An Assessment Of Effectiveness Of School Feeding Programs In Primary Schools: A Case Study of Ilala Municipal Council.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the School Feeding Programs in Tanzanian primary schools. The study posed four investigative questions which were answered in order to attain the research objectives. The range of the research questions were such as what extent does implication of SFPs adhere to policies and strategies? How government executes its roles and functions relating to SFPs? Do stakeholders and schools capable to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy? And what are the factors affecting effective implementation of SFPs? The results obtain in the study indicated that established the extent to which SFPs adhere to policies and strategies, how government executes its roles and functions relating to SFPs, whether stakeholders and schools were capable to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy and factors affecting effective implementation of SFPs. Based on the findings, it was concluded that amidst the fact that there are well planned policies and strategies for govern SFPs in the Tanzania, generally, SFPs is ineffective. The ineffectiveness was mainly due to the weakness of the government to execute its roles and functions relating to SFPs as well as incapability of stakeholders and schools to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy. With regard to the weakness of government, stakeholders and schools to support sustainability of SFPs; effective implementation of SFPs has been affected by inadequate fund to run SFPs, perceived high cost of operating SFPs and maladministration among other factors

Experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape province

This study aimed to explore the experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province. This study also endeavoured to answer the following research questions: (i). what are the challenges encountered by unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province? (ii). what are government official's perceptions on experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape? (iii) What are the implications of denial of access of unmarried fathers to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province? This study adopted a qualitative approach within a phenomenological case study research design. A sample of forty participants comprising twenty unmarried biological fathers, seven statutory social workers, three presiding officers of children's court and ten cultural custodians was interviewed. The study revealed the following challenges: payment of pregnancy damages and bride price, unemployment, conflict with the maternal family, poverty, psycho-emotional breakdown, cultural responsibilities, terminated intimate partner relationship with the mother of the child, financial constraints, and lack of emotional and moral intelligence. The study recommends the development of a new 'family policy' to ensure integration of customary cultural practices and the legislative frameworks to provide a detailed parental-document to assist the new generation of parents in maintaining good parenting relations. Further, the study recommends the establishment of champions against absent and uninvolved fathers, where young men will explore fatherhood roles and develop educational and preventative strategies.Thesis (MSW) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202

Experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape province

This study aimed to explore the experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province. This study also endeavoured to answer the following research questions: (i). what are the challenges encountered by unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province? (ii). what are government official's perceptions on experiences of unmarried fathers who are denied access to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape? (iii) What are the implications of denial of access of unmarried fathers to their biological children among amaXhosa communities in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape Province? This study adopted a qualitative approach within a phenomenological case study research design. A sample of forty participants comprising twenty unmarried biological fathers, seven statutory social workers, three presiding officers of children's court and ten cultural custodians was interviewed. The study revealed the following challenges: payment of pregnancy damages and bride price, unemployment, conflict with the maternal family, poverty, psycho-emotional breakdown, cultural responsibilities, terminated intimate partner relationship with the mother of the child, financial constraints, and lack of emotional and moral intelligence. The study recommends the development of a new 'family policy' to ensure integration of customary cultural practices and the legislative frameworks to provide a detailed parental-document to assist the new generation of parents in maintaining good parenting relations. Further, the study recommends the establishment of champions against absent and uninvolved fathers, where young men will explore fatherhood roles and develop educational and preventative strategies.Thesis (MSW) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

African Linguistics in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the Nordic Countries

Non peer reviewe

AN ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS OF SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN TANZANIA: A CASE OF ILALA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the School Feeding Programs in Tanzanian primary schools. The study posed four investigative questions which were answered in order to attain the research objectives. The range of the research questions were such as what extent does implication of SFPs adhere to policies and strategies? How government executes its roles and functions relating to SFPs? Do stakeholders and schools capable to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy? And what are the factors affecting effective implementation of SFPs? The results obtain in the study indicated that established the extent to which SFPs adhere to policies and strategies, how government executes its roles and functions relating to SFPs, whether stakeholders and schools were capable to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy and factors affecting effective implementation of SFPs. Based on the findings, it was concluded that amidst the fact that there are well planned policies and strategies for govern SFPs in the Tanzania, generally, SFPs is ineffective. The ineffectiveness was mainly due to the weakness of the government to execute its roles and functions relating to SFPs as well as incapability of stakeholders and schools to take up designated roles as stipulated in the policy. With regard to the weakness of government, stakeholders and schools to support sustainability of SFPs; effective implementation of SFPs has been affected by inadequate fund to run SFPs, perceived high cost of operating SFPs and maladministration among other factors

