AFRREV STECH: An International Journal of Science and Technology

Hormonal contraceptive use and women’s labour supply: Qualitative evidence from Kayonza District In Rwanda

Y. Shimamura — 2019-12-09

This study examined the impact of the side effects of hormonal contraceptives on women’s health capital, which determines their ability to supply labour to sustain livelihood in subsistent agricultural communities. The findings draw upon interview data of 179 married couples in rural Rwanda. Of 138 women who experienced side effects at the time of the survey, 54 women reported that such side effects impacted their agricultural labour supply and housework from 4.96 to 2.23 hours and 3.12 to 2.19 hours, respectively. The decrease in the women’s labour supply altered the intrahousehold labour allocation. On average, their husbands engaged in farming for 5.54 hours and housework for 0.80 hours per day. When the women were unable to supply labour, their husbands tended to allocate more time to housework and less time to farming. These findings infer that side effects could lead to the loss of women’s bargaining power in their family and access to resources by reducing their labour supply and contribution to the household economy, and these outcomes need to be further investigated in the future. Additionally, this study emphasizes/highlights the imperious need for contraceptive switching and side effect counselling for couples to mitigate potential side effects.

Key Words: Hormonal contraceptive, women’s labour supply, family planning, household economy

A preliminary assessment of the energy related carbon emissions associated with hotels in Enugu Metropolis Nigeria

Chinwe Sam-Amobi — 2019-12-09

This study assesses the environmental impacts of energy consumption of 24 hotel buildings in Enugu Metropolis. Structured questionnaire was administered to the hotel managers in order to collect energy consumption pattern. Measurements were carried out to reproduce the floor plans of the hotels in-order to determine the floor areas. The breakdown of energy consumption showed that diesel and petrol generator sets dominated for regular and 24hours electricity supply. The average Building Energy Index (BEI) of 405.73Kwh/m² /yr was derived based on unit floor area. The result further showed that average CO₂ emissions from consumption of grid electricity to be 2936.06KgCO₂e/Kwh/yr, and 294817.44KgCO₂e/litre/yr and 1546.69KgCO₂e/litre/yr, respectively for diesel and petrol. The study concluded that there is need to reduce dependence on fossil fuel consumption of the hotels and therefore recommends the encouragement of low energy and energy efficient hotel building designs in the study area.

Key Words: fossil fuel, carbon emission, hotel buildings, building energy Index (BEI), energy efficiency

Graduate students’ preferences in technology usage in student-faculty interactions at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

William Boateng — 2019-12-09

Technology has had a major impact in education especially in the context of tertiary education. Such impact has manifested more in the advanced world compared to the developing world. This indicates that digital technologies undoubtedly have the potential to enhance traditional classroom teaching. Unfortunately, the exact nature of their contributions to educational achievement are highly debated and understudied in the African context. The impact of various uses of technology in tertiary African education needs to be well understood. This study therefore aimed at exploring graduate students’ perception regarding the use of technology in facilitating student-faculty interaction and its impact on learning experiences and outcomes at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. The study had graduate students from EVT 852- Curriculum Development in Vocational and Technical Education, and SOC 803- Special Problems in Theory Building classes as its population. These courses were purposively chosen to be studied. All the twenty-three students in the two classes participated in the study. The qualitative research design informed the orientation of the study. In-depth interviews were conducted. The deductive and inductive thematic analytical approach informed the discussion of the qualitative data elicited via the interviews. The study found out that the participants were satisfied with the face-toface and online technology-based forms of interaction for pedagogical and post-lecture communication purposes respectively. It is therefore recommended, among others, that more emphasis should be placed on technological use in education because it has the capability to enhance the learning experiences and outcomes of graduate students.

