A COMPARATIVE EXAMINATION OF ISSUES OF RELIGION AND CULTURE IN AFRICA

This paper examined the contentious issues in the relationship between religion and culture. This relationship appeared to have been cordial and crucial for the corporate existence and development of the society. Although religion and culture are closely knit, there are issues of contention between them. However, these are two concepts or phenomena that exist together for the good of the society. In discovering the issues, the researcher adopted the literary method of study and examined the subject from that perspective. This paper revealed that there is culture in religion as there is religion in culture. These two elements of society (religion and culture) play different roles to keep the society functional. Notably too, religion give meaning to culture. However, the major findings suggest the checking of the excesses of culture over religion to help develop a peaceful and socially conducive atmosphere for the people. This paper further recommended that religion should be given opportunity to shape and reform culture for the benefit of man

Disparities in Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis: Importance of Race, Poverty, and Age

This study investigated the association of race, age, and census tract area poverty level on breast cancer stage at diagnosis. The study was limited to women residing in Missouri, aged 18 years and older, diagnosed with breast cancer, and whose cases were reported to the Cancer Registry between 2003 and 2008. The risk, relative risk, and increased risk of late-stage at diagnosis by race, age, and census tract area poverty level were computed. We found that the odds of late-stage breast cancer among African-American women were higher when compared with their white counterpart (OR 1.433; 95% CI, 1.316, 1.560). In addition, the odds of advanced stage disease for women residing in high-poverty areas were greater than those living in low-poverty areas (OR 1.319; 95% CI 1.08; 1.201). To close the widening cancer disparities gap in Missouri, there is the need for effective and programmatic strategies to enable interventions to reach areas and populations most vulnerable to advanced stage breast cancer diagnosis

The first record of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), tribe Bouvieromyiini (Diptera: Tabanidae), from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River

The first collections of Merycomyia whitneyi (Johnson), (Diptera: Tabanidae: Chrysopsinae: Bouvieromyiini) from Texas and from west of the Mississippi River are reported, and the Nearctic species of the Tribe Bouvieromyiini are discussed

The Effect of Essential Life Skills on an Adolescent\u27s Ability to be a Productive Citizen

This effort aimed to research the need for adolescents to obtain necessary life skills and their ability to succeed after acquiring those skills. There is an evident absence of rudimentary people skills among contemporary teenagers that causes them to miss out on otherwise achievable opportunities. They also do not appreciate the chances that their mistakes afford them. Young people know and understand the implications of their lack of life skills; however, many lack the motivation to move forward and take advantage of occasions to better themselves. To find resolutions regarding this research, this writer interviewed experts, conducted student surveys, and established an academy. The academy aims to equip its participants with the life skills they need for success in the secular world. This study showed that all adolescents are not devoid of life skills. Some teens elect not to use the people skills they have been taught because it is not popular. The study also showed that parents and community leaders must be more intentional in ensuring teens have the life skills and use them

The Religious Response to Migration and Refugee Crises in Cross River State, Nigeria

The movement of people from one country to another in search of greener pasture, peaceful settlement and so on, has become very rampant in the world today. These same reasons have triggered internal migrations as well. Lives have been lost in the bid to circumvent immigration laws of countries by immigrants. The current spate of wars, political crises, natural disasters and hunger has led to increase in illegal migration in the world. Nigeria is not left out. We hear of boundary clashes and insurgencies, which have resulted in illegal emigration to other countries basically in search of job opportunities and better living conditions. Nigerians have severally been repatriated from foreign lands. Recently, over five thousand Nigerians were repatriated from Libya. Nigeria has also played host to migrants from neighbouring countries, and has experienced internal migration in several parts of the country. The frequently asked questions are: “what role can religion play in curbing the spate of illegal migration and refugee crises in Cross River State, Nigeria? The research discovered that religion can be a veritable partner to government in resolving this ever-increasing menace that has become an embarrassment to the state and nation. This work adopted qualitative or explorative research method. It employed the content analysis approach in examining available printed materials on the subject matter. In view of its peculiarity, oral interviews were conducted on specific groups and individuals. This work proposes the involvement of religious organisations in preaching and teaching on the dangers of illegal migration, the provision of vocational training for our teaming youth population to reduce emigration, and the provision of counselling and resettlement programmes for the repatriated and those in refugee camps across the country. The work also encourages the government to evolve modalities to curb the spate of violence and bloodshed that has fuelled refugee crises in Cross River State and Nigeria in general

Insecurity in Nigeria: Political, Religious and Cultural Implications

Insecurity apart from being the fear of every Nigerian has become the word on the lips of every Nigerian and a discussion topic where two or three Nigerians gather.  This phenomenon is a state of being subject to danger or injury.  It is the anxiety one experience when one feels vulnerable and insecure.  Several illegal armed groups, ethnic militia groups, religious fundamentalist and fanatics, are evidence of insecurity in Nigeria.  These have given birth to series of bombings, murder, arson, armed robbery, corruption, injustices that we hear everyday.  It is clear that these happenings are negatively affecting Nigeria politically, religiously and culturally.    Religious organizations and other humanitarian agencies are losing confidence on the law enforcement agencies.  This issue has been critically examined in this paper, through library research and views from the media.  These work, therefore, examines, shows the causes, the effects of the political, religious and cultural implications of insecurity in Nigeria.  Arising from this research is the threat of political, economic, civil destabilization if the trend of insecurity persists.  This research paper recommends stiffer penalty for perpetrators of violence.  It is hoped that the result of this research will provide a viable solution to the current insecurity challenge in Nigeria.

