Requirement Model of School Management System for Adult Commercial Secondary School in Somalia (ACSSMS)

To develop a system, it is necessary for the system's analyst to provide a model. In order to produce this model, the analyst must identify the user’s requirement first. Requirement model is one of the techniques used to model out the user’s requirement for a specific system before the development of that system. In other words, requirement model gives a view of the user’s requirement for a particular system. The purpose of this study is to create a requirement model as a basis to develop school management system for Adult Commercial Secondary School in Somalia. So, during this study, the UML graphical notation was used to model out the requirement model of the proposed school management system, and the requirement model was designed and presented using different UML tools (e.g., use case diagram, use case specifications, activity diagram, sequence diagram, collaboration diagram and class diagram), and supporting textual information. Also, a small prototype was then developed and presented in this study, which covers some of the main functional requirements, so as to assist the school in managing their daily operations effectively and more efficiently. Thus, this study is believed to be a step forward and very crucial guidance for Adult School in Somalia to be able to give this model to system developers to build the proposed school management system

Freirian and Postcolonial perspectives on E-learning Development: A Case Study of Staff Development in An African University

E-learning is seen as a great opportunity for higher education institutions and considerable efforts and resources have been invested worldwide to promote this. However, consideration of specific issues within African higher education reveals that there are problems associated with bringing technology into local practices. Specifically, technology is often purchased and then, afterward, the staff is retrained to make the best use of it. This process hides the fact that the technology is not ‘neutral’ but the product of particular ideologies and part of global economic patterns. The retraining of staff can, thus, be interpreted as the creation of consumers who conform to patterns of education developed in European or American contexts. This reinterpretation suggests that postcolonialism and Freirian critical concepts are useful in analysing such settings. These concepts have been illustrated by applying them to empirical data collected in an African university

USR-SNIDS Integration and Coordination

Eng Abdullahi Bihi, Deputy DG of Nira Somalia delivered a keynote presentation on "Somali National ID: Opportunities for Public Sector Digital Transformation and Innovation.

State of Research in the Somali Higher Education Institutions 2022

Eng. Abdullahi Bihi Hussein, CEO of SomaliREN, delivered this presentation at the second Anual University Leaders Retreat held in Kigali, Rwanda on 25 July 2022

Public stewardship of private for-profit health care in low- and middle-income countries : a systematic review

Includes bibliographical references.There is growing concern that health care provided in the private sector is not always of high technical quality. Given the need to work with the private sector to increase access to services, various strategies have been proposed that governments can employ to engage the private sector in service provision. These include regulation, contracting, financing and social marketing, training, and coordination. These interventions are generally applied in combination to reach two important goals: (1) improving the quality of care delivered by existing service pro- viders; and (2) expanding the coverage of private sector services and rationalising this coverage with that of public sector provi- ders. However, there is a paucity of systematic reviews on the effects of these interventions on the quality and accessibility of private for-profit health care in low and middle-income countries

Incentivising Open Science Engagement – Tokens of Appreciation

This presentation was delivered by the CEO of SomaliREN at ASREN's Open Science – The Way Forward Conference held in Tunis, Tunisia on 19 July, 2022

The Effects of Ethyl Oleate on the Behavior of Apis mellifera

The pheromone ethyl oleate was recently discovered in honeybees and has offered researchers the opportunity to further understand how division of labor is managed in honeybee (Apis mellifera) societies. Biologists recognize two types of pheromones: Releaser pheromones, which elicit immediate responses from receiving animals, and primer pheromones, which cause long-term changes in behavior without immediate behavioral change. The pheromone ethyl oleate used in this study acts as a primer pheromone in honeybees. The behavior of guard bees was examined after direct exposure to ethyl oleate, by recording the number of treated bees present in the hive. The number of bees present inside and outside the hive was recorded once daily for three days after exposure of guard bees to ethyl oleate. A control group was also maintained to compare the result to the treatment group. This research was conducted in the summer when bees are most active. No significant difference was seen in the number of control and treatment bees present, indicating no behavioral change after exposure to ethyl oleate. However, a significant decline in the number of bees occurred over time, with the lowest number of bees recorded on the third day. More control bees were found inside and outside the hive during early summer, while more treatment bees were observed in late summer. In the future, tagging more bees, conducting the entire study early in the summer and spending more time observing and tracking bees in the hive would improve such studies. Improved delivery methods of ethyl oleate to the bees and a means to measure the concentrations of ethyl oleate in bees would also be helpful

