Journal of Research and Development

Disaster Resilient Cities in Nepal: Disaster Management Efforts of Biratnagar Metropolitan City

Chandra Upadhyay — 2023-06-06

Disaster resilient, safe, inclusive and sustainable space is required for all. But Nepal is facing challenges due to inadequate disaster response. The primary objective of this study is to assess the local government’s preparedness and efforts in management of human shelters and public occupancy, in addition to prompt response, rescue and rehabilitation mechanisms as well as supply management to any disaster affected population in the city. Taking Biratnagar Metropolitan City of Koshi Province as a case, this study answers the question of what disaster challenges exist in the city and how the local government responded to those situations and why the responses were not adequate. The present research uses both primary and secondary data to make an assessment of the status, preparedness, actions and challenges of the city governance of Biratnagar Metropolitan City in management of disaster safety and people’s awareness building on safe city issues which significantly aids in bringing disaster management in the city. The findings indicate that the emphasis on early preparedness and sustainable initiatives on disaster management remained in the marginal reference of the local level disaster planning. The local government’s focus is found generally active in rescue and relief during disasters when a paradigm shift through early preparedness has become a core area of concern in disaster management for a sustainable development globally. This paper is believed to draw attention of the policy makers at the local level and lead the discourse further for the academicians.

Perceived Learning Environment: A Case of BBA Program at Dhankuta Multiple Campus

Kewal Ram Parajuli — 2023-06-06

Reinvigorating institutions and students in today's competitive global academic and industrial marketplace requires an assessment of the perceived learning environment. Students' academic performance, engagement and success is determined by students' perceived learning environment and academic management from an organization. Descriptive research design is used for the cross-sectional survey study and FGD was organized to assess the perceived learning environment and to compare by gender from students of Dhankuta Multiple Campus, Dhankuta, Nepal. Out of a total of 67 students of the BBA program 35 students have responded through Google from (DREEM Inventory) shared by researchers and 9 students were taken for FGD to find out their perceived environment and learning experiences in the existing environment. It is found that perception on the many aspects among 50 items on the existing environment are more positive than negative. Many aspects of campus learning environment needs to improve. There are insufficient physical facilities at classroom buildings and at hostel as students' need and expectation.

Constructivist Approach to Learning: An Analysis of Pedagogical Models of Social Constructivist Learning Theory

Nirmal Raj Mishra — 2023-06-06

The social constructivist approach is one of the dominant perspective that flourished the learner centered pedagogical model in education. This model of learning aims to imply the learners' autonomy and flexibility in instructional setting. This social constructivist highlights the learners' autonomy, reflective thinking, problem solving, collaborative learning, scaffolding as well as discussion and debates as the major learning principles in education. In the teaching learning discourse, the social constructivist learning model established the critical, problem solving and collaborative learning strategies to enhance the meaningful leaning achievement. And, the intra and interpersonal level of interaction play the crucial role in promoting the meaningful learning for tutoring process. This theory claims that the sign (language), ZPD, MKO and scaffolding are the key variables for the constructivist pedagogical model of learning. In this process, students are in the central place where they play the role of active thinker, co-constructor and active participant in learning process. Another side, teachers are only as the facilitator, guide, and stimulators within the whole instructional process in education.

Knowledge on Urinary Incontinence among Women in a Community at Barahachhetra, Nepal

Urmila Basnet — 2023-06-06

Urinary Incontinence is a condition in which involuntary loss of urine is a social or hygienic problem for the patient. Urinary incontinence is regarded as a disgraceful situation, with a negative effect on the quality of life, and is usually kept disguised. It is an important problem leading to physical, social, psychological, sexual, and economic problems among women of all age groups. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge of urinary incontinence among women in a community at Barahachhetra. A descriptive study was conducted among women aged 40-65 years residing in Barahachhetra-5. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to gather data from 105 women using a semi-structured interview schedule with Face-to-face interviews. SPSS version 16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, III., USA) was used for data entry and analysis. Descriptive analysis and inferential statistics i.e., chi-square test was used to find the association of the level of knowledge with selected demographic variables. This study revealed that out of 105 respondents, 21% had good knowledge and 59% had average knowledge on urinary incontinence which concluded that only less than one-fourth of respondents have good knowledge and the level of knowledge is not associated with selected demographic variables. It is recommended that awareness programs on urinary incontinence should be conducted at the community level by concerned authorities.

