1,720,963 research outputs found
Achieving the best value through environmental sustainable construction : integrated process model
No full textValue Management (VM) and Environmental Sustainability (ES) are increasingly
becoming important tools to be considered in construction. VM is one of the recognized techniques that made substantial cost savings on construction projects and sustainability is about delivering better long term value for the built environment and its inhabitants. The attention on ES issues in VM remains untapped area due to scarcity of information. Theoretically, the intrinsic capabilities and the positive relationships between these two heighten VM position as an effective means for sustainability improvements. The purpose of this research study is to identify how the ES criteria could be incorporated into the VM process and it's acceptability by the construction clients. The research is focused on a development of a process model by combining both ES and the best value criteria to select construction materials.
The research was placed in qualitative research philosophies as the aim was to generate rich data from the experiences of VM team to find the means of ES delivery in VM. This -research begins from the data gathered through a comprehensive literature review and unstructured interviews. Based on the literature review the Integrated Process Model (IPM) was developed. The developed model was tested through multiple case studies to find the client's acceptance towards the environment favourable material selection.
It was found 47% of materials derived from the IPM are purely matching with the client's choice. By adopting this process model at the very early stages of material selection the acceptance can be improved further.
The research can concluded that the VM and ES can be incorporated through the
Integrated Process Model to select construction materials. Further the model has the high level of acceptance among the construction clients and the early application of the model provides multiple benefits to the project stakeholders.
Key Words: Best Value, Value Management, Environment Sustainability, Construction Materials, Integrated Process Mode
Enhancing the value of Facilities Information Management (FIM) through BIM integration
No full textBuilding Information Modelling (BIM) provides a robust platform for information management in built environment facilities. However, one of the consequences of the limited application of BIM in facilities information management (FIM) is that the potential value gain through the integration of as-built information during the operations management process has had limited exploration in current practice. This paper attempts to explore the potential impact of BIM to enhance the value of Facilities Information Management. A detailed literature review was undertaken to identify BIM application in a construction context, and to develop a framework to investigate the value of information. An interpretative approach was adopted for data collection and analysis. 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with construction industry professionals to identify how value of FIM can be enhanced through BIM integration. The interview data were analysed using open and selective coding. The findings confirm that information exchange between the construction and facilities management phases of a project are important in terms of efficient and effective maintenance of a facility as well as optimising the design task. With these promising benefits, BIM is an efficient mechanism to facilitate construction information exchange. However, there is an uncertainty over the optimum level of information that ought to be on a BIM model for facilities management purposes. The relationship between different aspects of value is a starting point to filter the required information for each individual project. In contrast, limited awareness of value of information exchange and the potential of BIM enabled FIM during construction is noted. The information exchange considered within this investigation was limited to two key phases of the facility lifecycle, namely construction and facilities management (in-use). The findings bring insight into an unseen aspect of facilities management information needs that should be given priority in upcoming BIM developments. Also, it draws attention to how value is concerned in a daily basis beyond monetary terms. The investigation of value enhancement through BIM integration in particular to facilities information management and ongoing research with new value dimensions
Life Cycle Costing in Construction: Current Trends and Emerging Directions
Get PDFThe current construction climate in the UK is moving forward with a much greater attention on cost certainty, sustainability and adoption of innovative technologies. The UK Construction Strategy 2025 provides a clear direction towards achieving such goals by 2025. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is one of successful techniques for identifying the total cost of ownership in construction assets. Even though the technique has 50 years of history, the application and the diffusion of the technique within the construction domain is comparatively limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the evolution and current status of LCC within construction context through Bibliometric Analysis of journal publications indexed in Web of Science database (1970-2020). A series of Contents Analyses was performed and visualisation maps were generated via VOSviewer. The findings proved that LCC has been absorbed into construction in late 90’s and there is a continuous rise in the global uptake from 2013 onwards. With limited budgets and growing demand for sustainability, an integrated methodology linking LCC, Life Cycle Assessment and Performance optimisation is apparently the way forward for LCC
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Implementing Energy Retrofits in Existing Hotel Buildings using In-House Teams: The Decision-making Process
Get PDFAmong the existing buildings, hotels use as much as 50% of their total expenses on energy and offer significant opportunities for Energy Efficiency (EE) improvement. Yet, comparatively the level of implementation of Energy Retrofits (ER) in hotels appear to be low. This has been mainly attributed, inter alia, to the absence of clearly defined process for ensuring the delivery of ER and lack of proactive guidance for project teams to make right decisions. Hence, this study aims to propose an effective decision-making process, which could support the successful adoption and implementation of in-house led ER projects in existing hotel buildings. Two in-depth case studies were carried out focusing on ER projects led by in-house teams in existing hotel buildings. Data was collected via 14 semi-structured interviews and was analysed through code-based content analysis. The decision-making process for ER projects led by in-house teams was developed, which presents 39 key activities to be performed and 16 key decisions to be made. The parties responsible for these identified actions and decisions as well as the points at which each decision should be made to ensure the success of ER projects was also identified. Twenty-one new activities and ten decisions relevant for in-house team led ER decision-making processes previously not found in literature were identified. It is hoped that the decision-making process developed in this study will serve as a roadmap for the effective adoption and implementation of ER in existing hotel buildings
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