Toward a Global PhD: Forces & Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide

This is a book review for Meresi Nerad and Mimi Heggelund, eds. (2008) Toward a Global PhD: Forces & Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide

The Role of British Colonial Administration in the Establishment and Workings of the Nigerian Police Force, 1930 – 1960

Ideally, colonial administrations, including the British colonial administration, played significant role in the establishment and workings of security agencies to maintain peaceful coexistence and protect the lives and property of all members of any given society around the world. This paper examines, critically, the role of the British Colonial Administration in the establishment and workings of the Nigerian Police Force, contrary to bourgeois claim that the Nigerian Police Force protect all members of the Nigerian society; the paper posits that the Nigerian Police Force was established primarily to save guard the British colonial state and also to protect the lives and property of British Officials and influential members of the Nigerian society. Although the British colonial administration ended in 1960, the Nigerian Police Force continued providing state security services for the Nigerian state with minimum attention to the people – oriented security services for common Nigerians. The writer has observed that the preoccupation of the British colonial administration with the provision of state security services instead of providing people – oriented security services for all members of the Nigerian society provoked nationalist agitation against the British colonial administration. The writer has out rightly condemned colonialism and the associated discriminative practices against the colonized Nigerians. The paper concludes that it was the British colonial state’s preoccupation with the protection of colonial state institution and the lives and property of the British and influential Nigerians rather than the provision of people – oriented security services for all members of the Nigerian society that brought about the end of British colonial administration in 1960

Tiv People and the Provision of People-Oriented Security Services Before the Establishment of Chieftaincy Institution in Tiv, 1900 -1960

Admittedly, most societies in the world were ruled by kings or queens during the 19th and early 20th century probably because it was believed that “strong” or dictatorial kings or queens would provide better protection against external aggressors than a group of “weak” or democratic people. But few societies including Tiv people in the present day central Nigeria, were ruled by their elders for reasons that scholars are yet to satisfactorily   explain. In this paper, the writer explains that Tiv people preferred democratic administration with people-oriented security services to autocratic or dictatorial administration which over emphasizes security for state institution to the detriment of the common people. People –oriented security services denotes welfare package which the administration provides for the benefit of both the poor and the rich   in the society.  The writer has, however, observed that the British colonial administration compelled Tiv people to abandon the budding   democratic culture with associated people –oriented security services for the Tor-Tiv chieftaincy institution with its emphasis on the provision of security services for the British colonial state in 1946. The writer explains that the British colonial administration destroyed the evolving democratic culture among Tiv people and established chieftaincy institution in order to facilitate the exploitation of human and natural resources and integrate Tiv economy into the global capitalist system. The paper criticizes the tricks and methods employed by the British colonialists to force the chieftaincy institution on Tiv people with consequent destruction of the evolving humane or people oriented security services. The writer  suggested that the functionaries of the chieftaincy institution should provide people-oriented security services for Tiv people. The paper concludes that the provision of people-oriented security services will convince Tiv people and other Nigerians that the chieftaincy institution is not simply another exploitative colonial legacy left by the British to maintain socio-economic and political inequality as well as insecurity among Tiv people in the 21st century

Jet color chemistry and anomalous baryon production in AAAA-collisions

We study anomalous high-$p_T$ baryon production in $AA$-collisions due to formation of the two parton collinear $gq$ system in the anti-sextet color state for quark jets and $gg$ system in the decuplet/anti-decuplet color states for gluon jets. Fragmentation of these states, which are absent for $NN$-collisions, after escaping from the quark-gluon plasma leads to baryon production. Our qualitative estimates show that this mechanism can be potentially important at RHIC and LHC energies.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, Eur.Phys.J. versio

Managing the complexity of doing it all : an exploratory study on students' experiences when trained stepwise in conducting consultations

Background: At most medical schools the components required to conduct a consultation, medical knowledge, communication, clinical reasoning and physical examination skills, are trained separately. Afterwards, all the knowledge and skills students acquired must be integrated into complete consultations, an art that lies at the heart of the medical profession. Inevitably, students experience conducting consultations as complex and challenging. Literature emphasizes the importance of three didactic course principles: moving from partial tasks to whole task learning, diminishing supervisors' support and gradually increasing students' responsibility. This study explores students' experiences of an integrated consultation course using these three didactic principles to support them in this difficult task. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with 20 pre-clerkship and 19 clerkship students in total. Discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by Nvivo using the constant comparative strategy within a thematic analysis. Results: Conducting complete consultations motivated students in their learning process as future physician. Initially, students were very much focused on medical problem solving. Completing the whole task of a consultation obligated them to transfer their theoretical medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge on the spot. Furthermore, diminishing the support of a supervisor triggered students to reflect on their own actions but contrasted with their increased appreciation of critical feedback. Increasing students' responsibility stimulated their active learning but made some students feel overloaded. These students were anxious to miss patient information or not being able to take the right decisions or to answer patients' questions, which sometimes resulted in evasive coping techniques, such as talking faster to prevent the patient asking questions. Conclusion: The complex task of conducting complete consultations should be implemented early within medical curricula because students need time to organize their medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge. An integrated consultation course should comprise a step-by-step teaching strategy with a variety of supervisors' feedback modi, adapted to students' competence. Finally, students should be guided in formulating achievable standards to prevent them from feeling overloaded in practicing complete consultations with simulated or real patients

Spot Speed Study of Vehicular Traffic on Major Highways in Makurdi Town

Spot speeds of vehicular traffic along Otukpo, Gboko, Lafia and Iorchia-Ayu highways in Makurdi town where examined. Manual traffic count was carried out to ascertain traffic volume per hour per lane on each lane of the sampled road segments, and spot speeds of vehicles travelling in both directions of the highways where randomly measured using a Brushel speed gun at different spots for a period of 12 hours (6: 00 am – 6:00 pm) daily. Data analysis using statistical techniques revealed that vehicles travelled at average speed of 51 km/h, 53 km/h, 63 km/h and 50 km/h on the Otukpo, Gboko, Lafia, and Iorchia-Ayo highways respectively. Also, the range of travel pace and corresponding percentages of traffic (in brackets) on highways in Makurdi town were; 46-56 km/h (57%), (47-57km/h (50%), 55-65(32%) and 46-56(49%) for the Otukpo, Gboko, Lafia and Iorchia-Ayu roads respectively. Therefore speed limit ranging between 50-55km/h was proposed for highways in Makurdi town to guarantee safe travel. The study also revealed that highways in Makurdi town operated at a design speed below design specifications of 80–100 km/h required by the Nigeria Highway Design Manual except the Lafia road that has design speed of 80km/h. Speed calming devices, high traffic volume, geometrical layout or highway capacity and possibly pavement condition were identified as factors affecting vehicles speeds on highways in Makurdi town. Road rehabilitation for improved capacity and traffic volume to satisfy design speed, and use of speed limit warning signs to guarantee travel safety were recommended. Keywords: Highways in Makurdi town, spot speed, speed limit, design speed, travel pace

Investigating the Suitability of Coconut Husk Ash as a Road Soil Stabilizer

There is a pressing need to locate cheaper alternatives to traditional stabilizers such as Portland cement and lime which will reduce the cost of stabilized roads and make the practice of treating local soil materials very attractive to road development agencies in poor countries of the underdeveloped world, where deficient soils are often used without treatment, the consequence of which is premature deterioration of roads. This paper presents a study that was conducted to investigate the suitability of coconut husk ash (CHA), a waste product from crop plants, as a road soil stabilizer. The oxide composition of CHA was determined to establish its suitability as a pozzolanic material. It was then mixed with a lateritic soil (classified as A-2-6(1) using the AASHTO system of soil classification) in varying proportions, ranging from 0–20% by dry weight of soil at increments of 2%. The physical and strength properties of each of the soil-CHA blends was then determined in the laboratory. The results show that oxides of K2O, SiO2, Cl, CaO, P2O5, MgO and Al2O3 constitute 92% of CHA, indicating that it is a pozzolanic material. The optimum moisture content (OMC) of the soil increased, while its maximum dry density (MDD) decreased, with increasing CHA content. The CBR and UCS of the mixes increased with CHA content up to 8%, but decreased with a further increase in CHA content. However, the increase in the strength of the soil obtained at the optimum CHA content was not significant enough to warrant its usage as a lone stabilizer for sub-base and base materials, but it can be used for subgrade stabilization. For sub-base and base stabilization, CHA should be admixed with conventional stabilizers for improved performance

Pattern of Domestic Water Supply in Ugbokolo Community in Benue State, Nigeria

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