Building information modelling in construction: insights from collaboration and change management perspectives

A case study is used to obtain the experiences from a contractor and their subcontractors involved with constructing the landmark Perth Stadium, which required a building information model (BIM) to be delivered for the purpose of asset management. Insights about ‘how’ the adoption of a BIM influenced the practice of collaboration and change management within the project are obtained. It was revealed that having limited experience and knowledge to deliver a model for asset management often resulted the project team ‘muddling through a problem’. This was not necessarily due to a shortage of training, but a lack of BIM knowledge, which inadvertently influenced every day practice. The research presented builds on the extant body of works that have examined how the construction industry can effectively acquire the benefits of BIM for asset management. It also highlights the need to incorporate education and learning into a project’s BIM implementation strategy.     

Insurance exposure and investment risks: Management and regulatory implications

By exposing itself to greater risks on invested funds the company can also increase its expected returns. Because there are risks involved with both the insurance and investment operations, a major problem for an insurance company is to determine just how the two types of risks are to be balanced. In an earlier paper the authors dealt with the relationships among growth in premiums written, insurance loss and investment return. In this paper the questions are revisited from a policyholder and regulatory point of view, and suggestions are made concerning the reaction of the firm under various postures the management may take towards risk.     

Assessment and management of hospitalized suicidal patients

Suicide in inpatient psychiatric settings is a critical problem. A comprehensive literature review was performed to determine risk factors for inpatient suicide, instruments for assessing suicide, and treatment of hospitalized suicidal patients. Findings suggested that root causes of inpatient suicide were factors related to the treatment environment, failure to assess patient behavioral characteristics, and staff reliance on no-suicide contracts. Recommendations include assessing suicide risk regularly throughout hospitalization, including on admission, during changes in a patient's mental or physical status, after a change in observation level, and before discharge. Orientation and inservice education for all staff and additional research on the psychometric properties of available suicide assessment instruments are also essential.     

Bisexuality in the male

Research into factors pertinent to incest is hampered and confused as a result of lacking clear‐cut definitions. A distinction is made here between consanguine and affinal relationships, and it is suggested that biological consequences as well as psychological problems allegedly resulting from incest could be more clearly determined, and the effectiveness of the incest taboo, its origin and psychological internalization could be studied more effectively. Instances from literature are cited to exemplify these concepts.     

FROM THE SANCTUARY TO THE SLAMMER: EXPLORING THE NARRATIVES OF EVANGELICAL PRISON MINISTRY WORKERS

Current survey research reveals that religious conservatives exhibit more punitive attitudes toward criminal offenders than their nonreligious and mainline counterparts. Despite the pervasiveness of conservative Protestant support for the punitive treatment of criminal offenders, evangelical-run prison ministry programs have proliferated in recent decades. This study uses in-depth interviews to examine the motivations of prison ministry workers. The narratives demonstrate that prison ministry workers embrace a distinctive orientation of compassion and, through sustained contact with inmates, they negotiate the tension between conservative religious values and their practical experiences working in prison ministry. From this overarching theme of compassion, three important subthemes emerged: (1) the calling of prison ministry, (2) special connections to the prison context, and (3) a sense of comfort and security with inmates. Overall, we observe how prison ministers negotiate two competing moral logics—judgment and compassion—in light of their religious convictions and experiences with inmate outreach.     

新闻框架的倾向性研究

美国媒介的自由主义神话使人们常常认为美国新闻记者是监督政府、捍卫民权的领袖,然而,这种媒介自由主义偏见却受到越来越多的质疑。美国主流媒体对儿童医疗保险计划报道的个案显示,新闻框架存在显著的倾向性。这种倾向性不仅表现为新闻偏见的简单正负二分,更彰显于谁是政策受益者、推理基础何在以及争论复杂性如何等三个不同的信息维度。美国政治文化中的个人主义,相对单纯、政治冷漠的受众,媒介对官方信息来源的依赖,以及媒介对于那些有权操纵结果的政府官员的偏向,使得新闻报道并没有像人们想象的那样站在公众一方。新闻倾向性成为新闻决策偏见和官方新闻管理技巧之间互动的产物。     

Promotional Opportunities: How Women in Corrections Perceive their Chances for Advancement at Work

Utilizing a theoretically derived sample, selected women who worked in corrections were interviewed in order to better understand what barriers women thought most impeded their success in moving up the organizational ladder. This work rests on the qualitative case study methodology. Three major themes emerged from interviews. Women believed that their chances for promotion within corrections were negatively impacted by: a belief that they could not perform the job as well as comparable men, an environment marked by sexual harassment, and problems in balancing work and home responsibilities. Male correctional officers were viewed as dominating the field. Further, there was a belief among these women, who worked in corrections, that comparable men were generally perceived as more capable.     

Optimal designs for threshold-determining limiting dilution assays

In common with other non-linear models, the optimal design for a limiting dilution assay (LDA) depends on the value of the unknown parameter, θ$\theta$, in the model. Consequently optimal designs cannot be specified unless some assumptions are made about the possible values of θ$\theta$. If a prior distribution can be specified then a Bayesian approach can be adopted. A proper specification of the Bayesian approach requires the aim of the experiment to be described and quantified through an appropriate utility function. This paper addresses the problem of finding optimal designs for LDAs when the aim is to determine whether θ$\theta$ is above or below a specified threshold, _θ0${\theta }_0$.     

Children and regeneration: setting an agenda for community participation and integration

Unlike other marginalised groups children are often not in a position to enter into dialogue with adults about their community needs and environmental concerns. Despite the current emphasis on involving communities in the regeneration of their own neighbourhoods, young people are still seemingly invisible in decision‐making processes. This paper looks at recent attempts to increase public participation in local decision‐making, proposes a typology of community action that recognises the different ways in which children may be drawn into the process of neighbourhood renewal and offers a set of recommendations that, if taken up, provide an agenda that will strengthen the active social commitment of young people in general. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.