Queering Masturbation in Lorde\u27s Life and Writing

In his article Queering Masturbation in Lorde\u27s Life and Writing Eric Sipyinyu Njeng discusses masturbation in Audre Lorde\u27s life and works to signal an important aspect of her oeuvre often neglected in scholarship. Lorde stands out among prominent queer queens by demonstrating theory corporeally thereby going beyond mere theory and positing her body as a space of complex sexual passions. When Judith Butler speaks of gender as performative rather than embodied, Lorde theorizes and foregrounds this in her works and self and celebrates a sexual matrix that ranges from heterosexuality to homosexuality to auto-sexuality. Lorde places masturbation between the binary hetero/homosexual options which privilege one form over the other suggesting that the hetero/homoerotic dichotomy is not transacted on a level field of emotional and analytical impartiality, but of homophobic pressure intent on devaluing other forms of sexuality. By forcing the third singularly corporeal option between the two, Lorde interpellates generalized homophobia and anti-masturbatory sentiment which remain pervasive in culture and society

How Does Undergraduate College Biology Students\u27 Level of Understanding, in Regard to the Role of the Seed Plant Root System, Relate to Their Level of Understanding of Photosynthesis?

This research study investigated how undergraduate college biology students\u27 level of understanding of the role of the seed plant root system relates to their level of understanding of photosynthesis. This research was conducted with 65 undergraduate non-majors biology who had completed 1 year of biology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. A root probe instrument was developed from some scientifically acceptable propositional statements about the root system, the process of photosynthesis, as well as the holistic nature of the tree. These were derived from research reviews of the science education and the arboriculture literature. This was administered to 65 students selected randomly from class lists of the two institutions. Most of the root probe\u27s items were based on the Live Oak tree. An in-depth, clinical interview-based analysis was conducted with 12 of those tested students. A team of root experts participated by designing, validating and answering the same questions that the students were asked. A systems lens as defined by a team of college instructors, root experts (Shigo, 1991), and this researcher was used to interpret the results. A correlational coefficient determining students\u27 level of understanding of the root system and their level of understanding of the process of photosynthesis was established by means of Pearson\u27s r correlation (r = 0.328) using the SAS statistical analysis (SAS, 1987). From this a coefficient of determination (r2 = 0.104) was determined. Students\u27 level of understanding of the Live Oak root system (mean score 5.94) was not statistically different from their level of understanding of the process of photosynthesis (mean score 5.54) as assessed by the root probe, t (129) = 0.137, p \u3e 0.05 one tailed-test. This suggests that, to some degree, level of the root system limits level of understanding of photosynthesis and vice versa. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data revealed that students who applied principles of systems thinking performed better than those who did not. Students\u27 understanding of the root system of the Live Oak tree was hindered by understanding of, plant food, the nonwoody roots, and the tree as a system

Queering Masturbation in Lorde's Life and Writing

In his article "Queering Masturbation in Lorde's Life and Writing" Eric Sipyinyu Njeng discusses masturbation in Audre Lorde's life and works to signal an important aspect of her oeuvre often neglected in scholarship. Lorde stands out among prominent queer queens by demonstrating theory corporeally thereby going beyond mere theory and positing her body as a space of complex sexual passions. When Judith Butler speaks of gender as performative rather than embodied, Lorde theorizes and foregrounds this in her works and self and celebrates a sexual matrix that ranges from heterosexuality to homosexuality to auto-sexuality. Lorde places masturbation between the binary hetero/homosexual options which privilege one form over the other suggesting that the hetero/homoerotic dichotomy is not transacted on a level field of emotional and analytical impartiality, but of homophobic pressure intent on devaluing other forms of sexuality. By forcing the third singularly corporeal option between the two, Lorde interpellates generalized homophobia and antimasturbatory sentiment which remain pervasive in culture and society

Achebe\u27s Work, Postcoloniality, and Human Rights

In his article Achebe\u27s Work, Postcoloniality, and Human Rights Eric Sipyinyu Njeng argues that Chinua Achebe exposes failings in the fabric of African society and engages with violations of human rights. Achebe is careful not to hurt the pride of Africans who in the Zeitgeist of the nationalist ferment of the 1950s were wary of European powers. Achebe does not write back to the empire: he writes the empire in and he lays bare the weaknesses in African culture grounded in the father-son-grandson trajectory he narrates. Achebe presents what may be termed a cultural dialectics: the thesis (flawed African customs represented in violations of human rights) collides with its antithesis (colonialism and Christianity) leading to a synthesis (a recognition of colonial agency and appropriation of values)

Achebe, Conrad, and the Postcolonial Strain

In his article Achebe, Conrad, and the Postcolonial Strain Eric Sipyinyu Njeng presents an analysis of Chinua Achebe\u27s Things Fall Apart in a context of postcolonial thought and argues that while Achebe\u27s text is often placed against Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness as a counter discourse -- thus interrogating Conrad\u27s portraiture of Africans as savages -- Achebe\u27s text in fact represents anti-Africanism and subservience to Occidental values. Examining Achebe\u27s authorial intention in Things Fall Apart, especially as epitomized in the character of Okonkwo, the protagonist, Njeng argues that Achebe corroborates Conrad\u27s portrait of the African. In writing Things Fall Apart, Achebe falls under the postcolonial writer\u27s strain resisting and at the same time seduced by Occidental ideology. In his novel, Achebe tries to veil his desire for the Occident by presenting Okonkwo initially as a prominent character only to fulfill this desire in the course of the narrative by decentering the protagonist. Achebe\u27s characterization is centrifugal, that is, he constructs the events of the story to unfold such that Okonkwo is systematically removed from the centre. This decentering of the protagonist diminishes him as well as the African values he is supposed to represent. This centrifugal aesthetics of constructing events resulting in the protagonist removed from the centre, satisfied Achebe\u27s intention of supplanting African values with Western values. Removing the protagonist from the centre of events creates space for the antagonist to take root, supplanting African religion and culture with Western ideology and hegemony. Njeng postulates that Things Fall Apart appeals to Occidental audiences because Achebe concedes them the place they have always thrived for and thus the novel continues to reverberate in Western discourse

Appropriating Writing in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God

This paper examines the appropriation of writing as an integral part of the colonial encounter in Achebe’s Arrow of God (1964). Achebe’s hero (Ezeulu) realizes the pitfalls of orality in the confrontation with Europeans who are equipped with writing and its accompaniments. The coming of the West is therefore welcomed as Ezeulu quickly sides with them to empower himself against the contending forces of a disintegrating society. I argue that, as the Chief Priest of Ulu, Ezeulu is aware of the flaws in the oral nature of his religious pantheon and by sending his son Oduche to learn the art of writing he appropriates the technology of writing in order to prevail against his enemies and ineluctably allows his god’s surrender to the Christian God. This absorption into a greater pantheon is facilitated through the appropriation of writing and the sacred book

Etude et modélisation de fours tournants équipés de releveurs

The present work addresses a fundamental study on flighted rotary kilns. They are gas-solid reactors, used in a variety of industries to process heterogeneous media. However, operating these kilns mainly relies on the know-how of operators due to insufficient fundamental understanding. The aim of this work is to provide engineers with relevant tools and models to assist in the design stage and the performance improvement of existing operating process units, in particular indirectly heated rotary kilns, inclined and equipped with lifters. In the first part, we studied the effects of operating parameters on the flow of materials of differing properties and shape. For this purpose, residence time distribution measurements were performed through experimental stimulus response tests. Two pilot-scale rotary kilns with similar length-to-diameter ratios, but a dimension ratio of about two were used in this study. We focused on the effects of lifter shape and configurations. The effects of the rotational speed, the kiln slope, the mass flow rate and the exit dam height were also analyzed. The flow of solids was quantitatively characterized primarily by the experimental mean residence time, hold-up, and axial dispersion coefficient. Using a dimensional analysis, models were established to predict the mean residence time, the filling degree and the axial dispersion coefficient, providing basic information on the kiln design, solid particle properties and operating conditions. In the second part, we studied the heat transfer mechanisms occurring in the flighted rotary kiln by measuring temperature profiles at the wall, the freeboard gas and the bulk of solids. Analysis of the temperature profiles focused on two main issues: assessment of the heat transfer coefficient between wall and gas, and assessment of the heat transfer coefficient between wall and solid particles. The lumped system analysis and a heat balance using the power supplied for the heating were applied to determine the experimental heat transfer coefficients. The effects of operating conditions and lifting flights were analyzed. Both heat transfer coefficients were then correlated through dimensional considerations. Lastly a global dynamic model mainly based on the models developed in this study can be used to determine wall, gas and bulk solids axial temperature profiles in an indirectly heated flighted rotary kiln. This global model needs to be completed with specific models related to a reaction so as to be used as a framework for the simulation of specific industrial rotary kilns.Ce travail porte sur l'étude de fours tournants équipés de releveurs. Ce sont des contacteurs gaz/solide largement répandus dans de nombreux secteurs industriels mettant en oeuvre des solides divisés. Cependant en raison d'une faible connaissance du fonctionnement de ces équipements notamment en matière d'écoulement ou de transfert thermique, leur utilisation repose encore beaucoup sur le savoir faire des opérateurs acquis avec le temps. Ainsi ce travail vise à fournir aux ingénieurs des outils de connaissance et d'extrapolation pour les accompagner dans les phases de dimensionnement, mais aussi d'optimisation de procédés existants, en particulier pour des fours tournants en chauffage indirect et équipés de releveurs. La première partie de cette étude porte sur l'influence des conditions opératoires sur l'hydrodynamique des solides divisés de forme et taille différentes. Pour ce faire, des procédures expérimentales pour la mesure de distribution des temps de séjours des particules solides ont été mises en oeuvres. Deux pilotes de four tournant ont été utilisés. Ces derniers ont un ratio longueur sur diamètre équivalent mais un ratio de taille de 2. L'hydrodynamique des fours a été caractérisée quantitativement à partir des résultats expérimentaux en terme de temps de séjour des solides, taux de remplissage du four ainsi que de la dispersion axiale des particules. Ces derniers ont été modélisés par analyse dimensionnelle dans un souci de généralité en prenant en compte la présence d'éléments internes (releveurs, grille) ou diaphragmes en sortie, mais aussi des paramètres opératoires tels que la vitesse de rotation du tube, son inclinaison ou le débit des particules solides. La seconde partie de cette étude s'intéresse aux processus de transfert thermique dans les fours tournants en chauffage indirect et équipés de releveurs. Cette étude repose sur la mesure des profils de température à la paroi, dans la phase gazeuse et le lit de particules solides. L'analyse de ces profils de température se focalise sur la détermination des coefficients de transfert de chaleur entre la paroi et le lit de solides d'une part, et entre la paroi et le gaz d'autre part. Une méthode d'analyse globale de système mince et un bilan global intégrant la puissance fournie pour la chauffe sont utilisés pour la détermination de ces coefficients de transfert. Les résultats obtenus permettent d'une part de mettre en évidence l'effet des releveurs ainsi que l'influence des paramètres opératoires sur ces coefficients de transfert de chaleur et d'autre part d'établir par analyse dimensionnelle des modèles pour ces derniers. Enfin, ce travail se termine par la mise en place d'un modèle dynamique simplifié de four tournant en chauffage indirect permettant la détermination des profils de température le long du four et pouvant être facilement adapté à divers procédés

Audre Lorde: Black Feminist Visionary and “Mytho-poet”

