High-profile Projects Research Articles

Optimizing Cost and Schedule Performance through Best Value Project Delivery: Application within a Design-Build Project

Performance in the construction industry is wrought with challenges and owners often are victim to cost and schedule overruns, particularly on high profile projects that are large, complex, and risky. Alternative project delivery methods and techniques are continually being developed and implemented by buyers of construction services to address these problems. The Best Value Business Model (BVBM) has been rigorously tested and shown to improve project performance via its three-phased approach to project delivery. BVBM increases performance throughout the construction project lifecycle by utilizing value-based selection processes, pre-contract planning methodologies, and performance measurement systems. The objective of this research is to provide a detailed case study of BVBM application on a design-build project to deliver a highly complex research facility with tight schedule and budget thresholds. The implementation process is discussed in detail and project results are provided and analyzed to demonstrate the ability of BVBM to improve project performance. Special attention is paid to the ability of BVBM to optimize project cost and schedule performance through the application of a value-based selection methodology, a pre-contract preplanning period, and a weekly risk management system.

Ground Zero – the socio-political minefield of symbolic architecture

Daniel Libeskind is today one of the architecture profession’s media elite. He took up his position in the list of ‘super star architects’ twenty ago and has remained in the spotlight of the press ever since. He has projects across the globe and has been awarded prizes by Time Magazine, The Goethe Institute, the American Institute of Architects and the RIBA. He was also appointed the first Cultural Ambassador for Architecture by the State Department of the United States in 2004. He has been both critically lauded and sardonically ridiculed. Tom Dyckhoff of the London Times refers to him as a ‘global brand’. His most high profile project to date has been The Jewish Museum of Berlin which, after various years of partial completion, was finally opened in full on September 11 2001. The opening day of Libeskind’s commemoration of the twentieth century’s act of horror par excellence then, was also the day of the twenty-first century’s most iconic terrorist act. The macabre irony was not lost on Libeskind himself but the competition that led to him being appointed master planner and architect of the Ground Zero project, turned out to be a dirty, personalised and publically aired media circus. It was a story of political infighting, tawdry economic deals and architectural brinkmanship. It culminated ten years ago this month with Libeskind’s ‘victory.’ In this interview Daniel Libeskind looks back over a decade of working on this project and muses on one of the most high profile, emotive and polemic architectural projects of recent times.

Payment for Ecosystem Services Versus Ecological Reparations: The ‘Green Economy’, Litigation and a Redistributive Eco-Debt Grant

Since the December 2011 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties 17 in Durban and the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development, attention has turned to whether the ‘Green Economy’, the concept of ‘natural capital’ and ‘Payment for Ecosystem Services’ together facilitate the management of new environmentally-financialised markets whose aim is to price nature and its pollution, so as to achieve maximally efficient exploitation of resources (an example of which is carbon trading). Alternatively, if there are flaws in such markets, should society instead move towards retributive payments for ‘ecological debt’ based on both ‘loss and damage’ accounting (introduced at the UNFCCC COP18 in Doha) and environmental justice, in order that the valuing of nature is limited to fines for damages and then prohibitions on further pollution. These two countervailing philosophies play out in high-profile projects and pilot social-policy schemes in southern Africa, in ways that will teach the world foundational concepts surrounding ecological reparations.

Science or art: risk and project management in healthcare

Despite its rapid growth in recent literature, risks in project management have received limited critical attention when compared to Lean principles and total quality management. The aim of this article is to examine the ongoing dialogue within health services funders and providers concerning the relationship between project management and its relationship to hard and soft environmental risk factors. The failure of high profile projects and cost to the taxpayer is on the increase. This article argues that the lack of understanding in relation to a holistic assessment of project success factors contributes to increased risk of failure. It argues that greater emphasis is needed on placing risk relative to both operational and cultural factors, as opposed to the frequent use of prescriptive mechanistic methodologies. These changes have the potential not merely to improve the success rates of healthcare management projects, but health outcomes too.

Adoption of a reliability approach for membrane structure analysis

Membrane structures, including tensioned fabric and pressurized foil, feature in high profile and large span projects throughout the world for well-appreciated architectural and functional reasons. From an analysis and design perspective these types of structure exhibit high levels of material and geometric non-linearity. Current design practice is use of a permissible stress approach using stress reduction factors with values typically between 4 and 8. Design guidance is limited and the magnitude and nature of these stress factors varies widely.Recently CEN TC250 Working Group 5 has been established to write a standard for membrane structures for inclusion in Eurocode 10. In this paper we apply the principles of BS EN 1990:2002 “Eurocode – Basis for Structural Design” to membrane structures and explain the implications for analysis and design. The key feature of this approach is the mathematical and numerical rigor and consistency in predicting the safety of membrane structures as an explicit function of inherent uncertainty in applied loading, structural form and material properties. This new approach to membrane structure analysis is demonstrated through two examples, which show the application of reliability analysis in achieving the objectives of “Eurocode – Basis for Structural Design” and highlight the further work that is required before this approach can be fully utilized by industry.

