The Pattern of Electoral Management Practices Towards Kenya’s 2007 Post-Election Violence in Uasin Gishu and Trans-Nzoia Counties

The study sought to investigate the pattern of electoral management practices towards Kenya’s 2007 Post-Election Violence (PEV) in Uasin Gishu and Trans-Nzoia counties. The many post election violence in Kenya over the years have had unique patterns. This have often found themselves in influencing electoral management practices. The pattern of electoral management practices towards Kenya’s 2007 post election violence however, seemed to have had a departure from the previous many other elections as to their visibility in different stages of election, intensity within the electoral management, and their nature being cyclical. This study used a survey and descriptive research design with mixed method approach. The researchers opted for both methods because each paradigm is appropriate for finding different outcomes. This study examined Pattern of Electoral Management Practices to 2007 Post-Election Violence and Trends of electoral management practices on election violence in Kenya. It is evident that ethnic animosities characterised post-election violence of 2007 and hence a component of the cause to patterns. This research recommends that for peaceful elections to be conducted, effective measures should be put in place to address ethnic animosities. Keywords: Pattern of Electoral Management/ Electoral Management/ Electoral Violence/ Electoral Management Practices/ Post Election Violence/ Kenya’s PEV DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/55-05 Publication date:May 31st 201

Socio-Economic and Health Consequences of Drugs and Substance Use in Gachie: : A Peri-Urban Town on the Outskirts of Nairobi

Drug and substance abuse is a major socioeconomic and health problem to the drug users, family and society and is reported to be on a steady global rise. In Kenya, drug abuse is a major societal problem especially in many cosmopolitan cities such as Nairobi and Mombasa and the surrounding immediate environs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the types of drugs, the socio-economic and health consequences of drug abuse among the inhabitants of Gachie Sub-Location, Kiambu County a town within the Nairobi suburbs. A snowballing sampling method was used to recruit a total of 246 study participants aged between 15-65years recruited into the study after consenting and meeting drug and substance use and dependence clinical evaluation according to UNCOPE criteria. Data on the type of drugs abused, socio-economic and health implications of drug use on both drug abusers and the community was captured using a structured questionnaire and the resulting data analysed using SPSS version 21. Over-the counter prescription drugs including, benzodiazepine, Cozepam (“ma-cc”), rohypnol (“ma-blue”), and benzhexol (“ma-white”) as well as the traditional heroine were the major abused drugs reported in the study. Approximately 85% of the sampled drug abusers were men abusing mainly the licit over- the counter prescription drugs and heroine as a result of their easy affordability and accessibility. Failed marriages, conflictual family and communal relationships, unemployment, life of destitution and poverty were the main socioeconomic consequences of drug abuse reported in the study, corroborating reports of some previous studies. Participants’s self-reported feeling of hyperactiveness and euphoria was the major health consequence repoted. This study thus indicates that drug use is slowly creeping into rural areas in the vicinity of major towns with prescription over the counter drugs taking a centre stage than the traditional hard drugs due to the associated low costs, availability and accessibility and can result in myriad socioeconomic consequences in the society. This data provides an insight of the spread of drugs from the traditional cities to the surrounding town environments as these areas provide a safe haven for drug peddlers and thus should be of great focus by drug law enforcers as they strategize and seek to curb drug abuse problem. Future similar studies involving larger area are recommended to acquire more dynamics of this proble

A consensus on malnutrition in Africa: A report from the micronutrient deficiency awareness forum (Nairobi 2017)

While most forms of malnutrition are easy to identify at an early age, micronutrient deficiency also manifests in form of “Hidden Hunger”, where children could seem to be well fed, but still suffer from deficiencies due to lack of key micronutrients in their diets whose absence is hard to detect. While the symptoms of micronutrient deficiency may not be obvious in the short-term, they translate into cognitive deficiencies in the longterm that negatively affect the economic productivity of these infants when they become adults, perpetuating the malnutrition cycle. The Micronutrient Deficiency Awareness Forum was held in April 2017 in Nairobi Kenya, comprising seven specialties from across sub-Saharan Africa. The forum was convened to discuss how to increase awareness of conditions associated with micronutrient deficiencies developing from early childhood, especially those impacting brain development, identify sections of the population that were at high risk of micronutrient deficiencies, outline available guidelines on diagnostic tools, assessment and management of deficiencies, and develop a consensus on best practices in diagnosing, managing, and preventing micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition. It is estimated that 40% of the children in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by stunting, which is the most prevalent form of malnutrition, and an estimated 69-82% of malnutrition cases are not properly treated. This phenomenon is not without a cost, as malnutrition greatly undermines cognitive development, and ultimately economic productivity. A 2014 study revealed that Ethiopia lost the equivalent of 12% of its GDP to malnutrition in 2009. Studies in different countries across the world have shown that focused interventions work. For instance, early childhood macronutrient intervention led to a 46% higher wage in adult years in Guatemala. The Micronutrient Deficiency Awareness Forum 2017 Consensus Report provides suggestions on policy design and implementation strategies that may lead to early detection, treatment, and ultimately prevalence reduction of malnutrition across the region

Cell membrane integrity, callose accumulation, and root growth in aluminum-stressed sorghum seedlings

Aluminum stress usually reduces plant root growth due to the accumulation of Al in specific zones of the root apex. The objectives of this study were to determine the localization of Al in the root apex of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moech. and its effects on membrane integrity, callose accumulation, and root growth in selected cultivars. Seedlings were grown in a nutrient solution containing 0, 27, or 39 μM Al3+ for 24, 48, and 120 h. The Al stress significantly reduced root growth, especially after 48 and 120 h of exposure. A higher Al accumulation, determined by fluorescence microscopy after staining with a Morin dye, occurred in the root extension zone of the sensitive cultivar than in the tolerant cultivar. The membrane damage and callose accumulation were also higher in the sensitive than resistant cultivar. It was concluded that the Al stress significantly reduced root growth through the accumulation of Al in the root extension zone, callose accumulation, and impairment of plasma membrane integrity

Excited Random Walk in One Dimension

We study the excited random walk, in which a walk that is at a site that contains cookies eats one cookie and then hops to the right with probability p and to the left with probability q=1-p. If the walk hops onto an empty site, there is no bias. For the 1-excited walk on the half-line (one cookie initially at each site), the probability of first returning to the starting point at time t scales as t^{-(2-p)}. Although the average return time to the origin is infinite for all p, the walk eats, on average, only a finite number of cookies until this first return when p<1/2. For the infinite line, the probability distribution for the 1-excited walk has an unusual anomaly at the origin. The positions of the leftmost and rightmost uneaten cookies can be accurately estimated by probabilistic arguments and their corresponding distributions have power-law singularities near the origin. The 2-excited walk on the infinite line exhibits peculiar features in the regime p>3/4, where the walk is transient, including a mean displacement that grows as t^{nu}, with nu>1/2 dependent on p, and a breakdown of scaling for the probability distribution of the walk.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, 2-column revtex4 format, for submission to J. Phys.

Localization in Strongly Chaotic Systems

We show that, in the semiclassical limit and whenever the elements of the Hamiltonian matrix are random enough, the eigenvectors of strongly chaotic time-independent systems in ordered bases can on average be exponentially localized across the energy shell and decay faster than exponentially outside the energy shell. Typically however, matrix elements are strongly correlated leading to deviations from such behavior.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages + 3 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Computer-generated reminders and quality of pediatric HIV care in a resource-limited setting

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of clinician-targeted computer-generated reminders on compliance with HIV care guidelines in a resource-limited setting. METHODS: We conducted this randomized, controlled trial in an HIV referral clinic in Kenya caring for HIV-infected and HIV-exposed children (<14 years of age). For children randomly assigned to the intervention group, printed patient summaries containing computer-generated patient-specific reminders for overdue care recommendations were provided to the clinician at the time of the child's clinic visit. For children in the control group, clinicians received the summaries, but no computer-generated reminders. We compared differences between the intervention and control groups in completion of overdue tasks, including HIV testing, laboratory monitoring, initiating antiretroviral therapy, and making referrals. RESULTS: During the 5-month study period, 1611 patients (49% female, 70% HIV-infected) were eligible to receive at least 1 computer-generated reminder (ie, had an overdue clinical task). We observed a fourfold increase in the completion of overdue clinical tasks when reminders were availed to providers over the course of the study (68% intervention vs 18% control, P < .001). Orders also occurred earlier for the intervention group (77 days, SD 2.4 days) compared with the control group (104 days, SD 1.2 days) (P < .001). Response rates to reminders varied significantly by type of reminder and between clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: Clinician-targeted, computer-generated clinical reminders are associated with a significant increase in completion of overdue clinical tasks for HIV-infected and exposed children in a resource-limited setting