Adolescent immunisation in Africa in the decade of vaccines

Rationale: There are many public health benefits of targeting adolescent for immunisation. However, and in many settings, adolescents do not get optimal benefits from immunisation. In the decade of vaccines (2011-2020), adolescent immunisation is a topical subject. An up-to-date and synthesized research on adolescent immunisation is lacking. Overall purpose: The purpose of the PhD thesis was to characterize adolescent immunisation in the decade of vaccines. Research methods: First, we conducted a comprehensive narrative review of the literature (chapter 2) on adolescent immunisation. Then, we conducted systematic reviews (chapters 3 and 4). One of the systematic reviews assessed the strategies to improve uptake of vaccines among adolescents. The other systematic review assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescents and their parents and teachers towards immunisation. Finally (chapter 5), we conducted a cross-sectional study to describe the challenges experienced, and lessons learnt during the introduction of national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programmes in Africa. Findings: Adolescents are an important group to target with primary, booster or catch up immunisation. Some global initiatives have advocated for adolescent immunisation. Multiple reasons, among them, lack of knowledge and access to immunisation services are barriers to adolescent immunisation. There exist multiple strategies to improve uptake of vaccines among adolescents. For example, health education, financial incentives, mandatory vaccination, and class-based school vaccine delivery. The evidence suggests that a combination of strategies may be more effective than one strategy alone in enhancing uptake of vaccines by adolescents. Knowledge of vaccines, immunisation and vaccine preventable diseases was found to be suboptimal among key stakeholders of adolescent immunisation in Africa. We found a disconnect between the level of knowledge on immunisation and the uptake of vaccines, an interesting finding that warrants further research in Africa. Six African countries shared the lessons learnt and experiences during the national introduction of HPV vaccination programmes that targeted adolescent girls. There were similarities in the results among the participating countries. The challenges included: logistical coordination, identification of the target population, obtaining political support, integration with other school programmes and stakeholder engagement. A lesson learnt was that schools are a convenient site to access and vaccinate adolescents. Conclusion: Adolescent immunisation is not routinely practiced in many countries. The introduction of HPV vaccines has created an ideal opportunity to build platforms for adolescent immunisation. Research on adolescent immunisation is limited, more so in low and middle-income countries. Existing research shows a combination of strategies can be used to enhance uptake of vaccines among adolescents. Strong advocacy programmes are required to drive the global agenda of adolescent immunisation, particularly in Africa

Freirian and postcolonial perspectives on the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in African higher education institutions :a case study

Information and communication technology (ICT) is seen as great opportunity for\ud higher education institutions, and considerable efforts and resources are invested\ud worldwide in promoting its use. As with other institutions in the world, African\ud higher education institutions have invested considerable resources in ICT\ud development. However, it has been reported repeatedly that the continent\ud experiences problems with ICT development. A review of the literature has\ud identified internal and external factors that limit ICT development as well as\ud problems associated with bringing technology into local practices. Broadly, the\ud thesis examines the extent to which African higher education institutions have\ud benefited from technology. The specific aim is to investigate whether universities'\ud decision makers have given due consideration to staff development for ICT use.\ud To explore issues of technology adoption, studies were undertaken. Empirical\ud research has been conducted focusing on a single university in Uganda as a case\ud study. Qualitative research methods were used including data collection techniques\ud such as document analysis, observations, open-ended questionnaires and in-depth\ud interviews. Theoretically, the study used Freirian and postcolonial theories to guide\ud data collection and analysis. Freirian theory was also used to guide data collection,\ud with the problem-posing approach developed by Freire being adapted to interview\ud participants. This proved to be a valuable technique to collect data.\ud The study findings confirm the enormous benefits that African higher\ud education institutions can gain from technology. The benefits that were identified\ud included more efficient communication, teaching, and research. However, it was\ud feared that costs and possible cultural impact would arise as negative aspects of\ud technology adoption. ICT staff development approaches were found to be mainly\ud ineffective and, to some extent, dehumanising. Humanistic approaches would result\ud in more relevant, more engaging staff development that may transform ICT\ud development within Africa

In vitro effect of Aqueouscalotropis procera root extract on ammonium sulphate precipitated liver marker enzymes of albino rats

The in vitro effect of aqueous root extract of C. procera on liver marker enzymes; alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) of albino rats was evaluated. ALT was precipitated at 40% ammonium sulphate saturation whilst AST and ALP were precipitated at 35 % saturation from rat liver homogenate. The   enzymes were assayed at varying concentrations (mg/ml) of the extract (0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45. 0.50) at 37oC. At 0.00µmg/ml extract; ALT, AST and ALP activities of 5.91 ~ 10-4, 2.70 ~ 10-4 and 3. 74 ~ 10-5 µmol/min respectively. Upon incubation with  extract, the enzymes had respective mean activities of 6.38 } 0.35 ~ 10-4, 4.07 } 0.62 ~ 10-4and 2.80 } 0.44 ~ 10-5µmol/min. The activities of ALT and AST were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in presence of C. procera extract with significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the activity of ALP. It  indicates that the aqueous root extract of C. procera activated ALT and AST and inhibited ALP in vitro.Keywords: in vitro, C. procera,liver marker enzymes, ammonium sulphat