Search

Lean Construction (LC) aims at reducing waste, increasing productivity and health and safety in fulfilling the client's requirements of the construction industry. The desire to provide affordable housing, reduce construction waste and increase productivity has led to the adaptation of the “lean construction” concept. Assessing and implementing the techniques of the lean philosophy has become key for organizations in the industry of construction in the quest for incessant advancements. Lean construction is an approach to improve productivity and sustainability. It is a systematic method for creating buildings with optimal engineering, design, and environmental responsiveness. Lean construction assists contractors in managing risks and uncertainties in the production of residential buildings. In this project, we will discuss how the implementation of a lean construction method can ensure effectiveness on a residential building project. This project provides the fundamental knowledge of LC and highlighted its implementation in residential construction. The knowledge of stakeholders is significant because LC principles are widely used in the workplace. However, stakeholders do not yet understand the basic terms of LC, so they cannot reach their full potential. This project will implement various factors of lean construction in residential construction project to increase its efficiency and affordability. The implementation of LC will prove to benefit the construction industry by maximizing value and increasing sustainability.

Covid-19 research made it painfully clear that the scandal of poor medical research, as denounced by Altman in 1994, persists today. The overall quality of medical research remains poor, despite longstanding criticisms. The problems are well known, but the research community fails to properly address them. We suggest that most problems stem from an underlying paradox: although methodology is undeniably the backbone of high-quality and responsible research, science consistently undervalues methodology. The focus remains more on the destination (research claims and metrics) than on the journey. Notwithstanding, research should serve society more than the reputation of those involved. While we notice that many initiatives are being established to improve components of the research cycle, these initiatives are too disjointed. The overall system is monolithic and slow to adapt. We assert that top-down action is needed from journals, universities, funders and governments to break the cycle and put methodology first. These actions should involve the widespread adoption of registered reports, balanced research funding between innovative, incremental and methodological research projects, full recognition and demystification of peer review, improved methodological review of reports, adherence to reporting guidelines, and investment in methodological education and research. Currently, the scientific enterprise is doing a major disservice to patients and society. ispartof: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY vol:138 pages:219-226 ispartof: location:United States status: published

After natural resources are mined, they are stored in cities in the form of urban minerals through the construction of buildings. However, buildings have many negative impacts on nature from the time they are constructed and used to the end of their life cycles when they are demolished and discarded. At present, many researchers have conducted research on the recycling of buildings, including the whole life cycle of buildings, the value assessment of the construction waste, the recycling boundary of the construction waste, and the way building waste could be reused. These studies all need to discuss the types of construction waste and their total volume. Urban mining uses GIS data (top-down) and the same type of building material per unit area (bottom-up) to provide a broad calculation method for the construction waste, but it fails to accurately obtain the exact amount of each material of the building. From the perspective of architectural design, the same type of buildings tend to have different spaces and structures due to factors such as the site, orientation, and function. These all affect the way construction waste is reused. This paper aims to create a framework for the reuse of construction waste to improve the accuracy and diversity of the reuse of construction waste in the future. The main purpose of this article is to provide a more accurate assessment of the material which is contained in a building. Using a 48-year-old office building in the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Laboratory (TCCLab) as the research case study, the paper compares the data calculated by different methods and verifies the difference between the bottom-up and the disassembly classification method proposed in this study. According to the architectural design principles, the authors first carried out a 3D digital modeling of the office building (including the building structure) using a forward construction sequence and then they proposed the framework of the material classification and the reuse of the reinforced concrete (RC) of the office building using the method of reverse disassembly, hoping to provide a reference for the reuse of construction waste.

