An Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Malawi: The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) Approach

The research paper provides an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Malawi. Employing the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) methodology, the findings reveal a weak entrepreneurial ecosystem with a GEI score of 12.2 out of a possible 100. The relationship between the GDP per capita and the three entrepreneurship sub-indices, thus, attitude, ability, and aspiration are very weak and fall well below global average trends. Unfortunately, despite the high total entrepreneurship activities (TEA) in Malawi, this leads to little contribution to the country's GDP per-capita – a common phenomenon in many developing countries. At the pillar level, Malawi’s performance is a mixed bag, however, with most pillars performing not only poorly but below world averages. Despite the general positive perception of entrepreneurship by citizens, the country’s weak entrepreneurial ecosystem has failed to harness the propensity to develop new products and adopt new technologies for innovation and high growth entrepreneurship. From a policy intervention perspective, Malawi needs to focus most of its efforts and investments in five areas that include start-up skills, risk acceptance, high growth, risk capital, and human capital to improve the country's GEI score by 0.02

Feminine Gender Identification and Mother-Daughter Connectedness as Predictors and Sociocultural Buffers Against Adult Sexual Victimization in Latinas and Caucasians

The growing body of literature on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has highlighted increased risk for adult re-victimization and transgenerational sexual abuse such that children of adult women with CSA histories are at increased risk for being sexually abused. Despite these research trends, there is less research specific to victimization risk and transgenerational sexual abuse. Furthermore, there is limited information on ethnic/racial differences in these trends, particularly regarding Latinas. Despite research suggesting an over-representation of reported CSA among Latina children, there are apparent disparities suggesting underreporting of sexual victimization among Latinas in adulthood. The present study examines interactional effects of sociocultural factors, such as Latina Feminine Identity, internalized sexual objectification, and mother-daughter connectedness as either potential buffers against, or predictors of sexual victimization in Latinas. Furthermore, the study explored whether these same independent variables predicted trauma symptoms as well. The current study aimed to create a new measure in the field that operationally defines the Latina identity based on the theoretical literature, which speaks to the duality of Latina feminine identity epitomizing saintly qualities similar to the Virgin Mary as the consummate mother and caretaker, as well as the powerful seductress who owns her beauty and sensuality as a woman. It was supported that high maternal connectedness was a buffer against sexual victimization in Latina women, but not Caucasian women. Additionally, the desirability quality was found to be related to increased risk of sexual victimization in Latina women who had low connectedness with their mothers. Findings for trauma symptoms and sexual objectification were marginal overall, with some indication that Caucasians reported more sexual objectification than Latinas and a negative correlation between trauma symptoms and sexual victimization among Caucasian

Automating Chalkboard support processes using a chatbot

Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems, April 2019This project seeks to apply natural language processing techniques to automate the support processes of Chalkboard Education, a startup in Ghana. The company has many users but currently has only two operations personnel responsible for responding to customer queries. Their support processes can be made easier with the use of a chatbot. The project references work from early chatbots like ELIZA and Cleverbot as well as more recent ones like MOOCBuddy and SuperAgent. The chatbot is built on RASA Natural Language Interpreter and uses third party APIs like Twilio and Database connections to mirror human support processes. Upon implementation, the chatbot is suitably able to perform the repetitive human tasks the operations personnel were carrying out, successfully and in shorter time. In the event that the chatbot cannot handle a query, the problem is forwarded to the aforementioned operations personnel. Upon evaluation, it was discovered that the chatbot has could improve its accuracy and effectiveness with techniques such as adding more training data and using different language models for embeddings. In the future, the chatbot can be implemented via a USSD application to enable Chalkboard capitalize on the prevalence of USSD application in Africa.Ashesi Universit

Nutritional, pasting and sensory properties of a weaning food from rice (Oryza sativa), soybeans (Glycine Max) and kent Mango (Mangifera indica) flour blends

The effective use of readily available and inexpensive sources of protein and micronutrients has become a major focus of research in recent years. This study sought to provide a nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable weaning food for infants, as well as tap the potential of broken rice fraction as an alternative use for weaning formulation in Ghana. Flour from broken rice fractions in combination with soybeans and dried mangoes were used to develop four weaning formulations. Rice-Soy Mango (RSM) was prepared with 75% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 0% mango flour (RSM-0), and used as control; RSM-5 was prepared with 70% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 5% mango flour; RSM-10 was prepared with 65% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 10% mango flour while RSM-15 was prepared with 60% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 15% mango flour. The products were evaluated for their nutritional composition, sensory characteristics and pasting properties. All the three newly formulated rice-mango weaning food met the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for energy (393.71-403.25 KCal/100 g), protein (10.7-15.24 g/100 g), carbohydrates (68.44-73.87g/100 g), zinc (8.67-10.84 mg/d and vitamin C (13.96-17.79 mg/100 g) levels but not for iron (3.99-7.61 mg/100 g), fat (6.22-7.61 g/100 g) and calcium (87.2-111.7 mg/100 g). The beta-carotene levels ranged from 74.8 to 346.6 μg/100 g and showed significant differences. The pasting profile for the blends with low amounts of mango (RSM-5 and RSM-10) had a similar profile as the control (RSM-0), while RSM-15 had a lower profile. Among the three newly formulated blends, RSM-10 had the highest peak viscosity (74.0 BU) and highest final viscosity of 107 BU. The RSM-5, RSM-10 and RSM-15 were all lighter than RSM-0, albeit not significant. Increasing the content of mango resulted in the flour blend becoming more yellow. Even though the sensory quality of RSM-5 was the most preferred, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) observed between the sensory quality of all the three newly formulated products (RSM-5, RSM-10, RSM-15). The RSM-10 showed great potential and may be recommended and adopted for promotion within Ghanaian households based on its high nutritional and good sensory qualities.Key words: Weaning, Broken Rice, Mangoes, Pasting, Sensory, Vitamin A, Iron, Childre

Rhesus Negative Woman Transfused With Rhesus Positive Blood: Subsequent Normal Pregnancy Without Anti D Production

Clinicians sometimes are confronted with the challenge of transfusing haemorrhaging Rhesus (Rh) D negative patients with Rh D positive blood to save their lives. There are concerns about alloimmunization and future haemolytic disease of the newborn in women of the reproductive age. Another fear is transfusion reaction if  they receive another Rh D positive blood in future. We present a 32-year-old Rh D negative woman, who had postpartum haemorrhage in her first pregnancy and was transfused with Rh D positive blood because of unavailability of Rh D negative blood. She did not receive anti D immunoglobin but subsequently had a normal term pregnancy of an Rh positive fetus without any detectable anti D antibodies throughout the pregnancy. In life threatening situations from obstetric haemorrhage, transfusion of Rh D negative women with Rh D positive blood should be considered as the last resort.Keywords: Rhesus negative, alloimmunization, pregnancy, blood transfusion, anti D immunoglobuli

Association between Anthropometry and Blood Pressure among Female Teachers of Child-Bearing Age in Ghana.

The prevalence of hypertension is high among women due to the high prevalence of obesity observed among them. This study determines the relationship between anthropometry and blood pressure among women of child-bearing age. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a total of 400 female teachers between the ages of 18-49 years from the Accra District of Ghana. A structured questionnaire was used to gather information on the socioeconomic status, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, physical activity, alcohol and nutrient intakes. Appropriate statistical methods were used to determine the association between variables. In this study, anthropometric measurements such as body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference indicated a strong positive relation with blood pressure. The prevalence of hypertension among the female teachers was found to be 11.5%.  About 35% of the women were overweight while 27% were found to be obese. Parity, income level and beer intake showed significant association with high blood pressure. Consumption of fruits and vegetables was observed to be low. Waist-to-hip ratio and age of the female teachers appeared to be the greatest predictors of high blood pressure. Women with central obesity were 2 times at risk of developing hypertension than those who were not [2.12 (0.99-4.51)]. Female teachers who knew their hypertension status were 6 times more likely to be detected as hypertensive by this study [6.11 (2.37-15.78)] and participants who were above 35 years were 5.7 times at risk of developing hypertension [5.68 (2.10-15.38)] than those below 35 years. Measures such as healthy eating guidelines supported with vigorous physical activities must be put in place in the various schools to help teachers maintain healthy body weights. Keywords: Anthropometry, Blood pressure, Female Teachers, Childbearing ag

