Integral value engineering in design

Construction industry clients demand certainty in project cost, quality and time. The inability of traditionally composed design teams to consistently deliver this suggests that their expertise is sometimes inadequate. As clients become more dynamic in the next millennium, they are likely to demand greater certainty when construction projects are implemented to support frequent revisions in their short term function. By establishing a collaborative working framework it is proposed that supply chains can be better managed to identify and design out potential problems using integrated, collaborative design processes. This proposal is being investigated by the Integrated Collaborative Design (ICD) research project, a collaboration of AMEC Construction, Loughborough University and eleven supply organisations, supported by the EPSRC and DETR through the IDAC Link programme. Focusing on one component of the ICD project, this paper reviews existing, reactive, value engineering methods and by identifying their inadequacies establishes the need for an integrated approach. A value management context is described which integrates value engineering into continuous design processes. The paper discusses the opportunities for utilising supplier design expertise by modelling design process information flows. It also identifies potential cultural barriers to the use of design processes incorporating integral value engineering techniques and describes the linkage to other ICD components that are addressing these issues

Construction value management revisited: the designer's role

Value management is well established in construction. The method provides a structured, documentable consideration of project stakeholders to ensure that projects are required, framed to satisfy values and sufficiently supported by all stakeholders to ensure successful completion. A variety of construction-specific value management methods exist and many UK design management contractors offer the practice to clients as a structured method of considering the role of each project in adding value to clients’ business activities. Value management in construction has grown from the manufacturing sector, but historical review suggests it was extrapolated verbatim, with limited revision for construction application. The soundness of this foundation is examined. The paper reviews the extent to which designers are currently provided with mechanisms to consider stakeholder values during the project stages when most design output is produced. Integral Value Engineering is proposed to continuously relate ongoing design activity to the project values current at the time of each design task’s completion. The paper describes a toolbox of value-adding tools that provide project designers with methods of structuring design activity to relate technical design solutions to stakeholder values. Development of the toolbox as a web-based resource is reviewed, and its supporting role confirmed by validation exercises. The paper concludes by establishing the need for all designers in the supply chain to be provided with methods of structuring their problem solving processes to address value delivery, and the suitability of the value-adding toolbox to them. Future work must develop means of actively maintaining a shared understanding of values throughout project progression, providing a framework and objective for ongoing design activity

Designing for short life: industry response to the proposed reuse of building services components

Business activity is increasingly subject to influences such as technological advancement and rising consumer expectations which necessitate a flexible approach to working practices particularly in the short-term. Organisations subject to frequent change must be supported by buildings that can readily accommodate changes in the use of internal spaces. Changing the use of a serviced usable space often necessitates alteration of supporting services installations. The functional, rather than physical, obsolescence of building services components will become more common as the rate of space use change increases. Current practice causes functionally obsolete components to be discarded when altering services installations. Reusing such functionally obsolete components, however, will recover the value of their embodied residual un-depreciated capital investment and under utilised physical life, thereby reducing the cost of services installation alteration and, indirectly, increasing serviced usable space flexibility

A problem-solving approach to value-adding decision making in construction design

Purpose – To illustrate the use of a Value Adding Toolbox by construction industry designers when addressing customer value expectations using problem solving. Design/methodology/approach – Focused literature review establishes the need for construction industry design solutions to deliver customer value and a Value Adding Toolbox is proposed in response. Case studies validate Toolbox use and one illustrative example is provided. Interviews with prospective Toolbox users identify barriers to adoption and inform a recommended approach to organisational adoption. Findings – The Toolbox is found to be effective at helping construction designers to solve technical design problems with regard to customer expectations of value. However, designers are found to be initially reluctant to adopt the new tool. Organisation learning is therefore required to establish the importance of customer value satisfaction as a prerequisite to Toolbox adoption by designers. Originality/value – This paper provides a useful insight into the practical application of problemsolving tools by construction designers to better understand customer needs

