This study proposes the use of the cooperative model as an alternative strategy for rural development in Kenya and Tanzania. Failure of prior models and the misuse of foreign aid in these nations lead to this proposal. The research’s theoretical framework is grounded on the neoclassical economic theory. Core questions asked included but, were not limited to: finding out the types of policies implemented the role of the cooperatives in job creation and poverty reduction, the status of cooperative education and finances, the status of poverty in both nations and many more. Peter Warbasse, Adam Chambo and other proponents of the model reaffirmed the important role played by cooperatives and advocated for policies which uplift ordinary citizens from dependency to selfreliance. In Kenya, data came from the ministry websites, the ministry headquarters and its affiliates. In Tanzania, data came from the ministry’s websites and from a visit to Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) research center in Moshi. The research found that in 2008, Kenya had 8,507,000 cooperative members while Tanzania had 1,600,000. Primary cooperatives alone had created 300,000 jobs in Kenya and only 34,524 in Tanzania. Indirect employments were 303,455 in Kenya while Tanzania had no figures for indirect employment nor for the total jobs created in the same year. Cooperatives created 3,445 jobs within Kenya’s government offices and their affiliated institutions versus Tanzania’s 425. The big disparity between the two nation’s data is bewildering as discussed. The policy analysis supports the hypothesis that indeed, both nations had indeed implemented policies to support their cooperative organizations right from independence but, especially to rescue these organizations from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) Mandates. Most of these policies had been formulated in accordance with the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG5) which strives to reduce poverty in the less developed nation by half by the year 2015. Study limitations included but were not limited to: bureaucracy, partial and unavailability of research data. There is optimism in the future of these organizations as evidenced by the latest cooperative policies which focus on improving both nations’ rural development

The focus of this case study examines black congresswomen in the United States during the 108 th Congressional Session and their legislative advocacy for social justice through progressive policies. The questions guiding the research were: RQ1: Did black congresswomen, in the 108 th Congressional Session, use the sponsorship of legislation to advocate social justice through progressive policies? RQ2: What was the frequency of issues addressed in the legislation and the top five issues advocated? RQ3: What was the outcome of sponsored legislation? This case study examined 300 pieces of legislation sponsored by black congresswomen during the years of 2003 and 2004. The data collected were coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that black women in Congress almost exclusively sponsor legislation that advocated social justice through progressive policies. Issues that were strongly advocated were in the categories of (1) Civil and Human Rights, (2) Women and Children, (3) Health and Safety, and (4) Education and Labor.

This study examines mRNAs of less than 5000 base pairs in size, to determine the effects of base composition on folding free energy. Statistical analysis between the native mRNA and its randomized sequences was conducted, and when comparing mRNAs in human, chimp, chicken, mouse, and several other transcriptomes, we found that the native mRNAs were more stable (greater negative free energy of folding). It has been found that when length and base composition are conserved, native mRNA sequences are more stable than random mRNA sequences. More stable folding conformations have greater negative free energy values. This negative bias in free energies can be statistically measured as a Z-score which normalizes for sequence length. In an effort to determine if sequence patterns correlate with secondary structure, a neural network (JavaNNS) was trained using three training sets (Negative-Z, Near Zero-Z, Positive-Z) separately to compare the effect of neural network learning from the folding characteristics of the gene sequences. The training sets were typically allowed to run for up to 100,000 generations, and the resulting sum square errors were periodically saved. We found that the negative Z-score training set gives lower neural network sum square errors than the positive Z-score training set, and the Z-scores near zero have the highest training error. This indicates that there are more detectable sequence patterns in genes with more secondary structure than in genes exhibiting more positive Z-scores.

