Legal Issues Associated with Emergent Actor Roles in Innovative U.K. Procurement: Prime Contracting Case Study

Pressure for reform in U.K. construction procurement has led to a move toward relational contracting. Long-term partnerships between clients and construction service providers have enabled traditional construction roles to change radically and the reconfiguration of relationships between these emergent actors. Social network analysis was used to examine the new roles and relationships under an innovative procurement strategy known as prime contracting. This public sector procurement approach involved the introduction of the role of cluster leader combining the skills and knowledge traditionally provided by the architect, the chartered quantity surveyor, and the construction manager. The role of cluster leader was adopted by specialist contractors using existing staff and in the absence of dedicated training. The role was voluntary, however, those performing it were obliged to absorb liabilities relating to design information produced by other actors, financial management on behalf of the prime contractor, and responsibility for the management of the contract period, upon which the contract between the employer and the prime contractor was based. The additional responsibilities associated with the role of cluster leader were accepted without financial compensation, on the basis of maintaining goodwill with the prime contractor and employer. Liabilities arise for the firms and potentially individuals within those firms. There are also concerns about the likelihood of appropriate professional indemnity insurance coverage being available to cluster leaders.     

急斜近距煤层水平分段轻型液压支架放顶煤联合开采的实践

论述了碱沟煤矿采用急斜近距煤层水平分段轻型支架放顶煤采煤方法的科学性。新型采煤法的实施有利于避免急斜近距煤层开采的相互影响，提高生产能力和采出率，形成规范的通风系统。进一步论述了这种新型采煤法回采工艺的独特性和液压支架的适应性，得出采用这种特殊的回采工艺和液压支架保证了作业安全，有利于高产高效，而且适应了联合开采后顶煤的放出过程、围岩破坏和矿压显现特征。并提出了进一步改进采煤方法，完善工作面生产体系的建议。     

美国调频辅助服务市场的调频补偿机制分析

合理的补偿机制是调频辅助服务市场正常运行的重要保障。为进一步促进调频资源的优化配置,美国调频辅助服务市场引入了基于调频效果的补偿机制。文中对比分析了美国宾夕法尼亚—新泽西—马里兰州、加利福尼亚州、纽约、新英格兰和中西部电力市场区域的最新调频补偿机制,包括补偿结算规则、调频里程与调频性能指标的计算方法等。最后,结合当前国内电力体制改革的现状提出建立调频辅助服务市场和调频补偿机制的相关思路和建议。     

An analysis of construction productivity differences between Canada and the United States

Comparisons of industry sectors in advanced economies since the 1960s show that the construction sector has lagged in productivity growth rates, especially in the United States. Although the US and Canadian economies are highly integrated, Canada’s experience differs in key ways. Analysis of these differences offers insight into fundamental construction productivity drivers. Three levels of analyses of construction productivity in the US are provided in this study. The first analysis compared international levels of labour productivity growth. The second compared construction productivity between the US and Canada, and the third analysed cost estimating data from RS Means estimating manuals to measure the changes in labour and partial factor productivity in the US from 1995 to 2009. Statistical significance testing indicates that labour productivity remained nearly constant in the building sub-sector and that partial factor productivity has improved at an annual compound rate of 0.66%. This supports previous findings that US construction has stagnated but is still improving in Canada, with wage differentials and training systems as potential drivers of this difference. While growth rates of productivity seem to decline with higher absolute levels of productivity, there is no evidence that high absolute productivity levels preclude significant growth.     

Allocation of energy inputs among the end-uses in the US petroleum and coal products industry

This paper models the allocation of energy inputs in the US petroleum and coal products industry by allocating combustible fuel and renewable energy inputs among generic end-uses, including intermediate conversions through onsite power and steam generation. This analysis, called an energy end-use model, showed that 72% of the fuel input in the US petroleum and coal products industry goes to onsite steam and power generation, whereas 28% goes directly to end-uses. Eight percent of the boiler output is used for power generation, 72% goes directly to end-uses, and 20% is waste heat. Among the end-uses, process heating is the biggest energy user with a total energy consumption of 2338 PJ, whereas machine drive is the biggest electricity consumer with a consumption of 168 PJ. This paper also provides estimates of the uncertainty of the data. The approach to create this model is applicable to all other industries for which data is available and the model is consistent with US Department of Energy data for 1998. When used in conjunction with similar models for other years, it can be used to identify the changes and trends in energy utilization even at the prime mover level of detail.     

Differences in cardiovascular mortality rates among hemodialysis patients in the United States and Japan: The importance of background cardiovascular mortality

Mortality rates among hemodialysis patients differ greatly among the United States, Europe, and Japan and it has been hypothesized that this is mainly due to differences in practice patterns. Results from the international DOPPS study, however, indicate that differences in practice patterns among the United States, Japan, and Europe are small and not alone explanatory for the differences in mortality rates. Ethnic variability in predisposition to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the general population may lead to significant differences in background cardiovascular mortality in the United States, Japan, and Europe. It is our hypothesis that cardiovascular mortality in dialysis patients is to a great extent dependent on cardiovascular background mortality of the general population. We are currently studying the relationship between all‐cause and cardiovascular death rates in countries worldwide using the WHO database. Preliminary data from 35 countries show that all‐cause and cardiovascular death rates differ significantly among regions, with Eastern European countries reporting four‐ to sevenfold higher death rates than Asian countries. A strong linear relationship between cardiovascular and all‐cause death rates is observed among these countries. The next step of our study will be to compare country‐specific cardiovascular death rates of dialysis populations with those of the respective general populations. Ethnic differences in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality may be explained by genetic variability based upon polymorphism of genes involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction.     

联合国集体安全保障机制的法经济学思考

联合国集体安全保障机制，是为防止与消除对和平的威胁，制止侵略或其他破坏和平的行为所采取的有效集体措施。通过从法经济学的角度，对联合国集体安全保障机制进行一种具量的理性分析，从而为其存在和发展提供理论依据。     

Security of Payment Legislation—Case of a Blunt but Practical and Equitable Instrument

In the modern world, some traditions are falling faster than others. The threat to end the legal concept of freedom of contract may be realized sooner than expected with the statutory interference of not only consumer contracts but contracts between nonconsumers. The family of security of payment legislation, beginning from the United Kingdom has been adopted by New South Wales and now in Singapore, regulates a business-to-business contract to facilitate progress payment in the construction industry by introducing statutory adjudication to resolve disputes producing the effect of nonpayment. The struggle between two parties, one with a right to demand payment and the other with the right to withhold payment because of his right to set-off and counter-claim, is examined in light of the new legislation called the Singapore Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2004. Having examined specific provisions of the Act and the experience of New South Wales—as Singapore has no relevant case law, it is concluded that the Act is a blunt but practical and equitable instrument to achieve its intention.     

The Development Of Ozone For Potable Water Treatment Within The United Kingdom

The historical development of the application of ozone to potable water treatment within the United Kingdom is reviewed up to 1990. The impact of privatization of the water utilities on the use of ozone is discussed and the process applications currently being considered are described. The paper concludes with a survey of water treatment plants which are using ozone in 1993, and those planned for completion by the year 2000.