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Understanding the thermal performance of sandcrete hollow block walls in the tropic is very essential for occupants' well-being, productivity and efficiency, due to its widespread application in buildings in the study area. Lokoja, in Nigeria, lies in the warm humid zone with its attendant's high temperatures all year round. Thus, providing an acceptable walling material that will control the high indoor air temperature becomes imperative. This paper assessed sandcrete hollow blocks as a walling material used in Lokoja, to determine the thermal performances for effective thermal comfort of the residents.

It involves the construction of a habitable model building with the commonly available sandcrete hollow blocks in the area. One unit of Cryopak iMINI Temperature and Relative Humidity Data Logger called new generation intelligent iMINI with Serial Number and Product Code MX-CI-145–0009 and MX-HE-S-16-L was installed, to record the indoor air temperature and relative humidity data at an interval of one hour, for 12 months covering dry and wet seasons. The results of the recorded data were downloaded to an excel spread sheet for assessment and analysis throughout the seasons. The values were computed using the temperature–humidity index (THI) equation, with a view to determine the indoor thermal comfort level category.

The study revealed that sandcrete hollow block walls provide thermal discomfort of the indoor environment for both seasons, with attendant adverse effects in the comfort of the occupants. The paper concludes that proper orientation of buildings, planting of trees, use of low absorbing or reflective surface materials, application of cavity walls to receive insulation materials in between the hollow spaces provided, instead of the single walling as well as providing shading device elements, can improve users' comfort and also ameliorate the heat effect on the external surface of building transferred into the interior by conduction, radiation or convection within the area and in the tropics at large. Other thermally eco-friendly wall materials available in Lokoja includes timber, stabilized laterite–cement blocks, burnt bricks and earth-mud bricks which can be used to replace sandcrete hollow block walls. These alternative wall materials are used for construction of residential and office buildings by the colonial government of Sir Fredrick Lugard in the study area.

The application of sandcrete hollow blocks as a wall material is in vogue, not minding its thermal discomfort to the users and the environment; this is due to its availability and ease of production. The acceptability of this walling material requires holistic study to unravel the best way to reduce the thermal discomfort inherent in its application.

The author succeeded in revealing the thermal performance of sandcrete hollow blocks as walling material in Lokoja, the study area. It is a first attempt at understanding the performance for human comfort in the area. This will greatly assist the resident and other researchers to improve on the application of sandcrete hollow blocks as walling material towards ensuring that maximum indoor thermal comfort is achieved.

Despite the government’s efforts to protect domestic industries from foreign competition through tariffs, the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP continued to decline in Nigeria. Based on the scenario, this study assessed the symmetric and asymmetric effects of tariffs on industrial performance in Nigeria for the period 1988–2021. Tariff was captured with a tariff rate applied to the weighted mean of all products, while industry value added as a percent of GDP was used as a proxy for industrial performance.

Linear and nonlinear ARDL techniques were used for the analysis.

The symmetric (linear ARDL) results revealed that tariffs have a significant positive effect on industrial performance in both the short and long term. The asymmetric (nonlinear ARDL) results showed that a long-term asymmetry exists between tariffs and industrial performance. It revealed positive effects on industrial performance for both positive and negative tariff changes, with the negative change having a greater impact.

Generally, the results showed that the use of tariffs to protect domestic industries in Nigeria promotes industrial performance. The implication is that the declining contribution of the industrial sector to GDP in Nigeria is not a result of the tariff policy. It shows that the government should look beyond tariff policy to enhance the industrial contribution to GDP.

Nigeria should exercise caution in using tariff policies to protect domestic industries to avoid retaliation from their trade partners that could reverse the positive impacts.

Procurement management in infrastructure development has gained considerable attention in developing countries. It is because of the success in the developed nations. Studies have shown that Nigeria's infrastructure development needs far exceed its current provision. Also, studies are scarce to reveal whether procurement management has been successful in infrastructure development projects in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper investigated the root cause of the perceived encumbrances impeding procurement management in infrastructure development projects and proffered policy measures to improve future Nigeria's infrastructure development.

Data were collected via unexplored exploratory virtual interviews and selected cases from secondary sources. The engaged construction and engineering consultants have been involved in the procurement management of infrastructure projects in Nigeria. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data.

The root causes of the pitfalls that emerged from the study include lack of competition and transparency, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, snail speed bureaucracy and bottleneck and lack of skills and knowledge. Others are collusion/bid-rigging/price-fixing/cartel formation, corruption, lack of professionalism, unbridled politicking, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds, incompetence of tender boards, lack of patriotism to national service and lack of government organisations’ procurement capacity.

This paper is restricted to unravelling the encumbrances in procurement management of Nigeria's infrastructure development projects. Future research is desirable to adopt a quantitative approach for more extensive coverage and validate findings from this paper.

