A set of thin tantalum films was prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering using different substrate temperatures and sputtering power. In order to identify the optimal condition for hillock free thin tantalum (Ta) film deposition, AFM was employed to measure surface morphology of the...

Along with the popularity of mobile devices and advances in wireless technology, mobile services have become more and more prevalent. To the best of knowledge, despite the potential importance of lifestyle, little research has been performed on the effect of various lifestyle factors on mobile...

Purpose – As with many other procurement management concepts, the early contractor involvement (ECI) strategy provides an opportunity to tap on contractors’ specialist knowledge in the design stage, in order to address and forestall problems before moving onto the construction stage. Such...

Purpose Building information modelling (BIM), lean construction (LC) and prefabricated housing construction (PHC) have individually aroused great attention from academia and industry. However, the integration of LC and BIM in PHC projects has not been sufficiently explored. This study aims to...

Despite a spectacular expansion of the higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of tertiary education has generally failed to keep pace with demand and the region continues to lag all other regions in terms of access to tertiary education. This is in part a consequence of deeply...

Proposes that the improvement of an existing quality management system (QMS) through flexibility and innovation will increase product and service quality, which will in turn enhance and advance the organization’s business objective. Explores the “segmentalist” and “integrative”...

There are three components that make up quality costs: prevention, appraisal and failure costs. The ISO 9000 standard introduces a quality management system that has been widely claimed would reduce the costs of business. One of the ways it does this is through a reduction in quality costs. The...

This paper shows how recent revisions in planning guidelines have helped to enhance land values in some parts of Singapore. The enhancement of land values has motivated many individual property owners to come together to put up their properties for en bloc or collective sales. The factors which...

This paper suggests that ancient Chinese business principles introduced by Tao Zhugong during the eastern Zhou dynasty (770‐221 BC) are still relevant for modern‐day business and management practices at the individual, company and country level. The 24 business principles extracted from Tao...