The lack of design quality focus in construction: a case for examining suitable design processes

A large number of projects in UK construction now involve contractor-led design and are thus very different from the traditional approach which formed the basis of the original Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Outline Plan of Work. Such integrated and contractor-led approaches support the reform agenda of the late 1990s that was introduced to tackle process inefficiency. However, within the design professions there has been concern that this resulted in buildings that were designed-down to a cost rather than designed-up to a value. An attempt to address this resulted in the formation of the Commission for Architecture and Built Environment (CABE) in 1999 and the launch, in 2003, of the Design Quality Indicator (DQI) which measures how well a building satisfies stakeholders. This paper presents the early phases of doctoral research which will examine the impact of integrated design management approaches upon Design Quality

The world turned upside-down : architects as subcontractors in design-and-build contracts

The traditional role of the Architect on UK building projects is well-known and has been the subject of much study and comment. However, recent surveys indicate that design-and-build arrangements now exceed traditional procurement in terms of their share of total UK construction. On such projects, architects and other designers are engaged, not by the employer, but under sub-contract to the main contractor. The question arises as to the effect this has had. This has been approached by considering architects and other design consultants as professional contractors, as opposed to trade contractors - a term adopted to describe the more traditional type of subcontractor. Within these distinctions there are contractual, managerial and cultural implications for the relationships between the parties. To explore this further, representatives of five main contractors were questioned on their relationships with the two types. Clear differences emerged in matters such as contract formation, price-setting, payment and claims; the treatment of selection, work scheduling, and defects / omissions was more complicated. Within trade contractors there is a strong argument for recognising a further category of specialist contractors, who include a design service in their work package. Within the professional contractor category, architects were clearly differentiated from other design team members. The findings are analysed to suggest a theoretical framework with four dimensions that relate to process/product, attitude/motivation, working culture and relative power. The concern is not to be definitive at this stage, but to suggest an agenda for future research into the issues that have emerged

The fevers of the puerperium

Much that has been written on the prevention of puerperal sepsis mag seem superfluous, and possibly is, but it is only by thoroughly understanding how the sepsis is incurred that one realises how necessary it is to take every possible precaution.The Midwives Act of 1902 has done, and will do more to prevent the mortality in this class of diseases. I well remember the astonishment of a newly enrolled midwife after the first visit of the Lady Inspector."She told me I had to get print washing dresses: with a puzzled look of wonderment, and she one of the best midwives in the district! Much other goodly and necessary advice do these Lady Inspectors administer to the midwives, which before long is sure to bear goo fruit.What have we gained during recent years in the knowledge of puerperal sepsis? We have ascertained that the primary cause is organismal infection, and that the streptococci are the most powerful organisms. We have discovered the great curative method of Serum-therapy, and we are concluding, rightly or wrongly hat because it is absolutely curative in diphtheria it ought to be the same in all infective disease. For my part, while agreeing with many others that antistreptococcus serum is of benefit in many cases, and perhaps should be given a trial in all serious cases, I cannot conceive considering the variety of strains of streptocci, and of other organisms associa- with them in septic conditions,of a serum which could possibly be a specific cure for puerperal sepsis.We hake yet to find some condition (or conditions) of which we are at present ignorant, which makes the parturient woman so susceptible to bacterial invasion, apart from the open wound and the proximity of the peritoneum. If one could ascertain the significance of the leucocytosis of pregnancy, we possibly would have a clue to the secret

AS-890-20 Resolution on Class Attendance

That the wording in Class Attendance policy be changed as follows: It is strongly urged that instructors accept the following “excusable” reasons for allowing students to make up missed work. And, be it further RESOLVED that the following clarifying language be added to the policy as excusable reasons for making up missed class work: B. Injury, illness, death, or any extenuating circumstances of close relatives (to include but not limited to natural, adopted, and/or in-law children, parents, legal guardian, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren as well as spouse or partner). Extenuating circumstances can be defined as serious and exceptional factors outside the student\u27s control which adversely affected the student’s attendance during class time

