A User Readiness Model of Social Media for Learning among Polytechnic Students in Nigeria

The adoption of Internet resources for learning continues to grow in the world today. Despite the abundant benefit of utilizing social media due to the growth of web 2.0, an internet resource for communication and interaction, its use has not been fully embraced as a teaching tool in Nigeria. Social media is becoming a prominent communication tool and found to be facilitating teaching and learning activities among students. However, the user readiness of social media in learning by the students has been challenging. Despite the wide acceptance of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, e.t.c.) amongst Nigerian polytechnic students, they do not utilize it for academic pursuit. This study examined the Use of Social Media among students in Nigerian Polytechnics. The main objective of this study is to find out the user readiness’ factors that influence the use of social media by the students in Nigerian Polytechnic. The evaluation results show that social media is an indispensable Internet platform among Nigerian Polytechnic students

South Atlantic continental margins of Africa: a comparison of the tectonic vs climate interplay on the evolution of equatorial west Africa and SW Africa margins

The comparative review of 2 representative segments of Africa continental margin: the equatorial western Africa and the SW Africa margins, helps in analysing the main controlling factors on their development. Early Cretaceous active rifting S of the Walvis Ridge resulted in the formation of the SW Africa volcanic margin. The non-volcanic rifting N of the Walvis ridge, led to the formation of the equatorial western Africa margin, with thick and extensive, synrift basins. Regressive erosion of SW Africa prominent shoulder uplift accounts for high clastic sedimentation rate in Late Cretaceous - Eocene, while dominant carbonate production on equatorial western Africa shelf suggests little erosion of a low hinterland. The early Oligocene climate change had contrasted response in both margins. Emplacement of the Congo deep-sea fan reflects increased erosion in equatorial Africa, under the influence of wet climate, whereas establishment of an arid climate over SW Africa induced a drastic decrease of denudation, and thus reduced sedimentation on the margin. Neogene emplacement of the African superswell beneath S. Africa renewed onshore uplift on both margins, but it accelerated erosion only in the Congo catchment, due to wetter climate. Neogene high sedimentation rate reactivated gravitational tectonics that had remained quiescent since late Cretaceous

Real estate market activity in Slovenia in 2000-2006

This paper examines a particular aspect of Slovenian real estate market that is still developing -real estate market activity. Only two decades ago, Slovenia still had a socialist, planned economy, so there is a lack of tradition in the fields of both the real estate market and analysis of that market. The former only started to develop with the transition to the market-oriented economy in the beginning of the 1990s. Significant progress was observed in the second half of the 1990s, due to the favourable economic development of the country. In our research, we focused on the real estate market development in the 2000-2006 period, which was marked by major changes in legislation and other institutional backgrounds, directly or indirectly referring to the field of real estate and real property. The development of the real estate market in Slovenia was examined for a given period on the basis of the available market data, which have been acquired from the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia; the real estate market activity development is analysed by statistical regions and types of real estate. The results show general developments in the Slovenian real estate market for the given period and, in particular, the influence of institutional and legal factors on real estate market activity

The influence of protected natural and cultural heritage on land management/market: The case of Slovenian natural protected areas

This article is focused on finding problems in land use domain in the areas of protected natural and cultural heritage. In the paper, the influence of special regulation in the natural and cultural protected areas on land management is presented. The paper gives an overview on history of cultural heritage and nature protection initiatives in Slovenia and provides a review on basic EU and international initiatives, conventions in this field. For the case of Slovenian rural land market, it highlights the problem of complex institutional regulations relating to land management in the protected areas, which affect mostly local people. Here, the impact of the protected regimes, the case of pre-emption right, on land management and consequently spatial development in local communities is stressed, which is an important topic in particular in less developed regions since restriction of land use often means more complex, costly and time lasting procedures in land management and less opportunities as the consequence

The Austrian land cadastre - from the earliest beginnings to the modern land information system

The objective of this discussion is the Austrian land\ud cadastre, which forms the basis of the Austrian land\ud information system, together with the land registry. From\ud a data structure perspective, the Austrian land cadastre is a\ud traditional parcel-oriented system and includes a geometric\ud description of land plots linked to other records describing\ud the nature of the land plots. The changeable institutional\ud (legal) framework was shaped the continuous development\ud of the Austrian land cadastre since the first systematic land\ud survey and cadastral mapping at the beginning of the 19th\ud century. With the progress of information technology in\ud recent decades, it has been developed into a contemporary\ud land information system, which (together with the land\ud registry) provides up-to-date land information. It has to\ud be emphasized that the current land cadastre still contains\ud some data from its very beginning and, for this reason, the\ud historical development of this evidence, including data\ud sources, is of great importance for users of these data. The first\ud part of the article provides an introduction to the historical\ud development of the Austrian land cadastre, followed by\ud the presentation of contents and procedures of the current\ud land cadastre

Seismic performance assessment of single-family house

Seismic performance of an old masonry building, which is located in Ljubljana, is investigated in this thesis. Firstly, a procedure for determination of the seismic forces and that for an assessment of the bearing capacity associated with the flexural, the sliding shear and the shear failure due to formation of diagonal cracks is presented. In the second part of the thesis, seismic resistance of the building is evaluated with consideration of response of the critical bottom storey. Lateral force method of analysis is used for determination of base shear force, whereas seismic force on each wall is determined on the basis of its stiffness ratio. So determined seismic force on wall was compared with its bearing capacity, which was determined as minimum of bearing capacities corresponded to the three failure modes. Results of analysis have showed that building does not fulfil safety requirements according to Eurocode 6 and 8

