The construction industry has been plagued with an increasing number of claims and high litigation costs. How do we reduce conflict and litigation in the construction process? On one hand, leaders of the construction industry in the United States (US) focused their efforts on improving alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. For instance, the American Society of Civil Engineers has introduced the Dispute Review Board (DRB) as a complementary provision to standard US construction practices. The establishment of the DRB to solve construction disputes on the job, avoid claims, and reduce project costs has proven considerable success. On the other hand, construction industry leaders in the United Kingdom (UK) have focused some of their efforts on improving general contract conditions. The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers of the UK has introduced the New Engineering Contract (NEC) to the construction industry as an alternative to presently used contracts. The NEC proposes to be an innovative, non-adversarial mechanism to resolve disputes on the job, avoid and reduce claims, and to assuage rising litigation costs in the construction industry. It too has proven considerable success in its efforts. This research concentrates on the DRB and the NEC as attempts by construction leaders to modernize and improve construction practices. In summary, the research compares the success stories of the DRB and the NEC as approaches to combating the adversarial nature, increasing number of disputes and rising litigation costs in the construction industry. The main conclusions ascertained in this research are as follows. Despite coming from similar business environments, construction industry leaders in the US and the UK embarked on different methods to address the issues plaguing the industry and to improve construction practices. Both in the US and the UK, construction leaders were mostly influenced to proactively seek and implement change in construction practices by experts from within the engineering and construction industry vanguard. The undertaking of these changes have shown similar success stories and the results have produced substantial impacts on the construction process. In conclusion, the efforts of construction leaders to implement the DRB and the NEC have provided effective mechanisms in improving communication and relations, and managing disputes in a timely fashion at the job site level. / Master of Science

The aim of the diploma thesis is funding of the municipalities by the South Moravian Region. The theoretical part defines the technical terms such as fiscal federalism, public administration and funding. The practical part explores whether the funding is provided in compliance with the general terms and conditions. This work is aiming to define the parameters which form the basis of comparison of the information about municipal funding available on the South Moravian Region website with the actual terms and conditions under which the funding is provided. Through the analysis explained herein it has been proven that in majority of cases the region does not abide by the terms of the funding as available online. The lack of required information in the terms on the region's website gives the impression that the funding process is rather opaque. Additionally, we further examine whether political affiliation of mayors in municipalities of the region is a factor determining the size of the actual funding provided by the region. The result of this analysis is negative which concludes that political affiliation of mayors in the region does not have an impact on the size of the funding provided by the region to its municipalities.

Dissertation thesis is focused on solution of the statistical problem to find a probability distribution of a discrete random variable on the basis of the observed data. These estimates are obtained by minimizing quasi-norms with given constraints. The thesis further focuses on deriving confidence intervals for estimated probabilities. It also contains practical application of these methods.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / Construction projects have developed over several decades through the advancement of technology, increased scarcity of resources and the ever increasing pressure of time and cost constraints. Because of new technology and modern construction methods, construction projects have become increasingly complex. These complexities inherently bring new risks that must be dealt with accordingly. A contract is the primary method through which risks are allocated between the Employer and the Contractor. The conditions allocating the risks legally bind both parties to accept responsibility of those risks, therefore it is important to understand the aspects of law that has bearing on contracts. In this thesis the scope is restricted to construction contracts. Because of the role that a contract plays, especially in the construction industry context, it is important to know the requirements of a modern contract to ensure the successful completion of projects and the continued sustainability of Employer-Contractor relationships. In South Africa, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) is a body that monitors developments in the construction industry. The CIDB has the authority to enforce legislation to ensure that contracts conform to a standard that protects the interests of both the Employer and the Contractor. One of the procurement documents endorsed by the CIDB is the General Conditions of Contract for Construction Works published by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). The first edition of the GCC was published in 2004 (GCC 2004) and a revised second edition was published in 2010 (GCC 2010). In this study the GCC 2010 and the GCC 2004 are compared first through a content analysis, to establish the effect the revisions on the bias of the document (or favouring a particular party) and then by means of a survey. The objectives are: a. To test whether revisions to the GCC from the 2004 edition to the 2010 edition resulted in a change in bias (assuming it exists) and compliance with the requirements of the modern contract; b. To determine the extent and effect of alterations to standard clauses of the GCC 2010 on the way in which the contract favours a particular party; c. Providing recommendations for future revisions that would potentially improve project success, relationship building and reduce the need for significant alterations to the standard clauses. Although a construction contract is undertaken between the Employer and the Contractor, the Consultant (who is not party to the contract) commonly drafts the contract on behalf of the Employer. The findings of the study show that the revision had a significant impact on improving the clarity of the roles of the Employer and the Contractor. A marginal improvement was found in the area of payment operating mechanisms. The perceived fairness of the document neither increased nor decreased. Clauses on claims and disputes and risk and related matters were the two areas that respondents identified as having the most bias that may be detrimental to the success of a construction project. Despite survey respondents finding the GCC 2010 procurement document to be fair, clauses are still altered by Employers (probably through Consultants) resulting in a biased contract favouring the Employer. Employers and Consultants should thus be educated more on bias and fairness in contracts and on the implications of shifting more risk to Contractors by altering clauses. Ultimately, the success of any construction project is dependent on the attitudes of the participants. Even the most fair procurement document is not a substitute for a relationship built on honesty and trust.

