Construction projects are complicated in nature and require many considerations in contractor selection. One of the complicated interactions is that between performance with the project size, and contractor financial status, and size of projects contracted. At the prequalification stage, the financial requirements restrict the contractors to meet minimum limits in financial criteria such as net worth, working capital and annual turnover, etc. In construction projects, however, there are cases when contractors meet these requirements but show low performance in practice. The model used in the study predicts the performance by training of a neural network. The data used in the study are 72 of the most recent roadwork projects in Bahrain. The results are shown in terms of the sensitivity of changing one variable on the performance of all the 72 projects. These results can reflect on the methods currently used on contractors’ assessments in the tendering stage and support decision-makers in assessing contractors and selecting the best bidders.
Lattakia city faces many problems related to the mismanagement of solid waste, as the disposal process is limited to the random Al-Bassa landfill without treatment. Therefore, solid waste management poses a special challenge to decision-makers by choosing the appropriate tool that supports strategic decisions in choosing municipal solid waste treatment methods and evaluating their management systems. As the human is primarily responsible for the formation of waste, this study aims to measure the degree of environmental awareness in the Lattakia Governorate from the point of view of the research sample members and to discuss the effect of the studied variables (place of residence, educational level, gender, age, and professional status) o
... Show MoreThe study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze how technological discourses are influenced by AI-generate d English texts. The research marries Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis, Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach, and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) in the use of mixed-methods research, integrating primarily qualitative analysis with quantitative corpus-based data, to perform a thorough analysis of twenty AI-produced English texts. The findings identify the sophisticated linguistic mechanisms through which AI language employs modality, nominalization, passive voice, and interdiscursive blending to normalize and legitimize dominant contemporary ideologies. These mechanisms serve to legitimize te
... Show MoreThe Gullfaks field was discovered in 1978 in the Tampen area of the North Sea and it is one of the largest Norwegian oil fields located in Block 34/10 along the western flank of the Viking Graben in the northern North Sea. The Gullfaks field came on stream in 1986 and reached a peak of production in 2001. After some years, a decrease in production was noticed due to the decrease in pressure in the well. The goal of this paper is to improve the production of a well located in Gullfaks field by injecting CO2 through coiled tubing. The use of the CO2 injection method is due to the fact that it is a greenhouse gas, and its production in the atmosphere contributes to global warming. It is important to reduce its emission
... Show MoreThe haplotype association analysis has been proposed to capture the collective behavior of sets of variants by testing the association of each set instead of individual variants with the disease.Such an analysis typically involves a list of unphased multiple-locus genotypes with potentially sparse frequencies in cases and controls.It starts with inferring haplotypes from genotypes followed by a haplotype co-classification and marginal screening for disease-associated haplotypes.Unfortunately,phasing uncertainty may have a strong effects on the haplotype co-classification and therefore on the accuracy of predicting risk haplotypes.Here,to address the issue,we propose an alternative approach:In Stage 1,we select potential risk genotypes inste
... Show MoreRESUMEN
Una joven cuenta cómo, en plena noche, aprovechando la tranquilidad de esa hora, sale a escondidas de su casa y va a reunirse con su enamorado. Envuelta en la oscuridad, se deja dirigir por la luz de su propio amor hasta el lugar de la cita, donde la pasión de los amantes culmina. A continuación, relajados por la brisa nocturna, los amantes se adormecen, primero, el amado velado por la amada, por último, ella misma.
Amor entre dos enamorados. Unión mística de alma y Dios , aunque , de hecho , podría servirnos de clara exposición temática el subtitulo con que el poema suele publicarse en la tradición , tanto manuscrita como impresa : Canciones del alma que se goza d
... Show MoreA simple, environmental friendly and selective sample preparation technique employing porous membrane protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) loaded with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) is described. After the extraction, the analyte was desorbed using ultrasonication and was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of OTA for coffee, grape juice and urine were 0.06 ng g−1, 0.02 and 0.02 ng mL−1, respectively while the quantification limits were 0.19 ng g−1, 0.06 and 0.08 ng mL−1, respectively. The recoveries of OTA from coffee spiked at 1, 25 and 50 ng g−1, grape juice and urine samples at 1, 25 and 50 ng mL
... Show MoreCloud Computing is a mass platform to serve high volume data from multi-devices and numerous technologies. Cloud tenants have a high demand to access their data faster without any disruptions. Therefore, cloud providers are struggling to ensure every individual data is secured and always accessible. Hence, an appropriate replication strategy capable of selecting essential data is required in cloud replication environments as the solution. This paper proposed a Crucial File Selection Strategy (CFSS) to address poor response time in a cloud replication environment. A cloud simulator called CloudSim is used to conduct the necessary experiments, and results are presented to evidence the enhancement on replication performance. The obtained an
... Show MoreReliability analysis methods are used to evaluate the safety of reinforced concrete structures by evaluating the limit state function 𝑔(𝑋𝑖). For implicit limit state function and nonlinear analysis , an advanced reliability analysis methods are needed. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) can be used in this case however, as the number of input variables increases, the time required for MCS also increases, making it a time consuming method especially for complex problems with implicit performance functions. In such cases, MCS-based FORM (First Order Reliability Method) and Artificial Neural Network-based FORM (ANN FORM) have been proposed as alternatives. However, it is important to note that both MCS-FORM and ANN-FORM can also be time-con
... Show MoreIn this research a new system identification algorithm is presented for obtaining an optimal set of mathematical models for system with perturbed coefficients, then this algorithm is applied practically by an “On Line System Identification Circuit”, based on real time speed response data of a permanent magnet DC motor. Such set of mathematical models represents the physical plant against all variation which may exist in its parameters, and forms a strong mathematical foundation for stability and performance analysis in control theory problems.