Bassano’s Last Judgment

The Last Judgment, by Leandro Bassano 16th century Venetian Artist, religious painting of Christ Finished in 1596, currently residing in the National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, Japan (Ueno). Visited on 11/2/09 from 10:15-11:30 Bassano’s The Last Judgment Painted by Leandro Bassano, a 16th century Venetian artist, The Last Judgment is a stunning work of scared art that takes one’s breath away upon first sight. Finished in 1596, the oil painting stands 73 x 51 cm tall and currently resides in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan. Visiting this piece on a Monday, I had the pleasure of seeing it mostly to myself. Most people walking by stopped to take a brief look at the well lit painting and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were Christian or not and whether or not the piece would have had a bigger impact if they were. At first glance it was pretty easy for me to see this piece’s relationship to Christianity and the event that it depicts. The painting, to me, appears in 3 sections: the central and most eye drawing section on top, the middle section, and the bottom section. The top section depicts Jesus of Nazareth basked in a glowing light holding a white flag of salvation while a man, most likely his father God, floats above him. He is surrounded by angels and pure followers of Christ at, what the title suggests, is the last judgment. This section is the brightest and most eye catching part of the painting due to the well played contrasting colors surrounding it. All other parts following this are duller and darker in color and really help to create a glowing light in the darkness effect for this top portion. The middle section, duller in tone to its predecessor, appears in two parts. The left side portrays people of the church while the right side shows commoners. I felt this section depicted those who were neither tainted nor completely pure; those who were almost in reach of salvation but who could yet still fall. I thought this section, although smallest in portrayal, represented the largest portion of the Christian community as we are often on the path to salvation but can still easily sway. This middle section was what I believed to be the middle way. As it appears, the top portion of the painting conveys salvation and Christ, while the middle section depicts the church and the people, so all that remains are those in redemption and those who are already damned. This is the bottom and darkest part of the piece. On the left side sits those who can still be saved; the image of angels helping men stand up covey great feelings of regret and redemption. The right side of the section, the darkest and grimmest part of the painting, depicts devils and demons carrying and torturing the tainted and damned. When I first saw The Last Judgment I was curious as to why the brightest piece was on top and not dead center as it was what drew my eye first and foremost; however a quick look at the other sections of the painting quickly draws one to the conclusion of an order with heaven on top, earth in the middle, and hell down below. The colors and style of the painting resemble that of other renaissance pieces surrounding it and really does well in drawing one back in time; giving the viewer a wonderful feel of the Christian religion. Overall this was an amazing piece depicting a holy and scared event in the Christian religion. The Last Judgment, by Leandro Bassano 16th century Venetian Artist, religious painting of Christ Finished in 1596, currently residing in the National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, Japan (Ueno). Visited on 11/2/09 from 10:15-11:30

Audie Murphy

World War two was the greatest of all wars ever fought on this earth, with millions of men from every corner of the planet fighting for the cause that they felt right. Out of all of these men from this war and arguably any war Audio Murphy is the greatest. Born the seventh out of twelve children to a sharecropping family on June 20th 1924, all Audio wanted to do in life was â€Å"to be somebody' (Gale). To do this Audio had to fight against the odds his entire life on to his way to becoming one of America's most recognized and cherished people during and after the War.One of the reasons Audio was such an icon to the rest of America, is because at the end of the day he was Just an ordinary boy. Even before the war, at the age fifteen in 1939 Audio dropped out of school to help support his family. The year after that his father left his family making him the man of the house, only to have his mother die when he was seventeen in 1941. These events would cause most men to break but this Just drove Audio into trying to help the cause at war, to make himself somebody.At first he did not succeed in enlisting being only five foot five inches and a hundred and twelve mounds none of the branches of the armed forces would accept him. Eventually on the 30th of June 1942 the US Army accepted him, placing him in company B, 1st battalion, and 15th infantry regiment of the 3rd division. After extensive training in Africa he was in part of the invasion of Italy, after his first contact with the enemy he said â€Å"Ten seconds after the first shot was fired at me by an enemy soldier, combat was no longer glamorous, † Then later saying â€Å"But it was important, because all of a sudden I wanted very much to stay alive† (Gale).This represents very well of how America's youth, though ready felt with their first taste of war. Out of all the times that Audio went above the call in which he was asked to during his time at war, there were two instances in which he prove d to everyone that he was a hero. The first instance happened when his company made their way north the eastern border of France during â€Å"operation dragoon† (Biography). There was a hilltop dotted with German machine gun and sniper nest; he single handedly worked his way up the hill taking them out (Gale). In the midst of this his friend, Lattice Tiptop Joined him in the assault.The Germans at this point acted like they surrendered, with this Lattice stood up then was shot from the lying Germans (Biography). Seeing his friend getting shot, after being lied too, Audio went on a rampage taking out the remaining nest using the German guns and grenades (Gale). For this Audio was given the second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and for his next act of valor he is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Audio received the highest of all medals in woods in France. It all began when his B Company was ambushed by six German tanks and infantry.He then he ld position to call in artillery while his troops retreated to the wood lines safety. He then headed too tank destroyer that was already hit and mounted to 50 Caliber gun, proceeding to mow down the Germans infantry. He was exposed on three sides but with deadly accurate shots he kept off all the advancing troops. Artillery then came in with deadly effectiveness, a squad of Germans tried to sneak up on Murphy but when they were within ten yards they were taken out. He was hit in the leg but fired till the ammunition was gone, peeling back to the wood effective and drove the remaining Germans out.Audio at the end of it all saved his men and took fifty German soldiers in the conflict (Honors). After the Germans surrender to the allied forces, Audio returned home to America. He was paraded around for being a hero of war and was put on the cover of Life on July 16, 1945. After seeing this photo actor James Chaney asked Murphy if he would try a career in Hollywood. He started doing small movies and wrote a book about his stories in the European campaigns: To Hell and Back. The post war America loved this book became a national bestseller and later a movie in which he starred in (Biography).In conclusion Audio Murphy was perhaps the most import unit during the entire war. He killed two-hundred and forty enemies in the process of saving his men. He is the most decorated person in history with thirty-three medals, of them there are three Purple Hearts and French Crosses of War, a Silver Star, Distinguished Service Star, and a Congressional Medal of Honor. Through Audio Murphy's heroic acts of selflessness and by keeping his head level in horrific situations, he became one of America's most loved people during and after the war. Work Cited â€Å"Audio Murphy.

