Hasil untuk "Construction industry"

J.A. Ferriz-Papi

Oana Maria SICOE-MURG, Teodora MATEOC-SÎRB, Camelia MĂNESCU et al.

The present work aims to present aspects related to the main sources of environmental pollution that exist in the Western Region, as well as the impact of pollution on the health of the inhabitants, in order to ensure a healthy living environment for all the inhabitants of the region. Industrial activities located in this delimited area, sometimes very close or even in human settlements, lead to the appearance of intense sources of environmental pollution with effects on the health of the inhabitants. The short- and medium-term effects of air pollution are detrimental to human health and harm ecosystems and the economy. Long-term pollution affects the environment through: the effect of greenhouse gases, the destruction of the ozone layer, the presence of heavy metals, dust and suspended particles. The greenhouse gases specified in one of the annexes to the Kyoto Protocol are: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. Heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, lead) are now well ahead of well-known pollutants such as carbon dioxide and sulfur and are predicted to be considered more dangerous than nuclear and solid waste. Heavy metal contamination is associated with their widespread use in industrial production, coupled with poor cleaning systems, as a result of which heavy metals enter the environment. Among all pollutants, suspended particles, nitrogen oxides, especially nitrogen dioxide, and ozone pose the highest risk to human health. Air pollution is potentially the most serious short- and medium-term health problem. Polluted air is the most difficult to avoid, and its effects penetrate everywhere and harm the health of the population. The Western Region has numerous sources of pollution such as the steel industry, the electricity and thermal energy production industry, the construction materials industry and the extractive industry.

Kai Lu, Lei Zhang, Shen Li et al.

Abstract The urban rail transit (URT) system in China has undergone development spanning over 50 years. In the period from 2008 to 2015, numerous URT lines were under construction. After 2015, an increasing number of cities have transitioned to multi-line network operations, with greater emphasis on system efficiency and passenger service. This transition has been accompanied by numerous successful innovations and applications aimed at enhancing system intelligence and automation. This paper provides a review of operational statistics based on annual reports, successful operational practices, and industry development characteristics over the past decade in mainland China. Additionally, suggestions and trends for the further development of URT in China are proposed.

Mohammad Taghi Ghashghaei, Ayoub Ahmadi Mousa Abad, Mohammad Taleghani

Abstract The aim of the current research is to provide a model to explain the effect of internal and external organizational decision components on the cost price of industrial products with a factor-based approach. The research method is applicable in terms of its purpose, and, a kind of qualitative and quantitative research of an exploratory type in terms of the process. The statistical population of the research is all experts and informants of the cost price of industrial products, and 35 people were determined as the sample size by the snowball sampling method. Companies' databases such as data related to industrial production and product pricing were used to collect data. Three methods of theme analysis, Delphi technique and factor-based model were used to analyze the data. The software used for the Delphi technique was SPSS version 25, and Netlogo software was used for the implementation and simulation of the factor-based model and its validation. The findings show that the changes in each factor during the period under review have an effect on other factors in the final price, and at the end, the validity of the model was confirmed by the experts. Therefore, the integration of the theory of constraints with factor-based modeling can be used as an effective tool in the cost price of manufactured products, and by means of it, the appropriate selling price of products can be determined and predicted in the short and long term periods. Extended Abstract Introduction From a long time ago, information has been very important in the process of conscious and enlightened human decision-making. With the development of societies, the importance of information in decision-making has increased. Today, information is considered as one of the important indicators of the strength of societies and their sustainable development. Accounting is a process that creates financial information, and in all economic units, an important part of decisions is made based on this information. Currently, accounting knowledge has become a comprehensive knowledge that many feel themselves obliged to know (Wu & et al, 2023). The need for accounting information has grown significantly in recent years. This growth has been due to the decrease in the cost of using computers as well as the increase in the use of scientific and complex methods for planning and decision making. Therefore, managers need more than ever the detailed accounting information, especially information related to the cost price. This growing need for accounting information is to meet internal organizational needs and also prepare financial reports for interest groups outside the business unit (Bloze, 2022).  In order to achieve this goal, managers must have accurate and timely information about the limitations in the system, the cost price of each product, and the available solutions for the optimal use of these limitations. Management accounting as a system must provide this information for managers (Hook, 2022). The traditional management accounting system and the developments in it, such as activity-based costing as well as the theory of constraints solutions, have been able to provide the aforementioned information well (Seyedy & et al, 2021). One of the most flexible modeling methods is factor-based or factor-oriented modeling. The basis of naming this method is because the agents play an essential role in the model. In this type of modeling, each of the real world agents play a role as decision-making and fully automatic entities called model agents. In this regard, the aim of the current research is to answer this main question: what is the presentation of the simulation model of internal and external organizational decision components in improving the cost price of industrial products based on the factor-based approach? Theoretical Framework Internal decisions  Internal decisions in every organization are prepared by the senior managers of the organization periodically, often monthly. These reports are prepared on the way the organization works, including the cost price of products, material consumption, purchase reports and other important reports on industry and production trends. Intra-organizational decisions can be considered as types of management reports; because these reports are presented to the managers for detailed analysis and financial performance of the organization. (Junner, 2010) External decisions  Extra-organizational decisions mean a type of report that is exposed to the observation of others after the approval and review of the organization's managers. These reports examine the financial conditions of the organization in general. Reports such as financial statements, profit and loss, balance sheet, etc. are such reports that generally examine financial accounts. These reports are not entered with the details of the smaller parts of the organization such as production and materials, etc. (Liang, 2019). The cost price of industrial production Manufacturing/industrial/commercial companies usually have many side costs that have a significant impact on the process of determining the price of a product. In other words, organizations have direct and indirect costs that can affect the cost price of products. Cost price accounting (cost accounting) is the process of collecting information about the costs incurred by a company's activities. Cost price accounting is a type of management accounting whose purpose is to calculate the total production costs of a company by evaluating the variable costs of each stage of production as well as fixed costs (such as rental costs) and is necessary to maintain a stable level of profit in the short and long term. North, 2019) Factor-based simulation model  One of the most flexible modeling methods is factor-based modeling. The basis of naming this method is because the agents play an essential role in the model. In this type of modeling, each of the agents of the real world is called a model agent as a fully automatic decision-making entity. Each of these agents has various parts to understand the environment, analyze it, and finally take action. In fact, in factor-based modeling, the decision-making process in the real world is tried to be simulated by similar factors. (Hader, 2018) Research methodology According to the goals it pursues, the present research is a type of applicable research, and in terms of the process of conducting research places in the field of qualitative and field research, of an exploratory type. The statistical population of the research is all experts and informants of the cost price of industrial products, selected by the snowball sample. The experts' criteria included having a management experience in cost accounting for more than 5 years, and having a master's degree or higher. In this research, 10 people were determined as the sample size. In order to collect data from the companies' databases, data related to industrial products and their pricing were extracted to check the research objectives. Three methods of theme analysis, Delphi technique, and factor-based model were used to analyze the data. Netlogo software was used to implement and simulate the agent-based model and validate it. Research findings The findings show that during different years from 2022 to 2024, any changes in endogenous and exogenous variables have a direct relationship with each other; and the cost price also decreases and increases with the decrease and increase of these costs. The behavior of agents during different changes in the final price of products shows fluctuations. Based on the findings, it can be stated that the endogenous variables are: marketing, advertising, distribution and sales, transportation, manpower, construction overhead, investment, profit, volume and number of sales, pricing, depreciation cost, production capacity, consumed energy, and quantitative discounts; and also exogenous variables include: technology level, inflation, taxes and tolls, market competition, exchange rate, bank interest rate, possible license fees, union rules and regulations, import and export amount, market demand, price of energy carriers, price of raw materials, nature of the market, price of competitors, boom or bust of the market, price elasticity, and substitute goods. Cost accounting information is designed for managers. These findings are in agreement with the research results of Omran (2020) and Over & et al (2021) in the components of construction overhead, investment, profit; of Jamz & Kolz (2021) and Rota & Soza (2021) in the price components and depreciation costs, of Seyedy & et al (2021) in the price components of energy carriers, and the price of raw materials, and of Kadim & et al (2020) and Paro & et al (2019) in the price components of competitors, the boom or bust of the market. Conclusion According to the findings of the research, the following suggestions can be made: 1- It is suggested to gather information about competitors and inter-task coordination by monitoring as much as possible, and by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, they will become more profitable and, as a result, perform better. 2- Cost reduction will not be possible except by redesigning the product. In this technique, before the production stage, attention is paid to cost management to produce a product with a predetermined cost price and at the same time provide the desired profit of the management. 3- In costing, first the price is determined based on market analysis, and then the cost price of the product is determined according to the expected profit of the company. 4- Determining the selling price of products should be variable according to the amount of customers' orders to help increase the profitability of the company while being competitive 5- Establishing a strategic supply chain with raw material suppliers will reduce the initial production costs and ultimately reduce the cost price. 6- Creating an integrated software enable to connect all the separate softwares together and prevent the entry of new and parallel information has a significant effect on increasing the precision and accuracy of cost price calculations in the industry. Researchers can also use other methods to model and compare the results, such as fuzzy dynamic systems, structural and interpretive modeling, simulation algorithms, dynamic non-cooperative game theory, etc.

Caineng ZOU, Songtao WU, Zhi YANG et al.

Carbon dioxide storage and utilization has become an inevitable trend and choice for sustainable development under the background of global climate change and carbon neutrality. Carbon industry which is dominated by CO2 capture, utilization and storage/ CO2 capture and storage (CCUS/CCS) is becoming a new strategic industry under the goal of carbon neutrality. The sustainable development of carbon industry needs to learn from the experiences of global oil and gas industry development. There are three types of “carbon” in the earth system. Black carbon is the CO2 that has not been sequestered or used and remains in the atmosphere for a long time; grey carbon is the CO2 that has been fixed or permanently sequestered in the geological body, and blue carbon is the CO2 that could be converted into products for human use through biological, physical, chemical and other ways. The carbon industry system covers carbon generation, carbon capture, carbon transportation, carbon utilization, carbon sequestration, carbon products, carbon finance, and other businesses. It is a revolutionary industrial field to completely eliminate “black carbon”. The development of carbon industry technical system takes carbon emission reduction, zero carbon, negative carbon and carbon economy as the connotation, and the construction of a low-cost and energy-efficient carbon industry system based on CCUS/CCS are strategic measures to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality and clean energy utilization globally. This will promote the “four 80%s” transformation of China's energy supply, namely, to 2060, the percentage of zero-carbon new energy in the energy consumption will be over 80% and the CO2 emission will be decreased by 80% to ensure the carbon emission reduction of total 80×108 t from the percentage of carbon-based fossil energy in the energy consumption of over 80%, and the percentage of CO2 emission from energy of over 80% in 2021. The carbon industry in China is facing three challenges, large CO2 emissions, high percentage of coal in energy consumption, and poor innovative system. Three strategic measures are proposed accordingly, including: (1) unswervingly develop carbon industrial system and ensure the achievement of carbon neutrality as scheduled by 2060; (2) vigorously develop new energy sources and promote a revolutionary transformation of China's energy production and consumption structure; (3) accelerate the establishment of scientific and technological innovation system of the whole CO2 industry. It is of great significance for continuously optimization of ecological environment and construction of green earth and ecological earth to develop the carbon industry system, utilize clean energy, and achieve the strategic goal of global carbon neutrality.

