Tradition and Talent in Artistic Creativity: A Study of Selected Igbo Folk Artists

From the beginning of time, the idea of culture as a common identifying criterion for human homogeneity has always been there. Culture presupposes that certain basics of human existence are commonly shared and maintained by people in certain geographical locations. This in turn implies that people sharing these cultural icons or practices are free to reorder them in new ways to suit specific purposes. The statements above are apposite starting points for a discourse on the symbiotic relationship between Tradition and Talent and how each feeds upon and enriches the other. T.S. Eliot's seminal work on the interface between Tradition and Talent especially as it concerns English poetry will equally provide insights into the relationship between Tradition and Talent in artistic creation. As is obvious, even from the Bible, there is nothing new under the sun and what has been is what will be. This presupposes that most times, when we refer to people as being exceptionally creative, we are simply saying that such people have mastered the art of borrowing from the common pool and turning such borrowed item into something unique to themselves. This work will therefore examine the symbiosis between Tradition and Talent as well as how a focused union of the two engenders creativity. Our inferences will mainly be drawn from the works of select Igbo Folk artists

Laying Down the Foundations for International Student Journey. Students as Academic Partners Project Report.

The aim of this project was to explore the lived experiences of being an international student studying at a University within the UK and to make recommendations for future provision. There are increasing numbers of international students studying at Universities within the UK. Positive learning environments and arrangements are the responsibility of the host University and international students’ needs should be taken into consideration. This project was led by international students in collaboration with academic staff. It involved a qualitative exploration of international student perspectives and their experiences of studying within the UK. Ten international students completed a questionnaire that was designed by international students. Respondents were asked questions in relation to three areas: coming to the UK, arriving in the UK and studying in the UK

Compaction and consolidation characteristics of lateritic soil of a selected site in Ikole Ekiti, southwest Nigeria

The compaction and consolidation characteristics of lateritic soils in Ikole area of Ekiti State were investigated. The investigation was carried out through laboratory tests on disturbed and undisturbed soil samples obtained from three borings (BH1, BH2, and BH3) of Holy Apostolic Nursery/Primary School, Ootunja, Ikole Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Ekiti State Southwest, Nigeria. The soils are all lateritic and mostly fine-grained. Compaction tests indicate maximum dry densities of 2.05Mgm-3, 1.78Mgm-3, and 1.69Mgm-3 at optimum moisture contents of 14.3%, 20.7% and 19.6% for soil samples obtained from BH1, BH2 and BH3 respectively. Compression indices (Cc) obtained from oedometer tests are 0.04816, 0.03820 and 0.04318 while the calculated coefficients of volume compressibility (mv), are 1.308*10-4, 1.065*10-4 and 1.093*10-4 m2kN-1 for samples in BH1, BH2 and BH3 respectively. The unsoaked California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value at 2.5 mm penetration ranges from 42.10% to 92.40% and CBR value at 5.0 mm penetration ranges from 52.70 to 89.10% indicative of good materials for road subgrade, sub-base and base courses.Keywords: Compaction, Consolidation, CBR, Southwest Nigeria

Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli from Nigerian students, 1986 1998.

We tested 758 fecal Escherichia coli isolates, recovered from Nigerian students in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, and 1998, for susceptibility to seven antimicrobial drugs. The prevalences of strains resistant to tetracycline, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and streptomycin were 9% to 35% in 1986 and 56% to 100% in 1998. These findings demonstrate that resistance gene reservoirs are increasing in healthy persons

Non-linear bending and stress analysis of a transversely loaded isotropic plates material using 3-D plate theory

This paper presents the bending stress analysis of anisotropic plate material under transverse loading using a three-dimensional (3-D) plate theory. The static elastic theory was used to formulate the total energy expression of the plate thereafter, transformed into a compatibility equation through general variation to get the slope and deflection relationship. The solution of equations of the equilibrium gave rise to the exact polynomial deflection function while the coefficient of deflection and shear deformation of the plate was gotten from the governing equation through the direct variation method. These solutions were used to obtain the characteristic expression for analyzing the displacement and stresses of the rectangular plate. This formula was used for the solution of the bending problem of the rectangular plate that is clamped at the first-two edge and the other edges simply supported (CCSS). The result of the deflection and stresses decrease as the span-thickness ratio increases. More so, the aspect ratio effect of the shear stress of isotropic plates is investigated and discussed after a comparative analysis between the present work and previous studies. The result shows that the present study differs from that refined plate theory (RPT) of assumed deflection by 5.5% whereas exact 2-D RPT by 5.3%. This shows the efficacy of the exact 3-D plate theory for flexural characteristics of CCSS isotropic rectangular thick plate