A study on synchrony effects for adaptive HMI design : Effect on alertness, mental workload, situation awareness and performances

Le domaine des Interactions Homme Machine (IHM) s’intéresse dès ses débuts aux différences interindividuelles et à leurs effets sur la performance. Pour répondre aux difficultés posées par ces variabilités pour la conception, 3 grands types d’IHM sont catégorisés :Les IHM adaptées, les IHM adaptables et les IHM adaptatives prenant en compte des particularités propres à l’utilisateur courant.L’implémentation de cette dernière catégorie nécessite le concours de plusieurs disciplines pour déterminer les facteurs à prendre en considération par rapport à la tâche et à l’activité en cours et proposer des modèles utilisateurs de l’état de l’opérateur afin de modifier l’IHM. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux variabilités inter et intra-individuelles grâce à l'étude des effets de synchronie (moment de la journée optimal ou non en fonction du chronotype de l'individu considéré (matinal/intermédiaire/vespéral)) et du niveau de vigilance sur les performances. Les effets de synchronie ont été étudiés dans des domaines comme le marketing, mais sont peu étudiés en IHM. Une expérimentation a été réalisée auprès de 62 participants et a permis d’étudier les effets du moment de la journée, du chronotype et de la difficulté de la tâche sur les performances à une tâche de simulation de navigation. Les résultats obtenus montrent des effets significatifs de ces facteurs sur la performance et l'état fonctionnel de l'opérateur avec des sensibilités différentes en fonction de l'indicateur considéré. Cela permet d'envisager des possibilités de recommandations pour la prise en considération de ces facteurs lors de la conception d'IHM adaptatives.The field of Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) has been interested in interindividual differences and its effect on performance since the beginning. To address the challenges posed by these variabilities in the design process, 3 types of HMI have been categorized:User-adapted HMIs, adaptable HMIs, and adaptive HMIs taking into account the current user’s characteristics. The implementation of this last category needs the support of several disciplines in order to determine the factors to take into consideration in relation to the current task and activity and products user models of the operator’s state so as to adjust the HMI accordingly. In this thesis, we were interested in interindividual and intraindividual variabilities via the study of synchrony effects (optimal or suboptimal time of day according to the considered individual’s chronotype (morning type/intermediary type/evening type)) and the level of alertness on performances. The synchrony effects have been studied in other fields such as marketing but are very under-studied in the HMI field. An experiment has been conducted with 62 participants in order to study the effect of time-of-day, chronotype and task difficulty on performances during a navigational simulation task. The results show significative effect of these factors on performance and operator’s functional state with different sensibilities depending on the indicator used, which allows possible recommendations on the consideration of those factors in adaptive HMI design

Challenges and opportunities for hydrological drought mitigation in the Anthropocene : the case of the Upper Tana Basin in Kenya

