Addressing a Crisis of Imagination: A Social Justice Lens for the Cinematic Representation of Queer Persons with Physical Disabilities in African Films

In crisis situations, persons with physical disabilities and queer persons, who are already vulnerable and face discrimination on their grounds of their immutable identities are subject to increasing hardship at the hands of the public owing to how the assumptions made of them and the meanings associated with them. This study recognizes the double jeopardy that queer persons with disabilities face, particularly queer men with physical disabilities. This study also recognises that cinematic representations are path through public imagination and perceptions of the minorities are curated. As such cinematic representations of queer persons with physical disabilities can be reconfigured to guide the public imagination towards the inclusivity of queer persons with disabilities. However, cinematic representations of queer persons with physical disabilities are almost non-existent. It appears that queer persons with disabilities simply do not exist in film, and as such they do not exist in public imagination and are not catered for law and policy. This translates to increased vulnerability. The erasure of queer persons with physical disabilities from public imagination translates to a ‘crisis of imagination’. This crisis of imagination as a result of displacement and erasure is borrowed from Ndopu’s description of the consequence of erasing 90% of children with disability from the world’s classrooms through the unjust sustenance of ableist structures. In the field of cinematic representation and attitude focused human rights advocacy, this study addresses the erasure of queer persons with physical disabilities through the conceptualization of international best practices with transdisciplinary, decolonial, crip,queer and critical disability theoretical groundings. This study, through a social justice and human rights lens, reads against grain of hegemonic cinematic representations in order a chart a more social justice compliance addressing of the crisis of imagination that erases queer men with physical disabilities

Perception of Stakeholders on the Compliance of Sports Facilities to Relevant Standards in Selected Universities in South West Nigeria

This paper examines the level of compliance of sports facilities, in selected universities in South-Western Nigeria to relevant standards (National and International standards). Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which was administered on sports men and women (4 male, 2 female). Personnel responsible for maintenance of sports facilities in the universities were also sampled (two groundsmen from each University, the Director of Sports and two other members of the sport Council, Director of Works, four maintenance Supervisors, and two maintenance administrative staff, and eighteen maintenance operatives in each of the selected University). The study incorporated all the fifteen sports featured at the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) competitions. Three federal universities were purposively selected because these have facilities for all the fifteen sports and have hosted national and international sporting events. A total of four hundred and fifty four copies of the questionnaires (454) were administered and (342) copies were retrieved and found useful for analysis. Two hundred and sixty one copies (71.7%) copies of questionnaire were retrieved from sports men and women and 81 copies (90%) from maintenance staff in the universities sampled. Data obtained were analysed using frequency distribution, percentages and mean response analysis. The findings revealed that football field; hockey and cricket pitches were rated very low on the availability of sprinklers. The hard courts were rated very low on ‘crack free’ and ‘free of holes. The swimming pool was equally rated very poorly on pool chemical balance and cleanliness of water. The study concluded that sports facilities in South West Nigeria were not complying with the requisite national and international standards. The study therefore recommended immediate response from the management of the sports facilities in order to return the facilities to normal operations halt accelerated deterioration, correct cited safety hazards and life safety code violations

Effect of granite dust on the performance characteristics of kernelrazzo floor finish

This study is part of an on-going research on the durability performance of kernelrazzo, a type of terrazzo floor finish. It investigated the effect of partial replacement of the coarse aggregate with granite dust on the compressive strength, water absorption capacity and density of kernelrazzo. Two mix ratios (1:3 and 1:4), varying aggregate replacements of marble chipping with burnt palm kernel shells amounting to 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, varying percentage replacements of all coarse aggregates with granite dust amounting to 0%, 10%, 30% and 50% were used. Cost comparisons were also made. Test results showed that the compressive strength of kernelrazzo increases up to a maximum of 30% coarse aggregate replacement by granite dust for both mixes for 0–50% replacement of marble chippings with palm kernel shells. For 75–100% marble chippings replacement, the compressive strength increases with increasing amount of granite dust. The water absorption capacity and density (upto 30% of granite dust) decrease and increase, respectively, with increase in percentage of granite dust. The cost of kernelrazo decreases with increase in the percentage of replacement of coarse aggregates with granite dust, except for 100% marble chipping replacement. It was recommended that to produce a good kernelrazzo floor finish in terms of strength, durability, density, water absorption capacity and cost, the overall coarse aggregate should not contain more than 50% of palm kernel shells for 1:4 and 1:3 mix ratios with a maximum of 30% aggregate replacement with granite dust. ? 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Determining the Performance of Procurement Methods against Selection Criteria using Outranking - Satisfying Methodology

