Lateness: A Major Problem Confronting School Administrators in Delta State, Nigeria

Amongst other components of any organisation, human beings are the most difficult to manage. Folks pose the most problems to administrators any where in the world, not excluding school organisations as learning factories in Delta State, Nigeria. Many authors have posited as a matter of fact that it is easier to manage the financial and material components of any organisation than to manage the human component. They insinuate that “it is easier to manage even animals than to manage human beings” (Nakpodia, 2006; Peretomode, 1991; Peretomode, 2001; Ubogu, 2004; Emore, 2005; Ukoshi, 2004). Thus, in the school system, the school head, which is usually the headmaster/headmistress or the principal, is confronted with numerous problems posed by staff and/or students. These problems include: sleeping on duty, negative attitude to tasks, lack of motivation to tasks, sexual harassment, theft, quarrelling, malice, jealousy, envy, absenteeism, lateness, etc

Valency in the Urhobo Language

This paper examines verb valency in Urhobo, using minimalism as a theoretical framework.  The method of data collection is group into two: the primary and the secondary sources. The primary source is the intuitive knowledge of the native speaker, while the secondary involves documented materials from internet, Journals, conference proceedings and documented books. The study reveals that where we have one argument structure, we have one theta function. Where there are two place predicates, we have two theta roles or functions, and also, three arguments predicates possess three theta roles. This goes a long way to say that Urhobo verbs can take different levels of arguments and its syntactic and semantic well-formeness will still be intact. It also reveals that it involves entity to perform an action, such as òvwèrẹ̀ (sleeping event) in the Urhobo language. Finally, the paper identifies three valency classes in the Urhobo language (Mono-valent verb- takes or involves one entity, Di-valent verb- takes or involves two entities, and Tri-valent verb- takes or involves three entities)

Case Role in the Urhobo Language

This paper examines case role in the Urhobo language. Case theory is used as theoretical frame work, the specific objectives is to investigate type of cases and to relate cases roles to argument structures in Urhobo. The study reveals that in the Urhobo language every lexically headed NP must receive case from a case assigner. The Case theory requires that the case assigner govern the NP to which its assigns case. Tense, verb and preposition are case assigners. The infinitive ‘to’ and the passive participles are not case assigners. Case assignment can take place only when the case assigner and the NP to which it assigns case bear a structural relation to one another. It also reveals that irrespective of the theory and its arguments, Urhobo verbs are the basses and centre of its expansion of its constructions. This research also finds out, that the argument structures identified in universal grammar (UG) align with the argument structure of the Urhobo language; the verb assigns arguments to the noun phrases in a sentence. This is traced to the structure of the Urhobo language which is subject-verb-object (SVO). Finally, the study reveals that the function of the nominative case is to mark the subject of the sentence; the vocative is the case of address; the accusative is used to mark the object of a transitive verb; the genitive is the case of possession, ablative case is to mark the instrument with which something is done and the dative case marks the indirect object in the Urhobo language

Use of a Blunt Version of Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear to Analyze Meat Qualities of Broilers with Woody Breast Myopathy and Reared to Various Ages

Broiler breast meat tenderness is an important meat quality attribute. There has been an increase in incidences of woody breast along with white striping as meat quality defects. These defects have been found to negatively impact meat qualities of broiler breast fillets. Woody breast can be classified by the degree of hardness into normal (NORM) and severe (SEV). The Meullenet-Owens Razor Shear (MORS) method was developed to assess broiler meat tenderness and a blunt version (BMORS) has been reported to be more sensitive at higher degrees of toughness. The present study was intended to determine the effect of age, debone time, strain, and woody breast severity on meat quality. Sarcomere length (SL) increased as deboning time increased and high breast yield (HY) strain had greater SL than standard breast yield (SY) strain (P0.05) on collagen content. In NORM fillets there were no significant differences for MORSE and BMORSE, and higher cook yield due to age (P\u3e0.05); on the other hand SEV fillets had greater BMORSE, longer SL and lower cook yield at 9 wks of age (

The spatial pattern of voter choice homogeneity in the Nigerian presidential elections in the fourth republic

The return of democratic rule in 1999 after many years of military intervention has left some electoral geographic imprints on Nigeria: voting pattern has varied over this period. A spatial analysis of voter choice homogeneity in the Nigerian presidential election from 1999 to 2015 was done to unravel the striking pattern of voting that is often obscured when only votes received by parties that won the elections are considered. The analysis shows that voting patterns have structured Nigeria’s electoral landscape from a random to clustered but dissected then to a clustered but regionalised milieu of a nation of two voting worlds sharply depicting the ethno-religious divide of the country. While, economic, security and governance issues shape voting behaviour they only become weighty when comingled with ethno-religious and regional sentiments.

