Re-valuing construction materials and components through design for disassembly

The construction industry accounts for a significant portion of the material consumption of our industrialised societies. That material consumption comes at an environmental cost, and when buildings and infrastructure projects are demolished and discarded, after their useful lifespan, that environmental cost remains largely unrecovered. The expected operational lifespan of modern buildings has become disturbingly short as buildings are replaced for reasons of changing cultural expectations, style, serviceability, locational obsolescence and economic viability. The same buildings however are not always physically or structurally obsolete; the materials and components within them are very often still completely serviceable. While there is some activity in the area of recycling of selected construction materials, such as steel and concrete, this is almost always in the form of down cycling or reprocessing. Very little of this material and component resource is reuse in a way that more effectively captures its potential. One significant impediment to such reuse is that buildings are not designed in a way that facilitates easy recovery of materials and components; they are designed and built for speed of construction and quick economic returns, with little or no consideration of the longer term consequences of their physical matter. This research project explores the potential for the recovery of materials and components if buildings were designed for such future recovery; a strategy of design for disassembly. This is not a new design philosophy; design for disassembly is well understood in product design and industrial design. There are also some architectural examples of design for disassembly; however these are specialist examples and there is no significant attempt to implement the strategy in the main stream construction industry. This paper presents research into the analysis of the embodied energy in buildings, highlighting its significance in comparison with operational energy. Analysis at material, component, and whole-of-building levels shows the potential benefits of strategically designing buildings for future disassembly to recover this embodied energy. Careful consideration at the early design stage can result in the deconstruction of significant portions of buildings and the recovery of their potential through higher order reuse and upcycling.

The influence of critical infrastructure interdependencies on post-disaster reconstruction: Elements of infrastructure interdependency that impede the post-disaster recovery effort

The importance of developing effective disaster management strategies has significantly grown as the world continues to be confronted with unprecedented disastrous events. Factors such as climate instability, recent urbanization along with rapid population growth in many cities around the world have unwittingly exacerbated the risks of potential disasters, leaving a large number of people and infrastructure exposed to new forms of threats from natural disasters such as flooding, cyclones, and earthquakes. With disasters on the rise, effective recovery planning of the built environment is becoming imperative as it is not only closely related to the well-being and essential functioning of society, but it also requires significant financial commitment. In the built environment context, post-disaster reconstruction focuses essentially on the repair and reconstruction of physical infrastructures. The reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts are generally performed in the form of collaborative partnerships that involve multiple organisations, enabling the restoration of interdependencies that exist between infrastructure systems such as energy, water (including wastewater), transport, and telecommunication systems. These interdependencies are major determinants of vulnerabilities and risks encountered by critical infrastructures and therefore have significant implications for post-disaster recovery. When disrupted by natural disasters, such interdependencies have the potential to promote the propagation of failures between critical infrastructures at various levels, and thus can have dire consequences on reconstruction activities. This paper outlines the results of a pilot study on how elements of infrastructure interdependencies have the potential to impede the post-disaster recovery effort. Using a set of unstructured interview questionnaires, plausible arguments provided by seven respondents revealed that during post-disaster recovery, critical infrastructures are mutually dependent on each other’s uninterrupted availability, both physically and through a host of information and communication technologies. Major disruption to their physical and cyber interdependencies could lead to cascading failures, which could delay the recovery effort. Thus, the existing interrelationship between critical infrastructures requires that the entire interconnected network be considered when managing reconstruction activities during the post-disaster recovery period.

