Improving communication between client and contractor during construction project in Nigerian construction industry

Communication today has become the crucial element of every organisation. In construction industry, during construction project, information need to be accurately and timely communicating among project stakeholders in order to realized the project objectives. Poor communication between client and contractor during construction project is one of the major factors that affect project delivery. Therefore the objectives of this research are to investigate the causes and effects of poor communication between client and contractor and the suitable methods to improve communication between the client and contractor. The objectives where achieved by identifying the causes and effects of poor communication between client and contractor, and the methods to improve communication between the client and contractor in the Nigerian construction industry through a statistical analyses. Structured questionnaire was used to 120 combinations of clients and contractors in the construction industry with 80% of response rate. Several analyses such as frequency, mean, ranking and Regression were used to analyze the data. The results shows that, lack of corporation and selfish interest were the most causes of poor communication between the client and contractor. Contrastingly, maintaining integrity and sufficient trust were the most significant ways to improve communication between the client and contractor. The hypothesis reveals that, poor communication between the client and contractor has significant effects on construction projects. This research will profit the client and contractor, and the various project stakeholders in the construction industry, by providing adequate knowledge regarding the causes and effects of poor communication between the client and contractor, so that necessary steps to be taken for prevention. Also it will provide knowledge about the appropriate strategies (method) to employ in order to improve communication between the two parties

Techno-economic assessment of green hydrogen production in Norway using microgrid with wind power

Store deler av Norges hydrogenforbruk kommer fra grått hydrogen, som har store direkte utslipp. Derfor ønskes det å se på muligheter for alternative kilder for hydrogen i Norge. Et alternativ er grønt hydrogen, som er produsert ved å spalte vann ved bruk av elektrolyse. Norge har høy andel fornybare energikilder i strømnettet, som er optimalt for produksjon av grønt hydrogen ved å konvertere elektrisitet fra strømnettet til grønt hydrogen. Det finnes videre en del vindparker i Norge, blant dem en vindpark på Bessakerfjellet som har en installert effekt på 57,5MW. Anlegget konverterer per i dag vindkraft til elektrisitet, og selger elektrisiteten, ved hjelp av blant annet spottpriser. Spottprisene varierer basert på forbruk og belastning av strømnettet. Gjennom oppgaven blir det sett på samspillsøkonomien mellom å benytte seg av vindkraft i kombinasjon med hydrogenproduksjonsanlegg, hydrogenlagringstank og batteri i et mikronett, med formål om å optimalisere det økonomiske resultatet. Oppgaven benytter spottpriser for år 2019 som et utgangspunkt for teknoøkonomiske analyser, ved gjennomgang av datasettet for spottpriser 2019, finner man spottpris varierer fra 57 kr per MWh til 1069 kr per MWh. Ved å kombinere vindparken på Bessakerfjellet i et mikronett, kan optimaliseringen av strømforbruket oppnås ved hjelp av styringssystem som tar beslutning om hva og hvor strømmen skal gå for å optimalisere det økonomiske resultatet. Gjennom scenarioanalyser gjort i oppgaven, fremkommer det at ulike konfigurasjoner gir ulikt økonomisk bidrag til totaløkonomien, og ulike hovedelementer har ulikt økonomisk bidrag. Av scenarioanalyser gjort i oppgaven vil det være lønnsomt å produsere grønt hydrogen i kombinasjon med vindkraft hvis salgsprisen på hydrogen er over 4,5USD per kg. Bidrag fra batteri er negativt økonomisk og vil derfor fra anbefales å ikke benytte i stor skala hvis formålet er økonomisk optimalisering.Large parts of Norway's hydrogen consumption come from gray hydrogen, which has large direct emissions. Therefore, it is desired to look at opportunities for alternative sources of hydrogen in Norway. An alternative is green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water using electrolysis. Norway has a high proportion of renewable energy sources in the electricity grid, which is optimal to produce green hydrogen by converting electricity from the electricity grid to green hydrogen. There are also several wind farms in Norway, among them a wind farm on Bessakerfjellet, which has an installed capacity of 57.5 MW. As of today, the plant converts wind power into electricity, and sells the electricity, using spot prices. Spot prices vary based on consumption and load on the power grid. The thesis looks at the interplay economy between using wind power in combination with a hydrogen production plant, hydrogen storage tank and battery in a microgrid, with the aim of optimizing the economic result. The thesis uses spot prices for the year 2019 as a starting point for techno-economic analyzes, when reviewing the data set for spot prices 2019, one finds spot prices vary from NOK 57 per MWh to NOK 1069 per MWh. By combining the wind farm on Bessakerfjellet in a microgrid, the optimization of power consumption can be achieved with the help of a control system that decides what and where the power should go to optimize the financial result. Through scenario analyzes done in the thesis, it emerges that different configurations make different financial contributions to the total economy, and different main elements have different financial contributions. From scenario analyzes done in the thesis, it will be profitable to produce green hydrogen in combination with wind power if the selling price of hydrogen is minimum 4.5USD per kg. Contributions from batteries are negative financially and will therefore be recommended not to use on a large scale if the purpose is economic optimization.M-I

Challenges of communication between the client and contractor during construction projects: the Nigerian perspective

Communication today has become the crucial element of every organization. In the construction industry, during a construction project, information needs to be accurately and timely communicated among project stakeholders in order to realize the project objectives. Poor communication between clients and contractors during the construction project is one of the major factors that affect project delivery. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the causes and effects of poor communication between clients and contractors. This was achieved by identifying the causes and effects of poor communication between clients and contractors in the Nigerian construction industry through a statistical analysis. It is hypothesized that poor communication between clients and contractors, significantly affects construction projects. The population of the respondents is 150, and survey method of data collection was used. One hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were distributed to clients and contractors in the construction industry with 80% of respondents’ rate. Several analyses such as frequency mean, ranking and Regression were used to analyze the data. The results show that, lack of cooperation and selfish interest was the most causes of poor communication between the client and contractor. Identifying barriers to communication among stakeholders in construction industry contribute in perfecting communication that result in enhancing project delivery

Investigating the non-work antecedents of workplace deviance

Deviance in the workplace, which has a huge destructive and harmful impact on the organization, is of key concern to academicians and practitioners. Existing literature focuses on the work-related antecedents of workplace deviance. However, the non-work-related antecedents have received little attention. Hence, the present research attempts to understand, the non-work antecedents that aggravate deviant behavior among employees at a workplace. The Gioia qualitative research approach was used to understand, examine, analyze, and interpret the views of respondents. A semi-structured interviewing technique was adopted. The respondents were encouraged to share their own experiences, thoughts, and understanding regarding the phenomenon. A sample of 25 experienced respondents from public and private organisations in Pakistan were interviewed. The results indicate that commuting factors (road hindrances, conflict behaviors, traffic discipline, and over-speeding), social factors (family-work conflict, and disturbed social relations), and an individual's lifestyle (attitude, physical inactivity, and sleep deprivation) are the contributing factors pertaining to the non-work antecedents of workplace deviance. The current study contributes to the literature by focusing on the non-work antecedents of workplace deviance

Heart failure patients monitoring using IoT-based remote monitoring system

Intelligent health monitoring systems are becoming more important and popular as technology advances. Nowadays, online services are replacing physical infrastructure in several domains including medical services as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the way medical services are delivered. Intelligent appliances, smart homes, and smart medical systems are some of the emerging concepts. The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the way communication occurs alongside data collection sources aided by smart sensors. It also has deployed artificial intelligence (AI) methods for better decision-making provided by efficient data collection, storage, retrieval, and data management. This research employs health monitoring systems for heart patients using IoT and AI-based solutions. Activities of heart patients are monitored and reported using the IoT system. For heart disease prediction, an ensemble model ET-CNN is presented which provides an accuracy score of 0.9524. The investigative data related to this system is very encouraging in real-time reporting and classifying heart patients with great accuracy

Dual-study electrical engineering at Al-Quds University in Palestine

Dual studies was launched at Al-Quds University in 2015, which is aimed at contributing to raising the professional level of Palestinian youth, providing good job opportunities for students after graduation, as well as bridging the gap between the outputs of academic education and the needs and requirements of the Palestinian labor market. One major ingredient of Dual Studies is the Electrical Engineering program, which equips the student with both theory and practice at the same time. During the four years of studying in this program, the student spends half of his/her time in partner companies that are interested in employing electrical engineers. The full-time employment after graduation represents one of the major success indicators of DSEE that would be possible to assess when the first DSEE cohort will graduate and finish their study after two years.This is to acknowledge that the dual study electrical engineering program (DSEE) reported here is part of dual studies project at Al-Quds University (AQU). This project entitled as “More Job Opportunities for the Palestinian Youth” is supported by the German Government BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) through GIZ (The German Development Cooperation Agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH), KfW Development Bank and GFA Consulting Group GmbH. All opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of BMZ, GIZ, KfW, GFA, DHBW and AQU

Gender-based differences of inflammatory, coagulation, and cardiac markers in COVID-19 patients in Erbil city

In December 2019, a new coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) appeared in Wuhan city and quickly became a global health issue. COVID-19 causes various symptoms ranging from no symptoms to potentially deadly pneumonia. The study aimed to understand the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on immune response and the differences in inflammatory, coagulation, and cardiac biomarkers between male and female patients. Between June 1st and November 1st, 2020, 95 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were studied at Zanko Hospital. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed using the real-time RT-PCR technique. All cases were analyzed for clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory data. On average, the patients were 50.64 (SEM= 2.359) years old, with 61 males and 34 females. The patients had elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), which was 43.96 (SEM= 6.154), while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 50.50 (SEM= 5.498). The mean of D-Dimer, ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were 1.204 (SEM= 0.164), 534.7 (SEM= 61.48), and 366.6 (SEM= 36.81), respectively. There were no significant differences in the study's data mentioned above between male and female patients. In conclusion, inflammation is the most prominent symptom in COVID-19 patients, and males and females are nearly equally affected

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability