OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development
Open access peer-reviewed journal
Users Satisfaction Assessment In Academic Library Performance
Suleiman Aliyu Shika a, Maimunah Sapri b, Jibril Dan’azimi Jibril c, Ibrahim Sipan d
a, b, c, d Center for Real Estate management, Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Malaysia.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 11-20, 2012.
Abstract: Evidence indicates that various building aspects influence the comfort and productivity of occupants. In post-occupancy evaluation (POE) process, the elements of performance are those aspects of buildings that are measured, evaluated and used to improve buildings. The main purpose of conducting the assessment is to determine whether or not design decisions made by design professionals are providing the performance needed by the users of the facility. This study present the findings of an indicative assessment of the major technical and functional elements of performance, carried out on the main academic and research library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) main campus otherwise known as Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah (PSZ) Library. Published literature has been articulated to review knowledge areas pertaining to the performance requirements of academic and research library facilities. A checklist was developed to obtain the users’ feedback on their experience with the built environment. The users were asked questions based on the performance of 22 functional and technical elements in the library. The findings of the user satisfaction survey were analyzed and reported to describe the degree of compliance with the collected performance requirements. It was found out that, users were satisfied with 17 out of the 22 elements of performance. Finally a plan of action was developed and recommended to improve the performance of the PSZ main academic and research library of UTM.
Keywords: Academic libraries, Built environment, Performance requirements, User satisfaction
Community Perception Of Redevelopment Changes And Its Impact On Brownfields Redevelopment Success
Shevon J. Letang a, Robert Taylor b
a,b Earth and Environmental Studies Department, Montclair State University,
1Normal Ave, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 21-43, 2012.
Abstract: Citizens can be resistant to environmental changes which may be disruptive to their ideology, affections, and rootedness to place. Changes may be even more disruptive if citizens perceive them to occur too rapidly. How communities assess these changes in their neighborhoods is linked to their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with initiatives executed. Satisfaction is one mechanism by which individuals respond to environmental and social changes because it embodies judgmental and cognitive processes in how they assess policies that affect their well being. This research purports that citizens’ acceptance of brownfields redevelopment is related to their perception of community improvements. This research therefore uses public satisfaction as a measure in assessing the perception of success of three brownfield redevelopment projects in Passaic County New Jersey. Their perception of satisfaction results after they have objectively assessed attributes of their social and physical environment. This research uses a variety of quantitative tools with supporting qualitative documentation to explain the effects that the community changes have on the neighborhoods’ perceived success of the redevelopment projects. A survey of 129 respondents residing near three brownfields redevelopment projects in three municipalities in Passaic County New Jersey was conducted. The purpose was to discover the relationship between changes in the built environment and social neighborhood and the level of acceptance or satisfaction with the redevelopment project. Affected citizens’ sentiment of what is valued in a prospective and actual redevelopment exercise was sought. To complement the respondents’ ‘observed changes’ public officials, were questioned and Council Minutes were reviewed in each municipality. Minutes dated from before to after the redevelopments and also newspaper reports were perused for mention of any changes that could be attributed to the redevelopments. The results of this survey indicate that citizens regard improvements in the built environment as well as the social environment as highly significant criteria in evaluating brownfields redevelopment beneficial use. Citizens have high expectations from these brownfield redevelopment projects and tend to be more responsive and supportive when more than one observed positive and less negative changes in the built environment were observed. Brownsfield redevelopment projects received ratings that are more positive when the end use is consistent with citizens’ values and lifestyles and not detract from it. Therefore, this research gives insight to policy makers of how this policy is impacting neighborhoods and to provide guidance to assess how they are progressing towards achieving a major brownfields sustainable goal which is improvement in citizens’ quality of life.
Keywords: brownfields; perception; policy; satisfaction; sustainable
Effect Of Farmers Organization On Agricultural Technologies Development In Afijio Local Government Areas Of Oyo State, Nigeria
Oyeyinka, R.A, a, Ayansina,S.O, b Adamu,C.O c
a,c Department of Agricultural Administration, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
b Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development,
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 44-51, 2012.
