Academic literature on the topic 'Civic improvement – Singapore'

Purpose Despite recognition of its importance to Singapore’s economy, the construction industry is plagued by poor safety and productivity performance. Improvement efforts by the government and industry have yielded little results. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for developing a productivity and safety monitoring system using Building Information Modelling (BIM). Design/methodology/approach The framework, Intelligent Productivity and Safety System (IPASS), takes advantage of mandatory requirements for building plans to be submitted for approval in Singapore in BIM format. IPASS is based on a study comprising interviews and a questionnaire-based survey. It uses BIM to integrate buildable design, prevention and control of hazards, and safety assessment. Findings The authors illustrate a development of IPASS capable of generating productivity and safety scores for construction projects by analysing BIM model information. Research limitations/implications The paper demonstrates that BIM can be used to monitor productivity and safety as a project progresses, and help to enhance performance under the two parameters. Practical implications IPASS enables collaboration among project stakeholders as they can base their work on analysis of productivity and safety performance before projects start, and as they progress. It is suggested that the BIM model submitted to the authorities should be used for the IPASS application. Originality/value IPASS has rule-checking, hazards identification and quality checking capabilities. It is able to identify hazards and risks with the rule-checking capabilities. IPASS enables practitioners to check mistakes and the rationality of a design. It helps to mitigate risks as there are built-in safety measures/controls rules to overcome the problems caused by design deficiency, wrong-material-choice, and more.

Safety improvements were evaluated at signalized intersection approaches, where about 30% of road crashes occur in Singapore (in Singapore, vehicles are driven on the left side of the road). Identification of accident causal factors and prediction of hazardousness are essential tasks before safety treatments can be prescribed and prioritized. Statistical methods were used as a novel method for the identification of causal factors affecting accident frequencies, while nonparametric regression techniques were used for the prediction of intersection approach hazardousness. The statistical methodology used, the random-effect negative binomial model, indicates that uncontrolled left-turn slip roads, sight distances of less than 100 m, large numbers of signal phases, the use of permissive right-turn phases, the existence of horizontal curves, and total and left-turn volumes may increase the likelihood of accident occurrence. By nonparametric regression, the subtractive clustering methodology in fuzzy logic was used to derive an efficient and effective data set from the original data, which exhibited a high level of noise. This clustered data set was used to predict hazardousness. The prediction model, a generalized regression neural network, showed reasonable prediction accuracy. The model was capable of predicting hazardousness of about 65% for the total production data set, with a difference between the actual and the predicted values of less than 0.1. Moreover, the results suggest that the nonparametric regression network works well in multidimensional measurement spaces, in which hazardousness is assumed to be a function of several geometric, traffic, and traffic control measures.

Urban traffic congestion has led to an increasing emphasis on management measures for more efficient utilization of existing infrastructure. In this context, this paper proposes a novel framework that integrates real-time optimization of control strategies (tolls, ramp metering rates, etc.) with the generation of traffic guidance information using predicted network states for dynamic traffic assignment systems. The efficacy of the framework is demonstrated through a fixed demand dynamic toll optimization problem, which is formulated as a non-linear program to minimize predicted network travel times. A scalable efficient genetic algorithm that exploits parallel computing is applied to solve this problem. Experiments using a closed-loop approach are conducted on a large-scale road network in Singapore to investigate the performance of the proposed methodology. The results indicate significant improvements in network-wide travel time of up to 9% with real-time computational performance.

This paper presents a stochastic approximation framework to solve a generalized problem of off-line calibration of demand for a multimodal microscopic (or mesoscopic) network simulation using aggregated sensor data. A key feature of this problem is that demand, although typically treated as a continuous variable is in fact discrete, particularly in the context of agent-based simulation. To address this, we first use a discrete version of the weighted simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (W-DSPSA) algorithm for minimizing a generalized least squares (GLS) objective (that measures the distance between simulated and observed measurements), defined over discrete sets. The algorithm computes the gradient at each iteration using a symmetric discrete perturbation of the calibration parameters and a multimodal weight matrix to improve the accuracy of the gradient estimate. The W-DSPSA algorithm is then applied to the large-scale calibration of multimodal origin–destination (OD) flows (including private vehicle (PVT) and public transit (PT) trips) in a microscopic network simulation model of Singapore. The results indicate that an acceptable margin of error on the vehicle loop count (VLC) and bus passenger count (BPC) are achieved at convergence with an improvement of 60%~80% in root mean squared errors. Lastly, we validate the calibration results with observed travel times on the network. Statistical comparison shows good agreements on both point-to-point travel time (PTT) and public buses’ stop-to-stop ride-time (SRT) with the field observations.

Smart mobility is becoming an alternative technology of transportation development for today and the future. Thailand has applied the intelligent transport system (ITS) to improve traffic and transport services. The success of the project is generally dependent on collaboration between private, public, and governmental agencies in policymaking and planning, coupled with an inclusive agreement and technological knowledge in the field. This study argues that Thailand’s automatic transportation has been successful because of cooperative-ITS (C-ITS). This study explores the evidence-based cases of ITS development from six areas, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, the European Union, and the United States of America, to explain how the C-ITS conditions support the success of ITS. The study uses the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) and TOWS (Threat, Opportunity, Weakness, Strength) analysis matrix to identify influential factors from the six-area cases and compare them to Thailand. The authors identified seven components that relate to the success of Thailand’s C-ITS. These include: (1) Pragmatic policy for pilot project implementation; (2) close cooperation among stakeholders; (3) working criteria for C-ITS development; (4) architecture of standard and framework; (5) share of lessons learned about current technology; (6) capability of C-ITS deployment; and (7) a clear statement of data exchange and sharing. These findings represent both the threat and opportunity for traffic and transport improvement in Thailand through the C-ITS approach.

