This paper was designed to determine preschool, primary school teachers, and secondary school Mathematics teachers’ and special educators’ views of finger-counting as the basis for a solid foundation in learning Mathematics. One hundred Participants were selected using purposive sampling. One research question and three hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The adapted instrument from Mutlu et al. (2020) titled the finger-counting questionnaire with a reliability index of 0.78 was used to gather data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean, t-test, and ANOVA statistics. The results showed that teachers perceived impacts of finger-counting that; it facilitates learning by touching, turns abstract into concrete resulting in meaningful learning, makes counting practical and accessible, facilitates retention and internalization, increases numerical, arithmetic, and problem-solving skills, and also improves attitudes towards mathematics. Findings also revealed no differences exist among teachers on the perceived impact of finger-counting as the basis for a solid foundation in learning Mathematics based on their gender and teachers’ category but significant differences exist in their years of teaching experience. In conclusion, finger counting should not be seen as an alternative or optional but as an indispensable tool in teaching and learning Mathematics. The researchers recommended that because people abandon finger-counting strategies once they develop cognitive and affective skills, finger-counting should be seen as a transition process rather than an obstacle to the development of mental arithmetic skills.

PurposeWith heterogeneous findings dominating the growth and natural resources relations, there is a need to explain the variances in Africa's growth process as induced by robust measures of factor endowments. This study used a comprehensive set of data from the updated database of the World Bank to capture the heterogeneous dimensions of natural resource endowments on growth with a particular focus on establishing complementary evidence on the resource curse hypothesis in energy and environmental economics literature in Africa. These comprehensive data on oil rent, coal rent and forest rent could provide new and insightful evidence on obscure relations on the subject matter.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers the panel vector error correction model (PVECM) procedure to explain changes in economic growth outcomes as induced by oil rent, coal rent and forest rent. The consideration of the PVECM was premised on the panel unit root process that returns series that were cointegrated at the first-order differentials.FindingsThe paper found positive relations between oil rent, coal rent and economic development in Africa. Forest rent, on the other hand, is inversely related to economic growth in Africa. Trade and human capital are positively related to economic growth in Africa, while population growth is negatively associated with economic growth in Africa.Research limitations/implicationsShort-run policies should be tailored towards the stability of fiscal expenditure such that the objective of fiscal policy, which is to maintain the condition of full employment and economic stability and stabilise the rate of growth, can be optimised and sustained. By this, the resource curse will be averted and productive capacity will increase, leading to sustainable growth and development in Africa, where conditions for growth and development remain inadequately met.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper can be viewed from the strength of its arguments and methods adopted to address the questions raised in this paper. This study further illuminated age-long obscure relations in the literature of natural resource endowment and economic growth by taking a disaggregated approach to the component-by-component analysis of natural resources factors (the oil rent, coal rent and forest rent) and their corresponding influence on economic growth in Africa. This pattern remains underexplored mainly in previous literature on the subject. Many African countries are blessed with an abundance of these different natural resources in varying proportions. The misuse and mismanagement of these resources along various dimensions have been the core of the inclination towards the resource curse hypothesis in Africa. Knowing how growth conditions respond to changes in the depth of forest resources, oil resources and coal resources could be useful pointers in Africa's overall energy use and management. This study contributed to the literature on natural resource-induced growth dynamics by offering a generalisable conclusion as to why natural resource-abundance economies are prone to poor economic performance. This study further asks if mineral deposits are a source or reflection of ill growth and underdevelopment in African countries.

Reports from various parts of the world suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have severe adverse effects on the delivery and uptake of reproductive health, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) services. The objective of the study was to explore women's experiences with utilization of RMNCH services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, and to elicit their perceptions on ways to sustain effective service delivery during the pandemic. A cross-sectional survey of 2930 women using primary health care facilities for antenatal, delivery, postnatal, and child care services before and after the onset of the pandemic in 10 States of Nigeria were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected on women's socio-demographic characteristics and pregnancy histories, the services they sought before and after the pandemic, the challenges they faced in accessing the services, their use of alternative sources of health care, and their recommendations on ways to sustain RMNCH service delivery during the pandemic. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and multivariable logistic regression using SPSS 20.0. All the statistical analyses were two-tailed with a 95% confidence interval, and the p-value was set at 0.05. The logistic regression results showed that women were at least 56% more likely to report that they used family planning, antenatal, and delivery services before the pandemic than after the pandemic started, but 38% less likely to report use of postnatal services. The experience of difficulty accessing RMNCH services was 23% more likely after the pandemic started than before the pandemic. Three categories of recommendations made by the respondents on measures to sustain RMNCH delivery during the pandemic included 1) facility improvement, and staff recruitment and re-training; 2) free and readily accessible PHC services, and 3) the provision of social safety nets including transportation and palliatives. We conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic limited women's access to antenatal, delivery, and childcare services offered in PHCs in Nigeria. Addressing the recommendations and the concerns raised by women will help to sustain the delivery of RMNCH services during the COVID-19 pandemic and future epidemics or health emergencies in Nigeria.

