Information systems in Best Buy

Introduction This essay discusses information systems usage in Best Buy. It starts by introducing Best Buy, and then it proceeds to discussing its business process in general. Having identified key areas, it underlines the involvement of information systems in the business process as well as the improvements they bring.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Information systems in Best Buy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The essay also identifies an issue Best Buy is currently facing, and describes the role that information systems can play in improving the situation. Best Buy in brief Best Buy is an American retailing company, operating in the North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Richard M. Schulze and Gary Smoliak founded it in 1966. The company specializes in consumer electronic products and services. It is now â€Å"the world’s largest multi-channel consumer electronics retailer with stores in the United States, Canada, China, Europe, and Mexico† (Best Buy, par. 1). With 1 billion visits to its websites annually, Best Buy is ranked the 11th biggest online retailer in the North America (Best Buy, par. 1). The revenue of the company in 2012 was $50.70 billion (Yahoo! Inc., par. 3). Its net income for the same year was $1.231 billion (Yahoo! Inc., par. 26). The company is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the SP 500 stock market index. The total assets and equity of the company in 2012 were valued at $16.005 billion and $3.745 billion respectively. Best Buy’s business process in general Best Buy as mentioned above is a retailing company, as such its business process is centred on eight key areas. The first area, which is supply chain management, ensures that customers receive merchandise at the right time and in the proper condition. The second area is warehouse management, which ensures that the company’s inventory is proper ly controlled and managed. The third area, order processing, ensures that orders made by customers are properly serviced. The fourth area is business intelligence, which ensures that the company uses existing raw data to improve its operations and service delivery. The fifth area, performance management, ensures that the company is achieving its short-, mid- and long-term goals in a cost and time efficient manner.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The sixth area is customer relationship management, which ensures that the company’s interaction with its current and future customers is modelled in such a way that it is in synchrony with sales, marketing, technical support as well as customer service. The seventh area, business process automation, ensures that the company’s expenditure and operational costs are reduced through automation of certain manual tasks. The eighth key area is brand management, which ensures that there is brand awareness and recognition for its brand. Map of business process The map of Best Buy’s general business process is shown in figure 1 in Appendix A. The map is prepared using radial circles. Involvement of information system in the business process An information system (IS) is â€Å"a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization† (â€Å"Andragogy: Information Systems: Definitions and Components † 24). The involvement of information systems in Best Buy’s business process is for two main reasons. The first is to integrate information technology into the process as a means towards reducing operational costs, maximizing sales, and gaining a competitive advantage (Windnagle). The second reason is to encourage innovation, which facilitates the invention of better ways of do ing the tasks, incorporated in the business process (Windnagle). How could information system improve the business process One way in which information systems can improve Best Buy’s business process is by means of decentralization. Decentralization frees up resources and creates time for departmental managers. As such, it facilitates them to take on more strategic level activities. Consequently, the strategic goals of the company have a better chance of being achieved in a time and cost efficient manner. For a given information need, information systems provide in high speed the best available information. In this way, Best Buy’s business process benefits from better and faster decision-making.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Information systems in Best Buy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, a member of staff can provide the best response to a customer’s query without an un necessary delay. As such, many queries can be handled satisfactorily. Better decision making, therefore, leads to the customer satisfaction, increased sales, and reduced operational costs. Information systems can improve Best Buy’s business process by providing better security of the information that customers entrust with Best Buy. Poor information security and age can ultimately lead to heavy lawsuits, which have the potential to bankrupt the company even, such a big enterprise as Best Buy. Therefore, better information security is a vital component in improving Best Buy’s business process. Identify a suggestion for improvement One of the major problems Best Buy is facing is an unfriendly customer service in some of its stores (Loeb, par. 8). Though this problem can be solved through better employee ethics, information systems can also play a significant role. Managing customer relationships through information systems can help Best Buy model its interaction with its existing and future customers in such a way that, the interaction is in line with the customer service as well as technical support. This means that there is a working relation between staff, resources, and customers, allowing Best Buy to attend to customers’ queries on time, fully and satisfactorily. Therefore, information systems dedicated to customer relationship management is only one way in which the company can improve its business process. Summary Since information systems have the ability to provide quick access to information and to present it in a user-friendly way, they are a vital component for improving Best Buy’s business process, which involves eight key management areas. Quick access to information and its presentation in a way which is easy to understand as is done by information systems, facilitates better decision-making, time and cost efficiency, being essential ingredients of any business success. If Best Buy is to maintain or improve its rankings , then its strategic management has to consider exploiting the full potential of information systems.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Andragogy: Information Systems: Definitions and Components 2012. PDF file. 2013. Web. Best Buy. 2013. About Best Buy. Web. Loeb, Walter. Best Buy in turmoil: Will it survive?  2012. Web. Windnagle C. Re: How information systems impact processes.  2012. Web. Yahoo! Inc. 2013. Income statement.  Web. Appendix Fig 1: The map of the business process of Best Buy This assessment on Information systems in Best Buy was written and submitted by user Sadie Glover to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Implementing New Procurement Policies in the Public Sector Essays

Implementing New Procurement Policies in the Public Sector Essays Implementing New Procurement Policies in the Public Sector Essay Implementing New Procurement Policies in the Public Sector Essay The West Coast City is known for beautiful nature scenery and award-winning urban planning. Unfortunately, same as other urban cities, the City also is experiencing social problems also. Recently public Council approved new implementation of a sustainable and ethical purchasing policy. Sustainable and ethical purchasing considers the health and social impacts of the goods and services being purchased, ethical (e. G. No sweat shop, fair trade), socially responsible (e. G. Human rights, health and safety in workplace) procurement and fostering economic development (e. G. Preferable to local supplier under read agreements). City manager has expressed great concern of no other benchmark available, financial impact to the Citys budget and the Supply Management teams limited working knowledge. Because the support from key internal stakeholders is critical to success of the policy, the implementing project will concentrate its efforts on engaging them. To answer these concerns propose to hire 3rd party consulting firm, cooperate current supplier and potential new qualified supplier to assess financial impact and develop tools and process that would not increase administrative and financial burdens on the City and suppliers. This report will discuss this in more detail. implementing New Procurement Policies in the Public Sector Case Report page 2 Issue Identification Immediate Issue The city has to find qualified staff, develop the policy and minimize cost impact. Systemic Issues Problem 1: Limited working knowledge and lacking of staffs with expertise -? The City doesnt have proper staffing resources with expertise and hasnt done any benchmarking. Problem 2: The fear of cost increase Often purchasing in an ethical way may incur additional costs to a business when compared with others who may not do in a same way. Problem 3: Implementation timeline has been set up prior to full assessment Of scope. 6 month to approve policy, 1 year to implement the first phase of cloths procurement from ethical source and 2 years to expand it to City-wide. Page 3 Environmental Root Cause Analysis Qualitative Analysis The City Manager of the Supply Management team has little experience of ethical purchasing. Lack of staffing resources with expertise in the area of sustainability. Need cost impact analysis of staff budget. The new proposed policy would require purchasing FT coffee which will increase the cost between 15 and 20 percent of $150,000. Page 4 Options There are several strategic options that need to be considered in order to fully address the issues. Option 1 Increase staffing budget and hire the sustainable and ethical purchasing experts. Pros: Secure permanent subject experts. Procurement processes time stays close to current due to increase of staff. Could cause additional stress to the current staffing budget. May need to steal staffing budget from other City departments to create a fund to support new staffs. Cons: Option 2 Hire 3rd party consulting firm and organize co-pop program with suppliers. Pros: Learn and implement the best practice quickly. Supplier can share their resources to lower administrative overhead. Early supplier involvement would give them time to prepare for the new changes. It would allow supplier to find alternate sources that are ethnically responsible. Owe initial cost because the City doesnt have to hire new staffs. Still need to find a fund to hire consulting firm. Suppliers could influence the implementation negatively. Recommendation recommend the second option. The City has little experience of new purchase policy so it is critical to involve industry experts to develop implementation plan. Assistant buyer and supervise from City Inventory Distribution branch would become a qualified staff without high new staffing cost. They are familiar with existing with purchase process. It would provide insight of City process and new purchasing policy to new sustainability specialists. Supplier Implementing New procurement policies in the public Sector Case Report page 5 participation in early stage of implementation is very critical. Suppliers have sourcing network already that could be utilized to find ethical manufactures. Finding new suppliers isnt always easy and building up new relationship requires efforts and time. It would create another overhead burden to the reject. Sustainable and ethical purchasing has to maximize the benefits for themselves, partners and peoples in City. To prevent negative influence from suppliers, Supply chain manager has to review suppliers inputs carefully and direct them. Page 6 Recommendation Implementation Plan Implementation would . Element Description Responsibility Timeline Search and hire 3rd party consulting Task force team 1-?2 month Establish new purchase policy 1-2 months Present new purchase policy to Supply chain manager 1 month supplier City Manager Hold hearing and get approval from Create co-pop team with suppliers 3 months Find ethical manufactures and 6 months negotiate prices Co-pop team Roll out phase 1 cloth Roll Out phase 2 24 months firms public Council City manager page 7 Monitor and Control The new purchasing policy implementation progress should be checked timely. Suggest every 2. 5 weeks. Some of tasks have to be done in a month, this mid-point check is critical to handle any delays or changes. There are three aspects to the monitor and control. The first one is budget overhead, the second one is implementation progress and the third one is Supply availability and affordability. If budget overhead is below 5% 4 million, it

