Role of Extensive Reading Habits in Students’ Acquisition of Composition Writing Skills in English in Kenya

Despite the important role reading proficiency plays in learners daily lives both within and outside school, there has been a lot of concern from educationist, researchers and media in Kenya who have reported a saddening trend on poor reading culture among many students in Kenya, This study was prompted by the observed poor reading and writing in English by secondary schools learners in Laikipia County in Kenya. The study therefore sought to establish whether there existed any relationship between extensive reading habits and composition writing amongst learners. The study was guided by Schmidt's (1975) Schema Theory. The descriptive survey research design was used for this study. Fifteen secondary schools in Laikipia County were sampled by proportional stratified sampling technique in five sub-counties across the county. Purposive sampling was used to sample 30 out of 80 (37.5%) English language teachers. Simple random sampling was used to sample 327 students out of about 2670 students (12.24%) in form 2 and 3 in the County. The research instruments used for data collection included: questionnaire for students, interview guides for teachers and composition writing test. The instruments were pilot tested to ensure validity and reliability in a co- educational secondary school in the neighbouring county that was not included in the study. The reliability of the questionnaire and interview guide was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which was 0.871 which met the recommended threshold of 0.7 and above. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics such as frequency, tables and percentages. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was done at 95% confidence level (F(2) = 80.933, P = .001) to establish whether there was statistically significance difference between composition writing mean scores of different categories of school using (SPSS) version 17. Qualitative data were organized according to the study themes and presented descriptively on the basis of the study objective. It was found that learners who engaged actively in extensive reading performed better in composition writing than those who did not. However, it was established that acute shortage of reading resources was a major hindrance to engagement in extensive reading in schools. The study recommended that schools should come up with strong extensive reading policy to promote independent reading so as to improve their writing skills. Keywords: Extensive reading, Habits, Acquisition DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-30-09 Publication date:October 31st 202

Household Food Security Status and Child Health Outcomes in Kenya

Interminable access to sufficient, nutritious, and safely prepared food is a human right. Attributed to insufficient food and nutrient intake, malnutrition is a major health burden in developing economies that has maimed socioeconomic development. In children, undernourishment impairs the functioning of the immune system, increases susceptibility to diseases, and undermines physical and cognitive development. In Kenya, there exists a paucity of empirical corroboration of the effect of household food security status (HFSS) on child health outcomes. Using data drawn from the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, this paper focuses on analyzing the causal link between HFSS and child health outcomes and to provide evidencebased policy recommendations to promote child health outcomes. We employed three measures of HFSS: households that lacked food/enough money to purchase food, the Reduced Coping Strategy Index (CSI), and the Food Consumption Score (FCS). The child health production function was estimated using the two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) technique to control for potential endogeneity. The results indicate that households that lacked food/enough money to purchase food were significantly associated with stunted, wasted, and underweight growth in children. Similarly, the Reduced CSI was a significant determinant of stunted and underweight growth in children. However, the effect was insignificant relative to wasted growth. The findings also indicate that FCS contributes significantly to improvements in child health outcomes. Our evidence has the potential to inform policies on the promotion of child health outcomes. We recommend implementation of programs such as social assistance, integration of nutrition and WASH, and capacity-building to promote women’s knowledge of health, nutrition, and better child-care practices

Production of Giant \u3cem\u3ePanicum\u3c/em\u3e in Contrasting Environments in Semi-Arid Kenya

Giant panicum (Panicum maximum Jacq.) is a tall, vigorous perennial grass that is native to tropical and sub-tropical Africa. It is drought tolerant due to its deep and dense fibrous roots system and grows in a wide range of soil types. It is an important livestock feed and has been extensively cultivated in Brazil (Santos et al. 2006). Despite its wide genetic diversity in East Africa, its potential for livestock feed has not been exploited there due to limited research. Our research was aimed at evaluating the production of several giant panicum ecotypes in contrasting environments in semi-arid areas of Kenya

Productivity and Nutritive Value of \u3ci\u3eUrochloa\u3c/i\u3e Grass Cultivars in Semi-Arid Tropical Kenya

