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EXISTENCE, DIFFERENCE, AND THE NIGERIAN WOMAN: A FEMINIST PRAXIS BEYOND PATRIARCHY
No full textThis dissertation investigates the postcolonial condition of Nigerian woman through a critical philosophical engagement with feminist theory, focusing particularly on Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialism and Irigaray’s ethics of sexual difference. It interrogates the historical processes through which gender became the basis of hierarchy in the Nigerian society, arguing that colonial and patriarchal override precolonial forms of relationality—marked by dual-sex relationship and age-based hierarchies—into rigid, male-dominated structures of authority and representation. Drawing also on Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s critique of western gender epistemologies, the work contextualizes the Nigerian woman’s experience within a broader matrix of colonial imposition, cultural displacement, and epistemic violence. This dissertation examines how institutions and cultural norms limit Nigerian women to immanence. Some of the limitations placed on Nigerian women are manifest in practices such as domestic violence, female circumcision, and the ritual subjugation of widows. In response, the dissertation advances a philosophical call for a reconstitution of Nigerian femininity, grounded in Beauvoir’s notion of transcendence and Irigaray’s ethics of sexual difference. Rather than advocating for universalist gender equality modeled on masculine norms, I argued for equity: a culturally embedded framework that affirms women’s autonomy, subjectivity, and embodied difference. The work envisions a postcolonial Nigerian woman who is neither bound by inherited subservience nor alienated by imported feminist paradigms, but capable of rearticulating her identity in terms that reflect both existential freedom and cultural rootedness
Probiotic Supplementation in Ruminants: A Sustainable Alternative for Enhancing Health, Milk Production, and Rumen Function
No full textThis paper examines the effects of probiotic supplementation on ruminant animals, with emphasis on several key areas including ruminant animal health, milk production, rumen microbial profile, microbial protein synthesis and diversity, and patterns of rumen fermentation. As global interest in economically and biologically sustainable alternatives to antibiotics continues to grow, probiotics have emerged as promising candidates for improving livestock productivity while promoting animal and consumer welfare.
The primary objectives of this paper are to evaluate the specific effects and benefits of different probiotic strains in ruminants, to assess their potential as replacements for traditional growth-promoting substances such as fermentation enhancers and antibiotics, and to identify gaps in current research and suggest areas for future studies.
Evidence gathered from a range of studies indicates that probiotics can play a significant role in improving the overall health of ruminant animals by combatting the proliferation of pathogenic organisms, supporting the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms, and improving feed efficiency. Additionally, probiotic supplementation has been associated with improvements in milk yield, especially during lactation, by supporting consistent nutrient uptake, promoting gut health, and enhancing digestive efficiency during periods of high metabolic demand.
More, probiotics stimulate microbial protein synthesis within the rumen, which in turn enhances feed utilization and energy extraction, while also reducing metabolic waste. Enhanced microbial diversity and shifts in fermentation patterns have been observed, exhibited by increases in volatile fatty acid (VFA) production and stabilization of rumen pH. These improvements contribute to increased efficiency in feed conversion and thus can contribute to the exhibited health benefits shown by ruminant animals.