Drought is a complex natural hazard that is increasingly causing major socio-economic and environmental losses across the globe. The arrival of the Anthropocene (human modified era) has complicated how the drought propagates from meteorological to hydrological. A number of recent studies have indicated that hydrological drought is not only caused by natural climate variability, but it is increasingly influenced and modified by human activities. Mitigating human induced or modified hydrological drought is a non-trivial challenge. In the light of this, this research presents a case study of a heavily modified catchment in Kenya, the Upper Tana basin. Kenya has experienced more than 30 droughts in the last 100 years, with the 2009-2011 drought event being the worst in 60 years. Using precipitation, temperature and runoff data (1976-2016), Standard drought indices, including SPEI/SPI and SRI, were used to characterize meteorological and hydrological droughts. Reservoir levels were also analysed. Drought features such as severity, lag, pooling, attenuation and lengthening, were identified. These are of practical importance to understanding drought impacts and mitigation options. A socio-hydrological framework was utilized to understand the feedbacks between the water users and hydrological droughts. This was done through qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, administered to 42 respondents, seeking to know how they were impacted by hydrological droughts and how they mitigated the impacts, as well as understanding any feedback loops. Results indicated a notable increase in frequency, severity and duration of meteorological and hydrological droughts from the 1990s. Satisfactory cross-correlation values of r, ~0.50, between SPI/SPEI and SRI, across the basin, at one month lag, indicated that it took one month for meteorological drought to be observed in the streamflow. The feedbacks resulting from the interplay between the water users and hydrological droughts revealed that measures implemented by the water users, aggravated the drought situation on the one hand, while others alleviated it. Unplanned consequences due to increased and unregulated surface and groundwater abstractions and cultivating on the riparian zone were identified. It was, however, not possible to ascertain the percentage with which human activities aggravate or alleviate hydrological drought impacts. This requires further research Monitoring of hydrological drought, in a human-influenced catchment like the Upper Tana basin, was a challenge due to limited institutional, human, knowledge and technological capacities, among others. Therefore, it is recommended that among the possible actions and approaches that a hydrological drought monitoring and early warning system is essential. In addition, monitoring of water demands against the available resources and proactive governance and regulating of human activities is recommended. Besides, the co-development of hydrological drought products and climate services, timely communication of hydrological drought information and bridging the gap between society, science (information providers) and politics is further recommended. This research contributes towards a foundation for further exploration of feedbacks between hydrological droughts and society in the Anthropocene. While this research was developed in the Upper Tana basin, the approach is equally applicable to other basins in the world. The research also contributes to the activities of the Scientific Decade (2013-2022), named “Phanta Rhei”, that promotes research activities that bridge the gap between the natural and social science (socio-hydrology) and between science and practice

Étude de l'effet de synchronie pour la conception d'IHM adaptatives : Effet sur la vigilance, la charge mentale, la conscience de la situation et les performances

The field of Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) has been interested in interindividual differences and its effect on performance since the beginning. To address the challenges posed by these variabilities in the design process, 3 types of HMI have been categorized:User-adapted HMIs, adaptable HMIs, and adaptive HMIs taking into account the current user’s characteristics. The implementation of this last category needs the support of several disciplines in order to determine the factors to take into consideration in relation to the current task and activity and products user models of the operator’s state so as to adjust the HMI accordingly. In this thesis, we were interested in interindividual and intraindividual variabilities via the study of synchrony effects (optimal or suboptimal time of day according to the considered individual’s chronotype (morning type/intermediary type/evening type)) and the level of alertness on performances. The synchrony effects have been studied in other fields such as marketing but are very under-studied in the HMI field. An experiment has been conducted with 62 participants in order to study the effect of time-of-day, chronotype and task difficulty on performances during a navigational simulation task. The results show significative effect of these factors on performance and operator’s functional state with different sensibilities depending on the indicator used, which allows possible recommendations on the consideration of those factors in adaptive HMI design.Le domaine des Interactions Homme Machine (IHM) s’intéresse dès ses débuts aux différences interindividuelles et à leurs effets sur la performance. Pour répondre aux difficultés posées par ces variabilités pour la conception, 3 grands types d’IHM sont catégorisés :Les IHM adaptées, les IHM adaptables et les IHM adaptatives prenant en compte des particularités propres à l’utilisateur courant.L’implémentation de cette dernière catégorie nécessite le concours de plusieurs disciplines pour déterminer les facteurs à prendre en considération par rapport à la tâche et à l’activité en cours et proposer des modèles utilisateurs de l’état de l’opérateur afin de modifier l’IHM. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux variabilités inter et intra-individuelles grâce à l'étude des effets de synchronie (moment de la journée optimal ou non en fonction du chronotype de l'individu considéré (matinal/intermédiaire/vespéral)) et du niveau de vigilance sur les performances. Les effets de synchronie ont été étudiés dans des domaines comme le marketing, mais sont peu étudiés en IHM. Une expérimentation a été réalisée auprès de 62 participants et a permis d’étudier les effets du moment de la journée, du chronotype et de la difficulté de la tâche sur les performances à une tâche de simulation de navigation. Les résultats obtenus montrent des effets significatifs de ces facteurs sur la performance et l'état fonctionnel de l'opérateur avec des sensibilités différentes en fonction de l'indicateur considéré. Cela permet d'envisager des possibilités de recommandations pour la prise en considération de ces facteurs lors de la conception d'IHM adaptatives

