Selected Topics in Humanities and Social Sciences Vol. 9

Perspectives of Hearing Parents of Deaf Children on Learning Kenyan Sign Language

Rosemary Ogada Luchivya — 2022-01-11

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the challenges faced in learning Kenyan sign language from the perspective of hearing parents of deaf learners.

Methodology: This study employed case study design, qualitative research approach adopting the interpretive paradigm. The researchers used a purposive sampling strategy to create a study sample of 177 people. Interview schedules, Focus Group Discussion guidelines, and Document Analysis guides were used to collect data. The data was transcribed, coded, and organized into themes before being reported.

Findings: The findings revealed that parents faced three major challenges when learning Kenyan sign language: it was too difficult to learn, it was too expensive to learn, and institutions for parents to learn in were not readily available.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study's recommendations were that hearing parents of children with hearing impairments be supported in the process of learning Kenyan sign language and that parents make deliberate efforts to learn Kenyan sign language and other modes of communication in order to communicate with their children with hearing impairments.

Study on the Relationship between Legislative Oversight and the Executive Organs’ Compliance with Principles of Good Governance: A Case Study of Kenya’s Makueni County Assembly

Shadrack Musyoki Mutisya — 2022-01-11

Legislatures exercise oversight over governments operations, programs and policies in promoting transparency, accountability and prudence in their exercise of public duties. Nevertheless, oversight functions are most often misconstrued as adversarial and fault-finding exercises intended to embarrass the executive organs in their exercise of delegated powers. In this view, this study sought to analyze the relationship between lawmakers’ exercise of oversight functions over the executive branch operations and compliance with good governance practice. The objectives of the study were to analyze the correlation between County Assemblies’ exercise of oversight functions and the County executives’ compliance with principles of good governance – public participation, respect of the rule of law, transparency and accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, responsiveness and equity and consensus. The study also sought to describe the relations and cooperation between the two organs in view of the purpose and spirit of legislative oversight. The study used mixed research designs of correlational and descriptive research. Using stratified sampling technique, a sample of 71 respondents was chosen from a population of 78. The response rate was 70.4%, which was adequate for the purpose of the study. The study results showed a strong positive correlation (>0.70) between County Assemblies’ exercise of oversight functions and the County executive compliance with good governance practice. Linear regression analysis established that 94% of the variation of the Assembly’s exercise of oversight functions could be explained by the County Executive compliance with principles of leadership and governance. The findings concur with the purpose and spirit of parliamentary exercise of oversight functions in promoting accountability and prudence in the exercise of public duties.

On Becoming Moral: Bellow’s Jewishness and Exclusion

Ramzi Marrouchi — 2022-01-11

This paper is going to be a discussion of the way the philosopher writes about the poet compared to the way the poet writes about the philosopher, or how a stranger writes about another stranger. In other words, it will be a discussion of the strategies of exclusion and inclusion in the process of reconstructing the Jewish community and legislating for its moral norms. By the terms ‘exclusion’ and ‘inclusion,’ it is not meant to refer to the literal sense, but rather the researcher would concentrate upon their ontological and philosophical connotations. This subject matter will have to be limited. On this view, the researcher is going to address two narratives of Saul Bellow: Humboldt’s Gift [1] and Ravelstein [2]. The assumption is that they perfectly sum up the Bellovian philosophy of exclusion. In both narratives the move beyond the alienated world of the subjects can take two directions: either as ontological exclusion and intellectual madness or as faith and pure insight, where the former seeks reconciliation through philosophical meditations a beyond-outside the individual subject, while the latter seeks reconciliation by turning inward, to the self that can remain unsullied by the vanity of the social world.

The Other Side of Divinity in Pynchon’s Fictional World

Ramzi Marrouchi — 2022-01-11

This paper purports to reveal the way in which divinity in the American culture lie at the heart of Thomas Pynchon’s theory of conceiving the American global universe. The researcher illustrates how Pynchon creates tropes out of diverse material and uses them to constitute the larger design of American spatial realm. To prove this, it is essential to show how Pynchon’s metaphors reflect a world which is independent of our perceptions. The purpose to be achieved is to envision how such a spatial construction can be constructed and maintained in a work which exists as a verbal construction. Accordingly, three fundamental questions need to be addressed: a) how can it be argued for the spatial metaphoric representation? and b) in what way did Pynchon reflect upon the trope of metaphor? To unveil these blind spots, the researcher explores the concept of space and its affinity with metaphor in order to underline the ambiguous postmodern view which renders irrelevant the distinction between life and art. Embarking upon this ground, the researcher will show how Pynchon’s metaphor paradoxically provides a way to think about the literal and the metaphoric. In the light of the previous results, the ultimate conclusion is that what American metaphoric discourse has to offer is not unequivocal revelation, but necessary equivocation. The focus is on Pynchon’s world of fiction with specific reference on The Crying of Lot 49. The text cannot make up its mind, metaphors can reach a reality beyond language, and more fundamentally, cannot resolve whether the endeavour to do so is insane or inspired, divine or demonic. George Lakoff’s and Mark Johnson’s reflections on the concept of metaphor are significant as they provide the researcher with a theoretical background of this paper.

