The purpose of this paper is to implement and validate a decision making framework for building maintenance projects. The growing importance of maintenance sector not only in Malaysia but also increasingly globalized, the difficulty in selecting an appropriate procurement method and lack of research in this area provide an impetus for this research. There were 19 procurement selection criteria identified. In addition, there were 4 types of procurements methods which include outsourcing by specialist term contract, outsourcing by tendered schedule term contract, outsourcing by repair and maintenance contract and outsourcing by measured term contract identified to be the most popular procurement methods adapted by public universities currently and at the same time were considered most important. The decision making framework was developed based on AHP technique and principles. Expert Choice Software was employed as development tool where the criteria and alternatives were integrated into the framework. Finally, structured interview was conducted to validate the framework developed. The validation process was carried out through structured interview with selected public university.

Maximum entropy spectral analysis has been applied to the annual mean magnetic data around London for the years 1839–1974. These data were compiled by Malin and Bullard. The existence of a ∼60‐year spectral line is clearly found. In addition, cross power spectral density analyses using a two‐channel maximum entropy method were applied to both the variations of the annual mean declination around London from 1900 to 1974 and the fluctuations of the Earth's rotation rate from 1876 to 1974. The coherence is high (0.98), and the phase angle indicates that the changes of the magnetic declinations around London lag behind the fluctuations of the Earth's rotation rate by 20±4 years.

A dedicated, computer-based system was developed to perform a complete set of acoustical measurements of recent interest in full-sized rooms and in scale models of rooms. The measurements included reverberation time, early reverberation time, loudness, early-to-late temporal energy ratios, lateral energy fractions, interaural cross correlation, and speech transmission index, among others. Measurements were made at multiple locations in four large multiuse halls with different variable acoustics features. Measurements were made with and without an orchestral shell in place, with a concert wall in use, with a ceiling lowered to close off the upper part of a balcony, with curtains raised and lowered on the walls of a room, and with a curtain used to close off the rear position of a large room. Changes in the various measurements at equivalent seating locations will be presented. The magnitude of the changes are compared to changes perceived by listeners of various acoustical qualities in a recent study [R. P. Cervone et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 1857 (A) (1991)]. [Work supported by NSF.]

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