Search results

1 – 10 of over 112000
Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Muhammad Sami Ur Rehman, Muhammad Tariq Shafiq, Fahim Ullah and Khaled Galal Ahmed

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current construction progress monitoring (CPM) process in relation to the contractual obligations, how project management teams…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current construction progress monitoring (CPM) process in relation to the contractual obligations, how project management teams carry out this activity in the field and why teams continue to adopt the current method. The study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current monitoring process and its effectiveness, identify any shortcomings and propose recommendations for improvements that can lead to better project outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The study conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 construction management practitioners to explore their views on contractual requirements, traditional progress monitoring practices and advanced monitoring methods. Thematic analysis was used to identify existing processes, practices and incentives for advanced monitoring.

Findings

Standard construction contracts mandate current progress monitoring practices, which often rely on manual, document-centric and labor-intensive methods, leading to slow and erroneous progress reporting and project delays. Key barriers to adopting advanced tools include rigid contractual clauses, lack of incentives and the absence of reliable automated tools. A holistic automated approach that covers the entire CPM process, from planning to claim management, is needed as a viable alternative to traditional practices.

Research limitations/implications

The study's findings can inform researchers, stakeholders and decision-makers about the existing monitoring practices and contribute to enhancing project management practices.

Originality/value

The study identified contractually mandated progress monitoring processes, traditional methods of collecting, transferring, analyzing and dispensing progress-related information and potential incentives and points of departure towards technologically advanced methods.

Details

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-124X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 July 2022

Huaihua Zheng

Striving to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality before 2060 indicates that China, as the most extensive power system in the world and a country based on coal power, is…

Abstract

Purpose

Striving to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality before 2060 indicates that China, as the most extensive power system in the world and a country based on coal power, is imperative to improve the technical level of electric power utilization. This paper aims to explore the nonlinear evolution mechanism of power technology progress under the constraints of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper, first, based on China’s provincial panel data from 2000 to 2019, uses global direction distance function to measure power technological progress. Second, the threshold regression model is used to explore the nonlinear relationship between carbon emission reduction constraints on electric power technological progress.

Findings

There is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between China’s provincial carbon emission reduction constraints and electric power technological progress. Meanwhile, the scale of regional economic development has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between carbon emission reduction constraints and power technological progress.

Research limitations/implications

This paper puts forward targeted suggestions for perfecting regional carbon emission reduction policy and improving electric power technological progress.

Originality/value

Based on the global directional distance function, this paper extracts power as a production factor in total factor productivity and calculates the total factor electric power technological progress. This paper objectively reveals the influence mechanism of carbon emission reduction constraints on electric power technology progress based on the threshold regression model.

Details

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-8692

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 January 2023

Xiaobing Huang, Yousaf Ali Khan, Noman Arshed, Sultan Salem, Muhammad Ghulam Shabeer and Uzma Hanif

Social development is the ultimate goal of every nation, and climate change is a major stumbling block. Climate Risk Index has documented several climate change events with their…

1025

Abstract

Purpose

Social development is the ultimate goal of every nation, and climate change is a major stumbling block. Climate Risk Index has documented several climate change events with their devastations in terms of lives lost and economic cost. This study aims to link the climate change and renewable energy with the social progress of extreme climate affected countries.

Design/methodology/approach

This research used the top 50 most climate-affected countries of the decade and estimated the impact of climate risk on social progress with moderation effects of renewable energy and technology. Several competing panel data models such as quantile regression, bootstrap quantile regression and feasible generalized least square are used to generate robust estimates.

Findings

The results confirm that climate hazards obstruct socioeconomic progress, but renewable energy and technology can help to mitigate the repercussion. Moreover, improved institutions enhance the social progress of nations.

Research limitations/implications

Government should improve the institutional quality that enhances their performance in terms of Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption to increase social progress. In addition, society should use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels to avoid environmental degradation and health hazards. Innovation and technology also play an important role in social progress and living standards, so there should be free hand to private business research and development, encouraging research institutes and universities to come forward for innovation and research.

Practical implications

The ultimate goal of all human struggle is to have progress that facilitates human beings to uplift their living standard. One of the best measures that can tell us about a nation’s progress is Social Progress Index (SPI), and one of many factors that can abruptly change it is the climate; so this study is an attempt to link the relationship among these variables and also discuss the situation where the impact of climate can be reduced.

