Water, Women, and Local Social Organization in the Western Kenya Highlands

Safe water is widely recognized as both a fundamental human need and a key input into economic activity. Across the developing world, the typical approach to addressing these needs is to segregate supplies of water for domestic use from water for large-scale agricultural production. In that arrangement, the goal of domestic water supply is to provide small amounts of clean safe water for direct consumption, cleaning, bathing and sanitation, while the goal of agricultural water supply is to provide large amounts of lower quality water for irrigated agriculture. A new third use of water is now being given more attention by researchers: small amounts of water employed in selected household enterprises. This third use may be particularly important for women. There is a potential, therefore, that provision of modest amounts of water to smallholder farmers can enhance household economic production, save labor time for women and girls, and improve family health. This paper adds to the emerging literature on the multiple values of improved water supplies -- improved health, time savings, and small-scale production for individual farmers and collectives -- for the case of a rural community in the western highlands of Kenya. With minimum external support, two groups in this community have managed to install and operate systems of spring protection and piped water to their members' homesteads. Members of those households, particularly women, have benefited substantially in terms of time savings, health and small-scale production. The experience of this community also illustrates some of the challenges that must be faced for a community to effectively self-organize the investment and maintenance of a communitybased water scheme. There are challenges of finance, gender relations, and conflict over scarce water supplies, group leadership, enforcement of community bi-laws, and policy. Data from a census of springs in the same area show that successful collective action for water management is unusual, but certainly not unique, in this region of Kenya. Although women emerge as the main beneficiaries of improved water management in the community, their substantial contributions are largely hidden behind social norms regarding gender roles and relations. Research methods need to carefully triangulate information sources in order to clarify the very substantial and active roles performed by women. Kenya's water policy should be modified to better recognize and facilitate small-scale community-based water projects

Water, women, and local social organization in the Western Kenya highlands:

"Safe water is widely recognized as both a fundamental human need and a key input into economic activity. Across the developing world, the typical approach to addressing these needs is to segregate supplies of water for domestic use from water for large-scale agricultural production. In that arrangement, the goal of domestic water supply is to provide small amounts of clean safe water for direct consumption, cleaning, bathing and sanitation, while the goal of agricultural water supply is to provide large amounts of lower quality water for irrigated agriculture. A new third use of water is now being given more attention by researchers: small amounts of water employed in selected household enterprises. This third use may be particularly important for women. There is a potential, therefore, that provision of modest amounts of water to smallholder farmers can enhance household economic production, save labor time for women and girls, and improve family health. This paper adds to the merger literature on the multiple values of improved water supplies – improved health, time savings, and small-scale production for individual farmers and collectives – for the case of a rural community in the western highlands of Kenya. With minimum external support, two groups in this community have managed to install and operate systems of spring protection and piped water to their members' homesteads. Members of those households, particularly women, have benefited substantially in terms of time savings, health and small-scale production. The experience of this community also illustrates some of the challenges that must be faced for a community to effectively self-organize the investment and maintenance of a communitybased water scheme. There are challenges of finance, gender relations, and conflict over scarce water supplies, group leadership, enforcement of community bi-laws, and policy. Data from a census of springs in the same area show that successful collective action for water management is unusual, but certainly not unique, in this region of Kenya. Although women emerge as the main beneficiaries of improved water management in the community, their substantial contributions are largely hidden behind social norms regarding gender roles and relations. Research methods need to carefully triangulate information sources in order to clarify the very substantial and active roles performed by women. Kenya's water policy should be modified to better recognize and facilitate small-scale community-based water projects." Authors' AbstractGender, Water, Collective action, Community organizations, Community-based organizations, Women,

A Hybrid Mechanics of Materials Course Part 2: Study of the Effect of a Sudden Change to Fully-Online Format

The recent COVID-19 health crisis caused universities worldwide to move suddenly to an online format during the middle of the spring semester. This change in class format provides a unique opportunity to study the effect of this abrupt shift to online learning on student performance. In order to develop a baseline, the performance of 79 students in two sections of a hybrid Mechanics of Materials course during the face-to-face portion in the spring of 2020 was compared to the past performance of 461 students in 13 sections taught by the same instructor in a similar fashion. Using this comparison as a reference, the effect on student performance after the course transitioned to a fully-online format then was analyzed. In previous face-to-face hybrid sections, the Pearson correlation coefficients between the end-of-semester grade point and the averages for exams given during the first and second halves of the semester were 0.831 and 0.898, respectively. By comparison, the spring 2020 sections had Pearson correlation coefficients for the first and second halves of the semester of 0.825 and 0.932, respectively. This result indicates that the online exams given during the second half of the semester correlated very well with the end-of-semester grades. Some general observations also can be made about the students’ ability to adapt to online learning. Not surprisingly, high-performing students generally adapted more rapidly to the online environment and even improved their scores as a result of the open resources that were available in the 50-minute online exams. On the other hand, students who were performing marginally struggled to adapt to the online format, which was less structured than the original format

Bioactive composites for bone tissue engineering

One of the major challenges of bone tissue engineering is the production of a suitable scaffold material. In this review the current composite materials options available are considered covering both the methods of both production and assessing the scaffolds. A range of production routes have been investigated ranging from the use of porogens to produce the porosity through to controlled deposition methods. The testing regimes have included mechanical testing of the materials produced through to in vivo testing of the scaffolds. While the ideal scaffold material has not yet been produced, progress is being made

