Experimental Investigation on Effect of Partial Replacement of Cement with Bamboo Leaf Ash on Concrete Property

Ethiopia’s construction industry is aggressively expanding than ever before. Cement is the most essential and expensive material in this regard. Cement takes 10%–15% by volume of concrete. Nowadays, the construction industry is challenged by the scarcity of cement and price escalation of the cement market. However, scholars try to replace cement with pozzolanic material. Besides this, they investigated that bamboo leaf ash possesses pozzolanic properties. Ethiopia has about 850,000 hectares of lowland bamboo, so it is good to utilize bamboo leaf ash as a replacement material for cement. In this study, the capability of lowland Ethiopian bamboo leaf ash as a partial substitute for cement in C-25 concrete production with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% replacement of OPC by BLA with 0.49 percent water-to-cement ratio was investigated. This study examines the chemical properties of BLA, physical properties of cement paste, workability, compressive strength, water absorption, density, and sulfate attack of concrete. The chemical composition of bamboo leaf ash was examined, the summation of SiO2, AlO3, and FeO3 is 76.35%, and the ash was classified class N pozzolan. The normal consistency percentage of water increases as the BLA replacement amount increases, and both initial and final setting time ranges increase as the BLA replacement amount increases. The compressive strength of concrete for 5% and 10% BLA achieves the target mean strength (33.5 MPa) on the 28th day, and on the 56th day, 5% and 10% replacements increase the concrete strength by 1.84% and 0.12%, respectively. The water absorption and sulfate attack have significant improvement of the BLA-blended concrete on 5% and 10% BLA content. According to the findings, bamboo leaf ash potentially substitutes cement up to 10%. The outcome of the study will balance the cement price escalation and increase housing affordability without compromise in quality.

IMPACT OF UTILITY WORKS IN ROAD PROJECTS IN SRI LANKA AND PROPOSED MITIGATION MEASURERS

Road projects are experiencing huge delays in Sri Lanka due to utility relocation, delays in releasing payments, design changes during construction phase, price escalation and land acquisition to accommodate utility relocation. In some instances, contract of utility projects was awarded when road works were nearing completion. There is no sound legislation that exists defining the powers, rights and obligations of Roads and Utility authorities. As a result, Roads Authorities in Sri Lanka are obliged to pay all costs associated with the above impacts, along with extension of time due to such delays from the allocated funds for road works. This has been causing burden to the project scope and impacting the economy of Sri Lanka. As such, it is important to identify suitable remedial measures to mitigate such impacts during the design and construction stages. Qualitative research method was adopted through the inductive process by selecting purposive samples of experts for semi structured in-depth interviews. In addition, more data was collected through documents review. This study revealed that the knowledge gap in the sector to identify and recommended remedial measures for impacts caused by utility works in road projects in Sri Lanka.

Art, Aura, and Admiration in the Age of Digital Reproduction

Summary Walter Benjamin famously argued that the mass public of the twentieth century would necessarily correlate with a newly politicized art. But the world has changed considerably since Benjamin’s article was written, as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer already were assessing less than a decade later. It is the purpose of this article to examine how the aesthetics of the Frankfurt school, though frequently still invoked, have lost some of their immediate relevance. The anti-establishment phase of the 60s, compounded by a pronounced taste for irony, rendered aura and exhibition outmoded values, while on the other hand, more recently, price escalation in the art market and digitization have made certain of the Frankfurt school arguments more pertinent than ever. Taking as examples Goldsworthy and Kentridge, this essay argues that a deliberate loosening of the artist’s control over both medium and reception displaces the warmed-over religious responses endorsed by Benjamin, positing instead increased intellectual agency on the part of viewers, whose identity as a mass public has become newly complicated.

SUITABILITY OF ICTAD FORMULA AND CIDA PRICE INDICES TO CALCULATE THE AMOUNT OF PRICE ESCALATED IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Price fluctuation is a significant risk factor, in every construction project market. It is unavoidable and difficult to forecast. However, it is often argued that there is a difference between the amount calculated with the CIDA price fluctuation formula method and the actual price fluctuation. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the industry opinion on whether there is a difference between price escalations calculated using the CIDA price fluctuation formula and actual price fluctuation. A qualitative research approach was selected to achieve the aim of this research. Through a broad study of literature, it was identified the most critical factors which affected actual price fluctuation deviation. Meanwhile, semi-structured interviews were carried out to identify the reasons affecting fluctuation difference by analysing the data, which was used, and comparing the opinions given by the interviewees. The data was analysed using context analysis. The results of the research confirm that. there is a difference between the amount of price escalation using the ICTAD price fluctuation formula and the actual being used. The main reason behind this difference is the less accuracy of cost indices. To improve the accuracy of the results of this formula, appropriate data collection using an appreciate sample of contractors in producing price indices is recommended as the main.

