Powering the Sustainable Development Goals for Green Growth in Nigeria

This chapter is on the use of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the achievement of green economy in Nigeria with the specific aim of assessing the performance of key issues in the SDGs. Five goals SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, and 15 for water and sanitation, safe human settlements, renewable energy, sustainable consumption and production, and ecosystem, respectively, are selected for assessment for the green initiatives and the economy. Budgets on economic and social services follows the pattern theory: that government allocates and reallocates at will without cognizance of the population's interests. The assessment holds the fact that only two of these goals are being met somehow—renewable energy and clean water—and not necessarily because of the need to achieve the goals but as part of private sector and dynamic market initiatives, clearly indicating failures for the others. For the most part, Nigeria failed in the areas of ecosystem, good human settlement, and responsible consumption. The chapter suggests the encouragement of entrepreneurial initiatives, the initiation of new policies on green economy, and the enforcement of regulations already in place to power the economy.

INFLUENCE OF THE PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL POLICE SERVICE IN PREVENTION OF ORGANIZED CRIMES IN MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA

This paper uses data collected for an MA Thesis on influence of the Performance of National Police Service in Prevention of organized Crimes in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study was necessitated by continued rise of criminal gangs despite police service efforts to contain the problem. The study was guided by three specific objectives, but for this paper first and second objectives will be discussed. First, the examined the influence of resource capacity on the performance of national police service in prevention of organized crimes in Mombasa County. Secondly, the study examined the influence of motivation on the performance of national police service in prevention of organized crimes. Thirdly, the last objective assessed the influence of external environment on the performance of National Police Service in prevention of organized crimes in Mombasa County, Kenya. The survey utilized Expectancy theory and Crime Pattern Theory and adopted a descriptive research design employing a mixed method paradigm. The study sample size comprised 306 National Police Service officers (NPS); Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers, Kenya Police service (KP), and Administration Police (AP) officers both senior and junior. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis derived from the study objectives. On the other hand, quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics. According to the findings, 17% of the police officers still undertake operations without intelligence briefing, and that despite the availability of criminal intelligence. Besides, access to criminal intelligence was still a major challenge to 45% of the officers while inter-agency coordination was a rare part of the fight against organized crime to 56% of the officers who were not involved. The findings also revealed that despite the importance of training towards the prevention of organized crime, 33% of police officers did not have access to these trainings. Furthermore, 53% of the officers, cited lack of recognition and motivation that could go a long way in raising performance of the police officers. The study makes two major recommendations; special attention to training and curriculum review that addresses the demands of emerging global security challenges. Secondly, officer’s welfare remains a thorny issue which can potentially stifle any crime prevention initiative. Welfare issues of concern such as merit and fairness in promotions, rewards and other incentives, and better compensation were said to be an integral part of any serious police reform agenda.

Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice

Existing implementations of game design patterns have largely been confined to theoretical or research settings. Weaknesses in these implementations have prevented game design patterns from being properly evaluated as an educational and practical development tool. This paper examines these weaknesses, describes a method of developing and applying patterns that overcome the weaknesses, and evaluates use of the method for game design education and practice. Weaknesses in existing pattern implementations are: the omission of design problems, presumption of functional completeness at the level of pattern languages, narrow topical focus, and lack of a concise, repeatable method for pattern production. Several features of the proposed method were specifically built to address these weaknesses, namely the pattern template, the process for connecting patterns into a language and assessing the language’s scope, a rubric for assessing pattern confidence and interconnectivity confidence, and pattern-building exercises. This method was applied in a classroom setting. Results as assessed by the evaluation of student work suggest that creating patterns/pattern languages is an effective pedagogical approach. Designs produced using designer-created patterns closely align with existing design theory and are clearly understood by students. The above results may indicate that the path to gaining wider acceptance of pattern theory as a design framework within game design is not to produce a universal pattern language, but to facilitate the creation of case-specific languages by students and professional designers that use a shared ontology, and thus can be combined easily to solve the diverse sets of problems faced by these groups.

