The Challenges of Aesthetic Populism: An Interview with Jean-Pierre Bekolo

This article is published with the permission of the author.In the early 1990s a young Cameroonian director, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, stormed the annals of African filmmaking with a stylish urban comedy, Quartier Mozart. This fast-paced story about sexual politics in a Yaounde neighborhood was edited on the template of the musical video, a genre in which Bekolo had worked briefly before turning to filmmaking. Quartier Mozart was widely praised for its iconoclastic attitude in a filmmaking tradition which had formalized cultural identity and the politics of self-representation into aesthetic concerns. The form of Bekolo’s work encouraged critics to compare him to the Senegalese Djibril Diop Mambety (d. 1998), another filmmaker who, twenty-years earlier, had similarly redefined African cinema with the magnificent Touki-Bouki (1973), his first work. The film was also so reflexive in its awareness of contemporary cinema that further comparisons with the style of the black American director, Spike Lee, became moot. Such critical comments did not produce an “anxiety of influence” in the young director: he openly and repeatedly declared his interest in the works of Mambety (about whom Bekolo shot a documentary film, Grandmother’s Grammar, 1996). Four years after Quartier Mozart, Bekolo produced and directed Aristotle’s Plot (1996), his commissioned entry in the series sponsored by the British Film Institute to mark the centenary of cinema. Other directors in the series included Stephen Frears, Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorcese, and Jean-Luc Godard. In this film, Bekolo sets up the genre of action film to question the rationale of mimesis, the Aristotle’s plot of the title, which has overdetermined the practice of storytelling, in Hollywood and elsewhere. The confident mix of aesthetic populism and critical, even auterish staging of conceptual issues in African and contemporary filmmaking has become Bekolo’s style. For him, a film has to entertain in the traditional sense but without sacrificing an awareness of its place in a vast, diverse but persistent effort to form and transform the practice of African filmmaking. This is a complex but productive intellectual position within an artistic tradition noted for its divisions, factions, and labels. The commitment is pursued further in Les Saignantes (2005), a beautifully photographed film about two femme fatales who set out to rid their country of its corrupt and sexually obsessed male politicians. It is a hybrid sci-fi-action-horror film set in the year 2025, and again, the director uses the opportunity to discursively explore the forms of cinema and of African politics. Bekolo’s other directorial credits include Boyo (1988), Un pauvre blanc (1989), and Mohawk People (1990). This interview was conducted on April 29, 2006, in New York City.This material is the copyright of the author. Please contact him for information about reproduction or reuse

Performance-related properties of large particle sized tire-derived aggregate (TDA) for leachate collection and removal systems (LCRS)

