Older Pupil’s Views on the Ghana School Feeding Programme: A Case of Yikpee D/A Primary School in Lawra District of the Upper West Region
Previous studies on Ghana's school feeding programme have largely taken a quantitative approach in assessing and analyzing its impact on increases in enrolment, attendance, retention, short-term health and nutritional benefits. This study employed qualitative instruments, using a semi-structured interview guide and observation checklists on five pupils in one school Yikpee D/A Primary School in order to fill the gap in the quantitative studies as well as look at the views of older students on the School Feeding Programme. The results showed that older pupils often came from poor and illiterate families,-whose parents were peasant farmers and that for those children, their decisions to enroll in school were informed by a desire for gainful employment, escape from farming and the ability to read and write in the future. It was also revealed that it was not the food per se that attracted these children to school; but the fact that the school was viewed to be a welcoming place for learning and opportunity for them to achieve their future goals. Although the pupils were in favour of the feeding programme, they wished it stopped because it distracted their attention in class. The study has thus put forward some policy recommendations on the school feeding programmes which include the need to seek the views of target beneficiaries on whether, where and when to implement the programme as a policy intervention before final decisions are made to cover all neighbouring schools.
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A Comparative Analysis of Economic Losses and Efficiency in Crop and Dairy Production System in Tamil Nadu, India
An economic evaluation of crop and dairy production system study was taken up in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu, India to study the post-harvest losses in crop production system, milk losses in dairy production system, to analyse the factors influencing the post-harvest losses and milk losses and finally analyze the resource use efficiency and technical efficiency of crop and dairy production system. In crop production system, net income was higher in turmeric than sugarcane by 10.98 per cent. The gross income and net income was higher in foreign breed by 99.95 per cent and 79.24 per cent over local breed respectively and hence turmeric and foreign breed are more profitable in crop and dairy production system respectively. The post-harvest losses in turmeric production were 0.048 per cent of total production. Milk losses in dairy production system due to various diseases were 9.97 per cent in local breed and 13.34 per cent in foreign breed. The education and inadequate storage had significant positive influence on post-harvest losses. The milk fever, Mastitis and foot and mouth disease in local breed had influence on milk losses. In foreign breed, milk fever and Mastitis had significant positive influence on milk losses. In crop production system, the planting material, manures and fertilizer, irrigation and human labour were significant in turmeric production. In sugarcane production, planting material and irrigation were positively significant. In dairy production system, green fodder, dry fodder and human labor were significant in local breed. With respect to foreign breed, green fodder, dry fodder and concentrates were positively significant. The mean technical efficiency and scale efficiency of sugarcane and turmeric was almost similar in crop production system. In dairy production system, the mean technical efficiency and scale efficiency of foreign breed and local breed was almost similar. The policy advocacy is finally suggested for Agriculture Department, Animal Husbandry Department and Government for minimizing economic losses, for achieving efficiency in production systems and finally for sustainable agricultural development of the region.
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Cost and return analysis of dates (phoenix dactylifera Linn.) Wholesales marketing in Kaduna state, Nigeria
This study was conducted on the cost and return of dates wholesales marketing in Kaduna State. A total of 30 respondents that cut across various market locations were randomly selected for the study in the State. Data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The study revealed that over 90% of the respondents were in their productive years of age while more than 50% of the respondents maintain a large household size. Over 70% could speak Hausa language fluently while majority (66.7%) had no formal education. Almost 57% had been in the trade for more than 10years. Furthermore, the study revealed that an average of 5478.67kg of dates was traded /month, the average cost price was 117.33/kg while the average selling price was 129.17/kg. Profitability indexes such as; average revenue and average Net Income (NI) was estimated to be N745,920.00 and N614,929.96 respectively. In the same vein, Gross Ratio (GR) and Operating Ratio (OR) were 0.18 and 0.13 respectively. The regression result indicated that both transportation cost and storage cost significantly affect NI and that the market is oligopolistic in structure with 0.4382 calculated gini-coefficients (G). The business is highly profitable in the study area.
