Collaborative Engagement Approaches For Delivering Sustainable Infrastructure Projects In The AEC Sector: A Review

The public sector has traditionally financed and operated infrastructure projects using resources from taxes and various levies (e.g. fuel taxes, road user charges). However, the rapid increase in human population growth coupled with extended globalisation complexities and associated social/political/economic challenges have placed new demands on the purveyors and operators of infrastructure projects. The importance of delivering quality infrastructure has been underlined by the United Nations declaration of the Millennium Development Goals; as has the provision of ‘adequate’ basic structures and facilities necessary for the well-being of urban populations in developing countries. Thus, in an effort to finance developing countries’ infrastructure needs, most countries have adopted some form of public-private collaboration strategy. This paper critically reviews these collaborative engagement approaches, identifies and highlights 10 critical themes that need to be appropriately captured and aligned to existing business models in order to successfully deliver sustainable infrastructure projects. Research findings show that infrastructure services can be delivered in many ways, and through various routes. For example, a purely public approach can cause problems such as slow and ineffective decision-making, inefficient organisational and institutional augmentation, and lack of competition and inefficiency (collectively known as government failure). On the other hand, adopting a purely private approach can cause problems such as inequalities in the distribution of infrastructure services (known as market failure). Thus, to overcome both government and market failures, a collaborative approach is advocated which incorporates the strengths of both of these polarised positions

The changes in the internationalization process of born global start-ups in a crisis environment

Abstract. Venturing into global markets is viewed as a challenging task for high tech startups due to number of reasons such as lack of funding, resources, competition, etc. These challenges can get intensified in the presence of a global level crisis like Covid19 and it may urge born global firms to revisit and transform their internationalization strategies to secure their growth ambitions and increase the likelihood of survival. Today, speed is widely recognized as an important source of competitive advantage and this is highly applicable for the firms who are operating in high tech industries. These companies cannot pause or delay their development or progression due to external shocks in the business environment because that will make their value offerings obsolete within the global market landscape. Hence, it’s important to explore an optimum internationalization strategy which is capable of overcoming the challenges caused by pandemic. The main research problem of the thesis is built around this idea and it deeply explores the post Covid-19 changes in the internationalization process of a high-tech born global start-ups with a special focus on the role of social networks and internet based sales channel strategies in deriving a more crisis friendly internationalization model. The prolonged pandemic has transformed many industries globally and it has become the new normal urging firms to learn how to live with it. However, there is a clear dearth of studies in this particular research area as Covid-19 has been a relatively new and unexpected development which came out as a surprise. Theoretically, the present study is based on two different strategic alternatives to understand the company’s internationalization strategy. Born global approach is a one alternative and the idea of complex internationalization strategies is the other option which have been evaluated within a crisis environment. The thesis has used a qualitative exploratory research design to closely observe how high-tech born global start-ups react to the pandemic, what have they done differently to secure their growth and likelihood of survival. The findings of the study revealed that born global start-ups intensify their born global strategy and transform towards a more aggressive and risk taking internationalization approach with the help of social networks and internet based sales channel strategies. The study largely denies the idea of complex strategies which reflects a defensive and risk mitigating approach towards internationalization. The social networks which are based on friendship, trust and years of exchanging favors are immensely useful to form strategic alliances globally. Further, internet based dual sales channel strategies play an influential role in securing non-exclusive distribution rights which protects firms against exploitive distributors and intermediaries. Overall, the thesis provides some valuable insights for both academia and practitioners in deriving a crisis friendly advanced internationalization model to face the new challenges of the Covid-19 times

The incidence of Ganoderma root and bole rot of coconut in Sri Lanka

A tapering disease of coconut in Sri Lanka caused by Ganoderma boninense Pat. is described. Affected plams show necrosis of pinnae, dropping of dead leaves, necrosis of male flowers and a reduction in nut setting. Extensive root decay is also noticed. During the final stages of the disease, a soft rot is observed at the bud. Further, stem,-bleeding and rotting of the bole are observed. Fruit-bodies ususally occur at the base of the bole

