On average, by the time when 1% of the project costs are spent in the design phase, roughly 70% of the life-cycle cost of the building has been committed. Therefore, it is essential to integrate the multidisciplinary knowledge over the life-cycle of the building into design. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most important supporting factors for a successful integrated design. ...

BACKGROUND Methods for error analysis are suitable to increase patients' safety as well as staff satisfaction and may avoid, in a sense of process control, financial damage to the hospital. The aim of the presented pilot study was to establish and evaluate an incident reporting system as a first step towards a new safety culture. METHODS In June 2003 an incident reporting system was introduce...

are gratefully acknowledged, as well as the financial support of the European Union Human Capital and Mobility Program, Contract Nr. ERB4050PL930320. For the development of international scientific collaboration see among others Luukkonen et al. (1992).

In the past the reallotment process has proven to affect the environmental conditions in the land development areas in a negative way. Over the last decades land development has gradually shifted from an instrument aimed at the improvement of an area in an agricultural way to a multi-functional instrument, in which more attention is paid to the possibilities to conserve and improve, e.g. ecolog...

In Malaysia, at present, 19 different category projects require Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports duly approved by Department of Environment (DOE) before their implementation. Predictions on environmental impacts made during EIA for major development projects are hypotheses about such responses, which can be tested with data collected from environmental monitoring programs. The syst...

A reliable urban transport system provides citizens’ access to workplaces, social engagements and other services (Browne and Ryan, 2011). At the same time, high levels of traffic impose negative externalities on society, including congestion, accidents, noise pollution or environmental damage (Santos et al., 2010). Decision-makers objectives are made up of a variety of different impacts (econom...

Salient features in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process in Sri Lanka have proven to be the provision for public participation, the requirement of alternative proposals, and the use of a prescribed list to identify projects that must undergo review. While EIA has been successfully introduced and over 500 projects have been reviewed, some significant shortcomings remain. Integrated ...

Increasingly, local communities develop projects and grassroots initiatives that address climate change and environmental sustainability issues. These projects often commence informally and adopt web-based free information and communication technologies (ICT) applications to support their functioning. ICT applications are used to promote the goals of the project, to recruit more supporters and ...

BACKGROUND In rural health and other health service development contexts, there is frustration with a reliance on pilot projects as a means of informing policy and service innovation. There is also an emerging recognition that existing research methods do not draw lessons from the failed sustainability that characterises many of these pilots and demonstration projects. DISCUSSION This article...