Photovoice A Focus on Dialogue, Young People, Peace and Change

This paper explores how dialogue was introduced by the author through a model of praxis called ‘Young People Peace and Change.’ It was developed through community-based research, and further supported by evidence from school-based youth work, with young people in two cities in England. The paper focuses on the role of dialogue as part of Photovoice, linked to the duality of our praxis to provoke consciousness and action. It is an exciting and innovative theory-driven approach that actively seeks to help young people identify, understand and transform pressing issues and challenges of peace in their everyday lives. The work emerges from the belief that part of the solution to young people and violence is embedded in their common concerns and aspirations for peace, which can be elicited by bringing them safely into dialogue. Furthermore, the project seeks to cultivate real change by helping young people to ‘speak’ and self-advocate through a range of methodologies including photography, photo-elicitation and public engagement, to inform youth serving systems. ‘Young People Peace and Change’ has been awarded and recognised for successfully engaging a significantly vulnerable community of young people (including those at risk of violence). It has great potential for replicability and wider implications for practitioners, students, policy makers and research

Infrastructure development and abandonment.

The Nigerian Government is developing infrastructure guided by the United Nations (UN) call for sustainable development. However, uncompleted government infrastructure (roads, bridges, buildings, dams and others) projects litter the entire landscape of the country. This research investigates the causes of infrastructure abandonment in Nigeria through literature review and distribution of questionnaire. It also posits possible solutions to the menace of abandoned infrastructure. Findings from the literature review revealed inefficient procurement processes, defective design, cost overrun, and changes in government (election). From 129 questionnaire distributed to Architects, Engineers, Project Managers, Surveyors, Builders and Construction Procurement Personnel in the built environment both in the public and private sectors in Nigeria, 80 responses were received and analysed with SPSS Pearson Correlation Analysis. The findings from the survey showed that inadequate planning, change in government, faulty procurement, corruption and politics are some of the causes of abandonment. “Changing procurement method” ranked highest in the recommendation for addressing the abandoned infrastructure projects followed by designing with deconstructability in mind. Amongst other recommendations are using innovative management tools and refurbishment of abandoned projects. This research is imperative for the revitalisation of abandoned infrastructure environmentally, economically, and socially and the integration of innovative management tools for the future sustainable procurement of infrastructure

A review of cluster-based congestion control protocols in wireless mesh networks

Packet loss in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) is due to congestion and probably due to high bit error rate caused by interference, link and node failures. Presently, congestion control and routing protocols in WMNs are not seen to have tamed this recurrent problem of congestion being experience most times in the wireless network. Routing techniques may lead to a co ngestive scenario and the congestion control should detect and probably avoid such situations. The way in which the congestion is handled may results in longer delay and more packet loss and a very significant overhead may also be incurred. Hence, this study takes a closer look at existing solutions with the application of clustering techniques to solve routing and congestion control problems because it offers scalability and reduced overheads. The study further exposes the weakness and added advantages of some of these cluster based solutions which can assist researchers to come up with broader approach to tackle the inherent problems of congestions and load balancing in an ad hoc network like WMNs. The paper conclude with a planned future research to device an appropriate level of tradeoff between computational overheads of cluster-based routing and high network throughput, low latency and delay while solving congestion problems

A Local-Global Approach to Critical Peace Consciousness and Mobilisation as Disruptive Counter-Narratives

This paper examines opportunities for peace, as a dichotomy between the actual and re-imagined state of the world, using a Critical Peace Education (CPE) framework, and a Global Youth Work (GYW) pedagogic approach. Drawing from similar and shared constructs presented by CPE and GYW, such as developing local human rights and participatory citizenship, teaching consciousness-raising in and out of schools, and scrutinising how the theory and application of CPE and GYW can influence structural and cultural violence, this paper asserts the need to re-engage with the more radical roots of CPE and GYW as having potential for new stories in peace studies and education that resist the status quo using knowledge and action. The authors are keen to disrupt simplified representations of peace, and uniformity of what is meant by peace, in CPE and GYW theory and practice, and the implications this has both for the social reproduction of inequality, and for youth workers and young people. Secondly, the paper will redress how peace can be understood and acted upon as critical dialogue with young people to unpick and transform experiences for agency. This paper will contribute to a greater understanding of re-imagining peace in everyday life, and the relationship between peace and practice, as part of a decolonised post-critical approach, supported by examples for how youth workers and young people have actively worked towards opportunities for peace in the duality of praxis and consciousness in their everyday life

COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects and Prospects in the Construction Industry

