The Impact of Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) Towards Maintenance Performance for High-Rise Residential Lift System

Building maintenance has become an invaluable process in the field of the built environment with the purpose of retaining building value and quality. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is important in the maintenance field as it can reduce maintenance costs without affecting the performance of services. However, the application of LCC in this country is limited due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about LCC. This research intends to identify the components of LCC and its impact on the maintenance performance of lift systems in high-rise residential buildings. Lift systems are important for high-rise buildings to transport occupants from the ground floor to upper floors but most lift systems have not been effectively managed and maintained in Malaysia, which has resulted in severe injuries to users and even death. Yet, there is a lack of data regarding high-end high-rise residential buildings. Hence, this research will focus on lift systems in high-end high-rise residential buildings. A mixed-method approach has been adopted whereby questionnaires were distributed to building managers of high rise residential buildings in Klang Valley and interviews were conducted with building managers from the selected case studies. With the application of LCC, the maintenance team can consider all the LCC components of the lift system during the decision-making process and improve the maintenance performance of the lift system by having lower breakdown rates, fewer complaints received and quicker response times

Optimising Maintenance Cost by Prioritising Maintenance of Facilities Services in Residential Buildings

Purpose – The paper illustrates the maintenance prioritising for facilities services in high-rise residential buildings in Peninsular Malaysia. Maintenance prioritisation is becoming more prominent in the building maintenance industry due to budget constraints, poor maintenance management and to yield better maintenance performance. Design/methodology/approach – Two main categories with eleven facilities services that require maintenance were identified through extensive literature review. A total of 321 returned questionnaires were analysed to distinguish the relationship between the maintenance priority and cost variance. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to validate the findings. Findings – The findings revealed that five essential facilities services were significantly correlated to cost variance and a prediction model which examines the probability of over-budget was developed. Meanwhile, the interviews recognised that maintenance prioritisation has impact towards maintenance cost. Research limitations/implications – This research focuses on the maintenance priorities of facilities services and their effects to maintenance cost. However, it is undeniable that the maintenance cost can be affected by other factors, contributing to a lower percentage of the total variance in the prediction model. Thus, it creates research opportunity to study the factors (i.e. manpower, materials, wear and tear, etc.) affecting the variance of maintenance cost. Practical implications – This study is useful to property managers in efforts to enhance the cost performance via appropriate maintenance prioritisation. The essential facilities services should be highly prioritised compared to the value-added facilities services. Originality/value – The paper signifies the importance of maintenance prioritisation. It serves as a guide to plan and execute maintenance planning in a more logical way within budget and time constraints. Keywords: maintenance priority, facilities services, residential, high-rise building, building maintenance, maintenance cos

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Ubiquitination and the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System as regulators of transcription and transcription factorsin epithelial mesenchymal transition of cancer.

Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in cancer is a process that allows cancer cells to detach from neighboring cells, become mobile and metastasize and shares many signaling pathways with development. Several molecular mechanisms which regulate oncogenic properties in neoplastic cells such as proliferation, resistance to apoptosis and angiogenesis through transcription factors or other mediators are also regulators of EMT. These pathways and downstream transcription factors are, in their turn, regulated by ubiquitination and the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS). Ubiquitination, the covalent link of the small 76-amino acid protein ubiquitin to target proteins, serves as a signal for protein degradation by the proteasome or for other outcomes such as endocytosis, degradation by the lysosome or directing these proteins to specific cellular compartments. This review discusses aspects of the regulation of EMT by ubiquitination and the UPS and underlines its complexity focusing on transcription and transcription factors regulating EMT and are being regulated by ubiquitination