Households Waste Management Practices and Associated Factors in Tain District, Ghana

Objective: Rapid population growth has increased tons of waste generated daily in the various Ghanaian districts. A total of 9,331kg of household waste is generated daily in the Tain District, but managing it becomes a challenge. The aim of the study was to investigate households’ waste management practice in the Tain District of Ghana. Method: A concurrent mixed method design was used to select four major communities in the Tain District for the study. A sampled of 1,037 female household heads were selected by convenient sampling for the qualitative and quantitative data collection. A questionnaire, participant and community observation were used to collect the data. Frequencies, percentages, logistic regression and observational interpretations were applied in analysing the data. Results: Many gutters at homes were clogged, bushy environment and littering of home, and that, there were limited waste bins and containers available, and waste dumpsites were near community gathering places. Furthermore, the main household generated wastes included food scraps (41%), but majority of the participants use public dumpsite (76.37%) for waste disposal. Meanwhile, 825(8%) of the households have high level of knowledge on the health effects of indiscriminate waste disposal. Conclusions: It is necessary to demarcate dumpsites away from community gathering places. The crude dumping places cannot contain the increase in waste production, which results in indiscriminate dumping of waste. Proper measures including regulations and standards are expected to be implemented for a more effective and efficient integrated waste management system in the district.

Leveraging Technology in Doctoral Supervision: A Complementary Approach in Kenya’s Institutions of Higher Learning

This paper examines previous empirical studies on adoption of emerging technologies in supervising doctoral students. The conceptual framework highlights the relationship between technology use and enhancing quality of supervision process, borrowing greatly from the theory of change methodology. It highlights the challenges and benefits analysis on the use of technology. The aim of this paper is to examine the efficacies of integration of the technology into the supervision process. As a result, it will provide students, supervisors, colleges of graduate boards, training institutions of higher learning, and regulatory bodies with a framework of incorporating the use of technology, based on needs assessment of respective doctoral supervision process.

Brief History of Ethics in the Presence of a Pandemic

The current COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong effect on individual liberty versus a consequentialist ideal of the greater good for societal norms. Rather than arguing for the current situation, I have chosen to take a historical approach to address the ethics of dealing with these health situations in the past. Ultimately, I conclude that, while at risk of individual liberty, a rule utilitarian approach, as backed up by epidemiolocal data suggests that a mandate for the greater good is more ethical than a simple approach to individual liberty.

Formal and Non-formal Skills Improvement for the Marginalised Youth in Uganda

The aim of the article was to explore ways in which formal and non-formal skills development programmes can be improved for education continuity and employability of marginalised youth. This is attributed to the fact that coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with its related lockdowns is causing not only unprecedented disruption in the provision of skills, but also catalysed innovation in distance learning. A qualitative case study with some elements of action research, systematic inquiry and non-participant classroom observation with capability and empowerment theories supported the inquiries. Thematic analysis was used. Results reveal that while access to skills development was maintained in some spaces through a rapid shift to distance learning, the pre-existing social and digital divides deprived marginalized groups of continued learning and putting them behind schedule. Many institutions and learners lack operational distance-learning platforms, digital skills and devices. Save for the few exceptions, distance learning policies by the government have not yet been able to facilitate the acquisition of practical skills, which are critical components for the success of education and employability. Evidence points not only to pedagogical dimensions with educator’s incompetence to provide a supportive environment, but also to designing structured educational resources versus the abundance of online resources, disruptions to assessment and certification, and a general decline in the quality of practical training causing demotivation among learners and educators. The general increased economic hardship has also increased the likelihood of marginalised youth dropping out of education. The study recommends a robust shift on how skills are delivered-shift to digital literacy and adoption to technology, forge national and regional public private partnerships to increase the availability of accessible distance learning solutions, allocate more financial resources, develop new training programmes by marrying curricula to real life working situations, assess and certify online for educational continuity and employability.

Deductive Models of Policy Implementation and their Impact on Policy Outcome: A Critical Assessment

Deductive models of policy implementation emerged as a response to the inability of inductive approaches to provide nuanced theories of policy implementation and performance. They are said to be parsimonious and precise in studying complex social interactions. Hence, over the last decade or so, there has been ascending interest in the use of deductive approaches to get deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which policy implementation is more likely to succeed. However, giving the fact that numerous programs and policies continue to fail despite being replicated from the best deductive models, one is entitled to wonder: what is the true value of these models? And how effective are they in translating the intentions of policymakers into desired policy outcomes? The present contribution seeks to provide answers to these questions by first, discussing some hands-on deductive models of policy implementation and second, analyzing the potential of each model, their strengths, their weaknesses, and appropriate contexts for use. To reach these aims, the study utilized the Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) to gauge the assumptions of each of the following models: the Rational, Management, Organizational Development, Political, and Bureaucratic Process. The results have shown that, although deductive models of policy implementation (or at least, the models here-in discussed) seem to offer tangible promises to deliver more accurate and nuanced explanations of policy action, they fall short to combine the three criteria of Motivation, Information, and Power, necessary for any candidate model of policy implementation to be deemed effective. The results have also shown that an integrated model, one that combines the strengths of all the above cited models, but none of their weaknesses, could be a credible offer of a successful theory of policy implementation.

