Governments all around the world have tried to address the problem of providing adequate and affordable housing to the nation over the last three decades. With no exemption, the Malaysian Government is committed to provide all Malaysians, particularly those in the low-income categories, access to adequate and affordable housing. Even with the numerous housing programmes implemented over the various five-year Malaysia Plans, there is still a shortage of affordable homes for the low-income people. The shortage of low-cost dwelling units, along with the high cost of limited land has resulted in rapid expansion of squatter settlements in urban areas. Around the World there is a shift from public to private finance for the delivery of infrastructure projects or related services. However, it has not been implemented to the same extent in affordable housing. This investigation examines not just the measurable deviation from the Malaysia Plan targets, but more importantly, determines an explanation for the deviation and develops a new model of public private partnership for affordable housing. The aim of this research is "to develop a housing model for implementation in affordable housing schemes through the promotion of innovative partnerships between the Government and Private Developers in Malaysia". The research methodology was a combination of literature investigation andinductive reasoning in which a theoretical proposition was tested and developed during data collection and analysis. The data collection included literature review, questionnaires, and follow up interviews with private developers in Malaysia. This research study identifies three models for partnerships between the Government and private developers for affordable housing in Malaysia. An evaluation process was undertaken to assess the appropriateness of the proposed models. The three models will provide tangible benefits in the provision of and access to affordable housing.

Nuclear decommissioning involves the use of remotely deployed mobile vehicles and manipulators controlled via teleoperation systems. Manipulators are used for tooling and sorting tasks, and mobile vehicles are used to locate a manipulator near to the area that it is to be operated upon and also to carry a camera into a remote area for monitoring and assessment purposes. Teleoperations in hazardous environments are often hampered by a lack of visual information. Direct line of sight is often only available through small, thick windows, which often become discoloured and less transparent over time. Ideal camera locations are generally not possible, which can lead to areas of the cell not being visible, or at least difficult to see. Damage to the mobile, manipulator, tool or environment can be very expensive and dangerous. Despite the advances in the recent years of autonomous systems, the nuclear industry prefers generally to ensure that there is a human in the loop. This is due to the safety critical nature of the industry. Haptic interfaces provide a means of allowing an operator to control aspects of a task that would be difficult or impossible to control with impoverished visual feedback alone. Manipulator endeffector force control and mobile vehicle collision avoidance are examples of such tasks. Haptic communication has been integrated with both a Schilling Titan II manipulator teleoperation system and Cybermotion K2A mobile vehicle teleoperation system. The manipulator research was carried out using a real manipulator whereas the mobile research was carried out in simulation. Novel haptic communication generation algorithms have been developed. Experiments have been conducted using both the mobile and the manipulator to assess the performance gains offered by haptic communication. The results of the mobile vehicle experiments show that haptic feedback offered performance improvements in systems where the operator is solely responsible for control of the vehicle. However in systems where the operator is assisted by semi autonomous behaviour that can perform obstacle avoidance, the advantages of haptic feedback were more subtle. The results from the manipulator experiments served to support the results from the mobile vehicle experiments since they also show that haptic feedback does not always improve operator performance. Instead, performance gains rely heavily on the nature of the task, other system feedback channels and operator assistance features. The tasks performed with the manipulator were peg insertion, grinding and drilling.

