Search results for: Housing prices
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 321

Search results for: Housing prices

231 The Impact of Post-Disaster Relocation on Community Solidarity: The Case of Post-Disaster Reconstruction after Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan

Authors: Tsung-Hsi Fu, Wan-I Lin, Jyh-Cherng Shieh

Abstract:

Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan in 2009 and caused severe damages. The government employs a compulsory relocation strategy for post-disaster reconstruction. This study analyzes the impact of this strategy on community solidarity. It employs a multiple approach for data collection, including semi-structural interview, secondary data, and documentation. The results indicate that the government-s strategy for distributing housing has led to conflicts within the communities. In addition, the relocating process has stimulated tensions between victims of the disaster and those residents whose lands were chosen to be new sites for relocation. The government-s strategy of “collective relocation" also worsened community integration. In addition, the fact that a permanent housing community may accommodate people from different places also posts challenge for the development of new inter-personal relations in the communities. This study concludes by emphasizing the importance of bringing social, economic and cultural aspects into consideration for post-disaster relocation..

Keywords: community solidarity, permanent housing, post-disaster reconstruction, relocation.

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230 Investigation of Spatial Changes in the Context of Cultural Sustainability

Authors: Aslı Taş, Şebnem Ertaş

Abstract:

Culture consists of material and spiritual values adopted by the emerging societies during the historical and social processes and continues to exist from past to present by being transferred through generations. Culture and cultural sustainability are interdependent concepts. Cultural sustainability exists when the requirements established cultural expression are added to the social life as lifestyle and habits. However, sustainability renders change inevitable. Changes that take place in the culture of a society also shows the impact in the daily life places. Functional changes occur in the spaces in order to adapt particularly to cultural change that appear in the aftermath of the user change, to modern technology and living standards. In this context, in this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of the time-dependent functional changes that took place in the housing where non-Muslim population who was subject to population exchange and Muslim population lived after the population exchange in the vacated housing in Sille. Therefore, the changed and newly added venues in the house belonging to Ali Oğuz in Hacı Ali Ağa Street were investigated over the generated graphic in order to clearly perceive the cultural exchange on the housing and settlement and the functional changes were demonstrated.

Keywords: Culture, house, spatial changes, sustainability.

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229 Retrofitting Measures for Existing Housing Stock in Kazakhstan

Authors: S. Yessengabulov, A. Uyzbayeva

Abstract:

Residential buildings fund of Kazakhstan was built in the Soviet time about 35-60 years ago without considering energy efficiency measures. Currently, most of these buildings are in a rundown condition and fail to meet the minimum of hygienic, sanitary and comfortable living requirements. The paper aims to examine the reports of recent building energy survey activities in the country and provide a possible solution for retrofitting existing housing stock built before 1989 which could be applicable for building envelope in cold climate. Methodology also includes two-dimensional modeling of possible practical solutions and further recommendations.

Keywords: Energy audit, energy efficient buildings in Kazakhstan, retrofit, two-dimensional conduction heat transfer analysis

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228 Ribeirinhos: A Sustainability Assessment of Housing Typologies in the Amazon Region

Authors: A. K. M. De Paula, R. Tenorio

Abstract:

The 20th century has brought much development to the practice of Architecture worldwide, and technology has bridged inhabitation limits in many regions of the world with high levels of comfort and conveniences, most times at high costs to the environment. Throughout the globe, the tropical countries are being urbanized at an unprecedented rate and housing has become a major issue worldwide, in light of increased demand and lack of appropriate infra-structure and planning. Buildings and urban spaces designed in tropical cities have mainly adopted external concepts that in most cases do not fit the needs of the inhabitants living in such harsh climatic environment, and when they do, do so at high financial, environmental and cultural costs. Traditional architectural practices can provide valuable understanding on how self-reliance and autonomy of construction can be reinforced in rural-urban tropical environments. From traditional housing knowledge, it is possible to derive lessons for the development of new construction materials that are affordable, environmentally friendly, culturally acceptable and accesible to all.Specifically to the urban context, such solutions are of outmost importance, given the needs to a more democratic society, where access to housing is considered high in the agenda for development. Traditional or rural constructions are also ongoing through extensive changes eventhough they have mostly adopted climate-responsive building practices relying on local resources (with minimum embodied energy) and energy (for comfort and quality of life). It is important to note that many of these buildings can actually be called zero-energy, and hold potential answers to enable transition from high energy, high cost, low comfort urban habitations to zero/low energy habitations with high quality urban livelihood. Increasing access to modern urban lifestyels have also an effect on the aspirations from people in terms of performance, comfort and convenience in terms of their housing and the way it is produced and used. These aspirations are resulting in transitions from localresource dependent habitations- to non-local resource based highenergy urban style habitations. And such transitions are resulting in the habitations becoming increasingly unsuited to the local climatic conditions with increasing discomfort, ill-health, and increased CO2 emissions and local environmental disruption. This research studies one specific transition group in the context of 'water communities' in tropical-equatorial regions: Ribeirinhos housing typology (Amazonas, Brazil). The paper presents the results of a qualitative sustainability assessment of the housing typologies under transition, found at the Ribeirinhos communities.

