Building for the Future

Author(s):  
Hafez Salleh ◽  
Eric Lou

This chapter provides the IT readiness assessment for before and after scenarios of IT systems implementation in a construction consultancy company providing multi-disciplinary services for the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom. The services offered include building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, civil and structural engineering design, and mechanical and electrical engineering design, among others. On application of the maturity model it was found that the overall processes for managing information are improving since the introduction of the new IT system. Prior to the project, the development of IT/IS was driven to perform daily work tasks that required the company to run a business. The new systems has streamlined the organization-wide communication, which the previous system did not have the capability to do, and to reduce cost for document reproduction. The level of IT skills prior to the project was relatively low; the introduction of the new system has helped the company to increase their staff’s IT skills.

2012 ◽  
pp. 1853-1872
Author(s):  
Hafez Salleh ◽  
Eric Lou

This chapter provides the IT readiness assessment for before and after scenarios of IT systems implementation in a construction consultancy company providing multi-disciplinary services for the construction industry throughout the United Kingdom. The services offered include building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, civil and structural engineering design, and mechanical and electrical engineering design, among others. On application of the maturity model it was found that the overall processes for managing information are improving since the introduction of the new IT system. Prior to the project, the development of IT/IS was driven to perform daily work tasks that required the company to run a business. The new systems has streamlined the organization-wide communication, which the previous system did not have the capability to do, and to reduce cost for document reproduction. The level of IT skills prior to the project was relatively low; the introduction of the new system has helped the company to increase their staff’s IT skills.


Author(s):  
Chuang He ◽  
Shuang E ◽  
Honghao Yan ◽  
Xiaojie Li

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Majsiak ◽  
Magdalena Choina ◽  
Dominik Golicki ◽  
Alastair M. Gray ◽  
Bożena Cukrowska

Abstract Background Coeliac disease (CD) is characterised by diverse clinical symptoms, which may cause diagnostic problems and reduce the patients’ quality of life. A study conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) revealed that the mean time between the onset of coeliac symptoms and being diagnosed was above 13 years. This study aimed to analyse the diagnostic process of CD in Poland and evaluate the quality of life of patients before and after CD diagnosis. In addition, results were compared to the results of the original study conducted in the UK. Methods The study included 2500 members of the Polish Coeliac Society. The patients were asked to complete a questionnaire containing questions on socio-demographic factors, clinical aspects and quality of life, using the EQ-5D questionnaire. Questionnaires received from 796 respondents were included in the final analysis. Results The most common symptoms reported by respondents were bloating (75%), abdominal pain (72%), chronic fatigue (63%) and anaemia (58%). Anaemia was the most persistent symptom, with mean duration prior to CD diagnosis of 9.2 years, whereas diarrhoea was observed for the shortest period (4.7 years). The mean duration of any symptom before CD diagnosis was 7.3 years, compared to 13.2 years in the UK. CD diagnosis and the introduction of a gluten-free diet substantially improved the quality of life in each of the five EQ-5D-5L health dimensions: pain and discomfort, anxiety and depression, usual activities, self-care and mobility (p < 0.001), the EQ-Index by 0.149 (SD 0.23) and the EQ-VAS by 30.4 (SD 28.3) points. Conclusions Duration of symptoms prior to the diagnosis of CD in Poland, although shorter than in the UK, was long with an average of 7.3 years from first CD symptoms. Faster CD diagnosis after the onset of symptoms in Polish respondents may be related to a higher percentage of children in the Polish sample. Introduction of a gluten-free diet improves coeliac patients’ quality of life. These results suggest that doctors should be made more aware of CD and its symptoms across all age groups.


Author(s):  
W. Ernst Eder

Abstract Historic developments, and the current state of the art are surveyed in thought, theory, methods and methodology, and education for and about engineering design. This survey covers two particular and disparate regions, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, the latter including the activities of an international group centered in Zürich known as WDK — Workshop Design-Konstruktion.


2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Kuivalainen

This article analyses the importance of housing costs in cross-national comparisons of social assistance. The article explores the model family technique, the most commonly used method of comparing levels of support, and analyses the impact of housing costs on outcomes. The importance of housing costs is assessed by using different definitions of disposable income, by comparing the level of social assistance without, before and after housing costs. Three different rent levels are specified in order to evaluate the impact of housing costs and seven different family types are considered in the analysis. The countries used for comparison are Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, during the late 1990s. The findings show that housing costs have an impact on outcomes in social assistance: when housing costs are disregarded, the differences between countries are greater. The outcomes vary with different calculations of disposable income: the relative value of assistance between countries and families varies, and the ranking of countries is also altered. Different levels of housing costs have a similar impact, showing changes in the relative position of countries. Overall the findings show that taking housing costs into account makes a difference.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. e2200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aija Lulle ◽  
Russell King ◽  
Veronika Dvorakova ◽  
Aleksandra Szkudlarek

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm J. S. Hirst

This paper presents the results of a parametric study into the thermal loading of concrete bridges by solar radiation. All results were obtained using a computer model calibrated from field measurements. The model computes the loading parameters from the bridge characteristics and the standard daily records of the weather bureau. The design method given uses an effective thickness concept to find the effects of a wearing course on the temperature profile of the underlying bridge. Thermal loading depends on climate and is extremely variable. Histograms are presented, which show the frequency distributions of the loading parameters for sample bridges at three Australian sites covering a range of climatic regimes from tropical to temperate. Key words: bridges, concrete, loads, temperature, solar radiation, structural engineering, design chart.


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