Teachers Challenges and Coping Mechanisms in Educating Learners with Disabilities among Some Selected Special Needs Units in Mombasa County, Kenya

Inclusion of children with disability in the special units has been a great challenge in many counties in Kenya. One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to give all Children Living with Disability (CLWD) the opportunity to participate in the least restrictive environment. However, teachers in special units face a myriad of drawbacks in handling children with disabilities in the special units. This paper addresses challenges and mitigation as viewed by the teachers working in those special units. Purposive sampling was used to sample 50 respondents (teachers). Data was collected using interviews, Focused Group Discussions (FDG) and digital recorder. Descriptive data analysis method yielded results indicating that one of the major challenges teachers faced is the in efficiency of training capacity of teachers due to various disabilities children face and this spills over to inadaptability of the curriculum. Teachers have mitigated individual based education programme as a coping mechanism

The work-life balance experiences of selected women entrepreneurs in Manzini, Swaziland.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Swazi women are becoming increasingly empowered and this is evidenced by the increase in the number of women operating small businesses. On the other hand, gender socialization in Swaziland places full responsibility of household and childcare responsibilities on the women. This presents a challenge to the Swazi woman entrepreneur of balancing business activities with household responsibilities and personal life. The qualitative methodology was used to explore the nature and extent of work-life balance challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Manzini. Data was collected in the form of 12 in-depth interviews from female salon owners operating in Manzini. The findings reveal that the women entrepreneurs face significant work-life balance challenges in the three domains. The work domain is characterized by long and extended working hours with limited schedule flexibility. In the family domain, the women struggled to fulfil household responsibilities due to fatigue and limited time. They, however, enjoyed occasional spousal support with household duties. In the personal domain, the women had limited leisure time and opted to spend it communally with the family. The personal health of the women posed the greatest challenge with frequent fatigue as well as health risks from the workplace. Swazi women entrepreneurs face considerable challenges in an attempt to balance the different domains of life

Land Fragmentation and Food Security in Ugunja Sub-County, Siaya County, Kenya

Globally, land tenure comes in different methods such as inheritance, renting, purchasing and land being offered as gift. Such practices have so far encouraged land fragmentation leading to small holdings which are uneconomical in terms of land use practices resulting into low yields. Such low food productions from small holdings in Ugunja coupled with poor food access from other sub-counties cannot sustain households up to the next harvest hence the problem of severe perennial famine which is an indicator of food insecurity.The broad objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between land fragmentation and food security in Ugunja Sub-county, Siaya County. The study was guided by the specific objectives as follows; to determine causes of land fragmentation, to evaluate the effects of land fragmentation on crop farming and livestock production and to assess attitude of farmers towards land fragmentation on food production. The study aimed at finding out challenges of small holder farmers on land fragmentation and came up with strategies and policies that promote sustainable land use. The study was anchored on Schultz inverse relationship theory on land holding sizes and productivity that also helped to develop the conceptual framework.The study adopted descriptive research designs with both qualitative and quantitative approaches majoring on field observation, purposively interviewing Land and Agriculture Ministry officials and households clustered in their respective locations through questionnaires. This was done to make the researcher be in full contact with the study area and the respondents for collection of ample data. The target population of the study was 21,150 households, from which 378 households were obtained as the study sample size. The data collected was cross tabulated by employing a statistical package for Social Science (SPSS version 19) that generated both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The major findings were as follows; most lands in the area were under ancestral tenure at 66.8%, land inheritance is the main cause of land fragmentation at 68.3%, buying at 26.3%, leasing at 2.7% and lastly land offered as a gift at 1.5%.The second findings were as follows fragmented plots results into low farm acreages which at times are scattered leading to low food production. However, the last finding on farmers attitude indicated that majority of farmers at 67% oppose land fragmentation and only 33% have positive attitude towards land fragmentation. and are able to maximize food production through biotechnological approaches. The study further concluded that small acreages leads to low yields as analysed by chi-square test on farm sizes versus crop yields([email protected]=2,p=0.05).When Rank correlation coefficient of farm sizes versus number of livestock was analysed a strong positive  relationship(R=0.99) was established, meaning reduced farm sizes leads to reduced livestock. The study recommends; government policy makers should review settlement policy plans and come up with policies that encourage land consolidation in order to promote food production through modern agricultural practices. Secondly, sensitization strategies for family planning be done to reduce population pressure on the available land. Lastly, agriculture stakeholders to offer loans and incentives to help boost production