Abstract
The study assessed the influence of farmers cooperative organizations on agricultural technologies in Afijio Local Governments Areas, of Oyo State, Nigeria. Data were collected through a multi stage random sampling technique from one hundred cooperatives farmers with the used of questionnaire. Result of the study revealed that majority of the members and non – members of the farmers organizations (63.3%) were young and middle age persons ranging from 21 – 40 years old with a very few old men (6.7%). Most of the members 46.7% had formal education while 67.5% of the non – members had no formal education. The findings also revealed that the level of agricultural production (yield) of members of the farmers organizations 53.3% was higher than that of non – members 27.5%. Hypotheses testing on the personal characteristics of members and non – members of farmers organization at (P ≥ 0.05) significant level showed that there were no significant relationships between members personal characteristics and membership in farmer cooperatives, however significant relationship exist between the level of production (yield),education,social participation and membership of cooperative organizations at (P > 0.05). The study recommends among other things that the government should take into cognizance the morale booster for cooperative organizations through low interest rate on loan facilities, empowering the farmers cooperatives to perform through legislative control and reaching out to the Nigeria small farmers through their organizations, this will ensure greater involvement and participation of more rural farmers in agricultural development programmes.
Keywords: Assessment, Farmers, Cooperative, Agriculture, Development
Relationship Between Outreach And Sustainability Of Microfinance Banks In Southwestern Nigeria
Fajonyomi,O.S a, Jegede, C. A. b, Akinlabi, B. H. c
a Department of International Relations and Public Administration,
Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria.
b Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Management Sciences,
Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria.
c Department of Business Administration and Management Technology, Faculty of Management Sciences,
Lagos State University External System, Lagos, Nigeria.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 52-63, 2012.
Abstact: The main purpose of this study is to ascertain the existence (or not) of a relationship relationship between outreach and sustainability of microfinance banks’. The methodology employed in this study is the econometric method and Granger causality test. The variables under investigation are microfinance banks’ outreach (OSS) and sustainability (OUTR). The result of the test showed that for the periods, 2005-2010, there is a strong positive relationship between sustainability and outreach. This suggests that for greater outreach to be attained, emphases should be placed on improving the microfinance institutions’ sustainability. Further effort was made to check the causality relationship that exist between the two variables by employing the VAR-Granger causality at two lag periods. The results showed that causality runs from sustainability (OSS) to outreach (OUTR) in a uni-directional manner. The result also implies that the opposite causality is not valid. Various studies as reviewed in the literature came out with the result that sustainability significantly lead to achieving outreach goal. Hence, the study through the empirical findings maintain the fact that the causality that run from sustainability to outreach is an indication of relationship showing that feedback exists from sustainability to outreach of microfinance banks’ in Nigeria.
Keywords: Micro-finance Banks’; Micro and Small Enterprises; Outreach; Sustainability; South-Western
Nigeria
Maintenance culture as threat to educational accessibility in Nigeria: Implications for sustainable open distance learning in Nigeria
Adelakun Adebiyi Alani
Department of Continuing Education and Community Development
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 64-70, 2012.
Abstract: Educational accessibility has become a millennium phenomenon in Nigeria as many prospective candidates jostling for admission into the nation’s conventional universities have their hopes dashed yearly. Many of the affected prospective candidates have been frustrated and this has inevitably, increased the number of miscreants on Nigerian streets. The inability of the nation’s universities to provide adequate access to higher education over the years has worsened the situation. However, the Open and Distance Learning which has now been accepted as an alternative mode of learning providing access to education without constraining learners to the four walls of the conventional school system. The wide acceptance of the Open Distance Learning system stems out from its convenience in dispensing instruction to mass of the people at the same time regardless of place and time. The feature of individualized learning also possessed by open learning has always made it to stand out as a preferred mode of learning. The opportunity to work and study concurrently has given ODL advantage over the conventional system of learning. Quite a number of factors determine the effectiveness and sustainability of Open Distance Learning and these include the employment of various information communication media, availability of Students’ Support Services (SSS) and functional Study Centers among others. A survey of the aforementioned factors in Nigeria shows that there is a wide gap between what should be and what actually is. For instance, instructional communication media are not readily available and where available, they are not functioning because routine maintenance is not being carried out on them. Sequel to this, it has become practically inevitable for many of the distance institutions to still depend and rely on the medium of print in the midst of various modern communication technologies. Many of the study centres are uninviting to students as facilities are not in good condition. Consequently, the learning convenience enjoyed in ODL is eroded and by extension, educational access becomes limited. Generally, Nigerians are yet to cultivate a culture of maintenance and this has greatly been one of the key factors to sustaining development in every sector. This is corroborated by the fact that there is a high rate of infrastructural decay and wastages involving buildings, roads, machineries and other tangible assets resulting from lack of proper maintenance. The ODL as a sub-system of the Nigerian educational structure is not isolated from this infrastructural decay. This scenario does not support sustaining ODL as an alternative provider of educational access which invariably is one of the cardinal points of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as resolved by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000. A better way to remediate this challenge is for stakeholders in the Nigerian ODL (Providers, Instructors and Learners) to cultivate the culture of maintaining the existing structures and facilities if ODL is to continue in the provision of educational access to desiring candidates. This paper therefore explores possible ways of creating awareness about the culture of maintenance among stakeholders of ODL in Nigeria. Also examined in this paper, is the meaning of maintenance and its various aspects. The paper provides answers to the questions of where, when and how does maintenance start and of what relevance is it to the practice and sustenance of ODL in Nigeria? The area of inhibiting factors to maintenance practices was also explored. In conclusion, the paper reveals various measures that could be taken to ensuring good maintenance practices on facilities in Nigerian Open Distance Learning system in order to continually provide education access to mass of the people.
