The Form of the Good in Plato's Republic

The theory of the Form of the Good in the Republic is truly and coherently the centerpiece of the canonical Platonism of the middle dialogues, the centerpiece of Plato's metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics, and even his theory of love and art. In this theory of the Form of the Good Plato was truly the first grand philosophical synthesiser. If to achieve such a grand synthesis he had to employ a few unholy combinations, such as the combination of reality, goodness, and self-predication, he may perhaps be forgiven - at least if he is understood

Field Experiment Tests for Discrimination against Hispanics in the U.S. Rental Housing Market

This article tests for discrimination against Hispanics in the U.S. rental housing market using e-mail correspondence with landlords advertising units online. We divide Hispanics into two groups: those that appear assimilated into American culture and recent immigrants. We find little difference in the treatment of assimilated Hispanics and whites; however, Hispanics we portray as recent immigrants receive less favorable treatment with margins of net discrimination as large as 6.89% of landlords. We also find discrimination varies significantly at the region level and by the ethnic composition of neighborhoods

Framing Of The Postponement Of 2015 Presidential Election By Selected Nigerian Newspapers

This study investigated how Nigerian newspapers reported the postponement of the 2015 presidential elections. The objectives of the study is to determine the kind of news frames used by Nigerian newspapers in their coverage of the  election, determine the prominence accorded to news stories that  dominated the coverage of the postponement as well as the direction or tone the newspapers adopted in reporting the postponement of the election. Four national dailies were chosen for the study namely- Daily Trust, The Nation, Guardian and Vanguard newspapers. The study employed content analysis and survey research design while framing theory serves as the theoretical framework in the research. The research reveals that the selected newspapers use different kinds of frames to report the postponement of the election. The news frames includes rescue frame, political frame, ethnic frame, economic frame among several others. However, this study show that rescue frame is the most predominantly frame adopted by the selected newspapers in their coverage of the postponement of the election. This study also discovers that in terms of story types, most of the stories were reported in straight news, feature articles, opinion articles and editorials. In the aspect of the direction or tone given to the postponement of the election, the newspapers differ in their tone of coverage of the election. Some tilted their coverage towards negative issues while some papers were positive on the election.  Based on these findings, the study concludes that Nigerian press is still projecting ethnic, political, and religious sentiment in the coverage of political parties’ activities. Hence, we recommend the press to ensure that they detach themselves from meddling into political issues in order to provide objective coverage of political activities

Anapulvinaria pistaciae (Bod.), a pistachio tree scale pest producing honeydew foraged by bees in Greece

Το κοκκοειδές Anapulvinaria pistaciae (Bod.) προσβάλλει τη φιστικιά (Pistacia vera L.) και μερικές φορές, κυρίως στους ημιεγκατελειμμένους φιστικιώνες προκαλεί σοβαρές ζημίες στα δένδρα. Το κοκκοειδές αυτό εκκρίνει μελίτωμα που σύμφωνα με παρατηρήσεις μας, οι μέλισσες εκμεταλλεύονται. Η συνεισφορά αυτού του μελιτώματος στη συνολική παραγωγή μελιού στη χώρα μας είναι δύσκολο να εκτιμηθεί, αφού οι μελισσοκόμοι δεν εκμεταλλεύονται συστηματικά αυτά τα μελιτώματα γιατί στους εντατικά καλλιεργημένους φιστικιώνες ο πληθυσμός αυτού του εντόμου είναι πολύ χαμηλός. Αυτό οφείλεται κυρίως στο εντατικό πρόγραμμα καταπολέμησης, το οποίο εφαρμόζεται αργά την άνοιξη και νωρίς το θέρος κατά των άλλων εχθρών της φιστικιάς. Κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της περιόδου, το Α. pistaciae είναι στη μορφή της έρπουσας και πρώτου σταδίου, στάδια πολύ ευαίσθητα στα φυτοφάρμακα. Έτσι, αυτοί οι ψεκασμοί διατηρούν το κοκκοειδές σε χαμηλό επίπεδο πληθυσμού.Κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της έρευνας διαπιστώθηκε ότι το κοκκοειδές αυτό στην Κ. Ελλάδα έχει μιά γενιά το χρόνο. Διαχειμάζει στο δεύτερο στάδιο. Τα ακμαία εμφανίζονται νωρίς την άνοιξη και οι πρώτες έρπουσες παρατηρούνται το Μάιο. Οι φαινολογικές παρατηρήσεις δείχνουν ότι μεταξύ μέσων Μαΐου και μέσων Ιουνίου ο πληθυσμός του Α. pistaciae είναι κυρίως στο στάδιο της έρπουσας «νύμφης» και πρώτου σταδίου. Οι πρώτες «νύμφες» του δευτέρου σταδίου εμφανίζονται ενωρίς το φθινόπωρο και στη συνέχεια όλος ο πληθυσμός βαθμιαία εισέρχεται στο δεύτερο στάδιο και διαχειμάζει.The soft scale Anapulvinaria pistaciae (Bod.), a pest of pistachio, excretes honeydew which is exploited by honeybees. The scale has one generation per year. Adults appear early in spring and crawlers in May. From mid-May to mid-June the population of A. pistaciae consists mainly of crawlers and/or first stage nymphs. The second stage nymphs appear early in fall, this is the over-wintering stage, from which the adults of the next generation will emerge the following year

Citizen journalism and election monitoring in Nigeria

Citizen journalism is fast becoming an alternative platform for the common man to lend their voices in the process of governance. This is especially relevant in Nigeria, where those in the corridor of power have gagged the media denying the citizens the right to contribute to personal or national discourse. Drawing lessons from Nigeria’s Machiavellian leadership recruitment system with attendant prebendal skews in elections characterized by all sorts of irregularities and fraud, the study looks at the role of citizen journalists in monitoring election via social media platform. Survey research method was used for the study, and the questionnaire as instrument for data collection. The respondent for the study comprised of 300 and 400 level students of Mass Communication Department Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai. The study purposively sampled 150 respondents for the study. Findings reveal that citizen journalism has a critical role to play in election monitoring in Nigeria. The study discovered that citizen journalism can enhance transparency and accountability in the conduct of elections. This to some extent can bring credibility to the electoral process as citizens would be allowed to participate fully in the electoral process. However, the study noted some inherent dangers associated with citizen journalism / journalists in general. Some of the drawbacks of citizen journalism include the following; it may lead to mass revolt and protest, invasion of people’s privacy, and the dissemination of unverifiable information by members of the public. The study, among other things, recommends that citizen journalists need to be trained in order to be acquainted with the journalistic code of media ethics