Month: July 2022

Jul 31

PROJECT TOPICS AND RESEARCH PAPERS IN GHANA

Researchers in their last year of undergraduate study and those working on their theses, you have arrived at the right place. You have found the best website in Ghana for research projects and theses. If you are looking for well-researched school project topics and research papers, online project topic ideas, then you have come to the right place. Our repository has over 20,000 interesting research project topics that can be used for academic research in Ghana, as well as finished academic research papers.

PROJECT TOPICS AND RESEARCH PAPERS IN GHANA

  • A Study Into The Challenges Of Income Taxation In Ghana: A Case Study Of Internal Revenue Service- Eastern Regional Office
  • Examine The Effects Of Covid19 On Budget Implementation Of Medium Scale Business In Tamale
  • The Role Of Improved Port Infrastructure For Effective Cargo Delivery, (A Case Of Port Of Tema)
  • Business Management Student In Ghana Higher Institution
  • Employee Relations Practices And Its Effect On The Productivity Of South Akim Rural Bank (A Case Study Of South Akim Rural Bank, Koforidua)
  • A Study Into Budgets, Budgetary Controls And Its Link To The Performance Of An Organization (A Case Study Of Merchant Bank: Koforidua Branch)
  • The Role Of Ratio Analysis In Business Decisions In Ghana
  • Challenges To The Implementation Of The Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) At State Owned Enterprises (A Case Study Of Ghana Ports And Harbours Authority)
  • Budgeting And Budgetary Control In Business Organisation In Ghana
  • The Effect Of Pricing Policies On A Firms Profit (A Case Study Of Some Ghanian Firms)
  • An Appraisal Of Accounting System In The Public Sector (A Case Study Of Federal Inland Revenue Service Of Ghana)
  • The Impact Of Public Accountant In The Implementation Of Accountability,Probity And Transparency In The Federal Civil Services Of Ghana
  • Taxation And Its Effect On The Ghanaian Economy
  • The Role Of Internal Control Measures In The Prevention Of Fraud And Operational Errors In Ghanian Firms
  • Assessing The Role Of Accounting Concepts And Coventions In The Preparation Of Financial Statements
  • The Impact Of Internal Control System On Revenue Generation In Ghana
  • The Design And Plan Of A University Administration Block
  • The Design And Plan Of A Church Auditorium
  • The Design And Plan Of Catholic Parish
  • A Study Into The Prospects And Problems Of Effective Utilization Of Management By Objectives In Companies In Ghana.
  • Impact Of Ban On Wheat Importation On Bakeries And The Strategies Adopted By Them To Survive In Ghana
  • The Impact Of Industrial Disputes On Employee Performance In Ghana
  • Corporate Social Responsibility In Ghana’s Telecommunication Sector
  • Investigation Of Ghanaian Government Industrial Policy On Small Business Development (2004-2009)
  • The Effect Of Management Of Economic Incentives On Workers Behaviour In Ghana
  • The Role Of Corporate Ghanian Citizens In National Development
  • Road Transportation Management And Customers Satisfaction In Ghana
  • Multi National Companies And Their Social Responsibilities In Their Host Communities In Ghana
  • Influence Of Informal Groups On Productivity In Ghana
  • An Evaluation Of The Effect Of Manpower Training And Development In Service Organisations In Ghana
  • Chemical/Mineral Compositions Of Water Extracts Of Hibiscus Sabdariffa
  • Examine The Root Causes Of Worker Negative Attitude At Work, Especially In Relation To Motivation In Ghana

 

Jul 30

PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPACT OF SICKLE CELL MANAGEMENT ON CAREGIVERS IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) also known as Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) and Drepanocytosis is a hereditary blood disorder, characterized by an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin molecule in red blood cells. This leads to a propensity for the cells to assume an abnormal rigid, sickle-like shape under certain circumstances. Sickle cell disease occurs when a person inherits two abnormal copies of the haemoglobin gene, one from each parent. Seceral subtypes exist, depending on the exact mutation in each haemoglobin gene. Sickle cell is associated with a number of acute and chronic health problems, such as severe infraction, attacks of severe pain (Sickle Cell crisis) and stroke, and there is an increased risk of death. (Global Burden of Disease Study, 2013; Yawn et al, 2014).

According to National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI, 2013), Sickle Cell Anaemia is a blood disorder that causes abnormally shaped red blood cells. Normal blood cells are disk- shaped with an indentation in the centre, and they move smoothly through the blood vessels.

 

But with sickle anaemia, the body produces red blood cells that are shaped like a sickle, or crescent. These cells don’t move through the blood stream as easily and they tend to stick and clump together and cause other health complication. Sickle cell anaemia is just one of many forms of sickle cell disease. It is a condition that is passed along from parents to their children. This disease is more common in people of certain ethnicities, including blacks and Hospanics. In the same vein, Clinical Research on Sickle Cell Disease (CRSCD, 2014) stated that sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder which is caused by a mutation in the haemoglobin-beta gene found on chromosome II. Haemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. Red blood cells with normal haemoglobin (hemoglobin A) are smooth and round and glide through blood vessels. In people with sickle cell disease, abnormal haemoglobin molecules – haemoglobin S – stick to one another and form long, rod-like structures. These structures caused red blood cell to become stiff, assuming a sickle-shape. Their shape causes these red blood cells to pile up, causing blockages and damaging vital organs and tissue.

