Whole Life Cycle Costing Application Barriers Construction Essay

Whole Life Cycle Costing Application Barriers Construction Essay Ellingham and Fawcett (2006, p. 18) indicate that the net present value method for evaluating an investment cashflow was first developed about 50 years ago and is widely used in many spheres. In property and construction projects it has acquired a special name: whole-life costing. In fact, whole-life costing is simply the application of net present value analysis to construction projects. Most people will confused about the term of life-cycle costing, whole life costing, and whole life-cycle costing. As stated in Boussabaine and Kirkham study (2004, p. 4), prior to the 1970s, investment decisions made by most clients, developers and professionals was solely on the basis of capital cost. It appear a thought that spending more in capital cost will realize substantial cost savings in long term compared with a cheaper alternative, which we known as terotechnology. This concept was largely ignored because the lack of available data and collection mechanisms, and it shown that investor had no interest in the subsequent operational cost of the building. In the early 1970s, the term cost-in-use appear in the industry. It was recognized the concept of cost in use could apply to building and critical structures as to calculate the expenditure related to the operation of an asset. However, it also failed to consider the necessity for accurate future cost forecasting. It required some kind of technology to facilitate this problem (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 5). Until the mid to late 1970s, life-cycle costing emerged as a solution to this problem. It fostered a wide-ranging approach to cost appraisal, encompassing all perceivable cost from construction through to eventual disposal the whole life. By using a variety of forecasting techniques, the analyst was able to demonstrate how increase capital cost could be offset by long-term cost savings (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 5). As stated by Ashworth (1989), LCC is clearly a technique, which (at least in theory) has a potential for the correct financial evaluation of construction works. In should be noted that the concepts of LCC are not new. The principles are based upon economic theories, which have been used in investment appraisal in many areas of industrial and commercial activity.White and Ostwald (Korpi and Ala-Risku, 2008, p.241) show that LCC was originally designed for procurement purposes in the US Department of Defence and Woodward (Korpi and Ala-Risku, 2008, p.241) indicates that LCC is used most commonly in the military sector as well as in the construction industry. Towards the late 1990s, the concept of whole life costing and whole life-cycle costing emerged. The terms whole life costing and whole life-cycle costing are interchangeable (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 6). Whole life-cycle costing is a relatively new concept to the construction industry. It is essence an evolution of life-cycle costing techniques that are commonly used in many areas of procurement (Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2004, p. 3). Theoretically speaking, there is no different between LCC, WLC and WLCC. Schade (2007, p. 2), in reporting Flanagan and Jewell study, emphasizes that it is just a change of term form cost in use to life cycle costing and further to whole life cycle costing. Problem Statement According to Boussabaine and Kirkham (2004, p. xi), the construction industry has recently experienced a paradigmatic shift in its approach to product deliver and the achievement of customer satisfaction. Where previously the design and construction teams placed a heavy emphasis on delivering buildings at the lowest capital cost, a greater awareness and desire to consider cost over the whole life of the building have prevailed. Clients now want buildings that demonstrate value for money over the long term, and are not interested simply in the design solution which is the least expensive. These changes have lead to and highlighted the important of whole life-cycle costing approaches to the design, construction and operation of buildings. Schade (2007) claims that, production cost is the main cost factor in construction and is often set to the minimum in commonly, which does not necessarily improve the lifetime performance of buildings. Therefore, it is important to show the construction client in the early design phase the relationship between design choices and the resulting lifetime cost. Boussabaine and Kirkham (2004, p. ix) also note that the award of public construction contracts based on simply the lowest capital cost bid is no longer recognized as good practice; best value must be taken into account and thereby WLCC should be fully appraised as part of the decision making process. The research of Swaffield and McDonald (2007, p. 132) identify that contractors quantity surveyors generally did consider LCC when procuring new products/elements for Private Finance Initiative projects, but in certain circumstances, such as during exceptionally busy times or when working within tight construction budgets, LCC were not considered and procurement decisions for some product/elements were made on the basis of lowest capital cost. As Byron A. Ellis (2007, p.1) said, Designers, engineers and constructors are under pressure from owners to minimize total project cost. Unfortunately, many owners do not understand the concept of total project cost. As a result, they seek to minimize acquisition (first) cost. Economists Alchian and Allen (Byron, 2007, p.1) argue that the term cost should never be used by itself; they noted that it should always be identified with total, average, or marginal. According to Fischer et al (Tah and Aouad, 2007), although the significance of LCC has been recognized as early as 1980s, the current implementation has not been very satisfied due to two major barriers: first barrier is the historical data of building operation and maintenance. Second barrier is the complexity of the procedures and algorithms of calculating the LCC. For example, a building concern thousands of elements and construction method and maintenance activities. A simple change in the building material might take long hours of recalculations, it is therefore difficult to assist users to manipulate the large design and LCC analysis. However, even the idea of WLCC analysis is to help the owner to examine a economically alternative, there will always have the possibility of misleading the decision making by the error result of WLCC due to lack of data or unpredictable changes. There have no such as 100% accuracy for WLCC analysis because the limitation of forecast ability of human being are impossible to forecast everything that could be happen in future. This paper addresses the problems above by providing a detail discussion of WLCC for assisting and simplifying the application of the technique based on the WLCC in construction industry. At the same time reveal the popularity of application of WLCC in Malaysian construction industry. Aim To identified the barriers of applying whole life-cycle costing and investigate the popularity of implementation of whole life-cycle costing in Malaysian construction industry Objectives To review the important of usage of whole life-cycle costing in construction industry. To identify the barriers of application of whole-life cycle costing in construction industry. To analyse the factors affecting the accuracy of whole-life cycle costing. To investigate the popularity of application of whole-life cycle costing in Malaysian construction industry. Scope of Study The concept of Whole life-cycle costing (WLCC) can be use as many sector, to narrow the scope of study, the study will only be focus on the construction industries. Besides that, case study would not conduct to the project for the calculation of WLCC because it will be extremely difficult to obtain the large quantity of information across the long term of a building life cycle and data such as the project operation and maintenance cost, replacement cost, disposal cost could be confidential to its owners. Thus, to manually collect this data has to be very costly and time consuming and the missing of any result above will cause inaccurate of result. This study will focus on reviewing the important of application of WLCC into construction industry. The first issue to be study in deep is the discussion on the principles, advantages and purposes of WLCC analysis. The second issue is to identify the error and the difficulties of applying WLCC due to lack of necessary information and unpred ictable changes. The third issue is to do a research on the understanding of WLCC among owners and their frequency of applying WLCC. Research Methodology The methodology should be targeted at a consistent whole life-cycle costing (WLCC) approach and calculations and should not be aimed at reducing costs but at making more informed and consistent economic, financial and environmental decisions. The study was conducting in four stages. The first phase is the literature review. Second phase will be interview pilot study to the issue. Third phase will be constructing questionnaires. The last phase is to writing the research report. First stage: The literature review started with the important of application of WLCC and required data for a WLCC analysis. Searching of article about WLCC and the searching key words would be whole life-cycle costing, whole cycle costing and life-cycle costing. And the information of search will be limited into construction industry to filtered unnecessary information. The main sources for the literature research were databases, such as Emerald, web of science, Google and library of college Tunku Abdul Rahman. Second stage: Data collection will take form of a structured postal questionnaire. However an initial pilot study may be conducted to test the validity of the questionnaire through interviews with relevant parties. Third stage: Questionnaires will be conduct and send to respondent. The main ideas of the questionnaires are to test the owners of understanding about WLCC, and also research on the preferable of low initial cost or low WLCC when owner make decision of choosing alternatives. The questionnaire should be highlighted more prominently, to make it easier for respondents to participate in the final questionnaire survey. Last stage: This stage involves writing up the content of the dissertation and should cover the chapters proposed in the following section. The result of interview and questionnaires will be analysis and conclude. Example of WLCC analysis will provide by searching through media resources and calculate by myself with simple and reality assumption based on the WLCC principles.