A state-level study of opioid use disorder treatment access and neonatal abstinence syndrome

Background Adult opioid use and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are growing public health problems in the United States (U.S.). Our objective was to determine how opioid use disorder treatment access impacts the relationship between adult opioid use and NAS. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional state-level ecologic study using 36 states with available Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases in 2014. Opioid use disorder treatment access was determined by the: 1) proportion of people needing but not receiving substance use treatment, 2) density of buprenorphine-waivered physicians, and 3) proportion of individuals in outpatient treatment programs (OTPs). The incidence of NAS was defined as ICD-9 code 779.5 (drug withdrawal syndrome in newborn) from any discharge diagnosis field per 1000 live births in that state. Results Unmet need for substance use disorder treatment correlated with NAS (r = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.26–0.73). The correlation between adult illicit drug use/dependence and NAS was higher in states with a lower density of buprenorphine-waivered physicians and individuals in OTPs. Conclusions Measures of opioid use disorder treatment access dampened the correlation between illicit drug use/dependence and NAS. Future studies using community- or individual-level data may be better poised to answer the question of whether or not opioid use disorder treatment access improves NAS relative to adult opioid use

A controlled study of the effect of a mindfulness-based stress reduction technique in women with multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia

Tara Sampalli1, Elizabeth Berlasso1, Roy Fox1, Mark Petter21Nova Scotia Environmental Health Centre, Fall River, Nova Scotia, Canada; 2Doctoral Candidate, Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, CanadaBackground: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on women diagnosed with conditions such as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and fibromyalgia (FM). Methods: The intervention group underwent a 10-week MBSR program. Symptoms Checklist Inventory (SCL-90R) was used as outcome measure and was administered before the start of the program (pre-), immediately upon completion (post-) and at three-month follow-up. Women on the wait list to receive treatment at the Nova Scotia Environmental Health Centre were used as control subjects for the study.Results: A total of 50 participants in the intervention group and 26 in the wait-list controls group were recruited for this study. Global scores in the intervention group reached statistical significance pre-post (<0.0001) and at pre-follow-up (<0.0001) while the global scores in the control group remained the same. Five of nine and eight of nine subscales of the SCL-90R showed improvement of statistical significance in MBSR group following treatment and at three-month follow-up.Conclusions: The study showed the importance of complementary interventions such as MBSR techniques in the reduction of psychological distress in women with chronic conditions.Keywords: chronic conditions, multiple chemical sensitivity, mindfulness-based stress reduction, chemical sensitivit

A Hybrid Mechanics of Materials Course Part 1: Evolution of the Course to Improve Student Performance and Retention

A hybrid Mechanics of Materials course consisting of recorded lecture videos and face-to-face class meetings was developed. Initial offerings of the hybrid course resulted in a drop in average student performance by – 0.18 grade points as well as a reduction in the student pass rate of 3%. Over time, average student performance in the course improved; however, the student pass rate remained relatively constant. A number of ad hoc internal studies by the hybrid course instructors were conducted to attempt to determine the factors contributing to the reduction in the student pass rate. A test over prerequisite Statics and Calculus material was developed and incorporated into the course in order to gauge incoming student capability and knowledge. Results of this pre-test provided a baseline measure so that the effect of various changes to the hybrid course could be objectively measured independent of differences in student capability. Internal studies suggested that a lack of student engagement as manifested by poor attendance in face-to-face class attendance contributed to poor performance and reduced student retention. The hybrid course policy was changed by incorporating a one letter grade penalty for students who did not have good attendance. This resulted in an improvement in average performance by 0.18 grade points and an increase in student retention by 12.5% compared to the optional-attendance hybrid course

PEITC by regulating Aurora Kinase A reverses chemoresistance in breast cancer cells

167-177Development of acquired chemoresistance renders a challenge in breast cancer therapy. Aurora kinases, a family of serine/threonine mitotic kinases play pivotal roles in the acquirement of chemoresistance. Aurora A is intricately associated with mitotic events and is overexpressed in different cancers including breast cancer. Amplification or overexpression Aurora A confers chemoresistance and are considered as a promising therapeutic target in cancers. Therefore, targeting Aurora A by natural means particularly by using Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), a natural isothiocyanate might be an effective strategy for reversing resistance towards chemotherapeutics. The present study investigated the modulatory role of PEITC on Aurora A and their downstream target proteins in breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7) and its paclitaxel-resistant counterpart; designated as MCF-7Pacli/R. Paclitaxel resistance was warranted by P-gp1, MRP1, Ki-67 overexpression, rhodamine 123 accumulations and upregulation of Aurora-A along with phospho-IκBα. Multidrug resistance was confirmed by MTT assay. Western blotting, RT-PCR analysis revealed overexpression of Aurora-A in MCF-7Pacli/R cells; which was eventually diminished by PEITC. PEITC by targeting Aurora A and their downstream proteins (phospho-p53, phospho-IκBα) acted as a resistance-modifying agent and ultimately led to paclitaxel- induced apoptosis. These findings demonstrated that PEITC reverses chemoresistance by regulating Aurora A and restores chemosensitivity towards paclitaxel