Building procurement involves many different parties and resources. It is very common that requires project participants involved to work within budget, on time and according to quality prescribed as well as they must work safely. Sadly, safety aspects have been insufficient and lacking in many construction projects around the globe. However, as time progresses, safety is now becoming the fundamental measure of project performance. Hence, this research is an exploratory and explanatory investigation of how to enhance the implementation of construction safety practice throughout procurement process. As we speak, improvement of safety in construction is not only treated as technical aspects, but also as an organisational and managerial aspect as well. Firstly, the premise of this research is to show that client leadership and commitment as well as project team integration within the whole procurement process will influence safety practice in the construction industry. Secondly, the context of this research is drawn on the underlying theories of building procurement and construction safety. Therefore, thirdly, the primary objective of this research is to study how the procurement process acts as a potential tool to enhance safety practice in the construction industry. A framework developed for this research was based on procurement systems and accident causation theories as well as the process protocol. The current theories of accident causation suggest that improved safety in construction must start since in the beginning of project procurement process while integrating client and project participants toward synergy to mitigate any factors undermining safety in downstream production level. A case study strategy in two different countries, the UK and Malaysia, was selected as this provided justification of how procurement and people involved practising safety. The case study objects were undertaken by design and built and traditional procurement method. Different level of safety maturity is the justification of the countries selected. It was also intended to investigate lessons learned from the UK safety practice that can be used to improve the Malaysian construction industry. Multiple sources of information, data and evidence from 2 of the UK cases and 2 of the Malaysian cases were investigated through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys. In this research, three propositions were explored. The first is that improved procurement process, the client leadership for better safety policy in the procurement process and team integration throughout project procurement process can enhance health and safety practice. The findings are presented as data comparisons and analytical generalisations, from both intra case and cross case analyses as well as questionnaires. The main results show that procurement process with better client leadership and commitment as well as stronger project team integration can enhance safety practice in the construction industry. This research suggests that improving safety in construction is not only in the hand of construction companies but also any other project participants right from beginning of project procurement throughout project implementation. It is also suggested that Malaysia may take more attempts to persuade clients and client's project team to deal with safety issues seriously long before construction project commencing on site.

This research explores new evidence on the profitability, consistency and potential explanations of the accruals anomaly. We extend prior research into the association between earnings and share price by discrirninating between firms on the basis of the abnormal accruals contained in the reported operating profits. We investigate the accounting abnormal accruals enigma using U.K company data for the period 1968- 2005 to see whether companies reporting incomes consisting of the highest [lowest] operating abnormal accruals as a proportion of total assets significantly earn lower [higher] returns than the generality of the companies. We define a firm's abnormal accrual as the difference between its actual and normal total accruals. Total accruals are calculated as the change in non-cash working capital before income taxes payable less total depreciation expense. The themes of this thesis are two-fold. First, the time-series version of the Modified Jones Model is employed to decompose total operating accruals as they appear on the sample companies' financial statements into normal and abnormal accruals. Second, an empirical examination of the profitability and consistency of the abnormal accruals anomaly is undertaken. Abnormal returns for abnormal accruals deciles are estimated using a range of tests: the market-, the size-, the book-to-market- and the size-and-book-to-market-adjusting tests. Our abnormal returns estimates for the abnormal accruals deciles show evidence that the abnormal accruals anomaly in the UK is driven particularly by the highest abnormal accruals firms with significant negative abnormal returns over three years of about 4-5% per annum. Potential risk explanations for the observed accruals anomaly based on variety of tests including the use of the Fama and French three factor model are provided. The findings indicate that the abnormal accruals anomaly is robust after controlling for the risk factors. Therefore, the implication of this study is to short sell those shares in the highest abnormal accruals decile or, alternatively, to avoid buying them.

In contrast to birds and mammals for example, amphibian population studies only rarely capture information based on genealogical relationships among individuals. As a consequence, we only have very limited knowledge about individual fitness measures such as lifetime reproductive success and the consequences of such variation on the linkage between generations of amphibians in the wild. The present thesis makes use of an existing long-term study on the common toad (Bufo bufo) in southern England (Dorset) to genetically identify parent-offspring relationships among approximately 850 individual toads, representing two successive generations (2004/2005/2006 and 2008/2009). The dataset enabled the comparison of measures of effective population size as well as effective breeding size, revealing ratios between 0.07 and 0.26. These data also showed an increasing trend with time and were (by some estimators) confirmed by the cross-generational parentage analysis which revealed a high reproductive skew among individuals. Forty-five percent of offspring could be assigned to a least one parent; in total, 6% of male parents and 30% of female parents were inferred. The pedigree information was also used to identify a possible hereditary basis for an observed decrease in female body condition and fecundity correlated to increased environmental temperatures. There was no indication for heritability of body size, body weight and body condition, suggesting that the documented decrease is based on phenotypic plasticity rather than evolutionary adaptation. However, kinship data that shows the population is less inbred with time coupled with the effective breeding number estimates showing an increasing trend with time suggest that despite the absence of evolutionary change, this population may still be able to circumvent the adverse effects associated with decreased body condition.

This study investigate the impact of using E-Learning Model with the principles of the constructivism learning theory to enhance the critical thinking skills of students at the university-level. The focus of this study is critical thinking pedagogy and the impact of the E-Learning environment on a class of students. The research effort empirically examines two coherent subjects: (a) the effectiveness of the E-Learning Model in enhancing students' critical thinking; and, (b) the students' perception toward the E-Learning Model after exposure to a course in an E-Learning environment.

