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The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors responsible for road traffic accidents among commercial commuter drivers in Lagos, Nigeria.

A total of 188 commercial drivers, driving 18‐seater mass transit buses in inter‐city highways were studied. Their accident records for the previous three years collected from Police records, Federal Road Safety Commission records, self‐administered questionnaires and observation of driving habits of the drivers. Their eye status were measured and data also collected from the Driver Union's Insurance Agency. A total of 25 human factor variables, identified as possible contributors to road traffic accidents were studied.

Six variables were found as possible significant contributors to road traffic accidents. They are old age, overtaking, overspeeding, religious affiliation, bad brake conditions and use of bad tyres. When the variables were subjected to two‐way interactions, 44 variable combinations were significant (p < 0.05) with R² of 0.994 and residual error of 1.165.

Accidents are not usually caused by single variables but by a combination of variables.

Apart from variables commonly found in the literature as possible causes of road traffic accidents, there may be some factors that may be peculiar to some countries like religious affiliation, belief in use of charms to protect drivers from accident and eye problems that are not identified because of lack of regular tests among others.

The purpose of this study was to obtain some anthropometric dimensions of students in secondary schools necessary for the design of school furniture and use them to establish the models that best determine the relationships among the anthropometric dimensions and standing height.

A total of 480 students aged 10 to 18 years (n = 480, SD = ± 2.3 years) were randomly selected from eight public and eight private secondary schools in Ibadan, South West Nigeria. All the dimensions were subjected to curve estimation using Statistical Products and Services Solution 16.0 Statistical Package. The models with p < 0.005 and highest coefficient of determinations were selected as the best models to predict the relationships among the standing height and other variables.

The study proposes 11 models using standing height to estimate necessary anthropometric dimensions for the design of school furniture. The results of the study show that all anthropometric dimensions correlate more non-linearly with standing height than linearly.

The proposed models will have wide applications for the estimation of anthropometric data necessary for the design and construction of school furniture for use in secondary schools in South Western Nigeria.

As the foundation for understanding the dynamics of the construction sector's corruption, this study examines building contractors' experiences of the stifling of moral, communal and cultural values in the name of modern social and religious principles.

This study's objective was accomplished in two phases. First, a theoretical model was constructed. The theory is then tested using structural equation modeling in the second section. The theory suggests that, based on social norm and institutional theories, social disquietude and religious manipulation influence the interaction and types of corruption in the Nigerian construction sector. From this theory, it was deduced that social malaise (hypothesis 1) and religious manipulations (hypothesis 2) mediate the processes and forms of corruption in the construction sector. To validate the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed and tested.

Native intelligence, new values, social quests and poverty are the social malaises that are profoundly responsible for corruption manifestations in the construction industry. The findings confirmed that construction stakeholders are heavily influenced financially and spiritually by religious organizations. Construction stakeholders engage in corrupt activities as a result of the ravenousness and self-interest bestowed on them by religious manipulation and the significant contribution of social malaise. The study admits that social engineering is required to integrate local wisdom and values into Nigerian society in order to mitigate the negative consequences of social unrest and religious manipulations.

This study has contributed to a branch of the literature on corruption in the construction industry that aims to identify the hidden factors that drive the sector's corruption dynamics. It has shown how many different problems in society and religious beliefs can make building contractors more likely to be dishonest. In order to improve project delivery, this study emphasized the importance of investigating the relationship between religious affiliations, religious doctrines and domination and religious competition on corruption in the construction industry.

Following the findings of this study, the majority of construction stakeholders place their trust in unmerited favor, “spirit money,” prosperity gospels and the payment of offerings and “seed money” to win contracts. This implies that construction stakeholders will most likely be deceptive in their dealings, increasing the quantity of certified work, increasing variation claims and engaging in collusion. This is because their faith in inconceivable favors and the exchange of offerings for blessings would lead them to perceive fraudulent practices as a favor.

