An Overview of Project Delivery Methods in Construction Industry

The selection of project delivery method is one of the factors that can influence the success of a construction project. Therefore, understanding each of the primary project delivery methods used in construction industry; Design-Bid-Build (DBB), Construction Manager at Risk (CM at Risk) and Design-Build (DB) are important before the decision-making. This paper is a theory based and the objectives are to develop a new definition of project delivery method by synthesizing the existing definitions and to describe the project delivery methods aforementioned. Their advantages, disadvantages and comparison in terms of delivery phase and performance are also presented. There is no project delivery method that appropriate to be used for any construction project therefore, the development of new ideal methods is important to achieve a successful construction project

Creating a culture of prevention in occupational safety and health practice: perceived body discomfort in two sitting positions

Prolonged sitting is one of the factors for back discomfort. Sitting in the same position for long periods of time is worse. This experimental based study was conducted to achieve three objectives. There were to 1) identify whether is there any differences between perceived body discomfort among respondents before and after upright sitting, 2) identify whether is there any differences between perceived body discomfort among respondents before and after slump sitting and 3) compare the level of perceived body discomfort among respondents after two sitting postures. Thirty young and healthy adults were recruited as study respondents. Each respondent was asked to sit in a posture either upright or slump for 30 minutes. Respondents were then rated their body discomfort using Borg CR-10 scale before and after sitting. Another sitting posture was carried out after one day interval. There is a significant difference between perceived body discomfort among respondents before and after upright and slump sitting. Body discomfort of upright sitting was shown significantly greater than slump sitting. Although, slump sitting caused less discomfort than upright, but it proven by previous studies did not provide benefit to occupational safety and health practice in preventing occupational health related disease

Consumers' perception of automatic emergency braking (AEB): Theoretical model and construct development

Due to remarkable developments, various automated driving systems, known as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), have been implemented, and the entire range of human driver activity in modern vehicles is undergoing changes. However, whether or not the consumers will accept and satisfy the emerging technologies, especially Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), remains a big question. Therefore, it is vital to understand how vehicle consumers or potential consumers decide to use or not to use, and what they expect or perceive of AEB. This work intends to review the published works on AEB to understand the current market of the technology. In order to investigate the user's perception, a developed theoretical model is planned to be adopted. The review was conducted by searching from Google Scholar and the ScienceDirect database through Universiti Malaysia Pahang online databases. The knowledge and understanding of the current AEB market and theoretical model will help researchers plan the next steps to explore consumer or potential consumer perception

Improved coupled tank liquid levels system based on hybrid genetic-immune adaptive tuning of PI controller

The accuracy and stability of many systems in chemical and process industries which has Two-Input Two-Output (TITO) is one of the key factors of process which have cross coupling between process input and output. Unlike traditional neural network weight adaptation using gradient descent method, Hybrid Genetic-Immune technique was utilized for adaptive tuning of neural network weights adjustment and fine tuning the controller's parameters. The TITO is modeled in Simulink and the Hybrid GA-AIS algorithm is implemented in MATLAB. The performances of proposed method also compared with GA and Artificial Immune System (AIS) alone, it was shown that hybrid PI-NN hybrid GA-AIS have superior features, stable convergence characteristic and good computational efficiency

The benefits and challenges of E-procurement implementation: A case study of Malaysian company

Traditionally,procurement covers the sales and purchase activities between two entities,which covers various aspects from searching,sourcing,negotiating,ordering,and receipt,to post-purchase review. In line with the advancement of information and communication technologies,as well as with the rapid growth of the Internet,more and more people and organisations are becoming connected. In order to move with the times,many governments around the world have looked into implementing e-government systems,part of which is the e-procurement system. This paper presents the advantages as well as challenges faced when implementing an e-procurement system based on results of a case study,from the perspective of a Malaysian company (Telekom Research and Development Sdn. Bhd.) implementing an e-procurement system that has been developed internally,rather than installing an off-the-shelf software application. Internally developed e-procurement systems covers four important dimensions,namely information collected,type of application,contract negotiation,and intelligence analysis,all of which are analysed in view of e-procurement performance. The outcome of this research yielded pertinent information for the company in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the internally developed e-procurement system,as well as enabling the organisation to highlight the practices and performance as a benchmark to measure the level of success of their own e-procurement system. Thus,due to the potential cost savings and highlighted benefits in this paper,e-procurement requires more attention from the government as related entities for greater expansion and adoption in order to ultimately contribute to the growth and well-being of the country’s economy

Study on potential of soil stabilization using concrete sludge of batching plant (CSBP)

More than 8 t of fresh concrete waste may be created and returned to the batching plants throughout Malaysia, where it will degrade into concrete sludge. Most batching plants will dump their concrete sludge on the ground or at a landfill which is not eco-friendly at all. Consequently, this study is to investigate the potential of concrete sludge of batching plant (CSBP) to be used as the stabilized material for organic soil which indirectly can help to recycle CSBP from end up at the landfill. The Atterberg limit test was conducted to identify the characteristic of soil used in this study. Four different percentages of CSBP were used which are 0, 5, 10 and 15%. Then, the standard Proctor test and California bearing ratio test were performed, and it shows that the CBR value remarkably increases from 4.8 to 20.7%, with the rise of CSBP percentages from 0 to 15%. The finding shows that CSBP can be used as the potential material to enhance the trend of strength value of CBR. Thus, using CSBP as a stabilized material for organic soil would alleviate the problem of overflowing landfills with concrete sludge and encourage a more sustainable approach in the construction industry

Comparison of Bus Driving Control Based on Working Shift Hour and Impact on Bus Fuel Consumption

This study is aimed to investigate and compare how the work schedule of bus drivers in urban areas can have impact on bus drivers' control on speed and acceleration. This study also assesses the influence of bus driving behavior on fuel consumption. The work schedule assessed in this research is morning shift (6.00 am to 3.00 pm), afternoon shift (3.00 pm to midnight) and direct shift (6.00 am to midnight). The result from this study indicated that for all driving shifts, drivers spent more than 70% of their driving time for accelerating and braking. Drivers were also significantly driving faster and applying sharper acceleration when accelerating and braking during morning shift. The variation of bus driving behavior between different working shift hours were found to influence bus fuel consumption significantly

Comparison of Bus Driving Control Based on Working Shift Hour and Impact on Bus Fuel Consumption

This study is aimed to investigate and compare how the work schedule of bus drivers in urban areas can have impact on bus drivers' control on speed and acceleration. This study also assesses the influence of bus driving behavior on fuel consumption. The work schedule assessed in this research is morning shift (6.00 am to 3.00 pm), afternoon shift (3.00 pm to midnight) and direct shift (6.00 am to midnight). The result from this study indicated that for all driving shifts, drivers spent more than 70% of their driving time for accelerating and braking. Drivers were also significantly driving faster and applying sharper acceleration when accelerating and braking during morning shift. The variation of bus driving behavior between different working shift hours were found to influence bus fuel consumption significantly

Effects of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction parameters on virgin coconut oil yield and medium-chain triglyceride content

The extraction of coconut oil has been performed using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). The extractions were performed at pressure and temperature ranges of 20.7-34.5 MPa and 40-80 °C, respectively. It was observed that almost all (more than 99%) of the total oil could be extracted. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to evaluate the effects of the parameters (pressure, temperature and CO2 consumption) on the extraction yield and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), in terms of the fatty acid content in the extracted oil. A correlation was established with p-values for both responses significant at the 95% confidence level