The study investigated how biology practical lessons are conducted in some selected Colleges of Education in Ashanti Region of Ghana. The sample population was made up of 60 students and 12 biology tutors from six selected Colleges of Education. The main instrument used for the study was questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The research findings showed that both tutors and students from the selected science colleges considered practical lessons as one of the effective means of teaching and learning biology. It also came out that, the tutors' pre-activities and teaching strategies in selected science and non-science colleges of education were not different. Again, students from the science colleges tend to have a greater advantage over their counterparts from the non-science colleges, because they were exposed to some other additional strategies.
Background to the Study
The upgrading of the teacher education certificate programme to diploma advocated the conventional approach to science practical activities and suggested that science practical work should be laboratory based. To achieve this goal, all Colleges of Education had to be provided with laboratories well-resourced with adequate equipment and apparatus. Unfortunately, however, a close observation made about some Colleges of Education in Ghana, revealed that they do not have standard laboratory stocked with adequate equipment and apparatus. Even those having standard laboratories for science teaching, such laboratories were ill-equipped. Other series of observations made about some Colleges of Education also showed that the approach currently being used to teach biology is most often based on classroom work which is intended only to meet examination requirements. Meanwhile, practical work is known to be an essential component of studying the natural environment. It is often defined as a typical laboratory work where students encounter ideas and principles at first hand. The “hand-on approach has the potential to stimulate students’ interest in the subject matter, teach laboratory skills, enhance the acquisition of knowledge, and give insight into scientific attitudes and objectives. Practical work, according to Beatty and Woolnough (1982) is usually done in school science for several reasons. Some of these reasons are to make phenomena more real through experience and to develop certain critical and disciplined attitude. It is also done to develop specific manipulative skills and to elucidate theoretical work as an aid to comprehension (Beatty & Woolnough, 1982). All these benefits are lost if biology lessons follow literary approaches only.
Though practical lessons are to be used by tutors to help their students to achieve better results in biology, it was sad to find that in most of the colleges, the biology laboratories were used for theory lessons but not practical lessons. This is because the laboratories were ill-equipped with materials and equipment necessary for practical lessons (Serwaa, 2007). Although, some studies have been conducted in the past years to investigate the issue in the study area, still there seemed to be a growing concern about the deficiency in biology practical lessons in some Colleges of Education. It is for these reasons that this study investigates and compares how biology practical activities are done in some selected Colleges of Education in Ashanti region.

The issue of leadership styles used by school heads and the academic performance of students has recently attracted the attention of the general public and people are exerting energies into research to find its courses and effects. Nkoranza-North district is selected as a result of the fact that the researcher works there and the districts also have two senior high schools for the study. Primarily, the study was to find out the courses and impact of leadership styles on teaching and learning outcomes in the Nkoranza-North district. The study covered a sample size of sixty (60) people comprises of Headmasters, selected teachers and selected students of the two. The researcher employed the descriptive method, while interview schedule and questionnaire were used togather the information. Frequencyand percentage were used to analyse the data. The study also looks at the various leadership styles employed by leaders some of which are Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire. The findings of the study are discussed, conclusion draw and recommendations made.

While in the last one two decades, Kenya has witnessed increasing levels of public borrowing, both domestic and foreign, economic growth has slowed down and the performance of the securities market has been subdued with falling stock prices. This has prompted stock investors to review and/or realign their investment portfolios. While the inflation rate has been drastically fluctuating, public debt – which is strongly inflationary – has had an exponential increase of about 461 percent between 2008 and 2018. Although Kenya’s level of public debt is approaching unsustainable levels, massive borrowing still continues. Using secondary monthly data obtained from government and securities market databases, this paper analyzed whether public debt moderates the relationship between inflation rate and securities market returns at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Time series multiple linear regression results show that whereas inflation rate has a statistically significant negative effect on securities market returns, public debt had an insignificant negative effect on securities market returns. More importantly, public debt does not statistically affect the relationship between inflation rate and the securities market in Kenya. Putting in place strategies aimed at reducing inflation as well as public debt can however have the effect of improving securities market performance.

Agriculture is a critical sector for Afghanistan. About 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas and works on farms. Naturally, the Afghan economy is focused on the agricultural sector. But the agrarian infrastructure encountered significant damage during the 30-year war. Before the war in the 1970s, Afghanistan was an international supplier of agricultural products and 48% of the export revenue was obtained from these products. Rice consumption is mainly dependent on rice imports to meet the growing demand of Afghanistan's growing population due to the livelihood and semi-subsistence rice farming and the continuity of low-quality of local rice varieties. On average, the country imported about 218 million tonnes of rice each year in the 2014-2017 period, accounting for about $70 million (approximately 1.4% of the agricultural GDP). For Afghanistan to meet rice demand with domestic production, it is recommended to adopt highly productive seed varieties, relevant inputs, and sustainable farm management practices.