A Biography of Indian Yellow Essay Example for Free

A Biography of Indian Yellow Essay ? Indian Yellow is a raw pigment which, as the name suggests, originated in India in the 17th century and was used until the early 20th century. Its source remained a mystery for many years. In 1786 the amateur painter, Roger Dewhurst recorded in letters to friends, that Indian yellow was an organic substance made from the urine of animals fed on turmeric (Myers, pg 1). Around this time, the English chemist George Field claimed it was made from camel urine. In 1839, J.F.L. Merimee, denied its association with urine in spite of its odor, citing its origin was a shrub called ‘memecylon tinctorium’ in his book ‘The Art of Painting in Oil and Fresco’, In 1886 the Journal of the Society of Arts in London began a systematic inquiry of the pigment, revealing that Indian yellow was manufactured in rural India (in particular in Monghyr, a city in Bengal) from the urine of cattle fed only on mango leaves and water (Finlay, pg 216-217). The collected urine was heated in order to precipitate the yellow matter, then strained, pressed into lumps by hand and dried, producing foul-smelling hard yellow balls of raw pigment, called ‘purree’ (Mukharji, pg 16-17). European importers would then wash and purify the balls, separating greenish and yellow phases. It is the mango not the urine that’s crucial to the color. The colorant is a magnesium salt of an organic acid released by the mango. Chemically it is magnesium euxanthate, the magnesium salt of euxanthic acid. Naturally, the cows that were exploited by this process were extremely undernourished. In part because mango leaves did not supply the cattle with sufficient nutrients along with the fact that these leaves contain the toxin urushiol, also found in poison ivy. In 1908, British law (which applied to colonized India) prohibited the production of Indian yellow, citing the torture of sacred animals. The pigment is believed to have first been used in Europe by Dutch artists in the 17th century (the Dutch having extensive trading links with India by then) and by the end of the 18th century across Europe in watercolor and oil painting. For the first years of its introduction in the European market, this pigment was simply named after its country of origin, ‘Purà ©e of India’(Finlay, pg 209-211). This was further simplified to ‘jaune indien’ (French), ‘giallo indiano’ (Italian), ‘Indischgelb’ (German) or ‘Indian Yellow’ when tr anslated into other languages (Myers, pg 1). Deep, clear and luminescent, it was favored for its great body and depth of tone. It had a peculiar characteristic in its watercolor form of fading in artificial light and in the dark but being fairly stable in direct sunlight. In its oil form, it requires one hundred percent for grinding, dries slowly, and the addition of varnish improves its drying, in fact its lightfastness is also improved when it is isolated between layers of varnish. Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th and 18th centuries favored it for its translucent qualities often using it to represent sunlight. Beautiful as the color is, the pigment was said to be foul-smelling in its raw form. In the novel ‘Girl With the Pearl Earring’ Vermeer’s patron remarks that Vermeer used â€Å"cow piss† to paint his wife, the pigment referred to was Indian Yellow. By the early twentieth century the pigment was no longer available, although its modern substitutes are still sold under the name â€Å"Indian yellow†. 1. Baer, N.S., â€Å"Indian Yellow† in â€Å"Artists’ Pigments, a Handbook of Their History and Characteristics†, Volume 1, R.L. Feller, Editor, Oxford University Press, New York (1986) 2. Finlay, Victoria, â€Å"Color: A NAtural History of the Palette† (2003 edition), Random House 3. Merimee, M.J.F.L., â€Å"The Art of Painting in Oil and Fresco† (2009 edition), Kessinger Publishing 4. Mukharji, T.N., â€Å"Piuri or Indian Yellow†, Journal of the Society of Arts (1883-84) 5. Myers, David, â€Å"Indian Yellow†, The Art Blog of David Myers (February 1, 2011) http://toxicgraphix.blogspot.com/2011/02/indian-yellow.html 6. â€Å"Indian Yellow†, Pigments Through the Ages, webexhibits.org http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/history/indianyellow.html A Biography of Indian Yellow. (2016, Nov 27).

Ethnography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Ethnography - Essay Example On the other hand, other scholars assert that some cultural studies have theorized about the significance of ethnography to an understanding of media and cultural practices. They continue arguing that they have reached an almost paralyzing position in which the political and epistemological debates concerning the function of the researcher have restricted rather than endorsing the production of ethnographic media studies. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to study the strengths and limits of ethnography as a methodology for the study of media institutions with reference to specific ethnographic studies conducted by other researchers (Coman & Rothenbuhler 2005, p.141). Additionally, the research about audiences in media emphasizes on methodological pluralism through examining a sequence of approaches ranging from media ethnography, research on the reception of media, surveying the audience, and carrying out experiments on audience studies. The cultural understanding of ethnogr aphy Ethnographic studies can twirl predetermined ideas and misapprehension regarding a specific culture into positive conceptions, likewise, they can also lend trustworthiness to other elucidation from studies regarding a specific culture that have been done in the ancient times. Additionally, ethnographies can grant people a better comprehension and approach into their own culture, but the ethnographic study of a culture consumes a lot of time. For instance, before an anthropologist submerges in a culture's natural environment, he has to be familiar with the language along with the respective culture of that community. Culture is important for society and individual since the routine activities are based on the simple unwritten rules of participation in social interactions, therefore, ethnographers require proper investigation and research, and may take a long period making it very dangerous for an anthropologist who does not quickly comprehend a culture's traditions and forbidden practices. In addition to that, an anthropologist has to acquire time and obtain the confidence and respect of a culture's people, as well as seeking an okay to carry out an ethnographic research before proceeding (Coman & Rothenbuhler, 2005, p.141). The strengths of ethnography The benefit to employing ethnography to fit into the audience studies relies on its likelihood to offer both a domestic and a communal environment of television reception among the diverse groups in the society (Murchison 2013, p.204). Ethnography facilitates a comprehension of the manner in which the reception framework can influence the interpretation of the message by viewers, individually and in groups, conversely, it also permit the inspecting of the phenomena not only in its immediate social, political, and economic situation, but also in a bigger chronological structure. Moores argue that the media industries should provide audiences with a stable â€Å"stream† of figurative equipment to help audiences understand and approach their logic of self. These pictures and

The Role of Competitive Intelligence on Google Essay

The Role of Competitive Intelligence on Google - Essay Example nce at Google Advantages of Competitive Intelligence The main objective of competitive intelligence is to identify new opportunities and potential threats that lie ahead. It tries to detect and counter the threat from competition. Competitive intelligence aims to remove or reduce the surprises and therefore tries to develop and enhance the competitive advantage. Globalization along with access to the huge databases and the realization of the new type of competitor and business opportunities has also led to the advancement in the competitive intelligence. Therefore, competitive intelligence keeps the companies ahead of their competitors and therefore opens new horizon for them (All Hands Business Solutions, 2009). The figure below explains the competitive intelligence cycle which begins with planning and ends at diffusion of the information at the organisation. Source: (Quoniam, n.d.). When the data is gathered from numerous sources, it is evaluated in order to identify the competitor ’s strategies as well as future directions. The main objective of the CI is to make informed marketing as well as strategic decisions through which gaining strategic advantage and reduction of the risk is possible (College of Business and Public Policy, 2011). It is worth mentioning that when a company has detailed information and knowledge regarding the product/ services of its competitors, the company is likely to gain advantage that will assist it in planning the best strategies and therefore enhance the overall profitability and market share (The University of New York, 2011). The main result obtained from the competitive intelligence is its capability to prepare forward-looking decisions. Hence, it can be stated that it is through competitive intelligence that the companies are...When the data is gathered from numerous sources, it is evaluated in order to identify the competitor’s strategies as well as future directions. The main objective of the CI is to make inf ormed marketing as well as strategic decisions through which gaining strategic advantage and reduction of the risk is possible (College of Business and Public Policy, 2011). It is worth mentioning that when a company has detailed information and knowledge regarding the product/ services of its competitors, the company is likely to gain advantage that will assist it in planning the best strategies and therefore enhance the overall profitability and market share (The University of New York, 2011). The main result obtained from the competitive intelligence is its capability to prepare forward-looking decisions. Hence, it can be stated that it is through competitive intelligence that the companies are capable of making strategic decision making as well as that of market leadership. Disadvantage or Potential Pitfalls of Competitive Intelligence As per the views of Malhotra (1996), its main goal is to collect pertinent information which is valid and accurate. Inaccurate information may endanger organisation’s competitive intelligence efforts. The other significant drawbacks of competitive intelligence are that there may be illustrations of fake confirmation where a significant source of data may tend to confirm the records received from other sources.

