Strategic planning through a participatory learning and action framework: a Kenyan study

This paper reflects on the use of a participatory learning and action (PLA) framework in a strategic planning process (SPP) at a primary school in rural Kenya. Successes and challenges are discussed, focusing on the barriers to fully implementing the PLA framework. Additionally, lessons learnt and ways forward for participatory SPPs are outlined. The PLA framework allowed the project stakeholders to engage in a planning process that gave participants a voice in the process. Although PLA methodology faces shortcomings, the application of this model is a step towards making community development more sustainable.     

Predilection sites of infantile skull fractures following blunt force

Previous investigations on calvarial fractures in infants have shown that the flexibility and displacement of the infant calvarial are not sufficient to avoid fractures as a result of fall. From a table height onto hard ground - and in special cases, fractures cannot be avoided even after falls onto softly cushioned ground. The skull fractures are located in paper-thin, transparent, single-layer bone areas without diploe. The results of previous literature were compared with investigations of the skulls of 82 infants (from neonates up to infants 14 months of age). Congenital fissures, cranioschisis, locally retarded ossification in the cranium and craniotabes are all weak points where fracture has a tendency to occur even if the impact is minor. These ossification defects are increased in the ossa parietalia, but can also be found in the os frontale or in the os occipitale. The location is not always the same but can be detected by locating the skull transparency using diaphanoscopy.     

Jealousy,intimate abusiveness,and intrusiveness

An examination of self-report scales of 160 men and 76 of their partners or former partners found significant correlations between jealousy and abusiveness (for coupled dyads) or intrusiveness (for separated dyads). Jealousy was related to borderline personality and to MCMI-II measures of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Rejection sensitivity leading to pathological acts, such as abusiveness and intrusiveness, is seen as originating in early insecure attachment and exposure to shaming experiences.     

“Legitimate Strengths in Criminal Networks”

Extending from the organizing crime perspective, we study how legitimate world actors contribute to structuring a criminal network. This focus also underscores the facilitating role that some participants have in criminal settings. Based on a case study of an illegal drug importation network that was monitored by law-enforcement investigators over a two-year period, we find that although most legitimate actors (or non-traffickers) had nominal roles and contributed minimally to the criminal network's structure, a minority of these actors were critical to the network in two ways: (1) they were active in bringing other participants (including traffickers) into the network; and (2) they were influential directors of relationships with both non-traffickers and traffickers. The presence of such influential participants from legitimate occupational settings illustrates how upperworld figures can facilitate criminal enterprise beyond the mere contributions of legitimate status and expertise.