Land consolidation for large-scale infrastructure projects in Germany

Large-scale infrastructure projects require the acquisition of\ud appropriate land for their construction and maintenance,\ud while they often cause extensive fragmentations of the\ud affected landscape and land plots as well as significant\ud land loss of the immediately affected land owners. A good\ud practice in this field comes from Germany. In Germany,\ud the so-called “land consolidation for large-scale projects”\ud is used to distribute the land loss among a larger group\ud of land owners and to reduce the damages caused by land\ud dissection. In this article, the results of detailed analyses of\ud the land consolidation for large-scale projects’ procedures\ud in Germany are presented. The procedure is coordinated by\ud the land consolidation authority, which has to check several\ud formal and content requirements before implementing\ud a land consolidation procedure. The needed land for the\ud large-scale infrastructure project has to be provided by the\ud owners of the land plots in the land consolidation area by\ud selling it to the developer, by balanced land-loss following the\ud land consolidation plan or relinquishment of re-allocation\ud of particular land owners. The main objective of this article\ud is to introduce and analyse the aims, requirements and\ud procedure of German land consolidation for the purpose\ud of land acquisition by large-scale infrastructure projects\ud associated with remarkable spatial interventions

“Pravo na grad”: Primjer borbe za očuvanje gradskog identiteta u Zagrebu

A public debate on the reconstruction of a block in a city square in Zagreb has shown once again that a decision-making process at an urban level includes the confrontation of various social interests and aspirations as well as related development strategies. The aim of this paper, through the study of the Cvjetni trg case, is to examine the role of various social participants involved in the processes of urban transformation: town administration, entrepreneurs and citizens involved in civil society associations. Particularly, the article stresses the way in which civil societies and associations attempt to find their place in the debate on town projects. The case of block reconstruction in Cvjetni trg deserves attention because it mobilised quite a number of citizens inspired by youth organisations and independent culture organisations in a common initiative called “The Right to the City”. Apart from a theoretical frame which comprises various social interests and strategies, this paper is based on the results of a survey on students’ attitudes. The research was conducted using a questionnaire administered to students of sociology and students of architecture. The aim is to understand their attitudes on block reconstruction, their participation in demonstrations organised by civil society associations, and their attitudes on ways of using urban public areas in the centre of Zagreb.Javna rasprava o rekonstrukciji bloka na jednom od središnjih zagrebačkih trgova još jednom je pokazala da proces odlučivanja na nivou grada uključuje odmjeravanje različitih socijalnih interesa i aspiracija i s njima povezanih razvojnih strategija. Na tom tragu, cilj ovog rada je kroz studiju slučaja “Cvjetni trg” preispitati ulogu različitih društvenih sudionika uključenih u procese urbane preobrazbe: gradske uprave, poduzetnika i gradske javnosti organizirane u udruge civilnog društva. Identificirati njihove stavove, metode kojima pribjegavaju kako bi ostvarili svoje ciljeve i uspješnost afirmacije vlastitih ideja. Osobito će se staviti naglasak na način na koji civilna društva i udruge traže svoje mjesto u debati o gradskim projektima, te o mobilizacijskom potencijalu civilnog sektora. Važno je istaknuti slučaj rekonstrukcije bloka na Cvjetnom trgu koji je mobilizirao veliki broj građana potaknutih djelovanjem organizacija mladih kao i organizacija nezavisne kulture okupljenih u zajedničku inicijativu “Pravo na grad” koji su započeli proces prosvjedovanja protiv isključenosti većine prilikom odlučivanja o novoj funkciji centralnog javnog prostora. U radu će se pokušati odgovoriti na pitanja o pluralizaciji modela donošenja odluka u upravljanju gradom i oblikovanja gradskog identiteta kroz dijalog različitih socijalnih aktera. Osim teorijskog okvira u kojemu će se iznijeti različiti socijalni interesi i strategije u konkretnom slučaju, rad donosi rezultate istraživanja stavova studenata o rekonstrukciji bloka na Cvjetnom trgu. Istraživanje je provedeno anketim upitnikom, na skupini studenata sociologije i arhitekture, a cilj mu je ispitati stavove sudenata o rekonstrukciji bloka, sudjelovanju u prosvjedima koje su organizirale udruge civilnog društva te o načinima korištenja javnog prostora u centru Zagreba

Dynamics of migration and commuting to the urban centres of\ud Slovenia, 2000-2011\ud

In this paper, the dynamics of migration and\ud commuting into the urban centres of Slovenia\ud in 2000–2011 is presented. The influence of the\ud attractiveness of urban centres, the influence of the\ud emissiveness of migration and commuting flows in\ud the origin and the influence of the distance between\ud origins and destinations on migration and commuting\ud flows into the urban centres in Slovenia were analysed\ud in a spatial interaction model. The dynamics of\ud the parameters were analysed for the period before\ud (2000-2007) and in the economic crisis (2008-2011).\ud According the Spatial Development Strategy of\ud Slovenia, the urban centres of Slovenia were considered\ud at four levels: national urban centres of international\ud importance, urban centres of national significance,\ud urban centres of inter-regional significance and urban\ud centres of inter-municipal significance