Prospect of Blockchain Technology for Construction Project Management in Malaysia

Year 2017 is hailed as the year of the blockchain, a technology which has disrupted a wide array of sectors, particularly the financial and legal sectors. Blockchain is a technology derived from Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Since then, the Bitcoin concept has been innovated to create blockchain technology. Blockchain consists of de-centralized, tamper-proof digital ledgers of transactions, which are chronologically and securely recorded over complex networks. Proponents of this technology are looking into the adoption of blockchain in their operations, since it is safer and reduces operating costs. This paper provides an overview of the prospects of utilizing blockchain technology to solve issues existing in the construction industry, specifically in Malaysia. The scope of this study is confined to several aspects, which includes the fundamentals of blockchain technology, and the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for pre-construction and construction phases, within the purview of the project management field. Among the applications of this technology includes identity validation and notarization for construction personnel/industry players, project governance and smart contracts (BIM and Blockchain integration). As a result of this study, it was found that the application of blockchain technology in project management is still in its early adoption phase, with exciting developments in the near future. Despite being in its early stages of adoption, it can be seen that the blockchain technology adoption across the globe, particularly in the area of project management has a promising outlook. However, further research needs to be carried out to ascertain the feasibility of blockchain technology implementation in the local construction industry

Geotechnical characterization in hilly area of Kundasang, Sabah, Malaysia.

Geotechnical Characterization is an approach that derives from the soil investigation report. Often, the soil investigation report would provide the information regarding the proposed development area, or the area which involved in the remedial work. And in the soil investigation reports, the most important values were arranged in the separated sections. With geotechnical characterization, all the important data will be summarized and compiled in the convenient way to describe the soil condition of the area. This paper provides an overview of the geotechnical characterization in this particular area which could be utilized to solve existing issues in the construction industry. The scope of this study is confined to several aspects, namely soil types in the boreholes according to the USCS, liquid limit, plasticity index, soil cohesion, angle of internal frictions, and soil plasticity. Among the many applications of this approach includes slope stability, soil shear strength and foundation design. As a result of this study, it was found that the geotechnical characterization application could provide different view of soil condition, despite of the early assumption based on the borehole report. With this approach, the determination of the soil condition could provide the information and insight, which related to the prevention of landslide and soil mass movement

Analysis of Rainfall Effect on Slope Failure in Sabah

The paper is aimed to characterize the relationship between the landslide events and the critical rainfall intensity-duration from the rainfall analysis. In this study, 10 landslide events that occurred in Ranau, Sabah area between years 2007 to 2015 were investigated and analysed using rainfall threshold based on soil water index (SWI) method. The analysis results showed that both short-intense rainfall (i.e., 1-day) and prolonged antecedent rainfall (i.e., 14, 30-day) played a significant role of the landslide initiations in Ranau, Sabah area. Overall results indicated that this method could simulate the rain infiltration response by the level of soil moisture in the area of landslide

Ordinary Kriging as a Method to Determine the Clay Mapping Distribution in Highland Area of Sabah

Ordinary Kriging (OK), is one of the geostatistical methods, which were used in the variation types of mapping, which related to the soil. Compliment by semivariogram models, OK has become one of the most sought out method for the digital mapping, which applied Geographical Information System (GIS) as a main approach. In this method, four semivariogram models, which are spherical, exponential, circular and gaussian would be applied to determine the best model for the mapping purposes, with RMSE as a performance indicator. This method would be implemented in determining the clay mapping distribution for Kundasang area in Sabah, which has been known for the highland tourism and susceptible for the geohazard such as soil mass movement and landslides. Through this method, the clay percentage distribution mapping would be produced

The Application of Semi Variogram and Ordinary Kriging in Determining the Cohesion and Clay Percentage Distribution in Hilly Area of Sabah, Malaysia

Ordinary Kriging (OK) is one of the geostatistical methods, which were used in the variation types of mapping, which related to the soil. Compliment by semi variogram models, OK has become one of the most sought out method for the digital mapping, which applied Geographical Information System (GIS) as a main approach. Four semi variogram models, which are spherical, exponential, circular and gaussian would be applied to determine the best model for the mapping purposes, with Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE) as a performance indicator. The value of the cohesion and clay percentage will be based according to the related depth. Each semi variogram model will be applied to determine the best model for each depth, whether it is cohesion or clay percentage, and producing a map, as a result. This mapping would be an alternative to the geological mapping, whereby it would show the range of the cohesion and clay percentage values rather than soil types

Ordinary kriging as a method to determine the clay mapping distribution in highland area of Sabah

Ordinary Kriging (OK), is one of the geostatistical methods, which were used in the variation types of mapping, which related to the soil. Compliment by semivariogram models, OK has become one of the most sought out method for the digital mapping, which applied Geographical Information System (GIS) as a main approach. In this method, four semivariogram models, which are spherical, exponential, circular and gaussian would be applied to determine the best model for the mapping purposes, with RMSE as a performance indicator. This method would be implemented in determining the clay mapping distribution for Kundasang area in Sabah, which has been known for the highland tourism and susceptible for the geohazard such as soil mass movement and landslides. Through this method, the clay percentage distribution mapping would be produced