Performance evaluations of facilities are widely practiced within facilities organisations and it is generally accepted by Facilities Management practitioners that failure to obtain feedback on the building performance can expose facilities to serious consequences. The success of the evaluation is largely dependent on the breadth of issues being covered. These include financial matters, the physical condition of the building or the environment. As performance evaluation is a continuous process in the facilities management cycle, the factors that contribute to its success need to be identified. Issues such as accuracy, standardisation of practice, skill and knowledge remain open to debate among practitioners and academia in facilities management. There is also a view that facility users and owners are still in doubt as to how the performance evaluation will benefit them. On the knowledge management side, previous studies in various fields have identified numbers of knowledge mapping tools and techniques that are widely used. Knowledge mapping tools and techniques assist with information and knowledge flow throughout an organisation. However, for a knowledge map to be useful it must serve the purpose for which it is intended. This imposes some constraints upon which map forms are suitable and for what purpose. In the same vein, facilities performance practices are developing and evolving with changes in technology, business needs and users’ expectation. The present research identifies and explores the potential knowledge mapping tools and techniques that might be of benefit to facilities management organisations. In addition, a conceptual framework for the exploitation of benefits of knowledge mapping at various stages of performance evaluation is presented and discussed. The research methodology of the study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Twenty-one (21) facilities managers from different facilities management organisation were interviewed using semi structured interview techniques in order to obtain in-depth information on the implementation of knowledge mapping in the organisations. The data obtained was analysed using content analysis techniques. To obtain a broader perspective of the key issues investigated in the research, one hundred and eighty-eight (188) usable questionnaires were obtained from facilities managers in Malaysia via e-mail survey. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 16.0) was used to analyse the quantitative data and various statistical methods. The present research concludes that majority of facilities management organisations are of the view that knowledge mapping is important and some have initiated and implemented tools and techniques of knowledge mapping in evaluating facilities performance. The study also revealed that the main benefits of knowledge mapping in evaluating facilities performance are: improvements in the decision making process, problems identification and problem solving by providing quick access to critical information, identifying knowledge gaps and islands of expertise. The guidance produced will be beneficial to facilities management organisations in implementing knowledge mapping and exploit the benefits in facilities management organisation.

Building a liberal economy requires fulfilling some major conditions that are necessary for its proper operation. In order to have a healthy economy there is a need to have a variety of financial markets, such as money and capital markets. The capital market consists of two main markets; the primary and the secondary markets.

Accreditation of laboratories has been a subject of considerable interest because product quality guarantee has become one of the prime factors to be considered in the present time of highly competitive industrial activity. Accreditation is still a new issue for the laboratories in Libya. These laboratories need to establish a new strategy on accreditation focusing on the difficulties and barriers of implementation. The main aim of this research is to identify the attitudes of laboratory staff towards factors related to the establishment of accredited laboratories' in the Libyan Chemical and Petrochemical Industries. A total of 400 questionnaires were sent to laboratories within the Libyan chemicals and petrochemicals industries sector. 350 usable questionnaires out of the 400 were returned, thus giving a response rate of 87.50/0. The analysis led to the development of critical success factors to establish laboratories' accreditation by comprising 72 factors into 28 factors arranged in six categories: technical, management, culture, communication, quality and training, which affects laboratories' accreditation. This research identifies that the following are considered the main factors that affect the establishment of accreditation: Root causes of problems, Sampling procedure, Calibration of reference standards, Quality of equipment and resources, time and resources to do the job, Physical conditions at work, Quality of technical records, Quality is more important than volume of sales, Uncertainty of measurements, Security of records ,Happy to work in the laboratory, Periodic internal audits, Reports include information requested by client, Regular and effectiveness of meetings, Commitment to excellent customer services and continuous quality improvement, Loyalty and respect towards employees, Communication process, training, Staff involvement in the improvement process and, Clarity of job description The findings from this study wi II provide scholars, consultants and managers with valuable information on how to deal with laboratories accreditation issues.

The field of study for this research project is a recently established and rapidly evolving business concept, Facilities Management (FM). The focal theory for this project concerns the effectiveness of a tactic increasingly adopted by organisations as part of their FM strategy, namely contracting-out. This work places significant emphasis on the 'design' (i.e. the planning ) of the research project, in order to maximise the rigour of the study. In particular, a distinction is drawn between the design of the overall project and the design of the data collection strategy. The latter employs the multi-method techniques of •cas'e study and research review. The value of incorporating a looping or iteration element into the design in order to permit a dynamic and flexible approach is developed in some detail. The aim of the research project is to determine:- the advantages and disadvantages of contracting-out as they affect the individual organisations under investigation; the extent such factors play in determining whether the organisations adopt contracting-out; the potential for generalising the results across the case studies; and whether broader generalisations can be attempted. The following hypothesis for the study is developed based on the findings of a review of focal theory: 'The potential advantages to a User organisation of contracting-out discrete aspects or bundles of FM Services are likely to outweigh the potential disadvantages.' A matrix of the advantages and disadvantages of contracting-out is developed by conducting a 'research review'. The findings are ranked according to frequency of occurrence based on weighted averages. Six case studies are conducted as a means of collecting primary data. The data is systematically subjected to analytical methods, including testing against both the hypothesis and the rankings of the Research Review. Finally a cross-case analysis is undertaken. The findings progressively reached by this researcher have been tested out against knowledgeable audiences in two ways, viz: by presenting conference papers and lectures; and by regular reference back to a sounding board of key informants. The conclusions reached include: • that the proposition of the hypothesis is not generalisable; • that potential advantages and disadvantages of contracting-out not only vary between organisations, but in the way they influence the delivery of different FM services within a given organisation; • that factors other than these advantages and disadvantages influence Users' contracting-out decision-making.

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