O principal objetivo do presente trabalho foi compreender a dinâmica industrial do Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina, considerando que no processo de reestruturação produtiva, as transformações vão se manifestar também nas cidades médias. Assim como o estado do Paraná o Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina, formado pela cidade média de Londrina e seu entorno, a partir de 1992 passou a apresentar desenvolvimento industrial importante., porém acentuando o caráter desigual deste desenvolvimento. A dinâmica industrial recente apresenta dois processos distintos: o primeiro está relacionado ao desenvolvimento de setores industriais tradicionais na região, intensivos em mão-de-obra e diretamente relacionados a empresas de pequeno e médio porte, cuja origem do capital é local/regional, além dos ramos industriais diretamente vinculados a forte base agropecuária da região. O segundo está relacionado ao processo de concentração e centralização social e espacial da reprodução do capital, vinculando-se ao processo de transferências industriais, em geral da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Na maioria dos casos as empresas foram beneficiadas pelos incentivos fiscais do governo estadual, por intermédio do Programa Paraná Mais-Empregos e invariavelmente receberam incentivos municipais. De fundamental importância para a dinâmica industrial do Aglomerado foi a provisão das condições gerais de produção historicamente estabelecidas, que propiciaram uma intensa integração, quer entre os municípios que o compõe, quer intensificando e modificando as relações históricas estabelecidas com o estado de São Paulo e sua região metropolitana, pólo hegemônico industrial brasileiro. Isso nos leva a reforçar a hipótese inicial de nosso trabalho de que, as condições gerais de produção historicamente estabelecidas têm um peso fundamental no desenvolvimento regional e que, a atuação do Estado na provisão dessas condições tem um alcance social e regional amplo, enquanto os programas vinculados à guerra fiscal são essencialmente concentradores, social e regionalmente. / The main objective of this work is to understand the industrial dynamics of (Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina), considering that in the process of productive reorganization, the transformations go to also disclose themselves in the medium cities. The Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina is formed by the medium city of Londrina and its neighborhood. As well as the state of the Paraná, the Urban-Industrial Agglomerate of Londrina, since 1992 started to present an important industrial development, however accents this unequal character. The recent industrial dynamics presents two distinct processes: the first one is related to the development of traditional industrial sectors in the region, intensive in man power and directly related the companies of small and medium size, whose origin of the capital is local/regional, beyond the industrial branches directly tied the strong farming base of the region. The second is related to the both processes: concentration and social-spatial centralization of the capital reproduction, associated to the industrial transferences process, in general of the Region Metropolitan of São Paulo. Frequently, the companies had been benefited by the tax incentives of the state government, for intermediary of the Paraná Mais-Empregos Program and certainly they had received municipal incentives. Very important for the industrial dynamics of the Agglomerated was the provision of the general conditions of production historically established, that had favored an intense integration among these cities, or intensifying and modifying the historical relations established with the state of São Paulo and its metropolitan region, the hegemonic pole industrial of Brazil. This strengthen the initial hypothesis of our work, that the general conditions of production historically established have a great importance in the regional development and the performance of the State in providing these conditions has an ample social and regional reach, while the programs related to the fiscal war are essentially social and regional concentrative.