BiotecVisions 2012, August

BiotecVisions 2012, August

Evaluating Production-Log Data From Horizontal Organic-Shale Wells

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 144326, ’Evaluation of Production-Log Data From Horizontal Wells Drilled in Organic Shales,’ by Camron Miller, SPE, George Waters, SPE, and Erik Rylander, Schlumberger, prepared for the 2011 SPE North American Unconventional Gas Conference and Exhibition, The Woodlands, Texas, 14-16 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Production logs from more than 100 horizontal shale wells in multiple basins were interpreted. The evaluation confirmed that production is highly variable along the length of the wellbores. In some basins, two-thirds of gas production comes from only one-third of the perforation clusters. Further, when looking at all basins, almost one-third of all perforation clusters are not contributing to production. This finding highlights a significant opportunity to improve overall completion effectiveness and economics in these high-profile projects. Introduction Not all horizontal wells drilled in organic shale have been a complete success. With the heightened risk of exploring for and developing unconventional gas, success rates are scrutinized closely. This study reviewed more than 100 production logs run in horizontal shale-gas wells and attempted to explain the variability in production in terms of reservoir quality (RQ), completion quality (CQ), and operational efficiency (OE). RQ is defined by petrophysical parameters of organic shales including organic content, thermal maturation, effective porosity, fluid saturations, pore pressure, and gas in place. CQ is defined by geomechanical parameters required to stimulate organic shales effectively. The key geomechanical parameters are near-wellbore and far-field stresses; mineralogy (specifically, clay content and type); and the presence, orientation, and nature of natural fractures. OE is the improvement in the connection between the reservoir and the wellbore. The goal was to better understand the parameters that control completion effectiveness and corresponding productivity in horizontal organic-shale wells. While 3D seismic, offset-well logs, logging-while-drilling gamma ray logs, and mud logs all have application, they do not address the small-scale vertical variability that exists within shale reservoirs. To optimize productivity, reservoir heterogeneity must be accounted for during drilling or stimulation. The authors suggest that well placement and stimulation with respect to RQ and CQ will result in more-uni-form production across perforation stages and better overall well performance. Formations having superior RQ and CQ should be targeted because they will provide better drilling and completion efficiency. Horizontal Production Logging Production logging is used often in shale reservoirs to determine the success of horizontal-well placement and reservoir stimulation. Often, a flow-scanning/-imaging tool is used for production logging in multiphase horizontal wells. One such tool provides a phase-area measurement (holdup) and phase-velocity measurements of gas, oil, and water in the wellbore by use of probe and micro-spinner technologies. The end product is a direct, downhole calculation of multiphase production.

Exploratory case study research: Outsourced project failure

ContextIT plays an increasingly strategic role in the business performance of organizations, however, the development of strategic IT systems involves a high degree of risk and outsourcing the development of such systems increases the risk. ObjectiveUsing a case study approach we build on research that identifies risk factors leading to the failure of outsourced strategic IT development projects. We investigate the BSkyB project, a strategic development project, which was the subject of recent litigation in the British High Court. We wish to discover what factors led to the failure of such a high profile project; in particular we wish to identify which factors were under the control of the client. We also review the usefulness of the case study methodology when it is not possible to interview any of the people involved with a project. MethodDetailed-step-by-step guidelines designed for multiple industrial case studies are used to investigate the failure factors of the BSkyB project. We use transcripts of court proceedings and media reports to determine the failure factors. We compare the factors identified with those in a conceptual risk framework developed in prior research thus providing an initial validation of that framework. ResultsThe following factors were identified as problems in the BSkyB project: contract, requirements, project complexity, planning and control, execution, and team. A time and materials contract was a risk not originally included in the risk framework that we used. ConclusionThe BSkyB project failed because of problems that can be traced to both client and vendor. According to the judge’s summing up the major fault was with the vendor, although some problems did emanate from the client side. We found that many sections in the case study methodology we used were unnecessary for a single case study based on court proceedings and media reports. The risk framework helped with risk identification.

Restoration versus recolonisation: The origin of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) currently in the River Thames

Since the 1970s, when major improvements to the water quality were made, the River Thames has been subject to a high-profile project aimed at restoring Atlantic salmon to the catchment. Whilst initially successful, with hundreds of salmon returning each year in the late 1980s, the number of adults returning to the river has declined steeply again in recent years, reaching a low in 2005 when no salmon were recorded. Using a baseline of genetic information gathered from 3830 salmon from throughout their southern European range, and incorporating samples from the hatchery fish used to stock the Thames, all 10 tagged hatchery fish captured in 2003 and all 16 returning untagged adult salmon captured between 2005 and 2008 were assigned to their most likely river of origin. The results suggest that untagged salmon currently ascending the river originate not from exogenous fish stocked into the Thames, but predominantly from other rivers in southern England. This highlights the potential for natural processes of recolonisation to operate in rivers where salmon have become locally extirpated. These findings also underscore several important considerations when undertaking species restoration projects: (i) previous causes of declines must be sufficiently ameliorated to allow new/translocated individuals to thrive, (ii) introduced individuals should originate from a stock that is closely related to the extirpated population, according to the principles of contemporary conservation biology, and (iii) dispersal and gene-flow from neighbouring populations may play a significant role in establishing new populations.

So what's new? A survey of the educational policies of orchestras and opera companies

The creative music workshop involving professional players was intended to give direct support to school teachers and to enhance music in the classroom. However, today's large-scale, high-profile projects mounted by orchestras and opera companies appear to be developing into a full-scale industry on their own, their role in partnership with schools and colleges requiring clarification. Through research into orchestral education policies, this paper reveals some of the confusion and suggests that music companies could profit from the experience of museums and art galleries.

Re-stor(y)ing North West Sutherland, Scotland

This paper focuses on two high profile projects initiated by communities in north west Sutherland as part of Highland 2007. The first concerns the Ceannabeinne Township Trail near Durness which involves the telling of the story of reistance to the Clearances of the nineteenth century. The second, Summer in the Straths, retraces the route of the Summer Walkers and highlights their contribution to social and economic life in the Highlands. The paper argues that the projects remap the land in ways that suggest an alternative imaginary to that aligned with processes of dispossession that have for so long defined social and economic practice in the area. Literally and figuratively, the projects map openings which challenge the norms through which the land is frequently cast.

Belongings: Oral History, Objects and an Online Exhibition

The New South Wales Migration Heritage Centre was established in 1998. Since 2003 its physical presence has been located within Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and it has had the strategic brief to record the memories of ageing migrants before their stories are lost. The Centre is, however, a museum without a collection; a heritage authority without heritage sites; a cultural institution whose main presence is in cyberspace. Among its high profile projects is one entitled Objects through time and another Belongings. Both focus on the ways in which objects can convey aspects of the migration experience. Belongings, the focus of this article, presents the remembered experiences of people who migrated to Australia after World War II, and seeks to highlight significant features of their experiences through asking them to share their memories and to nominate and talk about significant objects. As a project it grew out of movable heritage policy work within state government agencies, and its initiators – John Petersen, Kylie Winkworth and Meredith Walker – were central players in this development. It was also inspired by the National Quilt Register of the Pioneer Women’s Hut at Tumbarumba.
 
 With its object-centred approach and accompanying edited interview transcripts, Belongings provides a focus for exploring the messages and emphases that emerge when oral history interviews concerned with migration have the specific brief to ask about material culture and its significance. Belongings also enables an exploration of the layering of those messages that emerges when object captions are located back in the context of the oral history interviews from which they were extracted. As a virtual exhibition, Belongings also provides the opportunity to consider the challenges for museums (virtual and real) when they need to condense the richness of migrant oral histories and life stories to captioned objects that can be put on display.

Boeing's 787: trials, tribulations, and restoring the dream

As we anticipate the long-awaited first flight of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, George Marsh reviews the history of this high-profile composites project.