White Privilege Essay Example for Free

White Privilege Essay How America came about is fascinating, and learning about immigration, rights, laws, and racism makes learning more beneficial. It helps you to understand why we, as a nation, are they way we are today, and why we will continue to be stuck in our ways. According to James Barrett and David Roediger, â€Å"The Story of Americanization is vital and compelling, but it took place in a nation also obsessed by race†¦the process of â€Å"becoming white† and â€Å"becoming American† were connected at every turn (36). † One of the most controversial topics is white privilege and discrimination. Segregation within school systems has been a dominant problem in the past and will always continue to be. Being privileged is a something that individuals should be conscious of due to their past and understand that it is a privilege to be white rather than to be discriminated against. Becoming conscious of one’s own white privilege is the first step to understand the deeper meaning of racism and discrimination. My intentions of writing this paper were to describe a situation in which I was conscious of my own white privilege. White privilege was always on my side until high school where I felt as though I was discriminated against as being a petite, white girl, from upper-class Allendale leaving me to been seen as an easy target. While at my locker one day during lunch, I was approached by two of the black students (one male and one female) and a Latino girl, and they tried to convince me something hurtful was written about me in the bathroom. Being that I am not the type to care, get involved, or respond, I turned to walk away. The Latino girl proceeded to grab my hair causing me to turn and face her and she punched me square in the face. After several minutes of back and forth wrestling and punches, the fight was broken up my teachers. It turns out that there was nothing written about me, they were just trying to get me into the bathroom to fight me, opposed to the hallway which is out in the open. All three of the students that were there were taken to the principal’s office immediately and suspended for two days whereas I got off free and I was allowed to go back to my day. During the duration of the day, one of the African American men left the principal’s office in rage and had a mission to destroy all my belongings in my locker. The boy pried open my locked and poured a bottle of soda all over my books, note books and belongings. After I reported this to our principal, he held the three students involved in the fight until one person came clean about who had been at fault for ruining my locker. It turned out, that no one admitted to it, and they were all suspended even longer than originally for not fessing up. The following week, none of the three students attended my high school anymore and I was told by my principal that they left to attend other high schools in surrounding towns. After this incident, I have never come into contact with any of them ever again. However, several of my male friends found out what happened that day and wanted nothing but to get revenge and retaliate against them and show them who runs the high school, being that whites are minority. I became very conscious of my white privilege growing up in a one-square mile suburban town of Allendale, New Jersey. My entire educational career through eighth grade consisted of white, middle-to-upper-class Americans. All the people were similar, with the same morals, values and beliefs. Everyone dressed similar and drove similar cars, partook in the same activities and hung out in specific niches. At this point in my life, I could say I could correlate my life to Peggy McIntosh’s article when she describes the matrix of white privilege; There was one main piece of cultural turf; it was my own turf, and I was among those who could the turf. I could measure up to the cultural standards and take advantage of the many options I saw around me to make what the culture would call a success of my life†¦I could think of myself as â€Å"belong† in major ways, and of making social systems work for me. I could†¦be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms (295). It wasn’t until high school where I thought I would potentially move out of my small town bubble. My high school is regional; students from Allendale, along with the surrounding towns of Ho-Ho-Kus, Upper Saddle River and half of Saddle River attended. Being that I came from such a white school system, the thought of going onto high school and being surrounded by students of other races and ethnicities is something that never crossed my mind. I was never taught about the disadvantages of being white, but rather I learned about blacks and their disadvantages of dealing with racism. Over the years, little was taught about racism and what it stood for, instead we were just told that this is what happened to people when they were of different races and ethnicities back in the day. The article by Peggy McIntosh describes how whites are taught to think of blacks; â€Å"As a white person, I realized I had never been taught about racism as something which put others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege , which puts me at an advantage†(291). Being white was never something that I had to deal with in or outside of school, or even within my community. I wasn’t necessarily shocked to walk into high school my first day to find only a select few of Latinos and African Americans. However, these were things that I never thought about or even had to think about. The few Latinos and African Americans came from Upper Saddle River and Saddle River. I was never stereotypical of these groups of people until I was surrounded with people from towns that had engaged with these people all the way up through high school. The Latinos in my school all stuck together, as well as the three African Americans that attended my high school. I feel as though this particular situation involved me having the white privilege advantage and it seems as though my white privilege helped to get me out of trouble. I should have gotten in trouble for â€Å"self defense† and throwing punches back, but I feel as though since I had never caused problems before, and they had been the center of most of the problems I was let go with no punishment. The students that got in trouble, were seen as troublesome students because of their past, where I had a clean record with no reason to suspect I was the start of the brawl. Considering my school is mostly made up of white students and entirely white faculty, when the three students got in trouble, it was probably a stereotypical decision based on non-whites. Blacks have always endured pain and agony as, â€Å"†¦victims of discrimination, segregation, and violence, blacks in the North encountered a powerful cluster of negative racial images. These stereotypes contributed to the conditions of racial degradation and poverty, which, in turn, reinforced prejudice† (Takaki 107). This excerpt further explains that stereotypes stick and the negative racial images will forever be a part of the everyday lives of blacks. The primary reason of why the situation occurred, I believe dates back to sundown towns. Beginning in about 1890 and continuing until 1968, white Americans established thousands of towns across the United States for whites only. A ‘sundown town’ is any organized influence that, for decades, was all-white on purpose. Many towns drove out their black populations, and then posted sundown signs. Other towns passed ordinances barring African-Americans after dark or prohibiting them from owning or renting property. Evelyn Nakano Glenn helps to further explain the regulations, â€Å"White controlled municipalities passed ordinances creating racial zones. When these laws were found to be unconstitutional, whites formed neighborhood associations and turned to â€Å"private† arrangements such as economic boycotts, violence, and restrictive covenants. These restrictions deprived blacks of a central element of liberal citizenship, namely property rights† (37-38). This is proof that the African-American populations had no choice but to leave because they weren’t welcome. No one would support their businesses or wanted anything to do with them; they were literally driven out of these towns and wouldn’t stand a chance if they stayed. Being that the town of Allendale where I grew up was a sundown town, which is the most obvious explanation as to why I grew up surrounded by all whites. Moving onto high school, the other regional towns of Ho-Ho-Kus and Upper Saddle River were sundown towns as well. This plays a huge role in the situation at my high school because people of color and different races are focused on more and white students carry all the dominant privilege. If I had been a different race I think the entire situation would have never occurred because I would probably be a person that was known for affiliating with them. If I had been black, I would have probably felt like I should stick with the other three black students in the high school. The situation would have been the same if I were Latino or another race. Segregation still takes place in America and being one of only a few black families within your community will be a repetitive cycle for black families looking to move to our dominantly white community. According to Douglas Massey; â€Å"When avenues of spatial assimilation are systematically blocked my prejudice, and discrimination, however, residential segmentation increases and persists over time. New Minorities arrive in the city and settle within enclaves, but their subsequent spatial mobility is stymied, and ethnic concentrations increase†¦whereupon group members are forced to adjacent areas, thus expanding the boundaries of the enclave† (225). I feel as though since my region of New Jersey is predominantly white, what would things change now? Why would blacks and ethnic families feel inclined to move to a neighborhood where they stand out? Especially for African-American families, my town along with the surrounding towns do not sell African-American hair products in any of my supermarkets or pharmacies nor are there salons where African-American women can go to get their hair braided. My community has adjusted to the white population and being that my town is so small, I feel as though it would take dramatic lengths to change the way our community functions. Being white, I feel as though I benefited from the whole situation because I did not get in trouble for punching the girl back, and I did not get suspended. I was allowed to return to my day at school as though nothing happened while they were kept in the front office until school was let out and were suspended for the rest of the week (2 days). This experience made me think about my race in a different way because I had never encountered issues with non-white people, because I was never around them. Coming from a primarily white school, white students stand to make white privilege stick out like a sore thumb. It helped me to understand that white people dominated my school population and that this would have never been an issue if the school had always been made up of a majority of other races and ethnicities. It is as if the select few minorities felt as though they needed to stand up for themselves and prove that just because there are so few of them they can still â€Å"run† the school. The three students involved, I feel, chose to leave due to feeling like they were discriminated against and treated differently than other students. They could have felt mistreated or felt that being out numbered was a disadvantage for them. Moving to surrounding schools definitely made them feel like they belonged better because I know there were mixed groups of people outside of our high school district. Being that ninety-nine percent of my school was white could have made the few students feel intimidated and make the white students angrier and feel the need to gang up on them after this incident, almost to prove their white privilege. This incident correlates to issues of citizenship and my ability to participate as a full and equal member of American society because I suffered no consequences from the incident except for a bloody nose. A bloody nose is a temporarily occurrence but because of what happened, it hasn’t affected me being a full and equal member in the American society. It has however, affected the minority students at my high school, and drove them away. As described by Evelyn Glenn, â€Å"At its most general level, citizenship refers to full membership in the community in which one lives. Membership in turn implies certain†¦reciprocal duties toward the community (37). † These black students are citizens but they do not live in a community with other African-Americans reside. They can be still be involved in the community but the families as a whole might not be as eager to get involved as they are outnumbered and may feel their voices may not be heard or make a difference. There are a few potential long term consequences of white privilege for myself that will be with me as long as I live. Being that Quinnipiac University is not very diverse, but more diverse than my high school, it was difficult to get used to seeing people of color and different ethnicities every day. I do not believe growing up in an all white community has been beneficial to me, and I wish I was more natural around people of different races and ethnicities. It is unrealistic to say that I will never have to deal with this, but in the real world, and when finding a job, you will be presented with a variety of people that may even become more of friends rather than co-workers. Someone’s accent or skin color does not determine what kind of person they are, it is their personality that makes them who they are. I also believe in regards to the incident, if I had been at fault, and was suspended for my actions of self defense, I would have not been able to attend a prestigious school such as Quinnipiac. When applying for colleges, most applications ask if you have ever been suspended, such as the Quinnipiac application which asks if you have ever been suspended or missed significant time from school. I would have then had to explain the situation and how I was suspended for self defense. If colleges see that you are a troubled student, and have a record for misbehaving, they will not accept you to their school. Community colleges of lower rankings will be more willing to accept a student with a past, rather than a private school like Quinnipiac University. Discrimination and segregation still exist today. The past makes up the present so learning about what people of all races and ethnicities went through in history is important as a citizen of the United States. Everyone, in some way, or somehow, has dealt with discrimination whether it is you or friends and family. While on the other hand, it is imperative to pay attention to your privileges and understand what it means to be American. Works Cited Barrett, James E. , and David Roediger. 2005. How White People Became White. Pg. 35-40 in White Privilege: Essential Reading on the Other Side of Racism, 2nd Ed. , Paula S. Rothenberg, Ed. New York: Worth Publishers. Glenn, Evelyn, Nakano. Citizenship: Universalism and Exclusion. Pg. 18-55 in Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizenship and Labor. Cambridge: Harvard. Massey, Douglas S. How Space Gets Raced. Rethinking the Color Line. By Charles A. Gallagher. 3rd Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 225. McIntosh, Peggy. 1997 White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Womens Studies. Pg. 290-99 in Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror. Richard Delgado Jean Stefancic, Eds. Philadephia: Temple University Press. Takaki, Ronald T. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. New York, NY: Back Bay, 1994. 108.

Investigation of Water Potential of Potato Tuber Cells :: Biology Lab Report

Investigation of Water Potential of Potato Tuber Cells Introduction This experiment is to find out the water potential of potato cells. Water potential is the ability of water to move and is represented by the Greek letter à Ã‹â€  (pronounced Ââ€Å"sy†). It tells us which way water will move and how fast. Water potential is always measured as a negative number; this is because the water potential of pure water at atmospheric pressure is zero therefore the stronger a solution is the more negative the number. This is because a solution has solutes present and solute molecules slow the movement of the water molecules, therefore always making the water potential of a solution less than zero. The stronger the concentration the slower the movement of water molecules present due to more bonds between the solutes and the water molecules, therefore the more negative the water potential. The unit for water potential is kPa because itÂ’s the measurement of pressure acting on the water molecules. There are two factors that influence water potential; * The concentration of solutes inside the cell * The pressure exerted on the cell contents by the stretched call surface membrane or cell wall. Results Table --------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentration Mass before Mass after Change in 0 (distilled (m) (g) (g) Mass(g) water) 1.32 1.47 0.15 0.2 1.35 1.36 0.01 0.4 1.24 1.16 -0.08 0.6 1.38 1.05 -0.33 0.8 1.57 1.

Constructive feedback Essay

Giving constructive feedback is crucial; without it learners cannot learn (Rogers, 2004). When used to emphasise progress rather than failure, it motivates learners, building confidence and enabling them to recognise mistakes as part of a process that brings them closer to their learning goals. It can help both teacher and student to identify further learning opportunities or action to be taken. Feedback can be formal, such as after marking an assignment or observing practice, or given informally during a lesson (Gravells, 2012.) It can also be written or verbal. Written feedback provides a record of achievement and enables students to revisit comments later and measure relative progress. However, unless clear, it may be misinterpreted or demotivating. If too lengthy, it can confuse. It takes time to provide written feedback too and, in the meantime, the learner may continue to make the same mistake and then wastes more time unlearning their response instead of learning new behaviours (Gravells, 2012). Petty (2009) recommends that written feedback is detailed and constructive, and that teachers also talk to students about their work as assignments are handed back to clarify points. Verbal feedback is more immediate, particularly when provided during a session. Positive body language, facial expression, tone of voice and a supportive approach can help to create â€Å"positive reinforcement†, which can enhance future learning (Petty, 2009). Tutors need to be skilled at providing verbal feedback though, as body language can just as easily lead to comments being misconstrued. Verbal feedback also needs to be given at the right time and place, as well as promptly to prevent errors being repeated (Rogers, 2004). Enough time needs to be given for students to understand the feedback and compose any questions. Avis, Fisher and Thompson (2010) say that verbal feedback should form part of a two-way dialogue, an approach that can be enhanced by allowing the student to assess their work first. This boosts morale by giving the student ownership of the solution. It also develops a student’s ability to carry out future self assessment and encourages reflection. Lastly, it allows the teacher to gauge how much the student has understood. This helps when setting future goals that are challenging but achievable – crucial to engagement. Focusing on only two or three key points during feedback means students are not overwhelmed by any critical comments, preventing them from becoming dispirited (Avis, Fisher and Thompson, 2010). There is also a limit to how much new information a learner can grasp at once. Praising what the student has done well, outlining areas that need further development and then ending on another positive note will motivate the student and help prevent them focusing on any aspect they may perceive as negative. Petty (2009) says this makes feedback sound more like advice and less like criticism. For oral feedback to be constructive, it must be clear, jargon free, factual and provide reasons for any success or failure so that students can act upon any areas that require improvement. This is supported by research conducted by Weeden, Winter and Broadfoot (2000 cited in Avis, Fisher and Thompson, 2010, p.172) involving 200 learners, aged from eight to 19. The study found that simple comments, ticks or evaluative comments such as â€Å"good work†, while welcomed by students as approval, did not help them reach future goals. If feedback focuses on what has been and what could be achieved, rather than criticising failure, learners are also far more likely to be motivated. Wallace (2006, p.84) refers to this as â€Å"celebrating success†. Rogers (2004, p.44) argues that the most crucial aspect of constructive feedback is to â€Å"criticise the performance, not the person† as subjective comments can be viewed as personal prejudices, demotivating and devaluing feedback in the eye of the learner. Huddleston and Unwin (2008) also point out that feedback should take place throughout the teaching cycle. This means that the teacher can review achievement and areas for development as a course of study continues, enabling the student’s development to be ongoing. Feedback can also be given directly to the individual, on a one-to-one basis, or indirectly as part of a group. An advantage to giving feedback to a group is that, providing the group is supportive and committed to high standards, peers can offer each other constructive feedback (Rogers, 2004). For some learners, this may be highly motivating and it also offers more diversity in how learners receive their evaluation. However, the learning environment must be non-competitive and inclusive to avoid alienating learners and ensure everyone is treated equally and with respect. To keep students motivated, feedback given to individuals during group discussions must be non-judgemental. Comparing students with their peers should be avoided (Avis, Fisher and Thompson, 2010). Petty (2009) recommends that during group questioning, questions are distributed as widely as possible so that everyone feels involved. It follows that, in a safe and inclusive learning environment, feedback should also be possible through group questioning or discussion. It is also vital that all students’ individual needs are considered. For instance, if a student is dyslexic, written feedback must be provided in a format that works for them, perhaps on coloured paper. Students who are blind may prefer verbal feedback or require feedback in Braille. Finally, feedback must be tailored. Brown and Knight (1994 cited in Gray et al., 2004, p.108) outline how students with different learning styles have different expectations of feedback. â€Å"Deep† learners will require detailed feedback to enable understanding; â€Å"surface† learners will expect general comments and will not appreciate the relevance of detailed feedback; â€Å"strategic† learners will not welcome detailed comments but need mark-related comments that indicate what they need to do to achieve a better mark; and â€Å"apathetic† learners need comments that encourage them to improve and build their confidence. This points to the need to make feedback diverse and customised to learners’ personalities and needs (Avis, Fisher and Thompson, 2010) at any given point in the teaching cycle, just as teaching methods must be diverse. This is crucial if feedback is to be understood by students and to maintain their self esteem.