Contemporary Issues in The Merchant of Venice Essay -- Merchant of Ven

Contemporary Issues in The Merchant of Venice       Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is still relevant today because it deals with issues which still affect us. Throughout the play a distinction is made between how things appear and how they are in reality.   The issue of appearance versus reality is demonstrated in varied ways, mainly by the use of real-life situations.   The first representation of this is Shylock's generosity with his money and eagerness to make friends with Antonio when he says, "I say, to buy his favour, I extend this friendship," when all he wants is to take a pound of Antonio's flesh and end his life, "If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him."   Shylock pretends to want to be friends with Antonio, but only wants revenge against the Jew-hater.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The choosing of the three caskets is used as the main explanation of appearance versus reality.   The suitor of Portia must choose either a gold, silver or lead casket, where the right choice will allow the suitor to marry her.   The Prince of Morocco, on choosing the beautiful gold casket with the inscription, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire," sees the message, "All that glisters is not gold," and is thus turned away by Portia.   The Prince of Arragon, on choosing the silver casket with, "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves," receives a fool's head, and is told that that is what he deserves.   Bassanio however, on correctly choosing the lead casket with the inscription, "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath," says, "The world is still (constantly) deceived with ornament."   ... ...actions with one another throughout the play. Appearance versus reality is explored when Shylock pretends to be Antonio's friend, with the choosing of the caskets, and when Portia and Nerissa go to court in disguise to help out Antonio and Bassanio.   Racial discrimination is shown in depth with the confrontations of Antonio and Shylock.   Overall 'The Merchant Of Venice' explores both appearance versus reality and racial prejudice, which are two issues that still hold importance in present-day society.    Works Cited and Consulted    Barnet Sylvan.   "Introduction." The Merchant of Venice Ed. Sylvan Barnet.   New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jersey : Prentice-Hall Inc., 1970.   1-10.    Granville-Barker, Harley.   "The Merchant of Venice.   " Shakespeare Ed. Leonard F. Dean.   Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1947.   37-71.   