Application of Pattern Language for Game Design in Pedagogy and Design Practice

Existing implementations of game design patterns have largely been confined to theoretical or research settings. Weaknesses in these implementations have prevented game design patterns from being properly evaluated as an educational and practical development tool. This paper examines these weaknesses, describes a method of developing and applying patterns that overcome the weaknesses, and evaluates use of the method for game design education and practice. Weaknesses in existing pattern implementations are: omission of design problems, presumption of functional completeness at the level of pattern languages, narrow topical focus, and lack of a concise, repeatable method for pattern production. Several features of the proposed method were specifically built to address these weaknesses, namely the pattern template, the process for connecting patterns into a language and assessing the language’s scope, a rubric for assessing pattern confidence and interconnectivity confidence, and pattern-building exercises. This method was applied in a classroom setting. Results, as assessed by the evaluation of student work, suggest that creating patterns/pattern languages is an effective pedagogical approach. De-signs produced using designer-created patterns closely align with existing design theory and are clearly understood by students. The above results may indicate that the path to gaining wider acceptance of pattern theory as a design framework within game design is not to produce a universal pattern language but to facilitate the creation of case-specific languages, by students and professional designers, that use a shared ontology and thus can be combined easily to solve the diverse sets of problems faced by these groups.

Does the Association Between Flows of People and Crime Differ Across Crime Types in Sweden?

Places with persistently high levels of crime, hot spots, are an important object of study. To some extent, the high levels of crime at such hot spots are likely to be related to flows of people. City center locations with large flows of people are quite often also hot spots, e.g., hot spots for pick pocketing at a central train station, or hot spots for assault in the nightlife district. This can be related to crime pattern theory, or to the routine activity perspective, which both suggest that flows of people can affect crime. The present study attempts to explore and quantify whether there are differences in the association between flows of people and crime for different crime types. The analysis considers locations with high crime counts for six crime types in the city of Malmö, Sweden. For each crime type, hot spots are identified and mapped, and in order to explore whether, or how, these are related to flows of people, the crime levels are then analyzed in relation to the number of people who boarded a local bus (N = 33,134,198) nearby. The paper shows that all six crime types are associated with flows of people, although less so for arson and vandalism. This is hypothesized to be due to the relatively constant target availability for these crimes as opposed to the other crime types studied.

How Do Neurons Signal Itch?

Mechanistic theories of itch are based on neuronal specificity, stimulus intensity, and temporal or spatial discharge patterns. Traditionally, these theories are conceptualized as mutually exclusive, assuming that finding evidence for one theory would exclude the others and could sufficiently explain itch. Current experimental data primarily support the specificity or pattern theory of itch. However, in contrast to an assumed inherent exclusivity, recent results have shown that even within itch-specific pathways in the spinal cord, temporal discharge patterns are important as sustained pruriceptor is required to allow successful transsynaptic signal progression. Also, optogenetic activation of pruriceptors suggest that the combination of neuronal specificity and temporal pattern determines the sensory effect: tonic activation of pruriceptors is required to induce scratching behavior whereas short-lasting stimulation rather causes withdrawal. In addition to the mere duration of discharge, also the temporal pattern or spatial aspects could critically contribute to elicit pruritus instead of pain. Basic neurophysiological studies trying to validate neuronal theories for pruritus in their pure form provide unitary concepts leading from neuronal discharge to the itch sensation. However, the crucial clinical questions have the opposite perspective: which mechanisms explain the chronic itch in a given patient or a given disease? In trying to solve these clinical problems we should not feel bound to the mutual exclusive nature of itch theories, but rather appreciate blending several theories and also accept combinations of itch and pain. Thus, blended versions of itch theories might better suffice for an explanation of chronic itch in patients and will improve the basis for mechanistic treatment options.

Right place, right time? Making crime pattern theory time-specific

Objectives Crime pattern theory and the related empirical research have remained rather a-temporal, as if the timing of routine activities and crime plays no role. Building on previous geography of crime research, we extend crime pattern theory and propose that an offender’s spatial knowledge acquired during daily routine activities is not equally applicable to all times of day. Methods We put this extended theory to a first empirical test by applying a discrete spatial choice model to detailed information from the Netherlands on 71 offences committed by 30 offenders collected through a unique online survey instrument. The offenders reported on their most important activity nodes and offence locations over the past year, as well as the specific times they regularly visited these locations. Results The results show that almost 40% of the offences are committed within the neighbourhoods of offenders’ activity nodes, increasing to 85% when including first-, second- and third-order neighbourhoods. Though not statistically significant in our small sample, the results further suggest that offenders are more likely to commit crime in neighbourhoods they have regularly visited at the same time of day than in neighbourhoods they have regularly visited at different times of day. Conclusion Our extension of crime pattern theory is only tentatively supported. We argue for replication research with larger samples before any firm conclusions are warranted.