This thesis is concerned with the improvement of construction practices by studying the application in the sector of some core principles underlying current production management theories. The research is motivated by the recognition in recent literature that the best production practices world-wide have a common core. The core principles investigated in this research are the "reduction of cycle time", "reduction of variability", "increase of transparency" and "build of continuous improvement into the process". The fundamental rationale underlying these principles is the concept of flow where production is seen as composed of waiting, transporting, inspecting and transformation (processing) activities. According to this concept, transformation activities are the only ones that actually add value. Hence, all other activities should be reduced or eliminated from the flow whilst increasing the efficiency of transformation activities. The assessment of construction practices against the theory was carried out through six case studies, based in England and Brazil, and a complementary meta-case. Cross-case study analysis showed that construction already applies all heuristic approaches relating to the flow principles under study. However, the intra-case study analysis revealed a serious lack of integration among the literal replications identified in each of the case studies. Integration of practices matching the theory is critical since the evidence suggests that there is a correlation between production performance and the level of integration among literal replications. An additional case study investigated the issue of how to implement these principles in the practice of construction. The interaction with the host company happened through an Action Learning set supported by the Revans Centre for Action Learning and Research. The experiment showed that a combination of both "push" and "pull" learning seems to be an appropriate approach for introducing the principles in study in the construction sector. Top management positive support during "gestation" period was the most important factor for motivating people to "pull" the learning after the initial 'push' learning exercise.

Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging discipline that promises to capitalize on organizations intellectual capital. KM refers to the process of managing the life-cycle of knowledge relevant to areas that are mission critical to the organization. This includes efforts to capture, store, and deploy knowledge using a combination of information technology and business processes. In recent years, KM has become a critical subject of discussion in the business literature. Both business and academic communities believe that by leveraging knowledge, an organization can sustain its long-term competitive advantage. Approaches to KM varied form emphasizing the capabilities of information and communication technologies to the focus on social systems such as employee training and motivation. Engineering organizations led the way in KM initiatives realizing the potential of successful KM implementation in decreasing production time and cost, increasing quality, making better decisions as well as improve organizations' performance and provide a competitive advantage. Although some engineering organizations reported early KM success, other organizations have tried and failed to implement KM. These failures have been linked to the lack of a generally accepted framework and methodology to guide successful implementation of KM in organizations. This primary aim of this research is to produce a model for a successful implementation of KM in engineering organizations which integrates the various approaches and key factors to implementing KM. The study has produced a model which provides a framework that identifies the different types of knowledge available in engineering organizations, the KM life-cycle which is needed to manage this knowledge, and the key factors that facilitate this process. The model also provides management with guidance for implementing KM in their organizations. In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this research, a triangulation nonexperimental approach is adopted using qualitative in-depth case study with triangulation of data collection methods that uses observation, structured interviews, unstructured interviews, historical data collection, and document review. This is followed by a quantitative approach with the use of a questionnaire to further validate and generalize the proposed KM model. In building the KM model a thorough review of previous related literature from different disciplines was conducted. The literature reviewed included various issues relating to KM, such as KM approaches, perspectives, frameworks, and methodologies as well as strategic planning, human resources, instructional design theories, organizational learning, information technology, etc.

The efficiency of the structure of a civil aircraft may be gauged by the financial performance of the aircraft over its life span. In this thesis a method of structural design is proposed with the object of maximising the life-cycle profit for the airline operating the aircraft. In the formulation of the design process. original contributions have been made in various aspects of optimal cost design theory. The design process is applied to the optimisation of a specimen structure, which is representative of an idealised aircraft wing. The results of the analysis are of importance, since they indicate the manner in which the optimal configuration of a practical structure will vary with the individual characteristics of the aircraft design in which the structure is to be incorporated. The degree to which the optimisation process is degraded by those errors encountered in a practical environment is ascertained by means of sensitivity analyses.

