Measuring the competitiveness of the UK construction industry. Volume 1

EBS’s estimates of relative productivity in construction are as follows: 1. The US is about 25-35% ahead of the UK and Germany in terms of average labour productivity (ALP). 2. The UK is ahead of Germany in ALP on an output per worker basis, but not on an output per hour worked basis (this is due to Germans working fewer hours per week on average). These results are largely unchanged under various sensitivity tests, for example, using GDP PPP exchange rates instead of construction PPP exchange rates to convert national currencies to a common currency. The EBS estimate for the US-UK comparison is supported by UCL/DL (who estimate a US lead in ALP of 42% in 1999). UCL/DL’s estimates for the Germany-UK comparison are also similar to those of EBS, since they show Germany level with the UK in ALP on an output per worker basis, but ahead on an output per hour worked basis. Productivity comparisons of the UK with France are subject to difficulties. Depending on the exchange rates they use for conversion purposes, EBS find that France is well ahead of Britain on some measures of ALP (and indeed is close to the US) but on other measures French ALP is much the same as in Britain. UCL/DL argue strongly for using an exchange rate, which shows French construction ALP to be well ahead of the UK. They state that: ‘The French construction PPPs have been controversial for some time….[and tend to lead to] underestimates of French construction output’. There are difficulties in conducting this type of analysis that are hard to surmount, for example it is unlikely that labour inputs are well measured in any country because of illegal immigration, ‘ the hidden economy’, etc. However, unless there is reason to think that the proportion of uncounted construction workers is significantly higher or lower in Britain as compared to, say, the United States, then it seems reasonable to accept that ALP in the US construction industry is some way ahead of the UK. In many ways cross-country comparisons of productivity levels across the whole construction industry are not comparing like with like since the composition of construction output differs greatly from country to country. It is therefore hard to construct reliable national rankings based on aggregated data for construction given the present state of the data

Understanding construction consortia: Theory, practice and opinions

Firms form consortia in order to win contracts. Once a project has been awarded to a consortium each member then concentrates on his or her own contract with the client. Therefore, consortia are marketing devices, which present the impression of teamworking, but the production process is just as fragmented as under conventional procurement methods. In this way, the consortium forms a barrier between the client and the actual construction production process. Firms form consortia, not as a simple development of normal ways of working, but because the circumstances for specific projects make it a necessary vehicle. These circumstances include projects that are too large or too complex to undertake alone or projects that require on-going services which cannot be provided by the individual firms inhouse. It is not a preferred way of working, because participants carry extra risk in the form of liability for the actions of their partners in the consortium. The behaviour of members of consortia is determined by their relative power, based on several factors, including financial commitment and ease of replacement. The level of supply chain visibility to the public sector client and to the industry is reduced by the existence of a consortium because the consortium forms an additional obstacle between the client and the firms undertaking the actual construction work. Supply chain visibility matters to the client who otherwise loses control over the process of construction or service provision, while remaining accountable for cost overruns. To overcome this separation there is a convincing argument in favour of adopting the approach put forward in the Project Partnering Contract 2000 (PPC2000) Agreement. Members of consortia do not necessarily go on to work in the same consortia again because members need to respond flexibly to opportunities as and when they arise. Decision-making processes within consortia tend to be on an ad hoc basis. Construction risk is taken by the contractor and the construction supply chain but the reputational risk is carried by all the firms associated with a consortium. There is a wide variation in the manner that consortia are formed, determined by the individual circumstances of each project; its requirements, size and complexity, and the attitude of individual project leaders. However, there are a number of close working relationships based on generic models of consortia-like arrangements for the purpose of building production, such as the Housing Corporation Guidance Notes and the PPC2000

Exposing the myth of the 1:5:200 ratio relating initial cost, maintenance and staffing costs of office buildings

In an attempt to focus clients' minds on the importance of considering the construction and maintenance costs of a commercial office building (both as a factor in staff productivity and as a fraction of lifetime staff costs) there is an often-quoted ratio of costs of 1:5:200, where for every one pound spent on construction cost, five are spent on maintenance and building operating costs and 200 on staffing and business operating costs. This seems to stem from a paper published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, in which no data is given and no derivation or defence of the ratio appears. The accompanying belief that higher quality design and construction increases staff productivity, and simultaneously reduces maintenance costs, how ever laudable, appears unsupported by research, and carries all the hallmarks of an "urban myth". In tracking down data about real buildings, a more realistic ratio appears to depend on a huge variety of variables, as well as the definition of the number of "lifetime" years. The ill-defined origins of the original ratio (1:5:200) describing these variables have made replication impossible. However, by using published sources of data, we have found that for three office buildings, a more realistic ratio is 1:0.4:12. As there is nothing in the public domain about what comprised the original research that gave rise to 1:5:200, it is not possible to make a true comparison between these new calculations and the originals. Clients and construction professionals stand to be misled because the popularity and widespread use of the wrong ratio appears to be mis-informing important investment and policy decisions

Kinesins relocalize the chromosomal passenger complex to the midzone for spindle disassembly.

