Social Studies

One of the main concerns of economists and economic policymakers is predicting future values of economic variables. One of these variables is stock index that, according to the importance of financial markets in economic development and also attractiveness of investing in this market could have many costumers. Therefore, in this study, with the daily data of years 2006 to 2012 the total index of Tehran Stock Exchange (TIPEX) using artificial neural networks (ANN), auto regressive moving average (ARIMA), and models accuracy comparison have been predicted. Results suggest that, there is no significant difference between the accuracy of neural networks models and moving auto regressive average.

The British colonial administration used the divide and rule system, thereby making sure that no part of Nigeria is seen as an integral part of the other. The indirect rule system worked only in Northern Nigeria, while protests characterized the system in the Eastern and Western parts of Nigeria. Indeed the warrant chiefs who became symbols of authority in Eastern Nigeria maintained stability in the country before Independence. Another feature, which characterized this period, was regionalism. This was the system in practice during the First Republic. It was based on the ability of each Region for compete autonomously for economic sustenance, but in reality, this was not feasible. Therefore, in 1966, the military overthrew the first democratically elected government of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa. Thus, between General Aguiyi Ironsi and General Abdusalam Abubakar, the Military stayed in power for abut thirty-three years. This period was characterized by massive underdevelopment and human rights abuses. This paper therefore reviews this era of military interventions and their consequences to the Nigeria social and political climate.

The present dissection shows that there are some positive points contained in the legal texts on the election of governors and vice-governors of province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) in force since 2006. This is the case, including the strict limitation of the duration and the number of mandates of the elected governors. It is mentioned thereafter, and unfortunately, in the Congolese regulation on the election of this category of authorities, a series of the resulting problems formula to remove or improve. In the number of these, one can insert those with the size of the election colleges, the adopted electoral system, the application criteria, the obligations and bans around the electoral campaign which binding less candidates and convincing less the national community on the concern to reach free elements, fair and transparent. It is also clearly demonstrated that the provincial provisions leave a wide open aims to the trade of the voices and, on the occurrence of the voting results in inadequate with the expectations of the populations. Legitimacy, political stability and the vision for development from our Provinces thus found destroyed from the start of the third republic instituted in 2006 after a long period of political crises and wars in the country. So, some proposals for the revision of those provisions contained in both the Constitution (Articles 197 paragraph 4 and 198) as in other relevant laws (Election Act: Articles 159, 161, 162 and Law on Free Administration of provinces: Article 23).

Detailed Granulometric and petrographic analysis of the Agbani Sandstone outcrops were carried out within Ihuokpara, Southern Benue Trough, Nigeria. The aim was geared towards deciphering provenance and reconstructing the paleo-environment of deposition. The study area is underlain by Agbani Sandstone and Awgu Shale. They are Coniacian in age. A total of twelve (12) sandstone samples were collected and used for analysis. Out of the twelve sandstone samples, two (2) was deployed for thin section petrographic analysis, while ten (10) was deployed for grain size analysis. The petrographic results from two (2) sandstone samples from different locations reveal dominance in quartz (60% – 65%), feldspar (10%-13%), mica (10%-10%), limonite (15%-8%) with clay matrix and rock fragment less than 3% framework components of the sandstones respectively. These sandstones are mineralogically and texturally sub-mature and have been classified as lithic arkose on the basis of QFR diagram. Quartz in these sandstone samples is monocystalline in nature and feldspars are represented mainly as plagioclase. Provenance of the sandstone deposits within the study area was inferred to be from Abakaliki folded belt or Cameroun Basement Complex, due to the amount of detrital clay and degree of sorting. The textural parameters from the ten (10) samples show that the Agbani Sandstone are moderately to well sorted, medium grained, very negatively skewed and very leptokurtic grains in nature and suggest that the sand was deposited in a fluvial environment.