Also, Welkom (2012) and Yanni et al., (2009), viewed Sickle Cell Disease as one of the most common childhood onset, single – gene disorders, affecting primarily people of African descent. The sickle cell gene causes an abnormality in the iron-rich protein haemoglobin that is responsible for carrying oxygen through the blood and giving blood its red colour. The abnormal haemoglobin causes cells to become “Sickle Shaped” resulting in irregular blood flow (National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI), 2010). The red blood cell can stick and block the flow of blood to the limbs and organs resulting in pain, organ damage and a low blood count. For one to inherit the disease, two copies of the sickle cell gene (i.e. one from each parent) must be transmitted to the offspring. Thus, children whose parents each carry the trait will have a 25% chance of inheriting the disease. In other words, Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) include a variety of pathological conditions resulting from the inheritance of the sickle haemoglobin (HBs) gene either homozygously or as a compound heterozygote with other interacting abnormal haemoglobin gene. The disease is clinically one of the most important haemoglobin opaties (Monika, 2008).

The most important protein of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) is haemoglobin which consists of four globin chains, each folded around a haem molecule. Haemoglobin delivers oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. The predominant haemoglobin in adulthood is HB A which consists of two Alpha and two Beta globin chains. Other haemoglobins are HbA2 and HbF. During itner-uterine development, several globin chains are synthesized with the predominant haemoglobin type during foetal life being Hb F in the first twelve (12) weeks after birth, the Hb F quickly declines, leaving HbA and Hb 2A as the remaining haemoglobins. The Beta globin gene is found in chromosome II.

A single point mutation in the 6th codon leads to substitution of glutamic acid for valine, resulting in an abnormal globin β s. this result in the formation of sickle haemoglobin or (Hbs). In Haemoglobin c (Hbc) the same codon is changed by the insertion of lysine. In Hb D, there is a replacement of glutamine for glutamic acid at position B 121, and in Hb0 the same codon is changed by the insertion of lysine. These haemoglobin, codon inherited with Hbs, result is clinically significant SCD. Sickle cell disease also results from the inheritance of Hbs with genes from β thalassanimias. The latter result from a wide variety of DNA mutation – that have in common a reduced synthesis of globin chains. The more severe syndrome called Sickle Cell

– β O thalassaemia with no HbA, less severe β thalassaemia mutations result in reduced but variable levels of B-chain synthesis and hence levels of HBA. The most common genotype is

 

homozygous SS disease. S Hemoglobin C (Sc) disease, SB+thalassaemia and SBO thalassaemia are also relatively common.

Furthermore, John (2009), also claimed that sickle cell disease is a serious disease in which the body makes sickle shaped red blood cells “Sickle-Shaped” means that the cells look like crescents instead of the normal disc shape. Under a microscope, normal red blood cells look like dough nuts without holes in the centre. They move easily through blood vessels. Red blood cells contain the iron-rich protein haemoglobin. This gives blood its red colour and carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Sickle cells contain abnormal haemoglobin that causes the cells to become sticky and crescent shaped. When the haemoglobin release its oxygen. The stiff, sickle-shaped cells can stick to the lining of the blood vessels. This can damage the lining, creating a “danger” signal that attracts defensive cells. This response may enhance the “stickiness” and lead to more slowing of normal blood flow through the vessel. This reduces oxygen delivery to the tissue supplied by this part blocked vessel. People with sickle cell disease have a lower than normal number of red blood cells because sickle cells don’t live as long as normal cells after they leave the bone marrow.

Sickle cell usually die after about 10 to 20 days, compared to normal red blood cells, which live an average of 120 days. The bone marrow can’t make new red blood cells fast enough to replace all the dying ones. So this causes anaemia, low blood count that result in fatigue, shortness of breath and related symptoms. Because the cells are made normally, but die too rapidly, this is termed a “haemolytic” (destruction of red cells) anaemia.

Jul 29

Problems of pregnancy and abortion on girl child education in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

In humans, the process of gestation is most commonly referred to as pregnancy. It is the process by which one or more offspring, also known as an embryo or fetus, develops inside of a woman’s uterus (Wikipedia 2009). In humans, pregnancy typically lasts for somewhere between nine and nine and a half months. In the first eight weeks after conception, the embryo is responsible for the development of the progeny; from this point on, the term fetus will be used to refer to the developing child. As a way to make reference to the various stages of pre-natal development in a more straightforward manner, the medical and legal definitions of human pregnancy in many nations are arbitrarily divided into three trimester periods that last for a total of three months each. The chance of a spontaneous abortion is highest during the first three months of pregnancy (natural death of embryo or fetus). The development of the fetus is able to be observed and diagnosed with greater ease throughout the second trimester of pregnancy. The formation of fetal fat stores and the continuation of the fetus’s growth are the primary characteristics of the third trimester (Wikipedia 2009).

Abortion is the practice of removing a fetus from the uterus while it is still developing, typically between the first and seventh months of pregnancy. Another way to think about it is as premature labor and delivery. Miscarriage is the term that is used to refer to abortion in the majority of situations. In cases where the mother’s health is in jeopardy, an abortion may be the only option to save her life. In spite of this, it is being carried out at will as a direct result of shifts in society perspectives. It is a predicament in which life is being strained, and it is reaching the point where it is unacceptably hazardous and threatens the life of the mother.

Medical abortion is a form of abortion that involves taking medicines to produce a miscarriage. Surgical abortion is a form of abortion that requires physically removing the pregnancy from the womb. Abortion can be performed either by taking pills (medical abortion) or by surgery (surgical abortion). The vast majority of abortions may be performed as outpatient daycare procedures, which means that you will not be required to spend the night at the clinic. Abortions are performed on about 12 million adolescent females every single year (Bpas 2009).

Pill abortion and surgical abortion are the two forms that are included in the category of abortion procedures. After 9 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, a method known as “the pills” can be used to terminate the pregnancy. This method involves taking medicines that force the womb to contract and expel the pregnancy. Also beginning at 22 weeks, after which the pregnancy is induced to end and an injection is administered directly into the womb. Injections of this kind are typically used to maintain the homeostasis of the uterus. However, you are also obliged to go in for an examination at the clinic. To perform a surgical abortion, the cervix is dilated and the fetus is expelled, which can take anywhere from 15 to 24 weeks into the pregnancy. During a surgical abortion, the doctor will remove the pregnancy by grasping it with a pair of forceps that are very narrow and will pass through the opening at the top of the womb. This type of abortion is performed while the patient is under the influence of general anesthesia (asleep). One can go to the clinic for a surgical abortion and go home the same day (for pregnancies that are up to 20 weeks along) if they choose this method (Bpass 2009).

