Representations of Africa in US Media: A Semiotic Analysis of Ebola: The Doctor’s Story and Body Team 12

The Western media has often been criticized for biased coverage of happenings in and around Africa. The 2014 Ebola outbreak created a lot of media attention for West Africa, and by extension, the entire continent. This study examined to what extent postcolonial discourses were infused in two films from the HBO Trilogy: Ebola: The Doctor’s Story (2015) and Body Team 12 (2015). To analyze these texts, I took a semiotic approach by identifying, describing and interpreting the signs in both films, to discuss the postcolonial discourses in three broad themes. Ebola: The Doctor’s Story (2015) was analyzed in the following themes: foreign versus local intervention efforts, biohazard, relational signs while the themes in Body Team 12 (2015) were local intervention efforts, gender and biohazard. This study expands on existing research on the postcolonial representation of Africa in Western media, especially in the area of film

Challenges In Managing Entrepreneurial Small Firm’s Growth And Transition In Nigeria

Growth can be simply referred to as advancement from less complicated level to more complex level, very essential in business and its one of the major objectives of entrepreneurship. It is the movement of the business into bigger premises, taking on more staff, significant increases of turnover, taking on a new product line or lines, buying another business, and so on. This paper critically assess the new venture creation; what it takes to be an entrepreneur; different dimension of business growth; significance of growth; types of opportunities new venture can consider; barriers to firm growth; managing transition and sustaining growth among others. The paper examines the skills and traits required by an entrepreneur to survive in a recession period. Most importantly, the paper highlights framework conditions required for effective operations of small business and acknowledges a case of Dangote Group of Company, in Nigeria to discuss evolution of growth, transition management and growth sustenance. In this review, it is clearly shown that entrepreneurship growth is not limited to small firm alone, it is also common among larger firm. Evolution of company takes many efforts and shortcomings, and the survival of any firm is also part of growth. Keywords: Growth theory; Growth barriers; Small business; Transition management, Dangote group of company

The Menace of Tobacco Smoking among Nigerian Adolescents

Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Smoking is a practice in which a substances such as, tobacco, marijuana or cannabis is burned and the smoke tasted or inhaled.  It is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreation drug use, as combustion release the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. The tobacco companies have hand in getting people to start smoking because they know that 90 percent (90%) of smokers started smoking when they were younger than 18 years of age. These companies continue to do research on youths using hidden cameras, interviews and psychological tests to find new ways to appeal to them.  In recent times, tobacco smoking is by far the most popular form of smoking ahead of pipes, cigars and chewing tobacco and is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. The implications of smoking include health implication, social implication, financial implication, psychological implication, educational implication, and air pollution. Hence, it was recommended that the government should be sincere and more proactive in safeguarding the health of adolescents by putting embargo on the sale and distribution of tobacco and its products. Keywords: smoking, adolescents, information, implication

Socio-Cultural Predictors of Protein Energy Malnutrition among Breast-Feeding Mothers in Osogbo Metropolis, Nigeria

This study investigated perceived socio-cultural predictor of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) among breast-feeding mothers in Osogbo metropolis, Nigeria. The research design used for this study is descriptive survey. The population for this study is the breast feeding mothers in Osogbo metropolis while hundred (100) respondents were sampled from two health facilities within the metropolis. Three self developed and structured questionnaires were used as instrument for data collection viz: Social Factors and Childhood Protein Energy Malnutrition Questionnaire (SFCPEMQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.832, Cultural Factors and Childhood Protein Energy Malnutrition Questionnaire (CFCPEMQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.862, and Childhood Protein Energy Malnutrition Questionnaire (CPEMQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.940. Two hypotheses were raised to give focus to the study. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages was used to analyze the demographic data of the respondents while the hypotheses were analyzed using regression analysis. All hypotheses were analyzed at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that socio-cultural factors are significant predictors of PEM among breast feeding mothers; therefore it was recommended that maternal education should be given priority so that mothers will have relevant nutritional knowledge. Keywords: Protein Energy Malnutrition, malnutrition, culture, mortality

Perceived Effect of Noise Generated by Religious Houses on the Health of People of Osun State, Nigeria

This study investigated perceived effect of noise generated by religious houses on the health of people of Osun State, Nigeria. The research design used for this study is descriptive survey and the instrument for data collection is self developed and structured questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.737. More details can be found in the full paper

Tendencias tecnoculturales digitales del siglo XXI en Nigeria y el pseudoísmo de la globalización en África