The client briefing of the proposed building design is usually in the form of drawings and artistic impressions being presented to the client. However, very few clients are able to read a technical drawing and the artist impressions are limited and do not aid the client to visualise all aspects of the proposed building. During the client briefing process the client needs to have the experiential quality described, to be able to fully understand the design of the proposed building. Generally, humans perceive and directly experience architectural space by building qualities like texture, form, colour, light, scale, movement. A full-scale model of the proposed building would fully afford the experimental qualities. In reality it would be impractical and not cost effective. However, VR technology allows the creation of an inclusion of space in user's mind, through a minimum of means, but achieves a maximum impact, and affords all the experiential qualities offered by a physical model. A virtual model with a high degree of detail which can be explored by the designer and his clients will therefore be of significant help. However, to give clients the best possible impression of the proposed design it is important to understand how dimensions of those designed spaces are perceived. Therefore, a study was carried out focusing on fundamental investigations into the perception of basic architectural dimensions in order to assess the potential usefulness of VR technology in architecture and the client briefing process. In two experiments, subjects were required to estimate egocentric and exocentric dimensions in Virtual Environments and Real World Setting (RWS). The influence of stimuli orientation was also investigated. In estimating all dimensions a magnitude estimation procedure was employed using a modified free-modulus technique. All participants were pre-tested. Psychometric and visual tests were used for choosing an experimental group with a fair degree of homogenity. Two independent subject groups were used. In addition to dimension estimations recall of simple layout and feeling of space were investigated when evaluating the virtual interface. The general null hypothesis assumed that people perceive space in VE as well as in the real world. It has been shown that the results are statistically significant and therefore one was able to reject the general hypothesis. Overall participants underestimated the dimensions in both experiments by approximately 20%. Results and limitations of the study are discussed. The results of the experiments would indicate that VR technology can be used for simulations of architectural spaces because despite underestimations of dimensions it still performed relatively well if one compares it with results of experiments in the Real World Settings.

A description of the experimental investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of variable geometry of an aircraft model is presented. Aerodynamically, the model is tested-for a sweep range of 0°,12.5° 32.5°, and 52.5° and incidence range of 0° to 200° in 4° intervals. All the pressure distributions on the wing, glove, and body are recorded for each wind tunnel test. Aerodynamic forces and moments were also taken through a balance mechanism system which is attached to the model. This is connected to an independent computer terminal and a Teletype printer. Initially, a flow visualization to test the flow separation on the wing model was carried out. A three-dimensional subsonic program, which was already developed by Hawker Siddeley Aviation Limited, was modified for our purposes in order to carry out numerical calculation of the aerodynamic characteristics and investigate the interference of wing and body. This programme has also been developed to include the compressibility effects and compare these results with those for incompressible flow. The three-dimensional numerical solution was a Panel method for the subsonic case. This investigates the three-dimensional flow-field using a distribution of quadrilateral vortex panels, the effects of which are summed to calculate the aerodynamic characteristics of the model. This subsonic theory was applied to calculate the characteristics of the wind tunnel model over a similar range of sweep and incidence to those tested, for Mach numbers of 0 and 0.5. As the only input data required is the configuration geometry and the flight condition, however, the program can be used to calculate the aerodynamics of any wing-body arrangement specified by the user. The program includes the capability of analysing both fixed-wing and variable sweep-wing configurations. This computational method is capable of being applied to general arbitrary subsonic three-dimensional potential flows, including inlet flow fields. In panel methods, the velocity potential at any point in a flow field is expressed in terms of the induced effects of source and doublet (or vortex) sheet distributed on the boundary surfaces. The configuration surfaces are divided into panels, and essentially, this is a general three-dimensional boundary value problem solver that is capable of being applied to most problems that can be modelled within the limitations of potential flow. Compressibility effects are approximated by the Göthert rule. Comparisons were made between the subsonic calculations and the experimental results and some other theoretical results. Hence, an indication of agreement and accuracy among them is seen, which is good up to a certain degree of incidence (about 10°). Owing to viscous effects, the experimental results for lift coefficient show a significant decline in size with respect to subsonic calculated results. Wing-body interference was calculated for subsonic flows and found to be favourable. Similarly, a general supersonic program was developed for numerical analysis of the aerodynamic characteristics of a thin wing. The theory was extended to include wing-body interferences. This extended treatment consists of slender body theory combined with a thin wing solution using a "characteristic box" method for supersonic analysis. Streamwise pressure-distributions on an aircraft wing are presented, and also-some aerodynamic force and moment coefficients of this wing are-presented. Finally, for wing body interaction analysis, the Nielsen method was used. All the relevant computations including centre of pressure position and interferences of wing and body for a combined model are presented. Comparisons of the supersonic results with some theoretical and experimental results shows good agreement. The interference calculations in this case showed favourable effects, which very broadly tend to be lower than those calculated for subsonic flow.