Abortion is plainly on the rise and has been recognized as a social concern in so many different ways that it destabilizes the educational career of the teenager as a potentially helpful member of society. She is unfairly condemned by the community, which, in the long run, causes the girl to become a prostitute. The sociocultural background of the people living in the Numan Local Government area is another significant factor in the occurrence of pregnancy and abortion. This can be related to the orientation or beliefs that required the girl-child to be forced to early hawking at a relatively tender age of roughly nine or 10 years. This practice was common in some cultures. These inappropriate exposes make her vulnerable, and the dishonesty of irresponsible young boys and old men, who usually compromise with her innocence, also contribute to her vulnerability.

It is a well-known reality that the influence of unplanned pregnancies and abortions on the education of female students in our secondary schools is growing in our communities. The Local Government needs to find a way to eliminate or significantly minimize this problem. To put it another way, the solution to this issue is for parents and teachers to help their children develop into more responsible adults. In order to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies, the government ought to provide sexuality education in our secondary schools and higher institutions, in addition to the incorporation of pertinent academic curricula.

Jul 28

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF JOHN LOCKE REFUTATION OF INNATE KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER ONE

Background of the Study

The human quest to know has really gone too far as to justify the very first statement of Aristotle in his metaphysics (Aristotle 142) (All men by nature desire to know). This quest has given birth to philosophy, epistemology. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that enquires into the scope, nature, process and source of human knowledge. Albeit epistemology is a necessary part of philosophy; it has cut across the thoughts of philosophers throughout all the epochs of philosophy.

The first problem encountered in epistemology is that of defining knowledge. Much of the time, philosophers use the tripartite theory of knowledge, which analyses knowledge as justified true belief, as a working model. Rival analyses of knowledge have been proposed, but there is as yet no consensus on what knowledge is. This fundamental question of epistemology remains unsolved. Though philosophers are unable to provide a generally accepted analysis of knowledge, we all understand roughly what we are talking about when we use words such as œknowledge. Thankfully, this means that it is possible to get on with epistemology, leaving unsolved the fundamental question as to what knowledge is (www.theoryofknowledge.info).

Although sometimes latent, there is always an implicit theory of knowledge in the philosophies of different ages; each with its own peculiarity. Each era has elements which characterized their philosophy and enquiry. Hence Batista Mondin observes:

œThe Ancient period, medieval and modern periods are characterized by Cosmocentricism, Theocentricism and Anthropocentricism respectively (Modin 37).

Hence, from the above, one may infer that what informs the epistemology of each epoch is its concentration of mans search centered on the world, on God and on man respectively. As this quest for knowledge continued, there existed a particular school whose philosophical attitudes were skeptical. They believed and taught that the human mind is incapable of attaining truth. They admitted the fact that human mind is restricted from attaining the truth of things. This group was known as the Sophists. It was really this group that triggered the search for certainty of human knowledge.

When philosophers describe knowing as a conscious act, they mean that there is an immediate apprehension of an object by a subject that becomes aware of it. But such awareness is not yet knowledge until the subject interprets or judge if in sense perception (until he says mentally œthis is, œthat is or œthis is not or œthat is not so and so). In the same way, the relationship of the subject and object is present in the consciousness of our own bodies, in our feelings of bodily pleasure or pain, (though we spontaneously believe in some sort of a unity or continuity of the object with the subject). Here, we are the knowing subject and our bodies are the known object. This idea dates back to the Pre-Socratic philosophers and to Plato and Aristotle who try to give an objective understanding of the human mind or consciousness, soul, psyche or spirit that was seen as the noblest part of a person.  For Plato, the human soul œas the king of heaven and earth (œPhilebus 28c, Plato 1105) is an independent entity detachable from the body. For Aristotle, the soul is the functional organization of living things. It is the form or aspect of the body not detachable from it; such that there are different souls for different things and hierarchies of souls (Aristotle 2201).

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle expressed their views about knowledge and its origin. Socrates believed that the human mind has some truth in it. It only takes but the process of dialectics to bring to limelight this truth which is innate in the mind. Thus, Socrates was the indirect originator of innate ideas, though Plato is generally regarded as the father of innatism.

Socrates had a pivotal influence on Plato that he basically developed his philosophy from Socrates. Among all his theories of knowledge is the celebrated theory of the world of Forms. Here he said that the human soul existed in the previous world (the world of Forms). This previous world, he regarded as the real world and the empirical world he called a reflection of this real world. According to him, in the real world the human mind was furnished with some ideas (innate ideas) which it in turn remembers in the empirical world. Therefore, the human mind only remembers the form of things which it acquired in the ideal world.

In his own theory of knowledge, Augustine was concerned more with overcoming skepticism. He employed the principle of contradiction to reply to them. According to him, the mind knows that a thing cannot be and at the same time not be. Still in response to the skeptics, he posited the argument that a doubter must exist for him to doubt. B.I. Ewelu puts it clear when he is commenting on this argument: œ¦ a doubter at least is sure of his existence, he must exist in order to doubt: sifallor, sum (if I doubt, I exist) (Ewelu 35).

Hence, a skeptic cannot but admit this fact since he must exist for him to doubt. His being aware of this shows that man can know things for certain. Besides these argument is that of rebuffing. With the above arguments, Augustine proved the skeptics wrong by positing that the human mind is capable of knowing truth for certain. This according to Ewelu holds:  œIf the skeptic holds that we cannot know anything for certain, it implies that he is certain of this, if he is not certain that human mind is incapable of knowing truth for certain, and then he has no grounds for his position (Ewelu 35).

