Investigation on The Factors Affecting Lifestyle of Professionals in The Construction Industries (Kerala and Tamil Nadu)

One of the vital assets of any industry is human resources. In general, the majority of works are carried out by humans in the construction industries. Study on the assessment of quality of civil engineering construction professionals’ lifestyle is very limited and hence the motto of this study is to understand the lifestyle of construction professionals and to assess the various factors affecting the lifestyle of them. To analyze the effects of societal behavior and to develop a model to study the impact of various factors in a construction professional’s lifestyle; a mixed approach had been adopted in this study. The instrument used in the study was a questionnaire survey conducted from 180 construction professionals working in different firms in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of India and these were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. Factors affecting the construction professional’s lifestyle are: financial factors, organizational factors, quality, health and environmental factors, work-related factors, and social factors. Hence by foreseeing the factors and adopting favorable changes in a construction professional’s life, they may attain a better lifestyle. This study recommends the strategy to be considered for the improvements of lifestyle of the construction professional especially for “Civil Engineersâ€

The impact of various safety leadership styles on construction safety climate: A case of South India

The Indian construction industry is the second-largest job-providing sector in the country, which comprises many investments. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) report, India is a significant contributor to construction site accidents and fatalities among world nations. The poor Safety Leadership (SL) style and the diminished leader\u27s commitment to quality safety outcomes have caused misfortunes in construction sites. This paper aims to identify the impact of various safety leadership styles on the Organisational Safety Climate (OSC) predictors and propose a conceptual model explaining the relationship between SL styles and OSC. The study identifies six leadership styles from the works of literature: Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Distributed leadership, Contingent reward, Laissez-faire leadership, Management-by-exception, and Superior\u27s empowerment leadership. Structured questionnaires were circulated for data collection among construction professionals working in metropolitan cities in south India. The collected data were analysed using the stepwise regression analysis and Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis to identify the SL styles influencing OSC predictors. The findings revealed that four out of six SL styles are optimistic. On the other hand, two of them are pessimistic, namely laissez-faire leadership and management-by-exception leadership style, which leads to an increase in construction site misfortunes. The outcome of this study helps the top-level management personnel build and develop a positive safety leadership trait to achieve quality safety outcomes of the construction organization

An investigation on the effects of psychological contract (PC) towards site safety in the south Indian construction industry

The construction sector is India\u27s second-largest industry, contributing to the country\u27s economy and providing many job opportunities. However, construction has been described as a hazardous industry with a high rate of injuries, accidents, and fatalities compared to other sectors worldwide. The psychological contract of safety (PCS) is one of the safety climate (SC) variables that influence worker safety behavior (WSB) actions on construction sites to improve safety. This research investigates the influence of SC factors on PCS and PCS on WSB in construction site safety. A quantitative research method has been adopted in this study, and the data is collected from the construction professionals working in South India. Statistical analyses were performed for the collected data; consisted of stepwise regression analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to determine the significance of PCS. The findings disclose that in direct effect, four out of six SC factors contribute to enhancing PCS, namely supervisor safety behavior, co-worker safety behavior, worker involvement, and safety system, and it shows that PCS influences WSB. In indirect effect of SC factor on WSB two factors positively influence namely: supervisor safety behavior, co-worker safety behavior and remaining two negatively influences. The outcome of this study helps the construction professionals to improve safety performance by fulfilling their obligations and improving WSB in construction sites

Rational approximant structures to decagonal quasicrystals

We have shown earlier that the decagonal quasicrystalline phase can be derived by the twinning of the icosahedral cluster about the five-fold axis by 36°. It is shown here that in a similar fashion, the rational approximant structures (RAS) to the decagonal quasicrystal can be constructed by the twinning of RAS to the icosahedral quasicrystalline phase. The twinning of the Mackay (cubic) type RAS leads to the Taylor (q1/p1, q1/p1) phases, while the twinning of the orthorhombic Little phase leads to the Robinson (q1/p1, q2/p2) approximants to the decagonal quasicrystal. With increasing order of q1/p1 or q2/p2, we approach the digonal quasicrystal with one-dimensional quasiperiodicity

Study for the relevance of coconut shell aggregate concrete non-pressure pipe

The general behaviour of coconut shell aggregate concrete pipe is comparable to that of conventional concrete pipe. Three-edge bearing test results show that, both coconut shell aggregate concrete and conventional concrete pipes abide more load than load specified as per IS 458: 2003. The application of hydro static pressure not resulted in the formation of beads of water on the pipe surface during the application of the test pressure of 0.07 N/mm2 as per IS 458: 2003. Absorption properties of both coconut shell aggregate concrete and conventional concrete pipes are well within the allowable limits as per IS 458:1988 on the conditions specified. Test results and performance of coconut shell aggregate concrete pipes encourage the use of coconut shell as an aggregate for the replacement of conventional coarse aggregate in reinforced concrete pipes production

Antibacterial activity of Rhynocoris marginatus (Fab.) and Catamirus brevipennis (Servile) (Hemiptera: reduviidae) venomS against human pathogens

The reduviid predators Rhynocoris marginatus (Fab.) and Catamirus brevipennis (Servile) use their venoms to paralyze their preys. We detected the antibacterial activity of R. marginatus and C. brevipennis venoms against seven Gram-negative and four Gram-positive bacteria by using the disc diffusion method. Rhynocoris marginatus venom exhibited antibacterial activity against four Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella typhimurium) and one Gram-positive (Streptococcus pyogenes). Catamirus brevipennis venom showed antibacterial activity against six Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, and Salmonella typhimurium) and three Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus sphaericus) bacteria. Both C. brevipennis (90.91%) and R. marginatus (45.45%) venoms were more effective against Gram-negative bacteria (80% and 70% for R. marginatus and C. brevipennis, respectively). The venoms of both reduviid predators are composed of low molecular weight proteins (7-33 kD)