What influences professional women’s career advancement in construction?

Research on professional women’s careers in the construction industry has focused on explanations for their under-achievement and the barriers they experience, many of which are outside their personal control. However, some women are progressing, so it is important to understand what facilitates this process. Using a theoretical framework, involving individual, interpersonal and organizational factors, a cross-sectional correlational field study involving 456 professional women investigated the effect of a range of variables on career advancement. Individual factors rather than interpersonal and organizational factors were found to have the greatest influence on women’s career progression. This finding, contrary to previous women in construction research, indicates a “contest”, rather than “sponsored”, career mobility path. The research contributes to the understanding of the career advancement of women, highlighting issues with previous research which has identified mentoring, networks and other organizational support mechanisms as valuable to women’s advancement. It provides evidence that promotional processes have a potential gender bias, and while networks, mentoring and other forms of organizational support do not assist women with promotion, they are a valuable deterrent to women’s departure from an industry struggling with low female participation and retention.     

Assessment of fly ash-aided phytostabilisation of highly contaminated soils after an 8-year field trial Part 2. Influence on plants

Aided phytostabilisation is a cost-efficient technique to manage metal-contaminated areas, particularly in the presence of extensive pollution. Plant establishment and survival in highly metal-contaminated soils are crucial for phytostabilisation success, as metal toxicity for plants is widely reported. A relevant phytostabilisation solution must limit metal transfer through the food chain. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the long-term efficiency of aided phytostabilisation on former agricultural soils highly contaminated by cadmium, lead, and zinc. The influence of afforestation and fly ash amendments on reducing metal phytoavailability was investigated as were their effects on plant development. Before being planted with a tree mix, the site was divided into three plots: a reference plot with no amendment, a plot amended with silico-aluminous fly ash and one with sulfo-calcic fly ash. Unlike Salix alba and Quercus robur, Alnus glutinosa, Acer pseudoplatanus and Robinia pseudoacacia grew well on the site and accumulated, overall, quite low concentrations of metals in their leaves and young twigs. This suggests that these three species have an excluder phenotype for Cd, Zn and Pb. After 8 years, metal availability to A. glutinosa, A. pseudoplatanus and R. pseudoacacia, and translocation to their above-ground parts, strongly decreased in fly ash-amended soils. Such decreases fit well together with the depletion of CaCl₂-extractable metals in amended soils. Although both fly ashes were effective to decrease Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations in above-ground parts of trees, the sulfo-calcic ash was more efficient.     

In vitro digestion and DGT techniques for estimating cadmium and lead bioavailability in contaminated soils: influence of gastric juice pH

A sensitivity analysis was conducted on an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion test (i) to investigate the influence of a low variation of gastric juice pH on the bioaccessibility of Cd and Pb in smelter-contaminated soils (F_B, using the unified bioaccessibility method UBM) and fractions of metals that may be transported across the intestinal epithelium (F_A, using the diffusive gradient in thin film technique), and (ii) to provide a better understanding of the significance of pH in health risk assessment through ingestion of soil by children. The risk of metal exposure to children (hazard quotient, HQ) was determined for conditions that represent a worst-case scenario (i.e., ingestion rate of 200 mg day^− 1) using three separate calculations of metal daily intake: estimated daily intake (EDI), bioaccessible EDI (EDI-F_B), and oral bioavailable EDI (EDI-F_A). The increasing pH from 1.2 to 1.7 resulted in: (i) no significant variation in Cd-F_B in the gastric phase but a decrease in the gastrointestinal phase; (ii) a decrease in soluble Pb in the gastric phase and a significant variation in Pb-F_B in the gastrointestinal phase; (iii) a significant decrease in Cd-F_A and no variation in Pb-F_A; (iv) no change in EDI-F_B and EDI-F_A HQs for Cd; (v) a significant decrease in EDI-F_B HQs and no significant variation in EDI-F_A HQ for Pb. In the analytical conditions, these results show that risk to children decreases when the bioavailability of Pb in soils is taken into account and that the studied pH values do not affect the EDI-F_A HQs. The present results provide evidence that the inclusion of bioavailability analysis during health risk assessment could provide a more realistic estimate of Cd and Pb exposure, and opens a wide field of practical research on this topic (e.g., in contaminated site management).     