RationaleMeta-analysed intervention effect estimates are perceived to represent the highest level of evidence. However, such effects and the randomized clinical trials which are included in them need critical appraisal before the effects can be trusted.ObjectiveCritical appraisal of a predefined set of all meta-analyses on interventions in intensive care medicine to assess their quality and assessed the risks of bias in those meta-analyses having the best quality.MethodsWe conducted a systematic search to select all meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials on interventions used in intensive care medicine. Selected meta-analyses were critically appraised for basic scientific criteria, (1) presence of an available protocol, (2) report of a full search strategy, and (3) use of any bias risk assessment of included trials. All meta-analyses which qualified these criteria were scrutinized by full Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews ROBIS evaluation of 4 domains of risks of bias, and a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses PRISMA evaluation.ResultsWe identified 467 meta-analyses. A total of 56 meta-analyses complied with these basic scientific criteria. We scrutinized the risks of bias in the 56 meta-analyses by full ROBIS evaluation and a PRISMA evaluation. Only 4 meta-analyses scored low risk of bias in all the 4 ROBIS domains and 41 meta-analyses reported all 27 items of the PRISMA checklist.ConclusionIn contrast with what might be perceived as the highest level of evidence only 0.9% of all meta-analyses were judged to have overall low risk of bias.

Background Maintained study-based registers (SBRs) have, at their core, study records linked to, potentially, multiple other records such as references, data sets, standard texts and full-text reports. Such registers can minimise and refine searching, de-duplicating, screening and acquisition of full texts. SBRs can facilitate new review titles/updates and, within seconds, inform the team about the potential workload of each task. Methods We discuss the advantages/disadvantages of SBRs and report a case of how such a register was used to develop a successful grant application and deliver results—reducing considerable redundancy of effort. Results SBRs saved time in question-setting and scoping and made rapid production of nine Cochrane systematic reviews possible. Conclusion Whilst helping prioritise and conduct systematic reviews, SBRs improve quality. Those funding information specialists for literature reviewing could reasonably stipulate the resulting SBR to be delivered for dissemination and use beyond the life of the project.

Tradução da folha informativa do projeto AFINET - A necessidade de promover um desenvolvimento económico suportado por modelos sustentáveis, torna a bioeconomia e a economia circular em fatores chave no contexto atual. Estas abordamalgunsdosmaioresdesafioseuropeusemundiaiscomo alterações climáticas, perda da biodiversidade, incêndios florestais, plástico nos oceanos, etc. Além disso, uma menor produção de resíduos e a sua reciclagem ao longo da cadeia de valorsãotambémfundamentaisparafecharociclodaprodução ao utilizador final, garantindo uma economia circular. Os sistemas agroflorestais são conhecidos pela diversificação de produtos que podem ser obtidos de modo integrado numa mesma área de terra, fornecendo uma grande variedade de matérias-primas que podem ser transformadas em produtos de base biológica.

Economic growth has usually been at the expense of the environment. The need to change our development to a more sustainable economic model, makes bioeconomy to be part of the solution to address some of the most eminent European and global challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, forest fires, the ocean plastic… Furthermore generating less residues across the value chain and recycling those still produced is also key to close the cycle and conform the circular bioeconomy. Given that most products derived from fossil fuels can be obtained from biomass, either woody or other plant species, the opportunities for agroforestry are manifold. Agroforestry is known for the diversification of products that can be obtained in an integrative way in the same land unit, providing a great variety of raw materials that may be transformed into bio-based products.

W zasadzie wszystkie produkty wytwarzane z paliw kopalnych mogą być produkowane również z materiałów odnawialnych. Europejska Strategia Biogospodarki staje naprzeciw wyzwaniom aktualnym w Europie i na świecie: rosnącej populacji i zapewnieniu jej wyżywienia, wyczerpywaniu surowców naturalnych, wpływom presji środowiskowej i zmian klimatu. Współpraca rolników i ekspertów agroleśnictwa z sektorem przemysłowym jest niezbędna dla wprowadzenia w życie bio-produktów. - Basically all items made from fossil fuels can also be made out of renewable materials. The European Bioeconomy Strategy answers to the challenges that Europe and the world are facing: increasing populations that must be fed, depletion of natural resources, impacts of environmental pressures and climate change. Farmers and agroforesters together with industry need to join forces for bio-products to become a reality.

Much of the published medical research is apparently flawed, cannot be replicated and/or has limited or no utility. This article presents an overview of the current landscape of biomedical research, identifies problems associated with common study designs and considers potential solutions. Randomized clinical trials, observational studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses are discussed in terms of their inherent limitations and potential ways of improving their conduct, analysis and reporting. The current emphasis on statistical significance needs to be replaced by sound design, transparency and willingness to share data with a clear commitment towards improving the quality and utility of clinical research.

