Project Management For Developing Countries: Back to Basics

This article has been on ways by which developing countries can go back to the basics of project management as a means for developmental goals. Project management has proven to be an effective and flexible management approach, which has the potential of being of great value to developing countries. There is a need for a stronger emphasis on project implementation as a training mechanism for developing indigenous skills. Improved planning, administrative and technical capacity must be defined as project outputs. The need for highly trained development administrators, especially those with project management skills, is a recurring theme of international assistance evaluation reports. Developing countries require two types of trained project administrators: those who can plan and coordinate the entire project cycle as an integrated process and those who can manage the project as an organizational entity once it is selected and approved (Rondinelli, 1976)

Children\u27s Mental Health

The study of children’s mental health has largely been the domain of developmental psychologists and psychiatrists. These studies focus on parental mental health, and examine its direct and indirect effects, through a family’s psychosocial environment. Relatively little attention is given to socio-structural factors. By contrast, the sociology of mental health focuses on such structural factors as poverty and income, examining the extent to which stressors and strains may pattern the effects of these factors on children’s psychopathology. Adding to the divergence in research is the use of maternal reports in the assessment of children’s mental health. These reports often reflect mothers’ own mental health status and are inherently biased. Using data collected from 560 couples in London, Ontario, the current study moves beyond the scope of these disciplines to assess the effects of parental socio-structural and stress characteristics in relation to parental psychopathology. It addresses the issue of bias by using both maternal and paternal reports of their children’s mental health. In a final set of analyses, the results that are obtained using both parents’ reports are reconciled through an assessment of possible factors that may predispose either parent to overreport their children’s psychopathology. Findings indicate a moderate association between social structural characteristics and children’s mental health. This association is mediated by parental stress, which by itself is a direct and independent predictor of children’s mental health. The effect of parental distress, however, appeared to be a function of the parental report that was utilized. When mothers’ reports were used, their distress correlated with children’s psychopathology. Similarly, fathers’ distress mattered only when their own reports were used. Parental distress, independently and in relation to social structural, stress and family relationships, also contributes very little to the discrepancies in mothers’ and fathers’ reports of their children’s mental health. The findings of this study support the need for children’s mental health studies and intervention that transcends a focus on parental psychopathology to include an improvement in the social conditions of children

The Modern Techniques of Commerce with Matters Connected to Projects

This article has highlighted some of the issues related to projects and how to deal with it. So often projects start and its completion becomes a challenge due to some the related issues discussed above. The project manager must monitor and control the human side of his project. This involves utilizing appropriate forms of power in managing the project team to obtain desired results. Project teams also need to manage stakeholder expectations through understanding their expectations, delivering on those expectations, and communicating effectively (Kloppenborg, 2012). This will give the project manager the upper hand to deal with issues that may cause the failure of the project

The Task of a Project Manager in Building Individual and Project Team Capability in Modern Day Project Work

From the point of view of an organization, projects act as a means for consolidating the experience and expertise of the organizational members effectively, create learning environment, encourage team-spirit and help to achieve organizational objectives. This article is about the task of a Project Manager in building Individual and project team capability in modern day project work

Two Novel Techniques of Drying Silica Aerogel at Ambient Pressure

二氧化硅气凝胶因其优异的性能广泛应用于各个行业，成为多孔材料研究的热点之一。然而，工业化生产时往往受限于干燥技术，主要的影响因素包括成本、生产效率、安全性和对环境的影响程度等。本工作开发两种方法来解决这些问题。 第一种方法采用一种可变换亲水溶剂(SHS)溶解于二氧化硅水凝胶的间隙中，之后将间隙中的水萃取出来，其中二氧化硅水凝胶采用加压碳化溶胶-凝胶过程制得。引入常压CO2与该SHS反应，发现快速反应（反应时间1分钟）就能使滤液内水的最大溶解度达到72.8%。滤液是单相溶液，并可以循环使用。滤渣是二氧化硅湿凝胶，可用常压干燥得到二氧化硅气凝胶。用氮气吸附-脱附仪测试可知，该气凝胶产品具有较大的...The exceptional properties of silica aerogel make it one of the intensely investigated porous materials obviously because of its multiple and diverse applications. However, its commercial-scale production is often limited by a drying technique that critically embodies considerations such as cost, safety, time for production and effects on the environment. In an attempt to address these challenges ...学位：工学硕士院系专业：化学化工学院_化学工程学号：2042015115469

The 21st Century way of Dealing with Some Issues Related to Project Teams

This article addresses the issues that comes up as a result of working in a group on project. Assembling a good team is important in any phase of business, but it is especially important when managing a project to make sure that the work can get done on time and on budget. The process of acquiring a project team takes place within the executing processes and is concerned with confirming human resource availability and obtaining the personnel needed to complete project assignments. It is complicated by the fact that individuals with different skill sets will be required at different points throughout the project

Performance Assessment of Mathematics and Statistics Students of a Tertiary Institution in Ghana

The contribution of mathematics and its allied sciences is central to sustainable economic development of every nation. Students’ performance in mathematics/statistics at tertiary level of education leaves much to be desired. This paper seeks to investigate academic performance of students of students of mathematics and statistics of a tertiary institution in Ghana. It examines students’ performance in mathematics/statistics with respect to; gender, the period from 2000 to 2012, and the nature of relationship in terms of mathematics/statistics achievement between the various semesters of the study. The study made use of data on academic records of ten (10) cohorts of 617 Higher National Diploma, (HND) statistics students who were admitted to and graduated from the Mathematics and Statistics Department of the institution. The study revealed that, although males far outnumbered females, their performances are the same; students’ performance differed among the various years of study.  In general, students’ performance increased across the study period. Further, students’ performances in some of the semesters were found to be related to other semesters. It was recommended that; more females enroll into mathematics and mathematics related programmes to ensure a balanced representation of gender, students’ CGPA be monitored persistently for appropriate advice, and the research work be replicated in other tertiary institutions to give a broader picture of students’ achievement in mathematics/statistics Keywords: Academic performance, Cumulative Grade Point Average, Mathematics/Statistic