Investigating the Effects of Tour Guides Training on their Performance in Kenya

Francis Kabii — 2022-01-11

A comprehensive tourism destination must ensure that tourists are accompanied by a professional tour guide who guides and interprets attractions in the areas visited. The performance of tour guides in Kenya has been impacted by an undefined level of education, a lack of standardised training curriculum, and a lack of barriers to the guiding career. In Kenya, little research has been conducted to determine the role of guides in satisfying customers and protecting the environment. The study's goal was to look at tour guides' interpretation knowledge and their thoughts on areas that need more training to improve their performance. The researchers anticipated that tour guides' training needs are unaffected by their degree of education, work experience, or qualification. It is thought that guides will need further training in East African flora and fauna, cultural history, and client service. They must have ICT (Information Communications Technology) training, eco-tourism concepts, and the ability to communicate in at least one foreign language. According to the study, the higher a guide's level of training, the more resourceful the guide will be. The original data was collected using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups discussions (FGDs). The findings reveal that tour guides' perspectives on areas in which they need additional training are unaffected by their greatest degree of education, employment experience, or qualification. Most guides irrespective of their level of education, work experience and qualifications were of the opinion that they needed more training on mammals and plants (x²=1.07,df=2,P=0.583), training on birds and insects (x²=0.254,df=2,P=0.885) and training on culture and history of East Africa (x²=1.140,df=2,P=0.566). Respondents’ training needs were independent on the duration of tour guiding course training had taken. Guides trained for less than six months, one year and more than two years agreed that training on foreign language (x²=4.84,df=2,P=0.196), ecotourism principles (x²=1.62,df=2,P=0.653) and tour planning and costing (x²=399,df=3,P=0.262) would improve their performance. According to the findings, tour guides are aware of the areas in which they require training and should be consulted before such training is organised. Regardless of their degree of education, qualification, or work experience, they require more training. The findings mean that there is no significant relationship between tour guide professional qualification and their training needs. According to the study, tour guide curriculum should be standardised, and all guides should take an exam before being certified to guide, with only those who have such a licence being permitted to practise guiding.

Is there an Aesthetics in Golden Ratio as Regards to the Common CIS-Regulatory Elements and GC (G) Guanine (C) Cytosine / AT (A) Adenine (T) Thymine Base Pairs?

Tahir Ölmez — 2022-01-11

One of the modern organization theories is “systems approach theory”. General systems theory has many sustainable relationships between many varied sciences. Depending on many sciences, from chemistry and mathematics to biology, many syntheses can be obtained from these connected relationships. Not only atoms with the smallest structures of bases [Carbon(C), Nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O) and Hydrogen (H)], but also the root numbers of golden ratio after comma (1, 618034…) can be taken as a small unit for evaluating analysis from genetic algorithms. So, this paper attempts to investigate not only the relationship between golden ratio numbers “618” and Adenine Thymine (AT) base pairs / Guanine Cytosine (GC) base pairs molar masses, but also the relationship between golden ratio numbers and both the average of TATA box nucleotides and CAAT box nucleotide bases sequence on the basis of molar masses. Firstly, the molar mass of (GC) base pairs “618” is the same value of golden ratio numbers after comma (1, 618034…). Secondly, the value of “608” in calculation of TATA Box gene sequence and ‘602’ in calculation of CAAT Box gene sequence, almost the same as the first three digits “618” of golden ratio after the comma (1,618).Thirdly, after searching the CAAT box gene sequence “GGCCAATCT” and the TATA box gene sequence “TATAAAA” in the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology) databases, NCBI blast results of TATA and CAAT Box were specifically focused on a variety of bony fishes especially 'Denticle herring’. In sum, after calculating total atomic numbers of each TATA and CAAT Box, the numeric values of these results have values close to the numerical value of "618", which are almost the same as the first three digits “618” of golden ratio after the comma (1,618).

Determination of Fundamental Principles, Theories, Issues Pertaining to Occupational Safety, Health, Environmental Legislative Framework within Organizations in South Africa

Bongani I. Dlamini — 2022-01-11

Occupational health and safety practices have generally been given little research attention. As a result, occupational health and safety has continued to remain outside mainstream organizational and management researches. Working environments have various risks, which result in accidents and casualties. To prevent and minimize the occurrence of avoidable accidents, all workers should understand occupational safety and health. In terms of the OHSA and MHSA, the employer is responsible for the provision of health and safety in the workplace, including the costs for hazard identification and control and the provision of a medical surveillance program where applicable. Creating an effective workplace health and safety culture has the single greatest impact on accident reduction. While the health and safety challenges may change in the future, as the ILO’s recently released report indicates, the need to cut costs, keep workers healthy and at work, while reducing company risks, remains.

The Turkish Origins of Modern Egyptian Culture

Dina Aly Ezzat — 2022-01-11

It is often assumed by scholars and visitors to Egypt that all or most componentss of Egyptian culture originated from the Pharaonic period. This assumption is, however, not accurate as over the centuries Egypt experienced occupation by outside powers that left their mark on the country. The aim of this chapter was to trace the Turkish origins of modern Egyptian culture. Data were obtained through analysis of historical documents, interviews of historians, experts and other officials at the Ministry of Antiquity, visits to various sites, including famous buildings and other landmarks. It was concluded that in almost every major area of culture, including government organization, education, the courts, medicine, law, and infrastructure Turkey heavily influenced Egypt. Indeed, many words used today in Egyptian Arabic are of Turkish origin. Conclusions derived offer a fuller accounting of how many aspects of this civilization had Turkish origins.