Linkage measures of the construction sector using the hypothetical extraction method

The hypothetical extraction method (HEM) is used to extract a sector hypothetically from an economic system and examine the influence of this extraction on other sectors in the economy. Linkage measures based on the HEM become increasingly prominent. However, little construction linkage research applies the HEM. Using the recently published Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development input-output database at constant prices, this research applies the HEM to the construction sector in order to explore the role of this sector in national economies and the quantitative interdependence between the construction sector and the remaining sectors. The output differences before and after the hypothetical extraction reflect the linkages of the construction sector. Empirical results show a declining trend of the total, backward and forward linkages, which confirms the decreasing role of the construction sector with economic maturity over the examined period from a new angle. Analytical results reveal that the unique nature of the construction sector and multifold external factors are the main reasons for the linkage difference between countries. Moreover, hypothesis-testing results consider statistically that the extraction structures employed in this research are appropriate to analyse the linkages of the construction sector.

Energy analysis of the construction of office buildings /by Graham J. Treloar

Buildings have a significant impact on the environment due to the energy required for the manufacture of construction materials. The method of assessing the energy embodied in a product is known as energy analysis. Detailed office building embodied energy case studies are very rare. However, there is evidence to suggest that the energy requirements for the construction phase of commercial buildings, including the energy embodied in materials, is a significant component of the life cycle energy requirements. This thesis sets out to examine the current state of energy analysis, determine the national average energy intensities < i.e. embodied energy rates < for building materials and assess the significance of using national average energy intensities for the energy analysis of a case study office building. Likely ranges of variation in the building material embodied energy rates from the national averages are estimated and the resulting distribution for total embodied energy in the case study building simulated. Strategies for improving the energy analysis methods and data are suggested. Detailed energy analysis is shown to be a useful indicative method of quantifying the energy required for the construction of buildings.

Productivity measurement of the construction industry in Australia

This research adopts the Malmquist total factor productivity model with Lovell's decomposition and renovated partial factor model to evaluate changes of productivity levels in Australia's construction industry. Research results find that the average annual productivity levels for Australian states are slowly growing, except for Queensland's total factor and capital productivities.

Practice teaching in the Republic of the Maldives : issues and challenges

Practicum is an important but challenging part of primary teacher education especially in developing countries like the Republic of the Maldives where the effectiveness of practicum can be impeded by geographical distance, isolation, levels of teacher expertise, and by a highly structured system of primary schooling and teacher education. The current paper reports on a study of beginning teachers in their first year of full-time teaching practice and their perceptions of the effectiveness of their practicum experiences during their teacher training both generally and in terms of developing desirable teaching competencies. Teachers reported that their relationship with school and academic staff was one of the most effective and positive features of practice teaching but reported less positively on the processes used to assess and evaluate students during their teaching practice.

The value of experiential learning for providing a contextual understanding of the construction process

This research investigates effectiveness of real site visits within an undergraduate course. Experiential learning is a process of providing education, based on the experiences and observations of real-world examples. Some of the theory of experiential learning has been used to examine whether site visits assist the students learning experience.

The results of the research show that students generally have a positive attitude towards site visits and see them as beneficial. Although the study identified that some aspects of construction technology could be easily replaced by computer simulations and the like, other aspects of the curriculum are more effectively taught by retaining real site visits. The research was intended to provide a more structured approach to determining the value of site-based learning in construction-related courses.

CONBPS : an expert system to improve the efficiency of the construction process

The aim of the research outlined in this paper is to develop a best practice process model for building projects based on the use of an expert system. The CONstruction Best Practice System (CONBPS) focusses on projects which are based on the traditional procurement strategy, using the JCT 80 standard form of contract. The model clearly identifies the sequence of construction activities. It also identifies the roles and responsibilities of the major parties on the building team and the issues within the project cycle, which can prove critical to project success. The system incorporates many user-friendly functions, including the provision of multi-choice icons and the provision of an on-line help function. Besides, it also provides interim and final reports which are used to advise the participants on the success factors that they have ignored and to which aspects they should pay more attention. A framework was initially developed focussing on the whole design process with a full knowledge-based system developed for the Inception Stage. CONBPS can be used as a teaching/learning tool to assist teachers and students to better understand the construction process. Also, it could prove useful to project managers and all the participants in the construction process.

Research of the construction industry efficiency in China-based on DEA panel data approach

The efficiency of the construction industry is analyzed based on provinces panel data in China in this paper. The Mean Number of Employee and the Mean Completed Investment are used as inputs. The Mean Actual Sales of Commercial Houses and the Mean Net Profit are used as outputs. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is used to measure the efficiency of the construction industry. Shanghai and Zhejiang are found technically efficient. Shandong is scale efficient but technology efficiency is lower. There are two provinces are decreasing returns to scale and other provinces are increasing returns to scale. On the whole, the technology efficiency of the construction industry of China is lower. Based on the conclusions, the paper proposes some suggestions to improve the efficiency of the construction industry in China.

The advantages of the construction sector of China and India: a comparison

With the spectacular rise of the Chinese and Indian economies the accompanying growth in these two countries' construction sectors justifies more understanding. There is, however, a lot of unknowns about the two countries' construction sectors from a comparative perspective. This study attempted to identify and compare the comparative/competitive advantages of the two fast-growing economies in construction in pursuit of policy and management implications, which can benefit not only the two countries but also other developing countries. In this regard, a comparative advantage framework and Porter's Diamond Framework were applied to analyze the relative advantages of the Chinese and Indian construction sectors. The comparative analyses showed that China appears better endowed in labor with high productivity. Government intervention was identified as benefiting Chinese firms with support for the development of human resources. China also benefits from superior access to a wide range of inputs, including equipment, construction materials, and technology. The existence of large corporate champions provides scale of economy and contributes to the advantage of the construction sector of China. In contrast, India benefits from the increased competitive rivalry thanks to its more hands-off government policies that focus primarily on providing a good business environment with a favorable tax system, market entry policies, laws and regulations, and code/standard systems. The differences identified provide policy implications to the decision makers of the two countries in further developing their construction sectors. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.

An analysis of factors influencing waste minimisation and use of recycled materials for the construction of residential buildings

Residential building construction activities, whether it is new build, repair or maintenance, consumes a large amount of natural resources. This has a negative impact on the environment in the form depleting natural resources, increasing waste production and pollution. Previous research has identified the benefits of preventing or reducing material waste, mainly in terms of the limited available space for waste disposal, and escalating costs associated with landfills, waste management and disposal and their impact on a  building company's profitability. There has however been little development internationally of innovative waste management strategies aimed at reducing the resource requirement of the construction process. The authors contend that embodied energy is a useful indicator of resource value. Using data provided by a regional high-volume residential builder in the State of Victoria, Australia, this paper identifies the various types of waste that are generated from the construction of a typical standard house. It was found that in this particular case, wasted amounts of materials were less than those found previously by others for cases in capital cities (5-10 per cent), suggesting that waste minimisation strategies are successfully being implemented. Cost and embodied energy savings from using materials with recycled content are potentially more beneficial in terms of embodied energy and resource depletion than waste minimisation strategies.

Extending construction linkage measures by the consideration of the impact of capital

Construction linkage is a well-established research field. However, a significant limitation in previous linkage research is that the flow of capital goods is not addressed. Using the OECD input-output tables, this research first generates a new input-output model considering capital as an intermediate factor. Using the new model, the construction linkages are recalculated and investigated in order to evaluate further the role of construction in national economies. The findings verify that traditional construction linkages were extremely underestimated in previous research. Furthermore, the effect of capital on construction shows a declining trend over the examined period. After considering the effect of capital, most values and rankings of backward and forward linkages show a decreasing trend, which confirms the declining role of the construction sector with economic maturity.