Control Yourself! Examining the Dimensions of Eudaimonic Psychological Well-Being as Related to Locus of Control Using Structural Equation Modeling

Current literature on the relationship between locus of control (LOC) and psychological well-being (PWB) consistently demonstrates that individuals with an internal LOC generally report experiencing greater psychological well-being than externally-oriented individuals. However, there is minimal depth of understanding regarding the specific dynamics of this well-established relationship. The aims of the present quantitative study were (a) to replicate and provide support for the existing knowledge on the relationship between these two factors and (b) to use a structural equation model (SEM) to further explore the relationship between LOC and the six dimensions in Ryff’s model of eudaimonic PWB, which are combined to assess one’s psychological welfare. Using cross-sectional survey methodology, 267 adult participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling to anonymously complete a series of questionnaires online. A Pearson r bivariate correlation analysis examining the relationship between PWB and LOC revealed a significant negative correlation between the two constructs (r = -.280, p = .001). This finding replicates previous research, where individuals with an internal LOC reported experiencing significantly greater PWB, while individuals with an external LOC reported significantly less PWB. In order to further examine how the six factors of PWB (self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) relate to LOC, a SEM was performed. Although all six dimensions of PWB show significant negative correlations with LOC, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, and purpose in life were the most impactful on the relationship between these two constructs, as they were shown to have higher significance in the SEM. Considering the SEM suggests that environmental mastery, self-acceptance, and purpose in life are the most weighted factors of PWB’s correlation to LOC, possible interventions on these factors in a clinical or applied setting may see improvement in the relationship between PWB and LOC.

Readiness of Human Capital in Implementation of E-Marking of National Examinations in Malawi

The aim of this study was to investigate readiness of the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) examiners’ in e-marking of national examinations and general use of technology with focus on their computer proficiency and perception. The study followed an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design and data was collected from sampled examiners through a questionnaire, a focus group discussion (FGD) and a computer proficiency assessment test. The findings show that over 90% of the participants had moderate to very high computer proficiency levels. The findings also show that both age and gender did not have any effect on the technology readiness index (TRI) of Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examiners but on Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examiners. The findings also indicate no effect of the examiners’ years of marking experience on their TRI. The distribution of examiners across TRI segments shows that the number of examiners increases with the increasing order of adoption propensity. In line with this, most examiners showed positive perception of e-marking of national examinations as well as moderate to very high computer proficiency level.

The Effect of Work-Related Attitudes on Turnover Intention in Public Higher Education Institution: The Case of Arba Minch University, Ethiopia

For any organization, the most important challenge is to retain a talented workforce. In order to retain a talented workforce, it is very important to identify factors that affect the intention of employees to leave. Thus, this study examines the effect of work-related attitudes on turnover intention in terms of academic staff context. 334 academic staff were selected as a sample using a stratified random sampling technique. The study was an explanatory design and the required data was collected through adopted questionnaires from prior studies. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. To do so the statistical packaging for social science (SPSS) version 20 was utilized. The descriptive result indicates that the participant’s level of work-related attitudes was low whereas their level of turnover intention was high. Moreover, the results obtained through T-test and ANOVA showed that there were significant differences in the level of turnover intention based on selected demographics and thus have a varying effect on turnover intention. According to the multiple regression results, the best predictor of turnover intention was affective commitment and the insignificant predictor was continuance commitment.

When Income Declines and Morbidity Rises: An Inquiry into Consumption Smoothing in the Transition to Retirement in China

China still relies on out-of-pocket (OOP) medical spending, having a high prevalence of catastrophic payments with large poverty impacts for individuals. Taking age-associated morbidity into account, people of an advanced age encounter health-related income shocks more often than younger cohorts. Exploiting the Harmonized China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), I use a fixed effects regression model to investigate whether pensions and health insurance allow for consumption smoothing in the presence of health shocks. I provide suggestive evidence that pensions slightly decrease non-food consumption when health shocks occur. Moreover, health insurance does not seem to completely substitute costly smoothing mechanisms. I record an ongoing trend of increasing OOP spending on hospitalization, with health insurance reducing these by 19 percent. Financial transfers from family members remain an important unofficial insurance channel for households to cope with health shocks.

Social Media Use During Social Gathering Among Youth: A Study on Moghbazar Area of Dhaka City

The rise of social media and continuous technological advances have had a significant impact on how people communicate. Social media sites include social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and any website that allows social interaction. Many studies have been conducted on the impact of social media, but this study is specifically based on the impact of social media on social gatherings in Dhaka. The primary objective of this study is to examine how the virtual world reshapes the way of social gathering. In this study, an online survey was administered to find out the level of engagement of social media during a social gathering. The researcher collected a total of 120 respondents using the purposive sampling method. Findings suggest that social media intensely affects social gatherings. Despite respondents' awareness of the decrease of face-to-face communication as a result of social media, more than 74 percent of respondents continue to use social media during a social gathering. Use of social media sites found to be harnessing the quality of conversation. While technology facilitates instant communication, it also harms regular interaction.