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Partnering is the master key element for project quality. It opens the doors to commitment and communication between the parties and provides the mastic which turns disparate groups with varying aims into a coherent team with common objectives (Baden-Hellard).There has been considerable business emphasis placed upon the development of collaborative relationships across companies in recent years. Construction is no exception. The presence of trust in the relationships has been cited as central to successful business and project outcomes (Partnership Sourcing Ltd. 1994, Latham1994). Trust is central to the development of non- adversarial business relationships, and hence provides fertile ground for the development of practices such as partnering, strategic alliances and supply chain management.The paper focuses upon the partnering concept in construction and discusses the role of trust as a key dimension for reducing adversarial relations in project working environments.

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To properly plan for construction, repair, maintenance, and reconstruction of highways the minimum acceptable roadway condition is needed information. This, along with other pavement management tools, will help select the most desirable roadway alternatives. In this research the minimum acceptable conditions are developed based on an opinion survey of non-technical but high-level decision makers. Roadway roughness, expressed as international roughness index (IRI), is used as the measurement criteria. Because IRI is a widely known, acceptable, and a uniformly measurable index, it is used for the purpose of this research. The minimum IRI values developed here will help managers, planners, and engineers in prioritizing their plans and projects. Iran has a central planning system, hence having a minimum acceptable IRI will help in producing homogeneity in decision making. A questionnaire is sent to top level and influential managementlevel officials who have a decisive input in highway matters. The officials are asked to choose the minimum acceptable service level of different types of roadways and classifications. Naturally, roadways with higher levels of importance would require higher service levels. The answers to the survey questionnaires are investigated to determine a preferred minimum acceptable roadway condition. The IRI is computed using a mechanical device enabling a more uniform data collection. The IRI was first proposed by The World Bank as a standard roughness statistic. Extensive research has proven that the IRI can be related to pavement condition. The result of the opinion survey is investigated to determine the minimum levels acceptable for each category. The responses show distinct preference patterns for most of the roadway types. Survey results are investigated by plotting and analyzing them. Based on road user’s perception of roadway condition using guidelines from AASHTO, the Corp of Engineers, and related research work. The appropriate IRI limits and ranges are determined for Iran’s highways. These values are adjusted to obtain final values for Iran. The result, shown in a table, gives upper and lower IRI values accepted and recommended for Iran’s highways. The result of this research work is specifically useful in developing specifications for new pavement design, accepting new pavement from contractors, pavement management, highway planning, and in roadway life cycle cost analysis decision making. The results are subject to refinement over time.

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Risks mean cases of uncertainty of project, the impact of which is realized as a threat (negative aspect) and/or opportunity (positive aspect). The traditional viewpoint on risk is a negative viewpoint that implies damages, loss and harmful consequences. Judgments such as this on risk merely emphasize on risks management and pay less attention to opportunities management. It is clear that some uncertainties might be profitable for the project as in many cases, it could be the source of loss. In a developed attitude, focus is made on a common process that could address the integrated management of both opportunities and risks to aim at maximizing the positive effectsopportunities-, and minimizing negative effects- risks-. Therefore, existence of causal-effect relations between risks, relationship, effects of risks and opportunities on each other and variety of strategies in facing risks gives no alternative for risk management team than taking integrated management of risks and opportunities. In another word, reaction to risks, with respect to risks and/or relevant opportunities, separately, will be never effective. In this paper, for the purpose of integrated management of risks and opportunities, the stages of quality analysis and reactions to risk are combined. The method which is used for reaction towards risk is a procedure based on dynamic system. Dynamic system is highly important among uncertainties due to considering the type and intensity of effects. By using dynamic system and attention to the relationship between uncertainties (risks/ opportunities), reaction to risk and decision making on employing suitable strategies to face risks will be more precise and accurate.

