Quantitative research on exit barrier in construction enterprise with different ownership

“Exit barrier” means the obstacle keeping enterprises from competing even though their profits may be negative. This paper presents quantitative research on the exit barrier’s effect on the Chinese construction industry using questionnaire investigation. The exit barrier was classified into six categories, and then the categories were ranked and analyzed according to the respondents from the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non state-owned enterprises (NSOEs), respectively. The main obstacles related to the exit barrier in SOEs and NSOEs were revealed. Finally, suggestions were provided to diminish the exit barrier effect on the construction industry.

SUSTAINABLE VALUE ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AND LEAN CONSTRUCTION

Lean production is a systemic approach to meeting customer expectations, whatever they value, by reducing waste.At fi rst glance, lean then could only contribute to sustainability, while sustainability is achieved only if the customervalues sustainability. The paper has two objectives. One is to examine whether sustainability is feasible using leanproduction with sustainability as an added value. The second objective is to examine how current lean constructiontools and methods impact the construction and operation of sustainable facilities. The authors also suggest how theselean construction tools and methods have evolved to contribute to green construction. For this study, the authorsinterviewed lean adopters and conducted literature surveys on lean principles and methods, and its impacts on theeconomic, social and environmental sustainability.

Impact of artificial waterfall using reclaimed water to VOCs and its health risk assessment

To study the impact of an artificial waterfall using reclaimed water on volatile organic compounds （VOCs） in air, air samples around the waterfall sight and over the CASS pond of a wastewater treatment plant were collected and VOCs were analyzed by MC-MS with USEPA Method TO-14. The total volatile organic compounds （TOVCs） concentration of a background sample is 2112 μg/m^3, and the sample over the CASS pond has a TVOC concentration of 1858μg/m^3. The TVOC concentrations of air samples within 10 m of the artificial waterfall are between 3216 μg/m^3 and 6362 μg/m^3, which are 1.52 - 3.0 times that of the background sample. The VOCs in air sample impacted by reclaimed water or waste water exhibit a relatively high proportion of toluene but low proportion of benzene. B/T/E/X （ Benzene/Toluene/Ethylbenzene/Xylene ） ratio of the air sample around the artificial water fall is（O. 36/11.78/1/1.10）. Health risk assessment （HRA） was done with the USEPA four-step approach. The result indicates that the artificial waterfall using reclaimed water indeed leads to the increase of human risk value. The total risk value of the sample around the waterfall is 2. 8 - 1.6 times that of the background sample. However, the total risk value of the air sample around the waterfall （2. 8 × 10^-6 ） for common people is still lower,compared to the acceptable public risk level（ 10^-5 ）. For occupational workers of the wastewater treatment plant, the sum of lifetime non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk values （ 1.26 × 10^ -5 ） is higher than that of the acceptable public risk level.

THE GREEN STATUS OF FIRE STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES:AN ANALYSIS OF LEED-NC V3

Fire protection is an essential public service but also one of the costliest ones.Considerable resources are devoted to fire protection including equipment,staff,training,and the facilities to house them.Fire stations,in particular,have a significant cost impact on state and municipal budgets.Fire stations are required in most local governments and like other municipal buildings are central to identity.To limit the cost of operating a fire station,municipalities have looked to more green building options.Green-rating systems such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design(LEED)system have been used in the U.S.to assess green buildings.Thus,this paper aims to analyze 95 certified fire stations under the LEED-NC 2009 version(v3)that are located in the United States.A scorecard analysis(credits and points)of public data available serve as the foundation to describe the status of the green design and construction of these fire stations.The findings indicate that the points in the Material Resources(MR)category are achieved at the lowest rate compared to the other categories,on average 38%of 14 available points were earned.In addition,the points in the Energy and Atmosphere(EA)category are one of the lowest achievement rates,equal to 40.2%.The data also shows that 82%of LEED-certified fire stations belong to career or mostly career type,which are municipality fire departments funded by local governments.The significance of this study is to demonstrate the importance of both MR and EA categories for the design and construction phases of green fire stations.

PERCEPTIONS OF COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCK AMONG RESIDENTIAL CONTRACTORS IN NORTH CAROLINA:AN EXPLORATORY EVALUATION

Compressed carth blocks(CEB)retain the environmental benchts of traditional carthen construction while reducing labor costs and project duration.Despitc these advantages,CEB remains a niche matcrial in the U.S.This study explored residential contractors'perceptions of CEB as a barrier to adoption.A survey was distributed to residential contractors in the North Carolina Picdmont,a region that possscs ideal soil for carthen buildings.Construction professionals in states where carthen construction has a larger market share(New Mexico,Oklahoma,and Texas)were also qucricd for comparison.Respondents with no CEB expcrience provided significantly(p<0.05)lower levcls of agreement with statements that CEB is cost ffective,struc-turally safe and acsthetically appcaling than did respondents with CEB experience.Intervicws conducted with an cxperienced CEB contractor and a manufacturer ol CEB production cquipment provided additional insight and informed the quantita-tive results.Findings represcnt an important stcp in exploring stakcholder perceptions as an impediment to the adoption of non-conventional matcrials like CEB in the residential construction scctor.Educating the next gencration of builders and home-owners is a key component for the implementation of CEB construction.Educational strategics,study limitations and opportunitics for further rescarch arc discussed.