The Therapeutic Alliance in Integrated Coping Awareness Therapy

The therapeutic alliance (TA) is a crucial component of psychotherapy, but few studies have examined TA in specialized interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP). This study examined the role of TA (rated by clients, therapists, and independent observers) in the context of a novel FEP intervention. Demographic and clinical variables were examined as potential predictors of TA, and the relationship between TA and treatment outcomes was examined. Client-rated TA was higher than therapist-rated TA, and TA did not differ between treatment conditions. Younger age and lower baseline symptom severity predicted stronger client-rated TA. Lastly, stronger client-rated TA predicted lower post-treatment symptom severity. Results suggest that client-rated TA predicts treatment outcomes in this population more than therapist- or observer-rated TA, and that client-rated TA may also be more sensitive to demographic and clinical predictors. These findings expand our understanding of the role of TA in FEP interventions, enhancing treatment for this population.Master of Art

Spontaneous uterine rupture in a term pregnancy presenting with hemodynamic stability: a case report

Spontaneous uterine rupture is a rare but life-threatening obstetric emergency, particularly in women without prior labor or trauma but with a history of uterine surgery such as myomectomy. It is even more uncommon in primigravida women presenting with hemodynamic stability, making early diagnosis and management critical. We report the case of a 32-year-old G1P0 woman at term with a past history of open myomectomy performed three years prior. She presented with a two-week history of intermittent sharp left flank pain associated with nausea and an urge to have bowel movement. Despite being hemodynamically stable (BP 128/79 mmHg, pulse 73 bpm), clinical suspicion warranted further investigation. Obstetric ultrasound revealed uterine rupture with intrauterine fetal demise. Emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed under spinal anesthesia. Intraoperative findings revealed a complete fundal uterine rupture with the fetal trunk and lower extremities covered in amniotic membranes freely lying in the peritoneal cavity along with 200 ml of amniotic fluid. The fetal head remained trapped in a uterus contracted to approximately 22 weeks’ size. There was no hemoperitoneum or blood clots. A lower uterine segment incision was made to facilitate extraction; however, full delivery was not possible. To prevent further uterine injury, fetal decapitation was performed. The uterus was subsequently repaired in layers at both the fundal rupture site and the lower uterine incision. Hysterectomy was avoided. The patient and her spouse were later counseled on the high risk of recurrence with future pregnancies and advised against conception, exploring alternative options for parenthood and contraceptive use. This case emphasizes the need for a high index of suspicion for uterine rupture in pregnant women with a prior history of uterine surgery, regardless of parity or hemodynamic presentation. Prompt diagnosis, surgical intervention, and tailored postoperative counseling are crucial in preserving maternal health and guiding future reproductive decisions

How often do US-based schizophrenia papers published in high-impact psychiatric journals report on race and ethnicity?: A 20-year update of Lewine and Caudle (1999)

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic disparities have been clearly documented in schizophrenia studies, but it is unclear how much research attention they receive among US-based studies published in high-impact journals. AIMS: The current paper updates Lewine and Caudle's (1999) and Chakraborty and Steinhauer's (2010) works, which quantified how frequently schizophrenia studies included information on race and ethnicity in their analyses. METHOD: We examined all US-based papers on schizophrenia-spectrum, first-episode psychosis, and clinical high-risk groups, published between 2014 to 2016 in four major psychiatric journals: American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the American Medical Association - Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Schizophrenia Research. RESULTS: Of 474 US-based studies, 62% (n = 295) reported analyses by race or ethnicity as compared to 20% in Lewine and Caudle's (1999) study. The majority of papers (59%) reported sample descriptions, a 42% increase from Lewine and Caudle's (1999) study. Additionally, 47% matched or compared the racial/ethnic composition of primary study groups and 12% adjusted for race (e.g., as a covariate). However, only 9% directly analyzed racial and/or ethnic identity in relation to the primary topic of the paper. CONCLUSIONS: While schizophrenia studies report analyses by race and ethnicity more frequently than 20 years ago, there remains a strong need for systematic, nuanced research on this topic. The authors offer recommendations for how to conceptualize and report upon race and ethnicity in schizophrenia research