Is there a relationship between the lean concept and productivity rate of construction projects?

Copyright © 2011 by Research Publishing Services. This paper seeks to show whether the implementation of the lean concept within the UK construction industry has an impact on the productivity rate of projects. 37 UK construction Project Directors and Project Managerswere surveyed and the result shows that the lean concept is making considerable headway in improving productivity of UK construction projects. There is a strong correlation between high leanness and high productivity rates on UK construction projects. The results also indicated that there is no significant difference between the application of the lean concept between the manufacturing and the construction industry

The EDGES signal: An imprint from the mirror world?

Recent results from the Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Reionization Signature (EDGES) show an anomalous spectral feature at redshifts $z\sim 15-20$ in its 21-cm absorption signal. This deviation from cosmological predictions can be understood as a consequence of physics that either lower the hydrogen spin temperature or increases the radiation temperature through the injection of soft photons in the bath. In the latter case, standard model neutrino decays $\nu_i \to \nu_j\,\gamma$ induced by effective magnetic and electric transition moments ($\mu_\text{eff}$) are precluded by the tight astrophysical constraints on $\mu_\text{eff}$. We show that if mirror neutrinos are present in the bath at early times, an analogous mechanism in the mirror sector can lead to a population of mirror photons that are then "processed" into visible photons through resonant conversion, thus accounting for the EDGES signal. We point out that the mechanism can work for mirror neutrinos which are either heavier than or degenerate with the standard model (SM) neutrinos, a scenario naturally realized in mirror twin Higgs models.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

The Distinction of the Interactions Between the Transmembrane Domains of Basigin Gene Products and Monocarboxylate Transporters

Although it was once thought that neurons solely rely on glucose as a substrate for cellular energy production, it is now known that small monocarboxylate molecules, like pyruvate, lactate, and ketone bodies, are also utilized. Monocarboxylates are transported across plasma membranes via facilitated diffusion using a family of transport proteins known as monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). Four MCTs (MCT1, MCT2, MCT3, and MCT4) are expressed within neural tissues. Expression of the MCTs has been tied to co-expression of a cell adhesion molecule belonging to the Basigin subset of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF). Basigin gene products are known to interact with MCT1 and MCT4 in the mammalian neural retina and this association is essential to support the cellular energy needs of photoreceptors. A previous study indicated that Basigin gene products use hydrophobic amino acids within specific regions of the transmembrane domain to interact with MCT1. In the present study, it is hypothesized that the same amino acids within the transmembrane domain are used to interact with MCT4, but that no association exists with MCT2, which typically interacts with a different member of the IgSF subset. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess the association between Basigin gene products and MCT4, and with MCT2. Recombinant proteins corresponding to the transmembrane domain of Basigin gene products were used in in vitro binding assays with endogenous MCT2 and MCT4 from mouse brain protein lysates. Contrary to the hypothesis, it was determined that the transmembrane domain of Basigin gene products binds to both MCT2 and MCT4 in vitro. Different amino acids within the transmembrane domain of Basigin gene products are used for each association and the pattern is different from that used in the association with MCT1. The data suggest that Basigin plays multiple roles in the nervous system

Localization Using Convolutional Neural Networks

With the increased accessibility to powerful GPUs, ability to develop machine learning algorithms has increased significantly. Coupled with open source deep learning frameworks, average users are now able to experiment with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to solve novel problems. This project sought to train a CNN capable of classifying between various locations within a building. A single continuous video was taken while standing at each desired location so that every class in the neural network was represented by a single video. Each location was given a number to be used for classification and the video was subsequently titled locX. These videos were converted to frames to train several well known CNNs using fine-tuning. Once the CNNs were trained, their performance on test sets of photos were observed

A new framework for determining productivity factors in construction sites

The productivity level within the construction industry is of direct interest to site managers and project management teams. Different researchers have tried to determine the factors that influence productivity but no general agreement could be made. The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework on site productivity. Five major groups of independent variables, namely, project characteristics, labour characteristics, management system, resource management and the external environment are identified as crucial to site productivity. Based on these groupings, a conceptual model is to be developed to represent causal relationships. Once identified, this relationship is believed to be a useful piece of information to implement a project more productively

Supercritical multicomponent solvent coal extraction

The yield of organic extract from the supercritical extraction of coal with larger diameter organic solvents such as toluene is increased by use of a minor amount of from 0.1 to 10% by weight of a second solvent such as methanol having a molecular diameter significantly smaller than the average pore diameter of the coal

A Proposed Framework for Changing the Safety Culture within the UK Construction Industry

In recent years, the importance of a positive safety culture has been emphasized as a key factor in improving safety performance. The term ‘safety culture’ first emerged in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and has since been regarded as having a significant impact on safety. This paper reviews the literature on safety culture within the UK construction industry in an attempt to develop a conceptual framework that can help change people’s attitude towards safety. It first identifies the existing research into the causation of accidents on construction sites and then discusses the three dimensions of the research framework, namely, the social, technical and the managerial safety culture

Is there a Correlation between Contractor’s Health and Safety Performance and their Profit Margin?

This paper analyses the relationship of on-site health and safety performance and the anticipated profit margin. It reports on the main findings of the research which includes the analysis of historical safety records of 22 construction projects and their profit margins. A scoring system was adapted to measure performance and profit. Analysis of the results indicates that the better the health and safety score of a project the more profit that project is likely to make and vice versa. In short, projects that recorded safety incidents during construction have also made a loss in their profit margins as a result of fall in productivity, disruption and penalties