An analytical method to evaluate facility management services for residential buildings

Besides constructed quality and environmental quality, the quality of facilities in residential buildings is influential to the living quality of numerous residents there. The functional quality of the facilities, in turn, is dependent on the quality of their operation and management. A review of the relevant literature and a focus group discussion with Facility Management (FM) practitioners, which were parts of the study reported here, unveiled that prior performance evaluation studies focussed on assessing the outcome of FM services whereas an analytical method suitable for holistic evaluation of the services is lacking. An interview survey with 297 users of a typical residential estate in Hong Kong was carried out to solicit their perceived levels of importance and performance of FM services. The responses were tested using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to isolate those with inconsistent judgments, followed by computing the weightings for various aspects of FM services based on the consistent responses. The calculation of a weighted performance score for benchmarking purposes and a critical evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of FM services, which are crucial for achieving a quality and sustainable built environment, are illustrated.     

Publications Recently Received

Handbook of Mineralogy- Volume 5, Borates, Carbonates, Sulfates by John W. Anthony, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, and Monte C. Nichols. MDP, Inc., P.O. Box 37072, Tucson, AZ 85740. 813 pages; 2003; $130 plus $15 shipping and handling ($20 outside the U.S.) (hardbound). Reviewed by Robert B. Cook.

Secrets of Petrified Plants by Ulrich Dernbach and William D. Tidwell, with other contributing authors. D'Oro Publishers, Heppenheim, Germany. 232 pages; 2002; $79 (hardbound). Reviewed by Richard Dayvault.

Discovering The Mysterious Trilobites by Thomas T. Johnson. Geofin s.r.l. Publishing House, Italy. 175 pages; 2003; $16.95 (softbound). Reviewed by Andy Secher.     

重庆购房户住宅需求取向分析

为了解决重庆房地产市场住宅市场供求不平衡这一个难题,我们提出了住宅产业化这个方案,但是在大规模的生产产业化住宅以前,首先必须知道重庆市居民对住宅的需求取向,正是因为这个原因,我们进行了一次问卷调查。问卷调查的目的是：摸清影响重庆市潜在购房户购房行为的因素,为重庆住宅产业化工程的实施构建一个模型。因此本文的目的就是：分析影响重庆市潜在购房户购房行为的因素,找出本市居民喜欢的住宅类型,我们研究组的总体研究目的是：立足于本地的资源,探索在重庆实施住宅产业化工程的可行性,如果可行,那么我们将在充分利用本地建筑材料的基础上,设计出切实可行的产业化住宅模型。在目前这个阶段,工作的重心是摸清重庆建筑业的概况,为下一步的研究铺平道路。而本文的中心是：找出本市居民喜欢的住宅类型。     

Utilisation of iron ore mine tailings for the production of geopolymer bricks

This study presents a methodology for making bricks, in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner, using the tailings produced from iron ore mines in Western Australia (WA). The study was based on the geopolymerisation process, which is known to conserve energy by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. The reduction is accomplished by avoiding the processes of high temperature kiln firing, traditionally utilised when making bricks from sandy soils with high clay content. In this study, the sodium silicate was added to the mine tailings in powder form, as an activator for the formulation of the geopolymer bricks. The effects of the initial setting time, curing temperature, curing time and activator content on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), water absorption and other durability properties of the bricks were investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to investigate the phase composition of the geopolymer bricks. The bricks achieved an UCS as high as 50.53 MPa for the optimum values of the parameters. Technically, the geopolymer bricks that were produced met both the American Society of Testing and Materials and the Australian Standards (AS) requirements for bricks. A cost analysis of the geopolymer bricks is also presented, and this shows that the cost of geopolymer bricks is lower than that of the commercial, fired clay bricks.