Keywords: Vernacuilar and Tropical Architecture, SustainableHousing Design, Urban-rural Housing, Living Transitions

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227 Possible Number of Dwelling Units Using Waste Plastic Bottle for Construction

Authors: Dibya Jivan Pati, Kazuhisa Iki, Riken Homma

Abstract:

Unlike other metro cities of India, Bhubaneswar–the capital city of Odisha, is expected to reach 1-million-mark population by now. The demands of dwelling unit requirement mostly among urban poor belonging to Economically Weaker section (EWS) and Low Income groups (LIG) is becoming a challenge due to high housing cost and rents. As a matter of fact, it’s also noted that, with increase in population, the solid waste generation also increases subsequently affecting the environment due to inefficiency in collection of waste by local government bodies. Methods of utilizing Solid Waste - especially in form of Plastic bottles, Glass bottles and Metal cans (PGM) are now widely used as an alternative material for construction of low-cost building by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in developing countries like India to help the urban poor afford a shelter. The application of disposed plastic bottle used in construction of single dwelling significantly reduces the overall cost of construction to as much as 14% compared to traditional construction material. Therefore, considering its cost-benefit result, it’s possible to provide housing to EWS and LIGs at an affordable price. In this paper, we estimated the quantity of plastic bottles generated in Bhubaneswar which further helped to estimate the possible number of single dwelling unit that can be constructed on yearly basis so as to refrain from further housing shortage. The estimation results will be practically used for planning and managing low-cost housing business by local government and NGOs.

Keywords: Construction, dwelling unit, plastic bottle, solid waste generation, groups.

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226 Comparison of Ageing Deterioration of Silicone Rubber Housing Material for Outdoor Polymer Insulators

Authors: S.Thong-Om, W. Payakcho, J. Grasasom, A. Oonsivilaiand B. Marungsri

Abstract:

This paper presents the comparison ageing deterioration of silicone rubber housing material for outdoor polymer insulators by using salt fog ageing test based on IEC 61109 and outdoor exposure test.Four types of high temperature silicone vulcanized silicone rubber sheet with different amount of ATH were used as testing specimen. For salt fog ageing test, the specimens were tested continuously 1000 hours with energized in test chamber. For outdoor exposure test, the specimens were hung continuously 18 months without energized. Physical and chemical analyses were conducted to evaluate degree of ageing deterioration of tested specimens. Slightly surface erosion was observed on specimen surface after salt fog ageing test and no erosion was observed on surface of outdoor exposure specimen. However, comparable degree of ageing deterioration can be seen from surface analysis results.

Keywords: Accelerated ageing test, outdoor exposure test, HTV silicone rubber, housing material, salt fog test, surface erosion, polymer insulator

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225 Self-Help Adaptation to Flooding in Low-Income Settlements in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Authors: Nachawit Tikul

Abstract:

This study aimed to determine low-income housing adaptations for flooding, which causes living problems and housing damage, and the results from improvement. Three low-income settlements in Chiang Mai which experienced different flood types, i.e. flash floods in Samukeepattana, drainage floods in Bansanku, and river floods in Kampangam, were chosen for the study. Almost all of the residents improved their houses to protect the property from flood damage by changing building materials to flood damage resistant materials for walls, floors, and other parts of the structure that were below the base of annual flood elevation. They could only build some parts of their own homes, so hiring skilled workers or contractors was still important. Building materials which have no need for any special tools and are easy to access and use for construction, as well as low cost, are selected for construction. The residents in the three slums faced living problems for only a short time and were able to cope with them. This may be due to the location of the three slums near the city where assistance is readily available. But the housing and the existence in the slums can endure only the regular floods and residence still have problems in unusual floods, which have been experienced 1-2 times during the past 10 years. The residents accept the need for evacuations and prepare for them. When faced with extreme floods, residence have evacuated to the nearest safe place such as schools and public building, and come back to repair the houses after the flood. These are the distinguishing characteristics of low-income living which can withstand serious situations due to the simple lifestyle. Therefore, preparation of living areas for use during severe floods and encouraging production of affordable flood resistant materials should be areas of concern when formulating disaster assistance policies for low income people.