Effects of Labeling and Consumer Health Trends on Preferred Ground Beef Color Characteristics, Fat Content and Palatability in Simulated Retail Display

Nutritional concerns have impacted the protein market, decreasing red meat consumption as well as prompting the advent of lean and extra lean ground beef. However, such lean blends of ground beef may suffer in palatability. This study seeks to bridge the gap between perceived health and palatability. Participants were asked to identify the relative importance of characteristics commonly used in purchasing ground beef and select a preferred package of ground beef from labeled and unlabeled sections consisting of 4%, 10%, 20%, and 27% fat content. Instrumental color data and their main drivers were also collected. Participants then completed a blind taste sampling of ground beef with variable fat contents as previously described. Color, fat, and price were found to be significantly more important (P \u3c 0.05) than label, which was significantly more important than company for package preference. No trend towards fatter or leaner blends was found between labeled and unlabeled selections, with 62.64% of participants selecting identical packages between the two sections. Instrumental color data found significant trends in lightness and oxymyoglobin ratio, the proportion of pigment that is bright cherry red, that may be used to identify leaner product without a label. No significant differences were found between the blends for any trait in sensory taste evaluation. These results suggest that while consumers have specific preferences when purchasing ground beef that can be replicated without a label using visual inspection alone, they are less discerning between cooked ground beef of different fat contents. This may explain the continued demand for lean ground beef

International Public Sector Accounting Framwork, Regulatory Agencies And Standard Setting Procedures: A Critique

The objective of this paper is to critique public sector accounting framework, regulating agencies and standard setting procedure. This is done within the contexts of examining and critiquing (i) the conceptual and institutional framework issues  (ii) the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), the product of the conceptual framework, and expectedly intended to address accounting issues.Such accounting issues relate to the measurement, presentation and preparation of annual general purpose financial reports in the public sector entities other than government business entities. Against the back drop of weaknesses observed in the review of extant literature, we suggest   some reforms, including effective principles-based standards to address the multi-faceted activities of government ,including the  restructuring of IPSAS board (IPSASB.).This ,it is expected, will bring about a balance of political, economic, cultural and legal system of countries that constitute IFAC, and  a more representative IPSASB, among others. Keywords: Public sector accounting, conceptual and institutional framework.

Factors responsible for rural residential water supply shortage in Southeastern Nigeria

Efficient water supply is very crucial to sustenance of socio-economic growth, poverty attenuation, and food security. In most rural areas of developing countries including Nigeria water supplies are not commensurate with demand leading to a shortfall in water use and many people suffer from this scenario. This research investigated the factors responsible for rural residential water supply shortage in Southeastern Nigeria. Data were collected through the use of four mixed but complimentary methods namely questionnaire survey, interviews, focus group discussions and secondary data sources. The data generated were analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Principal Component Analysis was employed to combine the variables accounting for water supply shortage into a few underlying dimensions. The results indicated that physical environment and inadequate water supply infrastructure; socio-economic and geographical location; management and socio-cultural problems are responsible for water supply shortage in the area. Residential water supply can be sustainable in the area by regulating the influence of these factors impacting on water supply as well as lessen the implications of water deficiency. The research concludes that the process of water supply development should be stepwise in accordance with the participatory and managerial capacity of communities

IMPACT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE ATTRIBUTES ON FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY IN NIGERIAN QUOTED COMPANIES

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of Audit Committee on financial reporting quality in Nigerian quoted companies. Data for the study were derived from annual reports of one hundred and thirty- one (131) companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the periods, 2006 to 2012. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as correlation and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. The multivariate regression technique was utilized to estimate the model. Using the panel regression estimation results, we found that each of the identified audit committee attributes, such as: frequency of meetings, financial literacy, independence, size and attendance at meetings had a positive significant effect on financial reporting quality. Based on these findings, the paper recommends the need for training and seminars to be organized for members of audit committee with a view to enabling them keep abreast of up to date information as regards their roles and responsibilities, to make them more effective and efficient in their assignments. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria should put in place a regulation, which ensures that audit committee members maintain at least, an attendance level of 85%, for them to be retained in the audit committee for the following financial yea

Global Demand for Timely Financial Reporting: How Prepared are Nigerian Companies?

The objective of the study is to determine the trends in delays in corporate financial reporting in Nigeria. Three types of delay in financial reporting were identified: audit, management and total delays. Data were obtained from the annual reports and accounts of Seventy Five (75) companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2010. The trends in delay in corporate financial reporting were analysed using three-year moving average method and simple ordinary least square regression. The results showed that on the average the audit delay was about 163 days while management delay and total delay were 92 days and 255 days respectively. These appeared comparatively higher than in most countries of the world. The trend analysis by three-year moving average and simple regression showed that delays in corporate financial reporting had been on the decline over time but audit delay declined faster than the management and total delays during the period under study just as it was in Egypt (Akle, 2011) and Malaysia (Hashim & Abdul-Rahman, 2011). To ensure early corporate financial reporting, it was recommended that the supervisory authorities should make the mandatory financial reporting time to be 90 days after the balance sheet dates for all public companies. Stiffer penalties (in terms of monetary fines) should be imposed against non-compliance. Keywords: Audit delay, management delay, total delay, corporate financial reportin