Employing Data Warehousing for Contract Administration: e-Dispute Resolution Prototype

Although data warehouse is very practical for decision making, its application in contract administration is rather limited because of the complicated legal issues and the voluminous data involved. This research attempts to bridge this gap in two ways. First, conceptual models of data warehouse are developed to explain the contents and overall features of the system that were verified by 12 experts in Malaysia. Second, an electronic dispute resolution template, known as e-Dispute Resolution (e-DR), is prototyped by using a database tool based on the guidelines of contractual variations agreed by the experts. Subsequently, the prototype is evaluated by 16 professional quantity surveyors from an established consulting firm. The prototype was organized based on a systematic breakdown of issues and incorporated a Boolean keyword search feature. The results show that the concept of data warehouse is applicable to contract administration and is well received by practitioners. Overall, this article renders significant theoretical and practical contributions in which the resulting e-DR does not only lead toward more informed decision making but is also able to mitigate or prevent contractual disputes in the construction industry, where such a phenomenon seems to be inevitabl

Fuzzy Case-Based Reasoning in Product Style Acquisition Incorporating Valence-Arousal-Based Emotional Cellular Model

Emotional cellular (EC), proposed in our previous works, is a kind of semantic cell that contains kernel and shell and the kernel is formalized by a triple- L = <P, d, δ>, where P denotes a typical set of positive examples relative to word-L, d is a pseudodistance measure on emotional two-dimensional space: valence-arousal, and δ is a probability density function on positive real number field. The basic idea of EC model is to assume that the neighborhood radius of each semantic concept is uncertain, and this uncertainty will be measured by one-dimensional density function δ. In this paper, product form features were evaluated by using ECs and to establish the product style database, fuzzy case based reasoning (FCBR) model under a defined similarity measurement based on fuzzy nearest neighbors (FNN) incorporating EC was applied to extract product styles. A mathematical formalized inference system for product style was also proposed, and it also includes uncertainty measurement tool emotional cellular. A case study of style acquisition of mobile phones illustrated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Improving dispute resolution on construction projects in Kuwait

The number of different parties involved in most construction projects can result in a high risk of conflict which, if not dealt with quickly, could develop into disputes that can take years to settle. These disputes add little value to a construction project but increase the cost burden on different parties when taken to arbitration or litigation. Dispute costs are often in addition to the costs of project delay which together influence the hardening of attitudes of the parties. Dispute avoidance or early dispute resolution is desirable for all parties concerned. The nature of the construction business in the State of Kuwait is probably no different to other countries as one of the most litigious industries. However, improved dispute resolution practices within Kuwait, could result in significantly reduced costs and wastage. This paper presents early findings from a literature review, as a part of PhD researching disputes and different dispute resolution strategies. It aims to determine the ability to employ the current alternative dispute resolutions strategies in the State of Kuwait

A practical approach in clarifying legal drafting: Delphi and case study in Malaysia

Purpose - Legal drafting is one of the root causes for interpretation errors and misunderstandings in construction contracts. Moreover, most construction personnel do not have legally trained background. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the feasible use and practicality of Plain English in clarifying legal drafting in Malaysian construction contracts. Design/methodology/approach - Two research approaches were adopted, namely, Delphi research and case study. The Delphi method was to elicit local experts' knowledge and consensus view on the given examples of restructured contract provisions. Next, an actual case study was conducted to examine and substantiate the research findings by critically reviewing the latest and revised standard form of contract for its Plain English usage. Findings - The Delphi research shows that all the restructured contract provisions were agreed by the local experts; whereas the case study reveals that significant changes and the acceptance of Plain English in most of the contract provisions. Originality/value - The research renders insightful references in clarifying legal drafting in construction contracts based on the empirical evidence and the use of Plain English from the Malaysian scenario. It also contributes into the resolution of contractual differences and conflicts caused by the misunderstandings or interpretation problems

An Invistigation About The Fuzzy Logic Aplications In Construction Management

In this study some fuzzy logic aplications in Construction Management (CM) discipline has been investigated. By this way tried to have an idea about the usifulness and practicability of fuzzy logic in the area of CM. For the aim of investigation of the fuzzy logic aplications’ provides in CM discipline; there have been made a literature invistigation on different sub-branches of CM. Because of CM is a very large area, this invistigations’ scope is determined on the some top quality journals’ papers in the Science Situation Index (SCI). Chosen researchs’ results from this investigations given in the text. It’s confirmed that the applications in this area before, scattered in four main categories, including: decision making, performance, evaluation/assessment; and modeling. Olso optimisation is another aim for using fuzzy logic

Cross-border E-commerce Risk Evaluation from Sellers’ Perspective

While the development of cross-border e-commerce is flourishing, the associated risk factors should not be underestimated. In this paper, we analyze risk in cross-border e-commerce from the external environment and platform construction to establish a cross-border e-commerce risk evaluation index system from sellers\u27 perspective. Subsequently, the weights of the indicators are calculated on account of entropy weight method, and combined with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to construct a cross-border e-commerce risk evaluation model. The results show that the weight of platform risk is more than environmental risk, and the risk level of cross-border e-commerce from sellers\u27 perspective is low. Finally, we attempt to propose some strategies to prevent risks, hoping to provide some theoretical insights into the issue of risk prevention in cross-border e-commerce

Creativity by copying: imitating life as a work of imagination

Engineering biological systems is easily interpretable as a process of mere and cold replication, or even distortion, of the natural domain, since it is often linked to industry and built on the Cartesian assumption of human rationality’s control over asubmissive nature. In this article, I approach living systems design from an alternative perspective, supporting its similarities with activities which are traditionally associated with creativity, like arts. I show that different kinds of creativity are deeply involved in copying, composing, and modifying life, focusing on two different levels: that of scientific modelling, recognisable by looking at biological circuits design, and that of actual building of new organisms of evolutionary interest, like the artificial bacterium JCVI-syn3.0