Rosli Mohamad Zin

Mobile application prototype for on‐site information management in construction industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study aimed at investigating the information requirements for broad use mobile applications for construction projects. It also presents the results of usability testing of a mobile application prototype for improving information management in construction projects.Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the research objectives, the information required to properly design the mobile application was collected by distributing an online questionnaire among construction professionals. Then a server‐based application prototype was developed based on enterprise content management concepts. The mobile application was tested in a laboratory by setting a group of construction management postgraduate students who had experience of working in the construction industry.Findings – This study determines and ranks the critical on‐site information artifacts, considered highly important from the perspective of clients, consultants, and contractors. The stu...

Selection of dispute resolution methods: factor analysis approach

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to discover the behavior of dispute resolution in the Malaysian construction industry by analyzing factors that affect the selection of dispute resolution methods using factor analysis approach.Design/methodology/approach – Preliminary interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted. Dispute resolution methods were grouped and discussed together, based on the similarity of their characteristics, and used for the questionnaire survey. This research approach is different from the earlier studies that mostly focused on a single dispute resolution method. The data were further analyzed with factor analysis. This improved the data interpretation.Findings – Seven latent factors were extracted and revealed that the contractors and developers preferred alternative dispute resolution (ADR). However, the appreciation of the outcomes of ADR was perceived to be very low. Arbitration and litigation were in part accepted and agreed upon by the respondents.Originality/value...

Application of Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris mixture to design self-healing concrete

AbstractThis study investigated two indigenous micro-organisms that can be isolated from soil. The isolated micro-organisms could precipitate calcium carbonate. These micro-organisms were applied to design self-healing concretes. Concrete is one of the most important materials which is used to build structures. Strength and durability of concrete is very important. Hence, a lot of research in this field is being conducted. Although a few reports can be found on the use of different micro-organism to design self-healing concretes, no research has been carried out to isolate suitable indigenous micro-organisms in Malaysia. In this study two strains of microorganisms were isolated from soil. Broken concrete was treated by a medium culture (MC) containing micro-organisms. Results of this study showed that, cracked concrete could be filled by calcium carbonate after treating by a MC containing micro-organisms. However, this treatment is not very effective on the strength of concrete. Results of this study can ...

Employing Data Warehousing for Contract Administration: e-Dispute Resolution Prototype

Although data warehouse is very practical for decision making, its application in contract administration is rather limited because of the complicated legal issues and the voluminous data involved. This research attempts to bridge this gap in two ways. First, conceptual models of data warehouse are developed to explain the contents and overall features of the system that were verified by 12 experts in Malaysia. Second, an electronic dispute resolution template, known as e-Dispute Resolution (e-DR), is prototyped by using a database tool based on the guidelines of contractual variations agreed by the experts. Subsequently, the prototype is evaluated by 16 professional quantity surveyors from an established consulting firm. The prototype was organized based on a systematic breakdown of issues and incorporated a Boolean keyword search feature. The results show that the concept of datawarehouse is applicable to contract administration and is well received by practitioners. Overall, this article renders significant theoretical and practical contributions in which the resulting e-DR does not only lead toward more informed decision making but is also able to mitigate or prevent contractual disputes in the construction industry, where such a phenomenon seems to be inevitable. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000642.

Multi-strategy budget allocation decision support system for seismic rehabilitation of road infrastructure

Economic efficiency is an important factor in seismic rehabilitation of road infrastructures. An inventory of structures is screened to identify seismically deficient parts and prioritise them in the order of need for rehabilitation purposes. In most cases, the financial resources for road infrastructure rehabilitation projects are limited. Therefore, there is a need to efficiently allocate resources to various projects. This article presents a multi-strategy decision support system (DSS) for seismic rehabilitation budget allocation across existing road infrastructures. This DSS employs a multi-criteria assessment module that takes into account different criteria to estimate the financial needs for rehabilitation and to establish an allocation methodology based on the available budget in a fiscal year. To select the optimal package of projects, a genetic algorithm (GA) optimisation module is developed. Multi-objective decision-making is conducted under a specific decision strategy (DS) by solving a (0–1) Knapsack problem. To demonstrate the applicability of the GA-based approach, a hypothetical decision-making problem is presented. The results reveal that the optimal package is more sensitive to the available budget and DS than to the weights of criteria and project scores. Using this system, managers can compare their decisions for different strategies and significantly improve management efficiency.