Key Words: Higher Education, Graduate Students, Face-to face interaction, Technology usage, Student-Faculty interaction, and Pedagogy

Ghanaian senior high school science students’ conceptions about change of state of matter

Godwin Kwame Aboagye — 2019-12-09

The article was based on the assertion that students’ conceptions greatly influence the extent to which they grasp concepts. Based on this claim, this study sought to examine students’ concepts and the reasons associated with learners’ alternative conceptions relative to change of state of matter. This study employed the survey design hinged on retrospective and prospective paradigms. A sample of 240 final year (Form 3) science students were randomly selected from five senior high schools located within the Cape Coast Metropolitan area, Ghana to participate in this research. The findings revealed that about three-quarters of the students held varied alternative conceptions on change of state of matter. Additionally, the results indicated that a number of reasons underpin why learners hold alternative conceptions of change of state of matter. For instance, students hold the alternative conception that temperature changes during phase transition and are also unable to interpret the numerical representation of the change of state of matter. It was, therefore, recommended that teachers should develop activities aimed at leading students to the development of scientifically correct conceptions thereby helping them correct their alternative conceptions.

Key Words: Alternative conceptions; change of state of matter; correct conception; latent heat; senior high school students

ICT and administrative effectiveness of University in Nigeria: A connect between leadership and knowledge

Ifeyinwa A. Ajah — 2019-12-09

The increasing demand for University education and continuous creation of new faculties to meet admission demand without corresponding increase in infrastructural and human resources to manage University affair bring complexity to the system. In addition, various dimensions of academic corruption are common in tertiary institutions especially in developing countries where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is not sufficiently and effectively deployed to check mate behavioral excesses of staff and students. This paper therefore presented how ICT connects University leadership and academics (knowledge) for administrative effectiveness of Nigerian University based on secondary data material collected online from related articles, educational forum and data directly gathered from education administrators in Tertiary institution and students’ experiences about education administration. It presents various Education ICT tools used in Information administration and learning. Some common corrupt practises that undermine University administration are highlighted and the combat strategy using a simple Digital Nervous System (DNS) was proposed to showcase a simple but innovative ICT- enabled interaction among the management, the students and the staff for the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of administration in Nigerian Tertiary Education. This work will serve as an excellent guide to stakeholders, and University administrators towards improved administrative performance. It will foster the foundation for establishing a viable and sustainable ICT inspired learning.

Key Words: Administration, Corruption, Digital Nervous System (DNS), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), University

Teachers’ perception and background in chemistry: Implications for basic science education in primary schools

Ekene N. Igboegwu — 2019-12-09

Science, particularly chemistry had become the life wire of any nation. This study was prompted by the importance of a solid foundation of chemistry in Universal Basic Education (UBE) and the level of background in science by teachers in the primary school. 500 teachers in primary schools were selected from Anambra State for the study through random sampling. A questionnaire (QFPS) was used to collect data for the study. The QFPS consisted 3 sections; three research questions guided the study. Data collected were analyzed using means, standard deviations and percentages. The results showed that majority of the teachers of primary schools were not professionally trained science teachers. The teachers lack confidence to teach basic science even though they perceived science as an important subject for primary school pupils. They also had positive perception towards chemistry but lacked an effective pedagogical approach to it. Educational implications were discussed and recommendations made among which are: teachers who were professionally trained in science should be employed specifically to teach basic science classes instead of leaving the basic science teaching to class teacher who had no idea of science.

Cultural factors and traditional practices of the people In Delta State about HIV/AIDS pandemic

Ikponmwen Florence Iyamu — 2019-12-09

This study examined the cultural factors and traditional practices of the people in Delta State of Nigeria about HIV/AIDS pandemic. The research design was a descriptive survey. To guide the study, three research questions were raised and answered and two research hypotheses were formulated at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study consisted of all patients of general outpatient department of the government hospitals in south and north senatorial district of Delta state of Nigeria. The instrument was a questionnaire, the face and content validity were ascertained by some medical practitioners in the hospitals and experts in the field of counselling psychology. The Reliability of the instrument was determined, using the Cronbach Alpha and it yield the value of 0.86, ascertaining the internal consistency. The findings revealed that; there are prevailing attitude, beliefs and myths surrounding HIV/AIDS by the people in Delta south and north senatorial districts. The people are also conversant with voluntary counselling, testing and antiretroviral therapy. There are also both negative and positive impacts of socio-economic and educational background on HIV/AID respectively. It was therefore concluded that Cultural and traditional practices are prevalence in Delta state. These practices have positive impact on the educated patients and that the disease is been treated with less than honest approach by the populace in Delta state. This may spell doom for the community if not check. It was recommended that the DELSACA and NGOs (IPS) in Delta State should educate patients and the general public through electronic and mass media about HIV/AIDS among others.