Search results for: Community building
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1795

Search results for: Community building

1345 Physiological and Psychological Influence on Office Workers during Demand Response

Authors: Megumi Nishida, Naoya Motegi, Takurou Kikuchi, Tomoko Tokumura

Abstract:

In recent years, the power system has been changed and a flexible power pricing system such as demand response has been sought in Japan. The demand response system works simply in the household sector and the owner as the decision-maker, can benefit from power saving. On the other hand, the execution of demand response in the office building is more complex than in the household because various people such as owners, building administrators and occupants are involved in the decision-making process. While the owners benefit from demand saving, the occupants are exposed to restricted benefits of a demand-saved environment. One of the reasons is that building systems are usually under centralized management and each occupant cannot choose freely whether to participate in demand response or not. In addition, it is unclear whether incentives give occupants the motivation to participate. However, the recent development of IT and building systems enables the personalized control of the office environment where each occupant can control the lighting level or temperature individually. Therefore, it can be possible to have a system which each occupant can make a decision of whether or not to participate in demand response in the office building. This study investigates personal responses to demand response requests, under the condition where each occupant can adjust their brightness individually in their workspace. Once workers participate in the demand response, their desk-lights are automatically turned off. The participation rates in the demand response events are compared among four groups, which are divided by different motivation, the presence, or absence of incentives and the method of participation. The result shows that there are significant differences of participation rates in demand response event between four groups. The method of participation has a large effect on the participation rate. The “Opt-out” groups where the occupants are automatically enrolled in a demand response event if they do not express non-participation have the highest participation rate in the four groups. Incentives also have an effect on the participation rate. This study also reports on the impact of low illumination office environment on the occupants, such as stress or fatigue. The electrocardiogram and the questionnaire are used to investigate the autonomic nervous activity and subjective fatigue symptoms of the occupants. There is no big difference between dim workspace during demand response event and bright workspace in autonomic nervous activity and fatigue.

Keywords: Demand response, illumination, questionnaire, electrocardiograph.

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1344 Structural-Geotechnical Effects of the Foundation of a Medium-Height Structure

Authors: V. Rodas, L. Almache

Abstract:

The interaction effects between the existing soil and the substructure of a 5-story building with an underground one, were evaluated in such a way that the structural-geotechnical concepts were validated through the method of impedance factors with a program based on the method of the finite elements. The continuous wall-type foundation had a constant thickness and followed inclined and orthogonal directions, while the ground had homogeneous and medium-type characteristics. The soil considered was type C according to the Ecuadorian Construction Standard (NEC) and the corresponding foundation comprised a depth of 4.00 meters and a basement wall thickness of 40 centimeters. This project is part of a mid-rise building in the city of Azogues (Ecuador). The hypotheses raised responded to the objectives in such a way that the model implemented with springs had a variation with respect to the embedded base, obtaining conservative results.

Keywords: interaction, soil, substructure, springs, effects, modeling, embedment

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1343 The Role of Object Oriented Simulation F Modeling in Maintenance Processes

Authors: Abdulsalam A. Al-Sudairi

Abstract:

Object-oriented simulation is considered one of the most sophisticated techniques that has been widely used in planning, designing, executing and maintaining construction projects. This technique enables the modeler to focus on objects which is extremely important for thorough understanding of a system. Thus, identifying an object is an essential point of building a successful simulation model. In a maintenance process an object is a maintenance work order (MWO). This study demonstrates a maintenance simulation model for the building maintenance division of Saudi Consolidated Electric Company (SCECO) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The model focused on both types of maintenance processes namely: (1) preventive maintenance (PM) and (2) corrective maintenance (CM). It is apparent from the findings that object-oriented simulation is a good diagnostic and experimental tool. This is because problems, limitations, bottlenecks and so forth are easily identified. These features are very difficult to obtain when using other tools.

Keywords: Object oriented, simulation, maintenance, process, work orders

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1342 Geometrical Structure and Layer Orientation Effects on Strength, Material Consumption and Building Time of FDM Rapid Prototyped Samples

Authors: Ahmed A. D. Sarhan, Chong Feng Duan, Mum Wai Yip, M. Sayuti

Abstract:

Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies enable physical parts to be produced from various materials without depending on the conventional tooling. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the famous RP processes used at present. Tensile strength and compressive strength resistance will be identified for different sample structures and different layer orientations of ABS rapid prototype solid models. The samples will be fabricated by a FDM rapid prototyping machine in different layer orientations with variations in internal geometrical structure. The 0° orientation where layers were deposited along the length of the samples displayed superior strength and impact resistance over all the other orientations. The anisotropic properties were probably caused by weak interlayer bonding and interlayer porosity.

Keywords: Building orientation, compression strength, rapid prototyping, tensile strength.

