Factors affecting cost overrun at construction projects in Somalia

The construction industry plays an influential role in the socio-economy of a country. In Somalia, the construction industry is one of the essential industries participating significantly in the growth of socio-economic development. Somalia is facing a significant issue of cost overrun in construction projects. The issue of cost overrun has become a serious concern to investors, which needs serious attention and in-depth research to put forward solutions to this issue. The objectives of this research are (1) To identify factors causing cost overrun in construction projects, (2) To study a strategy to overcome cost overrun in construction projects. The research was taking place in Somalia. And it is based on quantitative research by using questionnaire to carry out the research. The questionnaire was designed based on the objectives. A total of 51 questionnaires were gathered from a total of 100 Grade A contractors in Somalia. The analysis of the data was used by using SPSS software. The variables of this research were ranked based on their mean; the study proves that the contractors are facing cost overrun problems specifically the factors used in the questionnaire. Furthermore, majority of the respondents strongly agreed to the strategies provided by the study to overcome cost overrun and keep the construction projects within budget. This finding contributes to the contractor’s development and could be referenced by contractors who want to increase their chance of overcoming cost overruns in construction projects

Welfare Impacts of the Mexico Potato Quarantine

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tariffs on U.S. potato imports to Mexico were phased out by 1993. Citing phytosanitary issues, in 1996, the Mexican government placed quantitative restrictions on U.S. potato imports and restricted their import only to designated border areas. This article estimates the welfare cost of restricting U.S. potato imports into Mexico. We find that removing trade restrictions may lead to over 1.8 million tons of new imports into Mexico, a gain of consumer surplus of 4.0 billion pesos per year, and a loss of 2.9 billion pesos of producer surplus.international trade, non-tariff barriers, potatoes, quarantine, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, welfare loss, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, F13, L13, Q13, Q17, C35,

Transformational leadership and organizational commitment as antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior in somalia telecommunication industry

Understanding the importance ol' (lie employees who go above and beyond the eall of duty for the sake of organizational goals and values known as organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), remains as one of the critical issues in the workplace environment, especially in developing countries. This study investigates the significance role of the three-components (affective, continuance and normative) of organizational commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration) and OCB in three leading telecommunication companies in Mogadishu, Somalia. Besides, the differences in OCB, transformational leadership, and organizational commitment between the companies were also investigated. 305 respondents, who are employees of three telecommunication companies in Mogadishu, Somalia, participated in questionnaire survey. The measurement tools undertaken in the data collection include Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Scale, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Organizational Commitment Scale. Subsequently, the data collected were quantitatively analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) method. Results indicated that transformational leadership is positively and significantly related to OCB. Furthermore, using bootstrapping analysis, the results demonstrated that organizational commitment positively and significantly mediates the relationship between the four aspects of transformational leadership and OCB. Ultimately, the results of the study revealed that the aspects of transformational leadership, as well as the components of organizational commitment, affective and normative, could further explain employees’ OCB, while continuancc commitment had insignificant role in predicting employees' OCB Moreover, the telecommunication companies highlight significant differences toward practicing OCB, transformational leadership and organizational commitment based on the findings of the study. In conclusion this study provides organizations in the industry to comprehensively understand tc concepts o f organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), translmmatio,,,,! leadership attributes and organizational commitment to improve as we . increase organizational accomplishments and productivity

Dynamic response of a laterally-loaded infinite rigid cylinder embedded in a saturated poroelastic medium

In this paper, an analytical solution for the response of a rigid cylinder embedded in a full-space poroelastic medium subjected to a dynamic lateral load is derived. The problem is idealised as a two-dimensional problem. The solution is obtained using Biot’s theory for acoustic waves. In this solution, the displacements of the solid skeleton and the pore pressure are expressed in terms of three scalar potentials. These potential correspond to the wave velocities of the slow and fast compressional wave and to the shear wave. The governing equation for the dynamic motion is expressed in the frequency domain using Fourier transformation and the potentials are shown to be given by Holmholtz equations

Dengue and hepatitis E virus infection in pregnant women in Eastern Sudan, a challenge for diagnosis in an endemic area

