An Examination of the Experiences of BAME Students in the Community and Criminal Justice Division

Freedom to Achieve is De Montfort University’s commitment to its students, whatever their ethnicity, to ensure there is an equal playing field. The attainment gap between Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)1 and white students within UK Higher Education (HE) is well documented and DMU are part of a ground-breaking project to positively address this issue. As part of this multi-faceted programme, the Community and Criminal Justice Division (CCJ) undertook a pilot study to explore our BAME students’ experiences at the university. The aim of these results is to help establish preliminary short term and long term strategies to help deliver overall improvements in the BAME attainment gap and aspirations to achieve at DMU. After undertaking a survey of BAME students within the CCJ, a series of key thematic areas emerged, namely: 1) Assessments, 2) Discrimination, 3) Diversity, 4) Lecture Style, 5) Support, and 6) Universal Design for Learning. We examine and explore these issues in relation to three key theoretical models used to explore BAME attainment in Higher Education. Nigrescence Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Critical Race Theory are all used to help understand the experiences of BAME students. Using the results, we have identified a series of short and long term recommendations that could be utilised to ensure and take steps towards addressing the attainment gap between BAME and White students at DMU

Rethinking Subculture and Subcultural Theory in the Study of Youth Crime – A Theoretical Discourse

Subcultural theory is an invention of the Anglo-American sociologists and criminologists of the 1960s and 1970s. They chiefly refer to male urban working class youths whose behaviours are contrary to the dominant society. These youths are usually culturally identified with music, dress code, tattoo, and language. Whereas, it is assumed that subculture refers to lower subordinate or dominant status of social group labelled as such, yet, in societies where the Anglo/American cultural identities are wanting, it becomes difficult to recognise such deviant group of youths as subculture. This paper argues there should be a rethink about “subculture” and “subcultural theory”. The rethink must ensure that youth subcultures are not benchmarked by those Anglo/American cultural identities, but should in the main refer to youths whose behaviours are oppositional to the mainstream culture, irrespective of the societies they come from

Monitoring Monthly and Seasonal Dynamics of Subsurface Urban Heat Island and Possible Mitigation Measures in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria

This study analysed the monthly and seasonal dynamics of subsurface urban heat island in Enugu metropolis, using secondary soil temperature data set that was sourced from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. The descriptive statistical tool used was the line graph. The study showed that the monthly subsurface urban heat island intensity peaks at 0.6 0C in May and remains fairly constant from September to February. It also revealed that the seasonal subsurface urban heat island intensity peaks at 0.5 0C in spring (March, April and May) before staying relatively stable from summer (June, July and August) to winter (December, January and February). From the study, it was clear that the urban heat island effect occurred in the subsurface in Enugu, as it does above the ground. Therefore, this study recommends the creation of gardens and parklands and direct tree planting as part of the mitigation measures to this problem. Keywords: Enugu, mitigation, soil temperature, subsurface, urban heat island, urbanisation DOI: 10.7176/JEES/13-3-03 Publication date: April 30th 202

Do female offenders differ? Comparing the criminal histories of serious violent perpetrators with a control sample

In view of earlier research, female offenders have not received as much attention as male perpetrators. Thus, the research aimed to gain insight into the types of offences committed by serious violent female offenders (n = 206; those who had committed grievous bodily harm, attempted murder, or homicide) and to explore differences with control female perpetrators (n = 447); control offenders were matched according to age and year of offence of the serious violent offenders. The purpose was to, therefore, gather an understanding of female offenders and to determine if the serious violent perpetrators differed from the control sample. A UK police force provided data of offences committed between April 2001 and April 2011. Descriptive information was analysed, with comparisons being made using Mann–Whitney U tests and chi-square analyses. About 72.3% (n = 149) of serious violent offenders had one or more recorded convictions and were significantly more likely to have committed a previous violent offence than the control sample. On the other hand, control perpetrators had a higher likelihood of having previously committed a theft-related offence, when compared to serious violent females. Therefore, the findings indicate the types of offences committed by female offenders and highlight the differences between serious violent perpetrators and offenders in the control sample. The implications and limitations are discussed

