Framework of decision making process for variation works to analyse impacts caused by factors influencing decisions

Standard forms of contract provide guidelines in managing variations to construction projects. However, problems exist as there are factors influencing construction professionals in the decision making process. Thus the specific objectives of this study are to identify and establish the decision making process for variation works, to determine the factors that influences construction professionals in the decision making, to identify and establish the best practice for developing a conceptual framework of decision making process and to develop a framework of decision making process for variation works that is able to analyze the impacts caused by these factors. The literature review suggested that there are factors such as standard forms of contract, practice, professionals and institutions, client and employers, contractors, other construction professionals, experience and knowledge acquisition and procurement system that influences construction professionals during the decision making process. Available framework of decision making lack the methodological assessment of these factors influencing decisions on variations which is needed to embrace positive changes and mitigate negative changes effectively. Data of the study consist of 18 construction professionals and the transcripts of the interview were exported into computer software to quantify the data, manage and find out the pattern of their responses to the questionnaire. The data analysis showed that the impact caused by the factors influencing decisions on variation can be analysed to determine whether it give a positive, negative or neutral impacts. The score sheet provided the methodological assessment in the conceptual framework taking into consideration best practices of the decision making process. The developed framework of decision making process was validated by construction industry’s expert to consolidate its criteria of comprehensiveness, reliability, practicality and adaptability. The findings of the study shows that the developed framework are able to improve on the decision made by providing a methodological assessment of these factors influencing decisions on variations

PC- based pid nutrient mixing progress for fertigation system

The practice of supplying crops in the field with fertilizers via the irrigation water is called fertigation. It is a modern agro-technique which provides an excellent opportunity to maximize yield and minimize environmental pollution by increasing fertilizer use efficiency, minimizing fertilizer application and increasing return on the fertilizer invested. In fertigation, timing, amounts and concentration of fertilizers applied are easily controlled. The nutrient requirement of crops is very much dependent on the biological stage of growth, varying from seeding to harvest. The goal of this project is to design, provide reliable and maintain a mixing process of fertilizer set A and set B at set point using PID controller. The precise proportional flow rate pump is used to inject both fertilizers set A and set B at predecided electrical conductivity (EC) value followed by plant nutrient uptake rate on a timebase irrigation system. Electrical resistivity of the mixing fertilizer liquid is to be considered as a proxy for the variability of nutrient properties. Validation of a model is determined by experiment. Therefore a prototype of fertigation system based on PC-based is built to collect and analyse the measurement data of EC. The result shows that the mixing process of fertilizers set A, set B and water using PID controller has been able to increase the efficiency of mixing fertilizer level according to the set point

Synthesis and characterization of salicylic acid with zinc-aluminium layered double hydroxide via ion exchange / Daniel Afiq Mohd Norazam

In this project, Zinc-Aluminium Layered Double Hydroxide (Zn-Al-LDH) have been prepared with a molar ratio, R4 (4:1) of Zn(NO3)2 and Al(NO3)2. The salicylic acid (SA) have been successfully intercalated into the inorganic host LDH by ion exchange method at a concentration of 0.3 M, The nanocomposites have been characterized and synthesized by using Powder X-Ray Diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared. From the PXRD results, the basal spacing of the LDH expanded from 8.7 Å to 10.0 Å proving that the insertion of the large anion SA molecule into the interlayer of LDH was successful. Fourier transform infrared study further confirmed intercalation of SA into the interlayer of the LDH. The results showed that the nitrate peak in the LDH at 1351.72 cm-1 disappeared as the appearance of the SA peak into the intercalation compound which were at 3337.28 cm-1, 1608.36 cm-1, 1474.47 cm-1, 1255.09 cm-1 and 1184.68 cm-1 indicate the OH stretching, C=O stretching, C=C stretching, C-O group and C-OC frequency. The disappearance of absorption peak at 1682.72 cm-1 assigned to the C=O stretching mode and new peak of 1608.36 cm-1 were formed due to the asymmetric stretching vibration of COO- group after the intercalation. From this results, FTIR data confirmed that the SA anions have been successfully intercalated in the LDH

Developing a deferred maintenance model for public university in Malaysia

Deferred maintenance has been regarded as a critical issue in maintenance management and has created negative impacts toward the performance of buildings and organization. This issue has become worldwide especially in most developing countries including Malaysia. If this issue is not resolved, the stakeholders may suffer from possible risks of poor organization performance. Similarly, deferred maintenance has also become a pressing issue and has adverse affected the management of public universities in Malaysia. Hence this study is intended to investigate the relationship between causes and effects of deferred maintenance and subsequently, a structural model is developed specifically for public universities in Malaysia. In order to achieve the aim, preliminary expert interviews, questionnaire survey and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) had been carried out. A total of 220 sets of questionnaires has returned and has been analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22 and Smart PLS-SEM version 3.0 software for modelling the causes and effects relationship. The outcome of the model proved that seven (7) hypotheses found to be positively related. This model consists of 21 deferred maintenance indicators of causes that categorized into 3 groups. The group of causes are “Organization” with 12 indicators, “Resources” with 5 indicators and “Financial” with 4 indicators. The study also identified 23 indicators of effects which are categorized into 4 groups. The groups of effects are “Social” with 8 indicators, “Environment” with 7 indicators, “Technical” with 5 indicators and “Economic” with 3 indicators. The developed model provides useful information and better knowledge to the maintenance of organization and is vital to curb the deferred maintenance problem. It also gives an in depth understanding towards deferred maintenance by explaining the impact load of each indicator involved. The model has also fulfilled the need to visualize the causes and effects of deferred maintenance in a holistic manner. The validation of the model by 14 experts was undertaken to determine its appropriateness and relevancy in enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the relationship. In conclusion, this study has successfully modelled the relationship between the causes and effects of deferred maintenance of public university buildings in Malaysia

Assessing Delay Factors and Mitigation Measures in Building Maintenance Works

When it comes to the operation of a construction industry, building maintenance is critical. Any structure must be well-maintained to prevent minor problems from becoming major ones. Delayed building maintenance may result in increased repair costs as well as a reduction in building lifespan. To avoid this problem, research has been conducted to identify the factors that cause building maintenance delays and mitigation measures to resolve building maintenance delays. To achieve the study's objectives, extensive literature research and a questionnaire survey were conducted. Based on previous literature research, accumulated data was used to create a questionnaire for 250 Malaysian building maintenance delay factors and mitigation measures. A group of professionals and experts, including top management, project managers, engineers, architects, assistant engineers, technicians, human resources and administration, and others, participated in this survey. SPSS statistical software was used to analyse the collected data using the average mean index method and correlation. According to the data, the three highest mean index values from the factors that cause maintenance work delays are an increase in maintenance costs as the building age increases, an incorrect timing for work can incur higher maintenance costs when a critical job item is overlooked, and improper planning and budgeting. For correlation analysis, it was found that the correlations amongst the five groups of delay factors are having strong relationship with Pearson correlation value of 0.5. While for mitigation measures of the delay, it was found that three highest ranks are prefer other organizational structure follows by policy and objective and good communication. The findings can assist construction practitioners in prioritising their maintenance works

Glucose utilization of mucuna bracteata sap by saccharomyces cerevisiae in fermentation process

The usage of cover crops has been increase popularity in the agricultural community. A cover crop is a crop planted mainly to manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife in an agro ecosystem. Besides these advantages, cover crops also have disadvantages. Firstly, in order to terminate the crop, the cost that needed was too high. Next, it can also reduce soil moisture, increased risk of plant disease and increased risk of the pest population. Exceeded cover crops also can increase competition between the cash crops in order to get nutrients [1]. In order to overcome this problem, a research was conducted to study about cover crops as a new biomass source to produce something valuable

Penyuntingan formalism dalam filem Kapsul (2015) dan Last Life in The Universe (2003): satu kajian perbandingan / Muhammad Norazam Abdul Aziz

