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Determination of optimum shape of pinned parabolic arch structures under uniformly distributed loads: a blend of cost and functionality
Get PDFThe construction industries are faced with multiple decisions that borders around functionality and cost. Such decision is made when considering the geometry of arches. In this work, hinged arch structures were examined under uniformly distributed static loads, and an attempt to find the best arch height for any given arch span was made. An optimum orientation of the elements of two-hinged parabolic arch structures was selected based on the manufacturing cost, which was adjudged by the volume of concrete consumed. Stress – strain analysis was used to compute for the volume of the arch, while the usefulness or benefit of the arch was taken as the ratio of the frames’ cross sectional area to their perimeter. Graphs of the cost-benefit ratio against arch height f were plotted for different values of arch span and the values of arch height corresponding to minima cost/benefit were obtained. These values were found to be independent of the ratio of the load to the product of arch thickness and grade of arch material (w/σb). A table showing the values of economic arch height for different values of arch span was presented and a reliable model (polynomial equation) was developed
The Predicament of Ethnic Federal System: Conflict and Federal Failure
Get PDFThe paper inquiries into ethnic federalism in lights of ethnic conflict and federal constitutional viability. It raises the basic question why some ethnic federations are successful in regulating ethnic relations while others are not. The history of federations has ample evidences that ethnic conflict, encompassing ethnic tensions and direct violence conflicts, causes and be caused by the failure of ethnic federalism. How a given ethnic federal system designed to adjust ethnic relations could self-contradictory induce far-reaching communal ethnic conflicts and ethnic based anti-regime activities is an interesting question. Answering that, the paper has given due consideration to the practices of defunct, fragile and mature ethnic federations and to the relevant conceptual and theoretical-back standings. The differences in the viabilities of these federations have shown the complicacy of ethnic federalism in meeting with the convulsive interplay between ethnic conflicts and federal system stability. In that regard, the paper finds seven factors: the democratic representativeness of federal structures, political parties, inclusive and overarching identities crossing ethnic lines, ethnic demographic shares, number of ethnic federal units and their ethnic composition, ethnic federal unit symmetry and geo-political setting. The concussion goes that ethnic federal design is not always an antidote for ethnic based claims and counter-claims. It rather could exacerbate the condition of ethnic politics, if it lacks those political, institutional and social ingredients inferred from the indicated factors
Support Services Provided by a Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) to Adolescent Witnesses of Domestic Violence
Get PDFObjective: This article presents the results of a case study conducted at a Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) in Pretoria, South Africa, on social service practitioners’ (SSP) views of the support services provided by a CYCC to adolescent witnesses of domestic violence. These support services are explored in terms of four inter-dependent levels including the micro, meso, exo and macro levels of the Ecological Theory, as described by Bronfenbrenner (1979).Method: For this study, a qualitative holistic case study design was adopted. This single case study design was chosen as information was gathered from various sources in only one CYCC. Information was triangulated by using various sources of data, that is interviews with SSPs and the children, as well as the policies of the CYCC regarding services offered for children who have witnessed domestic violence.Results: This study revealed that there are no specialised services at the identified CYCC to support adolescent witnesses of domestic violence. The services that are available seem to be generic and aimed at addressing problem behaviours in children and adolescents, rather than providing proactive, therapeutic support to deal with trauma such as witnessing physical and verbal domestic violence in their home of origin
A Historical Review of African Scholarship and the Decolonial Discourse: Challenges and Prospects
Get PDFAfrican scholarship plays an important role in asserting the value of African epistemologies and those of the global South in the knowledge economy. This is pertinent to higher education in postcolonial Africa, whose indigenous knowledge systems and intellectual legacies have played peripheral roles because of coloniality and the global neoliberal trends. This paper presents a historical review of a generation of African scholarship that spans from the last half of the twentieth century to date. It does so with the view of exploring the developments, challenges and prospects experienced by African scholars in their pursuit of African knowledges and the decolonisation discourse in the higher education sector. The first part of the paper provides a backdrop throughan analysis of some selected major research on the nature of African scholarship published in the last half of the twentieth century, and its contributions to the decolonisation discourse on the continent. The second part examines the nature of contribution of African scholarship to knowledge production in the twenty-first century. That section critically analyses the challenges and opportunities which have been encountered in reshaping the discourses of knowledge production and decolonisation in theory and practice. It is concluded that in its distinctiveness in asserting African and marginalised knowledge systems as valid and relevant, and operating inspaces of struggle, the African scholarship should continue to contribute to the interrogation of the objectivity of Eurocentric, neoliberal thought. The paper recommends the promotion of African scholarship in shaping the decolonisation of knowledge production. 