Critical Path

Graduate Institute of Construction Engineering and Management, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd. , Jhongli City, Taoyuan County 32001, Taiwan b R&D Center for Construction Project Management, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Rd. , Hsinchu, 300 Taiwan Received 7 February 2010; received in revised form 12 June 2011; accepted 16 June 2011 Abstract Assessing schedule delay's impact on total project duration to distribute delay liability remains a controversy.None of existing delay analysis methods is perfect because including an element of assumptions, subjective assessment and theoretical projection. Windows-based delay analysis methods are excellent in identifying and measuring construction schedule delays. Based on a previous study identifying potential problems in available windows-based delay analysis methods, this study proposes an innovative windows-based delay analysis method, called the effect-based delay analysis method (the EDAM method).The EDAM meth od performs delay analysis using extracted windows and determines delay impacts by considering the effects of delays on the critical path(s). According to its application to hypothetical cases and comparisons with other methods, the EDAM method is efficient in delay analysis and effective in solving concurrent delays and determining schedule shortened. The proposed EDAM method is a good alternative for schedule delay analysis for construction projects.  © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: Delay analysis; Claim; Schedule analysis; Construction project 1.Introduction Construction projects generally have highly complicated situations during execution, involve many project stakeholders and interfaces, and are influenced by many external factors. Therefore, schedule delays in construction projects are common and affect total project duration in unpredictable ways. Delay information and evidence are usually recorded and represented in different records, documen ts and schedules during the construction phase. Selecting a suitable delay analysis method and analyzing delay information accurately are essential tasks in any delayed construction project.Current delay analysis methods analyze delay liabilities based on delay information and evidence. Various analysis methods have been developed, such as global impact, as-planned, impacted as-planned, net ? Corresponding author. Tel. : +886 3 4227151Ãâ€"34040; fax: +886 3 4257092. E-mail address: [email  protected] edu. tw (J. -B. Yang). impact, time impact, collapsing, isolated delay type, snapshot, window analysis and isolated collapsed but-for (Bordoli and Baldwin, 1998; Gothand, 2003; Hegazy and Zhang, 2005; Kim et al. 2005; Mbabazi et al. , 2005; Ng et al. , 2004; Yang and Yin, 2009; Zack, 2001). Farrow (2007) had clearly claimed that none of the delay analysis methodologies is perfect because they all include an element of assumptions, subjective assessment, and theoretical projection. Ge nerally, a delay analysis method attempts to discover delay information derived from as-planned and as-built schedules, those are the bases for resolving delay disputes and claims.However, existing delay analysis methods still have the following shortcomings: (1) concurrent delays cannot be recognized or calculated by some of existing methods; (2) the critical path method cannot be executed in analysis and critical path changes cannot be considered; (3) the relative cost of float consumption is not considered; (4) analysis is not contemporaneous with delay timing; and (5) most methods focus only on the delayed activities, and ignoring the effects of time-shortened activities on total project duration (Arditi and Pattanakitchamroon, 263-7863/$ – see front matter  © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. ijproman. 2011. 06. 003 386 J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 2006; Bordoli and Baldwi n, 1998; Gothand, 2003; Mbabazi et al. , 2005; Ng et al. , 2004; Yang and Yin, 2009). Furthermore, Arditi and Pattanakitchamroon (2006), in discussing how to select a delay analysis method, concluded that selecting a feasible analysis method depends on a variety of factors, including information availability, time of analysis, methodology apabilities, time, funds and effort allocated for analysis. Based on a empirical study in UK, six group factors (project characteristics, contractual requirements, characteristics of baseline program, cost proportionality, timing of the analysis and record availability) influencing the selection of delay analysis methodologies were identified (Braimah and Ndekugri, 2008). In summary, although some advanced delay analysis methods have been developed, including a few commercial systems, existing delay analysis methods cannot satisfy the practical requirements of delay analysis.That is, practitioners still require an alternative method for complex cas es. Windows-based delay analysis methods perform delay analysis according to some extracted time frames, called windows. Traditional windows-based method, the windows analysis method, has been recognized as the most creditable delay analysis method (Gothand, 2003; Kim et al. , 2005). US courts have generally accepted some types of windows-based method, as they can calculate the impact of various delays, namely, the non-excusable delays (NE delays) and excusable delays (ED delays).Based on the viewpoint of a contractor, excusable delays are further divided into excusable compensable delays (EC delays) and excusable non-compensable delays (EN delays) (Zack, 2000; Mohan and Al-Gahtani, 2006). For above delay types, analysis results generated by windows-based methods provide a clear liability allocation to contract parties. This information is valuable for dispute resolution. For a complex construction project, three types of delays (NE, EC and EN delays), might exist simultaneously.Whi le the information for identifying all types of delays is available, the allocation of total project delay to above delay types provides more clear delay liability identification. Furthermore, for a contractor, to allocate all delays into these delay types improves its ability to get possible delayed-related expenditure back although the situations for compensable/non-compensable depend primarily on the terms of the contract (Trauner et al. , 2009). It is beneficial to a contractor to distinguish compensable and non-compensable delays. Namely, a perfect delay analysis method is targeted to identify these delay types accurately.To provide an alternative delay analysis method for resolving concurrent delays and liability distribution problems and for overcoming the time-consuming drawback of analyzing delays in a day-by-day manner, this study proposes a novel windows-based delay analysis method, called the effect-based delay analysis method (EDAM), which is a systematic analysis metho d that considers the impact of delays on the critical path(s) of a project. 2. Available windows-based delay analysis methods Several windows-based delay analysis methods have been developed in the past two decades.All windows-based delay analysis methods can be divided into two categories: (1) performing delay analysis starting backward from an as-built schedule and (2) performing delay analysis starting forward from an as-planned schedule. The popular methods in the category of starting forward from an as-planned schedule include the windows analysis method (called traditional windows analysis (TWA) hereinafter), the modified windows analysis (MWA) method, the delay analysis method using delay section (DAMUDS) method and the daily windows delay analysis (DWDA) method.The TWA method performs delay analysis using extracted schedule windows, rather than by analyzing delay events in a one-by-one manner forward from the as-planned schedule or backward from the as-built schedule. The MW A method improves analytical processes by the TWA method and uses algorithms to calculate delay liability. The DAMUDS method tries to overcome two limitations in existing methods, namely inadequate accounting of concurrent delays and inadequate accounting of time-shortened activities.The DWDA method calculates clear delay liabilities to the contractor and owner based on day-by-day delay analysis of critical path(s) along the project duration. Kao and Yang (2009) compared the above four windowsbased delay analysis methods using an illustrative case. They determined that the four methods are dynamic delay analysis methods that perform real-time critical path analysis. The TWA and MWA methods are less reliable than the DAMUDS and DWDA methods, since they may lose essential information when the analysis period is long and may be unable to detect critical path changes.The DWDA method analyzes delay information in a day-by-day manner that is the same as as-built situations, but requires c onsiderable effort during analysis. The DAMUDS method is more efficient than the DWDA method even though both yield the same analysis results. Detailed compared information can be found elsewhere (Kao and Yang, 2009). Other windows-based methods belonging to the category of starting backward from an as-built schedule, such as the isolated collapsed but-for delay analysis method (Yang and Yin, 2009), have been developed for facilitating delay analysis problems by similar approaches.However, these methods perform delay analysis moving backward from an as-built schedule, not forward from an as-planned schedule. The approaches of using as-planned schedule or as-built schedule may derive different final analytical results. This study does not compare the results by the methods belonging to the category of starting backward from an as-built schedule to those by the developed EDAM method. 3. Problems in windows-based delay analysis methods 3. 1. Unable to identify critical path changes In general, whether an activity is on a critical path is an important signal when identifying its delay impact on total project duration.During the construction phase of a construction project, many situations e. g. , change order, activity appending or deleting by different site conditions, and critical path changes, affect the outcome of delay analysis. In J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 387 considering delay information only for those activities on the critical path(s) in the as-planned schedule, existing windowsbased delay analysis methods may ignore essential delay information from activities during critical path changes. 3. 2.Incapable of dealing with complicated delay situations An ideal delay analysis method should calculate delay information quickly, accurately and stably. Some windowsbased delay analysis methods perform delay analysis based on arbitrarily extracted windows, while others deal with limited delay sit uations. As construction projects become increasingly complex, proper delay analysis methods should deal with complicated delay situations (i. e. , concurrent delays, project acceleration and compression). Approaches for window extraction by the some mentioned windows-based delay analysis methods cannot effectively deal with complex delay situations. . 3. Inefficient delay analysis Windows-based delay analysis methods perform analysis using extracted windows. The times of delay analysis for different methods vary. The rule by the TWA and MWA methods is to select timing subjectively. Conversely, the DAMUDS and DWDA methods select analysis windows objectively. For a complicated delay case, the TWA and MWA methods might obtain wrong results when using inadequate windows; thus the DAMUDS and DWDA methods may waste considerable calculation effort due to numerous windows in a complex project with long duration.How to intelligently select analysis windows for available windowsbased delay a nalysis methods puzzles a delay analyst. 3. 4. Unclear liability allocation Available windows-based delay analysis methods can identify concurrent delays, but cannot clearly allocate delay liability. For example, the DAMUDS method uses the concept of contractor's float to represent the effects of a contractor on schedule management. Although the DAMUDS method can identify concurrent delays based on a contractor's perspective, it does not provide a clear liability allocation approach. 4.Methodology development 4. 1. Innovative concept To provide an alternative method for dealing with problems in existing windows-based delay analysis methods, this study proposes a novel windows-based delay analysis method, the EDAM method, which is a systematic analysis method based on existing windows-based delay analysis methods. The EDAM method performs delay analysis using extracted windows and determines delay impacts by considering the effects of delays on the critical path. Although the analyti cal processes of the EDAM method are similar to those in other method, the EDAM ethod solves the problems mentioned previously. The EDAM method consists of analytical procedures with baseline schedule development and algorithms for liability identification and calculation. 4. 2. Analytical procedures Fig. 1 shows the analytical processes in the EDAM method. The EDAM method uses an as-planned schedule as a basis for delay analysis, and requires clearly identified delay attributes (delay start, finish and liability) for delay liability calculation. Before delay impact calculation, the EDAM method applies the critical path method to determine a comparison baseline.Based on this comparison baseline, the EDAM method performs schedule analysis by considering two situations: with and without a delay in an analyzed period. If no delay occurred in an analyzed period, the EDAM method considers whether the performance of project acceleration exists. If a delay is identified in an analyzed peri od, a day-by-day delay analysis is executed to calculate the impact of a delay when the delay is on a critical path. In delay impact calculation, the concurrent delay is detected and its liability is then assigned to contract parties.Similar to the other windows-based methods, the EDAM method performs delay analysis using two viewpoints, namely, those of owner and contractor. Therefore, the EDAM method allocates delay liability for each contract party and collects the performance of project acceleration by the contractor for each analyzed period. The EDAM method performs schedule analysis until all analysis periods are complete. 4. 3. Baseline schedule development approach A baseline for delay impact calculation is determined using the following four approaches which determine the duration, start date, and finish date for each activity. Completed activity. The start and finish dates for completed activities are assigned based on actual start and finish dates in which delay informati on is embedded. †¢ Started-without-delay activity. For un-delayed started activities, start dates are assigned based on actual start dates; finish dates are determined based on actual start dates plus consumed activity duration with remaining duration (asplanned duration minus consumed duration). †¢ Started-with-delay activity.For those delayed but started activities, start dates are assigned based on actual start dates; finish dates are determined using actual start dates plus the consumed activity duration, delayed duration and remaining duration. †¢ Un-started activity. For activities not yet started, their start and finish dates are determined by their predecessors by considering predetermined logic relationships with the asplanned duration. 4. 