The study documents a formal program evaluation and examination of the Refugee Women’s Network (RWN) program’s impact on acquired leadership skills by the participants who are currently involved in the program or have recently completed the entire curriculum. The elements of the Stufflebeam content-input-process-product (CIPP) evaluation model provided the structure for this study. The researcher used elements of the CIPP model to assess and report on the merit, worth, and significance of the leadership training component of the RWN agency. The researcher interviewed former students who had worked with the RWN during the program years of 2007 through 2009. Current program administrators, leadership, and instructors have also been interviewed, participated in a focus group, and completed a valid survey instrument. An examination of program documents and research literature also provides significant implications for future research, and program development for the RWN and hopefully other similar leadership training programs. Findings from interviews and surveys within the study added to the body of research that addresses leadership training achievement of refugee and immigrant women. Previous research revealed that refugee women who participate and complete community leadership training programs ultimately learn to exhibit a transformationa leadership style, which is the main hypothesis of this study. The research design is a cross-sectional survey and program evaluation. The following questions formed the foundation inquiry of the study. 1. What is the level of success of the implementation of the RWN leadership training component as indicated by stakeholders’ perceptions? 2. How did certain operational factors impact the input, process, and products within the leadership training component? 3. What areas of course content impacted the leadership training objectives as perceived by the stakeholder group? The self-assessment process revealed how participants became empowered by setting goals, becoming self-reliant, and able to influence others in their community.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been a sharp rise in anti-tobacco activism, adverse public opinion, litigation, and new legislation to counter the tobacco industry and reduce use. Despite this sharp rise in activism, the role of African Americans in this advocacy process has mostly escaped the analysis of the political science research community. This includes 1999 when payments to the states began from the historically significant Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which was signed in 1998 between 46 Attorneys General and the tobacco industry. This research project analyzed the dynamics in the state tobacco coalitions in Arkansas and Georgia. It delved into the roles African Americans played in an effort to leverage resources for the black community. These funds represented needed resources for building capacity and infrastructure. The research used both primary and secondary data. The primary data were gathered by semi-structured interviews with state health officials, coalition members, and policy-makers all intimately involved in the allocation process. Secondary data were gathered from journals, newspaper articles, by-laws and program reports. Information was also gathered from publications and websites of reputable organizations working in tobacco prevention. These included the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids and Americans for Non Smokers’ Rights.Through the lens of Interest Group Theory research analyzed the role African Americans played in the initial allocation of Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement funds in Arkansas and Georgia. It was found that African Americans in leadership roles are important to the initial allocation process. Despite Arkansas’ success in securing 15% of State Tobacco Prevention funds allocated through an Historically Black College or University for minority communities, blacks in leadership positions were no guarantee that resources would be allocated to black communities.

The objective of this study was to determine the predictors of risky sexual behavior by an integrated approach using proximate determinants (intentions index, skills index and situational factors index), intermediate variables (perceived benefits and perceived barriers,index, perceived norms index and perceived self efficacy index) and wider background factors (gender, relationship status, access to information and supplies index and actual knowledge about health behavior index). The indices evolved from behavioral theories addressing social, psychological and cultural factors that influenced Ghanaian youth. Two hundred and ninety (290) respondents were recruited from high schools, youth clubs, youth workshops and marketplaces from six regions in Ghana using randomization techniques. The responses were examined employing hierarchical logistic regression modeling. All of the ten indices had significant association with the sexual behavior index, the outcome variable, thus making the case that risky sexual behavior was influenced by a wide spectrum of variables including both personal and environmental factors. The bivariate analysis showed eight of the thirteen hypotheses were supported when individual indices,were examined. To accomplish the ultimate objective of changing behavior in order to decrease risky sexual behavior, the integrated model as a whole was highly significant. Therefore, if there were resources to make global changes in relation to all of the factors, one would expect high success, but if resources were limited and one had to prioritize, then one would have to focus on the three determinants which emerged as significant. The intervention should target (a) access to information and contraceptive supplies,(b) relationship status and (c) greater female function in the relationship. The relationship status should encourage steady relationships and discourage casual relationships.

This dissertation is a critical study of technopolitical issues in the history of African American people. Langdon Winner's theory of technopolitics was used to facilitate the analysis of large scale technologies and their compatibility with various political ends. I contextualized the central technopolitical issues within the major epochs of African American political history: the Atlantic slave trade, the African artisans of antebellum America, and the American Industrial Age. Throughout this study I have sought to correct negative stereotypes and to show how "technological gauges" were employed to belittle people of African descent. This research also has shown that the mainstream notion that Africans had no part in the history of technology is false. This study identifies and analyses specific technologies that played a major role in the political affairs of Africans and African Americans. Those technologies included nautical devices, fort construction, and automatic guns in Africa, and hoes, plows, tractors, cotton gins, and the mechanical cotton pickers in America. The findings of this study suggested that African Americans have been disengaged and victimized by western technologies. This dissertation proposes how to overcome the oppressive uses of technology.