La notion de confort dans les habitats est une problématique majeure pour résoudre des problèmes écologiques (consommation et émissions des bâtiments), économiques (réduction de coûts d'exploitation) et sociaux (maintien et assistance à domicile) qui définissent le développement durable. Cependant, cette notion de confort est complexe, par le nombre de paramètres qu'elle intègre, paramètres à la fois humains (perception) et physiques (mesure). Notre étude vise à modéliser cette notion de confort dans un contexte d'habitat intelligent. L'habitat intelligent émerge depuis le début des années 2000, et se positionne en héritier de la domotique, bénéficiant des progrès technologiques illustrés par l'informatique ubiquitaire et l'intelligence artificielle, concepts formants l'intelligence ambiante. La première partie de notre étude consiste à définir l'habitat intelligent, en formalisant les acquis (domotique) et les problématiques de recherche, sous l'angle de la représentation de connaissances par les modèles. Notre approche du bâtiment intelligent nous à permis de définir un cadre d'interopérabilité : un intergiciel capable de concentrer les paramètres et commandes d'un environnement. Cette interopérabilité est nécessaire de par l'hétérogénéité des objets communicants qui composent un habitat : hétérogénéité des applications, des protocoles de communication, de savoir-faire et d'usages. Les travaux réalisés dans cette première partie de l'étude nous ont permis d'instrumenter une plate-forme d'expérimentation : la plateforme Domus. Ainsi, en reconstituant un appartement, et en le dotant d'objets communicants, nous avons pu mettre en œuvre, par le biais de l'interopérabilité, un environnement intelligent, environnement qui se caractérise par une forte densité d'information et une capacité de réaction. La réalisation de cette plate-forme est nécessaire pour aborder des thématiques diverses liées à l'habitat, comme le confort. En effet, l'intelligence ambiante apporte une nouvelle dimension dans ce cadre de recherche : l'ubiquité. La densité croissante de capteurs nous permet de collecter plus d'informations, non seulement sur l'environnement mais également sur l'utilisateur et son comportement, définissant ainsi une nouvelle approche du confort : le confort adaptatif. Les travaux sur l'étude du confort dans les bâtiments se focalisent sur le confort thermique. Dans nos travaux, nous avons voulu nous intéresser au confort multi-sensoriel. Celui-ci permet d'une part de prendre en compte l'ensemble des paramètres qui agrémentent un environnement (l'air, le son, la vue) mais permet également de nous intéresser aux effets sensoriels croisés que peuvent induire ces modalités sur l'occupant. Par exemple, on soupçonne la température d'éclairage (éclairage rouge/chaud, éclairage bleu/froid) d'avoir une incidence sur la perception thermique. Des expérimentations ont en effet démontré l'approche pratique et l'approche théorique de ces effets multi-sensoriels. La mise en place de notre cadre d'interopérabilité, en première partie, dans la plateforme Domus et les résultats de nos évaluations expérimentales, en seconde partie, sur le confort réalisés dans cette même plateforme, nous permettent de participer à la définition d'un « confort-mètre », qui s'appuie à la fois sur les capteurs, les objets de l'habitat et la perception des habitants. / The notion of comfort in homes is a major problem to solve environmental problems (consumption and emissions of buildings), economic (reduction of operating costs) and social (maintenance and home care) that define sustainable development. However, this notion of comfort is complicated by the number of parameters that integrates both human (perception) and physical (measurement) parameters. Our study aims to model the concept of comfort in a smart home. Smart homes emerged in the early 2000s, and are positioned as heir to home automation, benefiting from technological advances illustrated by ubiquitous computing and artificial intelligence, ambient intelligence concepts formants. The first part of this study was to define habitat intelligent, formalizing the gains (home automation) and research issues, in terms of knowledge representation by