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Overview of the parameters affecting physical sustainability (case study: Esfahani style)
Sustainability refers to a concept which has been widely evaluated in recent years, affirming the development and continuity over the time. Sustainability can be examined at all the aspects of life and architecture, so that physical sustainability of architecture has been regarded as an aspect which has not been evaluated in the architecture. Physical sustainability refers to the continuity and survival of building as well as accountability based on the addressee's needs and interests over the time. Recognition of factors affecting the physical sustainability of the buildings which have remained sustainable can assist us in exploiting from the parameters which provide the physical sustainability. The present research has aimed to evaluate and recognize the factors affecting physical sustainability in Iran via descriptive-analytic method and evaluation of the buildings with Esfahani style which are accounted as the sustainable samples in Iranian architecture.
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Structural, Optical and Magnetic Studies of CdTiCoFe2O4 Nanoparticles by Sol-Gel Method
Promising future applications of ferrite nanoparticles in medicine, making many devices like permanent magnets, memory storage devices etc. Ferrite nanoparticles have been the emerging focus of the recent scientific research. In the present investigation Cadmium Titanium Cobalt ferrites (CdTiCoFe2O4) is synthesized by Sol-Gel method. This approach is simple, faster, eco-friendly, cost effective and suitable for large scale production. These synthesized ferrites are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV–VIS spectroscopic techniques and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The crystalline nature and the structure of the synthesized nanoferrites are confirmed from X-Ray diffraction analysis. The ferrite powders showed XRD line broadening peaks and the average particle size of the materials is calculated as 8.7027 nm using Scherer formula. The strain (?) and dislocation density (?) of the materials are also calculated from XRD data. The optical band energy (Eg) at the edge of absorption band has been determined by the Tauc relation using UV-VIS spectroscopic data. The magnetic properties are studied using Vibrating Sample Magnetometer at room temperature and it is found that this study shows a ferromagnetic behavior of the synthesized ferrites. This significant property allows this type of ferrites can be used in fabrication of magnetic and energy storage media.
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Vibrational spectral study of 2,4,4 -trimethyl-2-oxazoline with density functional theory, NBO and HOMO-LUMO analyses
ABSTRACT The FT-IR and FT Raman spectra of 2,4,4-Trimethyl-2-oxazoline (TMOZ) molecule have been recorded in the region 4000-400cm-1 and 3500-50cm-1 respectively. Optimized geometrical parameters, harmonic vibrational frequencies and depolarization ratio have been computed by density functional theory (DFT) using B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) method and basis sets. The observed FT-IR and FT-Raman vibrational frequencies are analysed and compared with theoretically predicted vibrational frequencies. The geometries and normal modes of vibration obtained from DFT method are in good agreement with the experimental data. The Mulliken charges, the natural bonding orbital (NBO) analysis, the values of electric dipole moment (µ) and the first-order hyperpolarizability (?0) of the investigated molecule were computed using DFT calculations. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies shows that charge transfer occur within molecule. The influences of oxygen and hydrogen atoms on the geometry of benzene and its normal modes of vibrations have also been discussed. Unambiguous vibrational assignments of all the fundamentals was made using the total energy distribution (TED). Keywords: 2,4,4-Trimethyl-2-oxazoline, FT-IR, FT- Raman, HOMO-LUMO, DFT Corresponding author: mobile: +91 0431 2701667. E-mail address: jjmarivu@yahoo.co.in (B. Jayasudha)
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Effect Tiers Pressure and Speeds tractor on Performance Chisel and Disc Plows
Field experiment conducted to measured Slippage, Effective field capacity, Field Efficiency, Soil Volume Disturbed and Specific Productivity Tillage in silt clay loam soil with depth 18 cm in Baghdad- Iraq. Split – split plot design under randomized complete block design with three replications using Least Significant Design 5 % was used. Three factor used in this experiment included Two types of plows included Chisel and Disk plows which represented main plot , Three Tires Inflation Pressure was second factor included 1.1 ,1.8 and 2.7 Bar, and Three forward speeds of the tillage was third factor included 2.35 , 4.25 and 6.50 km/hr. Result show chisel plow recorded best parameters performance.