Innate vs Learnt Behaviour

In your own words, detail for' and ‘against' arguments with regard to innate and learned behavior. Feel free to include your own opinion, but be sure to Justify It. Try to Include equal amount of Information for both sides. Use at least 500 words for your answer. Answer: The innate verses learnt or nature verses nurture argument is a subject that has been theorized and debated by scientists, psychologists and philosophers for hundreds of years. It Is a question that can be dated back as early as 350 BC where philosophers Plato and Aristotle had different views on whether it was nature or nurture which shaped individual behaviors.Plato believed knowledge and behavior to be innate. He theorized that all knowledge was present at birth and the environment played a unique part in shaping us. In his opinion the environment did not teach us anything we weren't born with and that Its purpose was merely to remind us of Information we already knew. Aristotle on the other hand theorized t hat behavior and knowledge had to be learnt and that we were born as tabular Rasa' or blank slate and our behavior, thoughts and actions were learnt and acquired through experiences.Although nether Plato or Aristotle theories are supported today It Is still debated hat shapes us In the people we become. Is nature or is it nurture? What is innate behavior or viewed as nature? Innate behavior is a fixed, unchangeable, untaught-of, natural behavior, which is instinctive and are born with. Behavior that is inherited or passed on through genes. Things such as reflexes are Innate behavior; a reflex Is an involuntary automatic response to a certain stimulus.Those who believe we are shaped by nature are known as nativities. Examples of innate behavior are the moor or falling reflex, the moor reflex is any sudden movement that affect the baby's neck, giving them the feeling of falling or Ewing dropped. The baby's innate reaction to this is to open their arms out wide, opening up their hands before bringing them back In to their chest almost as if to catch an object. The grasp reflex, whenever an object or fingers touches the palm of a baby's hand they will automatically grasp or grab It.The swallowing and sucking reflex, if you place something, even a finger in to the baby's mouth they will automatically suck and swallow, babies are also known to sometimes suck their fingers or thumbs whilst still in the womb, this is an instinctive reflex, something needed to survive. There are many other reflexes including blinking, breathing, sneezing and coughing. With the ability to instinctively know how to make nests, what is needed to do this and to carry the materials required to do this in their beaks.Sea turtles despite hatching on land instinctively know to head straight for the water and have the ability to swim. A very complex innate behavior can be seen in chickens. Having kept chickens since a child myself vast differences can be seen in battery hens and free range hens . Imagine this battery hens never get the opportunity to see daylight, stretch their inns, take a dust bath or forage in the dirt for worms and bugs, unlike free range hens. Yet on removing hens from the battery and giving them the gift and opportunity of a free range lifestyle, all of the natural instincts return immediately.They have always been there Just merely suppressed. Other more complex innate or instinctive behavior in animals can include hibernation and migration. Learnt behavior on the other hand or nurture is something we are not born with but which we are taught by parents, peers, teachers and can be influenced by social and environmental factors we are exposed to. These behaviors unlike innate behavior are not fixed, but flexible and can be changed at any time. Those who believe it is learnt behavior that shapes us are known as empiricists.Learnt behavior is very complex and can display itself in so many guises and can also vary diversely from one culture to another. Take for example the Europeans and the primitive mammas tribes of Africa. In Europe hunting is considered a sport whereas to the mammas tribes hunting is a necessity and way of life. Without hunting they would not be able to feed, clothe or provide for their families. To them hunting s learnt at a very young age unlike the Europeans who have the convenience of shops and no longer require learning this skill.Learnt behavior can be both good and bad, in the respect that with children a lot of learning is through copying, what they see and listen to and what they are being told about what is going on in their environment surrounding them. The good thing with learnt behavior that if it is bad such as swearing or answering back it can be rectified and changed unlike innate behavior. The body and brain combined are an amazing combination as to how it co-ordinates s, and throughout our lives we will never stop learning. Examples of learnt behavior in children include, walking, talking, lis tening, potty training to mention just a few.Babies usually makes attempts to walk from around 12 – 14 months although prior to this they have already mastered the art to get from one place to another or where they want to be. From 6 months babies may start to shuffle across the room on their bums, or lay on their front with their legs in the air trying to work out how to crawl. From 9 months babies are able to wriggle along the floor on their tummies or even rail, and by 12 months they are making attempts to walk and may even be able to when holding someone's hand. Rods are said and pronounced around them. The path to talking begins as early as 2 – 4 months when babies start to make ooh and ah sounds of pleasure. Between months 4 and 9 babies start cooing and babbling, then from 9 months they begin to point to things and vocalism with some meaning although the pronunciations is not quite there yet, by 12 – 18 months single words begin to emerge with some clarit y words such as mama or dada. Then from 18 – 24 months basic phrases and ententes start to develop with sayings like teddy gone'?From 24 months sentences begin to emerge with real meaning instead of teddy gone' it becomes Where's teddy gone'. Finally from 4 years onwards children have the same language comprehension as an adult although with basic and limited vocabulary. Some children by this age are also bilingual having parents of a different nationality are able to speak English and a foreign language having been used t hearing it during the formative years. Hearing is developmental milestone that begins whilst babies are still in the womb.From around 24 weeks gestation babies have the ability to hear sounds in the outside world, by 32 weeks they will have the ability to recognize a piece of music and move around to the beat, they are also likely to recognize the piece of music after birth. This is how we learn to listen by hearing things over and over again and through li stening to noises and people talking. Many learnt skills as a child are achieved by repetition. Although this all looks quite simple and clear cut there are problems with viewing behavior as either innate or learnt.It is relatively easy to view a singular aspect of a arson's behavior as either innate or learnt for example, hearing is innate and listening is learnt, but it would be impossible to categories a person as a whole as either innate or learnt. The main problem with trying to view behavior as either one or the other is that there are no specific scientific tests which can be carried out, and it would be practically impossible to set up such tests as people's perceptions of things are different.This would create different test results with one person viewing one thing and in the others professional opinion it could be completely different. There is also he fact that it would be seen as unethical to test such things. It has in previous years been attempted to research identica l twins, although being identical and having the same upbringing, they are unable to account for environmental and social factors, as these may be different for both of them. One spending time with one group of people going to one set of places and areas.Whilst the other twin who has a completely different group of friends, going to other places. You would also have to bear in mind the media factors the people are exposed to such as television, radio, gaming stations, the internet. It would therefore make it ritually impossible to agree whether it was nature or nurture that shaped them as individuals. Shapes us in our development from infant t o adulthood along with environmental and social factors all playing a part.Social factors may include one parent families, adopters, or where you are brought up. It is also my belief that many media factors also have a hand in what we learn things as mentioned earlier like television, internet, gaming machines, mobile phones, music, and mobile phones. I also think the social dynamics of the family also play a part too depending on what sort of upbringing you have, and who or what you learning from.