4. Approach for determining analysis timing For solving the limitations of existing windows-based delay analysis methods in window determination depicted in 388 J. -B. Yang, C. -K.Kao / International Journal of Project Mana gement 30 (2012) 385–397 Preparing the as-planned schedule Identifying delay attributes and determining analysis periods Updating schedule-related information Performing CPM calculation Analyzing the difference between updated and baseline schedules A period with out delay A period with delay Analyzing delay impact day-by-day Identifying the number of critical activity No shortening performance NO Project schedule shortening? YES Calculating the performance of schedule shortening NO Concurrent delay? YES Allocating liability of concurrent delay NO NO Delay on CP?YES Two or more delays? YES Cumulating schedule variance Identified delay impact Identified schedule shortening performance Calculating delay liability Final period? YES Summarizing analysis results NO Fig. 1. Delay analysis processes for EDAM. Section 3. 3, the proposed method has an approach to determine the timing for delay analysis. This approach considers the following two situations when determining analysis tim ing. †¢ No delay occurred. In this situation, the time frame without a delay event is designated as a single analysis period. Therefore, all activities have actual durations that are the ame as planned durations. Moreover, if an activity's duration is shorter than the planned duration, the performance of project acceleration is considered. †¢ Delay occurred. To accurately calculate delay effects on a construction project, the minimum time frame, i. e. , a day or a week depending on the contract, should be considered. J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 389 4. 5. Algorithms for liability identification and calculation The EDAM method calculates projected project total duration (Duribase) using Eq. 1) among each analysis period, in which Duriact1 is the actual consumed duration of the previous ? analysis period; Duriremained is the remaining duration for all unfinished activities considering logic relationships in th e asplanned schedule. Moreover, the EDAM method uses Eqs. (2) and (3) to determine the impacted project duration while considering the liabilities for the owner (Duriown ) and contractor (Duricon). In those two equations, anticipated total project duration (Duribase) is calculated by Eq. (1); DuriNE, DuriENand DuriEC represent the impact from an NE delay, an EN delay and an EC delay, respectively.Based on calculation results by Eqs. (2) and (3), the extended duration considering the liabilities of the owner and contractor are determined. Therefore, in each delay analysis period, delay liability for the owner (Dutyiown ) and contractor (Dutyicon) is calculated using an apportioned duration minus the original anticipated project completion duration, as in Eqs. (4) and (5). After determining the delay liability in each analysis period, the EDAM method summarizes project delay liability for each contract party (Duty ownfor the owner and Duty con for the contractor) from all analyzed per iods using Eqs. 6) and (7). act Duribase = Duri? 1 + Duriremained first condition is that only one delay event occurred in a time frame; the second condition is two or more delay events occurred concurrently. In the first condition, an activity with zero or negative remaining total float is responsible for the project delay; otherwise, the analyzed activity only consumes its usable float. In the second condition, if multiple delays occurred in an analyzed time frame, a further consideration for allocating delay liability is required. Thus, the EDAM method uses Eqs. 9) and (10) to allocate liability for a concurrent delay. The approach of allocating delay liability uses the ratio of a concurrent delay's delay value to the total delay values on the critical path. Although the calculation results may be some whole days with a decimal, considering the right ratio of delay liability on the critical path, the proposed method does not round up the analytical results. PSTjcon = Durjplanned ? Durjact ? TFjremained 0 CDown = ? i=1 n ?8? 1 DuriCP ? j=1 m A n B A CDEN + CDEC = ? BDuriEN ? i i @ i=1 DurjCP C C A ?9? ?1? ?2? ?3? ?4? ?5? 0 n B + ? BDuriEC ? i=1 1 DuriCP C C m A ? DurjCP j=1 A A Duriown = Duribase + DuriEN + DuriEC Duricon = Duribase + DuriNE Dutyown i Duriown ? Duribase 0 n n B CDcon = ? CDNE = ? BDuriNE ? i @ i=1 i=1 m 1 DuriCP C C: A ? DurjCP ? 10? = j=1 Dutycon = Duricon ? Duribase i n Dutyown = ? Dutyown i i=1 ?6? Dutycon = ? Dutycon i i=1 n ?7? For the apportionment of concurrent delay liability, several studies (Kraiem and Diekmann, 1987; Arditi and Robinson, 1995) have proposed varied rules. Ibbs et al. (2010) proposed that a recent trend in concurrent delays is to advocate an equitable apportionment (i. e. eaning apportionment of days and/or dollars). This fair apportionment has been described as â€Å"fail rule† or â€Å"comparative negligence† (Ibbs et al. , 2010). The proposed method for apportionment of concurrent delays supports th e fail apportionment. 5. Hypothetical Case Study Hypothetical case studies have been widely used for similar studies in literature (i. e. , Hegazy and Zhang, 2005; de la Garza et al. , 2007; Sakka and El-Sayegh, 2007; Nguyen and Ibbs, 2008; Ibbs et al. , 2010), therefore, this study uses hypothetical projects to demonstrate the capabilities of proposed EDAM method.Furthermore, for comparing the results by other windows-based methods and the proposed method, a hypothetical case used in literature is examined in this study. In addition to considering the impacts of delay events, the EDAM method uses Eq. (8) to determine the performance of project acceleration by a contractor in an analyzed period when no delay exists and the value calculated by Eq. (5) is negative. In Eq. (8), TFjremained is the remaining total float for the analyzed activity. As projects are typically managed by a contractor not an owner, the EDAM method does not calculate the project acceleration performance from an owner.To determine the effect of delay event(s) on total project duration, two conditions must be considered independently. The 390 J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 Table 1 Information of as-planned and as-built schedules for test case. Act. As-planned information Duration (day) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7 5 7 9 6 4 3 9 5 3 Predecessor Start day 1 1 8 6 6 15 15 12 19 21 Finish day 7 5 14 14 11 18 17 20 23 23 As-built information Duration (day) 11 10 12 9 15 6 5 11 12 5 Actual start day 1 1 12 11 11 24 20 26 30 37 Actual finish day 11 10 23 19 25 29 24 36 41 41 5. 1.Case description This study applies the EDAM method and four other windows-based methods to a modified test case (Fig. 2), originally developed by Kraiem and Diekmann (1987) and examined by Alkass et al. (1996) and Kao and Yang (2009). This test case has ten activities and an original total duration of 23 days. Based on critical path calculation, the test case has two critical paths, namely the paths of activities 1 > 3 > 6 > 9 and 2 > 5 > 8 > 10. The project was finally completed in 41 days, with 18 days of delays. Table 1 shows the planned and actual activity information for duration, start date, finish date and logical relationships.Table 2 shows delay events, classified as NE, EN and EC delays affecting all activities. To explain the effects of all delay events on each activity, the as-planned and as-built schedules are organized as Fig. 3 and adopted for delay analysis. 5. 2. Summary analytical procedures According to the processes shown in Fig. 1, this study performed delay analysis for the test case. For each delay analysis scenario in Fig. 4, Eqs. (1) to (3) are used to determine anticipated project duration, the impacted duration considering one delay caused by the owner or contractor, respectively.Consequently, the EDAM method employs Eqs. (4) and (5) to calculate the delay liability allocated to the owner or contractor, respectivel y. While all 34 delay periods were complete, Eqs. (6) and (7) are used to summarize all delay liability allocated to the owner or contractor, respectively. 5. 3. Final results Based on the test case consisting of original as-planned and as-built schedules, delay events and related responsibilities, delay analysis was performed using the EDAM method and four other windows-based methods, i. e. the TWA/MWA, DAMDUS and DWDA methods.Table 3 lists identification results for different delays, and the timings of the critical path changes. Table 4 summarizes analysis results. Compared to actual delay information (Tables 3 and 4), the DAMUDS, DWDA and EDAM methods accurately calculated the values for the NE, EN, EC and concurrent delays. The TWA and MWA methods do not calculate the concurrent delay, and calculate the NE delay incorrectly. The information for NE, EN and EC shown in 0 0 0 0 0 Start 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 5 2 0 7 7 5 5 7 7 5 11 5 5 7 3 0 9 4 6 6 5 0 14 14 14 20 11 11 – – 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 8Tables 2, 3 and 4 confirms that the proposed method can accurately identify those delay information that DAMUDS, DWDA and EDAM methods do. In addition to its calculation accuracy, the EDAM method identifies right critical path changes and has adequate analysis scenarios to perform delay analysis efficiently. That is, the EDAM method yields an accurate calculation result with economic analysis times. 6. Discussion 6. 1. Efficiency for delay analysis To compare the efficiency of the EDAM method to that of the other four windows-based methods, all studied methods use the same test case. Fig. shows the analysis periods used by all methods. The TWA and MWA methods employed the start and finish dates of key delay events as the timing for extracting analysis periods; the DAMUDS method determined the timings of delay sections from the start, change and finish dates of any delay event, while the DWDA method analyzed delays on a day-by-day basis. Detailed parameters for the fou r methods can be found elsewhere (Kao and Yang, 2009). Notably, the current state of the art in delay analysis through discussed methods is performing delay analyses by the schedule analysts manually, because only a few of methods are computerized.Therefore, this study concerns the efficiency of studied methods by the number of analysis times (analysis runs), rather than the computing times (total duration). 14 14 14 20 11 11 4 6 0 3 7 6 9 8 0 18 18 17 23 20 20 20 20 3 10 0 23 23 18 18 5 9 0 23 23 23 23 ES LS 0 End 0 Duration Activity TF 23 23 EF LF Legend Fig. 2. Precedence diagram for test case. J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 Table 2 Delay information for test case. Act.NE delay Duration (day) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sum 3 1 3 – 1 – 1 – 3 – 12 Start day 1 3 12 – 13 – 22 – 32 – – Finish day 3 3 14 – 13 – 22 – 34 – – EN delay Duration (day) 1 3 – – 5 – – 1 2 2 14 Start day 7 4 – – 19 – – 30 35 37 – Finish day 7 6 – – 23 – – 30 36 38 – EC delay Duration (day) – 1 2 – 3 2 1 1 2 – 12 Start day – 7 15 – 14 24 23 33 39 – – Finish day – 7 16 – 16 25 23 33 40 – – 391 Total delay 4 5 5 – 9 2 2 2 7 2 38 Based on the analysis periods shown in Fig. 4 and Table 4, the number of analysis times for the TWA/MWA, DAMUDS, DWDA and EDAM methods are 17, 20, 41 and 34, respectively.Notably, one analysis time means to perform one analysis scenario. The DWDA and EDAM methods have the same accuracy level; however, the EDAM method is more efficient than the DWDA method. In the test case, the EDAM method saves 17% in the number of analysis times than the DWDA method. For complicated construction projects the number of activity and the complexity of d elay events are increased, the numbers of analysis times by those methods are increased consequently; therefore, the EDAM method is a more efficient calculation approach than four other windows-based methods. 6. 2.Ability to identify critical path changes Delay claim in the construction industry usually considers delays on the critical path(s); therefore, identifying critical path changes is essential for allocating delay liability. The as-built schedule in Fig. 3 shows real situations of critical path changes while delays appear on the critical paths. Table 3 shows the real timing of critical path changes and the analysis results from different delay analysis methods. In summary, eight critical path changes occurred in the test case. The DWDA and EDAM methods correctly reflected the real situations.Furthermore, the EDAM method calculated the delay impacts on total project duration by only considering the delay on the critical path correctly. Detailed information concerning liabilit y allocation is discussed in Section 6. 4. 6. 3. Ability to deal with concurrent delays and project acceleration To identify the appearances of a concurrent delay and project acceleration, the EDAM method uses a minimum cycle time, one day, as its analysis period. For example, one concurrent delay (one day) appears on day 14 in the test case. The EDAM method accurately identifies this concurrent delay shown in Table 3.If the analysis period exceeds the duration of the concurrent delay, the concurrent delay would not be detected. Notably, in an as-built schedule, the situations of project delay and project acceleration do not occur concurrently. Project acceleration means shortening the duration of activity on original critical path(s), by which a project is completed earlier than planned completion date. While the duration of critical-path activities is shortened, two situations occur. One is the shortened activity is still on critical path; the other is the activity is changed from a critical activity into a no-critical activity.The former one does not cause different analysis result. The latter one might result in different results and is discussed in this study. In Fig. 5, the test case with five activities has one critical path, namely the path of activities 2 > 4 > 5. Finally, this case was completed in 14 days with three days acceleration. In the as-built schedule (the bottom part in Fig. 5), it is clear that, activity 2 shortened one day and activity 4 shortened three days. Fig. 5 shows the complete analyses, in which five analytical scenarios were performed. Notably, according to the algorithm shown in Eq. 8), the performance of project acceleration is caused by activity 2 with 1 day (5-4-0) and activity 4 with 2 days (9-6-1), which are calculated during analytical scenario 1 (day 1–4) and 3 (day 8–10), respectively. 6. 4. Liability allocation approach The EDAM method has an approach that allocates delay liability based on the ratio of an analyzed concurrent delay event to the total delay values on the critical path. As the information shown in Table 4, the DAMUDS and DWDA methods can identify concurrent delays, but cannot clearly allocate delay liability.Those two methods provide the same concurrent delay value of 1 day, that is, the analysis period. In the test case, one concurrent delay appears on day 14, in which activity 3 encounters an NE delay while activity 5 has an EC delay. According the allocation approach (described by Eqs. (9) and (10)), the duration of activities 3 and 5 should be calculated. Notably, the duration of an activity on the critical path just considers the conditions up to the analysis period. Therefore, 392 NO. Duration 1 7 3 7 6 4 9 5 2 5 4 9 5 6 7 3 8 9 10 3 Path 1( 1 3 6 9) Path 2( 2 4 7) Path 3( 2 5 8 10) Critical Path NO. 1 3 6 9 2 4 5 7 8 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 As-planned shedule 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 J. -B. Yan g, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 CP 1 CP 2 Act. Dur. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 NE NE NE EN 12 6 12 10 NE EN EN EN EC 9 15 5 11 5 Note delay project completion Path 1( 1 3 6 9) Path 2( 2 4 7) Path 3( 2 5 8 10) 9 As-built schedule 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 concurrent delay NE NE NE EC EC EC EC NE NE NE EN EN EC EC NE EC EC EC EN EN EN EN EN NE EC EN EC EN ENFig. 