The compressive response of large particle sized TDA (>50 mm in size) to large applied loads, and the resulting effects on void ratio, vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivity were studied to evaluate the use of the material in constructing the leachate collection and drainage layer of landfills. The applied loads studied ranged from 28 kPa to 375 kPa to simulate 2 m to 40 m of overlying waste over a landfill drainage layer. The performance of a drainage layer in a landfill depends on a high hydraulic conductivity to rapidly transmit leachate from the base of the landfill into collection and removal units to prevent excessive mounding of leachate on basal liner materials. It also depends on a high void volume to store inevitable biogeochemical clog material that will accumulate around the TDA particles as leachate flows through the drainage layer. Given that TDA compresses under applied loads, unlike gravel – which is typically used in constructing the drainage layer of landfills, the hydraulic conductivity of TDA and void volume will change under applied loads with time. The individual and combined effects of immediate compression (the instantaneous response upon application of load) and creep (the time delayed compression following immediate compression) on void ratio under applied loads were studied. Study of biogeochemical clogging was outside the scope of work; however, parameters such as void volume under applied loads and specific surface area were measured. These can be used in the simulation and evaluation of biogeochemical clogging in future studies. The inherent nature of TDA required innovative design of the laboratory testing equipment and iterative re-design and modification of the units and their components. The testing units had to be large to accommodate the testing of the large particle sized TDA, whilst minimizing the effects/inevitable artifacts of constrained large scale testing (such as sidewall friction). Despite all efforts to minimize sidewall friction loss, this was still highly prevalent during the testing, causing higher applied loads and compression in TDA sublayers closer to the applied loads and lower applied loads and compression in the sublayers farther away from the loads. Sidewall friction loss during compression testing was accounted for by determining the vertical distribution of applied loads and void ratio across the TDA thickness. In the evaluation of permeability and hydraulic conductivity, sidewall friction effects were removed from the data using some formulated analytical forms. High velocities and inertia effects were also accounted for in the analyses of the permeability and hydraulic conductivity data. Laboratory testing was carried out using two main large sized, purpose built units – a one dimensional (1D) consolidometer (1.8 m high, 0.7 m diameter) and a two dimensional (2D) permeameter and consolidometer (1 m high, 1.2 m long, 0.6 m wide). The 1D cell was used to measure immediate compression and creep under applied loads. The 2D cell was used to measure vertical, horizontal air permeability, and hydraulic conductivity under sustained load; compression data was also collected from testing in the 2D cell. Eight compression/creep tests were completed in the 1D cell over a combined 705 days, individual duration ranged from 24 to 317 days. The duration of testing in the 2D cell was over 430 days (combined for all the tests), individual duration ranged from 112 to 316 days. Air permeability and hydraulic conductivity were evaluated from several dozens of tests completed at different flow rates and pressures. The results from this study show that the void ratio of TDA can decrease to as low as 0.2 at applied loads of 224 kPa (20 m to 25 m of overlying waste on a landfill drainage layer). Nonetheless, the corresponding vertical and hydraulic conductivity values at a void ratio of 0.2 were both greater than 0.01 m/s. Projections of void ratio to higher applied loads up to 800 kPa (70 m – 85 m of overlying waste) showed a decrease to 0.01 and beyond that, void ratio was considerably less than 0.01. Corresponding vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivity values at a void ratio of 0.01 were both higher than 0.001. These thus imply that void ratio alone is not sufficient for evaluating the performance of a TDA drainage layer, as even at considerably low void ratios, adequate flows can still be maintained in a TDA drainage layer. Many landfill regulations (for instance Standard for landfills in Alberta – used in Saskatchewan) stipulate a hydraulic conductivity of 0.0001 m/s. The measured and projected values (up to 800 kPa) meet and exceed the common stipulation for landfills, and are comparable to the typical range of values for gravel used in landfill leachate drainage layers. Given these results, large particle sized TDA can be considered adequate for use as drainage material in the leachate collection and removal systems of landfills. The results from this research work were used in an existing analytical form for evaluating maximum leachate head in a drainage layer. The maximum leachate head values obtained from the analytical form were validated and corrected using finite element numerical modeling. The corrected values were presented in the form of design charts. The design charts and the results from this work were used to prepare a design guidance that may be used when constructing a landfill drainage layer with large particle sized TDA

