The awareness and practice of value management by South African consulting engineers: Preliminary research survey findings

The awareness of value management (VM) and the nature and extent of its practice by professional civil, electrical and mechanical engineers in the South African construction industry are investigated using a web-based, online questionnaire survey as the first part of a more extensive investigation. A primary objective of the early study is to test the UK-based assertion of Kelly et al. [Kelly, J., Male, S., Graham, D., 2004. Value Management of Construction Projects. Blackwell, Oxford] that VM is an established service with commonly understood tools, techniques and styles. The survey findings suggest that, while awareness of VM is reasonably prevalent among South African engineers, its practice is considerably less extensive. Where VM is undertaken, almost no attempt is made to benchmark VM activities against international standards nor does its use appear to conform to any standard methodology. Engineers prefer other ways of delivering value to projects, and do not generally employ VM to facilitate the client briefing process. The findings are important given the increasing globalization of construction services, especially given the international ties between designers, project managers and other professionals. Professional engineering associations in South Africa should adopt a proactive role in promoting the use of VM by engineers, possibly through continuing professional development programmes.     

2010年南非世界杯主办城市与赛场漫谈

4年一度的世界杯,总是能吸引全球人的目光。南非世界杯毫无疑问是2010年夏天的最大焦点,全世界的话题都集中在这项超级体育盛事上。本文主要介绍分析2010年南非世界杯的主办城市和主办赛场,并就世界杯赛场氛围及其文化延展进行探讨。     

Power transmission regulation in a liberalised context: An analysis of innovative solutions in South American markets

After decades of reduced need for investment, transmission regulation is increasingly gaining relevance and complexity in liberalised power sectors, mainly due to the need to integrate sometimes distant and large-scale renewable energy sources. We identify the key principles that should be considered at three levels: transmission expansion, remuneration, and cost allocation.The proposals we develop are built upon a review of the noteworthy experiences matured in South America, a region which, besides leading restructuring in the 1980s and 1990s, has with different levels of success always relied on innovative solutions to deal with this crucial regulatory challenge.     

抽水蓄能方式的南水北调大宁河济汉方案

本文论述了南水北调中线方案的水源问题,作者认为可以从大宁河调水入汉江丹江口上游.大宁河济汉,较之其它引江济汉方案线路短.可通过在剪刀峡修建水库拦住大宁河,通过设在大昌镇附近的一级泵站将三峡水库的水抽到剪刀峡;二级泵站将剪刀峡内的水抽到堵河上游,然后通过天然河道自流到丹江口水库.水泵站利用低谷电抽水运行;堵河一侧可装设4座梯级调峰电站计650万kW.大宁河济汉方案具有抽水蓄能效益,少加高丹江口大坝,减少移民及淹没损失,也不需要再在三峡下游开凿两沙运河向汉江补水,具有诸多明显的优点.     

南海北京大陆架典型凹陷内的封存箱及油气纵向分布

引用“封存箱”概念,研究了南海北部大陆架典型富油气凹陷的地层超压特征。根据封存箱的超压强度及顶面埋深特征,将研究区内的封存箱划分为5类。各典型凹陷的封存箱类型对油气藏的纵向分布起着重要的控制作用。封存箱类型研究有助于从压力条件方面预测油气藏勘探的有利层系及有利地区。     

"数字南海"空间数据仓库构建技术研究

"数字南海"系统是包含五十多种专题数据源,几十种数据格式的软件系统。本文研究从"数字南海"的实际情况出发,提出了"数字南海"空间数据仓库构建策略,对开发的管理系统进行了介绍,并指出了"数字南海"系统研究的下一步工作重点,为系统的实现确定目标,并为数字南海系统的使用以及南海问题的研究理清脉络。     

On the consistency in variations of the South China Sea Warm Pool as revealed by three sea surface temperature datasets

The areal and intensity indices of the South China Sea Warm Pool (SCSWP) derived from three datasets, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Optimum Interpolation Version 2 (OI.v2) sea surface temperature (SST), are generally consistent with each other at monthly, seasonal and interannual scales. However, the three records are different in some cases. First, minor differences among the monthly records of intensity index are observed in the period July to September. Secondly, the interannual records of SCSWP intensity derived from AVHRR and OI.v2 are different in autumn during the period 1990-1996. The reason is not yet clear and nor is it clear which record best represents fluctuations in SCSWP intensity. These suggest that various drawbacks of the three datasets, such as low resolution of OI.v2, and cloud and rain contamination on AVHRR and TMI data, would be serious enough to allow deviation from each other to appear. Merging AVHRR and TMI SST data might be the way leading to a more convincing time series of SCSWP. In addition, changes of areal and intensity indices are not always consistent with each other, for example, they have different monthly patterns. Although the three interannual records of intensity index in three seasons all capture the main Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) signals at a half-year lag, only those which are in the summer significantly correlated with MEI.     

Does age make a difference? Predicting physical activity of South Koreans.

Social cognition models of health behavior are commonly understood as being universal, which implies that they are applicable to groups varying in age or cultural background, for example. Cultural uniqueness and characteristics of life-span development, however, necessitate the study of differential effects. Accordingly, the health action process approach (HAPA) was examined in younger and middle-aged/older adults from South Korea (N = 697) who participated in a longitudinal health screening study with a 6-month time lag. The HAPA model had a good fit within the middle-aged/older adult sample. Physical activity was predicted by planning, coping self-efficacy, and intention, which were, in turn, predicted by action self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and risk perceptions. Conversely, the results indicated a poor model fit in the younger adult sample. The results suggest a different motivation for the involvement in physical activity as a function of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)