Public perceptions on artificial intelligence driven disaster management: Evidence from Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly utilised in disaster management activities. The public is engaged with AI in various ways in these activities. For instance, crowdsourcing applications developed for disaster management to handle the tasks of collecting data through social media platforms, and increasing disaster awareness through serious gaming applications. Nonetheless, there are limited empirical investigations and understanding on public perceptions concerning AI for disaster management. Bridging this knowledge gap is the justification for this paper. The methodological approach adopted involved: Initially, collecting data through an online survey from residents (n = 605) of three major Australian cities; Then, analysis of the data using statistical modelling. The analysis results revealed that: (a) Younger generations have a greater appreciation of opportunities created by AI-driven applications for disaster management; (b) People with tertiary education have a greater understanding of the benefits of AI in managing the pre- and post-disaster phases, and; (c) Public sector administrative and safety workers, who play a vital role in managing disasters, place a greater value on the contributions by AI in disaster management. The study advocates relevant authorities to consider public perceptions in their efforts in integrating AI in disaster management.     

Hierarchical multi-reservoir optimization modeling for real-world complexity with application to the Three Gorges system

High dimensionality in real-world multi-reservoir systems greatly hinders the application and popularity of evolutionary algorithms, especially for systems with heterogeneous units. An efficient hierarchical optimization framework is presented for search space reduction, determining the best water distributions, not only between cascade reservoirs, but also among different types of hydropower units. The framework is applied to the Three Gorges Project (TGP) system and the results demonstrate that the difficulties of multi-reservoir optimization caused by high dimensionality can be effectively solved by the proposed hierarchical method. For the day studied, power output could be increased by 6.79 GWh using an optimal decision with the same amount of water actually used; while the same amount of power could be generated with 2.59 × 10⁷ m³ less water compared to the historical policy. The methodology proposed is general in that it can be used for other reservoir systems and other types of heterogeneous unit generators.     

The relationship between centrality and land use patterns: Empirical evidence from five Chinese metropolises

The relationship between location and land use patterns is one of the classic theoretical issues in urban studies. Classic models based on the monocentricity hypothesis have limitations in the interpretation of modern urban structure. China has experienced institutional transformation in recent decades, and the interaction of national government policy, market forces and the natural environment has influenced urban planning in Chinese metropolises, resulting in urban structures with special characteristics. This paper examines the distribution of location and land use intensity, and tested the Alonso model by the relationship between them in five Chinese metropolises using Point of Interest data, space syntax methodology, the grid weighted statistical method and the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model. Universal patterns about the scaling relation between intensity of land use types and the centrality of location are revealed. The elasticity of land use types to location, from high to low sensitivity, is commercial, residential then industrial land in most of the five metropolises studied. The sensitivity sequence of land use studied suggests that the hypothetical model based on the classical Alonso model can explain the spatial structure of modern metropolises in China to some extent, especially for the commercial land. But the order of sensitivity of residential land and industrial land to location does not conform to the model. The spatial heterogeneity in land use intensity and centrality were explored and the factors embedded were discussed. It can be found that the relation between centrality and land use intensity conforms to power law. In most of the metropolises studied, when the scaling relation between land use intensity and centrality is super linear, the sequence of the frequency value from high to low are commercial, residential and industrial land; when the scaling relation is sublinear, the sequence of the frequency value is industrial, residential and commercial land.     

Reply to the discussion by Q. Zeng and S.L. Xu of the paper “Numerical simulation of moisture transport in concrete based on a pore size distribution model”

This paper presents a reply to the discussion of the paper “Numerical simulation of moisture transport in concrete based on a pore size distribution model” by Q. Zeng and S.L. Xu.     

Energy efficiency—a forgotten goal in the Swedish building sector?

The paper analyses trends in energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in the Swedish building sector between 1970 and 2000 with focus on the development of energy efficiency in the average stock of buildings and in the new construction. The energy efficiency improved throughout the seventies and early eighties, and studies revealed major potentials for further improvements. However, the energy efficiency has levelled off with almost no improvement during the nineties. The statistics for new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings indicate increasing energy use per floor area since 1995, and even more amazing: the new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings are at the same level of energy efficiency as the average existing building. Parallel to this development, the best available technology represented by low-energy buildings, uses less than a third of the energy used in average new buildings. Much of this development may be explained by changes in energy prices. The increasing oil price between 1972 and 1985 correlates well with the improvements in energy efficiency, even though the effect was limited by the low electricity price following the nuclear power programme. However, promotion of energy efficiency is complicated by the ineffective distribution of costs and benefits between actors, especially in the new construction. Moreover, to the residents energy cost is a small part of the expenditures and energy efficiency is merely one of many qualities valued in a building. An important factor behind the increasing energy use in new-constructed multi-dwelling buildings may also be new exceptions in the energy standards which were introduced to promote district heating. Finally, the paper gives some policy recommendations to improve the energy efficiency in the Swedish building sector: Not to support supply substitution at the expense of energy efficiency; Regulations for individual measurements and debiting of space and water heating; Strengthening of the energy standards to promote technical efficiency in the new construction.     

