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Yam flour (YMF) is an important staple food in the tropics but its utilization is limited by low nutrient and consumer acceptability. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of substituting yam flour with grain amaranth on chemical and sensory properties.

YMF and grain amaranth flour (GAF) were prepared on a dry matter basis; GAF was mixed with YMF at ratio 1:3. All flour samples were subjected to chemical (moisture, protein, fat, ash, crude fibre, carbohydrate and minerals) evaluation and sensory evaluation of the stiff gel was conducted by a ten‐member panel consisting of five adult males and five females.

GAF increased the protein content of YMF significantly at p < 0.05 from 1.8 to 9.63 per cent. There was a decrease in carbohydrate content of YAF when substituted with GAF. There was a significant increase (at p < 0.05) in phosphorus and sodium elements when YMF was substituted with GAF. There was no significant difference in acceptability of gel from grain amaranth and yam flour (GAF–YMF) compared with whole YMF gel on colour, texture, flavour and overall acceptability.

It was apparent that substitution of YMF with GAF improved nutrient composition without affecting the acceptability. This will further improve the nutritional status of people in YMF‐consuming areas.

This paper investigates the effect of abnormal increase in credit supply on economic growth in Nigeria after controlling for the quality of the legal system, size of central bank asset, banking sector cost efficiency and bank insolvency risk.

The authors employ the generalised method of moments (GMM) regression methodology to estimate the effect of abnormal increase in credit supply on two measures of economic growth in Nigeria.

The abnormal increase in credit supply has a significant effect on economic growth. Abnormal increase in credit supply increases real gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The abnormal increase in credit supply decreases real GDP per capita during the global financial crisis. The abnormal increase in domestic credit to the private sector has a significant positive effect on GDP per capita when there is strong legal system quality in Nigeria. In contrast, the abnormal increase in domestic credit to the private sector has a significant negative effect on real GDP growth when there is strong legal system quality in Nigeria.

The abnormal increase in credit supply is ineffective in increasing GDP per capita during crisis years. Policymakers should be cautious in pressuring financial institutions to release an abnormally large amount of credit into the economy particularly during financial crises. Rather, policymakers should encourage financial institutions to supply credit in a sustained manner – not in an abnormal manner –and in a way that supports growth.

The present study contributes to the literature by analysing the effect of abnormal increase in credit supply on economic growth in a developing country context.

Innovation is not just an individual act of learning by a firm or entrepreneur, but anchored within a larger system that enables and draws on the innovation process. Hence there is need to study internal and external factors that influence technological innovation outputs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs at four industrial estates in Nigeria were sampled for this study. Several internal factors such as firm size, turnover, age, ownership, and expenditure on innovation activities did not have significant relationships with innovation output, signifying they are not the factors promoting innovation levels. Quality of human resources and interactions with suppliers as an external factor within the national innovation system (NIS) both made significant impact on innovation. Innovative performance of the firms is mainly influenced by demand or market pull factors more than technology push sources. The study recommends increasing interaction and dynamism within the NIS; substantial investment to galvanize industrial and technological capabilities of the firms and their supply chains; and adequate supply of infrastructure and funds to SMEs.

Purpose: This chapter examines the effect of COVID-19 on the stock market volatility (SMV) in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Sri Lanka.

Need for the Study: The study is necessary to understand investor behaviour, market efficiency, and risk management strategies during a global crisis.

Methodology: Utilising daily All Share Price Index (ASPI) data from 2 January 2018 to 31 August 2021, the data are divided into subsamples corresponding to the pre-pandemic period, the pandemic period, and distinct waves of the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic is investigated using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and the Exponential Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model.

Findings: The pandemic considerably affected CSE – the Mann–Whitney U test produced different market returns during the pre-COVID and COVID eras. The Kruskal–Wallis test improved performance during COVID-19 but did not continue to do so across COVID-19 waves. The EGARCH model detected increased volatility and risk during the first wave, but the second and third waves outperformed the first. COVID-19 had a minimal overall effect on CSE market results. GARCH and Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) models identified long-term variance memory and volatility clustering. The News Impact Curve (NIC) showed that negative news had a more significant impact on market return volatility than positive news, even if the asymmetric term was not statistically significant.

Practical Implications: This study offers significant insight into how Sri Lanka’s SMV is affected by COVID-19. The findings help create efficient mitigation strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of future events.

Acha (Digitaria exilis staph.) grain was purchased locally from Jos central market in Plateau State of Nigeria. The grain was washed, destoned, oven (cabinet)‐dried, dry milled, sieved and used as acha grain flour to substitute for wheat flour for the production of biscuit. The physical (spread ratio, break strength, weight) and sensory (colour, taste, odour, texture) qualities of the biscuit were determined. The spread ratio increases (5.95 to 7.33), while the bread strength decreases (1.97 to 1.49) with the increase in the acha grain flour percentage. The effects were generally significant at above 30 per cent substitution (p≤0.05).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the need to develop building service standard method of measurement (BSSMM) that would provide a home ground advantage and a framework for managing the cost of building services by quantity surveyors.

A review of previous research on the rules of measurement was carried out. This exercise provides the basis for questionnaire design which was administered to quantity surveyors in Malaysia construction industry.

The results indicated the need to develop BSSMM. In total, 23 variables were identified as essential features of such standard method of measurement. These variables were grouped into three categories and a priority ranking of them was carried out. The analysis revealed a strong agreement among quantity surveyors on the priority ranking of the essential features of the BSSMM.