Florence Nightingale: The Woman and her Legend

When Cecil Woodham Smith wrote the last comprehensive biography of Nightingale in 1950, authors did not have to reference their sources. She took advantage of this, altering quotations or relocating them to portray a family-induced neurosis that was becoming fashionable. She also copied too much from Edward Cook's evasive 1913 biography, perpetuating Cook's censorship of Nightingale's conflicts with Queen Victoria and the medical establishment. There is plenty of work for a new biographer to do besides correcting such defects; access to Nightingale's archive has improved, and there is new specialist literature to be summarised on her work for India or workhouse reform, for example. Mark Bostridge has admirably laid out the hard facts about her achievements in these and other areas, replacing the woolly admiration of earlier biographies. He also gives a more objective assessment of her relationship with her family, and an original and moving depiction of the loneliness and depression that she endured during her most productive years. Bostridge is also the first to demonstrate the origin of the popular myth that Nightingale did not believe in germs—her opposition was to ‘contagionism’, an idea which preceded germ theory and which maintained that disease was transmitted only by physical contact with a sick individual, not through the environment. She wrote influentially and relatively early of the need to kill germs, although she was never very keen on microbiology—she promoted grass-roots behavioural change rather than scientific research or high-profile projects. This choice, and her belief that she could ‘work better for others off the stage than on it’ makes it harder to evaluate her impact, but Bostridge's extensive research supports the theory that in the fifty years after the Crimean War she contributed to an unprecedented increase in life expectancy.

Framing a concept and an agenda for infectious diseases in EMBO Molecular Medicine

Framing a concept and an agenda for infectious diseases in EMBO Molecular Medicine

Army Bans Pathogen Work at Lab After Security Lapse

The U.S. Army's unprecedented decision to ban one of its premier biodefense labs from conducting any work involving dangerous pathogens has left some two dozen researchers unable to continue high-profile research projects such as developing a vaccine against brucellosis and testing ways to rapidly detect biowarfare agents.

Scholarly communication initiatives at Georgetown University: lessons learned

PurposeThe paper aims to describe the launching of Georgetown University's Scholarly Communication Symposium Series in 2003, and ongoing efforts to raise faculty and librarian awareness of changes in the scholarly communication landscape.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a case study.FindingsRaising awareness about the effects of the “serials crisis” on academic libraries is challenging, because faculty members do not pay subscription costs directly. It remains difficult to encourage researchers to publish in open access journals, which often do not have the prestige of more established, subscription‐based journals. In the face of these challenges, Georgetown's Scholarly Communication Symposium Series has proven to be an enduring vehicle for informing faculty members of the changing landscape in scholarly communications. Targeted marketing (contextualized with reference to high profile developments and projects) and the engaging nature of the events have been critical to success. The broad, high level campus representation among the planning group has also been essential.Originality/valueThe paper allows readers wishing to develop or revise their scholarly communications initiatives to draw on Georgetown's experience.

Science on a Salad Plate?

The Women's Art Association of Canada marked the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's "discovery" of Canada (celebrated in 1897) through the production of the "Canadian Historic Dinner Service." The high-profile project, which resulted in a set of hand-painted porcelain dinnerware, was a celebration not only of nation-building, but also of the natural history of the country. Visual reference material provided to the women selected to create the individual pieces included photographs, natural history texts, and illustrations that W.H. Bartlett produced for Canadian Scenery earlier in the century. This article explores this visual reinterpretation of Canada's natural history in order to raise questions about how a recontextualization of scientific material shapes narratives of nation and nature in the 'New World'.

Developing a framework for best practice in sustainable virtual campuses

Despite the significant investment and growth both in Europe and globally in the development of virtual universities and virtual campuses over the last decade, there have been a number of high-profile projects and initiatives that failed to achieve their intended goals. If such failures are to be avoided in the future, then it is vital that a better understanding of best practice within virtual universities and virtual campuses is achieved. This paper reports on the work of a European Commission Education Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) co-financed project 'Promoting Best Practice in Virtual Campuses' (PBP-VC), which is aimed at providing a deeper understanding of the key issues and success factors underlying the implementation of virtual campuses. The paper will outline a tentative model of the issues underpinning best practice in virtual campuses which covers areas that include organisational, pedagogical, technological, student/user, financial and consolidation issues derived from an investigation into virtual campus projects and initiatives within Europe. The project is working towards developing a practical framework to help guide the process of creating best practice in virtual campuses, as well as raising awareness of issues and approaches to creating sustainable virtual campuses.

Science in Muslim Countries

With more than a trillion dollars in cash and a population of over a billion people, the Muslim world should be poised for a remarkable scientific explosion. Yet despite some very high-profile projects in the Gulf, including the building of massive state-of-the-art facilities for research across all disciplines (and serious efforts elsewhere), the reality is that Muslim countries tend to spend less on scientific research itself, as distinct from buildings and equipment, as compared to other countries at the same income scale. Furthermore, even where funding for science has been available, the results in terms of output--research papers, citations, and patents--are disappointingly low. Why?