(IIUMEJ) IIUM ENGINEERING JOURNAL ISSN: 1511-788X E-ISSN: 2289-7860 Volume 19, Issue 2, December 2018 https://doi.org/10.31436/iiumej.v19i2 CHIEF EDITOR Ahmad Faris Ismail, IIUM, Malaysia TECHNICAL EDITOR Erry Yulian Triblas Adesta, IIUM, Malaysia EXECUTIVE EDITOR AHM Zahirul Alam, IIUM, Malaysia ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anis Nurashikin Nordin, IIUM, Malaysia LANGUAGE EDITOR Lynn Mason, Malaysia COPY EDITOR Hamzah Mohd. Salleh, IIUM, Malaysia EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Abdullah Al-Mamun, IIUM, Malaysia Abdumalik Rakhimov, IIUM, Malaysia Amir Akramin Shafie, IIUM, Malaysia Erwin Sulaeman, IIUM, Malaysia Hanafy Omar, Saudi Arabia Hazleen Anuar, IIUM, Malaysia Konstantin Khanin, University of Toronto, Canada Ma'an Al-Khatib, IIUM, Malaysia Md Zahangir Alam, IIUM, Malaysia Meftah Hrairi, IIUM, Malaysia Mohamed B. Trabia, United States Mohammad S. Alam, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, United States Muataz Hazza Faizi Al Hazza, IIUM, Malaysia Mustafizur Rahman, National University Singapore, Singapore Nor Farahidah Binti Za'bah, IIUM, Malaysia Ossama Abdulkhalik, Michigan Technological University, United States Rosminazuin AB. Rahim, IIUM, Malaysia Waqar Asrar, IIUM, Malaysia INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE A. Anwar, United States Abdul Latif Bin Ahmad, Malaysia Farzad Ismail, USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Hanafy Omar, Saudi Arabia Hany Ammar, United States Idris Mohammed Bugaje, Nigeria K.B. Ramachandran, India Kunzu Abdella, Canada Luis Le Moyne, ISAT, University of Burgundy, France M Mujtaba, United Kingdom Mohamed AI-Rubei, Ireland Mohamed B Trabia, United States Mohammad S. Alam, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, United States Nazmul Karim Ossama Abdulkhalik, Michigan Technological University, United States Razi Nalim, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States Syed Kamrul Islam, United States Tibor Czigany, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary Yiu-Wing Mai, The University of Sydney, Australia. AIMS & SCOPE OF IIUMENGINEERING JOURNAL The IIUM Engineering Journal, published biannually, is a carefully refereed international publication of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Contributions of high technical merit within the span of engineering disciplines; covering the main areas of engineering: Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering; Automation and Mechatronics Engineering; Material and Chemical Engineering; Environmental and Civil Engineering; Biotechnology and Bioengineering; Engineering Mathematics and Physics; and Computer Science and Information Technology are considered for publication in this journal. Contributions from other areas of Engineering and Applied Science are also welcomed. The IIUM Engineering Journal publishes contributions under Regular papers, Invited review papers, Short communications, Technical notes, and Letters to the editor (no page charge). Book reviews, reports of and/or call for papers of conferences, symposia and meetings, and advances in research equipment could also be published in IIUM Engineering Journal with minimum charges. REFEREES’ NETWORK All papers submitted to IIUM Engineering Journal will be subjected to a rigorous reviewing process through a worldwide network of specialized and competent referees. Each accepted paper should have at least two positive referees’ assessments. SUBMISSION OF A MANUSCRIPT A manuscript should be submitted online to the IIUM-Engineering Journal website: http://journals.iium.edu.my/ejournal. Further correspondence on the status of the paper could be done through the journal website and the e-mail addresses of the Executive Editor: zahirulalam@iium.edu.my Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Jan Gombak, 53100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Phone: (603) 6196 4529, Fax:(603) 6196 4488. Table of Content EDITORIAL............................................................................................... i CHEMICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING CHLORELLA VULGARIS LOGISTIC GROWTH KINETICS MODEL IN HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF AQUEOUS AMMONIA................... 1 Azlin Suhaida Azmi, Nurain Atikah Che Aziz, Noor Illi Mohamad Puad, Amanatuzzakiah Abdul Halim, Faridah Yusof, Suzana Yusup SYNTHETIC ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT AND ANTIMICROBIAL FABRICS: PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES............. 10 Norashikin Binti Mat Zain, John Olabode Akindoyo, Mohammad Dalour Hossen Beg CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING PERFORMANCE OF HIGH STRENGTH LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE USING PALM WASTES................................... 30 Md. Nazmul Huda, Mohd Zamin Jumaat, Abul Bashar Mohammad Saiful Islam, Walid Abubaker Al-Kutti ELECTRICAL, COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING WIDE RANGE MODULATION INDEXES FEATURED CARRIER-BASED PWM STEPPED WAVEFORM FOR HALF- BRIDGE MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTERS......................................................................................... 43 Majdee Tohtayong, Sheroz Khan, Mashkuri Yaacob, Siti Hajar Yusoff, Nur Shahida Midi, Musse Muhamud Ahmed A NOVEL METHOD TO ESTIMATE ECONOMIC REPLACING TIME OF TRANSFORMER USING MONTE CARLO ALGORITHM AND ANN............................................................................................... 54 Mehdi Zareian Jahromi, M. Hossein Mehrabanjahromi, Mohsen Tajdinian, Mehdi Allahbakhshi ADAPTIVE TRIMMED MEAN AUTOREGRESSIVE MODEL FOR REDUCTION OF POISSON NOISE IN SCINTIGRAPHIC IMAGES.......... 68 Khan Bahadar Khan, Muhammad Shahid, Hayat Ullah, Eid Rehman, Muhammad Mohsin Khan EVALUATION OF THE W-METRIC ROUTING USING RPL PROTOCOL IN LLNS........................................................................ 80 Rosminazuin Ab Rahim, Abdallah M. Awwad, Aisha Hasan Abdalla, Aliza Aini Md Ralib INVESTIGATION ON NEED FOR SPECIFIC PROPAGATION MODEL FOR SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT BASED ON DIFFERENT TERRAIN CHARACTERISTICS...................90 Jide Julius Popoola, Akinlolu Adediran Ponnle, Yekeen Olajide Olasoji, Samson Adenle Oyetunji A STUDY ON LOW-COMPLEXITY TRANSMIT ANTENNA SELECTION FOR GENERALIZED SPATIAL MODULATION.................................................................................. 105 Simeon Olumide Ajose, Adewale Akanbi Alafia, Agbotiname Lucky Imoize A NEW SPECTRUM AND ENERGY AWARE ROUTING PROTOCOL IN COGNITIVE RADIO SENSOR NETWORK.............................. 118 Sara Moshtaghi, Sayyed Majid Mazinani RECENT TRENDS IN DENGUE DETECTION METHODS USING BIOSENSORS................................................................................ 