An analysis of the learning performance gap between urban and rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa

The learning gap between urban and rural areas is a persistent problem in many sub-Saharan African countries. Previous studies have found that the urban-rural learning gap is attributed to the fact that student characteristics and school resources are different in urban and rural areas. Our study updates this finding by using the latest dataset and further examines the changes in the attributed sources over time. Using 15 educational systems in sub-Saharan Africa, we examined 4 potential sources of the gap: student, family, teacher, and school characteristics. Our results reveal that the urban-rural learning gap in recent years is attributed mostly to differences in school and family characteristics. We also found that the attribution remains the same over time from 2004 to 2011 and that the attribution to family characteristics’ differences became slightly greater than the one to school characteristics’ differences. Keywords: decomposition analysis; learning gap; regional disparity; sub-Saharan Africa; urban-rural ga

Explaining the Gender Gap in Learning Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Household Tasks

A gender gap in learning performance is often seen in sub-Saharan African countries, with girls underperforming boys. Scholars have explored the sources of this gap, with some proposing household tasks as one such source. They explain that girls' performance is worse because girls engage more in household tasks. Such a claim seems plausible, though it has not been rigorously proven. This study, therefore, examines empirically whether household tasks can explain the gender gap in the learning performance of sub-Saharan African countries through the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique. Our results show little evidence that the difference in household task engagement explains the gender gap in learning performance. Our analytical results suggest that the source of the gender gap exists else where than household tasks, for example, students' age, classroom environment, and maternal support. Our results highlight the need to examine the appropriate sources to resolve the chronic gender gap in sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: gender gap, learning performance, household tasks, subSaharan Africa, Oaxaca-Blinder decompositio

Average and Quantile Decomposition : the Gender Gap in Student Performance and the Household Tasks in Mozambique

Gender gap of student performance is one of the remaining challenge in Mozambique. This study shed light on the role of household tasks in gender gap of student performance and examine whether the gender gap comes as a result of difference in engaging household tasks. We employ the decomposition techniques with the SACMEQ III data for 3360 pupils in Mozambique. Our result by mean and quantile decomposition analysis shows that there is little evidence that the difference of household tasks engagement is the source of gender gap in performance. Though in certain condition, we find that tasks of gardening, taking care of livestock and fetching water may be a factor which causes the gender gap. We also find that the gender gap of student performance varies across the distribution

Optimization of Soft Carbon Negative Electrode in Sodium-Ion Batteries Using Surface-Modified Mesophase-Pitch Carbon Fibers

Current efforts to improve sodium-ion batteries are heavily focused on developing high performance carbon materials for the negative electrode. With significant research, hard carbons have come to show massive storage capacities and fast discharge rates. On the other hand, soft carbons have received very little attention, though they likewise encompass a wide variety of materials with structures highly dependent on the starting material and preparation temperature. In our contribution, we systematically evaluate the electrochemical performance of soft carbon electrodes made from mesophase-pitch carbon fibers (MCF). By using felt electrodes, we evaluate the cyclic voltammetry of MCFs prepared at 600–1300 °C and show the best performance with MCF prepared between 700–950 °C. In addition, using a surface modification step with silver showed significantly improved voltammetry for all the materials. Electrochemical impedance measurements further indicated that the surface modification step could decrease both of charge transfer resistances and film resistances attributed to the solid electrolyte interphase. Upon comparing lithium- and sodium-cell, it was revealed that sodium-cell demonstrated more significant increase in current density and decrease in resistance through surface treatment. We further verified our results with measurements on single-fiber electrodes; an increase in currents and a decrease in impedance were also observed by the surface modification, as with the felt electrodes. Overall, we speculate our surface modification removes inhibitors, such as functional groups or impurities, on the MCF surface to prevent sluggish ion transfer or trapping during sodium insertion/extraction

Controllable Stereoselective Synthesis of (<i>Z</i>)<i>-</i> and (<i>E</i>)‑Homoallylic Alcohols Using a Palladium-Catalyzed Three-Component Reaction

Diastereoselective synthesis of (<i>Z</i>)- and (<i>E</i>)-homoallylic alcohols using a Pd-catalyzed three-component reaction of 3-(pinacolatoboryl)­allyl benzoates, aldehydes, and aryl stannanes was developed, which provides an alternative method for the allylboration of aldehydes using α,γ-diaryl-substituted allylboronates. Both sets of reaction conditions enable access to either (<i>Z</i>)- or (<i>E</i>)-homoallylic alcohols with good to high alkene stereocontrol. The present method showed good functional group compatibility and generality. Efficient chirality transfer reactions to afford enantioenriched (<i>Z</i>)- and (<i>E</i>)-homoallylic alcohols were also achieved

Very low frequency oscillations of heat load and recycling flux in steady-state tokamak discharge in TRIAM-1M

12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France)Plasma wall interaction (PWI) driven relaxation oscillations are investigated in the steady state discharge for 5 hours. The oscillation frequency was about 10-3 Hz and each perturbation lasted for ~ 300 s. The heat load, recycling flux and impurity influx were varied from a few % to several tens of % . The largest variation of 70% was seen on the Mo XIII, although the influx of Mo I was only 20%. Although the input rf power is kept constant during the discharge, the coupling between the rf and plasma was increased by ~ 10%. The current drive efficiency is decreased by 24 % in spite of current ramp. The toroidal and poloidal profiles of the recycling flux were also changed. During the last relaxation phase, the plasma was finally terminated. The current reduction (> 4 kA) was not recovered by intense local perturbation of the recycling superposed on the relaxation oscillation