A conformação territorial da Cidade-Região São Paulo faz dela um meio de produção de riqueza tendo como as vantagens locacionais um dos seus pilares. Uma dessas vantagens é fluidez nas redes de fluxos deste território, uma condição necessária para a valorização do capital. O objetivo de nossa pesquisa é compreender a relação entre a cobrança de pedágio para o transporte de produtos indivisíveis sobre os quais incide a Tarifa Adicional de Pedágio, visto que a operação das rodovias no estado de São Paulo foi concedida à iniciativa privada, que cobra pedágio dos usuários e cobra ainda a Tarifa Adicional de Pedágio- TAP- para os produtos indivisíveis. Ao analisar a reprodução capitalista na Cidade-Região São Paulo este trabalho se debruça sobre sua conformação espacial como o resultado do estabelecimento de condições gerais de produção no seu território, o que confere a ele a capacidade de ser um local adequado à reprodução capitalista. Este trabalho discute os conceitos de valor, valorização do capital, condições gerais de produção valorização do espaço de forma integrada em uma concepção histórica. Considerando que, no Brasil, um dos artifícios em busca da maior fluidez nas redes de fluxos é a concessão da administração de rodovias à iniciativa privada, defendemos que essa fluidez tem um preço muito alto, por meio da cobrança da TAP, para o transporte de produtos indivisíveis, o que afeta principalmente a lucratividade das empresas produtoras de máquinas e equipamentos, o que pode anular em parte as vantagens locacionais que a CRSP oferece para esse setor. / The territorial conformation of the city-region São Paulo makes it into a mean of production of wealth with the local advantages as one of its pillars. One of these advantages is the fluidity in the flow networks of this territory, a necessary condition for capital appreciation. Our research aims to comprehend the relation between the toll collection for indivisible products transportation upon which the Additional Toll Tariff (ATT) incurs, whereas the operation of the highways in the state of São Paulo was granted to the private initiative, which charges tolls from the users and also charges the Additional Toll Tariff ATT for indivisible products. Analyzing the capitalist reproduction in the city-region São Paulo, this work addresses its spatial conformation as the result of the establishment of general conditions of production in its territory, giving it the capacity to be a proper location to the capitalist reproduction. This work discusses the concepts of value, capital appreciation, general conditions of production, space appreciation in an integrated manner and a historical conception. Considering that, in Brazil, one of the artifices when seeking more fluidity in the flow networks is the concession of the highways management to the private initiative; we argue that this fluidity has a high price, through the charging of the ATT, for the transportation of indivisible products, affecting mostly the profitability of the machines and equipments producing companies, which can partly nullify the locational advantages that the CRSP offers to this sector.

A conformação territorial da Cidade-Região São Paulo faz dela um meio de produção de riqueza tendo como as vantagens locacionais um dos seus pilares. Uma dessas vantagens é fluidez nas redes de fluxos deste território, uma condição necessária para a valorização do capital. O objetivo de nossa pesquisa é compreender a relação entre a cobrança de pedágio para o transporte de produtos indivisíveis sobre os quais incide a Tarifa Adicional de Pedágio, visto que a operação das rodovias no estado de São Paulo foi concedida à iniciativa privada, que cobra pedágio dos usuários e cobra ainda a Tarifa Adicional de Pedágio- TAP- para os produtos indivisíveis. Ao analisar a reprodução capitalista na Cidade-Região São Paulo este trabalho se debruça sobre sua conformação espacial como o resultado do estabelecimento de condições gerais de produção no seu território, o que confere a ele a capacidade de ser um local adequado à reprodução capitalista. Este trabalho discute os conceitos de valor, valorização do capital, condições gerais de produção valorização do espaço de forma integrada em uma concepção histórica. Considerando que, no Brasil, um dos artifícios em busca da maior fluidez nas redes de fluxos é a concessão da administração de rodovias à iniciativa privada, defendemos que essa fluidez tem um preço muito alto, por meio da cobrança da TAP, para o transporte de produtos indivisíveis, o que afeta principalmente a lucratividade das empresas produtoras de máquinas e equipamentos, o que pode anular em parte as vantagens locacionais que a CRSP oferece para esse setor. / The territorial conformation of the city-region São Paulo makes it into a mean of production of wealth with the local advantages as one of its pillars. One of these advantages is the fluidity in the flow networks of this territory, a necessary condition for capital appreciation. Our research aims to comprehend the relation between the toll collection for indivisible products transportation upon which the Additional Toll Tariff (ATT) incurs, whereas the operation of the highways in the state of São Paulo was granted to the private initiative, which charges tolls from the users and also charges the Additional Toll Tariff ATT for indivisible products. Analyzing the capitalist reproduction in the city-region São Paulo, this work addresses its spatial conformation as the result of the establishment of general conditions of production in its territory, giving it the capacity to be a proper location to the capitalist reproduction. This work discusses the concepts of value, capital appreciation, general conditions of production, space appreciation in an integrated manner and a historical conception. Considering that, in Brazil, one of the artifices when seeking more fluidity in the flow networks is the concession of the highways management to the private initiative; we argue that this fluidity has a high price, through the charging of the ATT, for the transportation of indivisible products, affecting mostly the profitability of the machines and equipments producing companies, which can partly nullify the locational advantages that the CRSP offers to this sector.

O principal objetivo do presente trabalho foi compreender a dinâmica industrial do Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina, considerando que no processo de reestruturação produtiva, as transformações vão se manifestar também nas cidades médias. Assim como o estado do Paraná o Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina, formado pela cidade média de Londrina e seu entorno, a partir de 1992 passou a apresentar desenvolvimento industrial importante., porém acentuando o caráter desigual deste desenvolvimento. A dinâmica industrial recente apresenta dois processos distintos: o primeiro está relacionado ao desenvolvimento de setores industriais tradicionais na região, intensivos em mão-de-obra e diretamente relacionados a empresas de pequeno e médio porte, cuja origem do capital é local/regional, além dos ramos industriais diretamente vinculados a forte base agropecuária da região. O segundo está relacionado ao processo de concentração e centralização social e espacial da reprodução do capital, vinculando-se ao processo de transferências industriais, em geral da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Na maioria dos casos as empresas foram beneficiadas pelos incentivos fiscais do governo estadual, por intermédio do Programa Paraná Mais-Empregos e invariavelmente receberam incentivos municipais. De fundamental importância para a dinâmica industrial do Aglomerado foi a provisão das condições gerais de produção historicamente estabelecidas, que propiciaram uma intensa integração, quer entre os municípios que o compõe, quer intensificando e modificando as relações históricas estabelecidas com o estado de São Paulo e sua região metropolitana, pólo hegemônico industrial brasileiro. Isso nos leva a reforçar a hipótese inicial de nosso trabalho de que, as condições gerais de produção historicamente estabelecidas têm um peso fundamental no desenvolvimento regional e que, a atuação do Estado na provisão dessas condições tem um alcance social e regional amplo, enquanto os programas vinculados à guerra fiscal são essencialmente concentradores, social e regionalmente. / The main objective of this work is to understand the industrial dynamics of (Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina), considering that in the process of productive reorganization, the transformations go to also disclose themselves in the medium cities. The Aglomerado Urbano-Industrial de Londrina is formed by the medium city of Londrina and its neighborhood. As well as the state of the Paraná, the Urban-Industrial Agglomerate of Londrina, since 1992 started to present an important industrial development, however accents this unequal character. The recent industrial dynamics presents two distinct processes: the first one is related to the development of traditional industrial sectors in the region, intensive in man power and directly related the companies of small and medium size, whose origin of the capital is local/regional, beyond the industrial branches directly tied the strong farming base of the region. The second is related to the both processes: concentration and social-spatial centralization of the capital reproduction, associated to the industrial transferences process, in general of the Region Metropolitan of São Paulo. Frequently, the companies had been benefited by the tax incentives of the state government, for intermediary of the Paraná Mais-Empregos Program and certainly they had received municipal incentives. Very important for the industrial dynamics of the Agglomerated was the provision of the general conditions of production historically established, that had favored an intense integration among these cities, or intensifying and modifying the historical relations established with the state of São Paulo and its metropolitan region, the hegemonic pole industrial of Brazil. This strengthen the initial hypothesis of our work, that the general conditions of production historically established have a great importance in the regional development and the performance of the State in providing these conditions has an ample social and regional reach, while the programs related to the fiscal war are essentially social and regional concentrative.

