Tenor of Discourse and Modality Examination in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah

This study has examined the tenor of discourse and modality in two excerpts from Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah. The study aims at decoding the writer’s subtly encoded messages through both the interrelationships established among the participants of the selected excerpts and his use of modality. To attain such objectives, the investigation uses the descriptive quantitative and qualitative methodology. The research has arrived at valuable findings. Among several others presented in the subsection entitled interpretation of findings, the study has unveiled that power among the participants of the excerpts is unequal, contact infrequent, and affective involvement low. The tenor or social role relationship played by such participants as Major Sam, Chris Oriko, and Ikem Osodi is a formal one describing a formal situation. This implies that Achebe’s message in these excerpts is a serious one depictive of the real political unrest and the dominantly unmanageable discontent of Nigerians by the time he wrote these texts. The social role relationship carried out by the salespeople and their potential customers depict an informal tenor highlighting Achebe’s claim for a change in the Nigerians’ mind, and indirectly in the Africans’ ways of life. The overriding use of modalization over modulation in the analyzed excerpts highlights the way the writer creates a less authoritative, more suggestive tenor balancing, by this means, the power inequality inherent in the modulation.

THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN PAKISTAN FROM 1988 TO 1999 (SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SINDH PROVINCE)

This research article’s primary goal is to determine the triggers and implications of Pakistan’s political instability and its effects on the political situation of Sindh during the democratic decade from 1988 to 1999. Despite abundant natural resources, Pakistan is one of the only countries where political unrest has severely hampered the social and political development of the country. So, this paper aims to understand the leading factors of political instability that weakened the country’s political growth and led the nation in general and Sindh province, in particular, to suffer social and ethnic problems in society. To understand the issue deeply, the researcher used unstructured Interviews as a research tool with law-makers, academicians, and political scientists. However, many interviewees accepted that the lack of enthusiastic leadership, the Role of the weak judiciary, the passive role of civil bureaucracy, and political ethnicity had been the leading factors for political and social unrest. Thus, the study’s findings would help the law-makers and academicians of different colleges and universities to design their policies and curriculum. Additionally, this paper would help various nationalists and political parties of Sindh province to comprehend the genuine reasons for unrest in the area from 1988 to 1999. Key Words: Political instability, Weak Judiciary, Political ethnicity, Foreign interference, Role of civil bureaucracy

Deciphering a timeline of demise at Medieval Angkor, Cambodia using remote sensing

The Greater Angkor Region was the center of the Khmer Empire from the 9th until the 13th to the 14th centuries CE, when it entered a period of decline. Many studies have suggested that the decline of Angkor was precipitated by several factors, including severe monsoons, geopolitical shifts, and invasions. In this paper, we use light detection and ranging and ground penetrating radar to investigate the possible intersection of two of these existential threats in one feature: the North Bank Wall. Our results indicate that this feature was designed with dual functionality of extending the urban area’s defenses to the east of Angkor Thom while maintaining the existing infrastructure for the distribution and disposal of water. These findings suggest that the North Bank Wall was built before the severe droughts in the mid-13th century. The timing of the construction indicates that the perceived need for additional security—whether from internal factional disputes or external adversaries—predated the final adaptations to the hydraulic network during the unprecedented monsoon variability of the 14th century. These results indicate that perceived political unrest may have played a more important role in the decline of the site than previously known.

Difficulties of Quality Education in Higher Education in India

Higher education will lead the world in 21st era because it not only creates greater personal and social prosperity, but it also affects all facets of development, including intellectual, social, cultural, aesthetic, physical, spiritual, and human capital development, directly or indirectly. Afterward, US and China, India has the world's third largest higher education system. University Grants Commission (UGC) is the largest regulatory body at the higher level, and it enforces its guidelines, advises the administration, and facilitates communication between the federal government and the states. The University Grants Commission oversees accreditation for higher education by 15 independent institutions. While the nation has progressed significantly in terms of enrolment, the standard of education continues to be a source of concern, which is critical for achieving the country's goals and implementing national policy. Weak facilities, exam-driven curriculum, memory-based exams, a shortage of qualified faculty, ineffective teaching strategies, a lack of funding, inconsistencies in government policy on higher education, entrenched political motives, massive demands from the youth population, political unrest, increasing privatisation, a lack of access and equity, and so on are some of the problems in higher education. There are several more problems like this, and this paper objectively examines all of them, as well as potential solutions.