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Cash flow forecasting is an indispensable tool for construction companies, and is essential for the survival

of any contractor at all stages of the work. The time available for a detailed pre-tender cash flow forecast is often

limited. Therefore, contractors require simpler and quicker techniques which would enable them to forecast cash flow

with reasonable accuracy. Forecasting S-curves in construction in developing countries like Iran in compare with

developed countries has many difficulties. It is because of uncertainty and unknown situation in nature of construction

industry of these countries. Based on knowledge of authors there is a little attempt for cash flow forecasting in

construction industry of Iran. As a result authors produced An S-curve equation for construction project from historical

data which has reasonable accuracy. A sample of 20 completed projects was collected and classified in to the three

different groups. In order to model S-curves for each group, a simple and reliable method of S curve fitting has been

used. S-curves were fitted into each group by using different techniques. Errors incurred when fitting these curves were

measured and compared with those associates in fitting individual projects. At the end, accuracy of each model has

been calculated and an equation has been proposed to forecast S-curves.

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The paper discusses the current state of research concerning railway network timetabling and traffic

management. Timetable effectiveness is governed by frequency, regularity, accurate running, recovery and layover

times, as well as minimal headway, buffer times and waiting times. Analytic (queuing) models and stochastic microsimulation

are predominantly used for estimation of waiting times and capacity consumption anlong corridors and in

stations, while combinatorial models and stability analysis are suitable for network timetable optimisation. Efficient

traffic management can be achieved by real-time monitoring, fusion, analysis and rescheduling of railway traffic in

case of disturbances. Real-time simulation, optimisation and impact evaluation of dispatching measures can improve

the effectiveness of rescheduling and traffic management. The display of dynamic signal and track occupancy data in

driver cabins, as RouteLint developed by ProRail, can support anticipative actions of the driver in order to reduce

knock-on delays and increase throughput.

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In this paper, the processes which are currently under development in South Korea, concerning railway

safety management system are introduced. Railway safety management system in South Korea is briefly presented,

making particular attentions to Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP). To make huge national R&D projects

successful, systematic management process is essential. In this respect, detailed applying SEMP on railway safety

management system of South Korea is discussed including Systems Engineering process and Verification and

Validation procedures. Furthermore, a computer-aided systems engineering tool (Cradle) is used in order to make the

management process more easily controllable.

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Java is an object-oriented program that has abundant open-source libraries for application development and 3D model rendering. Spatial database is the database that can efficiently store and manage geographic information data though various spatial data management techniques. This paper explores the rationale of coupling java with spatial database to develop an effective platform for future Building Information Modeling (BIM) application. The paper methodically presents the prototype system integration design to demonstrate how the system can be developed. The paper also meticulously presents the logical and physical data models in designing optimum BIM database for a reinforced concrete building. An 8-storey reinforced concrete building was used as an implementation case study to validate the proposed prototype system design and investigates the implementation issues. The outcome shows that not only the proposed prototype system offers technological advantages over the traditional BIM applications, its open-source solution can also overcome the financial constraint that currently inhibits the implementation of BIM especially for medium and small enterprises.

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In this paper, a location allocation (LA) problem in construction and demolition (C&D) waste management (WM) is studied. A bi-level model for this problem under a fuzzy random environment is presented where the upper level is the governments who sets up the processing centers, and the lower level are the administrators of different construction projects who control C&D waste and the after treatment materials supply. This model using an improved particle swarm optimization program based on a fuzzy random simulation (IPSO-based FRS) is able to handle practical issues. A case study is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Conclusions and future research directions are discussed.

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Construction industry consists of several phases in which a variety of stakeholders are involved. As construction projects are becoming larger, more complex and more diverse, the design phase has been more important factor for the success of projects than ever before. However, it is considered that most of design work occurred in actual design process is intangible. Such recognition makes the design phase more unsystematic and arbitrary, which finally weakens the competitiveness of whole project. In order to solve these problems, this study developed a web-based system for integrated design management (IDMS) which consists of 8 modules including design document, schedule, quality, and building permit management. This section is intended to validate the system implementation and its effectiveness. Two characteristics have made this research significantly different from previous studies. First of all, users of the system including architects and other design professionals were continuously involved starting from the development phase to the validation phase. The other unique characteristic is that the actual design project was applied as a test bed in the final verification stage. The research team applied the actual data which had been generated while each business process, and verified the effectiveness of system implementation. The authors expect that such a user-centered approach enable the system more robust and effective.

