these costs for policy and other research purposes as comprehensive studies on cannabis treatment costs have not been undertaken. Specifically, the types of treatment are: Treatment in drug treatment agencies: Counselling Withdrawal management (detoxification) Residential rehabilitation Assessments (a precursor to treatment) Information and education Treatment in general practice (provided by general practitioners (GP)): GP consultations Treatment in hospitals: Cannabis-related hospital admissions Treatment of health consequences attributable to cannabis use: Schizophrenia/ psychotic disorders Low birth weight (LBW) babies in hospitals Road traffic accident casualtie

Influence of Employee Motivation on Performance of Public Universities in Kenya: A Case Study of Moi University, Nairobi Campus

Every organization exists to achieve certain goals. These goals are achieved through the efforts of employees. It is therefore, vital for every organization to know the factors that can possibly affect performance and work towards improving these factors so that performance is enhanced. The general objective of the study was to examine the influence of employee motivation on performance of public universities in Kenya, a case study of Moi University, Nairobi Campus. Specifically the study sought to determine the effect of staff training, employee remuneration and career development on performance of Moi University, Nairobi Campus. The study used a descriptive case study research design. The study population was 200 staff from Moi University; Nairobi Campus. A representative sample of 70 staff was drawn from this population using stratified random sampling. The study used questionnaire as a tool to collect the required data. The research used statistics package for social sciences (SPSS) computer package software for analysis. The data was interpreted using descriptive statistics through frequencies, percentages and regression analysis. The findings revealed that staff training offered was relevant to developing employee skills, and this was ultimately aimed at improving organizational performance. The findings also revealed that remuneration significantly influences employees’ attitude that ultimately influences their performance which also improves organizational performance. The study findings also established that career development was relevant to ensure employees are advance in their careers, and this ultimately led to improved organizational performance. The study recommends that Moi University should embark on continuous training programme for the staff, provide better terms of compensation and provide an avenue for career progression

The relationship between resilience and perceived practicum stress: the mediating role of self-efficacy

The purpose of this study is to determine the mediating role of three subdimensions of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management and students’ involvement) on the relationship between resilience and trainee teachers’ perceived practicum stress. Hypothesized multivariate model was tested using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS3.0 to determine the mediating effect self-efficacy on of these variables. The reflective measurement model analysis indicated a good statistical fit. The structural measurement model showed that resilience has a significant relationship with instructional strategies, classroom management and students’ involvement. The relationship between resilience and perceived practicum stress was also significant. However, the result showed that although classroom management was a significant mediator of the relationship between the studied variables, instructional strategies and students’ involvement were not. Hence, this implied that efficacy in classroom management enables trainee teachers to reduce perceived practicum stress more than efficacy in instructional strategies and students’ involvemen

Does NLRP3 inflammasome and aryl hydrocarbon receptor play an interlinked role in bowel inflammation and colitis-associated colorectal cancer?

Inflammation is a hallmark in many forms of cancer; with colitis-associated colorectalcancer (CAC) being a progressive intestinal inflammation due to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).While this is an exemplification of the negatives of inflammation, it is just as crucial to have somedegree of the inflammatory process to maintain a healthy immune system. A pivotal component inthe maintenance of such intestinal homeostasis is the innate immunity component, inflammasomes.Inflammasomes are large, cytosolic protein complexes formed following stimulation of microbial andstress signals that lead to the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The NOD-, LRR- and pyrindomain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome has been extensively studied in part due toits strong association with colitis and CAC. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) has recently beenacknowledged for its connection to the immune system aside from its role as an environmental sensor.AhR has been described to play a role in the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome activationpathway. This review will summarise the signalling pathways of both the NLRP3 inflammasomeand AhR; as well as new-found links between these two signalling pathways in intestinal immunityand some potential therapeutic agents that have been found to take advantage of this link in thetreatment of colitis and CAC