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1341 The Determination of Heavy Metal in Herb Used in Dusit Community to Develop a Sustainable Quality of Life

Authors: Chinnawat Satsananan

Abstract:

This research aimed to find amount of heavy metal in herb used in Dusit community and compare of heavy metal in each part by quantity in herb and standard determination in Thai herb books to develop a sustainable quality of life, the result of study in 14 herbs do not find sample of heavy metal., by quantity of heavy contamination of 4 kinds: Cd, Co, Fe and Pb have lower than standard of 2 organizations: Thai herb standard, and World Health Organization, from the test 14 herbs have Fe in every part of herbs and all 14 kinds has Fe that is necessary for our health.

Keywords: Herbs Plants, Heavy Metal, Dusit District

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1340 An Ontology Model for Systems Engineering Derived from ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288: 2015: Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes

Authors: Lan Yang, Kathryn Cormican, Ming Yu

Abstract:

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288: 2015, Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes is an international standard that provides generic top-level process descriptions to support systems engineering (SE). However, the processes defined in the standard needs improvement to lift integrity and consistency. The goal of this research is to explore the way by building an ontology model for the SE standard to manage the knowledge of SE. The ontology model gives a whole picture of the SE knowledge domain by building connections between SE concepts. Moreover, it creates a hierarchical classification of the concepts to fulfil different requirements of displaying and analysing SE knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge management, model-based systems engineering, ontology modelling, systems engineering ontology.

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1339 Seismic Response of Reinforced Concrete Buildings: Field Challenges and Simplified Code Formulas

Authors: Michel Soto Chalhoub

Abstract:

Building code-related literature provides recommendations on normalizing approaches to the calculation of the dynamic properties of structures. Most building codes make a distinction among types of structural systems, construction material, and configuration through a numerical coefficient in the expression for the fundamental period. The period is then used in normalized response spectra to compute base shear. The typical parameter used in simplified code formulas for the fundamental period is overall building height raised to a power determined from analytical and experimental results. However, reinforced concrete buildings which constitute the majority of built space in less developed countries pose additional challenges to the ones built with homogeneous material such as steel, or with concrete under stricter quality control. In the present paper, the particularities of reinforced concrete buildings are explored and related to current methods of equivalent static analysis. A comparative study is presented between the Uniform Building Code, commonly used for buildings within and outside the USA, and data from the Middle East used to model 151 reinforced concrete buildings of varying number of bays, number of floors, overall building height, and individual story height. The fundamental period was calculated using eigenvalue matrix computation. The results were also used in a separate regression analysis where the computed period serves as dependent variable, while five building properties serve as independent variables. The statistical analysis shed light on important parameters that simplified code formulas need to account for including individual story height, overall building height, floor plan, number of bays, and concrete properties. Such inclusions are important for reinforced concrete buildings of special conditions due to the level of concrete damage, aging, or materials quality control during construction. Overall results of the present analysis show that simplified code formulas for fundamental period and base shear may be applied but they require revisions to account for multiple parameters. The conclusion above is confirmed by the analytical model where fundamental periods were computed using numerical techniques and eigenvalue solutions. This recommendation is particularly relevant to code upgrades in less developed countries where it is customary to adopt, and mildly adapt international codes. We also note the necessity of further research using empirical data from buildings in Lebanon that were subjected to severe damage due to impulse loading or accelerated aging. However, we excluded this study from the present paper and left it for future research as it has its own peculiarities and requires a different type of analysis.

Keywords: Seismic behavior, reinforced concrete, simplified code formulas, equivalent static analysis, base shear, response spectra.

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1338 Botswana and Nation-Building Theory

Authors: Rowland M. Brucken

Abstract:

This paper argues nation-building theories that prioritize democratic governance best explain the successful postindependence development of Botswana. Three main competing schools of thought exist regarding the sequencing of policies that should occur to re-build weakened or failed states. The first posits that economic development should receive foremost attention, while democratization and a binding sense of nationalism can wait. A second group of experts identified constructing a sense of nationalism among a populace is necessary first, so that the state receives popular legitimacy and obedience that are prerequisites for development. Botswana, though, transitioned into a multi-party democracy and prosperous open economy due to the utilization of traditional democratic structures, enlightened and accountable leadership, and an educated technocratic civil service. With these political foundations already in place when the discovery of diamonds occurred, the resulting revenues were spent wisely on projects that grew the economy, improved basic living standards, and attracted foreign investment. Thus democratization preceded, and therefore provided an accountable basis for, economic development that might otherwise have been squandered by greedy and isolated elites to the detriment of the greater population. Botswana was one of the poorest nations in the world at the time of its independence in 1966, with little infrastructure, a dependence on apartheid South Africa for trade, and a largely subsistence economy. Over the next thirty years, though, its economy grew the fastest of any nation in the world. The transparent and judicious use of diamond returns is only a partial explanation, as the government also pursued economic diversification, mass education, and rural development in response to public needs. As nation-building has become a project undertaken by nations and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Botswana may provide best practices that others should follow in attempting to reconstruct economically and politically unstable states.