Social implications

Although social progress is an important concept of today’s economics discussion, relatively few studies are using the SPI to measure social well-being. Similarly, there is consensus about the impact of climate on people, government and crops but relatively less study about its overall impact on social progress, so this study attempts to fill the gap about the relationship between social progress and climate change.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this study is the solution for the impact of climate risk. Climate risk is not in human control, and we cannot eliminate it, but we can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Moderator impact of renewable energy decreases the negative impact of climate change, so there is a need to use more renewable energy to mitigate the bad consequences of climate on social progress. Another moderator is technology; using technology will also mitigate the negative consequences of the climate, so there is a need to facilitate technological advancement.

Details

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-8692

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 October 2020

Michael Kronenwett and Thomas Rigotti

Drawing from both the transactional theory of stress and the conservation of resources theory, this paper sets out to investigate the role of demand-specific challenge and…

1165

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing from both the transactional theory of stress and the conservation of resources theory, this paper sets out to investigate the role of demand-specific challenge and hindrance appraisal of emotional demands, as well as time pressure and perceived goal progress within the challenge–hindrance framework.

Design/methodology/approach

For this research, 91 employees provided daily diary data for one working week. Focusing on within-persons effects, multilevel moderated mediation models using multilevel path analyses were applied.

Findings

Both emotional demands and time pressure exert positive effects on work engagement when people expect resource gain (challenge appraisal), independent of actual resource gain (achievement). Furthermore, results show that goal progress buffers negative effects of perceived blocked resource gain (hindrance appraisal) on both emotional and motivational well-being.

Originality/value

This research proposes an extension and refinement of the challenge–hindrance stressor framework to explain health-impairing and motivational processes of emotional demands and time pressure, combining reasoning from both appraisal and resource theory perspectives. The study identifies demand-specific challenge and hindrance appraisals as mediators linking demands to emotional and motivational well-being, emphasizing the influence of goal progress as a resource on these relations.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 37 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1156

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2011

Wang Hongwei and Li Ping

This paper aims to reflect the quality of Chinese economic growth and analyze its influential factors through measuring the change rate of technological progress and its…

1221

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to reflect the quality of Chinese economic growth and analyze its influential factors through measuring the change rate of technological progress and its contribution rate to economic growth between 1978 and 2008.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, an all factor productivity (AFP) method is taken. AFP is essentially a weighted sum of all input factors' productivity. Besides, general hypotheses for production function, such assumptions are not required as neutral technological progress, constant returns to scale and producer equilibrium in method of AFP. Furthermore, specific forms of production function are not needed and can be calculated directly. This method tries to relax the assumptions to make the estimated rate of technological progress closer to the reality in China.

Findings

Empirical research using the AFP method shows a contribution rate of AFP to economic growth has been significantly improved since reform and opening‐up; however, that AFP fluctuates during different periods. China's economic growth is driven by investment and mainly depends on accumulation of capital input and moderate technological progress. Generally speaking, China's change of technological progress is consistent with its economic growth and technological progress plays an important role in its economic growth. The paper concludes that it is becoming significant for China to speed up its large‐scale technological progress, strengthen indigenous innovation, accelerate human resource development, and to facilitate promotion of system reform in an in‐depth manner.

Originality/value

First, in order to ensure the accuracy measurement, and taking into account the impact of macro‐economic control policies, the rate of change of technological progress and its contribution to economic growth are measured, according to the stages of China's economic cycles. Second, the perpetual inventory method is taken to calculate the annual value of fixed asset investment, and price deflated index is used to convert fixed asset investment into comparable data of the base year, 1978. Since the data of fixed assets price index began to be released from 1992, data from 1978 to 1991 are obtained by mathematical method through extension. Third, the theoretical model of AFP is transformed into an empirical one to estimate the change rate of technological progress and its contribution to economic growth in China.

Details

Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-1418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2010

Riccardo Natoli and Segu Zuhair

The main purpose of this paper is to propose a progress framework revolving around the utilisation of three key constructs: resources, infrastructure and environment (index).

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to propose a progress framework revolving around the utilisation of three key constructs: resources, infrastructure and environment (index).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper utilises a composite indicator and an interdisciplinary approach to construct a comprehensive measure of progress.

