There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

BIM implementation throughout the UK construction project lifecycle: An analysis

Introduction to the practice of statistics, (3rd edition), by David S. Moore and George P. McCabe. Pp. 825 (with appendices and CD-ROM). £27.95. 1999. ISBN 0 7167 3502 4 (W. H. Freeman).

As a unit within Purdue University, the College of Pharmacy “is committed to maintaining a community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential. In pursuit of its goal of academic excellence, the University seeks to develop and nurture diversity. The University believes that diversity among its many members strengthens the institution, stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches campus life.”1

多様性--The Diversity

Developing a risk assessment model for PPP projects in China — A fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been applied widely in the global construction market. During the life cycle of PPP projects, their performance could be affected by a number of factors and their interactions, which might cause the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the projects. Previous researches on PPPs mainly concentrated on the procurement, success measurement and risk management of PPPs, but paid little attention to the process factors that can strongly influence the performance of PPPs. In order to improve process and performance management in PPPs, the performance objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) are identified to improve the partnership outcomes. Based on the goal‐setting theory, 15 performance objectives are selected. The relative significance and difference of performance objectives for different stakeholders are presented based on a structured questionnaire survey. The survey results show that all identified objectives are important. In spite of stakeholders' common op...

Selection of performance objectives and key performance indicators in public–private partnership projects to achieve value for money

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasing in popularity. Major challenges in the development of PPPs have resulted from the global financial crisis. However, with respect to their monetary value, PPPs are still an attractive option for public sector projects. Performance management and measurement, in which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the core elements, viewed as effective methods to help PPPs deliver value for money. This article describes in greater detail a KPI conceptual model composed of 5 performance packages and 48 indicators developed by the authors in previous studies. A structured questionnaire survey explored PPP stakeholders perceptions of 48 project performance indicators (PIs) to identify actual KPIs for performance management and measurement in PPPs. Although the survey results show that all PIs are important, performance packages contribute differently to the overall project performance. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test whether the proposed co...

Developing Key Performance Indicators for Public-Private Partnership Projects: Questionnaire Survey and Analysis

Over the years, public-private partnership (PPP) has been acknowledged by many as an innovative approach to the procurement of public projects. The desire for more efficient and effective PPP projects renders the performance management to be increasingly important, in which the influence of the stakeholders must be considered. To implement complete and effective performance management in PPP projects, 15 performance objective attributes are proposed based on the perspectives of different stakeholders. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the relative significance of each attribute in four stakeholder groups. According to the survey results, the objective attributes are all important. Integrating all stakeholders’ benefits and selecting the appropriate qualitative level of performance objective in the process of decision making are two particularly important problems because of stakeholders’ different preferences. To resolve these problems, a fuzzy entropy method and a fuzzy TOPSI...

Performance Objectives Selection Model in Public-Private Partnership Projects Based on the Perspective of Stakeholders

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have been applied for twenty years in China. Many problems of PPP projects in China are related to unsuccessful risk management. This paper addresses the process of risk identification for the PPP projects in China, which is the first stage of the risk management process and is important for the project objectives to be achieved. The aim of this paper is to identify the critical risks during the process of PPP projects in China. The method of work breakdown structure - risk breakdown structure is used to identify the detailed and thorough risks in PPPs. In order to obtain the critical risks, a structure questionnaire survey was conducted during the moths of March 2007 and August 2007 in China, which find 20 critical risks of PPP projects in China. On the basis of the survey results, five best-value risk management objectives are established by the statistical way of factor analysis, which will be helpful to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of risk management to achieve the best value of PPP projects in China.

Critical Risks Identification of Public Private Partnerships in China and the Analysis on Questionnaire Survey

The sustainability of a metro system is important not only to itself but also to local socioeconomic development. However, very few methodologies can be found for assessing the sustainability of metro systems, especially on the basis of emergy analysis. Demonstrating many advantages in sustainability assessment, emergy analysis has been utilized in assessing the sustainability of many objects including regions, industries, products, and projects. A methodology for assessing the sustainability of metro systems on the basis of emergy analysis is thus proposed in this paper. The proposed methodology aggregates three emergy indexes, namely, emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental loading ratio (ELR), and the ratio of waste to total yield (RWY). Each of them has a specific sustainability meaning, whereas the proposed metro’s emergy sustainability index (MESI) is equal to the ratio of EYR divided by the product of ELR and RWY. Then, the first stage of Nanjing Metro’s Line one is studied as a case. It is believe...

Qi-Ming Li

Papers

Selection of performance objectives and key performance indicators in public–private partnership projects to achieve value for money

Developing Key Performance Indicators for Public-Private Partnership Projects: Questionnaire Survey and Analysis

Performance Objectives Selection Model in Public-Private Partnership Projects Based on the Perspective of Stakeholders

Critical Risks Identification of Public Private Partnerships in China and the Analysis on Questionnaire Survey

Methodology for Assessing the Sustainability of Metro Systems Based on Emergy Analysis