Keywords: Flooding, low-income settlement, housing, adaptation.

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224 Reducing Defects through Organizational Learning within a Housing Association Environment

Authors: T. Hopkin, S. Lu, P. Rogers, M. Sexton

Abstract:

Housing Associations (HAs) contribute circa 20% of the UK’s housing supply. HAs are however under increasing pressure as a result of funding cuts and rent reductions. Due to the increased pressure, a number of processes are currently being reviewed by HAs, especially how they manage and learn from defects. Learning from defects is considered a useful approach to achieving defect reduction within the UK housebuilding industry. This paper contributes to our understanding of how HAs learn from defects by undertaking an initial round table discussion with key HA stakeholders as part of an ongoing collaborative research project with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to better understand how house builders and HAs learn from defects to reduce their prevalence. The initial discussion shows that defect information runs through a number of groups, both internal and external of a HA during both the defects management process and organizational learning (OL) process. Furthermore, HAs are reliant on capturing and recording defect data as the foundation for the OL process. During the OL process defect data analysis is the primary enabler to recognizing a need for a change to organizational routines. When a need for change has been recognized, new options are typically pursued to design out defects via updates to a HAs Employer’s Requirements. Proposed solutions are selected by a review board and committed to organizational routine. After implementing a change, both structured and unstructured feedback is sought to establish the change’s success. The findings from the HA discussion demonstrates that OL can achieve defect reduction within the house building sector in the UK. The paper concludes by outlining a potential ‘learning from defects model’ for the housebuilding industry as well as describing future work.

Keywords: Defects, new homes, housing associations, organizational learning.

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223 Detection of Salmonella in Egg Shell and Egg Content from Different Housing Systems for Laying Hens

Authors: Wiriya Loongyai, Kiettisak Promphet, Nilubol Kangsukul, Ratchawat Noppha

Abstract:

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and conventional microbiological methods were used to detect bacterial contamination of egg shells and egg content in different commercial housing systems, open house system and evaporative cooling system. A PCR assay was developed for direct detection using a set of primers specific for the invasion by A gene (invA) of Salmonella spp. PCR detected the presence of Salmonella in 2 samples of shell egg from the evaporative cooling system, while conventional cultural methods detected no Salmonella from the same samples.

Keywords: egg content, egg shell, invA gene, PCR, Salmonellaspp.

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222 Climate Safe House: A Community Housing Project Tackling Catastrophic Sea Level Rise in Coastal Communities

Authors: Chris Fersterer, Col Fay, Tobias Danielmeier, Kat Achterberg, Scott Willis

Abstract:

New Zealand, an island nation, has an extensive coastline peppered with small communities of iconic buildings known as Bachs. Post WWII, these modest buildings were constructed by their owners as retreats and generally were small, low cost, often using recycled material and often they fell below current acceptable building standards. In the latter part of the 20th century, real estate prices in many of these communities remained low and these areas became permanent residences for people attracted to this affordable lifestyle choice. The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT) is an organisation that recognises the vulnerability of communities in low lying settlements as now being prone to increased flood threat brought about by climate change and sea level rise. Some of the inhabitants of Blueskin Bay, Otago, NZ have already found their properties to be un-insurable because of increased frequency of flood events and property values have slumped accordingly. Territorial authorities also acknowledge this increased risk and have created additional compliance measures for new buildings that are less than 2 m above tidal peaks. Community resilience becomes an additional concern where inhabitants are attracted to a lifestyle associated with a specific location and its people when this lifestyle is unable to be met in a suburban or city context. Traditional models of social housing fail to provide the sense of community connectedness and identity enjoyed by the current residents of Blueskin Bay. BRCT have partnered with the Otago Polytechnic Design School to design a new form of community housing that can react to this environmental change. It is a longitudinal project incorporating participatory approaches as a means of getting people ‘on board’, to understand complex systems and co-develop solutions. In the first period, they are seeking industry support and funding to develop a transportable and fully self-contained housing model that exploits current technologies. BRCT also hope that the building will become an educational tool to highlight climate change issues facing us today. This paper uses the Climate Safe House (CSH) as a case study for education in architectural sustainability through experiential learning offered as part of the Otago Polytechnics Bachelor of Design. Students engage with the project with research methodologies, including site surveys, resident interviews, data sourced from government agencies and physical modelling. The process involves collaboration across design disciplines including product and interior design but also includes connections with industry, both within the education institution and stakeholder industries introduced through BRCT. This project offers a rich learning environment where students become engaged through project based learning within a community of practice, including architecture, construction, energy and other related fields. The design outcomes are expressed in a series of public exhibitions and forums where community input is sought in a truly participatory process.

