INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEGATIVE MATHEMATICS SELF-CONCEPT AMONG GIRLS AT A RURAL SCHOOL IN CENTRAL PROVINCE, ZAMBIA

This study was centred on ascertaining individual factors which influence the development of negative Mathematics self-concept in girls. The research was based on a single case study and utilized the qualitative research approach. The sample consisted of a total of 18 participants. Thus, a sample of seven grade 11 girls with low Mathematics self-concept, seven parents to the girls and four teachers of Mathematics at the school were purposively selected from Mwabonwa (pseudonym) Girls’ Secondary School situated in a rural area of Central Province of Zambia. In-depth interviews were conducted with girls, teachers and parents. A focus group discussion was held with pupils only and a document review to understand pupils’ statuses and their past academic performance was employed. Data was analysed with the use of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) Method. A number of indicators revealed two key individual factors influencing low Mathematics self-concept in girls. These factors include: girls’ negative perceptions of Mathematics and poor Mathematics background. In a nutshell, these findings show that to understand the low self-concept girls have in Mathematics one had to appreciate the individual experiences of the girls in the subject.  Article visualizations

Perceptions of Teachers on the Removal of School Fees: A Study of Selected Secondary Schools of Kapiri Mposhi District

The purpose of the study was to explore the teachers’ perceptions on the removal of school fees in the secondary schoolsof Kapiri Mposhi district in Central province. The study was guided by the following research objectives: to find out the teachers’ perceptions on the removal of school fees in the selected secondary schools of Kapiri Mposhi district, to analyse the benefits of removing school fees in the selected secondary schools of Kapiri Mposhi district, to explore views on challenges due to the removal of school fees in the selected secondary schools of Kapiri Mposhi district and to suggest measures on challenges due to the removal of schools fees in the selected secondary schools of Kapiri Mposhi district. The study employed both the qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect, integrate and analyze data. The study utilized descriptive research design. The target population were subject teachers and school heads of departments from the five selected secondary schools. The sample size for the study was 40 respondents. Purposive sampling was used to select heads of departments. The research instruments used in the study were questionnaires and interview guides. Data was collected through questionnaire and interview methods. Content analysis was used to analyse collected data. The study shows that that the removal of school fees in schools lead to an increase in class sizes, lead to an incease of the school overall enrolment, lead to shortages of classrooms and compromise the lead to poor academic performance among learners. The removal of school fees would lead to reduction of learners’ dropouts in secondary schools. contribute to reduction of financial burdens among parents, lead to equal access to education in society, reduce the financial challenges on schools as schools are paid by government at once and the removal of school fees would lead minimize of absenteeism among learners

Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have long been a central focus of complexity science and physics. To better grasp and understand symmetry of configurations in decentralized toroidal architectures, we employ group-theoretic methods, which allow us to identify and enumerate these inputs, and argue about irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational problems. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied to two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. Regardless of the transition function, the results show the universal insolvability of crucial distributed tasks, such as leader election, pattern recognition, hashing, and encryption. By using compact enumeration formulas and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate the probability of a configuration being shift-symmetric for a uniform or density-uniform distribution. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. Given the resource constraints, the enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error and provide recommendations for system's size and initialization. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 appendice

Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have been for a long time a central focus of complexity science, and physics. Here, we introduce group-theoretic concepts to identify and enumerate the symmetric inputs, which result in irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational tasks. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied on two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. The results show the universal insolvability of “non-symmetric” tasks regardless of the transition function. By using a compact enumeration formula and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate how likely a configuration randomly generated from a uniform or density-uniform distribution turns shift-symmetric. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. The enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error for many crucial (non-symmetric) distributed problems, such as leader election, edge detection, pattern recognition, convex hull/minimum bounding rectangle, and encryption. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays

MYTHS AND PRACTICES OF INITIATION CEREMONIES AMONG THE BEMBA OF KASAMA DISTRICT: IMPLICATIONS ON EARLY MARRIAGES AND QUALITY EDUCATION