Several historians of science have tried to undermine experiments conducted before and during the Renaissance period. They tend to suggest that some such experiments were not, strictly speaking, scientific experiments. The historians often reduce them to mere trial and error trifles within the occult hermitic or magical tradition. But this paper takes exception to this sort of historical interpretation of scientific experiments conducted within the Renaissance milieu. A milieu deeply rooted in thoroughgoing humanism. The central claim of this paper is that there is no break between the sorts of laboratory experiments conducted in the Renaissance period and those conducted in the modern and contemporary periods. The basic aim, here, is to analyse the experimental design of Paracelsus and re-interpret it in the light of contemporary experimental design in biomedical researches. As it stands, the Paracelsian experimental design holds a lot of ingenuity behind it and showcases Paracelsus as a true mechanistic/Promethean man of experiment. Rather than see Paracelsus as a mere non-interventionist hermitic/alchemical man of nature, one needs to see him as a model experimentalist of all times whose relevance overreaches procreation demand in Africa. The method adopted here is principally that of textual analysis, tinged with the historiographical approach of reconstruction.

This study investigated the tactics used to curtail women participation in national elective leadership positions among the Abagusii of Western Kenya. Data for this study was collected from 15 Gusii women who were purposively selected because of their participation in the 2013 and 2017 national elections as contestants. The study found that women were unable to win any national elective seats which they competed with men. Their failure was attributed to the tactics male contestants used against them. These tactics were mostly based on moralistic codes of gender and sexuality. This study argues that policies that aim at enhancing women participation in elective leadership positions must first address the social construction of women sexuality in each community.

Patriarchal Societies like the Igbos of south East Nigeria is characteristed by unequal positioning of male and female off springs to inheritance. The males are regarded as heirs and apparent successors to economic and social powers, the right of females in this regard has been relegated to the background. The condition follows that economic situation or poverty level of a male child could be changed for better through inheritance. The basic assumption behind this discourse then is that the inheritance rights and access to property rules among the Igbos further deepens the already poverty situation of women in the society. It is against this background that this paper focuses on examining the interface between the inheritance rights and poverty situation among women in Igboland. This paper however substantiates that with the continued practice of the customary inheritance Igbo in society. The paper proffers suggestions on possible ways to improve the lives of the women through integration of the English and Customary laws as they relate to inheritance.

Teacher education level and teacher experience, are two main attributes of teacher, however gender and age also plays a significant role in teaching. The study analyzed the relationship between teacher characteristics and the choice of pedagogy adopted when teaching Christian Religious Education. The study employed quantitative method and cross sectional research design. 357 participants were sampled using Krejcie and Morgan table. Data was collected using questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. The findings indicated that teachers’ level of education, age, teaching experience and status as an examiner has significant relationship with the choice of pedagogical approach adopted by CRE teachers. In all cases, p-values are greater than the level of significance of 0.05

The compound term ‘Street children’ refers to a group of children with special age groups who are passing through their adolescence having identity crisis and strongly feeling need for support and help. These children are de facto those who walk on the shoulders of the streets to earn some money for their families. Their contact with their families varies from a daily visit to a few times a year; however, they feel a sense of belonging to them [families]. In the present study, the researcher has tried to investigate the motives/reasons that account for the coming-into-existence and development of the street children who take up jobs that never conform to the norms of the society and he has also strived to scrutinize the different aspects of young age employment.

We all know that a certain story may be told differently by various people. It is interesting to know whether a person’s social characteristics and career have any possible effect on the way they tell a story. Therefore, the main aim of the present research study is to investigate whether there is any correlation between the social class of different people and the way they tell a story. To this aim, 15 people with different social classes, 5 janitors, 5 teachers and 5 doctors of medicine, were selected randomly. They were all from Rasht and asked to describe one terrible story of their lives. Then by using Labov and Waletzky’s story component, the gathered data were analyzed. The results indicated that there is no significant correlation between the social class of the participants and the way they tell a story. In other words, according to the gathered data, no fixed pattern was found for the way different people who belong to a specific social class tell a story.