Search results

Public smoking bans are becoming more prevalent, but not without controversy. Consumer attitudes about the effectiveness of service provider imposed smoking/nonsmoking separation have changed. Arguments against bans often center on the belief that patronage at restaurants and bars will decline, leading to declining entertainment sector revenue and the elimination of privately owned establishments by public policy. This paper aims to investigate consumers ' beliefs and behavioral intentions concerning a proposed smoking ban.

The study presented involves a typical US city facing a vote by their city council for a public smoking ban (including restaurants and bars). In 2007 consumers ' beliefs and behavioral intentions concerning a proposed smoking ban were investigated. Current study findings were compared to a prior study about consumers ' beliefs that smoking/nonsmoking sections were effective at separation, and hence did not support public smoking bans. The authors applied logistic regression to determine if consumers ' beliefs about the effectiveness of smoking/nonsmoking sections influenced their support for public smoking bans.

The comparison clearly suggests that beliefs have changed. The majority of consumers in this most recent study do not believe in the effectiveness of separate smoking/nonsmoking sections. Consequently, this majority of newly enlightened consumers is in favor of public smoking bans in restaurants and bars. To further address the economic impact argument, the authors offer a conservatively based argument that restaurants and bars could expect economic gains.

There will always be some winners and losers with new policy, but it is found that the overall restaurant and bar sector can expect increased patronage and economic gains from a smoking ban.

Argues that the traditional construction procurement and management dimensions of time, quality and cost should be augmented by a fourth dimension – the environment. Discusses the considerable pollution problems of Hong Kong and the impact that construction has on the environment of the island. A well planned, managed and audited environmental assurance approach is advocated.

Questions why smoking in the workplace needs revisiting. Looks at the health risks of smoking before covering the cost to the organisation. Discusses new Californian legislation and outlines actions employers must take to comply with these. Provided a list of exemptions and some key policy considerations. Give general guidelines for designing and implementing smoking policies.

Recent speculation on whether the Government may seek to enforce a total ban on smoking in the UK’s bars and restaurants has reignited a long standing debate about the commercial impact of such a decision. Running alongside these considerations is the health and safety question and the possible harmful consequences for those working in smoky environments. Reports a small‐scale piece of research which compares the smoking arrangements found in several restaurants. The findings suggest that those restaurants already operating a total ban on smoking may actually be opposed to Government legislation, as this would remove from them a potential source of competitive advantage. Thus, the paper suggests that those restaurants which operate a total smoking ban may enjoy some commercial benefits, especially if the question of partially or totally banning smoking remains a voluntary one.

This paper (Part 2 of 2) aims to shortlist performance indicators which are used in evaluating facilities operation and maintenance (O&M) in commercial buildings.

A three-session focus group meeting, with the use of a customized questionnaire and audio recording, was convened to solicit opinions from O&M experts. Their quantitative responses (ratings on the importance of the indicators) and the qualitative ones (reasons for having the indicators selected or excluded) were taken for analysis, followed by mapping the shortlisted indicators based on the phase-hierarchy (P-H) model for facilities management (FM).

From a total of 74 performance indicators (71 identified from the literature and three added by the focus group), 17 indicators were shortlisted, and time constraint was the most common reason for having those indicators excluded from the shortlist. Mapping the shortlisted indicators with the P-H model revealed that the performance evaluation focus of the experts was at the tactical level, on the output phase of facilities services delivery.

The shortlisted indicators serve as a keystone for establishing a performance evaluation scheme for engineering facilities in commercial buildings. Research on other areas may follow the approach of this study to shortlist key performance indicators (KPIs).

Professionals of the other building types (e.g. residential, industrial and healthcare) or sectors with diverse FM organizations may conduct a similar study to identify indicators for performance evaluation purposes. In particular, the process of shortlisting the O&M KPIs may be used to shortlist KPIs for the other FM services.

The focus group study demonstrates how to rigorously select KPIs for use in managing facilities.

Dhaka is one of the most populated megacities in the world with a total population of over 12 million and an area of 276sqkm (DCC, 2004). The city is situated at the center of the country and is surrounded by a river system comprising Buriganga, Balu, Turag, and Shitalakhya. The city has a long history dating from the Pre-Mughal, to the Mughal, and, finally, to the Bangladesh period. The growth of Dhaka basically started from the current extreme south and along Buriganga River and then it expanded earlier to the West (Hazaribagh) and the East (Gandaria) and later to the North (Mirpur). However, in the last few decades, the city experienced huge population growth and rapid industrial, commercial, business, residential, and infrastructure development, which have significantly expanded the physical feature of Dhaka. Still many of the development activities are taking place in an informal way within the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area, the main part of the megacity.