Pricing and Ethical Issues for Global Markets

Multinationals operating in global markets require analyzing several pricing considerations. They require setting appropriate prices of their products for each of the markets they operate in. Price of a product is an important criterion which decides whether a product will get sold or not. Companies contend with a number of issues in pricing like geographical pricing, price escalation, transfer prices, dumping charges, pricing for emerging markets, and pricing for individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. There are several legal and ethical aspects in pricing. These include deceptive or illegal prices – deceptive reference pricing, loss leader pricing, and bait and switch approach towards pricing; predatory pricing; price discrimination; and price fixing. The contribution of the study is that it conducts a conceptual analysis of the literature on pricing strategies and ethical issues. The analysis is validated by collecting and analyzing information from literature. It discusses how multinationals facing such situations should handle them, establish their businesses in global markets, and generate substantial revenues and profits.

Analysis of Seasonal Price Fluctuations of Paddy (Boro) in Bangladesh

This paper has focused on seasonal variations of price and trend of the price escalation of paddy in Bangladesh using monthly average wholesale price of Boro paddy over a period from 2001 to 2019. Secondary data were used in this study and collected from different secondary sources. The multiplicative model was exercised in this study; the least square method was applied to find out the long-term changes occurring in the price of paddy and the ratio to moving average method was used to measure seasonal fluctuations in price of paddy. It was evidently observed from the study that seasonal fluctuations in price of paddy prevail in Bangladesh as seasonal indices were deviated from hundred in different months. April to August, the price of paddy was lower compare to other months’ price because April and Mayare the harvesting period of Boro paddy and resulted in more supply to the market. From August, it was increasing gradually and reached to the highest position on March with 112.15. Long-term trend analysis showed that prices of paddy will increase Tk. 72.80 per quintal higher annually compare to the country’s average price. SAARC J. Agri., 18(2): 219-226 (2020)

12. Boilerplate Clauses

This chapter examines some standard clauses found in commercial contracts today (often known as ‘boilerplate clauses’). The focus is on commercial contracts and terms that will, in all probability, have been drafted by lawyers. The discussions cover general clauses, retention of title clauses, price escalation clauses, interest, force majeure clauses, choice of law clauses, arbitration clauses, jurisdiction clauses, hardship clauses, entire agreement clauses, termination clauses, assignment, and exclusion and limitation clauses.

Inflation and Price Escalation Adjustments in Estimating Program Cost: F-35 Case Study

Applying price indexes presents a challenge in estimating the costs of new defense systems. An inappropriate price index—one not closely linked to the inputs to the systems being costed—can introduce errors in both development of cost estimating relationships (CER) and in development of out-year budgets. To help cost analysts understand the impacts of different price indexes, this article applies two sets of price indexes to the F-35 program. Using hedonic price indexes derived from CERs, the authors isolate changes in price due to factors other than changes in quality by developing a “Baseline” CER model using data on historical tactical aircraft programs available early in the F-35 program. The focus of the work is to improve estimates of acquisition costs. All the data used in the econometric analysis are acquisition cost data. Better cost estimates should improve projections of budget requirements.

Current issues of improving the pricing system in construction in the transition period

Introduction. The focus on transition to the input method of estimated cost accounting, demonstrated by the leaders of the construction industry, outlines the principal goals pursued in the process of improving the pricing system. The monitoring of prices for construction resources gains in importance. The research is based on the analysis of the construction industry’s current need for updated regulatory information and an improved pricing methodology. Materials and methods. A relevant problem of pricing, which is now quality-driven, has been solved by the construction industry amidst the strengthening role of government agencies. Presently, pricing is driven by the factors that characterize the course of an investment process, primarily, promoted by the customer. This methodology encompasses the assessment of pricing regulations with a required extent of generalization in terms of any submitted data. Results. The experiment conducted to assess the established pricing regulations in terms of special construction facilities has proven the maximal significance of factors, describing a construction project stage as a correlation between estimated and actual costs incurred by a construction company. Against the background of impeded introduction of changes into costing standards, a pool of solutions has been generated to monitor prices for construction resources and to generate price escalation models. Conclusions. The best methods used to adapt standard prices to actual costs of construction products should involve the monitoring of prices for the whole range of construction resources. Methodological problems are to be solved in a way that must improve the trustworthiness of estimated construction costs. The novelty and practical significance of this research stem from the analysis of the current development stage of the system of federal and industry-specific regulations and methodologies.