Media’s Role in Televised Media Coverage and Its Influence on Terrorist Attacks in Nairobi County, Kenya

With the turn of the century, Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has had its share of terrorist activity. Due to their nature, global media houses have centred on these occurrences as they have formed the focal point during their immediacy. This has led to the rise of media; in all its variety, as a reliable ate truthful source of information: on the other hand, terrorists have used the media as a veritable and strong propaganda tool. This is in line with the main aim and intent of terrorism; the spread of fear and it also feeds to the belief by various terrorist groups that media is one of their biggest investments. This study sought to examine media’s role in televised media coverage and it’s influence on terrorist attacks in Nairobi County, Kenya. The sample size for the study was derived from 110 officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit, a section of the Directorate if Criminal Investigations and informants numbering to 14 from television editors, freelance reporters, and across civil society. The data was collected through questionnaires and interview guides for the officers from ATPU and respondents from the media and civil society respectively. It was further analysed using SPSS and presented through the use of frequency distribution tables and bar graphs; other modes include inferential statistics of linear regression and Chi square. The study revealed that there was a significant effect on the security situation in Nairobi due to televised media coverage of terrorist attacks. The study revealed a significant relationship between media coverage of terrorist incidents and increased insecurity in Nairobi. (χ2 = 9.499a, p = 0.023). The recommendations include the development of proportionality in the reporting on terrorist attacks. This is because an overemphasis on terrorist threats has an inadvertent advancement of terrorism and terrorist activities. There is therefore a need for care by journalists lest they be used as vehicles of propaganda by terrorists. This is due to the power that is inherent in misinformation in denying the general public independent reporting and the resultant understanding that comes with it. It is recommended that there be a limit as to the amount and type of information released to the media and eventually to the public in the event of a terrorist attack; this helps in averting the spread of terrorist propaganda and the misinformation of the public.

Factors Affecting Tourism Destination: A Case Study in Ha Tien City, Vietnam

On the basis of theories of tourism, services, rational choice theory and previous empirical studies, the study proposes a research framework including 6 factors affecting tourists’ decisions when choosing Ha Tien as a destination to visit. The research sample was carried out by surveying by questionnaire with 100 tourists who visited Ha Tien City. Evaluation of the reliability of the scales shows that the destination information factor has not yet ensured the reliability of the scale. Regression analysis shows that there are 3 out of 6 independent factors that most influence tourists’ decision to choose when choosing Ha Tien as a tourist destination. In which, environmental and landscape factors have the most influence on tourists’ decision to choose Ha Tien as a destination. As a result, the article proposes some solutions to contribute to attracting more and more tourists to Ha Tien City.

Education Attainment and Women Entrepreneurship in Uganda: A Perspective

This study examined the impact of education attainment on women's desire and capacity to venture into entrepreneurship in Bunyoro sub-region, Uganda. The study was guided by the Human Capital Theory, which emerged in the 1960s through the works of Theodre Schultz in 1962. The theory holds that education enhances an individual’s efficiency and productivity skills, which in return increases the earnings of that individual in the labor market, as well as his/her capacity to manage own business. The study adopted a descriptive correlation research design, primarily to determine the relationship between education attainment and women entrepreneurship in Bunyoro sub-region of Uganda. The mixed methods approach was used in data collection and 365 residents of Bunyoro participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data, while key informants were interviewed for qualitative data. The study findings show that education attainment has a significant positive relationship with women entrepreneurship. This suggests that a high level of education attainment increases women's potentials and capacity to own and successfully manage a business.

The Big Five Personality Traits on Job Satisfaction Mediated by Procedural Justice

The aim of this paper is to investigate relations between an isolated dimension of Big Five personality traits and job satisfaction, while considering a mediating effect on this relationship. More specifically, personality traits like Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism or OCEAN, are treated as antecedents of job satisfaction while procedural justice is considered as mediator in understanding the underlying mechanism. Data was gathered via a questionnaire in a cross-sectional study of Big Five Inventory (44 items), Job Satisfaction Survey (12 items) & Procedural Justice (9 items). Primary data were collected from 127 hotel front desk managers working in three-star hotels within central region in Malaysia and were analyzed by using SPSS v25 and PLS-SEM v3.2.8. It was found that across the traits, Neuroticism had the strongest relationship with job satisfaction, while Conscientiousness did not have any relationship with job satisfaction. Procedural justice completely mediated the association between Conscientiousness and job satisfaction, but only partially mediated the relationships between Openness to experience, Extraversion, and Agreeableness and job satisfaction. By assessing the Big-Five personality traits as predictors of job satisfaction, this research adds to the body of knowledge and gives crucial information to indicate that organizations should place a greater emphasis on improving employees’ justice, which is the underlying relationship between personality and job satisfaction. The findings from this paper may allow organizations related to hotel industry to formulate strategic plans to diminish employee turnover rates while increasing job satisfaction and thus profitability.

Changes in Weight, Body Image Perception and Self-Efficacy: A Study on Italian Adolescents during the Pandemic Period

The lockdown period in Italy, due to Covid-19 government restrictions, caused sedentary behavior and a reduction in physical activity, with an increase in body weight and a change in body perception. Body image includes beliefs about one’s appearance. Women tend to exhibit poor body image compared to men; if we consider adolescence, this difference tends to be greater. In addition, only a small percentage of adolescents believe their body image to be adequate. Given that adolescence represents one of the periods with the highest level of physical change, including changes in weight, height, and body shape, we wanted to study how self-efficacy can be affected by body image. Studies have shown that self-efficacious students tend to be more persistent in the face of unexpected difficulties, particularly important in the current pandemic conditions. In our study, we analyze the relationship between the variation of perceived weight after two months of lockdown, and Self-efficacy, mediated by body image perception in a sample of Italian adolescents. Simple mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS 3.5 for SPSS 27. Two-hundred and fifty high school students from northern Italy took part in the study (82% female, with a mean age of 16 years ±1,43). The data confirmed a partial mediation effect of body image perception. These results highlight how body image assumes significance for one of the most relevant developmental tasks for adolescents related to evaluation and self-perception affecting their self-efficacy, which is also a predictor of their academic achievement. We hope that studies like these can support the importance of interventions aimed at promoting well-being among adolescents, specifically regarding aspects of physical and motivational self-evaluation.