The history of healthcare facilities management services: a UK perspective on infection control

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The history of the development of non-clinical services in infection control (IC) dates back to the pre-modern era. There is evidence of health-care facility management (HFM) services in Roman military hospitals. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Christian beliefs and teaching shaped the development of HFM in monastic hospitals. It was not until the late Victorian era that the link between HFM services and diseases caused by “miasma”, or bad air, became established. The discovery of bacteria in the modern scientific era reduced the level of importance previously attached to non-clinical causes of infections. Today, in the NHS, HFM services continue to be treated as though they had no real role to play in IC. This paper aims to collate historical and epidemiological evidence to show the link between HFM and IC. Design/methodology/approach: The evidence gathered in this research paper is primarily based on an in-depth review of research from a wide range of sources. A “within-study literature analysis” was conducted to synthesise the research materials. This involved the application of “between-source triangulation” to verify the quality of the information contained in the studies, and “between-source complementarity” to provide an in-depth elaboration of the historical facts. Findings: Historical and epidemiological evidence shows that HFM services such as cleaning, waste management, catering, laundry and maintenance continue to play a crucial role in IC. This is corroborated by evidence gathered from the work of renowned pioneers in the field of IC. However, reforms in the NHS have failed to consider this, as HFM services have been largely fragmented through different partnership arrangements. Practical implications: Among many other things, this research raises the profile of HFM staff in relation to the issue of IC in hospitals. It presents convincing evidence to show that the relationship between the clinical and non-clinical domains in controlling infections in hospitals has a long history. The findings of this research give HFM staff invaluable information about the significant role of their profession in the control of infections in hospitals. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies examining the historical development of HFM services, as well as their contribution to IC. Other work in this area has mainly been framed from a clinical health-care perspective

Assessing the Risks of Dampness and Mould Growth in Renovated Properties

A large portion of the UK housing stock was built before the introduction of the 1989’s building regulations in which insulated cavity walls became mandatory. It is estimated that 65% of the UK housing stock have uninsulated walls and 49% have single glazed leaky windows making them inefficient in terms of energy performance. There have been great efforts during the recent years to improve the quality and energy performance of such buildings through retrofitting/refurbishment not only to improve the living standards of their occupants but also to achieve UK’s carbon emission targets for 2050. Refurbishing such buildings to improve their quality/energy performance may, at the same time, increase the risk of poor indoor air quality (IAQ), condensation, dampness, and mould growth in these buildings. Many refurbished housing stock in the UK are facing similar problems. Damp and mould issues affect between 30-50% of new or refurbished buildings. There is therefore a need for appropriate design strategies not only to improve the quality and thermal performances of such buildings but also to reduce the aforementioned risks through better design, construction detailing, methods, and management processes. This paper reports on the first phase of a joint university/industry Knowledge Transfer project to address the above issues in renovated student accommodations in North West England. Temperature, relative humidity, CO2, and meter readings are measured and recorded in three case study buildings. Results revealed a direct relationship between energy consumption, IAQ, and occupants’ behaviours in the buildings. CO2, Temperature, and RH levels were more acceptable in one of the case study buildings; however, its energy consumption was 7 times higher when compared with a similar building

Formalising Legal Knowledge of Sri Lankan Civil Appellate High Court Domain from Ontological Perspective

Legal ontologies are used to support structuring concepts and relationships in the legal domain. In this study, we focus on the Sri Lankan Civil Appellate High Court (CAHC) domain and investigate the problem of managing the domain knowledge by building a domain ontology. To answer this problem, in this paper, we propose ontology to represent legal domain knowledge in the Sri Lankan CAHC domain. We use Methontology as the ontology development methodology and the Knowledge Representation (KR) ontology to formalise the CAHC domain concepts and to draw relationships between them. The developed ontology’s ability to appropriately model the CAHC domain is evaluated by using a set of anonymized real cases. We believe that the results of this study will benefit knowledge management efforts especially in the Sri Lankan legal context.</p