The vulnerability of the Gulf Coast to inundation poses a real threat to both national security and the regional economy due to the concentration of the nations energy infrastructure throughout the waterways of the southeastern United States waterways. Mitigation efforts thus far have been qualitative and fail to provide raw, quantitative data to aid in the successful management of flooding liabilities. This paper proposes a novel approach to analyzing infrastructure susceptibility by means of a component-based approach to consequences posed by water-borne incursions. Systems are simplified to collections of components, each with a lowest-member elevation, thereby identifying the benchmark for vulnerability. Further, the maintenance efforts required to return these systems to processing capability are integrated into the component database, identified by available repair and replacement tasks. Simulations for site-specific flood information are analyzed through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency data, which provide the expected inundation levels for the five separate categories of tropical events on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. These levels are applied to the elevations determined in the component analysis, thereby producing a legitimate estimate, measured in manhours, for reconstruction efforts following a flood event. These manhours are then used to calculate cost within a labor database composed of technical laborers and supervision, yielding a labor cost. Material costs based on historic pricing, equipment costs based on current market rates, and company overhead costs, composed of site project management, are aggregated to realize a total direct cost as a result of inundation at a specified flood depth. From this total direct cost, decisions at the owner level can be made concerning acceptable risk with quantitative data to support mitigation and prevention strategies.

Most research focused on housing costs has noted a paucity of empirical cost data for residential construction, and researchers have suggested that collecting these data for individual metropolitan areas is ideal. The goal of this study is to obtain these data and compare them to national average sources to determine how well national data represent local costs. Data collection included obtaining prices from big box stores and through a survey of local Baton Rouge residential contractors for material, square foot and assembly costs for the major components of a house (i.e. foundation, wall, roof). From the material cost data evaluated, the results suggest that the average difference between RS Means and locally collected material cost data is minimal; however, RS Means costs were higher than locally collected costs for 67% of the evaluated items. RS Means assembly costs were found to be statistically different from local cost data for 64% of the assemblies tested. Average square foot costs for new residential construction in East Baton Rouge Parish were found to be in the range of $106-$108/SF, excluding the cost of land. NAHB percentage of construction cost data were not statistically different from Baton Rouge percentage of construction costs for the majority of construction stages. Average costs for wind mitigation in the Baton Rouge area were found to be $1.06/SF to increase the roof nailing pattern, $2.34/sf to apply secondary water resistance, and $3.97/SF to install engineered floor-to-wall connectors. These results provide insight into housing cost data for new construction; conceptual budgets for architects during the design stage; quick estimates by those not actively engaged in the construction industry, including homeowners; and provide data for hazard-related loss calculations and future housing economics research.

The purpose of this research is to propose a Target Costing principles-based frame work for publically funded Green Buildings. Target Costing, a concept from manufacturing, includes a variety of principles and techniques, all of which have the same ultimate goal: to control costs and to increase value to bring the most satisfaction to the end users. This study investigates the current practice when programming and designing the Hunt Library, a LEED-Silver certified and publically funded building at North Carolina State University (NCSU), and proposes some improvements to this practice based upon the fundamentals of Target Costing. The feasibility of the proposed framework was examined in this research through interviews with key project participants, e.g., owner representatives, user groups, design team, and construction manager. The results from this research were gathered to create a Green Building specific Target Costing application framework which includes a flow chart, and a list of barriers and solutions.

In the last three decades of geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry, there has been an urge to present data, especially performance and itemized installation cost, as a plan to reduce the lack of knowledge and trust towards GHP systems for heating and cooling. The potential of GHPs in hot and humid climates is significant [Tao and Zhu, 2012]. However, past research efforts have demonstrated this potential through the use of simulation rather than real-time data. Therefore, the scope of work for this research is to investigate GHP system applications for residential buildings in areas with hot and humid climates. Based on the scope of work, the objective for this research is to determine the cost, energy performance, and the payback period of GHP systems using real data collected from residences in southern Louisiana. To achieve this objective, the research answered the following questions: RQ1: How do geothermal heat pump systems perform in terms of energy usage and costs in hot and humid climates when compared to traditional HVAC systems? RQ2: What is the payback period for installing a GHP system in hot and humid climates for a residential dwelling? A case study protocol was developed to collect building information, HVAC installation cost, financial incentive, energy usage, and end-user satisfaction data from residential buildings in Louisiana, three with GHP systems and two with conventional air-source systems. The electricity consumption and usage cost between the samples was compared using ANOVA in SPSS. This study concludes that tax credits can make GHP systems more affordable to average-size households as the payback period can be four times longer without the tax credits, and although the contractor base for GHPs in southern Louisiana is in its infancy, homeowners feel more satisfied with the performance of a GHP system than with the performance of a conventional air-source system.

