Ventaja competitiva hacia el desarrollo de proyectos de construcción en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos

This study aims to examine the impact of competitive advantage on the project development in the United Arab Emirates. This study employed a cross-sectional approach, the data obtained through a questionnaire instrument. The data obtained from 382 respondents from the construction industry. The result confirms a positive and significant impact of competitive advantage on the construction project development.  Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar el impacto de la ventaja competitiva en el desarrollo del proyecto en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos. Este estudio empleó un enfoque transversal, los datos obtenidos a través de un instrumento de cuestionario. Los datos obtenidos de 382 encuestados de la industria de la construcción. El resultado confirma un impacto positivo y significativo de la ventaja competitiva en el desarrollo del proyecto de construcción

El papel de los recursos del proyecto en el desarrollo de proyectos de construcción en los EAU

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of project resources on project development in construction projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study is using a quantitative approach. The main test used is the correlation test to find out the direct effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The data are collected using a survey questionnaire instrumentation. The total sample number were 300 participants from the construction industry in the UAE. The finding confirmed that project resources influence construction project development positively and significantly. El objetivo principal de este artículo es investigar el impacto de los recursos del proyecto en el desarrollo del proyecto en proyectos de construcción en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos (EAU). Este estudio está utilizando un enfoque cuantitativo. La prueba principal utilizada es la prueba de correlación para descubrir el efecto directo de la variable independiente en la variable dependiente. Los datos se recopilan utilizando un cuestionario de encuesta de instrumentación. El número total de muestras fue de 300 participantes de la industria de la construcción en los EAU. El hallazgo confirmó que los recursos del proyecto influyen en el desarrollo del proyecto de construcción de manera positiva y significativa

Use of Date Pits as an Energy Source for Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

The present study was conducted to evaluate date pits as an energy source of Nile tilapia fingerlings and adults, in two consecutive experiments. In the first experiment, five isocaloric (450 kcal/100g)-isonitrogenous (35% crude protein) diets containing of date pits as a replacement for wheat bran (energy source) 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels were prepared. The diets were fed to duplicate groups of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings and adults, with average initial weights of 10 and 50g, respectively twice a day, for 70 days. The culture system consisted of 70-L, fiberglass tanks connected together in a closed system. The results indicated that the inclusion of date pits in the diets of both sizes resulted in a significant retardation in growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of Nile tilapia. Body composition was not significantly affect by dietary treatment except for body lipid which was significantly decreased in adult fish fed 100% date pits. The results revealed also that fingerlings fish utilized date pits more efficiently than adult fish. In the second experiment, 8 isocaloric (450 kcal/100g)-isonitrogenous (35% crude protein) containing 0,25 and 50% date pits, 25 and 50% acid treated date pits, 25 and 50 date pits supplemented with exogenous enzyme and 50% acid treated date pits supplemented with enzymes. The diets were fed to Nile tilapia fingerlings (10g), twice a day for 88 days. The results indicated that the control diet produced better growth performance and feed efficiency ratio than date pits-based diets. Growth performance and feed efficiency were significantly retarded with the increase in date pits levels. Protein and energy retention and body composition were not significantly affected by date pits levels. Acid treatment and enzyme supplementation did not improve date pits quality. In conclusion, despite the retardation in the performance of fish fed date pits, the decrease in feed cost may compensate for this retardation. Therefore, about 25% raw date pits could be included in tilapia diets as a replacement of wheat bra

Monitoring and Improving the Effectiveness of Quality Control and Quality Assurance in Road Construction at Al-Ain Municipality

A good roads network has an important bearing on the economic growth of the country. Construction of quality roads, which is considered a primary objective of any highway agencies and contractors, requires concerted efforts on many fronts. Over the past several years, agencies have been working with the construction industry to implement Quality Assurance/Quality Control activities (QA/QC) in an effort to improve the quality of highway construction. They are used as a mean to describe the materials, workmanship, and other general requirements for the project that the highway agencies expect from the contractors. Good specifications should be easy to understand by involved parties. Ambiguous specifications can mislead the contractor and result in increased cost to either or both client and contractor because of claims that may occur. Since the primary function of a QA/QC system is to describe the quality level of the product desired, it follows that an effective specification is one where the contractors correctly interpret the desired quality level and consistently provide that level. Therefore, once QA/QC system is developed and used in the field, they should be monitored to verify their effectiveness and to determine when improvement is necessary, thereby making continuous quality improvement possible. Very few highway agencies currently monitor how well their specifications work. In this research, QA/QC system of Internal Roads and Infrastructure Division at the Al Ain Municipality (AAM) was selected as a case study for monitoring and improving the effectiveness of QA/QC system of road construction projects. To achieve these objectives, a good understanding of current QA/QC system being practiced by the AAM was felt necessary for which relevant evidence, information and sufficient data were collected. It was also considered that it would be foreseeing to know, analyze and compare the QA/QC system being followed by other authorities such as Road Department of Abu Dhabi Municipality (ADM), Roads and Transport Authority (RTA- previously known as Department of Roads, Dubai Municipality), and Dubai Central Laboratory (DCL), which is considered as an integral part of the RTA. Scheduled interviews were made with responsible persons of respective departments of the various organizations. References and data were obtained. Comparison and analysis were performed followed by recommendation for improvement of QA/QC system by developing short and long term measures

