Archives-March 2014

Many children are refusing to attend school or have problems remaining in the classes for an entire day. Refusal is associated with classroom climate factors and if not managed well they lead to multiple socio-economic risks spanning into adulthood. This study sought teachers’ views on classroom determinants of school refusal behaviour among lower primary schools in Nandi East district with emphasis on class dynamics. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design in which variables were studied as they are in the field without manipulation. The accessible population consisted of all the 282 public lower primary class teachers in the district. The final sample size of 152 was determined by employing Stein’s method. Stratified and simple random sampling methods were used to get the participants. Structured and semi structured survey questionnaire were used to collect data from class teachers. Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha was used to determine the reliability of research questions; which established a reliability coefficient of .872. Descriptive statistics used to analyze quantitative data were percentages and frequencies. Statistical Packages of Social Science (SPSS) programme version 17 aided in analyses. The findings were summarized and presented in tables and figures. The study established that teachers consider the following dynamics as triggers of refusal: getting poor marks which lead to frustrations, learners inability to bring out their problems well, teachers forcing weak learners to repeat classes and learners getting demotivated because achievement and performance are not praised or rewarded. The study recommends the in -servicing of education stakeholders on nature of school refusal, improving provision of instructional materials to learners with special needs and improving school inspection.

Housing development in developing countries in which Nigeria is not an exceptional case is a combination of many interrelated components which include land, infrastructure, building materials, policies, building regulations but more importantly is the finance component. This paper examined the performance of Primary Mortgage Institutions in financing housing development in Abuja and Lagos. It carefully identified the existing PMIs in the study areas, examined the mortgage business activities of the PMIs and the factors militating against effective performance of the PMIs in the study areas. The methodology employed by the research includes the collection of primary and secondary data. Questionnaires were administered to the PMIs existing as at the time of field work in Abuja and Lagos. This was done to collect data that will give a true representation of PMIs activities in the study areas. Among other findings, it was discovered that there is statistical significant relationship between the capital base and loans disbursed for housing development by the PMIs in the study areas. Recommendations were made to improve performance of PMIs for effective housing delivery.

Discipline is the epicenter of success of a school and members of a school are required to strictly adhere to various standards or codes of behavior. Student discipline is a crucial factor in not only academic achievement but also success in other school activities. The challenge of managing student discipline is pervasive and constant. The issues of management strategies and student discipline in secondary schools in Kenya are viewed by many as contemporary problems that may turn into a crisis if not checked. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of selected strategies used in managing student discipline by secondary schools in Kericho West District, Kericho County. The objectives of the study will be; to determine the effectiveness of guidance and counseling in enhancing student discipline, to find out the effectiveness of communication as a strategy in management of students discipline, to investigate the influence of student motivation on student, to examine the effectiveness of students’ participation in decision making in enhancing students’ discipline and to determine the principals’ effectiveness in managing students’ discipline in secondary schools in Kericho County. The study adopted Bandura’s (1997) social learning theory. This study employed the descriptive survey research design. A population of 135 was considered which composed of 45 principals, 45 deputy principals and 45 head of departments in charge of guidance and counseling of all public secondary schools in Kericho West District.

The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of 4-nitro-o-toluidine (4NOT) were recorded in the region 4000–400 cm?1 and 4000–100 cm?1 respectively. Quantum chemical calculations of energies, geometrical structure and vibrational wavenumbers of 4NOT were carried out by density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method with 6-31G* and 6-311+G** basis sets. The difference between the observed and scaled wavenumber values of most of the fundamentals is very small. The values of the total dipole moment (?) and the first order hyperpolarizability (?) of the compound were investigated. The calculated results show that 4NOT have non-linear optical (NLO) behavior. A detailed interpretation of Infrared and Raman spectra of 4NOT is also reported. The calculated HOMO–LUMO energy gap shows that charge transfer occurs within the molecule. Electronic excitation energies, oscillator strength and nature of the respective excited states were calculated by the closed-shell singlet calculation method for the molecule.

This theoretical paper summarises arguments and findings pertaining to the impact of green product positioning strategies upon green perception. Substantive literature supports that the legitimacy of green claims is enhanced by combined use of definitive (rational) and symbolic (emotional) claims. The emotional and rational responses vary in their impact time period. Consumers have the environmental consciousness/attitude but fail to reflect it in their actions/behaviour. This attitude/behaviour gap exists due to lack of confidence in environmental claims. Also the role of regulatory authority in scrutinizing the form and content of green messages is important in eliminating deceptive claims. Legitimate green claims enhance green purchase confidence among consumers already possessing environment values. This paper is divided into five parts. Part I discusses elements of green positioning. Part II throws insight into how green perception determines the green consumer’s buying behaviour, part III sums up the ineffectiveness of green positioning strategies and discusses possible reasons for the behaviour- action gap. Part IV gives possible outcomes of this study in context to green positioning and its impact on psycho graphics and part V concludes and offers possible insights into better positioning, future marketing and academic prospects in the field of green content promotion.