In prevalent scholarship, the words ‘Africa’ and ‘globalization’ have always been depicted as sharing a tenuous relationship that reveals several problems underlying the Eurocentric belief in the synchronicity of the world’s supposed progressive globality. The skepticism extended towards the concept of globalization in Africa is foregrounded against the fact that the continent’s socio-economic and political developments run at an uneven pace, different from the rest of the world. However, while it is easy to dismiss globalization as a western concept that does not holistically concern Africa, it is impossible to ignore the far-reaching significance of global attitudes and attributes in countries like Nigeria. In Nigeria, one such seemingly global hallmark is the popularization of digital technological trends such as social media, artistic internationalism, pop-cultural co modification, celebrityhood, and the embrace of digital economies such as cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. This proposed paper aims to expand on this techno-cultural strand of ‘globalization’ in Nigeria by referring to current experiential realities obtained from an observational study of Nigerian millennials and Gen-Zers, while arguing that the asymmetrical rise of culturally symbolic digital trends in Nigeria does, in fact, reveal the facadism and pseudoism of the concept of globalization.En la erudición predominante, las palabras “África” y “globalización” siempre se han descrito como compartiendo una relación tenue que revela varios problemas subyacentes a la creencia eurocéntrica en la sincronicidad de la supuesta globalidad progresista del mundo. El escepticismo extendido hacia el concepto de globalización en África se contrapone al hecho de que la evolución socioeconómica y política del continente se desarrolla a un ritmo desigual, diferente al del resto del mundo. Sin embargo, si bien es fácil descartar la globalización como un concepto occidental que no concierne de manera integral a África, es imposible ignorar la importancia de gran alcance de las actitudes y atributos globales en países como Nigeria. En Nigeria, uno de esos sellos aparentemente globales es la popularización de las tendencias tecnológicas digitales como las redes sociales, el internacionalismo artístico, la co-modificación de la cultura pop, la fama y la adopción de economías digitales como las criptomonedas y la tecnología blockchain. Este documento tiene como objetivo expandir esta vertiente tecnocultural de la ‘globalización’ en Nigeria al referirse a las realidades experienciales actuales obtenidas de un estudio observacional de los millennials y Gen-Z de Nigeria, mientras argumenta que el ascenso asimétrico de las tendencias digitales culturalmente simbólicas en Nigeria de hecho, revela el facadismo y el pseudoísmo del concepto de globalización

Racial Bias in Health Care Machine Learning Algorithms

Machine learning algorithms in healthcare are racially biased, especially when diagnosing patients and choosing candidates for care management programs.https://digitalcommons.hamilton.edu/posters/1014/thumbnail.jp

The challenges of on-street parking in Nigerian Cities’ transportation routes

Parking is an integral component of the transport system. It plays a crucial role in the management of traffic and congestion. On-street parking constitutes one major problem that makes traffic situation chaotic in Nigeria cities. Most roads in Nigeria cities are narrow and lack pedestrian lanes. There are cases of double parking along these narrow roads thereby causing traffic congestion. This is due to the non-availability of off-street parking facilities along the transportation routes. This study examines the challenges of on-street parking in Nigerian cities’ transportation routes using Ibadan North-East Local Government area as a case study. Both primary and secondary data which were collected in 2009 were used in the study. Among the issues examined in the study are the situation of existing parking facilities along the transportation routes in the area; perception of road users (drivers and passengers) about motorist’s parking behavior and the effect of on-street parking in the area. Policy implications are discussed in the paper

Students’ Assessment of Hostel Facilities in the Polytechnic Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria: Realities and Challenges

The provision of on-campus accommodation for students has been seen as having effects on students’ academic performance and social integration. In order to ensure that students’ hostels in tertiary institutions particularly in Nigeria justify this assertion, there is a need to deal with facilities gaps in students’ housing. This study examines the status of students’ hostel facilities in The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria, with a view to recognizing the improvement for satisfactory housing for students in tertiary institutions. Using the questionnaire, 2 (two) hostels representing half of the total hostels were purposively selected. Subsequently, 101 representing twenty percent (20%) of the total population were systematically sampled from the selected hostels. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using descriptive analysis such as frequency distribution to assess the general level of student’ housing facilities and second, to determine the status of hostel facilities. The results of the analysis indicate gross inadequacy of students’ housing facilities as a result of non-provision, obsolescence, and non maintenance. It was equally observed that some of the facilities are not evenly distributed. However, the results also revealed adequacy of few facilities. It was recommended that improvement be made on those facilities that were not adequate, while those considered to be adequate should be maintained and sustained by concerned authorities. Keywords: Adequate, Facility, Hostel, Inadequacy, Nigeria and Student.

Antimicrobial activities of medicinal plants used in folklore remedies in south-western

In south-western part of Nigeria Psidium guajava and Mangifera indica are commonly used for herbal preparations in the treatment of toothache, gastrointestinal disorders, dynsentery, diarrhoea, sore gums and sore throats. This has, therefore, led to the investigation of the antimicrobial activities of methanolic extracts of P. guajava and M. indica. Fifteen different bacterial isolates comprising of both Gram negative and Gram positive organisms were used. The results show that P. guajava and M. indica extracts exhibited antimicrobial activities at a concentration of 20 mg/ml. The zones of inhibitionexhibited by P. guajava extract ranged between 12 mm and 30 mm while that of M. indica varied between 11 and 28 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) exhibited by P. guajava extract against the tested organisms ranged between 0.313 and 0.625 mg/ml. On the other hand MIC exhibited by M. indica extract varied between 1.25 and 10.0 mg/ml. Overall, P. guajava extract show more antimicrobial activity than M. indica extract against tested organism