Alzheimer’s Disease Research Paper Essay

â€Å"Five million people in America have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and one in three seniors will die because of this disease of another form of dementia† ( Lawrence Robinson). Alzheimer’s is a disease that gradually worsens with time, and is incurable. This horrible disease is also hereditary and can cause a family much pain. I’ve experienced Alzheimer’s first hand. My grandfather was diagnosed in April of 2007 and passed away April of 2012. It was a long a winding journey and I remember all the stages of his illness really well. The first sign of Alzheimer’s is memory loss, especially forgetting recently learned information. I remember like it was yesterday. The first time my grandpa did something strange that raised a red flag. Me and my brother were staying with our grandparents one weekend I was 11 and my brother 15. One night me maw told us guys (me, my brother and granddad) to get some food she had ordered from a place called Abe’s that we were oh so familiar with. We got in the truck and headed down the road, carrying on conversation we didn’t even realize that we had passed our destination. The truck stopped at Poppies, puzzled I asked what we are doing here. My grandpa looked back at me and explained that we were picking up dinner. I laughed and said we are supposed to go to Abe’s. He gave me a real dumbfounded look and said lets go inside. He proceeded to go to the counter and asked for our order that me maw had placed we begged him to get in the car we looked so stupid. Finally my brother got my grandmother on the phone and handed it to him. She chewed him out, like a dog with his tail between his legs he walked out we followed suite. At that time in my life I had not the slightest clue of any mental illness such Alzheimer’s but I’m pretty sure my brother did. He stared out the window, not saying a word the whole way back as me and grandpa laughed and giggled about the incident. Throughout my research I have found that â€Å"Alzheimer’s is hereditary and in some studies say it skips a generation†( Mayo Clinic staff). In my case could be me that inherits this disease. Knowing what I know now I’ll have check-ups annually, not because I’m scared of dying but for the quality of life I may live. â€Å"Alzheimer’s attacks four of the 23 chromosomes in a human’s body. It is similar to Down syndrome just happening in a later age†( Jon Glass). In the play we are talking about, in my opinion Willy has this disease and can be important because one of his sons could inherit it. I find it strange that no one in Willy’s family is concerned or wants to take him to a doctor to find out what’s going on. Alzheimer’s disease is a very cruel illness and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. I’ve seen the things that monster of a thing can do to the sick, and the loved ones caring for the victim. I’ve learned the best thing to do is to get help, be patient and love the ill unconditionally.

TM Forum Framework Overview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TM Forum Framework Overview - Research Paper Example It is a complete package that introduces improvement and agility in the on going business operations and processes. Considered for transformation of businesses into more effective and manageable forms, this framework is highly appreciated with its more that 700 members worldwide. The main and essential components of this framework include the Business Process Framework (eTOM), Information Framework (SID), Integration Framework (TNA) and Application Framework (TAM). These frameworks are described in the forth coming text below. The initial discussion is about a combined notion named New Generation Operation Support Systems (NGOSS). 2 - What is NGOSS? NGOSS can be thought of as a fully optimized, standardized, comprehensive and customized Operating System that curtails every possible needs of the business industry. Its like business industry’s own operating system that provides an extremely agile and streamlined way to implement the business processes and operations. It is desig ned by TM Forum and includes tools for all the stakeholders of a business. The objective is to introduce optimality and to expand the possible customized yet flexible and low cost solutions for software and Internet based infra structures of the business industry. This can also be considered as a comprehensive guidance system to develop business architecture, processes and maps. ... Figure 1.1 3a. eTOM (Enhanced Telecom Operations Map): The complexities in installing and running a network and the problems of filtering out the best and optimal practices are answered comprehensively through the TM Forum’s enhanced telecom operations map or standard business process framework. â€Å"The eTOM (enhanced telecom Operations Map, published by the TM Forum and the eTOM model describes the full scope of business processes required by a service provider and defines key elements and how they interact.† (Astimen) 3b. SID (Shared Information /Data Model): The information framework provides a standardized model to handle all the information processing needs of an organization. â€Å"SID is a unified reference data model providing a single set of terms for business objects in tele-communication. The objective is to enable people in different departments, companies or geographical locations to use the same term to describe the same real world objects, practices an d relationships.† (Astimen) 3c. TAM (Telecom Application Map): This application framework is designed to streamline the Business Support Systems (BSS) and Operation Support Systems (OSS) of an organization by providing a standard way of description and grouping of processes and functions. â€Å"TAM is one of the primary NGOSS artifact. It considers the role and functionality of the various applications that deliver OSS and BSS capability. Structured along the similar lines to other TM Forum NGOSS artifacts: the process framework – the eTOM and the information framework – the SID, it is presented in a similar layered and vertical structures.† (Astimen) 3d. TNA (Technology Neutral Architecture): This integration framework (NGOSS – TNA) defines