Keywords: Community resilience, problem based learning, project based learning, case study.

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221 Causal Relationship between Macro-Economic Indicators and Funds Unit Prices Behavior: Evidence from Malaysian Islamic Equity Unit Trust Funds Industry

Authors: Anwar Hasan Abdullah Othman, Ahamed Kameel, Hasanuddeen Abdul Aziz

Abstract:

In this study, attempt has been made to investigate the relationship specifically the causal relation between fund unit prices of Islamic equity unit trust fund which measure by fund NAV and the selected macro-economic variables of Malaysian economy by using VECM causality test and Granger causality test. Monthly data has been used from Jan, 2006 to Dec, 2012 for all the variables. The findings of the study showed that industrial production index, political election and financial crisis are the only variables having unidirectional causal relationship with fund unit price. However the global oil price is having bidirectional causality with fund NAV. Thus, it is concluded that the equity unit trust fund industry in Malaysia is an inefficient market with respect to the industrial production index, global oil prices, political election and financial crisis. However the market is approaching towards informational efficiency at least with respect to four macroeconomic variables, treasury bill rate, money supply, foreign exchange rate, and corruption index.

Keywords: Fund unit price, unit trust industry, Malaysia, macroeconomic variables, causality.

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220 Proposals for the Thermal Regulation of Buildings in Algeria: An Energy Label for Social Housing

Authors: Marco Morini, Nicolandrea Calabrese, Dario Chello

Abstract:

Despite the international commitment of Algeria towards the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the country, the internal energy demand has been continuously growing during the last decade due to the substantial increase of population and of living conditions, which in turn has led to an unprecedented expansion of the residential building sector. The RTB (Thermal Building Regulation) is the technical document that establishes the calculation framework for the thermal performance of buildings in Algeria, setting up minimum obligatory targets for the thermal performance of new buildings. An update of this regulation is due in the coming years and this paper discusses some proposals in this regard, with the aim to improve the energy efficiency of the building sector, particularly with regard to social housing. In particular, it proposes a methodology for drafting an energy performance label of new Algerian residential buildings, moving from the results of the thermal compliance verification and sizing of technical systems as defined in the RTB. Such an energy performance label – whose calculation method is briefly described in the paper – aims to raise citizens' awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency. It can represent the first step in a process of integrating technical installations into the calculation of the energy performance of buildings in Algeria.

Keywords: building, energy certification, energy efficiency, social housing, international cooperation, Mediterranean Region

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219 Transportation and Physical Development around Kumasi, Ghana

Authors: Justice K. Owusu-Ansah, Kevin O'Connor

Abstract:

This research explores the links between physical development and transportation infrastructure around Kumasi, Ghana. It utilizes census data as well as fieldwork and interviews carried out during July and December 2005. The results suggest that there is a weak association between transportation investments and physical development, and that recent housing has generally occurred in poorly accessible locations. Road investments have generally followed physical expansion rather than the reverse. Hence policies designed to manage the fast growth now occurring around Ghanaian cities should not focus exclusively on improving transportation infrastructure but also strengthening the underlying the traditional land management structures and the official land administrative institutions that operate within those structures.

Keywords: Housing, Kumasi, population, physical development, transportation, villages.

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218 Sustainability Strategy and Firm Performance in Residential Trade and Industry: A Conceptual Analysis

Authors: Martin Macion

Abstract:

The request for a sustainable development challenges both managers and consumers to rethink habitual practices and activities. While consumers are challenged to develop sustainable consumption patterns, companies are asked to establish managerial systems and structures considering economical, ecological, and social issues. As this is in particular true for housing associations, this paper aims first, at providing an understanding of sustainability strategy in residential trade and industry (RTI) by identifying relevant facets of this construct and second, at conceptually analyzing the impact of sustainability strategy in RTI on operational efficiency and performance of municipal housing companies. The author develops a model of sustainability strategy in RTI and its effects and further, sheds light in priorities for future research.

