The Effects Of Channels Of Distribution On Nigerian Product Sales

This study investigated the effects of channels of distribution in a selected Nigerian manufacturing company as it affects sales of its product.  The quantitative research method was the instrument used to collect data for the study. A total of 300 copies of the questionnaires were distributed to sampled consumers, distributors and marketing staff of the company, out of which 200 copies was retrieved back.  The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 15 and the t-Test statistical tool was employed to test the significance between the observed variables and the underlying construct.  The findings revealed that the involvement of channels of distribution affects sales of product and that consumers prefer to buy from intermediaries than from producer channels.  Based on the underlying assumption, the following were recommended for the study; that the channel members should influence several key decisions such as customer service, delivery, and maintain inventory control and the company should give adequate promotional support to the intermediaries, improve on delivery terms and also evaluate channel members regularly

Creative musical instrument teaching and learning:participatory ethnographic research in Finland

Abstract. Private musical instrument education is common in many countries, including Finland. However, there are extremely high dropouts from the lessons and teachers often face challenges in motivating the children to continue learning. The main goal of this study was to find the most important factors in creative music teaching. In order to achieve the aims of this master’s thesis, the following research questions have been used: 1. What can be taught and what creative methods should be used while teaching music to children with various music skills? 2. How to motivate and encourage children to learn playing musical instrument? 3. What influence do the teachers, parents, peers and other social factors have in the children’s musical skills development? The theoretical framework of this study provides the understanding about the creativity as a concept and musical skills development. Besides, it describes the education system, music and musical instrument teaching in Finland. This research gives attention to the ideas of Burnard, P. (2006), Hallam, S. (2009), McPherson, G. & Hallam, S. (2009), Robinson K. (2016) and many other authors. A qualitative approach and participatory ethnography is used as the research method. Data was collected during the year of 2017 by a music teacher from twelve children, who were attending weekly private musical instrument lessons for at least one year. The main data consists of reflective journals, observations and conversations. As a starting point of data analysis, the colour coding was used in order to organize the data into themes and categories. A qualitative thematic data analysis was chosen as a final data analysis. The findings revealed three main themes based on the data analysis: Planning the lessons and performance, Creative musical instrument teaching and developing musical skills and Motivating and encouraging children to learn musical instrument. The last theme was divided into 2 sub-themes: teacher-child interactions and practicing at home and parental support. As the result, there were seven main factors found for creative teaching and learning. An objective research perspective is used in this study. However, this research cannot be generalized as it is done in a specific environment with the unique participants. Hopefully, this study will be useful for the music educators and parents

Humanitarian Intervention: Exploring the Number of Ctvilian Casualties in Confiict Zones Where Peace-enforcement Missions and Peace Keeping Mission Have Been Utilized

The UN peacekeepers-the Blue Berets-form one of the largest, best equipped, and international forces in the world. Yet the organization\u27s history is strewn with examples of its inability to keep the peace in places such as Srebrenica in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. Currently there are UN peacekeeping operations running in 16 different locations throughout five continents from Haiti to Timor, and 120 countries contribute 100,000 troops who are paid out of the UN\u27s annual budget of $7.1 billion. But the UN forces lack the authority to impose themselves on the fighters. This study explores whether there is a need to readdress the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in regard to protecting civilian populations in conflict zones

Christian religious leadership and the challenge of sustainable transformational development in post-military Nigeria: Towards a reappraisal