Rationale Meta-analysed intervention effect estimates are perceived to represent the highest level of evidence. However, such effects and the randomized clinical trials which are included in them need critical appraisal before the effects can be trusted. Objective Critical appraisal of a predefined set of all meta-analyses on interventions in intensive care medicine to assess their quality and assessed the risks of bias in those meta-analyses having the best quality. Methods We conducted a systematic search to select all meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials on interventions used in intensive care medicine. Selected meta-analyses were critically appraised for basic scientific criteria, (1) presence of an available protocol, (2) report of a full search strategy, and (3) use of any bias risk assessment of included trials. All meta-analyses which qualified these criteria were scrutinized by full "Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews" ROBIS evaluation of 4 domains of risks of bias, and a "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses" PRISMA evaluation. Results We identified 467 meta-analyses. A total of 56 meta-analyses complied with these basic scientific criteria. We scrutinized the risks of bias in the 56 meta-analyses by full ROBIS evaluation and a PRISMA evaluation. Only 4 meta-analyses scored low risk of bias in all the 4 ROBIS domains and 41 meta-analyses reported all 27 items of the PRISMA checklist. Conclusion In contrast with what might be perceived as the highest level of evidence only 0.9% of all meta-analyses were judged to have overall low risk of bias.

ᅟ This is a response to a Letter. Data abstraction is a time-consuming and error-prone systematic review task. Shokraneh and Adams categorize available techniques for tracking data during data abstraction into three methods: simple annotation, descriptive addressing, and Cartesian coordinate system. While we agree with the categorization of the techniques, we disagree with the authors’ statement that descriptive addressing is a PDF-independent method, i.e., any sort of descriptive addressing must reference a specific version of PDF file and not just any PDF of said report. Different versions of PDFs of the same report might place text and tables on different locations of the same page and/or on different pages. Consequently, it is our opinion that any kind of source location information should be accompanied by the source or linked by an intermediary service such as the Data Abstraction Assistant (DAA).

Background Governments, funding bodies, institutions, and publishers have developed a number of strategies to encourage researchers to facilitate access to datasets. The rationale behind this approach is that this will bring a number of benefits and enable advances in healthcare and medicine by allowing the maximum returns from the investment in research, as well as reducing waste and promoting transparency. As this approach gains momentum, these data-sharing practices have implications for many kinds of research as they become standard practice across the world. Main text The governance frameworks that have been developed to support biomedical research are not well equipped to deal with the complexities of international data sharing. This system is nationally based and is dependent upon expert committees for oversight and compliance, which has often led to piece-meal decisionmaking. This system tends to perpetuate inequalities by obscuring the contributions and the important role of different data providers along the data stream, whether they be low- or middle-income country researchers, patients, research participants, groups, or communities. As research and data-sharing activities are largely publicly funded, there is a strong moral argument for including the people who provide the data in decision-making and to develop governance systems for their continued participation. Conclusions We recommend that governance of science becomes more transparent, representative, and responsive to the voices of many constituencies by conducting public consultations about data-sharing addressing issues of access and use; including all data providers in decision-making about the use and sharing of data along the whole of the data stream; and using digital technologies to encourage accessibility, transparency, and accountability. We anticipate that this approach could enhance the legitimacy of the research process, generate insights that may otherwise be overlooked or ignored, and help to bring valuable perspectives into the decision-making around international data sharing.