Keywords: firm performance, sustainability strategy, residentialtrade and industry

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217 Adaptive Design of Large Prefabricated Concrete Panels Collective Housing

Authors: Daniel M. Muntean, Viorel Ungureanu

Abstract:

More than half of the urban population in Romania lives today in residential buildings made out of large prefabricated reinforced concrete panels. Since their initial design was made in the 1960’s, these housing units are now being technically and morally outdated, consuming large amounts of energy for heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting, while failing to meet the needs of the contemporary life-style. Due to their widespread use, the design of a system that improves their energy efficiency would have a real impact, not only on the energy consumption of the residential sector, but also on the quality of life that it offers. Furthermore, with the transition of today’s existing power grid to a “smart grid”, buildings could become an active element for future electricity networks by contributing in micro-generation and energy storage. One of the most addressed issues today is to find locally adapted strategies that can be applied considering the 20-20-20 EU policy criteria and to offer sustainable and innovative solutions for the cost-optimal energy performance of buildings adapted on the existing local market. This paper presents a possible adaptive design scenario towards sustainable retrofitting of these housing units. The apartments are transformed in order to meet the current living requirements and additional extensions are placed on top of the building, replacing the unused roof space, acting not only as housing units, but as active solar energy collection systems. An adaptive building envelope is ensured in order to achieve overall air-tightness and an elevator system is introduced to facilitate access to the upper levels.

Keywords: Adaptive building, energy efficiency, retrofitting, residential buildings, smart grid.

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216 Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Eimeria in Sheep of Punjab, Pakistan

Authors: M.N. Khan, T. Rehman, Z Iqbal, M.S Sajid, M Ahmad, M Riaz

Abstract:

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence, species characterization and associated risk factors with Eimeria (E.) in sheep of district Toba Tek Singh from April, 2009 to March, 2010. Of the total 486 faecal samples examined for Eimeria, 209 (43%) were found infected with five species of Eimeria. Amongst the identified species of Eimeria, E. ovinoidalis was the commonest one (48.32%), followed in order by E. ahsata, E. intricata, E. parva and E. faurei with prevalence of 45.45, 28.71, 24.40 and 19.14 percent respectively. Peak prevalence was observed in August. Wet season (rainy and post-rainy) was found to be favourable for Eimeria infection. Lambs had significantly higher prevalence (P < 0.05) of Eimeria than adults. Similarly higher prevalence of Eimeria was observed in female as compared to male. Among management and husbandry practices; watering system, housing system, floor type and herd size strongly influenced the prevalence of Eimeria. Coccidiosis was more prevalent in closed housing system, non-cemented floor type, pond watered animals and larger herds (P < 0.05) as compared to open housing system, partially cemented floor type, tap watered animals and smaller herds respectively. Feeding system, breed and body condition of animals were not found as risk factors (P>0.05) influencing prevalence of Eimeria.

Keywords: Eimeria, Pakistan prevalence, sheep.

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215 Using Exponential Lévy Models to Study Implied Volatility patterns for Electricity Options

Authors: Pinho C., Madaleno M.

Abstract:

German electricity European options on futures using Lévy processes for the underlying asset are examined. Implied volatility evolution, under each of the considered models, is discussed after calibrating for the Merton jump diffusion (MJD), variance gamma (VG), normal inverse Gaussian (NIG), Carr, Geman, Madan and Yor (CGMY) and the Black and Scholes (B&S) model. Implied volatility is examined for the entire sample period, revealing some curious features about market evolution, where data fitting performances of the five models are compared. It is shown that variance gamma processes provide relatively better results and that implied volatility shows significant differences through time, having increasingly evolved. Volatility changes for changed uncertainty, or else, increasing futures prices and there is evidence for the need to account for seasonality when modelling both electricity spot/futures prices and volatility.

Keywords: Calibration, Electricity Markets, Implied Volatility, Lévy Models, Options on Futures, Pricing

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214 Providing a Practical Model to Reduce Maintenance Costs: A Case Study in GeG Company

Authors: Iman Atighi, Jalal Soleimannejad, Reza Pourjafarabadi, Saeid Moradpour

Abstract:

In the past, we could increase profit by increasing product prices. But in the new decade, a competitive market does not let us to increase profit with increased prices. Therefore, the only way to increase profit will be to reduce costs. A significant percentage of production costs are the maintenance costs, and analysis of these costs could achieve more profit. Most maintenance strategies such as RCM (Reliability-Center-Maintenance), TPM (Total Productivity Maintenance), PM (Preventive Maintenance) and etc., are trying to reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, decreasing the maintenance costs of Concentration Plant of Golgohar Iron Ore Mining & Industrial Company (GeG) was examined by using of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) analyses. These analyses showed that instead of buying new machines and increasing costs in order to promote capacity, the improving of MTBF and MTTR indexes would solve capacity problems in the best way and decrease costs.

