Re-Viewing the Mass Communication Education Curriculum. Case for Language/Linguistics, Communication Synergy.

Curriculum review of any academic curriculum is one way of demonstrating the dynamism of such discipline. Mass Communication as a dynamic discipline is one such beneficiary of curriculum review. In line with Iwuchukwu’s (2010) earlier submission that no graduate of any academic level or discipline worth’s more than the curriculum that produces him/her, it was an observed inability of some practicing journalists, especially, those in the print. To handle ethical issues, which was traced to a lacuna in the curriculum that led to the introduction of the course, ethics. This paper seeks to unveil another obvious lapse among mass communication practitioners cutting across, print, broadcast and electronic media. It further highlights that such lapses as incompetence in language use, both at the phonetic, phonological semantic. Syntactic stylistic and even psycholinguistic to be a direct fall out of a perceived lacuna in the present mass communication education curriculum especially in Nigeria. We contend that a review of the present curriculum is glaringly imperative recommending not only the inclusion of more language/linguistic courses but also a stronger synergy between language/linguistics and mass communication. This is our opinion could be boosted with a course "Language and Communication not only though to all mass communication students at all levels, but it being recognized as another Sub-field of specialization by mass communication graduates who wish to further their stadium at the postgraduates levels as in the case in the University of Calabar

Plea Bargaining: A Recreation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm in Nigeria

Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell in which he depicted social injustice precipitated by the insincerity of leadership and the betrayal of the people by their leaders which has made the novel relevant as the experience depicted therein “seamlessly steps into the realities of everyday life” (Achebe 2012) in contemporary societies all over the world. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the Animal Farm experience and the Nigerian experience hinged on plea bargaining. The Nigerian citizens advocated for democracy, fought for and won the entrenchment of democracy and the political leaders turned themselves into pigs of who are of special breed. The political leaders just like the pigs in Animal Farm are entitled to the best of everything while the others toil and labour for them to enjoy. In addition, they are exonerated of embezzlement of public fund through plea bargaining while an ordinary citizen is jailed for street trading. The argument in this paper is that economic and violent crimes have the same impact on the society and so should be treated the same way. If every Nigerian who is accused of or even guilty of any crime cannot make use of plea bargaining then it should be expunged from the judicial system of the country while stiffer penalties be meted out to economic and financial criminals. The conclusion is that if the practice of plea bargaining is not checked, it could erode the credibility of the country’s justice system

Dislodging the “University of Nkwo Nnewi” through Open and Distance Learning

It is not uncommon for a young Igbo trader from Anambra State to announce proudly that he is now at UNN (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and the uniformed listener believes him not knowing that this brand of UNN stands for “University of Nkwo Nnewi”, representating various markets in Nigeria where Igbo boys who dropped out of schools and attach themselves to prosperous businessmen for igba odibo,(apprenticeship) before establishing their own businesses. The rate at which young boys abandon school is becoming worrisome so policy makers in Anambra State focus on curbing low male enrolment and high school dropout. Those who dropped out of school early in life are completely forgotten, so, this research is to fill that gap. The objective of this research therefore is to present this group, the problem they encounter and proffer solution. The findings indicate that they face more problems in business than their forebears because information technology has rendered moderate education inadequate for the business transactions. Consequently some of them yearn to go back to school but are incapacitated by time constraints. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), provides an excellent platform for them to study at their own pace but there is need advocacy campaigns through town unions, market associations, age grades and drama to create awareness for them

Performing Arts in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Curriculum for Youths Employability

Two major arguments are presented in this paper. The first one is that the Performing Arts courses constitute programmes that aid the reduction of unemployment in many nations. The second argument is that, based on that premise, the Open and Distance Learning institutions could include it in their curricula to boost the employability of youths because the courses that make up the Performing Arts (Music, Dance and Drama) are areas of specialization that guarantee immediate employment to the professionals in most cases. This claim is premised on the number of emerging musicians, dancers, actors, actresses, the frequency and popularity of musical shows/jamborees, the increasing number of awards for performers, TV reality programmes and the astronomic rise in dramatic productions (home videos, films, soaps and other TV plays) in Nigeria. With the flexibility, accessibility, and wide coverage of the university, NOUN could design undergraduate, certificate and diploma programmes to enable those with innate talents to improve on them and others with the desire to learn. The recommendation include a blended e-learning approach that would be made up of 30% face to face whereby students meet with their instructors; 30% individual learning and practice and 40% collaboration with group mates

The Constructive, Reformative and Revolutionary Image of the African Woman in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and Femi Osofisan’s Morountodun