Should Government be Minimised as much as Possible in the Emerging Essay

Should Government be Minimised as much as Possible in the Emerging Markets - Essay Example It includes spending on defense, education, infrastructure projects, and the healthcare sector (Berglof, and Bolton, 2002). The source of money or the finance that is used for public expenditure by the government is mostly from taxation. One of the distinctive features of public spending in emerging markets is the use of social safety nets. According to Chu and Gupta (1998), safety nets basically mean transferring payments that are non- contributory which seek to prevent the people who are vulnerable to poverty and shocks from falling down to a given level of poverty. The providers of the safety nets are the private sector (charities, NGOs), and the public sector (donors and the government). Another distinctive feature seen in the emerging markets is that the distribution of income during the pre-transition period in most Scandinavian countries had a Gini coefficient of 0.25 compared to that of the U. S which stood at 0.4. During the post-transition period, for example, the Gini coefficient was 0.2 in Slovakia and 0.5 in Ukraine (Keane and Prasad, 2000). This can be seen in figure 1 below Poland experienced indeed a substantial rise in inequality of earnings in relation to labor. However social transfers were significant in the mitigation of the shift, and as a result, the increase in inequality of income was moderated. Interestingly, these transfers were mainly targeting individuals who stood a chance to lose more as a result of the transition. The intentions of these individuals were not to be poor but rather to be middle class (Gans, 2011). The figure 2 below shows the income distribution in Poland during the transition period. The figure 3 below shows the overall distribution of income in the emerging markets. The general trend is that in most cases income distribution is normally not balanced among the countries. Analyzing the table found below, what is evident is that income disparity is greater in Russia as compared to Slovakia. Â  

Dissection and graded assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Dissection and graded - Assignment Example One of the control measures that I would take is sterilization of instruments used on the sick people. Despite the fact that operating on infected people is a tedious process, it is well known as the best manner through which a person or professional can control the spread of an infectious disease (Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada, 2014). Given that the professional does not acquire the disease, means that they do not get to transmit the disease with the patient to other people. Another control measure to take is quarantine. Quarantine is the method used to control the spread of a disease only in its initial stages because at the time it will have only infected few people. A few infections are possible to control and thus the use of this means exponentially (New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, 2008). While people are under quarantine, it is possible for professions to test them while wearing gasmasks that will allow them to carry out their activities without catching the disease. From the tests, there is the hope of getting the causative agent and control the spread early. After reading the article, the infectious agent that caused the disease is Shigella Sonnei. This facultative anaerobic bacterium lacks the ability to move due to the lack of flagella (Niyogi, 2010). The incubation period of this bacterium is normally around 3 to 4 days. The investigator identifies several causes of the infection and it is clear to state that the main factors that he states are the most common (Bloestein, 1991). However, in the study, there are some areas not mentioned that ought to receive attention. One of the causes is the poor usage of public facilities and failure to maintain clean practices (Department of Health, 2014). Another cause of the bacterium is the high number of people using water bodies poorly and then later on using the same

Literture Review of 2 Articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Literture Review of 2 Articles - Essay Example According to previous researchers, the supplementary schools aim at developing the ethnic and cultural identity of the child, as well as boost their self-esteem and confidence. Another major aim of the schools is to ensure the good performance of minority and ethnic children that school in state-maintained schools. Through obtaining data from electronic databases of the British Education Index (BEI) and Education resources Information center, ERIC, the study researches on the aims of the supplementary schooling programs. The research uses questionnaires for purposes of investigating the thoughts of the young people on the supplementary education. The outcome of the research is that there was the establishment that the pupils were happy with the supplementary education to a higher extent than their satisfaction with the mainstream education system. In the article on early childhood special education, the main aim of the research was in exploring the different ways in which teachers of the early childhood special education can support the social behaviors of the children in the context of their preschool classes. In the research design, there was the collection of data from six children in a natural classroom observation. The researchers coded the data from the children and analyzed it for emergent themes contained in a qualitative framework. Among the outcomes of the research revealed the fact that there existed a variety of behaviors and strategies applied by teachers of the early childhood special education. These strategies helped the teachers and their assistants to respond in a social manner to the children in their classrooms. In surveying the views of the pupils attending the supplementary schools in England, the researchers were conducting the first part of a major and wider research project that intended on evaluating the role of the

Quantitative Article Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Quantitative Review - Article Example One child from the household was randomly selected. Adolescents fulfilling the diagnostic criteria as well as having number of symptoms one or more standard deviation above mean were entitled to be having a psychiatric disorder. Proportional risks of unfavorable adolescent outcomes and confidence intervals at 95% were calculated for every depressive diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, anxiety diagnosis, substance abuse diagnosis and disruptive diagnosis. The outcomes revealed that the adolescents with anxiety, depressive, disruptive and substance abuse disorder were found to be 2.86-2.91 times more likely to experience failure in completing secondary school education as compared with young adults without psychiatric disorders. Young adults with disruptive disorders were found to be 4.04 (1.96–8.32) times more probably to get in difficulty with police during early adulthood as compared to those without disruptive disorders. The positive prognostic value of every psychiatric disorder measure for not completing school was greater in the lowest SES stratum and for adolescents criminal involvement was greater for boys. The combination of age, gender, symptom counts and social class within a logistical regression model conceded 87% specificity and 89% sensitivity at p≠¥0.13 cut off for forecasting succeeding school non-completion. Future criminal involvement on the other hand when tested at the optimum cutoff value yielded 76% specificity and 75% sensitivity (Vander et al., 2002). Going through the given study a novel technique of utilizing various symptoms of psychiatric disorders for predicting not completing school education and the involvement of adolescents in criminal behavior was analyzed. The overall model used was significant and required professional skills to handle as the sample was quite large. However since the study involved two areas of similar geography, it can be expanded to geographical units

