Table of Contents
- Research Article
Poor Facility Management in the Public Schools of Ghana; Recent Empirical Discoveries PDF Ibrahim Y. Wuni, S. Agyeman-Yeboah, Henry K. Boafo Facilities in the public institutions of Ghana are poorly managed and sidelined in the financial planning and capital budgeting of most public institutions in Ghana. There exist dilapidated buildings and facilities in nearly all the public institutions of Ghana and the reasons behind such negligent attitude have not received empirical examination. This paper sought to fill that knowledge gap by empirically mapping out the causes and effects of poor facility management in two public schools in Ghana. The study employed the case study research design within a qualitative research methodological paradigm and gathered data using interview guides from facility management/ maintenance teams from two public second cycle schools in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The data was analyzed using thematic content analysis and taken through peer debriefing and re-screening of final codes by facility management staff to ensure reliability. The findings from the study run contrary to popular beliefs. It was identified that the empirical causes of poor facility management include lack of professional managers, attitude of deferred maintenance, budgetary limit on maintenance expenditure, sidelined in the financial planning and capital budgeting of institutions, and non-privy of facility management staff to the building design and construction stage. It was also established that poor facility management is characterized by a plethora of consequences including recipe for disaster, financial erosion of institution, malfunctioning and abandonment of buildings. The study recommended that there should be the establishment professional district facility management teams whose works should be supported by institutional facility management teams to oversee facility management in the public institutions.
- Research Article
Economic Growth and International Trade: application from South Korea PDF Yugang He This paper pays much emphasis on the relationship between economic growth and international trade in South Korea. Via using the ordinary least square to perform an empirical analysis, Findings illustrate that the long-run, steady and equilibrium relationship among economic growth, import trade and export trade exists. And the empirical analysis results reveal that an increase in the economic growth will result in an increase in the import trade and export trade in South Korea. More importantly, the export-oriented economy has a very significant effect on economic growth. Also, the import trade not only promotes the economic growth but also promotes the export trade. As a matter of fact, the main purpose of this paper is to make relationship between economic growth and international trade clear for the policy-makers to take good measures when the economy falls into a recession such as global economic crisis in 2008. - Research Article
Evaluation of the Indoor Thermal Comfort of Selected Residents in Ibadan, Nigeria PDF Adewale Oluseyi Adunola This study evaluated the thermal responses of residents of naturally ventilated buildings in Ibadan, Nigeria. 93 buildings were systematically selected in the Olubadan estate, Ibadan and questionnaire was administered to an adult resident in each of the selected buildings. Respondents assessed their respective living rooms at different periods of the day using a seven-point thermal comfort scale. The Mean Votes for the different periods of the day were: morning - cool, afternoon "“warm, evening -cool and night-cool. The indoor thermal comfort level of the naturally ventilated buildings was acceptable to the residents. The results of linear regression showed that the thermal response (y) had strong linear relationship with air temperature (x) with these equations: y = 9.7-0.24x for morning (with R2= 0.025 and p= 0.132) and
y= -7.1+0.37x for afternoon (with R2 =0.047 and p= 0.038). The study concluded that the acceptable limits of comfort expressed by the residents were between 22.60C and 25.60C. The value of the neutral temperature was determined to be 24.60C. - Research Article
Effect of Micro-Credit on Welfare of Small Scale Entrepreneurs in Nigeria: A Case Study of Oyo State PDF V.O. Odunjo, W.O. Osawe, V.O. Okoruwa The study evaluated the effect of microcredit on small scale entrepreneurs in Oyo state, Nigeria and its implication on their welfare. Primary data were collected with the aid of well-structured questionnaire. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 200 respondents comprising agriculture and non-agriculture small businesses within Ibadan metropolis. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Foster Greer Thorbecke and binary logit regression. Results of analysis of respondents' access to credit revealed that more than two-third (69%) of the respondents did not have access to microcredit while only 31% had access to microcredit. On the implication of micro-credit access to welfare of the respondents, the study revealed that poverty incidence was higher (P0=0.4876) among respondents that did not use microcredit than those with access (P0=0.4419). This suggests that incidence of poverty declines with access to microcredit but this is only by a small percentage of about 5%. Similar to the result of poverty incidence, respondents who did not use microcredit had the highest (P1=0.1104) poverty gap. However, the severity of poverty index among respondents with access to microcredit was higher (P2=0.0359) than those without access (P2=0.0352). The study recommends that strategic policies should be set up to mitigate factors that inhibit access to micro-credit by small scale entrepreneurs as the study showed that access to microcredit is necessary for small business growth and for improving welfare. Such policies should target the economically active age group of small-scale entrepreneurs, improving their literacy levels, and encouraging their ownership of account with lending institutions such as micro-finance bank of choice.