Assessment of Students Performances in Biology: Implication for Measurements and Evaluation of Learning

Scienceeducation is believed to be a vital tool for individual and societal development at large. The persistent low levels of students' achievement in sciences at the various public examinations in Nigeria have continued to draw the attention of major stakeholders in education. This study examined academic achievement of Senior Secondary School students in biology and gender difference in students' achievement was examined. Ex-post facto design of descriptive research was adopted for the study. A proforma was used to collect data from a sample of two hundred (200) students, selected using stratified random sampling procedure from the Science secondary schools in Kano state Nigeria. The data collected were the students' performances in biology achievement tests. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and independent-sample t-test. Overall results showed that the test internal consistency reliability is low and unsatisfactory; the students performed below average (M=47.02, SD=16.493 (47%). Similarly, gender difference exists in biology performance with another significant difference between performance of urban and rural school students. The study concludes that, biology test used in Kano state qualifying examinations to assess students potential ability in biology is not a reliable measurement tool and that, academic performance of students in biology is unsatisfactory and evidence of differential performance between gender and schools locations. The implication for measurements and evaluation of learning as well as recommendations has been discussed

Nigerian Proverbs as Integral Parts of Language and Culture: The Example of Ganmanganzhi (Nupe Proverbs) In Nigeria

Language is a living thing capable of being actively used to produce limitless expressions of thoughts in life. The dynamism with which language and proverbs in particular, yield themselves to various uses in man’s attempt to communicate his thoughts and feeling is evident. Proverbs are old ways of expression developed to encapsulate and caption present new ways of life. This article attempts to examine proverbial language used in the Nupe community for communication and acculturaisation it serves as a supplement to the existing data in the area of poetry as a form of language use pregnanted with meanings and interpretable into many deep and surface structure levels. This studies on the poetry of an ethnic group is also an exposition into the linguistic contents and frames of the language of the Nupe ethnic setting. Part of the findings of this work is that from the exposition of the poetry of Nupe Language (Ganmangazhi), one can reconstruct the people`s world view, livelihood, existence, codes of conduct expected ways of behavior, taboos, tradition e.t.

Measles Vaccination among Children (12 to 23 Months) in IDPs Settlements of Khartoum State, Sudan

Objectives: To assess the coverage rate of measles vaccine among children 12 to 23 months old and causes behind non-immunization in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) settlements.Methods: A multistage cluster sampling, community-based, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in IDPs Settlements of Khartoum State, Sudan, in 2009. Questionnaires were collected from 210 children (12 to 23 months) old to determine the coverage rate and causes behind non-immunization with measles vaccine.Results: Almost one quarter (24.8%) of children was not vaccinated by measles and the coverage rate was 75.2%; most of them had a vaccination card (86%) which means a high documentation and verification of mothers answers and only 14% verified the immunization status of their children by memory. The major cause of none vaccination was because of the busyness of the mother to take her child for vaccination, which comprises 10% of the children, followed by 6.2% of children not vaccinated because their mothers give no reason for not vaccinating their children. There was evidence of a significant association (P-Value = 0.037) between education level of the mothers' and numbers of children under five years in the family with the immunization of Measles.Conclusion: Coverage of measles vaccination among children aged 12-23 months in IDPs settlements in Khartoum state was reasonably acceptable. The most common reasons for non-immunization were that the caretakers were busy to take their children for vaccination and being unaware of need to return for measles vaccine. Apply a health promotion program and use of different comprehensive interventions to convince mothers to complete measles immunization and increases coverage rate, also plan and implement an effective health education program to increase the awareness of mothers on the importance of measles vaccination

Impact of Brand Extension and Brand Image on Brand Equity

The purpose of this study was to find out factors influencing on the brand equity. How the brand image and line extension impact on brand equity.  The study statistical population was including different commercial market, Education sector and industrial sector. For the response of such research we distributed 150 questionnaires with the 25 different questions. By use of the SPSS the correlation and regression tests were applied for interpreting the result.  The research results identified that there is positive significant relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The regression result showed that the model is fit and can predict future results of the research. The research will helpful for the commercial markets, related industries and specially for the managers to review their business strategies in order to attract maximum potential customers. Keywords: brand extension, images, brand equit

