Developing safe route planing strategies in young child pedestrians

This paper identifies deficiencies in young children's route planning strategies in traffic contexts and reviews intervention programs relating to this ability. Evidence concerning age-related changes shows that only a small proportion of children aged 5 years are able to construct safe routes to a destination, with the proportion increasing steadily through the middle childhood years. Intervention programs utilizing pre-test/post-test comparisons and no-treatment controls show that 5-year-olds' abilities can be improved dramatically. Longer term stability of such improvements is also assessed. Intervention programs tailored for use with groups of young children and for use by parents from socio-economically deprived areas of Glasgow, Scotland, are also evaluated

Children's perception of safety and danger on the road

This study investigates the ability of children between 5 and 11 years to select safe places to cross the street. The children were presented with situations which were either extremely safe or manifestly dangerous and were asked to correctly identify these. In other cases, they were asked to choose for themselves routes across the road which they thought would be safe. The tasks were presented in various ways: by means of a table-top simulation on which traffic scenarios had been contrived; by means of photographs of road situations; and by taking the children to real-world sites in the streets near their schools. All the experiments showed a similar pattern of results. Five- and 7-year olds exhibited very poor skill in identifying dangerous road-crossing sites. Their judgements relied exclusively on the visible presence of cars in the vicinity. Other factors such as blind summits, obscuring obstacles or complex junctions were never recognized as threatening situations. They also showed an unwillingness to make detours when planning their own routes, even where the direct route was manifestly dangerous. Nine-year-olds showed a higher level of ability and 11-year -olds showed quite good skill in these judgements. No sex differences were apparent. These results suggest that young children up to about 9 years must often be at considerable risk as they do not have the ability to recognize a location as dangerous, even if they know the mechanics of the Green Cross Code. The implications for road safety education are discussed

Landcover Change Patterns in the Volta Gorge Area, Ghana: Interpretations from Satellite Imagery

In much of the developing world, shifting cultivation is the predominant agricultural system usually practised by farmers, which is associated with increasing the unit of land under cultivation in order to increase the output. This small-scale shifting agricultural practices based primarily on burning has been the factor responsible for the conversion of forest fringe vegetation into cropland and pasture and it initiates a continuum of changes in the land cover and consequently fragmentation of the landscape. Since the construction of the Akosombo Dam in 1965, the potential for farming and fishing has increased tremendously within the Volta gorge area and this has resulted in the influx of many settler farmers and fisher folk into the area. This brought so much pressure on the natural resource base of the area and has transformed the landscape accordingly. Within this paper we aim at the estimation of the trend in changes of the landscape using multi-temporal satellite image processing and spatial change analysis. We also seek to determine the land use / cover change in the Volta gorge area of the Volta basin of Ghana for the period 1975 to 2007. Land cover change and agricultural expansion was observed through digital processing and classification based on five multi-temporal medium resolution satellite imagery (Landsat: 1975, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2007) into five classes. From this, accurately classified pixel information was used to determine each landcover class size and the number of changed pixels into other classes through change detection. The study shows that significant changes in the landscape involved a general pattern of conversion of both Closed forest and Open forest and woodland into cropland, fallow lands, pasture, and Bare areas consisting of settlements, roads and exposed soil surfaces. For the period under consideration 1975-2007, the Agricultural class increased from 52,605 hectares in 1975 to become the land cover type with the highest proportion of cover at 221,567 hectares in 2007. The study concludes among others that the expansion of agriculture has increased in all directions with the amount of land devoted to cropland and pasture increasing for all slope categories but more especially for less steeper slopes. Keywords: Landuse/landcover, Multi-temporal, Digital processing, Change detectio

Investigating the potability of water from dug wells: A case study of the Bolgatanga Township, Ghana

The aim of this study was to assess the levels of some physico-chemical and microbial water quality parameters in fifteen hand-dug wells in Bolgatanga of the Upper East region of Ghana. The effects of seasonal variation and proximity to pollution sources on the concentrations of some parameters of the well water samples were analysed. The results revealed that, total and faecal coliforms in all fifteen samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended thresholds for potable water in the dry season. Total coliform, faecal coliform, pH, conductivity, and turbidity, total dissolved solid and total hardness increased in concentration during the rainy season, pointing to infiltrations from storm water. Effect of distance from pollution sources was also pronounced on faecal and total coliform counts, which decreased with increasing distance from pollution sources. It is recommended that these wells be disinfected before use.Key words: Bacteriological, drinking water, potable, water supply, water quality

Impact of landuse and landcover changes on hydrological components of the Oti Sub-Basin of Ghana

Landuse and landcover have over the decades been undergoing changes as a result of natural and human activities. These changes for a given area can be attributed to fluctuations in the infiltration ability of the land, leading to changes in the hydrological cycle of a given catchment area. This research assessed some of the impacts that landuse and landcover changes coupled with climate variations have on the hydrological components of the Oti sub-basin of Ghana using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with ArcGIS® interface for the development of models from which conclusions were drawn. The research incorporated into the SWAT system two landuse and landcover data: 1984 and 2013 which were modeled and evaluated alongside soil, slope and climate dataset. The results from running the model indicated a very significant change in landuse and landcover and a loss of forest cover which has negative effect on the hydrological components of the basin. Also, the rainfall trend analysis gave negative significant values of -2.28 and -2.78 for the two stations located at Zabzugu and Bimbila within the basin. Together, these changes have led to an increase in evapotranspiration (ET) and decrease in surface water, lateral flow and groundwater recharge. This is an indication that climate change impact on the basin is a function of the landuse and landcover changes. There is an urgent need for all stakeholders to help protect the basin from anthropogenic activities such as farming too close to the basin in order to prevent future water availability issues in the basin