R. C. G. Prado and T. A. Amatosa Jr.

The amount of plastic waste produced yearly is significantly increasing. Approximately 300-400 million metric tons of plastic waste are produced yearly. One of the dominant plastic wastes is a metalized film, a shiny, non-homogeneous polymer used in packaging that is considered the least recycled. Meanwhile, partition walls in buildings are traditionally made of concrete masonry, one of the most utilized materials in the construction industry globally, consumed yearly by about 11 billion metric tons. Because of the excessive use of concrete, the necessary raw materials are undeniably depleting, therefore demanding some alternatives. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is one option that can be utilized as an alternative because of its remarkable characteristics better than that of the traditional. This paper proposed the utilization of PMMA in fabricating the hollow panel filled with shredded waste metalized film packaging resulting in the lightweight wall panel being used as an alternative to concrete masonry for constructing partition walls. After the experiment, PMMA produced compressive strength of 75.30-84.30MPa, a tensile strength of 52.00-59.10MPa, a flexural strength of 102.00-107.00MPa, and water absorption of 0.80-0.90%. Also, shredded waste metalized films add aesthetic to the panel and are complemented by the remarkable transparency of PMMA. In conclusion, using this lightweight wall panel instead of traditional concrete masonry partition walls will reduce plastic waste in landfills and the raw materials necessary to produce concrete.

Zhou Yang , Du Juan

Agricultural microbial industry is a kind of biotechnology industry and high value-added agriculture formed by using agricultural microbial resources and biotechnology, involving in many fields such as planting, breeding and agricultural environment. Agricultural microbial industry is now becoming an important growth point of national strategic emerging industries, which plays vital roles in ensuring national food security, improving the quality of cultivated land and increasing agricultural emission reduction. The purpose of this paper is to study the development strategy of agricultural microbial industry, to elaborate the characteristics, pain points and opportunities of industrial development, and to put forward suggestions and countermeasures. The results show that microorganisms and their related technologies have become the key way to solve the sustainable development of agriculture in China: the breakthrough of basic research and key technologies has promoted the agricultural microorganisms into a new round of technological revolution; the exploration and utilization of microbial resources has reached a new stage; the subdivision industries have ushered in a period of rapid development opportunity. At the same time, China's agricultural microbial industry is also faced with problems such as low rate of core strain autonomy and sharing, relatively weak basic research, and lagging product development. It is suggested that China's agricultural microbial industry should strengthen source innovation, break through cutting-edge key technologies, accelerate the construction of national microbial germplasm resources scientific equipment, and build a new platform for scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.

Caspar L. D. Bain, Caspar L. D. Bain, Gregory A. Kopp  et al.

Light-frame wood construction comprises nearly 90% of the housing industry in Canada and the United States. The roofs of these houses can be constructed either entirely on site or using prefabricated trusses. Assembling the roof structure on site, otherwise known as stick-framing, is a framing technique with current code guidelines that are based on past practice and limited consideration of wind loads. This makes these roof structures susceptible to failure in high-speed wind events, such as tornadoes. This research proposes improved stick-framing guidelines that would work for EF-2 tornadoes. Using non-linear finite element analysis, a stick-framed roof was designed following the guidelines in the National Building Code of Canada. Non-linear links were used to model all of the connections between the members in the roof structure, with frame elements used to represent the members. Increasing wind loads were applied to the structure and the first elements of the roof that failed were improved using an iterative performance-based design approach until the performance target of resistance to EF-2 tornadoes was achieved. The failure of the roof-to-wall-connections and the lack of members used in the framing were the two main issues highlighted and addressed. Damage survey photos were used to compare failures observed in the model with failures after real tornado events, which demonstrate many similar failure modes. The research recommends the requirements to ensure stick-framed roofs can withstand EF-2 tornadoes. Most notable is an improved gable end frame, which gives the structure more roof-to-wall connections, as well as a more structurally sound frame where the loads are the highest. Other additions include struts, hurricane ties at all roof-to-wall connection locations and increased number of nails in various connections throughout the repeating inner frames. Minimum member sizes and qualities for each type of member used in the roof structure are also recommended.

Gnanothayan J. Gaberial, Kauškale Linda

The construction industry forms an important part of any economy, and development of the construction industry could be of high significance for economic development. The construction industry includes the production of construction objects, consumption of resources, investment that contribute to the creation of employment places and also to the economic development of Sri Lanka. The aim of the research is to analyse the development trends of the construction industry and its interconnection with economic development in Sri Lanka. Particular focus of the research is placed on interconnection between the construction industry and economic development. Historical analysis, logical access and other methods have been used in the research. The analysis includes theoretical and practical aspects: actual tendencies and historical overview.