Performance Analysis of Hadoop MapReduce And Apache Spark for Big Data

In the recent era, information has evolved at an exponential rate. In order to obtain new insights, this information must be carefully interpreted and analyzed. There is, therefore, a need for a system that can process data efficiently all the time. Distributed cloud computing data processing platforms are important tools for data analytics on a large scale. In this area, Apache Hadoop (High-Availability Distributed Object-Oriented Platform) MapReduce has evolved as the standard. The MapReduce job reads, processes its input data and then returns it to Hadoop Distributed Files Systems (HDFS). Although there is limitation to its programming interface, this has led to the development of modern data flow-oriented frameworks known as Apache Spark, which uses Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDDs) to execute data structures in memory. Since RDDs can be stored in the memory, algorithms can iterate very efficiently over its data many times. Cluster computing is a major investment for any organization that chooses to perform Big Data Analysis. The MapReduce and Spark were indeed two famous open-source cluster-computing frameworks for big data analysis. Cluster computing hides the task complexity and low latency with simple user-friendly programming. It improves performance throughput, and backup uptime should the main system fail. Its features include flexibility, task scheduling, higher availability, and faster processing speed. Big Data analytics has become more computer-intensive as data management becomes a big issue for scientific computation. High-Performance Computing is undoubtedly of great importance for big data processing. The main application of this research work is towards the realization of High-Performance Computing (HPC) for Big Data Analysis. This thesis work investigates the processing capability and efficiency of Hadoop MapReduce and Apache Spark using Cloudera Manager (CM). The Cloudera Manager provides end-to-end cluster management for Cloudera Distribution for Apache Hadoop (CDH). The implementation was carried out with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon Web Service is used to configure window Virtual Machine (VM). Four Linux In-stances of free tier eligible t2.micro were launched using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). The Linux Instances were configured into four cluster nodes using Secure Socket Shell (SSH). A Big Data application is generated and injected while both MapReduce and Spark job are run with different queries such as scan, aggregation, two way and three-way join. The time taken for each task to be completed are recorded, observed, and thoroughly analyzed. It was observed that Spark executes job faster than MapReduce

Exploring ways to improve healthcare access for the homeless population in Merced County

Homelessness is a societal dilemma that affects people in the United States and around the globe. Homelessness relates to poor health conditions that affect the living conditions of individuals (Institute for Urban Initiatives, 2018). Chronic and acute illnesses are rampant in this group, most of these illnesses are treatable but accessing healthcare poses a challenge for this vulnerable population. Homeless persons are often unable to access healthcare due to fear and denial of ill health, difficulty in communicating health needs, and low self-esteem (Lamb & Joels, 2014). In the study, questionnaires were administered to 25 homeless individuals through random sampling. From the study, homelessness is still a big problem in Merced County with a substantial impact and distresses on a considerable number of individuals. Healthcare systems should find ways to help homeless individuals improve access to better medical services, acquire insurance coverage, and live hygienically by observing every aspect of healthy living. Although the healthcare system has tried to meet the individual’s needs, satisfactory levels are low. A long-term solution like housing facilities for the homeless population is the best way to tackle this threat. Permanent housing will remove the individuals from the streets which will, in turn, avoid their health vulnerabilities. It is worth noting that harsh environmental conditions like cold and psychological fear encourages the homeless individuals to use drugs that make them numb to the reality

Farm Animals’ Health Behaviours: An Essential Communicative Signal for Farmers’ Veterinary Care and Sustainable Production

Farm animals constitute valuable source of quality nutrition and economic development across the world, and sustainable farm animal production is greatly being challenged by pests and disease infestation with the resultant poor productivity, death of animals and economic losses to the farmers and nations at large. But before infections reached the threshold of debilitative effects, an infected animal communicates a physiological disturbance by vocalisation and/or visual cues. While a healthy animal communicates its good health status by active display and movement of the body parts in response to its environment, a sick animal manifests its health situation by looking dull, by being self-isolated from the stock, by being sluggish or by refusing to move on when approached or to be fed. Although the communicated cues by a farm animal are determined by the kind of physiological impairment experienced by the animal, farmers’ understanding of the specific communication cues by the farm animals would make quick detection of any laden disease in the animals possible and stimulate prompt health care service provision. Consequently, several ways by which farm animals communicate their health situation and the veterinarian actions to be taken in the light of a disease outbreak are highlighted in this article

Women Empowerment as A Catalyst for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Adult Education as A Tool

Nigerian society allows men to dominate women with the belief that domestic roles in the society must be carried out by women. This often results into their marginalization and oppression but this has witnessed changes in the contemporary society through women empowerment. The study examined women empowerment and sustainable development among para-military officers wives association in Nigeria. The study answers research question that women empowerment has effect on sustainable development. Data used for this study were primary sources of data. The data were analyzed using frequency tables, percentages and correlational table. The study was conducted using some selected para-military officers wives association (Police Officers Wives Association [POWA] and Road Safety Officers Wives Association [ROSOWA]) in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study found out that women empowerment has positive effect in the society, women empowerment has positive effect on sustainable development and positive relationship exists between women empowerment and sustainable development. The study recommend that education should therefore be seen as a tool for empowering women because empowered women will contribute meaningfully to the development of their society.

