El papel de los recursos del proyecto en el desarrollo de proyectos de construcción en los EAU

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of project resources on project development in construction projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study is using a quantitative approach. The main test used is the correlation test to find out the direct effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The data are collected using a survey questionnaire instrumentation. The total sample number were 300 participants from the construction industry in the UAE. The finding confirmed that project resources influence construction project development positively and significantly. El objetivo principal de este artículo es investigar el impacto de los recursos del proyecto en el desarrollo del proyecto en proyectos de construcción en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos (EAU). Este estudio está utilizando un enfoque cuantitativo. La prueba principal utilizada es la prueba de correlación para descubrir el efecto directo de la variable independiente en la variable dependiente. Los datos se recopilan utilizando un cuestionario de encuesta de instrumentación. El número total de muestras fue de 300 participantes de la industria de la construcción en los EAU. El hallazgo confirmó que los recursos del proyecto influyen en el desarrollo del proyecto de construcción de manera positiva y significativa

Ventaja competitiva hacia el desarrollo de proyectos de construcción en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos

This study aims to examine the impact of competitive advantage on the project development in the United Arab Emirates. This study employed a cross-sectional approach, the data obtained through a questionnaire instrument. The data obtained from 382 respondents from the construction industry. The result confirms a positive and significant impact of competitive advantage on the construction project development.  Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar el impacto de la ventaja competitiva en el desarrollo del proyecto en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos. Este estudio empleó un enfoque transversal, los datos obtenidos a través de un instrumento de cuestionario. Los datos obtenidos de 382 encuestados de la industria de la construcción. El resultado confirma un impacto positivo y significativo de la ventaja competitiva en el desarrollo del proyecto de construcción

Four-way waveguide power dividers with integrated filtering function

A novel power divider with filtering function has been proposed in this work. A coupled-resonator structure is utilized to realise the dual functions. This eliminates the need for conventional transmission-line splitting networks. An optimisation approach has been used to synthesize the coupling matrix. A four-way filtering power divider was designed with an equal power division at X-band using rectangular waveguide cavities. A return loss of 20 dB and a bandwidth of 500 MHz with a fourth-order Chebyshev filtering response were demonstrated. The design has been verified by measurements, which show good agreements with simulations

Online Mapping-Based Navigation System for Wheeled Mobile Robot in Road Following and Roundabout

A road mapping and feature extraction for mobile robot navigation in road roundabout and road following environments is presented in this chapter. In this work, the online mapping of mobile robot employing the utilization of sensor fusion technique is used to extract the road characteristics that will be used with path planning algorithm to enable the robot to move from a certain start position to predetermined goal, such as road curbs, road borders, and roundabout. The sensor fusion is performed using many sensors, namely, laser range finder, camera, and odometry, which are combined on a new wheeled mobile robot prototype to determine the best optimum path of the robot and localize it within its environments. The local maps are developed using an image’s preprocessing and processing algorithms and an artificial threshold of LRF signal processing to recognize the road environment parameters such as road curbs, width, and roundabout. The path planning in the road environments is accomplished using a novel approach so called Laser Simulator to find the trajectory in the local maps developed by sensor fusion. Results show the capability of the wheeled mobile robot to effectively recognize the road environments, build a local mapping, and find the path in both road following and roundabout

Laser simulator: a novel search graph-based path planning approach

A novel technique called laser simulator approach for visibility search graph-based path planning has been developed in this article to determine the optimum collision-free path in unknown environment. With such approach, it is possible to apply constraints on the mobile robot trajectory while navigating in complex terrains such as in factories and road environments, as the first work of its kind. The main advantage of this approach is the ability to be used for both global/local path planning in the presence of constraints and obstacles in unknown environments. The principle of the laser simulator approach with all possibilities and cases that could emerge during path planning is explained to determine the path from initial to destination positions in a two-dimensional map. In addition, a comparative study on the laser simulator approach, A* algorithm, Voronoi diagram with fast marching and PointBug algorithms was performed to show the benefits and drawbacks of the proposed approach. A case study on the utilization of the laser simulator in both global and local path planning has been applied in a road roundabout setting which is regarded as a complex environment for robot path planning. In global path planning, the path is generated within a grid map of the roundabout environment to select the path according to the respective road rules. It is also used to recognize the real roundabout from a sequence of images during local path planning in the real-world system. Results show that the performance of the proposed laser simulator approach in both global and local environments is achieved with low computational and path costs, in which the optimum path from the selected start position to the goal point is tracked accordingly in the presence of the obstacles

