Transformations in Higher Educational Institutions: A Review of the Post-COVID-19 Era

The COVID-19 epidemic was initially experienced in China, in a city called Wuhan (December 2019), and Europe, the USA and Australia were not left behind. South Africa was the worst-hit country, with a total of 88,914 deaths recorded on October 24, 2021, and like many other countries of the world, it suffered the loss of human lives and livelihoods. In 2021, almost 65,000 South Africans had been lost to the pandemic. This pandemic has destabilised systems and processes that define human existence, thereby wreaking havoc on many facets of human life, with education being predominantly affected. COVID-19 has fostered global readjustments in education with the advent of online teaching or, as referred to in some studies, emergency online education. This paper examined many of the challenges faced by students and lecturers, including adaptation problems among lecturers and students, internet connectivity issues, an unconducive teaching and learning workspace, and associated health risks. This study also reviewed positive developments that took place since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the WiSeUp Moodle Training, academic discourse, and capacity development. In addition, it is suggested that researchers carry out further studies on the effects of COVID-19 with reference to teaching and learning. The paper concludes by reviewing the positive and negative teaching and learning outcomes of the transformations that Higher Educational Institutions underwent after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Utilization of Geospatial Technologies in Urban Vegetation Ecosystems Conservation: A Review

This research is focused on a review of geospatial technologies (such as Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems technologies) in monitoring vegetation land use land cover (LULC) conservation. This study is considered very apt and timely because of the ecological challenges and intricacies associated with the paradoxical phenomenon chracterized by conflicting land use practices of urban development as well as the conservation of vegetation LULC in many parts of the world today. It is also imperative to note that the literature reviewed for this research is rich, diversified and developed based on relevant themes in the specific field of study. Relevant literature on the applications of geo-information technologies, and the conservation of vegetation were specifically sourced from internationally recognized academic publications, electronic data sources and other educational websites. This study makes a clarion call towards the conservation of degraded vegetation environments and proffers solutions towards the actualization of environmental sustainability of these fragile ecosystems

Effects of urban expansion on coastal vegetation ecosystems conservation and functioning in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

Coastal urban expansion is on an upward trajectory, which poses serious threats to ecosystem functioning, human wellbeing and the general environment across the globe. It is on this premise that this study brings to the fore the growing complexity of environmental sustainability problems in a former apartheid space, as characterized by coastal urbanization and the intricacies of vegetation conservation. Consequently, literature utilized for this study reveals that urban expansion has led to an uncontrolled threat to the coastal ecosystem, culminating in soil erosion, environmental pollution through illegal dumping of solid waste, loss of coastal vegetation to other land use types, among others. Therefore, constant monitoring of these spaces is needed due to their fragility, as they are pivotal in the earth-atmosphere processes to the benefit of the entire humanity. To this end, the current study offers critical analysis and insights about the South African coastal ecological space. The essence of using BCMM in its consideration as an ecological space and former apartheid territory brings to the fore a scientific explanation of the spatial configuration and changes in the CVEs of the study area during the post-colonial era. In the course of investigating this study, the Urban Green Sustainability (UGS) theory was adopted in the course of selecting the review of literature, methodological approach and analysis of results. A mixed methodological approach (qualitative, quantitative and geospatial techniques) was explored in data collection and analysis. 254 copies of the questionnaire were returned and analysed for this research. Results generated revealed by the BCMM respondents confirms the occurrence of uncontrolled urbanization, deforestation and crop cultivation as major causes of coastal vegetation loss. In the same vein, the LULC classification results revealed that about 466 km2 of forest vegetation has been lost in BCMM from 1998-2018. Also, LULC classification results were validated by performing the Normalized Difference Built-Up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), Kappa’s coefficient (k), coefficient of determination (R2) and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (P) tests. The results also revealed that the built-up area had increased from 194 km2 in 1998 to 814 km2 in 2008. Further, all statistical tests revealed very good and highly correlated overall classification accuracies (of R2=0.89 and P=0.86) during the study period (1998 – 2018). This study makes a clarion call towards the rehabilitation of degraded coastal environments and proffers solutions towards the actualization of environmentally sustainable CVEs which offers optimal ecosystem services.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 202

Effects of urban expansion on coastal vegetation ecosystems conservation and functioning in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

