Traditional Roles of African Women in Peace Making and Peace Building: An Evaluation

The study set out to scrutinize the scope of conflict in Africa and further evaluate the contribution of women to the peace process as well as the challenges such roles impose on them. The study affirms the important roles of women as an agent of peace in which they demonstrated an act of courage and love to end conflicts when men failed. The study shows that there is an overemphasis on women as victims of conflict or sometimes as combatants or agents. This largely conceals the invaluable contribution of women to the peace process. This position amounts to placing them in a position that they might be seen as weaklings or perpetrator of conflict. The study further concludes that most of the conflicts that became protracted and deep-rooted reflect institutional failure and the refusal of those in the position of authority to act at the right time due to greed, poverty, and lack of inclusive arrangement in governance. The study, therefore, recommends that the root of the problem must first be attacked in that government must be proactive enough to monitor, act promptly to diffuse tension in explosive issues that could lead to direct violence. This is achievable if the government is sincere, honest, and adopts an inclusive approach in governance thereby ensuring fairness in the distribution of resources

Political Violence in Nigeria and Its Implication for National Development

Political violence is a major impediment to Nigeria's national development. With the restoration to democratic rule in May 1999, high expectations were raised that the new democratic dispensation would resolve the risk of Nigeria's political violence, while speeding the country's economic and social transformation. It's worrying that since democratic rule returned, Nigeria has experienced a degree of unprecedented political violence that has crippled the efforts of national development. The fundamental thrust of this paper is to investigate the incidence of Nigeria's political violence and assess its national development consequences. The paper shows that political violence dissuades domestic and foreign investment in our economy, triggers government loss of revenue and resources, and results in the election of unqualified representatives to the detriment of the country's economic and social progress. This paper proposes reducing wages paid to political office holders, and politicians should strive to achieve national unity instead of growing religious and ethnic tensions. Lastly, National resources should also be equitably distributed by the government

An Ethical Overview on Cloning in Nigeria

This work titled "An Ethical Overview on Cloning in Nigeria" analyzed the debate on cloning for which many scholars believe that cloning is not just ethically and morally acceptable, but beneficial in that they allow otherwise infertile couples to have children and permit the study of genetic diseases and indeed genetic development. This work examined cloning from an ethical/moral perspective and held the view that there is everything inherently wrong with the idea of human cloning. As a scientific discovery, it violates the dignity, respect, and value of human life and concluded that cloning coupled with its related procedures, placed the human offspring at risk of genuine harm. Also, it is shown that Cloned offspring's run the risk of misplaced or distorted genealogy. The work relied on library materials, analysis, critical exposition, and evaluative methods to achieve its objectives

Psycho-Social Factors of Terrorism in Nigeria

The present study aims to build a thorough understanding and causes of terrorism. It discusses probable psychological and sociological factors for terrorist activities. Paper elaborates the presence of psychopathologies and cultural influences that harbor mindsets of terrorist individuals. It also highlights the relationship between religion and violence and elaborates the impact of media and its role for terrorism. The identification of psycho-social factors linked with terrorism and violence serve as a way to better understand the phenomenon. This is likely to promote peace, harmony, and love in Nigerian societies

Socio-Demographic Factors and Youth Participation in Community Development Programmes in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

This study investigated socio-demographic factors and youth participation in community development (CD) programmes in Calabar Municipality. The objectives of the study were to examine the influence of age, gender, educational status, marital status, and employment status on youth participation in CD programmes. Five (5) research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Data were obtained by administering questionnaire to three hundred and ninety-nine (399) youths and in-depth interview with ten (10) community leaders, bringing the total number of participants to 409. Data were presented using descriptive statistics, charts, frequencies and percentages. The hypothesis were tested for significance 0.05 level of significance using Chi-square (X2) test, while the possibility of youths’ participation in CD programs was predicted using regression analysis. Results of the study showed that: majority of youths(79.9%) in Calabar Municipalityhave participated in CD programmes, mostly at the implementation stage. There is no significant influence of age, gender, employment status and marital status on youth participation in CD programmes; however, there is a significant influence of educational attainment on youth participation in CD programmes in Calabar Municipal LGA. In conclusion, there is need to educate and create awareness so that youths can participate effectively in CD programmes. Based on the findings, it is recommended that Government should join efforts with policy makers to formulate and implement policies that will focus on educating the youths in general, especially those within 18-27 years, less educated and students/unemployed on the need to participate in CD programmes. Social workers should sensitize community leaders on the need to provide youths the opportunity to participate in all levels of CD programmes. They should work with youth to develop their capacity and provide them with training to enhance their community development and leadership potentials. Keywords: Socio-demographic factors, Youth participation, Community development programmes DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-24-06 Publication date: December 31st 202

Impact of National Minimum Wage on Low Income Workers in Calabar Municipality, Nigeria