Exploring Contemporary Sea Piracy in Nigeria, the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This paper thematically explores contemporary piracy in the African state of Nigeria, the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria is undeniably a rich country based on its economic, agricultural and population advantages, but criminal activities like piracy have been a significant disadvantage. Most of the piracy activities happening in Nigeria are mainly located in the Niger Delta region, the heart of Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration. Some of the unemployed youths of the region use piracy activities as a fightback against the so-called “resource control” embarked upon by the Federal Government of Nigeria, which disadvantages them

Western Criminology vis-à-vis Nigerian Criminology

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the URI link. Open access journal.In the study of crime and criminal behaviour, Nigerian criminologists always have recourse to Western criminological theories. Even when Western theories cannot provide full explanations of the phenomenon or phenomena under investigation, Nigerian scholars still use them because there are no available local options or alternatives. This paper is part of a study of convicted armed robbers in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Lagos, Nigeria. It argues that Western theoretical perspectives are inadequate to fully explain crime and criminal behaviour in the Nigerian social structure. The paper suggests the development of Nigerian criminology that can fully explain crime and criminal behaviour in a Nigerian way

Modeling and Performance Evaluation of a Superheterodyne Receiver

ABSTRACT: There have been high rate of interference between radio stations due to the recent increase in the number of radio stations. This interference leads to poor sound quality of a simple AM/FM receiver. Research has shown that the use of wrong component and poor ICs are the causes of this interference and other drawbacks of a receiver system. These drawbacks include but not limited to cross modulation, local oscillator radiation and blocking. This research work models and evaluates a highly integrated FM/AM radio single-chip receiver optimized for low power consumption and minimum external components, with the operating frequency of 88 MHz -108 MHz and 550kHz -1600 kHz which covered the standard FM and AM bands respectively. The single-chip receiver also eliminates the drawbacks of the regular receivers, with good selectivity, sensitivity, proper inter-modulation (IM) rejection and audio amplifier. Multisim software is used for the circuit design and performance evaluation of the proposed receiver. KEYWORDS: Superheterodyne, sensitivity, selectivity I INTRODUCTION Traditionally, a radio has been considered to be the 'box' that connects to antenna and its purpose is to down convert and filter the desired signal and then digitized the information. Digital receiver can receive any type of modulation both analog and digital modulation standard. The functions of a radio receiver are to select the wanted signal from all those signals picked up by the aerial, to extract the information which has been modulated on to the wanted signal, and then to amplify the signal to the level necessary to operate the loudspeaker or other receiving devices[1]. The radio receiver can cause interference to the nearby radio because the receiver only receives signals and does not transmit signals. The source of this interference is the local oscillator (LO) used in the receiver. The local oscillator usually creates an intermediate frequency (IF) at 10.7MHZ for the FM receiver. It implies that the local oscillator is tuned such that IF is always maintained. The most common of receiver is super heterodyne receiver and its architecture is chosen for this project. In communication, a super-heterodyne receiver (or often called superhet) uses the frequency mixing or heterodyning to convert a received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF), which can be more conveniently processed than the original radio carrier frequency. Increase in the number of the FM and AM stations has led to high rate of interference between stations. This interference leads to poor sound quality of a simple AM/FM receiver; research findings have shown that the use of wrong component and poor ICs are the major causes of this interference and other drawbacks of a receiver system. These drawbacks include, cross modulation, local oscillator radiation and blocking II REVIEW OF LITERATURE In radio transmission, a radiating antenna is use to convert a time-varying electric current into an electromagnetic wave, which freely propagates through a non conducting medium such as air or space and is nothing more than a device built to produce a dispersing electric or magnetic field. The radio frequency spectrum encompasses an extremely wid