There is increasing demand for high yielding and nutritious forages to meet the growing dairy farming in semi-arid Kenya. The productivity and nutritive value of seven Urochloa grass cultivars (Urochloa decumbens cv. Basilisk, U. brizantha cvs. Marandu, MG4, Piatá and Xaraes, U. humidicola cv. Llanero and U. hybrid cv. Mulato II) were evaluated in two diverse semi-arid environments, Katumani and Ithookwe in Kenya. At Katumani, the dry matter (DM) yield (5000 - 7500 kg/ha) was highest during the first harvest during the long rains (LR) 2014 season. Dry matter yield declined progressively with season and in the third season (LR 2015) only Xaraes achieved over 2000 kg/ha. All Urochloa cultivars died and no yield was recorded after the third harvesting season (LR 2015) due to prolonged dry season. At Ithookwe, all plants survived during the period of evaluation. Generally the DM yield was highest (4200 – 9200 kg/ha) in the second harvesting season during short rains (SR) 2014 with Llanero having the highest yield and Mulato II the lowest. Significant differences (P \u3c 0.05) in forage quality was recorded in calcium, phosphorus, ash, neutral detergent fibres (NDF) and lignin content. However, none of the cultivars consistently contained more than the other cultivars in all the forage quality parameters analysed. The cv. Xaraes had the highest calcium content and Marandu had the lowest while MG-4 contained the highest phosphorus and Basilisk the lowest. Mulato II contained the highest crude protein and lowest NDF. The study revealed that Urochloa could increase forage resources in the semi-arid regions of Kenya where annual rainfall exceed 700 mm without prolonged dry season

Drug Prescribing Pattern in Two Hospitals in Mwanza, Northwest Tanzania

A retrospective cross-sectional study to evaluate compliance with Tanzanian guidelines, World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, and various other aspects of drug prescription at Sekou Toure Regional Hospital and Magu Hospital both in Mwanza Region of Tanzania was carried out. In particular, the study was designed to find out whether Tanzania treatment guidelines for malaria, upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and diarrhoea were followed. It was aimed at assessing whether prescriptions of antibiotics and injections complied with WHO guidelines. The study analysed 296 prescriptions (108 from Sekou Toure and 188 from Magu Hospitals, respectively) using a structured questionnaire. Results showed generic prescribing was 96.3% at Magu Hospital and 85.2% at Sekou Toure Hospital. Antibiotics prescriptions were 48.4% and 54.6% in Magu and Sekou Toure Hospitals, respectively. In both hospitals, 52.0% of patients treated for malaria were also given antibiotics. For patients treated for URTIs, 39.1% were given antibiotics in addition to other cough remedies. In both hospitals, 72.7% and 15.2% prescriptions for malaria and diarrhoea, respectively, were injections. Fifty percent of prescriptions in both hospitals included injectables and the number of drugs per prescription was four.Key words: Prescribing pattern, generic and brand drugs, antibiotics, injection

Pedagogical Techniques Teachers Use to Bolster Extensive Reading Habits in Secondary Schools in Kenya

This study addresses the issue of pedagogical techniques for extensive reading in secondary schools in Kenya at a time when concern is being expressed about declining reading habits in the institutions of learning. Learners nowadays have taken to social and mass media and rarely read anything extra outside the prescribed texts. Even the wide spread national examination malpractice witnessed recently could be traced to the decline in reading interest and poor reading habits among secondary school learners. Effective use of pedagogical extensive reading techniques can greatly improve learners’ achievement in English and also enhance their reading habits. This study was prompted by the observed poor reading in English by secondary schools learners in Laikipia County in Kenya. Among some of the possible explanations for this scenario are that students in the County did not adequately read books extensively coupled with other determinants that influence their performance in English. The study investigated the pedagogical techniques used by teachers to bolster extensive and pleasure reading habits. The study was guided by The Schema Theory. The descriptive survey research design was used for this study. Fifteen secondary schools in Laikipia County were sampled by proportional stratified sampling technique in five sub-counties across the county. Purposive sampling was used to sample 30 out of 80 (37.5%) English language teachers. Simple random sampling was used to sample 327 students out of about 2670 students (12.24%) in form 2 and 3 in the County. The research instruments used for data collection included: questionnaire for students, interview guides for teachers and documents analysis guide. The instruments were pilot tested to ensure validity and reliability in a co-educational secondary school in the neighbouring county that was not included in the study. The reliability of the questionnaire and interview guide was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which was 0.871 which met the recommended threshold of 0.7 and above.  Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics such as frequency, tables and percentages. Qualitative data were organized according to the study themes and presented descriptively on the basis of the study objectives. The analyzed data revealed various reading pedagogical techniques which included analysis of the title and the blurb before reading, formation of mental images while reading and writing book reviews after reading. Acute shortage of reading resources was a major hindrance to engagement in extensive reading in schools. The study recommended that schools should ground learners on reading techniques and also come up with strong extensive reading policy to promote independent reading. Keywords: Pedagogical techniques, Bolster, Extensive reading, Reading habits DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-6-23 Publication date: February 29th 202