Ethogram and Time Budgeting of Rhesus Monkey Macaca mulatta (Zimmermann, 1789) in Ramdhuni Forest, Nepal

Ramchandra Adhikari — 2023-06-06

Ethogram provides a list of behaviours a species exhibits together with explanations of each activity in the form of descriptive words and phrases. With the objective to explore the time budgeting of the major behaviours of rhesus monkey the study was conducted from September 2022 to February 2023 by following scan sampling method in Ramdhuni forest, Sunsari,Koshi province Nepal. A total of 750 events were recorded in field working time 300 hours. The time allocated was documented as for foraging (26.67%), locomotion (18.93%), inactive (30.26%), grooming (20.67%) and fighting (3.46%). There was not significant association in gender regarding with the activities (Chi square=0.97, degree of freedom= 4, at significance level 0.05 and tabulated value= 9.49). There was a close relation between the activities in morning and day time (r= 0.80906). Likewise, there was a significant relation between time budgeting for activities with the place for activities (Chi square=78.74, degree of freedom= 20, significance level =0.05 Chi square tabulated= 31.41). Most of the activities were recorded on floor and roof of buildings and temples. There was not association between the allocated time for different activities with the change of season (Chi square= 0.9, degree of freedom=4, significance level= 0.05 and chi square tabulated=9.49). It can be recommended that to manage the monkey and reduce probable conflict between human and monkey, pilgrims should be restricted only in forest sides, not in temple premises to provide foods to monkeys.

Knowledge and Practice on Covid-19 among Rural Schools’ Teachers and Students of Dhankuta District, Nepal

Saraswati Basnet — 2023-06-06

A novel corona virus (nCoV) was recognized on seven January 2020 and was temporarily named “2019-nCoV”. It was subsequently named the “Covid-19 virus globally. The objective of the study is to assess the knowledge and the preventive practice on Covid-19 among teachers and students of Mahalaxmi municipality in Dhankuta. Descriptive analytical cross-sectional design was used. A census method was used to choose the respondents. A semi- structured questionnaire was used to collect the data among 387 respondents. Frequency, percentage, mean, median and standard deviation were used to assess the knowledge and preventive practice on Covid-19 with teachers and students.. Inferential analysis i.e. multivariate logistic regression was used to find the relationship between dependent and selected demographic variables. Half (50.6%) of the respondents had good level of knowledge on Covid-19. Two-forth (50.4%) of respondents had poor practice on Covid-19 and less than two-forth (49.6%) of respondents had good practice. Multivariate analysis shows that there is association among levels of practice with ethnicity (p=0.007; aOR =0.576; CI=0.385-.862) and mother education (p=0.003; aOR =1.228; CI=1.072-.1.407).There is significant association between level of practice and ethnicity (p=0.004; aOR=1.810; CI=1.202- 2.726) and mother’s education (p=0.002; aOR=0.804; CI=0.700-0.923). The study concluded that nearly half (49.4%) had still poor level of knowledge and more two-forth (50.4%) of the respondents had poor level of practice on Covid-19 so awareness programmed should be conducted to enhance the Knowledge and practice of teachers and students of Mahalaxmi municipality.

Status of Invasive Alien Plant species in Dhankuta Municipality

Saugat Shrestha — 2023-06-06

Invasive alien species are plants, animals, pathogens and other organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem, and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health. At least 179 species of alien plant species are naturalized in Nepal and 26 of them have become invasive with negative impacts on environment and economy. Out of 26 invasive alien species four species are among the 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species. The present study intended to investigate the invasive alien plant species found in Dhankuta Municipality, which has not been explored previously. Present study reported 30 species of invasive alien plant species belong to 13 families of 28 genera. Agro-ecosystems accounted for 40% of the 30 species' IAPS, followed by grasslands and residential areas (31% each), and forests and shrub-land (27% each).