With the sixteenth and the post seventeenth century philosophy, there was a radical move from an objective to the subjective understanding of the soul such that the question of the soul turns into an analysis of the mind or of thought. From now on, the focus of philosophy shifted to epistemology and man became the center of reality. In this way, philosophers of some certain persuasions began to set the philosophical agenda to understand the objective world on the foundations of rationalism. These philosophers “ Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz contend that our intellectual life is and ought to be directed by the faculty of reason as the best and surest route to knowledge. Here, thinking becomes the crucial question. The argument on knowledge continued down to the modern era when it was reignited by the radical revolution of René Descartes. Through his methodic doubt, he tried to establish afresh, ignoring the previous proposition that, he exists. He sought to establish fact that he exists and that his mind is capable of attaining certain truth. Hence he said:

Because I wished to give myself entirely to the search after truth, I thought that it was necessary for me to adopt an apparently apposite course and to reject as absolutely false everything concerning which I could imagine the least ground of doubt, in order to see whether afterwards there remained anything in my beliefs which was entirely certain (Descartes 8).

In Descartes, there is a relational conception of thinking or thought. Each thought is a relation between the self and the object of thought. The self as the foundation of knowledge is in an enclosed circle, a prison from which it becomes impossible to escape. Leibniz tells us that the rational minds are œimages of the divinity itself (Locke 223) – as well as the capacity most directly tied to human flourishing. Indeed, Spinoza writes that:

œin life, therefore it is especially useful to perfect as far as we can our intellect or reason. In this one thing consists mans highest happiness or blessedness (Locke 588).

With the rise of the empirical philosophical currents in the 17th century, adherents of the British philosophers – Locke, Berkeley and Hume began challenging the rational intellectual tradition. Underlying this challenge was a deep and pervasive skepticism regarding the capacity of reason to provide us with substantive knowledge of how things are. In searching for ways to get out of the Cartesian circle of the self, these British philosophers argue that reason offers us little or nothing more than tautologies and prepositions about the world devoid of factual content such that the question was: Are the objects of thought created by us? Do we ever in our knowledge reach reality?

Modern philosophers were specifically occupied with the problem of human knowledge. This continued till the emergence of the celebrated work of the popular 17th century British empiricist, John Lockes Essay concerning Human Understanding. In the book I of this Essay entitled œneither Principles nor Ideas are Innate, he mercilessly criticized innate ideas. For him:

it is an established opinion amongst some men, that there are in the understanding certain innate principles, some primary notion κοίνατ εννοίαι, characters, as it were stamped upon the mind of man which the soul receives in its very first being and brings into the world with it. It would be sufficient to convince unprejudiced readers of the falseness of this supposition if I should only show (as I hope this study shall in the following parts of this Discourse) how men, barely by the use of their natural faculties, may attain to all the knowledge they have, without the help of any innate impressions, and may arrive at certainty, without any such original notions or principle (Ibid 8).

From the above assertion, Locke was extremely attacking the world of form of Plato by denying totally that the mind is devoid of any idea when coming into the world. He boasted to explain the origin of all human knowledge through experience, thereby subscribing to empiricism. With John Lockes essay, the gap between rationalism and empiricism was pronounced. Despite this gap, the two camps, Rationalism and Empiricism have common origin as C. Mascia tries to portray the common origin of rationalism and empiricism consists in the phenomenalists prejudice that man does not know things directly but grasps only the impression these objects make upon him (Mascia, 54). The essay of John Locke triggered the expansion of the chasm between the two camps; denying the acquisition of knowledge through innate ideas, he resorted to doctrine of acquiring of all knowledge through experience.

With Lockes stand on empiricism, the question becomes; If Locke holds that all knowledge can be attained through experience, how can some meta-empirical realities be explained? There are some characters exhibited by children before the age of cognition. How can such characters be explained empirically, given that they have not yet attained the age of cognition?

These are the questions that this five chaptered work seeks to x“ray. And as well taking into cognizance of the fact that all knowledge does not come either from experience alone or originally from the mind alone but the two, reason and experience are needed for the attainment of truth. In the same way, this study is not to say who is wrong and who is right. This work will be focused on the possibility of reconciliation. To reach this goal, there will first be definitions of knowledge in general and ideas as origin of knowledge, then, on the light of each argument, there will be the critique.  The main questions to be answered include: What is knowledge? What is the origin of knowledge? What can we learn through the objection of Lockes view on knowledge?

Statement of the Problem

John Locke contended what he called œan established opinion among some people during his time. This established opinion says Locke is œthat there are in the understanding certain innate principles, some primary characters as it were, stamped upon the mind of man, which the soul receives in its very first being and brings into the world with it.(Locke 5).

But this presumption appears to be as old as philosophy itself. The fathers of ancient western philosophy, Plato and Socrates, subscribed fully to this view. In his dialogue in the Meno, Plato has argued that knowledge is purely remembering what the soul knows in the other world (Locke 58; Stumpf 7). This string of innateness of knowledge has continued unabated till the modern time. From Augustine in the Middle Ages, down to Descartes the acclaimed father of modern philosophy and to the contemporary era, this assumption, has continued to present itself in different ways and guises. The way the contemporary philosophers look at it, differs greatly from the way early philosophers like Plato or even Descartes himself did (Locke 58).

Worried by the pervasive doctrine of innateness, John Locke subjected this œassumption to the crucibles of reason in his popular book Essays Concerning Human Understanding. Perhaps J. Locke borrowed from the Scholastics the idea that, there is nothing in the mind that was not first in the senses. Hence Locke asserts œit seems to me a near contradiction, to say that there are truths imprinted on the soul which it perceives or understands not: imprinting if it signify anything, being nothing else, but the making of certain truths to be perceived (4). Locke was of the view that if these truths are imprinted in the mind from birth that even children and idiots or imbeciles would be aware of them. But we know that in real life it is not so.