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This research presents a dynamic mathematical system for modeling and simulating the quality management process in construction projects. Through sets of cause and effect feedback loops, all factors that internally and externally affect the quality management process are addressed. The proposed system integrates fuzzy logic with system dynamics simulation scheme to consider the uncertainties associated with the model parameters and estimation of the extra cost and time due to quality defects. Quantification of the consequences of the quality failures is performed based on the α-cut representation of fuzzy numbers and interval analysis. The proposed approach is efficient in modeling and analyzing a quality management process which is complex and dynamic in nature and involves various uncertainties. The proposed approach is implemented in a real submarine water supply pipe line project in order to evaluate its applicability and performance. The negative impacts resulting from quality failures are simulated. These negative impacts are mitigated by the implementation of alternative solutions.

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The decisions made in the planning phase of a building project greatly affect its future operation and maintenance (O&M) cost. Recognizing the O&M cost of condominiums’ common facilities as a critical issue for home owners, this research aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) O&M cost prediction model to assist developers and architects in effectively assessing the impacts of their decisions made in the planning phase of condominium projects on future O&M costs. A regression cost prediction model was also developed as a benchmark model for testing the predictive accuracy of the ANN model. Six critical building design attributes (building age, number of apartment units, number of floors, average sale price, total floor area, and common facility floor area) which are usually available in the project planning phase, were identified as the input factors to both models and average monthly O&M cost as the output factor. 55 of the 65 existing condominium properties randomly selected were treated as the training samples whose data were used to develop the ANN and regression models the other ten as the test samples to compare and verify the predictive performance of both models. The study results revealed that the ANN model delivers more accurate and reliable cost prediction results, with lower average absolute error around 7.2% and maximum absolute error around 16.7%, as compared with the regression model. This study shows that ANN is an effective method in predicting building O&M costs in the project planning phase. Keywords: Project management, Facility management, Common facilities, Cost modeling.

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We consider the problem of continuous dynamic berth allocation to containerships in a tidal seaport. In some container ports, low water depth in coastal area causes many restrictions on providing vessel's services. Therefore, berth allocation planning for relatively large vessels with high draft is subject to tidal conditions when the vessels are in the access channel as from anchorage area to the quay. Tidal conditions sometimes have a significant effect on possibility of entrance and departure of these ships to or from ports. Shahid Rajaee Port Complex, Iran's largest container seaport and the case study of this research, located at northern coast of Persian Gulf and has low water depth in its area. Historical data of seaside operations in this port is applied to the proposed model. This model also takes into account the variations of water depth in different berths. Simultaneous programming for two or more container terminals and exertion of priority and precedency coefficients based on vessel size and voyage type altogether are other attributes of this model. Here, genetic algorithm in combination with pattern search algorithm was used for solving the problem. Computational experiments have indicated that the proposed heuristic is relatively effective just for small size instances.

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Project Management knowledge has been used in many project oriented organizations in last two decades across the world. Despite, rate of project success did not change during these years. We believe there is a basic challenge in projects environment for managing them based on its inherent characteristics. In fact, project management knowledge use theories and concepts that are belong to process management world, as a different world. There is no enough attention to project characteristics as a fundamental differentiation for coping projects. Identification of construction projects nature in order to discern variables that create the project behaviors is main concern of the paper.Considering project characteristics in this research revealed construction project nature creates from combination two aspects. First, detecting environmental changes to develop a need and second prepare resources structure to respond the need. Important management challenge in this model is environmental continuous changes that alter the need and exchange resources structure. So, the paper considers how these aspects can be operationalized for developing a dynamic project management model. It gives some ideas about why project complexity might be considered to be increasing, and how construction projects move towards shorter timescales. The effectiveness of the model is verified by applying it for predicting some construction projects behavior. The results of the paper may capable future project managers to test any decision before its applying and lead to a new project management tool for construction projects management.