Morphological characteristics of motor neurons do not determine their relative susceptibility to degeneration in a mouse model of severe spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a leading genetic cause of infant mortality, resulting primarily from the degeneration and loss of lower motor neurons. Studies using mouse models of SMA have revealed widespread heterogeneity in the susceptibility of individual motor neurons to neurodegeneration, but the underlying reasons remain unclear. Data from related motor neuron diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), suggest that morphological properties of motor neurons may regulate susceptibility: in ALS larger motor units innervating fast-twitch muscles degenerate first. We therefore set out to determine whether intrinsic morphological characteristics of motor neurons influenced their relative vulnerability to SMA. Motor neuron vulnerability was mapped across 10 muscle groups in SMA mice. Neither the position of the muscle in the body, nor the fibre type of the muscle innervated, influenced susceptibility. Morphological properties of vulnerable and disease-resistant motor neurons were then determined from single motor units reconstructed in Thy.1-YFP-H mice. None of the parameters we investigated in healthy young adult mice - including motor unit size, motor unit arbor length, branching patterns, motor endplate size, developmental pruning and numbers of terminal Schwann cells at neuromuscular junctions - correlated with vulnerability. We conclude that morphological characteristics of motor neurons are not a major determinant of disease-susceptibility in SMA, in stark contrast to related forms of motor neuron disease such as ALS. This suggests that subtle molecular differences between motor neurons, or extrinsic factors arising from other cell types, are more likely to determine relative susceptibility in SMA

Experiential contributions to social dominance in a rat model of Fragile-X syndrome

Social withdrawal is one phenotypic feature of the monogenic neurodevelopmental disorder Fragile-X. Using a ‘knock-out’ rat model of Fragile-X, we examined whether deletion of the Fmr1 gene that causes this condition would affect the ability to form and express a social hierarchy as measured in a tube-test. Male Fragile-X ‘knock-out’ rats living together could successfully form a social dominance hierarchy, but were significantly subordinate to wild-type animals in mixed group cages. Over 10 days of repeated testing, the Fragile-X mutant rats gradually showed greater variance and instability of rank during their tube-test encounters. This affected the outcome of future encounters with stranger animals from other cages, with the initial phenotype of wild-type dominance lost to a more complex picture that reflected, regardless of genotype, the prior experience of winning or losing. Our findings offer a novel insight into the complex dynamics of social interactions between laboratory living groups of Fragile X and wild-type rats. Even though this is a monogenic condition, experience has an impact upon future interactions with other animals. Gene/environment interactions should therefore be considered in the development of therapeutics

Changes in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure over a 20-year period: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses

AIMS:  To examine long‐term changes in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in British men between 1978 and 2000, using serum cotinine. DESIGN:  Prospective cohort: British Regional Heart Study. SETTING:  General practices in 24 towns in England, Wales and Scotland. PARTICIPANTS:  Non‐smoking men: 2125 studied at baseline [questionnaire (Q1): 1978–80, aged 40–59 years], 3046 studied 20 years later (Q20: 1998–2000, aged 60–79 years) and 1208 studied at both times. Non‐smokers were men reporting no current smoking with cotinine < 15 ng/ml at Q1 and/or Q20. MEASUREMENTS: Serum cotinine to assess ETS exposure. FINDINGS:  In cross‐sectional analysis, geometric mean cotinine level declined from 1.36 ng/ml [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31, 1.42] at Q1 to 0.19 ng/ml (95% CI: 0.18, 0.19) at Q20. The prevalence of cotinine levels ≤ 0.7 ng/ml [associated with low coronary heart disease (CHD) risk] rose from 27.1% at Q1 to 83.3% at Q20. Manual social class and northern region of residence were associated with higher mean cotinine levels both at Q1 and Q20; older age was associated with lower cotinine level at Q20 only. Among 1208 persistent non‐smokers, cotinine fell by 1.47 ng/ml (95% CI: 1.37, 1.57), 86% decline. Absolute falls in cotinine were greater in manual occupational groups, in the Midlands and Scotland compared to southern England, although percentage decline was very similar across groups. CONCLUSIONS:  A marked decline in ETS exposure occurred in Britain between 1978 and 2000, which is likely to have reduced ETS‐related disease risks appreciably before the introduction of legislation banning smoking in public places

Electrical Characterization of Si Microwires and of Si Microwire/Conducting Polymer Composite Junctions

The electrical (DC) behavior of single silicon microwires has been determined by the use of tungsten probes to make ohmic contact to the silicon microwires. The basic electrical properties of the microwires, such as their DC resistivity and the doping distribution along the length of the microwires, were investigated using this approach. The technique was also used to characterize the junction between silicon microwires and conducting polymers to assess the suitability of such contacts for use in a proposed artificial photosynthesis system