Attitude and Entrepreneurial Intent: Mediating Role of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogies

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of certain selected teaching pedagogies of entrepreneurship education in the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and intention. This study employs a causal design to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurship education using a cross-sectional questionnaire- based survey. A self-developed questionnaire and proportionate stratified random sampling technique were employed to collects data from a sample size of 359 final-year undergraduate students, selected from six universities in six out of nineteen states of Northern Nigeria. The study finds that entrepreneurship education significantly mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and intention. Further, the study showed that the mediation effect of entrepreneurship education is driven by teaching pedagogies like Live Projects and Meeting with Entrepreneurs but not by Business Plan pedagogy in the Northern Nigerian context. This study tests and provides new findings in the area of “methods of delivery” of entrepreneurship education by focusing on the three different pedagogies. No other study has taken these factors in the context of Northern Nigeria. Hence, this study has attempted to answer new research questions and has opened new areas of study in the field of entrepreneurship education

Optimizing Outcome of Cataract Surgery in Resource Scarce Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa disproportionately accounts for high number of avoidably blind largely caused by cataracts

Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Surgery in Sub-Saharan African Setting — Benefits and Challenges

Background: Primary open angle glaucoma is one of the leading causes of avoidable blindness in Sub-Saharan Afric

Clinical Assessment of Lesions Compressing the Visual Pathway

There is a close relationship between the visual pathway and other neuro endocrine structures. Tumours and other compressive lesions could often present with visual impairment and/or finite visual field changes. Careful clinical assessment could aid in accurate diagnosis and treatment. Pituitary gland lies in the fossa located in the sphenoid bone. Growth hormone, adreno cortico tropic hormone, and prolactin secreting adenomas could present with respective endocrine features. Optic chiasmal compression by pituitary adenoma is an indicator of suprasellar extension. Meningioma and vestigial remnant craniopharyngioma arise in the parasellar region and can compress on different parts of the optic chiasma often giving rise to classical radiological appearances and visual field changes. This includes atheroma and aneurysm of the internal carotid artery impinging on the temporal chiasma exerting direct pressure and counterpressure on the contralateral side. Others are aneurysms of the precommunicating section of the anterior cerebral artery and those of the posterior communicating artery. Compressive lesions of the visual pathway require a multi-disciplinary approach involving neurosurgeon, endocrinologist as well as the ophthalmologist

Primary mathematics in-service teaching development: elaborating 'in-the-moment'

A thesis submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2016This study investigates how primary school mathematics in-service teachers respond to learners’ offers, over time, during classroom interactions. The study was a follow-up to a one-year long in-service ‘maths for teaching’ professional development course in which 33 teachers participated in 2012. Four teachers from that course were tracked in this follow-up study. Data sources within this study consisted of two cycles of observations of lessons taught by the four teachers in 2013 and 2014, and an interim video-stimulated recall (VSR) interview with each teacher, with reflections guided by the structure of Rowland et al.’s ‘knowledge quartet’. A total of 18 lessons from the four teachers were video-recorded across the 2013 and 2014 observations. The notion of ‘elaboration’ was used in this study as an interpretive lens to examine and characterise responsive teaching actions in the South African context, with the focus narrowing over the course of the PhD to contingency situations within the knowledge quartet framework, focused on responses to learner offers. In the South African literature, the terrain of elaboration is characterised by extensive gaps in teachers’ mathematical knowledge, incoherent talk, and frequent lack of evaluation of learners’ offers in the classroom. Using a grounded theory approach, I propose an ‘elaboration’ framework with three situations of responsive teaching (breakdown, sophistication and individuation/ collectivisation), which can be used as a tool to support the development of more responsive teaching in the South African context (and perhaps in other contexts where similar problems prevail). In this way, the study has contributed in terms of identifying some important ‘stages of implementation’ (Schweisfurth, 2011) that might be required to move towards the ideals of more responsive teaching that are described in the international literature, and yet remain distant from the realities of South African schooling. Using the three markers of shifts (extent, breadth and quality) in elaboration recruited in this study, drawn from the ways in which the dimensions of responsive teaching were conceptualised, I report on the different patterns of shifts in elaboration by the four teachers. The results of this analysis indicated that all four teachers made shifts in their responses to learners’ offers from 2013 to 2014 lessons in at least one or more dimensions of responsive teaching, in relation to extent, breadth and quality of elaborations. Findings from VSR interviews indicated associations between shifts in teachers’ reflective awareness, and shifts in responsive teaching actions. Theoretically, the study contributes through characterising responsive teaching actions in contexts of evidence of limited evaluation within the elaboration framework, with a language of description for identifying and developing more responsive teaching actions in a resource constrained contex