La tolérance en contexte tri-identitaire africain : au miroir de Rainer Forst

Africa, at the crossroad of three powerful sources of normativity, is historically and currently fragmented by ethno-cultural, Judeo-Christian, Islamic-Arabic value systems. My research treats this triple identity question and favours an egalitarian outlook on tolerance. The main focus of our demonstration lies in the validation of the idea that Africa marked by these major traditions makes the identity conflicts inevitable but paradoxically calls for their resolution. In this perspective of pacifying conflicts, tolerance faces a big challenge of embarking on a project of building up a community capable of overcoming barriers of differences, because it remains conditioned by ethical norms and values of the cultural context from which it emerges. It gives us an insight into the intricate nexus of cultural hegemony, censorship and marginalisation; community-wide harmonisation of lifestyles, discrimination and exclusion. In defending the relevance of a critically inclusive Africa, this research advances the idea that tolerance accomplishes the real task of inclusion only when it is connected to the moral imperative of general and reciprocal justification in which citizens participate equitably in addressing essential problems that concern them. Such is the great merit of the work of Rainer Forst. His theory of the right to justification should serve as a normative framework enabling human beings to reshape their common destiny and in which the learning process allows them to move beyond a world founded on uncritical assumptions in order to avoid arbitrary measures and domination it leads to. From this meta-ethical approach to humans as beings endowed with reason and language as well as from the actual three cultural resources, it is possible to draw the traits of a new form of identities which welcomes the alterity of the other and rejects all forms of extremism.Au croisement des trois dominantes sources de normativité, l’Afrique est historiquement et présentement fragmentée entre les labels ethnoculturel, judéo-chrétien, islamo-arabe. Ce travail de thèse met en évidence cette question tri-identitaire et privilégie un régime égalitaire de tolérance. Le cœur de la démonstration repose sur la validation de l’idée que l’Afrique, empreinte de ces traditions majeures, rend possible le conflit identitaire, mais paradoxalement elle en appelle aussi à sa résolution. Dans cette perspective pacifiante du conflit, la tolérance peine pourtant à réaliser le projet d'un monde commun par-delà les différences, étant conditionnée par les codes et valeurs éthiques du milieu dans lequel elle émerge. Il en ressort une vision de l’entrelacement entre hégémonie culturelle, censure et marginalisation ; communautarisation des modes de vie, discrimination et exclusion. En soutenant la pertinence d’une Afrique réflexivement inclusive, le travail appuie l’idée que la tolérance n’accomplit l’œuvre d'inclusion véritable que si elle est liée à l'impératif moral de justification générale et réciproque dans lequel les citoyens participent égalitairement au traitement des questions qui les concernent essentiellement. C'est là l’œuvre de Rainer Forst. Sa théorie de droit à la justification doit en effet être tenue pour un cadre normatif qui remodèle les humains et dans lequel le processus d’apprentissage leur permet de dépasser un monde en proie à l’arbitraire et à la domination, enchevêtré de certitudes non questionnées. De cet angle d’approche méta-éthique des humains comme êtres de raison et de langage, mais aussi de certaines ressources immanentes aux trois traditions culturelles en présence, il devient possible de tracer les lignes d’une nouvelle forme des identités qui s’ouvrent à l’altérité de l’autre et résistent à l’extrémisme de tout bord.(ISP - Institut supérieur de philosophie) -- UCL, 201