Many African playwrights present women as hapless victims in the hands of men which is believed to be the true image of women given the patriarchal nature of the African Society. These women are portrayed as underdogs, prostitutes and witches without progressive or adventurous attributes. Incidentally, the reverse is the case in the works written by men, used in this study. These men portray women as active participants in the socio-political and economic development of their societies. They present women who are determined to transform their societies positively as they participate in revolutionary struggle. This paper examines the role of women in revolutionary struggles and concludes that it is possible to exalt women from the observatory pedestal to a participatory pedestal in all spheres of human endeavour and that they will excel. It recommends the need to revisit and deconstruct the African tradition and culture that inhibit women’s social mobility

Mathematical Modeling of High Temperature and High Pressure Dense Membrane for Separation of Hydrogen from Gasification

There is an increasing interest in the use of inorganic membranes as a means of separating gas mixtures at high temperatures and pressures. The most important membrane properties are high permeability and selectivity, and good mechanical, thermal and chemical stability. Dense Pd-based composite membranes are suitable for hydrogen separation and use in catalytic membrane reactors because of their high permeability, good surface properties and high selectivity for hydrogen transport. At UTSI, Pd/AlO23 membranes were prepared by a special method of laser based thermal deposition of the thin film Pd on a ceramic substrate by Nd-YAG laser irradiation of PdCl2 coating on a γ-alumina substrate. This work reports a mechanistic model for the hydrogen permeation process in the Pd/Al2O3 composite membrane developed at UTSI. The model takes into account the well known kinetics of hydrogen adsorption/desorption in the palladium surface and hydrogen permeation in the porous alumina layer. Reasonable values for all mass transfer rate parameters were estimated based on the available surface science and membrane permeation literature. One set of experimental data (at 11000F) was used to determine the best values of the necessary rate parameters. These values of rate parameters were then used to predict and compare the experimental hydrogen flux data at two other temperatures (90000F and 1300F). The results demonstrated that the atomic hydrogen diffusion through the palladium layer and pore diffusion in the porous alumina support both played important roles in the permeation of hydrogen through the composite Pd/Al2O3 membrane. A simplified resistance model was also employed to analyze the permeation behavior of hydrogen through the Pd/Al2Omembrane to identify the major resistances to the mass transfer. The results indicated that the mass transfer in the Pd layer contributed about 90% of the total mass transfer resistance. Our model calculations also indicated that by reducing the thickness of the Pd layer to about 18 μm, the DOE goal of \u3e 60 scfh/ft2 for hydrogen gas flux can be achieved. This can also be achieved by reducing the thickness of the Pd layer to about 20 μm and reducing the thickness of the alumina support layer to about 2 mm or by increasing it’s porosity to about 50%.

Protein engineering for the Enhanced Photo-production of Hydrogen by Cyanobacterial Photosystem I

Photosystem I (PSI) from plants, algae, and cyanobacteria can mediate H2 evolution in vivo and in vitro. A simple, self-platinization procedure that permits stable PSI-mediated H2 evolution in vitro has been developed. The H2 evolution capabilities of PSI from Thermosynechococcus elongatus have been characterized. This organism utilizes cytochrome c6 (cyt c6) as the e- donor to P700. Using a solution-based, self-organized platinization of the PSI nanoparticles, this study demonstrates a sodium ascorbate-cyt-PSI-Pt-H2 electron transport and proton reduction system that yields light-dependent H2. The system was thermostable with H2 evolution increasing up to 55°C. In addition, stability studies have shown the H2 evolution to be very stable, with no significant decrease over the 80 days investigated. Through simple optimization a H2 production rate of ~5.5 mol H2/h/mg Chl [micro-mole H2 per hour per milligram chlorophyll] was attained. To further optimize the H2 production Asc-cyt-PSI-Pt-H2 system, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed. The process parameter studied included temperature, light intensity and platinum salt concentration. The results showed that experimental data had a good fit to the proposed model (R2=0.99 and p \u3c 0.001). Platinum salt concentration, temperature and the interaction between platinum salt concentration and temperature showed significant effects on the total H2 yield. Light intensity had minimal effect of the total H2 yield within the region studied. The optimum parameters for H2 photoproduction were light intensity of 240 μE/m2/s, [micro-eistien per square meter per second], platinum salt concentration of 636 μM [micro-mol/liter] and temperature of 310C. Finally, studies that will improve the H2 yield by increasing the kinetics of electron transfer were done. A hybrid protein was formed by engineering a gene to express a fusion of the membrane-bound [Ni-Fe] hydrogenase from Ralstonia eutropha H16 and the stromal-exposed subunits PsaE and PsaD of PSI from T. elongatus. A PsaE-free mutant of PSI was simultaneously formed by genetically disrupting the expression of the PsaE subunit of a native PSI; that will allow in vitro reconstitution of the desired PsaE-hydrogenase fusion protein with PsaE-free PSI