Keywords: GeG Company, maintainability, maintenance costs, reliability-center-maintenance.

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213 Sustainable Solutions for Enhancing Efficiency, Safety, and Quality of Construction Value Chain Services Integration

Authors: Lo Kar Yin

Abstract:

In view of the increasing speed and quantity of the housing supply, building, and civil engineering infrastructure works triggered by the pandemic across the globe, contractors, professional services providers (PSP), including consultants (e.g., architect, project manager, civil/geotechnical/structural engineer, building services engineer, quantity surveyor/cost manager, etc.) and suppliers have faced tremendous challenges of the fierce market, limited manpower, and resources under contract prices fluctuation and competitive fee and price. With qualitative analysis, this paper is to identify the available information from the industry stakeholders with a view to finding solutions for enhancing efficiency, safety, and quality of construction value chain services for public and private organisations/companies’ sustainable growth, not limited to checking the deliverables and data transfer from multi-disciplinary parties. Technology, contracts, and people are the key requirements for shaping the construction industry. With the integration of a modern engineering contract (e.g., NEC) collaborative approach, practical workflows are designed to address loopholes together with different levels of people employment/retention and technology adoption to achieve the best value for money.

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Sustainable solutions, contract, construction value chain, Building Information Modelling, BIM integration.

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212 Satisfaction Evaluation on the Fundamental Public Services for a Large-Scale Indemnificatory Residential Community: A Case Study of Nanjing

Authors: Dezhi Li, Peng Cui, Bo Zhang, Tengyuan Chang

Abstract:

In order to solve the housing problem for the low-income families, the construction of affordable housing is booming in China. However, due to various reasons, the service facilities and systems in the indemnificatory residential community meet many problems. This article established a Satisfaction Evaluation System of the Fundamental Public Services for Large-scale Indemnificatory Residential Community based on the national standards and local criteria and developed evaluation methods and processes. At last, in the case of Huagang project in Nanjing, the satisfaction of basic public service is calculated according to a survey of local residents.

Keywords: Indemnificatory residential community, public services, satisfaction evaluation, structural equation modeling.

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211 Effect of Speed and Torque on Statistical Parameters in Tapered Bearing Fault Detection

Authors: Sylvester A. Aye, Philippus S. Heyns

Abstract:

The effect of the rotational speed and axial torque on the diagnostics of tapered rolling element bearing defects was investigated. The accelerometer was mounted on the bearing housing and connected to Sound and Vibration Analyzer (SVAN 958) and was used to measure the accelerations from the bearing housing. The data obtained from the bearing was processed to detect damage of the bearing using statistical tools and the results were subsequently analyzed to see if bearing damage had been captured. From this study it can be seen that damage is more evident when the bearing is loaded. Also, at the incipient stage of damage the crest factor and kurtosis values are high but as time progresses the crest factors and kurtosis values decrease whereas the peak and RMS values are low at the incipient stage but increase with damage.

Keywords: crest factor, damage detection, kurtosis, RMS, tapered roller bearing.

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210 Smart Grid Simulator

Authors: Andrei Ursachi, Dorin Bordeasu

Abstract:

The Smart Grid Simulator is a computer software based on advance algorithms which has as the main purpose to lower the energy bill in the most optimized price efficient way as possible for private households, companies or energy providers. It combines the energy provided by a number of solar modules and wind turbines with the consumption of one household or a cluster of nearby households and information regarding weather conditions and energy prices in order to predict the amount of energy that can be produced by renewable energy sources and the amount of energy that will be bought from the distributor for the following day. The user of the system will not only be able to minimize his expenditures on energy factures, but also he will be informed about his hourly consumption, electricity prices fluctuation and money spent for energy bought as well as how much money he saved each day and since he installed the system. The paper outlines the algorithm that supports the Smart Grid Simulator idea and presents preliminary test results that supports the discussion and implementation of the system.

Keywords: Applied Science, Renewable energy sources, Smart Grid, Sustainable energy.

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209 Providing a Practical Model to Reduce Maintenance Costs: A Case Study in Golgohar Company

Authors: Iman Atighi, Jalal Soleimannejad, Ahmad Akbarinasab, Saeid Moradpour

Abstract:

In the past, we could increase profit by increasing product prices. But in the new decade, a competitive market does not let us to increase profit with increase prices. Therefore, the only way to increase profit will be reduce costs. A significant percentage of production costs are the maintenance costs, and analysis of these costs could achieve more profit. Most maintenance strategies such as RCM (Reliability-Center-Maintenance), TPM (Total Productivity Maintenance), PM (Preventive Maintenance) etc., are trying to reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, decreasing the maintenance costs of Concentration Plant of Golgohar Company (GEG) was examined by using of MTBF (Mean Time between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) analyses. These analyses showed that instead of buying new machines and increasing costs in order to promote capacity, the improving of MTBF and MTTR indexes would solve capacity problems in the best way and decrease costs.

Keywords: Golgohar Iron Ore Mining & Industrial Company, maintainability, maintenance costs, reliability-center-maintenance.

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208 Analysis of Impact of Land Use Regulations against Urban Spatial Structure - Centering around Shiheung City

Authors: Chang-il Kang, Yoon-Hong Park, Tae-Hyun Kim, Yu Wann

Abstract:

In this paper, we analyzed the pattern of urban spatial structure of Siheung City that had been divided into two parts and presented alternative plans in order to get rid of these phenomena. Concerning patterns of urban spatial structure, we examined it through means of analyzing status of land use, population density and distribution of residence, status of distribution of main facilities, medical facilities, status of distribution of cultural facilities, distribution of land prices and traffic volume trends. The results of study revealed that status of facilities distribution and distribution of land prices, etc. were bisected by the surrounding area of former municipal office and the district of Sihwa, which were both regarded as one apex of the city divide, forming a duo-centric city. In order to get rid of this problem concerned with urban spatial structure that has been bisected, it is required that measures in order to expand facilities in Siheung City should be taken.

Keywords: Urban Spatial Structure, Duo-centric City, Siheung City.

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207 Social Capital in Housing Reconstruction Post Disaster Case of Yogyakarta Post Earthquake

Authors: Ikaputra

Abstract:

This paper will focus on the concept of social capital for especially housing reconstruction Post Disaster. The context of the study is Indonesia and Yogyakarta Post Earthquake 2006 as a case, but it is expected that the concept can be adopted in general post disaster reconstruction. The discussion will begin by addressing issues on House Reconstruction Post Disaster in Indonesia and Yogyakarta; defining Social Capital as a concept for effective management capacity based on community; Social Capital Post Java Earthquake utilizing Gotong Royong—community mutual self-help, and Approach and Strategy towards Community-based Reconstruction.

Keywords: Community empowerment, Gotong Royong, post disaster, reconstruction, social capital, Yogyakarta-Indonesia.

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206 Exchange Traded Products on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Authors: Piotr Prewysz-Kwinto

Abstract:

A dynamic development of financial market is accompanied by the emergence of new products on stock exchanges which give absolutely new possibilities of investing money. Currently, the most innovative financial instruments offered to investors are exchange traded products (ETP). They can be defined as financial instruments whose price depends on the value of the underlying instrument. Thus, they offer investors a possibility of making a profit that results from the change in value of the underlying instrument without having to buy it. Currently, the Warsaw Stock Exchange offers many types of ETPs. They are investment products with full or partial capital protection, products without capital protection as well as leverage products, issued on such underlying instruments as indices, sector indices, commodity indices, prices of energy commodities, precious metals, agricultural produce or prices of shares of domestic and foreign companies. This paper presents the mechanism of functioning of ETP available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the results of the analysis of statistical data on these financial instruments.

Keywords: Exchange traded products, financial market, investment, stock exchange.

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205 Regression Approach for Optimal Purchase of Hosts Cluster in Fixed Fund for Hadoop Big Data Platform

Authors: Haitao Yang, Jianming Lv, Fei Xu, Xintong Wang, Yilin Huang, Lanting Xia, Xuewu Zhu

Abstract:

Given a fixed fund, purchasing fewer hosts of higher capability or inversely more of lower capability is a must-be-made trade-off in practices for building a Hadoop big data platform. An exploratory study is presented for a Housing Big Data Platform project (HBDP), where typical big data computing is with SQL queries of aggregate, join, and space-time condition selections executed upon massive data from more than 10 million housing units. In HBDP, an empirical formula was introduced to predict the performance of host clusters potential for the intended typical big data computing, and it was shaped via a regression approach. With this empirical formula, it is easy to suggest an optimal cluster configuration. The investigation was based on a typical Hadoop computing ecosystem HDFS+Hive+Spark. A proper metric was raised to measure the performance of Hadoop clusters in HBDP, which was tested and compared with its predicted counterpart, on executing three kinds of typical SQL query tasks. Tests were conducted with respect to factors of CPU benchmark, memory size, virtual host division, and the number of element physical host in cluster. The research has been applied to practical cluster procurement for housing big data computing.

Keywords: Hadoop platform planning, optimal cluster scheme at fixed-fund, performance empirical formula, typical SQL query tasks.

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204 Risk and Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Real Estate

Authors: Tahmina Akhter

Abstract:

In the present work, we make a study of the repercussions of the pandemic generated by COVID-19 in the real estate market, this disease has affected almost all sectors of the economy across different countries in the world, including the real estate markets. This documentary research, basically focused on the years 2021 and 2022, as we seek to focus on the strongest time of the pandemic. We carried out the study trying to take into account the repercussions throughout the world and that is why the data we analyze take into account information from all possible continents. Particularly in the US, Europe and China, where the COVID-19 impact has been of such proportions that it has fundamentally affected the housing market for middle-class housing. In addition, the pandemic has posed risks to investments in this market, due to the fact that companies in the sector have generated losses in certain cases; in the Chinese case, Evergrande, one of the largest companies in the sector, fell into default.

Keywords: COVID-19, real estate market, statistics of COVID-19, Evergrande Real Estate.

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203 Diagnosis of Intermittent High Vibration Peaks in Industrial Gas Turbine Using Advanced Vibrations Analysis

Authors: Abubakar Rashid, Muhammad Saad, Faheem Ahmed

Abstract:

This paper provides a comprehensive study pertaining to diagnosis of intermittent high vibrations on an industrial gas turbine using detailed vibrations analysis, followed by its rectification. Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited, a Chlor-Vinyl complex located in Pakistan has a captive combined cycle power plant having two 28 MW gas turbines (make Hitachi) & one 15 MW steam turbine. In 2018, the organization faced an issue of high vibrations on one of the gas turbines. These high vibration peaks appeared intermittently on both compressor’s drive end (DE) & turbine’s non-drive end (NDE) bearing. The amplitude of high vibration peaks was between 150-170% on the DE bearing & 200-300% on the NDE bearing from baseline values. In one of these episodes, the gas turbine got tripped on “High Vibrations Trip” logic actuated at 155µm. Limited instrumentation is available on the machine, which is monitored with GE Bently Nevada 3300 system having two proximity probes installed at Turbine NDE, Compressor DE &at Generator DE & NDE bearings. Machine’s transient ramp-up & steady state data was collected using ADRE SXP & DSPI 408. Since only 01 key phasor is installed at Turbine high speed shaft, a derived drive key phasor was configured in ADRE to obtain low speed shaft rpm required for data analysis. By analyzing the Bode plots, Shaft center line plot, Polar plot & orbit plots; rubbing was evident on Turbine’s NDE along with increased bearing clearance of Turbine’s NDE radial bearing. The subject bearing was then inspected & heavy deposition of carbonized coke was found on the labyrinth seals of bearing housing with clear rubbing marks on shaft & housing covering at 20-25 degrees on the inner radius of labyrinth seals. The collected coke sample was tested in laboratory & found to be the residue of lube oil in the bearing housing. After detailed inspection & cleaning of shaft journal area & bearing housing, new radial bearing was installed. Before assembling the bearing housing, cleaning of bearing cooling & sealing air lines was also carried out as inadequate flow of cooling & sealing air can accelerate coke formation in bearing housing. The machine was then taken back online & data was collected again using ADRE SXP & DSPI 408 for health analysis. The vibrations were found in acceptable zone as per ISO standard 7919-3 while all other parameters were also within vendor defined range. As a learning from subject case, revised operating & maintenance regime has also been proposed to enhance machine’s reliability.

Keywords: ADRE, bearing, gas turbine, GE Bently Nevada, Hitachi, vibration.

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202 The Integration of Iranian Traditional Architecture in the Contemporary Housing Design: A Case Study

Authors: H. Nejadriahi

Abstract:

Traditional architecture is a valuable source of inspiration, which needs to be studied and integrated in the contemporary designs for achieving an identifiable contemporary architecture. Traditional architecture of Iran is among the distinguished examples of being contextually responsive, not only by considering the environmental conditions of a region, but also in terms of respecting the socio-cultural values of its context. In order to apply these valuable features to the current designs, they need to be adapted to today's condition, needs and desires. In this paper, the main features of the traditional architecture of Iran are explained to interrogate them in the formation of a contemporary house in Tehran, Iran. Also a table is provided to compare the utilization of the traditional design concepts in the traditional houses and the contemporary example of it. It is believed that such study would increase the awareness of contemporary designers by providing them some clues on maintaining the traditional values in the current design layouts particularly in the residential sector that would ultimately improve the quality of space in the contemporary architecture.

Keywords: Contemporary housing design, Iran, Tehran, traditional architecture.

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