The paper findings, including those learnt from each case study evaluated, would undoubtedly influence policymakers and construction and engineering practitioners on the key strategies to employ in implementing future procurement management in Nigeria's infrastructure development projects.

This paper would assist policymakers and other stakeholders desirous of improved infrastructure to focus their priorities in mitigating the identified root cause hindering procurement management in Nigeria's infrastructure management.

The market-based monetary policy framework has been favoured by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) economies. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effect of monetary policy channels on the sectoral value added and sustainable economic growth in ECOWAS. Data from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund over 2013–2019 were sourced for thirteen member countries. ECOWAS is found to have very high inflation level, interest and exchange rates.

The study adopted the Driscoll–Kraay fixed-effects ordinary least squares regression (OLS) estimator.

The findings revealed that while the effect of monetary policy channels on the agricultural sector value added is largely heterogenous and significantly in-elastic, the one on the industrial and services sectors are overwhelmingly homogeneous and negative, but insignificant for the services sector. Moreover, the effect of monetary policy channels on sustainable economic growth is also homogeneously asymmetric, with imminent stagflation, while the interactive effects of monetary policy channels are heterogeneous on sustainable economic growth and economic sectors. Therefore, an inflation targeting monetary policy stance is generally recommended with prioritised exchange rate stabilisation amid sufficient fiscal space.

This is amongst the first studies to investigate monetary policy channels, sectoral outputs and sustainable growth in the ECOWAS region with a rigorous analysis and found implications for policy.

Building information modeling (BIM) is a prominent concept to digitalize data collection and analysis processes. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a considerable percentage of the works performed in the construction industry. The adoption rate of BIM by SMEs is still, however, not at the desired level in the New Zealand construction industry. This study aims to evaluate barriers to BIM implementation for SMEs in the New Zealand construction industry.

This study adopted four-step methodology to evaluate barriers to BIM adoption for SMEs. First, a comprehensive literature review, followed by a focus group discussion was performed to identify barriers to BIM adoption. Then, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to assess identified barriers. Finally, experts’ agreements (both internal and external) were ensured by consistency analysis and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (Kendall’s W) tests.

The findings indicate that (1) interoperability between software platforms, (2) lack of government mandate on BIM usage at project level, (3) high cost of acquiring the software and licensing required to use BIM and (4) lack of client demand for adopting BIM were the most significant barriers in terms of technological, governmental, resource and cultural categories, respectively. Further investigation of the expert evaluation showed strong consistencies (each expert separately) and agreements (among experts) in each AHP matrix.

Primary focus should be training of local market (particularly SMEs) professionals as the shortage in qualified professionals makes the country-wide adoption challenging. The publicity in the local market can help SMEs understand how BIM is leveraged for further improvements in project performance.

Overall, this research not only provides a roadmap for the widespread adoption of BIM within SMEs in New Zealand through analysis of the barriers encountered but also highlights the power that policymakers hold over the mass adoption of BIM within SMEs.

This study aims to evaluate the compliance of online Islamic FOREX products with Islamic jurisprudence principles and determines the degree of similarity or difference between Islamic and conventional FOREX products.

This study involves the collection and analysis of secondary data from online sources (i.e. four Islamic FOREX Web sites selected on the basis that they appeared on two Islamic FOREX Web site lists) It also undertakes content analysis of the rulings of jurisprudence scholars on one of the Web sites.

There is no evidence to suggest that the technical processes underpinning current Islamic FOREX products are any different to those underpinning conventional FOREX products. Also there are major contradiction and ambiguities in the rulings offered by the jurisprudence scholars about the permissibility of the products.

The study relies on the analysis of secondary data. Further research that will involve interviews with banking industry employees in both conventional and Islamic banking sectors would provide a better understanding of: how financial products are created and managed and the role of bank regulations in creating and managing different financial products.

It would seem that Islamic FOREX is simply rebranding of conventional FOREX. The paper calls for a modern-day definition of usury (riba).

The way Islamic FOREX is marketed today to online users as synonymous with gambling, and, although branded as Islamic, the actual technical processes that underpin Islamic FOREX products are the same as conventional FOREX products and therefore not compliant with Islamic principles.

This research explores the marketing of Islamic FOREX products.

Building Information modelling (BIM) has the potential to significantly minimise the quantity of construction waste (CW), but its adoption is low in construction waste management (CWM). This study examined the factors impeding the adoption of BIM in CWM efforts at the design and precontract stages from the perspective of construction stakeholders in Nigeria.

The study was informed by a post-positivism philosophical stance, which involved using the structured questionnaire as a quantitative research design tool for data collection via snowball sampling technique. The data garnered from construction experts were analysed using Cronbach’s alpha test, normalities test, Frequency, Percentage, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and Chi-square tests, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), and exploratory factors analysis (EFA).

