Construction projects located in the Gaza Strip, Palestine suffer from many problems and complex issues. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to identify the factors affecting the performance of local construction projects; and to elicit perceptions of their relative importance. A comprehensive literature review was deployed to generate a set of factors believed to affect project performance. A total of 120 questionnaires were distributed to 3 key groups of project participants; namely owners, consultants and contractors. The survey findings indicate that all 3 groups agree that the most important factors affecting project performance are: delays because of borders/roads closure leading to materials shortage; unavailability of resources; low level of project leadership skills; escalation of material prices; unavailability of highly experienced and qualified personnel; and poor quality of available equipment and raw materials. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that: 1) project ...

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Factors affecting the performance of construction projects in the Gaza Strip

Construction labor productivity has become such a buzz word and one of the most frequently researched topics. In most countries, labor cost comprises 30 to 50% of the overall project’s cost, and thus is regarded as a true reflection of the economic success of the operation. There are many challenges facing the construction industry in the state of Kuwait but one of the most important is low productivity. The objective of this research, therefore, is to identify and rank the relative importance of factors perceived to affect labor productivity on construction sites in Kuwait. To achieve this objective, a statistically representative sample of contractors was invited to participate in a structured questionnaire survey, comprising 45 productivity factors, classified under the following four primary groups: (1) management; (2) technological; (3) human/labor; and (4) external. Among the factors explored, the subsequent 10 are discerned to be the most significant in their effects on labor productivity: ...

Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity in Kuwait

Construction is a labor-intensive industry. Therefore, construction labor productivity is of critical importance to the profitability of most construction projects. Many construction industry sectors have been experiencing chronic problems such as poor management, inferior working conditions, and insufficient quality. Many researchers have identified these problems as factors that affect construction productivity and will affect a company’s performance and the overall economy of the country. This paper aims to identify, investigate, and rank factors perceived to affect construction labor productivity in the Egyptian construction context with respect to their relative importance. To achieve this objective, practitioners and experts comprising a statistically representative sample were invited to participate in a structured questionnaire survey. The questionnaire comprised 30 productivity factors that were classified under the following three primary categories: (1) human/labor, (2) industrial, and ...

Factors Influencing Construction Labor Productivity in Egypt

Productivity is key to the survival and growth of any organisation, industry or nation. Some factors constrain the achievement of the set project objectives in the New Zealand building and construction industry and are responsible for the reported steady decline of productivity and performance. This study aims to identify the key constraints to on-site labour productivity and improvement measures. Using the descriptive survey method, views of some project managers, contractors and subcontractors in New Zealand were canvassed via pilot interviews and questionnaire surveys at the qualitative and quantity data gathering stages, respectively. Multi-attribute technique was used to analyse the quantitative data. Results showed that the key external constraints to on-site labour productivity comprise, in order of decreasing impact, statutory compliance, unforeseen events and wider external dynamics. The internal constraints, which contribute 67 percent of the onsite productivity issues, comprise reworks, level of skill and experience of the workforce, adequacy of method of construction, buildability issues, and inadequate supervision and coordination. . The factors underlying each broad category of external and internal constraints are reported. The relative levels of impact of the identified constraints are expected to guide the project team in addressing the constraints in a cost-effective manner.

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On-Site Labour Productivity of New Zealand Construction Industry: Key Constraints and Improvement Measures

The intense competition between the Iranian construction companies has led them to take all appropriate measures to decrease the costs as much as possible. Hence, due to the pivotal role of human resources in construction projects cost, a major part of Iranian construction companies seek their profitability and survival in maximizing the productivity of their operatives. Because of the widespread belief among contractors about the low productivity of daily workers and operatives with basic salary, they commit a major part of their projects activities to sub-contractors. Deployment of sub-contractors by construction firms has become largely conventional in country's construction projects. The aims of this paper is defined as determining the factors and grounds affecting sub-contractors productivity and evaluate their overall negative side effects on project productivity via a structured questionnaire. A total of 31 factors selected and were divided into 7 broad categories. The perceptions of compa...

