Language, Creative Writing and Literature: Analysing Phebe Veronica Jatau’s The Hound from the Poet-Scholar Perspective

The interrelationship among language, creative writing and literature is such that at any one moment one discovers that the end product which is literature in this order forms the ultimate amalgam of the other two. The scholar-poet or poet-scholar, and these two are not interchangeable, is at once the producer and the consumer in and of the creative writing process, the vehicle of both activities (production and consumption) being language. No one uses language as carefreely as the creative writer and no one takes time to pin the nuances of language to their very essence as the scholar or the critic. And when these converge in one person the output from such writer should engage the utmost attention of the reader. The poet-scholar is the producer of literature when she resorts to creative writing and she is the consumer when she attempts to access and assess the import of other writers’ creative efforts. Until the publication of The Hound in 2014, Phebe Jatau had been content to remain a scholar, a postcolonial critic as it were, who is at home with social issues as they are portrayed in other texts especially as they affect women. This paper analyses social issues as they are portrayed in her text especially as they affect women and comes to the expressivist conclusion that Jatau’s language and creative concerns are primarily a scholar-poet apprehension and not a poet-scholar representation. The implication for criticism being that the more she delves into creative writing the more honed she gets and the more her works would display this interconnectedness of language, creative writing and literature. Keywords: poet-scholar, language, creative writing, literatur

Nollywood: A Case Study of the Rising Nigerian Film Industry- Content & Production

The purpose of this study is to examine the changing trends of the Nollywood film industry. It aims to study the rising success of the industry; characters that are portrayed in films, the production process, viewership of films and its impact on audiences. Nollywood movies have held a stigma of obsessive and repetitive thematic themes, yet their popularity is increasing with over a thousand Nollywood films being made each year. With a detailed literature review, content analysis of selected films, a survey on audiences this study focused on the various elements that are significant to the rise of the Nigerian film industry. Although the films have been known to be unrealistic, Nollywood has been a staple in many African homes. It was found that people within the country love Nollywood films and the growing diaspora of Nigerians has led Nollywood to be accessible on multiple platforms. Also, the content and quality of films is noticeably improving. The findings of the study determined the factors that have led to a steady rise of content, production, and accessibility to the films that have kept the Nollywood audience faithful to the industry. For many diasporas Nollywood represents a piece of home, the films serve as education about their culture, and teach valuable life lessons

Synthesis, Characterization and Toxicology Studies of the Copper (Ii) Complex of Sodium Barbitone

Complexation of sodium barbitone with Cu(II) has been studied. The complex formed was characterized using physical and spectroscopy studies. In the structural characterized complex, Infrared spectra suggest bidentate coordination of the ligand through one carbonyl oxygen, NaO+ oxygen and two carbonyl oxygen of acetate. Electronic spectra revealed octahedral geometry of the complex. Toxicology study was carried out by investigating the effect of the ligand and its complex on cardial muscle, kidney, liver and lung of Sprague dawly rats. Keywords: Sodium barbitone, metal complex, toxicology study, Sprague dawly rats, Cardial muscl

Numerical and Analytical Modeling of Solar for Chimney Combined Ventilation and Power in Buildings

Analytical and numerical studies were carried out to investigate the performance of the combined solar chimney for power generating system and ventilation based on a developed mathematical model. Numerical solution of the problem was based on the continuity, momentum and energy equations for turbulent, steady-flow using k-ε model and the finite volume method using ANSYS Fluent CFD package. The analysis domain was a 2-D room of 4 x 4 m2 with solar chimney of various dimension attached. The results obtained revealed that Chimney Height (CH), Collector Width (CW), Solar Heat Flux (SHF) and ambient wind speed were found to be the most important factors in the design of the SC. Results showed that the room mass flow rate increased from 1 kg/s with no wind effect to about 30 kg/s with induced wind of 1 m/s. The mass flow rate increased from about 6 to 9 kg/s at CH of 5 and 8 m respectively for no wind condition and SHF of 400 W/m2. Power outputs were obtained for the average velocity of the chimney, collector area and chimney height. It was observed from results obtained from both the numerical and analytical analysis that power outputs of the power generating systems increases with increase in heat energy in the collector space area which is a function of the global solar radiation intensity, the collector area, and the chimney height. The power outputs results showed that with SHF of 400 W/m2 for CH of 5 and 9 m were 33 and 85 W/m2 respectively. The respective power output for SHF of 200 and 1,000 W/m2 were 25 and 47 W/m2. Furthermore, the optimum values of CH, CW and SHF were 5 m, 1 m and 417 W/m2 respectively under no wind condition with room temperature of 300 K and chimney velocity 0.12 m/s. It was also observed that with the increase in the mass flow rate in the chimney, the ventilation requirements were adequately met