A Modified of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) from Users' Perspective of Telecentre in Nigeria

Telecentres are physical space that provides public access to information and communication technology to some members of underserved communities. Recent studies have shown that the initiative is spreading among developing countries. A telecentre offers cost-effective means of bridging access to Computer and Internet. Identifying the factors that influence its acceptance represents a fundamental challenge to its successful implementation. Primarily, among numerous benefits of telecentres include digital literacy and employment generation. However, despite these benefits limited studies have been conducted to examine its acceptance in Nigeria. Moreover, it is doubtful whether prior information technology acceptance models can be effectively used to examine its acceptance. Questions also arise if there are other factors that influence its acceptance. The objective of this study was to determine the factors that influence the acceptance of telecentres based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and the Use of Technology (UTAUT). The proposed model of telecentre acceptance consists of nine latent variables, namely, seven exogenous variables and two endogenous variables. A total of 375 questionnaires were distributed through a survey to respondents in six telecentres located in the three zones in Nigeria, out of which 203 questionnaires were returned, representing 54% response rate. A Structural Equation Modelling was used to investigate the causal and moderating relationships between the latent variables. The results showed four core determinants of Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, Management Effectiveness and Program Effectiveness significantly influence intention towards telecentre acceptance. Two core determinants, Behavioural Intention and Facilitating Conditions, were found to significantly determine User Acceptance. Gender, age and ethnicity were found to moderate the relationships between the latent variables. Based on the result obtained, a model of acceptance known as a modified UTAUT based telecentre model is proposed. The findings have implications both for future research and practice of telecentre development and implementation

Perceived Impact of Border Closure due to Covid-19 of Intending Nigerian Migrants

With few exceptions, the European Council closed Europe for non-citizen travellers on 17 March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many African countries, including Nigeria, have placed travel restrictions on or completely shut their borders to both travellers who want to enter the country and citizens who want to leave. These decisions affect many intending migrants seeking a way to reach Europe. Health and socioeconomic uncertainties related to lockdowns, border closure, and in some cases travel restrictions directly affect the dynamics of decision-making by migrants. This article employs in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to explore the perception of Nigerians who intend to migrate considering the influence of Covid-19. The study focuses on Nigerian migrants but touches on Nigerians in transit who are trapped in Niger en route to Europe through Libya and Morocco. While border closure by most of the sending and receiving countries led to a decrease in the intention of migrants to travel, Covid-19 as a pandemic does not significantly influence migrants’ decisions primarily because of its global presence, merely leading to delays. In conclusion, after border reopening, intercontinental migration is expected to increase in both volume and intensity

Computer Communication Networks Security Analysis

We are living in the "Information Revolution", where development of powerful communication systems and digital technologies have resulted in the buildup of massive information banks by government, industries and even individuals, which are required to be protected to maintain privacy, confidentiality, availability and integrity of national and commercial information. It has also allowed for automation of services and such systems must protect customers against modern day "electronic crimes". The first part of this thesis is a study into the aspect of the development of secure communication between group of entities. The thesis gives an overview of the general issues that are raised by the concept of cryptosystems, followed by discussions on the methods currently available for the conduct of such techniques. Generic categories of threats and vulnerabilities to computer networks are outlined as well as network security objectives. The study culminates in the description of a recommended alternative approach for the development of Group Oriented Cryptosystems (GOC) which can be used to solve the problem of entity authentication and subsequent key distribution in order to enhance multiple-entity (group of entities) communications with confidentiality and integrity services.E-mail security is about protecting electronic mails from spies, interlopers, and spoofs. People who may want to destroy, alter, or just look at our private communications. The second part of the thesis shows how we can protect the financial information, contract negotiations, or personal correspondence we entrust to public or private networks by means of Digital Envelop. Furthermore, the model developed can be practically implemented