New Media and Political Advertising in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges

This paper examines the new media as a tool for political advertising in Nigeria vis- a-vis, the challenges and prospects. The new media, especially the Internet and Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) have become important political campaign tools in Nigeria and the world over. This paper is guided by the fact that the new media have become so important in the dissemination of political activities. Thus, the study aims at finding out the relevance of the new media and the prospects/ challenges. We adopted the survey research method, employing the questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. Two hundred copies of questionnaires were administered to the respondents, to elicit their opinions concerning the prospects and challenges of the new media as a tool for political advertising. Two theories were chosen to provide the theoretical framework for the study. The theories are technological determinism theory and the agenda setting theory. Findings from the questionnaire administered to the two hundred respondents show that the political parties in Nigeria recognise and make use of the new media for carrying out their political activities, but this they do occasionally. Findings show that there are prospects and challenges of new media as a tool for political advertising in Nigeria. One of the prospects is that the new media can reach a very broad audience while one of the challenges is that the ability to constantly deliver messages via the new media is difficult. Based on the findings, the paper concludes that the extent to which the political parties in Nigeria use the new media is minimal and therefore, recommends that political parties in Nigeria should give due attention to the use of the new media for the dissemination of political activities.Key Words: Advertising, Political Advertising, Communication and the New Medi

Thermal effect on current gains of an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistor

The temperature dependence of current gain was investigated for AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistors (HEBT). The current gain of the HEBT was found much less sensitive to temperature variation than that of a heterojunction bipolar transistor. In particular, the HEBT current gain was more or less constant with increasing temperature at the high current regime, indicating great potentials for power applications.published_or_final_versio

Employing the Mass Media for the Promotion of Human Rights in Nigeria

The place of the mass media in the promotion of human rights in any given society cannot be overemphasised; the mass media generally, can be used to bring about positive attitudinal change in the individuals. Thus, the paper examines the role of the media in the promotion of human rights in Nigeria; it explores the various ways through which the media can be used to promote human rights in Nigeria; some of the various ways identified in the paper are: through editorials, features, news commentaries, discussion programmes. The paper identifies the basic human rights to include: right to life, right to dignity of human beings, right to personal liberty, right to fair hearing, right to compensation from property compulsorily acquired, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion, right to peaceful assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, among others. The paper discovers that the Nigerian populace does not enjoy these rights, as these rights are still trampled upon in most cases. More so, the paper identifies that the mass media have not really been effective in the promotion of human rights in Nigeria. Thus, it proposes that the media, both electronic and print, should be used to promote the issue of human rights in Nigeria, so that people will know their rights.Key Words: Human Rights, Violation, Human Rights Promotion and the Mass Medi

Temperature dependence of current gain of GalnP/GaAs heteroj unction and heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistors

The temperature effect on current gain is presented for GalnP/GaAs heterojunction and heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistors (HBT's and HEBT's). Experimental results showed that the current gain of the HEBT increases with the increase of temperature in the temperature range of 25-125 °C and decreases slightly at temperatures above 150 °C. The smaller the collector current, the larger is the positive differential temperature coefficient. At high current levels, the current gain dependence on temperature is significantly reduced. On the other hand, a large negative coefficient is observed in the HBT in all current range. This finding indicates that the HEBT is a better candidate than the HBT for power devices. © 1999 IEEE Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9383(99)00257-9.published_or_final_versio

Carbon-doped GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using nitrogen as the carrier gas

The use of nitrogen as the carrier gas in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) for the growth of carbon-doped GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) is reported. The material quality grown using a nitrogen carrier gas is the same as that of using a hydrogen carrier gas. High carbon doping and hole concentrations of 3 × 1020 and 2 × 1020 cm-3 in GaAs were obtained. The fabricated HBTs showed very good DC and RF performances indicating that nitrogen can be a promising carrier gas for MOCVD growth. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Hong Kong domestic health spending: financial years 1989/90 to 2005/06

This report presents the latest estimates of Hong Kong domestic health spending between fiscal years 1989/90 and 2005/06, cross-stratified and categorised by financing source, provider, and function on an annual basis. In fiscal year 2005/06, total health expenditure was HK$71 557 million. In real terms, it grew 6.5$71 557 million total health expenditure in 2005/06, HK$68 810 million (96.2$2746 million (3.8%) on capital expenses (ie investment in medical facilities). Services of curative care accounted for the largest share (67.3%) and were made up of ambulatory services (35.7%), in-patient services (27.7%), day patient hospital services (3.4%), and home care (0.6%). The second largest share was spending on medical goods outside the patient care setting (10.8%). In terms of health care providers, hospitals (44.0%) accounted for the largest share of total health expenditure in 2005/06, followed by providers of ambulatory health care (31.4%). We observed a system-wide trend towards service consolidation at institutions (as opposed to free-standing ambulatory clinics, most of which are staffed by solo practitioners). Not taking capital expenses (ie investment in medical facilities) into account, public current expenditure on health amounted to HK$34 849 million (50.6$33 961 million) was mostly incurred at providers of ambulatory health care (55.8%). This reflects the mixed health care economy of Hong Kong, where public hospitals generally account for about 90% of total bed-days and private doctors (including western and Chinese medicine practitioners) provide about 70% of out-patient care. Although both public and private spending were mostly expended on personal health care services and goods (93.0%), the patterns of distribution among functional categories differed. Public expenditure was targeted at in-patient care (53.7%) and substantially less on out-patient care (24.6%), especially low-intensity first-contact care. In comparison, private spending was concentrated on out-patient care (49.9%), followed by medical goods outside the patient care setting (22.0%) and in-patient care (19.0%). Compared to countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Hong Kong has devoted a relatively low percentage of gross domestic product on health services in the last decade. As a share of total spending, public funding (either general government revenue or social security funds) was also lower than in most comparably developed economies, although commensurate with its public revenue collection base.published_or_final_versio

3D Multispectral Imaging for Cultural Heritage Preservation: The Case Study of a Wooden Sculpture of the Museo Egizio di Torino

Digitalization techniques, such as photogrammetry (PG), are attracting the interest of experts in the cultural heritage field, as they enable the creation of three-dimensional virtual replicas of historical artifacts with 2D digital images. Indeed, PG allows for acquiring data regarding the overall appearance of an artifact, its geometry, and its texture. Furthermore, among several image-based techniques exploited for the conservation of works of art, multispectral imaging (MSI) finds great application in the study of the materials of historical items, taking advantage of the different responses of materials when exposed to specific wavelengths. Despite their great usefulness, PG and MSI are often used as separate tools. Integrating radiometric and geometrical data can notably expand the information carried by a 3D model. Therefore, this paper presents a novel research methodology that enables the acquisition of multispectral 3D models, combining the outcomes of PG and MSI (Visible (VIS), Ultraviolet-induced Visible Luminescence (UVL), Ultraviolet-Reflected (UVR), and Ultraviolet-Reflected False Color (UVR-FC) imaging) in a single coordinate system, using an affordable tunable set-up and open-source software. The approach has been employed for the study of two wooden artifacts from the Museo Egizio di Torino to investigate the materials present on the surface and provide information that could support the design of suitable conservation treatments