Exploring the Intellectual Legacies of Patrice Lumumba: An Analysis of his Contributions to the Decolonisation and Liberation of Africa
Get PDFThis paper focuses on the intellectual legacy of Patrice Lumumba, a Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The paper examines his contributions to the decolonisation and liberation of Africa through his political and leadership roles, ideas, and writings. The paper provides background information on Patrice Lumumba’s life and political career, highlighting his key contributions to the decolonisation movement in the Congo and Africamore broadly. The paper then analyses the key ideas and themes from Lumumba’s speeches and writings, particularly his ideas on decolonisation, Pan-Africanism, and African unity. Moreover, it also explores how Lumumba’s ideas and legacy continue to shape contemporary scholarship and intellectual discourse on decolonisation and liberation in Africa. Furthermore, it examines his influence on later leaders and movements on the continent and in the African diaspora. The scope of this paper is limited to the historical context and dynamics of the time, drawing upon a wide range of scholarly works and academic sources that delve into the intellectual legacy of Patrice Lumumba and his significant contributions to the decolonisation and liberation movements in Africa
Deep Learning Inter-city Roads Conditions in East Africa for Infrastructure Prioritization using Satellite Imagery and Mobile Data
No full textTraditional survey methods for gathering information, such as questionnaires and field visits, have long been used in East Africa to evaluate road conditions and prioritize their development. These surveys are time-consuming, expensive, and vulnerable to human error. Road building and maintenance, on the other hand, has long experienced corruption due to a lack of accountability and validation of conventional approaches to determining which areas to prioritize. With the digital revolution, a lot of data is generated daily such as call detail record (CDR), that is likely to contain useful proxy data for spatial mobility distribution across different routes. In this research we focus on satellite imagery data with applications in East Africa and Google Maps suggested inter-city roads to assess road conditions and provide an approach for infrastructure prioritization given mobility patterns between cities. With increased urban population, East African cities have been expanding in multiple directions affecting the overall distribution of residential areas and consequently likely to impact the mobility trends across cities. We introduce a novel approach for infrastructure prioritization using deep learning and big data analytics. We apply deep learning to satellite imagery, to assess roads conditions by area and big data analytics to CDR data, to rank which ones could be prioritized for construction given mobility trends. Among deep learning models considered for roads condition classification, EfficientNet-B3 outperforms them and achieves accuracy of 99\%
Complexities of fonts in disfluent experiments
No full textThis study focuses on how fonts selected from different families have been used to test for disfluency. The motivation and standard for choosing a particular font for an experiment are not yet clearly defined from past studies. Drawing on methods in a systematic review of 10 articles published between 2007 and 2020, this article shows that authors prefer to use sans serif fonts in fluent conditions and serifs, scripts or handwritten fonts in disfluent conditions. In this study, disfluency manipulations were limited to reducing font sizes and percentages of grey or black. The largest size used was 56pt (fluent) and 18pt (disfluent) while the smallest was 12pt (fluent) and 10pt (disfluent). We observed that the opacity values of disfluent fonts ranged between 10% and 60%, making it unclear how disfluent a font can be. Apart from font sizes, fixation time, familiarity with materials and other controls influenced the results. This article reveals that a major gap still exists in research because of a lack of standard methods for determining the fonts used for testing subjects
The music department without walls: Lessons from Marshall McLuhan
Get PDFIn the technological age, the print-based culture of the previous century and the current practice of the bureaucratization of higher education (HE) influence how we manage physical spaces, curricula, and teaching and learning. This article presents possible future scenarios for music in HE in the context of the classroom without walls, based on McLuhan’s (1964) predictions for the future of education in the technological age. The research provides an analysis of relevant academic texts and is followed by a discussion that explores thinking differently, strategically, and creatively about possible future scenarios for music departments. The findings suggest that music departments redefine their core business to craft a different future.
Harmonising empathy: A critical exploration of Empathy Pathways: A View from Music Therapy by Andeline dos Santos
Get PDF"Harmonizing Empathy - A Critical Exploration of Empathy Pathways: A View from Music Therapy" reviews this important book by music therapist and scholar, Andeline dos Santos. The book delves into empathy as a foundational concept in therapeutic practice, especially within music therapy. Dos Santos critiques conventional, individualistic models of empathy, proposing a pluralistic and contextual framework instead. She introduces four pathways—Insightful, Translational, Empathizing Assemblage, and Relational Empathy—each rooted in distinct philosophical traditions. These pathways are intended to guide therapists in understanding and fostering empathy across different contexts.
Dos Santos draws on interdisciplinary fields such as philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and indigenous knowledge systems. The book, thus, offers a nuanced view of empathy as an emotional and cognitive process embedded in cultural and social contexts. Dos Santos emphasizes the significance of cultural humility and pluriversality. However, her engagement with decolonial perspectives remains underdeveloped.
Empathy Pathways provides rich theoretical contributions. However, the text’s reliance on Euro-American frameworks and limited citation of African scholars is a disappointment. Despite its intellectual depth, the book presents challenges in accessibility and practical applicability, especially for readers without a background in philosophy. Its exploration of relational empathy and practical music therapy strategies, including musical mirroring and improvisation, holds relevance for practitioners, urging them toward reflexivity and cultural responsiveness in therapeutic settings.
Overall, Empathy Pathways offers a significant contribution to the field of music therapy and empathy studies. It pushes the boundaries of empathy research toward greater critical engagement with cultural contexts and relational dynamics. Its potential could be enhanced by deeper engagement with decolonial thought and more attention to global perspectives, particularly from the Global South
Gender and Religion in Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter
Get PDFIn this essay, I argue that Mariama Bä’s So Long a Letter unveils a social reality in which gender and religion take center stage in a difficult dialogue played on the stage of a family. This drama unfolds in the context of death, and it is ensuing to a sense of loss and grief in which the main character deploys religion and her resolve to address gender biases and claims her selfhood