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Governors’ powers of revocation in the Land Use Act 1978: obstacle to sustainable land administration in Nigerian context
Get PDFAim of this study is to determine if Governors’ powers of revocation under the Land Use Act
1978 (LUA) hinder sustainable land administration in Nigeria. LUA provides the legal
framework for land administration systems in Nigeria. Section 1 of LUA vested absolute land
ownership in Governors to hold in trust and administer for use and common benefit of all
Nigerians. However, LUA is often depicted as the most contentious and fractious enactment in
Nigeria’s legal history as it nationalised land ownership in Nigeria, expropriated allodial interests
from people, and gave to Governors. It made fixed-term or finite occupancy rights as maximum
interest available to people over land. Being imbued in militarism, it gave Governors wide and
almost unrestrainable revocation powers.
Section 28 of LUA gave Governors revocation powers for both public and punitive purposes.
Done properly, revocations or compulsory purchase can be beneficial to communities. Even then,
they are disruptive to those dispossessed, and can infringe on fundamental human rights. FAO
(2008), thus, advises nation states to protect the dispossessed by complying with best practices
in revocation procedures, which must include just compensation payments. Viitanen (2010)
explains that use of revocation powers is part of land administration function. Sustainable land
administration aims at optimising human land needs with environmental protection.
Sustainability, therefore, entails balancing People, Planet and Profit (Slaper and Hall, 2011).
LUA has authoritarian imprints of its military architects as it preserved Governors’ revocation
powers in all circumstances. It ousted Courts’ jurisdiction in matters questioning legitimacy of
revocations. It was made part of Nigerian Constitution, which makes its amendment difficult due
to onerous modification requirements. Literature revealed that LUA bears extraordinary
resemblance to Islamic Land Law (Harper, 2016; Facchini, 2007; and Siddiqi, 1978). There are
justifiable suggestions that LUA’s promulgation was ostensibly part of wider domination and
Islamisation agenda of Northern Hegemons, who control Nigeria’s military formation and its
bureaucratic governance (Nwatu, 2013 and Nwaorgu, 2016). With these perceived imperfections,
it may not deliver fair revocation processes needed for sustainable land administration. To achieve its aim, study set out three objectives namely: to determine and rank cultural themes
that underpinned LUA, to establish if revocation powers under LUA comply with best practices,
and to determine if Governors’ uses of revocation powers have acceptable sustainability
credentials. Cultural themes here refer to factors that might have influenced promulgation of LUA
by the Military, like reducing land cost, making land easily accessible to Government for development, curtailing inflation, making land available to all citizens, unification of land laws,
religious considerations, domination agenda, and resources control.
Operating from pragmatic philosophical worldview, study engaged its logical affiliate Mixed
Methods Research (MMR). MMR is mixing of quantitative and qualitative paradigms in a study.
It takes the strengths and offsets the disadvantages of each paradigm. Study used its Follow-up
Explanatory Sequential Variant. This prioritises quantitative over qualitative data in timing, data
collection, and weighting ascribed to findings. Here, initial quantitative phase provides broad
understanding of research problems and aides the design of its qualitative stage, while ensuing
qualitative leg validates achieved quantitative results. Study added Hegemonic Conflict
Theoretical Framework to provide enriched and advanced explanations of findings.
Quantitative dataset was collected from 526 closed-ended questionnaires administered on
stratified quota-cum-purposive sampling bases and dispensed by face-to-face and delivery and
collection methods. Responses were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analyses
with aid of Microsoft Excel®
and SPSS®
, respectively. Qualitative dataset was collected by means
of 36 semi-structured interviews purposively and electronically sourced with WhatsApp® Video
Call Application. Verbatim recording of interviews was done with aid of Call Recorder®
for
WhatsApp®
and automatic transcription with Google Docs®
for Android. Sorting, coding, and
content analysis of transcriptions done with NVivo®
software.
Study engaged syllogistic abductive reasoning to extract best-fit conclusions from findings.
Determinately, study found that propriety of LUA’s enactment is questionable, its promulgation
parochial, and its enterprise underlyingly tendentious; and established domination agenda of
Northern Hegemony as main driving force behind LUA’s enactment. Study determined that
revocation powers under LUA are incompatible with recommended best practices and
Governors’ use of these powers have low sustainability credentials. Thus, study justifiably
concluded that Governors’ revocation powers hinder sustainable land administration.
Standing on Dewey’s Reflective Cycle Model that rejects absolutism and advances constructive
revisionism, study recommends that for LUA to be capability of promoting sustainable land
administration; it should be reviewed, made reflective as well as flexible. Study, therefore,
prescribes use of its Triple-F Theory of Formation, Framework and Function in LUA’s overhaul.
Triple-F proffers that if LUA is formatted, it should generate best practice framework that would
engenders optimal functionality in the application of revocation powers. This would in turn
promote and boost sustainable land administration
Fire resistant light weight sandwich composites for marine applications
Get PDFSandwich composites being lightweight materials, are increasingly being used in high-performance applications such as in transportation (aviation, marine and railway) due to their
high specific stiffness, strength, fatigue, corrosion resistance and thermal insulation. Despite
these favourable properties, their poor fire resistance is a major limiting factor for their usage in
many engineering applications. Sandwich structures are generally composed of thin composite
laminates as skins and thick, low-density materials (e.g. balsa, foam) as cores. Fibres such as
glass/carbon used for reinforcement in composite skins are non-flammable and can retain their
chemical and physical stability at relatively high temperatures. So, flammability of skins of
composites arises mainly from the resin (matrix) part. Hence the preferred way to control the
flammability of composites is to choose a resin of low flammability or reduce its flammability by
adding additive or reactive flame-retardant chemicals. Blending of a flammable resin with an
inherently flame-retardant resin is another simple and effective physical way to reduce its
flammability.
The main aim of this research was to investigate the thermal properties and fire resistance of
some light weight sandwich composites, that could be potentially used in marine applications.
To achieve this, firstly, resins commonly used for marine and aerospace applications
(unsaturated polyester (UP), vinyl ester (VE), epoxy) and some inherently fire-resistant resins
(e.g. phenolic resins), which could be used alone or blended with UP and/or VE were selected.
These resins were cast into plaques and characterised for their thermal properties via
thermogravimetric analysis and fire performances by means of pyrolysis combustion flow
calorimetry and cone calorimetry. The fire safety assessment diagram (total heat release plotted
against the flashover propensity values, calculated by dividing peak heat release rate by time-to-ignition) from the cone tests gave an indication of the overall fire safety, the trend being
phenolics followed by UP, VE and epoxy, in descending order of fire safety. The fire safety of
blends was in between those of the respective phenolic and UP/VE resins. The correlations
between several fire parameters collected from different test methods were also assessed.
In the second step, sandwich composites with similar components (glass fibre-reinforced UP
composite laminates as skins and balsa wood as a core) but with different compositions were
prepared. The design variables consisted of: two different thicknesses of core materials (12.7
mm (0.5 inch) and 25.4 mm (1 inch)), lay-ups (skins on one side or on both sides) and three
different sample preparation techniques (resin infused laminates as skins on both sides, hand
lay-up laminates as skins on both sides, and hand lay-up sandwich structure in one go). Their
fire performances were evaluated by two different standard fire tests - cone calorimetry and
propane burner testing at heat fluxes of 50 and 113 kW/m2
, respectively. In both tests,
temperatures through the thickness of the samples were measured using thermocouples from
which their thermal barrier performances could be studied. The results indicated that there was
a minimal effect of the cone heater orientation or sample preparation technique, however, samples containing thicker balsa core or composite laminates on both sides showed better
thermal barrier performances (lower heat transfer), the behaviour in the former was due to the
physical and thermal thickness of the thick core sample, giving rise to a larger volume of the
charred wood. In spite of similar flammability of composite laminates on one side or on both
sides, the glass fabric on rear side in the latter reduced the rate of burning, therefore resulted in
a lower mass loss rate. Following these observations, the design selected for further study was:
composite laminates on both sides, balsa core thickness of 25.4 mm (1 inch), and sample
preparation technique involving hand lay-up sandwich structure in one go.