Application of quality function deployment to design a liquefied petroleum gas trolley

In Malaysia, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is widely used for domestic purposes. The delivery men who are in charge of delivering the LPG cylinders to the customers are exposed to the ergonomic risk factors associated with excessive force due to the heavy steel cylinders. There are devices used to assist the delivery task, however, the devices are not efficient to be used in non elevated apartments. Due to this reason, this study aims to design an LPG cylinder trolley. Quality Function Deployment was integrated to design the LPG cylinder trolley, so that it can fulfill the delivery man's requirements, thus, an effective device to assist the delivery task is produced. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the integration of QFD is an effective solution in designing an effective LPG cylinder trolley

Artificial Neural Networks as Decision-Makers for Stereo Matching

This paper investigates the use of artificial neural networks to help making a decision on matching of stereo images. An image matching technique based on extracting features from segmented regions is adopted in this work, and a neural network framework is applied for region matching of stereo photographs. Two types of neural networks are used, the radial basis network, (RB) for learning clustering, and the back propagation (BP) network for learning image matching. The (RB) neural network is to cluster the regions according to the locations of their centered points. For each region, the BP network uses differential features as input training data. While training and testing the system, multiple features are extracted and used for enhancing the accuracy of the matching process. Features include (compactness, Euler number, and invariant moments) for each region. Results obtained from the neural networks (namely; clustering and initial matching array) are used to select the best matching pair. Results are showing a good matching accuracy

A Anatomical Study of Fruits for Some Genera of Fabaceae Family Grown in Makhoul Mountain–Salah Al-Din – Iraq

تمت دراسة ثمار ستة انواع تعود لأربعة اجناس من العائلة البقولية Fabaceae  , جمعت الانواع البرية من ذوات الفلقتين التي تنمو في منطقة الدارسة وي سفوح جبل  مكحول في محافظة صلاح الدين, تم دراسة مقاطع مستعرضة لثمار الانواع  المدروسة  حيث أظهرت نتائج الدراسة التشريحية تغايرات واضحة في سمك الغلاف الثمري بينها , وشكل الخلايا المكونة لكل طبقة , كانت جميع الثمار تتكون من ثلاث طبقات ,طبقة الخارجيةExocarp  , و طبقة وسطى Mesocarp, و طبقة داخلية Endocarp . كانت سمك كل طبقة مختلف في جميع الانواع,  فوجد ان الغلاف الثمري  يكون اكثر سمكا في النوع Medicago  polymorpha L اذ يصل متوسط سمك الغلاف الى (342)  مايكرومتر, وأقل سمك(146.9) مايكرومتر سجل في النوع M. monspeliaca . أما بالنسبة لاشكال الخلايا و انواعها فسجلت تغايرات ملحوظة , حيث كان لها عدة أشكال (بيضوي , كروي , إهليجي , شبه بيضوي , متطاول) و هذا يجعلها ذات أهمية تصنيفية حتى بين الانواع المتقاربة من الناحية المظهرية, وهو ما اكدت علي الدراسة الحالية, بالإضافة الى قلة الدراسات التشريحية  للثمار للانواع البرية في العراق.The fruits of six species belonging to four genera of the Fabaceae family were studied. Wild species of dicotyledons that grow in the study area and in the foothills of Makhoul Mountain in Salah al-Din governorate were studied.  The fruiting layer between them, and the shape of the cells that made up each layer, all fruits consisted of three layers, the exocarp, the mesocarp, and the endocarp.  The thickness of each layer was different in all species. It was found that the fruiting envelope is thicker in the type Medicago polymorpha L, as the average thickness of the coat reaches (342) micrometers, and the thickness of (146.9) micrometers was recorded in the type M. monspeliaca.  As for the shapes of cells and their types, remarkable variations were recorded, as they had several shapes (oval, spherical, elliptical, semi-oval, elongated) and this makes them of taxonomic significance even between the phenotypically close types, which confirmed the current study, in addition to  Lack of anatomical studies of the fruits of wild species in Iraq