Abobakr Al-Sakkaf, Ashutosh Bagchi, Tarek Zayed and Sherif Mahmoud
The purpose of this research is to focus on the evaluation of heritage buildings' sustainability. BIM modeling was necessary for the design of the sustainability assessment model…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to focus on the evaluation of heritage buildings' sustainability. BIM modeling was necessary for the design of the sustainability assessment model for Heritage Buildings (SAHB). Using ArchiCAD®, energy simulations were performed for two case studies (Murabba Palace, Saudi Arabia, and Grey Nuns Building, Canada), and the developed model was validated through sensitivity analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
Heritage buildings (HBs) are unique and must be preserved for future generations. This article focuses on a sustainability assessment model and rating scale for heritage buildings in light of the need for their conservation. Regional variations were considered in the model development to identify critical attributes whose corresponding weights were then determined by fuzzy logic. Data was collected via questionnaires completed by Saudi Arabian and Canadian experts, and Fuzzy TOPSIS was also applied to eliminate the uncertainties present when human opinions are involved.
Findings
Results showed that regional variations were sufficiently addressed through the multi-level weight consideration in the proposed model. Comparing the nine identified factors that affect the sustainability of HBs, energy and indoor environmental quality were of equal weight in both case studies.
Originality/value
This study will be helpful for the design of a globally applicable sustainability assessment model for HBs. It will also enable decision-makers to prepare maintenance plans for HBs.
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Abobakr Al-Sakkaf, Tarek Zayed, Ashutosh Bagchi, Sherif Mahmoud and David Pickup
Heritage buildings are significant for their historical and architectural value. Due to the lack of rating systems designed specifically for heritage buildings, it is essential to…
Abstract
Purpose
Heritage buildings are significant for their historical and architectural value. Due to the lack of rating systems designed specifically for heritage buildings, it is essential to develop and validate a heritage building assessment tool that considers its specific characteristics. The purpose of this study is to provide an extensive review of research on Sustainability of Heritage Buildings (SHBs).
Design/methodology/approach
This review highlights methodologies applied in SHBs research and analyzes major global rating systems in order to identify their deficiencies for SHBs assessment. A systematic review was employed and articles from the top 10 high impact factor journals were studied. Twelve major global rating systems and their assessment criteria were identified.
Findings
Significant variability was observed among the assessment tools since each tool assesses several criteria, factors and indicators that fit its local context. Part of this variability can also be seen in the rating scales, threshold values and accreditation titles. As a result, the final sustainability ranking for a given building cannot be compared among the 12 rating systems. Most importantly, these systems fail to analyze some factors such as energy that are considered important with respect to heritage building assessment.
Originality/value
Since no specific rating system could be identified in this review as the most appropriate for heritage buildings, a new sustainability assessment tool that is specific to heritage buildings should be developed. Such a tool will enable facility managers to evaluate and improve the sustainability of their heritage buildings while preserving them.
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Loubna A. Youssef, Usama Elsayed, Sherif Shaheen and Nour Mahmoud Khalifa
This paper focuses on a project to work on the digital library of Arab children's culture for sustainable development (DLACSD).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on a project to work on the digital library of Arab children's culture for sustainable development (DLACSD).
Design/methodology/approach
This project claims to link the past, present, and future by creating a platform that can grow to include not only works by adults but by children who inspire adults with their imagination and the joys they bring to the world.
Findings
This project addresses in phases the different aspects of the problem of the lack of material for Egyptian/Arab children at different stages in Arabic on the internet (with copyright law in mind). It is time to fill this gap by having a rich repository of stories, plays, games and songs for children in Arabic in a digital library to enrich the life of the child and to inform the world that much that is worthwhile is available in Arabic for parents, teachers, and children to enjoy.
Research limitations/implications
Through reading samples of the works by Abdel-Tawab Youssef (1928–2015) by using the Dublin Core Elements, it will be informative to see how his writings address the United Nations Goals of Sustainable Development way before these Goals were discussed.
Practical implications
Writers for children, librarians, teachers, psychologists, literary critics, illustrators, and parents need a platform that makes material available to promote children’s culture in the Arab world and to introduce the world to what is of value for children in Arabic.
Social implications
Currently, communication brings the world together and although the social media and the new technology have introduced problems that are serious, to say the least, collaborators on all levels must play an active role in redressing the social wrongs, especially those affecting children.
