Case Study Of Project Research Articles

The importance of citizen science in coastal monitoring. Learnings from experience in Villa Gesell (Argentina)

Climate change has affected the coasts of the world due to numerous factors, including the change in the intensity and frequencies of the storms and the increase in the mean sea level, among others. Argentina has extensive coastal areas, and research and monitoring tasks are expensive and require a significant number of personnel to cover large geographical areas. Given this, citizen science has become a tool to increase scientific research's spatial and temporal extension. Therefore, the paper aims to analyze the methodology and development of the citizen science project in Villa Gesell and its lessons for applying them in future coastal environmental monitoring projects. The methodology was based on an experience of the project co-created between activists and researchers. This project included four phases for social and physical aspects: training for the citizens, theoretic and practical aspects of coastal dynamics, and how to measure its geomorphological and oceanographic variations; data collection: the activists who received the training performed the measurements to monitor the beach; data analysis by scientists; and dissemination of results; the report data were disseminated by citizens in their community. The analysis of case studies in citizen science projects generates a fundamental learning arena to apply in future projects. Among the positive aspects were the phases established for their development and the methodology used to collect beach monitoring data.

Operational Risk Management and Project Success in Rwanda, A Case Study of Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project (LVWATSAN) in Nyagatare District, Rwanda

Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project (LVWATSAN) operations in Nyagatare District were particularly aimed at constructing a faecal sludge treatment plant with the ability to treat dirt water not only in Nyagatare District but also other two secondary cities namely, Nyanza, Kayonza (MINIFRA, 2015). The general objective of this study was to assess the impact of operational risk management on project success of LVWATSAN in the Nyagatare District; Specifically, the objectives of the study were to examine the impact of operational risk identification on the success of LVWATSAN project; To assess the impact of operational risk monitoring on the success of LVWATSAN project; To determine the impact of operational risk mitigation on the success of LVWATSAN project. The target population of the study was 42 respondents sourced from all the staff members undertaking project activities including project manager, engineers and operators; a census method was used where all 42-target population were considered as a sample size. The study used primary and secondary data collection methods. Primary data was collected using a survey questionnaire while secondary data was sourced from published and unpublished sources from library and peer- reviewed articles from journals of project management databases. Data was processed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics in frequencies, percentages, standard deviations and means. Correlation and regression analysis were used to evaluate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. After analysing the data, findings concluded that the project lacked effective risk planning procedures due to the weaknesses in the approval and reviews of the risk management framework, had an outlined risk mitigation plan, however, the project team appeared unaware of the mitigation measures to adopt should risks present themselves. The study concluded that there is a significant relationship between operational risk management - identification, monitoring as well as mitigation and project success in terms of timely completion, cost performance and stakeholder’ satisfaction. The study recommended that; the senior leadership in Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation project should adopt operational risk management as a methodology and knowledge field when they start implementing new project. Keywords: Operational risk management, project success, LVWATSAN, Rwanda

Community Agricultural Projects and Poverty Reduction; A Case Study of Community-Based Watershed Management Project in Kirehe District, Rwanda

Community Agricultural Projects and Poverty Reduction; A Case Study of Community-Based Watershed Management Project in Kirehe District, Rwanda

Seeking the Optimisation of Public Infrastructure Procurement with NEC4 ECC: A Peruvian Case Study

The modern civil engineering and construction sector requires collaborative work environments, learning and trust among all parties involved, qualities that are absent in the Peruvian reality. This study, which is based on an extensive literature review, investigates this challenge. The study reflects upon (i) the current situation of public works procurement in Peru and (ii) the New Engineering Contract (NEC), which has recently been implemented in Peruvian Special Public Infrastructure Projects. Comparisons are presented between the characteristics, documentation and roles of these two systems, with the purpose of understanding and representing the advantages, disadvantages and possibilities of integrating the good contractual management practices of the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract into the traditional Peruvian State Contracting Law (Ley de Contrataciones del Estado: LCE). The research is validated through the case study of a high-impact road infrastructure project in the city of Arequipa, Peru, which revealed five main deficiencies from Peruvian procurement processes which hinder good contractual management and, also, facilitated an initial assessment of the challenges and improvement opportunities in public infrastructure procurement. Thus, a contribution is made to closing the knowledge gap regarding the implementation of the NEC4 ECC in public sector works.

