The Issue of Suicide

The meaning of one’s existence on earth is one of the most striking issues in our time and it cannot be neglected in the society at large. It is a pure humanitarian function and a step towards man's existence and the useful utilization of this existence. As a matter of fact, some persons do not consider suffering as a stage or an unavoidable meaning of life. These persons then opt for suicide as a means of avoiding suffering and hardship in life; but the question is: does suicide transcend suffering and hardship? Viktor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, through his experience in the concentration camp emphasized that even in the brutish and most inconsiderate circumstance, man’s existence should not be centered only on when man is enjoying the good things of nature and his existence as a being, but also when the human person is faced with challenges and through this, the attitude he takes to solve these challenges shows the authentic and inauthentic nature of the human person. This work examined Viktor Frankl’s existentialism in respect to suicide and his principle of logotherapy as a means of alleviating the problem of suicide, using the philosophical methods of critical/logical analysis and reflection

Modeling the Effect of Dryer Configurations on the Thin-Layer Solar Drying Kinetics of Ogbono Seeds (Irvingea Gabonensis)

This paper aimed at modeling the effect of dryer configurations on the thin-layer solar drying kinetics of ogbono seeds. Ogbono seeds were dried using a solar drying system, which was a forced convection distributed type solar collector, equipped with a sun-tracking mechanism. The seeds were dried at four different tilt angles of 0, 5, 10, and 15°; two absorber plate thicknesses of 1.5 mm and 2.7mm; and a constant air velocity of 2 ms-1. The drying data obtained from the experiment was fitted to six thin-layer drying predictive models. The effective moisture diffusivities at varying treatments as well as the activation energy of the ogbono seeds were determined. Results from the experiment revealed that the drying kinetics of the seeds varied with the different tilt angles and plate thicknesses. All the six drying models fitted fairly accurately with the drying data of ogbono seeds. However, the Wang and Singh model with the highest coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.9994 and least Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) value of 0.007 was the best-fitted model for the thin-layer solar drying of ogbono seeds. The effective moisture diffusivities determined for the seeds ranged from 2.03 x 10-11 to 3.24 x 10-11 m2s-1. The research results revealed that these values increased with the absorber plate thickness of the dryer. The activation energy of 59.724 kJ/mol was determined for the ogbono seeds. The results obtained from this research showed that a solar drying system in alliance with a good predictive model could be employed in food processing industries for better dryer designs and more efficient product drying. Keywords: Drying kinetics, forced convection, ogbono seeds, effective moisture diffusivity, activation energ

Public Enlightenment and Participation - A Major Contribution in Mitigating Climate Change

AbstractSignificant changes in the conventional weather pattern experienced globally have sparked enormous concerns to environmental stakeholders. Having been established that the main driver of change in our Climate is the result of anthropogenic activities which contribute to the global increase in concentration of Green House Gases (GHG), there is therefore need for effective sensitization and public awareness regarding our actions and how they contribute to the issue of Climate Change experienced globally. For this reason an effective framework needs to be designed for this purpose, hence the objective of this research.As an effective model for Public enlightenment should be one that will: enable all stakeholders gain easy access to each other to achieve efficient dissemination of information; take into consideration the geopolitical and socioeconomic nature of the region in concern; be sustainable; flexible and adaptable, this research adopted the Integrative Literature Based Research Methodology by analysing articles of renowned authors and organizations published between 1995 and 2016 to gain supportive ideas that are vital towards the design of an effective model for public enlightenment and participation in resolving Climate Change. A model fulfilling the afore mentioned qualities was designed and reviewed for its practicability and effectiveness

APPROPRIATE LEGAL PRINCIPLES FOR DETERMINATION OF COMPENSATION FOR INFRINGEMENTS OF ABORIGINAL TITLE IN CANADA

This thesis explores the appropriate legal principles that should inform monetary compensation for infringements of Aboriginal title in Canada. The research does not extend to other forms of remedies that may be applicable where Aboriginal title is infringed. The focus is on the unresolved issues of the measure of compensation for infringement of Aboriginal title. This is premised on the fact that Aboriginal title is sui generis and the general principles for the determination of compensation for infringements of real property may not readily augur well with the nature of Aboriginal title. The focus on monetary compensation does not imply that compensation is the only remedy available for infringement of Aboriginal title as other remedies may be viable where Aboriginal title is infringed. For the limited scope of this research, there is enough to deal with here on compensation as one can only do so much for one thesis. The research provides scholarly insight into the possible challenges of determining compensation that will remedy the loss of an Aboriginal group whose land rights and interests are infringed. The main challenge faced in the determination of compensation appears to be the difficulty in the valuation of both the economic and non-economic dimensions of Aboriginal title which should ordinarily determine the amount of compensation payable when it is infringed. This research aims to provide innovative and original potential solutions to the issue of calculation of compensation for infringements of Aboriginal title. In designing the mechanism that should inform compensation, the work draws from the experiences in Australia, Malaysia, the international arena and some of the extant persuasive principles tenable in Canada. It argues that one of the possible solutions to the issue of compensation is the adoption of a bifurcated approach in the determination of compensation. This approach entails the separation of the incalculable component of the value of Aboriginal title from the calculable component. It contends that the danger of a holistic measurement of the value of the infringed rights and interests in lands subject to Aboriginal title is that the rights and interest may become wholly incalculable. Hence, in practical terms, the solution to that danger is to separate the calculable component from the incalculable component; calculate the value of the calculable component and award a solatium for the incalculable component. This thesis goes on to recommend the use of assessors with indigenous backgrounds in the determination of compensation. This will bring Aboriginal perspective in the determination of compensation. Finally, recognizing that some of the potential solutions may need legislative action, this thesis recommends the enactment of legislation that will set out the appropriate legal principles for the determination of compensation for infringement of Aboriginal title in Canada