During the current years, eBanking has been adopted quite extensively as a channel of distribution for financial services, and this is mainly due to speedy progress in ICTs and competitive banking markets. iBanking permits extended customer contact through vast geographical reach at lower cost of delivery channels. Another vital benefit of eBanking is the collection and management of useful information. Internet has proved as an efficient channel for the banks to gather information from customers and manage them in a best way to meet the wide range of financial needs of individuals and businesses. Currently the customers in the developed countries like UK, USA, Sweden, and Denmark are enjoying the benefits of eBanking but Pakistan is still lagging far-behind in the field of eBanking. This research is focused to study the prospects of eBanking in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, Pakistan. The researcher has reviewed the literature from different countries of the World, and developed and tested a research model in the local environment.

For high bit rates and long haul optical communication systems using a single-mode fiber, a modulator with low chirp and small size are demanded. An electro-absorption modulator is very attractive because it has some advantages of not only low chirp and small size but also the elimination of polarization control through monolithic integration with a distributed feedback (DFB) laser. The modulation bandwidth of traditional lumped electro-absorption modulators (EAMs) is usually limited by the RC time constant, but the effective resistance R and capacitance C are not easily extracted for advanced device geometries. This paper has presented the important transmission characteristics of EA modulators such as transmission performance efficiency, insertion loss, extinction ratio, , over wide range of the affecting parameters for different selected electro-absorption materials to be the major of interest.

Nationalism, nation-building and modernization were the main themes of the totalitarian and secular regimes of Ataturk and Reza Shah which replaced the traditional Qajar state of Iran and the prolonged Ottoman Empire. This paper exploring the social and political grounds upon which nationalism developed in two countries of Iran and Turkey between 1920 CE and 1950 CE seeks to identify the influential factors shaping the nationalist ideas in these countries. In this regard, not only the role of Iranian and Turkish governments’ efforts to strengthen and consolidate the national identity would be taken into close consideration, but also the role of official cooperation between the two sides would be precisely investigated. Then the national architecture movements in both countries as the obvious results of governmental nationalist policies would be recognized. As the next step, the attention would be paid to these national architecture movements and some of their related projects. Finally, to discuss how governmental policies influenced the rise of national architectural movements, a comparative analysis would be applied. 

Talking about Arabic language invokes mixed feelings in Iranians. On the negative plane, it brings to mind bitter memories of Arab invasion a millennia ago, when they dominated the empire of Persia for three centuries during which radical changes to the language and culture of Persia were engineered. On the positive side, Arabic is the medium of all religious occasions, and enjoys an air of awe, authority, and sacredness to it. This situation makes Arabic unapproachable and innovations and changes to Arabic language policy and its related educational policies difficult, dangerous, and complicated because one easily runs the risk of being accused of hostility, heresy, or conspiracy against a sacred language. It is for this same reason that the major agency responsible for policy planning and implementation about Arabic resides outside of the organizations commonly in charge of language and educational planning; the responsibility lies with the seminary and other religious circles and anyone outside of that circle talking differently about the language, no matter what his professional credentials are, is considered an intruder and is seen with suspicion. In such an ideologically-driven atmosphere, disentangling beliefs from facts proves daunting. As a consequence, despite its prevalence, the quality of Arabic language teaching in Iran remains a mystery, as no serious large-scale study aiming to subject it to empirical investigation has yet been carried out. Aiming at filling this lacuna, we undertook a study in the hope that we may throw some light on of Arabic language teaching (ALT, henceforth). Our study was informed by theories and practices commonly in vogue in teaching other modern languages, particularly English. Collecting data from a survey administered to 53 Arabic teachers, we found that ALT is a different world from ELT in its various dimensions and it clearly fails to meet the standards of modern language teaching orthodoxy. Teachers were found to be lacking the minimum requirements of language teachers such as proficiency, language teaching methodology knowledge base, and the basics of linguistic knowledge needed for a language teacher.

Climatic responsive buildings are examples of a sensitive approach to energy consciousness for indoor comfort conditions. It has now become essential to develop energy efficient building design. The basis requirement of a building is to provide thermal comfort to its occupants. In modern buildings this is usually accomplished with the help of mechanical cooling or heating. With the advent of energy crisis there has been a need to develop climatic design tools which will provide thermal comfort in a building without or with minimum expenditure of energy. Climate determines the amount of solar radiation and mean outside temperature that a building is exposed to. Buildings are experiencing overheating during summer. For a built form, vertical surfaces are the most critical to the impact of solar radiation. This study examines the effect of different plan forms on the total solar radiation received by vertical surfaces of the buildings. The aim of this paper is to analyse the climatic conditions with respect to thermal comfort in buildings for the location of Bhubaneswar. The impact of building location and orientation on thermal comfort has been investigated. Different building shapes (square and rectangular) have been studied with variations in width-to-length ratio (aspect ratio) and building orientation. This study guides designers on choosing optimum form and appropriate orientation for buildings. The present paper describes how different plan forms are affected by solar radiation. Based on that the optimum aspect ratio (Length: Width) of the building over the location of Bhubaneswar has been found out which will receive minimum radiation in summer and maximum radiation in winter. This result in significant saving in the energy consumed while creating comfortable indoor environment.