Governance of renewable energy procurement via private suppliers: The Ethiopian experience

This paper addresses the challenges of governing energy procurement from a mix of non-hydropower renewable energy sources supplied by independent producers. Building on political economy analysis and five case studies of independent producer projects from Ethiopia, it seeks to understand the root causes of the protracted delays and limited extent of procurement by independent producers. Unlike previous research, this paper found little resistance by the incumbent (in this case a heavily hydropower dependent state-owned enterprise) to transition to non-hydropower sources, nor to private sector supply. However, competing interests and tensions among key stakeholders over procurement processes prevailed. The key contestations lie in managing long term contracts, risk, uncertainty and in developing the institutional and human capacity to transition. Procurement via private suppliers will inevitably require a competent governance arrangement cognizant of the suitability of energy sector structure to transition. In the Ethiopian case, the bundling of power generation, transmission, and off-taker roles hampers competition. In the face of risk-averse multinational independent producers, the paper argues for a green industrial policy aimed at developing a vibrant domestic private renewables sector contributing to universal access to sustainable and affordable electricity.

Risk Management Process and Public Implementation of Environment Projects in Rwanda: A Case Study of Landscape Restoration Project at Amayaga Region

Risk Management Process and Public Implementation of Environment Projects in Rwanda: A Case Study of Landscape Restoration Project at Amayaga Region

Research on the dismantling of double-arch tunnel after long-term service—the case study of Huangmeishan Tunnel demolition project

Mountain tunnel structures are subject to a variety of diseases with increasing service life. Earlier tunnels may need to be demolished and expanded because of the poor serving capacity. But few studies of tunnel demolition projects are available. Based on the demolition project of Huangmeishan Tunnel, this paper discusses the demolition scheme of the double-arch tunnel, calculates the stability of the slope, and investigates the defects and material performance in the tunnel. The water leakage in the tunnel mainly occurred at the mid-partition wall and the drainage pipe was clogged severely. The largest width of the crack detected is 15 mm. Material performance tests indicated that the concrete material strength exceeded the design values. In the loading test, the largest displacements of the tunnel arch and haunch were 1.73 and 1.32 mm, which verified the safety of heavy vehicles in construction. Finally, suggestions are given to avoid similar phenomena in other tunnels during the design, construction, and operation phase. The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive analysis of a tunnel demolition project. The findings of this study contribute to enhancing the knowledge and understanding of tunnel demolition and support the safe and efficient execution of future demolition projects.

For whom do we densify? Explaining income variation across densification projects in the region of Utrecht, the Netherlands

While governments worldwide rely upon compact city policies to reduce land consumption from urban growth, recent studies have addressed the potential trade-off between densification and housing affordability. Concerns have been voiced that densification leads to a one-sided housing supply, structurally excluding low-income households. However, few studies address household income variation across densification projects, leaving us with a limited understanding of the circumstances under which exclusion occurs. To this end, we explore household incomes in densification projects between 2012 and 2020 in the Province of Utrecht, the Netherlands, where urban development is traditionally strongly regulated through active land policy. At the same time, current shifts towards a more deregulated housing market make for an interesting case. Exceptional access to detailed cadastral and census data allows us to identify densification projects and assign them a median household income each. We investigate the influence of location and transformation process on household incomes through regression analysis and conduct qualitative case studies of projects whose median income was highly mispredicted by the regression model. This allows us to integrate non-quantified factors, such as land ownership and public policy interventions, in explaining such interesting cases. For the Province of Utrecht, our study confirms that while households in densification projects earn significantly more than their neighbours, the range of incomes in densification projects is large. Project characteristics such as centrality, neighbourhood status and transformation process explain only a small share of this variance. For cases where median incomes are much lower than predicted by the model, public land ownership, in combination with inclusionary zoning, is essential in ensuring housing affordability. Our approach highlights the necessity of supplementing densification policies with measures that secure affordable housing.

A Risk Minimization Model for a Multi-Skilled, Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with Discrete Time-Cost-Quality-Risk Trade-Off

A novel model called Multi-Skilled, Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with Discrete Time-Cost-Quality-Risk Trade-Off (MS-MRCPSP-DTCQRTP) was formulated, focusing primarily on minimizing project risks. This integer programming-based model generates various schedules that aim to optimize time, cost, quality, and risk, either individually or by achieving a balanced combination of these factors. By allocating accessible resources to the tasks of the project and adhering to precedence and resource constraints dictated by availability and skills, a collection of viable schedules was generated. Using a uniform distribution for time, cost, quality, and risk, three project case studies were derived from existing literature and expanded upon. These case studies were then employed to showcase the model. To generate optimal solutions, an open-source Python-MIP package employing the branch-and-cut methodology was employed. It was found that time is not a factor in minimizing the risk of a project, except for large-scale projects. Meanwhile, cost is a factor in all sizes of the project. Quality has no significant impact on risk. Project managers must strike a balance between resources that contain skills set with short to medium duration, moderate to high cost, and moderate to high-quality level to minimize project risk.