Preparation of TiO2–MoO3 composite nanofibers by water-based electrospinning process and their application in photocatalysis

Coupling TiO2 nanofibers with other semiconductor metal oxides can effectively extend the light absorbability of TiO2 to the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This study demonstrates the synthesis of TiO2–MoO3 composite nanofibers via electrospinning using Ti and Mo water-soluble precursors. Aqueous solutions of these precursors were added to a PVP solution in N–N dimethylformamide. The mixture was electrospun, followed by annealing in air at 600 °C obtaining oxide nanofibers. The fibers were characterized via thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. The diameter of the TiO2–MoO3 fibers was between 90 and 110 nm after annealing, Furthermore, methylene blue dye was used to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the fibers in visible light. TiO2–MoO3 fibers showed the best photocalaytic activity with a rate constant of 0.0018 min−1 while pure TiO2 and MoO3 nanofibers had 0.0009 min−1 and 0.0008 min−1 respectively

Patient and Provider Perspectives on How Trust Influences Maternal Vaccine Acceptance Among Pregnant Women in Kenya

Background Pregnant women and newborns are at high risk for infectious diseases. Altered immunity status during pregnancy and challenges fully vaccinating newborns contribute to this medical reality. Maternal immunization is a strategy to protect pregnant women and their newborns. This study aimed to find out how patient-provider relationships affect maternal vaccine uptake, particularly in the context of a lower middle- income country where limited research in this area exists. Methods We conducted semi-structured, in-depth narrative interviews of both providers and pregnant women from four sites in Kenya: Siaya, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Marsabit. Interviews were conducted in either English or one of the local regional languages. Results We found that patient trust in health care providers (HCPs) is integral to vaccine acceptance among pregnant women in Kenya. The HCP-patient relationship is a fiduciary one, whereby the patients’ trusts is primarily rooted in the provider’s social position as a person who is highly educated in matters of health. Furthermore, patient health education and provider attitudes are crucial for reinstating and fostering that trust, especially in cases where trust was impeded by rumors, community myths and misperceptions, and religious and cultural factors. Conclusion Patient trust in providers is a strong facilitator contributing to vaccine acceptance among pregnant women in Kenya. To maintain and increase immunization trust, providers have a critical role in cultivating a positive environment that allows for favorable interactions and patient health education. This includes educating providers on maternal immunizations and enhancing knowledge of effective risk communication tactics in clinical encounters

Influence of the Microwaves on the Sol-Gel Syntheses and on the Properties of the Resulting Oxide Nanostructures

Among the chemical methods in the liquid phase, the sol–gel technique is a versatile and efficient method for pure or doped metal oxide films or powders preparation, showing some advantages over other preparation techniques (high homogeneity, the possibility to introducing dopants in large amount, low processing temperature and control over the stoichiometry). Combining the sol–gel (SG)method with the effect of ultrasounds(US) or microwaves (MW) leads to improving the sol–gel procedure. The microwave-assisted sol–gel method is most frequently used for obtaining nanocrystalline, monodispersed oxide nanoparticles, or to transform amorphous gels into well-crystallized nanopowders. Less studied is the influence of the microwaves on the sol–gel reactions in solutions. The benefit of using microwave-assisted sol–gel preparation highly depends on the reagents used and on the composition of the studied systems. In the present chapter, results on the influence of the microwaves on the chemical reactions that take place during the sol–gel synthesis and on the properties of the resulted samples are discussed