Potential applications of phase change materials in concrete technology

In internal curing, pre-wetted lightweight aggregates (LWA) serve as internal reservoirs to supply the extra water needed by the cementitious and pozzolanic components of the concrete during their hydration processes. Due to their porous nature and reasonably high absorption capacity, the LWA can also be filled with other materials, such as phase change materials (PCMs). In this paper, three potential applications of PCM-filled LWA in concrete technology are presented. In addition to the previously explored application of increasing the energy storage capacity of concrete in residential and commercial construction by using a PCM with a transition temperature near room temperature, applications for higher and lower temperature PCMs also exist. In the former case, a PCM can be used to reduce the temperature rise (and subsequent rate of temperature decrease) of a large concrete section during (semi)adiabatic curing, to minimize thermal cracking, etc. In the latter case, a PCM can perhaps reduce the number or intensity of freeze/thaw cycles experienced by a bridge deck or other concrete exposed to a winter environment. In this paper, these latter two applications are preliminarily explored from both experimental and modeling viewpoints.     

Moving beyond the fourth dimension with an IFC-based single project database

4D CAD has been an active research area for many years. The first generation 4D tools simulated construction schedules and demonstrated the potential benefits in several case studies. Researchers tried to improve the functionality of the first generation 4D tools by adding annotations and highlighting the building elements that have problems. The future generation 4D tools are expected to include more than these. It has been envisioned that 4D models would be part of project databases in order to take decisions related with different project dimensions.This paper presents the development and implementation of a new 4D planning tool which is a part of a product model-based project database. This tool brings the 4D simulation and cost estimation together and aims to contribute to what-if analysis in construction projects. The last part of the paper presents a case study in which the proposed prototype is evaluated.     

Thermoelastic composites with columnar microstructure and cylindrically anisotropic phases. Part I: Exact results

A wide class of composite materials, which are in this paper referred to as having columnar microstructure, posses the microgeometrical characteristic that the constituent phases are homogeneous along one and only one direction. This class includes as an important subclass all the composites consisting of a homogeneous matrix reinforced by aligned parallel continuous homogeneous fibers. In the present work, considering a transversely isotropic composite with columnar microstructure and with cylindrically anisotropic phases, a number of exact results are established for effective thermoelastic moduli by modelling the composite as a nested composite cylinder assemblage. The results obtained in this work extend those of Hashin and Rosen [Z. Hashin, B.W. Rosen, The elastic moduli of fiber-reinforced materials, ASME J. Appl. Mech. 31 (1964) 223–232] and Hashin [Z. Hashin, Thermoelastic properties and conductivity of carbon/carbon fiber composites, Mech. Mater. 8 (1990) 293–308].     

Stability of foams and froths in the presence of ionic and non-ionic surfactants

The thin film pressure balance (TFPB) technique was used to measure the kinetics of thinning of single foam films and disjoining pressures in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and electrolyte (NaCl). The results were analyzed in view of the Reynolds equation to determine the role of surface forces in film thinning. It was found that film thinning is controlled by surface forces at thicknesses below approximately 200 nm. It was found also that hydrophobic force plays an important role particularly at low SDS and NaCl concentrations. The values of the hydrophobic force constant (K₂₃₂) estimated from the film thinning experiments were used to predict the disjoining pressure isotherms using the extended DLVO theory, which were found to be in excellent agreement with experiment. The TFPB technique was also used to measure the equilibrium thicknesses (H_e) of the foam films stabilized by a non-ionic surfactant, n-octanol, in the presence of NaCl. At a given ionic strength, H_e increased noticeably with increasing octanol concentration at very low concentrations. This observation suggests that hydrophobic force is maximum in the absence of surfactant and decreases with increasing surfactant concentration. The results obtained with the single foam films were used to explain the stability of the three-dimensional foams.     

Visualisation in architecture,engineering and construction (AEC)

In the architecture, engineering and construction industries, computer visualization usage can cover the whole lifecycle of a product from presentation of initial concepts to the final stages of production and can also extend to maintenance issues. Three-dimensional walkthroughs can be created from hand drawn sketches at the very early stages of the design process. Three-dimensional models can be used by design teams to communicate design intent to client and users and to compare and evaluate design options. During more advanced stages of design, three-dimensional representations can be used to check the integrity of services coordination, accessibility and maintainability. During construction, visualization can facilitate the interpretation of design details by site operatives. The concept of visualization is not limited to modeling physical objects but can extend to the representation of abstract data sets of the type obtained from simulation programs used in performance assessment or from Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applications. This paper will review the application of visualization in the process of design and construction and then present findings from three research projects that made use of some of these techniques at various stages of the process: for collaborative working during concept design stage, for design development and marketing in the house building sector, and for the modeling of design details during the construction stage.