Supermarket Operators’ Perception of Effects: Shoplifting Crimes Within the CBD In Nairobi County, Kenya

This paper established prevalence of the characteristics in the shoplifting crimes and determined the supermarket operators’ perception of the effects of shoplifting crimes on society. The study was guided by three objectives: to establish offender characteristics of the shoplifting crimes, to establish prevalence of the characteristics in the shoplifting crimes and to determine the supermarket operators’ perception of the effects of shoplifting crimes on society. The study was guided by Rational Choice and the Routine Activity Theories. The study used a census sampling technique with a sample size of a hundred respondents. These included 90 junior employees of Tuskys, Uchumi and Naivas Supermarkets, 3 branch managers, 3 police officers within the area of the study and 4 officials of the Nairobi Supermarkets Association. Interview schedule was used to collect data. Data collected was organized, summarized and interpreted thematically by use of graphs, frequency tables, and percentages. The findings revealed that the prevalence of shoplifting was 1-2 incidences in a week. The results also revealed that the most commonly used method was concealing of items which were majorly done by women. Further, whereas there are other types of shoplifters, a concern raised by 30% of the respondents is that significant number of criminals has made shoplifting a career. This should inform policy makers, especially in this era of unprecedented unemployment. Additionally, as indicated by 55% of the respondents, staff colluded with criminals to steal from the supermarkets. This should appeal to supermarket operators as this may have an implication on supermarket businesses in the CBD. The study recommends several target hardening strategies to counter shoplifting crimes that included using high Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) programmed surveillance and records linked to the law enforcement through alarm trigger alerts in case of suspicious activities, with high-quality identifiable traceable images of shoplifters, to local law enforcement agencies.

The Relationship between Teacher Commitment and Effective Teaching Practices in Rural Primary School in Ranau, Malaysia

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between teacher commitment and the effective teaching practice at rural primary schools in Ranau District, Malaysia. Teacher commitments consist of commitment to the school, pupils, career, and decision making. A total of 80 respondents were involved in this study. This study was conducted using survey method with questionnaire as the research instrument. The findings were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software with t-Test statistic, Pearson Correlation and Regression. The results from the data analysis found that the score for the teacher commitment level and the effective teaching were high. Pearson Correlation test had shown that there was a weak correlation between teacher commitment to school and effective teaching at r = 0.304, p < 0.05. The Linear Regression test found that the teacher commitment to the school was the main factor that contributes to the effective teaching. The demographic aspects of gender were not significantly different from the teacher commitment and the effective teaching practices. This study emphasized further research to determine the factors that influence the commitment of teachers, the effectiveness of teaching practices and the appropriate methods to improve both aspects.

Religious and Moral Education Textbooks in Upper Primary Schools in Botswana – A Question of Relevance

Concerns have been raised about the quality of religious and moral education textbooks used in upper primary school classes in Botswana. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to assess the appropriateness of these textbooks. The study adopted a qualitative methodology approach, using interviews and also reviewing some documents. Data collected from the study suggest that the content of the prescribed religious and moral education textbooks in the upper primary school curriculum does not address the prescribed syllabus objectives, hence affects the teachers’ classroom practices and consequently students’ learning and performance. Based on these findings, the study, therefore, recommends the involvement of teachers in the selection of the prescribed textbooks for religious and moral education in upper primary schools classes.

Anxiety during COVID-19 Pandemic among Students of University of Shkoder, Albania

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the extent of anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic on university students of Shkoder. Another purpose is to find out the relationship between anxiety symptoms with some demographical variables such as gender, age, level of study, field of study and having been infected or not by coronavirus. Data was collected using the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), administered online to assess the anxiety level. The sample consists of 175 university students from different Faculties of the University of Shkoder. The results showed that the prevalence rate of heavy anxiety during the pandemic is about 10.3%. T-test indicated that female students are more prone to experience anxiety during the pandemic than male ones. Anova analysis indicated that midwifery students show the highest level of anxiety compared to other fields of studies. But anxiety was not associated with age, level of study or having been infected by coronavirus. These findings are important in detecting the psychological consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in different societies.

Senior High School Students’ Character Traits, Word Problem Analysis Skills and Academic Achievement in Mathematics

This study was conducted with the purpose of finding out whether the character traits significantly influenced the problem solving analysis skills and academic achievement in mathematics of Senior High School students. It was a descriptive – survey and correlational study which involved 75 students, total enumeration was utilized. Questionnaires were availed to gather the data needed. Frequency count, percentage, weighted mean and chi-square (x2) were employed to arrive at precise and valid results. The findings of the study revealed that character traits of students were varied, however, majority were satisfactory. They practiced acceptable and healthy behaviours in relating with others. Majority of the pupils were above average in their level of problem analysis skills in involving problems in mathematics. Most of them had achieved an academic achievement of satisfactory. They had mastered the skills as per required of them to learn in Mathematics. It was found out that character traits significantly influenced the problem solving analysis skills and academic achievement in mathematics.