Mitotic spindle disassembly after chromosome separation is as important as spindle assembly, yet the molecular mechanisms for spindle disassembly are unclear. In this study, we investigated how the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), which contains the Aurora B kinase Ipl1, swiftly concentrates at the spindle midzone in late anaphase, and we researched the role of this dramatic relocalization during spindle disassembly. We showed that the kinesins Kip1 and Kip3 are essential for CPC relocalization. In cells lacking Kip1 and Kip3, spindle disassembly is severely delayed until after contraction of the cytokinetic ring. Purified Kip1 and Kip3 interact directly with the CPC and recruit it to microtubules in vitro, and single-molecule experiments showed that the CPC diffuses dynamically on microtubules but that diffusion stops when the CPC encounters a Kip1 molecule. We propose that Kip1 and Kip3 trap the CPC at the spindle midzone in late anaphase to ensure timely spindle disassembly

Unified description of Fermi and non-Fermi liquid behavior in a conserving slave boson approximation for strongly correlated impurity models

We show that the presence of Fermi or non-Fermi liquid behavior in the SU(N) x SU(M) Anderson impurity models may be read off the infrared threshold exponents governing the spinon and holon dynamics in a slave boson representation of these models. We construct a conserving T-matrix approximation which recovers the exact exponents with good numerical accuracy. Our approximation includes both coherent spin flip scattering and charge fluctuation processes. For the single-channel case the tendency to form bound states drastically modifies the low energy behavior. For the multi-channel case in the Kondo limit the bound state contributions are unimportant.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 3 postscript figures included Final version with minor changes in wording, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Unusual misregulation of RNA splicing caused by insertion of a transposable element into the T (Brachyury) locus

BACKGROUND: The T(Wis )mutant allele of the Brachyury, or T, gene was created by insertion of an endogenous retrovirus-like early transposon (ETn) element into the exon 7 splice donor consensus sequence of the 8 exon T locus. While the developmental consequences of this disruption have been well characterized, the molecular consequences have not been previously investigated, and it has been assumed that the insertion results in a truncated protein. This study sought to further characterize the mutant T(Wis )allele by investigating the nature of the transcripts produced by insertion of this transposable element. RESULTS: Using an RT-PCR based approach, we have shown that at least 8 different mutant transcripts are produced from the T(Wis )allele. All T(Wis )transcripts bypass the mutated exon 7 splice donor site, such that wild type T transcripts are not produced from the T(Wis )allele. CONCLUSIONS: This result shows an unsuspected misregulation of RNA splicing caused by insertion of a transposable element, that could have more widespread consequences in the genome

Mejorando agricultura, mejorando nutrición.

PCCMCA. LEG 47

Investigation of Staphylococcus strains with heterogeneous resistance to glycopeptides in a Turkish university hospital

BACKGROUND: The hetero-glycopeptide intermediate staphylococci is considered to be the precursor of glycopeptide intermediate staphylococci especially vancomycin intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA). For this purpose, we aimed to investigate the heterogeneous resistance to glycopeptide and their frequencies in 135 Staphylococcus strains. METHODS: Heterogeneous resistance of Staphylococcus strains was detected by inoculating the strains onto Brain Heart Infusion agar supplemented with 4 mg/L of vancomycin (BHA-V4). Agar dilution method was used for determining MICs of glycopeptides and population analysis profile was performed for detecting frequency of heterogeneous resistance for the parents of selected strains on BHA-4. RESULTS: Eight (6%) out of 135 Staphylococcus strains were exhibited heterogeneous resistance to at least one glycopeptide. One (1.2%) out of 81 S. aureus was found intermediate resistance to teicoplanin (MIC 16 mg/L). Other seven strains were Staphylococcus haemolyticus (13%) out of 54 coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS). Six of the seven strains were detected heterogeneously reducing susceptibility to vancomycin (MICs ranged between 5–8 mg/L) and teicoplanin (MICs ranged between 32–64 mg/L), and one S. haemolyticus was found heterogeneous resistance to teicoplanin (MIC 32 mg/L). Frequencies of heterogeneous resistance were measured being one in 10(6 )– 10(7 )cfu/ml. MICs of vancomycin and teicoplanin for hetero-staphylococci were determined as 2–6 folds and 3–16 folds higher than their parents, respectively. These strains were isolated from six patients (7%) and two (4%) of health care wokers hands. Hetero-VISA strain was not detected. CONCLUSION: Heterogeneous resistance to glycopeptide in CoNS strains was observed to be significantly more emergent than those of S. aureus strains (vancomycin P 0.001, teicoplanin, P 0.007). The increase MICs of glycopeptide resistance for subpopulations of staphylococci comparing with their parents could be an important clue for recognizing the early steps in the appearance of VISA strains. We suggested to screen clinical S. aureus and CoNS strains, systematically, for the presence of heterogeneously resistance to glycopeptide