Smash the Thing:William Kentridge, Classical Antiquity, and his Refusal of Time in O Sentimental Machine

This article examines a 2018 exhibition of William Kentridge’s work, entitled O Sentimental Machine, at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung in Frankfurt. This exhibition placed the South African artist’s work in confrontation with the museum’s collections, which offer an overview of sculpture from antiquity to early modernity. The exhibition draws together themes explored in Kentridge’s sustained engagement with Greek and Roman antiquity: critiques of triumphant narratives of history; questions of memorialization and ruination; and the probing of narratives of enlightenment, which begin with Plato’s allegory of the cave (Rep. 514a–521b). The first half of the article considers Kentridge’s dialogues with Greek and Roman antiquity in his wider works before turning to his Triumphs and Laments (2016), a series of images telling the story of Rome, imprinted on the embankment walls of the Tiber. The second half focuses on O Sentimental Machine, paying particular attention to The Refusal of Time, a piece presented at the exhibition. The article argues that this piece offers a compelling challenge to narratives of ‘civilisation’, at the centre of which lie hegemonic notions of time, underpinned by constructions of the classical tradition. Kentridge thus offers a vision for emancipatory engagements with Greek and Roman antiquity

‘When Drama becomes too much’ : Postdrama as agency and praxis in Nigerian stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy has evolved to become staple escapism in Nigeria today, avidly patronized by millions; with the form vivaciously enacted to induce laughter, yet retaining a substantial clout of critical social commentary on its immediate society. While this may have been possible because archetypal stand-up comedy depends on live performance of satiric mimicry; its socially conscious undertone couched in the subversive pursuit of mirth happens to be located within a far-reaching performance convenience warranted by conventional Drama‘s logistic and epistemological requirements, and grounded in a tactic that facilitates the circumvention of such encumbrances. Stand-up comedy‘s character is decisive: staged showing, singleperformer, unscripted act, a tactical reduction to superfluity of the habitual encumbrances of costume, set, props and the likes, a required slash of audience participation, recent employment of multimedia technology. And by these features, it implicates a re-negotiation of what constitutes 'proper drama' : script, cast, the fourth wall, scenic detail, full character delineation and plot of a certain magnitude.The present study interrogates the socio-cultural reality, performative rationale, and theoretical implications of such a form that thrives, mostly by re-processing dramatic convention. 'Postdrama‘ is here used to critique how stand -up‘s demotic strategies reconfigure material from the performance canon, and is proposed as the agency and praxis that can be woven to account for the especial performance condition of Nigerian stand-up comedy. The critique will be inhabited under these especial discourses: the political economy of dramaturgy in Nigeria, the reality of multimedia interface, and the conceptual im plication of the 'post‘ in postdrama

Preferred Sources of Information Used by Cassava Farmers in Delta State, Nigeria

This study ascertained information sources that cassava farmers preferred to use in Delta State. Area and stratified sampling techniques were used to select villages and farmers. A total of 125 respondents were used for the study. Questionnaire and interview schedule were used to collect data. Data were analysed by use of percentages, mean scores, rankings, and factor analysis based on homophily and heterophily communication factors. This study found that the average age of cassava farmers was 45.6 years. Neighbour was the most preferred source of information by cassava farmers with a mean score of 2.32. The second and third preferred information sources were opinion leaders and farmers’ cooperative society with mean scores of 2.16 and 2.00 respectively. The result of factor analysis revealed that heterophilous factors had higher factor loadings for neighbours (0.830), farmers’ cooperative society(0.769), television(0.774) and friends(0.371). This result proved that nowadays, cassava farmers preferred heterophilous information sources, from those that belong to higher social strata due to search for improvement in farming practices

Analysis of Gender Roles in Palm Oil Production in the Northern Agricultural Zone of Delta State, Nigeria

