Towards the acquisition of digital instructional resources for effective teaching in the 21st century classroom in Public Secondary Schools in Cross River State

ABSTARCT The study was on the influence of acquisition of digital instructional resources on the teaching effectiveness of mathematics teachers in public senior secondary schools in Cross River State. To achieve this, a hypothesis was drawn from the stated research question to guide the study. Literature review was carried out according to the variable in the study and the survey design was used for the study. Two sets of structured questionnaires, titled; ‘Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire’ (TEQ) and ‘Digital Instructional Resource Evaluation Test Questionnaire’ (DIRCETQ) were designed by the researcher. Data were analysed using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistic. The hypothesis was tested at .05 levels of significance. The results of the findings was that acquisition of digital instruction resources has no significant influence on mathematics teachers’ effectiveness in public senior secondary schools in Cross River State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things that basic training on the needed skills and knowledge on how best they can deploy and utilize these resources in the classroo

Government Expenditure Management and Control within the Framework of Ethiopian Economy

This paper examined the pattern, growth, impact, management and control ofgovernment expenditure within the framework of the Ethiopian Economy.This was done with the view that policy options towards effective andefficient management of the government lean resources will be proffered as.This will help in ensuring good governance, grass root development,reduction of absolute poverty, employment generation, equitable distributionof the available scare resources towards providing for the basic human needand improving the standard of living for the teaming population of Ethiopia.The paper found that government expenditure are higher than the revenueand as a result, the study recommends adoption of the 'Golden Rule' ingovernment expenditure management and control. Government expenditureshould be directed towards meeting the needs of people and the community.Issues of quality, transparency, accountability and capacity building shouldbe entrenched in public expenditures. These measures will ensure fiscaldiscipline in management of scarce resources and promotion of sustainabledevelopment

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION FOR SPORTS DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE

Sport is one of the factors which bring people together or rivals establish contacts between themselves and stay together relishing various opportunities offered by sports. Human relations are organic characteristic feature of sport to such an extent that it seems queer if someone practices sports alone. Imagine what would be left of sports if it were deprived of the characteristic of community and friendship. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is the adoption of French language into sports for communication to facilitate the area of cooperation among sports men and women for sportsdevelopment since sports is a vehicle for unity and Nation building. In order to achieve this, all barriers which are lingering in sports development should be removed. This paper advocates that the Anglophone sports men and women should learn French language as their francophone counterparts regional and global sports development. In addition, the article focuses on effective communication and its relevance in sports development in a rapid changing word, where increased globalization and competition is the order of the day. The methodological approach employed in this article is descriptive. The findings are that French language as a means of communication will be very useful in sports. One of the ingredientstaking sports to greater height is the use of a common language, because it brings about friendship, unity, publicity and commercialization which is what sports is all about instead of coaches, athletes and administrators depending on interpreters

‘Everything is Plastic’:The Faith of Unity Movement and theMaking of a Post-Catholic Religion in Uganda

One of David Chidester’slong-term fascinations in the academic study of religion is his nuanced scrutiny of the sensorial features of contemporary religious life. Chidester uses an approach of multi-sensorial imagination of matter to investigate the plasticity and elasticity of religion to innovate and accommodate changing religious and spiritual desires and how such adaptions ensure the popularity of religious participation in a contemporary, technology-saturated society. Based on an ethnographic investigation of a new religiousmovement in Uganda, this essay mobilizes some of the analytical concepts developed by Chidester to think through the material dynamics of African religious life in the context of changing socio-economic, cultural,and political contexts of Africa

Moral Economy: The Afterlife of a Nebulous Concept

Since the re-purposing of the concept of the moral economy by the British historian, E.P. Thompson in the late 1960s, scholars from a variety of disciplines in social sciences and humanities have attempted to apply it as a tool for empirical analysis. As a migratory concept, the meaning of ‘moral economy’ has shifted from theology to philosophy to anthropology and history. Scholars of religions and historians of religion, however, have shown a reluctance in deploying the concept in their field of study. A flexible and vintage concept such as the moral economy may seem to be an oxymoron when applied to the study of religion and religious reforms. Its utility, however, is demonstrated by a collection of four critical articles in this special issue of this journal to explore wide-ranging empirical materials and contexts. These include the contemporary analysis of religious morality and regulation in Northern Nigeria, the entanglements of Muslim-owned restaurants and Islam-ic morality in Mumbai (India), Zulu ethnic nationality and morality in the Nazareth Baptist Church in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), and finally, the pre-modern theoretical and philosophical reflections of the 14th-century Tunisian Muslim philosopher, Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun. In these diverse scenarios and contexts, the moral economy concept illustrates its theoretical and analytical capacity and potential in the field of the study of religions

