CONSTRUCTION MANAGER'S INFLUENCE ON PROJECT SUCCESS

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/827 on 27.02.2017 by CS (TIS)Construction managers aim to deliver successful construction projects; however it is unclear how they perceive construction project success and how they influence that success. Focusing on the construction phase of the project, a Systems Conceptual Framework is induced from the literature review. In-depth interviews undertaken by 10 construction managers, whose experience accounts for over 130 construction projects, provide data to derive categories which populate the Systems Conceptual Framework initially developed. By adopting an unstructured approach to the data collection, a holistic view of how construction managers impact the success of construction projects is acquired. The construction managers' influence on success is identified through the skills, competencies and characteristics which enable success of the construction phase (enablers). This inductive-deductive methodological approach allows the identification of categories and relations between them which, along with the Systems Conceptual Framework, form the Empirical Model. A Pareto analysis was carried out in order to determine the relative relevance categories have against each others. Overall, 56 relations were identified between the 37 categories derived from the data analysis. The results of the research show that the influence of construction managers on project success is determined by twenty enablers. According to the Pareto analysis, 6 enablers were most relevant; they are separated into two interrelated sets: Communication, Leadership and People Management, and Ability to Pull Back, Experience and Technical Skill. This suggests that construction managers consider mastering 'hard' and 'soft' aspects of the job are both equally relevant to the success of the project. The high interconnectivity between the categories is what allows the Empirical Model to be developed; making it the most important finding of this research. Evidence indicates that construction managers work with both a subjective (qualitative) and an objective (quantitative) concept of success. The quantitative concept of success can have between two and four success factors, which are prioritised according to the needs of the client; there is always one critical success factors that leads the project. The subjective concept of success incorporates aspects of the end user and personal satisfaction, and specific characteristics of the project. The results also show that the outcomes of construction projects can be three: success, failure, and a third outcome which is neither, an outcome between success and failure. Participants have identified this last outcome as being the most frequent

Configuration-Space Location of the Entanglement between Two Subsystems

In this paper we address the question: where in configuration space is the entanglement between two particles located? We present a thought-experiment, equally applicable to discrete or continuous-variable systems, in which one or both parties makes a preliminary measurement of the state with only enough resolution to determine whether or not the particle resides in a chosen region, before attempting to make use of the entanglement. We argue that this provides an operational answer to the question of how much entanglement was originally located within the chosen region. We illustrate the approach in a spin system, and also in a pair of coupled harmonic oscillators. Our approach is particularly simple to implement for pure states, since in this case the sub-ensemble in which the system is definitely located in the restricted region after the measurement is also pure, and hence its entanglement can be simply characterised by the entropy of the reduced density operators. For our spin example we present results showing how the entanglement varies as a function of the parameters of the initial state; for the continuous case, we find also how it depends on the location and size of the chosen regions. Hence we show that the distribution of entanglement is very different from the distribution of the classical correlations.Comment: RevTex, 12 pages, 9 figures (28 files). Modifications in response to journal referee

Connecting the generalized robustness and the geometric measure of entanglement

The main goal of this paper is to provide a connection between the generalized robustness of entanglement ($R_g$) and the geometric measure of entanglement ($E_{GME}$). First, we show that the generalized robustness is always higher than or equal to the geometric measure. Then we find a tighter lower bound to $R_g(\rho)$ based only on the purity of $\rho$ and its maximal overlap to a separable state. As we will see it is also possible to express this lower bound in terms of $E_{GME}$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome. v2: text improved - some completely symmetric states were used to illustrate the results. Comments are always welcome! v3: minor changes. Accepted by Phys. Rev. A. v4: results on symmetric states fixe

Laser frequency modulation with electron plasma

When laser beam passes through electron plasma its frequency shifts by amount proportional to plasma density. This density varies with modulating signal resulting in corresponding modulation of laser beam frequency. Necessary apparatus is relatively inexpensive since crystals are not required

Entanglement in the XX spin chain with an energy current

We consider the ground state of the XX chain that is constrained to carry a current of energy. The von Neumann entropy of a block of $L$ neighboring spins, describing entanglement of the block with the rest of the chain, is computed. Recent calculations have revealed that the entropy in the XX model diverges logarithmically with the size of the subsystem. We show that the presence of the energy current increases the prefactor of the logarithmic growth. This result indicates that the emergence of the energy current gives rise to an increase of entanglement.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Sobre las avellanedas subbéticas con Ulmus Glabra Huds. en las sierras de Cazorla-Segura-Alcaraz, Jaén-Albacete (España)

