Adopting industrialisation in the construction environment: meeting the requirements of sustainability / Muhamad Faiz Musa …[et al.]

The construction industry should move from conventional construction method and adopt the industrialisation concept, to increase productivity and deliver quality construction end products. Industrialisation is the combination of a large market to divide into fractions the investment in strategies and innovation, in return, of simplifying the production and, therefore, reducing the costs. The introduction of Degree of Industrialisation by Roger-Bruno Richard is critical to the construction industry. The five degrees of industrialisation are prefabrication, mechanisation, automation, robotics and reproduction. Richard’s Degree of Industrialisation is in line with the Malaysian government’s vision to be a developed nation by 2020, to push forward the use of innovative technologies in most industries including the construction industry. The adoption of industrialisation and innovations in the Malaysian construction industry has the potential to solve the current problems in the construction industry. The problems are the inferior quality of products and processes, a poor site working conditions, low construction productivity, high construction cost, relying on foreign workers and lack of skill labours. The adoption of industrialisation and innovations promote sustainability in the construction environment. The objectives of the study are to investigate whether the adoption of industrialisation in the construction environment promotes sustainability and to identify the current level of industrialisation of the Malaysian construction industry. The methodologies of the study are semi-structure interview and observation. The Malaysian construction industry is ready to embrace industrialisation in construction environment in limited areas and industrialisation promotes sustainability in the construction environment

The Industrialised Building System Modular System (IBSMS) Framework

The enhancement of quality and to promote sustainability in the construction or built environment can be achieved through the adoption of offsite manufacturing (OSM). The adoption OSM through modular construction is already being adopted all over the world but to be considered as new technology and innovation in Malaysia. This paper will discuss the development of a framework for modular construction that embraced the Malaysian IBS approach. The framework is developed from the existing framework, literature review and the findings of the case studies. The established framework hopes to increase the understanding and awareness of modular construction in Malaysia.Keywords: Industrialised Building System (IBS); modular construction; Industrialised Building System Modular System (IBSMS); offsite manufacturing (OSM)ISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Adopting modular construction in the Malaysian construction industry / Muhamad Faiz Musa … [et al.]

Prefabrication and offsite construction promotes sustainability in the construction environment and industry that is essential to protect ecosystems, improves air quality, reduces waste, conserves natural resources and improves water quality. This paper discusses a study on adopting modular construction through Industrialised Building System (IBS) approach in the Malaysian construction industry. The sustainability principles in offsite construction and IBS have always maintained a balance between environment and construction, improve human self-respect and encourage economic development

Sugar utilization in fermentation of nipa frond sap by saccharomyces cerevisiae

In recent years, concerns about the reduction of energy and materials, as well as limits to the ecosystem's assimilation capacity of residues have been raised in the social, political and business arena. All fossil fuels and minerals are limited and non-renewable on a human scale. These resources are thus limited physically and more stringently, economically [1]. Dependency on fossil fuel as energy source increase the oil price and often leads to economic depressions. In addition, the gas emission produced by the combustion of fossil fuels also contributes to air pollution and global warming. Most countries also experience more and more international pressure on global warming issues. Hence, renewable and clean alternative fuels have received increasing attention for present and future utilization [2]

Industrialized building system plan of work

Industrialised building systems (IBS) is a term used to describe construction method that produced building components manufactured in a factory, transported and assembled into a structure using appropriate machinery and equipment with minimal workers on site.The project life cycle is a project independent series of activities that commences from the starting point until the moment it was successfully delivered. Generally in a construction project, the phases or stages are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling as well as the closing stage.This paper is part of an on-going research on the IBS project management life cycle through the IBS approach in the Malaysian construction industry.The data and information presented is the review of the available relevant literature on this research topic. This paper incorporates an analysis of the definitions and IBS/off-site plan of work or similar to it outside Malaysia.The identification of the plan/cycle from the analysis is critically essential to becoming the fundamental foundation for further research into the subject matter.It is hoped that at the end of the core research, industry players will be provided with a guideline that adopts a concept of “cradle to grave” in managing IBS throughout its plan of work/life cycle

Prospective observational cohort study on grading the severity of postoperative complications in global surgery research

Background The Clavien–Dindo classification is perhaps the most widely used approach for reporting postoperative complications in clinical trials. This system classifies complication severity by the treatment provided. However, it is unclear whether the Clavien–Dindo system can be used internationally in studies across differing healthcare systems in high- (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This was a secondary analysis of the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), a prospective observational cohort study of elective surgery in adults. Data collection occurred over a 7-day period. Severity of complications was graded using Clavien–Dindo and the simpler ISOS grading (mild, moderate or severe, based on guided investigator judgement). Severity grading was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data are presented as frequencies and ICC values (with 95 per cent c.i.). The analysis was stratified by income status of the country, comparing HICs with LMICs. Results A total of 44 814 patients were recruited from 474 hospitals in 27 countries (19 HICs and 8 LMICs). Some 7508 patients (16·8 per cent) experienced at least one postoperative complication, equivalent to 11 664 complications in total. Using the ISOS classification, 5504 of 11 664 complications (47·2 per cent) were graded as mild, 4244 (36·4 per cent) as moderate and 1916 (16·4 per cent) as severe. Using Clavien–Dindo, 6781 of 11 664 complications (58·1 per cent) were graded as I or II, 1740 (14·9 per cent) as III, 2408 (20·6 per cent) as IV and 735 (6·3 per cent) as V. Agreement between classification systems was poor overall (ICC 0·41, 95 per cent c.i. 0·20 to 0·55), and in LMICs (ICC 0·23, 0·05 to 0·38) and HICs (ICC 0·46, 0·25 to 0·59). Conclusion Caution is recommended when using a treatment approach to grade complications in global surgery studies, as this may introduce bias unintentionally

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine