A Model to Determine the Contractors’ Claims of Construction projects

Complexity, dynamicity and uniqueness of construction projects, in addition to high financial turnover and numerous human resources increase the possibility and potential of claim between involved parties of execution. So claim is common involved and possible matter of subject. As the financial, qualitative and time effects of claims are high, it is necessary to recognize the contractors’ claim accurately in order to take an appropriate decision. In this study, a new model is presented to recognize the contractors’ claim which included three parts: common frequent claims, causes, and origins. To codify and design the model, 140 common claims and 60 causes which are originated of 7 origins were recognized. The model is used as decisive, determining, and anticipating model

A Model to Determine the Contractors’ Claims of Construction projects

Complexity, dynamicity and uniqueness of construction projects, in addition to high financial turnover and numerous human resources increase the possibility and potential of claim between involved parties of execution. So claim is common involved and possible matter of subject. As the financial, qualitative and time effects of claims are high, it is necessary to recognize the contractors’ claim accurately in order to take an appropriate decision. In this study, a new model is presented to recognize the contractors’ claim which included three parts: common frequent claims, causes, and origins. To codify and design the model, 140 common claims and 60 causes which are originated of 7 origins were recognized. The model is used as decisive, determining, and anticipating model

Traditional Practices for Sustainable Rangeland and Natural Resources Management: A Case Study of the Barzok Region, Iran

Livestock husbandry ranks second in importance the agricultural economy of Iran and also underpins the livelihood of many nomadic and sedentary peoples (Farhadi 2001). At the same time many rural locations such as the Bazok district have wide appeal to tourists because of cultural and natural features. This means local Iranian villagers must manage the grassland resources in a sustainable way according to geographical and climatic conditions. In general, utilization systems developed by local villages endeavour to combine social, cultural, economic and technical factors in such a way as to provide an optimal output of agricultural and eco-services (Papeli and Khanyeki 2001). The aim of this study was assess the role of traditional practices to sustain their grassland resources

Clean Energy Management

Energy is at the heart of most critical economic, environmental and developmental issues facing the world today. Clean, efficient, affordable and reliable energy services are indispensable for global prosperity. Energy management and optimization solution can help reduce energy costs while improving mill operational performance. Therefore, the focus of this chapter is on energy-related issues and it discusses dedicated technological solutions to the growing global needs for sustainable development. In addition, there are a number of other issues, including the latest innovations in terms of clean energy in industry and infrastructure, and improving operational efficiency will be discussed in this chapter

Comprehensive Earthquake Catalogs and Seismicity Parameters from Incomplete Earthquake Catalogs of Guilan Region, Iran

Statistics of human losses and financial casualties in Guilan province as one of the most populated and strategic areas in the north of Iran have doubled the importance of having knowledge about earthquake and strategies to reduce its effect. In order to investigate seismic hazard analysis, earthquake records along with selecting the proper distance of intended locations were gathered to make Poissonian catalogs. The earthquake catalogs cover the geographical area limited to 35.0°-39.3°N, 47.1-52.2°E and include around 4,000 earthquake events between the years of 855 to 2016.  An extensive amount of efforts and times are required to eliminate duplicated events, to unify the magnitude scales and to cluster the earthquake sequences with variable windows in time and location domains to remove aftershocks and foreshocks. The Final homogenous catalog consists of around 110 events for each region. Magnitude of completeness in different time intervals is reported for Guilan region. Seismicity parameters were achieved using Gutenberg-Richter method by Zmap and Kijko-Sellovell approaches for important cities of Guilan including Rasht, Anzali, Rudbar, and Lahijan. Comparative analysis of the results from Zmap and Kijko-Sellovell approaches shows good consistency in the estimation of seismic parameters with the result of literature

Evaluation of Strength behaviour of Cement-RHA Stabilized and Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Clay-Sand Mixtures

In this paper, regarding the high availability of rice husk ash (RHA) in Guilan province, also, to decrease the geo-environmental issues caused by dumping RHA in the environment, different clay-sand mixtures are stabilized using the combination of cement and RHA. Polypropylene (PP) fibers are also used to decrease the growth of tensile cracks and increase the overall strength of samples. As the main scope, effect of sand content (in different conditions: with and without presence of RHA) on the compressive strength of stabilized and reinforced samples is investigated. In this regard, 28 day cured clay-sand samples are prepared and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests are conducted and the results are compared. It is obtained that with addition of 20% sand to the clay samples, their UCS increases in both cases of non-RHA and RHA-stabilized samples. Moreover, such behavior has been observed with the length of studied PP fibers. As the second scope, based on the conducted UCS tests on the 7-, 28- and 90- day cured clay samples, compressive strength of non-RHA samples are almost completely achieved in a 28-day curing period, while samples containing RHA continue to strengthening after such a period toward a 90-day curing period. Next, a simple relationship for the prediction of UCS of cement-RHA stabilized and PP reinforced clay is presented based on the evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) technique. This relationship can be efficiently applied by construction engineers to obtain the appropriate mixture design for the stabilization of clay with cement, RHA and PP fibers