The application of concurrent engineering philosophy to the construction industry

The research explores the rationale of applying Concurrent Engineering (CE) philosophy to the construction industry. CE was considered based on its successful implementation in other industries. In the manufacturing industry it is used to overcome problems similar in nature to those of the construction industry, resulting from the practice of the traditional 'over the wall' processes in product design and manufacturing (construction). During the initial stage, the research evaluated current problems faced by the industry, such as the high degree of fragmentation of industry structure and work processes, adversarial elationships among project participants' lack of communication, etc., and its effort to achieve improvement. The research also investigated the theoretical background of CE philosophy, its application in other industries especially in manufacturing, the rationale for its application to construction, and current practices within the construction industry similar to those encompassed within the CE philosophy. CE consists of several basic principles, of which the teamwork was the main focus of this research and is used as the main strategy to achieve CE implementation for construction industry. By using both quantitative and qualitative evaluation, the research determined that there was no evidence to support that CE has been practised in construction as a complete process, as it has in other industries. The research also established a number of factors that support and inhibit collaborative teamwork in construction, and rank them according to their relative importance. The rankings indicate the priorities for the industry in order to achieve collaborative working, which is critical to CE implementation. The main output of the research was the establishment of 'guidelines' for implementing a Cross Functional Project Team (CFPT), i.e. the cross functional teamwork concept based on CE principles, forming the main strategy to implement CE in construction. The 'guidelines' were developed based on the consensus opinion of industry experts using the Delphi study technique. The findings from case studies were used to validate these 'guidelines'. The research also developed a tool known as the Matrix Measurement Guidelines - 'Toward CE in Construction' (MMG-TCEiC) to help the industry to map the process toward achieving a collaborative teamwork concept based on CE environments within construction projects

Conceptual Framework Of Bidding Strategy In Order To Improve Construction Project Performance

Globalization makes the competition of construction is increasingly tight. The competitors faced not only in the regional district/city, province, but increasingly widespread, even cross the country worldwide. Bidding strategy is an important factor that improves competitiveness. It defines as a management skills of using all available resources both physical and financial, in order to offer a comprehensive and competitive bidding. The bidders usually consider various aspects, including internal, external and environment, with aim to win the bidding competition, and provide maximum project performance.The literature review method is used to create ideas, and synthesize the related researches which have been done previously. This paper aims to develop a framework that can be used for evaluation in the early stages of project selection, based on theriview of various literature related to bidding strategies and project performance. The result from the literature review concerning are presented, and a conceptual framework of bidding strategy model is developed

Carbon-rich planet formation in a solar composition disk

The C--to--O ratio is a crucial determinant of the chemical properties of planets. The recent observation of WASP 12b, a giant planet with a C/O value larger than that estimated for its host star, poses a conundrum for understanding the origin of this elemental ratio in any given planetary system. In this paper, we propose a mechanism for enhancing the value of C/O in the disk through the transport and distribution of volatiles. We construct a model that computes the abundances of major C and O bearing volatiles under the influence of gas drag, sublimation, vapor diffusion, condensation and coagulation in a multi--iceline 1+1D protoplanetary disk. We find a gradual depletion in water and carbon monoxide vapors inside the water's iceline with carbon monoxide depleting slower than water. This effect increases the gaseous C/O and decreases the C/H ratio in this region to values similar to those found in WASP 12b's day side atmosphere. Giant planets whose envelopes were accreted inside the water's iceline should then display C/O values larger than those of their parent stars, making them members of the class of so-called ``carbon-rich planets''.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication Ap

CHARACTERIZATION AND GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF TWO ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 BACTERIOPHAGES ISOLATED FROM PIGEONS

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, also known as EHEC, is a subset of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and it has recently been identified as one of the principal foodborne pathogens. E. coli O157:H7 is the most important serotype of STEC for its role in causing foodborne illnesses. E. coli O157:H7 could cause various gastroenteritis symptoms such as diarrhea, hemolytic uremic syndrome, hemorrhagic colitis, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and may cause death. Elimination of E. coli O157:H7 during food processing and storage is a possible solution. Bacteriophages have a significant impact on bacterial populations in nature due to their ability to lyse their bacterial host. All E. coli O157:H7 phages that have been previously announced were found in ruminants or swine. Here, I studied the characterization and genomic analysis of two lytic E. coli O157:H7 bacteriophages isolated from feaces of wild pigeon; UAE MI- 01 and Ec_MI-02. This is the first time to report E. coli O157:H7 phages from birds feaces. UAE_MI-01 belonged to the family Siphoviridae in order Caudovirales. UAE_MI-01 had a with a burst size of almost 100 plaque-forming units (PFU) per host cell after a latent period of 20 min and an adsorption rate constant (K) of 1.25 × 10−7 mL/min. UAE_MI-01 was found stable at a wide range of temperature, pH and some of the common laboratory disinfectants. The 44,281 bp-long genomes of the phage had an average GC content of 54.7%. On the other hand, Ec_MI-02 belonged to genus Tequatrovirus in the order Caudovirales. The K value of Ec_MI-02 was found to be 1.55 × 10−8 mL/min. The latent period was almost 50 min with burst size of almost 10 PFU /host cell. Ec_MI-02 was stable at a wide range of pH, and temperature and was resistant to ethanol 70%. Its genome was made of 266 genes with total 165454 bp and average GC content of 35.5%. It is worthy of note that wherever the phage is present, the host cell must be present. Thus, if the bacteriophage of E. coli O157:H7 is present in the feaces of a wild bird, then the E. coli O157:H7, is most probably present in wild birds. The current study provides additional evidence that wild birds could also be a good natural reservoir for bacteriophages and could be good candidates for phage therapy. Studying the genetic makeup of bacteriophages that infect human pathogens is crucial for ensuring their safe usage in the food industry

