Planning and estimating design work: a review of British practice

This paper deals with the methods adopted by Architects and Engineers to plan and estimate the cost of their professional services and reviews techniques used by design managers to predict and plan the staff resources which are necessary for effective and efficient design work. The paper considers the significant trend towards fee competition amongst design professionals shows that there is a growing need for practices to more accurately assess and realistically programme their staff resource requirements. The paper also considers the extent to which cost control systems adopted by design managers are used to predict the cost of future design work and will describes a comprehensive survey which is currently being undertaken to investigate these issues

Modelling levels of accuracy in design cost estimation

The use of fee competition by construction industry clients has increased the need for design consultants to predict more accurately the cost of their professional services. There is evidence of concern among clients that fee reductions resulting from fee competition have been accompanied in many cases by a reduction in the level of services provided by consultants. However, there is little published work on design cost estimation methods and their accuracy. This paper describes a recently completed programme of research in design cost estimation practice in the United Kingdom. An overview of design cost estimation practice is presented and the development and operation of a model which simulates the design cost estimation process is described. The paper explains and presents the results of a data collection strategy that was adopted to provide input for the model and conclusions are drawn on the validity of the model when compared to the indicative levels of accuracy in design cost estimation suggested in the literature. Finally, recommendations are given for future research work that should lead to a usable cost estimation tool for design consultants

Factors affecting the procurement of capital works for the United Kingdom water industry

In England and Wales the responsibility for the provision and maintenance of water supply and sewerage facilities was transferred to the private sector with the sale (privatisation) of the government-owned Regional Water Authorities to create nine English and one Welsh public limited companies (PLCs). Prior to privatisation, the Regional Water Authorities held an agreement whereby the various English Local Authorities were responsible as agents to the Water Authorities for the provision and maintenance of sewerage facilities within their districts. These agency agreements were transferred to the PLCs but these could be subject to far reaching review in the future. There are also 28 existing small private water supply companies with no involvement in sewerage matters

Innovative Approaches to Upgrade Functional Properties of Dahi

Fermentation is the oldest method of milk preservation. Dahi is considered the oldest Indian fermented milk product and is equivalent to western yoghurt obtained by lactic fermentation through the action of single or mixed strains of lactic acid bacteria or by lactic fermentation accompanied by alcoholic fermentation by yeast. Traditionally dahi was prepared at home and it is one of the fastest growing milk product segments in India. Dahi could be categorized as a functional food owing to its various nutritional and therapeutic properties. Nutritional components of milk such as vitamins, proteins, minerals, carbohydrates are modified under the influence of metabolic activity of starter cultures during fermentation. β-galactosidase, the enzyme required for lactose hydrolysis have been demonstrated in dahi and the product exhibited antagonism against pathogenic and spoilage causing microorganisms

Microbiological Considerations for Probiotic Supplemented Foods

Functional properties of probiotics coupled with consumer’s inclination towards healthful foods have projected probiotics as a new ingredient in functional food market. Probiotic containing foods exhibits diverse health ben-efits and the starter cultures employed for formulation of probiotic supplemented food must possess certain pre-requisite characteristics to exhibit prophylactic properties. Probiotic containing foods available in the market are often of poor quality and did not meet the desired level of viable microorganisms, required for exhibiting health benefits. In the present article an endeavor has been made to highlight the significance of probiotic viability and their population for exhibiting health benefits and the quality of probiotic containing foods available in the global market and prerequisites for identity of a product as a probiotic food have also been delineated. Production of probiotic supplemented food with prophylactic is emerging to build-up consumer’s confidence for long-term sus-tainability of probiotic food industries

Microbiological Considerations for Milk Products

Renewed interest of consumers towards healthful food has projected probiotic supplemented food as a functional food in the current era of self-care and complementary medicine. Cultured milk products have been extensively used as a vehicle for incorpora-tion of probiotics to enhance its prophylactic proper-ties resulting in diverse probiotic supplemented foods. Consumers are purchasing probiotic foods based upon label information but they are not confident regarding its health claims. Most of the probiotic supplemented food available in the global market could not meet the desired level of viable population of probiotics

A research methodology for modelling construction design service costs

The increased use of fee competition by construction industry clients has caused providers of professional design services to review their fee estimation and cost control approaches. This paper describes the development of a research methodology for a programme of work that was initiated at the request of industrial collaborators and was concerned with the development of a practical system for determining realistic fee estimates for design work using historic cost data. The paper explains why it became necessary for the focus of the work to shift from, what appeared at first to be, straightforward applied research to a more fundamental programme of research into design process management. The project is presented as a case study and highlights the difficulty in novel research work of identifying an appropriate hypothesis. The application of a grounded theory approach that facilitated the development of a suitable methodology from a standard research template is described and key decisions on the of selection the research techniques are explained and justified. The selection and integration of the research instruments are described and conclusions are drawn on the appropriateness of the methodological template to the research programme. Finally, the principal conclusion from the research work, that the potential for rationalisation of design cost estimation exists but was limited by the availability of relevant data, is outlined

Dark matter profiles and annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Prospectives for present and futureγ-ray observatories - I. The classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Due to their large dynamical mass-to-light ratios, dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter (DM) in γ-rays. We examine their detectability by present and future γ-ray observatories. The key innovative features of our analysis are as follows: (i) we take into account the angular size of the dSphs; while nearby objects have higher γ-ray flux, their larger angular extent can make them less attractive targets for background-dominated instruments; (ii) we derive DM profiles and the astrophysical J-factor (which parametrizes the expected γ-ray flux, independently of the choice of DM particle model) for the classical dSphs directly from photometric and kinematic data. We assume very little about the DM profile, modelling this as a smooth split-power-law distribution, with and without subclumps; (iii) we use a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique to marginalize over unknown parameters and determine the sensitivity of our derived J-factors to both model and measurement uncertainties; and (iv) we use simulated DM profiles to demonstrate that our J-factor determinations recover the correct solution within our quoted uncertainties