Organizational Change Management in Nokia Research Paper

Organizational Change Management in Nokia - Research Paper Example The reasons of failure could be market competitors â€Å"Samsung† and could be the old trends of business, which have restrained Nokia from true organizational success.   The Trends to be Adapted Talking about the trends of the business especially organizations, which are on the technological side include, innovation, advancement, modification and sustainability (Mohin, 2012). Firms that are operating on the mass global level are in the trench of such modern business trends. Firms especially in the mobile phone sector are marching up with such technology and advancement. Actually, the soul of such trends relate to the perception of the modern customer, which expects advancement, innovation and modification in all the products and services (Woo, 2013). Present organizations such as Apple, Samsung, Sony or HTC are moving up with modern business trends (Woo, 2013). The organizations understand that their secret of success lies behind the prevailing business trends. To progress, to compete or to accelerate in the globalized business order, organizations have identified such contemporary trends as effective compellers. Actually, consumers are more familiar with modernization and hence they want to see things changing in the business order too. For such reason, the demand is of those companies, which have the concept of change, innovation and modification. These have become the essentials of business operation- essentials of progress and succession (Mohin, 2012). The concept of a smartphone first introduced by Apple and then the Samsung’s Android phone are the major examples of innovation. This innovation, which has become the delight of modern consumers has been thoroughly adapted within the organizations’ systems (Woo, 2013). The same is what is expected from Nokia - a company, which remained in the old trends and not able to define technology in the right innovative sense (Cheng, 2012). They tried to stay on ultra cheap with and hence not ab le to meet innovation and technological grounds. The innovative concept of Samsung Galaxy X is what brought Nokia to a threat. This is where the gap of trend was there, and hence, Nokia was not able to pick the track of progression (Mohin, 2012). Furthermore, the trend of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), which is the trend of other mobile leader companies, as well also seemed lost in the Nokia operation (Cheng, 2012). Samsung one of the trademark companies has adopted the practices of green and green management (Krames, 2005). This is for sustaining resources for the future and for the Corporate Social Responsibility objective. Meanwhile, organizations when they have the leadership, the vision and ideology they work in such social business norms. They know that to survive for future generations that have to imply such valuable social trends. All such trends are followed by the trend-setting organizations and hence need to be adapted by lagging organizations such as Nokia Corpo ration. Actually, Corporate Social Responsibility and even any new business trend come from the leadership and the culture of the organization.

Electronic Industry in Asean Essay Example for Free

Electronic Industry in Asean Essay Several factors make electronics a leading industry in South East Asia: 1. Possibilities of application – greatly impact the growth of economy and society of one particular country 2. The drop in the prices of important hardware Electronic industry is divided into two main category: industrial electronics and consumer electronics. Industrial electronics: 1. Servers 2. Telecommunications 3. Robots Consumer electronics: 1. Radios 2. TVs 3. Video, Music Media Players 4. Cell Phones 5. Tablet PCs and Laptops Risk in Electronics Industry mainly in high obsolescence (limited product life-cycle). Electronics production in ASEAN is mainly in the field of consumer products and components. The industry underwent considerable growth in 1970s and Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines had become important production bases. Main reasons that contribute development of electronic industry in ASEAN, from 1960s to 1980s: 1. Import Substitution Starting from 1960s to 1980s there were many import bans (protective barriers) for consumers in ASEAN countries. This also includes electronic products such as Televisions (BW and Color), Audio Stereo and Radio Cassette. Hence, Japanese corporations like Sony and Toshiba started to setup production plants, namely in Singapore and Malaysia in the early history of electronic industry in ASEAN. 2. Competition between Japanese States manufacturers. Earlier, due to quality control reasons, American manufacturers such as GoldStar (now bought over by LG) were reluctant to relocate their production plant to Asia. However, due decreasing component cost (especially production of electronic diode and cathode ray – important components for TVs at that time) from ASEAN Countries, they decided to create new plants in ASEAN – as a result, more schools in ASEAN are starting to open basic electronic education (unique opportunity for technology and knowledge transfer for ASEAN countries) 3. Changing in Industrial Policies The most pronounced change happened in Singapore after breaking up with the Federation of Malaysia in 1965. EDB was formed with the mission to find investors from US and Europe. Within 3 years, Singapore became the largest semi-conductor assembly in Asia. Electronic industry employed 2,400 people in 1968 to 35,000 in 1976 and 60,000 in 1984. In Malaysia, there was a New Economic Policy. Electronic industry was given a priority status – tax exemption was given in the first 7 years of business. Since Malaysia had more manpower as compared to Singapore, it took over the leading position in 1985 (General Electric employed 38,000 labour in West and East Malaysia). In Thailand, more and more citizens were exposed to Television and Radios. Hence, export of electronic goods represented up to 13% of annual exported products. In Indonesia, export-processing zone was opened in North Jakarta, however the ‘boom’ was not as huge as garment production over that period of time. 4. The growing demand for computer related equipment More government and private offices required Personal Computer and its equipment such as disk drives. Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, low wages alone do not create comparative advantage. In fact, countries that earned major foreign investments were Singapore and Malaysia, where wages, still are the highest in the region. In our findings, we believe that infrastructural environment in terms of transport telecommunications played an important role. In addition, political stability and industrial environments in terms of supporting firms in plastics, machinery, as well as the quality of manpower were crucial for the offshore production of new electronic products such as micro and minicomputers.

Building Maintenance | Literature Review

Building Maintenance | Literature Review Building defects are common phenomena especially for those old residential apartments. Lack of maintenance management is one of the factors which lead to poor building condition. Despite the authorities in charge of building maintenance, the residents are also a factor contributing to poor maintenance on building. Misusing the facilities, poor management team, insufficiency of fund for maintenance, the use of poor quality material by the maintenance department, improper maintenance strategy often cause maintenance to achieve a result less than expected. Poor maintenance management will reduce the building lifespan and accelerate the deterioration process of building. Besides that, poor maintenance also will effects the condition of the building, it is also a threats to the residents, making the residents feel unsafe, cause inconvenience and bring a lot of trouble to the resident and others. Thus, this research aim is to identify the flaw of building maintenance in residential apartments, give recommendations and provide the suitable of maintenance strategy to improve the quality and conditions of the apartments. The center question in this study is to identify a suitable maintenance strategy to improve the condition of residential apartments. Along the way of research, following question will also be identified. What is the flaw of building maintenance in residential apartments? What is the reason to affect the maintenance cost? 1.3 Aim The aim of this research project is to study the building maintenance strategy in residential apartments. 1.4 Objectives In achieving the aim, four objectives have been outlined. There are: To determine the suitable of maintenance strategy to improve the quality of residential apartments. To compare the type of building maintenance strategy. To review the factor that affect maintenance cost. 1.5 Hypothesis Proper maintenance strategy can reduce the building defects, increase the monetary value of apartment and prolong the lifespan of residential apartment. 1.6 Background of the Study Building maintenance is an important activity to keep the building in good condition. Even though the buildings are seemed like wonderful or in perfect condition, there are a lot of maintenance work needed to be done in order to maintain at such condition. To preserve and prolong the life of building, maintenance is necessary to be carried out. Chudley (1981, p.1) define the maintenance as: maintenance is the act of maintaining. The Committee on Building Maintenance in British defined maintenance as: Building Maintenance is the work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facility, i.e every part of a building, its services and surrounds to a currently acceptable standard, and to sustain the utility and value of the building (Wood, 2009, p.3) In this research project, researcher is tending to identify the flaw of building maintenance in residential apartments and proposed the suitable maintenance strategy. The motivation to carry out this research project is a lot of tenants or residents have neglected the importance of maintenance work. Also, maintenance will affect the built environment, building lifespan, quality, safety and condition of apartments. Proper maintenance strategy plays an important role for a building. The proper maintenance strategy is able to affect the performance of maintenance. Good and poor maintenance also depends on the maintenance strategy using. The poor maintenance also caused by using the improper maintenance strategy. The poor maintenance of the residential apartment will lead to depreciation of property value, affects the condition of the building, result as a threats to the residents, making the residents feel unsafe, caused inconvenience to the residents, building efficiency drop and eventually cause the building to deteriorate rapidly than others. 1.7 Scope of the Study In order to carry out the research project, the researcher specified in residential buildings at Setapak. The nature of the building to be focus in apartment and the building will be reviewed in this research are those which were built between 1990s and early 2000s. The building maintenance of the residential apartments is to be reveal through this research project. This research focuses on the maintenance strategy of the residential apartment thus understand on the building maintenance strategies and knowledge on flaw of building maintenance are important in this case. The key words like building maintenance strategy and residential apartments will be defined at first so that the person who reads can easily understand point of the research project or dissertation. To carry out the research, it is necessary to identify flaw of building maintenance of residential apartments and proposed the suitable or proper maintenance strategy to rectify the flaw of building maintenance or improve the quality of the buildings. In addition, in this dissertation identifies the factors that affect the maintenance cost. 1.8 Research Methodology 1.8.1 Literature review To carry out a research, literature review is the most important of the research. Before carry out a research, it has to well understand of the research title and literature review. The effective information can be obtained through the books in the library, journals, internet, newspaper and others those will provide us ideas to start doing dissertation or easily to do the dissertation with refer to the books, journals and others. 1.8.2 Questionnaire One of the research methodology using in this dissertation, questionnaire will be carried out in order to get some important information from respondents. The questionnaires form will be contribute to the respondents by hands or mail. The targeted respondents are those who stay in the apartment at Setapak. The questionnaire forms can include respondents detail, satisfaction of the building facilities and efficiency, knowledge on the building defect and others. All the data collected get from respondents, it have to analyze it and discussed together with recommendations to improve the building defects or quality of the building. 1.8.3 Interview Besides that, interview also will be carry out in the research. The targeted interviewees are resident of the apartment at Setapak and the repair specialist also will be interview. For this dissertation, the informal interview will be carry out in order to finalize the conclusion and the respond of interviewee are more accurate than the questionnaire and face to face discuss the problem of the resident facing. 1.9 Chapter Outline 1.9.1 Chapter 1-Introduction Chapter 1 is introducing about research background and this chapter is including aims and objectives, problem statement, research methodology, chapter outline and others. 1.9.2 Chapter 2-Literature Review Chapter 2 is review the definition of maintenance and the importance of building maintenance. This chapter also will identify the factors of affecting building maintenance cost and let the reader understanding different types of maintenance strategies. 1.9.3 Chapter 3-Research Methodology Chapter 3 is aim to review the details of research methodology. The Literature review, questionnaire, interview is the method of carry out in this research project. In this chapter, it has to review the way of get the feedback from the respondent and what is the result. 1.9.4 Chapter 4-Data Analysis Chapter 4 is need to analyzing the data which is obtained from questionnaire. It needs to analyses the problem of maintenance management in residential apartments. 1.9.5 Chapter 5-Conclusion and Recommendations Chapter 5 is to provide the conclusion of the whole research project and recommend the importance of building maintenance in residential apartments. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Title 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Aims and objectives 1.4 Background 1.5 Scope of Study 1.6 Research Methodology 1.7 Chapter Outline Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Definition 2.3 Importance of building maintenance 2.4 Factor affect the building maintenance cost 2.5 Types of building maintenance strategies 2.6 The comparison of maintenance strategies 2.7 Selection of maintenance strategy 2.8 Maintenance management decision diagram Table 0 Plan and actual schedule Based to the table above, I was late to confirm the research title that is because I was confusing on the various tiles that I have found. To get back the progress that I was planning, I was tried to confirm the tile on Week 4. After that, there is also late to done the work in Chapter One. Within that delay period, I have a presentation and a lot of assignment need to submit. Also, I was having twice time amendment on Chapter One. During Week 9, I was realized that was very late to start the work in Chapter Two. To resolve this problem, I was try to spending more time to do the research and I was try to finished the introduction, definition and importance of building maintenance and factor affect the building maintenance cost. During Week 9 to Week 12, I was try my best to match back the planned schedule and I was get help who is my supervisor in doing the work in Chapter 2. He is giving a lot recommendation to give me a direction to done the proposal and final draft. Finally, I was done my work on Week 12 and I was submitting my final draft on Week 13. Chapter 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Introduction This chapter reviews the types of building maintenance strategy. The definition and the importance of maintenance also will be identified in this chapter. Besides that, this chapter will identify the factor affecting the building maintenance cost and maintenance management decision diagram. 2.2 Definition of Building Maintenance The maintenance term was comes from the French verb maintenir, which means to hold, retain, prolong or preserve the building or structure to an acceptable standard. Chudley (1981, p.1) defines the maintenance is the act of maintaining, many people are misunderstanding the maintenance is equal with repair. In the act of maintaining repairs or replacement may well be necessary but the main objectives of all maintenance procedures is to prevent as far as practicable the need to repair or replace the structure, furnishings, services, equipment or fittings which collectively make up the total environment of any building (Chudley, 1981, p.1). According to BS 3811: 1964 defines maintenance as a combination of any actions carried out to retain an item in, or restore it, to an acceptable condition (Lee, 1981, p.9). Wood (2009, p.4) defines maintenance as keeping an item at a certain level or of restoring it that position of acceptability, although it does not identify who it is that determines the acceptability condition. Besides that, the Building Maintenance Committee in British recommended the following definition: Work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facility, i.e every part of a building, its services and surrounds, to a currently accepted standard and to sustain the utility and value of the facility (Lee, 1981, p.10). In conclusion, the main objectives of building maintenance is to keep the building in perfect condition and ensure that the condition of the buildings meets all statutory requirements by regularly checking or repairing it when failure occurs so that the building can be continued perform in term of acceptable standard. 2.3 The importance of Building Maintenance Most people are unlikely to carry out maintenance work and they have neglected the importance of maintenance work. There are many good reasons for carry out the maintenance work. For example, maintenance can be preserving our building, prolong the buildings life, reducing the deterioration process of the building, provide a safe environment and maintaining buildings appearance. In the economic sense, maintenance can reduce the major repair projects. Under some circumstances, repairs works can be costly than maintenance work in terms of finances. Thus, it is better to carry out the maintenance work than extending the period of repairs work. For an example, the routine cleaning of the gutter and drains is cheaper and less convenient than having to cope with a serious outbreak of dry rot in timber roof trusses which is neglect for many years. The appropriate routine management and maintenance will minimize the need for larger repairs or it is the most economical way of sustaining an ass et (Beehive, 2010). Besides that, maintenance will also ensure the safety of the building or to person (Jeff, 2008). For instance, maintenance of building fire safety installations. Fire safety installations must be capable performing in standard level to ensure the safety of the building and building users or occupants. Fire safety installations are including fire extinguisher, fire doors, fire hydrants, fire hose reels, emergency lighting and smoke detectors (Queensland Government, n.d). In addition, maintenance also can provide opportunities for employment. Some of the maintenance works are required repair specialist or maintenance professionals to carry out the maintenance or repair works. For example, cleaning high-level gutters may require specially trained personnel or equipment to carry out the work or some of the maintenance or repair work need a lot of repair specialist to carry out the work therefore it provide a opportunities to earn a living (Beehive, 2010). 2.4 The factors that affecting building maintenance cost This research project is to identify the factors that affecting building maintenance cost because the issue of continuous increasing in building maintenance cost is often discussed. In order to solve the problem of increasing in building maintenance cost, building management team should adapt some strategies by reduce or minimizing the number of maintenance activities (Azlan Shah Ali, 2010). Besides that, building maintenance costs increase and decrease will be affected due to the various factors. For examples, designer is fails to comply with the specifications and standard also is a factors that influence the building maintenance cost. (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003) 2.4.1 Design The complexity of the building design will increase the difficulty in maintenance work. Regular cleaning and minor repair work can be carried out easily to avoid major replacement of building component. For example, some of the maintenance requires some tools to be performed. If the designer fails to allow enough space for the tools to execute maintenance work, it will cause minor problem become major problem (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). The building design also including the building height, area and size. The high rise building is need the additional costs for the equipment and tools used to carry out the maintenance works. For instance, when carry out the maintenance works at high rise buildings such as window cleaning, painting work, repairs work and other external works is need scaffolding (Azlan Shah Ali, 2010). Besides that, some of the building defects are caused by improper structural design such as designer is neglected the spacing for contraction and expansion which movement will cause joint of the wall cracking (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.2 Poor Quality Control Quality control program is essential and important during the maintenance and construction stages. That program is used to control, check and test of activities due to the contract requirement and construction procedures. An effective quality control program will reduce the occurrence of building defects therefore maintenance work will be reduce accordingly. During the maintenance stages, the quality control program is essential to ensure that which component is required to maintain or might not need to maintain (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.3 Lack knowledge of maintenance strategy Improper maintenance strategy is caused by the designer or maintenance management team lack in knowledge of maintenance strategy. Improper using maintenance strategy might not be increase the cost of the particular work but it might be affected on the long-term durability of the building and the cost of maintenance (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.4 Unfamiliarity with local and site condition The designer should know the building location, type of plants, environment condition and insects existing around of the building. For example, if the designers realized that surround of the building have many plants and those plants might have termite or white-ants, it can be provide a suitable maintenance strategy to avoid termite attack. In addition, designer also should be familiar with buildings site condition such as soil condition. For example, poor soil condition might affect the building shrinking and causes the structural elements start cracking (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.5 Improper diagnosis The maintenance management team is failure to identify the main and true causes of the defect and it will affect the decision on decide the maintenance strategy. Besides that, improper diagnosis will affect the maintenance cost. This is because improper diagnosis will worsen the condition of the building therefore it is require a lot of maintenance or repair works to repair it (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.6 Life Cycle Cost (LCC) Life cycle cost (LCC) is the total relevant costs over the life of a system including cost of operation, maintenance, acquisition, disposal and modification for the purpose of making decision (Shear, 1993). LCC takes into account firstly and other costs (total cost of operation and maintenance of a system) over a buildings life. During the buildings life period, it helps in the determination of how the owners money distributed. Moreover, it was to determine of meeting a need of space with the most economic way. Besides that, it was also assisting in developing the most economic plan shape, structural form and internal layout. The greater saving and lowering the committed cost if LCC is applied earlier. LCC is used to identify which have the lowest total cost of design feature, components and finishing. And, it also identifies high cost areas and evaluates changes that will reduce these costs (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.7 Labour Unskilled labours such as foreign labour will failure to carry out the maintenance work and it is also will increasing the maintenance cost if they have not performing well in maintenance work. It is because they are lack in experience, knowledge and skills to perform well of the maintenance work. Therefore, employ a skilled labour is better than employ unskilled labour. Skilled labour will help to minimizing maintenance cost and improve the quality of work (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.8 Material selection Material selection in the early design stage also is the one of the factors will be influence the maintenance cost. Once the selection of materials is failure or select wrong materials it is required high maintenance cost to repair or replace the existing building components (Azlan Shah Ali, 2010). The selection of poor or bad quality of materials will cause failure of the materials and deterioration occurred in the building components, which will require replacement or more maintenance tasks in the future. To minimize future expenses during maintenance stage, selection of materials should be according to the performance specification requirements of the building (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.9 Misusing materials The misconception of using cheap materials will minimize or reduce the maintenance cost. Those cheap and bad quality materials will cause building deterioration, which will require more maintenance or repairs work to be carry out. It will be more costly to carry out the repair, replacement and maintenance work (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.10 Fluctuation of Material Prices The most common of factors that affecting the maintenance cost is fluctuation of material prices such as cement, steel bar and etc. it might be increasing the material prices and also decreasing the material prices but usually is increasing (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.11 Climate change Some of the building material will have chemical reaction when the climate was change. For example, acid rain wills accelerate the deterioration process of some building materials. Thus, there are some maintenance or remedial action need to be carry out (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.12 Unqualified Maintenance Contractor To ensure the maintenance work can be performing effectively, the well-experiences maintenance contractors are very important. A good maintenance contractor should be good in analyzing the maintenance cost and analyze which maintenance strategy is most economical way to carry out the maintenance work or which is the most suitable maintenance strategy can be using (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003).. Besides that, those of the unqualified maintenance contractor or operator are lack of training which could cause to poor operating and maintenance practices (Azlan Shah Ali, 2010). 2.4.13 Age of the building According to Skinner (1982), Slater (1982) and ONeill (1974), the age of the building or property also could be influencing the maintenance cost. When the age of a building increase, the maintenance cost also will increase accordingly. Some of the maintenance works such as replacement of new roof tiles, painting work, and other works are required to carry out because these maintenance works is to ensure the sustainability of building while the building age is increasing (Azlan Shah Ali, 2010). Besides that, the building components have their expected life, if the building components life is over than the expected life, it is better to demolish it or replace it. This is because the maintenance cost might be higher than the cost spending on demolished or replacement (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003).. 2.4.14 Poor management A good maintenance management can be an effective tool or equipment for achieving a high standard of maintenance work and it can reduce the maintenance works and costs. According to Horner et al. (1997), the maintenance management is required to reduce or minimize the repair works on building defect (Azlan-Shah Ali, 2010). Without maintenance management, it will lead to failure maintenance work, time consuming and cumbersome. Therefore, maintenance management is requiring formulating long term strategic plan to meet those needs. 