Upscaling Community-Arranged Preparedness for Preventing Maternal Mortality in Ghana: A Case Study of Keta and Akatsi Districts of Volta Region

The main objective of the study is to assess maternal health in Ghana using empirical evidence from Akatsi and Keta districts of the Volta Region. Interviews were conducted from a sample size of 6,250 respondents within the reproductive age group of 15-49 years drawn from both districts in 2007. The results show that most of the women had only basic education and were generally petty traders, farmers and fishmongers. Overwhelming majority of the women stated that there was no community-arranged preparedness to aid them in times of emergency obstetric care. A significant proportion of the women (about 30%) relied on relatives/friends/home or traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to deliver their babies, while the road network in both districts was poor. The Government of Ghana should therefore rehabilitate roads or construct new ones that could help the people transport emergency complications to the health facility on time to prevent deaths. These TBAs should be trained to recognize complications and not to manage complications professionally and they should be motivated to make referrals to mainstream health facilities. The Government of Ghana should aim at increasing girls’ participation at all levels of the education system in the country since education is the key to ending poverty

High and low negation in Sign Language of the Netherlands

In this paper, we offer a formal account of clausal negation in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) based on corpus data. Data analysis reveals that NGT displays considerable variation in negative clauses with respect to (i) word order and (ii) spreading of the headshake. As for (i), we show that the different positions of the manual negator vis-à-vis the VP result from the presence of two NegPs which trigger V- or (remnant) VP-movement, which in turn allows different spell-out strategies. As for (ii), we argue that the proposed structure, while not syntactically determining the headshake’s spreading domain, does interact with spreading by defining which categories can host the headshak

The genetic characteristics of cephalic abnormality and its aquaculture implication in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822)

Cephalic abnormality in nine mating groups involving Clarias gariepinus with cephalic abnormality, non Cephalic and Maiduguri origin were investigated to determine the level and the genetic basis of the occurrences and its aquaculture implication. The highest mean percentage survival in a Cephalic crossed with non cephalic group was 68.6% whereas the last mean percentage survival was 25.7% in the group of Maiduguri cross with Maiduguri parent. Cephalic abnormality was observed in the crosses with both female and male cephalic with a total frequency ranging from 0 % to 70.8. %. The least number of cephalic abnormality was 18.5% which involved a cross of non cephalic with cephalic, and the highest was 70.8%. This level of cephalic abnormality shows that the defect was hereditary. This result implies that, the genetic factor is a major contributor in the feature of cephalic abnormality in Clarias gariepinus

Assessment of the aquifers in some selected villages in Chikun local government area, Kaduna state, Nigeria.

The Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) technique was used to investigate the sub-surface layering in some selected villages in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State with the aim of determining the configuration of the aquifer underlying the region. The result of the interpreted VES data suggests that the area is underlain by three to five layers. The geologic sections derived from the analyzed geoelectric section suggest that the alluvial deposits of sand, silt and sandy clay as well as the weathered and fractured basement rocks constitute the aquifer in the areas. The average thickness of the aquifer was found to be 25m. The geoelectric section generated also suggest that the resistively values of the aquifer components range from 100 Ωm to 250 Ωm for the alluvial deposits to an average of 50 Ωm to 350 Ωm for the weathered/fractured basement formations. Results obtained for the pumping tests and transmissivity values of boreholes drilled shows that the area’s aquifer are capable of producing at least 0.75l/s i.e. 2.7m3/hr of portable water. Keywords: Geoelectric, Aquifer, Borehole, Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES)

Assessment Of The Frequency Of Ict Tools Usage By Agricultural Extension Agents In Imo State, Nigeria

In recent times, information and communication technology (ICT) has become relevant in the Nigerian agricultural sector. The extension service requires ICT for effective information delivery. This study examines the frequency of ICT tools usage by agricultural extension agents in Imo State, Nigeria. Data for the study was collected from 57 randomly selectedextension agents. Data analysis was by the use of frequency, percentages, mean and t-test. Findings of the study revealed that only mobile phone and computer were frequently used by respondents. The overall mean of 0.89 suggests that ICT tools were not frequently used for extension services and this has grave implications for agricultural development. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: there should be adequate provision of computers for all the extension agents. Adequate provision should be made for the maintenance of the ICT facilities and systems. That provision should be made in providing training programme for the extension agents in order to update their knowledge on the latest and new information technology. Government to establish policy programme as means of bridging our digital divide, creating digital opportunity for various users ofextension services in the country. ICT enabled extension service must be able to define it’s key stakeholders and audience and jointly determine their needs