Dengue fever and hepatitis E virus infection are both a public health problem in developing countries due to poor sanitation. Infection with viral hepatitis and dengue fever can present with similar clinical such and fever, headache and abortion. This study was conducted in Port-Sudan city in the eastern part of the country. ELISA and Real Time PCR tests were used to detect the infection. A total number of 39 pregnant women with a mean age 26 ±7.8 were included in the study. All of them had fever, 32 (92.3%) admitted with headache, 11 (28.2%) of them had vomiting, and abortion was reported in two cases (5.1%). The study showed that 4 ( 10.3% ) of pregnant women were positive for the Hepatitis E virus, 5 ( 12.8%) positive for Dengue virus IgG, and only one sample (2.6%) was positive for IgM capture ELISA and real time PCR . Death due to hepatitis E infection was reported in one case with 7th month of pregnancy. Most of hepatitis cases were reported in the central sector of the Portsudan city. The diagnosis of hepatitis E virus and dengue virus in an endemic area is a great challenge for health care staff working in these areas. Both Dengue virus and Hepatitis E virus infection should be considered in pregnant women especially in similar settings

Multimodal Affect Recognition: Current Approaches and Challenges

Many factors render multimodal affect recognition approaches appealing. First, humans employ a multimodal approach in emotion recognition. It is only fitting that machines, which attempt to reproduce elements of the human emotional intelligence, employ the same approach. Second, the combination of multiple-affective signals not only provides a richer collection of data but also helps alleviate the effects of uncertainty in the raw signals. Lastly, they potentially afford us the flexibility to classify emotions even when one or more source signals are not possible to retrieve. However, the multimodal approach presents challenges pertaining to the fusion of individual signals, dimensionality of the feature space, and incompatibility of collected signals in terms of time resolution and format. In this chapter, we explore the aforementioned challenges while presenting the latest scholarship on the topic. Hence, we first discuss the various modalities used in affect classification. Second, we explore the fusion of modalities. Third, we present publicly accessible multimodal datasets designed to expedite work on the topic by eliminating the laborious task of dataset collection. Fourth, we analyze representative works on the topic. Finally, we summarize the current challenges in the field and provide ideas for future research directions

Antioxidant activity, Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents and Cytotoxic activity of Euphorbia aegyptiaca

Euphorbia aegyptiaca is a herbaceous plant traditionally used in Sudan for treatment of various diseases, and the study of this plant is still limited. The aim of the present study was to screen the phytochemicals and to assess the Antioxidant activity, total phenolic, flavonoid contents and cytotoxic activity of Euphorbia aegyptiaca. The plant material was extracted successively by Soxhlet apparatus using n-hexane, chloroform and methanol. The chemical constituents of the extracts were carried out using the standard procedures. The Folin- Ciocalteu and Aluminium chloride method was employed to calculate the total phenolic and flavonoid content, respectively. The antioxidant activity, was assessed by measuring the scavenging activity of the DPPH (2.2Di (4-tert-octylphenyl)-1-picryl-hydrazyl) and Propyl Gallate as standard antioxidants. While cytotoxic activities were screened using brine shrimp. Phytochemical screening studies revealed that flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, saponins, sterols, terpenes, anthraquinones and alkaloids were the main phytochemicals present in extracts of E. aegyptiaca. The methanol extract showed the highest level of total phenolic contents (173.49±2.427 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid content (239.53±7.90 mg QE/g), and the highest antioxidant activity 89% with least (IC50 0.0449µg/ml), and the no toxicity against brine shrimp (LD50 3423.156). Furthermore, no toxicity in all extracts was observed. The present study is the first evaluation regarding the characterization of E. aegyptiaca and its safety, and the results demonstrate its antioxidant potential and suggest its safe therapeutic use. The results suggest that methanol extract is a rich source of phytochemicals and exhibits highest amount of and total phenolic, flavonoid content and significant antioxidant activity and it has no cytotoxic activity. E. aegyptiaca plant can be regarded as a promising Source of naturally occurring potential antioxidants. Keywords: Euphorbia aegyptiaca, Sudan, Antioxidant, Total phenolic, total flavonoid, Cytotoxicity