Coastal urban expansion is on an upward trajectory, which poses serious threats to ecosystem functioning, human wellbeing and the general environment across the globe. It is on this premise that this study brings to the fore the growing complexity of environmental sustainability problems in a former apartheid space, as characterized by coastal urbanization and the intricacies of vegetation conservation. Consequently, literature utilized for this study reveals that urban expansion has led to an uncontrolled threat to the coastal ecosystem, culminating in soil erosion, environmental pollution through illegal dumping of solid waste, loss of coastal vegetation to other land use types, among others. Therefore, constant monitoring of these spaces is needed due to their fragility, as they are pivotal in the earth-atmosphere processes to the benefit of the entire humanity. To this end, the current study offers critical analysis and insights about the South African coastal ecological space. The essence of using BCMM in its consideration as an ecological space and former apartheid territory brings to the fore a scientific explanation of the spatial configuration and changes in the CVEs of the study area during the post-colonial era. In the course of investigating this study, the Urban Green Sustainability (UGS) theory was adopted in the course of selecting the review of literature, methodological approach and analysis of results. A mixed methodological approach (qualitative, quantitative and geospatial techniques) was explored in data collection and analysis. 254 copies of the questionnaire were returned and analysed for this research. Results generated revealed by the BCMM respondents confirms the occurrence of uncontrolled urbanization, deforestation and crop cultivation as major causes of coastal vegetation loss. In the same vein, the LULC classification results revealed that about 466 km2 of forest vegetation has been lost in BCMM from 1998-2018. Also, LULC classification results were validated by performing the Normalized Difference Built-Up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI), Kappa’s coefficient (k), coefficient of determination (R2) and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (P) tests. The results also revealed that the built-up area had increased from 194 km2 in 1998 to 814 km2 in 2008. Further, all statistical tests revealed very good and highly correlated overall classification accuracies (of R2=0.89 and P=0.86) during the study period (1998 – 2018). This study makes a clarion call towards the rehabilitation of degraded coastal environments and proffers solutions towards the actualization of environmentally sustainable CVEs which offers optimal ecosystem services.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 202

Analysis of Anthropogenic Impediments to African Forest Ecosystems Conservation: Case of Gambari Forest Ecosystem, Ibadan, Nigeria

Gambari Forest Reserve (GFR) is located in Oyo State, in the south-western region of Nigeria, in the Mamu locality (Gambari Forest), co-ordinate 3.7 and 3.9E” and latitude 7°26 1 N and longitude 3°5 1 E. i.e. 17 km South-East of Ibadan, along the Ibadan/Ijebu-Ode road. The major taxa studies for this research include the forest tree species forest ecosystem in Gambari Forest Reserve, such as: Leucaena leucocephala, Leucaena glauca, Gliricidia sepium,Tectona grandis, Gmelina arborea, Swietenia macrophylla, Acacia spp., Albizia spp., Cassia siamea, and Pithecellobium saman. 200 key respondents participated in this study, which were drawn from the seven main communities namely Ibusogboro, Oloowa, Daley North and south, Onipe, Mamu, Olubi and Onipanu respectively. The results revealed that there are significant anthropogenic interventions taking place in the study area. It is therefore imperative to conserve and safeguard GFR ecosystem resources, as ensuring that ecosystem services and biodiversity function at optimum levels. This study therefore recommends continued research to be undertaken, in addition to consistent monitoring and conserving our fragile forest resources, with the aim of achieving optimum functioning and service delivery

Breast Cancer Trend: A Case Study of a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

Background: Breast cancer is a major global health problem in women from both developing and developed countries. As the leading cause of death among women, breast cancer has contributed 19.5% to the mortality rate among women in Nigeria. This study investigated the trend of breast cancer among women who attended Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. Methods: This retrospective study examined the trend of breast cancer over a period of eight years and determined the most affected age group. Participants consisted of patients registered in the cancer registry who had histologically confirmed breast cancer. Data of 362 patients were examined between March and April 2016. Data were analyzed and presented using descriptive (frequency, charts, and percentages) and inferential statistics (Fisher’s exact) for hypothesis testing. Results: Findings of this study revealed that the mean age of the participants was 45.04±16.94 years and all patients involved were females. The age group 20-39 years was most affected by breast cancer with a proportion of 41.7%. This study revealed a relationship between breast cancer classification and age of patients (P=0.011). Almost all (94.3%) cases seen within this time period were malignant. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should place more emphasis on prevention of breast cancer across all age groups, especially young adults. These young adults constitute the larger percentage of the adult population. An increase in mortality rate in this age group will reduce the labor force and affect the nation’s economy