For many years, the quality of education has been compromised, the performance of girls has been deteriorating .The article problematizes the myths and practices during initiation ceremonies and the implications on the delivery of quality education, it was realised that myths and practices during initiation ceremonies actually help in good moral building. The results of the research is that a considerable amount of schools has had been recording quite a number school dropout of which the majority are girls. Among other reasons, teenage pregnancies and early marriages have been cited as the main dropout causes in Kasama. This implies that, myths and practices during initiation ceremonies affect the girl’s education positively and negatively. The positive effects such as building of good morals, taking care of oneself, working hard as a girl among others, if they are accurately acquired and implemented by the initiates, then Zambia as a country will develop as people will be skill full, vigilant and knowledgeable

Economic analysis of deficit irrigation in sugarcane farming: Nchalo Estate, Chikwawa District, Malawi

Sustenance of the growing world population calls for increased agricultural production. However, this will have to be done while forecasts of water withdrawals on a global scale predict sharp increases in future demand to meet human needs. The inadequacy of irrigation water supplies has led to the need to consider deficit irrigation (DI) as a water saving strategy. DI is a deliberate under-application of water to growing crops. In this study we carried out an economic analysis of DI in sugarcane farming with an aim of developing an understanding of the economic impact of various irrigation water management strategies. The study was undertaken at a 36.6-ha field in Nchalo sugar estate in Malawi. The AquaCrop model was used to simulate yield response of sugarcane to different water application levels. The model was calibrated and validated based on field data. The output from the simulations were used to generate a yield–water production function which was used in the economic analysis. The study showed that DI is a viable strategy that can be used at the estate when water is limited. The optimum water-limiting irrigation depth (Ww) was 120 mm and the optimum land-limiting depth (Wl) was 1,400 mm. When available water is less than Ww, it is recommended to apply an irrigation depth of Ww on a portion of the field and leave the rest of the field in rainfed conditions, which resulted in a small increase (up to $5,490) in the total net returns for the field. When the available water depth is greater than Ww but less than Wl, it is recommended to apply the available water depth across the whole field; this resulted in a large increase (up to$ 208,000.) in total net returns for the field compared to applying Wl on a reduced field area

Medication omissions in the first 48 hours after admission: failure in prescribed medicines reaching in-patients in paediatrics wards at the University Teaching Hospitals, Children’s Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia

Background: The first few days of in-patient care are possibly the most significant in a patient’s recovery and any omitted medications during this period may harm the patient or increase their hospital length of stay. Therefore, our study aimed at assessing the frequency of medication administration omission errors and their reasons for the omission in the paediatric wards after admission at University Teaching Children’s Hospital.Methods: This was a descriptive study in which 259 patient files and drug charts were reviewed. Admission prescription charts were studied in detail over a period of four weeks and all drugs prescribed but then not given in the first 48 hours were recorded as omitted medications, along with the reason given for their omission.Results: From the 259 drug charts, a total of 1598 doses of drugs were ordered within 48 hours of admission. However, from this, only a total of 1132 doses were administered with the remaining 466 doses omitted, which accounted for a frequency of 29.2%. When the frequency of medication omission errors was compared, parenteral drugs (70.8% vs. 25.3%, [p=0.0001]), afternoon shift (48.5% vs. 15.8%, [p=0.0001]), and anti-infective medications (69.1% vs. 39.4%, [p=0.0001]) were found to be the most frequently omitted medications. There were also considerably more medication omissions in patients prescribed with more medications (median number: 4, I QR [2, 6] vs. median number: 2, IQR [2, 4], [p=0. 0.001]). The most common reason for the omission was medication unavailability (89.3%), followed by work overload (71.4%), and the patient is off the ward (71.4%).Conclusions: This study revealed that medication omissions are a continuing problem and this may result in increased morbidity and mortality rates. There is a need to put in place specific strategies to reduce this problem.