Impact of Management Information System on Microfinance Banks’ Operations, in Oyo State, Nigeria

This study examined the Impact of Management Information System (MIS) on Microfinance Banks (MFBs) Operations in Oyo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the existing management information system products that support microfinance banks operation and assessed the relationship between MIS and Microfinance Banks’ operations.10 percent of the microfinance banks were selected using random sampling technique through balloting. Primary data was collected with the aid of questionnaire, while sixty-six respondents from the employees of the microfinance banks in Oyo State were selected.   Descriptive statistics were employed to examine the existing MIS products that support microfinance banks operation, while the relationship between MIS and Microfinance Banks’ operations was assessed using inferential statistical tool of Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients (PPMC).Results revealed that Short Messaging Service (SMS) was the dominant MIS products that support Microfinance Banks operations in the study area. Also, there is significant relationship between MIS and Microfinance Banks’ operations. Keywords: MIS, MIS products, microfinance banks, Short Messaging Service

Poor Slaughterhouse Waste Management: Empirical Evidences from Nigeria and Implications on Achieving Millennium Development Goals

The compounding contribution of slaughterhouse wastes to waste management problems in developing countries is likely to continue into the future considering the growing quest for animal protein. Adequate knowledge and practice of waste management among slaughterhouse workers can help limit the associated effects of poor disposal on access to safe water, environmental sustainability and quality of life which are core areas of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Data on knowledge, attitudes and practices of waste management of 390 randomly selected slaughterhouse workers in Nigeria were collected and analyzed using multiple regression statistics. The results reveal that the majority of the respondents had poor attitudes (75.6%) and practices (97.4%) of proper waste management, though 51.5% demonstrated good knowledge. While 51.3% knew that slaughterhouse wastes are related to diseases, 75.4% were unconcerned that poor management could be major public health and environmental hazards and 74.4% discharged slaughterhouse wastewater into surrounding streams. Gender, education and work experience were significantly associated with good knowledge (p <0.05). These poor attitudes and practices have negative implications on environmental health conditions, access to safe water and quality of life. Therefore, addressing poor slaughterhouse waste management issues in developing countriesbecomes imperative to making achieving the MDGs a reality.Key words: Environment, Health, Slaughterhouse waste, Millennium Development Goals, Nigeri

A review of COVID-19 vaccines strategies and anti-vaxxers theories

In what is a global record time of getting the COVID-19 vaccines available within 11 months, the world has equally been faced with several myths and conspiracy theories dissuading the public from accepting vaccination as an important measure in the response to the pandemic. We reviewed the leading conspiracy theories and balanced these with the scientific basis of viral transmission and replication and the broad role of vaccination in tackling this challenge. We briefly examined the design of the leading vaccines, and provided recommendations for worldwide COVID-19 distribution, acceptance and use. Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine, anti-vaxxer, review   French Title: Un examen des stratégies de vaccins COVID-19 et des théories anti-vaxxers Dans ce qui est un temps record mondial pour obtenir les vaccins COVID-19 disponibles en 11 mois, le monde a également été confronté à plusieurs mythes et théories du complot dissuadant le public d'accepter la vaccination comme une mesure importante dans la réponse à la pandémie. Nous avons passé en revue les principales théories du complot et les avons équilibrées avec la base scientifique de la transmission et de la réplication virales et le rôle général de la vaccination dans la lutte contre ce défi. Nous avons brièvement examiné la conception des principaux vaccins et formulé des recommandations pour la distribution, l'acceptation et l'utilisation du COVID19 dans le monde. Mots clés: COVID-19, vaccin, anti-vaxxer, revu