The Philosophical Appraisal of Masquerading in Igbo Social Milieu and the Christian Theology of the Resurrection of the Body: An Analytic Investigation

In every culture, there is a distinct figure or attribute which is held  in high regard and at a sacred admiration in that culture which may not likely be so in other cultures. The culture of the people has been identified as the people's way of living. It is a phenomenon that is held in a respectful status which passes from one generation to another, as each generation of the people owes it as a sacred duty and obligation to retain and preserve the culture and transmit it undiluted to the upcoming generation. In every cultural setting, there are agents of socialization. These agents of socialization are greatly levied with the burden of passing this cultural heritage to the next generation. The agents may be families, age-grade, Umu-Ada, Nze-na-Ozo, Council of elders, Priest and Priestess of the gods. The above highlights are true and also peculiar to the Igbo social milieu. Masquerading is one of the significant cultural heritage of the Igbo people. Though, people of other cultures, especially the western cultures may see masquerading as a played out a script for fun; masquerading in the Igbo social milieu means more than mere fun as it invokes the ancestral spirits of the ancestors and has Igbo religious rites and rituals involved in it. This paper tends to do a philosophical appraisal of the concept of masquerading in the Igbo social milieu and will also advance a discourse on the theology of the resurrection of the body (a belief held by Christians); reason is that there is a claim of similarities between the belief in resurrection of the body and that of masquerading in Igbo social milieu. The paper will achieve the general objectives via the use of an analytic investigation. Keywords: Masquerading, Social milieu, Culture, Cultural heritage, Resurrection, Belief, Philosophical DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/48-03 Publication date:March 31st 202

Nigerian feminist agenda and the dynamism of revolution: A study of selected Nigerian plays

Revolutionary dynamism motivated by the various stages of development which the society has undergone over time, has  impacted on feminism in Nigeria. Hence, definition and redefinition of feminism have continued to cast doubt on what actually constitutes an  acceptable Nigerian feminist agenda. Thus, this study identifies constant proliferation of feminist movements in Nigeria as a factor that weakens concrete definition and realisation of an acceptable Nigerian feminist agenda especially as the achievements of Nigerian feminist playwrights have obviously been dwarfed by discordant tunes of radical and conservative feminist playwrights. This paper examines the goals of various feminist movements in Nigeria and assesses the suitability of their agenda for liberating the female folk from male  domination with a view to determining what constitutes an acceptable Nigerian feminist agenda. However, the study reveals that Nigerian conservative feminist writers have achieved a reasonable level of acceptance more than the radical feminists whose approach are separatist. Emeka Nwabueze’s The Dragon’s Funeral is examined to interrogate the contributions of contemporary Nigerian playwrights towards achieving gender equality championed by conservative feminist playwrights. The study is hinged on the theoretical premise of womanism and motherism as offshoots of conservative feminism that support gender equality rather than a female-dominated matriarchal society. It is in the light of this that the researcher recommends that gender equality championed by conservative feminist playwrights should be the Nigerian feminist agend

Queuing Model as a Technique of Queue Solution in Nigeria Banking Industry

The study of “Queuing model as a Technique of Queue solution in Nigeria Banking Industry” was carried out. The obvious cost implications of customers waiting range from idle time spent when queue builds up, which results in man-hour loss, to loss of goodwill, which may occur when customers are dissatisfied with a system. However, in a bid to increase service rate, extra hands are required which implies cost to management. The onus is then on the management to strike a balance between the provision of a satisfactory and reasonable quick service and minimizing the cost of such service. Thus, the management should evaluate performance of different queuing structures and strike a middle ground between cost on one hand and benefits of improved service on the other hand, which is the main thrust of this study. Therefore, this study attempts to look at the problem of long queues in blanks, why bank managers find it difficult to eliminate queues and the effect of queuing model as a technique of queue solution in Nigerian Banking Industry. Descriptive research method was employed in carrying out the study at United Bank for African Pie., Gariki Branch, Enugu, through observation, interview and questionnaire administration. The variables measured include arrival rate ( ) and service rate ( ). They were analyzed for simultaneous efficiency in customer satisfaction and cost minimization through the use of a multi-channel queuing model, which were compared for a number of queue performances such as; the average number of customers in the queue and in the system, average time each customer spends in the queue and in the system and the probability of the system being idle. It was discovered that, using a three-server system was better than a 2-server or 4-server systems in terms of the performance criteria used and the study inter-alia recommended that, the management should adopt a three-server model to reduce total expected costs and increase customer satisfaction. Keywords: Queuing Model, Queue Solution, Banking Industr