Young children\u27s collaborative interactions in an educational computer environment

This study investigated the collaborative interaction patterns exhibited by five-year old pre-primary children in an educational computer environment. The case study method was used in one pre-primary centre in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia, to examine the patterns of collaborative interaction among young children whilst engaged with the computer. The one event case study was of the interactions exhibited by pre-primary children whilst engaged, in dyads, with the computer within a naturalistic classroom environment. This study involved three phases of data collection. Phase I consisted of observations and videotaping sessions, compilation of written observations, narrative descriptions and relevant field notes on each participant. To assess the children\u27s current social skills and computer competence and their general social interaction with peers, the researcher interviewed the children and their teacher using a semi-structured interview schedule to guide the discussion. Phase IT comprised reviewing and transcribing the videotapes and coding children\u27s interactions, while Phase III consisted of analysing all the data obtained. Both observational comments and descriptions and data analyses were presented with anecdotes. 243 interactions were identified and classified into 16 interaction patterns. They were: directing partner\u27s actions; self-monitor/repetition; providing information; declarative planning; asking for information/explanation; disagreeing with partner; accepting guidance; terminal response; exclaiming; correcting others; defending competence; showing pleasure; showing displeasure; sharing control; defending control; and suggesting ideas. Frequency of occurrence of identified interactions was analysed in the form of descriptive statistics. Factors facilitating the collaborative interaction of children whilst engaged with the computer activities were found to be: developmental appropriateness of the software; preexisting computer competency between children; children\u27s preexisting positive attitude towards computer; mutual friendship between collaborators; children\u27s social goals; appropriate structure of enjoyable learning environment; mutual understanding of turn-taking system; and positive non-isolated physical settings of the computer environment. Factors inhibiting collaborative interaction were identified as: non-developmentally appropriate software; lack of computer competency between children; negative attitude (on the part of both children and teacher) towards computer and learning; sense of competition between collaborators; social goals of each child; inappropriate structure to promote enjoyable learning environment; no mutual understanding of turn-taking system; and isolate physical settings of the computer environment. Associated with the findings were three major variables: (1) the classroom teacher variable (philosophy and educational beliefs, task-structure and computer management); (2) the software variable (developmentally appropriateness, content, design, and programmed task-structure); and (3) the child variable (computer competency and attitude towards computer, social goals, social skills, and personal relationship with collaborators). By identifying the collaborative interactions of children, and factors that may facilitate or inhibit these interactions, early childhood educators will be in a better position to integrate the computer into their classroom and to promote positive prosocial interaction among children whilst engaged at the computer. In general, findings suggest that computers should be integrated into all early childhood classrooms and afforded the same status as other traditional early childhood learning materials and activities

Attenuation of Antagonist-induced Impairment of Dopamine Receptors by L-prolyl - L-leucyl-glycinamide