Growth and Characterization of Chromium Doped Indium Oxide Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors

Recently, enormous research efforts have been directed at diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) critical for realization for multi-functional spintronic devices. However, the origin of electronic and magnetic properties in DMS is not well understood. This study is aimed to better understand the structural, optical, magnetic, and magneto-transport property relationships of Cr-doped In2O3 (In2O3:Cr) DMS grown under different partial oxygen pressures on sapphire substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The thin films were characterized using various state-of-the-art techniques such as x-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-VIS spectroscopy, magnetotransport, and SQUID magnetometer. Expansions in lattice parameter (10.10 Å to 10.34 Å) and crystal size (13.9 nm to 35.5 nm) in these films with an increase in oxygen growth pressure as observed from XRD analysis are traceable to the reduction in oxygen vacancies (OVA). Optical analysis showed a redshift in absorption edges of the samples from 3.93 eV to 3.76 eV with an increase in oxygen growth pressure, which is attributed to the significant improvement in crystallinity. Magnetotransport results revealed that films grown at low oxygen pressures (high OVA) exhibited semiconductor-to-metallic transitions while film growth at high oxygen pressure (low OVA) showed typical semiconductor behavior. The films exhibited paramagnetism/antiferromagnetism as observed from magnetization data collected using a SQUID magnetometer. The observed magnetic behavior is possibly due to Cr clustering. This investigation reveals the important role of oxygen vacancies in the structural and electro-magneto-optical properties of In2O3:Cr DMS. Understanding of DMS is critical for the realization of spintronic devices such as spin field effect transistors

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Gradual Withdrawal of Subsidy on Domestic Consumption of Premium Motor Spirit in Nigeria: 1977-1999

The oil industry is the main backbone of the Nigeria economy. Oil one of the most valuable, versatile and flexible non reproductive, depleting natural resources is Nigeria's major source of foreign exchange earning constituting about 97% of Nigeria's foreign exchange earning since the 80's and just above 20%-25% total GDP in the 80's and 70% of budgetary revenue. Oil has remained the engine of growth of the Nigerian economy. Over the years the price of petroleum products has been subsidized. However, with effect from September 1986, government decided to gradually withdraw the subsidy on petroleum product. This has fueled the increase in the general price level. The study hypothesized that the withdrawal of subsidy or increase in the price of Premium motor spirit (P.M.S) has no significant effect on the domestic consumption of the commodity P.M.S was found out to be inelastic in demand. Consequently increase in its price has no effect on domestic consumption demand and impact negatively on consumers. Therefore, the Nigerian economy base should be diversified rather than depending solely on the oil sector for sustaining development of the economy. African Research Review Vol. 1 (2) 2007: pp. 98-11

Mechanisms for Enhancing Teachers’ Effectiveness in the Implementation of Agricultural Science Programme in Secondary Schools in Afikpo Education Zone of Ebonyi State

Poor performance of students in agricultural science at the internal and external examinations has been attributed to ineffectiveness of the agricultural science teachers at the secondary schools in Afikpo education zone of Ebonyi State, therefore, this research determined the mechanisms for enhancing the teachers’ effectiveness in the implementation of secondary school agricultural science programme. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was 117 and there was no sampling, rather the whole population was studied. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The instrument had 4 points modified likert scale. The instrument was validated by using Cronbach alpha which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.96. Data were collected by the researcher administering the questionnaire to the respondents. Data analyzes involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. Based on the analysis of the data, it was revealed among others that provision of incentives, regular training and retraining of the teachers enhance the effectiveness of the teachers in the implementation of the secondary school agricultural science programme. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that the Ebonyi State Ministry of education in collaboration with the school principals should try to provide incentives to the teachers and organize conferences, seminars and workshops to update the teachers’ knowledge. Keywords:  Mechanism; teachers effectiveness; implementation; agricultural science programm