Those who support the theory of innatism have often argued from the point of view of the idea of God and morality. For them this is a knowledge which everyone is aware of. It appears that the proponents of innatism of knowledge exploited greatly the belief that man by nature is a religious being and the necessity of morality for the progress of any society. However Locke has beautifully shown in his book that these principles are not inborn, but are acquired through life experience (Saas 2). But was John Locke entirely right? This remains to be shown. The avalanche of criticisms that have been leveled against his (˜tabula rasa) theory of the mind is indicative of the imperfections of Lockes views. Locke is even accused of belatedly and probably unknowingly subscribing to innatism when he said œit will be sufficient to convince unprejudiced readers of the falseness of this supposition, if I should only show how men, barely by the use of their natural faculties may attain to all the knowledge they have without the help of any innate impressions (Ibid 1). This is a sign of the difficulty Locke had to tackle in other to prove his case that all our knowledge is dependent on experience. But is it true that all our knowledge is product of experience? If it is product of experience, how do we explain those ideas that are not given through experience, and yet often we make claims to them? If it is all product of experience, how do we explain inductive knowledge? How do we explain what Kant called apriori knowledge? How do we even explain intuitive knowledge? For those who refrain from going to school because they believe that knowledge is completely innate, what then is the role of experience? Do they want us to believe that educated people are already made up before even they come into the world? Here lies the paradox of accepting knowledge as completely innate or in other words ascribing to knowledge as purely product of experience. This study seeks to critique John Lockes theory of knowledge.

Aim and Objectives of the Study

This study is aimed at critiquing John Lockes theory of knowledge. To that effect the study explores the following objectives:

  • To examine John Lockes perception about innatism.
  • To examine human epistemology theories.
  • To show how empiricism is based on rationalist ideas.
  • To critique John Lockes empiricist epistemology.

Significance of the Study.

This Study contributes to the existing information on the problem of epistemology, especially John Lockes idea of epistemology and the problems associated with. The work will aid further researchers on information needed to strike a balance between innatism and empiricism.

Scope and limitation of the Work

The theory of knowledge and major argument against innatism is x-rayed by Locke in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. For this reason and for the sake of this research, it would center on this essay. Effort is therefore made in the literature review to discuss all works that have relationship with John Lockes critique of innatism. This would eventually set the stage for a thorough appraisal and criticism of Lockes view.

1.6       Methodology of the Study

This study adopts expository method in the examination of both the primary and secondary source of information. The primary source of data for this study is the original text of John Locke on epistemology which includes Treatise Concerning Human Understanding. The secondary source of data will be through journals, proceedings and books on epistemology.

Definition of Terms

There are some terms which we shall be coming across in the course of this essay, such as innate ideas, innatism, principles, rationalism and empiricism. For an easy flow of thought, there is need for a brief explanation of each of them. This chapter will be containing the explication of these terms

Philosophy

A discipline comprising as its core logic, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics and epistemology and it is a search for general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Knowledge

Knowledge is the combination of vivid and clear idea in the mind that one obtains through information or experiences with good interpretation. No matter how we get the idea, the important thing is for the idea to be vivid and clear then it can be called knowledge (Descartes 2).

Innate Ideas

Innate denotes inborn, existing naturally before, belonging to the nature of a thing. The Websters dictionary defines innate as follows:

Existing in or belong to some person or other lying organism from birth: belonging to the assented nature of some thing: originating in, derived from or inherent in the mind or the constitution of the intellect rather than derived from experience (Gove et al. 1165).

From the above, it presupposes that when something is innate, it means that the thing exists and belongs to some person. By extension, it refers to that thing belonging essentially to the nature of the thing that possesses it. The thing be it ideas, originates in, derives from and inheres in the mind or is constituted of the intellect and not from experience.

Innatism

Websters dictionary says it œis a belief in innate ideas. It is the belief that certain ideas are present in the mind at birth. This is a term appropriated in philosophy by Plato and later by John Locke in their respective theories of knowledge. The New Encyclopedia Britannica defines innate idea in philosophy as œAn idea allegedly inborn in the human mind as contrasted with those received or completed from experience (Safraet al. 319).

The doctrine postulates that at least certain ideas, say ideas of God, infinity, substance must be innate, because no satisfactory empirical origin of them could be conceived. It flourished in the 17th century and found in Rene Descartes its most prominent exponent. The theory took many forms, some held that:

A new born child has an explicit awareness of such ideas, others more commonly maintain that ideas have some implicit form, either as a tendency or as dormant capacity of their formulation which in either case would require favorable experiential conditions for their development (Ibid 320).

Innate idea has other definitions by other people: Angeles Peter A. defines it as œideas which a person is born with or less strictly, which are at least not learned, abstracted or compiled from sense perception (Angeles 8). R. Dagobert traces innate idea to its Latin origin œInnatis meaning œInborn. According to M.S. Sasa, Dagobert defines innate idea as: The powers of understanding given in the very nature of mind. Such ideas ¦are spoken of as a priori. Ideas, which are inborn, and come with the mind such as God or immortality. More generally ¦ideas which all men as human and rational, necessarily and universally possess (Sasa 12).

Many thinkers seem to believe in the reality of innate ideas and this belief is what is referred to as innatism.