The Effect of Social Capital on the Performance of Women Entrepreneurs

This study investigates the effect of social capital on the performance of women entrepreneurs. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire which was administered on women entrepreneurs. Data was analyzed using Pearson moment correlation and linear regression analyses. Findings revealed a strong and positive relationship between social capital and the performance of women entrepreneurs. Put in another way, every unit or 100% increase in social capital will lead to an increase of .315 or 31.5% increase in business performance. This implies that enterprise performance is not restricted to availability of human and financial capital, but the valuable information on markets, suppliers, and methods of operation availed by social capital creates an avenue for improved performance. It was recommended that financial institutions should create avenues through which women would interact and learn diverse business practices. Keywords: Social Capital, Women Entrepreneurs, Performance, Financial Institutions. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-2-10 Publication date: January 31st 202

Antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera methanolic leaves extracts against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates

Background: Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) found to be very useful tree in tropical countries. In folklore and Ayurvedic all parts of the tree used in different healing procedures for different diseases. The plant leaves are very good nutrient supplement for malnutrition and also used as an antibiotic. Methods: Phytochemical analysis of the leaf in solvents of varying polarity; viz., Aqueous and Methanol were also carried out. The phytochemical screening indicated the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides etc. Results: The antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts against four microorganisms, viz. Escherichia coli, Shigella Staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus, The Methanolic extract was active against E.coli, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus whereas the aqueous extract exhibited an inhibitory effect on Pneumonia, E. coli and Shigella only at different zone of inhibition levels of extracts. Well diffusion method was used to assess the antibacterial effect of the extracts on both Gram positive and Gram negative micro-organisms. Moreover, the statistically, results were not significant at both 1% and 5% level of significances. Conclusion: It became obvious that, the higher reducing power of the aqueous extract could be due to the better solubility of the antioxidant components in water whereas the predominant antibacterial activity in organic solvent extracts as compared to aqueous extracts, indicated that the active components responsible for the bactericidal activity are more soluble in organic solvents. This study provided an evidence to support traditional medicinal uses of the plant

Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Rural Women in Borno State, Nigeria

Women constitute the greater percentage of the rural population in Nigeria and form an important part of the labour force by engaging in subsistence trade. However, this role is grossly hindered as a result of lack of information on problems such as healthcare, literacy, early marriages, poverty, and lack of education. This study is an investigation of the information needs and information seeking behavior of rural women in Nigeria. Questionnaire and oral Interviews were the main instruments used for data collection. The analysis revealed varying information needs, sources, channels, and seeking behavior. Barriers to information needs are identified and suggestions provided

Detection of natural structures and classification of HCI-HPR data using robust forward search algorithm

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to proposes a forward search algorithm for detecting and identifying natural structures arising in human-computer interaction (HCI) and human physiological response (HPR) data. Design/methodology/approach – The paper portrays aspects that are essential to modelling and precision in detection. The methods involves developed algorithm for detecting outliers in data to recognise natural patterns in incessant data such as HCI-HPR data. The detected categorical data are simultaneously labelled based on the data reliance on parametric rules to predictive models used in classification algorithms. Data were also simulated based on multivariate normal distribution method and used to compare and validate the original data. Findings – Results shows that the forward search method provides robust features that are capable of repelling over-fitting in physiological and eye movement data. Research limitations/implications – One of the limitations of the robust forward search algorithm is that when the number of digits for residuals value is more than the expected size for stack flow, it normally yields an error caution; to counter this, the data sets are normally standardized by taking the logarithmic function of the model before running the algorithm. Practical implications – The authors conducted some of the experiments at individual residence which may affect environmental constraints. Originality/value – The novel approach to this method is the detection of outliers for data sets based on the Mahalanobis distances on HCI and HPR. And can also involve a large size of data with p possible parameters. The improvement made to the algorithm is application of more graphical display and rendering of the residual plot