Growth through acquisition has been a critical part of the success of many companies operating in the new economy like that of Nigeria. It is an indisputable fact that acquiring is much faster than building, speed-speed to market, speed to positioning and speed to becoming a viable company is absolutely essential in the new economy. This study evaluated the effect of acquisition on the operating performance of two oil & gas firms in Nigeria. Five research objectives, questions and hypotheses were formulated and analyzed. The study made use of secondary data. The secondary data was gotten from the financial statement of studied firms’ and were used in testing the hypothesis. In testing the formulated hypotheses, variables such as Return on Equity, Return on Assets, Gross earnings, Asset Utilization, & Financial Leverage were compared before and after acquisition using Pair Sample T-Test Statistical Tool. All the results show that the preacquisition financial positions were better off than the post-era. The study identified some of the likely reasons that could account for post-era poor performance to include hostility in the Niger Delta region which has led to pipeline vandalism, drop in oil price etc. The study hereby recommend that Since the oil price cannot be predicted, both firms should diversify some of their operations in activities that are a bit stable, profitable and competitive. The government should ensure that the relative peace experienced so far is being maintained to avoid pipeline vandalism which has adverse effect on oil production.

Growing and sustaining the customer base of an organization is always a challenge to firms’ operating in an intense and competitive industry and where the cost of brand switching is relatively low. For an organization to adopt any strategy, the need to scan its environment will be necessary to avoid making a strategic mistakes that are capable of causing an organization its life as a corporate entity. The study aimed at identifying and discussing strategies an organization can adopt in growing and sustaining its market share in a given industry. These strategies include; innovation strategy, market segmentation strategy, market expansion strategy, 80/20 business strategy, and customer relationship retention strategies. A research model was formulated for the purpose of guiding further studies.

There are specific quality requirements usually established in accordance with standards at either government or private levels for hotel accommodation facilities. One of these basic requirements is high quality of accommodation facilities which supposed to anchor room capacity utilisation of 3-5 star hotels in Nairobi, Kenya. The attributes of quality of accommodation facilities comprised of room flooring, decorations, bed and beddings, lightings and heating, comfort of bedroom, cleanliness, comfort of bathroom, towels, furniture and furnishings, toiletries and amenities, space and ventilation of the rooms. However, hotels with more accommodation quality attributes are likely to attract higher and better room capacity utilisation. Therefore, the study sought to examine the relationship between quality of accommodation facilities and room capacity utilisation of 3-5 star hotels in Nairobi, Kenya. The study hypothesized that there is no significant relationship between quality of accommodation facilities and room capacity utilisation of 3-5 star hotels in Nairobi, Kenya. The target population involved all the 3-5 star hotels in Nairobi, Kenya. A census of hotel general manager and front office managers consisting of 60 respondents was conducted through stratification of all the hotels. Questionnaire was used as instruments for data collection with 95.1% response rate and the data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine variable characteristics while Pearson correlation was used to establish the pattern of relationship and association of the variables. Also, linear regression analysis was involved to determine the level of significant and test hypothesis. The Pearson correlation result (r=-0.542, p=0.000) indicated that quality of accommodation facilities had a strong positive relationship and association with room capacity utilisation. The regression analysis coefficient R=0.792 and adjusted squared coefficient R²=0.527 were recorded which implied that the study variables explained 52.7% of the variations of room capacity utilisation. The regression model revealed comfort of bedroom, comfort of bathroom, bed/beddings and cleanliness as the four attributes of quality of accommodation facilities that were significant variable predictors of room capacity utilisation. The null hypothesis was rejected as there is significant relationship between quality of accommodation facilities and room capacity utilisation. The study concluded that an improvement in quality of accommodation facilities will cause positive significant changes in room capacity utilisation. The study recommends improvement on comfort of bedroom, comfort of bathroom, bed and beddings as well as general cleanliness for better room capacity utilisation of 3-5 star hotels in Nairobi, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to assess the determinants of successful implementation of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) by County Governments in Kenya from the implementing partners’ perspective. This study was guided by the following specific objectives: to determine the influence of the capacities of the County Government staff on the implementation of early childhood development education by County Governments in Kenya, to determine the how management of early childhood development education affects its implementation by County Governments in Kenya, to assess how availability of physical facilities affect the implementation of early childhood development education by County Governments in Kenya and to examine how policies affect the implementation of early childhood development education by County Governments in Kenya. Decentralization theory and organization learning theory were used to explain the relationship between the study variables. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The population for the study was implementing partners working with County Governments in Kenya to support ECDE. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents to participate in the study. A total of 100 respondents were targeted from the 10 organizations studied out of which 70 participated giving a response rate of 70%. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. The study found that the implementation of ECDE by County governments in Kenya was generally successful from the implementing partners’ perspective and indicated by 56.8%. It is also worth noting that beside the general success, there were myriads of challenges facing the implementation of the program by county governments. Findings from regression analysis showed that the coefficient of determination indicated that 63.5% of the variations on the implementation of ECDE by county governments can be explained by staff capacity, management of ECDE, availability of physical facilities and ECDE policies. The remaining 36.5% can be explained by other variables not included in the study. R square and adjusted R is above average an implication that an above average variation can be explained by the model. The study recommended that county governments should allocate more funds for the renovation and construction of more ECDE centres, allocate adequate funds for the implementation of ECDE and that they should organize consistent in-service training for ECDE teachers and at the same time employ more ECDE staff to cater for the large number of children in ECDE centres..