134 Ahmad Anwar Zainuddin, Anis Nurashikin Nordin, Rosminazuin Ab Rahim NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF TUNNEL LED LIGHTING MAINTENANCE FACTOR.......................................................................... 154 Mehmet Sait Cengiz, Çiğdem Cengiz ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS AND APPLIED SCIENCE ABOUT THE SILICON SENSITIVITY OF THE DEEP LEVEL WITH ALTERNATING PRESSURE................................... 164 Ikrom Gulamovich Tursunov, Abdurahim Abduraxmonovich Okhunov, Odiljon Oxundadaevich Mamatkarimov THE HYDRODYNAMIC COEFFICIENTS FOR OSCILLATING 2D RECTANGULAR BOX USING WEAKLY COMPRESSIBLE SMOOTHED PARTICLE HYDRODYNAMICS (WCSPH) METHOD................................................................................. 172 Muhammad zahir ramli AN ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE TO OBTAIN HIGHER-ORDER APPROXIMATE PERIODS FOR THE NONLINEAR OSCILLATOR................... 182 Md Sazzad Hossien Chowdhury, Md. Alal Hosen, Mohammad Yeakub Ali, Ahmad Faris Ismail MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING EFFECT OF POLY (ETHYLENE GLYCOL) ON THE INJECTABILITY, SETTING BEHAVIOR AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CALCIUM PHOSPHATE BONE CEMENT.........................................................192 Sufiamie Hablee, Iis Sopyan, Maizirwan Mel, Hamzah Mohd. Salleh, Md. Mujibur Rahman MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING STUDY OF MESH QUALITY IMPROVEMENT FOR CFD ANALYSIS OF AN AIRFOIL................................................ 203 Farah Aqilah, Mazharul Islam, Franjo Juretic, Joel Guerrero, David Wood, Farid Nasir Ani MECHATRONICS AND AUTOMATION ENGINEERING COLOR RECOGNITION WEARABLE DEVICE USING MACHINE LEARNING FOR VISUALY IMPAIRED PERSON................................... 213 Tarek Mohamed Bolad , Nik Nur Wahidah Nik Hashim, Noor Hazrin Hany Mohamad Hanif COMBINATION OF FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING WITH ABRASIVE MILLING FOR ATTAINING HIGHER DIMENSIONAL ACCURACY AND BETTER SURFACE FINISH ..................................... 221 Abu Naser Mohammad Amanullah Tomal, Tanveer Saleh, Md Raisuddin Khan Whilst every effort is made by the publisher and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears in this Journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisement herein are the responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publisher and the editorial committee accept no liability whatsoever for the consequence of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement. Published by: IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Phone (+603) 6196-5014, Fax: (+603) 6196-6298 Website: http://www.iium.edu.my/office/iiumpress

IIUM ENGINEERING JOURNAL CHIEF EDITOR Ahmad Faris Ismail, IIUM, Malaysia TECHNICAL EDITOR Erry Yulian Triblas Adesta, IIUM, Malaysia EXECUTIVE EDITOR AHM Zahirul Alam, IIUM, Malaysia ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anis Nurashikin Nordin, IIUM, Malaysia LANGUAGE EDITOR Lynn Mason, Malaysia COPY EDITOR Hamzah Mohd. Salleh, IIUM, Malaysia EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Abdullah Al-Mamun, IIUM, Malaysia Abdumalik Rakhimov, IIUM, Malaysia Amir Akramin Shafie, IIUM, Malaysia Erwin Sulaeman, IIUM, Malaysia Hanafy Omar, Saudi Arabia Hazleen Anuar, IIUM, Malaysia Konstantin Khanin, University of Toronto, Canada Ma'an Al-Khatib, IIUM, Malaysia Md Zahangir Alam, IIUM, Malaysia Meftah Hrairi, IIUM, Malaysia Mohamed B. Trabia, United States Mohammad S. Alam, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, United States Muataz Hazza Faizi Al Hazza, IIUM, Malaysia Mustafizur Rahman, National University Singapore, Singapore Nor Farahidah Binti Za'bah, IIUM, Malaysia Ossama Abdulkhalik, Michigan Technological University, United States Rosminazuin AB. Rahim, IIUM, Malaysia Waqar Asrar, IIUM, Malaysia AIMS & SCOPE OF IIUMENGINEERING JOURNAL The IIUM Engineering Journal, published biannually, is a carefully refereed international publication of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Contributions of high technical merit within the span of engineering disciplines; covering the main areas of engineering: Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering; Automation and Mechatronics Engineering; Material and Chemical Engineering; Environmental and Civil Engineering; Biotechnology and Bioengineering; Engineering Mathematics and Physics; and Computer Science and Information Technology are considered for publication in this journal. Contributions from other areas of Engineering and Applied Science are also welcomed. The IIUM Engineering Journal publishes contributions under Regular papers, Invited review papers, Short communications, Technical notes, and Letters to the editor (no page charge). Book reviews, reports of and/or call for papers of conferences, symposia and meetings, and advances in research equipment could also be published in IIUM Engineering Journal with minimum charges. REFEREES’ NETWORK All papers submitted to IIUM Engineering Journal will be subjected to a rigorous reviewing process through a worldwide network of specialized and competent referees. Each accepted paper should have at least two positive referees’ assessments. SUBMISSION OF A MANUSCRIPT <![if !vml]><![endif]>A manuscript should be submitted online to the IIUM-Engineering Journal website: http://journals.iium.edu.my/ejournal. Further correspondence on the status of the paper could be done through the journal website and the e-mail addresses of the Executive Editor: zahirulalam@iium.edu.my Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Jan Gombak, 53100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Phone: (603) 6196 4529, Fax:(603) 6196 4488. INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE A. Anwar, United States Abdul Latif Bin Ahmad, Malaysia Farzad Ismail, USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Hanafy Omar, Saudi Arabia Hany Ammar, United States Idris Mohammed Bugaje, Nigeria K.B. Ramachandran, India Kunzu Abdella, Canada Luis Le Moyne, ISAT, University of Burgundy, France M Mujtaba, United Kingdom Mohamed AI-Rubei, Ireland Mohamed B Trabia, United States Mohammad S. Alam, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, United States Nazmul Karim Ossama Abdulkhalik, Michigan Technological University, United States Razi Nalim, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States Syed Kamrul Islam, United States Tibor Czigany, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary Yiu-Wing Mai, The University of Sydney, Australia. Published by: IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Phone (+603) 6196-5014, Fax: (+603) 6196-6298 Website: http://iiumpress.iium.edu.my/bookshop Whilst every effort is made by the publisher and editorial board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears in this Journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisement herein are the responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the publisher and the editorial committee accept no liability whatsoever for the consequence of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement. IIUM Engineering Journal ISSN: 1511-788X E-ISSN: 2289-7860 Volume 19, Issue 1, June 2018 https://doi.org/10.31436/iiumej.v19i1 Table of Content CHEMICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING ADSORPTION OF HEAVY METALS AND RESIDUAL OIL FROM PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT USING A NOVEL ADSORBENT OF ALGINATE AND MANGROVE COMPOSITE BEADS COATED WITH CHITOSAN IN A PACKED BED COLUMN... 