Language Games and Acquisition of Speaking Skills among Students of Junior High School in Hohoe Municipality, Ghana

Speaking is one of the basic language skills that students should master in order to communicate effectively and interact with others. Speaking skills are necessary for the social as well as academic life of a person by becoming responsive as well as receptive to information thus forming a favorable impression of oneself. Internationally, there is a debate that several high school graduates cannot properly speak English language and even the bright learners who get high scores in written tests cannot express themselves verbally, despite English being the official language of instruction in these schools Language learning is a hard task and it requires extraordinary efforts to realize the desirable outcomes. Language games are techniques and procedures that may be used by instructors to improve the speaking skills. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to establish the effect of language games on acquisition of speaking skills among students of Junior High School in Hohoe Municipality in Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of role plays, problem-solving, puzzles, and board race games on acquisition of speaking skills among students of Junior High School in Hohoe Municipality in Ghana. The research was an empirical analysis and thus adopted an empirical research design and content analysis was used in the analysis of the qualitative data. The study revealed that language games significantly influence the acquisition of the speaking skills of the students. The study further found that using language games in teaching enhances the students’ achievement and results of speaking skills. Students enjoyed their lesson and got more motivation, interest, and confidence when learning is based on the use of language games. Hence, language games should be used as designed activities in teaching speaking skills. The study findings were generalized to students of Junior High School in Hohoe Municipality in Ghana, who like many other students in Ghana, require proficiency in speaking and writing skills, specifically in English which is used in Ghanain schools to teach subjects such as mathematics, science, social studies, art, and information and communication technology. Yet, English language is a second language to many Ghanaian students irrespective of their level in the education ladder. The outcomes of this study can be useful to Ghanian schools, researchers, scholars and the Government of Ghana.  &nbsp

Reconsidering Education for All at a time of Change: Influence of Economic Factors on access to Secondary Education in Narok County, Kenya

This paper sought to determine economic factors that influence access to secondary educational opportunities in Narok County, Kenya and to suggest strategies to help raise the transition rates of learners from primary to secondary schools. The study employed descriptive survey research design involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Study participants comprised head teachers, teachers and students in both primary and secondary schools. Stratified sampling technique was used to select twenty-four (24) primary school head teachers, forty-eight (48) primary school teachers and eight (8) secondary school principals. A total of 68 class eight pupils and 44 form one students were selected using simple random sampling from the sampled schools. Data were collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. Pilot testing was done with questionnaires to test reliability and validity. To obtain the reliability the test-retest method was employed. Pearson Product Moment was employed to compute the correlation coefficient. A correlation co-efficient of 0.77 was obtained. Qualitative data were analysed inductively through content analysis while SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data. Results were presented in form of tables, figures, frequencies and percentages. It was established that household poverty and opportunity costs of education have influences on completion rates and lead to dropouts from basic schooling. The study recommends the need for the government and private sector employing a long term strategy in expanding secondary education in Kenya. This could include poverty mitigation and reduction in cost of secondary schooling and improvement of basic infrastructure, improvement of the quality of education in the country in order to reduce the opportunity costs and also through provision of more subsidies to improve the level of enrollment in basic education

Animal-related factors associated with moderate-to-severe diarrhea in children younger than five years in western Kenya: A matched case-control study

Background Diarrheal disease remains among the leading causes of global mortality in children younger than 5 years. Exposure to domestic animals may be a risk factor for diarrheal disease. The objectives of this study were to identify animal-related exposures associated with cases of moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in children in rural western Kenya, and to identify the major zoonotic enteric pathogens present in domestic animals residing in the homesteads of case and control children. Methodology/Principal findings We characterized animal-related exposures in a subset of case and control children (n = 73 pairs matched on age, sex and location) with reported animal presence at home enrolled in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study in western Kenya, and analysed these for an association with MSD. We identified potentially zoonotic enteric pathogens in pooled fecal specimens collected from domestic animals resident at children’s homesteads. Variables that were associated with decreased risk of MSD were washing hands after animal contact (matched odds ratio [MOR] = 0.2; 95% CI 0.08–0.7), and presence of adult sheep that were not confined in a pen overnight (MOR = 0.1; 0.02–0.5). Variables that were associated with increased risk of MSD were increasing number of sheep owned (MOR = 1.2; 1.0–1.5), frequent observation of fresh rodent excreta (feces/urine) outside the house (MOR = 7.5; 1.5–37.2), and participation of the child in providing water to chickens (MOR = 3.8; 1.2–12.2). Of 691 pooled specimens collected from 2,174 domestic animals, 159 pools (23%) tested positive for one or more potentially zoonotic enteric pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, non-typhoidal Salmonella, diarrheagenic E. coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, or rotavirus). We did not find any association between the presence of particular pathogens in household animals, and MSD in children. Conclusions and significance Public health agencies should continue to promote frequent hand washing, including after animal contact, to reduce the risk of MSD. Future studies should address specific causal relations of MSD with sheep and chicken husbandry practices, and with the presence of rodents

