Social Stability within the Nigerian State

Consistencies about issues relating to human social interaction, mutual awareness, social norm and social order all smack of social stability. Theories addressing social issues abound and remain crucial for the development and advancement of human society. The social stability of any given society could be the result of a process of which commencement was beak and murky but traversed hurdles of varied social problems. As an important factor for political stability, social stability is an ingredient of national sovereignty of which itself is the minor of natural of national identity. The extent to which the content of social stability applies to Nigerian national sovereignty remains focus of the piece. Could Nigeria actually boast of sovereignty with viable social stability? The possible answer produces the question of whether the country is enmeshed in any form of identity crises

A Review of English Syllable Structure

The syllable is a phonological entity that is very significant in phonological representations, for it is the unit in terms of which phonological systems are organized with very significant restrictions on the ordering of the elements that make them up. This paper reviews the syllable structure of English and also explores the aesthetic role of the syllable for its onomatopoeic and sound effects which add variety and interest to text. There is no doubt that language manipulators consider sound patterns in their lexical selection. They also know that sound parallelism, when not ornamental, is used to link sound and syntax to create fun, humour and beauty in a text (written or spoken). The paper also shows that the syllable forms an important locus for stylistic experimentation in sound manipulation or sound patterning. It thus plays a pivotal role in everyday conversation, literary discourse in general and poetry in particular

Information-seeking and use by human and veterinary medical scientists (HVMS) in Africa: Case study from Borno State, Nigeria

Study of information seeking behavior among veterinary scientists in a Nigerian library. Investigates preclinical faculty members of the University of Maiduguri College of Medicine, human and veterinary medical scientists, in Borno State, Nigeria, as a case study

On the Philosophy of Taoism

The question of whether what is known as ‘Eastern Philosophy’ qualifies as real philosophical venture engenders lingering divergent positions among scholars.  Edmund Husserl, for instance, view the entire corpus as some forms of religion embodying specific systems of belief and mystical practices bereft of Greco-European model of philosophy. This paper is an attempt to further, in the context of ‘Receiving Asian Philosophy’, the project of consolidating the reality of that Philosophy. The paper attends to the project by exposing and examining, the philosophy of Taoism, which advances the interconnection between nature and reality, with special attention to its principles of nature. As a research based on qualitative method, this paper relies on library and web sources for data collection. It combines the methods of phenomenology and analysis (Phenomenalysis) for its enquiry. The paper finds that against the polemical viewpoints of Husserlian like minds, some other scholars including Joseph Adler, Chen Chung-Ying, Bina Gupta and Cheng Derong endeavoured to establish the philosophical appropriateness of Eastern Philosophy. It also finds that since philosophy can be viewed, in line with the thought of Theophilus Okere, as hermeneutics of culture, Chinese philosophy, an important aspect of Eastern philosophy is the critical presentation and interpretation of the Chinese culture. The paper further finds that Taoism with its emphasis on nature represents the oriental perspective to the entire corpus of humanism, although with minor content on scientific and technological progress.  The uniqueness of this paper lies in its attempt to reinvent the import of Taoism especially its theory of quiescence in the contemporary world driven so much by the blare of homocentric humanism. Nevertheless, the paper’s appraisal of Taoism shows that its tenets cannot be taken in its totality. Rather any adherent of Tao ought to find a balance of life by developing intellectual capacity and proper disposition to the human preservation driven progress of the modern time. Keywords: Philosophy, Taoism, Quiescence, Humanism DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/50-08 Publication date:October 31st 202

Relationships Among Text Type, Relatability, Students’ Reading Enthusiasm, and Comprehension

Traditional English Language Arts instruction relies on the study of classical or canonical texts to teach students critical reading skills. These texts are hailed for their complexity, universal/ timeless themes, and established literary value. Yet, contemporary authors have argued that these texts are often far removed from students’ realities and do not reflect the diversity present in the classroom. Studies have also demonstrated that students find school content boring and irrelevant. This lack of enthusiasm, or display of interest, engagement, and excitement, is concerning to educators, as enthusiasm has been linked to students’ academic success and increased levels of intrinsic motivation. Considering the benefits that developing reading enthusiasm could have for students’ academic performance and the ongoing debate surrounding classroom text selections, this study seeks to investigate if a relationship exists between text type, relatability, and students’ reading enthusiasm and comprehension when using a contemporary adolescent text and older classical text that share similar socio-cultural elements and themes

On pedagogy of the oppressed: An appraisal of Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education

