UCT Open Access Journals (Univ. of Cape Town)
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Bird surveys at windfarms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Get PDFBird surveys were conducted at four windfarm sites and four control sites in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Numbers of the Blue Crane Grus paradisea decreased at three out of four windfarm sites after commencement of windfarm activities and did not decrease at any of the control sites. Numbers for several bird species of the fynbos and grassland tended to increase at windfarm sites after commencement of windfarm activities, and did not increase at the control sites
Biometrics and moult of Grey-backed Sparrow-lark Eremopterix verticalis in the Karoo, September 2023
Get PDFThe biometrics of Grey-backed Sparrow-larks Eremopterix verticalis in the handbooks are based on small samples. We summarize wing-length, tail-length and mass of a sample of 130 Grey-backed Sparrow-larks mistnetted during ringing on the farm New Holme, Hanover District, Northern Cape, South Africa, in September 2023. The habitat was Grassy Karoo with, on average, March being the month of peak annual rainfall. The sample consisted of 58 females and 72 males. We examined birds for primary moult; 5% had moulted either one or two primaries, indicating that moult was commencing in the population as a whole. This observation, set in the context of an observation made in Namibia, suggests that this species undertakes a pre-breeding moult in spring and summer, prior to breeding in late summer and autumn
Assessment of Void Management Strategies (VMS) in Multi-tenanted Office Property in Lagos State, Nigeria
Get PDFThe study assessed void management strategies adopted by Estate Surveying firms in multi-tenanted office properties in Lagos, Nigeria
Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaires from estate surveying firms in the study area. in line with the Directory of the Lagos State branch of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV). Seventy percent of this population representing 223 firms were selected randomly for the study and found useful for the study. Data obtained were analysed using frequency table, mean, mean deviation and mean ranking.
The study found out that void eradication strategy of adherence to vacation clauses and regular advertisement were the most frequently used strategies, probably due to their cheapness and effectiveness.
Keywords: Void, Void Management Strategies, Multi-tenanted Properties 
Exploring the interplay between quantity surveyors’ conflict-handling styles and personality traits
Get PDFConstruction projects are prone to conflict; thus, effective conflict management is more important than ever to avoid disputes and ensure project success. This study explores the link between conflict-handling styles and personality traits used by clients’ quantity surveyors in South Africa. The study used an online web survey based on how clients’ quantity surveyors dealt with conflict according to their personality traits. The population of this study included registered professional quantity surveyors and candidate quantity surveyors. The most common way of dealing with conflict and the most dominant personality trait among quantity surveying professionals were determined using descriptive statistics. A Spearman rank correlation analysis was subsequently conducted to establish whether there was a link between management of conflict and personality traits. The collaborating style was primarily used as a conflict management style by quantity surveyors, while the most common personality trait amongst client's quantity surveyors was Conscientiousness. Generally, most of the conflict-handling styles do not significantly interplay with personality traits. However, a collaborating conflict-handling style was found to have a negative correlation with the neuroticism personality trait. Also, the accommodating conflict handling style positively correlates with the agreeableness personality trait, and the avoiding conflict handling style correlates with the neuroticism personality trait. Quantity surveying firms will benefit from this information regarding their employees' conflict-handling styles and personalities by training professionals on managing conflict successfully by combining their personalities with the appropriate style. The focus on registered and candidate quantity surveyors was a limitation of the study, as other construction professionals could add value to the study. Further studies may include conflict-handling styles from a contractors’ quantity surveyor’s perspective.
Keywords: Conflict-handling styles, Construction Industry, Personality, Quantity Surveyor
PromotingSustainable Construction Practices in Developing Countries: Comparative Insights and Future Directions: Editorial December 2023
Get PDFSustainable construction practices contribute significantly to the advancement trajectory in developing and developed nations. Emphasising environmental conservation, efficient resource utilisation, and the facilitation of healthier, more productive living and working environments, sustainable construction practices are fundamental to achieving a more prosperous and ecologically balanced future. However, the effective transition to and adoption of these practices in developing nations raises significant challenges. ‘Which way forward to addressing these issues as discussed in the last issue including the editorial (Windapo and Umeokafor 2023). These challenges, explored in depth in the diverse research articles featured in this issue, illuminate the ongoing difficulties developing nations face in embracing sustainable construction practices, along with potential solutions and future directions for research. They contribute to answering the question in the last issue, 'Which way forward?' (Ibid).
