Maintenance management of heritage buildings in Iraq

PurposeHeritage buildings, as any other buildings are subject to decay and deterioration. This issue increases significantly when a country undergoes complicated circumstances of unrest, as is the case in Iraq. The purpose of this study is to rethink the maintenance approach to heritage buildings in Iraq from a systematic management standpoint. It proposes the development of a management system through the functions of proper planning, organizing, directing and controlling. The study aims to scrutinize the weak areas of performance in the investigated work process in Iraq and provide suggestions to address them.Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for an exploratory study, using interviews with responsible people in Iraqi heritage buildings administration to investigate the procedures applied on maintenance work for the heritage buildings. Besides, maintenance reports were reviewed and three case studies of buildings recently assigned for maintenance were visited and examined to identify the current course of actions at work and to uncover the points of weakness and strength.FindingsThe researchers identified a kind of unreal planning in the maintenance process, which appeared to be a manifestation of corrective maintenance (CM) rather than a preventive one. Such an aspect was highlighted due to several causes, among which most important were as follow (1) the lack of sufficient allocated budgets and (2) the shortage of hand labor and building technicians in this field, including professionals with an architectural training background, who could make practical choices to heritage maintenance thus preventing improper solutions that would harm the authenticity of the asset. Such factors could be mitigated if a good maintenance management system is to be adopted. A proposed system is hereby suggested, upgrading the current guideline and laws by the specialized authorities in addition to recommending the application of digital documentation.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to study how maintenance management system can be applied for heritage buildings

WLAN Systems for Communication in Transportation Systems

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) are wireless networks primarily meant to enforce vehicular safety. The incumbent international VANET solution is based on an adaptation of WLAN to the 5.9 GHz band and to the vehicular environment: it is universally known as IEEE 802.11p. One of the main reasons for the success of IEEE 802.11p lies on the functional requirement of a decentralized solution, that is, one able to work in the absence of infrastructure. While Filed-Operational Tests are being developed world-wide and new VANET applications, not restricted to safety, are being developed, new requisites are emerging. Some limitations of the IEEE 802.11p are coming to light as well: stakeholders must be aware of them to prevent misleading conclusions on reliability and, most importantly, improper solutions for the safety which the protocol is aimed at.

WLAN Systems for Communication in Transportation Systems

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) are wireless networks primarily meant to enforce vehicular safety. The incumbent international VANET solution is based on an adaptation of WLAN to the 5.9 GHz band and to the vehicular environment: it is universally known as IEEE 802.11p. One of the main reasons for the success of IEEE 802.11p lies on the functional requirement of a decentralized solution, that is, one able to work in the absence of infrastructure. While Filed-Operational Tests are being developed world-wide and new VANET applications, not restricted to safety, are being developed, new requisites are emerging. Some limitations of the IEEE 802.11p are coming to light as well: stakeholders must be aware of them to prevent misleading conclusions on reliability and, most importantly, improper solutions for the safety which the protocol is aimed at.

Effect of Variable and Subject Sampling on Recovery of Weak Factors In CFA

Two general issues central to the design of a study are subject sampling and variable sampling. Previous research has examined their effects on factor pattern recovery in the context of exploratory factor analysis. The present paper focuses on recovery of weak factors and reports two simulation studies in the context of confirmatory factor analysis. Conditions investigated include the estimation method (ML vs. ULS), sample size (100, 300, and 500), number of variables per factor (3, 4, or 5), loading size in the weak factor (.25 or .35), and factor correlation (null vs. moderate). Results show that both subject and variable sample size affect the recovery of weak factors, particularly if factors are not correlated. A small but consistent pattern of differences between methods occurs, which favors the use of ULS. Additionally, the frequency of nonconvergent and improper solutions is also affected by the same variables.