Evaluation of computerized health management information system for primary health care in rural India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project Ballabgarh, run by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi has a computerized Health Management Information System (HMIS) since 1988. The HMIS at Ballabgarh has undergone evolution and is currently in its third version which uses generic and open source software. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a computerized Health Management Information System in rural health system in India.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data for evaluation were collected by in-depth interviews of the stakeholders i.e. program managers (authors) and health workers. Health Workers from AIIMS and Non-AIIMS Primary Health Centers were interviewed to compare the manual with computerized HMIS. A cost comparison between the two methods was carried out based on market costs. The resource utilization for both manual and computerized HMIS was identified based on workers' interviews.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There have been no major hardware problems in use of computerized HMIS. More than 95% of data was found to be accurate. Health workers acknowledge the usefulness of HMIS in service delivery, data storage, generation of workplans and reports. For program managers, it provides a better tool for monitoring and supervision and data management. The initial cost incurred in computerization of two Primary Health Centers was estimated to be Indian National Rupee (INR) 1674,217 (USD 35,622). Equivalent annual incremental cost of capital items was estimated as INR 198,017 (USD 4213). The annual savings is around INR 894,283 (USD 11,924).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The major advantage of computerization has been in saving of time of health workers in record keeping and report generation. The initial capital costs of computerization can be recovered within two years of implementation if the system is fully operational. Computerization has enabled implementation of a good system for service delivery, monitoring and supervision.</p

Force of tuberculosis infection among adolescents in a high HIV and TB prevalence community: a cross-sectional observation study

BACKGROUND: Understanding of the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis (TB) in high TB and HIV prevalent settings is required in order to develop effective intervention strategies for TB control. However, there are little data assessing incidence of TB infection in adolescents in these settings. METHODS: We performed a tuberculin skin test (TST) and HIV survey among secondary school learners in a high HIV and TB prevalence community. TST responses to purified protein derivative RT23 were read after 3 days. HIV-infection was assessed using Orasure(R) collection device and ELISA testing. The results of the HIV-uninfected participants were combined with those from previous surveys among primary school learners in the same community, and force of TB infection was calculated by age. RESULTS: The age of 820 secondary school participants ranged from 13 to 22 years. 159 participants had participated in the primary school surveys. At a 10 mm cut-off, prevalence of TB infection among HIV-uninfected and first time participants, was 54% (n = 334/620). HIV prevalence was 5% (n = 40/816). HIV infection was not significantly associated with TST positivity (p = 0.07). In the combined survey dataset, TB prevalence was 45% (n = 645/1451), and was associated with increasing age and male gender. Force of infection increased with age, from 3% to 7.3% in adolescents [greater than or equal to]20 years of age. CONCLUSIONS: We show a high force of infection among adolescents, positively associated with increasing age. We postulate this is due to increased social contact with infectious TB cases. Control of the TB epidemic in this setting will require reducing the force of infection

Maize (Zea mays L.) Genome Diversity as Revealed by RNA-Sequencing

Maize is rich in genetic and phenotypic diversity. Understanding the sequence, structural, and expression variation that contributes to phenotypic diversity would facilitate more efficient varietal improvement. RNA based sequencing (RNA-seq) is a powerful approach for transcriptional analysis, assessing sequence variation, and identifying novel transcript sequences, particularly in large, complex, repetitive genomes such as maize. In this study, we sequenced RNA from whole seedlings of 21 maize inbred lines representing diverse North American and exotic germplasm. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection identified 351,710 polymorphic loci distributed throughout the genome covering 22,830 annotated genes. Tight clustering of two distinct heterotic groups and exotic lines was evident using these SNPs as genetic markers. Transcript abundance analysis revealed minimal variation in the total number of genes expressed across these 21 lines (57.1% to 66.0%). However, the transcribed gene set among the 21 lines varied, with 48.7% expressed in all of the lines, 27.9% expressed in one to 20 lines, and 23.4% expressed in none of the lines. De novo assembly of RNA-seq reads that did not map to the reference B73 genome sequence revealed 1,321 high confidence novel transcripts, of which, 564 loci were present in all 21 lines, including B73, and 757 loci were restricted to a subset of the lines. RT-PCR validation demonstrated 87.5% concordance with the computational prediction of these expressed novel transcripts. Intriguingly, 145 of the novel de novo assembled loci were present in lines from only one of the two heterotic groups consistent with the hypothesis that, in addition to sequence polymorphisms and transcript abundance, transcript presence/absence variation is present and, thereby, may be a mechanism contributing to the genetic basis of heterosis

Comparative study of elearning platforms used in Kenyan universities

Paper presented at ICT conference of 2009.Paper presented at Strathmore ICT Conference, 200

The Nexus between Inflation Rate and Financial Performance: Evidence from Kenya's Building and Construction Industry

Building and construction firms contributes immensely to a country’s economic development through job creation, promoting investment and enabling affordable housing. Thus, stakeholders are often preoccupied with the industry’s performance and developmental stages and pace. In Kenya, the building construction industry is currently characterized by decline in capital investment, implying an unhealthy industry. The industry has reported a steady reduction in growth in the last decade, as evidenced by the drop in value from Kshs.42.5 billion in 2011 to Kshs. 39.6 billion in 2020.As an illustration, the industry had a decline in return on investment (ROI), from 13.68% in 2011 to 4.79% in 2020. The decline in growth and ROI warrants a scholarly investigation. The study aims at establishing the effect of inflation rates on financial performance of building construction industry, Kenya. The researcher used correlational research design to investigate the relationship, direction and strength of variables. The study used quarterly data which were secondary sourced from industry records and publications for2011-2020, resulting in 40 data points. The findings were that a correlation existed among inflation rate and financial performance of and construction industry in Kenya. A unit increase in inflation rate resulted in a 0.424% increase in the financial performance of the construction industry. The positive t value of 4.005 and p ≤ 0.00 led to the conclusion on the positive directionality of the relationship. Research findings may be useful to industry’s private stakeholders and government agencies by enabling them to take the right policies, strategy and actionable steps or measures to enhance the relationships that would enhance financial performance. For instance, the government may work to increase the value of its currency and manage cost of goods (inflation)