Factors contributing to recidivism among inmates in selected Ghana prisons

Frank Baffour employed the critical social work theory, social learning theory, and labelling perspective to explore factors contributing to recidivism in selected prisons in Ghana. Qualitative data were collected from 53 participants including 25 prison inmates who had served two or more terms of incarceration, 15 prison officers, and 13 community members. Findings suggest that reincarceration of the inmates was caused by systemic failures (overcrowding and inadequate rehabilitation) in the prisons and structural inequality in the community (labelling). Policy and practice implications are discussed

Sights/Sites of Spectacle: Anglo/Asante Appropriations, Diplomacy and Displays of Power 1816-1820

Between May 1816 and March 1820 the paramount chief of Asante Osei Tutu Kwame Asibey Bonsu (r.1800-24) received no less than nine representatives of the British and Dutch trading companies at his capital Kumase. Of these, seven wrote detailed accounts of their experiences but the first and the most historically important was Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee published by Thomas Edward Bowdich (1791?-1824) in 1819. Besides containing vivid descriptions of Bowdich’s experiences as the Conductor of the first British Mission it is also supplemented with maps, diagrams and ten colour illustrations, the majority of which depict everyday activities and important locations in Kumase. The largest illustration, entitled ‘The First Day of the Yam Custom,’ differs significantly from the others, however, in respect of its size and its subject matter, as it documents the appropriation of conventions, material culture and symbolism by Asante, Islamic and European representatives during an important diplomatic ceremony. This thesis focuses on Bowdich’s published account and this illustration in particular, in order to explore the hypothesis that such spectacles played an instrumental role in Anglo/Asante appropriations and diplomatic negotiations during this period. As part of this analysis Bowdich’s descriptions will be compared and contrasted with other envoys’ accounts that were written between 1816 and 1820 in order that systematic practices and procedures and consistent patterns of behaviour can be identified and interrogated. The adoption of this historical ethnographic approach demonstrates the value of analyzing and re-assessing individual accounts that complement, but also contrast with, the longue dureé perspective adopted by the majority of studies that examine culture contact and appropriation. Furthermore, it also facilitates the introduction and development of a new theoretical concept that has the potential for wide-spread applicability in the analysis of other cultural encounters

Science in the Forest, Science in the Past

This collection brings together leading anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and artificial-intelligence researchers to discuss the sciences and mathematics used in various Eastern, Western, and Indigenous societies, both ancient and contemporary. The authors analyze prevailing assumptions about these societies and propose more faithful, sensitive analyses of their ontological views about reality—a step toward mutual understanding and translatability across cultures and research fields. Science in the Forest, Science in the Past is a pioneering interdisciplinary exploration that will challenge the way readers interested in sciences, mathematics, humanities, social research, computer sciences, and education think about deeply held notions of what constitutes reality, how it is apprehended, and how to investigate it

Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of ionic liquids and polymeric ionic liquids/functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for Cr(VI) adsorption.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.In this study, a series of imidazolium and pyridinium-based ionic liquids (ILs), polymeric ionic liquids (PILs), and their carbon nanotubes-functionalized composites were synthesized, characterized and applied as potential adsorbents for hexavalent Cr(VI). Polymeric ionic liquids of different polymerizable moieties (vinyl and styrenic moieties) were studied. Furthermore, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized, characterized and dispersed on both imidazolium and pyridinium-based ILs and PILs, respectively. Thermal studies revealed that vinyl pyridinium PILs possess good thermal stability than the vinyl imidazolium counterparts. The size of the counter-anions bromide (Br-), hexafluorophosphate (PF6-), and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (TFSI-) and the charge delocalization in cationic rings greatly influenced the glass transition temperatures of PILs. Expectedly, pyridinium and imidazolium-based PILs with hexafluorophosphate ions showed poor solubility in polar protic solvents (water, methanol) and good solubility in polar aprotic solvents (DMSO, DMF, THF) except acetone (a dipolar aprotic solvent). The as-synthesized ILs/MWCNT composites were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal analysis. The results obtained indicate that the pyridinium-based ILs exhibited higher decomposition temperatures (above 400 °C) compared to imidazolium-based ILs counterparts (onset decomposition at 250 °C) with poor water-solubility and their glass transition temperatures were dependent on ion mobility. The effect of the alkyl lateral chain (propyl and isopropyl) at the first and third position of imidazolium and N-position of pyridinium cationic rings towards their thermal stability, conductivity, and solubility of the ionic liquids was investigated. Their solubilities in different polar and non-polar solvents were also investigated. Spectroscopic and microscopic analyses confirmed the formation of the ILs/MWCNT composites with new functionalities and unaltered surface morphology of carbon nanotubes. Pyridinium and imidazolium-based PILs/MWCNT composites were characterized by thermal, spectroscopic, and electron microscopy techniques. It was observed that the composites were thermally stable compared to the corresponding precursors and were insoluble in polar aprotic solvents. For application, solid-liquid adsorption process was used in the adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution using the as-synthesized ILs/MWCNT and PILs/MWCNT composites as adsorbents. Under batch adsorption experiments, the effect of solution pH, contact time and initial concentration of Cr(VI) were investigated. It was established that the adsorption of Cr(VI) took place under acidic conditions (pH=2-3), thereby confirming significant adsorption of dichromate (Cr2O7-) and hydrochromate (HCrO4-) anions. At lower pH values, the ionic and π-anionic electrostatic interactions between the positively-charged regions of the composites and Cr(VI) were believed to have facilitated the adsorption of anionic (Cr2O7-) and (HCrO4-). Adsorption results obtained based on contact time showed that increase in contact time gradually increases the adsorption of Cr(VI) within 2 h. However, further increase in experimental contact time above 2 h insignificantly affected the adsorption of Cr(VI) due to early or quick oversaturation of the surface active sites on the adsorbents. The adsorption of Cr(VI) onto ILs/MWCNT and PILs/MWCNT composites fitted well into both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. However, the homogeneity/heterogeneity nature of the adsorbents relied on the diversified nature of the composites, which includes bulky pyridinium and imidazolium organic cations with delocalized charges, some large counter anions and the graphitic functional carbon groups. In order to understand the mechanisms of the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto ILs/MWCNT and PILs/MWCNT composites, pseudo-second-order kinetic model was employed. The results obtained showed that the calculated maximum adsorption capacities (qecal) and experimental maximum adsorption capacities (qe.exp) depict high correlation co-efficiencies (R2>0.99) confirming the applicability and feasibility of pseudo-second-order model on the adsorption of Cr(VI) in this study.Abstract available in pdf

Multi-verb constructions in Eastern Indonesia (Volume 28)

Constructions with multiple verbal elements have posed a long-standing challenge to linguistic analysis. Most studies of verb serialisation have been confined to single languages rather than looking at crosslinguistic patterns. This book provides the first in-depth account into the areal characteristics of multi-verb constructions (MVCs) in Eastern Indonesia. By collating published data as well as corpus data from 32 Austronesian and Papuan languages, the study traces commonalities as well as differences in MVC use across the area. Analysis takes place on two levels: first, the morpho-syntactic behaviour of MVCs is taken into account. As this plane of analysis arguably does not provide any meaningful insights into why MVCs are construed and used the way they are, a semantic account of MVCs is presented. One of the main hypotheses advanced in this book is that the crucial driving force behind multi-verb construals is semantic interaction between the verbs, leading to four principal techniques of event formation: merging, staging, modification, and free juxtaposition. The study aims at showing that while all four techniques are, to varying degrees, in use in Eastern Indonesian languages, the morpho-syntactic output does not necessarily mirror these underlying differences in event conception. Applying insights from Davidsonian event semantics as well as from predicate decomposition, the book provides a model of event interaction that helps to explain differences in MVC behaviour such as issues in constituent order or operator assignment

Multi-verb constructions in Eastern Indonesia

Constructions with multiple verbal elements have posed a long-standing challenge to linguistic analysis. Most studies of verb serialisation have been confined to single languages rather than looking at crosslinguistic patterns. This book provides the first in-depth account into the areal characteristics of multi-verb constructions (MVCs) in Eastern Indonesia. By collating published data as well as corpus data from 32 Austronesian and Papuan languages, the study traces commonalities as well as differences in MVC use across the area. Analysis takes place on two levels: first, the morpho-syntactic behaviour of MVCs is taken into account. As this plane of analysis arguably does not provide any meaningful insights into why MVCs are construed and used the way they are, a semantic account of MVCs is presented. One of the main hypotheses advanced in this book is that the crucial driving force behind multi-verb construals is semantic interaction between the verbs, leading to four principal techniques of event formation: merging, staging, modification, and free juxtaposition. The study aims at showing that while all four techniques are, to varying degrees, in use in Eastern Indonesian languages, the morpho-syntactic output does not necessarily mirror these underlying differences in event conception. Applying insights from Davidsonian event semantics as well as from predicate decomposition, the book provides a model of event interaction that helps to explain differences in MVC behaviour such as issues in constituent order or operator assignment

PROCEEDING BOOK: Visual Cartoon "De Romon" as an Awareness Effort for the Importance of a Clean Environment

Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world consisting of 17,504 islands with 1,340 ethnic groups and 652 regional languages. Bali as one of the islands in Indonesia with a population of 3,890,757 inhabitants in 2010 has a long history. According to its history, Bali is divided into prehistoric period, ancient Bali, Bali in the middle of the XIV-XVIII century, the colonial period and the revolutionary period. Besides having a long history, Bali also has its local language. Balinese language is an Austronesian language from the Sundik branch and is more specific than the Bali-Sasak subsidiary. This language is mainly spoken on the island of Bali, the western island of Lombok, and a little at the eastern end Java island. The Balinese language in its usage has several levels, namely Bali alus, Bali madya, and Bali kasar. Bali is also known to have unique arts and culture. One of the famous forms of arts is cartoons. Cartoons in Bali have been developing since 1977. Bali Post as the oldest printed media born in Bali has published cartoons in its opinion page since 1977. Since then a number of cartoonists emerged such as Wied N., Tu Suarya, Gus Martin, Toni Tantra, Armin Jaya, IB. Loleck, and others. This research uses ethnomethodology. The analysis used is semiotics by observing the cultural signs that exist in the cartoon. The interviewee is Kadek Jango Paramartha, a cartoonist and also is the maker of the desk calendar cartoon of the municipality of Denpasar. Based on the semiotic analysis of the visual cartoon "DE ROMON" there is an expansion of the meaning "not polluting" to "not polluting the air, water and soil on earth". The expansion of the meaning is the result of contemplation by the cartoonist in interpreting "DE ROMON" from his perspective. Cartoonists have the power to interpret various meanings. When creating works, artists have absolute power in interpreting various phenomena around them through the visuals they create. Keywords : cartoon, Balinese cartoon, cartoon visualizatio

Sharebon and the Courtesans: A Phase of Edo Aesthetics as the Dispersal of Ideology.

The dissertation deals with one aspect of Edo aesthetics in 18th century Japan that is often described as the juxtaposition of refinement and vulgarity. I explore the system of this aesthetics through the examination of the literary genre of sharebon, whose subject matter is exclusively demimonde visits. The works designate a corpus of booklets produced almost anonymously in vernacular language, but with a cover that resembles a serious classical Chinese text. Sharebon content features caricatured characters, jokes, and anecdotes around a visit to the courtesans, and produces a form of literary entertainment designed for occasional consumption and performance. Its cover, including the preface and postscript, in contrast, assumes a lofty and universal appearance written in Chinese characters. The booklets present a contrast between the refined and the mundane or vulgar, and this juxtaposition generates an ironic beauty. This study views the courtesans and the demimonde from the cultural as well as socioeconomic perspective, paying particular attention to how they were articulated within contemporaneous public discourses. It analyzes the dual reception of Chinese culture and literature in Edo Japan. One layer is a solid function of the Tokugawa feudalism founded on Neo-Confucianism and the other culls from the Chinese literati tradition, while resonating with the Heian Japanese courtly tradition of poetry and eros. I argue that this literary genre was originally produced by the samurai military class, and not by the merchant class as asserted by the majority of the present scholarship in the U.S. I also examine the materiality of these sharebon texts, seeing the front page, preface and postscript as a kind of wrapping using Chinese classical texts in Japanese transcription in order for the authors to playfully parody their own status. Moreover, the multiple meanings generated by the reading of Chinese graphs in the Japanese pronunciation are meant to undermine or destabilize the Edo official culture of refinement. The mixing of literary levels of high and low culture suggests the Bakhtinian concept of the carnivalesque that in European culture served as a critique of the feudal class structure through the dispersal of stable social identities and proprieties.Ph.D.Comparative LiteratureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89808/1/naka_1.pd

Death\u27s laughter (novel) and crafting a novel (exegesis)

This thesis consists of a creative component, a novel, Death’s laughter and an exegetical essay, Crafting a novel. The novel centres on a true Nigerian story: a Pentecostal pastor, who died in a plane crash, was a government official found out to have amassed large sums of money and assets that were far greater than could be accrued from his modest salary. In addition, he was accused of bigamy because he had two wives who did not know each other in two different cities within the country. This basic story serves as the nucleus of the novel. The novel tells the stories of various characters who were created with the intention of telling their own stories and, in doing this, giving the readers a montage of the pastor who was passive but ever present in the novel. Though the pastor dies in Chapter One of the novel, each character -- who is related or has a relationship with the pastor -- tells their own stories and together builds a picture of what happened to the pastor and the kind of person he was. Pastor Jude Akanmu Babajide in the novel represents the Pastor Femi Àkànní, who was the character in the true Nigerian story. This novel does not paint a picture based on the research into the Nigerian pastor, it creates a fictional account of the pastor and of the various characters who populated the novel. As the reader goes through the various tales he/she is given an insight into Nigerian society and an introduction to some Yoruba cultural concepts