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

Evaluation of performance-based earthquake engineering in Yemen

Building codes follow a common concept in designing buildings to achieve an acceptable seismic performance. The objective underlying the concept is to ensure that the buildings should be able to resist minor earthquake without damage, resist moderate earthquake with some non-structural damage, and resist major earthquakes without collapse, but some structural as well as non-structural damage. This study aims to evaluate the performance-based seismic to come up with necessary recommendations for both future practices, essential review, and restoration of existing structures in Yemen. To do this real case studies incorporated, and nonlinear pushover analysis is carried out. The analysis results presented and then assessed to find out the conformity with the required performance. The structural sections assumed at the beginning of the design, then the design repeated many times to achieve the selected performance criteria (the plastic hinge properties and the maximum displacement)

Optimized image processing and clustering to mitigate security threats in mobile ad hoc network

Since there are provisions of many attributes that are not possible or difficult to follow by networks conventionally, mobile ad-hoc networks are extensively deployed. This application starts through the defense sectors, the sensory node presents in the hostile territories down to the gadgets for congestion communication in traffic by general transportation when travelling for adequate provision of infrastructure during disaster recovery. As a lot of importance related to (mobile ad hoc network) MANET application, one important factor in ad-hoc networks is security. Using image processing for securing MANET is the area of focus of this research. Therefore, in this article, the security threats are assessed and representative proposals are summarized in ad-hoc network’s context. The study reviewed the current situation of the art for original to security provision called mobile ad hoc network for wireless networking. The threats to security are recognized while the present solution is observed. The study additionally summarized education erudite, talks on general issues and future instructions are recognized. Also, in this study, the forecast weighted clustering algorithm (FWCA) is employed as a cluster head over weighted clustering algorithm (WCA) is examined as quality in cluster-based routing, service is highly significant with MANET

Development of Student Information Management System based on Cloud Computing Platform

The management and provision of information about the educational process is an essential part of effective management of the educational process in the institutes of higher education. In this paper the requirements of a reliable student management system are analyzed, formed a use-case model of student information management system, designed and implemented the architecture of the application. Regarding the implementation process, modern approaches were used to develop and deploy a reliable online application in cloud computing environments specifically

The physico-mechanical properties of concrete with red-mud at high temperatures

Reuse of treated waste can provide significant environmental, social and economic benefits. It is necessary to use it in the right places while keeping the properties of the waste in mind. Aluminum-rich wastes such as red mud derived from bauxite may be used in places exposed to high temperatures. This article discusses the effects of high temperatures of 25, 200, 300, 400, 600 and 800°C and 3 hours of exposure on concrete samples replaced by red mud at 0, 10, 15 and 20%. To study the concrete’s mechanical and permeability properties, loss in weight, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, capillary water absorption and water permeability tests were performed for all mixes. Results were closer to those of the control specimen, which ultimately supported the use of red mud at a ratio of 10%

Performance-based seismic design of laterally braced steel frames

Improving the performance of structural frames is one of the most important focuses of today's researchers. The total base shear capacity of the structural frames will increase by reaching the maximum number of plastic hinges. In this work, the effects of bracing system type on different heights of steel frames were investigated. Static pushover analysis was used to evaluate the performance of 4, 8, and 12-story steel frames with seven structural configuration systems. The results showed that the performance of braced frames increased significantly in terms of number of plastic hinges, total base shear and performance point compared to unbraced frames. The capacity curves were maximum in the one-story X-bracing, multi-story X-bracing, and single diagonal bracing systems

Cut-off scores of the depression anxiety stress Scale-8: Implications for improving the management of chronic pain

Aim: Mental distress, non-specific symptoms of depression and anxiety, is common in chronic pelvic pain (CPP). It contributes to poor recovery. Women\u27s health nurses operate in multidisciplinary teams to facilitate the assessment and treatment of CPP. However, valid cut-off points for identifying highly distressed patients are lacking, entailing a gap in CPP management.Design: This instrumental cross-sectional study identified a statistically derived cut-off score for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-8 (DASS-8) among 214 Australian women with CPP (mean age = 33.3, SD = 12.4, range = 13-71 years).Methods: Receiver operator characteristic curve, decision trees and K-means clustering techniques were used to examine the predictive capacity of the DASS-8 for psychiatric comorbidity, pain severity, any medication intake, analgesic intake and sexual abuse. The study is prepared according to the STROBE checklist.Results: Cut-off points resulting from the analysis were ordered ascendingly. The median (13.0) was chosen as an optimal cut-off score for predicting key outcomes. Women with DASS-8 scores below 15.5 had higher analgesic intake.Conclusion: CPP women with a DASS-8 score above 13.0 express greater pain severity, psychiatric comorbidity and polypharmacy. Thus, they may be a specific target for nursing interventions dedicated to alleviating pain through the management of associated co-morbidities.Implications for patient care: At a cut-off point of 13.0, the DASS-8 may be a practical instrument for recommending a thorough clinician-based examination for psychiatric comorbidity to facilitate adequate CPP management. It may be useful for evaluating patients\u27 response to nursing pain management efforts. Replications of the study in different populations/countries are warranted

Psychometric evaluation of the depression anxiety stress scale 8-items (DASS-8)/DASS-12/DASS-21 among family caregivers of patients with dementia

Patients with dementia express a set of problematic and deteriorating symptoms, along with self-care dependency. Over time, the mental health of family caregivers of persons with dementia may be affected, putting them at a high risk for psychopathology, which may be associated with endangered wellbeing of people with dementia. This cross-sectional instrumental design study examined the psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 8-items (DASS-8), DASS-12, and DASS-21 in a convenient sample of 571 caregivers from northern Italy and southern Switzerland (mean age = 53 years, SD = 12, range = 24–89 years). A bifactor structure of the three measures had the best fit; some items of the DASS-12/DASS-21 failed to load on their domain-specific factors. The three-factor structure was invariant across various groups (e.g., gender and education), expressed adequate reliability and convergent validity, and had strong positive correlation with the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS3). Distress scores did not differ among carers of different types of dementia (Alzheimer's disease vs. other types, e.g., vascular dementia). However, distress scores were significantly high among female individuals, adult children caregivers, those caring for dependent patients, and those who received help with care. For 54.9 and 38.8% of the latter, care was provided by relatives and health professionals, respectively. Since the DASS-8 expresses adequate psychometrics comparable with the DASS-21, it may be used as a brief measure of distress in this population