This research focuses on the mediating role of construction materials, sustainable use between the construction supply chain integration and the construction industry performance. In this concern, the case of Pakistan was considered specifically. The research design employed in this study was quantitative and a close-ended survey questionnaire was used as a research instrument. The sample size used is comprised of 300 participants and analysis was performed through the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results revealed that the effect of the components of supply chain integration on the construction industry performance was statistically significant. Moreover, outcomes also substantiate the mediation role of using construction material sustainably. The scope of the research was limited to the construction industry of Pakistan; however, future research would focus on other countries and industries.

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The antibiotic-resistant bacteria-associated infections are a major global healthcare threat. New classes of antimicrobial compounds are urgently needed as the frequency of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microbes continues to rise. Recent metagenomic data have demonstrated that there is still biosynthetic potential encoded in but transcriptionally silent in cultivatable bacterial genomes. However, the culture conditions required to identify and express silent biosynthetic gene clusters that yield natural products with antimicrobial activity are largely unknown. Here, we describe a new antibiotic discovery scheme, dubbed the modified crowded plate technique (mCPT), that utilizes complex microbial interactions to elicit antimicrobial production from otherwise silent biosynthetic gene clusters. Using the mCPT as part of the antibiotic crowdsourcing educational program Tiny Earth®, we isolated over 1400 antibiotic-producing microbes, including 62, showing activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens. The natural product extracts generated from six microbial isolates showed potent activity against vancomycin-intermediate resistant Staphylococcus aureus. We utilized a targeted approach that coupled mass spectrometry data with bioactivity, yielding a new macrolactone class of metabolite, desertomycin H. In this study, we successfully demonstrate a concept that significantly increased our ability to quickly and efficiently identify microbes capable of the silent antibiotic production.