Associated schools of construction of southern Africa infrastructure design and delivery workshop - Report. CIB task group 91 infrastructure

This workshop comprised a diverse group of African construction experts, ranging far wider than RSA. Each of the attendees had attended the annual ASOCSA conference and was additionally provided with a short workshop pre-brief. The aim was to develop a view of their 15-20 year vision of construction improvement in RSA and the steps necessary to get there. These included sociological, structural, technical and process changes. Whilst some suggestions are significantly challenging, none are impossible, given sufficient collaboration between government, industry, academia and NGOs. The highest priority projects (more properly, programmes) were identified and further explored. These are: 1. Information Hub (‘Open Africa’). Aim – to utilise emerging trends in Open Data to provide a force for African unity. 2. Workforce Development. Aim – to rebuild a competent, skilled construction industry for RSA projects and for export. 3. Modular DIY Building. Aim – to accelerate the development of sustainable, cost-efficient and desirable housing for African economic immigrants and others living in makeshift and slum dwellings. Open Data is a maturing theme in different cities and governments around the world and the workshop attendees were very keen to seize such a possibility to assist in developing an environment where Africans can share information and foster collaboration. It is likely that NGOs might be keen to follow up such an initiative. There are significant developments taking place around the world in the construction sector currently, with comparatively large savings being made for taxpayers (20% plus in the UK). Not all of these changes would be easy to transplant to RSA (even more so to much of the rest of Africa). Workforce development was a keen plea amongst the attendees, who seemed concerned that expertise has leaked away and is not being replaced with sufficient intensity. It is possible today to develop modular buildings in such a way that even unskilled residents can assist in their construction, and even their appropriate design. These buildings can be sited nearly autonomously from infrastructures, thus relieving the tensions on cities and townships, whilst providing humane accommodation for the economically disadvantaged. Development of suitable solutions could either be conducted with other similarly stressed countries or developed in-country and the expertise exported. Finally, it should be pointed out that this was very much a first step. Any opportunity to collaborate from an Australian, QUT or CIB perspective would be welcomed, whilst acknowledging that the leading roles belong to RSA, CSIR, NRF, ASOCSA and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The technological readiness of construction contractors

The Australian construction industry is often criticized for its comparatively low productivity. The most significant future productivity gains are predicted to arise from improvement in the firm’s project management. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are thought to offer such improvement. ICT adoption is particularly poor among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Existing studies provide only a general overview of adoption and diffusion of ICTs in SMEs, with no previous research measuring their readiness to adopt ICT. This paper outlines a theoretical approach to address this gap, exploring how to improve ICT adoption in Australian construction SMEs. A review of literature is undertaken to address the research question ‘What is the best conceptual approach to understanding ICT adoption in SMEs?’ The results emphasize the efficacy of a novel Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model (TRAM) to assess SMEs’ ICT implementation readiness. The proposed model consists of four major constructs to measure readiness comprising: - (1) optimism, - (2) innovativeness, - (3) discomfort and - (4) insecurity; two major constructs to measure technological acceptance comprising: - (1) perceived ease of use and - (2) perceived usefulness; and two extension variables comprising: - (1) self-efficacy and - (2) facilitating conditions. A limitation is that the performance of the conceptual model is yet to be tested empirically. Such research is planned in the coming year by the authors.

Workplace stress and its impact analysis for strategic stress management in construction projects

Workplace stress has been an increasing concern in the construction industry. Workers are working longer hours and construction managers’ responsibilities are becoming more complex and complicated due to reduced resources and widespread stakeholder involvements. These additional pressures potentially trigger workplace stress and impact on project performance. The purpose of this study is to examine and advance understanding of stress and its impact relationships that support holistic and strategic stress management. 17 key stress sources are identified with their impact relationships on different stress types examined. Based on the research findings, this paper concludes with a Stressor-Stress-Performance relationships map.

How Australian construction contractors responded to the economic downturn

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 had a significant impact on the world economy and the construction industry was no exception. This study investigates the major impacts of the 2008 GFC on the Australian construction industry and, in particular how the Australian construction contractors responded to the economic downturn. A total of 35 senior managers from the Top 100 Australian construction companies were interviewed. The findings indicate that construction companies, particularly the large ones were not affected in any significant way but are expecting some difficult financial times over the next few years and are taking actions to minimize the upcoming adverse impacts. The most common strategy adopted by Australian construction contractors is to concentrate on core business while avoiding aimless bidding. Similarly, great focus is placed on retaining human resources in order to maintain the skill set so that the company can respond quickly when market conditions improves. The research findings will provide construction contractors with insights on how to establish and sustain competitive advantages during economic slowdown and become more resilient in the future.

