Benefits and Barriers to the Implementation of Green Building Standards in Universities: What are Students’ Views?

Embracing the principles of green building in development is crucial in creating a sustainable environment. However, research on its adoption in educational institutions is very low and students’ opinions are not given priority in the few research that are available in Nigeria. This study therefore investigated the perception of built environment students on the need to embrace the principles of green building in Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. 101 questionnaires were administered to students in the Departments of Architecture, Building Technology and Estate Management of the university and a response rate of 94% was achieved. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics such as percentage, weighted mean and relative importance index (RII) and the data was presented in tables. The study revealed that 88.42% of the students are aware of the concept of green building. According to the students, the degree of embracing green building standards in Covenant University is very low. Moreover, the benefits the students perceive the university can derive from adopting green building principles are: improved indoor air and water quality, reduction in pollution and environmental degradation, energy efficiency and water conservation. In addition, the students identified the following as the main barriers to green building adoption: ignorance on green building principles and their benefits (RII =0.91), high cost of green building technology (RII = 0.89), ignorance on professional knowledge and expertise on green building (RII = 0.89), ignorance on green building principles promotion by government (RII = 0.87) and ignorance on importance attached to green building principles by management of universities (RII = 0.87). The study recommended, amongst others, that there should be a forum where university management teams can be enlightened on the gains of embracing green building standards. This study is expected to broaden the knowledge of the Management of Covenant University on the importance of green development which will make the university environment to be conducive for learning, which will in turn aid better students’ academic performance. The study concluded that green building principles are vital to the physical and aesthetic planning of any development as it will reduce the amount of raw materials used in construction

BIG DATA AND REAL ESTATE: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The concept of big data though relatively new has brought a lot of solutions to modern day challenges. Many authors, particularly in developed countries, have adopted the concept in tackling the numerous challenges unfolding in the real estate profession. However, most of the findings from these authors are on individual bases and as such, there is a need to reach a general consensus on the relevance of big data to the real estate profession. The review shows the impact of big data to include digitization of records, information on user preferences, sensor information on the urban environment and sensor information on movement. The paper concludes that the relevance of big data to the real estate profession cannot be over-emphasised

Do the Clinical Management Guidelines for Covid-19 in African Countries Reflect the African Quality Palliative Care Standards? A Review of Current Guidelines

ContextPalliative care should be a component of COVID-19 management to relieve suffering, improve patient outcomes and save cost.ObjectivesWe aimed to identify and critically appraise the palliative care recommendations within COVID-19 case management guidelines in African countries.MethodsThe study employed systematic guideline review design. All guidelines from any country in Africa, of any language, published between December 2019 and June 2020 were retrieved through online search and email to in-country key contacts. We conducted a content analysis of the palliative care recommendations within the guidelines and appraised the recommendations using African Palliative Care Association standards for providing quality palliative care.ResultsWe retrieved documents from 29 of 54 African countries. Fifteen documents from 15 countries were included in the final analysis, of which eight countries have identifiable PC recommendations in their COVID-19 management guidelines. Of these eight, only one country (South Sudan) provided comprehensive palliative care recommendations covering the domains of physical, psychological, social and spiritual wellbeing, two (Namibia and Uganda) addressed only physical and psychological wellbeing while the remaining five countries addressed only physical symptom management.ConclusionsComprehensive palliative care which addresses physical, psychological, social and spiritual concerns must be prioritized within case management guidelines in African countries