A Review on the Role of Risk Management (RM) and Value Engineering (VE) Tools for Project Successful Delivery

Both in developed and in developing countries, the construction industry is regarded as an economic investment activity without forgetting its significant relationship with national economic development due to its great contributions to the national gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Concerning construction processes, both risk management (RM) and value engineering (VE) techniques have commonalities from the beginning up to the completion of the project due to enhancing the project value/quality, meeting the project deadline, and reducing overall project cost. VE includes resolving the uncertainty of project objectives and ensuring that the project is delivered in a value for money way. The key point of RM is to solve the uncertainty of the project itself and its results to ensure that the specifications are achieved within the prescribed time, cost, and quality constraints. This review work is comparatively and collectively focused on assessing the role of RM and VE tools for project successful delivery. It studies the points of difference and common features of the two aspects in terms of construction project delivery. So, this study concluded that in construction RM tool cannot be the chief aim of the all parties involved in the project execution because sometimes it produces itself negative results and reduces project management success. Therefore, RM needs a strong combination with VE due to the dependence of the target in identifying and assessing risks by considering the highest performance and lowest cost. The integration of RM and VE combination in a single study would avoid duplication of work and deliver better value for money thereby leading to better project outcomes.

A Value Engineering Analysis of Head Loss in Pumping Mains

With net zero carbon emissions targets approaching over the next 20 to 30 years, the water industry must act now to develop energy efficient techniques and designs to reduce emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of water utility providers. There is also the potential for significant energy and therefore financial savings to be realised from the adoption of more energy efficient designs approaches. Water utility providers account for a significant proportion of national electricity consumption. The purpose of this research is to determine if, over the long term, opting for a larger diameter pipe at design stage can lead to significant financial and emissions savings for water utility providers when considering pumping mains. Pumping mains are widely used throughout the water and wastewater industry where a gravity solution is not possible. 72 hypothetical water main design scenarios were analysed and the long term financial and environmental impact of each hypothetical water main was assessed. It was found across all design scenarios that larger diameter water mains were capable of delivering the same rate of flow of smaller diameter pipes at a much reduced velocity and requiring reduced pumping power. It was concluded that pumped mains of larger diameters can ultimately be more energy efficient and cost effective over the long term when selected in favour of smaller diameter pumped mains in otherwise identical design scenarios.

Application of Value Engineering in Construction Projects

The current economic conditions have entailed the use of rational method and techniques and research and application of new techniques by utilizing advancements in technology in the field of production as well as in every field. Excess cost control requires to be maintained throughout the project life of building beginning from the initial stages of design. Scrutinizing the project well and considering all possible alternatives particularly in design stage are important for achieving optimum cost. In this study, how the principles of VE （value engineering） are applied in construction projects is explained, and by covering Bregana-Zagreb-Dubrovnik Motorway construction in Croatia by BECHTEL -ENKA joint venture as the sample project, practices of VE in this project are described. The satisfactory results of time and cost saving are achieved by applying value engineering principles through the VE team during the project preparation phase and project revision phase. Approximately 43,000,0005 and 12 months of time were saved in total thanks to all these VE works. This saving provided builder company with 6% financial saving and 17% work time reduction.

Value Engineering/Value Management Model and Application of Aerospace Projects

This paper presents a new space model developed by general value engineering/value management model. The authors take the function analysis, function optimization and function realization of the development object as the basic point, to get the final optimization structure by value evaluation, so as to improve the project quality and reduce the project cost. The final case shows that the application of this model can save about 18% of the time and considerable cost of the usually planned projects under the condition of quality assurance.

Evaluation of Chinese Learning Efficiency of International Students in China

This paper investigates the related factors of Chinese learning engagement and performance of 377 students from three universities in Guangzhou of China,employs the value engineering method,and calculates the value coefficient of learning efficiency.From the value coefficient of Chinese language learning,it proves that over 60%of international students studying in China have a higher efficiency in learning Chinese.

Evaluation of Chinese Learning Efficiency of International Students in China:Comparing by Dimension

This paper introduces the Value Engineering method to calculate the value coefficient of Chinese learning efficiency for 377 international students by dimension.Results suggest that attention should be paid to male,European and American,rural,introverted,and“work or education needs”international students;Give full play to the driving role of the reference-type,explore the space for improving the learning efficiency of the improvement-type and attention-type,and pay attention to the problems of problem-type international students.

Quantifying the Indirect Benefits of Transport Infrastructures and Value Capture Ways in Transportation

Urban transportation is closely related to land use. The changes of transportation cost and accessibility have a direct impact on land use and land prices. Land exploitation and land use play a role of redistributing traffic flow in the urban districts. Real property values are regarded as a sole comprehensive index representing all the benefits generated by transport investment. We have applied the theory of time value on transportation to land price model to evaluate the increased value of real estate resulting from improved accessibility. Agency responsible for the development of urban transport infrastructure can capture part of the financial benefit gained by real estate development through a variety of value capture. This enables us to transfer indirect benefit of transport infrastructure construction to transport enterprise and achieve a benign cycle between urban transport investment and land exploitation.