AbstractThis article seeks to make an initial contribution towards a reappraisal of how the Christian religious leadership in Nigeria is beginning to chart a new course in social transformation that has the potential to engender sustainable transformational development in the country. This aim is met by first providing the necessary contextual orientation of how the two broad areas of political governance and economic development present themselves as prevailing major social challenges in present-day post-military Nigeria. This is followed by a discussion of the role of leadership as a primary causal and redeeming factor in meeting the challenge of sustainable transformational development both in Nigeria and African society at large. The authors proceed then towards the main focus of the article, namely to move – on the basis of a literature and empirical exploration – towards a reappraisal of how the Christian religious leadership in present-day Nigeria is beginning to exert itself as an emerging movement for sustainable transformational development through particular institutional arrangements and modes of social engagement. This reappraisal leads the authors to end with a synthesising reflection on what they consider to be not only the most outstanding contribution to date by the Christian religious leadership in present-day Nigeria in advancing a sustainable transformational development agenda, but also the crucial challenges that this leadership still faces in meeting such an agenda. Titel: Christelike godsdienstige leierskap en die uitdaging van volhoubare transformasionele ontwikkeling in post-militêre Nigerië: Op weg na ‘n herwaardering OpsommingHierdie artikel poog om ‘n eerste bydrae te maak tot ‘n herwaardering van die wyse waarop die Christelike godsdienstige leierskap in Nigerië besig is om ‘n nuwe weg te baan in sosiale transformasie wat die potensiaal het om volhoubare transformasionele ontwikkeling in dié land te bewerkstellig. Hierdie doelwit word bereik deur eerstens ‘n kontekstuele oriëntering te bied van hoe die twee breë terreine van politieke staatsbestuur en ekonomiese ontwikkeling hulself as heersende sosiale uitdagings in hedendaagse post-militêre Nigerië aanbied. Dit word gevolg deur ‘n bespreking van leierskap as ‘n primêr oorsaaklike en bevrydende faktor in die realisering van volhoubare transformasionele ontwikkeling beide in Nigerië en die samelewing van Afrika in die breë. Hierna verskuif die bespreking na die sentrale fokus van die artikel, naamlik om op grond van ‘n literatuur- en empiriese ondersoek te beweeg na ‘n herwaardering van die Christelike godsdienstige leierskap as ‘n ontluikende beweging vir volhoubare transformasionele ontwikkeling in hedendaagse Nigerië by wyse van spesifieke institusionele inrigtings en modusse van sosiale betrokkenheid. Hierdie herwaardering lei die skrywers daartoe om af te sluit met ‘n samevattende refleksie nie slegs oor wat hul beskou as die mees uitstaande bydrae tot op hede deur die Christelike godsdienstige leierskap in hedendaagse Nigerië in die bevordering van ‘n volhoubare transformasionele ontwikkelingsagenda nie, maar ook as die kritieke uitdagings wat dié leierskap steeds in die gesig staar in die voltrekking van sodanige agenda. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.80.1.221

Market Orientation In Nigerian Manufacturing Companies

This study examined the Market orientation practices of selected Nigerian manufacturing companies. A total of 1,200 copies of questionnaire were distributed to the sales and marketing directors of the sampled manufacturing companies, out of which a total of 1,035 questionnaires were found useable. The collected data were analyzed using relevant statistical tools in the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 10. The findings revealed strong market orientation practices in the selected manufacturing companies

Internal Displacement in Nigeria and the Case for Human Rights Protection of Displaced Persons

Millions all over the world are currently internally displaced as a result of various causes including forcible movements to inhospitable areas, civil wars in which villages have been destroyed, insurgency and ethnic persecution through government policies. Yet the plight of internally displaced persons is a problem that is not directly addressed by any international instrument or by domestic laws in the case of Nigeria, thereby contributing to the ad hoc nature of response strategy to such crises. The presence of internally displaced persons within national territory means that their own government bears primary responsibility for meeting their protection and assistance needs but in most cases, they are either unwilling or unable to guarantee the basic rights and minimum needs of their internally displaced persons. This paper evaluated internal displacement and IDPs from this perspective. It examined the challenges faced by IDPs in Nigeria, adequacy of mechanisms put in place to ensure the protection of IDPs in Nigeria and potential solutions to the problems faced by IDPs recognising existing deficiency in response strategy and protection hiatuses. Keywords: Internal Displacement, Protection, Human Right

Oil palm empty fruit bunch ash stabilized laterite as a fill material for low-volume pavement

A reddish-brown laterite was treated with up to 14 % oil palm empty fruit bunch ash (EFBA) by dry weight of soil and compacted with the British Standard light, BSL (or Standard Proctor) compactive effort. Index, compaction, strength and durability tests as well as microanalysis of the natural and stabilized specimens were carried out. The index, compaction characteristics (maximum dry density, MDD and optimum moisture content, OMC) and strength properties (California bearing ratio, CBR and unconfined compressive strength, UCS) were improved with higher EFBA treatment. Peak un-soaked and soaked CBR values of 70.0 and 45.0 %, as well as peak UCS strengths of 253.0, 462.0 and 577 kN/m2 at 7, 14 and 28 days curing were recorded at 8 % EFBA content. Based on the CBR specification specified in the Nigerian General Specifications, the laterite optimally treated with 8 % EFBA compacted with the BSL compactive effort can be used as a fill material in the construction of low-volume traffic pavement. The benefit of the EFBA application is primarily the reduction of the adverse environmental impact of the oil palm empty fruit bunch waste. Keywords: California bearing ratio, durability, laterite, oil palm empty fruit bunch ash, microanalysis, stabilizatio