Black Caribbean Natives - 1788 Words

The individuals are black Caribbean natives aged 45 – 60 years old. They are a Christian couple with two sons and have been married for nearly twenty years. The wife holds a doctoral degree and is now pursuing her Post-Doctoral degree in health care and her husband is a graduate of a technical school. They have a combined income of over $220,000. Neither husband nor wife had any prior marriages. They are both first-borns, except the wife is an only child whereas the husband has three younger siblings. Assessment Results I met with the couple for 90 minutes at their house on a Sunday evening. The session began by first gathering feedback from the initial online assessment. Their negative criticism was related to the time-consuming†¦show more content†¦I allowed her to express her concerns to her husband using â€Å"I† statements. In turn, her husband summarized what she stated, which showed that he was actively listening. However, he did indicate to her that school and work take most of her time. He added that they can spend valuable time together after she finishes her degree. She was perturbed by his response and stated that she was worried that by the time she is finished with school they will have drifted apart. I encouraged the couple to plan for a date night just one day a week. Before advancing to the other section, both had agreed that Saturday’s would be their designated date night. Communication In the communication part of the session, the husband listened attentively while his wife shared her wishes. Subsequently, the husband shared his wish for them as a couple, which left her surprised and emotionally touched since his wishes were centered on his wife. Erica mentioned that in addition to spending more intimate time together she would like to drastically reduce her stress levels and she would appreciate them scheduling an exercise regimen. Orville added that he would like to start formulating a plan on their growing desire to adopt a baby girl. His other wish was to find a solution to reduce his wife stress and he believed opening up a business would resolve the stress issue. Erica was emotionally moved by his responses and was embarrassed that her wishes were focusedShow MoreRelatedJoshamee Gibbs Archetypes Essay950 Words   |  4 PagesWhat do Joshamee Gibbs (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl/Terry Rossio) and Phileas Fogg (Around the World in 80 Days/Jules Verne) have in common? Well, from a distance they have nothing in common. Joshamee Gibbs is a pirate found in a blockbuster film. Passepartout is a french valet, from a book written in the 1800s. But, as the reader dives into the characters and their behaviors, a pattern or archetype can be seen. Archetypes are universal in every story and narrative. 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