It has been shown by others that the prenatal treatment of rats with haloperidol, a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, leads to a permanent reduction in the number of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in adulthood. Conversely, postnatal treatment of lactating dams with haloperidol from birth for 21 days, leads to an increase in the number of striatal dopamine D2 receptors in the litters, when assessed as adults. The present study was undertaken in order to determine whether chronic, long-term postnatal challenge of rat pups per se, with specific dopamine D1 and D2 receptor antagonists, would modify the ontogeny of the respective receptor types. Since the neuropeptide L-prolyl-L-leucyl-glycinamide (PLG) attenuates the effect of haloperidol on dopamine D2 receptors in adult rats, it was of interest to determine whether PLG would modulate antagonist-induced alterations in the ontogeny of striatal dopamine D1 and D2 receptors. Half of the rats were treated daily for 32 days from birth with SCH-23390 (0.30 mg/kg/d i.p.), a selective dopamine D1 antagonist; or spiroperidol (1.0 mg/kg/d i.p.), a selective dopamine D2 antagonist; or both SCH-23390 and spiroperidol; or saline. The other half of the litters were treated with PLG (1.0 mg/kg/d, i.p.), in combination with the other treatments. Animals were decapitated at 5, 8, and 12 weeks from birth for neurochemical analysis of the striatum. Chronic SCH-23390 treatment produced a 70-80% decrease in the binding of (\sp3H) SCH-23390 (300 pM) to striatal homogenates. The alteration at 5 weeks was associated with a 78% decrease in the Bmax for (\sp3H) SCH-23390 binding, and no change in the K\sb{\rm D}. Similarly, at 5, 8, and 12 weeks, chronic spiroperidol treatment reduced the binding of (\sp3H) spiroperidol (300pM) to striatal homogenates by 70-80%. The alteration at 5 weeks was associated with a 74% decrease in the Bmax for (\sp3H) spiroperidol binding, and no change in K\sb{\rm D}. Furthermore, PLG attenuated these respective changes in dopamine D1 and D2 binding, when assessed at 5 and 8 weeks. These findings demonstrate that the postnatal period is a sensitive and critical time in the development of striatal dopamine D1 and D2 receptors and that PLG is able to attenuate the alterations in ontogeny that are produced by dopamine D1 and D2 receptor antagonists

Reduced-order Description of Transient Instabilities and Computation of Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponents

High-dimensional chaotic dynamical systems can exhibit strongly transient features. These are often associated with instabilities that have finite-time duration. Because of the finite-time character of these transient events, their detection through infinite-time methods, e.g. long term averages, Lyapunov exponents or information about the statistical steady-state, is not possible. Here we utilize a recently developed framework, the Optimally Time-Dependent (OTD) modes, to extract a time-dependent subspace that spans the modes associated with transient features associated with finite-time instabilities. As the main result, we prove that the OTD modes, under appropriate conditions, converge exponentially fast to the eigendirections of the Cauchy--Green tensor associated with the most intense finite-time instabilities. Based on this observation, we develop a reduced-order method for the computation of finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) and vectors. In high-dimensional systems, the computational cost of the reduced-order method is orders of magnitude lower than the full FTLE computation. We demonstrate the validity of the theoretical findings on two numerical examples

Concurrent Engineering of Tolerance Synthesis and Process Selection for Products with Multiple Quality Characteristcs Considering Process Capability

The existences of variances that are very difficult to be removed from manufacturing processes provide significance of tolerance to the product quality characteristics target of  customer functional requirement. Furthermore, quality loss incurred due to deviation of quality characteristics of the target with a specified tolerance. This article discusses the development of concurrent engineering optimization model of tolerance design and manufacturing process selection on product with multiple quality characteristics by minimizing total costs in the system, namely total manufacturing cost and quality loss cost as functions of tolerance, also  rework and scrap costs. The considered multiple quality characteristics have interrelated tolerance chain. The formulation of proposed model is using mixed integer non linear programming as the method of solution finding. In order to validate of the model, this study presents a numerical example. It was found that optimal solution are achieved from proposed model in the numerical example. &nbsp

Inovasi terhadap Dimensi Kurikulum dan Guru sebagai Alternatif Upaya Peningkatan Mutu Pendidlkan Teknologi dan Kejuruan

Dunia pendidikan, akhir-akhir ini banyak menarik perhatian. Pokok­pokok pembaharuan pendidikan dibahas dan ditanggapi secara luas dan ramai. Dalam hal ini, pendidikan diartikan sebagai USAha manusia yang bertujuan memperluas cakrawala pemikiran atau pengetahuan, mening­katkan keterampilan dan membentuk watak (character building) agar ia menyadari eksistensi dirinya dalam kehidupan sosial. Masalah yang banyak dilontarkan dewasa ini adalah rendahnya mutu lulusan sekolah, terutama sekolah-sekolah kejuruan yang diharapkan menghasilkan tenaga kerja siap pakai. Dunia industri mengeluh karena tenaga kerja yang dihasilkan saat ini memiliki keterampilan yang rendah bahkan hanya semi terampil. Lulusan lulusan pendidikan teknologi dan kejuruan yang iidak siap pakai akan ter­lihat dari hasil kerja serta produktivitas mereka dalam melaksanakan tugas­nya. "Sebab tingkat kesiapan seorang tenaga kerja diukur dari bekal penge tahuan, keterampilan dan sikap dalam menghadapi bidang kerjanya Menurut statistik pada akhir PeJita III, jumlah sekolah teknologi dan kejuruan sebanyak 1200 sekolah dengan jumlah siswa sebanyak 763.915orang dan terus berkembang hingga Pelita sekarang