Measuring the Benefits of Building Information Modeling (BIM) Adoption: Trends, Gapsand Future Directions

Building information modelling (BIM) adopters require well-documented, quantitative, and financial simulation studies as solid evidence for the benefits of BIM to implement it and evaluate its success.However, to move towards more practical analyses to be performed by the end-users, more discussions on process to measure BIM benefit should be held, despite the large number of studies related to BIM benefit indicators. Therefore, this study examines the proposed and simulated methods used to measure the benefits of BIM in previous studies. A systematic literature review (SLR) of 21 articles was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and analysed using meta-ethnography and thematic qualitative analysis. The SLR depicted the trends of studies published over the years. The results indicate that out of the 31 BIM benefits identified, only 17 BIM benefits have been measured in simulations.4 other BIM benefits were suggested to be explored in line with their magnitude of importance.Comparative case studies were used conventionally to collect the data for measuring these benefits. This has since shifted to conducting case studies of single BIM projects along with supplementary data collection for counterfactual assessment. Furthermore, predictive ex-ante studies are currently blooming. At present, ongoing studies are being conducted to demonstrate thedetailed technique with which to calculate and measure the benefits of BIM.This paper providesresearchers and analysts with initial insights that can be used to move forward with BIM benefit measurements.

Implementing the free HPV vaccination for adolescent girls aged below 14 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China: experience, challenges, and lessons

Cervical cancer is a major public health concern in China, accounting for almost one-fifth of the global incidence and mortality. The recently prequalified domestic bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine offers a practical and feasible preventive measure. In response to the global call for action, the National Health Commission issued an Action Plan to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, with promotion of the HPV vaccination for school-aged girls as a critical step. Despite this, implementation of the vaccination has been patchy, with very low coverage among eligible girls. To address this, from December 2021 to December 2022, a demonstration project was launched in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, to promote the inclusion of HPV vaccine in local immunisation programme and to address existing barriers to implementation. Using multiple sources of data, this article presents a case study of the demonstration project, analysing its impact on rolling out HPV vaccination among eligible girls and identifying any challenges encountered during implementation. The demonstration project has shown promising results in increasing the HPV vaccination rate, promoting public awareness and acceptance of the domestic HPV vaccine, and establishing a model for quickly scaling up the vaccination at the municipal level. The success of the project can be attributed to several factors, including strong governmental commitment, sufficient funding, multi-sectoral collaboration, ensured vaccine accessibility and affordability, improved vaccination services, and effective health education and communication strategies. Lessons learned from Shenzhen can provide valuable insights for future advocacy and implementation of the vaccination in other areas of China, but challenges must be addressed to achieve universal coverage. These include addressing vaccine hesitancy, expanding the programme to cover a broader age range, and ensuring consistent quality of vaccination services in primary care facilities. Overcoming these challenges will require innovative strategies, public-private partnerships, and sustained funding and resources. Future research should focus on evaluating the long-term effectiveness of the vaccination programme and identifying contextual factors that may impact its implementation in different settings. Overall, the effective control of cervical cancer in China will rely on the “political will” to ensure the incorporation of preventive interventions into policies and universal programme coverage.

Analysis of Risk Components of Building Construction Projects in Construction Companies: Case Study of Projects in Jabodetabek

Risk management is very important for a construction company to carry out all company activities and especially to run a construction project. As is known, the project is carried out through stages in which it is very loaded with unwanted events, ranging from the tender process to get the project, the design stage, the pre-construction stage, the construction stage, and the post-construction stage. It is determined that risk categories are divided into operational; Financial; legal; & marketing. Causative factors consist of external; legal; human; process; & system. Areas of cause determined: design &; marketing; legal; implementation; therapy. Risk treatment strategies are determined: eliminating sources of risk; maintaining risk with the right decision; changing the possibilities; and Changing consequences. Based on secondary data obtained on seven projects that have been completed in the Jabodetabek area by one of the construction companies in Indonesia, qualitatively it was found that operational risk occupies the top position, the category that most often arises unwanted events. Process factors are the highest factors as the cause of an unwanted event. Process factors are the highest factors as the cause of an unwanted event. Then the construction period is the highest area, and often an unwanted event occurs. Naturally, the construction period has the longest duration compared to other stages. It further eliminates sources of risk, transforms consequences and turns possibilities into the most frequent ones in the process of managing risks in the project. Meanwhile, based on the level of risk identified from 38 risks that occurred in seven projects, the level of extreme risk occurred in as many as 10 events and as many as 19 events, then after follow-up, the level of extreme risk became as many as 2 events and high to 19 events, this indicates that these unwanted events affect the profit target of the project being worked on. Thus, ERM becomes very important for a construction company in order to achieve the company's goals and objectives and ERM is an important part of good corporate governance

Promoting Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reduction in Urban Areas with Key Performance Indicators and Data Analytics

With the increasing demand for sustainable urban development, smart cities have emerged as a promising solution for optimizing energy usage, reducing emissions, and enhancing the quality of life for citizens. In this context, the combined use of key performance indicators (KPIs) and data analytics has gained significant attention as a powerful tool for promoting energy efficiency and emissions reduction in urban areas. This paper presents a comprehensive conceptual framework in which a series of KPIs are proposed to serve as essential metrics for guiding, monitoring, and assessing energy efficiency and emissions reduction levels in smart cities. Some of the included KPIs in the analysis are 'annual energy consumption per person', 'reduction in greenhouse gas emissions', 'public transport use', and 'adoption of renewable energy'. By incorporating these KPIs, city planners and policymakers can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. Furthermore, the paper explores how the integration of KPIs with data analytics can be used for monitoring and assessing the overall performance of the city in terms of energy efficiency, emissions reduction, and the enhancement of urban living conditions. Visualization tools, such as radar plots, and time series analysis forecasting methods allow data to be processed and patterns to be identified, enabling informed decision-making and efficient resource allocation. Real-life case studies of ongoing smart city projects are presented in the paper, which also provides a KPI comparison among different European cities, as well as models to forecast the evolution of KPIs related to energy usage and emissions reduction in different European cities.

FGEM: Flexible Geothermal Economics Modeling tool

Flexible energy resources are key for a reliable power supply in a decarbonized grid with a significant fraction of variable power sources. Whereas the development of fossil fuel resources has dominated the supply for dispatchable capacity, this trend is slowing down due to climate change concerns and the rapidly ongoing transition to renewable resources. Geothermal energy has always been an economic resource for baseload power and district heating. With the decline of fossil fuel plants, geothermal facilities have been expanding beyond baseload to supply flexible heat and electricity. There exist several software tools available for evaluating the techno-economic feasibility of geothermal projects. Whereas these tools offer valuable capabilities for assessing baseload geothermal projects, they do not allow for modeling the operations of flexible geothermal systems. Hence, we present a novel, open-source tool called FGEM for Flexible Geothermal Economics Modeling, specifically designed for the techno-economic analysis of flexible geothermal power generation. FGEM incorporates a wide range of parameters, including resource assessment, plant design, operational strategies, and market dynamics, to provide a holistic analysis of the economic viability of geothermal projects. The objective of this article is to highlight the key features and capabilities of FGEM, and demonstrate its utility through case studies of a geothermal project that is operated flexibly with various dispatch strategies: wellhead throttling, battery energy storage, and thermal energy storage.

Applying the Delphi Approach to Incorporate Voiceless Stakeholders in Community Planning

In the planning process, it is crucial to involve every key stakeholder for effective collaborative participation. However, in real-world practice, planners often face difficulties engaging stakeholders who remain passive. The authors argue that the Delphi method, when modified to enhance planners’ roles as a communication channel, can bridge this gap, serving as a tool to facilitate communication with these passive stakeholders and fostering consensus between those who actively voice their opinions and those who do not. Therefore, this study introduces a ‘planner-aided’ policy Delphi method, which is a revised version of existing Delphi methods tailored to better serve these goals. The authors then explore the effectiveness of this proposed method in engaging voiceless stakeholders in the participatory planning process through a case study of the Seohak-dong Art Theme Street design project in Jeonju, South Korea. This study finds that the PAP Delphi technique integrated into participatory planning effectively reflected the thoughts of voiceless stakeholders. This research contributes by proposing a practical and easy-to-use method for urban planners to engage less-vocal groups and demonstrating its effectiveness.

Construction Simulation and Environmental Impact Analysis: Towards a 4D-Based Analysis of Road Project Variants

Road construction work has a multitude of impacts on its host environment, and the effect of these impacts varies according to the areas it crosses. Taking these impacts into account from the earliest stages of project planning is the ideal approach pursued by planners to ensure that their plans not only take these impacts into account but also mitigate their effects as much as possible. Drawing up a project schedule that considers the impact of the work requires an in-depth understanding of its scale, spatial extent, and timing. In practice, however, such an understanding is difficult to achieve due to the complex and variable nature of impacts. To help project planners understand the impacts of a road project from the outset so they can better plan mitigation measures, we have developed a conceptual framework for four-dimensional Building Information Modeling (4D BIM) deployment that visualizes the most significant impacts on the project site’s surrounding environment in terms of their spatial extent and progression over time. By testing the method on a case study of a road improvement project in northwestern Quebec, the method shows that, compared with traditional 2D methods, the proposed 3D and 4D impact visualization modeling provides an integral perspective for visualizing and understanding spatial changes in project impacts over time and enables different possible project implementation variants to be evaluated with relative ease.

Data Security Management and Audit of Healthcare Data: A Case Study of SISPEC19 Project

Data security is the biggest challenge with personal data and state secrets threats. Digital transformation is increasing in various industries, including the government industry. One of the causes of this is the Covid19 pandemic which imposes conditions where all activities can be carried out smoothly even though they cannot interact directly. In this study, an analysis was carried out regarding auditing and data security management on health data in a government-owned health information system using the DAMA-DMBOK approach as a data governance standard. Then an audit is carried out to measure the success rate of implementing security on information systems using COBIT 2019 as a standard for IT governance.

How can informal science learning centers advance climate resilience partnerships? Lessons from two coastal communities

ABSTRACT Informal science learning centers (ISLCs) like zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens are trusted community assets and perceived as critical sites for learning outside the classroom for multigenerational learners. Moreover, their role in engaging the public in critical topics, such as climate change is widely recognized. As extreme weather events grow more frequent, building climate resilient social and ecological systems will be necessary. However, how ISLCs facilitate climate resilience is understudied. This paper presents findings from two qualitative case studies of climate resilience projects, through partnerships between community organizations and ISLCs. The results demonstrated the need to prioritize relationship building so that organizations with distinct approaches authentically appreciate each other’s work and foster power symmetries. Diverse definitions of ‘resilience’ emerged, where ecological and social resilience held unique meaning for residents most vulnerable to climate events. Ultimately, the research highlighted how ISLCs and community partners can advance equitable and inclusive climate resilience.

RISK ASSESSMENT OF COMPLEX ENGINEERING PROJECT BASED ON FUZZY PETRI NET UNDER THE PERSPECTIVE OF VULNERABILITY

Traditional engineering risk management has been unable to adapt to the complexity and variability due to its constituent elements and dynamic nature of internal and external environments. Vulnerability, as a concept closely related to risk, has been neglected in the traditional risk management due to its hidden characteristics. This study attempts to quantify and evaluate vulnerabilities of complex engineering projects independently and explore the transmission mechanism between risk and vulnerability factors. Twenty different types of large-scale engineering projects in China were selected as case studies from the Mega Project Case Study Center (MPCSC) of Tongji University. Vulnerability and risk factors of each project were identified and analysed. A mechanism model was developed to explore the impacts of vulnerabilities and risks through ta Fuzzy Petri Net. Four main vulnerability-risk critical paths were identified through the reverse labelling method. The overall evaluation of engineering project risks considering the impacts of vulnerabilities is the highlight of this paper. This study interprets the cognition and evaluation of complex engineering risks from a new perspective, enriches the connotation of engineering risk management, and provides a reference for risk management and decisionmaking of complex engineering projects.

Carbon Footprint Reduction Through Sustainable Renovation of Buildings

The escalating threat of climate change necessitates urgent global action to reduce carbon emissions and adopt sustainable practices. Buildings, as significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, require immediate attention and transformative solutions. This article delves into the concept of carbon footprint reduction through sustainable renovation of buildings, exploring essential strategies and initiatives in combating climate change and achieving environmental objectives. The paper begins with an introduction to the pressing issue of climate change, its correlation with carbon emissions from buildings, and the crucial importance of addressing the carbon footprint challenge in the construction sector. It introduces sustainable renovation as a viable solution to mitigate emissions. Through a comprehensive analysis, the article examines the impact of buildings on carbon footprints, highlighting statistics on global carbon emissions from the sector, scrutinizing energy consumption, and operational practices that contribute to heightened carbon footprints, and discussing the environmental consequences. The article then delves into key strategies for carbon footprint reduction, such as energy-efficient retrofitting, the integration of renewable energy sources, and water conservation methods. To highlight real-world success stories, the article presents case studies of sustainable renovation projects that have achieved substantial carbon emission reductions, shedding light on valuable lessons learned from these initiatives. Conclusively, the paper envisions the potential impact of sustainable renovation on global carbon emissions and offers recommendations to policymakers, stakeholders, and building owners to accelerate the transition towards sustainable building practices. In essence, this article provides a comprehensive overview of the significance of sustainable renovation in reducing the carbon footprint of buildings. By embracing collective efforts and committing to sustainable practices, a greener and more resilient future can be secured, ensuring a sustainable planet for generations to come.