Kajian ini akan memberi penekanan terhadap penyuntingan formalisma yang memberi kesan terhadap ruang dan masa dalam penyampaian naratif filem. Ia turut melibatkan dua buah filem iaitu Kapsul (2015) dan Last Life in the Universe (2003). Proses penyuntingan merupakan proses penting dalam menerbitkan sesebuah filem. Antara kemampuan serta kesan penggunaan penyuntingan formalisme adalah ia mampu untuk memanipulasikan ruang dan masa. Berkaitan dengan perkara tersebut, ruang dan masa filem dapat dimanipulasikan melalui penggunaan teknik penyuntingan dan mampu untuk membuatkan struktur sesuatu naratif itu disampaikan dengan lebih baik. Oleh itu, kajian ini akan menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dan analisis tekstual bagi mendapatkan data mengenai suntingan formalisme yang mempengaruhi ruang dan masa dalam filem-filem yang dinyatakan. Kajian ini mengenalpasti aplikasi teknik dan gaya penyuntingan formalisme serta menganalisis perbandingan teknik dan gaya penyuntingan formalisme terhadap ruang dan masa terhadap kedua-dua filem yang dinyatakan. Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa terdapat penggunaan penyuntingan fomalisme terhadap kedua-dua filem tersebut bagi memanipulasikan ruang dan masa naratif filem. Namun, penggunaan teknik serta gaya penyuntingan antara filem-filem tersebut adalah berbeza dari segi penyampaian visual naratif yang mempengaruhi ruang dan masa filem

Safety incentive program for construction project: case studies of several construction projects in Klang Valley, Malaysia

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of safety incentive programs on construction sites in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Five construction projects that implemented safety incentive program were selected as case studies for this research. Interviews with the safety personnel for each project were conducted. The findings show that all selected case study projects had implemented a safety incentive program in different ways, such as using safety awards, housekeeping, unsafe behavior reporting, etc. However, there were issues and weaknesses in implementing these programs as raised by the respondents, which included miscommunication between the employee and the management, unsatisfactory safety awareness by employees, and so on. Some of the suggestions given by the respondents to minimize these problems included implementing communication courses, promoting programs through security campaigns and management involvement. The findings of this study provide information on the implementation of a safety incentive program at the construction site, and can also be used as a source of reference within the site safety management on how to properly implement the program

Application of direct payment clause 30A.0 of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) standard form of contract (with quantities)

Conditional payment such as “pay when paid” or “pay if paid” can create negative chain effect on the parties in construction projects, resulting in delay on the completion of a project, adversarialism and may affect a contractor’s reputation. Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) has launched a standard form of contract which is Construction Industry Payment Adjudication Act (CIPAA) compliance with the aim to reduce payment issues. The aim of the research is to identify whether the clause for “direct payment under CIPAA 2012” of the new AIAC standard form of contract can facilitate problems in direct payment. In achieving the aim of the research, five legal cases were analysed and thirty questionnaires forms were distributed. Legal cases analysis findings highlighted that the major reasons of the direct payment issue being referred to court is due to the validity of the direct payment agreement between the disputant’s parties. Based on the cases heard before CIPAA enactment, the findings show that out of the three cases, the disputants went to litigation because of the legality of direct payment agreements. Most of the agreements were made orally. For cases analysed after CIPAA was enacted, the findings show that the disputant parties do not opt for adjudication and that the main contractors try to mitigate their responsibilities to the employer. The results from the questionnaires distributed established that, the direct payment clause could be successfully adopted for future use of the industry. Eventhough the AIAC standard form of contract has been formally introduced to the industry, but it is not widely used. From the findings of the questionnaire, it shows that with encouragement and support from the industry, direct payment clause of AIAC standard form of contract have the potential in reducing payment issues in the future. With the remodeling of standard form of contracts that are available in construction industry to be CIPAA compliance, it is hoped that this move may scale down the prevalent payment issues in Malaysian construction industry