Post-Pareto optimality approach to enhance budget allocation process for bridge rehabilitation management

A variety of conflicting criteria in the form of objective functions exist in budget allocation optimisation problem for bridge rehabilitation projects. Budget allocation decision-making for such transportation assets is generally a combinatorial problem. The nature of the problem is a good reason for decision-makers to apply multi-objective optimisation techniques. However, manually choosing an acceptable solution from a set of optimal solutions is a time-consuming task, which would be avoided if the optimisation technique could be followed by a ranking method to obtain unique acceptable solution. To enhance the budget allocation process, this paper develops a posteriori approach to prioritise Pareto-Optimal (PO) solutions generated by genetic algorithm in order to identify a unique package of bridge rehabilitation activities. By identifying the most conventional objective functions for bridge rehabilitation based on technical and managerial criteria, a multi-objective knapsack problem is constructed. PO solutions will then be prioritised applying ‘Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution’. The feasibility of the study will be finally demonstrated through an illustrative example. The proposed ranking approach may facilitate the budget allocation optimisation process for bridge rehabilitation where one or a few acceptable solutions are demanded.

Architect Critical Challenges as a Project Manager in Construction Projects: A Case Study

All construction professionals such as civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, and architects have important roles in the construction process. Among these, architects are frequently appointed as a project manager (PM). The role of a PM will drive the success of the projects implementation. Therefore, the capability of an architect as a PM (ArPM) is critical in reducing challenges encountered. Accordingly, the identification of these challenges is an important task in selecting an appropriate ArPM. The aim of this study is to identify the most critical challenges faced by an ArPM for construction projects. The data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with architects and professionals in the Malaysian construction industry. Because of the fuzziness and uncertainty of subjective responses, Fuzzy Set Ttheory is applied to identify critical challenges. A total of 65 questionnaires were distributed and 36 questionnaires were returned. The results revealed that the critical challenges faced by an ArPM are “poor planning,” “unfamiliar technology,” “unfamiliarity with green buildings and materials,” “inappropriate scheduling,” and “poor workmanship.” All critical challenges were then categorized into six main groups including technical, managerial, personal skills, contractual, psychological, and financial.

A Conceptual Method of Constructability Improvement

Constructability is the optimum use of construction knowledge and experience in the conceptual planning. This paper aims to illustrate the application of constructability concepts during the design stage by providing a relevant case study which is a three story residential building. The buildability score of this building is accurately calculated and then by comparing to current standard of buildability, it was found that the buildability of the building needs to be improved. Thus, the constructability concepts were implemented and it was found that if the concepts being implemented in design stage, the constructability of the building will be improved. This paper concluded by a guideline which shows relevant suggestions for improving constructability concept.

Seismic vulnerability functional method for rapid visual screening of existing buildings

Abstract Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) method for buildings was originally developed by the Applied Technology Council (ATC) in the late 1980’s for potential seismic hazards. This is a simple and almost a quick way of assessing the building seismic vulnerability score based on visual screening. The logarithmic relationship between final score and the probability of collapse at the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) makes results somewhat difficult to interpret, especially for less technical users. This study is developed to improve the simplicity and usefulness of RVS methodology to determine the numeric scores for seismic vulnerability of buildings using vulnerability functional form. The proposed approach applies the existing method in FEMA 154 (2002) for calculating the building rank based on RVS method. In this study RVS scores are used to evaluate populations of buildings to prioritize detailed evaluations and seismic retrofits. The alternate non-logarithmic format of scoring scheme is much better meeting the needs of the project managers and decision makers, as they require results that are easier to understand. It shows the linear equivalent of RVS final scores which is consistent with the existing ranking systems used in the buildings management program such as budget allocation decision making. The results demonstrate that the weight determined for the factor of “Region Seismicity”, which is 0.4033, has the highest contribution to seismic vulnerability scores of buildings. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated through a hypothetical example to rank ten seismically vulnerable buildings.

Potential of solar farm development at UTM campus for generating green energy

Energy is an important element in human life. Previous study discovered that buildings consumed more than 40% of global energy mainly electricity and emit 1/3 of global greenhouse gas through combustion of fossil fuels for generating electricity. Nowadays, global warming come to be a major issue facing the world and it leads to a better awareness about renewable energies as alternatives in generating electricity. In certain countries, solar farm has been adopted as an alternative in producing electricity. UTM spent millions of money every year for electricity bills and UTM could consider solar farm as an energy option in generating green electricity due to suitable climate and huge land bank. Governments incentives and decreasing PV panel price are opportunities to be appreciated for UTM to implement solar farm. However, high initial investment is needed to construct the solar farm. Additionally, decision will be based on financial benefits of the solar farm development. The aim of this study is to identify potential of solar farm implementation in generating green electricity. Data will be acquired via literature review, questionnaire survey, record review, and expert interview. Calculations on payback period and net present value were made based on interview data to identify potential of investment for solar farm. The study outlines the suitability factors for UTM to implement solar farm, at the same time financial benefits of solar farm implementation is portrayed.