Assessing the Impact of a Dam on the Livelihood of Surrounding Communities: A Case Study of Vea Dam in the Upper East Region of Ghana

River basins are well known as the origin of advanced human social development and cultural heritage which ancient and modern communities have depended on for livelihood, commerce and habitat. Dam is one of the many man-made alterations to river basins that have been built for centuries and without doubt have contributed to the development of many nations. However, their social, health and environmental impacts have in too many cases not been assessed most often in developing countries. This research sought to explore and understand the Vea Dam within the context of socio-economic and health impacts on the host communities. Secondary data were collected from Irrigation Company of Upper Region and Bongo District Assembly in Ghana whilst primary data were obtained through random and stratified sampling. The results revealed that 2.6% and 66% of the respondents are employed in the fishery sector and irrigation sector, respectively. The dam necessitated the relocation of about 34% of the communities and on the average two people are drown annually in the Dam. The prevalence of water borne diseases after the construction of the Dam was also perceived by the communities to have increased. The Dam has both positive and negative socio-economic and health impacts on the surrounding communities with the benefits outweighing the negative impacts. The availability of potable drinking water in the area has created development with inevitable rise in standard of living. The study also revealed that agricultural activities, freshwater fishery and availability of water for irrigation of farmlands have improved. However, an enhancement in the beneficial impacts and minimization of the adverse impacts would help better livelihood in the communities. Keywords: Bongo District, Impacts of a dam, Livelihood, Socio-economic, Vea Da

Competitive state anxiety and performance among Malaysian athletes from the view of multidimensional anxiety theory / Vincent A. Parnabas, Yahaya Mahamood and Kwame Ampofo-Boateng

The Multidimensional Anxiety theory examines the relationship between anxiety and performance. It is the first theory that explains that both cognitive and somatic components play an important role on performance. Cognitive anxiety is the mental component of anxiety and somatic anxiety refers to a person’s perceived changes in her or his physiological. The theory hypothesizes a powerful negative linear relationship between cognitive state anxiety and performance and a less powerful, inverted U relationship between somatic anxiety and performance. The theory states that the increases of cognitive and somatic anxiety will deteriorate an athlete’s performance. However, previous research had showed inconsistent results. Therefore, this research examines the effect of cognitive and somatic anxiety on performance among Malaysian athletes. The sample consisted of 902 athletes, consisting of national (N=53), state (N=395), district (N=120), university (N=211), and school athletes (N= 123). The sample was drawn from among athletes who competed in three big sport events of Malaysia, MASUM (Universities Sports Competition), MSSM (Schools Sport Competition) and Sukan Olimpik Muda (Young Olympic Athletes Competition).The instrument used for the study comprised of a 27-item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2, consisting of cognitive and somatic component. The result has received support from the Multidimensional Anxiety theory, that the increased level of cognitive and somatic anxiety deteriorated athletes’ performance. Coaches, sport psychologists and counsellors can use this research to reduce the cognitive and somatic anxiety to increase athletes’ performance

A developmental and training study of children's ability to find safe routes to cross the road

The sites and routes that children of different ages considered to be safe to cross the road were investigated. In Expt 1, children aged 5, 7, 9 and 11 years were instructed to choose 'the safest' crossing sites and routes to specified destinations. The results showed a gradual developmental shift with safer, more adult-like choices appearing with increasing age. Five and 7 year olds exhibited only a rudimentary selection procedure, choosing the most direct route as safest and showing a marked lack of awareness of the dangers posed by nearby roadside obstacles or other visual restrictions. In a further experiment, 5-year-olds were individually trained in finding safe places to cross. Training took place either in the real road environment or using a tabletop model of a traffic environment. A series of pre-and post-tests enabled the effectiveness of the training to be assessed. Substantial improvements following training were obtained in both groups. No differences were found between the two training methods. Though performance fell somewhat over the two months following training, trained children still outperformed their untrained peers eight months after the programme ended. The implications for road safety education are discussed

Behavioural group training of children to find safe routes to cross the road

Young children show poor judgement when asked to select safe places to cross the road and frequently consider dangerous sites to be safe ones. Thus, a sharp bend, the brow of a hill or positions close to parked cars are considered safe places to cross by most children under 9 years of age. This study examined the effectiveness of two practical training programmes in improving the judgements of 5-year-olds. Children were trained in small groups either in the real road environment or using simulations set up on a table-top model. A series of pre-and post-tests allowed the effectiveness of training to be assessed. Significant improvements relative to controls were found in both groups following training. There were no differences between the two training methods. Improvements were robust and no deterioration was observed two months after the programme ended. However, the benefits of group training were less marked than in an earlier study in which children were trained individually. The implications for road safety education are discussed

Errors in young children's decisions about traffic gaps : experiments with roadside simulations

Young children's vulnerability as pedestrians has often been attributed to deficiencies in their decision making about vehicle approach times. Some studies have found a preponderance o f risky decisions below the age of eight years. In contrast, studies using a closer simulation of road crossing, known as the pretend road, have found a preponderance of overcautious decisions in young children: traffic gaps of adequate size were frequently rejected (missed opportunities). However, the pretend road has potentially distorting characteristics which may account for this divergent pattern of findings. The experiments reported below show that new simulations that eradicate distortions nevertheless validate the pattern of results produced with the pretend road. Differences between adults and young children were pronounced for missed opportunities, but not for risky decisions. Subsidiary analyses suggest that the risky decisions of the youngest children may have arisen through lapses in attention, rather than deficits in timing. These findings run contrary to the view that attributes young children's pedestrian vulnerability to perceptuo-motor deficiency