A specification can be an effective contractual tool to help achieve green construction. In Hong Kong, a multifarious specification arrangement exists in the construction industry, despite progress being made in the public and private organizations towards green practice. The purpose of this paper is to propose a green specification framework by modeling after established green specification systems.

Three sample work sections of green specification have been prepared for concrete, paint and lighting to represent structural, architectural and building services trades, with which a series of interviews with construction stakeholders was conducted. Assisted by a structured questionnaire, the time, cost, quality and liability implications of the proposed framework were studied.

Apart from minor additional cost, time and liability impacts, which would level off with increasing use of green products and practice, the quality of construction is perceived to be good if the framework is adopted.

The proposed framework embraces the important facets for specifying green construction. A roadmap is also recommended for its sustainable adoption. The methodology and results will be of good reference value for other jurisdictions.

To reduce the smoking rates and alleviate societal problems associated with smoking, health administrators and policy makers have attempted to promote and implement statewide smoking free policy. The present study examined how adults' awareness of and attitude toward the smoke-free air law, their perceived risks of secondhand smoke and current smoking status were associated with smoking attitude and behaviors.

As part of the Indiana Adult Tobacco Survey, 2,027 respondents participated in cross-sectional telephone surveys. A series of independent sample t-test and binary logistic regression analyses were performed.

Awareness of the state law was inversely related to negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Individuals who reported favorable attitude toward the state smoke-free air law and higher risk perceptions of secondhand smoke showed negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Non-smokers and former smokers were significantly different from current smokers with regard to attitude toward smoking. Negative attitude was significantly related to intention to quit smoking. Awareness of the state law, perceived risk and current smoking status were key determinants for anti-smoking attitude and behavior.

Findings highlight the importance of effective dissemination of the state law and recommend a strategic intervention design that invokes risk perceptions of secondhand smoke.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the programmes being implemented with a view to ascertaining if they adequately address the energy needs of the poor more holistically and sustainably.

The content of this desktop review is based on information collected through a review of available energy policy documents from the Ghana Government and related governmental agencies, such as the Energy Commission and Ghana Statistical Services, international energy-related agencies, such as the International Energy Agency (World Vision, 2013), as well as other related web searches. Additionally, global and Sub-Saharan African energy access documents were reviewed by analysing secondary data from the World Bank and UN policy reports, statistical data, strategies, regulations, protocols and other related documents (World Vision, 2013). Furthermore, some policy documents on energy access and usage were explored mainly from Senegal and Ghana to ascertain governments’ policies, regulations and strategies in the implementation of energy access policies.

The paper offers all the various strategies being implemented in an attempt to establish a foothold on the problem of affording the poor with clean and affordable energies. The paper also presents the rich experiences of Senegal in its bid to see expanded access in liquefied petroleum gas usage by residential consumers.

The paper provides some policy and theoretical implications for improving Ghana’s energy access.

The creation of occupant satisfaction can be reached through the involvement of building performance mandates (BPMs) while enhancing the functionality of buildings. BPMs comprise five mandates namely, spatial performance, thermal performance, indoor air quality performance, acoustic performance, and visual performance. BPMs have been recognized as a vital element when refurbishing post-fire apparel buildings. However, the evaluation of post-fire refurbishment projects is mainly focused on mechanical and physical properties while ignoring the BPMs. Further, there is insufficient literature on the BPMs in post-fire building refurbishment. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the importance of BPMs, and its challenges and propose strategies to enhance the building performance of post-fire refurbished apparel manufacturing buildings in Sri Lanka.

The study was conducted by involving a qualitative research approach. An extensive literature review and eighteen semi-structured interviews under three fire-affected apparel cases were involved as data collection methods and collected data were analyzed using content analysis.

Findings highlighted the procedure of post-fire refurbishment and the importance of BPMs for apparel buildings to enhance building performance in post-fire situations. The research identified 42 challenges encountered in maintaining BPMs of post-fire refurbished apparel buildings and provided 70 strategies to overcome the identified challenges.

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of challenges in maintaining BPMs and strategies to overcome the identified challenges which facilitate enhancing the performance of post-fire refurbished apparel buildings in Sri Lanka.