Keywords: Botswana, democratization, economic development, nation-building.

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1337 African Traditional Method of Social Control Mechanism: A Sociological Review of Native Charms in Farm Security in Ayetoro Community, Ogun State, Nigeria

Authors: Adebisi A. Sunday, Babajide Adeokin

Abstract:

The persistent rise in farm theft in rural region of Nigeria is attributed to the lack of adequate and effective policing in the regions; thus, this brought about the inevitable introduction of native charms on farmlands as a means of fortification of harvests against theft in Ayetoro community. The use of charm by farmers as security on farmlands is a traditional crime control mechanism that is largely based on unwritten laws which greatly influenced the lives of people, and their attitudes toward the society. This research presents a qualitative sociological study on how native charms are deployed by farmers for protection against theft. The study investigated the various types of charms that are employed as security measures among farmers in Ayetoro community and the rationale behind the use of these mechanisms as farm security. The study utilized qualitative method to gather data in the research process. Under the qualitative method, in-depth interview method was adopted to generate a robust and detailed data from the respondents. Also the data generated were analysed qualitatively using thematic content analysis and simple description which was preceded by transcription of data from the recorder. It was revealed that amidst numerous charms known, two major charms are used on farmlands as a measure of social control in Ayetoro community, Ogun state South West Nigeria. Furthermore, the result of this study showed that, the desire for safekeeping of harvest from pilferers and the heavy punishments dispense on offenders by native charms are the reasons why farmers deploy charms on their farms. In addition, findings revealed that the adoption of these charms for protection has improved yields among farmers in the community because the safety of harvest has been made possible by virtue of the presence of various charms in the farm lands. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that such measures should be recognized in mainstream social control mechanisms in the fight against crime in Nigeria and the rest of the world. Lastly, native charms could be installed in all social and cooperate organisation and position of authority to prevent theft of valuables and things hold with utmost importance.

Keywords: Farm theft, native charms, mechanism, Ayetoro, pilferer.

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1336 The Rise of Nationalism among South Korean Youth and Democracy: An Analysis

Authors: Noor Sulastry Yurni Ahmad , Ki-Soo Eun

Abstract:

The 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea was very significant to portray the political environment among the South Korean youth. Many challenges and new advanced technologies have driven the youth community to be engaged in the political arena that has shifted them from traditional Korean youth to a very greater community. Due to historical perspective with the people of North Korea, the young generation has embraced different view of ethnic nationalism. This study examines the youth involvement in politics in line with their level of acceptance the practice of democracy. The increase usage of new media has shown great results in the survey results whereby the youth used as a platform to gain political information and brought higher degree of their sociopolitical interests among them. Furthermore, the rise of nationalism and patriotism will be discussed in this paper to the dynamism of the political approaches used by the Korea government

Keywords: Nationalism, new media, political participation, youth

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1335 Energy Efficient Plant Design Approaches: Case Study of the Sample Building of the Energy Efficiency Training Facilities

Authors: Idil Kanter Otcu

Abstract:

Nowadays, due to the growing problems of energy supply and the drastic reduction of natural non-renewable resources, the development of new applications in the energy sector and steps towards greater efficiency in energy consumption are required. Since buildings account for a large share of energy consumption, increasing the structural density of buildings causes an increase in energy consumption. This increase in energy consumption means that energy efficiency approaches to building design and the integration of new systems using emerging technologies become necessary in order to curb this consumption. As new systems for productive usage of generated energy are developed, buildings that require less energy to operate, with rational use of resources, need to be developed. One solution for reducing the energy requirements of buildings is through landscape planning, design and application. Requirements such as heating, cooling and lighting can be met with lower energy consumption through planting design, which can help to achieve more efficient and rational use of resources. Within this context, rather than a planting design which considers only the ecological and aesthetic features of plants, these considerations should also extend to spatial organization whereby the relationship between the site and open spaces in the context of climatic elements and planting designs are taken into account. In this way, the planting design can serve an additional purpose. In this study, a landscape design which takes into consideration location, local climate morphology and solar angle will be illustrated on a sample building project.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, landscape design, plant design, xeriscape landscape.