A number of sandwich composites were then prepared using different resins and resin
blends/combinations impregnated as matrices for skins, keeping all other composition variables
constant. This also included skins prepared from three layers of UP or UP/VE impregnated glass
with a top glass fibre layer impregnated with a phenolic resin. Their fire and thermal barrier
properties were studied and results analysed to select parameters that could be used to assess
their overall fire-resistant properties. During cone and propane burner tests, the temperature
differences in the top and back skin surfaces (measured using thermocouples) were used to
calculate apparent thermal conductivities and resistivity values of the sandwich composite’s
charred residue, which gave an insight into the thermal barrier properties of the chars from
different resin types. The overall fire performances indicated that introducing phenolic resins,
either incorporated as blends with UP or VE, or applied as a top layer, helped in reducing the
flammability of the composite, the latter approach giving the best results. Using cone parameters
the same as those used for cast plaques, fire safety plots were obtained, from which overall
flammability of different resin types and their blends could be ranked. However, this approach
does not include heat transfer through the thickness of the samples, which affects the time to
burn-through in a composite. Therefore, a novel thermal barrier efficiency index, including cone
parameters of peak heat release rate, time-to-ignition, and also time taken for the back surface
temperature to reach 300 °C in cone or propane burner test, was proposed to combine both the
fire and thermal barrier properties, and plotted against total heat release values from cone tests
for all sandwich composites. This changed the trend previously seen from cone parameters only.
UP or VE/phenolic blended resins, while performing very well in cone and other flammability
tests such as UL-94, show relatively poorer performance in the burn-through test. This was
attributed to the higher thermal conductivity of the highly crosslinked char from the phenolic
component. Hence, considering both fire and thermal barrier performances, while phenolic
blends were still safer than UP or VE resins, the difference was less than that judged on the
basis just the burning behaviour.
Among different designs, the best fire performance was exhibited by the sandwich composite
prepared with both skins comprising one layer of phenolic resin on top of three UP or VE layered
structures. The thin layer of phenolic skin seemed to be very effective in improving the overall
flammability of the sandwich structure by either preventing or delaying ignition, whereas it had
a minimal effect on the thermal barrier performance (burn-through property) of the composite
Doing advisory work: the role of expert advisers in national reviews of teacher education
No full textThe role and activities of national advisers engaged in the translation of globally mobile ideas on effective teacher education has received little attention. Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this article explores how government appointed advisers acted as intermediaries in the translation of policy ideas in national reviews of teacher education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (2010-2015). Three themes are addressed: (1) the localisation of international good practice; (2) the significance of time and temporality in local policy deliberation; and (3) the autonomy-engagement dynamic in government commissioned reviews of public policy fields. The article reports how advisers exhibited transgressive competence in the re-assembly of policy ideas in local spaces. With attention to time, space and positionality, the article concludes by emphasising the significance of localised political strategies in shaping policy choices and prospects for enactment
Research ethics in Sub-Saharan Africa: graduate business students’ attitudes and beliefs
No full textIn this article, we outline the results of a narrative exploration of beliefs and attitudes towards research ethics among graduate students in two South-Central African countries, Zambia and Malawi. The participants were mid-career professionals in Africa, studying graduate business programs delivered in-country, but in partnership with a British University. By understanding the cultural underpinnings of African ethical philosophy, we aim to reconcile research practices in the region with the ethical compliance requirements and processes explicit in Western graduate research. We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 students to ascertain their views on ethics generally, the influences that contribute to their ethical perspective, and in particular the relationship between these and the processes and procedures taught in their course. Participants indicated several factors were important to their beliefs and attitudes regarding research ethics including close social groups which impacted ethical beliefs, traditional historical ethics re-enforced through storytelling, religion, location (urban or rural), and beliefs about professionalism
Winter is coming: Age and early psychological concomitants of the Covid-19 pandemic in England.