1 Rana Jaafar Jawad, Mohd Halim Shah Ismail, Shamsul Izhar Siajam INVESTIGATION OF BIOFLOCCULANT AS DEWATERING AID IN SLUDGE TREATMENT........................................ 15 Mohammed Saedi Jami, Maizirwan Mel, Aysha Ralliya Mohd Ariff, Qabas Marwan Abdulazeez HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FROM ETHANOL DRY REFORMING OVER LANTHANIA-PROMOTED CO/AL2O3 CATALYST............................. 24 Fahim Fayaz, Nguyen Thi Anh Nga, Thong Le Minh Pham, Huong Thi Danh, Bawadi Abdullah, Herma Dina Setiabudi, Dai-Viet Nguyen Vo OPTIMIZATION OF RED PIGMENT PRODUCTION BY MONASCUS PURPUREUS FTC 5356 USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY......................................................... 34 Nor Farhana Hamid And Farhan Mohd Said PRODUCTION AND STABILITY OF MYCO-FLOCCULANTS FROM LENTINUS SQUARROSULUS RWF5 AND SIMPLICILLIUM OBCLAVATUM RWF6 FOR REDUCTION OF WATER TURBIDITY.............................................................................. 48 Nessa Jebun, Md. Zahangir Alam, Abdullah Al-Mamun, Raha Ahmad Raus ROLE OF SUBSTRATE BINDING ON THE PROTEIN DYNAMICS OF AN ENDOGLUCANASE FROM FUSARIUM OXYSPORUM AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES .............................................................307 Abdul Aziz Ahmad, Ibrahim Ali Noorbatcha, Hamzah Mohd. Salleh CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING DIMINISHING SEISMIC EFFECT ON BUILDINGS USING BEARING ISOLATION....................................................... 59 A. B. M. Saiful Islam ELECTRICAL, COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING A DISTRIBUTED ENERGY EFFICIENT CLUSTERING ALGORITHM FOR DATA AGGREGATION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS.................................................................................. 72 Seyed Mohammad Bagher Musavi Shirazi, Maryam Sabet, Mohammad Reza Pajoohan POWER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT WITH CASCADED MULTILEVEL CONVERTER BASED STATCOM................. 91 Mahdi Heidari, Abdonnabi Kovsarian, S. Ghodratollah Seifossadat THE EFFECTS OF CABLE CHARACTERISTICS ON MAXIMUM OVERVOLTAGE IN COMBINED OVERHEAD/CABLE LINES PROTECTED BY SURGE ARRESTERS.............................................................................. 104 Reza Alizadeh, Mohammad Mirzaie SMART PORTABLE CRYOTHERAPY SYSTEM REPHRASED I.E. WITH CONTROLLED THERMOELECTRIC COOLING MODULES FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS................................................................................................ 117 Abbas Rahmani, Reza Hassanzadeh Pack Rezaee, Naser Kordani STATIC PIPELINE NETWORK PERFORMANCE OPTIMISATION USING DUAL INTERLEAVE ROUTING ALGORITHM 129 Siva Kumar Subramaniam1, Shariq Mahmood Khan, Anhar Titik, Rajagopal Nilavalan A MODIFIED MODEL BASED ON FLOWER POLLINATION ALGORITHM AND K-NEAREST NEIGHBOR FOR DIAGNOSING DISEASES........................................................................ 144 Mehdi Zekriyapanah Gashti A SINGLE LC TANK BASED ACTIVE VOLTAGE BALANCING CIRCUIT FOR BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM .158 A K M Ahasan Habib, S. M. A. Motakabber, Muhammad Ibn. Ibrahimy, A. H. M. Zahirul Alam ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS AND APPLIED SCIENCE ON THE CONTROL OF HEAT CONDUCTION.......................................... 168 Fayziev Yusuf Ergashevich MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES USING SAGO (METROXYLON SAGU) VIA AUTOCLAVING METHOD......178 Aliyah Jamaludin, Che Ku Mohammad Faizal EFFECT OF ALKALINE TREATMENT ON PROPERTIES OF RATTAN WASTE AND FABRICATED BINDERLESS PARTICLEBOARD....185 Zuraida Ahmad, Maisarah Tajuddin, Nurul Farhana Fatin Salim, Zahurin Halim AMORPHOUS STRUCTURE IN CU-ZN-V-AL OXIDE COMPOSITE CATALYST FOR METHANOL REFORMING..... 197 Mohd Sabri Mahmud, Zahira Yaakob, Abu Bakar Mohamad, Wan Ramli Wan Daud, Vo Nguyen Dai Viet PERFORMANCE OF ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING (EDM) WITH NICKEL ADDED DIELECTRIC FLUID....215 Ahsan Ali Khan, Muataz Hazza Faizi Al Hazza, A K M Mohiuddin, Nurfatihah Abdul Fattah, Mohd Radzi Che Daud ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION OF DURIAN SKIN NANOFIBRE BIOCOMPOSITE.......................................... 233 Siti Nur E’zzati Mohd Apandi, Hazleen Anuar, Siti Munirah Salimah Abdul Rashid MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING A REVIEW ON RHEOLOGY OF NON-NEWTONIAN PROPERTIES OF BLOOD....................................................... 237 Esmaeel Fatahian, Naser Kordani, Hossein Fatahian NUMERICAL STUDY OF THERMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FUEL OIL-ALUMINA AND WATER-.......................... 250 Hossein Fatahian, Hesamoddin Salarian, Majid Eshagh Nimvari, Esmaeel Fatahian A PARAMETRIC STUDY ON CONTROL OF FLOW SEPARATION OVER AN AIRFOIL IN INCOMPRESSIBLE REGIME....270 Lakshmanan Prabhu, Jonnalagadda Srinivas OPTIMIZATION OF BOX TYPE GIRDER WITH AND WITHOUT INDUSTRIAL CONSTRAINTS................................ 289 Muhammad Abid, Shahbaz Mahmood Khan, Hafiz Abdul Wajid

The use of the family home as a setting for television sitcoms (situation comedies) has long been recognised for its ability to provide audiences with an identifiable site of ontological security (much discussed by Giddens, Scannell, Saunders and others). From the beginnings of American sitcoms with such programs as Leave it to Beaver, and through the trail of The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and on to Home Improvement, That 70s Show and How I Met Your Mother, the US has led the way with screenwriters and producers capitalising on the value of using the suburban family dwelling as a fixed setting. The most obvious advantage is the use of an easily constructed and inexpensive set, most often on a TV studio soundstage requiring only a few rooms (living room, kitchen and bedroom are usually enough to set the scene), and a studio audience. In Singapore, sitcoms have had similar successes; portraying the lives of ‘ordinary people’ in their home settings. Some programs have achieved phenomenal success, including an unprecedented ten year run for Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd from 1996-2007, closely followed by Under One Roof (1994-2000 and an encore season in 2002), and Living with Lydia (2001-2005). This article furthers Blunt and Dowling’s exploration of the “critical geography” of home, by providing a focused analysis of home-based sitcoms in the nation-state of Singapore. The use of the home tells us a lot. Roseanne’s cluttered family home represents a lived reality for working-class families throughout the Western world. In Friends, the seemingly wealthy ‘young’ people live in a fashionable apartment building, while Seinfeld’s apartment block is much less salubrious, indicating (in line with the character) the struggle of the humble comedian. Each of these examples tells us something about not just the characters, but quite often about class, race, and contemporary societies. In the Singaporean programs, the home in Under One Roof (hereafter UOR) represents the major form of housing in Singapore, and the program as a whole demonstrates the workability of Singaporean multiculturalism in a large apartment block. Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (PCK) demonstrates the entrepreneurial abilities of even under-educated Singaporeans, with its lead character, a building contractor, living in a large freestanding dwelling – generally reserved for the well-heeled of Singaporean society. And in Living with Lydia (LWL) (a program which demonstrates Singapore’s capacity for global integration), Hong Kong émigré Lydia is forced to share a house (less ostentatious than PCK’s) with the family of the hapless Billy B. Ong. There is perhaps no more telling cultural event than the sitcom. In the 1970s, The Brady Bunch told us more about American values and habits than any number of news reports or cop shows. A nation’s identity is uncovered; it bares its soul to us through the daily tribulations of its TV households. In Singapore, home-based sitcoms have been one of the major success stories in local television production with each of these three programs collecting multiple prizes at the region-wide Asian Television Awards. These sitcoms have been able to reflect the ideals and values of the Singaporean nation to audiences both at ‘home’ and abroad. This article explores the worlds of UOR, PCK, and LWL, and the ways in which each of the fictional homes represents key features of the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Singapore. Through ownership and regulation, Singaporean TV programs operate as a firm link between the state and its citizens. These sitcoms follow regular patterns where the ‘man of the house’ is more buffoon than breadwinner – in a country defined by its neo-Confucian morality, sitcoms allow a temporary subversion of patriarchal structures. In this article I argue that the central theme in Singaporean sitcoms is that while home is a personal space, it is also a valuable site for national identities to be played out. These identities are visible in the physical indicators of the exterior and interior living spaces, and the social indicators representing a benign patriarchy and a dominant English language. Structure One of the key features of sitcoms is the structure: cold open – titles – establishing shot – opening scene. Generally the cold opening (aka “the teaser”) takes place inside the home to quickly (re)establish audience familiarity with the location and the characters. The title sequence then features, in the case of LWL and PCK, the characters outside the house (in LWL this is in cartoon format), and in UOR (see Figure 1) it is the communal space of the barbeque area fronting the multi-story HDB (Housing Development Board) apartment blocks. Figure 1: Under One Roof The establishing shot at the end of each title sequence, and when returning from ad breaks, is an external view of the characters’ respective dwellings. In Seinfeld this establishing shot is the New York apartment block, in Roseanne it is the suburban house, and the Singaporean sitcoms follow the same format (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Phua Chu Kang External Visions of the Home This emphasis on exterior buildings reminds the viewer that Singaporean housing is, in many ways, unique. As a city-state (and a young one at that) its spatial constraints are particularly limiting: there simply isn’t room for suburban housing on quarter acre blocks. It rapidly transformed from an “empty rock” to a scattered Malay settlement of bay and riverside kampongs (villages) recognisable by its stilt houses. Then in the shadow of colonialism and the rise of modernity, the kampongs were replaced in many cases by European-inspired terrace houses. Finally, in the post-colonial era high-rise housing began to swell through the territory, creating what came to be known as the “HDB new town”, with some 90% of the population now said to reside in HDB units, and many others living in private high-rises (Chang 102, 104). Exterior shots used in UOR (see Figure 3) consistently emphasise the distinctive HDB blocks. As with the kampong housing, high-rise apartments continue notions of communal living in that “Living below, above and side by side other people requires tolerance of neighbours and a respect towards the environment of the housing estate for the good of all” (104). The provision of readily accessible public housing was part of the “covenant between the newly enfranchised electorate and the elected government” (Chua 47). Figure 3: Establishing shot from UOR In UOR, we see the constant interruption of the lives of the Tan family by their multi-ethnic neighbours. This occurs to such an extent as to be a part of the normal daily flow of life in Singaporean society. Chang argues that despite the normally interventionist activities of the state, it is the “self-enforcing norms” of behaviour that have worked in maintaining a “peaceable society in high-rise housing” (104). This communitarian attitude even extends to the large gated residence of PCK, home to an almost endless stream of relatives and friends. The gate itself seems to perform no restrictive function. But such a “peaceable society” can also be said to be a result of state planning which extends to the “racial majoritarianism” imposed on HDB units in the form of quotas determining “the actual number of households of each of the three major races [Chinese, Malay and Indian] … to be accommodated in a block of flats” (Chua 55). Issues of race are important in Singapore where “the inscription of media imagery bears the cultural discourse and materiality of the social milieu” (Wong 120) perhaps nowhere more graphically illustrated than in the segregation of TV channels along linguistic / cultural lines. These 3 programs all featured on MediaCorp TV’s predominantly English-language Channel 5 and are, in the words of Roland Barthes, “anchored” by dint of their use of English. Home Will Eat Itself The consumption of home-based sitcoms by audiences in their own living-rooms creates a somewhat self-parodying environment. As John Ellis once noted, it is difficult to escape from the notion that “TV is a profoundly domestic phenomenon” (113) in that it constantly attempts to “include the audiences own conception of themselves into