Financial Inclusion and Unemployment In Nigeria

Studies have shown that financial inclusion harnesses savings from the locals, which increases loanable funds at the disposal of the money deposit banks which in turn increases investments that translates into increased employment opportunities in Nigeria. This study therefore examined the impact of financial inclusion on the unemployment situation in Nigeria from the year 1991 to2021. Anchored on the financial literacy theory of financial inclusion articulated by Ozili, (2020), the study employed secondary data sourced from world bank indicator (WBI) and utilized Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) to analyze them. The results show amongst others that F-statistic value of (3.071786) is less than the 5% critical value of (4.01) indicating that there is no long-run dynamic relationship between unemployment rate and financial inclusion in Nigeria. But, the t-statistic value of (3.819815) is greater than the 5% critical value of (-3.41) in absolute terms, indicating that there is a short-run relationship between unemployment rate and financial in Nigeria. The result further indicates that as the F-Statistic of the model is 52.21126 with probability value of 0.000000. This implies that the variables impact on the unemployment rate is statistically significant at 5 percent level since the F-calculated is greater than the F-tabulated, even with the p value which is practically zero. The study therefore recommends that the government should embark on massive financial education to bring the knowledge of financial services and products to the citizens to enable them tap into the benefits therein. Again, the monetary authority should step up one of its key functions of guiding credit and loans channels to private sector to ignite the benefits of financial inclusion

Static Elastic Bending Analysis of a Three-Dimensional Clamped Thick Rectangular Plate using Energy Method

Analytical formulations and solutions for the thick rectangular plate static analysis with clamped support based on a three-dimensional (3-D) elasticity theory is developed using the energy method. The theoretical model, whose formulation is based on the static elastic principle as already reported in the literature, is presented herein to obviate the shear correction coefficients while considering shear deformation effect and transverse normal strain/stress in the analysis. The equilibrium equations are obtained using 3-D kinematic and constitutive relations. The deflection and rotation functions, which are the solutions of the equilibrium equation, are obtained in closed form using a general variational technique for solving the boundary value problem. The minimization energy equation yields the general equation which was used to obtain the theoretical model for the deflection and stresses of the plate. The results are compared with the available literature and the results-computed trigonometric displacement function shows that this 3-D predicts the vertical displacement and the stresses more accurately than previous studies considered in this paper. The result showed that the percentage difference between the present work and those of 2-D Mindlin FSDT, 2-D numeric analysis, and 2-D HSDT of polynomial shape functions was about 3.02%, 0.62%, and 0.33%, respectively. It is concluded that the 3-D trigonometric model gives an exact solution, unlike other 2-D theories, and can be used for clamped-supported thick plate analysis. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2022-03-03-03 Full Text: PD

Tobacco and alcohol use among healthcare workers in three public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background: Tobacco use is a risk factor for most of the leading causes of death in the world. Healthcare workers (HCWs) can play an important role in assisting patients to stop smoking, but this role is undermined if they themselves smoke. The study determined the prevalence of tobacco smoking and alcohol use among HCWs in public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 650 self-administered anonymous questionnaires (primary and secondary questionnaires) were administered to participants between December 2009 and June 2010. Six hundred and twenty primary questionnaires (on smoking) and 630 secondary questionnaires (on alcohol use) were returned, giving a response rate of 95% and 97% respectively. The Pearson chi-square test was used to test for statistical significance.Results: Eleven per cent of the participants were current smokers and 7.1% former smokers, while 27% of neversmokers were constantly exposed to second-hand smoke. Males were 13 times more likely to smoke than their female counterparts (P < 0.001). Never-smokers more frequently counselled their smoking patients to quit compared to former and current smokers (47.5%, 39.5% and 25.8% respectively). Alcohol use problems were reported by 22% of participants (P < 0.001). Current smokers were six times more likely to drink excessively than never-smokers (P < 0.001) and males were ten times more likely than females to drink excessively (P < 0.001).Conclusion: The smoking rate among HCWs is still high, although lower than the national average of 21.4%. A large number of participants reported exposure to second-hand smoke and alcohol use problems. Less than half of the HCWs counselled smoking patients to quit smoking.Keywords: health care worker, tobacco use, alcohol use, patient education for smoking cessatio

EVALUATION OF TWO ANIMAL PROTEIN SOURCES IN SINGLE PHASE FEEDING OF BROILER CHICKENS

A study was carried out to compare the use of blood meal and fish meal as protein sources in single phase feeding of broiler chickens.  Three isonitrogenious and isocaloric diets containing between 20.5 to 21.1 % CP and 3440 to 3454 kcal/kg ME were formulated. The control diet contained none of the animal protein sources while the other two diets contained blood meal and fish meal at 6%, respectively. After six weeks of straight feeding, data were collected on feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio was calculated. Carcass characteristics and cost benefit were also calculated. The results indicated that birds fed fish meal based diet  consumed more feed (p< 0.05) than those on control diet,  while intake of those on blood meal based diet  was an interphase between the control and fish meal based diet groups. The birds fed fish meal based diet also recorded higher (p< 0.05) daily weight gain than those on control and blood meal based diets. Feed conversion ratio was better in the group fed fish meal based diet than those fed the control diet, but similar (p> 0.05) to the group fed the blood meal based diet. The dressing percentage of the birds was similar (p>0.05) in the control and blood meal based diet groups, but they were higher (p<0.05) than the fish meal based diet group. The neck, back, drumstick and head were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the control group than in the groups containing animal protein. Cost benefit analysis showed that feed cost and cost per kg weight gain were higher (p< 0.05) in fish meal based diet group than in control and blood meal based diet groups. Revenue per bird and gross margin were higher (p< 0.05) in the blood meal based diet group than in the control diet and fish meal based diet groups. In conclusion, fast growing broiler chickens for eatery houses can be better reared with a single diet of 21 % CP and 3440 kcal/kg ME using blood meal as a protein source.   Keywords: , , , , , , &nbsp