This study analysed gender roles in palm oil production in the Northern Agricultural Zone of Delta State. Four randomly selected Local Government Areas and 160 palm oil producers (80 males and 80 females) were used for the study. Multiple regression analysis, resource–use efficiency, percentages and t-test were employed in analysing the data. The gender responsibility profile showed that movement of fruits to processing site, sterilization, pulp pressing/milling, preservation and marketing were mainly done by women. Bunch harvesting, quartering of bunches, stripping, digesting and clarification were predominantly male activities. Results of regression analysis by gender showed that the quantity of oil palm branches, cooperative membership, the cost of processing method, and hired labour made significant contributions to quantity of palm oil produced by men and women. The result of t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between men and women in their level of palm oil production at 0.025 level of significance. There was no difference in resource-use efficiencies of men and women in palm oil production in the study area. On key decision-making areas of palm oil production, men dominated in three aspects, while women dominated in four out of seven aspects of decision making. Since there was no gender difference in resource-use efficiency, it was recommended that the inefficiency in the entire palm oil production system should be addressed. Men and women should strive to utilize better processing techniques that are less expensive and can save the cost of hiring labour

Strategies for Ensuring the Safety of Digital Documents in Office Systems Management

The today’s office is shifting to a paperless office (automated office) where the computer is employed in carrying out general office work and documents are managed electronically. Organizations are currently faced with the problem of securing these documents from loss, hackers, malware and unauthorized users. Hence this study sought to find out the strategies for ensuring the safety of digital documents in Office Systems Management. The population of the study comprised of 118 administrators and secretaries selected from organizations that operate automated offices in the six State capitals of the States in South-South Nigeria. Four research questions were raised and four corresponding research hypotheses were raised and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed that the administrators and secretaries viewed all backup, password, file level and share level security, as well as encryption strategies as ensuring safety of digital documents to a high extent. It was concluded in this study that backup, password, encryption, file level and share level security strategies does ensure safety of digital documents in Office Systems Management. Therefore, it was recommended that these strategies be employed by organizations operating automated offices to ensure safety of their digital documents. Keywords: Backup, encryption, file level, share level, safety, strategies, Office, Systems Management DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-18-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

Leadership Effectiveness among Farmers’ Self-Help Groups in Central Agricultural Zone of Delta State, Nigeria and Its Implication for Improved Agricultural Extension Service

This study was conducted in Delta Central Agricultural Zone to determine the effectiveness of the leadership of farmers’ self-help groups through attendance to meetings, regularity in the payment of dues and participation in group activities. Farmers’ groups are ubiquitous, yet the level of production among farmers is still inadequate. Seven of the registered farmers groups were randomly selected. Ten percent (10%) of the members of each selected group were also randomly selected to give 68 respondents that were used for the study. Primary data were collected from the respondents with the use of questionnaire and interview schedule while secondary data were collected from the records of the selected farmers’ groups. Data collected were subjected to statistical analysis by using mean derived from 4-point Likert-type scale, frequency counts and percentages. The hypotheses were addressed with the use of Pearson correlation. Leaderships were rated low in qualities of leaders and were found to be fairly effective creating access to credit, organizing group for price determination and direct sale of produce to consumers. Generally the performance of the members was poor as they did not attend meetings regularly as their mean percentage attendance to meetings was 39.89% and the percentage difference in membership due payment between the year 2002 and the year 2011was -13.19%. Owing to this, leadership performance is considered as being generally ineffective. The implication for extension delivery service is that regular training should be organized for leadership of farmers’ groups. It was therefore recommended that such training should include democratic fixation of days and time for meetings as it is in the constitution of the group, access to cheap inputs should be created, collective price determination needs to be done and the need to sell produce directly to consumers should be addressed

The reception of Petrarch’s Africa in fascist Italy

In his 1877 Storia della letteratura (History of Literature), Luigi Settembrini wrote that Petrarch’s fourteenth-century poem, the Africa, ‘is forgotten …; very few have read it, and it was judged—I don’t know when and by whom—a paltry thing’. Yet, just four decades later, the early Renaissance poet’s epic of the Second Punic War, written in Latin hexameters, was being promoted as the national poem of Italy by eminent classical scholar, Nicola Festa, who published the only critical edition of the epic in 1926. This article uncovers the hitherto untold story of the revival of Petrarch’s poetic retelling of Scipio’s defeat of Hannibal in Fascist Italy, and its role in promoting ideas of nation and empire during the Fascist period in Italy. After briefly outlining the Africa’s increasing popularity in the nineteenth century, I consider some key publications that contributed to the revival of the poem under Fascism. I proceed chronologically to show how the Africa was shaped into a poem of the Italian nation, and later, after Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, of Italy’s new Roman Empire. I suggest that the contestations over the significance of the Africa during the Fascist period, over whether it was a national poem of Roman revival or a poem of the universal ideal of empire, demonstrate more profound tensions in how Italian Fascism saw itself

EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

This study focused on the experimental evaluation of an air-conditioning system of its coefficient of performance. The performance of any vapor compression system is evaluated by the operational coefficient of performance (COP). The aim was to evaluate the effect of parameters that affect the COP of a refrigeration system. Measurements of important operational parameters such as the evaporator and condenser temperatures were studied and measured from the system. Other relevant parameters such as the humidity of both the supply air and that of the space to be conditioned were also studied and measured. Experimental data were generated for 30 days to determine the performance of the air-conditioning system. Performance evaluation of the system was determined in terms of refrigerating capacity and COP. In this present study, the load was estimated, refrigerating effect, work input, and COP was estimated. The estimated results from the experimentation showed that the operational COP of the air-conditioning system range from 3.41 0.02 to 4.98 0.02. Efficiency requirement in Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) for the air- conditioning system was estimated as 9.2. The coefficient of determination, R2 value also showed that the variables being compared have a strong correlation

Administrative Accountability on Organisational Performance of Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria

The study examined the effect of administrative accountability on organisational efficiency and performance of government officials, local government employees and community representatives; identify the challenges associated with implementing administrative accountability systems and how they can be addressed; assess the impact of administrative accountability on stakeholders trust and organisational goal alignment in Ethiope East Local Government Area (EELGA), Delta State, Nigeria. The study used mixed-method research of both qualitative and quantitative data. The data were sourced from questionnaire and in-depth interview, the questionnaire were on five point Likert Scale. The study population  comprised 2000 stakeholders in EELGA, Delta State. A sample size of 350 respondents were drawn for adequate representation. Descriptive statistic and Spearman Rank Corrolation was used to analysed the data. The result showed that administrative accountability has effect on organisational efficiency and performance of government officials, local government employees and community representatives, the challenges associated with implementing administrative accountability systems showed that insufficient resources, staff resistance to accountability systems, and inadequate training cause multiple waves of policy, conflicting policies, or duplicate responsibilities hampers comprehension and lessens enforcemen; administrative accountability has impact on stakeholders trust and organisational goal alignment in EELGA, Delta State, Nigeria.  However, the study evidence that with the right measures and approaches, administrative accountability can be a useful weapon in enhancing productivity, performance and realising organisational goals in EELGA, Delta State, Nigeria. This study contributed to the existing body of knowledge by carrying out a research on administrative accountability, looking at both its effect, association and impact on organisational efficiency and performance of EELGA, Delta State, Nigeria, ultising both qualitative and quantitative techniques, while extant literatures showed that, other scholars used effects, relationships or impacts to analysed administrative accountability and organisational performance of studies in Nigeria and that of outside Nigeria

Evaluation of physicochemical, in vivo analgesic and antiinflammatory activities of Brachystegia eurycoma gum-based naproxen loaded niosomal gels

Protracted oral Naproxen administration for acute and chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis treatment, may cause peptic ulcers. The topical application of Naproxen will circumvent this effect. This research aims to assess the physicochemical, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of Naproxen-loaded niosomal gels formulated using Brachystegia eurycoma gum (BEG) as the gelling polymer. BEG was isolated by acetone precipitation of filtrate produced by cold maceration of Brachystegia eurycoma seeds powder. Naproxen and BEG compatibility was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared FTIR) spectroscopy. Naproxen-loaded niosomes were produced with cholesterol, surfactant (tween 80) and water using a modified ethanol injection method. The formulated niosomes were incorporated into either BEG (5, 7.5 or 10%) or HPMC (1.5, 5%) gel base to produce the respective Naproxen-loaded niosomal gels. The niosomal gels were assessed for their physicochemical, antiinflammatory and analgesic properties using a commercially available gel as a positive control. There was no incompatibility between BEG and Naproxen. The formulated gels’ pH ranged from 6.4 to 7.3, while the viscosity ranged from 1476.2 to 2980 mPas. The formulated gels had good extrudability and spreadability compared to the commercially available gel (1%). In-vivo studies using white albino rats showed that gels from the optimized formulation (F1) had comparable anti-inflammatory (26.5% inhibition) and analgesic properties to the commercially available gel (31.3% inhibition). Naproxen-loaded niosomal gels having good physicochemical, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties were successfully formulated using BEG as a gelling agent