Editorial: Appropriate technologies for health and disease: an innovative approach to drive sustainable health care delivery

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Emerging Market Economies and International Investment Law: Turkey-Africa Bilateral Investment Treaties

This Article offers a critical and penetrating insight into the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) between Turkey and countries in Africa. Since 2003, Turkey has concluded BITs with twenty-eight countries in Africa. This Article seeks answers to some very important questions. In the BITs between Turkey and countries in Africa, is Turkey merely conforming to the norms and standards established by Western countries, or is Turkey changing these norms in fundamental ways? Compared to BITs between Western nations and countries in Africa, are Turkey-Africa BITs more oriented towards sustainable development and, if so, in what respects? In what ways are emerging market economies such as Turkey transforming the global economic landscape and international economic law? This Article fills an important gap in the literature on international investment law and the role of emerging market economies in the global economic system. Thus, although focused on Turkey-Africa investment relations, this Article sheds important light on three broader issues. First, this Article offers a glimpse into the way emerging market economies are using and sometimes transforming international economic law. Second, this Article takes on one of the most important issues in international economic law today--the crisis in the international investment law--and examines how different stakeholders are grappling with this crisis. Third, this Article sheds important light on the dynamics of South--South economic relations and how countries in Africa are moving beyond traditional (Western) partners and are engaging or attempting to engage with new partners in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Although emerging market economies and emerging market multinationals are playing an incredibly significant role in the global economy and are changing global economic governance in significant ways, their involvement in the making and unmaking of international economic law is frequently ignored or misunderstood. This Article addresses this by offering critical insight into how emerging market economies are using, adapting, and sometimes abandoning established international economic norms

Trade, Empires, and Subjects--China-Africa Trade

Since 2000, the interest of the People\u27s Republic of China (China) in Africa has grown steadily. Trade between China and Africa has grown exponentially. China-Africa trade volume increased from $10 billion to$18 billion between 2000 and 2003. In 2005, total trade between Africa and China surged to $40 billion, and in 2006 China-Africa trade was valued at$55.5 billion. A third of China\u27s crude oil imports come from Africa. In the West, reaction to China\u27s involvement in Africa has bordered on suspicion and paranoia. Policy makers and analysts are concerned that China could gain control over Africa\u27s vast and untapped natural resources. The current struggle over Africa\u27s resources evokes worrying memories of an earlier scramble for pieces of the continent. This Article examines the opportunities and pitfalls that Sino-African trade relations present for Africa. Instead of paranoia, this Article calls for guarded optimism regarding the deepening relationship. While there is much that Africa could gain from the relationship, African leaders and Africans must guard against imperialism of any sort and shy away from arrangements that threaten sustainable development or undermine respect for human rights. Most important, African leaders must push past Beijing\u27s rhetoric of anti-hegemonism and develop clear policies to guide the continent\u27s engagement with China. Drawing on the rich but sad lessons from the scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century, African leaders must avoid the economic, political, and legal pitfalls of the past and position the continent to benefit from strategic relations with countries that could become future partners

Graying Incarcerated Persons and Education Programs in Nigerian Correctional Centre

Correctional education programs are rehabilitation programs designed for incarcerated persons in Nigerian correctional institutions. However, getting the graying incarcerated persons to participate in education programs becomes quite challenging. This study investigates graying incarcerated persons and education programs in one correctional centre. Data were collected qualitatively from fifteen (15) incarcerated individuals aged 60 years and above using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed in analyzing the data generated for the study. Findings show that there are no available education programs for graying incarcerated individuals. The study also revealed that designing education programs in such a way that it will accommodate the needs of the graying population will alleviate or soothe this category of prisoners. The study, therefore, recommends that education programs should be inclusive of different populations of incarcerated persons, especially the graying ones. Social workers have roles to play in alleviating the problems faced by graying incarcerated persons

Spontaneous Fruit Fly Optimisation for truss weight minimisation:Performance evaluation based on the no free lunch theorem