Background: The use of linked data in the Semantic Web is a promising approach to add value to nutrition research. An ontology, which defines the logical relationships between well-defined taxonomic terms, enables linking and harmonizing research output. To enable the description of domain-specific output in nutritional epidemiology, we propose the Ontology for Nutritional Epidemiology (ONE) according to authoritative guidance for nutritional epidemiology. Methods: Firstly, a scoping review was conducted to identify existing ontology terms for reuse in ONE. Secondly, existing data standards and reporting guidelines for nutritional epidemiology were converted into an ontology. The terms used in the standards were summarized and listed separately in a taxonomic hierarchy. Thirdly, the ontologies of the nutritional epidemiologic standards, reporting guidelines, and the core concepts were gathered in ONE. Three case studies were included to illustrate potential applications: (i) annotation of existing manuscripts and data, (ii) ontology-based inference, and (iii) estimation of reporting completeness in a sample of nine manuscripts. Results: Ontologies for &ldquo, food and nutrition&rdquo, (n = 37), &ldquo, disease and specific population&rdquo, (n = 100), &ldquo, data description&rdquo, (n = 21), &ldquo, research description&rdquo, (n = 35), and &ldquo, supplementary (meta) data description&rdquo, (n = 44) were reviewed and listed. ONE consists of 339 classes: 79 new classes to describe data and 24 new classes to describe the content of manuscripts. Conclusion: ONE is a resource to automate data integration, searching, and browsing, and can be used to assess reporting completeness in nutritional epidemiology.

The most recent revolution in industry (Industrial Revolution 4.0) requires increased flexibility, agility and efficiency in the use of production equipment. Dynamic Cellular Manufacturing System (DCMS) is one of the best production systems to meet such requirements. In addition, the increasing importance of sustainable development forces manufacturers and managers to take account of the environmental and social issues in the design and configuration of manufacturing systems. This thesis focuses on the sustainable configuration of DCMS by proposing three mathematical models. The main challenge of this study is to (i) choose appropriate social and environmental criteria, (ii) integrate them in mathematical models, and (iii) study the impact of these criteria on DCMS. The first model is bi-objective in order to make a trade-off between some social (job opportunity, potential machine hazards, etc.) and economic (various costs related to cell formation) criteria. To get closer to real-life situations, some parameters such as demand, machine-related costs and time capacity of the machines are considered as uncertain. To solve this problem, a robust optimization method is applied to cope with this uncertainty. In the second model, all dimensions of sustainable development are taken into account in a new bi-objective mathematical model. The first objective function models economic criteria (costs) and the second one environmental aspects (production waste), while social issues (mainly Daily Noise Dosage because of computational complexity) are modeled as constraints. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, a new innovative approach called NSGA II-MOSA is proposed. The last model has three objective functions, one for each dimension of the sustainable development: environmental, social and economic. In order to be close to real life, some parameters of the model are expressed in terms of fuzzy value. We propose a hybridized possibilistic method to deal with uncertainty and an interactive fuzzy approach is considered to solve an auxiliary crisp multi-objective model in order to find trade-off solutions. Finally, the last part of the thesis studies the possibility to apply the three proposed models to the industry thanks to an easier method. A novel optimization-simulation approach is introduced to deal with the configuration of DCMS: (i) the optimization phase operates as scenario fraction method in order to reduce the number of alternative configurations by focusing on strategic and tactical levels; (ii) next, a simulation tool investigates the operational level by studying the performance of each alternative and the interaction between several components of the cells., La révolution la plus récente dans l'industrie (révolution industrielle 4.0) nécessite une plus grande flexibilité, agilité et efficacité dans l'utilisation des équipements de production. Le système manufacturier cellulaire dynamique (DCMS) est l'un des meilleurs systèmes de production qui répondent à ces exigences. En outre, l'importance croissante du développement durable force les fabricants et les gestionnaires à prendre en compte les enjeux environnementaux et sociaux dans la conception et la configuration des systèmes de fabrication. Cette thèse porte sur la configuration durable des DCMS en proposant trois modèles mathématiques. Le plus grand challenge de cette étude est (i) de choisir des critères sociaux et environnementaux appropriés, (ii) de les intégrer dans des modèles mathématiques et (iii) d'étudier l'impact de ces critères sur des DCMS. Le premier modèle est bi-objectif afin de faire un compromis entre certains critères sociaux (offres d'emplois, risques de la machine, etc.) et économiques (divers coûts liés à la formation de cellules). Pour être plus proche de situations de la vie réelle, certains paramètres tels que la demande, les coûts liés aux machines et la capacité en temps des machines sont considérés comme incertains. Pour résoudre ce problème, une méthode d'optimisation robuste est appliquée pour faire face à cette incertitude. Dans le deuxième modèle, toutes les dimensions du développement durable sont prises en compte dans le modèle mathématique bi-objectif proposé. La première fonction objectif modélise des critères économiques (coûts) et la seconde des aspects environnementaux (déchets de production), tandis que certaines contraintes représentent des questions sociales (principalement le « Daily Noise » à cause de la complexité de calcul). En raison de la NP-difficulté du problème, une nouvelle approche novatrice appelée NSGA II-MOSA est proposée. Le troisième modèle proposé a trois fonctions objectif, une pour chaque type d’enjeux : environnemental, social et économique. Afin d'être proche de la vie réelle, certains paramètres du modèle sont exprimés en termes de valeur floue. Nous proposons une méthode possibiliste hybride pour faire face à l'incertitude et une approche floue interactive est considérée pour résoudre un modèle multi-objectif déterministe pour des solutions de compromis. Enfin, la dernière partie de la thèse étudie la possibilité d'appliquer les trois modèles proposés à l’industrie grâce à une méthode plus facile. Une approche d'optimisation-simulation innovante est introduite pour faire face à la configuration de DCMS : (i) La phase d'optimisation fonctionne comme méthode de fractionnement de scénarii pour réduire le nombre de configurations alternatives en se concentrant sur les niveaux stratégique et tactique. (ii) Ensuite, un outil de simulation détaille le niveau opérationnel en étudiant la performance de chaque alternative et l'interaction entre plusieurs composants de cellules.