Idea

According to the Websters Dictionary, idea is: a presentation of sense, concept of representation, an archetype or subsistent form: a transcendent universal: the form giving cause: form an immediate object or a compound of immediate objects of sensation or reflection, an impression of sense or imagination especially percept: a representation or construct of memory and association as distinguished from direct impression of sense, a transcendent but non-empirical concept of reason (Gove et al. 1122)

The above definitions of ideas are according to the definition given to the term œidea by the rationalist and empiricist philosophers. Besides these welcomed definition another definition given to it by this dictionary brings out well what we want to portray in our work. It goes thus: œan object of the mind existing in apprehension, conception, or thought: notion, thought, impression. From these definitions, ideas cannot only be a product of a concept in the mind but as well a product of impression (experience). Therefore, the notion of idea in Plato and Locke are here encapsulated.

Principle

Principle is here defined as a general or fundamental truth: a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine or assumption on which others is based or from which others are derived: elementary proposition. Something from which another takes its origin: a basic or primary source of material or energy: ultimate basic or cause (Ibid 1802).

Therefore, principle is seen as truth which can be general or universal as well as fundamental. It can be viewed as paradigm or rudiments which can be used to shape a group or the society. When the term principle is used, it could mean principles like œa thing cannot be and at the same time not be, or what is and what is not, is not (principle of non“contradiction). It could be viewed as a doctrine which is made objective or universal. It is objective or universal because it is believed that it is always at the disposal of everybody. John Locke sees principles in the book one of his Essay Concerning Human Understanding as œBoth speculative and practical (for they speak of both) universally agreed upon by all mankind (Locke 127). From the above, principle can be speculative of practical. It is speculative in that it can be based on guessing or on opinions that have been formed without knowing all the facts; and practical, in that it can be connected with real situations rather than with ideas or theories.

 

Empiricism

The term œEmpiricism comes from the Greek word œÎˆÎ¼Ï€ÎµÎ¹ÏÎ¹Î± meaning experience. Empiricism in philosophy is defined as: An attitude expressed in a pair of doctrines that all concepts are derived from the experience to which they are applied, and that all knowledge of matters of fact is based on, or derived from, experience (Safraet al. 480).

According to this doctrine, all claims to knowledge of the world can be justified only by experience. This belief was triggered off in a quest to knowing the source of true knowledge. While some say that true knowledge is beyond the physical, some project that all knowledge can be got through the sense or experience. The doctrine of Empiricism is propagated by a group of philosophers called empiricists. They are normally called British Empiricist because it started from there, specifically from John Locke. Empiricism is the name given to the doctrine that beliefs are to be accepted and acted upon, if it is confirmed by actual experience. As a result, empiricism is then opposed to the claims of authority, intuition, imaginative conjecture and abstract theoretical or systematic reasoning as sources of reliable belief. Rationalism is its most fundamental antithesis. In their theory of meaning, they hold that words can be understood or the concepts requisite for any articulate thought possessed, only if they are connected by their users with things that could be experienced. Secondly, their philosophical theory of knowledge views belief or at least some vital classes of belief as depending ultimately and necessarily on experience for justification. Therefore, instead of saying œJane is kind, empiricism insists that one says œJane is seen performing acts of kindness. The first known empiricists were the sophists who in their philosophical inquiries were concerned with such relatively concrete entities as men and society, rather than with speculative fields explored by their predecessors. The stoics and Epicureans though were principally concerned with ethical questions, had empiricist tendencies. Others were William of Ockham, Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, J.S. Mill, Bertrand Russell etc.

Rationalism

The term œrationalism originates from the Latin word œratio which means reason. In philosophy, rationalism is a method of inquiry that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. In contrast to empiricism, it tends to discountenance sensory experience. For the rationalists, realty itself has an inherently rational structure. As a result, there are truths especially in logic and mathematics, also in ethics and metaphysics, which the intellect can grasp directly. Rationalism makes upholds deductive method. Against the tabula rasa view, rationalists believe in the presence of innate ideas: œAccording to the extreme rationalists doctrine, all the truths of physical science and even history could in principle be discovered by pure thinking and set forth as the consequences of self evident premises (Ibid 953).

Rationalists hold that the materials of knowledge are derived deductively from fundamental elementary concepts and not from experience. Besides Plato, the famous proponents of rationalism are Rene Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christian von Wolff. Most of the ideas, which rationalists project as innate ideas, are mainly based on moral principle. Rationalists who are ethicist adopted the doctrine of epistemological rationalism in the field of morals. With this adoption, they hold that œThe primary moral ideas (good, duty) are held to be innate and the first principles of moral (e.g. the Golden Rule) are deemed self evident. With this stand, they believe that possession of reason provides an adequate motive for moral conduct.

Jul 26

Not Too young To Run Bill: The challenges of it’s implementation and the way out

At the first United Nations Forum on Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law, which is now taking place in United Nations Geneva, the global campaign Not Too Young to Run was officially launched today. The campaign was initiated by a partnership that includes the Office of the United Nations Secretary-Envoy General’s on Youth, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the European Youth Forum (EYF), and the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth, and Advancement (YIAGA),

is to increase awareness of young people’s rights to run for public office and to encourage them to do so.

dealing with the widespread problem of discrimination based on age

 

Youth account for one-fifth of the total population of the world. In the meanwhile, their involvement in the political discussions is quite limited. The average age of a member of parliament in the world is 53. (Bruter and Harrison 2009). In order to be eligible to run for a seat in parliament, a candidate must be at least 25 years old. The participation of young people in political domains and processes is called into question as a result of this. The young people have been praised for the creative abilities and forward-thinking concepts they have demonstrated. When one takes a close look at the significant political shifts and the ensuing dynamism, one sees that young people are at the center of the fulcrum. In most cases, they play the role of catalysts in the process of undemocratic governments and political systems being overhauled. The Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012 is a good example of this. Their participation and positions in the political arenas were, however, highly limited due to unfavorable legal structures, poor economic situations, and a variety of policies that discriminated against them in many ways. As a direct consequence of this, their participation in the political process is unofficial and has not been adequately documented. The youth of Africa are not included in significant decision-making processes because the continent is still in its early stages of democratic development and its political institutions are not well developed. Youth participation in Africa’s official political systems is, by and large, met with reluctance from the continent’s governments and those who formulate policy. In modern times, however, there has been some evidence of a slight improvement in Africa. This is partly attributable to an increased awareness on the part of state governments as well as the influence of external pressures such as globalization and democratization, both of which place a greater emphasis on the participation of young people in political and economic spheres of influence. Scholars have suggested that this may be a reaction to the marginalization as well as the social and economic exclusion that they have experienced. According to recent findings published by the World Bank and the UNDP, more than seventy percent of Africa’s population is comprised of people under the age of thirty. Nevertheless, despite the significance of their numbers and the fact that