Keywords: Educational access; Maintenance Culture; Open Distance Learning; Sustainable, Threat
‘A Comparative Study of the Concepts of He (Harmony) in Confucianism and Salam (Peace) in Islam and Sustainable Development’
Yang Jie a, Zailan Moris b
a,b School of Humanities, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 72-83, 2012.
Abstract: The numerous wars, conflicts and crises that beset our world today seem to lend support to Samuel Huntington’s thesis of ‘the clash of civilizations’ as put forth by his famous book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. However, given the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious landscapes of many nations, accepting multiculturalism is inevitable for peaceful coexistence. Both China and Malaysia are multicultural countries. This paper aims at a comparative study of the Confucian concept of He or ‘harmony’ and the Islamic concept of Salam or ‘peace’ in relation to the current and important subject of sustainable development. There are two aspects to the discussion: first, the key values present in the concepts of He and Salam will be examined and contrasted; second, their relevance and application to the specific issue of sustainable development will be highlighted. The paper concludes that comparative studies of shared values and concerns contribute towards our effort at understanding and accepting differences and embracing diversity which are essential for peaceful and enriching coexistence.
Keywords: Confucianism, Harmony, Islam, Peace, Sustainable development
Urban Transport Sustainability in Mauritius: A Balanced Scorecard
Md. Habibur Rahmana, Hoong Chor Chinb , Nomita Seebaluckc
a, b Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore
c Mauritius Ports Authority, Port Louis, Mauritius
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 84-110, 2012.
Abstract: Mauritius’s urban land transport is of particular interest, mainly from two key corner points. Firstly, the transport sector is the third largest contributing sector to Mauritian economy and the urban land transport is recognized as one of the most important drivers for growth of Mauritius, especially because of the high reliance of other economic backbone sectors including industry, finance and tourism on urban land transport. Secondly, the urban transport in Mauritius exhibits many of the transport problems as faced in other global rapidly growing developing cities, such as worsening traffic congestion, traveler dissatisfaction on public modes, rapid growth of private motorization, air pollution and urban sprawling. While for a long term sustainable Mauritian economy the performance of urban transport is crucial, there is a lack of integrated study targeting to enhance the sustainability performance of urban transport. Therefore, a holistic sustainability evaluation is needed for this sector in order to identify the critical challenging areas, which will be helpful in setting off effective measures to enhance long term sustainability in this sector. In the past, studies mainly focused on certain aspects while others remained ignored resulting in the lack of a balanced evaluation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sustainability of Mauritius urban transport using a Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard reviews and assesses Mauritius’s urban transport with an integrated framework of sustainability. Results show that, the overall sustainability performance of Mauritius’s urban transport is marginally moderate and the performance of sustainability indicators fall in either moderate or poor categories. The major moderate performing areas include safety, social equity, affordability, employment growth, impact on global environment, energy consumption, revenue enhancement, economic growth, efficiency of commercial goods transport, promotion of green vehicles, awareness and education, leadership and policy, investment effectiveness and skill development and training. In addition, the marginally moderate performing areas, where improvements are highly necessary, include management of transport infrastructures and parking facilities, noise control, external cost savings, integration among passenger modes, and promotion of vehicle sharing practices. On the other hand, areas that have performed poor and need immediate improvement include level of service, congestion management, air pollution, integration of land-use and transport, integration among institutions, promotion of public and non-motorized transport, control over private vehicles, emission control, public participation, innovation, technological deployment in infrastructures and vehicles, incident management, smart road pricing and traveler information.
Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Mauritius; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Sustainable Urban Transport
AN OVERVIEW OF DESIGN DEFICIENCES ON BUILDING MAINTENANCE
Sheelah Sivanathana, Jibril D. Jibrilb, Jivasangeetac, Puvaneswary Thanaraju d
Yakubu Amin Dodo e , Suleiman Aliyu Shika f
Department of Property Management, Faculty of Geo-information Sciences & Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 106-112, 2012.
Abstract: Building maintenance is seen as a huge activity in the context of the emerging discipline of facilities management. With the rapid development of industry construction, building maintenance has an important role to ensure the long life span of the building. However, the trend in the building industry is still alarming, building defects and/or poor building performance that is attributed to design deficiencies during the design stage, and maintenance is becoming more and more expensive. The purpose of this paper is part of ongoing research; it intends to investigate the causes of building defects at post occupancy stage due to design deficiencies. There are many causes of building failure or defects. This paper only focuses on design deficiencies. Design phase activities involve the architectural and engineering design of the entire project. These decisions will influence all decisions made in subsequent stage and vice versa. Therefore, the design phase was a major source of problems for the subsequent phase if not well manages to specify at the outset of the project. The review indicated that the vast of maintenance problem are due to design deficiencies.
Keywords: Building Maintenance, Building defects, Design Deficiencies
Visualization of diesel jets through fuel
injector nozzle
Peleowo, A. N. a, Law, C. b
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa.
b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, P/Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg South Africa.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 113-118, 2012.
Abstract: The fuel injector nozzle break fuels into droplets, form the spray pattern, and propel the droplets into a combustion chamber. The nozzles determine the amount of spray volume at a given operating pressure, the travel speed, and spacing of the jets of fuel. In fuel injection, the smallest possible droplet size is wanted for the most flow. This work presents an opportunity to use the Schlieren arrangement as a visualization method to view the flow of fuel from an injector nozzle which cannot be seen by the naked eye. The jet flow of Diesel Fuel through a three-hole fuel injector nozzle was investigated by Schlieren photography. A test rig was designed and constructed to accommodate the nozzle; optical mirrors were arranged according to Schlieren specifications in order to allow the jet to be photographed. The breakaway pressure of the nozzle was set at 80bar. A three-hole fuel injector nozzle in which each hole is 0.26mm in diameter and 120° apart was used; the third jet could not be seen from the images because the camera took x-y dimension images. The spray pattern observed from the two dimensional images of the jets developed were seen to be well dispersed. Su et al [3] found that emissions could be reduced in diesel engines if the injector nozzle produces smaller and more dispersed droplets.
Keywords: diesel, jet, nozzle, Schlieren, visualization
MDGs and Poverty in Yobe State
Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim
Department of Sociology, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria.
Volume 05, Issue 11, Pg. 120-134, 2012.
Abstract: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) constitute a benchmark for minimum standards of health, education and livelihoods, and demand that signatory countries ensure that the lives of their people are in accord with these minimum standards. The primary objective of this study is to provide insights into the role and impact of MDGs poverty eradication in Yobe State. The study contends that poverty at the individual, household and community levels distorts and diminishes the capacity and capability to attain and live a life of well-being in Yobe State. The methodology adopted was questionnaire administration, interviews as well as published reports review, involving analysis of policy papers and related publications exploring a number of issues identified as critical to the attainment of the MDGs. The study found that lack of access to basic necessities of life has constrained the efforts of the poor towards achieving meaningful results in the drive to improve their well-being. And that the MDGs has little impact on the communities in the state. The study among other things recommended the need for eliminating the discrimination against rural and agricultural development, and continuous flow of resources need to be provided to agriculture in the form of elements such as rural infrastructure, inputs, research and credit combined with appropriate institutions to increase the sector’s productivity and potential capacity for contributing, thereby making a larger reverse flow to the rest of the economy.
Keywords: Poverty, MDGs, Development, Yobe state.