Alumni Giving of Business Executives to the Alma Mater: Panel Data Evidence at a Large Metropolitan Research University

Charitable giving to public and private institutions of higher learning in the US is a growing major source of financing academic and support programs. The novel contribution of this research is the estimation of an econometric model of gift-giving alumni business executives of a large public urban university using 10,192 individual donor observations [that is, a panel of 392 donors for 26 years]. Our theoretically consistent empirical results reinforce the earlier research findings that male alumni in Greek social organizations gave significantly more. New insights unique to this study are that alumni individuals with the higher-order executive job titles (proxy for permanent income) of a Chief Executive Officer or President (relative to the lesser ranks) are significantly more charitable, and that the number of other gift-giving alumni and friends known to donors, and national athletic conference (basketball and football) championship wins are also highly statistically significant positive drivers of alumni annual giving to the comprehensive metropolitan research university. The resulting profile of gift-giving alumni business executives can be profitably used to more effectively target likely donors and raise cost-effectiveness of fundraising efforts in these times of fiscal austerity in higher education.educational economics, educational finance, charitable donations, alumni giving of business executives

FACTOR DEMANDS OF LOUISIANA RICE PRODUCERS: AN ECONOMETRIC INVESTIGATION

A Diewert-flexible (dual) cost function was used to derive a system of conditional factor demand equations for Louisiana rice producers. Generalized Leontief cost and factor share equations were fitted for the 1955-87 period using Zellner's SURE system estimation procedure. The Aitken parameter estimates reveal that: (1) the optimal input mix of rice farmers varies with production scale, (2) the factor-augmenting technical change is labor and chemical saving but seed using, (3) pairwise input substitutions are limited, and (4) factor demands are own-price inelastic. An implication is that Louisiana rice farmers will not appreciably alter their factor utilizations when relative input prices change.Demand and Price Analysis,

FACTOR DEMANDS OF LOUISIANA RICE PRODUCERS: AN ECONOMETRIC INVESTIGATION: REPLY

Demand and Price Analysis,

Survey of Students’ Perceptions of Assertive Discipline and Restorative Discipline in American Christian Academy, Ibadan, Nigeria.

This action research study investigated the perceptions of students regarding two discipline methods, Restorative Discipline (RD) and Assertive Discipline (AD), at American Christian Academy, Nigeria. The total number of participants was sixty-six students from grades seven through nine. Participants were divided into two groups: grade seven (experimental group) and grades eight and nine (control group). The experimental group was exposed explicitly to the Restorative Discipline Method for four weeks while the control group continued to be exposed to the Assertive Discipline Method (the norm in the school). At the end of four weeks, both groups were given a questionnaire containing ten questions each for both discipline methods (RD and AD). A comparison of the responses within each group and between the groups was carried out. The results of the study suggested that the difference in perceptions of both groups to RD and AD was not statistically significantly. There was also an indication that a blend of both discipline methods will benefit American Christian Academy

Prose Fiction in Language Teaching

Literature is language in use and is generally seen to play a vital role in language teaching. Literary texts provide us with much aesthetic, intellectual and emotional pleasure in that the writer often seeks to delineate their vision of human experience through a creative, emotive use of language. In essence literature serves to enhance the students’ language competence. This paper examines the relationships between language and literature. This is demonstrated with several prose texts with a view to show their pedagogical relevance to students’ language needs. In the conclusion, it is emphasized that the link between language and literature which had been ignored in the past should now be exploited for the development of students’ performances in the target language

Leadership as a Bane of African Socio-Political Situation: An Examination of Aminata Sow Fall’s: The Beggars’ Strike

This paper examines Sow Fall’s socio-political vision in her novel The Beggars’ Strike. The term leadership is defined before a brief summary of the novel. Then Sow Fall’s vision of leadership in the African contemporary society is examined against the backdrop of the major incidents in the novel. This is then connected with current social issues in African nation states particularly Nigeria.

Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is by far the most common HPV-related disease. About 99.7% of cervical cancer are caused by persistent genital high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Worldwide, cervical cancer is one of the most common cancer in women with an estimated 528,000 new cases reported in 2012. Most HPV infections clear spontaneously but persistent infection with the oncogenic or high-risk types may cause cancer of the oropharynx and anogenital regions. The virus usually infects the mucocutaneous epithelium and produces viral particles in matured epithelial cells and then causes a disruption in normal cell-cycle control and the promotion of uncontrolled cell division leading to the accumulation of genetic damage. There are currently two effective prophylactic vaccines against HPV infection in many developed countries and these comprise of HPV types 16 and 18, and HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 virus-like particles. HPV testing in the secondary prevention of cervical cancer is clinically valuable in triaging low-grade cytological abnormalities and is also more sensitive than cytology as a primary screening. If these prevention strategies can be implemented in both in developed and developing countries, many thousands of lives could be saved

Perspectives on Illegal Routes in Nigeria

The Nigeria Immigration Service is a para military organization established to control the entry and exit of all persons in Nigeria and as such is meant to police the country’s vast porous borders through its officers posted to such locations. The paper argued that the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders has paved way for the proliferation of illegal routes to promote illicit activities including but not limited to smuggling of arms and ammunition, trans-national organized crimes along the borders which impedes economic development. Engaging Human Needs Theory, this paper examined the existence and dynamics of these routes in Oyo and Ogun States which make them extremely difficult to manage and eliminate and as well assesses the performance of the Service in security policing. This study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research design, using simple percentage and content analysis for analysing. The paper concluded by emphasizing the importance of securing the borders which are defining features of a state. In this sense, government should adopt best modern practices in community border policing and transform from the rhetoric of policy formation andpaddling to policy implementation in order to achieve desired objectives of secured borders, safe society and increase in economic development.Key Words: Nigeria Immigration Service, Illegal Routes, Security Policing, Border,Stat

Cash-lite Economy Policy Enforcement: Using Bayes’ Theorem to Prevent Multiple Opening of Bank Accounts

This paper is on preventing multiple opening of bank account as a security measure, to enforce the Nigeria apex bank cash-lite policy on raw cash transaction limits and the associated penalties. The paper therefore presents a remedy to stabilise and achieve the purpose of the new cash-lite policy in Nigeria economy. The Nigeria apex bank on January 1, 2012 kicked off Nigeria’s cash-lite policy using Lagos as pilot city. As a result, companies registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), who before now operated two accounts namely, corporate current account and an individual savings account, opened accounts in virtually all the banks in Nigeria. The account users see the multiple opening of bank account as the remedy to circumvent the charges attached to exceeding daily cash transaction on both individual and cooperate bank accounts. This informed the proposition of Bayes’ theorem, to centrally monitor, control and checkmate the customers’ multiple opening of bank account at account opening desk. The Bayes’ theorem is used to check each account items/particulars submitted by the account owner/user at the account opening desk, to check if it is existing already, using each items’ given value stored in the database to calculate the probability of existence of such an account. The result which is probability of ‘X’ (P(X)) calculated where less than 0.5 ((that is if P(X) < 0.5)) would allow the continuation of the account opening process, otherwise (if P(X) >= 0.5) it will alert that the account is already existing and would prevent further opening of such an account. Results generated using Bayes’ theorem shows that customers having high number of particulars equivalent with the existing customers’ stored information will have high chances of existence, while those with less particulars will have low chances. Keywords: Cash-lite, Cash-less, Multiple account, Bayes’ theorem, Apex Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

A distribution network design for fast-moving consumer goods

A distribution network design of fast-moving consumer goods ensures distribution of products in an effective manner by giving  maximum customers’ satisfaction and minimum distribution cost. The study evaluates the distribution through direct shipment and the use of intermediate shipment for distribution of products from plant to depots. A real-life case study in Southwestern Nigeria was defined and solved as a linear programming model to minimise total cost of distribution from plant to the depots with consideration of four routing options. The results show that distribution through intermediaries gives a better solution than routing option with  direct shipment. The best routing option with intermediate points when compared with the routing option with direct shipment gives a savings of 1,819,490.00 Naira which translates to 13.46% cost savings. The study shows that the location of intermediaries is a key decision in distribution network design and that the intermediaries add value to the distribution networks in supply chain. Keywords: Distribution network; Supply chain design; Fast-moving consumer goods; Linear programmin