Originality/value
This ongoing project by members of a team who believe in interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity has taken the first step to create and develop (DLACSD).
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Jamal Al‐Khatib and Robert Sutton
The recent Middle East war and the subsequent strengthening of political ties between the United States and Middle Eastern countries have opened the doors to attractive business…
Abstract
The recent Middle East war and the subsequent strengthening of political ties between the United States and Middle Eastern countries have opened the doors to attractive business opportunities and increased the chance for the transferability of Western business practices more than ever before. The objectives of this study were to examine marketing practices among Egyptian firms. The results from 51 firms operating in various sectors of the Egyptian economy indicate a massive neglect and absence of modern marketing practices among the surveyed firms. Foreign firms that adapt their strategies to cultural and structural impediments to marketing in that country will prove most profitable.
The Egyptian Revolution gave birth to an intriguing community of graffiti artists that have been going through successful social learning processes. The naturally formed learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The Egyptian Revolution gave birth to an intriguing community of graffiti artists that have been going through successful social learning processes. The naturally formed learning groups provided a fertile substance for social learning research and called for a comparison between the nature and elements of social learning and those of the learning taking place in the more traditional settings in an attempt to magnify factors of success. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon Wenger’s (1998) theory of Communities of Practice (CoP) and examines three major elements of learning in relation to it; namely, motivation, social practice, and the role of experts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper offers an in-depth analysis of perceptions of six Egyptian graffiti artists of their learning experiences.
Findings
The paper argues that the motivational factor is underdeveloped in Wenger’s theory and that a concept that encompasses a combination of intrinsic motivation (IM) and identified regulation would provide a more accurate description of the driving force of a successful social learning process.
Research limitations/implications
Although a snowballing approach was adopted, reaching the interviewees was not an easy task for security reasons; therefore, limiting the number to six was forced upon the researcher. Yet, a sense of saturation was reached. The paper underlines the vital role of social practice, which places meaning at the centre of learning, calls for revisiting the role of experts in Wenger’s theory and claims its marginality.
Originality/value
Conclusions of this study suggest that the idea of a combination of passion and goal as core components of a CoP is an underdeveloped concept in Wenger’s (1998) theory and that outward motivational factors need to be discarded from the equation. This research proposes that a combination of IM and identified regulation provide a more accurate description of the driving force of a successful social learning process.
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Adnan Enshassi, Abed Ayash and Sherif Mohamed
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors driving Palestinian construction contractors to implement energy management strategies during the execution of construction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors driving Palestinian construction contractors to implement energy management strategies during the execution of construction projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted by administering a questionnaire that comprised 26 drivers for adopting energy management strategies. Data were collected from 67 contractors in the Gaza Strip. Factor analysis was adopted to explore the underlying relationships among the identified drivers.
Findings
Drivers were grouped into one of the four categories: economic and financial, institutional and legal, organisational and managerial and educational and informational. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents were of the view that economic and financial factors were the most important factors driving the adoption of energy management strategies by construction companies in the Gaza Strip. Of the economic and financial drivers, the cost savings derived from the adoption of energy management strategies was considered the most important item. Energy management education and training programmes are scarce in the Gaza Strip, and local contractors have no formal energy management education and training. The government needs to allocate sufficient funds for policy implementation and regulation enforcement.
Research limitations/implications
Difficulties in accessing energy management data are deemed as a limitation to this study, as the topic of energy management in the construction has received no or very little academic attention so far.
Practical implications
This study provides a valuable reference for studying ongoing research in the practice of energy management development in other industries and locations. The priority of the drivers for energy management will help the local contracting companies to focus on weak and strong points of the company for energy use development to remove these weak points and invest in strong points. This paper results can increase the encouragement for greater social responsibility of the contracting organisations towards energy use. Government and concerned organisations can get benefits from the identified factors in encouraging contractors to adopt energy management strategy in their projects.
Originality/value
This study is the first investigation of energy management aspects in a local construction industry, especially from contracting organisations.
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Al-Tahrir Square (Liberation Square, in Arabic) is one of the main public spaces in Cairo, Egypt, and was the focal point for the Egyptian Revolution of January 2011. Although…
Abstract
Al-Tahrir Square (Liberation Square, in Arabic) is one of the main public spaces in Cairo, Egypt, and was the focal point for the Egyptian Revolution of January 2011. Although Tahrir Square is traditionally a noisy disliked crowded traffic zone, people gathering and demonstrating during 2011 transformed the a space into a livable interactive civic place (Bricoleurbanism, 2019). The study integrates three main subjects affecting each other: first; Tahrir history and its architectural description, second; activities and events of 2011 revolution at Tahrir and thirdly; theories and concepts of place/space transformations. Many space and place transformation cycles of the Al-Tahrir square have been studied for over a century. It shows that transformation happens when a “meaning” is added and “memories” turn into “behavior” and belonging (Pallasmaa, 2014). This chapter discusses how both the functions and the mental image of Al-Tahrir Square changed with the events along with the behavior of its occupants during 2011.
The square was analyzed to discover the mechanisms, motives, and reasons that caused such change. Furthermore, a comparison between Tahrir Square's status before and after 2011 was offered, according to “New Urbanism's successful places criteria” (PPS, 2009). Recently, physical and moral evacuation of the square deliberately enforced to replace its iconographic status as a place of revolution, with ancient Egyptian elements. This study elaborates on these results demonstrating how Cairo's Tahrir Square is a remarkable example of the dynamic nature of public spaces turning into places, and then into spaces again, due to actions of authority or the will of people.
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Joseph Olanrewaju Ilugbami and Oluwadamisi Toluwalase Tayo-Ladega
This study delves into the factors that influence the practice of female genital mutilation in West Africa, as well as the health implications. An online cross-sectional study was…
Abstract
This study delves into the factors that influence the practice of female genital mutilation in West Africa, as well as the health implications. An online cross-sectional study was conducted with the use of electronic questionnaire. The study was targeted at adult females who were between the age of 18 and 50 years old. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the electronic questionnaire was administered on social media platforms (Facebook and WhatsApp) only through convenience and snowball sampling techniques. A sample size of 3,119 adult females participated in the study. Spearman rank correlation (r) was employed to test the hypotheses. Responses were gathered from adult females whom originates from nine West African countries which are Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Liberia, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia and Guinea. The study found a strong and positive relationship between culture and the practice of female genital mutilation in West Africa, and there was a weak and positive relationship between religion and education, and the practice of female genital mutilation in West Africa. Despite the health risks, it was revealed that female genital mutilation remained uninterrupted in West Africa. The findings of this study imply that the culture of the people, religious belief system and education are critical factors in efforts to be considered when discouraging the practice of female genital mutilation. Therefore, for healthy living, the practice of female genital mutilation should be discouraged in the study area. Based on the study outcome, recommendations were suggested.
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The purpose of this paper is to, first, investigate the cultural attributes of organizations that may have an effect on knowledge‐related activities. Second, to build a case based…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to, first, investigate the cultural attributes of organizations that may have an effect on knowledge‐related activities. Second, to build a case based on the literatures of knowledge management and learning which suggests that the phenomenon of cooperative learning may serve as an indicator of the existence of knowledge‐related activities such as knowledge creation and knowledge exchange. Finally, the paper seeks a better understanding of the linkages between these attributes and individual characteristics related to the development and transfer of knowledge throughout the enterprise, and ultimately, the organization's work products.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of this study consists of two phases: first, development of a conceptual model based on the literature. Second, the hypothesized research model is presented and empirically tested by utilizing multiple regression analysis and simple regression analysis to investigate the climate of organizations, in order to understand the linkage between a set of organizational and individual characteristics and knowledge‐related activities found in cooperative learning groups and the resulting work outcomes. Data were collected from teams of information systems (IS) knowledge workers based at the information technology centers located in Jordanian universities. In total, 152 IS professionals from 15 system development teams across 12 universities participated in this study.
Findings
The survey instrument was shown to be both reliable and valid. Pertinent statistical analyses were then performed. The overall results from the empirical assessment were positive, thus reflecting the appropriateness of the proposed research model and hypotheses.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have implications for both academicians and managers who are interested in better understanding the nature of knowledge creation and knowledge exchange, as well as better understanding how one might prescriptively facilitate increased levels of knowledge creation and dissemination, organizational learning, and employee performance and satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study is probably one of the first to hypothesize a research model that integrates organizational climate, knowledge processes, cooperative learning and knowledge outcomes, then empirically investigate the relationships between these constructs.