Validation of a Value Management Approach Developed for the Saudi Public Sector

A VM （value management） approach was developed that better suits the culture and the context of the SPS （Saudi Public Sector）. This approach provided a comprehensive assessment of VM at institutional, organizational and project levels. This paper illustrates the procedures that were used to validate the developed VM approach. For the institutional and organizational levels, the VM approach was validated by conducting telephone interviews with three experts from three organizations that use VM and with two senior managers from the MOF （Ministry of Finance）. Mainly, it was found that the MOF should be supported by experts to set up a centre of excellence that can set VM policy, guidelines and standards for the promotion of VM in the SPS, in order to ensure achieving value for money spent in SPS projects. The developed VM approach, as it would be applied at the project level, was presented to 11 experts, all of whom completed a validation questionnaire and presented their comments. Subsequently, the questionnaires were analyzed and the VM approach was amended to reflect the inputs provided by these experts. It was concluded that VM should be applied at least twice on SPS projects. Firstly, it is to review and structure strategic and project briefs to sort out soft issues, and secondly, it is to optimize project designs and sort out hard issues.

The Expanding Analysis of Enterprise＇s Human Capital Investment Value

Value is the scale that appraises whether the comparison between a certain thing and its realization which we need to consume is rational. The paper appraises the investment value and incomes of human capital by applying value engineering method. It elaborates the investment structure and contents of human capital first, and then analyzes and summarizes various functions of enterprise＇s human capital. It educes the production function and the optimum equilibrium solution of human capital on this basis. Finally, it appraises the investment value of human capital by applying VE method. Thus we will apply a new method in the human capital field.

DC-Link Capacitor Optimization in AC–DC Converter by Load Current Prediction

Alternating Current–Direct Current(AC–DC)converters require a high value bulk capacitor or afilter capacitor between the DC–DC conversion stages,which in turn causes many problems in the design of a AC–DC converter.The component package size for this capacitor is large due to its high voltage rating and capacitance value.In addition,the high charging current creates more pro-blems during the product compliance testing phase.The shelf life of these specific high value capacitors is less than that of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors(MLCC),which limits its use for the highly reliable applications.This paper presents a fea-sibility study to overcome these two problems by adding a few sensing mechan-isms to the typical AC–DC converter topology.In majority of the AC–DC converter,Al-Elko capacitor takes approximately 3%to 5%of the converter size.The proposed method reduces this to approximately 50%size and so it effectively approximates 2%to 3%size reduction in converter size.The proposed method basically works based on the load current prediction method and hence it is highly suitable for the constant load application.Moreover,the converter response time increases in this method,which limit its application in high-speed systems.The high temperature application of Al-Elko capacitor is limited because of its poor performance,which is significantly rectified by replacing the Al-Elko with MLCC as it delivers good performance in high temperature.

Analysis of the Key Issues about the Regularized Construction of Hainan National Breeding and Multiplication Base

Based on winter nursery and shuttle breeding, Hainan National Breeding and Multiplication （HNBM）, with off-season breeding and seed production as the essence, has become a national strategic resource. The way of HNBM rising to the national strategy was analyzed through the aspects of technology features, historical characteristics, irreplaceability, function and value hierarchy, and the key problems. As the major achievement of the practice of scientific research and historical selec- tion, HNBM played an irreplaceable role in the climatic conditions, scientific breed- ing, and seed production in disaster relief, protecting the safety of the seed industry and Iocational advantages. Based on the analysis on the functions, values and ex- isted problems of HNBM, the function and value hierarchical structure of HNBM was established through introducing concepts of value engineering, industrial clusters and regional economy. But to fully achieve the industrial clustering development and functional values of HNBM, it needed to solve the key problems existed in top-level planning, experimental bases, system design, hardware construction and ecological security. Some suggestions were put forward in this paper, including setting up key scientific research protection zones, improving the regulations and policies safeguard mechanism and management system of HNBM, drawing up and carrying out the base development planning of HNBM, and striving for financial support from national policies.