Climate change is one of the major challenges faced by countries worldwide. In the Philippines, constant typhoons and flooding have exposed the vulnerability of disaster risk and reduction management of local communities, and such untold miseries increased the loss and damages of human lives and economic assets. While project management approach has been effectively applied to many fields and sectors, disaster management has yet to see its full benefits. Data from the Office of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) revealed that in 2014, the Municipality of Compostela had been awarded the “Seal of Good Local Governance on Disaster Preparedness” (SGLG). Thus, this captures the interest of the researcher to determine indicators of the local government unit’s disaster management that predict disaster resiliency to the major natural disasters occurring in the Municipality of Compostela for the last five years which include flooding and typhoon. This study employed a descriptive correlation design as the overall scheme in the conduct of the study. Specifically, Regression Analysis was utilized using disaster resiliency as the outcome variable and disaster management in terms of leadership structure, a guide to action management and partnerships and volunteerism as predictors. Results reveal that risk assessment and mapping,   partnerships with volunteer groups, civil society organizations (CSO) and business/private sectors, institutionalized planning and budgeting and functional incident command system significantly influence LGU’s resiliency towards flooding while partnerships with volunteer groups, CSO and business/private sectors, partnerships with other local governments and national government, institutionalized planning and budgeting and risk assessment and mapping significantly influence LGU’s resiliency towards typhoon.

This study focuses on training and development of the human resource in institutes of consecrated life; a case of Tangaza University College (TUC) and Marist International University College (MIUC). Institutions and organizations exist to achieve certain goals and objectives. These goals and objectives can be successfully achieved through the human resource. However, the human resource must have the right skills and continuously polish their skills.  The human resource that is the centre of interest in this study is the consecrated men and women who are members of the institutes of consecrated life in TUC and MIUC and their leadership. Njino (2009) strongly argues that the Church has enormous human resource but at times this resource is underutilized and its abilities and potential are unexploited or unrecognized. This was the motivation and driving factor for this study.

The researcher carried out a survey.  The specific method employed was descriptive survey design. The target population for the study was all professed members of institutes of consecrated life both men and women with their leadership. The study was developed by integrating interactive shared experiences of men and women religious. These are presented as cases within the different chapters. As a result the researcher only used questionnaires that contained both closed ended and open ended questions in data collection. A total of 242 individual members and 20 members of the different leadership categories of institutes of consecrated life participated in the study.

The findings reveal that availability of training policies is dependent on the category of institutes of consecrated life. Majority of the respondents indicated that professional training of members was not a priority for the leadership of the institutes of consecrated life. Work allotment entirely depends on the needs of the individual institute of consecrated life. The researcher recommends that more emphasis is to be put in the training and development of the human resource in institutes of consecrated life. This is because it shall ensure sustainability of the institute.

Traffic congestion may impede the power of emergency vehicles to arrive at the site of a traffic incident or other catastrophe in a fast and true way. Id's may not be a short one, but it is the optimal path that leads to the scene without passing in con-gested streets. Streets may be congestion for a long time and lead to not reach emergency vehicles to the destination place while other emergency vehicles can reach to the same destination place in fast which is far from the destination with uncrowded streets. This makes the emergency vehicle to reach the destination in fast. In this paper, The proposed module rep-resented in a map to show the algorithm for more than one source nodes to the destination node. In addition, a case study of a real city in Baghdad has been used to evaluate the proposed module. The results show the proposed module ability to find the optimal path with 27 to 204 seconds to give a clear recommendation for which vehicle must be moved to the destination node.

Abstract - Fire hazards are becoming rampant in recent years and takes toll on lives and properties. This fatal inferno has been trailed to the leakages of gas in industries and household especially.  LPG is highly inflammable and can burn even at some distance from the source of leakage. Various accidents resulting could be as a result of a poor-quality rubber tube or when the regulator is not turned off and careless handling of the LPG cylinders. The supply of gas from the regulator to the burner is on even after the regulator is switched off. By accident, if the knob is turned on it results in gas leaks. The adverse effect and bad experiences of victim of gas leakages inform the pursuit of this research work. This paper describes a microcontroller-based system that is designed with cheap electronic component to detect and alert the domestic environment when LPG leakage is detected. The system is easy to deploy and void of complex configurations and installation. This work curtails injuries and losses caused by explosions due to gas leakages and improve safety of life and property while using domestic cooking gas.

Key Words: LPG, Regulators, Burner, Microcontroller-based, Leakage, explosion.