3. As-planned and as-built schedule with delay liability. J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 EDAM Analysis TWA/MWA Period DAMUDS DWDA NO. Duration 1 11 3 12 6 6 9 12 2 10 4 9 5 15 7 5 8 11 10 5 Path 1( 1 3 6 9) Path 2( 2 4 7) Path 3( 2 5 8 10) 1 2 1 3 4 1 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 NE NE NE 5 2 3 5 5 6 7 3 4 6 7 8 6 7 8 EN 22 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 7 8 9 10 11 12 6 13 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 9 30 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NE NE NE EC EC EC EC 4 5 24 12 14 31 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 20 15 16 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 NE NE NE EN EN NE EN EN EN EC NE EC EC EC EN EN EN EN EN NE EC EN EC EN EN EC EC Fig. 4. Analysis period partition by EDAM and other methods. 393 394 J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 Table 3 Analysis results by EDAM and other windows-based methods.Type NE delay S/N 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Timing in day 1 2 3 12 13 4 6 19 20 21 22 23 30 37 38 7 15 16 33 14 1 2 3 5 6 12 14 19 21 23 36 37 38 40 Actually occurred Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y N Y Total 4 EDAM Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y N Y TWA/MWA Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N N Y N Y N Y N N Y Y N Y Y DAMUDS Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y N N Y N Y N Y Y DWDA Y Y Y N Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Y N N Y Y N YEN delay 9 EC delay 4 Concurrent delay Critical path change 1 8 activity 3 takes 3 days on the critical path while activity 5 takes 4 days on the critical path. The values of delay liabilities for activity 3 (NE delay, attributed to the contractor) and activity 5 3 (EC delay, attributed to the owner) are 0. 43 (1 ? 3 + 4 = 0:43) 4 and 0. 57 (1 ? 3 + 4 = 0:43), respectively. Notably, the analytical result is a decimal fraction day because only one-day concurrent delay exists in the test case.In the situation where the NE delay to activity 3 and the EC delay to activity 5 on day 14 were extended to ten days, respectively. Namely, the duration for the concurrent delay is from 1 day changed to 10 days due to the NE delay to activity 3 and the EC delay to activity 5 has been extended to 12 days, respectively. Based on the proposed approach, the values of delay liabilities for activity 3 (NE delay) and activity 5 (EC delay) are 4. 8 (10 ? 2 12 13 = 4:8) and 5. 2 (10 ? 12 13 13 = 5:2), respectively. + + In practice, schedule delays or time extension claims usually result in cost reimbursement or liquidated damage calculations, the analytical results can service as an accurate tool in such calculations. The analytical results based on the proposed transparent calculation approach will provide a better alternative than conventional method that usually employs a half-and-half approach. 6. 5.Comparison to other windows-based delay analysis methods Based on above discussions and the information shown in Table 4, this study summarizes the differences between the proposed method and the discussed windows-based delay analysis methods, organized as follows. Table 4 Analysis results by EDAM and other windows-based methods. Attributes NE delay (in day) EN delay (in day) EC delay (in day) Concurrent delay (in day) Critical path change (in times) Analysis period (in times) Actual EDAM 4 9 4 1 8 TWA/ DAMUDS DWDA MWA 4 9 4 1 7 20 4 9 4 1 8 41 4 5 9 9 4 4 1 (0. 3 for NE; 0 0. 57 for EC) 8 7 34 17 J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 As-Planned schedule Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 3 7 1 2 5 0 4 7 0 5 3 0 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) Analysis Period: day 1- 4 Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 2 3 7 2 2 4 0 4 9 0 5 3 0 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) Analysis Period: day 5-7 Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 2 3 7 2 2 4 4 9 0 5 3 0 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) Analysis Period: day 8-10 Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 3 7 0 2 4 4 6 1 5 3 1 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) Analysis Period: day 1-13 Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 3 7 0 2 4 4 6 5 3 1 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) Analysis Period: day 14 Act. No. Duration TF 1 7 3 7 0 2 4 4 6 5 3 Path 1( 1 3) Path 2( 2 4 5) 395 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Critical path NW1 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 One day is shortened f or project duration One day is shortened for Activity 2 7 8 9 Critical path 1 2 3 4 5 NW2 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 One day is shortened for project duration One day is shortened for Activity 2Critical path 1 2 3 4 5 6 NW3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Three days are shortened for project duration One day is shortened for Activity 2 7 8 Three days are shortened for Activity 4 Critical path NW4 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Three days are shortened for project duration Three days are shortened for Activity 4 Critical path NW5 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Three days are shortened for project duration One day is shortened for Activity 2 7 8 9 Three days are shortened for Activity 4 Critical path 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 One day is shortened for Activity 2 2 3 4 5 6 Fig. 5. Project acceleration detected by EDAM. †¢ Comparing to the TWA/MWA method, the EDAM method can deal with the EC, EN, NE and concurrent delays more accurate. †¢ Co mparing to the TWA/MWA and DAMUSD methods, the EDAM method can perform delay analysis considering critical path changes more correct. †¢ Comparing to the DWDA method, the EDAM method can perform delay analysis more efficient. †¢ Comparing to the TWA/MWA, DAMUSD and DWDA methods, the EDAM method can allocate delay liability more accurate, and provide a function of detecting project acceleration. 396 J. -B.Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 6. 6. Advantages and limitations This study proposes a novel delay analysis method for resolving the problems associated with existing windows-based delay analysis methods. The EDAM method has the following advantages compared to existing windows-based delay analysis methods. †¢ It has a systematic window extraction method for performing delay analysis stably and efficiently. †¢ It adopts a process-based analysis approach to identify critical path changes, concurrent delays an d project acceleration. It develops a clear liability distribution approach for apportioning concurrent delays. Although the EDAM method has been tested using hypothetical cases, some limitations exist in applying to solve schedule delay problems in construction projects. The limitations are organized as follows. †¢ The classification of EC, EN, NE and concurrent delays must be identified before employing the developed EDAM method. †¢ The EDAM method does not discuss float ownership. That is, the one uses the float first who owns the ownership. †¢ Construction projects usually encounter complex delay situations.This study just examines the capabilities of the EDAM method using two hypothetical cases that simulate the identified problems. Therefore, the EDAM method might be unable to resolve the complex delay situations that are not identified in this study. 7. Conclusions While schedule delays occur frequently during construction projects, identifying the liability of contract parties accurately has received considerable attention. Although many methods have been developed for analyzing and measuring construction schedule delays, no one method is acceptable for all project participants and suitable for all delay situations.An ideal delay analysis method must calculate delay information stably, accurately and efficiently. Some existing windows-based delay analysis methods perform delay analysis based on an arbitrary window extraction; some deal with limited delay situations. This study presents the EDAM method, a novel delay analysis method that has a systematic window extraction method for performing delay analysis stably, and adopts a process-based analysis approach to resolve concurrent delays and liability distribution problems accurately. Additionally, the EDAM method performs delay analysis efficiently in a test case.The EDAM method is a good alternative for resolving analysis problems associated with schedule delays in construction project s. The construction industry requires continual improvements to delay analysis methodology due to industry complexity. Based on research results, this study provides following suggestions for further study. †¢ Evaluating the performance of the existing windows-based methods (including the EDAM method) for diverse and real cases can improve the acceptance of all windows-based methods in the construction industry.However, illustrative cases, covering all delay situations or real delay cases are hard to retrieve because the cases in the court have limited and simplified information, and information from the arbitration cases is not disclosed. How to develop a protocol for collecting such cases is essential for further development and evaluation. †¢ Most available delay analysis methods are not implemented in popular project management systems (such as Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera P6) or supported by those systems, thus posing a barrier to apply these methods for sol ving real delay problems.Although capable of providing a basic function for delay analysis, a few systems only perform simple schedule comparisons. For example, the Claim Digger function embedded in Oracle Primavera P6 can be used monthly to compare different schedule variances in start date, finish date and activity duration. According to the systematic approach provided by this research, developing easy-to-use systems embedded in, based on or supported by available commercial project management systems will enhance the application of delay analysis methods. The methods for delay analysis can be divided into four categories: forecasting, real-time, after-delay-occurred and after-project-completion (Arditi and Pattanakitchamroon, 2006). Most of methods belong to the after-projectcompletion category; by those methods some essential documents and evidences may be lost. Developing a method that belongs to forecasting or real-time category can resolve this problem. Furthermore, systems dynamics approach has been recognized and proven to be helpful for dispute resolution (Weil and Rayford, 1990; Cooper and Lee, 2009).It would be another good alternative method for schedule delay analysis for construction projects. †¢ The proposed method for allocating delay liability provides a better alternative with transparent calculation approach than conventional method that usually employs a half-and-half approach. However, if construction contracts have a clear delay liability allocation clause that employ the proposed method or conventional half-and-half approach, the dispute for delay liability allocation will be diminished.How to draft a suitable clause that provides a clear delay liability allocation approach and fair rights and obligations in a contract can be studied carefully. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the National Science Council, Taiwan, ROC, for financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC96-2221-E-216-027-MY2. The authors are also thankful to the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments. J. -B. Yang, C. -K. Kao / International Journal of Project Management 30 (2012) 385–397 397 References Alkass, S. , Mazerolle, M. , Harris, F. , 1996. Construction delay analysis techniques.Construction Management and Economics. 14 (5), 375–394. Arditi, D. , Pattanakitchamroon, T. , 2006. Selecting a delay analysis method in resolving construction claims. International Journal of Project Management. 24 (2), 145–155. Arditi, D. , Robinson, M. A. , 1995. Concurrent delays in construction litigation. Cost Engineering 37 (7), 20–31. Bordoli, D. W. , Baldwin, A. N. , 1998. A methodology for assessing construction project delays. Construction Management and Economics. 16 (3), 327–337. Braimah, N. , Ndekugri, I. , 2008. Factors influencing the selection of delay analysis methodologies. International Journal of Project Management. 6 (8), 789–799. Cooper, K. , Lee, G. , 2009. Managing the dynamics of projects and changes at Fluor. Proceedings of the 27th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Access: http://www. systemdynamics. org/ newsletters/2009-10oct/application%20award%20paper. pd. de la Garza, J. M. , Prateapusanond, A. , Ambani, N. , 2007. Preallocation of total float in the application of a critical path method based construction contract. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 133 (11), 836–845. Farrow, T. , 2007. Developments in the analysis of extensions of time.Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. 133 (3), 218–228. Gothand, K. D. , 2003. Schedule delay analysis: modified windows approach. Cost Engineering. 45 (9), 18–22. Hegazy, T. M. , Zhang, K. , 2005. Daily windows delay analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 131 (5), 505–512. Ibbs, W. , Nguyen, L. D. , Simonian, L. , 2010. Concurrent Delays and Apportionment of Damages. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 137 (2), 119–126. Kao, C. K. , Yang, J. B. , 2009. Comparison of windows-based delay analysis methods. International Journal of Project Management. 27 (4), 408–418. Kim, Y. Kim, K. , Shin, D. , 2005. Delay analysis method using delay section. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 131 (11), 1155–1164. Kraiem, Z. , Diekmann, J. , 1987. Concurrent delays in construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 113 (4), 591–602. Mbabazi, A. , Hegazy, T. , Saccomanno, F. , 2005. Modified but-for method for delay analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 131 (10), 1142–1144. Mohan, S. B. , Al-Gahtani, K. S. , 2006. Current delay analysis techniques and improvements. Cost Engineering 48 (9), 12–21. Ng, S. T. , Skitmore, M. , Deng, M. Z. M. , Nadeem, A. , 2004.Improving existing delay analysis techniques for the estab lishment of delay liabilities. Construction Innovation 4 (1), 3–17. Nguyen, L. D. , Ibbs, W. , 2008. FLORA: New forensic schedule analysis technique. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 134 (7), 483–491. Sakka, Z. I. , El-Sayegh, S. M. , 2007. Float consumption impact on cost and schedule in the construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 133 (2), 124–130. Trauner Jr. , T. J. , Manginelli, W. A. , Lowe, J. S. , Nagata, M. F. , Furniss, B. J. , 2009. Construction delays: understanding them clearly, analyzing them correctly, Second edition.Elsevier Inc.. ISBN 978-1-85617-677-4. Weil, H. B. , Rayford, L. E. , 1990. System dynamics in dispute resolution. Proceedings of the 1990 International System Dynamics Conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 1311–1324. Access: http://www. systemdynamics. org/ conferences/1990/proceed/pdfs/weil1311. pdf. Yang, J. B. , Yin, P. C. , 2009. Isolated collapsed but-for delay analy sis methodology. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 135 (7), 570–578. Zack, J. G. , 2000. Pacing delays—the practical effect. Cost Engineering 42 (7), 23–28. Zack, J. G. , 2001. But-for schedules—analysis and defense. Cost Engineering 43 (8), 13–17.