the models. Our approach to intelligent building allowed us to define a framework for interoperability: a middleware able to focus and control the parameters of an environment. This interoperability is required by the heterogeneity of communicating objects that make up a habitat: heterogeneity of applications, communication protocols, know-how and practices. This first part of the study allowed us to instrument an experimental platform: the platform Domus. Thus, by restoring an apartment, and by providing it with smart objects, we could implement, through interoperability, an intelligent environment, environment characterized by high information density and capacity reaction. The realization of this platform is needed to address various topics related to housing, such as comfort. Indeed, ambient intelligence brings a new dimension in this research framework: ubiquity. The increasing density of sensors allows us to collect more information, not only the environment but also on the user and its behavior, thus defining a new approach to comfort: Adaptive comfort. Most of the work focusing on thermal comfort, we are interested in multi-sensory comfort. This allows one hand to take into account all the parameters that enhances an environment (air, sound, sight) but also allows our attention to cross-sensory effects that can induce these terms on the occupier. For example, it is suspected the temperature light (red light / heat, light blue / cold) to affect the perception of heat. Experiments have shown the practical approach and the theoretical approach of multi-sensory effects. The results of this study will be led to participate in the definition of "comfortmeter", a tool to sense comfort for both habitat and the inhabitant.

Abstract Water is a scarce resource, and therefore struggles for its governance exist and more can be expected in the future. Questions pertaining to the governance of nature and natural resources are very complex and demanding, because the varied interests of several actors must be considered in the problem-solving process. This study seeks to explain the multiplicity of the human-environment interaction in the Vuoksi River valley from 1800 to the present. The Vuoksi River runs 150 kilometres from Lake Saimaa (Finland) to Lake Ladoga (Russia). In this study, the Vuoksi is analysed as a field of political struggles, social construction and as a part of everyday practices. The picture of the Vuoksi is drawn from local and spatial contexts, from wider historical causes and effects and social processes. The Vuoksi is seen as a place where ecological, economical, socio-cultural and political aspects are entwined and they form a diverse entity. This study discusses the changes of the Vuoksi River, the causes of these changes and the altering values of the water. Further, it deals with the place of the Vuoksi River in people’s lives. The discussed changes have taken place in (1) the physical Vuoksi (2) the governance of the Vuoksi and (3) the significance of the Vuoksi. Physically, the Vuoksi as a currant has changed because of the construction of hydropower plants. The most dramatic changes in the governance of the Vuoksi took place when Finland ceded the area of Karelian Isthmus to the Soviet Union first after the Winter War 1940, and finally in 1944, after the Continuation War. The Vuoksi became a transnational resource of the Finland and the Soviet Union. The significance of the Vuoksi is strongly connected to the memories that the locals have from their everyday relationship with it. This study demonstrates that the long-term changes in both the governance and the physical river have had their effects on people’s relationship with the Vuoksi. However, these changes have not altered the fact that the Vuoksi is important for the local people. Multiple changes have added new layers of narratives, new meanings and new dimensions to the Vuoksi River. This study shows that today the Vuoksi is not only a physical place, but there is a Vuoksi that is built by many different, but parallel—and sometimes even conflicting—narratives. Out of these narratives, a hybrid of continuity and change is formed. / Tiivistelmä Vesi on rajallinen luonnonvara, jonka