Proceedings of the African Diaspora Conference on Sustainable Development

The authors urge the Western donor organizations to facilitate and support the take up of such more sustainable models

A comparison of the effects of physical and chemical mutagens in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Three sesame genotypes (Rama, SI 1666 and IC 21706) were treated with physical (γ-rays: 200 Gy, 400 Gy or 600 Gy) or chemical (ethyl methane sulphonate, EMS: 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% or 2.0%) mutagens and their mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency were estimated in the M 2 generation. The M 3 generation was used to identify the most effective mutagen and dose for induction of mutations. The average effectiveness of EMS was much higher than γ-rays. The lowest dose of γ-rays (200 Gy) and the lowest concentration of EMS (0.5%) showed the highest mutagenic efficiency in all genotypes. Analysis of the M 3 generation data based on parameters such as the variance ratio and the difference in residual variances derived from the model of Montalván and Ando indicated that 0.5% concentration of EMS was the most effective treatment for inducing mutations

Web-Based Risk Assessment Tool Using Integrated Duration-Cost Influence Network Model

The major challenges of project risk assessment may be attributed to the knowledge requirements for determining the level of uncertainty and the development of complex models to predict project outcomes. The duration-cost influence network is an adequate model that can be used for activity-based risk modeling. In this study, a scenario analysis feature is added to this model and a Web-based tool is developed that can be used to calculate risk-adjusted duration and cost, considering the risks affecting cost and duration of individual activities. Monte Carlo simulation is used to create scenarios, and the output of these scenarios is calculated by using the cost-duration influence system that simulates the vulnerability of the project to the identified risk factors. The Web-based tool can be used by decision makers during the preplanning stage of construction projects to estimate the cost and duration implications of various risk occurrence scenarios, determine contingencies, and prepare risk-management plans. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000547. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers

TOWARDS AFFORDABLE BIM ADOPTION IN EXTENDED CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY CHAINS

ABSTRACT The UK Government is committed to making BIM compulsory on all government projects by 2016. There is currently significant interest in adopting BIM systems in the design, construction, operation and refurbishment of buildings to deliver a low carbon future. As a result, there is currently a burgeoning interest in BIM and many of the major contractors are increasingly adopting BIM and reviewing their BIM strategies and how they can work with their supply chain to create, manage and share information about projects. However, about 99% of the firms in the construction supply chains are SMEs. They face significant challenges in adoption such as choice of system to implement given that they are frequently involved in projects using different tools which may not easily interoperate and the high costs implementation. There is therefore a need for innovation in developing affordable BIM systems offering new and alternative business models to meet the needs of the significant majority in the industry. This paper presents work being undertaken to allow SMEs to be able to choose and adopt a single affordable tool for their internal use and still be able to interoperate and seamlessly share information with supply chain partners in various modes of operation using emerging standards and protocols, services-oriented architectures and open innovation business models