DOCUMENTATION OF OGBANIGBE FESTIVAL OF OWERRE-OLUBOR PEOPLE (IKA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA), AGBOR, DELTA STATE

Identity is that characteristics that distinguishes, differentiates and separates one community from another in terms of ideology, belief systems, organizational structures, mode of dressing, dialect, communal activities such as festival commemoration. Enshrined in one of man’s communal activities is the yearly celebration of New Yam festival. New Yam Festival has been coined with various names in many climes in Nigeria. In Owerre-Olubor community, New Yam festival is associated with Ogbanigbe (Ime-Egwu) festival similar to that of Obio community of Aniocha nomenclature. The paper employed descriptive analysis, oral interview as well as related materials. The paper focused on Ogbanigbe (Ime-Egwu) festival, the origin of Owerre-Olubor community of Ika North East Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria including musical instruments and some songs used during the festival celebration. Four sampled song texts were selected and captured while one musical example from the four song texts selected was analyzed. The paper conclude that documentation is the only way to preserve culture of a people including music peculiar to such culture for the next generation in order to escape extinction.

Using a Token Economy to Treat Escape-Maintained Problem Behavior Without Extinction

The use of extinction procedures when treating escape-maintained problem behavior can be undesirable and impractical for practitioners to use. To mitigate the risks associated with escape extinction, we explored the effectiveness of a delayed reinforcement token system without the use of extinction in school and home settings to treat escape-maintained problem behavior of students with autism spectrum disorder. In lieu of escape extinction (e.g., blocking), the researchers implemented a 30 s break contingent on problem behaviors and a token (to be exchanged at the end of the session) contingent on compliance. The results of a multiple probe design indicated substantial increases in compliance and reductions in problem behavior for all four participants. These findings suggest that extinction is not necessary to eliminate escape-maintained problem behavior in children with autism.

Extinction probabilities, times to extinction, basic reproduction number and growth rates for tsetse (Glossina spp) populations as a function of temperature

Increases in temperature over recent decades have led to a significant reduction in the populations of tsetse flies (Glossina spp) in parts of the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. If this is true for other parts of Africa, populations of tsetse may actually be going extinct in some parts of the continent. Extinction probabilities for tsetse populations have not so far been estimated as a function of temperature. We develop a time-homogeneous branching process model for situations where tsetse flies live at different levels of fixed temperatures. We derive a probability distribution pk(T) for the number of female offspring an adult female tsetse is expected to produce in her lifetime, as a function of the fixed temperature at which she is living. We show that pk(T) can be expressed as a geometric series: its generating function is therefore a fractional linear type. We obtain expressions for the extinction probability, expected number of female offspring per female tsetse, and time to extinction. No tsetse population can escape extinction if subjected, for extended periods, to temperatures outside the range 16 °C - 32°C. Extinction probability increases more rapidly as temperatures approach and exceed the upper and lower limits. If the number of females is large enough, the population can still survive even at high temperatures (28°C - 31°C). Small decreases or increases in constant temperature in the neighbourhoods of 16°C and 31°C, respectively, can drive tsetse populations to extinction. Further study is needed to estimate extinction probabilities for tsetse populations in field situations where temperatures vary continuously.Author summaryTsetse flies (Glossina spp) are the vectors of the African sleeping sickness. We derived an expression for the extinction probability, and mean time to extinction, of closed populations of the flies experiencing different levels of fixed temperatures. Temperatures play a key role in tsetse population dynamics: no tsetse populations can escape extinction at constant temperatures < 16°C > 32°C. The effect of temperature is more severe if tsetse populations are already depleted. Increasingly high temperatures due to climate change may alter the distribution of tsetse populations in Africa. The continent may witness local extinctions of tsetse populations in some places, and appearances in places hitherto too cold for them.

Behavioral Interventions for Pediatric Food Refusal Maintain Effectiveness Despite Integrity Degradation: A Preliminary Demonstration

Food refusal is commonly treated using behavioral treatment packages consisting of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and escape extinction. However, the effectiveness of such behavioral interventions is inextricably linked to the integrity with which the procedures are conducted. Although previous research has evaluated the effects of treatment integrity failures for behavioral interventions related to severe problem behavior and academic skill acquisition, the effects of these failures in the area of pediatric food refusal remain unknown. We conducted a parametric analysis to assess the effects of varying levels of errors on the treatment efficacy of contingent tangibles and attention, and escape extinction. Once stable responding was observed during an initial evaluation of treatment, participants were exposed to sessions of reduced-integrity treatment in descending order (i.e., 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20%) and subsequently exposed to full-integrity treatment (100% integrity). For one participant, integrity errors became detrimental to treatment when the level of integrity was decreased to 40%. For the other two participants, contingent tangibles and attention, and escape extinction remained effective despite being implemented with low integrity. Our preliminary demonstration suggests that behavioral interventions for pediatric food refusal remain effective despite considerable treatment integrity degradation.