The emergence of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) which was declared a pandemic has spread to 210 countries worldwide. It has had a significant impact on health systems and economic, educational and social facets of contemporary society. As the rate of transmission increases, various collaborative approaches among stakeholders to develop innovative means of screening, detecting and diagnosing COVID-19’s cases among human beings at a commensurate rate have evolved. Further, the utility of computing models associated with the fourth industrial revolution technologies in achieving the desired feat has been highlighted. However, there is a gap in terms of the accuracy of detection and prediction of COVID-19 cases and tracing contacts of infected persons. This paper presents a review of computing models that can be adopted to enhance the performance of detecting and predicting the COVID-19 pandemic cases. We focus on big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and nature-inspired computing (NIC) models that can be adopted in the current pandemic. The review suggested that artificial intelligence models have been used for the case detection of COVID-19. Similarly, big data platforms have also been applied for tracing contacts. However, the nature-inspired computing (NIC) models that have demonstrated good performance in feature selection of medical issues are yet to be explored for case detection and tracing of contacts in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This study holds salient implications for practitioners and researchers alike as it elucidates the potentials of NIC in the accurate detection of pandemic cases and optimized contact tracing.

Growing consumerism and population worldwide raises concerns about society’s sustainability aspirations. This has led to calls for concerted efforts to shift from the linear economy to a circular economy (CE), which are gaining momentum globally. CE approaches lead to a zero-waste scenario of economic growth and sustainable development. These approaches are based on semi-scientific and empirical concepts with technologies enabling 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and 6Rs (reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, reduce, recover). Studies estimate that the transition to a CE would save the world in excess of a trillion dollars annually while creating new jobs, business opportunities and economic growth. The emerging industrial revolution will enhance the symbiotic pursuit of new technologies and CE to transform extant production systems and business models for sustainability. This article examines the trends, availability and readiness of fourth industrial revolution (4IR or industry 4.0) technologies (for example, Internet of Things [IoT], artificial intelligence [AI] and nanotechnology) to support and promote CE transitions within the higher education institutional context. Furthermore, it elucidates the role of universities as living laboratories for experimenting the utility of industry 4.0 technologies in driving the shift towards CE futures. The article concludes that universities should play a pivotal role in engendering CE transitions.

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The construction industry makes a vital contribution to the social and economic development of every country, but, at the same time, its building sector has major impacts on the environment. Construction is a major consumer of non‐renewable resources (energy in particular), a substantial source of waste, a polluter of air and water and an important contributor to land dereliction. This paper focuses specifically on the growing lack of focus on construction sustainability in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) public building sector. It indicates some salient issues on sustainable construction and the need for appropriate procurement systems, using the Botswana public building sector as a case study. It addresses two propositions. First that lack of appropriate focus on sustainable construction is primarily due to an inappropriate project organizational structure. Second that a default traditional construction procurement system (TCPS) provides a poor relationship management system incapable of dealing with sustainability parameters. Information is obtained through questionnaires on the dominant procurement system used. The primary conclusion is that the building procurement system apparently in use in the SADC public building sector differs significantly from that recommended in the theory, resulting in insignificant focus on construction sustainability. Salient steps are proposed with a proviso that the SADC public building sector should establish appropriate methods of selecting building procurement systems and formulate appropriate project organizational structures that will embrace an environmental management system. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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Total quality management (TQM) as an integrated approach to management that represents a holistic management philosophy, rather than a series of techniques, is embedded with cultural values and assumptions that are consistent with its culture of origin. This study aims to determine the outcome of implementing TQM in a place that does not share its cultural base. A survey of 100 construction firms in Botswana found that, although the values embedded in TQM could be adopted within the organisations into which it is implemented, the cultural context of the greater society resisted some of the values. It was concluded that, for TQM to be successful in a particular cultural setting, it has to take on some of the host cultural values.

The lack of ‘ubuntu’ (African group solidarity) between project stakeholders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) public building sector has been surrounded by controversy and strongly held opinions. The work reported in this paper attempts to indicate some salient issues affecting the relationships between project stakeholders. The Botswana public building sector is used as a main case study and follow‐up studies are carried out involving another eight SADC countries. The paper addresses two propositions. First, that the lack of ‘ubuntu’ between project stakeholders is primarily due to an inappropriate project organizational structure. Second, that a default traditional construction procurement system (TCPS) provides a poor relationship management system. Information is obtained on the research areas through questionnaires to construction firm executives, contract managers, site managers, trade foremen and skilled tradespersons on the dominant procurement system used in Botswana. Furthermore, senior technical officers of Public Works Ministries of another eight SADC countries are interviewed as a follow‐up to the Botswana study. The primary conclusion to be drawn is that the building procurement system purported to be in use in the SADC public building sector differs significantly from that recommended in the theory, resulting in poor relationships between project stakeholders. This is primarily due to the use of inappropriate building procurement systems. In general, the TCPS in the SADC public building sector is used as a ‘default system’. This has led to a situation where project management is a ‘fire fighting’ activity, where group solidarity between project stakeholders is out of reach. Salient steps are proposed with a proviso that the SADC public building sector should establish appropriate methods of selecting building procurement systems as a prerequisite in formulating appropriate project organizational structures which will bring the spirit of real co‐operation between project stakeholders towards project success.