The Issues Of Contention Between Religion And Culture In Africa: A Comparative Analysis

This paper examines the contentious issues in the relationship between religion and culture. This relationship appears to have been cordial and crucial for the corporate existence and development of the society. Although religion and culture are closely knit, there are issues of contention between them. However, these are two concepts or phenomena that exist together for the good of the society. In discovering the issues, the researcher adopts the literary method of study and examines the subject from that perspective. This paper revealed that there is culture in religion as there is religion in culture. These two elements of society (religion and culture) play different roles to keep the society functional. Notably too, religion give meaning to culture. However, our findings suggest the checking of the excesses of culture over religion to help develop a peaceful and socially conducive atmosphere for the people. This paper further recommends that religion should be given opportunity to shape and reform culture for the benefit of man

The Problem Of Evil: A Case Against The Omnipotence And The Goodness Of God.

Evil is the opposite of good. This phenomenon has unleashed serious threat to human existence. The problem is that it is difficult to understand and even to deal with. Evil is a subject that hasdefied solution politically, socially or religiously. This paper examined the issue of the origin,effect and ways of dealing with evil for a better society. The research adopted the historical andliterary methods of research. Various views are examined. Findings affirmed that God createdevil as well as good. However, this view challenged the omnipotence and the goodness of God. The research identified bloodshed, corruption, demonic activities, human trafficking, child abuseand child dumping/abuse and many others as social vices associated with evil. This researchrecommends that man should learn to live with it, overcome it with good, while religious groupsshould lead in the campaign to end evil and/or reduce its effect on society

Bruhat interval polytopes

International audienceLet $u$ and $v$ be permutations on $n$ letters, with $u$ ≤ $v$ in Bruhat order. A Bruhat interval polytope $Q_{u,v}$ is the convex hull of all permutation vectors $z=(z(1),z(2),...,z(n))$ with $u$ ≤ $z$ ≤ $v$. Note that when $u=e$ and $v=w_0$ are the shortest and longest elements of the symmetric group, $Q_{e,w_0}$ is the classical permutohedron. Bruhat interval polytopes were studied recently in the 2013 paper “The full Kostant-Toda hierarchy on the positive flag variety” by Kodama and the second author, in the context of the Toda lattice and the moment map on the flag variety. In this paper we study combinatorial aspects of Bruhat interval polytopes. For example, we give an inequality description and a dimension formula for Bruhat interval polytopes, and prove that every face of a Bruhat interval polytope is a Bruhat interval polytope. A key tool in the proof of the latter statement is a generalization of the well-known lifting property for Coxeter groups. Motivated by the relationship between the lifting property and $R$-polynomials, we also give a generalization of the standard recurrence for $R$-polynomials.Soient $u$ et $v$ des permutations sur $n$ lettres, avec, $u$ ≤ $v$ dans l’ordre de Bruhat. Un polytope d’intervalles de Bruhat $Q_{u,v}$ est l’enveloppe convexe de tous les vecteurs de permutations $z=(z(1),z(2),...,z(n))$ avec $u$ ≤ $z$ ≤ $v$. Notons que lorsque $u=e$ et $v=w_0$ sont respectivement le plus court et le plus long élément du groupe symétrique, $Q_{e,w_0}$ est le permutoèdre classique. Les polytopes d’intervalles de Bruhat ont été étudiés récemment dans le papier de 2013 “The full Kostant-Toda hierarchy on the positive flag variety” par Kodama et le deuxième auteur, dans le contexte du treillis de Toda et la carte des moments sur la variété de drapeaux. Dans ce papier nous étudions des aspects combinatoires des polytopes d’intervalles de Bruhat. Par exemple, nous donnons une description par inégalités et une formule dimensionnelle pour les polytopes d’intervalles de Bruhat, et prouvons que chaque face d’un polytope d’intervalles de Bruhat est un polytope d’intervalles de Bruhat. Un outil essentiel dans la preuve de cette dernière affirmation est une généralisation de la célèbre propriété de lifting pour les groupes de Coxeter. Motivés par la relation entre la propriété de lifting et les $R$-polynômes, nous donnons aussi une généralisation de la récurrence standard pour les $R$-polynômes

Symmetric matrices, Catalan paths, and correlations

Kenyon and Pemantle (2014) gave a formula for the entries of a square matrix in terms of connected principal and almost-principal minors. Each entry is an explicit Laurent polynomial whose terms are the weights of domino tilings of a half Aztec diamond. They conjectured an analogue of this parametrization for symmetric matrices, where the Laurent monomials are indexed by Catalan paths. In this paper we prove the Kenyon-Pemantle conjecture, and apply this to a statistics problem pioneered by Joe (2006). Correlation matrices are represented by an explicit bijection from the cube to the elliptope