Prospects and Challenges of Lean Construction Practice In The Building Industry In Nigeria: Architects’ Perspective

Lean construction is a new practice of designing and managing building projects to reduce project time and manage resources to eliminate waste, thereby giving the client maximum value for money spent. Globally, the implementation of lean construction has been on the rise as a result of waste and it is being strongly advocated for by building professionals. Some studies have identified some prospects and challenges of its adoption. However, the findings of such studies usually emanated from the researchers’ evaluation of the lean construction practice and not based on the perception of practicing professionals of the building industry, particularly in Nigeria. Consequently, this study examined the principles and techniques of lean practice in literature and investigated the perception of practicing registered architects in Nigeria on the possibilities and constraints of implementing lean construction techniques in the building industry in the country. This was done in order to identify the unquestioned challenges and harness the potentials of implementing its principles and strategies, towards making contributions on how to achieve better building project delivery in Nigeria. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of research were adopted for the study. Qualitative data were gathered from relevant literature by textual analysis and analysed using content analysis procedure. Quantitative data were obtained via questionnaire administered to a sample size of 270 registered practicing architects in the study area. The quantitative data were analysed with statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 and the result presented descriptively with the aid of charts and tables. The findings revealed that 89% of the respondents are well informed of the lean construction techniques. Last planner technique has the highest adoption rate with 33%. The challenges of its implementation revolve around corruption, funding, remuneration, poor leadership and fear of unfamiliar practices. However, its prospects are very high, based on the responses of the respondents. Among the recommendations of the study is that periodic training programmes should be organised by professional bodies to equip professionals on the technical skills and benefits lean construction practice offers towards achieving better building project delivery

Proteomic analysis of the U1 snRNP of Schizosaccharomyces pombe reveals three essential organism-specific proteins

Characterization of spliceosomal complexes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe revealed particles sedimenting in the range of 30–60S, exclusively containing U1 snRNA. Here, we report the tandem affinity purification (TAP) of U1-specific protein complexes. The components of the complexes were identified using (LC-MS/MS) mass spectrometry. The fission yeast U1 snRNP contains 16 proteins, including the 7 Sm snRNP core proteins. In both fission and budding yeast, the U1 snRNP contains 9 and 10 U1 specific proteins, respectively, whereas the U1 particle found in mammalian cells contains only 3. Among the U1-specific proteins in S. pombe, three are homolog to the mammalian and six to the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae U1-specific proteins, whereas three, called U1H, U1J and U1L, are proteins specific to S. pombe. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the homolog of U1-70K and the three proteins specific to S. pombe are essential for growth. We will discuss the differences between the U1 snRNPs with respect to the organism-specific proteins found in the two yeasts and the resulting effect it has on pre-mRNA splicing

Intelligent information systems for knowledge work(ers)

Our society needs and expects more high-value services. Such "knowledge-intensive" services can only be delivered if the necessary organizational and technical requirements are fulfilled. In addition, the cost-benefit analysis from the service provider point of view needs to be positive. Continuous improvement and goal-directed (partial) automation of such services is therefore of crucial importance. As a contribution to this we describe our current research vision for (partially) automated support of knowledge work(ers) based on intelligent information systems focusing on the use of experience. For the implementation of such a vision we base on the integration of approaches from artificial intelligence and software engineering. A "deep" integration of case-based reasoning and experience factory is a first successful step in this direction. We envision the further integration of software product-lines and multi-agent systems as the next one

Sedimentation profiles of U1-70K (Usp101p), U1H (Usp107p), U1J (Usp108) and U1L (Usp109p) complexes

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Proteomic analysis of the U1 snRNP of reveals three essential organism-specific proteins"</p><p></p><p>Nucleic Acids Research 2007;35(5):1391-1401.</p><p>Published online 30 Jan 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC1865046.</p><p>© 2007 The Author(s).</p> () Protein extract (5 mg) of cells expressing U1-70K-TAP, U1H-TAP and U170-HA or U1J-TAP and U1-70K-HA or U1L-TAP and U1-10K-HA were separated on a 10–30% glycerol gradient. The gradient fractions () were precipitated with IgG antibodies and separated by SDS-PAGE, immunoblotted and probed with αTAP antibodies to determine the distribution of U1-70K-TAP, U1H-TAP, U1J-TAP and U1L-TAP, as indicated. () The gradient fractions 3–8 and 10–15 of a gradient-containing U1L-TAP and U1-70K-HA were pooled bound to IgG-Sepharose. The bound material was separated on SDS-PAGE, immunoblotted and probed with IgG and HA antibodies. An aliquot (50%) of the bound material was used to isolate RNA and hybridized with a labeled U1 probe to visualize U1 snRNA as indicated. Mo, pooled gradient fractions 10–15 of a protein extract from a wild-type strain. The pooled gradient fractions 3–8 from this gradient also showed no signals (not shown). The gradient was calibrated with small (30S) and large (50S) ribosomal subunits from

Directed microbial biosynthesis of deuterated biosurfactants and potential future application to other bioactive molecules

Deuterated rhamnolipids were produced using strain AD7 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which was progressively adapted to increasing levels of deuterium in D(2)O and carbon substrates. Fourteen different deuterated rhamnolipid structures, including structural isomers, were produced which is similar to normal protonated structures. There were two main products monorhamnolipid Rha-C(10)-C(10) and dirhamnolipid Rha(2)-C(10)-C(10). The levels of deuteration varied from 16% with 25% D(2)O + h-glycerol to 90% with 100% D(2)O + d-glycerol. When d-tetradecane was used with H(2)O, virtually all the deuterium appeared in the lipid chains while using h-tetradecane + D(2)O led to the majority of deuterium in the sugars. The adaptation to growth in deuterium appeared to be metabolic since no genetic changes could be found in the key rhamnolipid biosynthetic genes, the rhamnosyl transferases RhlB and RhlC. Deuterated sophorolipids were similarly produced using Candida bombicola and Candida apicola although in this case, no adaptation process was necessary. Up to 40 different sophorolipids were produced by these yeasts. However, unlike the rhamnolipids, use of D(2)O did not lead to any deuteration of the lipid chains, but direct incorporation into the lipid was achieved using d-isostearic acid. The results from these experiments show the feasibility of producing deuterated bioactive compounds from microorganisms coupled with the possibility of manipulating the pattern of labelling through judicious use of different deuterated substrates