UCT Open Access Journals (Univ. of Cape Town)
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LacewingMAP: Progress report on the atlas of African Neuroptera and Megaloptera, 2014–2019: LacewingMAP progress report: 2014–2019
No full textThis report describes progress with the atlas of lacewings, defined as the orders Neuroptera and Megaloptera, up to 31 March 2019. The database of the project contained 15,781 records, in two components - 12,898 specimen records and 2,883 photographic records - submitted to the LacewingMAP section of the Virtual Museum, over a period of 4.5 years (September 2014 to March 2019). The average rate of submission of photographic records for LacewingMAP for the four calendar years 2015 to 2018 was 566 per year, three times faster than the rate at which the specimen database grew during the second half of the 20th century. 234 citizen scientists contributed photographic records to LacewingMAP. It seems that almost all of these people have primary interests in other taxa, and that the records submitted to LacewingMAP were a 'by-catch'. Photographs of at least two new species were submitted by citizen scientists during 2018
Bird conservation in Africa: the contributions of the Ibadan Bird Club
Get PDFThe Ibadan Bird Club has met 19 times at monthly intervals between February 2016 and August 2017, and 264 people (155 male and 109 female) have registered as members. During this period, the club has successfully built local capacity in bird conservation, and 111 bird species, distributed in 39 families, have been documented in an urban Important Bird Area, southwestern Nigeria. The findings of this citizen science initiative are essential for conservation purposes
A review of mHealth interventions for diabetes in pregnancy
Get PDFGestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has high morbidity and risk for mortality when mismanaged. This is particularly relevant in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where GDM related complications occur at a higher rate, with worse outcomes, due to a lack of healthcare resources. Mobile health (mHealth) presents an opportunity to improve the management of GDM in LMIC. We conducted a meta-analysis, which found that using mHealth as an intervention for GDM caused a statistically significant decrease of 0.38 mmol/L (95% CI -0.52 mmol/L to -0.23 mmol/L) in overall blood glucose levels during pregnancy compared to the control group. There was a significantly higher probability of vaginal deliveries in the intervention group than the control group (risk ratio (RR) = 1.18, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.36). It was less likely for new-borns from the intervention group to be diagnosed with hypoglycaemia than new-borns from the control group (RR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.93). This review found evidence for mHealth offering improvements in biological, maternal, perinatal, cognitive and economic outcomes by aiding in the management of GDM. This could be particularly important to LMIC where the lack of resources and high healthcare-related costs contribute to the mismanagement of GDM
Relationship Between Organisational Effectiveness and Project Performance of SME Contractors: a Developing Country Perspective
Get PDFOrganisational effectiveness (OE) theory provides a veritable framework for examining organisational performance. This theory has, however, made a very little inroad into construction management literature, and there are limited discussions on the domains within which construction firms can measure their OE. Besides this, the extent to which corporate OE determines a contractor's project performance is not fully understood, primarily, in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) contractor context. Based on data from 53 projects in higher institutions in Nigeria, this study evaluated the measures of corporate OE of SME contractors and examined the contributions of the corporate OE of the firms to their project performance. By factor analysis, it was discovered that the SME contractors' corporate OE can be measured using corporate advantage, firm experience, firm certification and firm owner background. Using canonical correlation, a significant relationship was found between the OE of the firms and the measures of project performance. The analysis further revealed that project cost and quality performances are bettered by increases in firm certification and experience, although time performance tends to worsen as a result. In addition to identifying the domains for measuring an SME contractor's OE, this study shows that better firm experience does not necessarily improve a contractors' project time performance. Construction stakeholders and the public should beware of firms that only boast of an excellent corporate advantage and ownership by prominent persons in the society, but without adequate experience and certification.
Keywords: Corporate Advantage, Firm Experience, Project Performanc
Assessing Quality Management Practice in Nigerian Construction Industry
Get PDFSeveral adverse reports on quality performance drive the need to assess quality management practice in the Nigerian construction industry. Incidences of building failures and in extreme cases, building collapse have been attributed to poor quality management among other factors. This paper assesses the quality management practices of Nigerian construction firms intending to suggest appropriate courses of action for improving quality performance. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to management staff in 20 construction firms in Abuja, Nigeria. Findings from the study show that inspections and statistical quality control techniques are the most widely used quality management tools by construction firms in Nigeria. However, the study found that the preparation of quality management plans (QMP) and quality auditing (a measure of quality assurance in building production), is not popular among Nigerian construction firms. Inadequate planning arrangements for quality, poor communication of quality requirements and lack of awareness of the benefits of quality management were identified as the most significant issues affecting quality management practice. Therefore there is a low uptake of quality management practice principles within construction organizations in Nigeria. Hence, the need to create awareness for implementing quality management principles and concepts in its construction industry.
Keywords: Assessment, Construction industry, Nigeria, Quality management, Quality standard
Frameworks for Material Waste Minimization on Nigerian Building Projects
Get PDFA novel approach to solving waste incidence of materials on building projects is to framework the issues and processes that are involved in its minimization. The objective of the study is to develop and validate frameworks for material waste minimization in building projects. This study is a survey research in South West Nigeria. Define, Review, Identify, Verify and Execute (DRIVE) and Construction Process Improvement Methodology (CPIM) techniques were used to develop the proposed frameworks; while the validation was done by face validity and scoring model approaches. A pilot validation was done by five academics while the main validation involved 17 potential end users. Data were analysed with frequency and percentage. The study reveals that the frameworks are clear, informative, appropriate and applicable. It is concluded that the frameworks can minimize material waste at every stage of building projects. It is therefore recommended that the proposed FMWM should be adopted by all stakeholders to prevent and minimize material waste at all stages of building projects.Keywords: CPIM, DRIVE, Frameworks, Minimization, Prevention, Waste
Barriers to the Effective Regulation of the Building Construction Industry: An Empirical Analysis
Get PDFThis study investigates key barriers to the effective regulation of the building construction industry in Kenya, a case study of Kisii Town. It was guided by the Public Interest Theory of Regulation, which provided the underpinning elucidating why the building construction industry in Kenya needs regulation. The target population comprised 84 registered building contractors with a sample size of 66 selected using simple random sampling by application of random number table. As regards limitation, the study does not measure the extent of quality assurance within the construction industry, but rather delve on the key factors impeding its effective regulation. The research findings show that ineffective regulation of the construction industry in Kisii Town was prompted by the joint activities of building development contractors and limitations of the National Construction Authority (NCA) (the regulator). Regarding the activities of building contractors, identified barriers included failure to refer to key legislation that regulates the construction industry, failure to obtain statutory approvals of building development, and laxity to invite supervision of ongoing projects by planning authorities. Conversely, factors elucidating why NCA was not successfully regulating the construction industry included inadequate multi-sectoral coordination, inadequate surveillance, and limited sensitization of key stakeholders. Drawing from these findings, the study recommends regular monitoring and enhanced enforcement that would promote compliance and sensitization of contractors with applicable standards and regular inspections of ongoing projects. Also, establishing a coordinating committee to harmonize institutions that deal with development control.
Keywords: Construction Industry, Kenya, Kisii Town, Regulatio
Bird Distribution Dynamics - African black oystercatcher in South Africa
Get PDFThis is another paper on bird distribution dynamics in Biodiversity Observations. The objective of this series of papers is to report on the ranges of bird species as revealed by the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2, 2007 onwards) and to describe how their ranges have changed since the first bird atlas (SABAP1, mainly 1987 /- 1991), about two decades apart. The African Black Oystercatcher Haemetopus moquini is neither considered a Red-listed species globally nor regionally however, this endemic and iconic bird was expected to decline due to a variety of anthropogenic and natural influences hence, it received much attention from the scientific community. SABAP data supported the findings of some previous projects that looked at both oytsercacther distribution, dispersion and feeding ecology along South Africa's (SA) coastline as well as that of the alien Mediterranean Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Possible reasons for a relatively recent and northern presence along the SA coastline could be due to southern populations experiencing food shortages during the breeding season that result in seasonal dispersion or carrying capacity on the mainland has been reached. Inside the /oystercatcher's breeding range, the alien mussel serves as an additional food source that probably explains the largest SABAP2 reporting rates along the southern regions of the coastline as this area coincides with the /mussel's distribution range
Dwarf Ravens kill and eat a Spotted Thicknee: Undocumented behavior of the Dwarf Raven or Somali Crow
No full textDwarf Ravens kill and eat a Spotted Thicknee
The Dwarf Raven or Somali Crow Corvus edithae is an endemic resident in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somali, Kenya and SE Sudan (C Hillary Fry & Stuart Keith et al. 2000). In Kenya they are locally found mostly in the North from around Kapedo, Laisamis, Mado Gashi and Wajir areas. These birds belong to the Corvidae family. They are medium to large passerine birds. They are conspicuous, bold, inquisitive and highly adaptable. As a family they occupy a wide range of habitats including forest, woodland, grassland, tundra, desert and cliffs but more often around human habitation (C Hillary Fry & Stuart Keith et al. 2000).
These species in particular inhabits deserts, semi-deserts, arid plains, dry savannas and open thorn bush from sea level to usually around 2000 m ASL (C Hillary Fry & Stuart Keith et al. 2000). Their general behavior is not well documented but are known to be solitary or in pairs and in flocks of up to 100 in the non-breeding season. They are usually fearless and aggressive.
Their food consists of small ground-dwelling animals, carrion, and some plants, also bird eggs, tick and lice (C Hillary Fry & Stuart Keith et al. 2000) and largely considered to be scavengers. So while at Turkana in May 2018 I was surprised to witness a small group of the species behave like raptors in pursuit of their prey. A murder of three Dwarf Ravens landed about 50 m from where I was standing, and begun rummaging through the small dry bushes around. I had not even taken much notice of two fully grown Spotted Thicknees (Burhinus capensis) nearby, thanks to their cryptic plumage blending well with the sun bleached volcanic rocks spewed all over this vast arid region interspersed by short dry grass and bushes. Before long I noticed something emerge fast from the short bushes apparently disturbed by the ravens. It was a young Spotted Thicknee, not fully grown but just as tall as the parents who were close by. The ravens actively pursued the young Thicknee, caught it and relentlessly attacked it. The vicious attack was briefly interrupted when an Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus landed nearby and again when a White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis also landed nearby. The parents of the young Thicknee watched from a safe distance away and made no attempts to rescue the fledgling. Eventually the murder of crows killed the Thicknee before proceeding to dismember it and devour it. We could not find other records of Corvids actively hunting and killing live prey but it is likely desert dwelling corvids will often resort to catching live prey (of any taxa)
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Dr. Peter Njoroge for his advice in the presentation of this record.
References
Fry, C. H., Keith, S. and Urban, E.K. (Eds) (2000). The Birds of Africa Vol. VI Academic Press, London.
Checklist of the Birds of Kenya, Fourth Edition, OS-c EANHS September 200