 

historical relevance throughout the region, they have been neglected from political arenas. They are disorganized, jobless, and susceptible to radical views as a result of the absence of political participation of young people on the continent, which leaves them prone to things like leading rallies against the decisions made by the government. This has been witnessed in Sierra Leone, where young people who were disillusioned and unable to find work played a significant role in the formation of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as in Rwanda, where young people were at the center of the genocide.

Jul 24

POPULATION GROWTH INDICES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact that Nigeria’s rising population had on the country’s overall economic expansion from 1981 to 2015. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical Bulletin was consulted for information regarding GDP and the exchange rate.

The World Bank’s World Development Indicators were consulted for information regarding population growth rate, fertility rate, and crude death rate. For the purpose of analyzing the data in this study, ordinary least squares regression was utilized. According to the findings of the study, population expansion has a positive and substantial effect on the economic growth of Nigeria, but fertility was found to have a negative and significant effect on the economic growth of Nigeria.

However, neither the exchange rate nor the crude death rate play a substantial role in the expansion of Nigeria’s economy. The study makes a number of recommendations, one of which is that the government of Nigeria should take steps to ensure that the country’s rapidly growing population is directed into sectors of the economy in which it can be utilized to a greater extent, with the goal of achieving high rates of economic growth for the nation as a whole. In addition, in order for Nigeria to realize enhanced economic growth, the federal government should broaden citizens’ access to quality medical care at prices they can afford, with the goal of lowering the country’s overall mortality rate.

Jul 24

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF BREASTFEEDING POSITIONS AMONG LACTATE MOTHERS

Although the production of milk may come easily, getting it from the breast to the stomach is a skill that requires a little bit of knowledge and a lot of practice. At best, the initial attempts made by a brand-new mother and her infant to breastfeed are a frustrating and unsatisfying failure for both parties involved. However, ensuring that your newborn is positioned correctly is vital for ensuring that they latch on correctly and for reducing nipple discomfort and other difficulties associated with nursing.

The act of transferring milk from a mother to her infant is known as breastfeeding. According to research published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2009) and Heckman (2011), breastfeeding is essential to a baby’s ability to live and develop into a healthy adult. Breast milk provides an infant with all of the necessary calories and nutrients for proper growth and development (National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, 2009).

Women who do not have any health issues are encouraged by the policy Statement on Breastfeeding issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This recommendation states that women should breastfeed their infants exclusively for at least the first six months of their lives (AAP,2012). It is impossible to place enough emphasis on the significance of proper baby nutrition and the critical part that nursing plays in ensuring a child’s continued survival, growth, and development (AAP, 2012).

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that mothers breastfeed their children for a total of two years, that they nurse their children exclusively for the first six months, and that they breastfeed their babies more than eight times per day in the first three months of their lives. According to recommendations made by the AAP, a mother should make every effort to breastfeed her child for the first year of their life.

The rates of exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria are lower than those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which promotes the practice of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of a baby’s life. This is despite the documented benefits of exclusive breastfeeding during the first months of a child’s life, as well as the difficulties associated with promoting this practice. Breastfeeding a baby has health benefits for both the mother and the child, some of which include lowering the risk of the mother developing gestational diabetes, osteoporosis, and breast cancer. Breastfeeding a baby exclusively for the first six months and then continuing to breastfeed in addition to appropriate solid foods until the baby is twelve months old and beyond also has health benefits. It can also assist women in shedding extra pounds after giving birth, and it can hasten the process by which a woman’s uterus returns to its size and shape before she became pregnant.

There is a possibility that the infants will have a lower chance of developing gastro intestinal sickness, allergies, asthma, diabetes, obesity, certain pediatric cancers, respiratory infections, and diarrhoea. Other potential benefits include these.

According to the WHO Global data on infant and young Child Feeding in Nigeria in the year 2003, 22.3 percent of children were exclusively breastfed for less than 4 months, while 17.2 percent were exclusively breastfed for less than 6 months. These statistics are based on the fact that 17.2 percent of children were exclusively breastfed for less than 6 months. In 2008, the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) found that 17 percent of children had been nursed exclusively for less than 4 months, while 13 percent had been breastfed exclusively for fewer than 6 months. In Southwest Nigeria in the year 2003, the median amount of time spent exclusively breastfeeding a child was seven months.

In the year 2008, it had been for a period of six months. Early commencement of breastfeeding among women in the region was 12.7 percent in the year 2003, but it climbed to 35.5 percent in the year 2008 over the course of the same length of time.

All of these percentages are significantly lower than the level of 90 percent that is suggested by the WHO. As a result, the rate of child mortality stays relatively high in low- and middle-income countries. When looking at selected nations in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria has the highest rural death rate for children under the age of five at 242.7 per 1,000. (National Center for Health Statistics (2008); National Population Commission (2009); World Health Organization (2010))

Jul 19

EVALUATION PERFORMANCE OF INTERSECTION IN SELECTED LOCATION IN ABUJA

An Examination of Performance Analysis, on the other hand, is not the same thing as analysis, which is a way of thinking that is related to the systematic testing of something to determine its parts, relationships between parts, and their relationship as a whole, as stated by Spradley in Sugiyono (2015: 335).