The need to develop a decision support system to determine the most appropriate procurement route for a building project led to the development of various theoretical models. One of the foremost techniques was the multi-attribute utility approach (MAUA). In this technique, the arithmetic mean (averaging) method was used to fix the utility factors relating the procurement routes to each criterion. In this paper, the averaging method was subjected to further analysis using the outranking-satisfying technique to determine the correctness of the results derived from the averaging method used to fix the utility factors in the use of MAUA. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the rank-order of procurement methods against selection criteria by averaging and outranking-satisfying techniques. The use of outranking-satisfying analysis revealed that, the use of arithmetic mean to determine the utility factors can lead to inappropriate association of procurement routes with differing utility coefficients

Antibacterial effects of extracts of Ocimum gratissimum and piper guineense on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

The upsurge in the prevalence of side effects of many synthetic antimicrobial agents and incidence of multidrug resistant bacteria has spurred scientists on the research for plant based antimicrobial of therapeutic potentials. Ocimum gratissimum and Piper guineense present such potential of high medicinal value. These plants are used in Nigeria traditionally as condiments and for treatment of various ailments such as pyorrhea, dysentery and bronchitis. Aqueous and ethanol extracts of O. gratissimum and P. guineense leaves were screened for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Both extracts were found to exhibit selective inhibition against the isolates. The diameter zones of inhibition exhibited by the extracts were between 2 + 0.01 – 10 + 0.10 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined by the agar diffusion method was between 10.00 and 2.50 mg/ml-1. Ethanol extracts showed more inhibitory effect compared to the aqueous extracts. Results obtained show that the extracts of O. gratissimum and P. guineense possess some level of antibacterial activities against E. coli and S. aureus

Causes and Effects of Building Collapse in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study identified and evaluates the causes of building failure and examined the effects of building failure with respect to cost in Lagos State, Nigeria.  The method employed in the collection of data includes the administration of questionnaire to professionals in the construction industry and case studies for the sites. A purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the sites visited, and selecting the construction professionals. Descriptive statistical techniques such as frequency distribution and percentages and mean response analysis were used to analyze data. The study revealed that the major causes of building failures were bad design, faulty construction, over loading, non-possession of approved drawings, Possession of approved drawings but non-compliance, and the use of quarks. In the two case studies considered, the total direct loss to the building owners was thirty eight million three hundred and eight five thousand, seven hundred and twenty one naira (38,385,721) which is about One hundred and ninety four thousand, eighty hundred and fifty one dollars ($194,851) at one hundred and ninety seven naira to one US dollars, central bank Nigeria of exchange rate as at 14th March, 2015. Keywords: Building structures, Building failure, Building collapse, structural failure, Cost, Direct los

Comparative study of microwave assisted and conventional synthesis of novel 2-quinoxalinone-3- hydrazone derivatives and its spectroscopic properties

A series of novel quinoxalin-2(1H)-one-3-hydrazone derivatives, 2a - 8d were synthesized via condensation of 3-hydrazinoquinoxalin-2(1H)-one, 1, with the corresponding ketones under microwave irradiation. The microwave assisted reaction was remarkably successful and gave hydrazones in higher yield at less reaction time compared to conventional heating method. The chemical structures of the compounds prepared were confirmed by analytical and spectral dat

The Correlation Between Staffing Hours and Nursing Home Resident Fall Rate

AbstractHealthcare administrators and researchers have had the burden of determining best practice protocols that minimize falls among older adults living in nursing homes for several years. Several studies have investigated, and identified intrinsic and extrinsic factors that lead to falls among other adults and made recommendations along the lines of their findings. However, researchers are yet to establish the impact of staffing hours on nursing home resident fall rate. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation if any, between nursing home residents fall rate and the staffing hours they receive daily from certified nursing assistants (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and registered nurses (RNs). This correlational study was based on the systems theory framework. Using multiple regression analysis, data points containing the U.S. averages of nursing homes including rehabilitation services obtained from the CMS database were analyzed. The results of these analyses led to three key findings: (a) insufficient evidence to support the claim of linear correlation between nursing home residents fall rate and CNA staffing hours received per day, (b) there was a linear correlation between nursing home resident fall rate and LPN staffing hours received per day, and (c) there was a linear correlation between nursing home resident fall rate and RN staffing hours received per day. The results of this study may be used by nursing home administrators for positive social change by increasing their staffing of LPNs and RNs to provide the knowledge base required to properly guide the CNAs in providing quality care