Lack of reproducibility is an ongoing problem in some areas of the biomedical sciences. Poor experimental design and a failure to engage with experienced statisticians at key stages in the design and analysis of experiments are two factors that contribute to this problem. The RIPOSTE (Reducing IrreProducibility in labOratory STudiEs) framework has been developed to support early and regular discussions between scientists and statisticians in order to improve the design, conduct and analysis of laboratory studies and, therefore, to reduce irreproducibility. This framework is intended for use during the early stages of a research project, when specific questions or hypotheses are proposed. The essential points within the framework are explained and illustrated using three examples (a medical equipment test, a macrophage study and a gene expression study). Sound study design minimises the possibility of bias being introduced into experiments and leads to higher quality research with more reproducible results. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05519.001

Objectives: Poor quality of reporting of confounding has been observed in observational studies prior the STrenghtening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement, a reporting guideline for observational studies. We assessed whether the reporting of confounding improved after the STROBE statement.Study Design and Setting: We searched MEDLINE for all articles about observational cohort and case control studies on interventions with a hypothesized beneficial effect in five general medical and five epidemiologic journals published between January 2010 and December 2012. We abstracted data for the baseline period before the publication of the STROBE statement (January 2004 April 2007) from a prior study. Six relevant items related to confounding were scored for each article. A comparison of the median number of items reported in both periods was made.Results: In total, 174 articles published before and 220 articles published after the STROBE statement were included. The median number reported items was similar before and after the publication of the STROBE statement [median, 4; interquartile range [IQR], 3-5 vs. median, 4; IQR, 3.75-5]. However, the distribution of the number of reported items shifted somewhat to the right (P = 0.01).Conclusion: Although the quality of reporting of confounding improved in certain aspects, the overall quality remains suboptimal. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ez a rövid ismertető anyag összefoglalja, hogyan járulhat hozzá egy farm a körkörös biogazdasághoz, mely bio-alapú termékek állíthatók elő agroerdészeti rendszerekben, és melyek a hátráltató tényezők jelenleg. - This factsheet summarizes how a farm can contribute to a circular bioeconomy, which bio-based products can be produced in agroforestry systems, and what are the handicaps currently., Translation made by / A fordítást készítette : Andrea Vityi, Andrea Tünde Kiss (Soproni Egyetem Kooperációs Kutatási Központ)

Ez a rövid ismertető anyag összefoglalja, hogyan járulhat hozzá egy farm a körkörös biogazdasághoz, mely bio-alapú termékek állíthatók elő agroerdészeti rendszerekben, és melyek a hátráltató tényezők jelenleg. - This factsheet summarizes how a farm can contribute to a circular bioeconomy, which bio-based products can be produced in agroforestry systems, and what are the handicaps currently.