Enabling lean through human capacity building: an investigation of small and medium contractors

Purpose: This paper investigates the lean enabling human capacities and develops a framework integrating individual, organisational and environmental level strategies to build human capacities for successful lean implementation of small and medium contractors (SMCs) in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivism stance is adopted, and a qualitative research approach is used. The data collection technique adopted is semi-structured interviews. In total, 24 experts with experience in lean implementation of SMCs were interviewed, and data were analysed through code based content analysis using NVivo10. Findings: Team working skills, critical thinking, leadership, communication skills, work ethics, knowledge and positive attitudes were identified as lean enabling human capacities for SMCs. The framework developed in this study provides individual, organisational and environmental level strategies that can be used to build human capacities necessary for enabling lean in construction SMCs. Practical implications: The study will be beneficial to construction SMCs, academics, researchers and government institutions in developing countries, which share socio-economic, demographic or cultural traits similar to Sri Lanka. Originality/value: A novel lean enabling human capacity building framework is developed with the strategies required for building those capacities in order to accelerate the lean implementation in construction SMCs. This contributes to the body of knowledge as it uncovers individual, organisational and environmental level strategies for enabling lean through human capacity building in Sri Lankan SMCs

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Life cycle cost analysis of green construction sites

Due to tremendous growth in Infrastructure and construction development the concept of "Sustainable Construction" has gained an overwhelming growth in the field of construction. Although it is said so, contractors are hesitant in trying to adopt to green construction and prefer conventional construction over green construction due to the higher initial costs which would occur till the handing over stage. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) provides a significantly better assessment of the long term cost effectiveness of a project than alternative economic methods that focus only on first costs or operation costs costs in the short run. The study comprises of collection of information on the various types of costs that are likely to be incurred during the life cycle of green as well as conventional construction projects, which are then analyzed by a suitable software that enables calculation of Life Cycle cost of the projects considered. A comparative study between the different construction stages of conventional and green construction has been performed which helped to determine the advantages of going green. This study resulted in conclusions that has obtained results to demonstrate the advantages of going green from the contractor's point of view

Decision support system for diagnosing asthma disease

Field of medicine is more about decision making. The role of a physician is more pivotal in the diagnosis of a disease from all other possible illnesses. This is called as “Differential Diagnosis” in the field of medicine where the key aspect is the analysis of symptoms. But, due to both physicians’ factors and patient’s factors there occurs considerable amount of diagnostic errors which lead to dangerous consequences. So, there’s a rising concern in reducing these errors in medical diagnosis worldwide. When it comes to respiratory diseases differential diagnosis is more challenging due to the commonness of symptoms of various diseases and also the connection of cardiac diseases. Proper diagnosis needs both theoretical knowledge and the knowledge comes from experience. If we can blend both types into one place it will definitely support to come to more appealing conclusions when diagnosing diseases. Due to the nature of vagueness in expressions in the medical field, a technology which can cope with this gray area is more suitable. Fuzzy logic is a type of logic that identifies more than simple true and false values and can be represented with degrees of truthfulness and falsehood. Fuzzy logic is being integrated in many experts systems to solve many real world problems. Through our project we have developed a decision support system for diagnosing Asthma (a respiratory disease) and its stages in adults using fuzzy logic. The system is built based on 21 inputs which were considered by the expert as the most important symptoms and laboratory tests in diagnosing Asthma and its severity stages. The system proves its ability of addressing the problems stated above thus can be relied upon and further improved for coverage of more diseases

Capacity building in construction SMES : a proposal through enabling lean

Construction Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) makes a noteworthy contribution to GDP in national economy despite the challenges faced by them. One of their major problems is increase of non-value adding activities. Hence, construction SMEs need to be responsive to the challenges in implementing lean. Lean is a relatively new approach in the construction industry which minimizes waste, time and creates value. However, implementing lean may encounter challenges. Lack of capacities is the prevalent issue and hence, need to identify necessary capacities to achieve full benefit of lean implementation. Focusing on capacity building to enable lean construction will allow construction SMEs to better perform in the industry. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the importance of lean enabling capacity building in construction SMEs. Hence a comprehensive literature review was carried out to discuss the challenges faced by construction SMEs, lean philosophy, lean construction benefits, barriers and capacity building. Although, lean and capacity building related literature exists , there is a lack of research in capacity building strategies that enable lean in construction SMEs. Hence, the paper proposes a conceptual model for lean enabling capacity building for construction SMEs. The developed conceptual model will further guide this research study to identify lean enabling capacity building strategies for construction SMEs

BIM AND OPTIMISATION TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY IN GREEN CERTIFICATION SUBMISSION OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Green Buildings are gaining popularity in the construction industry as a result of strict environment protocols and carbon neutral policies by the governments across the globe. In Australia alone, since the introduction of Green Star Certification 5.5 million square metres of buildings have been certified as green buildings. With more stakeholders involved, the green certification submission process has become more complicated with less focus on triple bottom line approach of sustainability. Research has shown that 85% of the green submissions are concentrated on environmental sustainability with less significance on economic and social aspects. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a cutting-edge technology that allows effective decision making. The proposed research aims to develop a BIM model that can improve the sustainable decision making during green certification processes. Multi-objective optimisation techniques were developed to optimise the best design solution for different design criteria. A case study is employed to verify the functions of the platform suggested in the study. The results of the case study indicated a combination of green design options provide a maximum of 4.54% GHG emission reduction per unit cost increase. The outcomes of the research will be important to organizations who are keen on improving the environmental sustainability while minimising the economic implications

A comparative method of air emission impact assessment for building construction activities

Different construction activities may indicate distinct environmental impacts due to their uniqueness. Ability to assess and compare the environmental impacts from different construction activities can aid the process of minimising emissions at different building construction processes. The study presents a comparative impact assessment methodology to evaluate environmental impacts at different activities during the building construction stage. Significant impact related construction activities for five major impact categories namely global warming potential (GWP 100), acidification potential (AP), Eutrophication potential (EP), Photochemical oxidation formation potential (POFP) and Human toxicity potential (HTP) are compared from the global, regional and local perspectives. A case study of a residential building in Australia is used to demonstrate the application of the functions of the developed method. The results of the case study indicated that the method can be effectively used to compare environmental impacts of different construction activities at different geographical perspectives considered. The method can be used by designers and contractors in comparing impacts of various construction activities to identify the most emission effective construction processes