Turismo social: análisis de caso en la gerencia de desarrollo social de la Municipalidad metropolitana de Lima, 2020

El propósito de esta tesis es comprender el trabajo que se realiza en la gerencia de desarrollo social de Lima metropolitana, en relación al turismo social orientado a los sectores vulnerables, partiendo de un concepto de turismo social, es decir, ver e identificar todas las acciones, procesos de trabajo y describir la experiencia vivida por las personas, que integran los recorridos turísticos, que aportan al conocimiento. El abordaje de la tesis, se enmarcó en un enfoque cualitativo y el proceso metodológico se apoyó en el estudio de caso, que se enfoca principalmente en conocer a profundidad la definición de las cosas, recurriendo para ello a la aplicación de técnicas como la entrevista a profundidad y la observación técnica aplicada en el campo. Asimismo, tiempo se utilizó fuentes secundarias tales como libros, tesis, artículos científicos, entre otros, para ser revisados y analizados. Los resultados obtenidos en la investigación muestran que existe un trabajo articulado con los pobladores del entorno limeño, asimismo, la participación en mesas de trabajo con las unidades orgánicas, respecto a las salidas recreativas, como parte de la experiencia, se ha reforzado la identidad local, disfrute del tiempo libre, ocio, la calidad de vida que se vinculan entre sí produciendo formas de hacer y de pensar de forma diferente

Health and economic crises and the Mexican agricultural sector

Objective: to determine if the economic crises of 1994 and 2008 and the health crises of 2009 and 2020 affected the relationship between the main price and the production of agricultural products in the states that have the highest production in the regions of the agricultural sector of Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: sixty structural stability tests were carried out with dummy variables, to analyze the effect of these crises on the price-quantity relationship of the main producer States of the five regions of the agricultural, sector of the main products produced in Mexico that they are grain corn, grain sorghum and beans. Results: the economic crises of 1994 and 2008, as well as the health crises of 2009 and 2020, in general (with some exceptions), did not impact the relationship between price and production in the main producing States of the five regions of the sector agriculture of Mexico of the main products produced in Mexico. Limitations on study/implications: not all products and all states of Mexico are examined. Findings/conclusions: economic and health crises, in general, do not disappear from the relationship between the price and production of the States and producers analyzed, that the price-production relationship of these is resilient in the face of economic and health crises, that is, producers do not significantly alter their production, given the price variations caused by the economic and health crises

Antibiotic susceptibility and resistance patterns of diarrhoeagenic Escherichia Coli, Shigella and Salmonella species: A need for antimicrobial stewardship and surveillance programmes

Background Diarrhoeal diseases caused by bacterial pathogens are a major cause of increased morbidity and mortality rates worldwide, especially in vulnerable populations such as children. The emergence of antibiotic resistance has affected antibiotics commonly used in the management of diarrhoea such as ampicillin, co-trimoxazole and tetracyclines. We assessed the antibiotic susceptibility and resistance patterns of diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Salmonella species based on published studies. Method This was a narrative review in which PubMed, Google Scholar, and EMBASE databases were used to search for studies published between January 2010 and January 2021. Results This review shows that diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli, Shigella species, and Salmonella species are among the microorganisms which have developed high resistance to antibiotics including ampicillin, co-trimoxazole and tetracyclines. However, the three diarrhoeagenic bacteria have a low resistance to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ceftriaxone and hence can be used as the drugs of choice in diarrhoeal infections. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of diarrhoea caused by Escherichia coli, Shigella species and Salmonella species. Many diarrhoeagenic bacteria have developed multi-drug resistance to antibiotics, more especially to ampicillin, co-trimoxazole and tetracyclines. Antibiotic susceptibility tests of diarrhoeagenic bacteria must be carried out before antibiotics are prescribed. More importantly, antimicrobial stewardship programmes and surveillance systems must be promoted to curb the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance both in public and private practicing sites