Network planning case study utilising real-time thermal ratings and computational fluid dynamics

Real-Time Thermal Ratings (RTTR) has a natural synergy with wind generation, since during periods of high local wind speed increased wind farm output coincides with uplifted line ratings. This paper describes a network planning study on a real section of UK distribution network. The study considers a branch of 132kV network connecting several wind farms to the grid. By assessing the local wind conditions in the area surrounding the wind farm and proposed overhead line, the study predicts the increase in energy throughput, and hence accommodated generation, for different routes considered for the overhead line. The locations of thermal bottlenecks in the proposed routes are identified. The study shows that a wind farm of 140MW can be connected to a conductor which could only support 90MW based on its static rating, and if the route is chosen correctly only 1% of the energy yield will be constrained

A new procedure for the template synthesis of metal nanowires

A new procedure for the fabrication of metal nanowires by template assisted electrodeposition using porous polycarbonate templates is described. A thin sputtered film of silver (≤15 nm) was deposited onto one side of the template. The silver seed layer was used to catalyse electroless copper deposition and a copper layer was grown on top (300 - 500 nm) in less than 10 min. The copper layer served to seal the pores of the template and to form an electrode of high electrical conductivity. The copper layer was easily removed with a chemical etchant to aid the release of the nanowires from the template mask after growth. To demonstrate the process, copper nanowires were prepared by controlled potential deposition and characterised by SEM and TEM. This new procedure has the ability to be applied to the preparation of a wide range of metallic nanostructures over a wide range of scales. It avoids the need for an extended vacuum deposition step and has the advantage of using low cost metals in a combined short vacuum / wet chemical process so as to form the critical electrode layer for nanowire growth

Effect of Mesh Phasing on the Transmission Efficiency and Dynamic Performance of Wheel Hub Planetary Gear Sets

Transmission efficiency and refinement of planetary wheel hub gearing system are key design attributes for heavy and off-highway vehicles. Reduction of power loss, directly leading to the development of new generation ECO-axles requires analysis of gear contacting conditions for lubricated conjunctions to determine frictional performance. This is also affected by gear dynamics, which is a prerequisite for assessment of noise, vibration and harshness performance. Therefore, a combined tribo-dynamic analysis is essential. There is a dearth of such holistic analysis, particularly for the case of wheel hub planetary systems. The paper presents such an analysis, which has not hitherto been reported in literature. The inexorable interplay of transmission efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness refinement is demonstrated. The key attributes of noise, vibration and harshness refinement and transmission efficiency can pose contrary requirements and near-optimal conditions can be highlighted by mesh phasing of gearing contacts, thus alleviating the need for more complex gear teeth modifications entailing prohibitive manufacturing costs

Inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase suppresses fatty acid synthesis and tumor growth of non-small-cell lung cancer in preclinical models.

Continuous de novo fatty acid synthesis is a common feature of cancer that is required to meet the biosynthetic demands of a growing tumor. This process is controlled by the rate-limiting enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), an attractive but traditionally intractable drug target. Here we provide genetic and pharmacological evidence that in preclinical models ACC is required to maintain the de novo fatty acid synthesis needed for growth and viability of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. We describe the ability of ND-646-an allosteric inhibitor of the ACC enzymes ACC1 and ACC2 that prevents ACC subunit dimerization-to suppress fatty acid synthesis in vitro and in vivo. Chronic ND-646 treatment of xenograft and genetically engineered mouse models of NSCLC inhibited tumor growth. When administered as a single agent or in combination with the standard-of-care drug carboplatin, ND-646 markedly suppressed lung tumor growth in the Kras;Trp53-/- (also known as KRAS p53) and Kras;Stk11-/- (also known as KRAS Lkb1) mouse models of NSCLC. These findings demonstrate that ACC mediates a metabolic liability of NSCLC and that ACC inhibition by ND-646 is detrimental to NSCLC growth, supporting further examination of the use of ACC inhibitors in oncology