Les études dans le domaine de la littérature noire aux États-Unis révèlent des problèmes aigus de race et de genre, mettant à jour les pressions existant sur l’esprit et la confiance en soi des Noirs. Si tout cela n’est pas verbalisé, ces pressions peuvent mener à l’émergence d’un complexe d’infériorité et à des dépressions. Audre Lorde, poétesse et visionnaire noire, fait un pas de géant en traitant de ces questions et en faisant resurgir tout un panthéon de symboles mythologiques dans sa poésie. Pour elle, le culte et la connaissance du mythe permettront d’une part une meilleure connaissance de l’histoire, et d’autre part, la naissance de nouvelles valeurs

Convective and wall-to-solids heat transfer coefficient in flighted rotary kilns: experimental measurement and modeling

International audienceRotary kilns are gas-solid reactors commonly used in industry to achieve a wide range of material processing operations: mixing, heating or cooling, reacting of coarse, free-flowing or cohesive solids. Therefore rotary kilns are used for applications such as reduction of oxide ore, pyrolysis of biomass or hazardous waste, calcining of petroleum coke, conversion of uranium fluoride for the manufacture of nuclear fuel, and so on. When operated at atmospheric pressure, these units consist of a cylindrical shell that can be inclined, into which the solids burden is fed continuously at one end and discharged at the other. Most of them are equipped with lifting flights or lifters, and/or exit dam at the kiln outlet end. They can be classified into two main heating modes; they can be either directly heated or indirectly heated, depending on the heating source position with respect to the kiln’s tube wall. They usually require very little labor to operate in comparison with other industrial reactors.Though operational cost of these units is usually high, their design and intended operating conditions are often conservative due to the lack of fundamental understanding notably upon the solids flow behavior and the heat transfer mechanisms. Heat transfer in rotary kilns is very complex and may involve the exchange of energy via all the fundamental physical transfer mechanisms that are, conduction, convection, and radiation. There have been quite a few studies dealing with this subject in the literature. Although many researchers studied the main phenomena occurring in the kiln, the heat transfer between the wall and solid particles, or the (free) convection of non forced gas are not yet well understood. The present study investigates the convective gas-to-wall heat transfer coefficient, in the case of a non-forced air flow, and the wall-to-solids heat transfer coefficient. These coefficients were first experimentally determined, and then correlated based on a dimensional analysis, so to be used in a global model for rotary kilns.A series of experiments were carried out on a pilot scale rotary kiln at atmospheric pressure, whether or not equipped with lifters and fitted with a dam at the outlet end. The experimental apparatus, 1.95m in length and 0.01m in (internal) diameter, can be externally heated in two independent consecutive zones by electrical resistance up to 1000°C. Regarding the thermal metrology, thermocouples are positioned at five and four cross-sections, respectively in and outside along the kiln tube. Hence, after turning on the heating system, axial temperature profiles of gas, wall and solids were measured until steady state is achieved. Both coefficients were determined from the temperature profiles measurements data for low and medium wall temperature set point comprises between 100 and 500°C. In particular for the wall-to-solids heat transfer coefficient, the bulk materials used was quartz sand (average size about half a millimeter) with a narrow distributed size fraction; No solids were fed into the kiln when studying the air convection inside the kiln. Two shapes of lifters were compared to determine the influence of lifters presence and their geometry on the heat transfer: straight (one-section) lifters and rectangular (two-section) lifters (RL). The kiln operating conditions examined also include: the rotational speed (2-12 rpm), the mass flow rate (0.8-2.5 kg/h) and the exit dam height at the kiln outlet end (23.5-33.5 mm). An experimental matrix of about eighty experiments was achieved.For the determination of the experimental value, the lumped system analysis and a heat balance accounting for the measured power supplied for the heating are used. Results showed that the wall-to-gas convective heat transfer coefficient is significantly lower that what can be expected for natural convection. Though only small variations were observed, still some trends could be observed in presence of lifters, and when varying the rotational speed. The wall-to-solids heat transfer coefficient was notably lower in presence of lifters. It was also found to increase with the temperature set at the wall and the filling degree, which is imposed by the operating conditions set. Dimensional correlations were developed to describe these two heat transfer mechanisms from the experimental results