Understanding Groundwater Flow in a Saturated Buffer Zone ( Sbz ) Using Numerical Models: Case Study of T 3 Site, Mclean County, Central Illinois

Loss of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, from agricultural lands in the Midwest affects farm productivity and environmental quality. Nutrient runoff from lands discharged into streams degrades the aquatic ecosystem through eutrophication and subsequent hypoxic conditions. The presence of nitrogen also threatens the potability of numerous aquifer bodies globally due to their high solubility in water. To tackle this problem, best management practices such as Saturated Buffer Zone (SBZ) are implemented to reduce nitrogen from nitrate-laden tile water from agricultural lands before being discharged into streams. Groundwater flow and interactions at SBZ are not well understood. To aid the understanding of groundwater flow in the SBZ with the T3 site as a case study, this project aims to understand the interaction between groundwater flow and local tile water flow and the influence of tile water on the groundwater with varying the rate of discharge of tile water. Finite difference groundwater modeling code (MODFLOW) was used to produce a three-dimensional steady-state groundwater model. After calibration using manual and autocalibration techniques, several scenarios were run with variable tile discharge rates, and the resulting change in groundwater flow direction using particle tracking code - MODPATH was analyzed. The results demonstrated that the influence of groundwater flow on tile flow reduces with a nonlinear trend as tile discharge increases. The field of influence of tile water on local groundwater logarithmically increases as tile discharge increases. This has a direct implication on the effectiveness of the SBZ in reducing nitrate and hence their design

Stratigraphy and Petroleum Production potential of the Spearfish Formation in North Central North Dakota

The Spearfish oil play is unconventional requiring the use of horizontal wells that are fracture stimulated to deliver economic flow rates. However, fraccing into the underlying water has been a source of significant production problems for operators. The key to developing the area is to keep the individual fracs large enough to stimulate the tight Spearfish sands but not to let them propagate into the underlying water zone. The Spearfish Formation of the Black Hills has been traced into the subsurface of the Williston Basin in western North Dakota from bore holes at the northern margin of the outcrop area in extreme eastern Wyoming. In the Williston Basin, the Spearfish can be divided into three lithologic units; in ascending order these are; a lower gray shale and red siltstone unit (Belfield Member), a middle salt unit (Pine Salt Member) and an upper siltstone unit (Saude Member). The lower two units are considered to be Permian, while the overlying Saude Member is predominantly Triassic. In North Dakota, the Saude is considered to be an onlapping transgressive unit, probably supplied by a source area to the west and becoming younger to the east and north where it rests with angular discordance on progressively older Paleozoic rocks. Lack of fossil evidence makes it difficult to assign a definite age to the upper part of the Saude although it is possible that the upper part of the Saude in northwestern North Dakota and southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba crosses the Triassic-Jurassic time boundary. The petroleum production potential of the Spearfish Formation was analyzed using decline curves on the cumulative oil production from 90 wells chosen from North Dakota and Manitoba. A comparison was made on these wells based on field locations and drilling method employed

Leadership flaws in 2 Samuel 11: lessons for African leaders

Flaws in leadership are as old as man but in contrast to Divine purpose for humanity. The good intention of the Creator was for human Beings to lead and enjoy all creatures on earth, but human deviation from Divine instruction flawed that leadership mandate and ushered suffering to human race. Similarly, the high rate of moral decadence, insecurity, insurgency, poverty, and political instability in Africa have recently gained global attention and shock, considering the wealth of human and natural resources endowed. Scholars had blamed African leaders for underdevelopment due to corruption whereas inadequate effort had been exacted on theological lessons from the Old Testament to salvage Africa from the menace. This paper employed a historical-critical method to examine the leadership flaws in 2 Samuel 11, and apply same to African context, with the aim of elucidating the causes and effects of leadership failures in governance. The paper discovered that leadership flaws are not spontaneous but evolve from untamed sporadic dispositions of inward indiscipline that manifest in form of lust, hypocrisy, conspiracy, assassination, promiscuity, hubris, cupidity and other social vices. The attitude of African leaders, in recent times, have hampered the democratic process in governance thereby giving room to ethnic divisions, imposition pattern of leadership selection process, inequitable resource control, economic backwardness and mediocrity in education amongst others. This paper therefore recommended self-discipline, fear of God, dialogue, equitable resource control, religious reproof, empathy, checks and balances for the minimization of leadership fallibilities and maximization of good governance in African Society. Keywords: Leadership, Flaws, Africa, Lesson