The School of Physical Sciences under the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CANS) has held its third seminar for the semester. The third seminar, held at the Faculty of Arts Conference Room, was on the theme " Reiterated Homogenisation Applied in Hydrodynamic Lubrication." Speaking at the seminar, a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics, Prof. Emmanuel K. Essel, noted that Homogenisation is a branch within mathematics that involves the study of Partial Differential Equations (PDE's) with rapidly oscillating coefficients. He said the main purpose of Homogenisation is to Approximate PDE's that easily lend themselves to numerical treatment in a computer. Prof. Essel stressed that Reynolds type of equation were widely used in the field of Tribology. According to him, Tribology deals with lubrication, wear prevention and friction control in machines, adding that " Tribological studies enables lubrication engineers to minimize cost of moving parts thereby producing more efficient, more reliable and more effective machine." He explained that, in the field of Hydrodynamic lubrication, the flow of fluid through machine elements such as bearings, gear boxes and hydraulic systems may be governed by the Reynolds equation. The mathematics don pointed out that equations were often used in analysing the influence of texture and surface roughness on the Hydrodynamic performance of different machine elements when a lubricant was flowing through it.ag

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) Chapter of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has organised a get-together dinner to round-off activities for the 2015/16 Academic Year. The annual event, held at the Elmina Beach Resort, was aimed at relieving stress and fostering unity among members. Dressed in their Sunday best, members of UTAG-UCC could not hide their ecstasy and joy as they danced to the seamless flow of specially arranged music from the UCC Suapon Band to unwind themselves after a hectic academic year. Addressing members at the function, the President of UTAG-UCC, Prof. Kwame Osei Kwarteng, commended members for their tireless work during the last academic year. He urged members to maintain their dedicated spirit and redouble their efforts during the 2016/17 academic year. Extolling the achievements of the current executives, Prof. Kwarteng said UTAG-UCC had, in collaboration with the National Executive Committee (NEC) of UTAG, managed to convince government to pay the Book and Research allowance on time. He noted that the executives had engaged Management, Council and the Academic Board of the University to resolve critical issues affecting members, thereby preventing imminent strike action by members to disrupt the academic calendar. Prof. Kwarteng, who is also the Head of the Department of History, said a high-powered delegation of NEC called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House, adding that during the meeting, the Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, informed members that, " the Ministry of Education and National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) were working on their Book and Research allowance in addition to setting up the National Research Fund." The President of UTAG-UCC noted that upon assumption of office, the executives invested substantial money into buying treasury bills, which had yield positive dividends and would be used to embark on massive developmental projects soon. He announced that the Association had entered into mutually beneficial relationship with HFC bank, stressing that, " As part of terms of this relationship, the Bank will build offices for UTAG-UCC on campus at no cost." Prof. Kwarteng seized the opportunity to congratulate senior citizens of the Association on reaching their compulsory retirement age and called on them to use their rich experience and knowledge to guide UTAG-UCC. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T Oduro, who graced the occasion, saluted the hardworking members of UTAG-UCC for their sacrifices, commitment and dedication to duty. He pointed out that management of the University was not oblivious of the challenges facing members and would do everything possible to tackle them head-on. He assured members that management would keep an open administration and called on members to seek clarifications on any issues affecting them. He encouraged them to work relentlessly in this academic year towards the forward March of the University. As part of the activities for the dinner, senior citizens, who have officially retired from active service of the University, were given citations for their meritorious services to the University.  

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah has received some team members of the Healing Jesus Crusade led by the International Campaign Director, Pastor Lovell Nii Ankrah Jnr, at his office. The team was at the Vice-Chancellor’s office to inform him of the forthcoming Healing Jesus Crusade on UCC campus . The Vice-Chancellor said he was happy to receive the team to campus for such an important crusade. “When we call you, you responded and this indicates that there is an unfinished business here”, he said. Prof. Ampiah said, “if the crusade is held and there is subsequent change of hearts; it benefits us to execute our work as academics”. He called on the organisers not to hesitate to contact management for any support whenever the need arose. Pastor Lovell Nii Ankrah Jnr. was grateful to the Vice–Chancellor for the warm reception accorded them. He presented a book authored by Bishop Dag Heward Mills to the Vice-Chancellor. Present at the meeting were the Registrar, Mr. Kofi Nyan, Prof. Peter Kwapong, Dr. Aaron Asare, the Acting Director of Public Affairs, Maj. (retd) Kofi Baah-Bentum, Dr. Paul Nsiah, Pastor Fred Appiah and Miss. Felicia Freda Idun-Acquah.  

A Professor of the New Testament at the Department of Religion and Human Values of the University of Cape Coast, Rev. Prof. Eric Nii Bortey Hutsu Anum, has observed that millions of people are operating with a ‘closed’ Bible just similar to the initial period of the reception of the Bible during colonial times He said people consider the Bible to be very powerful for prophesies, healing, deliverance and all manner of spiritual activities. Rev. Prof. Anum made these observations when he delivered an inaugural lecture on the topic “The Dilemma of the Bible Reader: Challenges in the Appropriation of the Bible for Leadership Development in Nation Building in Africa.”

Prof. Anum said the Bible identified the relationship between God and the arms of government for leadership development in nation building by stating that, “The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our law giver, the LORD is our king, He will save us.” This, according to him, meant that the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the Executive arms in nation building were all located in the one omnipotent God. Quoting from Isaiah 33:22, Prof. Anum pointed identified three periods which he described as “Mis-Use, Dis-Use and Re-Use” to portray how the Bible was contextualised by the masses and political leaders. Prof. Anum said during the period of the ‘Mis-Use', witnessed the inappropriate, inaccurate or unacceptable use of the Bible.

This era marked the precolonial and colonial period where the Bible was introduced to Africans. He noted that during the colonial period, there was a deliberate attempt to use the Bible to regiment people into a certain mode. He added that “So be it secular education, Christian education or translation, they were all done to achieve certain ends in favour of the colonial regimes that operated at that time”. Prof. Anum said the period of the Dis-use of the Bible marked the use of religious terminologies and ideals aimed at serving political ends with complete disregard to its religious meaning. He explained that this was partly a reaction to the imperialistic and colonial usage of the Bible. Rev. Prof. Anum made reference to nationalists like Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who were regarded as messiahs after leading their respective countries to attain independence.

Dr. Nkrumah was presented as the redeemer, a Moses appointed by God to lead his country to the promised land of the ‘Political Kingdom'. He pointed out that the Biblical metaphors used to describe leaders were an affront to the failure of organised religion to participate actively in nation building. He said that under the presidency of Jerry Rawlings, there was the 'Dis-use' of the Bible but the youth saw Rawlings as their role model. Explaining the Re-use of the Bible, Prof Anum said this period in Africa was characterised by the rise in Neo-Pentecostalism and ascendancy of charismatic ideals. He explained that ‘Re-use' in this era referred to reinvention of how the Bible is to be understood and practiced in Africa.

He indicated for example that ‘cross over' ceases to be an admonition to Moses but a new year ritual or ceremony. Another phenomenon he mentioned about this era was the massive increase in faith based University Colleges and Institutions; massive reduction in intake of theological and biblical studies; astronomical growth in church membership, among others. On the political landscape, he mentioned that “Atta Mills was nicknamed ‘Asomdwee hene’ (Prince of peace) and he was laid to rest at the Asomdwee Gardens”.

His successor, John Mahama during the preparation for the 2016 elections made John 3:16 appeared as a winning formula for him to get his second term. “That fitted more in the area of dis-use of the text in a period of re-use and it resulted in a missed-use of it,” he noted. Concluding the lecture, he rhetorically asked, ‘what is the future going to be like if we continue with the types of individualistic deliverance, healing, prophetic ministry and wealth context that we have now?’