Jing Tian

In 2020, Huize insurance came to the market in the United States, which will again push the Inter net insurance industry to the peak of social concern. As the one of three pillars of the financial industry, the Internet insurance industry is generated with the promotion of Internet finance. After experiencing a blowou t growth around 2015, the Internet insurance industry bypassed the monopoly of traditional insurance indust ry, At that time, big and small companies had their own characteristics. But as the policy tightens, Internet i nsurance suffers. With the impact of the epidemic in 2020, people’s insurance awareness is constantly streng thened, and the Internet insurance industry will usher in a spring with its unique advantages. This paper com prehensively reviews the development of Internet insurance, analyzes the main problems of the Internet ind ustry, and put forward development recommendations based on Huize’s business model, explore methods th e Internet industry in the social sense of responsibility, product design, and connect with the epidemic, comb ine with the government, to strengthen the construction of preferential and universal insurance, innovate the PPP mode, combine insurance technology to carry on the prospect.

Samad M.E. Sepasgozar, Sara Shirowzhan, Faham Tahmasebinia

Edward Harrison, Aydin Berenjian, Mostafa Seifan

Glass is a common material made from natural resources such as sand. Although much of the waste glass is recycled to make new glass products, a large proportion is still being sent to landfill. Glass is a useful resource that is non-biodegradable, occupying valuable landfill space. To combat the waste glass that is heading to landfill, alternative recycling forms need to be investigated. The construction industry is one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world, producing up to 8% of the global CO2 to produce cement. The use of sand largely depletes natural resources for the creation of mortars or concretes. This review explores the possibilities of incorporating waste glass into cement-based materials. It was found waste glass is unsuitable as a raw material replacement to produce clinker and as a coarse aggregate, due to a liquid state being produced in the kiln and the smooth surface area, respectively. Promising results were found when incorporating fine particles of glass in cement-based materials due to the favourable pozzolanic reaction which benefits the mechanical properties. It was found that 20% of cement can be replaced with waste glass of 20 μm without detrimental effects on the mechanical properties. Replacements higher than 30% can cause negative impacts as insufficient amounts of CaCO3 remain to react with the silica from the glass, known as the dilution effect. As the fine aggregate replacement for waste glass increases over 20%, the mechanical properties decrease proportionally; however, up to 20% has similar results to traditionally mixes.

António B. Pereira, Francisco J. M. Q. de Melo

This paper aims to express the maturity and dynamism of welding in industry. It follows the direct observation of international construction standards and rules, here described as an introduction to the most relevant themes in the area of welding processes. Quality management in welded construction involves well-regulated procedures which are, however, so vast that they are of great complexity. In fact, there are hundreds of rules to apply to each specific case. This makes it imperative to have a welding coordinator, at least in cases of greater responsibility. In fact, the application of the rules presents yet another difficulty: along with the breadth of the rules, each country may adopt certain special requirements in their own case. Thus, it is essential to know the necessary path for the proper development of responsible work. First, one must know the various welding processes, their advantages and limitations; then one must identify the regulations applicable to the work concerned; and finally, one must know what tests and qualifications are required, including the expected defects and acceptance criteria. One purpose of this work is to show the necessary path for the implementation of a welding quality management system in metal construction, as well as to present the numerous applicable norms, both for the welder and the welding coordinator, but also for the process and the product. This paper also presents an analysis of how to obtain the CE marking (Conformité Européene) for a welded metal construction and which normative ramifications apply.

Wenchang Li, Mei Xue, Lumin Yu et al.

Background Mastitis is one of the most common infectious diseases in dairy cattle and causes significant financial losses in the dairy industry worldwide. Antibiotic therapy has been used as the most effective strategy for clinical mastitis treatment. However, due to the extensive use of antibacterial agents, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered to be one of the reasons for low cure rates in bovine mastitis. In addition, biofilms could protect bacteria by restricting antibiotic access and shielding the bacterial pathogen from mammary gland immune defences. The functional mechanisms of quorum sensing E. coli regulators B an d C (QseBC) have been well studied in E. coli model strains; however, whether QseBC regulates antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation in clinical E. coli strain has not been reported. Methods In this study, we performed construction of the qseBC gene mutant, complementation of the qseBC mutant, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, antibacterial activity assays, biofilm formation assays, real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) experiments and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) to investigate the role of qseBC in regulating biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility in the clinical E. coli strain ECDCM2. Results We reported that inactivation of QseBC led to a decrease in biofilm formation capacity and an increase in antibiotic susceptibility of an E. coli strain isolated from a dairy cow that suffered from mastitis. In addition, this study indicated that QseBC increased biofilm formation by upregulating the transcription of the biofilm-associated genes bcsA, csgA, fliC, motA, wcaF and fimA and decreased antibiotic susceptibility by upregulating the transcription of the efflux-pump-associated genes marA, acrA, acrB, acrD, emrD and mdtH. We also performed EMSA assays, and the results showed that QseB can directly bind to the marA promoter. Conclusions The QseBC two-component system affects antibiotic sensitivity by regulating the transcription of efflux-pump-associated genes. Further, biofilm-formation-associated genes were also regulated by QseBC TCS in E. coli ECDCM2. Hence, this study might provide new clues to the prevention and treatment of infections caused by the clinical E. coli strains.

Jamil Ghazi Sarhan, Bo Xia, Sabrina Fawzia et al.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has witnessed a huge increase in construction during the last two decades. However, many projects experienced time delays, cost overruns and the generation of massive amounts of waste. To address these challenges, lean construction has been introduced into the Saudi construction industry; however, it is still in its infancy. This study therefore investigates the current state of lean construction implementation in the construction industry in the KSA. The objectives are to identify: the types of construction waste, level of use of tools that support the implementation of lean construction, stages of application of lean methods, and the benefits of lean construction. To achieve these objectives, a structured questionnaire survey of 282 construction professionals was carried out. After the analysis of the collected data using mean score and Anova test, the following conclusions were made.  In the construction industry in the KSA, waiting is the most common type of waste, while Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the conventional tool supporting the implementation of lean construction. Furthermore, the data suggests that lean construction is most commonly used in the construction stage of projects while customer satisfaction is the main benefit derived from lean construction practices. This study concludes that the level of implementation of lean construction in the KSA construction industry is increasing. The results will help benchmark the current state of lean construction implementation, which will enable the construction industry to identify strategies to implement lean construction in Saudi Arabia in accordance with their needs and project goals, to achieve better productivity.

Maradzano, Isabellah , Matope, Stephen , Dondofema, Richmore Aron

South Africa is a developing country that invests billions of rands annually in the construction industry. This industry consumes resources and, inevitably, waste is generated during the process. Although numerous approaches have been developed to improve quality, efficiency, and effectiveness in this industry, lean principles offer the ability to minimise and/or eliminate non-value adding work, thus increasing value for the client. This paper highlights the lean construction tools currently used worldwide, and the benefits of adopting lean construction. The study surveyed publications on the application of lean principles in the construction industry, and identified tools yet to be implemented in the South African construction industry with specific reference to electrical and mechanical engineering services. The study used a systematic review methodology to identify different lean construction concepts, and developed a lean implementation framework. The framework was then evaluated using a local case focusing on electrical and mechanical engineering services in the construction industry. The improved framework after evaluation consists of eight steps.

Esraa Shaban Torab

Despite the many efforts exerted in improving the housing sector in different parts of the world, housing crisis are still growing, especially in developing countries. However there is an oversupply of units in the housing markets, the relationship between supply and demand still imbalanced. This is due to a large gap between the units’ prices offered in the market and the financial capabilities of most of the citizens. So, delivering suitable units to low income people in Third World countries should include some categories that have been illustrated in this study. In general, this paper explains the reasons for the high prices of residential units in the markets, in order to know the reasons for the imbalanced relationship between both supply and demand.On the other hand, a literature review of some developed countries has been discussed, in order to know the ways in which these countries had achieved their huge progress in the housing field. These countries have turned from being underdeveloped countries to high developed countries; by strengthen their competitive situation in the global housing market over the years. As a result, general guidelines were drawn in this study for improving both supply and demand in housing markets of Third World countries. Keywords: Affordable housing, Low income people, Low cost units, Developing countries, Law of supply and demand, Construction industry

Martin Grill, Anders Pousette, Karina Nielsen et al.