Get PDFTo demonstrate early psychological concomitants of the Covid-19 pandemic in England on a sample of younger and older people.
A cross sectional quantitative questionnaire (n = 1608), was conducted on the Prolific website. Participants completed the PERMA Scale (Flourishing), the four Office of National Statistics (ONS4) Wellbeing Questions, the Clinical Outcomes Measure in Routine Evaluation (CORE-10) and the short University of California Los Angeles Brief Loneliness Scale.
Data were gathered on March 18th, 2020, near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study looks at the effects of the developing pandemic on younger participants (age 18 to 25, n = 391) and older participants (aged 60 to 80, n = 104). Flourishing levels for older participants were significantly higher (M=107.96), than for younger participants (M=97.80). Younger participants scored significantly higher on the ONS4 for anxiety and lower than the older participants for happiness, life satisfaction and having a worthwhile life. Levels of psychological distress (CORE-10) were also significantly lower for older participants (M=9.06) than for younger participants (M=14.61). Finally, younger participants scored significantly higher on the Brief UCLA Loneliness Scale (M= 6.05), than older participants (M=4.64).
From these findings, the Covid-19 pandemic was having a significantly greater effect on younger people in England, less than one week before the UK went into “lockdown.” Scores for both the Younger and Older groups on all the study measures were worse than normative comparisons. The study had no specific measure of Covid-19 anxiety, but nor was one available at the time of the survey.
This study suggests that younger people (18 to 25) may be a more vulnerable group during the Covid-19 pandemic than many may have realised.
As a recent British Psychological Society report concluded, there is a lot of untapped wisdom amongst older groups in our society.
This is one of the earliest studies to look at psychological distress before England went into "lockdown.
Growth of digital supply chains for SMEs transformation
No full textOver the past years supply chain has undergone a massive change, from operational function which reported to sales or manufacturing which then focused on ensuring the supply of production lines and delivery to customers, to an independent supply chain management team which is led by Chief Supply Chain Officer in some organisation. Industry 4.0 and their innovative technologies has created a disruption which requires the organisations to redesign their supply chain. Emergence of the industry 4.0 has paved the way for next level of supply chain- Digital Supply Chain. Global market leading manufacturers has positioned themselves with the world of supply chain 4.0 to meet the expectation of their end customers. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) plays has major role in supporting the global market leaders. But SMEs lacks the knowledge of significance of digitalising themselves with the extremely complex supply chain 4.0 which may lead them to losses and closures if they do not transform themselves with the latest innovative technologies and adopt digital supply chain (DSC). This paper aims to review the current literature's on digital supply chain to gain insight of current status of relevant literature's which focus on Digital transformation of supply chain within manufacturing SMEs
A comparison-based study on titanium and zirconia dental implant restorations in the anterior region
Get PDFTitanium has been used in dental implantology for over 50 years, however, metal-free implant restorations are becoming increasingly popular. Zirconia is trending as a possible alternative implant material due to its favorable material properties. Despite conflicting evidence, studies suggest zirconia is likely to replace titanium as the preferred dental implant material in the future. This study aims to determine which is the best dental implant material in the anterior region. Furthermore, this study will critically analyse and compare the two materials in regards to their biocompatibility, osseointegration, mechanical properties, aesthetics and clinical success rates. This study was conducted by using various search engines to retrieve sufficient data which ranged from PubMed, Discover @ Bolton, MDPI and Science direct. The major keywords used in this report was; ‘titanium implants’, ‘abutments’, ‘zirconia dental implants’, ‘dental implants’, ‘osseointegration’, ‘aesthetics’ and ‘mechanical properties of zirconia and titanium’. In order to retrieve sufficient data to evidence this report, 43 searches were conducted. There were a total of 2131 articles produced through these searches, although after applying ‘inclusion and exclusion’ criteria multiple sources were eliminated. A total of 288 abstracts were read for the purpose of this comparison-based study, however on applying the exclusion criteria 216 were dismissed. The