Underlying knowledge of construction management consultants in China

To meet clients/owners’ multidimensional and changing requirements, construction management consultants (CMCs) ought to possess a diverse and dynamic knowledge structure. In China, although the population of CMCs has grown to the point of their being indispensable in the industry, their knowledge structure has not been explored explicitly. The study presented in this paper investigated this by first conducting a comprehensive content analysis of the curricula of the highest ranked construction management university courses in China. This was followed by in-depth interviews with experts, resulting in the identification of 22 main knowledge areas that can be grouped into technology, economy, management and law. A questionnaire survey was then conducted among 115 experienced CMCs to evaluate the current level of knowledge in these areas together with their importance and need-for-improvement. The main findings demonstrate the significance of the identified 22 knowledge areas, and they also need substantial improvement in practice. The research has practical implications for China's CMCs to develop necessary knowledge and the extent to which they need to be improved to provide a better quality of services in future.

hSSB1 (NABP2/ OBFC2B) is required for the repair of 8-oxo-guanine by the hOGG1-mediated base excision repair pathway

The maintenance of genome stability is essential to prevent loss of genetic information and the development of diseases such as cancer. One of the most common forms of damage to the genetic code is the oxidation of DNA by reactive oxygen species (ROS), of which 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-guanine (8-oxoG) is the most frequent modification. Previous studies have established that human single-stranded DNA-binding protein 1 (hSSB1) is essential for the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks by the process of homologous recombination. Here we show that hSSB1 is also required following oxidative damage. Cells lacking hSSB1 are sensitive to oxidizing agents, have deficient ATM and p53 activation and cannot effectively repair 8-oxoGs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that hSSB1 forms a complex with the human oxo-guanine glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) and is important for hOGG1 localization to the damaged chromatin. In vitro, hSSB1 binds directly to DNA containing 8-oxoguanines and enhances hOGG1 activity. These results underpin the crucial role hSSB1 plays as a guardian of the genome.

Tumor-associated mutations inO6-methylguanine DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) reduce DNA repair functionality

MGMT is the primary vehicle for cellular removal of alkyl lesions from the O-6 position of guanine and the O-4 position of thymine. While key to the maintenance of genomic integrity, MGMT also removes damage induced by alkylating chemotherapies, inhibiting the efficacy of cancer treatment. Germline variants of human MGMT are well-characterized, but somatic variants found in tumors were, prior to this work, uncharacterized. We found that MGMT G132R, from a human esophageal tumor, and MGMT G156C, from a human colorectal cancer cell line, are unable to rescue methyltransferase-deficient Escherichia coli as well as wild type (WT) human MGMT after treatment with a methylating agent. Using pre-steady state kinetics, we biochemically characterized these variants as having a reduced rate constant. G132R binds DNA containing an O6-methylguanine lesion half as tightly as WT MGMT, while G156C has a 40-fold decrease in binding affinity for the same damaged DNA versus WT. Mammalian cells expressing either G132R or G156C are more sensitive to methylating agents than mammalian cells expressing WT MGMT. G132R is slightly resistant to O6-benzylguanine, an inhibitor of MGMT in clinical trials, while G156C is almost completely resistant to this inhibitor. The impared functionality of expressed variants G132R and G156C suggests that the presence of somatic variants of MGMT in a tumor could impact chemotherapeutic outcomes.

BPMN process views construction

Process view technology is catching more attentions in modern business process management, as it enables the customisation of business process representation. This capability helps improve the privacy protection, authority control, flexible display, etc., in business process modelling. One of approaches to generate process views is to allow users to construct an aggregate on their underlying processes. However, most aggregation approaches stick to a strong assumption that business processes are always well-structured, which is over strict to BPMN. Aiming to build process views for non-well-structured BPMN processes, this paper investigates the characteristics of BPMN structures, tasks, events, gateways, etc., and proposes a formal process view aggregation approach to facilitate BPMN process view creation. A set of consistency rules and construction rules are defined to regulate the aggregation and guarantee the order preservation, structural and behaviour correctness and a novel aggregation technique, called EP-Fragment, is developed to tackle non-well-structured BPMN processes.

Development of a cultured tissue substitute to repair the ageing retina

This project provides a foundation for the use of silk membranes in a tissue engineered therapy for the treatment of devastating retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. The three-dimensional tissue model described in this thesis has great potential for use in basic research of retinal pathologies, and the potential to be implemented into clinical approaches after appropriate refinement.

Exploring methods of preparing functional cartilage-bone xenografts for joint repair

This thesis explores the feasibility of donor-receiver concept for joint replacement where cartilage-bone tissues can be taken from either human or other mammals and prepared scientifically for repairing focal joint defects in knees, hips and shoulders. The manufactured construct is immunologically inert and is capable of acting as a scaffold for engineering new cartilage-bone laminates when placed in the joint. Innovative manufacturing procedures and assessment techniques were developed for appraising this tissue-based scaffold. This research has demonstrated that tissue replacement technology can be applied in situations where blood vessels are absent such as in articular cartilage.

Improving health and safety communication of migrant construction workers

Although statistical data in some developed countries indicate that migrant workers are nearly 30% more likely to have work-related injuries than local workers, no equivalent official injury/ incident statistics on the health and safety (H&S) of migrant workers are currently tracked in Australia. With increasing numbers of migrant workers having joined Australia’s extractive industries infrastructure and commercial construction industry, this suggests the need for some investigation. A particular issue is that lack of H&S communication is one of the key factors leading to construction industry accidents/ incidents as it prevents workers from effectively receiving H&S safety training and acquiring H&S information. Migrant workers whose first languages are not English are particularly affected by this problem and ways are needed to improve their situation. The research aims to do this by evaluating the H&S communication problems of migrant workers and identify an effective H&S communication structure. An overview of the challenge being addressed by the research is firstly provided, followed by a description of the research framework, and a report of the initial findings, from which recommendations are provided for improving H&S performance in the construction industry.

Leveraging Lean Production Philosophy for Rationalising a Non-Linear Representation of Construction Specifications

This paper presents an approach, based on Lean production philosophy, for rationalising the processes involved in the production of specification documents for construction projects. Current construction literature erroneously depicts the process for the creation of construction specifications as a linear one. This traditional understanding of the specification process often culminates in process-wastes. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that though generalised, the activities involved in producing specification documents are nonlinear. Drawing on the outcome of participant observation, this paper presents an optimised approach for representing construction specifications. Consequently, the actors typically involved in producing specification documents are identified, the processes suitable for automation are highlighted and the central role of tacit knowledge is integrated into a conceptual template of construction specifications. By applying the transformation, flow, value (TFV) theory of Lean production the paper argues that value creation can be realised by eliminating the wastes associated with the traditional preparation of specification documents with a view to integrating specifications in digital models such as Building Information Models (BIM). Therefore, the paper presents an approach for rationalising the TFV theory as a method for optimising current approaches for generating construction specifications based on a revised specification writing model.

Aging-in-place: Perspectives from the construction industry

Older adults report a desire to remain within the preferred environment for as long as possible. This desire is referred to as aging-in-place. Aging-in-place integrates housing and care options. Factors affecting the ability to remain within the preferred environment include current home designs, access to housing choices, social support networks, and community services, to name a few. Research supports physical and psychosocial benefits of aging-in-place for the individual. Home modifications have the potential to influence the quality of life in a number of positive directions that range from personal mobility to community engagement. Modifications range from minor to significant. Financial resources, contractor interest and expertise, consumer awareness and consumer opportunity affect the degree of change. Increasingly, construction professionals express an interest in learning more about aging-in place. Queries ranged from obtaining a greater understanding of the meaning of the concept, impact of demographic change on housing stock, and increased awareness of universal design features. This paper presents findings from a survey administered to current members of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Calgary Regional Office. Within this presentation, we report findings on members understanding of demographic change and the effect of this change on the current and future housing stock. We discuss perceived barriers and benefits of the development of business models to support aging-in-place. Finally, we conclude with discussion of educational support to enhance the understanding of aging-in-place.