An investigation of teachers' perception and their classroom practices in teaching listening comprehension: the case of Mettu, Abdi Bori and Alge Secondary Schools grade 10 in focus

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of teaching listening skill in relation to the current practice and perception of grade 10 English Language teachers. Three secondary schools in Ilu Aba Bor Zone namely Mettu, Abdi Bori and Alge secondary schools were involved in the study. To achieve this objective a descriptive survey research design was employed using available and random sampling techniques. 9 grade 10 English Language teachers and 316 students respectively were drawn as a sample from 1581 grade 9 students. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the targeted schools. The required data for the study were collected using content analysis, questionnaires and class observation. From 12 units incorporated in the text, the listening section included in 6(50%) of the course book were analyzed using the check list (Appendix A). The questionnaire completed by the respondents cross checked through the observation result conducted on 5 teachers were observed four times each to see how they actually conduct the listening lesson in the class. In the analyzing the data descriptive statistics were used. The analysis revealed that the current practice of the teacher contradict with the pedagogical procedures suggested for teaching listening skill in the teachers guide and another ELT literature. Though teachers claimed that they have been using the text and give appropriate feedback, the students' response and observation result indicate a great gap between what the teachers said and their actual practice. Lack of essential equipment to present listening lesson, motivation and commitment on the part of the teachers appeared to be major cause for the teachers' failure to execute the suggested teaching procedure and activities for teaching listening lesson. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations are forwarded to alleviate the problems in the school under the study.Jimma Universit

Bacteria and bacterial DNA in atherosclerotic plaque and aneurysmal wall biopsies from patients with and without periodontitis

Background: Several studies have reported an association between chronic periodontitis (CP) and cardiovascular diseases. Detection of periodontopathogens, including red complex bacteria (RCB), in vascular lesions has suggested these bacteria to be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Objective: In this study, we investigate bacteria and their DNA in vascular biopsies from patients with vascular diseases (VD; i.e. abdominal aortic aneurysms, atherosclerotic carotid, and common femoral arteries), with and without CP. Methods: DNA was extracted from vascular biopsies selected from 40 VD patients: 30 with CP and 10 without CP. The V3-V5 region of the 16S rDNA (V3-V5) was polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified, and the amplicons were cloned into Escherichia coli, sequenced, and classified (GenBank and the Human Oral Microbiome database). Species-specific primers were used for the detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis. In addition, 10 randomly selected vascular biopsies from the CP group were subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for visualization of bacteria. Checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization was performed to assess the presence of RCB in 10 randomly selected subgingival plaque samples from CP patients. Results: A higher load and mean diversity of bacteria were detected in vascular biopsies from VD patients with CP compared to those without CP. Enterobacteriaceae were frequently detected in vascular biopsies together with cultivable, commensal oral, and not-yet-cultured bacterial species. While 70% of the subgingival plaque samples from CP patients showed presence of RCB, only P. gingivalis was detected in one vascular biopsy. Bacterial cells were seen in all 10 vascular biopsies examined by SEM. Conclusions: A higher bacterial load and more diverse colonization were detected in VD lesions of CP patients as compared to patients without CP. This indicated that a multitude of bacterial species both from the gut and the oral cavity, rather than exclusively periodontopathogens, may be involved as additional risk factors in the pathogenesis of VD

An investigation of higher education student's entrepreneurial intention in Ethiopian universities: technology and business fields in focus

Purpose: purpose of this study aims at seeking to identify whether entrepreneurial intentions exist among university students. Methodology: Survey research method was employed involving total of 210 students from four public universities found in the Ethiopia. Sample of respondents from selected Universities were drawn by using systematic sampling techniques. The study used both primary and secondary data. Pertaining to data analysis both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques mainly descriptive analysis using percentages, tables and graphs were employed. From inferential statistics multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify which variables are significant for the model. Regression analysis was used to explain the effect of independent variables on a dependent variable. Additionally mean scores and standard deviations were calculated to identify the most importantfactors that determines students Entrepreneurial intentions in the selected Universities Findings: the study proposes jive factors contributing to the development entrepreneurial intention in selected universities. Accordingly subjective norms, perceived self efficacy, university environment, perceived educational support and students attitude toward entrepreneurship were significant determinants for entrepreneurial intention in selected public universities. Practical implications: thefinding specifically imply that the universities are advised to give attention to the impact of social influences, identify the way to enhance students confidence toperform entrepreneurial roles and tasks, allow university stakeholder participations such as Supervisor and Lecturer to guides students well and encouraged students to pursue their own ideas. Finally, Ethiopian ministry of education is expected look at university environment to create environment which can boost entrepreneurial intention of the students. viiiJimma Universit

Mitigating the digital divide in the South African higher education system in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic

Access to higher education has been one of the critical areas of concern in South Africa, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Corona-virus (Covid-19) pandemic has brought the systemic cleavages into sharp relief, with ‘access’ and subsequent ‘success’ emerging as an important variable. Availability of digital facilities and internet connectivity have been important factors in enabling participation in higher education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The advent of the pandemic has, however, brought a new context to the challenges of higher education access, deepening the precarious position of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thus, online teaching and learning intensified the digital divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, exacerbating the already existing inequalities in the South African higher education system. The paper reflects on the question of how digital divide and access to learning infrastructure exacerbated inequality among students during the Covid-19 pandemic in South African higher education. This question is particularly important, given the rapid digitalisation of the curriculum that many South African institutions are still struggling to align with. This paper aims to interrogate the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on South African higher education, highlighting the challenges of the digital divide and access to learning infrastructure using a social justice approach. The article draws on the work of Fraser (1999), which refers to the idea of social justice as distributional justice, re-allocating resources accessed solely by the privileged to the historically disadvantaged. It also aims to understand how the typology of inequality across the differentiated institutions affected the delivery of education during Covid-19. This is a qualitative research based on both secondary and primary data exploring official documents, statistics and published materials. The article argues towards a comprehensive and inclusive digital learning strategies with substantial coordination both from government and non-government stakeholders. It recommends that digital pedagogy and online platforms of learning should become an integral element of South African higher education services to ensure the continuity of education; this is necessary to avoid similar difficulties if crises that restrict physical movement occur in the future

On Cloud-based multisource Reliable Multicast Transport in Broadband Multimedia Satellite Networks

Multimedia synchronization, Software Over the Air, Personal Information Management on Cloud networks require new reliable protocols, which reduce the traffic load in the core and edge network. This work shows via simulations the performance of an efficient multicast file delivery, which advantage of the distributed file storage in Cloud computing. The performance evaluation focuses on the case of a personal satellite equipment with error prone channels

Effect of Knowledge Management on Organizational Performance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Case Study in Ethiopian Agricultural Trans-Formation Agency (Ata)

Knowledge management and knowledge resources have gained much importance in recent years and are said to improve organizational performance. However, the effects of knowledge management practices on organizational performance are not well known especially in the case of public organizations. This research had examined the effects of knowledge management practices on organizational performance at Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency. The study adopted explanatory research. Questionnaires were adopted on the basis of literature review. The questionnaires were also used to collect data from members of staff; respondents were selected through a random sampling method with sample size of 140 respondents. The completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency, checked for errors and analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPPS 20) frequencies, percentages and multiple correlations for quantitative analysis. The study recommends Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency should ensure a formalized way of acquiring knowledge from its employee and implement knowledge sharing practices that enable the employees to learn from each other. Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency should also revise Organizational structure in accordance with the knowledge management element to enhance the effect of organizational performance and use advanced technologies to enhance its knowledge management practice

Sex/Gender Differences in Serial Position Profiles in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Controls

Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects more women, but paradoxically, men have a higher incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Researchers have suggested that women’s verbal memory advantage across the lifespan reflects better premorbid skills, which then require more neurodegeneration to manifest early clinical impairment. To date, measurement of sex differences in verbal memory have used total list scores. We proposed that a granular examination of serial position effects (SPE) in list-learning can refine the source of sex/gender differences. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of participants with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Healthy Controls (HC) was examined from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative–1 dataset. We first determined whether there were robust sex/gender differences in serial position profiles (Aim 1). Second, we examined whether there were significant neuroanatomical correlates to these sex-specific SPE profiles, particularly focused on hippocampal integrity and prefrontal integrity (Aim 2). Multiple linear regression analyses were stratified by diagnosis (HC and MCI) and conducted for each brain region (prefrontal brain integrity and hippocampal integrity) to determine Sex/gender by brain region interactions at each SPE position (Primacy, Middle, Recency) and Time Point (Learning, Short Delay, Long Delay). All analyses covaried for Age, Education, and APOE-ε4 carrier status. Results: Sex/gender differences in learning and recall were localized to better recall of Middle and Recency items in HC women, and better recall of Primacy and Middle items in women with MCI. Interestingly, for these serial positions, Sex/gender did not significantly interact with hippocampal integrity across HCs and patients with MCI. Rather, women with MCI demonstrated a significant association of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume ratio with Middle item recall, such that with more volume, women performed better at this position across all Time Points. Conclusion: Our findings support our hypothesis that the sex-specific verbal memory advantage for women manifests for Primacy and Middle items, possibly through engagement of deep semantic processing. Furthermore, at early stages of cognitive decline (MCI), women demonstrate a reliance on brain regions other than hippocampus, possibly reflecting an alternate organization of verbal information, and thus a different list learning strategy