Small and Micro sized construction contracting organisations (SCCOs) has a significant contribution to the overall wellbeing of the Construction Industry. Although micro and small sized enterprises have little impact individually they are collectively a significant contributor within the Construction Industry and indeed the UK economy. Despite their influence, SCCOs work independently of each other and take an insubordinate role within the supply chain and without having an authoritative support structure ensures they remain fragmented within the industry. This offers a fascinating dichotomy of influence versus representation and offers a theme to analyse how best to conceptualise a framework to aid critical success factors for SCCOs. In order to accomplish the framework the aim and objectives have been identified. The aim of this study is to identify the main factors affecting the development of micro and small sized contracting organisations in the construction industry, together with the critical success factors affecting their survival, and to develop an appropriate framework for their improved success. A qualitative research was conducted with thirty one small and micro sized Chartered Building Companies and this was further supported by a quantitative based research carried out with forty Chartered Building Companies to give a more robust accord to the research findings. A case study of five organisations validated the resulting conceptual framework. The contributions to knowledge offered from this research are: (i) academia; a basis that can be used for further and future research in this field of work. (ii) Business management forums: as a reference to support SCCOs. (iii) As an aid for small companies; established success factors that can be referenced by other SCCOs and (iv) to further develop formal and informal taught programmes.

In this thesis a set of interlocking arguments is fashioned. Each argument serves a dual purpose: it contributes to the acceptability of the main theme developed In the thesis and it increases the acceptability of the other arguments. At all stages the price paid for refusing to accept the conclusions drawn is cited. There are two driving forces behind the construction of the set of arguments. The first involves a recognition that there is a need for some 'underiabouring' work to be done for the Social Sciences; the second, relatedly. that there is a need to relocate the current debate in Anglo-Saxon Philosophy on, the question of Personal Identity. The colligation of the arguments accomplishes an 'underlabouring' task for the Social Sciences. This task consists of the identification of some of the Implications of the acceptance (whether tacit or explicitly stated) of two notions: the notions of what constitutes a person and what constitutes society. it Is argued that Possible uses of the concept of a person, inherent in any Interpretation of social phenomena, will constrain the explanatory power of any social scientific theory (or even ofa common system of beliefs) In which the interpretation is embedded. If one accepts a social scientific theory (or any common system of beliefs) which subsumes a concept of a person which does not see persons as essentially subjective, essentially social and essentially knowledge-seeking then one has to pay a series of penalties. Foremost among the penalties Is the sacrifice of the possibility of the expansion of the understanding of social phenomena. There are two concepts of society, embedded in contrasting systems of beliefs, whose acceptance has the effect of reinforcing the constraint on the explanatory power of the systems. One concept Involves a view of society as an object with causal powers, the other sees only Individuals as social causal agents. Whether it is Implicit or explicitly stated, the acceptance of either concept of society will cement the constraint on the expansion of one's understanding of social phenomena. The arguments go on to show that only the acceptance of a concept of society seen as an ensemble (itself devoid of detectable causal power) of social structures with causal powers can induce a lifting of some of the restrictions on the expansion of one's understanding of social phenomena. At the core of the arguments lies a fundamental distinction. This is the distinction which needs to be made between the functions of epistemological and ontological concepts which underpin one's understanding of social phenomena. It Is argued that, while such a distinction needs to be made, the relationship between the two functions is a symbiotic one - neither can operate without the other. The differentiation between the two functions is achieved by focusing on the distinction between knowledge and being - encapsulated in Chapter 2 by the distinction made between 'cultural environments' and 'social environments'. Linked to, and sustaining, the distinction between social and cultural environments is a distinction between two aspects of cognitive interactions between Individuals. These two aspects Involve a contrast between an Individual's sense of 'Interacting with' and a sense of 'being with' other Individuals. The former involves individuals in operating 'social kinds' while the latter involves them in sustaining the operating parameters of social kinds. Operations of social kinds are needed for changes in states of understanding to occur (in other words the operations have epistemological significance); by contrast the sustaining of the operational parameters of social kinds is significant with respect to the functions of ontological concepts. The failure of many theories of Personal Identity to address the problems generated by conflating epistemology and ontology In the social sciences renders such theories Inadequate to the task of providing a comprehensive analysis of Personal Identity. The arguments In the thesis pinpoint the nature of this Inadequacy, and show how it might be avoided.

