Comparative analysis of the productivity levels achieved through the use of panelised prefabrication technology with those of traditional building system : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Construction, School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Several studies have documented benefits of prefabricated building system compared to the traditional approach. Despite the acknowledged benefits of prefabrication, its application is generally low in the New Zealand construction industry. This low uptake is largely attributed to the fact that the documented benefits of prefabrication technology are anecdotal, or based on investigations of isolated case studies. This study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by analysing cost savings, time savings, and productivity improvement achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building system. A two-phased mixed method of research was adopted for the study. The first phase involved the use of case study-based archival research to obtain qualitative data from records of 151 completed building projects in three cities of New Zealand – Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The second phase involved the use of questionnaire survey to obtain feedback from industry stakeholders. Results showed that the use of panelised prefabrication in place of traditional building system contributed to 21 percent cost saving, 47 percent time saving and 10 percent average improvement in the productivity outcomes in the building projects. Results further showed that 17 factors could significantly influence the levels of benefits achievable with the use of prefabrication technology. ‘Building type’ and ‘location’ were the factors having the most significant influence on the benefits achievable by the use of panelised prefabrication in place of the traditional building systems. Other factors that influence the benefits of prefabrication included (in diminishing order of influence): logistics, type of prefabrication, scale/repeatability, standardisation, contractor’s level of innovation, environmental impact, project leadership, type of procurement, whole of life quality, site conditions, site layout and client’s nature

Magic graphs and the faces of the Birkhoff polytope

Magic labelings of graphs are studied in great detail by Stanley and Stewart. In this article, we construct and enumerate magic labelings of graphs using Hilbert bases of polyhedral cones and Ehrhart quasi-polynomials of polytopes. We define polytopes of magic labelings of graphs and digraphs. We give a description of the faces of the Birkhoff polytope as polytopes of magic labelings of digraphs.Comment: 9 page

Sunamganj community based resource management project (SCBRMP): an approach to sustainable beel fisheries management

Sunamganj is a land dominated by floodplains with seasonally flooded tectonic depressions known locally as haors and smaller water bodies known as beels. PeopleÆs livelihoods and culture are largely dominated by the haor economy where beel fisheries play a very critical role. Although the beel has a wide range of resources, the people at large have not been able to benefit from them. A small number of people by virtue of their power and influence have been exploiting the resources overriding all the codes of resource management and maintenance.Fishery management, Flood plains, Bangladesh,

Impact of monetary policy on lending and deposit rates in Pakistan: Panel data analysis

The study estimates impact of monetary policy (discount rate) on lending and deposit rates in Pakistan using bank type data from November 2001 to March 2011. The study finds evidence of long run relationship between lending and discount rate but deposit rate is not cointegrated with discount rate, monetary policy instrument. The study also finds an increase in the lending rate pass through rate during restricted monetary policy times (2005-2010), whereas deposit rate pass through remains same. The study finds that overall banks pass on only 20% impact of a change in discount rate to the lenders in first month implying it is not complete. There is also significant difference in various bank types pass through rates. The pass through of deposit rate is further low at 0.16 as revealed by short run analysis. It implies that the effectiveness of monetary policy is limited in Pakistan.Discount rate, pass-through, monetary policy