Improvement of the Life Cycle Costing Method in DesignStage Using KBIMS Library

With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution,the construction industry has undergone a paradigm shift.The smart construction technology market is expected to grow 12%annually in developed countries due to advanced technology investments.It is expected that businesses requiring highly sophisticated technology,for instance companies that need their old facilities upgraded,will become the main focus of the market.As building information modeling(BIM)design is becoming mandatory,such as in the Korea Public Procurement Service,researches regarding building automation,construction,and operation integration management systems based on BIM are conducted.In addition,for construction projects of over 10 billion won,design value engineering(Design VE)implementation,including life cycle cost(LCC)analysis,is mandatory at the design stage to improve quality and reduce the lifetime costs of buildings.In this study,we propose an improvement plan for LCC analysis at the design stage using the KBIMS library,which is an open BIM library developed by the Korean government and research groups.We analyze the existing LCC method,KBIMS library,and attribute information,and model the process that is applied in the LCC analysis system.This is expected to complement the LCC analysis system and improve work productivity.

世界范围VE/VM学术组织的建设及其对实践应用的推动

价值工程/价值管理(Value Engineering/Value Management,VE/VM)问世以来,许多国家和地区相继建立了学术性的组织机构,尤其在发达国家。这些组织名称各异,形式不同,但成立的宗旨、目的都相似。它们在普及VE/VM知识,开展技能培训和职业认证,制定标准规范,引导政府/企业界开展VE/VM实践应用,倡导学术研究和学者交流等方面,起到了重要作用。这些国家深入持久开展VE/VM活动,与这些组织机构的巨大推动作用是分不开的。文中对世界范围的这些VE/VM学术性组织的建设及其对实践应用的推动进行了综述,指出与发达国家的情况相比,中国目前在这一领域尚有很大的差距;如何学习发达国家在VE/VM领域的组织建设经验,对提升中国的VE/VM理论研究和实践发展,具有借鉴作用。

Fault Diagnosis for Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor(MAP) of Diesel Engine Based on Elman Neural Network Observer

Intake system of diesel engine is a strong nonlinear system, and it is difficult to establish accurate model of intake system; and bias fault and precision degradation fault of MAP of diesel engine can＇t be diagnosed easily using model-based methods. Thus, a fault diagnosis method based on Elman neural network observer is proposed. By comparing simulation results of intake pressure based on BP network and Elman neural network, lower sampling error magnitude is gained using Elman neural network, and the error is less volatile. Forecast accuracy is between 0.015？0.017 5 and sample error is controlled within 0？0.07. Considering the output stability and complexity of solving comprehensively, Elman neural network with a single hidden layer and with 44 nodes is presented as intake system observer. By comparing the relations of confidence intervals of the residual value between the measured and predicted values, error variance and failures in various fault types. Then four typical MAP faults of diesel engine can be diagnosed： complete failure fault, bias fault, precision degradation fault and drift fault. The simulation results show： intake pressure is observable and selection of diagnostic strategy parameter reasonably can increase the accuracy of diagnosis;the proposed fault diagnosis method only depends on data and structural parameters of observer, not depends on the nonlinear model of air intake system. A fault diagnosis method is proposed not depending system model to observe intake pressure, and bias fault and precision degradation fault of MAP of diesel engine can be diagnosed based on residuals.

Cloud Computing Technology and Its Applications

Virtualization and distributed parallel architecture are typical cloud computing technologies. In the area of virtuatization technology, this article discusses physical resource pooling, resource pool management and use, cluster fault location and maintenance, resource pool grouping, and construction and application of heterogeneous virtualization platforms. In the area of distributed technology, distributed file system and KeyNalue storage engine are discussed. A solution is proposed for the host bottleneck problem, and a standard storage interface is proposed for the distributed file system. A directory-based storage scheme for Key/Value storage engine is also proposed.

Improving Internationally Core Competences Based on the Capabilities of Precise and Accurate Project Management

Modern international project management has entered the phase of precise and accurate project management after the global financial crisis broke out at the beginning of the 21 stcentury. However, its development has faced new challenges since there has been lack of explicitly unanimous definition for the capability dimensions of precise and accurate project management, as well as the models and their process control parameters. The required core capabilities based on the precise and accurate project management for various rings are involved in the project life cycle, namely, the required internationally core competences and their components for the phases of project strategic planning and decision making in the early project phase, as well as the value engineering, and the project supervision and controls during the execution phase.Through studying the effects of the internationally core competences based on precise and accurate project management capabilities for the success and excellence of projects and configuring such models, the goal is to help the main contractors continuously obtain project success and excellence, thus improve its internationally core competences with continuous project success and excellence.

Methodology and Technology for Design to Cost

Product cost is one of the most important factors affecting product market share. Traditionally, product costs are estimated after they are manufactured. However, in this way, the best opportunity to control product cost is lost. In this paper, a method trying to reduce product cost at the design stage is proposed. This method is called Design to Cost (DTC). According to this method, product structure can be optimized with the application of value engineering and Design for Manufacturing/Assembly (DFMA) criteria in the conceptual stage of product design. During embodiment design, products are evaluated economically on the basis of the product model which includes manufacturing, assembly and test cost information. According to the results, products are redesigned before manufacture, and the production cost is reduced.