Bolstering conflict management strategies and sustainable commitment of academic staff in selected public universities

Events and periods of strikes are inextricably linked to the history of higher education in Nigeria. Strikes of various types and for various reasons have become a common occurrence as the government and academia's policymaking relationship has become increasingly inconsiderate. This study was necessitated by the apparent non-recognition and reluctance to plunge into interpersonal conflict in universities. Hence, this study investigated the influence of avoidance, dominating, compromise, obliging and integrating conflict management strategy on the commitment of faculty in selected public universities in Southwest Nigeria. Smart PLS 3.0 was used to analyse only 416 copies of the questionnaire, representing an 83% response rate. The findings demonstrate that conflict management methods such as avoidance, dominating, compromise, obliging, and integrating substantially impact academic faculty affective, normative, and continuance commitment. The study finds that academic staff at various universities should encourage compromising, integrating, and obliging conflict management tactics to be more involved in the settlement of the conflict. As a sequel to the findings, it was recommended that when settling conflicts, academic staff and management should always consider the feelings of other parties involved, as this will go a long way in satisfying all affected parties. Furthermore, parties in disagreement should be open-minded and willing to listen to each other to make the best and most sensible conclusion when resolving conflict. Universities administration should teach the different techniques of handling conflict so employees will be able to choose the appropriate approach when faced with conflict situations, especially when faced with interpersonal conflict.

Nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) dominating in nitrifying community in full-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants

Nitrification activities and microbial populations of ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were investigated in 10 full-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants in Xi’an, China. Aerobic batch tests were used to determine the nitrifying activities while fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to quantify the fractions of AOB and NOB in the activated sludge. The results showed that nitrifying bacteria accounted for 1–10% of the total population. Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the dominant bacteria for AOB and NOB respectively. Moreover, the average percentage of AOB was 1.27% and that of NOB was 4.02%. The numerical ratios of NOB/AOB varied between 1.72 and 5.87. The average ammonium uptake rate and nitrite uptake rate were 3.25 ± 0.52 mg (NH₄⁺–N)/g(VSS) h and 4.49 ± 0.49 mg (NO₂⁻–N)/g(VSS) h, respectively. Correspondingly, the activity of NOB was 1.08–2.00 times higher than that of AOB. Thus, NOB was the dominating bacteria in nitrifying communities. The year-round data of Dianzicun (W6) also expressed a similar trend. Since NOB had higher activities than that of AOB, a large nitrite oxidation pool could be formed, which guaranteed that no nitrite would be accumulated. Therefore, stable nitrification could be achieved. A conceptual model was proposed to describe the population variation of AOB and NOB in a nitrifying community.