Education is critical to human development. Scholars have always been concerned with the appropriate method or pedagogy to adopt for education. Usually two parties are involved in any learning process- the teacher and the learner(s). The contention on pedagogy has always been whether learning ought to be teacher centered or student centered. While the proponents of traditional pedagogue in education emphasize the experience of the teacher; most modern and contemporary scholars like John Dewey and Paulo Freire emphasize the experience of the learner. Paulo Freire rejected the traditional education system tagging it a banking system because it tends to impose the experience of the teacher on the learner; undermining the experience and personal total development of the learner. He proposed a critical pedagogue as an ideal; a pedagogue that is problem-posing with emphasis laid on the experience of the learner. This article studies Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogue using the analytic method. It finds that Paulo Freire’s pedagogue is emancipatory because it promotes freedom of thought, encourages innovation and is capable of molding people into active citizens with the ability to hold their leaders responsible for bad governance. In this sense, the pedagogue can be handy for political participation and nation building. The article also finds that the pedagogue can lead to anarchy in the learning environment with its seeming overemphasis on the freedom of thought of the learners; it can give learners undue control or influence over their teachers. Keywords: Education, Pedagogy, Experience

A philosophical investigaton into African values: towards ameliorating the African predicament

To say that Africans have been termed inferior beings by the racist philosophy of some western Europeans is to say a known fact. To say that most Africans have consciously or unconsciously assimilated that inferiority label is equally a cleat fact. To argue that colonization and Christianization of Africans by western Europeans left negative effects on the psyche of Africans is to say nothing but the truth. Due to the combined forces of colonization, Christianization, Islamization and chiefly slave trade, etc., with their attendant ills resulting in the inferiority complex ofthe African, the African seems to have lost confidence and consequently, looked down on her traditional values, hence, devaluing those cherished and veritable autochthonous values that have the power to better her conditions. In this piece, through the method of philosophical investigation, a case is made to the effect that, in the devalued African values, among others, lie solutions to Africa’s predicament

Culture, Product Advertising, and Advertising Agency Operations

Advertising is a means through which products, services and ideas of organizations are brought to the public knowledge. As a means of telling the market about a new product, advertising persuades and reminds the audience of their continuous support of the advertised item. In the face of globalization, varying cultures are shown to have impacted enormously on product advertising. The more companies undertake to market their products and services, the more linguistic and cultural challenges they come across. These cultures create some hurdles which an advertising agency must encounter before a successful advertising is recorded. This study adopts qualitative approach to examine the fusion between culture and production marketing, especially with regards to operations of advertising agencies. It concludes that advertising is very essential and for a product, service or idea to survive and sustain itself in these rough tidings, the advertiser should always embark on meaningful research to understand the market and marketing environment with a view to achieving advert objectives.&#160

Infant Feeding Options among HIV Positive Mothers Attending Selected General Hospitals in Lagos

Background: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is the primary cause of pediatric HIV infections. The global burden of HIV lies in sub- Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. This study is on assessment of the feeding options among HIV positive mothers attending selected general hospitals in Lagos. Methods: Quantitative study that utilized a multistage sampling method to select 214 respondents from two General Hospitals in Lagos. The reliability r = 0.75. Descriptive and inferential statistics were presented at a 5% level of significance. Results: Revealed that 94% of the respondents were married, 77.2% were working, 88.1% have good knowledge on mother-to-child transmission of HIV and 96.0% have good practice of breastfeeding. The Association between knowledge of breastfeeding and practice was significant X2 =5.22; p < 0.05 (0.02). Association between exclusive breastfeeding practice and factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding X2 = 14.19; p < 0.05 (0.00); X2 = 9.89; p < 0.05 (0.000 while some factors have no significant association with X2 =; 0.10 p > 0.05 (0. 77); X2 1-28; p > 0.05 (0. 27); X2 = 0.00; p > 0.05 (0.99). Conclusion: The use of expressed breast milk for infant`s feeding was still very low among the respondents. There is a need to educate HIV mothers on feeding options for their infants during antenatal clinics. Keywords: Infant Feeding Options; HIV Positive Mother

Response of planktonic bacteria of New Calabar River to zinc stress

Toxicity of Zn2+ on four planktonic bacteria isolated from New Calabar River water was assessed via dehydrogenase assay. Pure cultures of the bacterial strains were exposed to various Zn2+  concentrations (0.2 - 2.0 mM) in a nutrient broth amended with glucose and TTC. The responses of the bacterial strains to Zn2+ is concentration-dependent. At 0.2 mM, Zn2+ stimulated dehydrogenase activity in Proteus sp. PLK2 and Micrococcus sp. PLK4. In all strains, dehydrogenase activity was progressively inhibited at concentrations greater than 0.2 mM. The IC50 ranges from 0.236 ± 0.044 to 0.864 ± 0.138 mM. Total inhibition occurred at concentrations ranging from 1.283 ± 0.068 to 2.469 ± 0.045 mM. The order of zinc tolerance is: Micrococcus sp. PLK4 > Proteus sp. PLK2 > Pseudomonas sp. PLK5 > Escherichia sp. PLK1. The result of the in vitro study indicated that the bacterial strains are sensitive to Zn2+ stress. Therefore, Zn2+ contamination would pose serious threat to their metabolism in natural environments.Key words: New Calabar River, zinc toxicity, planktonic bacteria, dehydrogenase