Although, the research would assist industry stakeholders in developing BSSMM that reflects local and international best practices, there is need to further investigate how the rules of the BSSMM could be aligned with construction industry classification systems.

The availability of information and computer technology (ICT) tools has transformed the traditional practices in the industry and offered values to quantity surveyors, but if quantity surveyors’ tools cannot be consolidated and incorporated into emerging ICT applications, then QS collaboration will be difficult, and the requirements for electronic data exchange will be impractical. Therefore, this type of standard method of measurement will facilitate cross-referencing and coordination between BoQ and other documents such as drawings, specifications and tender produced by other project participants and thereby lay efficient foundation for effective collaboration of quantity surveyors in BIM model. In addition, the BSSMM will not only comply with local industry practices, it will also be internationally compatible.

Adoption of a structured format based on BSSMM to present building services cost information is essential in view of the increase in the value and complexity of building services in modern buildings. However, there is need to enhance quantity surveyors’ knowledge in the technology and cost management of building services so as to ensure the reliability of cost advice provided to clients. This goal would be partly achieved through education and training of Quantity Surveyors/Cost Consultants in the interpretation and use of the rules of an SMM.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of changes in credit stock on real and financial indicators in Turkey with a focus on conditional and time-varying dynamics.

In addition to lag-augmented vector autoregression (LA-VAR) based time-varying Granger causality tests, threshold models and a research setting that identifies high/low states of credit growth based on 24-month moving averages are used to explore regime-dependent behavior. For investigating the asymmetric dynamics, the authors use a methodology that identifies good/bad news in credit growth based on 24-month moving averages and standard deviations.

Results strongly suggest that the impact of changes in credit stock induces conditional responses. Moreover, we find evidence for asymmetric responses. In the case of Turkey, efforts to spur growth through credit produce a strong negative byproduct, a depreciation in the exchange rate. The authors also find that changes in credit stock have become more relevant for uncertainties in inflation and exchange rate expectations, particularly in the era after mid-2018 in which credit growth volatility has increased noticeably.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of time-varying and conditional responses to a change in credit stock in a major emerging economy. Using a moving threshold based only on the available information in the analysis of state-dependency represents a new approach.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the cost and time performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Osun State, Nigeria.

Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select four universities (two public and two private) used for the study. Archival data on 40 completed construction projects (ten from each university) was used in the study. Data were analysed with percentile and t-test.

The study showed that only 35 per cent of the construction projects in public and 10 per cent of those in private universities were completed at the estimated cost. There were no construction projects completed within the planned time in public universities, but 20 per cent were completed within the planned time in private universities. The t-test showed there is no significant difference in performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Nigeria. The study concluded that time performance of public and private universities in Nigeria was still below acceptable international best practices.

The findings of this study are limited to universities’ construction projects and may be of little application to other construction projects outside university settings.

It is recommended that construction stakeholders be more proactive in ensuring that significant improvement is achieved in cost and time performance of construction projects both in public and private universities; the clients need to be more detailed in their briefs and requirements, the designers (architects and engineers) need to be more precise and avoid varying their designs, the quantity surveyors should use their professional competency in cost engineering adequately and the contractor should avoid spurious claims that result in increase in construction cost and time so that performance of construction projects can be improved.

The study is an attempt to compare cost and time performance of construction projects in public and private universities in Osun State, Nigeria.

In Nigeria, roselle juice is quite popular among the populace presumably owing to its attractive colour, pleasant flavour and nutritional attributes. In the citrus industry, processing and packing material selection have significant effect on quality of juice product during storage. The effects of packaging materials, and storage temperature on colour and vitamin C retention of sobo juice extracted from local roselle plant were investigated.

Juice was extracted at three different temperatures: 20, 60 and 100°C for varying processing times of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 min respectively. Freshly extracted roselle juice was divided into three batches and independently hot‐filled into 500 mL pre‐sterilised glass, film packages and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles allowing for minimum head space, capped, cooled and subsequently stored at 5 ± 1 and 28 ± 1°C respectively for eight weeks.

Optimum pigment extraction was obtained in 20 min with boiling water, while colour stabilisation of the extracted juice was affected with the use of food acidulants. Colour degradation on storage was pronounced in sweetened juice with greater colour loss in product held at ambient temperature. Colour and vitamin C retention with glass and plastic bottles provide higher retention of these quality attributes under cold and ambient storage condition than with the flexible polyethylene film.

Retention of colour and vitamin C was considerably higher in glass and PET bottles than in flexible film package. However, addition of table sugar or increasing storage temperature from 5 to 27°C affected colour stability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competence of Nigerian quantity surveyors with a view to identify and assess required areas of interest.

A structured questionnaire was administered among relevant groups of respondent (quantity surveyors, architects, engineers, builders and clients) in Nigeria. The respondents were asked to give rating, on a five-point Likert scale, on the required competencies (variables) expected of Nigerian quantity surveyors. A mean item score statistical analysis was used to rank the variables and compare them within the different groups. The analysis was undertaken using the Statistical Packages for Social Science tool. In exploring the underlying relationship among the competence requirement, factor analysis statistical technique was used to categorize them into key components.

The results of the study identified required competencies and factorized them into three components. These are as follows: procurement and value management; commercial management; and communication and entrepreneurship.

The findings provide insight into the competencies needed to be incorporated and/or intensified in the training of quantity surveyors in Nigeria.