the texture of its programmes” (115). In each of the three Singaporean programs living-rooms are designed to seat characters in front of a centrally located TV set – at most all the audience sees is the back of the TV, and generally only when the TV is incorporated into a storyline, as in the case of PCK in Figure 4 (note the TV set in the foreground). Figure 4: PCK Even in this episode of PCK when the lead characters stumble across a pornographic video starring one of the other lead characters, the viewer only hears the program. Perhaps the most realistic (and acerbic) view of how TV reorganises our lives – both spatially in the physical layout of our homes, and temporally in the way we construct our viewing habits (eating dinner or doing the housework while watching the screen) – is the British “black comedy”, The Royle Family. David Morley (443) notes that “TV and other media have adapted themselves to the circumstances of domestic consumption while the domestic arena itself has been simultaneously redefined to accommodate their requirements”. Morley refers to The Royle Family’s narrative that rests on the idea that “for many people, family life and watching TV have become indistinguishable to the extent that, in this fictional household, it is almost entirely conducted from the sitting positions of the viewers clustered around the set” (436). While TV is a central fixture in most sitcoms, its use is mostly as a peripheral thematic device with characters having their viewing interrupted by the arrival of another character, or by a major (within the realms of the plot) event. There is little to suggest that “television schedules have instigated a significant restructuring of family routines” as shown in Livingstone’s audience-based study of UK viewers (104). In the world of the sitcom, the temporalities of characters’ lives do not need to accurately reflect that of “real life” – or if they do, things quickly descend to the bleakness exemplified by the sedentary Royles. As Scannell notes, “broadcast output, like daily life, is largely uneventful, and both are punctuated (predictably and unpredictably) by eventful occasions” (4). To show sitcom characters in this static, passive environment would be anathema to the “real” viewer, who would quickly lose interest. This is not to suggest that sitcoms are totally benign though as with all genres they are “the outcome of social practices, received procedures that become objectified in the narratives of television, then modified in the interpretive act of viewing” (Taylor 14). In other words, they feature a contextualisation that is readily identifiable to members of an established society. However, within episodes themselves, it as though time stands still – character development is almost non-existent, or extremely slow at best and we see each episode has “flattened past and future into an eternal present in which parents love and respect one another, and their children forever” (Taylor 16). It takes some six seasons before the character of PCK becomes a father, although in previous seasons he acts as a mentor to his nephew, Aloysius. Contained in each episode, in true sitcom style, are particular “narrative lines” in which “one-liners and little comic situations [are] strung on a minimal plot line” containing a minor problem “the solution to which will take 22 minutes and pull us gently through the sequence of events toward a conclusion” (Budd et al. 111). It is important to note that the sitcom genre does not work in every culture, as each locale renders the sitcom with “different cultural meanings” (Nielsen 95). Writing of the failure of the Danish series Three Whores and a Pickpocket (with a premise like that, how could it fail?), Nielsen (112) attributes its failure to the mixing of “kitchen sink realism” with “moments of absurdity” and “psychological drama with expressionistic camera work”, moving it well beyond the strict mode of address required by the genre. In Australia, soap operas Home and Away and Neighbours have been infinitely more popular than our attempts at sitcoms – which had a brief heyday in the 1980s with Hey Dad..!, Kingswood Country and Mother and Son – although Kath and Kim (not studio-based) could almost be counted. Lichter et al. (11) state that “television entertainment can be ‘political’ even when it does not deal with the stuff of daily headlines or partisan controversy. Its latent politics lie in the unavoidable portrayal of individuals, groups, and institutions as a backdrop to any story that occupies the foreground”. They state that US television of the 1960s was dominated by the “idiot sitcom” and that “To appreciate these comedies you had to believe that social conventions were so ironclad they could not tolerate variations. The scripts assumed that any minute violation of social conventions would lead to a crisis that could be played for comic results” (15). Series like Happy Days “harked back to earlier days when problems were trivial and personal, isolated from the concerns of a larger world” (17). By the late 1980s, Roseanne and Married…With Children had “spawned an antifamily-sitcom format that used sarcasm, cynicism, and real life problems to create a type of in-your-face comedy heretofore unseen on prime time” (20). This is markedly different from the type of values presented in Singaporean sitcoms – where filial piety and an unrelenting faith in the family unit is sacrosanct. In this way, Singaporean sitcoms mirror the ideals of earlier US sitcoms which idealise the “egalitarian family in which parental wisdom lies in appeals to reason and fairness rather than demands for obedience” (Lichter et al. 406). Dahlgren notes that we are the products of “an ongoing process of the shaping and reshaping of identity, in response to the pluralised sets of social forces, cultural currents and personal contexts encountered by individuals” where we end up with “composite identities” (318). Such composite identities make the presentation (or re-presentation) of race problematic for producers of mainstream television. Wong argues that “Within the context of PAP hegemony, media presentation of racial differences are manufactured by invoking and resorting to traditional values, customs and practices serving as symbols and content” (118). All of this is bound within a classificatory system in which each citizen’s identity card is inscribed as Chinese, Malay, Indian or Other (often referred to as CMIO), and a broader social discourse in which “the Chinese are linked to familial values of filial piety and the practice of extended family, the Malays to Islam and rural agricultural activities, and the Indians to the caste system” (Wong 118). However, these sitcoms avoid directly addressing the issue of race, preferring to accentuate cultural differences instead. In UOR the tables are turned when a none-too-subtle dig at the crude nature of mainland Chinese (with gags about the state of public toilets), is soon