Demography and economy in a rural community

This paper is a report of on-going research which examines the demography and the economy of a Kuria location and draws out the relationship between the two. It represents the first step of a detailed ethnographic study of the cultural expressions of social and economic differentiation whose twofold objective is to l) demonstrate the factors and processes of differentiation, and 2) to examine how unequal situations are reproduced and legitimated through key institutions, ideologies, and cultural typifications providing the framework by which people explain and understand their situation and the events of their lives. An examination of the demographic structure shows an increasingly young population made up of mainly children. This is both a result of the cumulative effects of high population growth and of the increasing practice of polygamy and omoka mona marriage. These factors also contribute to the high incidence of homesteads without male heads, and a very high ratio of dependents to productive members. For analytical purposes, the sample homesteads have been divided according to the stage within the development cycle that they have reached, and this information has been used to set up a comparison with their economic standing. In investigating the economy, we see that though agriculture remains the main source of cash income, off-farm income from occupations and jobs is of key importance to the economy. We also see that the homesteads in the latest stages of development depend mostly on farming. The reverse is true when it comes to occupational and business income. Having the highest income, both per homestead and per capita are the homes within the penultimate stage of development, which rely both on agricultural and off-farm sources of income

Students, schools, and socio-economic change: education as a factor of social and economic change in rual Kenya

This paper presents preliminary results of an ethnographic study of the Kuria of Kenya. The analysis highlights the factors and processes of socioeconomic differentiation and seeks to demonstrate how key institutions, ideologies and cultural typifications reproduce unequal situations. The paper begins with a history of formal education in South Nyanza District and in the two locations under study. The second section examines patterns of school attendance; the third section explores the quality of education; and the fourth looks at the relationship of educational attainment to employment and income

Facial Expression Processing is Holistic or Feature-Based Depending on Stimulus Format: Evidence from the Composite Face Illusion and Gaze-Contingent Stimulus Presentations

Controversy exists over whether facial expression recognition is a holistic or feature-based process. The present research explored whether stimulus format (photographic vs. schematic) affects the type of processing used. In a composite/noncomposite expression recognition task, holistic processing was observed for photographic stimuli and feature-based processing was observed for schematic stimuli. Moreover, holistic processing in the photographic condition increased when more than one individual was presented. Results suggest that facial expression processing is holistic under natural viewing conditions and provide a potential resolution to the previous controversy. Such findings may be corroborated by an ongoing follow-up study using gaze-contingent stimulus presentations

An Exploration Of In-Person And Online Social Interaction: Examining The Effects Of Two Domains Of Social Behavior

Social interaction is a core dimension of a fulfilling life. At present, the study of social interaction has focused largely on online social interaction due to the prevalence of this behavior in modern society, and the large impact of this manner of interaction on the psychological health of individuals. In terms of online behavior, both positive and negative effects may be experienced. Better understanding predictors and outcomes of online behavior would thus be a timely and valuable contribution to literature. The present study examined anxious and avoidant attachment style as predictors of social intimacy, levels of both in-person and online intimate disclosure, a negative attitude toward technology, and problematic internet use. It was then examined whether these variables in combination predicted social well-being. Participants were collected online using Amazon Mechanical Turk. The present sample of 314 participants was restricted to those that are currently young adults, which for the purpose of this study was defined as those individuals aged 18-25. A series of six total hierarchical regressions were conducted. It was found that both anxious and avoidant attachment positively predicted problematic internet use, neither predicted online intimate disclosure, and only avoidant attachment predicted negative attitudes toward technology. While avoidant attachment negatively predicted social intimacy and in-person disclosure, anxious attachment positively predicted both of these. Social well-being was positively predicted by social intimacy and network number and negatively predicted by negative attitudes toward technology, problematic internet use, and online self-disclosure. The present study demonstrated that attachment style has a strong relationship to many variables related to online and in-person behavior

Determinants Affecting the Use of the Internet by Older People

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to detect and analyze some factors which hinder or contribute to the positive use of the Internet by older people living in Central Europe, specifically in one region of the Czech Republic. Methods: The key method is a questionnaire whose results were processed by using a model of logistic regression. The research sample includes 432 seniors from senior houses, municipal ICT courses and the University of the Third Age, all coming from the region of Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic. Findings: The findings of the proposed model confirmed that the key determinants in the Internet use by older people were age, previous experience with IT in their past occupation and active use of IT enhanced by some kind of training, in this case attending IT courses of the University of the Third Age. Education and gender have not proved to be significant determinants in this study. Novelty/ improvement: The introduced model of logistic regression enriches current literature on the subject by emphasizing the possible factors that influence the use of the Internet by seniors in the region. The survey also investigates which factors in comparison with each other act more and which less, and which factors are significant within the model and which are not. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01317 Full Text: PD

Differences of disease progression in congestive heart failure due to alcoholic as compared to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

In patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy there is evidence that mild heart failure is reversible if patients abstain from alcohol, but there is no consensus whether the disease is progressive once structural myocardial dilatation has evolved. The aim of the present study was to compare the long-term course of congestive heart failure due to alcoholic and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Of 75 patients with overt congestive heart failure, 23 had alcoholic cardiomyopathy and were compared to 52 patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy. The mean age was 48 ± 12 years. Despite medical therapy, heart failure class New York Heart Association III-IV was present in 52% of patients with alcoholic and 47% of patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy (not significant). Their mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 30 ± l2% vs 28 ± 12% and left ventricular end-diastolic volumes were 264 ± 125 ml and 254 ± 100 ml respectively (not significant). Overall survival at 1, 5 and 10 years was l00%, 81% and 81% for the group with alcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy and 89%, 48% and 30% for the group with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, respectively (P=0·041 and the difference was even greater for transplant-free survival P=0·005 Clinical and invasive signs of left and right heart failure as well as left ventricular dimensions were predictive of a fatal outcome; however, symptom duration and left ventricular volumes were only predictive in patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, suggesting that in the two patient groups different mechanisms may lead to death. Mortality in patients with severe congestive heart failure and left ventricular dilatation due to alcoholic cardiomyopathy is significantly lower than that in patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy and similar degrees of heart failure. Thus, despite structural changes mherent in marked left ventricular dilatation, disease progression in alcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy is different from that in idiopathic cardiomyopathy and thus may have implications for the choice of therap

Human-centred design methods : developing scenarios for robot assisted play informed by user panels and field trials

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThis article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC1 project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions.Peer reviewe

Transposable Elements in TDP-43-Mediated Neurodegenerative Disorders

Elevated expression of specific transposable elements (TEs) has been observed in several neurodegenerative disorders. TEs also can be active during normal neurogenesis. By mining a series of deep sequencing datasets of protein-RNA interactions and of gene expression profiles, we uncovered extensive binding of TE transcripts to TDP-43, an RNA-binding protein central to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Second, we find that association between TDP-43 and many of its TE targets is reduced in FTLD patients. Third, we discovered that a large fraction of the TEs to which TDP-43 binds become de-repressed in mouse TDP-43 disease models. We propose the hypothesis that TE mis-regulation contributes to TDP-43 related neurodegenerative diseases