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The goal of this study was to explore the proposed relationship between employee satisfaction, ergonomics, and safety while implementing a Kaizen event. In order to address this goal, two Kaizen events (K1 and K2) were conducted in a heavy equipment manufacturing plant. Before and after both events, levels of employee satisfaction were documented for Kaizen and Non-Kaizen (NK) participants using the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS). The objective of the first event (K1) was to improve the efficiency of the task of torqueing the rear axle bolts in Station #1- skid assembly. The K1 methodology followed a traditional Kaizen structure, enhanced with ergonomic and safety evaluation tools, Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) respectively. During the event (K1), problem areas caused by the current skid were identified, analyzed, and a new skid was developed and implemented via a prototype. After testing the prototype all skids were replaced for full implementation. Ergonomic and safety was again evaluated. By using this approach to redesign the process, it was possible to improve productivity (83%), while reducing employee safety (5 JHA hazards to 1 hazard) and ergonomics (Employee #1 REBA score 13 to 11). The objective of the second kaizen event (K2) was to improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process for the welding subassembly station. The K2 methodology followed a traditional Kaizen structure, where the team identified the key problems for the welding subassembly station, analyzed the concerns for the material arrival, developed a solution for more consistent material delivery, and implemented a solution. By using Kaizen as a tool to address scheduling and material movement it was possible to improve the manufacturing process efficiency (36%). The JDS evaluation revealed mixed results for the impact of a Kaizen event on job satisfaction- some employees job satisfaction levels increased when others decreased. The findings also show that some characteristics (Feedback from Agents (p=0.036), Experienced Meaningfulness of the Work (p=0.036), Growth Satisfaction (p=0.027), Satisfaction with Compensation (p=0.034), and Motivating Potential Score (p=0.025)) were significantly different across participants groups (e.g. K1, K2 and NK). The events helped to encourage communication and involvement making the new processes more efficient and less frustrating for employees. Findings from this research contribute to a better understanding of the impact of lean on employees ergonomics, safety, and job satisfaction.

Although the quantity surveyors had laid their claim to the building industry for more than a century, poor scientific knowledge analyses with reference to the professional communication capabilities and communication instruments in the construction industry still exists. The aim of this thesis is to measure the determinants of a communication maturity model in respect of the communication capabilities of the profession. The proposed most important determinants used were brought to light through research undertaken by the University of the Free State in collaboration with the Wirtschafts University in Vienna, Austria in 2005/6. The results of the survey indicate that respondents were positive with regard to professional communication in general. This can influence the construction industry with continuous advantages for the property development environment. The survey results indicate that the determinant contractual communication of the quantity surveyor is experienced the most positive. The determinant leadership communication of the quantity surveyor is experienced the least positive. A model of the most important determinants for effective communication was used to measure the maturity of the professionâs communication capabilities in the construction industry.

The use of project management has expanded and is used in many industries. The generic component of project management across all industries without the necessary technical knowledge has been debated. This study investigates the knowledge base of construction project management and the need for industry specific knowledge. The study includes a literature and also empirical research section. The empirical study made use of interviews, a case study and questionnaires. A construction project management knowledge model was developed based on the research and research findings. The research findings suggest that a project manager in the built environment requires various types of knowledge â project management knowledge, industry specific knowledge and knowledge gained through experience. The project management knowledge includes the 13 areas from the construction extension to the PMBOK guide, the industry specific knowledge is divided into four main areas that are knowledge of construction science, knowledge of construction processes, knowledge of design processes and knowledge of financial cost factors and the knowledge through experience is gained through time spent working in the industry. The construction project management knowledge model aims to contribute to improving the project management environment, aiding in awareness of the various knowledge areas and subareas that are important and the NQF level that is suggested. This could contribute to sufficient education by creating awareness of the level of education a project manager in the built environment requires. Organisations could use the model as reference to determine which areas their project managers could improve on in order to develop and increase project management maturity in the organisation. The project management construction model also offers tertiary institutions a framework for syllabus planning of constructions project management courses. Further research is welcomed and may include improving the model, or using the model as foundation to develop a measuring instrument to determine the knowledge of a construction project manager.