Comparative Petiole Chatateristics of C. Albidum, C. Cainito and C. Subnudum (Sapotaceae)

The family sapotaceae has Chrysophyllum as one of its genus, this family sapotaceae belongs to Order Ericales. According to Benson (1957)  was of the opinion that the family is distributed widely through tropical and warm areas. The family comprises trees and shrubs with about 70 genera and 800 species with milky latex (Gill, 1988), David and Heywood (1963). Chrysophylum is derived from Greek, meaning “Golden leaf” from the colour of the hairs of some species. It is a tropical tree growing rapidly up to 10-20cm or more in height. Chrysophyllum has about 70-800 species, with seven (7) species occurring in Nigeria (Keay, 1989). The fruits of the genus Chrysophyllum are largely berry containing five large flattered seed. In West Africa, 23 genera and more than 300 species are recorded. The genera includes; Manikara, Mimusops, Kanton, Breviea, Delipdora, Chrysophyllum, Pachytela. (Hutschson and Daniel 1963; Gill, 1988) 15 genera are recorded in Nigeria among which is Chrysophyllum. They are evergreen trees; the trees are usually long and straight but often low branching, deeply fluted, sometimes with small buttresses at the base. (Keay,1989). Members of this family are often characterised by the presence of reddish hairs on the abaxial leaf surface. The leaves are simple alternate or rarely opposite, usually entire and coriaceous. Stipulates are sometimes present but normally fall often extremely easy and are in practical terms only seen in few species. The flowers are regular and usually bisexual and actinomorphic, only in a few species are they bisexually. They nearly always occur in clusters in the leaf-axial or on the order twigs behind the leaves or very rarely on the main trunk itself (Gill, 1988, Keay, 1989). The latex found in Chrysophyllum wood is utilized as an adulterant of gutta-percha and chewing gum. The seeds of C. albidum stung together as girdle and can be used as rattle during dancing (Okigbo, 1995). Medicinally, a ripe fruit of C. Cainito because of its mucilaginous character is eaten to soak inflammation in laryngitis and pneumonia. It is given as a treatment of diabetes mellitus and as a decoction in gargled to relieve angina. A decoction of the tannia-rich, astringent bunk is drunk as a tonic and stimulant and is taken to halt diarrhoea, dysentery and as Haemorrhages in the treatment of gonorrhoea and catarrh of the bladder. Due to close morphological resemblance of C. albidum and C. subnudum, some researchers have placed C. subnudum as a variety of C. albidum, hence necessitating this study to agree or disagree with this placement. Furthermore, limited taxonomic work has been carried out on the genus Chrysophyllum in Nigeria despite the economic importance of the genus. Hence,  the need to carry out this research work with the objectives of carrying out comparative petiole characteristics of C. albidum, C. cainito and C. albidum in the family sapotaceae so as to conform their inter specie relationships and form a systematic description of each of the species. To use the result to establish if there is a relationship between these three species (C. albidum, C. cainito and C. subnudum). To strengthen the reliability of the petiole characteristics in the systematic concentration of the plants. To ascertain if the outcome of the comparative petiole characteristics will help to elucidate the problem of the morphological resemblance between C. albidum and C. subnudum

Review of network integration techniques for mobile broadband services in next generation network

Next Generation Network (NGN) is intended at integrating the existing heterogeneous wireless access networks in order to produce a composite network that provides users with ubiquitous broadband experience. Currently, it has been established that Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, as a backbone network, provides broadband capacity with high efficiency, reduced latency and improved resource provisioning. Resource provisioning on this backbone network is not without its limitation as more mobile broadband services (MBBs) are evolving and users demand for mobility is on the increase. This paper, therefore, reviewed the different integration techniques for the heterogeneous networks that use LTE network as backbone that supports mobile broadband services.Keywords: MBB, NGN, LTE, SIP, Qo