Microwave sensing techniques for materials characterisation

Microwave cavity resonators are of major interest for characterisation of dielectric materials in many applications such as petroleum and chemical, biomedical and pharmaceutical, food and agriculture industries. In this thesis new and improved techniques for implementing microwave measurement techniques for dielectric characterisation of both liquid and solid materials have been developed. This has been actualised through several original contributions: a new high-Q and sensitive re-entrant cavity resonator structure; novel techniques of materials measurements for liquids enabled by a coaxial cavity resonator using a simplified analytical formula; a new concept of sample placement and measurements of substrate materials of varying thickness using resonant method; higher order mode re-entrant cavity resonator for dielectric property measurements at millimetre-wave frequencies; insight into capabilities of 3D printing in making effective and low-cost sensing device at both microwave and millimetre-wave frequencies; simplified evaluation method of materials effective conductivity by resonant technique; and the development of new unified analytical model for the extraction of dielectric properties of materials under test. The performance of these improved and new sensors, novel measurement techniques and the new derived analytical models of extracting the materials properties were verified through a large number of measurements on various materials. Dielectric characterisation of crude oils and their derivatives at 2 GHz using re-entrant cavity and concentration measurements of both binary and ternary mixtures at discrete resonance frequencies of 2 GHz and 6 GHz were reported. Measurements of low and medium dielectric loss liquids over a broadband using the coaxial cavity resonator at four different resonant modes from 2 GHz to 8 GHz were presented. Furthermore, measurement of liquid materials using a 60 GHz cavity resonator, dielectric constant measurement of substrates materials using modified re-entrant cavity at 2 GHz and estimation of the effective conductivity of the metals, metal coated polymers and alloys made using different fabrication technology were carried out to validate the devices and measurement techniques. Experimental results are in good agreement with both simulation and reported data in the literature

Analysing the Impact Factors of Customer Loyalty Among Small and Medium-Sized Hotels (Smshs) in Dubai

Purpose: This study aims to identify the most important characteristics that contribute to customer loyalty in the hotel sector, specifically in Dubai's hotels.   Theoretical framework:   Small and medium-sized hotels (SMSHs) were examined from the standpoint of their customers using customer loyalty as a performance metric. This research will shed additional light on how customer satisfaction and trust in  SMSHs contribute to customer loyalty, particularly within Dubai's hotel sector SMSHs.   Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative study involves the use of statistical analysis and numerical data to test hypotheses and draw conclusions about the relationships between variables based on a sample of 372 respondents from SMSHs in Dubai.   Findings: The findings showed a positive and significant relationship between customer trust, service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the SMSHs in Dubai. Also, customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between customer trust and customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between customer trust and customer loyalty in the SMSHs in Dubai.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  To boost client satisfaction, hotels should undertake a more detailed service assessment of online hotel performance and improve the hotel's application system, which is prone to faults, by speeding up digital technology.   Originality/value:  An original study on small and medium-sized hotels in Dubai would provide valuable insights into the unique challenges and opportunities faced by this segment of the hospitality industry in a highly competitive and dynamic market

Corona virus 2019 like illness and public adherence to preventive measures, Sudan 2020

Introduction: In December 2019, a novel corona virus disease was identified and was responsible for the new cases of respiratory tract infections in Wuhan, China. This virus was responsible for the pandemic with more than 84 million cases and 1.82 million deaths worldwide. In Sudan till now the reported cases exceed 23,000 with 1.400 deaths. This study aims to determine the prevalence of COVID_19 suspected cases, health seeking behavior and public adherence to protective measures. Methods: Descriptive community based cross sectional study, conducted in Khartoum state 2020. 3499 respondents with diverse socio-demographic backgrounds were finally enrolled in the study. Data was collected through Manitoba Corona Virus 2019 screening form which distributed through online anonymous Google forms. Data was entered and analyzed by Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 23. Results: The study revealed that 26.5% of the respondents were clinically suspected. with headache or fatigability being the most common symptom followed by pharyngitis and then dry cough.  Asthma and chronic respiratory disease as the commonest comorbidities. Wearing facial masks and regular hand washing were found to be the most used protective measures with only 39.4% implicates social distancing in their daily life. Health seeking behavior was significantly different among suspected respondents the majority tend to use antibiotics than to isolate themselves or undergo testing. Conclusion: COVID_19 suspected cases were prevalent among Sudanese population, screening capacity has to be increased with more strong policies for implications of personal protective measures in the daily life.   &nbsp

The role of administrative actions in fighting the coronavirus pandemic in Iraq

The objective of this article is to assess the efficacy of preventive administrative actions for the containment of the coronavirus pandemic in Iraq. In particular, the article examines the extent to which administrative authorities can strike a balance between the constitutional rights of individuals and the public interest in their fight against this pandemic. Given its law-oriented nature, this article employs a qualitative, analytic research methodology. It builds on laws, constitutions, textbooks, journals and newspaper reports, as well as official publications by governments and international bodies. Specifically, it identifies administrative decisions, laws and other measures relevant to the coronavirus pandemic and proceeds to subject them to rigorous analysis. A key finding is that administrative actions can be effective in curbing the coronavirus pandemic in Iraq. However, they have two limitations. First, is the extent to which administrative procedures are subject to the principle of legality and judicial oversight. An important question is raised as to how to reconcile administrative actions meant to protect public health with constitutional rights guaranteed in Chapter II of the Iraqi constitution of 2005. Second, the formation of various committees, which issue diverse decisions to tackle the pandemic hinders coordination and consistency in decision-making. This article concludes that administrative actions would be more effective in combatting the coronavirus pandemic, if administrative authorities in Iraq remain bound by the law. It suggests that the present health situation should not be used as a justification for the abuse of authority under the pretext of public interest. To harmonise private interests protected by the law and the state’s interest in preserving public health, administrative actions must be properly coordinated, fair and equitable. In this context, the Iraqi administrative judiciary must exercise greater oversight over the actions of administrative authorities