Public opinion evaluation on social media platforms: a case study of High Speed 2 (HS2) rail infrastructure project.

Public opinion evaluation is becoming increasingly significant in infrastructure project assessment. The inefficiencies of conventional evaluation approaches can be improved with social media analysis. Posts about infrastructure projects on social media provide a large amount of data for assessing public opinion. This study proposed a hybrid model which combines pre-trained RoBERTa and gated recurrent units for sentiment analysis. We selected the United Kingdom railway project, High Speed 2 (HS2), as the case study. The sentiment analysis showed the proposed hybrid model has good performance in classifying social media sentiment. Furthermore, the study applies latent Dirichlet allocation topic modelling to identify key themes within the tweet corpus, providing deeper insights into the prominent topics surrounding the HS2 project. The findings from this case study serve as the basis for a comprehensive public opinion evaluation framework driven by social media data. This framework offers policymakers a valuable tool to effectively assess and analyse public sentiment.

Cumulative ecosystem response to Hydraulic Engineering Infrastructure Projects in an arid basin.

Hydraulic Engineering Infrastructure Projects (HEIPs) typically show profound effects on hydrological systems and ecosystems. However, data restrictions have limited the exploration of the influences of compound HEIPs on ecosystems to a few studies. This study proposes a watershed-wide ecosystem assessment framework to investigate the impact of HEIPs in the Tarim River Headwaters-Hotan River Basin on the ecosystem of the arid zone. The framework includes a deep learning-meta cellular automata algorithm (DLMCAA) based on the spatiotemporal characteristics of HEIPs and hydro-meteorological and human activities. Moreover, the spatiotemporal relationships between compound HEIPs and ecosystem variances were quantified. The framework including DLMCAA showed a good performance in simulating landcover in 2020, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.89. Therefore, the DLMCAA could be used to simulate and predict ecosystem changes under the HEIPs, which suggested that the framework is effective and practical. An analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of each ecosystem from 1980 to 2020 showed that the low shrub ecosystems changed most significantly (26.38 %) between 1980 and 2020. Also, the use of spatially driven hydrological project data from different ABC scenarios showed that ecosystems driven by HEIPs were more stable compared to those without HEIPs under future climate change. In particular, the DLMCAA indicated that compound HEIPs had a more positive impact on ecosystem oases in arid lands compared with that of single HEIPs. The results of this study can serve as a scientific reference for assessing the impact of HEIPs, as well as for understanding ecosystem changes and facilitating sustainable water resource management in the arid regions.

Occupational health and safety practice in infrastructure projects.

Objectives. This research intends to investigate the responsibilities of the parties engaged in the implementation phase of the infrastructure projects in occupational health and safety, i.e., the consultant and contractor. Methods. A questionnaire was developed through the selection and modification of the responsibilities from the literature review. Results. The statistical analysis results show that the consultants and contractors both ranked the item 'The owner requires the contractor to implement the occupational safety standards within the bid' first in the owner responsibilities, having 0.67 relative importance index (RII). In the responsibilities of the consultant, the first ranked item was 'The consultant has a role in adopting occupational safety plans and contingency plans', having 0.66 RII. In the responsibilities of the contractor, the first ranked item was 'The contractor shall provide the insurance cover for all project crews', having 0.71 RII. In the responsibilities of the workers, the first ranked item was 'Workers know the handling of tools and equipment within the project', having 0.59 RII. Conclusion. Overall, there was general agreement between consultants and contractors to classify and arrange items because both face the same conditions and have the same working environment.

Quantitative Analysis of Safety Risks and Relationship with Delayed Project Completion Times.

Dynamic work environments in construction and civil infrastructure sectors remain susceptible to safety risks. Although previous research has resulted in improvements, there is currently a gap in measuring temporal impacts of safety risks quantitatively. Precise modeling of potential delays caused by safety incidents is vital for efficient management of risks and making informed decisions on project contingency. Toward this aim, the current research adopts a nondeterministic modeling method to simulate and quantify safety incidents and find correlations with project delays. Using a deductive approach, three research questions were formulated, and investigations conducted on Australian data collected from 2016 onwards. Quantitative impacts of safety risks on project completion times were numerically measured. Furthermore, safety risks were ranked based on their significance of temporal impacts on project performance. This paper contributes to the theory of safety management by developing a nondeterministic method to model impacts of safety risks at both industry and project levels. Practical contributions and outcomes can facilitate using machine learning methods to plan proportionate time buffers to address safety risks.

Identifying the Key Risk Factors of Mega Infrastructure Projects from an Extended Sustainable Development Perspective.

Mega infrastructure projects (MIPs) have become increasingly important to the realization of sustainable development in China. Sustainable development is a process of dynamic balance, and coordinating the triple bottom line (the environmental, social, and economic dimensions) will enable more sustainable development of MIPs. However, previous studies have lacked consideration of coordination when applying sustainable development principles to the systematic identification of risks to MIPs. The goals of this study were to clarify the definition and dimensions of the sustainable development of MIPs and to identify the key risks of MIPs. A literature review was performed to extend the definition of sustainable development of MIPs by combining the triple bottom line with a fourth coordination dimension. A conceptual model of MIP risk identification was then proposed from an extended sustainable development perspective, 22 sustainability elements and 75 risk factors were identified, and the key risk factors were determined based on the interview responses and fuzzy set theory. The results show that economic risks have a high probability, social risks have a high loss, environmental risks have an intermediate probability and loss, and coordination risks have the greatest impact. In addition, the three most important key risk factors were found to be construction and installation cost overruns, land acquisition and resettling cost overruns, and information sharing with the public. Identifying key risk factors can provide information to help stakeholders understand the risk factors associated with MIPs and formulate reasonable risk response strategies.

Barriers of Occupational Safety Implementation in Infrastructure Projects: Gaza Strip Case.

Infrastructure projects are the foundation for essential public services and have an influential position in societal development. Although the role of infrastructure projects is substantial, they can involve complexities and safety issues that lead to an unsafe environment, and which impacts the project key stakeholders. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the barriers to implementing occupational safety in infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip, which cause serious threats and reduce project performance. To evaluate the barriers, 39 items were highlighted and modified as per the construction context and environment, and which later were distributed in the form of a questionnaire, to get feedback from consultants and contractors. The analysis shows that in the safety policy barriers group, consultants and contractors both ranked the item "a contractor committed to an occupational safety program is not rewarded" first. In the management barriers group, consultants and contractors both ranked the item "safety engineer does not have significant powers, such as stopping work when needed" in the first place. In the behavior and culture barriers group, consultants and contractors both ranked the item "workers who are not committed to occupational safety are not excluded" in the first place. Overall, both consultants and contractors shared the same viewpoint in classifying the barriers in the working environment. The outcome of this study is beneficial for Palestinian construction industry policymakers, so they can monitor the highlighted barriers in on-going infrastructure projects and can modify the safety guidelines accordingly.

An Indicator System for Evaluating Operation and Maintenance Management of Mega Infrastructure Projects in China.

Mega infrastructure projects provide a basic guarantee for social development, economic construction, and livelihood improvement. Their operation and maintenance (O&M) management are of great significance for the smooth operation and the realization of the value created by the projects. In order to provide an approach for effectively evaluating O&M management, this study develops a holistic indicator system using a mixed-review method from the national macro perspective in China. In this study, literature analysis, policy texts, expert interviews, and grounded theory were used to collect relevant data at home and abroad, and establish an initial evaluation indicator system with 23 indicators covering two dimensions and five aspects. Then the questionnaire survey and factor analysis were used to score and categorize the indicators, and finally an evaluation indicator system for O&M management of mega infrastructure projects was formed. The results show that social relations, environmental benefits, macro policy, and operational capacities play an important role in the evaluation of the O&M of mega infrastructure projects. This study helps the management team to avoid negative impacts in the O&M management of mega infrastructure projects and lays a theoretical foundation for future research. The indicator system in this study is based on the Chinese context, and it remains to be verified whether the indicator system is applicable to other countries due to the differences in political and cultural backgrounds in different regions.

Identification of the H&S (Health and Safety Factors) Involved in Infrastructure Projects in Developing Countries-A Sequential Mixed Method Approach of OLMT-Project.

Urbanization is playing a key role in big cities of developing countries, which, in effect, is increasing the population. This study takes care of the mega infrastructure project (Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT)) to explore and identify the H&S (Health and Safety) factors that affect the local residents and the main key stakeholders working on the project. A Sequential Mixed-Method approach of the OLMT-project includes qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted. The data have been collected from the targeted population working on the OLMT-project through a questionnaire. The main key finding of the study indicates that poor planning and a lack of communication between the public and government led to frustration. The most significant factors that identified in the study were unsafe to work practice, project scope constraints, lack in technical and material support, unsafe/bad condition, health/environment degradation, declination and loss of resources and time, no proper emergency system, and negligence in adopting safety rules and laws. The study also revealed that the consensus should also be noticed between the key stakeholders (e.g., contractors, clients, safety officials, academia) in the second round of the Delphi survey of the project. The study findings will help the key stakeholders to prioritize their energies towards attaining zero levels of inadequate health and safety practices in infrastructure projects. The study outcomes can also be generalized for the other developing countries having a similar work scenario.

Reducing construction waste: A study of urban infrastructure projects.

The construction industry is well-known for producing waste detrimental to the environment, and its impacts have increased with the development process of cities. Although there are several studies focused on the environmental impact of residential and commercial buildings, less knowledge is available regarding decreasing construction waste (CW) generation in urban infrastructure projects. This study presents best practices to reduce waste in the said projects, stressing the role of decision-making in the design stage and the effective management of construction processes in public sector. The best practices were identified from literature review, document analysis in 14 projects of urban infrastructure, and both qualitative and quantitative survey with 18 experts (architects and engineers) playing different roles on those projects. The contributions of these research are: (i) the identification of the main building techniques related to the urban design typologies analyzed; (ii) the identification of cause-effect relationships between the design choices and the CW generation diagnosis; (iii) the proposal of a checklist to support the decision-making process, that can be used as a control and evaluation instrument when developing urban infrastructure designs, focused on the construction waste minimization (CWM).

Assessing impact and sustainability of health, water, and sanitation interventions in Bolivia six years post-project / Evaluación de la repercusión y la sostenibilidad a seis años de las intervenciones relacionadas con salud, agua y saneamiento en Bolivia

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact and sustainability of health, water, and sanitation interventions in Bolivia six years post-project. METHODS: A mixed-method (qualitative-quantitative) study was conducted in 14 rural intervention and control communities in Bolivia in November 2008, six years after the completion of interventions designed to improve knowledge and practices related to maternal and child health and nutrition, community water systems, and household water and sanitation facilities. The degree to which participants had sustained the community and household practices promoted by the interventions was a particular focus. Community site visits were made to evaluate the status (functional condition) and sustainability (state of maintenance and repair) of community and household water and sanitation infrastructure. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to assess knowledge and practices, and perceptions about the value of the interventions to the community. RESULTS: Six years post-project, participants remained committed to sustaining the practices promoted in the interventions. The average rating for the functional condition of community water systems was 42% higher than the average rating in control communities. In addition, more than two-thirds of households continued to practice selected maternal and child health behaviors promoted by the interventions (compared to less than half of the households in the control communities). Communities that received integrated investments (development and health) seemed to sustain the practices promoted in the interventions better than communities that received assistance in only one of the two sectors. CONCLUSIONS: Infrastructure for community water systems and household water and sanitation facilities was better built and maintained, and selected maternal and child health behaviors practiced more frequently, in intervention communities versus control communities.

OBJETIVO: Evaluar la repercusión y la sostenibilidad de las intervenciones relacionadas con la salud, el abastecimiento de agua y el saneamiento en Bolivia seis años después de la realización del proyecto. MÉTODOS: Se llevó a cabo un estudio de metodología mixta (cualitativa y cuantitativa) en 12 comunidades rurales donde se efectuó la intervención y 2 de control en Bolivia en noviembre del 2008, seis años después de la finalización de las intervenciones enfocadas a mejorar el conocimiento y las prácticas relacionadas con la salud y la nutrición maternoinfantil, los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua comunitarios y las instalaciones de abastecimiento de agua y saneamiento domiciliarias. Se estudió, en particular, el grado en el cual los participantes continuaban realizando las prácticas domiciliarias y comunitarias promovidas por las intervenciones. Se efectuaron visitas a sitios de la comunidad para evaluar el estado (condición funcional) y la sostenibilidad (estado de mantenimiento y reparación) de la infraestructura de abastecimiento de agua y saneamiento domiciliaria y comunitaria. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas a informantes clave y análisis basados en grupos de discusión para evaluar el conocimiento, las prácticas y las percepciones acerca del valor de las intervenciones comunitarias. RESULTADOS: Seis años después del proyecto, los participantes continuaban llevando a cabo las prácticas promovidas en las intervenciones. La calificación promedio para la condición funcional de los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua comunitarios fue 42% más alta que la calificación promedio en las comunidades de control. Además, en más de dos terceras partes de los hogares se seguían poniendo en práctica ciertos hábitos relacionados con la salud maternoinfantil promovidos en las intervenciones (en comparación con menos de la mitad de los hogares en las comunidades de control). Las comunidades que recibieron inversiones integradas (desarrollo y salud) parecían conservar las prácticas promovidas en las intervenciones en mayor medida que las comunidades que recibieron ayuda solo en uno de los dos sectores. CONCLUSIONES: La infraestructura de los sistemas de abastecimiento de agua comunitarios y las instalaciones domiciliarias de abastecimiento de agua y saneamiento estaban mejor construidas y mantenidas, y ciertos hábitos de salud maternoinfantil se ponían en práctica con mayor frecuencia, en las comunidades de la intervención en comparación con las comunidades de control.