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While there has been a long running debate concerning the relationship between the Christian faith and environmental attitudes and behaviours, the topic has been neglected empirically, especially in relation to qualitative research. This thesis addresses this gap and presents the results of fieldwork that included participant observation and forty in-depth qualitative interviews. The goal of this thesis is to present findings about the environmental attitudes and behaviours of four conservative evangelical congregations in North Wales, U.K., to further understanding about how Christian beliefs and interpretation of the Bible are formative in this process. To aid in this a modified ‘four voices of theology’ of Cameron et al. (2010) is used as an analytical template and to conceptualise results.

Orientador: Lucila Chebel Labaki / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T20:51:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_EricadeSantana_M.pdf: 7038567 bytes, checksum: dbe759b1d615577fb375e3b94169f912 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Em cidades de clima quente, a preocupação em proporcionar ambientes termicamente confortáveis torna-se imprescindível. O crescimento desordenado do ambiente construído com um traçado urbano desfavorável à insolação, ventilação e à transferência de calor pelos materiais do entorno, ocasiona modificações nos padrões de clima das cidades. Assim, esta pesquisa busca a correlação existente entre os parâmetros climáticos (variáveis de temperatura e umidade relativa do ar) e o parâmetro urbanístico denominado fator de visão do céu. O estudo desenvolvido analisa uma micro-região da cidade de São José dos Campos (SP) que compreende os bairros Parque Residencial Aquarius e Jardim das Indústrias. O Parque Residencial Aquarius vem apresentando uma acelerada ocupação vertical com novas construções comerciais e residenciais, em contraposição ao Jardim das Indústrias, bairro residencial com predominância de edificações com até dois pavimentos. A escolha da área baseou-se na hipótese de que, à medida que a verticalização da área urbana se intensifica, a geometria do ambiente é modificada, trazendo alterações no fator de visão do céu, e consequentemente, nas variáveis de temperatura e umidade relativa do ar. A metodologia aplicada baseou-se em medições fixas das variáveis climáticas (realizadas nos períodos de verão e inverno) e análises de imagens, obtidas com câmera fotográfica acoplada a lente olho-de-peixe, dos pontos escolhidos da micro-região. As análises estatísticas dos resultados demonstraram que o bairro Parque Residencial Aquarius apresenta temperaturas ligeiramente mais elevadas que o Jardim das Indústrias, tanto no período diurno quanto no noturno. Foi possível comprovar também que as correlações entre o FVC e a intensidade de ilhas de calor noturnas foram negativas e significantes, portanto, os pontos com menores valores de FVC apresentaram maior intensidade de ilha de calor. A pesquisa confirma que o FVC é um parâmetro importante na identificação de ilhas de calor / Abstract: In cities with warm climates, the concern to provide thermally comfortable environments becomes imperative. The sprawl of the built environment in an urban layout unfavorable to sunlight, ventilation and heat transfer through the surrounding material causes changes in weather patterns of towns. Thus, this research shows the correlation between climatic parameters (variables of temperature and relative humidity) and the parameter called urban sky view factor. The developed study analyzes a micro-region of São José dos Campos (SP) which comprehends the neighborhoods Parque Residencial Aquarius and Jardim das Indústrias. Parque Residencial Aquarius shows an accelerated vertical occupation with new residential and commercial buildings, as opposed to the Jardim das Indústrias, predominating residential buildings with two floors up. The choice of the area is based on the assumption that as the vertical extent of the urban area intensifies, the geometry of the environment is changed, causing changes in the sky view factor, and consequently, the variables of temperature and relative humidity air. The methodology applied was based on fixed measurements of climate variables (conducted during summer and winter) and analysis of images taken with camera coupled to lens-eye fish, the chosen points of the micro-region. Statistical analysis of results showed that Parque Residencial Aquarius with temperatures slightly higher than Jardim das Indústrias in daytime and at night. It could be demonstrated also that the correlations between FVC and intensity of heat islands night were negative and significant, so the points with lower values of FVC showed higher intensity of heat island. The research confirms that the FVC is an important parameter for identification of heat islands / Mestrado / Arquitetura e Construção / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

