The determinants of successful partnering: a transaction cost perspective

Support is emerging for the assertion that partnering can have a significant beneficial influence on project relationships and project outcomes. However, not all of the evidence bears this out: there are some examples of less-than-successful experiments with partnering approaches. Questions quite naturally arise as to whether any particular elements or aspects of partnering have differed in some of the documented examples, thus giving rise to their relative success or failure. In order to answer such questions there is a need for a theoretical framework against which to analyse the relative performance of partnering projects. In this paper, the authors propose an approach based upon aspects of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) theory. It is argued that two main factors, contractual incompletedness and opportunism, are fundamental in determining whether project relationships are adversarial or not. The validity of the approach is examined by applying it retrospectively to a strategic partnering agreement involving more than 80 individual building projects. This agreement had been the subject of a four-year study and had been found to produce benefits in a number of areas, not least in the avoidance of conflict and disputes. After analysis, evidence for the reduction of contractual incompletedness was mixed, however the opportunistic inclinations of the participants (specifically, the contractors) were effectively attenuated by a clearly observable combination of factors, which included preselection criteria, and the use of appropriate management and commercial frameworks in which to operate. The case study suggests a prima facie validity to the analytical approach that was adopted, which merits further testing: the next stages being to develop and refine the framework, and to carry out comparative multi-case research on a number of different partnering projects

Sound insulation design of modular construction housing

This paper provides an insight into the acoustic issues of modular housing using the Verbus System of construction. The paper briefly summarises the history of the development of Verbus modular housing and the acoustic design considerations of the process. Results are presented from two sound insulation tests conducted during the course of the project. The results are discussed in terms of compliance with Approved Document E1 and increased performance standards such as EcoHomes2

A study of compressible turbulent boundary layers using the method of invariant modeling

Model equations for studying compressible turbulen boundary layer

The morphology of Sersic-Pastoriza galaxies

The authors present the preliminary results of their radio-continuum and neutral hydrogen observations of Sersic-Pastoriza (S-P) galaxies. They show that the central regions contain a population of compact features thought to be young supernova remnants (SNRs) and discuss the overall morphology of the nuclei

Sub-au imaging of water vapour clouds around four Asymptotic Giant Branch stars

We present MERLIN maps of the 22-GHz H2O masers around four low-mass late-type stars (IK Tau U Ori, RT Vir and U Her), made with an angular resolution of ~ 15 milliarcsec and a velocity resolution of 0.1 km s-1. The H2O masers are found in thick expanding shells with inner radii ~ 6 to 16 au and outer radii four times larger. The expansion velocity increases radially through the H2O maser regions, with logarithmic velocity gradients of 0.5--0.9. IK Tau and RT Vir have well-filled H2O maser shells with a spatial offset between the near and far sides of the shell, which suggests that the masers are distributed in oblate spheroids inclined to the line of sight. U Ori and U Her have elongated poorly-filled shells with indications that the masers at the inner edge have been compressed by shocks; these stars also show OH maser flares. MERLIN resolves individual maser clouds, which have diameters of 2 -- 4 au and filling factors of only ~ 0.01 with respect to the whole H2O maser shells. The CSE velocity structure gives additional evidence the maser clouds are density bounded. Masing clouds can be identified over a similar timescale to their sound crossing time (~2 yr) but not longer. The sizes and observed lifetimes of these clouds are an order of magnitude smaller than those around red supergiants, similar to the ratio of low-mass:high-mass stellar masses and sizes. This suggests that cloud size is determined by stellar properties, not local physical phenomena in the wind.Comment: 21 pages, including 14 figures and 8 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Evidence for seasonal reproduction in UK domestic cats

Objectives The aims of this study were to analyse a large body of data obtained by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Greater Manchester Animal Hospital on the breeding pattern of owned domestic cats in the UK, and to provide clear statistical evidence of whether seasonal variation remains present in temperate climates. Methods The total number of cats spayed and the number of cats found to be pregnant were recorded on a monthly basis from December 2005 to July 2014 by the RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital. The percentage of cats found to be pregnant was calculated for each month and the 8.5 years of data were binned into calendar months. The mean and SD of the monthly pregnancy rate was calculated for each calendar month bin, as was the difference between the mean percentage of detected pregnancies and the global mean. The Z score for each month’s difference was then calculated. Results Data were available for 5414 cats neutered during the 8.5 consecutive years of this study. A global average of 8.9% of cats spayed were found to be pregnant. The mean calendar month pregnancy rate exhibited a very significant variation, with the highest positive deviation being in April (Z score +2.9) and the highest negative deviation being in November/December (Z score -4.5). When aggregated into 3 month averages, an extremely significant difference between ‘spring’ and ‘winter’ months of >7 SE (P <<0.01) was found. Conclusions and relevance This study provides clear statistical evidence, from a large data set, that seasonal breeding patterns are still present under UK temperate conditions. We discuss the impact that this has on charity rescue shelters and propose that a campaign targeted at clients of animal welfare charities encouraging autumn neutering will be the most cost-effective method of cat population control, and help relieve the demand on welfare charity resources