Organic and Inorganic Cu Sailts Utilization in Fattening Goats

A 90-day nutritional balance trial was conducted, with 12 West Africa Dwarf goats weighing between 12.3 and 12.8kg. The animals were grouped into 4 dietary treatments of 3 goats per group, using copper salts-Cu proteinate, CuSO4, CuNO3 as test ingredients, applied at 100g/50kg feed. The experiment  assessed the effects of the different Cu salts when compared with control on Cu bioavailability, average daily gain (ADG), dry matter intake (DMI), water consumption, heart and liver weights, faecal Cu, glucose and protein concentration, PCV,RBC,WBC, and Hb. Each of the 4 groups was randomly assigned to a Cu salt - based diet while the control (T1) had no Cu salt inclusion. Results indicate that all the salts - treated goats exhibited significantly (P<0.05) higher performances than the control group in all parameters considered. Copper proteinate significantly (P<0.05) induced the highest dry matter intake (0.306kg/d),ADG(0.046kg/W 0.75 kg),highest Cu bioavailability in the serum(119.7mg/l) and optimum FCR(1.12).Cu proteinate seems to induce better responses in the goats than other Cu salts. Cu proteinate can be suggested as a salt of choice in case of Cu deficiency, depletion or anaemia condition in goats. About 100g Cu proteinate /50kg feed is therefore recommended in the diet of growing WAD goats. Keywords: Bioavailability, Cu proteinate, Haematological and Serological parameters

Phenotypic screening of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) genotypes for resistance to cowpea viral diseases

Viruses are a major constraint to cowpea production in sub-Saharan Africa. Host plant resistance is the most effective and reliable method of managing viral diseases. In order to identify the source of resistance or tolerance, 38 cowpea genotypes were screened for virus infection under field conditions during the 2016 wet and dry seasons. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications in both seasons. Disease severity was assessed fortnightly based on disease symptom using 1-5 visual scale (1=symptomless, and 5= very severe symptom). The cowpea genotypes exhibited varying reactions to viral infections with mean disease incidence ranging from 17.7% in the fourth week to 29.2% in the eighth week for the wet season and from 34.4% to 53.1% for the fourth and eighth week, respectively in the dry season. Symptoms observed were leaf mosaic (86.7%), leaf mottling (86.7%), chlorotic spots (34.2%), vein clearing (28.9%), leaf curl (26.3%), necrotic lesions (15.8%) and stunting (10.5%). Symptom severity in the rainy season ranged from symptomless (severity score of 1) in IT10K-819-4 and IT07K-297-13 to moderate symptom (severity score of 2.9) in Apagbaala. However, in the dry season, the symptom severity score ranged from 1.11 (mild symptom) in Marfo Tuya to a score of 2.4 (moderate symptom) in IT07K-298-9, thus demonstrating a significant genotype x season interaction effect. Incidence and severity were significantly higher in the dry season than in the rainy season. There was a strong positive correlation between the disease incidence and disease severity as well as AUDPC and no correlation between the cowpea incidence and the seed yield and plant height in the wet season. There was a negative correlation between the incidence and plant height in the dry season. Six genotypes (IT07-210-1-1, IT07K-297-13, IT08K-193- 14, IT09-456, IT10K-817-3 and IT10K-819-4) exhibited mild symptoms and gave high yields in both seasons, thus demonstrating a stable G x E interaction effect. These disease resistant genotypes could be evaluated further before release to farmers.Keywords: Area Under Disease Progress Curve, Host resistance, Vigna unguiculata, Viral disease

A Correlational Analysis of the Role of Income on Maternal Lifestyle among Pregnant Women: An Explanatory Study of Kwabre East District (Asonomaso Government Hospital)

Maternal health is one of the top most priorities for the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children Fund and most Governments and institutions around the world. As a result many attempts have been made in order to improve maternal health but it seems many countries in the world especially, Sub- Saharan African countries including Ghana might not be able to attain the millennium development goal target of improving maternal health, thereby reducing   maternal mortality ratio by ¾ in 2015 (Report from  Ghana Millennium Development Goals, 2008). The study used a quantitative data analysis; with the help of inferential statistics tool such scatter plot and spearman rank correlation coefficient the field data was analyzed. The study used a sample size of 200 pregnant women. The study employed both purposive and random sampling technique in taking the data. Purposively the area under study was selected in order to get the required respondents at Kwabre East District: Asonomaso Government Hospital. But in selecting the pregnant women in the study area a simple random sampling techniques was used. The study found out that, there was a positive correlational relationship between income and drinking lifestyle, smoking lifestyle, used of mosquito net, regular exercise and visitation of antenatal care among pregnant women. The study recommends that the Government of Ghana and all other stakeholders which include NGOs, Ghana Health service should provide mosquito treated net to the pregnant women and those in the low income group since they are less likely to buy or use a mosquito treated net. The study recommends that stakeholders of maternal health should prescribe the use of the physiotherapy department for the pregnant women and also subsidize its accessibility for the pregnant women to make it affordable for the low income earners. This will enables them to do regular physical exercises in order to invest into their health stock. Keywords: Maternal mortality, maternal morbidity, maternal lifestyle, income, pregnant women, health stock and maternal healt