Als Erfolgsfaktoren einer Notaufnahme gelten neben qualifiziertem Personal, der Ausstattung und Medizintechnik auch die baulich- funktionale Gestaltung. Notaufnahmen müssen sich immer wieder ändernden Rahmenbedingungen anpassen. So können beispielsweise steigende Patientenzahlen ein möglicher Faktor sein. Umstrukturierungen von Notaufnahmen erfordern deshalb eine besondere Zusammenarbeit zwischen Planenden und dem Fachpersonal, denn nur so können Schwachstellen genauestens herausgefiltert werden. Damit Planende die Prozesse innerhalb der Notaufnahme verstehen, ist diese Zusammenarbeit ein wichtiger Faktor. Deshalb wird die Customer Journey als mögliche Methode getestet, um Abläufe besser verstehen zu können und die erworbenen Erkenntnisse als Grundlage für Umplanung von Notaufnahmen zu verwenden. Dafür wird die Methode bei- spielhaft an ausgewählten Szenarien durchgeführt. Als Basis für die Customer Journey wurde ein auf unfallchirurgische Prozesse zugeschnittenes Interview mit einem Assistenzarzt für Allgemeinchirurgie einer Notaufnahme durchgeführt. Das Ziel soll es sein mit der Journey eine geeignete Planungsgrundlage zu entwickeln, welche den Architekt innen und Fachplanenden bei Umstrukturierungen als Planungswerkzeug dienen soll. So kann die Journey, als Planungswerkzeug zur Bestandsanalyse und -bewertung, als auch für die Zielplanung hilfreich sein.

The general conditions of contract play a very important role in the dynamics of the construction phase. The general conditions of contract outline the roles, rights, and obligations of the contracting parties during the construction phase of a project. The American Institute of Architects General Conditions of Contract for Construction (AIA A201) is considered the most widely used standard form of contracts in the U.S. construction industry. Standard contracts, like AIA A201, are being periodically revised and are becoming more cumbersome over time. The purpose and expectations of the revisions of the contract are not always clearly defined in literature or in practice. Changes to the general conditions have been made, which do not advance the performance goals for a successful project, but rather react to negative experiences. Oftentimes, there are conflicts between the parties' interpretation of the general conditions and between the required administrative practices obligatory by the general conditions during the construction phase, thus impacting the contractual relationships between owners, architect/design professionals, and general contractors. The increasing complexity and size of projects, the multiple-contract interfaces, and the changing times have transformed construction practices and contractual relationships. No longer simply following the lead of the AIA, owners seem to be questioning the value of the design professional, and the tone and path of the AIA A201. The three-phase methodology of this dissertation research set out to advance the understanding of change in the AIA A201 and the impact change has had on the value-added benefit of the design professional during the construction phase and contract administration on a project. The results of this research revealed the following primary conclusions: changes to various provisions pertaining to the key provisions have resulted in the Architect assuming less responsibility during the construction phase of a project; changes to the AIA A201 provision concerning the key provisions have not increased the value of the Architect's performance of contract administration services during the construction phase of a project; with regard to the key provisions, Owners or Owners' representatives perceive the value of the Architect's contract administration services during construction have decreased in recent years. In Phase I, this research identified the key contract provisions, which influence the function of the design professional performed in contract administration during construction. This investigation identified that change exists in key provisions over time and that change may have an influence on the function performed by the design professional during construction and contract administration. Subsequently, in Phase II, this research investigated the effect that change has had on the function performed by the design professional. The respective substantive changes to each provision that may have had a material effect on the function of the design professional were identified and these key provisions were thus studied further. Then, whether or not changes made to key provisions of AIA A201 have had a material effect on the function performed by the architect/design professional during the construction phase and contract administration was examined in Phase III. Ultimately, the research led to an enhanced knowledge of the owner-perceived value-added benefit by the design professional during the construction phase of a project. The practical use of the AIA A201 and its future editions has an influence on improved performance and better working relationships, which ultimately leads to improved constructed projects. The conclusions to this research study have demonstrated that changes made to key provisions of AIA A201 from 1951 to 1997 have diminished the role of the architect. Changes to key provisions have had a material effect on the construction phase, contract administration, and the function performed by the architect/design professional during the construction phase of a project. Before one can make effective changes to improve contractual and working relationships, the change must be identified for the purpose of supporting the industry's efforts to reduce adversarial relations, balance risk, and control schedule and cost, impact the contractual relationships and the value-added benefit of the contractual parties. This dissertation research successfully provided an understanding of the process used and the impact of change in the general conditions of contracts. As such, the knowledge gained from this research illuminated the necessary considerations of change and its impacts on the future development of contracts and their revisions in efforts to create better documents, not to just create bigger documents. / Ph. D.