Climate Smart \u3ci\u3eUrochloa\u3c/i\u3e Grasses Improves Soil Health in the Semi-Arid Tropics of Kenya

The measurement of soil aggregates stability and soil microbial biomass can be used as an early indicator of long-term changes in soil quality. A study was conducted to quantify the amounts of shoots and roots biomass of Urochloa grass cultivars (commonly known as Brachiaria) and their effects on changes in the size distribution and stability of soil aggregates and on microbial biomass carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in a structurally unstable sandy loam soil at Ithookwe and Katumani in semi-arid tropical Kenya. The Urochloa grass cultivars included Urochloa decumbens cv. Basilisk, U. brizantha cvs Marandu, MG-4, Piatã and Xaraes, U. humidicola cv. Llanero and U. hybrid cv. Mulato II. Rhodes and Napier grass were included in the treatments as controls. Roots biomass was evaluated using the soil-coring method to depths of 0 – 15 and 15 – 30 cm. Four aggregates-size fractions (\u3e 2000 μm, 250 – 2000 μm, 53 – 250 μm, and \u3c 53 μm) were isolated using the wet sieving method. Microbial biomass C, N and P were determined on field moist rhizosphere soil (18 - 23% by weight) from a depth of 10 cm using the chloroform fumigation-extraction technique. Shoots biomass of the Urochloa cultivars ranged from 3.0 to 11.3 t ha-1 and 5.5 to 8.3 t ha-1 at Ithookwe and Katumani sites respectively. Marandu, Xaraes, Basilisk and Piata had higher roots biomass than the controls (Rhodes grass and Napier grass). Aggregate stability differed among the grasses and was highest in soils under Mulato II and Marandu with mean weight diameters of 4.49 and 4.31 mm, respectively. Generally, microbial biomass N was higher in plots with grasses than in the bare plots. Among Urochloa cultivars, the highest microbial biomass C was recorded in plots with Mulato II and the lowest from the plots with MG-4

Negotiating Constraints to Sport Participation of University Soccer Players

The purpose of this study was to determine the strategies used by male university soccer athletes to negotiate constraints towards sport participation. Some selected socio-demographic factors (year of study, parental social economic status (SES), family involvement in soccer and birth rank) were correlated with strategies of negotiating constraints to sport participation. Data was collected through questionnaires from university soccer players (n=242) who were participating in a national university soccer championship. Pearson products moment correlation of coefficient was used to test hypothesis on selected socio-demographic factors and strategies for constraint negotiation. Findings indicated that the majority of players were either first born or second born and soccer was popular in their universities. The major strategies of negotiating constraints were time management, and interpersonal coordination. The selected socio-demographic factors had weak associations with the strategies used to negotiate constraints. Findings have implications to sport administrators in the universities and future researchers need to evaluate the association between participation motivation, constraints and constraint negotiation strategies of university athletes. Keywords: Constraints, negotiation, soccer, university

Community Awareness of Adverse Effects of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs in Ilala Municipality, Dar es Salaam

A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted within Ilala Municipality in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. A total of 196 community members were recruited into the study. The participants were asked to provide information on what drugs they took when they had pain and if they knew any adverse effects associated with the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They were also asked if they had been given any education by health personnel on the adverse effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Fifty two percent of the participants responded that when they had pain, they bought pain killers from pharmacies while 42% said they would go to hospital for treatment. About 4% drank a lot of water when they had a headache, while 1% performed massage at the site of pain. One percent visited traditional healers to seek treatment for the pain. Only 8% of the study participants knew some adverse effects caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Hence, there is a need for health personnel to educate patients on the potential adverse effects of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.Key words: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, adverse drug reactions, community knowledge, Ilala Municipalit