Informed by a social-ecological framework, this study nested undocumented students' individual mental health needs within micro-level campus factors and the macro-level immigration policy context to examine how these are associated with undocumented Latina/o/x college students' use of on-campus mental health services. A large-scale survey was administered to 1,277 undocumented college students attending 4-year public universities in California. Only Latina/o/x respondents were included in this study (N = 1,181). Fifty percent of students attended a UC system (n = 589). On average, students were 21.84 years old (SE = .15), and most were women (75.3%, n = 890). Greater level of mental health symptoms and perceived mental health need, and greater use of campus-wide resources and undocumented student services predicted greater likelihood of using on-campus mental health services. Greater perceptions of social exclusion due to the immigration policy context predicted lower use of mental health services. Results indicate that a greater use of resources and an inclusive campus environment, as well as efforts to minimize policy-related feelings of social exclusion, may facilitate undocumented students' professional mental health help-seeking. These findings emphasize the need to take multiple and multi-level ecological factors into account when considering mental health service use, particularly in the case of undocumented immigrants and likely other structurally marginalized groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The purpose of this study was to determine the inhibitory potential of three species of Trichoderma namely; Trichoderma asperelum, Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma harzianum on Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum (fov), the causal organism of vascular wilt in cotton. The experiment consisted of dual culture incubated at 250C + 10C on PDA, for 9 days. During the experiment, the three trichoderma species were obtained from the soil while the fusarium oxysporum isolate was obtained from IAR, Zaria, Nigeria. Antagonistic activity testing was determined using percentage inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum radial growth. The study's results revealed that all the three Trichoderma species tested in this experiment had significantly inhibited the mycelial growth of fov at different degrees compared with untreated control. The percentage inhibition ranged from 54% for Trichoderma. asperelum, 62.8% by Trichoderma viride to the highest being 75.6% and a mean of 45.50% due to Trichoderma harzianum. These results showed that Trichoderma harzianum was the most effective followed by Trichoderma viride and lastly Trichoderma asperellum. This suggest that there are some similarities between the three isolates of Trichoderma as all the three species could inhibit the growth of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum but the best to be used as bio-control agent for vascular wilt of cotton caused by fov was Trichoderma harzianum pending further research.

Research suggests that antiimmigrant policies enacted in the United States, magnified during the 2016-2020 period, propagate widespread trauma across communities of immigrants (von Werthern et al., 2018). While these policies harm all groups of immigrants, structural conditions (e.g., lack of documentation status, race, ethnicity, country of origin, and other social and legal determinants) shape how they are experienced. To address the widespread traumatic harm inflicted by racist and xenophobic policies, a group of leaders from eight Divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Latinx Psychological Association (NLPA) launched an Interdivisional Immigration Project (IIP). The IIP served to develop a model for collaborative advocacy, bringing together mental health providers (i.e., psychologists, social workers), allied professionals, and immigration activists from community organizations across the country. This model was developed over the course of 1 year, coinciding with the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the amplified movement for racial justice. This article describes the key components of the IIP collaborative advocacy model: (a) structuring leadership in a democratic and egalitarian manner, (b) centering and uplifting immigrant voices, (c) forming teams across five U.S. regions, (d) facilitating critical dialogues grounded in liberatory practices, (e) centering trauma and empowerment, and (f) developing advocacy strategies. The IIP collaborative advocacy model is informing advocacy to protect immigrants from harm. This model may be used as the basis for ongoing humane immigration policy activism that centers the voices of community activists, and that pushes psychologists and allied professionals to use their positionality to support community-based efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Abstract The novel coronavirus (SAR-COV-2) and its attendant respiratory disease, COVID-19, said to have originated in Wuhan, China in December, 2019 has become a global concern with far-reaching impact on all facets of human life. Its impact on the English language can be seen in the emergence of new forms of expressions, extension of the meaning of existing words and the resuscitation of hitherto not commonly used expressions. A number of these innovations and usages affect the English language generally, yet language use is context-bound revealing the cultural realities of its users and their environment so that language at all times exhaustively catalogues the things, events and processes in its environment of use (Carrol, 1966:102). This study adopts the Functionalist Approach to investigate the linguistic impact of COVID-19 discourse on the Nigerian variety of the English language using data from Nairaland, an online Nigerian forum. It establishes that COVID-19 pandemic has informed new Englishes in Nigerian English by way of morphemic coinages, phrasal restructuring, syntactic composition, semantic broadening, lexical resuscitation and acronymic coinages.

Language is used in various ways and for various purposes, including for creating and solving various human problems. This chapter rises to demonstrate that language, as a medium of communication needed and used in all human endeavours, is what could be used to adequately bridge the gap between philosophy, media, and development in society. Using expository and analytic methods and qualitative approach, the chapter proves in its analysis that when language is used rightly and efficiently, the gap between philosophy, media, and development would be bridged adequately and the surrounding issues addressed significantly. It argues that the gap, which had been created and sustained by inefficient and wrong use of language in philosophical, media, and developmental matters, could be bridged through efficient and right use of language by professionals of these trio fields and other individuals in the society in general. The study submits that language is the panacea for the matters arising from the gap between philosophy, media, and development.