This study is unique in that it sought to determine whether construction stakeholders' corrupt tendencies stem from religious manipulations and complex social systems.

Product verification and validation are integral to quality management. Product verification means verifying the conformity between a product’s actual and planned characteristics whereas validation means determining whether and to what extent it satisfies customers’ requirements. One of the key forms of product validation is testing with a group of customers. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a graphical method of product validation based on the Kano model.

The approach is based on a proposed method for categorising requirements based on a Kano questionnaire and then applies this method for the validation of a product – a website. The proposed method is based on three steps: graphical determination of requirements in a Kano model; determination of requirement fulfilment degree and prioritisation of corrective measures and improvements.

The study opens space for discussion of the potential for improving a product and methods for identifying critical faults in products. The proposed method also permits an assessment of the potential effectiveness of an improvement because it is able to quantify the effect of the product on the consumer resulting from a given quantity of effort. A case study demonstrated that the resulting priority of corrective measures and improvements was affected not only by the level of fulfilment of the requirements but also by the type, the most critical being non-fulfilment of must-be requirements.

The requirement curves are based on a verbal assessment of satisfaction in two states – if the requirement were fulfilled and if it were not fulfilled. The values of the start and end points may not be precise and could be affected by the natural character of subjective variables.

The proposed method is particularly suited to the initial testing of a product that is intended to lead to measures to eliminate customer dissatisfaction or increase their satisfaction – that is, to improve the product. The method also permits an assessment of the extent to which customers feel that their expectations have been satisfied and the effect that will be felt if the organisation decides to increase fulfilment.

The Kano model has not yet been applied to product validation, although it contains all the information necessary for this task. Knowing how satisfied customers are is an important part of product validation. At the same time, knowing a mechanism for “creating” this satisfaction is also very valuable information.

There is the need to focus on humans while designing engineering facilities for users. The need to focus on Nigerians when designing for them is presented in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Relevant literatures were consulted on the history of ergonomics and its importance was stressed. Some instances where ergonomics should be applied in the country were identified.

The paper observed that the application of ergonomics in Nigeria is low and some constraints that are militating against the use of ergonomics in Nigeria are discussed.

The paper suggested ways to fully imbibe the use of human-centered engineering (ergonomics) in Nigeria.

The topic of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation in a supply chain context is an emerging research stream comprising of diverse objectives and complex processes thereby presenting opportunities for further exploration and organizational process improvement. Thus, this study proposes an integrated multi-criteria decision-making methodology to determine what can facilitate the successful implementation of LSS as an organizational change strategy in the manufacturing supply chain.

The proposed methodology based on Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory and hierarchical Evaluation Based on Distance to Average Solution is employed to ascertain the relative importance and priorities of an identified framework of factors with the aid of opinions of managers in the Nigerian plastics industry.

The results show a high significance of institution-based factors (e.g. government regulations) and present relevant implications to the policymakers as well as the managers and practitioners of the plastics manufacturing industry.

This study indicates a possible pathway to accurately evaluate a framework of critical factors to integrate and institutionalize LSS in the manufacturing supply chain for organizational performance improvement.

After a long observation of the high rate of rice importation and low productivity in Côte d’Ivoire, the certified rice seed was introduced and encouraged to be used by the local farmers. This study evaluates the profitability of rice production and the impact of certified seed usage on the yield and income of farmers in Côte d’Ivoire.

Data were collected from 265 rice farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the challenges faced in using certified seeds. Profitability analysis was used to examine the profitability of rice production. To eliminate bias due to the counterfactuals, the endogenous switching regression was employed to investigate the impact of the certified seeds on income and yield.

The difficulties faced by the rice farmers in the procurement of certified seeds were the unavailability of seeds, the high cost of seeds and poor credit access. Furthermore, rice farmers using certified seeds get a higher net income (USD 263.74/ha) than those using farmers' seeds (USD 212.31/ha). The average treatment on the treated was 1.61 for the yield and 574.75 for the income. The average treatment on the untreated was 1.20 for the yield and 422.59 for the income. These indicate a higher yield and income among adopters of certified rice seed.