Screening of Antimicrobial Ethanolic Extract of Peristrophe bicalyculata

The ethanolic extract from Peritrophe bicalyculata leaves was evaluated for the presence of phytochemicals and its antimicrobial activity in vitro against selected bacteria and fungi using the antibiotic gentamycin as control. The extract showed the presence of secondary metabolites such as alkaloid, saponin, tannin and steroid. It also inhibited the growth of the tested microorganisms at different concentrations. However stronger in-vitro activity was recorded against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger, Asperigillus clavatus and Rhizopus stolonifer. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extract is an evidence of ethnomedicinal potential of the plant

Performance Indicators for Sustainable Cement Production in Nigeria

The cement industry is an intensive energy consuming process with attendant economic benefits and environmental caution. Cement processing comes with economic advantages and environmental implications, like dust and pollutants. Host communities and staff of cement factories are bound to experience and endure this barrage of emissions, which leads to serious health and environmental challenges. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), three cement manufacturing companies in Ogun State, South-West, Nigeria were investigated to determine how best they conform to industry best practices. Fifteen criteria were identified and used for this analysis. Results show that COMPANY B is operating at acceptable standards while COMPANY A should consider improving on safety, spares, emission levels and staff welfare

Effects of Crude Oil contaminated Water on the reproductive system of Female Wistar Rats

The rising level of infertility in the females have been associated with environmental pollutants and one such pollutants is crude oil. Crude oil pollution occurs in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria and interaction with this toxicant by both humans and animals may adversely the female reproductive system. This study was designed to investigate the effect of crude oil contaminated water on reproductive functions in female Wistar rats. Fifteen (15) female rats weighing between 140g-230g were used for this study and the rats were divided into three (3) groups (1, 2 and 3) and each group had five rats. Group 1 was the control group while group 2 and 3 were the test groups receiving 2.5mls and 5mls of crude oil contaminated water twice daily for four weeks. The stages of Oestrus cycle of the rats were checked daily. The rats were sacrificed after four weeks and the blood collected were used for hormonal assays (Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), Luteinizing hormone (LH), Testosterone). The uterus and ovaries were used for histology (Haematoxylin and Eosin staining), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. The results were analyzed using GraphPad Prism software for windows and data were expressed as mean±standard error of mean. Statistical significance was accepted at p<0.05. There was no significant changes (p>0.05) in the weights and relative reproductive organ weights (uterus and ovary) of among the three groups. FSH and LH in the test group of rats fed with crude oil contaminated water when compared with the control were not statistically significant (p<0.05). Oestradiol was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the test group whereas progesterone and progesterone-oestradiol ratio was significantly elevated (p<0.05) in the test groups when compared with the control. There were degenerative changes in the ovaries and uterus of rats fed with crude oil contaminated water when compared with the control. SOD was significantly reduced (p<0.05) in the test group while MDA was elevated in the ovaries and uterus of the test group. The oestrus cycle was irregular in the test groups.   Crude oil contaminated water has endocrine disrupting effects on the female reproductive system as well as inducing oxidative stress and this may adversely affect female reproductive functions and fertility. KEY WORDS: Crude oil contaminated water, Endocrine disruptor, Female reproductive functions, Oxidative stress DOI: 10.7176/JMPB/72-05 Publication date: June 30th 202