Analysis is an activity to look for patterns. In analysis, “decomposition” refers to the process of attempting to break a problem or the focus of research down into its component parts. This is done so that the arrangement of the form of a decomposed thing can be seen clearly, and as a result, the meaning of the problem can be better grasped, or the case can be better understood (Satori and Komariyah, 2014: 200) In general, analysis is the process of taking a large amount of raw data and summarizing it, then grouping or separating relevant components and parts, and finally connecting the data collected to find an answer to a problem such as traffic flow.

The number of motorized vehicles that travel past a given point on a road in a given amount of time is measured in terms of vehicles per hour (Qkend), passenger cars per hour (Qsmp), or LHRT (Average Daily Traffic) (MKJI, 1997).

The volume of traffic, denoted by the symbol Q, is measured in hours per hour for one or more time periods, such as during the busiest times of the morning, afternoon, and evening. Using a value that is equivalent to a light vehicle (ekr), Q is converted from vehicle units per hour to hourly curves for each protected and resisted approach.

The equipment used to order vehicles to either stop or continue moving can be mechanically operated or electrically powered. This essential piece of equipment is a pole, and it supports a primary lamp that has three sets of lights of varying hues (red, yellow, green). Conflict in traffic results from the fact that traffic flows coming from different directions will meet at the intersection; as a result, this circumstance brings together road users coming from different directions (Hobbs, 1995 in Setiawan, A.T., 2015).

According to Awalata, Greece Maria (2010), safety is the avoidance of disaster, a feeling of security, prosperity, no less, health, the absence of disturbance or damage, good fortune, success, and the absence of failure (Poerwadarminta 1976). The meaning of congratulations can also mean a situation that is safe and protected and protected physically, socially, work or other consequences of failure, damage, error, accident, loss, or a variety of other desired events. For example, the meaning of congratulations can mean a protected and safe work environment.

Jul 16

PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESS AND TREATMENT COMPLIANCE AMONG DIABETES PATIENTS IN LAGOST STATE, NIGERIA

In order to get a proper grasp on the significance of stress, we need to examine how it is controlled and dealt with within the context of the dynamic of the family. The significance of particular stressful life events and the effects of those events on an individual in terms of how well they regulate stress and bounce back from adversity cannot be overstated. The individual’s genetic sensitivity, coping strategies, personality type, and the extent to which they have social support all have a role in the impact that stressful life experiences have on them Sharif (2022).

One of the factors that is thought to contribute in a complex way to increased insulin demands and pancreatic beta-cell overload GOdoy (2022), which in turn is believed to mediate their destruction and consequently the emergence of type 1 diabetes, was a dysregulated individual response to psychological stress.

The theory of attachment is an early theory of psychological development that has gotten a lot of attention in recent years. This makes it a very fascinating way to tackle the problem of understanding the impact that stress has in people’s lives. Attachment is referred to as a behavioral and physiological mechanism that makes it possible for an individual to dynamically adapt to the environment in which they find themselves. It is formed by close connection between an infant and the person who takes care of them, and it continues to have an effect on the quality of the interactions people have throughout their lives. It is intrinsically tied to the manner in which an individual manages stress, initially with the assistance of the primary caretaker and later on by oneself in accordance with the internal attachment representations. These are broken down into two categories: secure and insecure, with the latter leading to a more intense stress response compared to the former .

There have only been a few research done to assess what impact attachment plays in the probability of developing type 1 diabetes. Using Adult Attachment Interviews, Sepa et al (2021) investigated the link between the mothers’ attachment insecurity and diabetes-related autoimmunity in early childhood. The researchers conducted the study with two groups of mothers: one group of mothers had infants who tested positive for antibodies, and the other group of mothers had infants who tested negative for antibodies. Their findings indicated that there was a significantly higher prevalence of insecure moms among those who tested positive for antibodies, despite the fact that this link was not statistically significant. They came to the conclusion that even if there is an association between mothers’ attachment and diabetes-related autoimmunity in children, it is not very strong. They reached this conclusion after taking into account the fact that their sample size was relatively small as well as the fact that there is typically a poor correlation between mother and child attachment. Our team conducted a study based on their findings, which involved 106 healthy control pairs and 101 dyads of children who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and their primary caregivers. The questionnaire that was given to the parents, as well as the Child Attachment Interview, were used to measure the level of attachment that the children had with their parents (the children). The results showed that there was no association between the children’s attachment to their parents and the development of type 1 diabetes. On the other hand, researchers found that a higher level of attachment anxiety in the child’s primary caregiver was associated with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes .

 

Jul 15

IMPACT OF TEACHING METHODS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG STUDENTS OF COLLEGE OF NURSING STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

The primary issue in the field of education is how different methods of instruction affect the overall performance of pupils. This study investigated the effects of different teaching strategies on the academic performance of nursing students.

The study aimed to accomplish the following three particular goals: To determine the level of relationship between teaching methods and nursing students’ performance in nursing schools in Nigeria; to identify teaching methods used in the instruction of scientific subjects; to evaluate nursing students’ perceptions of the appropriateness of teaching methods used in teaching in public secondary schools; and to identify teaching methods used in the instruction of scientific subjects.

The study utilized descriptive research that was designed using a strategy that combined qualitative and quantitative methodology. An in-depth interview and questionnaire were used to survey a sample population consisting of 78 teachers, 129 nursing students, and 9 inspectors. Descriptive analysis was performed on qualitative data using SPSS, and thematic analysis was utilized in the process of analyzing qualitative data.

The findings of the study showed that the teaching methods that were the most effective were demonstration, followed by question and answer sessions, and then brainstorming.

The study also found that teachers should be aware of the value and impact of various teaching methods, and that they should participate in regular training or workshops on teaching methods. According to the findings of the study, conventional approaches such as lectures should be avoided.