TOPPING INFORMAL RISK POOLING WITH INDEXED INSURANCE: A VAR APPLICATION

Value at Risk (VaR) is applied to investigate the potential of incentives for member selection in an index insuring mutual group of farmers. Member selection could have far reaching impications of introducing indexed insurance in smallholder economies. Results indicate that there are no incentives for member selection.Risk and Uncertainty,

Using an online forum to mentor secondary mathematics student teachers toward standards-based instruction.

Student teaching is the fundamental field experience where pre-service teachers have the opportunity to conceive and develop standards-based instructional practices under the guidance of mentors. Yet, research reveals that mentoring for novice teachers is most often focused on providing technical and emotional support rather than supporting teachers learning to teach with standards-based instructional practices (Wang and Odell, 2002). In addition, university supervisors’ efforts to mentor mathematics student teachers toward standards-based instructional practices are hindered by their limited opportunities to meet with their assigned student teachers (Borko & Mayfield, 1995; Frykholm, 1996). Online social networking provides an opportunity for consistent communication between university supervisors and student teachers about student teachers’ daily experiences. This study investigated the potential of online social networking as a venue for a university supervisor to mentor secondary mathematics student teachers’ toward the following standards-based instructional practices: (a) elevating conceptual understanding and surfacing “big” mathematical ideas, (b) eliciting and attending to students’ mathematical thinking, (c) connecting mathematics to real-life contexts, (d) using and connecting a variety of representations, (e) facilitating active discovery and mathematical investigations, and (f) promoting student collaboration and mathematical discourse. The online mentoring conversations between a university supervisor and four secondary mathematics student teachers were analyzed for content related to standards-based instruction. Qualitative analysis of the online mentoring content revealed that online social networking was an effective venue for a university supervisor to mentor student teachers toward some aspects of standards-based instruction. In addition, online social networking proved to be a site for tracking and documenting student teacher’s developing conception and implementation of standards-based instruction

A Case Study in Program Evaluation: Evaluation of a MRSA Education Program

Program evaluations provide a deeper understanding of program components to promote effective program implementation. This evaluation follows the CDC’s 6-step Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to evaluate a MRSA education program. This evaluation has been prepared to be presented to the Lexington- Fayette County Health Department

Prospects of Agricultural Entrepreneurship Among Resource Limited Farmers In the Central Appalachian Tobacco Belt

Agricultural entrepreneurship is receiving heightened attention as a potential means for economic revitalization of communities adversely affected by changes in the agricultural sector. In particular, resource limited farmers in the Appalachian region of the United States have been hit by major changes in the tobacco industry. Very little is known about resource limited farmers respond to changing industry conditions and policy attempts to remedy structural change. Recently, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has attempted to assist farmers in adopting new farmbased enterprises to expand their income base. However, it is unclear about the factors that drive entrepreneurial or diversification activities among resource limited farmers. In general, it is expected that resource limited farmers, most of whom work off-farm for a significant portion of their income, face a tradeoff between off-farm work constraints and potential new sources of income on-farm. This paper uses a survey of 765 farmers in Northeast Kentucky to explore factors correlating with agricultural entrepreneurship and understanding this tradeoff

Financial Management: Training Needs of Public Secondary School Principals in Machakos County, Kenya

The study examined the financial management training needs of public secondary school principals with the specific intent of suggesting content areas for development of effective training programs for training of secondary school principals in order to facilitate prudent management of financial resources in public secondary schools in Kenya. Theoretically, the study was based on needs assessment which suggests that needs analyses should be conducted to provide data for design and evaluation of training and training systems. The study sampled 16 public secondary school principals in Masinga Sub-county of Machakos County, Kenya during the 2013/2014 academic year. Stratified and proportional sampling techniques were employed to select the sample. Questionnaires and interview collected data. Mixed methods were employed to analyse data. It was found that many secondary school principals still faced challenges in managing financial resources of secondary schools and training of principals in financial management was ineffective. It was concluded that the lack of motivation amongst principals and insufficient time to attend training programs hampered provision of effective training on financial management. It is recommended that effective financial management training programs should be developed based on identification and analysis of their needs. Training programs should also be devolved so that they can focus on specific training needs of principals in order to facilitate principals’ acquisition of knowledge and skills required to improve financial management and performance of secondary schools. Key words: financial management, needs, trainin

Synergy and complementarity for sustainability of WASH programmes: the case of WASH Alliance Kenya

In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, all stakeholders need to work together. Each stakeholder needs to understand their roles and responsibility in ensuring universal access to WASH for all by 2030. Systems need to change and more people need to be reached with the limited available resources within a short time. Stakeholders need to complement each other and not compete in providing communities with WASH services. NGOs and the private sector and Government need to work together supporting the government in implementing its strategies in providing WASH services to the communities using the limited available resources hence giving comprehensive WASH to households making them enjoy full access to WASH services. Partners working together get value for money by reaching more people with less resources, increased impact of their activities, strong partnerships and there is a good track record from the past experience of other partners

Nurses’ perception on healthcare services quality in mission hospitals in Kiambu County, Kenya

Background: Despite adoption of quality improvement initiatives in Kenyan Health facilities, quality gains are not yet optimal in both public and private sector. The private sector, which includes mission hospitals, face myriad of challenges ranging from perception of poor regulation to unqualified staff and gaps in quality of care.Purpose: To assess nurses’ perception on healthcare services' quality in mission hospitals in Kenya.Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study using quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Simple random sampling was used to select 188 nurses for administration of selfadministered questionnaire. A total of 20 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions were conducted. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were used to analyze quantitative data using SPSS v20. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically using Nvivo v11.Results: Overall nurses' perception of quality of services was 3.62. The perceived quality of services processes was 3.5187. Length of patient-provider interaction (β=0.225, t=4.761, p=0.001), teamwork (β=0.170, t=3.550, p=0.001), upholding patients’ rights (β=0.178, t=3.773, p=0.001), capacity to conduct quality assessment (β =0.125, t=2.510, 0.013) and availability of effective quality improvement teams (β=0.550, t=12.556, p=0.001).Conclusion: urses' perceived quality of services to be fair with a substantial room for improvement. To achieve a competitive edge, it is imperative for the hospital's management to engage visionary and quality conscious leaders, capable of identifying quality gaps and implementing improvement initiatives. The initiatives should focus on institutionalizing team-based quality audits, developing a quality patient-focused culture in service delivery

After the Invasion: Invasive Exotic Plants Present Critical Ecological Restoration Issues

Author Institution (Rodewald, Bouchard and Arvai): School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University; Author Institution (Miriti): Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State Universit