scholarly journals Chapter 8 Swelling and shrinking soils

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Jones ◽  
Vanessa Banks ◽  
Ian Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Arid Environments ◽  
Local Site ◽  
Geotechnical Characterization ◽  
Significant Damage ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Structural Engineers ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Swelling And Shrinking

AbstractSwelling and shrinking soils are soils that can experience large changes in volume due to changes in water content. This may be due to seasonal changes in moisture content, local site changes such as leakage from water supply pipes or drains, changes to surface drainage and landscaping, or following the planting, removal or severe pruning of trees or hedges. These soils represent a significant hazard to structural engineers across the world due to their shrink–swell behaviour, with the cost of mitigation alone running into several billion pounds annually. These soils usually contain some form of clay mineral, such as smectite or vermiculite, and can be found in humid and arid/semi-arid environments where their expansive nature can cause significant damage to properties and infrastructure. This chapter discusses the properties and costs associated with shrink–swell soils, their formation and distribution throughout the UK and the rest of the world, and their geological and geotechnical characterization. It also considers the mechanisms of shrink-swell soils and their behaviour, reviewing strategies for managing them in an engineering context, before finally outlining the problem of trees and shrink–swell soils.

scholarly journals The Culture of Construction Organisations: the Epitome of Institutionalised Corruption

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Oyen Arewa ◽  
Peter Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
The World ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Vital Element

The culture of an organisation is a vital element of business competency that must align with its strategic goals, and enhance peoples’ perceptions, feelings and behaviour in adapting to the world around them. Organisational culture may also bring about negative practices such as dishonesty and unethical behaviours. Recently the culture of some construction organisations has been called into question. For example, major construction projects around the globe have become involved in allegations of fraud and corruption. The cost is currently estimated at US$860 billion globally; with forecasts that it may rise to US$1.5 trillion by 2025. Hitherto the role of the culture of construction organisations in fraud and corruption activities has been largely hidden. The study aim is to establish whether the culture of construction organisations promotes corrupt practices in the UK construction and infrastructure sector. The study employed mixed research methods with interviews supported by a questionnaire and an examination of five case studies in different countries. Findings show that the culture of construction organisations together with the nature of the industry promotes fraud and corruption. The study subsequently highlights key cultural factors that support fraud and corruption in a way that is almost institutionalised.  

scholarly journals The Culture of Construction Organisations: the Epitome of Institutionalised Corruption?

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Oyen Arewa ◽  
Andrew Oyen Arewa ◽  
Peter Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
The World ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Vital Element

<p>The culture of an organisation is a vital element of business competency that must align with its strategic goals, and enhance peoples’ perceptions, feelings and behaviour in adapting to the world around them. Organisational culture may also bring about negative practices such as dishonesty and unethical behaviours. Recently the culture of some construction organisations has been called into question. For example, major construction projects around the globe have become involved in allegations of fraud and corruption. The cost is currently estimated at US$860 billion globally; with forecasts that it may rise to US$1.5 trillion by 2025. Hitherto, the role of the culture of construction organisations in fraud and corruption activities has been largely hidden. The study aim is to establish whether the culture of construction organisations promotes corrupt practices in the UK construction and infrastructure sector. The study employed mixed research methods with qualitative interviews supported by a quantitative questionnaire and examination of five case studies in different countries. Findings show that the culture of construction organisations together with the nature of the industry promotes fraud and corruption. The study subsequently highlighted key cultural factors that support fraud and corruption in a way that is almost institutionalised.  </p><p> </p><p><strong>Key words</strong>: construction, corruption, culture and organisations</p>

scholarly journals Are Australian Aboriginal Communities Adapting to a Warmer Climate? A Study of Communities Living in Semi-Arid Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Digby Race ◽  
Supriya Mathew ◽  
Matthew Campbell ◽  
Karl Hampton
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Financial Pressure ◽  
Cost Of Energy ◽  
The World ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Low Income Households

<p>Communities around the world adapt to warming climates in a number of ways. Adaptations can often be energy intensive or dependent on expensive infrastructure to cope with harsh weather, so the use of renewable energy and energy efficient housing is becoming an increasing feature in conversations about climate change adaptation. The cost of energy for households continues to increase, with this cost adding considerable financial pressure on low-income households in both developed and developing countries. The concept of ‘energy poverty’ is gaining utility around the world to highlight the prevalent dilemma faced by low-income households that they cannot afford the level of energy use to maintain their desired livelihood. In regions of the world with extended periods of extreme weather, households can allocate as much as 20 per cent of their budget on energy consumption to maintain comfortable housing. Research by the authors indicates that effective adaptation must not add to the financial burden on low-income households, if the liveability of Australia’s semi-arid region is to be sustained.</p>

scholarly journals Managing alcohol-related attendances in emergency care: can diversion to bespoke services lessen the burden?