Se aportan nuevos datos fitosociológicos y florísticos sobre las avellanedas (Geo urbani-Coryletum avellanae) del sector fitogeográfico Subbético (provincia Bética, región Mediterránea). La ubicación de esta asociación edafohidrófila en biotopos con suelos permanentemente húmedos, como es el caso de profundas vaguadas o cañones orientados al norte y con condiciones microclimáticas excepcionales (submediterráneas), posibilita la aparición en el seno de esta comunidad de taxones típicamente eurosiberianos con distribución límite en el sur de España; tal es el caso de Ulmus glabra, Carex sylvatica subsp. sylvatica o Moehringia trinervia. Se defi ne en el seno de esta comunidad una nueva subasociación (Geo urbani-Coryletum avellanae ulmetosum glabrae subass. nova) vinculada con Corylo-Populion, Tilio-Acerion y Fagetalia por la afi nidad fi tosociológica de algunas especies destacables y compartiendo varios taxones con las avellanedas del Sistema Ibérico (Astrantio-Coryletum avellanae). Esta subasociación también representa zonas muy bien conservadas, con especies muy escasas, amenazadas o legalmente protegidas. Se define también otra nueva subasociación en este caso en el seno del aceral bético (Daphno latifoliae-Aceretum granatensis coryletosum avellanae subass. nova) cuyo significado fitogeográfico corresponde al empobrecimiento progresivo de las avellanedas en táxones de Tilio-Acerion, Fagetalia y los más restringidos de Querco-Fagetea al desplazarnos hacia el suroeste en el sector Subbético (subsector Cazorlense), refugiándose el resto de su cortejo florístico en los acerales béticos.New phytosociological and floristic data about hazel forests (Geo urbaniCoryletum avellanae) endemic of the Subbético phytogeographical sector (Bética province, Mediterranean region) are presented. This edaphohygrophilous association develops on the permanently wet soils of the deep ravines and canyons with north exposition and exceptional microclimatic characteristics (submediterranean) of the Subbético supramediterranean bioclimatic belt. These conditions enable Eurosiberian species, very unusual and rare in southern Spain, to appear inside this community: Ulmus glabra, Carex sylvatica subsp. sylvatica or Moehringia trinervia. To point out this kind of vegetation we propose a new subassociation: Geo urbani-Coryletum avellanae ulmetosum glabrae subass. nova, related to Corylo-Populion, Tilio-Acerion and Fagetalia and connected with the hazel forests, Astrantio-Coryletum avellanae, found in the Oroibérica subprovince (Iberian range). The new subassociation represents biotopes inside this plant ecosystem very well preserved. We also propose a new subassociation inside the maple tree forests of the Subbético sector (Daphno latifoliae-Aceretum granatensis coryletosum avellanae subass. nova). We interpreted this syntaxa as an impoverishment of the hazel forests in taxa of Tilio-Acerion, Fagetalia and Querco-Fagetea to the southwest of the Subbético sector, taking refuge its more resistant taxa inside Aceri-Quercion forests

Comportamiento fitocenológico de Alliaria Petiolata (M. Bieb.) Caravaca & Grande en el sur de la Península Ibérica

Alliaria petiolata es una especie ampliamente distribuída por el norte de la Península Ibérica y que se enrarece hacia el sur, localizándose entonces en biotopos submediterráneos, generalmente escasos en Andalucía. En este trabajo se aborda el estudio fi tocenológico (fi tosociológico) de A. petiolata en el sur de Andalucía (Málaga y zonas limítrofes). En la provincia de Málaga, A. petiolata aparece en comunidades de pastizal escionitrófi lo bajo bosques como pinsapares (Abies pinsapo), robledales (Quercus pyrenaica) y acerales (Acer monspessulanum). Entre los resultados, se describe una nueva subasociación (Urtico dubiae-Smyrnietum olusatri subass. ranunculetosum blepharicarpi nova) propia hasta el momento del subsector Torcalense (sector Antequerano, provincia Bética, subregión Mediterránea Occidental), caracterizada precisamente por la presencia de A. petiolata. Además se estudia la presencia de esta especie en otras dos asociaciones de pastizales escionitrófi los distribuidos por Andalucía.Alliaria petiolata is widely distributed in the Northern Iberian Peninsula but becomes rare in the south where it appears only in sub-Mediterranean favourable biotopes which are generally scarce in Andalusia. In this paper we deal with the phytosociological study of A. petiolata in southern Andalusia (Malaga province and surroundings). In Malaga province A. petiolata occurs in sciophilous-nitrophilous herbs communities under covering of Abies pinsapo, Quercus pyrenaica or Acer monspessulanum. As a result a new association (Urtico dubiae-Smyrnietum olusatri subass. ranunculetosum blepharicarpi nova) is described from Torcal de Antequera (Antequerano sector, Baetic province, Western Mediterranean subregion), characterised by A. petiolata. Moreover, we have studied the presence of Alliaria in another two sciophilous-nitrophilous associations spread out in Andalusia

Fluctuations in subsystems of the zero temperature XX chain: Emergence of an effective temperature

The zero-temperature XX chain is studied with emphasis on the properties of a block of $L$ spins inside the chain. We investigate the quantum fluctuations resulting from the entanglement of the block with the rest of the chain using analytical as well as numerical (density matrix renormalization group) methods. It is found that the rest of the chain acts as a thermal environment and an effective temperature can be introduced to describe the fluctuations. We show that the effective temperature description is robust in the sense that several independent definitions (through fluctuation dissipation theorem, comparing with a finite temperature system) yield the same functional form in the limit of large block size ($L\to\infty$). The effective temperature can also be shown to satisfy the basic requirements on how it changes when two bodies of equal or unequal temperatures are brought into contact.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure