A lack of adequate building maintenance is a significant obstacle faced by governmental hospitals. This paper evaluates factors that negatively impact building-maintenance practices in Iraq. A literature review was conducted to identify factors affecting maintenance. A list of 42 factors affecting hospital-buildings was collected from previous studies and tested using a structured questionnaire distributed to hospital-maintenance experts. During the data analysis, 76 valid questionnaires were used. Based on the respondents’ ratings, the relative-importance index (RII) was used to determine the level of importance of each factor. From the results, it was concluded that twelve factors affect maintenance practices in hospital buildings: faulty design (0.889), lack of funding (0.874), inadequate training (0.871), misuse of building facilities (0.866), construction errors (0.863), lack of work experience (0.858), building age (0.826), individual modifications carried out by the hospital staff (0.826), shortage of maintenance staff (0.824), administrative corruption (0.821), selection of unqualified maintenance contractors (0.816) and unavailability of skilled appointed maintenance personnel (0.808). Understanding these factors’ effects is essential for maintenance-department managers to develop strategies for maintaining hospital buildings in Iraq by controlling them, as well as identifying problems and finding appropriate solutions to avoid them. KEYWORDS: Governmental hospitals, Maintenance, Iraq, Building maintenance, Maintenance practices, Factors affecting maintenance
The evolution in materials’ technology in the last decades resulted in interesting projects that aimed at preserving the environment and energy and reduce pollution. They have been taken the principles of environmental design as a basis for architectural thought, starting from the early stages of the design process ending in choosing appropriate building materials to achieve sustainable buildings, but these trying are limited in our local environment and there isn’t demanded seriousness. The research problem emerges in the ignorance of the environmental aspect (ecological system) when selecting building materials during design process to achieve sustainable buildings. The aim of this research is revealing the mechanisms of selecting
... Show MoreThe Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) describes an indoor space condition that the wellbeing and comfortability are provided for the users. Many researchers have highlighted the importance of adopting IEQ criteria, although they are not yet well defined in the Kurdistan region. However, environmental quality is not necessary for the contemporary buildings of the Kurdistan Region, and there is no measurement tool in the Region. This research aims to develop an IEQ assessment tool for the Kurdistan region using Mixed method methodology, both qualitative and quantitative. Therefore, a Delphi Technique was used as a method initially developed as systematic, interactive forecasting on a panel of experts. Thirty-five Delphi C
... Show MoreGreen buildings are considered more efficient than traditional buildings due to the incorporated techniques and the multidisciplinary specializations required to comply with their specifications, in addition to the advanced commissioning, which undergoes before handing over the buildings to the owners to ensure requirements conformance. As a result, the appropriate selection of a project delivery system acts as the essential factor that affects the performance of the project. This research aims at building a system that helps to select the best method to implement green buildings. Through studying the recent research approaches in project delivery systems, the factors that affect the selection of the optimal implementation method fo
... Show MoreTo translate sustainable concepts into sustainable structure, there is a require a collaborative work and technology to be innovated, such as BIM, to connect and organize different levels of industry e.g. decision-makers, contractors, economists, architects, urban planners, construction supplies and a series of urban planning and strategic infrastructure for operate, manage and maintain the facilities. This paper will investigate the BIM benefits as a project management tool, its effectiveness in sustainable decision making, also the benefit for the local industry key stakeholders by encouraging the BIM use as a project management tool to produce a sustainable building project. This p
The rise of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing has highlighted the importance of utilizing intelligent manufacturing techniques, tools, and methods, including predictive maintenance. This feature allows for the early identification of potential issues with machinery, preventing them from reaching critical stages. This paper proposes an intelligent predictive maintenance system for industrial equipment monitoring. The system integrates Industrial IoT, MQTT messaging and machine learning algorithms. Vibration, current and temperature sensors collect real-time data from electrical motors which is analyzed using five ML models to detect anomalies and predict failures, enabling proactive maintenance. The MQTT protocol is used for efficient com
... Show MoreBackground: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is common in different age groups in both genders especially among pregnant women and neonates where it is associated with several adverse outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm delivery. Objectives: To assess the extent of vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency among mothers and their neonates and some factors related to it and identify some adverse outcomes of the deficiency/ insufficiency on neonates (preterm birth and low birth weight). Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 Iraqi pregnant women and neonates admitted to “Al-Elwiya teaching hospital for maternity” in Baghdad- Al-Rusafah from 1st of June 2019 to 31st of August 2019. Dat
... Show MoreBackground: Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is common in different age groups in both genders especially among pregnant women and neonates where it is associated with several adverse outcomes including preeclampsia and preterm delivery.
Objectives: To assess the extent of vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency among mothers and their neonates and some factors related to it and identify some adverse outcomes of the deficiency/ insufficiency on neonates (preterm birth and low birth weight).
Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 Iraqi pregnant women and neonates admitted to “Al-Elwiya teaching hospital for maternity” in Baghdad- Al
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