hallinnasta käydään ja tullaan tulevaisuudessa käymään kamppailuja. Ympäristön ja luonnonvarojen hallinnan kysymykset ovat nykypäivänä erittäin haasteellisia, sillä niitä ratkaistaessa on sovitettava yhteen useiden toimijoiden erisuuntaisia intressejä, arvoja ja näkemyksiä sekä toimittava yhtä aikaa ajallisesti ja alueellisesti useilla ulottuvuuksilla. Tutkimus selittää ihmisen ja ympäristön vuorovaikutusta Vuoksen jokilaaksossa 1800-luvulta nykypäiviin. Saimaalta Laatokkaan 150 kilometriä virtaavaa Vuoksea tarkastellaan poliittisen hallinnan, sosiaalisen rakentumisen ja jokapäiväisen toiminnan kenttinä. Kuva Vuoksesta rakentuu paikallisesta ja tilanteellisesta kontekstista, laajemmista historiallisista syy- ja seuraussuhteista ja yhteiskunnallisista prosesseista. Vuoksi on paikka, jossa ekologiset, taloudelliset, sosiokulttuuriset ja poliittiset tekijät ovat kietoutuneet toisiinsa monimuotoiseksi kokonaisuudeksi. Tutkimus kuvaa Vuoksen muutosta, tähän muutokseen vaikuttaneita tekijöitä, veden muuttuvia merkityksiä sekä Vuoksen paikkaa ihmisten elämässä. Muutokset ovat kohdistuneet 1) fyysiseen Vuokseen, 2) Vuoksen hallintaan ja 3) Vuoksen merkityksiin. Fyysisesti Vuoksi on muuttunut voimatalousrakentamisen vaikutuksesta. Hallinnollisesti muutokset ovat kohdistuneet ennen kaikkea talvisodan jälkeisiin alueluovutuksiin, jolloin Vuoksesta alkaa rakentua kahden valtion välinen, ylirajainen resurssi. Vuoksen merkityksiin liittyvät vahvasti muistot, tunteet ja nostalgia. Tutkimus osoittaa, että Vuoksen edellä mainitut pitkän aikavälin muutokset ovat heijastuneet alueen asukkaiden Vuoksi-suhteeseen. Muutokset eivät kuitenkaan ole muuttaneet sitä tosiasiaa, että Vuoksi on alueen ihmisille merkittävä. Vuoksi on muuttunut paljon, mutta nämä muutokset ja menetykset ovat luoneet Vuokselle uusia kertomuksia, uusia ulottuvuuksia ja uusia merkityksiä. Vuoksi ei ole pelkästään fyysinen paikka, vaan tutkimuksessa esitettävän tulkinnan mukaan on olemassa Vuoksi, joka rakentuu monista rinnakkaisista, ajallisesti erilaisista ja samalla jopa ristiriitaisista kertomuksista. Näistä kertomuksista syntyy hybridi, jossa muutos ja jatkuvuus yhdistyvät.

This thesis presents a methodology for soundscape research, utilising consumer mobile and internet technologies. This has been used to gather objective environmental data, as well as subjective data from participants in-situ. A total of 323 untrained members of the public have submitted soundscape recordings from around the world. For the first time, participant choice has been factored into soundscape research, where members of the public decide which sound environments are investigated. Human relationships with their sound environments have been investigated, with a number of findings corresponding with those of other studies utilising entirely different methodologies. In addition, a number of new findings have been made to contribute to the field. The two extracted subjective principal components of ’Appreciation’ and ’Dynamics’ has shown a solid validation of the project’s methodology, due to their similarities with a number of other studies utilising different techniques of data retrieval. The distinctive groupings of the different soundscape types within this factor space defined by the extracted components reveals the perceptual differences between the soundscape categories: urban, rural, urban public space and urban park. The activity a person is involved in while making their submission has shown to be influential in soundscape appraisal, with relaxation and recreation situations resulting in increased soundscape appreciation. The reasons behind a soundscape submission have revealed significant differences in subjective response. The positive interpretation of the term soundscape has resulted in a majority of positive reasons for participation. Soundscapes that arise from a participant’s daily routine are generally less appreciated than soundscapes containing a particular sound source focus. The highest levels of appreciation were observed in soundscapes whose focus is on a specific activity that the participant is involved in. The interest that a participant has on their soundscape is seen to result in raised levels of appreciation.