Conceptualizing Boko Haram : victimage ritual and the construction of Islamic fundamentalism

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)In this study, rhetorical analysis through the framework of victimage ritual is employed to analyze four Boko Haram messages on You Tube, five e-mail messages sent to journalists from leaders of Boko Haram, and a BlogSpot web page devoted to Boko Haram. The aim of this analysis is to understand the persuasive devices by which Boko Haram leaders create, express, and sustain their jurisprudence on acts of violence. The goal of this study is to understand how leaders of Boko Haram construct and express the group’s values, sway belief, and justify violence. The findings show that Boko Haram desire to redeem non-Muslims from perdition, liberate Muslims from persecution, protect Islam from criticism, and revenge perceived acts of injustices against Muslims. The group has embarked on this aim by allotting blame, vilifying the enemy-Other, pressing for a holy war, encouraging martyrdom, and alluding to an apocalypse. Boko Haram’s audience is made to believe that Allah has assigned Boko Haram the task to liberate and restore an Islamic haven in Nigeria. Therefore, opposition from the Nigerian government or Western forces is constructed as actions of evil, thus killing members of the opposition becomes a celestial and noble cause. This juxtaposition serves to encourage the violent Jihad which leaders of Boko Haram claims Allah assigned them to lead in the first place. As a result of this cyclical communication, media houses, along the Nigerian government, Christians and Western ideals become the symbolic evil, against which Muslims, sympathizers and would-be-recruits must unite. By locking Islam against the Nigerian government, Western ideals and Christianity in a characteristically hostile manner, Boko Haram precludes any real solution other than an orchestrated Jihad-crusade-or-cleanse model in which a possible coexistence of Muslims and the enemy-Other are denied, and the threat posed by the enemy-Other is eliminated through conversion or destruction. As a result, this study proposes that Boko Haram Internet messages Boko Haram’s mission reveals a movement of separatism, conservatism, and fascism. A movement based on the claim that its activism will establish a state in accordance with the dictates of Allah

Sustainable government policy as silver bullet to sustainable business incubation performance In Nigeria

Business incubation has variously been described as a support programme that assist the early-stage entrepreneurs to develop and stay on their own. Furthermore, business incubation programme has been acknowledged as an economic development tool most countries globally adopted. The aim of this study is to examine the contribution of government policy on the relationship between the critical success factors (CSFs) and incubator performance in Nigeria. The questionnaire method of data collection was used to gather 113 usable questionnaires from incubatees in Nigeria’s business incubators. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to determine the result using the Partial Least Square (PLS) Software. Government policy as a moderator did not show a significant moderation relationship between the CSF and incubator performance

Characterisation of platelet phospholipids in unclassified bleeding disorders and deep vein thrombosis

Patients with a significant bleeding history and normal routine laboratory tests are labelled as having unclassified bleeding disorder (UBD). Approximately one third of patients with acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) have no risk factor identified and are labelled idiopathic. The experiments conducted herein investigate whether the phospholipid composition of the platelet membrane is contributory to the clinical phenotype. The ability of platelets and microvesicles to support thrombin generation was investigated using a thrombin generation assay tailored to be sensitive to the phospholipid membrane. Peak thrombin generation supported by washed platelets and microvesicles was reduced in UBD patients compared with healthy controls. Peak thrombin and velocity index were increased in patients with DVT. To determine whether changes in thrombin generation could be attributed to native aminophospholipids in the platelet membrane, Phosphatidylserine (PS) and Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) were measured by mass spectrometry following thrombinactivation of platelets. The thrombin generation assays were sensitive to externalised PE/PS as demonstrated by the minimal amount of thrombin generated by the platelets of a Scott syndrome patient. Externalised PE/PS species were similar in disease cohorts and healthy controls. Previous studies demonstrate that enzymatically oxidised phospholipids produced rapidly on platelet activation support thrombin generation in vitro. Overall, trends of lower quantities of procoagulant 12-HETE-PE and 12-HETE-PC species were measured in UBDs compared with healthy controls whereas 12-HETE-PE species were higher in DVT patients. Lastly, in UBD patients receiving desmopressin for invasive procedures there was increased externalisation of PS and a trend towards increased peak thrombin generation supported by washed platelets. The observed changes in procoagulant oxidised phospholipids suggest the phospholipid composition of the platelet membrane may be implicated in haemostatic disorders. Desmopressin may be effective in UBD because it increases externalised PS and supports thrombin generation. Further studies are required to confirm these findings