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1334 Factors in a Sustainability Assessment of New Types of Closed Cavity Façades

Authors: Zoran Veršić, Josip Galić, Marin Binički, Lucija Stepinac

Abstract:

With the current increase in CO2 emissions and global warming, the sustainability of both existing and new solutions must be assessed on a wide scale. As the implementation of closed cavity façades (CCF) is on the rise, various factors must be included in the analysis of new types of CCF. This paper aims to cover the relevant factors included in the sustainability assessment of new types of CCF. Several mathematical models are being used to describe the physical behavior of CCF. Depending on the type of CCF, they cover the main factors which affect the durability of the façade: thermal behavior of various elements in the façade, stress and deflection of the glass panels, pressure and the moisture control in the cavity. CCF itself represents a complex system in which all mentioned factors must be considered mutually. Still, the façade is only an envelope of a more complex system, the building. Choice of the façade dictates the heat loss and the heat gain, thermal comfort of inner space, natural lighting, and ventilation. Annual energy consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, and maintenance costs will present the operational advantages or disadvantages of the chosen façade system in economic and environmental aspects. Still, the only operational viewpoint is not all-inclusive. As the building codes constantly demand higher energy efficiency as well as transfer to renewable energy sources, the ratio of embodied and lifetime operational energy footprint of buildings is changing. With the drop in operational energy CO2 emissions, embodied energy emissions present a larger and larger share in the lifecycle emissions of the building. Taking all into account, the sustainability assessment of a façade, as well as other major building elements, should include all mentioned factors during the lifecycle of an element. The challenge of such an approach is a timescale. Depending on the climatic conditions on the building site, the expected lifetime of a glazed façade can exceed 25 years. In such a timespan, some of the factors can be estimated more precisely than the others. However, the ones depending on the socio-economic conditions are more likely to be harder to predict than the natural ones like the climatic load. This work recognizes and summarizes the relevant factors needed for the assessment of a new type of CCF, considering the entire lifetime of a façade element in an environmental aspect.

Keywords: Assessment, closed cavity façade, life cycle, sustainability.

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1333 Thermal Insulating Silicate Materials Suitable for Thermal Insulation and Rehabilitation Structures

Authors: J. Hroudova, M. Sedlmajer, J. Zach

Abstract:

Problems insulation of building structures is often closely connected with the problem of moisture remediation. In the case of historic buildings or if only part of the redevelopment of envelope of structures, it is not possible to apply the classical external thermal insulation composite systems. This application is mostly effective thermal insulation plasters with high porosity and controlled capillary properties which assures improvement of thermal properties construction, its diffusion openness towards the external environment and suitable treatment capillary properties of preventing the penetration of liquid moisture and salts thereof toward the outer surface of the structure. With respect to the current trend of reducing the energy consumption of building structures and reduce the production of CO2 is necessary to develop capillary-active materials characterized by their low density, low thermal conductivity while maintaining good mechanical properties. The aim of researchers at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology is the development and study of hygrothermal behaviour of optimal materials for thermal insulation and rehabilitation of building structures with the possible use of alternative, less energy demanding binders in comparison with conventional, frequently used binder, which represents cement. The paper describes the evaluation of research activities aimed at the development of thermal insulation and repair materials using lightweight aggregate and alternative binders such as metakaolin and finely ground fly ash.

Keywords: Thermal insulating plasters, rehabilitation materials, thermal conductivity, lightweight aggregate, alternative binders.

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1332 Building Information Modeling and Its Application in the State of Kuwait

Authors: Michael Gerges, Ograbe Ahiakwo, Martin Jaeger, Ahmad Asaad

Abstract:

Recent advances of Building Information Modeling (BIM) especially in the Middle East have increased remarkably. Dubai has been taking a lead on this by making it mandatory for BIM to be adopted for all projects that involve complex architecture designs. This is because BIM is a dynamic process that assists all stakeholders in monitoring the project status throughout different project phases with great transparency. It focuses on utilizing information technology to improve collaboration among project participants during the entire life cycle of the project from the initial design, to the supply chain, resource allocation, construction and all productivity requirements. In view of this trend, the paper examines the extent of applying BIM in the State of Kuwait, by exploring practitioners’ perspectives on BIM, especially their perspectives on main barriers and main advantages. To this end structured interviews were carried out based on questionnaires and with a range of different construction professionals. The results revealed that practitioners perceive improved communication and mitigated project risks by encouraged collaboration between project participants. However, it was also observed that the full implementation of BIM in the State of Kuwait requires concerted efforts to make clients demanding BIM, counteract resistance to change among construction professionals and offer more training for design team members. This paper forms part of an on-going research effort on BIM and its application in the State of Kuwait and it is on this basis that further research on the topic is proposed.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling, BIM, construction industry, Kuwait.