This twelfth issue of the Journal of Construction Business and Management offers a thought-provoking and insightful collection of five seminal research articles by 11 authors from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The key themes of the articles include promoting awareness of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks (AACB) for construction, enhancing government construction project success through effective leadership styles, fostering the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Quantity Surveying, examining the link between Quantity Surveyors' conflict-handling styles and personality traits, and tracking technological and organisational change in the UK construction sector. As discussed below, each theme contributes to a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the urgent need for, obstacles to, and promising strategies for sustainable construction in developing countries
Attempted forced copulation by an immature Red-winged Blackbird male: Video evidence from the Grand River Grasslands of Iowa and potential explanations
Get PDFForced copulations are a type of sexual coercion that typically occurs when the fitness interests of males and females are in conflict. Forced copulations are rare in most species of birds, and there are only a few reports in passerine species. Here we report the first published observation of an immature Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus male attempting a forced copulation on a nesting Red-winged Blackbird female. We describe the behaviour and discuss potential explanations and implications for our observations
The Virtual Museum: an African biodiversity database holding more than two million records
Get PDFThis paper describes the history of the Virtual Museum, originally developed in 2005 for the Southern African Reptile Conservation Assessment (SARCA), which was sponsored by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The Virtual Museum grew to have 17 sections and the associated database, in 2023, contained 2.2 million biodiversity records from Africa. We summarize the major outputs of this initiative, and discuss potential future uses of the database
Benefits and Challenges to the Adoption of Modern Technologies for Real Estate Marketing in Lagos, Nigeria
Get PDFHistorically, some industries have lagged behind others in adopting technological improvements. Real estate is one of such industries. Even as technology affects the world around them, many real estate professionals continue to market or manage properties the same way they did in the past (Barillas, 2020). Hence, there is a need to savvy how informed they are about modern technology options that can boost their productivity, and why they have not leveraged these options. Therefore, this research examined the benefits and challenges of marketing real estate utilising selected modern technologies in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. Eight-two questionnaires were administered on the Estate Surveyors and Valuers (ESVs) in the study area and 76 (93%) were returned and found useful. The data was analysed with the use of percentages, mean and relative importance index. The findings show that majority of the ESVs are aware of digital marketing (90%), big data (89%), virtual reality (82%), artificial intelligence (79%), drone technology (79%) and blockchain technology (68%) as a medium for marketing real estate. The study also revealed that the most commonly used technology for marketing real estate is digital marketing (e.g. email, WhatsApp, Telegram e.t.c). The findings further show their perception of the benefits of adopting these technologies as reduction in manual labour (RII=0.903) and efficient communication between clients and real estate agents (RII=0.903), amongst others. Finally, the ESVs have not adopted most of the modern technologies because of resistance to adoption of modern technologies (mean=4.68) and lack of up-to-date and relevant property information (mean=4.51). The study concluded that there is a need for the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) to provide opportunities for ESVs to be enlightened, educated and trained on the various technologies for real estate marketing
Factors Influencing the Adoption of Automating Systems in the Facilities Management of High-Rise Buildings in Lagos, Nigeria
Get PDFPurpose: The paper examined factors influencing the choice of automating systems in high-rise buildings in Lagos, Nigeria with a view to providing information that could enhance facility management practice.
Design/Method/Approach: The study is a quantitative research, administering 53 copies of questionnaire on resident facility managers of selected high-rise buildings in Lagos with a response rate of 77.4%. Simple frequency distribution, percentage (%) weighted mean score on 5 point-Likert scale measurement and factor analysis were used to analyze responses.
Findings: The study revealed that the choice of automating systems used by facility managers was significantly influenced by the cost of acquisition of the automating system, while the need to protect buildings against failure was considered as the most significant factor influencing the adoption of automation in the management of facilities in high-rise buildings.
Practical Implication: The use of automating systems presents facility managers innovative ways of ensuring functionality of the built environment through the integration of people, place, process and technology.
Originality: The study contributes to the frontier of knowledge on the adoption of automation in the facility management of high-rise buildings
The challenges of treating HIV-infected adolescents
Get PDFAdolescents and young people represent a growing share of people living with HIV worldwide. In 2020 alone, 410,000 [194,000-690,000] young people between the ages of 10 to 24 were newly infected with HIV, of whom 150,000 [44,000-310,000] were adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19. To compound this, most recent data indicate that only 25 per cent of adolescent girls and 17 per cent of adolescent boys aged 15-19 in Eastern and Southern Africa – the region most affected by HIV – have been tested for HIV in the past 12 months and received the result of the last test. The testing rates in West and Central Africa and South Asia are even lower. If current trends continue, hundreds of thousands more will become HIV-positive in the coming years, and without knowing their status, adolescents will miss out on life-saving treatment. Additionally, a large population of children infected with HIV perinatally over the last decade are growing into adolescence