In conclusion, the findings presented in this paper suggest that probiotic supplementation in ruminant animals holds substantial potential for promoting animal health, improving digestive efficiency, enhancing milk production, and supporting overall sustainability within the livestock industry. While further research is needed to optimize dosages, delivery methods and to better understand strain-specific effects, current evidence supports the integration of probiotics as a viable alternative to antibiotics and fermentation enhancers. As global agricultural practices continue to shift toward more sustainable products, the strategic use of probiotics is likely to become increasingly important, offering biological and environmental benefits for producers and consumers
Predicting School Proficiency in Illinois: A Fixed Effects Analysis of Demographics, Funding, and Mobility
No full textUsing Illinois State Board of Education data from 2017-2024, this paper analyzes the effects of black and low income enrollment, spending per pupil, chronic absenteeism, mobility rates, principal turnover and teacher retention rates on student proficiency at the school level. The data includes demographic information, test scores, mobility rates, attendance rates, teacher retention rates, principal turnover, and state and federal spending per school per pupil. Using fixed effects ordinary least squares regressions, it is found that the enrollment percentages of black and low income students are negatively correlated with students’ proficiency. Mobility rates, principal turnover, and chronic absenteeism are also linked to lower proficiency levels. Spending and teacher retention are associated with higher math and ELA proficiency levels to a much smaller degree, suggesting that the strategy of spending more to raise test scores is flawed, and that instead more attention should be given to at risk students
Creating a Stable Magnetic Trap in an Intrinsically Unstable Magnetodynamic Field: Concept and Experimental Verification
No full textMagnetic drug delivery aims to accumulate a swarm of therapeutic magnetic nanoparticles at sites of disease, but efforts are hindered due to the inherent instability of magnetic fields explained by Earnshaw\u27s theorem, which states that it is impossible to realize a stable equilibrium point to trap a ferromagnetic particle inside a static magnetic field. When exposed to a magnetic field, ferromagnetic domains are immediately aligned with the direction of that field, and consequently, are attracted towards the magnets generating the field rather than a stable equilibrium point. On the other hand, ferromagnetic nanorods have a brief transient period before being completely aligned with the magnetic field, during which, they can be repelled. A previous study exploited this concept to produce a repulsive magnetic force in a process called dynamics inversion. First, by applying a uniform field, a nanorod is aligned in one direction with no magnetic force acting on it. Then, by applying a magnetic field gradient in the opposite direction, the nanorod is repelled for a short time before it can align with the new field. The results from this study indicate that a periodic dynamic magnetic field (magnetodynamic field) can concentrate a swarm of nanorods at a central location between four distinct electromagnets without the use of a feedback loop to stabilize them individually, which is infeasible.With this in mind, this thesis first develops a model consisting of both translational dynamics (referring to movement along a straight line) and rotational dynamics of a nanorod. An open-loop control algorithm exploiting dynamics inversion is applied to an electromagnet array surrounding the nanorod. The control problem is reformulated as a perturbation problem, and through averaging theory, it is determined that the open-loop control may induce a stable limit cycle, as an analysis which is supported by numerical simulations. Next, an experimental testbed is designed to realize the stable magnetic trap, allowing for experimental verification of model dynamics through a comparison with simulation results. Moreover, this thesis discusses dynamics inversion as a means of control for a swarm of particles through variations in the location of the magnetic trap, which serves as the foundation behind future work that aims to build upon the open-loop control for a swarm of nanorods
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EVAPORATIVE WATER LOSS OF ANURANS OF DIFFERING ECOMORPHOLOGIES
No full textWater serves as a mediator in nearly every biological process from the cellular level to the whole organism. In most vertebrates, water accounts for up to 70% of organismal body mass making osmoregulation an essential aspect of homeostasis. Notably, many vertebrates often use osmoregulation, in the form of total evaporative water loss (TEWL), to thermoregulate, and vice versa. With climate change making habitats warmer and more arid, it is increasingly important to understand how these homeostatic mechanisms are connected. Amphibians serve as a model for examining these aspects of homeostasis. Notably, amphibians have a unique life history where larval stages are often tied closely to water. This has led amphibians to evolve mechanisms, often tied to their ecological habits, to aid in water conservation. Further, amphibians allow for an examination of how environmental and ecological factors affect organismal TEWL. I first examined if hand-held evaporimeters measuring cutaneous evaporative water loss (CEWL) could be used to document general water loss trends in amphibians. I then examined how temperature affects the TEWL of five anuran species of differing ecologies, the Gray Tree Frog (Dryophytes versicolor), Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea), Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus), Green Frog (Rana clamitans), and Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri). Hand-held evaporimeters hold promise for future studies examining water loss. Specifically, I found that while CEWL might not directly reflect TEWL, hand-held evaporimeters reliably describes general osmoregulation trends. Further, a species ecology, along with environmental temperature and humidity all greatly influence TEWL. The two arboreal species, the Gray Tree Frog and Green Tree Frog, displayed significantly lower TEWL rates at all temperatures when compared to the other species. I also found that all species displayed an ability to conserve water as temperature increased, likely due to increased humidity. Overall, I found that hand-held evaporimeters are useful in documenting water loss trends and could provide a repeatable method to acquire large scale water loss data in the field. Additionally, I found that TEWL is influenced by many environmental factors and a species ecology. Further, I emphasize the importance to examine these factors together allowing for a better understanding of amphibian osmoregulation
Deep Learning-Based Monitoring of Integrated Circuits
No full textIntegrated circuits (ICs) are increasingly susceptible to delay defects due to process variations in modern nanoscale fabrication technologies. Traditional fault models relying on robust testing often fail to detect such faults, especially under non-robust (NR) test conditions where transient behavior may be masked at the clock edge. ICs degrade when operating in the field and require periodic monitoring. This thesis proposes a deep learning-based approach to monitor and classify ICs using a transformer neural network trained on output signatures sampled within a single clock period. It demonstrates the potential of deep learning for IC monitoring and improves defect detection in the presence of process variations. The approach captures the pre-settling behavior at observable test points (OTPs) induced by non-robust patterns without modifying the clock frequency. The transformer model learns temporal dependencies in the output waveforms and accurately classifies circuits as fault-free or faulty. Experimental results on ISCAS\u2785, ISCAS\u2789, and ITC\u2799 show that the proposed method significantly reduces false negative rates while maintaining high classification accuracy, achieving over 99% accuracy in multiple benchmark circuits
IMPACT OF INDONESIAN BUSINESSES ON THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA, 1980–2022
No full textThis study investigates the economic and social impact of four major Indonesian-owned enterprises—Indofood, Wings Corporation, Kalbe Farma, and Indorama—on Nigeria between 1980 and 2022. It contends that these companies entered the Nigerian market between the late 1980s and early 2000s, a period marked by severe economic crises, including industrial decline, rising unemployment, inflation, and food insecurity, making their impact significant. These structural gaps created opportunities that Indonesian firms capitalized on, often through a combination of private initiative and strategic collaboration with the Nigerian government. This study, therefore, explores the sector-specific contributions of these firms across fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and petrochemicals. It demonstrates that their success stemmed from multiple interrelated factors: the provision of affordable alternatives to locally unavailable or expensive products, the localization of labor across professional and unskilled tiers, sustained corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives aimed at community integration, and access to international financing and state incentives for industrial revitalization. While the study acknowledges the developmental benefits these firms brought—such as employment generation, industrial diversification, and improved access to essential goods—it also critically examines the capitalist motives underpinning their ventures. It argues that their presence contributed to both positive transformation and certain exploitative tendencies within Nigeria’s socio-economic landscape, reflecting the dual-edged nature of foreign direct investment in postcolonial African economies
STUDY ON SCHNEIDER-TEITELBAUM DUALITY FOR COMPACT p-ADIC LIE GROUP AND INTRODUCTION TO ITS MOD-p REDUCTION.
No full textLet be finite extension of , with the ring of integers . This thesis investigates in detail about Schneider-Teitelbaum duality theory for compact -adic Lie group including all necessary fundamental tools.This duality establishes a bijective correspondence between isomorphism classes of admissible -Banach space representations of and the isomorphism classes of simple -modules. Based on this, we identify the mod- reduction on the -Banach space side of the duality
SULFUR SCAVENGING BY THE ANOXYGENIC PHOTOTROPH HELIOPHILUM FASCIATUM
No full textHeliophilum fasciatum is an anoxygenic phototroph belonging to the group known as heliobacteria. One of the common characteristics of heliobacteria is that they all are capable of diazotrophy, but recent findings have failed to locate the nitrogenase genes typical to heliobacteria within the genome of H. fasciatum. Instead, five nitrogenase-like genes, tentatively named NflDK1-5, were discovered that did not clade with other NifDK genes during phylogenic analysis. Here, we suggest that many of these NflDK proteins may, in actuality, be related to the sulfur metabolism and usage. Further phylogenetic analysis and protein sequence comparisons show strong divergence from canonical heliobacterial nitrogenase proteins. Gas chromatography has indicated that in the presence of the sulfur source 2-methylthioethanol, H. fasciatum is able to produce ethylene and methane, which are byproducts of the MarDK system as seen in Rhodospirillum rubrum. The high phylogenetic similarity of NflDK5 to MarDK also lends to the conclusion that it is likely that NflDK5 acts as a MarDK in H. fasciatum. Through RT-PCR we show that the NflDK1-5 genes are being expressed, but efforts at qRT-PCR have thus far failed due to cross reactions occurring between primers. This work has work has allowed for further elucidation of the roles of these NflDK proteins though more work is necessary to definitely ascribe roles to these enzymes