Racial/ethnic differences in job loss for women with breast cancer

IntroductionWe examined race/ethnic differences in treatment-related job loss and the financial impact of treatment-related job loss, in a population-based sample of women diagnosed with breast cancer.MethodsThree thousand two hundred fifty two women with non-metastatic breast cancer diagnosed (August 2005-February 2007) within the Los Angeles County and Detroit Metropolitan Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results registries, were identified and asked to complete a survey (mean time from diagnosis = 8.9 months). Latina and African American women were over-sampled (n = 2268, eligible response rate 72.1%).ResultsOne thousand one hundred eleven women (69.6%) of working age (<65 years) were working for pay at time of diagnosis. Of these women, 10.4% (24.1% Latina, 10.1% African American, 6.9% White, p < 0.001) reported that they lost or quit their job since diagnosis due to breast cancer or its treatment (defined as job loss). Latina women were more likely to experience job loss compared to White women (OR = 2.0, p = 0.013)), independent of sociodemographic factors. There were no significant differences in job loss between African American and White women, independent of sociodemographic factors. Additional adjustments for clinical and treatment factors revealed a significant interaction between race/ethnicity and chemotherapy (p = 0.007). Among women who received chemotherapy, Latina women were more likely to lose their job compared to White women (OR = 3.2, p < 0.001), however, there were no significant differences between Latina and White women among those who did not receive chemotherapy. Women who lost their job were more likely to experience financial strain (e.g. difficulty paying bills 27% vs. 11%, p < 0.001).ConclusionJob loss is a serious consequence of treatment for women with breast cancer. Clinicians and staff need to be aware of aspects of treatment course that place women at higher risk for job loss, especially ethnic minorities receiving chemotherapy

Quality of life among Latina breast cancer patients: a systematic review of the literature

Introduction The Latino population is the most rapidly growing ethnic minority in the United States and Latinas have higher rates of advanced breast cancer and more rigorous treatments than White women. However, the literature lacks reviews on quality of life among this population of breast cancer patients. Methods A systematic review of the breast cancer quality of life (QOL) literature was conducted among studies that provided a comparison of mental, physical, social, or sexual QOL between Latinas and other racial/ethnic groups. Of the 375 studies reviewed, 20 quantitative studies and two qualitative studies met criteria for inclusion. Results Latinas were more likely to report poor mental, physical, and social QOL, relative to non-Latinas. Only four studies assessed sexual QOL, making it difficult to draw any conclusions. Of these four QOL domains, the largest disparity was found in the area of mental health in which Latinas reported poorer QOL compared to non-Latina Whites and Blacks. Discussion/conclusions Most quantitative studies revealed either that Latinas consistently evidenced significantly lower QOL than non-Latinas on all measures (6 studies) or reported mixed findings in which Latinas generally demonstrated significantly worse QOL on most, but not all, measures (12 studies) included in the study. Explanatory mechanisms including socio-demographic, treatment-related, and culturally-relevant factors are discussed. Implications for research design, measurement, and clinical work are also included. Implications for cancer survivors Although not entirely consistent, data suggest that Latina breast cancer survivors on average experience worse QOL than non-Latina Whites. Understanding ethnic differences in QOL among breast cancer survivors can inform interventions targeted at improving health status for Latinas

Developing a digital intervention for cancer survivors: an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach

This paper illustrates a rigorous approach to developing digital interventions using an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach. Intervention planning included a rapid scoping review which identified cancer survivors’ needs, including barriers and facilitators to intervention success. Review evidence (N=49 papers) informed the intervention’s Guiding Principles, theory-based behavioural analysis and logic model. The intervention was optimised based on feedback on a prototype intervention through interviews (N=96) with cancer survivors and focus groups with NHS staff and cancer charity workers (N=31). Interviews with cancer survivors highlighted barriers to engagement, such as concerns about physical activity worsening fatigue. Focus groups highlighted concerns about support appointment length and how to support distressed participants. Feedback informed intervention modifications, to maximise acceptability, feasibility and likelihood of behaviour change. Our systematic method for understanding user views enabled us to anticipate and address important barriers to engagement. This methodology may be useful to others developing digital interventions