COVID-19, social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, furlough, palliatives, and many more emerged as the new vocabularies of the entire world, construction industry not excluded. It is precisely a decade from the last pandemic experienced by the human race. However, the most popular disease outbreak called Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced, which hit all the nations of the world within four months and was declared a pandemic in March 2020. This outbreak disrupted businesses around the globe, including built asset procurement and facility management. The United Kingdom, through the Construction Leadership Council, for instance, in responding to this unprecedented situation, published a new Site Operating Procedure (SOP). The effect of this Pandemic in these extraordinary times posed both positive and negative impacts in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Owner and Operator (AECOO) industry. Its effect has brought about innovative and diverse use of technology in an exemplary manner which may change the course of construction even after the extinction of coronavirus. This study explores the effects of COVID-19 on the built asset procurement and potential opportunities for the construction industry through a quantitative means. A survey was carried out on the built asset procurement professionals for the data collection. 71 questionnaires were received from Architects, Building Engineers, Civil/Structural Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Construction / Project Managers and Quantity Surveyors. SPSS 25 software (a social science statistical package) was used for the analysis of the data. The result reveals some challenges in the area of workflow and supply chain disruption, new policy issues, workers’ anxiety and review of COVID-19 vs Force Majeure in standard forms of the construction contract. However, opportunities evolved in the field of modern procurement planning, the necessity for virtual working and unique design considerations. This study is essential to paving the way for the development of additional contingency plans and a new working strategy in a minimised human contact situation caused by the pandemic

Establishing the limitations of sustainable construction in developing countries: a systematic literature review using PRISMA.

Establishing a more sustainable built environment is an increasing global concern for the construction industry. Despite the intrinsic and extrinsic obstacles the stakeholders face, huge efforts are required to transition to a smooth, sustainable construction (SC) practice. This study identifies and discusses cogent obstacles to SC in developing nations. The Preferred Reporting Item for systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) approach was employed to establish research work in SC for developing countries. The databases used were Scopus and Web of Science. Meta-analysis of keywords was analysed thematically. The initial broad search returned 8,420 publications which were filtered and reviewed in-depth to fit the aim of the study, produced only 21 relevant publications from the years 2000–2021. The four identified themes of obstacles to SC in developing countries are as follows: construction professional training and education, clients' attitudes and awareness, construction industries' culture and capacity and governments' regulation, policies and economy. The key barriers identified from the metaanalysis include inadequate training and education amongst construction professionals, poor execution of sustainability ethics, poor populace attitude towards sustainability, poor awareness and understanding, dearth of precise data and integrated study and inappropriate priorities about sustainability. The originality in this study are themes drawn from millennium development goals (MDGs) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) publications related to SC. Consequently, the final framework presented a holistic approach to surmounting the established limitations and aided recommendations for future studies. Thus, setting a background for developing strategies to overcome the limitations and further attain sustainable development (SD)

PROXIMATE ANALYSIS AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CORTINARIUS SPECIES

Proximate study was conducted on a Cortinarius sp found on farmlands in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo state of Nigeria to ascertain its nutritional composition. The overall nutritional potential of the Cortinariusspecies was quite good and itshows that the species of mushroom is highly nutritive with crude protein 19.47%, carbohydrates, 48.60% and crude fibre 6.80%. It was however, observed the contents of the following were relatively low; zinc was 0.08mg/100g, riboflavin 0.08mg/100g and thiamine 0.07mg/100g. Potassium was highest and was 221.67mg/100g followed by calcium 183.33mg/100g. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of varying quantities of alkaloids, saponins, tannins, oxalates, cyanogenic glycosides and phytates. These bioactive compounds may make it useful for therapeutic uses. This study shows that this mushroom has a great potential in complementing protein and minerals deficiencies prevalent in the developing countries

Assessment of risk associated with road infrastructure development in the developing countries.

Developing countries are striving to build their infrastructure to foster their economic growth. Authors discovered that continuous rising in the access to locations along with spending on infrastructure enhances the economic development and growth of developing countries. However, this development process comes with various challenges such as the right of way, traffic management, diversions, noise, vibration, dust etc. In addition to that, the weak performance of road construction projects in these countries can be attributed to the inefficient understanding and deployment of risk management. As a result of these challenges, residents, businesses, travellers etc. are subject to risks at different levels and magnitudes. This study aims to identify and measure the risks associated with infrastructure development within cities in the developing nations. A questionnaire is used as a tool for data collection; the collected data is then analysed using percentages and Risk Assessment Matrix (RAM). The study identifies the significant risks associated with road infrastructure development (i.e. Heavy, traffic, Dust and Accident and Destruction) in the cities and their severity. This study contributes to identifying rating and likelihood of the associated risks while evaluating the critical risks that needed attention