“Kanaky, my land, for your liberty I will never stop fighting”: Investigating Kanak women activists’ roles, experiences, and strategies within the independence movement in Kanaky, New Caledonia

<p>This research uses a post-colonial feminist lens to investigate how development towards gender equality and equity can be promoted alongside processes of decolonisation in Kanaky-New Caledonia. In particular, it explores the ways that Kanak women in the pro-independence movement negotiate gender and indigeneity, and how these interactions subsequently influence society and the movement. Three key themes emerged from this research: violence, gender roles within the customary context compared to the western political context, and the responsive strategies that women employ. Issues raised related to violence focus on: physical violence related to political unrest, removal of self-determination, racial gaslighting around independence negotiations, gender and racial discrimination, and physiological and mental health. This thesis finds that Kanak women have different roles in customary contexts compared to political contexts. This thesis subsequently investigates how Kanak women experience and interpret these roles and highlights links and disconnects between gender roles and experiences in these two spheres. Tensions and negotiations between the customary sphere and the political sphere become very clear in institutions like the Customary Senate which occupies a place between the customary sphere and the Western political sphere. The Kanak women independence activist participants in this research utilise a plethora of strategies to navigate challenges they face in the customary sphere, in wider society, and within the independence movement. This indicates significant self-mobilisation of Kanak women towards gender equitable social change, which development actors should value and support. This research emphasises the intersectionality of Kanak women’s experiences, the importance of self-determination to gender and development strategies, and the value of recognising and supporting self-mobilisation. Based on these research findings this thesis argues that decolonisation and decoloniality are integral to gender-focused development.</p>

“Kanaky, my land, for your liberty I will never stop fighting”: Investigating Kanak women activists’ roles, experiences, and strategies within the independence movement in Kanaky, New Caledonia

<p>This research uses a post-colonial feminist lens to investigate how development towards gender equality and equity can be promoted alongside processes of decolonisation in Kanaky-New Caledonia. In particular, it explores the ways that Kanak women in the pro-independence movement negotiate gender and indigeneity, and how these interactions subsequently influence society and the movement. Three key themes emerged from this research: violence, gender roles within the customary context compared to the western political context, and the responsive strategies that women employ. Issues raised related to violence focus on: physical violence related to political unrest, removal of self-determination, racial gaslighting around independence negotiations, gender and racial discrimination, and physiological and mental health. This thesis finds that Kanak women have different roles in customary contexts compared to political contexts. This thesis subsequently investigates how Kanak women experience and interpret these roles and highlights links and disconnects between gender roles and experiences in these two spheres. Tensions and negotiations between the customary sphere and the political sphere become very clear in institutions like the Customary Senate which occupies a place between the customary sphere and the Western political sphere. The Kanak women independence activist participants in this research utilise a plethora of strategies to navigate challenges they face in the customary sphere, in wider society, and within the independence movement. This indicates significant self-mobilisation of Kanak women towards gender equitable social change, which development actors should value and support. This research emphasises the intersectionality of Kanak women’s experiences, the importance of self-determination to gender and development strategies, and the value of recognising and supporting self-mobilisation. Based on these research findings this thesis argues that decolonisation and decoloniality are integral to gender-focused development.</p>

Workings of science

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions around the globe. But even despite countless deaths, global lockdowns, political unrest, and economic uncertainty there are many who insist the science behind public health policies, viral transmission research, and vaccine development is not only wrong but is part of a global agenda. So how did we get here, how has science become politicized, and what does it mean to "follow the science?" To answer these questions, Ubiquity's editors have come together to present a comprehensive overview on how science works.

Managerial Response to Macroeconomic Uncertainty: Implications for Firm Profitability

This paper examines how agents’ response to macroeconomic uncertainty affects firms’ revenues, expenses, and profitability in a global sample of firms spanning 1997 to 2018. Consistent with consumers reducing purchases and managers cutting costs, I find that increases in macroeconomic uncertainty lead to both lower revenues and lower expenses. The net short-term effect on profitability is positive as the reduction in expenses exceeds the fall in revenues. This favorable profitability effect is attenuated for firms whose institutional environment restrains cost-cutting, holds for both the cash and accrual components of earnings, and is robust to instrumental variable estimation employing exogenous variation in macroeconomic uncertainty arising from natural disasters, political unrest, revolutions, and terrorist attacks.

INTRODUCTION TO AFRICA YAM BEAN (SPHENOSTYLIS STENOCARPA (HOCHST. EX A. RICH.) HARMS)

Food security and malnutrition are great concerns in developing and under-developed nations. Climate change, political unrest, and all sorts of crises within these nations and their neighboring nations have contributed greatly to the issue of food insecurity, malnutrition, and hunger. Many food plants that have the potential to combat the challenges of food insecurities and malnutrition in the face of climate change have been neglected, under-utilized and some of the crops are on their way to extinction. African yam bean (AYB) is one of the numerous crops with great potential in overcoming the problems associated with food and nutritional insecurities. AYB under-utilization, poor acceptance, and neglect by the farmers and consumers may be a result of poor awareness about its nutritional and health benefits, poor agronomy practices adopted by the farmers, and other production limiting factors such as low yield and long maturity period. Information that can guide the farmers and consumers for the commercial production and processing of AYB is not readily available. This review aims to summarize and made available information on AYB for the farmers and the consumers for it to be commercialized and for the researchers to see reasons and areas to make improvements on the crop.