2.4.15 Poor financial management The building owners are require to preparing the annual budgets which budgets is enough financial support for maintenance work. Without financial support for maintenance work required, maintenance works require to carry out will not be perform properly and building will not maintained properly (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.16 User neglected importance of maintenance work Building users are often misunderstanding that there is not their responsibility to keeping the building in good condition and facility therefore they are taking no action or neglected the maintenance work. As time passes, it will lead to the buildings start to deteriorate. Therefore, they require additional maintenance cost to carry out large repair or maintenance work to cope the deterioration of the building. Therefore, it is better that they are intention to carry out the maintenance work before the building is deteriorated (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.17 Misuse of building after construction is complete Some of building users or owners is misusing the buildings and its components in proper way after the building construction is completed. There are causing the building components are needs to repair and it is also would be costly for those repairs work (Jalal, 2003). In order to minimized this problem, the introducing of property operating manuals and regulation, and educating occupants and users are need to be carry out (Azlan-Shah Ali, 2010) 2.4.18 Behavior and attitude of users The bad attitudes of building users are often misusing the facility and services of the building and vandalism by building user will cause to damage and defects on building components. It would be costly to repair for those damages (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.4.19 Improper Maintenance Strategy Improper maintenance strategy also will be affected the cost of maintenance. For example, a building elements are require to using the preventive maintenance strategy but they are using corrective maintenance strategy therefore it is more costly to carry out the maintenance (Jalal A. Al-Khatam, 2003). 2.5 The types of Buildings Maintenance Strategies According to Chudley (1980, p.110), defines maintenance as any work undertaken in order to keep or restore every part of a building to an acceptable standard. The types of maintenance activities which are require achieving this objective. It can be categorized as planned and unplanned maintenance. Those of the maintenance strategies are provide options to decide which maintenance strategy will be decide to use, it should be make sure that those alternative decisions are available to management in maintaining a building. Besides that, it is also need to depend on the failure elements condition then decide a maintenance strategy to repair or replace it. During making decision to select maintenance strategy, it must be consider which maintenance strategy is more efficiency (Chudley, 1981). Figure 0 Types of Maintenance Source: (Abdul-Mohsen Al- Hammad, n.d) 2.5.1 Planned Maintenance is defined the planned maintenance is the maintenance work have been planned, organized and execute with forethought, control and the use of records to a predetermined plan (Abdul-Mohsen Al- Hammad, n.d). Besides that, planned maintenance can be used to overcome the disadvantages of corrective maintenance and emergency maintenance. It is commonly referred to the schedule system which is require consider time, cost and quality. Planned maintenance is including preventive maintenance. 2.5.1.1 Preventive Maintenance (PM) In this maintenance strategy, the building components, elements, facilities and services are subjected to a regular schedule of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning, inspections, adjustments, inspections, and others. The maintenance tasks are carried out at fixed intervals to reduce building deteriorated or to ensure the building is in good condition (RDH Building Enginerring Ltd, n.d). Besides that, the disadvantages of corrective maintenance can be overcome by preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance also will reduce the probability of occurrence of failure or defects and avoiding sudden failure. This maintenance strategy is referred to as time-based maintenance, planned maintenance or cyclic maintenance. Preventive maintenance tasks are performed in accordance with a predetermined plan at regular, fixed intervals, which may be based for example on operating time (IMSS Security Services, 2011). Preventive maintenance has various advantages over the corrective maintenance. The preventive maintenance tasks are providing several advantages, those are shown as below (Au Wai Hoe, 2008): The equipment will perform more efficiently. Preserve and prolong the life of the building. Reduce and avoid the occurrence of failure. Save potential energy and prevent energy will go to waste. The preventive maintenance cost is more economical than the corrective maintenance cost. The following are the disadvantages of preventive maintenance. Unnecessary task will be carried out even thought the building components are in good condition. The elements which are required remained in a safe and acceptable condition for long time; it will be carried out a large amount of unnecessary tasks. Very demanding in terms of spare parts and labour. Although the preventive maintenance work is carried out, failures are still likely to occur because it was human error during the implementation of the maintenance works. In addition, there are some of the advantages of preventive over corrective maintenance as shown as below: It will not make the building users inconvenient while execute maintenance work because maintenance can be planned ahead and performed when it is convenient to the users. Avoiding the cost of consequential damage can be reduced the maintenance cost. It can be minimized the downtime which is the time that an element of the building or whole of the building is out of services, so that the habitability of the building can be increased. Improved health and safety of the building users. 2.5.1.1.1 Condition-based maintenance This maintenance strategy work is performing in response to an acceptable deterioration in a unit as indicated by a change monitored parameter of the units condition or performance. The reason for carrying out the maintenance work is the condition of building elements has been change or deterioration, and the optimal time to execute maintenance works is determined by monitoring the actual state of the system, its performance or other condition parameters. Its concept recognizes that the main reason for carrying out maintenance is due to change in condition or performance of an item. Before a major failure occurs, to identify the element or equipments requires maintenance which is condition-based maintenance tasks. This maintenance tasks is planned by good monitoring to the buildings elements and service equipment. To make this strategy perform or works effectively, it is need to monitoring the condition of the building components or item. Those monitoring works is to identify whether there is any evidence of change from a normal to abnormal condition. This maintenance can be carried out by selecting the factor which can be best described the item and monitoring changes using suitable condition monitoring tools. Condition measurement can be change from a simple inspection or visual check to more advanced assessment by using variety of condition monitoring tools and techniques (IMSS Security Services, 2011). 2.5.2 Unplanned maintenance Unplanned maintenance works is executed without predetermined planning. In this strategy, the maintenance work is carried out after a failure has occurred (Abdul-Mohsen Al-Hammad n.d). The repair works of the unplanned maintenance is the restoration of an item to an acceptable state or level through replacing, renewing and mending damaged parts. Unplanned maintenance cost is more costly than planned maintenance cost. Besides that, unplanned maintenance includes corrective and emergency maintenance. 2.5.2.1 Corrective maintenance Corrective maintenance is the simplest types of maintenance strategy, where a building element is used until it cannot perform or breaks down. It covers all activities, including replacement, repair and renew of a building element that has failed to a point at which it cannot perform its required function or cannot carry out the services. This maintenance strategy is carried out the work after a failure or defects has occurred and intended to restore an item to an acceptable state to perform its required func