inclusion criteria determined the use of 70 online journal sources and 8 manual journal sources and books, totaling 78 sources for this report. Overall, it is difficult to conclude which biomaterial is superior, as each case is patient-specific with unique requirements. Zirconia is a suitable alternative to titanium for implants in the anterior region, as its osseointegration is equally effective. In comparison to titanium, zirconia has better aesthetics and biological properties, making it a good alternative. However, zirconia has much weaker mechanical properties in comparison to titanium. Zirconia ages and has lower fracture strength and resistance therefore producing lower survival rates. In addition, zirconia, as a relatively new alternative lacks long term clinical success. Therefore, more research is required in this area to allow a full assessment of which material is superior for dental implants in the anterior region
Distilling agency in BIM-induced change in work practices
No full textPurpose: Critics of claims about BIM’s capability to revolutionise construction industry practices, describe it as overhyped, fallacious, and therefore suggest that there is need for a more critical examination of its’ change impacts. Others have posited that the changes BIM induces are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In this vein, a careful analysis of the nature of such changes was undertaken to distil actual changes that happened, and the type of agency that brings such changes about.
Design: Drawing from appropriate qualitative research strategies, data was collected through key informant interviews from consulting organisations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organisations and on projects.
Findings: Changes in organisations’ work practices were evident in their workflows, formal/informal methods of interaction, norms, leadership and authority structures, remuneration, and the way work was conceived or conceptualised. Furthermore, changes in organisational work practices do not solely occur through the direct agency of the BIM tool’s implementation. Instead, BIM-induced change occurs by delegated, conditional and needs-based agency – which are not mutually exclusive.
Originality: The nature of changes in professional work practices could be misconstrued as being solely due to the actions of agents who actively participate in implementing BIM. The discussion in the literature has been advanced from general to specific theoretical understandings of BIM-induced change, that emphasise the need for construction stakeholders to actively participate in developing the innovations that drive change in the industry rather than hand the power to drive change to BIM authoring and management application developers who have less stake in the industry
Perceptions of innovation based relationship marketing (PIRM) in the Sri Lankan retail banking sector
Get PDFThe aim of this research is to investigate Sri Lankan bankers’ “Perceptions of Innovation based Relationship Marketing” (PIRM). The PIRM model demonstrates how Sri Lankan bankers perceive product innovation, process innovation and organizational innovation to improve relationship marketing. This research used an exploratory mixed-methods design where a qualitative phase was followed by a quantitative phase. Firstly, sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with bankers from four Sri Lankan retail banks. Secondly, quantitative data were collected from 216 bankers in the same Sri Lankan retail banks. Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the PIRM model. Results from the qualitative phase showed that bankers mainly rely on three dimensions of innovation: a) product innovation, b) process innovation and c) organizational innovation that facilitate their relationship marketing approach. Results from the quantitative phase show that there is no statistically significant relationship between perceptions of product innovation (β = -0.161; p < 0.007) and perceptions of relationship marketing. Nevertheless, perceptions of process innovation marketing (β = 0.235; p < 0.002) and perceptions of organizational innovation (β = 0.363; p < 0.000) show positive relationships with perceptions of relationship marketing. Additionally, i) perceptions of relationship marketing mediates between perceptions of process innovation (β = 0.119; p < 0.007) and perceptions of SCA and ii) perceptions of relationship marketing mediates between perceptions of organizational innovation (β = 0.184; p < 0.001) and perceptions of SCA. For the contribution to the knowledge, bankers will apply the PIRM model that enables better customer retention and facilitate SCA. As one of the main limitations, the research was considered the perceptions of retail bank employees, nevertheless customers’ perceptions were not investigated. Future research may apply the PIRM questionnaire and model in other service industries for training and the development of employees