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1331 Study on Optimization of Air Infiltration at Entrance of a Commercial Complex in Zhejiang Province

Authors: Yujie Zhao, Jiantao Weng

Abstract:

In the past decade, with the rapid development of China's economy, the purchasing power and physical demand of residents have been improved, which results in the vast emergence of public buildings like large shopping malls. However, the architects usually focus on the internal functions and streamlines of these buildings, ignoring the impact of the environment on the subjective feelings of building users. Only in Zhejiang province, the infiltration of cold air in winter frequently occurs at the entrance of sizeable commercial complex buildings that have been in operation, which will affect the environmental comfort of the building lobby and internal public spaces. At present, to reduce these adverse effects, it is usually adopted to add active equipment, such as setting air curtains to block air exchange or adding heating air conditioners. From the perspective of energy consumption, the infiltration of cold air into the entrance will increase the heat consumption of indoor heating equipment, which will indirectly cause considerable economic losses during the whole winter heating stage. Therefore, it is of considerable significance to explore the suitable entrance forms for improving the environmental comfort of commercial buildings and saving energy. In this paper, a commercial complex with apparent cold air infiltration problem in Hangzhou is selected as the research object to establish a model. The environmental parameters of the building entrance, including temperature, wind speed, and infiltration air volume, are obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, from which the heat consumption caused by the natural air infiltration in the winter and its potential economic loss is estimated as the objective metric. This study finally obtains the optimization direction of the building entrance form of the commercial complex by comparing the simulation results of other local commercial complex projects with different entrance forms. The conclusions will guide the entrance design of the same type of commercial complex in this area.

Keywords: Air infiltration, commercial complex, heat consumption, CFD simulation.

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1330 The Southwestern Bangladesh’s Experience of Tidal River Management: An Analysis of Effectiveness and Challenges

Authors: Md. SajadulAlam, I. Ahmed, A. Naqib Jimmy, M. Haque Munna, N. Ahsan Khan

Abstract:

The construction of coastal polders to reduce salinity ingress at greater Khulna-Jashore region area was initiated in the 1960s by Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB). Although successful in a short run the, the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) and its predecessors are often held accountable for the entire ecological disasters that affected many people. To overcome the water-logging crisis the first Tidal River Management (TRM) at Beel Bhaiana, Bhabodaho was implemented by the affected local people in an unplanned. TRM is an eco-engineering, low cost and participatory approach that utilizes the natural tidal characteristics and the local community’s indigenous knowledge for design and operation of watershed management. But although its outcomes were overwhelming in terms of reducing water-logging, increasing navigability etc. at Beel Bhaina the outcomes of its consequent schemes were debatable. So this study aims to examine the effectiveness and impact of the TRM schemes. Primary data were collected through questionnaire survey, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interview (KII) so as to collect mutually complementary quantitative and qualitative information along with extensive literature review. The key aspects that were examined include community participation, community perception on effectiveness and operational challenges.

Keywords: Sustainable, livelihood, salinity, water-logging, shrimp fry collectors, coastal region.

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1329 Urban Intensification and the Character of Urban Landscape: A Morphological Perspective

Authors: Xindong An, Kai Gu

Abstract:

Urban intensification is regarded as the prevalent strategy in many cities of the world to ease the pressures of urban sprawl and deliver sustainable development through increasing the density of built form and activities. However, within the context of intensive development, planning and design control measures that help to maintain and promote the character of existing residential environments have been slow to develop. This causes the possible loss of the character of an area that makes a place unique and distinctive. The purpose of this paper is to explore the way of identifying the character of an urban area for the planning of urban landscape in the implementation of intensification. By employing the theory of urban morphology, the concept of morphological region is used for the analysis and characterisation of the spatial structure of the urban landscape in terms of ground plans, building types, and building and land utilisation. The morphological mapping of the character of urban landscape is suggested, which lays a foundation for more sensitive planning of urban landscape changes.

Keywords: Character areas, urban intensification, urban morphology, urban landscape.

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1328 Designing an Integrated Platform for Real-Time Recommendations Sharing among the Aged and People Living with Cancer

Authors: Adekunle O. Afolabi, Pekka Toivanen

Abstract:

The world is expected to experience growth in the number of ageing population, and this will bring about high cost of providing care for these valuable citizens. In addition, many of these live with chronic diseases that come with old age. Providing adequate care in the face of rising costs and dwindling personnel can be challenging. However, advances in technologies and emergence of the Internet of Things are providing a way to address these challenges while improving care giving. This study proposes the integration of recommendation systems into homecare to provide real-time recommendations for effective management of people receiving care at home and those living with chronic diseases. Using the simplified Training Logic Concept, stakeholders and requirements were identified. Specific requirements were gathered from people living with cancer. The solution designed has two components namely home and community, to enhance recommendations sharing for effective care giving. The community component of the design was implemented with the development of a mobile app called Recommendations Sharing Community for Aged and Chronically Ill People (ReSCAP). This component has illustrated the possibility of real-time recommendations, improved recommendations sharing among care receivers and between a physician and care receivers. Full implementation will increase access to health data for better care decision making.