The general problem of the definition of mysticism may be approached in either of two ways. We might assemble the elements of all types and method of mysticism, and, by the use of the critical method, arrive thereby at a description and definition of the mystical experience in its most general sense; or we might develop a restricted, specific definition by ignoring certain aspects of that type of experience which might, in a broad, general sense, be called mystical.

<p> If we take the hermeneutic challenge of Socratic irony seriously, what are we to make of Socrates&rsquo; proposal in the <i>Republic</i> that the women of the guardian class are to be educated and rule alongside the men (451c-457c)? Historically, the proposal has inspired controversy, whether as too great a departure from the customary, or as insufficiently just to woman-kind. But Socrates&rsquo; proposal is only the first of a trio of plans, known as the Three Waves, an image for the waves of laughter Socrates fears will greet them. His second proposal recommends that the guardians be bred together, with children raised by all in ignorance of their parents; the third proclaims the rule of philosophers as kings. Readers usually link the first two, insofar as both involve plans for women. But while the discussion of the Second Wave is spurred by Socrates&rsquo; interlocutors, Socrates introduces the First and Third Waves on his own initiative. The aim of this study is to argue that the First and Third Waves have the deeper connection: the political problems of women and of the philosopher share a pattern in common, as Socrates&rsquo; image of philosophy as a maiden in distress illustrates (495c). Both women and philosophy exist in tension with the city under its customary laws, and Socrates&rsquo; solution for both, namely rule of the city and education at its hands, is likewise the same. My interpretation of the First Wave seeks to take seriously its seriously funny aspects, such as naked exercise for both sexes, together (452a), and Glaucon&rsquo;s attachment to the principle that women be taken as weaker and men as stronger (452c); but these must be taken alongside the appeal of Socrates&rsquo; corresponding recommendation that women be clothed in &ldquo;robes of virtue&rdquo; (457a). By examining such aspects of the women&rsquo;s law, and suggesting how they shed light on the philosopher-king, this study aims to do justice to the irony of Socrates&rsquo; &ldquo;best city in speech,&rdquo; recognizing both the appeal of his proposals and the political problems they make manifest.</p>

What is 'given in experience' is the phenomenal character that is immediately available to the conscious subject when she senses. The doctrine of the given is the view that what is given in our experience may play a foundational role in our knowledge. This doctrine of the given has been rejected by some as a 'myth.' The aim of my dissertation is to develop a notion of the given that is theoretically useful in an account of knowledge and that withstands the various attacks that have traditionally been logged against it. In chapter one I offer a brief historical overview of the given, considering motivations for accepting such a notion and identifying six central features that have been traditionally attributed to the given. In chapter two I consider and respond to arguments against the given as they are logged against each of these six central features. In chapter three I consider the major argument against the given that will occupy my attention throughout the rest of the work. This argument contends that the given cannot play a foundational role in knowledge and rests primarily on a crucial assumption, the conceptualist thesis. The conceptualist thesis states that nothing can epistemically contribute to the acquisition or justification of knowledge that is not essentially conceptual or belief-like. Chapters four through seven are aimed at arguing against the conceptualist thesis. In chapter four I consider the major arguments in favor of the conceptualist thesis. I demonstrate that these arguments are faulty or misguided. In chapter five I consider alternative views that suppose experience to be essentially and necessarily conceptual. I offer objections to such views and show that the flaws in these views are the result of the mistaken assumption of the conceptualist thesis. In chapter six I discuss what is represented non-conceptually in experience. Given the representational nature of experience I show how a non-conceptual given can play an epistemic role in our acquisition of both introspective and perceptual knowledge. In chapter seven I show how a non-conceptual given can provide reasons or justification for both introspective and perceptual beliefs.