The Seven Seas From Ancient Times to the Modern Era

The Seven Seas From Ancient Times to the Modern Era While a sea is generally defined as a large lake that contains saltwater, or a specific portion of an ocean, the idiom Sail the seven seas, is not so easily defined. Sail the seven seas is a phrase that is said to have been used by sailors, but does it actually refer to a specific set of seas? Many would argue yes, while others would disagree. There has been much debate as to whether or not this is in reference to seven actual seas and if so, which ones? Seven Seas as a Figure of Speech? Many believe that the seven seas is simply an idiom that refers to sailing many or all of the oceans of the world. The term is believed to have been popularized by Rudyard Kipling who published an anthology of poetry titled The Seven Seas in 1896. The phrase can now be found in popular songs such as, Sailing on the Seven Seas by Orchestral ​Manoevres in the Dark, Meet Me Halfway by Black Eyed Peas, Seven Seas by Mob Rules, and Sail over the Seven Seas by Gina T. Significance of the Number Seven Why seven seas? Historically, culturally, and religiously, the number seven is a very significant number. Isaac Newton identified seven colors of the rainbow, there are Seven Wonders of the ancient world, seven days of the week, seven dwarves in the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the seven-day story of creation, the seven branches on a Menorah, seven Chakras of meditation, and seven heavens in Islamic traditions just to name a few instances. The number seven appears again and again throughout history and stories, and because of this, there is much mythology surrounding its importance. The Seven Seas in Ancient and Medieval Europe This list of the seven seas is believed by many to be the original seven seas as defined by the sailors of ancient and Medieval Europe. The majority of these seven seas are located around the Mediterranean Sea, very close to home for these sailors. 1) The Mediterranean Sea - This sea is attached to the Atlantic Ocean and many early civilizations developed around it, including Egypt, Greece, and Rome and it has been called the cradle of civilization because of this. 2) The Adriatic Sea - This sea separates the Italian peninsula from the Balkan peninsula. It is part of the Mediterranean Sea. 3) The Black Sea - This sea is an inland sea between Europe and Asia. It is also connected to the Mediterranean Sea. 4) The Red Sea - This sea is a narrow strip of water extending south from Northeast Egypt and it connects to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It is connected today to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and is one of the most heavily-traveled waterways in the world. 5) The Arabian Sea - This sea is the Northwestern part of the Indian Ocean between India and the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia). Historically, it was a very important trade route between India and the West and remains such today. 6) The Persian Gulf - This sea is a part of the Indian Ocean, located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. There has been dispute as to what its actual name is so it is also sometimes known as the Arabian Gulf, The Gulf, or The Gulf of Iran, but none of those names are recognized internationally. 7) The Caspian Sea - This sea is located on the Western edge of Asia and the Eastern edge of Europe. It is actually the largest lake on the planet. It is called a sea because it contains saltwater. The Seven Seas Today Today, the list of Seven Seas that is most widely accepted is inclusive of all of the bodies of water on the planet, which are all part of the one global ocean. Each is technically an ocean or section of ocean by definition, but most geographers accept this list to be the actual Seven Seas: 1) North Atlantic Ocean2) South Atlantic Ocean3) North Pacific Ocean4) South Pacific Ocean5) Arctic Ocean6) Southern Ocean7) Indian Ocean