Keywords: Recommendation systems, healthcare, internet of things, real-time, homecare.

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1327 Research on the Protection and Reuse Model of Historical Buildings in Chinese Airports

Authors: Jie Ouyang, Chen Nie

Abstract:

China had constructed a large number of military and civilian airports before and after World War II, and then began large-scale repairs, reconstructions or relocation of airports after the baptism of wars after World War I and World War II. The airport's historical area and its historical buildings such as terminals, hangars, and towers have adopted different protection strategies and reuse application strategies. This paper is based on the judgment of the value of airport historical buildings to study different protection and reuse strategies. The protection and reuse models of historical buildings are classified in three dimensions: the airport historical area, the airport historical building complex and its individual buildings, and combined with specific examples to discuss and summarize the technical characteristics, protection strategies and successful experiences of different modes of protection and reuse of historical areas and historical buildings of airports.

Keywords: Airport, airport area, historic airport building, protection, reuse model.

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1326 I2Navi: An Indoor Interactive NFC Navigation System for Android Smartphones

Authors: Jing Hang Choo, Soon Nyean Cheong, Yee Lien Lee, Sze Hou Teh

Abstract:

The advancement of smartphones, wireless networking and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology have opened up a new approach to indoor navigation. Although NFC technology has been used to support electronic commerce, access control, and ticketing, there is a lack of research work on building NFC-based indoor navigation system for smartphone users. This paper presents an indoor interactive navigation system (named I2Navi) based on NFC technology for users to navigate within a building with ease using their smartphones. The I2Navi system has been implemented at the Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Multimedia University (MMU) to enable students, parents, visitors who own NFC-enabled Android smartphones to navigate themselves within the faculty. An evaluation is carried out and the results show positive response to the proposed indoor navigation system using NFC and smartphone technologies.

Keywords: Near Field Communication, indoor navigation system, smartphones.

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1325 Typological Study of Traditional Mosque Ornamentation in Malaysia – Prospect of Traditional Ornament in Urban Mosque

Authors: N. Utaberta, S. D. M. Sojak, M. Surat, A. I. Che-Ani, M.M. Tahir

Abstract:

Since the admission of Islam onto the Malay World in 16th century, the Malay culture began to grow in line with the teachings of Islam as a guide of life. Mosque become a symbol of Muslim communities, as well as the cultural values that have been adapted represent the maturity and readiness of Malay Muslim in manifest a lifestyle tradition into the community. Refinement of ornament that used to take from Hindu-Buddhist beliefs before were adopted and refined to the Islamic values based on the teachings of al-Quran and as-Sunnah delivered a certain message to convey a meaning to the observer. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the typology and classification of ornaments in Malaysia-s traditional mosque as a channel to the community towards understanding of the identity and also the framework of design thinking in ornaments particularly to the urban mosques in Malaysia.

Keywords: Aesthetic, Malay Traditional Mosque, Ornamentation, Symbolism

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1324 Building a Performance Outline for Health Care Workers at Teaching Hospitals, Nigeria: The Role of Different Leadership Styles

Authors: Osuagwu Justine Ugochukwu, Sazali Abd Wahab, Sunday Sunday Akpan

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Investigating the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the performance of healthcare employees at the University Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu, Nigeria, was the goal of the research. The respondents were asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. The respondents were chosen using a straightforward random sampling technique and consisted of 370 health workers at the hospital. The result of the analysis revealed that transactional and transformational leadership style has a positive while ambidextrous leadership has a negative effect on healthcare workers' performance in UNTH, Enugu. Therefore, the management of public hospitals that have the capacity to change their top management approach to leadership styles will gain substantial support from their employees’ thereby increasing organizational commitment and performance among health workers. This will have remarkable social implications, one of which is a change in the work culture and attitude of medical personnel from the seemingly anti-community of patients to friendly engagement and treatment of patients leading to a harmonious coexistence among these individuals in society. Investigating ambidextrous leadership and the use of nonparametric analysis is unique and has brought knowledge to leadership literature.

Keywords: Workers’ performance, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, governance quality, ambidextrous leadership.

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1323 Evaluation of Green Roof System for Green Building Projects in Malaysia

Authors: Muhammad Ashraf Fauzi, Nurhayati Abdul Malek, Jamilah Othman

Abstract:

The implementations of green roof have been widely used in the developed countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Green roof have many benefits such as aesthetic and economic value, ecological gain which are optimization of storm water management, urban heat island mitigation and energy conservation. In term of pollution, green roof can control the air and noise pollution in urban cities. The application of green roof in Malaysian building has been studied with the previous work of green roof either in Malaysia or other Asian region as like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and several other countries that have similar climate and environment as in Malaysia. These technologies of adapting green roof have been compared to the Green Building Index (GBI) of Malaysian buildings. The study has concentrated on the technical aspect of green roof system having focused on i) waste & recyclable materials ii) types of plants and method of planting and iii) green roof as tool to reduce storm water runoff. The finding of these areas will be compared to the suitability in achieving good practice of the GBI in Malaysia. Results show that most of the method are based on the countries own climate and environment. This suggests that the method of using green roof must adhere to the tropical climate of Malaysia. Suggestion of this research will be viewed in term of the sustainability of the green roof. Further research can be developed to implement the best method and application in Malaysian climate especially in urban cities and township.

