Building Maintenance Management in a Malaysian University Campus: A Case Study

University buildings require maintenance in order to create a conducive environment that supports and stimulates learning, teaching, innovation, and research. The prime objective of maintenance is to ensure, as far as practicable, the continued peak performance of the building throughout its design life. This paper seeks to report the maintenance management system of a university institution in Malaysia. Primary data was gathered through the analysis of a case study. The objectives of the case study are to identify, describe and assess the maintenance management system used by the university. The major conclusion drawn from the case study was that although university building maintenance practices are corrective and cyclical there is a lack of a comprehensive maintenance management framework that guides the decision-making processes. The case study also revealed irregularities in the university’s maintenance management system

The determination of the services of quantity surveyors

The quantity surveying profession in Nigeria has made tremendous progress since the country gained independence in 1960. Quantity surveyors (QS) provide various kinds of services to a multitude of clients in the building industry. However, empirical researches focusing on the kind or category of services that they provide are somewhat inadequate and far between. This sometimes caused a rift among construction experts doubting what the QS actually do, vis-a-vis in providing clients with the necessary support and undertaking. Therefore, this paper seeks to determine the kind of services QS provide for their clients and benchmark it against established international standards. Distinguishing their scope of work will provide a clear direction for improvements and enable their special contribution to be better understood and appreciated. To achieve its objectives, the paper combined literature reviews and questionnaire survey. Henceforth, thirty six (36) general services expected of the QS in projects were identified and solicited among 200 respondents. The findings revealed that majoirty of the services were provided the quantity surveyors in nigeria. Howevere, a substantial percentage within the profession were not providing the required services to the clients. Therefore, the paper recommends for QS in Nigeria to strive for a more client-focused services in order to catch up with international standards and, along the way, improve service quality to meet the clients’ expectation

Evaluation of the awareness and experiences of the primary and secondary school teachers on asthma: A cross-sectional study in Ilorin, Nigeria

Objectives: Children spend the daytime participating in classes and sports. Hence, as the general caregiver of children during school hours, the teacher has a role in managing those with asthma. The present study aims to identify teachers’ knowledge, attitude, and experiences about childhood asthma in primary and secondary schools in Ilorin, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1532 teachers from 64 schools (24 primary and 40 secondaries) selected through multistage sampling. A 40-item Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire was used to assess teachers’ knowledge about childhood asthma. A score of <22 out of 40 was considered suboptimal knowledge of childhood asthma. Results: The response rate was 92.8%. Two-thirds of respondents were female. The overall mean age was 33.8 ± 8.1 years. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) teaching duration was 6 (3–11) years. The teachers had the highest median score (60.0%) in the triggers domain and the lowest median score (33.3%) in the symptoms domain. The overall median (IQR) knowledge score of the primary school teachers was 50.0 (30.0–65.0%), and for the secondary school teachers was 52.5 (30.0–65.0%), P = 0.689. Two hundred and ninety-one (55.1%) primary teachers and 479 (53.6%) secondary teachers had suboptimal knowledge. Teachers with an asthmatic relative, an asthmatic child in the class, or who previously witnessed a child with an asthmatic attack had – significantly better asthma knowledge, with each P < 0.05. Conclusion: About half of the teachers surveyed had suboptimal knowledge of asthma. Strategies to improve teachers’ knowledge are crucial for improved childhood asthma management in Ilorin schools

Perception of Lecturers and Students Regarding the Illuminance in the Lecture Theatres and Tutorial Rooms: Case Study in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)

Even though artificial lighting is widely used nowadays, it has several negative impacts on human health. Therefore, this paper reported research that comparing the illuminance level in the learning environment in UTAR and recognizing the users’ insights on the illuminance level. Lux meter and questionnaires were used for data collection. Questionnaires were administered to 312 respondents. The results show that the illuminance level in some of the tutorial rooms is too bright and left on even when the rooms are empty. From the descriptive analysis, it is found that almost all the respondents are satisfied with the illuminance level in both research venues. Based on the t-test, it is found the significance for pair 1 and pair 2 is greater than 0.05. Hence, there is no similarity between both research venues. Pair 1 is about the lighting condition preferred by the respondents, while pair 2 is about the condition in both research venues which includes the existence of glaring vision, headache, eye tiredness, and conditions that affect student performance. This paper concludes by suggesting that individual switches be provided for each of the bulbs

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Quantitative Analysis of Criteria in University Building Maintenance in Malaysia

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">University buildings are a significant part of university assets and considerable resources are committed to their design, construction and maintenance. The core of maintenance management is to optimize productivity and user satisfaction with optimum resources. An important segment in the maintenance management system is the analysis of criteria that influence building maintenance. Therefore, this paper aims to identify quantify, rank and discuss the criteria that influence maintenance costs, maintenance backlogs, productivity and user satisfaction in Malaysian university buildings. The paper reviews the related literature and presents the outcomes of a questionnaire survey. Questionnaires were administered on 50 university maintenance organizations. Thirty-one criteria were addressed to the university maintenance organizations to evaluate the degree to which each of the criteria influences building maintenance management. With a 66% response rate, it was concluded that the consideration of the criteria is critical to the university building maintenance management system. The quality of components and materials, budget constraints and the age of the building were found to be the most influential criteria but information on user performance satisfaction, problems associated with in-house workforce and shortage of materials and components were the least influential criteria. The paper also outlined that maintenance management is a strategic function in university administration. </span></span></p

Building maintenance processes and practices: the case of a fast developing country

This book is designed to be an inclusive for the best practice approach to building maintenance management, where the processes, procedures and operational systems meet a high standard of professional and academic competence. It offers a different perspective on building maintenance management by presenting the schematic building maintenance value chain model and it’s implementation in Malaysian university buildings. The findings show an improvement to building performance, lower maintenance cost, building sustainability and increased maintenance service user satisfaction. The learning outcomes and summaries provided for each chapter and the extensive use of tables and figures add to the readability of the text. Though the book is based on data from Malaysia, it is useful for a much wider audience, and the informal writing style makes it an interesting reference source. This book is valuable for readers who are practitioners, professionals and for academic institutions that offer courses in the building field, including architecture, quantity surveying, civil engineering, building and facility management, property management, real estate. It will also be of interest to governments and others involved in the construction industry. 

Building Maintenance Management in a Malaysian University Campus: A Case Study

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">University buildings require maintenance in order to create a conducive environment that supports and stimulates learning, teaching, innovation, and research. The prime objective of maintenance is to ensure, as far as practicable, the continued peak performance of the building throughout its design life. This paper seeks to report the maintenance management system of a university institution in Malaysia. Primary data was gathered through the analysis of a case study. The objectives of the case study are to identify, describe and assess the maintenance management system used by the university. The major conclusion drawn from the case study was that although university building maintenance practices are corrective and cyclical there is a lack of a comprehensive maintenance management framework that guides the decision-making processes. The case study also revealed irregularities in the university&rsquo;s maintenance management system. </span></span></span></p