The study examined the impact of the National Minimum wage on the socio-economic characteristics of low income workers in Calabar Municipal Council Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. Ex post facto research design was adopted for the study. A random sample was conducted to select 305 respondents across government ministries, departments, agencies and parastatals. The study utilized two theoretical frameworks: Relative Deprivation Theory and Public Interest Theory. The major instrument of data collection was questionnaire structured to reflect Likert Scale with 25 items.  Data collated were analysed using mean statistics. Hypotheses test statistics was Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient. The results show that The National Minimum Wage has not significantly impacted on poverty, employment, income stability and saving of low-wage earners in the public sector. The results provide empirical evidence to support theoretical expectations and existing research findings in socio-economic literature. Based on the findings, it was recommended that public–private partnership should formulate policies and programmes to alleviate the burden of poverty among the citizens for the betterment of the society. Keywords: national minimum wage, low in workers, wages, savings, poverty

Ethics Surrounding Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Since their discovery in the early 1990s, Stem Cell has brought the prospect of radically improving treatments for a host of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, cancers and many among other diseases that currently render patients and scientists helpless to combat. With the advent of medical and scientific research, comes the inevitable emergence of ethical controversy that often accompanied major scientific and medical development. The use of Stem Cell is no different. Those who seek to curtail the use of certain stem cell lines, revert to the argument that has defied many medical debates over the previous decades. The destruction of human life to create life is one of the key philosophical points that all anti-stem cell advocates attempt to make. However, the purpose of this paper is to analysis the various aspects of ethical debate concerning the use of stem cells in medical research

FAKTOR-FAKTOR RISIKO GANGGUAN KETAJAMAN MATA PADA PEKERJA BAGIAN INSPECTOR PT. COCA COLA AMATIL INDONESIA CENTRAL JAVA

Pengaruh dari penerangan yang kurang memenuhi syarat akan mengakibatkan; kelelahan mata sehingga berkurangnya daya dan efisiensi kerja, kelelahan mental, keluhan pegal di daerah sekitar mata, sakit kepala, dan terjadi penurunan ketajaman mata. Selain dipengaruhi oleh penerangan yang buruk/kurang memenuhi syarat, ketajaman mata juga dipengaruhi oleh umur dan masa kerja dari responden/pekerja. Tujuan dari penelitian ini mengetahui faktor-faktor risiko penurunan ketajaman mata pada pekerja bagian inspector PT. Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia Central Java. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian explanatory research menggunakan desain Cross Sectional. Populasi penelitian ini adalah pekerja bagian inspector PT. Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia Central Java, dengan sampel sebanyak 34 responden yang ditentukan secara purposive sampling dengan kriteria inklusi dan eksklusi. Data diambil dengan menggunakan wawancara, pengukuran menggunakan lux meter, dan pengukuran snellen. Hasil penelitian ini intensitas penerangan inspector ada 6 line dengan rata-rata 4732 lux, 4534 lux, 1201 lux, 1115 lux, 696 lux, dan 843 lux, rata-rata usia 34 tahun, rata-rata masa kerja 7 tahun. Sebagian besar responden memiliki ketajaman mata 6/20 sebanyak 24 responden dan yang memiliki ketajaman mata 6/50 sebanyak 10 responden. Hasil Uji korelasi person antara umur dan ketajaman mata diperoleh p = 0,007 (p0,05). Kesimpulan ada hubungan bermakna antara umur dengan ketajaman mata, dan tidak ada hubungan bermakna antara masa kerja dengan ketajaman mata pada pekerja bagian inspector PT. Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia Central Java Kata Kunci: Intensitas Penerangan, Umur, Masa Kerja, Ketajaman Mat

VIRTUAL SCREENING AND DISCOVERY OF LEAD COMPOUNDS AS POTENTIAL DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE 1 INHIBITORS AND ANTICANCER AGENTS

Epigenetic changes consist of DNA methylation, histone modification, micro RNA and genome imprinting. DNA methylation of the CpG islands is one of the main methods of epigenetic inactivation of genes and aberrant methylations at promoter regions of tumor suppressor genes can alter gene expression and play an important role in cancer development. DNA methyltransferase I (Dnmt1) is the enzyme responsible for maintaining methylation patterns during cell division and it is overexpressed in many cancers. Thus, Dnmt1 is a promising therapeutic target for development of novel anticancer agents and epigenetic modulators. We have developed two promising class of lead candidates, compounds 5-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenethyl)-3-oxo-N-pentyl-4-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)isoindoline-1-carboxamide 47, 2-(2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl)-5-hydroxy-3-oxo-N-pentyl-4-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)isoindoline- 1-carboxamide 51 and 1-(4-isopropylphenyl)-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole 96, as potential leads compounds that can be optimized for pharmaceutical applications.