Keywords: Green roofs, vegetation, plants, material, stormwater.

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1322 Embodied Energy in Concrete and Structural Masonry on Typical Brazilian Buildings

Authors: Marco A. S. González, Marlova P. Kulakowski, Luciano G. Breitenbach, Felipe Kirch

Abstract:

The AEC sector has an expressive environmental responsibility. Actually, most building materials have severe environmental impacts along their production cycle. Professionals enrolled in building design may choice the materials and techniques with less impact among the viable options. This work presents a study about embodied energy in materials of two typical Brazilian constructive alternatives. The construction options considered are reinforced concrete structure and structural masonry. The study was developed for the region of São Leopoldo, southern Brazil. Results indicated that the energy embodied in these two constructive systems is approximately 1.72 GJ·m-2 and 1.26 GJ·m-2, respectively. It may be concluded that the embodied energy is lower in the structural masonry system, with a reduction around to 1/4 in relation to the traditional option. The results can be used to help design decisions.

Keywords: Civil construction, sustainability, embodied energy.

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1321 Long-Term Economic-Ecological Assessment of Optimal Local Heat-Generating Technologies for the German Unrefurbished Residential Building Stock on the Quarter Level

Authors: M. A. Spielmann, L. Schebek

Abstract:

In order to reach the long-term national climate goals of the German government for the building sector, substantial energetic measures have to be executed. Historically, those measures were primarily energetic efficiency measures at the buildings’ shells. Advanced technologies for the on-site generation of heat (or other types of energy) often are not feasible at this small spatial scale of a single building. Therefore, the present approach uses the spatially larger dimension of a quarter. The main focus of the present paper is the long-term economic-ecological assessment of available decentralized heat-generating (CHP power plants and electrical heat pumps) technologies at the quarter level for the German unrefurbished residential buildings. Three distinct terms have to be described methodologically: i) Quarter approach, ii) Economic assessment, iii) Ecological assessment. The quarter approach is used to enable synergies and scaling effects over a single-building. For the present study, generic quarters that are differentiated according to significant parameters concerning their heat demand are used. The core differentiation of those quarters is made by the construction time period of the buildings. The economic assessment as the second crucial parameter is executed with the following structure: Full costs are quantized for each technology combination and quarter. The investment costs are analyzed on an annual basis and are modeled with the acquisition of debt. Annuity loans are assumed. Consequently, for each generic quarter, an optimal technology combination for decentralized heat generation is provided in each year of the temporal boundaries (2016-2050). The ecological assessment elaborates for each technology combination and each quarter a Life Cycle assessment. The measured impact category hereby is GWP 100. The technology combinations for heat production can be therefore compared against each other concerning their long-term climatic impacts. Core results of the approach can be differentiated to an economic and ecological dimension. With an annual resolution, the investment and running costs of different energetic technology combinations are quantified. For each quarter an optimal technology combination for local heat supply and/or energetic refurbishment of the buildings within the quarter is provided. Coherently to the economic assessment, the climatic impacts of the technology combinations are quantized and compared against each other.

Keywords: Building sector, heat, LCA, quarter level, systemic approach.

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1320 A Community Compromised Approach to Combinatorial Coalition Problem

Authors: Laor Boongasame, Veera Boonjing, Ho-fung Leung

Abstract:

Buyer coalition with a combination of items is a group of buyers joining together to purchase a combination of items with a larger discount. The primary aim of existing buyer coalition with a combination of items research is to generate a large total discount. However, the aim is hard to achieve because this research is based on the assumption that each buyer completely knows other buyers- information or at least one buyer knows other buyers- information in a coalition by exchange of information. These assumption contrast with the real world environment where buyers join a coalition with incomplete information, i.e., they concerned only with their expected discounts. Therefore, this paper proposes a new buyer community coalition formation with a combination of items scheme, called the Community Compromised Combinatorial Coalition scheme, under such an environment of incomplete information. In order to generate a larger total discount, after buyers who want to join a coalition propose their minimum required saving, a coalition structure that gives a maximum total retail prices is formed. Then, the total discount division of the coalition is divided among buyers in the coalition depending on their minimum required saving and is a Pareto optimal. In mathematical analysis, we compare concepts of this scheme with concepts of the existing buyer coalition scheme. Our mathematical analysis results show that the total discount of the coalition in this scheme is larger than that in the existing buyer coalition scheme.