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Irving ◽  
Steve Goodacre ◽  
Joanne Blake ◽  
Davina Allen ◽  
Simon C Moore
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Care ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Alcohol Misuse ◽  
Alcohol Intoxication ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost

Acute alcohol intoxication (AAI) has a long history of burdening emergency care services. Healthcare systems around the world have explored a variety of different services that divert AAI away from EDs to better manage their condition. Little formal evaluation has been undertaken, particularly in the UK where alcohol misuse is one of the highest in the world. In this article, we outline a brief history of diversionary services, introduce the concept of Alcohol Intoxication Management Services (AIMS) and describe examples of AIMS in the UK. We then describe Evaluating the Diversion of Alcohol-Related Attendances, a natural experiment including six cities with AIMS compared with six cities without, that involves an ethnographic study, records patient experiences in both AIMS and EDs, assesses impact on key performance indicators in healthcare and evaluates the cost-effectiveness of AIMS.

Assessing the Risk of Various Stocking Strategies in the Semi-Arid Savanna of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 136 ◽  
Author(s):  
GP Hatch ◽  
NM Tainton ◽  
GF Ortmann
Keyword(s):  
Financial Risk ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Cumulative Probability ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Financial Losses ◽  
Semi Arid

Rainfall in arid and semi-arid environments is a major determinant of system dynamics which results in seasonal fluctuations in forage production. The influence of fixed and variable stocking strategies on the distributions of forage deficit period and net return for various range condition scenarios were examined using a bioeconomic model. Although the risk of forage deficits and financial losses were reduced with lighter stocking, this was at the opportunity cost of higher returns during wetter seasons. Increased stocking increased returns during wetter seasons, but at the cost of increased risk of forage deficits and highly negative returns during drier seasons. Flexible stocking may combine the benefits of each approach and reduce financial risk. The development of cumulative probability distributions will allow range users to assess the level of risk attached to different strategies. Incorporation of the ecological effects of stocking strategies as feedback into the model would be important to evaluate ecological risk.

scholarly journals Open Access to Content and Financial Innovation

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Mendes-Da-Silva
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Financial Innovation ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Open Access Journals ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Scientific Periodicals

Over the last twenty years the world has experienced significant growth in the supply of knowledge as a result of the advent of the Internet and there has been a drastic reduction in the cost of acquiring or constructing relevant information. This has meant that various industries, like banks, commerce and even the public management sector have undergone a reconfiguration process. Similarly, universities and the publishers of scientific periodicals need to reflect on their future. After all, who is prepared to pay for content that can be freely accessed? In the wake of the change in the technological paradigm that characterizes communication, and driven by financial crises, we find the topic of Financial Innovation (Lerner, 2006). But this topic was already on the agenda even before the Internet appeared on the scene (Miller, 1986). At the beginning of May 2013, when we started putting together the Journal of Financial Innovation (JoFI) an article entitled “Free-for-all”, which was published in the important British publication, The Economist, discussed the growth of open access scientific journals. At the time the British magazine stressed the practice adopted in the UK, which established open access journals as being the destination for research results. In essence, what is intended is to constitute a quality publication route without readers or authors being burdened with high costs, an area that is still responsible for large portions of the billionaire publishing market around the world. 

International Listening Post report summary: the world at the dawn of 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-124
Author(s):  
Sandy Henderson ◽  
Ulrike Beland ◽  
Dimitrios Vonofakos
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Faroe Islands ◽  
The South ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

On or around 9 January 2019, twenty-two Listening Posts were conducted in nineteen countries: Canada, Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy (two in Milan and one in the South), Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. This report synthesises the reports of those Listening Posts and organises the data yielded by them into common themes and patterns.

Glembotskaya G.T., Eremin S.Yu. Scientific and practical approach to optimizing costs on development and promotion of drugs

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Галина Глембоцкая ◽  
Galina Glembockaya ◽  
Станислав Еремин ◽  
Stanislav Eremin
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Pharmacological Action ◽  
Pharmaceutical Market ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Strategic Development ◽  
The World ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Registration Phase

In order to identify promising strategic development possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry in the Russian Federation, a pilot study was conducted, which has analyzed the main trends in the development of innovative medicines. As a result of the content analysis of available sources of scientific literature, the characteristics of options used in the world practice for increasing the innovative activity of individual subjects and the pharmaceutical market as a whole are presented. Possible reserves for the further development of the innovative component of the pharmaceutical market within the framework of the concept of personalized medicine according to the P4 principle (predictive - personalized - preventive - participatory) are identified and structured. The results of use by individual pharmaceutical companies of scientifically and practically justified approaches to optimizing the costs of development and promoting drugs are presented. The advantages and real prospects of a generally accepted method to reduce the cost of development by «expanding the pharmacological effect» (label expansion) of already existing drugs with a known safety profile in the world practice are shown. A scientific generalization and structuring of the goals and results of the post-registration phase of clinical trials to expand the pharmacological action of a number of drugs already existed at the market have been carried out.

Neither Victors nor Victims

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Whetham
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
High Street ◽  
National Survival ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Realistic Goal

Between 2007 and 2011, Wootton Bassett, a small Wiltshire town in the UK, became the focus of national attention as its residents responded to the regular repatriations of dead soldiers through its High Street. The town’s response came to symbolize the way that broader attitudes developed and changed over that period. As such, it is a fascinating case study in civil–military relations in the twenty-first century. Success may be the same as victory, but victory, at least as it has been traditionally understood, is not a realistic goal in many types of contemporary conflict. Discretionary wars—conflicts in which national survival is not an issue and even vital national interests may not be at stake—pose particular challenges for any government which does not explain why the cost being paid in blood and treasure is ‘worth it’.

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