OBJECTIVES: The construction industry accounted for >20% of all fatal occupational accidents in Europe in 2014. Leadership is an essential antecedent to occupational safety. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented, participative, and laissez-faire leadership on safety climate, safety behavior, and accidents in the Swedish and Danish construction industry. Sweden and Denmark are similar countries but have a large difference in occupational accidents rates. METHODS: A questionnaire study was conducted among a random sample of construction workers in both countries: 811 construction workers from 85 sites responded, resulting in site and individual response rates of 73% and 64%, respectively. RESULTS: The results indicated that transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented and participative leadership predict positive safety outcomes, and laissez-faire leadership predict negative safety outcomes. For example, rule-oriented leadership predicts a superior safety climate (β=0.40, P<0.001), enhanced safety behavior (β=0.15, P<0.001), and fewer accidents [odds ratio (OR) 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.62–0.98]. The effect of rule-oriented leadership on workers’ safety behavior was moderated by the level of participative leadership (β=0.10, P<0.001), suggesting that when rules and plans are established in a collaborative manner, workers’ motivation to comply with safety regulations and participate in proactive safety activities is elevated. The influence of leadership behaviors on safety outcomes were largely similar in Sweden and Denmark. Rule-oriented and participative leadership were more common in the Swedish than Danish construction industry, which may partly explain the difference in occupational accident rates. CONCLUSIONS: Applying less laissez-faire leadership and more transformational, active transactional, participative and rule-oriented leadership appears to be an effective way for construction site managers to improve occupational safety in the industry.

Ana-Maria Nica, Ion Stancu, Dumitra Stancu

Innovation is seen in numerous specialized studies as an efficient method for improving the performance of a company based on the sector in which that company operates. Based on this idea, the article aims to determine the nature of inter-correlation between the innovation activity of companies and the level of performance of these, which are the main types of innovation and how they can influence companies` position and how the sector of activity can influence the dimension of the impact of innovation. For achieve these objectives have been analysed empirical studies in various sectors, studies which have highlighted a positive inter-correlation between innovation activity and the performance of companies with significant differences depending on the type of innovation and industry use. The article is completed by an empirical analysis which aims to determine the extent to which performance of companies in the construction sector is sensitive to innovation activity. For the analysis were collected data from 14 companies which developed the specific activities in the construction sector of Europe, were achieve a total of 112 observations. The results obtained by applying a multiple regression model shows a positive correlation relationship between indicators of innovation (R&D expenditures and the value of patents/patents) on the one side and performance indicators (equity, labour productivity and number of employees) on the other side. Another direction of research analysed in this paper is to determine the impact of labour indicators on the level of innovation, in this situation was achieve a positive but insignificant inter-correlation between those indicators.

Ibrahim Halil Gerek, Ercan Erdis, Gulgun Mistikoglu et al.

Artificial neural networks have been effectively used in various civil engineering fields, including construction management and labour productivity. In this study, the performance of the feed forward neural network (FFNN) was compared with radial basis neural network (RBNN) in modelling the productivity of masonry crews. A variety of input factors were incorporated and analysed. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and correlation coefficient (R) were used to evaluate model performance. Research results indicated that the neural computing techniques could be successfully employed in modelling crew productivity. It was also found that successful models could be developed with different combinations of input factors, and several of the models which excluded one or more input factors turned out to be better than the baseline models. Based on the MAPE values obtained for the models, the RBNN technique was found to be better than the FFNN technique, although both slightly overestimated the masons’ productivity. First published online: 22 Oct 2014