turned into a more reverential view of Chinese culture and business acumen. Internal Visions of the Home This reverence for Chinese culture is also enacted visually. The loungeroom settings of these three sitcoms all provide examples of the fashioning of the nation through a “ubiquitous semi-visibility” (Noble 59). Not only are the central characters in each of these sitcoms constructed as ethnically Chinese, but the furnishings provide a visible nod to Chinese design in the lacquered screens, chairs and settees of LWL (see Figure 5.1), in the highly visible pair of black inlaid mother-of-pearl wall hangings of UOR (see Figure 5.2) and in the Chinese statuettes and wall-hangings found in the PCK home. Each of these items appears in the central view of the shows most used setting, the lounge/family room. There is often symmetry involved as well; the balanced pearl hangings of UOR are mirrored in a set of silk prints in LWL and the pair of ceramic Chinese lions in PCK. Figure 5.1: LWL Figure 5.2: UOR Thus, all three sitcoms feature design elements that reflect visible links to Chinese culture and sentiments, firmly locating the sitcoms “in Asia”, and providing a sense of the nation. The sets form an important role in constructing a realist environment, one in which “identification with realist narration involves a temporary merger of at least some of the viewer’s identity with the position offered by the text” (Budd et al. 110). These constant silent reminders of the Chinese-based hegemon – the cultural “majoritarianism” – anchors the sitcoms to a determined concept of the nation-state, and reinforces the “imaginative geographies of home” (Blunt and Dowling 247). The Foolish “Father” Figure in a Patriarchal Society But notions of a dominant Chinese culture are dealt with in a variety of ways in these sitcoms – not the least in a playful attitude toward patriarchal figures. In UOR, the Tan family “patriarch” is played by Moses Lim, in PCK, Gurmit Singh plays Phua and in LWL Samuel Chong plays Billy B. Ong (or, as Lydia mistakenly refers to him Billy Bong). Erica Sharrer makes the claim that class is a factor in presenting the father figure as buffoon, and that US sitcoms feature working class families in which “the father is made to look inept, silly, or incompetent have become more frequent” partly in response to changing societal structures where “women are shouldering increasing amounts of financial responsibility in the home” (27). Certainly in the three series looked at here, PCK (the tradesman) is presented as the most derided character in his role as head of the household. Moses Lim’s avuncular Tan Ah Teck is presented mostly as lovably foolish, even when reciting his long-winded moral tales at the conclusion of each episode, and Billy B. Ong, as a middle-class businessman, is presented more as a victim of circumstance than as a fool. Sharrer ponders whether “sharing the burden of bread-winning may be associated with fathers perceiving they are losing advantages to which they were traditionally entitled” (35). But is this really a case of males losing the upper hand? Hanke argues that men are commonly portrayed as the target of humour in sitcoms, but only when they “are represented as absurdly incongruous” to the point that “this discursive strategy recuperates patriarchal notions” (90). The other side of the coin is that while the “dominant discursive code of patriarchy might be undone” (but isn’t), “the sitcom’s strategy for containing women as ‘wives’ and ‘mothers’ is always contradictory and open to alternative readings” (Hanke 77). In Singapore’s case though, we often return to images of the women in the kitchen, folding the washing or agonising over the work/family dilemma, part of what Blunt and Dowling refer to as the “reproduction of patriarchal and heterosexist relations” often found in representations of “the ideal’ suburban home” (29). Eradicating Singlish One final aspect of these sitcoms is the use of language. PM Lee Hsien Loong once said that he had no interest in “micromanaging” the lives of Singaporeans (2004). Yet his two predecessors (PM Goh and PM Lee Senior) both reflected desires to do so by openly criticising the influence of Phua Chu Kang’s liberal use of colloquial phrases and phrasing. While the use of Singlish (or Singapore Colloquial English / SCE) in these sitcoms is partly a reflection of everyday life in Singapore, by taking steps to eradicate it through the Speak Good English movement, the government offers an intrusion into the private home-space of Singaporeans (Ho 17). Authorities fear that increased use of Singlish will damage the nation’s ability to communicate on a global basis, withdrawing to a locally circumscribed “pidgin English” (Rubdy 345). Indeed, the use of Singlish in UOR is deliberately underplayed in order to capitalise on overseas sales of the show (which aired, for example, on Australia’s SBS television) (Srilal). While many others have debated the Singlish issue, my concern is with its use in the home environment as representative of Singaporean lifestyles. As novelist Hwee Hwee Tan (2000) notes: Singlish is crude precisely because it’s rooted in Singapore’s unglamorous past. This is a nation built from the sweat of uncultured immigrants who arrived 100 years ago to bust their asses in the boisterous port. Our language grew out of the hardships of these ancestors. Singlish thus offers users the opportunity to “show solidarity, comradeship and intimacy (despite differences in background)” and against the state’s determined efforts to adopt the language of its colonizer (Ho 19-20). For this reason, PCK’s use of Singlish iterates a “common man” theme in much the same way as Paul Hogan’s “Ocker” image of previous decades was seen as a unifying feature of mainstream Australian values. That the fictional PCK character was eventually “forced” to take “English” lessons (a storyline rapidly written into the program after the direct criticisms from the various Prime Ministers), is a sign that the state has other ideas about the development of Singaporean society, and what is broadcast en masse into Singaporean homes. Conclusion So what do these home-based sitcoms tell us about Singaporean nationalism? Firstly, within the realms of a multiethnic society, mainstream representations reflect the hegemony present in the social and economic structures of Singapore. Chinese culture is dominant (albeit in an English-speaking environment) and Indian, Malay and Other cultures are secondary. Secondly, the home is a place of ontological security, and partial adornment with cultural ornaments signifying Chinese culture are ever-present as a reminder of the Asianness of the sitcom home, ostensibly reflecting the everyday home of the audience. The concept of home extends beyond the plywood-prop walls of the soundstage though. As Noble points out, “homes articulate domestic spaces to national experience” (54) through the banal nationalism exhibited in “the furniture of everyday life” (55). In a Singaporean context, Velayutham (extending the work of Morley) explores the comforting notion of Singapore as “home” to its citizens and concludes that the “experience of home and belonging amongst Singaporeans is largely framed in the materiality and social modernity of everyday life” (4). Through the use of sitcoms, the state is complicit in creating and recreating the family home as a site for national identities, adhering to dominant modes of culture and language. References Blunt, Alison, and Robyn Dowling. Home. London: Routledge, 2006. Budd, Mike, Steve Craig, and Clay Steinman. Consuming Environments: Television and Commercial Culture. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1999. Chang, Sishir. “A High-Rise Vernacular in Singapore’s Housing Development Board Housing.” Berkeley Planning Journal 14 (2000): 97-116. Chua, Beng Huat. “Public Housing Residents as Clients of the State.” Housing Studies 15.1 (2000). Dahlgren, Peter. “Media, Citizenship and Civic Culture”. Mass Media and Society. 3rd ed. Eds. James Curran and Michael Gurevitch. London: Arnold, 2000. 310-328. Ellis, John. Visible Fictions: Cinema, Television, Video. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982. Hanke, Robert. “The ‘Mock-Macho’ Situation Comedy: Hegemonic Masculinity and its Reiteration.” Western Journal of Communication 62.1 (1998). Ho, Debbie G.E. “‘I’m Not West. I’m Not East. So How Leh?’” English Today 87 22.3 (2006). Lee, Hsien Loong. “Our Future of Opportunity and Promise.” National Day Rally 2004 Speech. 29 Apr. 2007 http://www.gov.sg/nd/ND04.htm>. Lichter, S. Robert, Linda S. Lichter, and Stanley Rothman. Prime Time: How TV Portrays American Culture. Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1994. Livingstone, Sonia. Young People and New Media: Childhood and the Changing Media Environment. London: Sage, 2002 Morley, David. “What’s ‘Home’ Got to Do with It? Contradictory Dynamics in the Domestication of Technology and the Dislocation of Domesticity.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 6 (2003). Noble, Greg. “Comfortable and Relaxed: Furnishing the Home and Nation.” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 16.1 (2002). Rubdy, Rani. “Creative Destruction: Singapore’s Speak Good English Movement.” World Englishes 20.3 (2001). Scannell, Paddy. “For a Phenomenology of Radio and Television.” Journal of Communication 45.3 (1995). Scharrer, Erica. “From Wise to Foolish: The Portrayal of the Sitcom Father, 1950s-1990s.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 45.1 (2001). Srilal, Mohan. “Quick Quick: ‘Singlish’ Is Out in Re-education Campaign.” Asia Times Online (28 Aug. 1999). Tan, Hwee Hwee. “A War of Words over ‘Singlish’: Singapore’s Government Wants Its Citizens to Speak Good English, But They Would Rather Be ‘Talking Cock’.” Time International 160.3 (29 July 2002). Taylor, Ella. “From the Nelsons to the Huxtables: Genre and Family Imagery in American Network Television.” Qualitative Sociology 12.1 (1989). Velayutham, Selvaraj. “Affect, Materiality, and the Gift of Social Life in Singapore.” SOJOURN 19.1 (2004). Wong, Kokkeong. Media and Culture in Singapore: A Theory of Controlled Commodification. New Jersey: Hampton Press, 2001. Images Under One Roof: The Special Appearances. Singapore: Television Corporation of Singapore. VCD. 2000. Living with Lydia (Season 1, Volume 1). Singapore: MediaCorp Studios, Blue Max Enterprise. VCD. 2001. Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (Season 5, Episode 10). Kuala Lumpur: MediaCorp Studios, Speedy Video Distributors. VCD. 2003. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Pugsley, Peter. "At Home in Singaporean Sitcoms: Under One Roof, Living with Lydia and Phua Chu Kang." M/C Journal 10.4 (2007). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/09-pugsley.php>. APA Style Pugsley, P. (Aug. 2007) "At Home in Singaporean Sitcoms: Under One Roof, Living with Lydia and Phua Chu Kang," M/C Journal, 10(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/09-pugsley.php>.

PurposeThis study examines the initiatives that would enable contractors in Singapore to improve the level of construction productivity.Design/methodology/approachA two-pronged research method was employed: questionnaire survey with contractors (109 responses received) and in-depth interviews with 12 subject matter experts. The questionnaire covered questions such as the current and future improvement measures.FindingsThe results show that the top three motives for achieving high productivity (increase profitability, on time delivery and enhance corporate competitiveness) are underpinned by profit maximization. Factor analysis revealed several categories of productivity improvement strategies. Among these, only site operations category is under the control of contractors. Other important categories include government's initiatives and design factors.Research limitations/implicationsWhile contractors are the producers of built products, their productivity is very much dependent on other factors and other parties. The long-standing exhortation to contractors to improve productivity is necessary but not a sufficient condition to improve it.Practical implicationsRecommendations are provided for the government, designers, contractors and other stakeholders on what can be done to improve productivity.Originality/valueThis research adds to knowledge by showing that contractors' top motives for high productivity relate to self-seeking behavior to maximize profit. Prior to this study, productivity improvement is considered the responsibility of contractors. This study shows that two other stakeholders also hold the key to productivity improvement – government and designers. Government controls the supply of foreign labor, has the capacity to offer incentives and has the muscle to enact regulations to improve productivity. Consultants' upstream designs must be buildable.

Singapore’s transformation to a knowledge-based, information and communication technology (ICT) hub in the Asia-Pacific region began in 1992 with A Vision of an Intelligent Island (The IT 2000 Report) initiative. This blueprint for Singapore’s future was initiated by the government “to spread the use of computers in everyday life and ... to have all households ... linked to the Internet” (Kuo et al., 2002, p. 1). To achieve this goal, the government implemented five strategic themes: development of a global hub for business, services and transportation; improvement in the quality of life by using technology to reduce or simplify mundane activities; boosting the economic engine through pursuit of information and knowledge economies; linking communities locally and globally through a comprehensive information and communication technology (ICT) platform to support civic and social networking; and enhancing the potential of individuals through the use of Web-based learning (Chun, 2002).