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Fly ash is one of the most plentiful and versatile of the industrial by-products. At present, nearly 150 million tonnes of fly ash is being generated annually in India posing dual problem of environmental pollution and difficulty in disposal. This calls for establishing strategies to use the same effectively and efficiently. However, it is only in geotechnical engineering applications such as the construction of embankments/dykes, as back fill material, as a sub-base material etc., its large-scale utilization is possible either alone or with soil. Soil stabilization can be achieved by various means such as compaction, soil replacement, chemical improvement, earth reinforcement etc. Usually, in the case of clay soils, chemical improvement is commonly most effective since it can strengthen the soil, to remove its sensitivity both to water and its subsequent stress history. Among chemical means or additives, fly ash/lime provides an economic and powerful means of improvement, as demonstrated by the significant transformation that is evident on mixing with heavy clay. In the present investigation, different percent fly ashes (10%, 20%, 40%, 60% & 80%) were added to a highly expansive soil from India by dry weight of the natural soil, and subjected to various tests. The important properties that are necessary for using fly ash in many geotechnical applications are index properties, compaction characteristics, compressibility characteristics, permeability and strength. Based on test results, it has been found that using fly ash for improvement of soils has a two-fold advantage. First, to avoid the tremendous environmental problems caused by large scale dumping of fly ash and second, to reduce the cost of stabilization of problematic/marginal soils and improving their engineering properties for safe construction of Engineering Structures. 

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The management philosophy, namely, Customer relationship management (CRM) has been widely accepted and successfully applied across a range of sectors. However, there has been very little research efforts in the field of CRM in the construction industry. This paper provides a review of the CRM philosophy and technology, and considers the implications benefits and challenges to construction organizations at a strategic business and operational level. Given the generally unstable economic and highly competitive marketplace, implementation of CRM throughout the lifecycle of assets may provide for more effective management of existing and prospective clients. The CRM approach would seem to be compatible with general trends in the construction industry towards more collaborative working and the paper provides that both the philosophy and technologies can be integrated with current initiatives such as building information modeling (BIM). Construction clients in the public and private sector are diverse in nature, complex in their buying processes and at varying levels of knowledge of the Industry. In addition to seeking value for money from their projects and assets, they have become more concerned about sustainability and environmental impact. It has been recognized that management of a broader range of business and project level stakeholders is necessary.

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Risk allocation is the definition and division of responsibility associated with a possible future loss or gain arising from an identified risk. Quantitative approaches to risk allocation have been developed to overcome the limitations of qualitative approaches, especially the issue of the amount of risk to be borne by each party. This paper presents a cooperative-bargaining game model for quantitative risk allocation that extends the previous existing system dynamics SD-based model. The behavior of contracting parties in the quantitative risk allocation process is modeled as the players’ behavior in a game. The proposed model accounts for both the client costs and the contractor costs to perform the quantitative risk allocation process. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, it has been employed in a pipeline project. Quantitative risk allocation is performed for the inflation as one of the most important identified risks. It is shown that using the proposed cooperative-bargaining game model, both the client and contractor costs are decreased in comparison to the previous SD-based risk allocation approach.

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To fully explain hydropower unit operational problems, an optimal multi-objective dynamic scheduling model is presented which seeks to improve the efficiency of reservation regulation management. To reflect the actual hydropower engineering project environment, fuzzy random uncertainty and an integrated consideration of the natural resource constraints, such as load balance, system power balance, generation limits, turbine capacity, water head, discharge capacities, reservoir storage volumes, and water spillages, were included in the model. The aim of this research was to concurrently minimize discharges and maximize economic benefit. Subsequently, a new hybrid dynamic-programming based multi-start multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm was developed to solve the hydro unit operational problem. The proposed model and intelligent algorithm were then applied to the Xiaolongmen Hydraulic and Hydropower Station in China. The computational unit commitment schedule results demonstrated the practicality and efficiency of this optimization method.

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Construction industries are the most dangerous worksites with high risk of occupational accident and bodily injuries, which ranges from mild to very severe cases. The aim of this study was to explore the causal factors of accident severity rate (ASR), in 13 of the biggest Iranian construction industries. In this analytical cross-sectional study, the data of registered accidents from 2009 until 2013 were obtained from an official database. Data of HSE risk management systems and HSE training were also gathered from comprehensive accident investigation reports. Data analysis and regression modeling were done using SPSS statistical software (version 22). The mean and SD of ASR of studied construction worksites was 257.52±1098.95. The results show that the system associated with HSE and HSE risk management established only 41.8 and 18.4%, respectively. The results of multiple linear regression indicated that some individual and organizational factors (IOFs), HSE training factors (HTFs), and Risk Management System factors (RMSFs) were significantly associated with ASR (p<0.05). The study revealed the causal factors of ASR. Hence, these findings can be applied in the design and implementation of a comprehensive HSE risk management system to reduce ASR.