Over the past decade, several researchers have presented various optimisation algorithms for use in truss design. The no free lunch theorem implies that no optimisation algorithm fits all problems; therefore, the interest is not only in the accuracy and convergence rate of the algorithm but also the tuning effort and population size required for achieving the optimal result. The latter is particularly crucial for computationally intensive or high-dimensional problems. Contrast-based Fruit-fly Optimisation Algorithm (c-FOA) proposed by Kanarachos et al. in 2017 is based on the efficiency of fruit flies in food foraging by olfaction and visual contrast. The proposed Spontaneous Fruit Fly Optimisation (s-FOA) enhances c-FOA and addresses the difficulty in solving nonlinear optimisation algorithms by presenting standard parameters and lean population size for use on all optimisation problems. Six benchmark problems were studied to assess the performance of s-FOA. A comparison of the results obtained from documented literature and other investigated techniques demonstrates the competence and robustness of the algorithm in truss optimisation.Comment: Presented at the International conference for sustainable materials, energy and technologies, 201

Sensory Evaluation and Feasibility Report of Plantain Sandwich for Nigerian Market

Protein-energy malnutrition is a common nutritional disorder in developing countries and constitutes a major public health problem in young children and elderly people. This project is aimed at evaluating the acceptability of plantain-peanut sandwich and roasted at different temperatures. A plantain-peanut sandwich consists of minced protein stuffed into a carbohydrate source made into a roll as a food product. The plantain was roasted at two different temperatures than later enriched with 5%, 10% and 15% peanut butter. The crude protein and crude fibre contents of the plantain samples roasted at 200oC and 240oC showed no significant difference (P˃0.05) while the ash, fat and carbohydrate contents showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05). The results of the proximate composition showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05) at the two different roasting temperatures of 200oC and 240oC when enriched at 5%, 10% and 15% levels with peanut butter. This pattern of significant increase was also observed with the amino acid profiles at the two different roasting temperature levels. The sensory evaluation record shows that the mean scores for the appearance, taste, colour, aroma, mouthfeel and overall acceptability of the enriched roasted samples varied, but the plantain roasted at 240oC enriched with 15% peanut butter had the highest acceptability level. A feasibility study was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing and marketing a plantain-peanut sandwich. The study revealed that a starting point of 60 packs at 4 fingers per pack sold at 600 Naira per day gave an estimated turnover of 9 million Naira per annum. A breakeven point analysis revealed that a price break even point of 19.14% is feasible while a product breakeven of 18.04% of the estimated annual sales of 15,000 packs is also feasible

Knowledge, Attitude and practices of HIV post exposure prophylaxis amongst health workers in Lagos University teaching hospital

Introduction: timely PEP after needle stick exposure to high risk body fluids can reduce the rate of occupational transmission significantly. Ignorance of this may increase the risk of seroconversion to HIV for healthcare workers. This study was conducted with the aim of demonstrating the current level of knowledge and practise of healthcare workers as regards PEP. Methods: this was a cross-sectional study, pretested questionnaire were self administered to 372 health workers from various clinical specialties. The responses were collated and analyzed; results were presented in frequency tables. Results: this study revealed a high level of awareness among the respondents as 83.3% were aware of PEP. Despite the high level of awareness, respondents still have an inadequate knowledge about PEP, only 32% of the respondents could name at least two of the recommended drugs for PEP, only 54.0% of respondents knew when to commence PEP following occupational exposure to HIV. There was a low level of practice of PEP among the respondents as only 6.3% of respondents had PEP despite occurrence of needle stick injury. Conclusion: this study revealed a general low level use of PEP despite the average knowledge of PEP and the favourable attitude towards HIV PEP amongst the respondents

Integration of Learners with Physical Disabilities: Panacea for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

This study investigated the integration of learners with physical disabilities as panacea for sustainable development in Nigeria. Using a descriptive survey research design, data were collected using questionnaires from 185 purposively selected teachers involved in teaching students with physical disabilities in fifty secondary schools in South East Nigeria. Three research questions were answered and data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The result of the study revealed that when students with physical disabilities are integrated with non-physically challenged learners, they adjust favourably to overcome their challenges, are well focused and determined to excel academically and in other extra curricula activities. Therefore, integration policy should be practiced with more vigour. Keywords: Development, Integration, Learners, Nigeria, Panacea, Physical Disabilities. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-6-22 Publication date: February 29th 202