Certified rice seed usage is profitable and enhances the output and income of rice farmers. The study advocates the creation of a stronger relationship between the farmers and the extension agents to encourage the use of certified seeds and increase the profit of the farmers.

There is scant information on the profitability of certified rice seed usage and how it affect yield and income. Therefore, this study serves as empirical evidence for policymakers to develop strategies that are required to enhance certified seed usage, boost rice productivity and achieve food security.

This study aims to investigate the literature related to the use of digital technologies for promoting circular economy (CE) in the construction industry.

A comprehensive approach was adopted, involving bibliometric analysis, text-mining analysis and content analysis to meet three objectives (1) to unveil the evolutionary progress of the field, (2) to identify the key research themes in the field and (3) to identify challenges hindering the implementation of digital technologies for CE.

A total of 365 publications was analysed. The results revealed eight key digital technologies categorised into two main clusters including “digitalisation and advanced technologies” and “sustainable construction technologies”. The former involved technologies, namely machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data analytics and object detection and computer vision that were used for (1) forecasting construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation, (2) waste identification and classification and (3) computer vision for waste management. The latter included technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and building information modelling (BIM) that help optimise resource use, enhance transparency and sustainability practices in the industry. Overall, these technologies show great potential for improving waste management and enabling CE in construction.

This research employs a holistic approach to provide a status-quo understanding of the digital technologies that can be utilised to support the implementation of CE in construction. Further, this study underlines the key challenges associated with adopting digital technologies, whilst also offering opportunities for future improvement of the field.

In terms of the concept of broken home as a juvenile delinquency risk factor, whilst Nigeria and Ghana are culturally different from western nations (Gyekye, 1996; Hofstede, 1980; Smith, 2004), parental death (PDE) and parental divorce (PDI) have been previously taken-for-granted as one factor, that is ‘broken home’. This paper aims to deconstruct the singular model of ‘broken home’ and propose a binary model – the parental death and parental divorce hypotheses, with unique variables inherent in Nigerian/Ghanaian context.

It principally deploys the application of Goffman’s (1967) theory of stigma, anthropological insights on burial rites and other social facts (Gyekye, 1996; Mazzucato et al., 2006; Smith, 2004) to tease out diversity and complexity of lives across cultures, which specifically represent a binary model of broken home in Nigeria/Ghana. It slightly appraises post-colonial insights on decolonization (Agozino, 2003; Said, 1994) to interrogate both marginalized and mainstream literature.

Thus far, analyses have challenged the homogenization of the concept broken home in existing literature. Qualitatively unlike in the ‘West’, analyses have identified the varying meanings/consequences of parental divorce and parental death in Nigeria/Ghana.

Unlike existing data, this paper has contrasted the differential impacts of parental death and parental divorce with more refined variables (e.g. the sociocultural penalties of divorce such as stigma in terms of parental divorce and other social facts such as burial ceremonies, kinship nurturing, in relation to parental death), which helped to fill in the missing gap in comparative criminology literature.

The objective of this study is to examine the moderating effect of microfinance on the digital divide in developing countries.

On the methodology, the econometric method employed to estimate the equation is based on the two-stage least squares (2SLS).

This study confirms that microfinance can play an important role in mitigating the adverse effect of digitalization on poverty.

Thus, governments should prioritize and encourage the integration of digital technologies with robust microfinance systems to effectively combat poverty, given the importance of microfinance.

Given the importance of digital technology to businesses and economic development, we need to search for a better solution that allows digital technology to be further developed but at the same time, is not harmful to the poor. The issue of the poor, either financially or technically can be partially resolved if the poor is given the necessary and sufficient assistance. Therefore, this paper examines whether microfinance can be part of solutions to the digital divide in developing countries.