In the 21st century, quality has become one of the most pressing issues in the world of business. Indeed, service quality management is a primary need for business survival. Quality management has been recognized as a comprehensive management philosophy for improving organisational performance and competitiveness. The effective adoption of an appropriate service quality management system in an organisation can facilitate the achievement of excellence in service quality. Furthermore, service excellence is a crucial factor in the achievement of a high level of customer satisfaction in service organisations like banks. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the excellence of service quality in the developing banking sector in Syria. The fundamental concepts of excellence of the EFQM Excellence Model have been borrowed from the literature as a theoretical framework through which to investigate the Syrian Banking Sector (SBS). To achieve the research aim, an interpretevist philosophy has been adopted as the means of understanding in depth, the factors influencing excellence in three case study organisations, which are selected to be representative of the state-owned banks (CSOA), private banks (CSOB), and Islamic private banks (CSOC). Different sources of data collection – semi-structured interviews, direct observation, archival records, and documentation - are used to achieve triangulation of the results. The main contribution to knowledge of this research can be summarised fundamentally as: firstly designing a theoretical framework embracing the factors affecting the excellence of service quality in the Syrian banking sector. Secondly, conducting a comparative reserch approach between the three (CSOs) investigating the factors affecting the readiness to implement EFQM excellence model in each case study. The main findings have revealed that CSOC is more likely to achieve excellence than the other two banks, since CSOC has demonstrated consistent progress towards that aim. In respect of CSOA and CSOB, it is clear that certain negative managerial practices need to be remedied before the EFQM Excellence Model can seriously be pursued. In addition, some unique factors have emerged, such as the intensive intervention of guardian authorities for the state-owned bank, the negative effect of religion and culture on employee performance in the state-owned bank, and the lack of banking culture in Syria in general. Furthermore, the research enriches the literature through the comparative dimension highlighted in the three case studies (state-owned, private, and private Islamic banks) since there are limitations in the literature regarding the readiness to implement the EFQM excellence model in the service sector, and particularly in banks in the developing countries.

Since ISO 9000 was introduced in 1987 there has been a tremendous growth in the number of companies seeking registration to it, both in developed and developing countries. It was found in the literature that few ISO 9000 certificate holders have converted their quality management programme to TQM. Jordan, a developing country, is not an exception. However, this subject has not received enough attention and certainly these studies in developing countries are almost totally lacking. Therefore, the aim of this research is 'to develop a framework to help in the identification of the impediments to the transition from ISO 9000 standard towards TQM among Jordanian ISO 9000 certified manufacturing companies'. The research methodology involved the adoption of a survey as a research strategy and a quantitative approach, utilising a self-administered questionnaire, to arrive at the major findings of the study. The research findings indicate that several impediments have emerged as inhibitors to going beyond ISO 9000 towards TQM in the Jordanian context. Among these are: the prevailing organisational culture/climate, lack of reward and recognition, lack of training and education, lack of employee empowerment and involvement, and infrastructure factors. By integrating the literature review and the study findings, a simple framework aimed at assisting in the identification of the impediments to the transition from ISO 9000 standard towards TQM in Jordanian ISO 9000 certified manufacturing companies was constructed. The thesis seeks to make an original contribution to knowledge in the quality management discipline by discovering the factors that are impediments to going to TQM and by developing a framework to help in the identification of these impediments to the transition from ISO 9000 standard towards TQM in Jordanian ISO 9000 certified manufacturing companies. Such contributions will be beneficial both academically and professionally. Academically, this research aims at gaining academic attention to this neglected domain in the context of this research and professionally, managers will also look at the practical implications of the research and the possibility of implementing the implications of this research in their organisations. Some recommendations for future research have been derived from this research.