The impact of design approach and contracting practices on cost and execution period of school buildings

More than two million school-age children in Yemen are unable to enroll in education because of a shortage of school buildings. This is one of the reasons the country missed the Millennium Development Goal of achieving Education for all by 2015. The struggle to afford school accommodation will continue, because of the lack of resources and high unit cost. Construction cost as time schedule for an identical school building vary by the implementing agency. This paper aims to study in-depth this multi-dimensional issue to find out the factors that lead to this variation, as well as the reasons for the high unit cost and lengthy periods of construction. To achieve this objective, comprehensive raw data that was resourced from agencies that are assigned to implement the largest part of the construction program along with data collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized. Complete sets of design and contracting documents of representative schools were used for deeper analysis and evaluation. The analysis shows that the employed design approaches lead to large structural elements and consequently to longer implementation period and 30% increase in cost. It also shows that contractors add up to 20% for the client’s procurement procedure, approvals, and payment cycle. Additionally, bidders price risks related to accessibility to building sites, availability of building materials, and how trouble-prone is the region. The findings are of relevance to researchers, education planners, and practitioners as they are of high importance to policy makers and financiers whose main concern is to meet the growing need for school accommodation

Insurance in the Islamic Legal System : A Comparative Study of Insurance and Risk from a Tort and Contract Law Perspective.

My decision to embark on a research of insurance from a comparative law perspective was inspired by a desire to tackle one of the most controversial issues in Islamic legal studies. Several edicts have concluded that insurance is incompatible with Islamic ethos and legal precept, but the mere official recitation of these edicts, from time to time, did nothing to reinforce the proscriptive argument as much as telling about a potent and challenging counterview about insurance within mainstream Islamic thought. The subject of insurance was especially appealing to me when I realized that insurance is perceived in many legal systems not simply as a convenient contract but often as an indispensable institution mandated and enforced by law, where the denial of insurance coverage is many cases tantamount to discrimination and a denial of justice. Thus, if justice is the professed universal objective of all legal systems, how can we explain the simultaneous placement of insurance on the antithetical scales of justice, adamantly opposed and damned in one legal system while strictly imposed and demanded in another

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population