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A survey of the factors affecting the productivity of construction projects in Iran

Productivity remains an intriguing subject and a dominant issue in the construction sector, promising cost savings and efficient usage of resources. Productivity is one of the most important issues in both developed and developing countries. The developed countries are aware of the importance of economic growth and social welfare. The developing countries which face unemployment problems, inflation and resource scarcity seek to utilise resources and in such a way to achieve economic growth and improve citizens’ lives. Productivity is an issue of particular importance to projects located within the Gaza Strip, as it is considered a newly‐developed area, and a huge number of projects have been planned for the near future. The aim of this research is to identify factors affecting labour productivity within building projects, and to rank these factors according to their relative importance from a contractor's viewpoint. The analysis of 45 factors considered in a survey indicates that the main factors...

/pdf/factors-affecting-labour-productivity-in-building-projects-rum3t4l0qh.pdf

Factors affecting labour productivity in building projects in the gaza strip

Noscapine hydrochloride (benzyl-isoquinoline antitussive alkaloid) is an opium derivative and generally used as a cough suppressant. Numerous studies on noscapine hydrochloride have reported that it has potent anti-inflammatory activity. However, the mechanisms by which it exerts an anti-inflammatory function is not well understood. Protein denaturation is the primary step that leads to the organ destruction and permanent arthritic disability. The above-mentioned facts provided the ground to plan this study using different in-vitro and in-vivo approaches. RT-qPCR and ELISA assays were used to assess the inflammatory markers related to protein denaturation in complete adjuvant persuaded rheumatism in Sprague - Dawley rats. The results were collected as paw volume and body weight changes, arthritic scoring and serum antioxidant enzymes assays. These findings demonstrated that all doses of noscapine hydrochloride (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) studied in this study, significantly (p < 0.001) decreased the protein denaturation by preventing the increase in levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin E2. Noscapine hydrochloride significantly reduced the paw volume (p < 0.001), arthritic scoring and reversed the body mass as compared to arthritic control diseased rats. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2022.10.008

Noscapine hydrochloride (benzyl-isoquinoline alkaloid) effectively prevents protein denaturation through reduction of IL-6, NF-kB, COX-2, Prostaglandin-E2 in rheumatic rats

Food safety with maintained fruit quality is an important challenge for postharvest industry of citrus fruits. The present study was designed to check the effects of gamma irradiation on postharvest fruit quality of ‘Kinnow’ mandarin stored at 5 ± 1 °C and 90 ± 5% Relative Humidity. In the first experiment, fruits were exposed to different doses of gamma radiation (100-500 Gy), while after analyzing the results of first experiment, in the second experiment fruits were treated with 500, 600, 800 and 1000 Gy of gamma radiation. It was observed that higher doses of gamma irradiation exhibited lower weight loss and disease incidence as well as inhibiting the increase of soluble solid content (SSC) and retained higher titratable acidity (TA) and lower SSC: TA ratio. After 90 days of storage, maximum levels ascorbic acid, total phenolic contents and total antioxidants along with catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were recorded higher in fruits treated with 800 Gy. These fruit also exhibited higher score of taste, aroma and texture during storage. Overall results suggest that pre-storage treatment of 800 Gy is the most effective treatment and have potential application for quality management of ‘Kinnow’ mandarin under long term cold storage. 

Zaid Abu Mustafa

Papers

Factors affecting labour productivity in building projects in the gaza strip

Noscapine hydrochloride (benzyl-isoquinoline alkaloid) effectively prevents protein denaturation through reduction of IL-6, NF-kB, COX-2, Prostaglandin-E2 in rheumatic rats

Postharvest application of gamma irradiation affects fruit quality and antioxidant enzymes activities of ‘kinnow’ mandarin fruits during cold storage