The study concluded that the awareness of BIM potential for CWM is high, but the adoption in waste management (WM) is low. The factor analysis reduced the twenty assessed factors into four key clusters of impediments to BIM adoption in CWM: (1) knowledge and resistance barriers, (2) support and interest barriers, (3) interoperability and experts' factors, and (4) economic barriers. These factors are critical impediments to BIM-enabled CWM at the design and precontract stage, and there was no significant statistical difference in their rating by the construction stakeholders in Nigeria.

Studies on the impediments to BIM adoption in CWM efforts, primarily at the design and pre-contract stages in emerging countries are scarce. This sought to fill this literature gap by establishing the critical impediments that should be overcome to improve BIM use in CWM.

This study aims to establish marketing practices which predict business performance of architecture firms within the Nigerian Construction Industry (NCI) to address the sustained poor business performance of firms, which affects allied professionals as many projects in the built environment depend on design proposals from architects.

Survey responses from 86 firms were used to model business performance measured as total revenue of the firms from 40 commonly deployed marketing practices in construction.

Two-thirds of the marketing practices most used by architectural firms were ineffective in predicting business performance. The model also explains up to half the variance in business performance (37.4–49.9%), supporting the view that marketing in the CI affects business performance. Researching client needs and competitors emerged as the only significant positive predictor of business performance (β = 0.827, p = 0.043). Using social media (β = −1.247, p = 0.004), regular participation in awards/competitions (β = −1.420, p = 0.013) and inclusion of political offers in bids (β = −1.050, p = 0.016) negatively predicted business performance.

Architecture and allied professional bodies in Nigeria need to rethink existing restrictions regarding marketing based on traditional code of ethics in light of present-day realities of digital and internet business environments. Principals and management of architecture firms require a paradigm shift in deploying the appropriate marketing practices, especially as it relates to research regarding changing client expectations and current competition within the NCI.

The study established marketing practices which model business performance and demonstrate their value in a framework for improving the financial sustainability of architecture firms within the NCI.

Denim fabric has become a wardrobe staple due to its versatility to be worn in a variety of fashions. This paper aims to study denim fabrics to understand their unique hand by developing a hand evaluation system using computational method. Also, the effect of various washes was studied on the hand and surface morphology of denim fabrics.

Five different denim samples were manufactured with various washing treatments. The Kawabata Evaluation System was used to measure the low stress mechanical properties. Computation method was used to develop hand equations using multiple regression technique in the MS Excel software. The correlation coefficient analysis was done to determine the authenticity of the developed equations. Five primary hand attributes such as softness, smoothness, fullness, flexibility and stretchability were shortlisted by a panel of judges that influence the fabric handle.

The correlation coefficient between subjective and computational total hand values with thermal properties and without thermal properties was 0.88 and 0.85, respectively. The enzymatic wash fabric has the highest total hand value followed by the acid, bleach and stone-washed fabrics.

Although the hand evaluation system is available for conventional textiles like suiting and shirting fabrics, the method to predict fabric hand of non-conventional textiles such as denim fabrics remains an unexplored topic. The stresses acting on denim fabrics are completely different. Therefore, to the best of the author’s knowledge, a novel attempt has been made in this research work to develop a computational model to predict the total hand value of denim fabrics.

The purpose of this study to explore the perception, satisfaction, awareness and attitude levels of clients towards Islamic banking in Oman. By recognizing the elements affecting client affiliation with Islamic banks, this examination means to give important experiences to further developing client commitment and fulfilment in the Islamic financial area.

This study embraces a quantitative methodology, using SPSS@28 programming for information investigation. Information was gathered through studies directed to clients of Islamic banks in Oman. Exploratory factory analysis (EFA) was led to distinguish key variables impacting client affiliation, and dependability examination was performed using Cronbach’s alpha.

The discoveries uncover that perception arises as the main variable impacting client connection with Islamic banks in Oman, followed intently by satisfaction and awareness. Notwithstanding, the attitude factor displayed lower unwavering quality. Factual tests affirm the vigor of the noticed patterns, featuring the significance of perception, satisfaction and awareness in driving client commitment with Islamic financial establishments.

This study is dependent upon specific constraints, as it centres exclusively around clients’ viewpoints and does not consider the perspectives of non-clients or partners in the Islamic financial industry. Future exploration could investigate these viewpoints to give a more complete comprehension of the variables impacting client connection with Islamic banks in Oman.

The discoveries of this study have commonsense ramifications for Islamic financial foundations in Oman. By understanding the elements impacting client alliance, banks can foster designated methodologies to improve client commitment, fulfilment and steadfastness. This might include further developing correspondence endeavours, improving assistance quality and tending to client concerns to encourage a positive financial encounter.

This study adds to the current writing by giving experimental experiences into the discernments, mentalities, mindfulness and fulfilment levels of clients towards Islamic banking in Oman. The recognizable proof of key elements impacting client affiliation with Islamic banks offers important direction for banking foundations trying to reinforce their associations with clients and work on general execution in the Islamic financial area.