Findings

The findings reveal that the methodological approach employed above allows components that are vital to progress to be incorporated into a coherent framework.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed progress framework could be applied to countries, or act as a foundation for future progress measures. It is also hoped to promote interdisciplinary research between schools.

Originality/value

The paper proposes an alternative measure of progress for nations that has the capability to capture more aspects important to progress.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 April 2021

Sepehr Alizadehsalehi and Ibrahim Yitmen

The purpose of this research is to develop a generic framework of a digital twin (DT)-based automated construction progress monitoring through reality capture to extended reality…

8986

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to develop a generic framework of a digital twin (DT)-based automated construction progress monitoring through reality capture to extended reality (RC-to-XR).

Design/methodology/approach

IDEF0 data modeling method has been designed to establish an integration of reality capturing technologies by using BIM, DTs and XR for automated construction progress monitoring. Structural equation modeling (SEM) method has been used to test the proposed hypotheses and develop the skill model to examine the reliability, validity and contribution of the framework to understand the DRX model's effectiveness if implemented in real practice.

Findings

The research findings validate the positive impact and importance of utilizing technology integration in a logical framework such as DRX, which provides trustable, real-time, transparent and digital construction progress monitoring.

Practical implications

DRX system captures accurate, real-time and comprehensive data at construction stage, analyses data and information precisely and quickly, visualizes information and reports in a real scale environment, facilitates information flows and communication, learns from itself, historical data and accessible online data to predict future actions, provides semantic and digitalize construction information with analytical capabilities and optimizes decision-making process.

Originality/value

The research presents a framework of an automated construction progress monitoring system that integrates BIM, various reality capturing technologies, DT and XR technologies (VR, AR and MR), arraying the steps on how these technologies work collaboratively to create, capture, generate, analyze, manage and visualize construction progress data, information and reports.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2012

Yunna Wu, Yong Huang and Wei Luo

The role of a government investment project (GIP) management supervisor is to improve supervision performance and the Chinese government has issued a series of polices, displaying…

Abstract

Purpose

The role of a government investment project (GIP) management supervisor is to improve supervision performance and the Chinese government has issued a series of polices, displaying the determination to solve supervision problems. The purpose of this paper is to assist the government to play its role of supervisor and to realize progress supervision performance for GIP in practice with the Agent Construction System (ACS).

Design/methodology/approach

Taking consideration of the essence of ACS, the paper analyzes the system supported theory, which is a supervision mechanism, with contract management as the core and goals as orientation. The authors design the system frame and its composing modules according to the main function of this information system.

Findings

The research builds an expected supervision information system with four functional modules, which is designed according to logical sequence of supervision, based on a theoretical supervision mechanism.

Originality/value

The system is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the most advanced and practical information system for GIP supervision published in the literature.

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2021

Gursans Guven and Esin Ergen

The purpose of this study is to monitor the progress of construction activities in an automated way by using sensor-based technologies for tracking multiple resources that are…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to monitor the progress of construction activities in an automated way by using sensor-based technologies for tracking multiple resources that are used in building construction.

Design/methodology/approach

An automated on-site progress monitoring approach was proposed and a proof-of-concept prototype was developed, followed by a field experimentation study at a high-rise building construction site. The developed approach was used to integrate sensor data collected from multiple resources used in different steps of an activity. It incorporated the domain-specific heuristics that were related to the site layout conditions and method of activity.

Findings

The prototype estimated the overall progress with 95% accuracy. More accurate and up-to-date progress measurement was achieved compared to the manual approach, and the need for visual inspections and manual data collection from the field was eliminated. Overall, the field experiments demonstrated that low-cost implementation is possible, if readily available or embedded sensors on equipment are used.

Originality/value

Previous studies either monitored one particular piece of equipment or the developed approaches were only applicable to limited activity types. This study demonstrated that it is technically feasible to determine progress at the site by fusing sensor data that are collected from multiple resources during the construction of building superstructure. The rule-based reasoning algorithms, which were developed based on a typical work practice of cranes and hoists, can be adapted to other activities that involve transferring bulk materials and use cranes and/or hoists for material handling.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Access

Year

All dates (112193)

Content type

Article (112193)
1 – 10 of over 112000