Keywords: group decision and negotiations, group buying, gametheory, combinatorial coalition formation, Pareto optimality

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1319 The Relationship between Procurement Strategies and Sustainability Outcomes: A Systematic Literature Review

Authors: Cathy T. Mpanga Kowet, Aghaegbuna Obinna U. Ozumba

Abstract:

This study examined and identified the inconsistencies, relationships, gaps and recurring themes in literature regarding the relationship between procurement strategies employed in the construction projects for sustainable buildings and realization of sustainability goals. A systematic literature review of studies on the relationship between various procurement strategies and attainment of sustainability outcomes was conducted. Using specific terms, papers published between 2002 and 2018 were identified and screened according to an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Current findings reveal that, although the attainment of sustainability goals is achievable with both traditional and contemporary procurement strategies, only projects delivered using modern procurement strategies are capable of meeting and exceeding targeted sustainability objectives. However, traditional procurement strategy remains the preferred method for most green building construction projects. The results suggest implications for decision makers in considering the impact of selected procurement strategies on targeted sustainability goals, in the early stages of sustainable building construction projects. The study shows that there is a gap between the reported appropriate procurement strategies and what is being practiced currently. Theoretically, the study expands on the literature on adoption and diffusion of contemporary procurement strategies, by consolidating existing studies to highlight the current gaps. While the study is at the literature review stage, deductions will serve as basis for field work involving empirical data.

Keywords: Green building, green construction, procurement method, procurement strategy, sustainability objectives, sustainability outcomes.

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1318 A Review on Recycled Materials Used in Construction

Authors: Oghenerukome Akponovo, Lynda I. Onyebuchukwu

Abstract:

Construction waste, along with that of many other industries, contributes significantly to the world's annual solid waste totals. Most of these materials, such as ash from rice hulls, slags, cement kiln dust, tire ash, plastic waste (PW), and silica fumes, end up in landfills or waterways. Some of them might even end up polluting the air from high in the atmosphere. It is sustainable, cheap, and environmentally friendly to recycle these items into new building supplies. When constructing a "green" structure, the materials employed have the potential to either exacerbate environmental imbalance or maintain a stable ecosystem. The purpose of this research is to take stock of what is already known about recycling's potential in the construction industry and to identify its deficiencies. Therefore, this study systematically reviews the wide range of recycled materials that go into building construction. In the construction industry, the utilization of recycled materials plays a significant role in environmental conservation, and a thorough investigation into these materials could potentially yield substantial economic benefits if appropriately harnessed.

Keywords: Paper waste, rice grain husks, recycled materials, waste management.

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1317 Forms of Social Quality Mobilization in Suburban Communities of a Changing World

Authors: Supannee Chaiumporn

Abstract:

This article is to introduce the meaning and form of social quality moving process as indicated by members of two suburb communities with different social and cultural contexts. The form of social quality moving process is very significant for the community and social development, because it will make the people living together with sustainable happiness. This is a qualitative study involving 30 key-informants from two suburb communities. Data were collected though key-informant interviews, and analyzed using logical content description and descriptive statistics. This research found that on the social quality component, the people in both communities stressed the procedure for social qualitymaking. This includes the generousness, sharing and assisting among people in the communities. These practices helped making people to live together with sustainable happiness. Living as a family or appear to be a family is the major social characteristic of these two communities. This research also found that form of social quality’s moving process of both communities stress relation of human and nature; “nature overpower humans” paradigm and influence of religious doctrine that emphasizes relations among humans. Both criteria make the form of social’s moving process simple, adaptive to nature and caring for opinion sharing and understanding among each other before action. This form of social quality’s moving process is composed of 4 steps; (1) awareness building, (2) motivation to change, (3) participation from every party which is concerned (4) self-reliance.

Keywords: Social quality, form of social quality moving process, happiness, different social and cultural context.

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1316 Health Post A Sustainable Prototype for the Third World

Authors: Chizzoniti Domenico, Beggiora Klizia, Cattani Letizia, Moscatelli Monica

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This paper concerns the study of sustainable construction materials applied on the "Health Post", a prototype for the primary health care situated in alienated areas of the world. It's suitable for social and climatic Sub-Saharan context; however, it could be moved in other countries of the world with similar urgent needs. The idea is to create a Health Post with local construction materials that have a low environmental impact and promote the local workforce allowing reuse of traditional building techniques lowering production costs and transport. The aim of Primary Health Care Centre is to be a flexible and expandable structure identifying a modular form that can be repeated several times to expand its existing functions. In this way it could be not only a health care centre but also a socio-cultural facility.

Keywords: Low costs building, sustainable construction materials, green construction system, prototype, health care, emergency.

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