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FT-IR Spectral analysis of Chitosan Coated Carbon biosorbent
In the present work, chitosan was coated onto the activated carbon and characterized by FT-IR study. The FT-IR spectra of all three chitosan coated carbon showed the characteristic adsorption peaks, which are shifted to lower wave number. The -OH stretching of pure chitosan were observed at 3454 cm-1, whereas the composite showed -OH peak at lower frequency. Due to this, the strong interaction between chitosan and carbon made the bio sorbent effective material for the removal of toxic metal ions from water.
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Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate degradation in defatted jatropha curcas seed meal through solid state fermentation
The study aimed at detoxifying JCSM using biological treatments (spontaneously, fungi cocktail and specific). Shimadzu HPLC/ UV was used to quantify phorbol esters in Jatropha curcas seed meal under isocratic conditions. After six days of fermentation, cocktail of fungi, and spontaneous fermentation of JCSM was effective in reducing PE concentration. Defattening seed meal using cold maceration in petroleum ether reduced phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) in the JCSM from 40.42 to 10.9 ng/ml prior to solid state fermentation. Spontaneous fermentation of defatted JCSM further reduced PMA from 10.9 to 5.05 ng/ml (53.6%). Fungi isolated during spontaneous fermentation included, Aspergillus niger (B), Aspergillus flavus (A), Rhizopus Stolonifer (C), Penicillium chrysogenum (D) and Fusarium species. The reduction of PE ranged between 10.71 – 1.46 ng/ml when single or a combination of the fungi isolates were used in solid state fermentation of the defatted seed meal. P. chrysogenum reduced phorbol ester levels (PE) in defatted seed 76.5%, R. stolonifer 43.3%, A. flavus 35.6% and A. niger 1.72%. When fungi isolates were paired, A. niger + P. chrysogenum (BD) reduced PE levels by 13.7%, A. flavus + A. niger 64.5%, A. flavus + P. chrysogenum 70.3%, A. flavus + R. stolonifer 78.8%, A. niger + R. stolonifer 86.6% and R. stolonifer + P. chrysogenum 86.6%. The treatment combination of A. niger + R. stolonifer + P. chrysogenum reduced PE levels by 84.0%, A. flavus + A. niger + R. stolonifer to 67.2% and A. flavus + R. stolonifer + P. chrysogenum to 62.3%. P. chrysogenum was effective as a single isolate but its activity was suppressed when paired with A. niger. Treatments of the deffated seed with, A. flavus + R. stolonifer; A. niger + R. stolonifer; R. stolonifer + P. chrysogenum; and A. niger + R. stolonifer + P. chrysogenum were the only combination that exceeded the phorbol reductive activity of P. chrysogenum in. It could therefore be concluded that Jatropha curcas seed meals can be detoxified by solid state fermentation.
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Examining the Implementation Process of the Employee Performance Management and Development System (EPMDS) at a Kwa-Zulu Natal Public Hospital
This research evaluates the effectiveness of the process of the employee performance management and development system at a public hospital in Kwa- Zulu Natal, so as to identify the limitations and recommend appropriate remedial measures. A qualitative research method was used for this study. Respondents were interviewed using a standard set of questions that were compiled in the form of a questionnaire. Using purposive sampling, 15 participants were selected and interviewed from a target population of 1200 employees from the Hospital. Findings from this study indicated that the employee performance management and development system has impacted positively on the overall performance of the Hospital in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN), however, it was noted that these benefits are being marred by certain limitations, which include dissatisfaction of employees, lack of genuine commitment, inducement of conflicts, and poor improvements in performance. On this basis, it was recommended that the management of the Hospital should consider using measures that train and develop their evaluators on the key concepts in performance management and development, ensure the defining of appropriate goals and objectives during the planning process, fairness and equity during evaluation and rating of the employees’ performance, communication, the allocation of sufficient funds for accomplishing activities related to performance management and development, and constant review of how evaluators conduct evaluations.
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