Significant spatial co-distribution pattern discovery

Given instances (spatial points) of different spatial features (categories), significant spatial co-distribution pattern discovery aims to find subsets of spatial features whose spatial distributions are statistically significantly similar to each other. Discovering significant spatial co-distribution patterns is important for many application domains such as identifying spatial associations between diseases and risk factors in spatial epidemiology. Previous methods mostly associated spatial features whose instances are frequently located together; however, this does not necessarily indicate a similarity in the spatial distributions between different features. Thus, this paper defines the significant spatial co-distribution pattern discovery problem and subsequently develops a novel method to solve it effectively. First, we propose a new measure, dissimilarity index, to quantify the difference between spatial distributions of different features under the spatial neighbor relation and then employ it in a distribution clustering method to detect candidate spatial co-distribution patterns. To further remove spurious patterns that occur accidentally, the validity of each candidate spatial co-distribution pattern is verified through a significance test under the null hypothesis that spatial distributions of different features are independent of each other. To model the null hypothesis, a distribution shift-correction method is presented by randomizing the relationships between different features and maintaining spatial structure of each feature (e.g., spatial auto-correlation). Comparisons with baseline methods using synthetic datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. A case study identifying co-morbidities in central Colorado is also presented to illustrate the real-world applicability of the proposed method.     

Effect of steel slag on 3D concrete printing of geopolymer with quaternary binders

A new type of 3D-printable ‘one-part’ geopolymer was synthesized with fly ash (FA), granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), steel slag (SS) and flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGD). The effects of SS content (0–40%) on the rheological properties, 3D-printability, mechanical anisotropy and reaction kinetics of geopolymer were investigated. The yield stress and plastic viscosity monotonically decreased with the increasing SS content. Contrarily, the geopolymer with 10% of SS presented better extrudability, buildability and mechanical strength than those with 0, 20%, 30% and 40% of SS. This was mainly attributed to the conflicting influence of SS on geopolymerization, of which the OH^? produced by hydration of SS raised the alkalinity of the reaction system and accelerated the dissolution of SiO₄^4? and AlO₄^5?, while the low reactivity prohibited the following polymerization process. Furthermore, the 3D-printed geopolymer presented more compact microstructure and less mechanical anisotropy thanks to the crosslinking of morphologically complementary products, including N(C)-A-S-H, C–S–H, AFt and CH, formed via synergistic reaction of FA-GBFS-SS-FGD system.     

土木工程施工课程线上平台教学实践

土木工程施工课程作为土木工程及工程管理专业的学科基础课和核心专业课程,在疫情防控期间"停课不停教""停课不停学"的要求下,通过线上平台进行授课。由于土木工程施工课程内容庞杂、综合性强、实践性强,且章节之间关联性较弱,探究既能使学生快速适应,又能保证教学质量的在线教学方法至关重要。以华南某高校土木工程施工课程为例,基于中国大学MOOC、建筑云课、腾讯课堂、QQ群等线上平台讲授教学内容,并运用问卷调查对课程线上教学效果进行评价。结果表明,线上教学为学生提供了丰富灵活的学习方式,显著提高了学生的自主学习能力,扩大了学生的知识面,达到了较好的学习效果。     

Mitigating Hydrological Risk with Energy Derivatives

The variability of river inflows affects the energy production of hydropower generators and may result in reductions in revenues that can be financially disruptive for these producers. Recent climatic changes have highlighted the risks involved in hydroelectriciy production in Brazil. In this paper, we propose a different approach to formulating a collar derivative, namely an Inverted Collar, to mitigate hydrological risk considering the particularities of Brazil's energy regulatory environment. In addition, we propose a customized collar-by-difference as a variation of the collar model. The effect of these derivatives is analyzed considering electricity market price and power generation uncertainty for a typical hydro generator. The results suggest that these derivatives are effective tools to manage hydrological risk during period of great climatic volatility, such as the height of the drought period experienced by Brazil in 2016. The results also indicate that our models outperform traditional commercial hedging commonly practiced by hydropower producers in the country.     

矿山工程建设项目造价管理信息系统设计

为提高矿山工程建设项目造价管理水平,设计了矿山工程建设项目造价管理系统。通过分析矿山工程项目的造价组成,并采用三层B/S架构设计系统硬件框架,运用Web服务器传输矿山工程项目各项数据,划分系统功能子系统,并对矿山工程建设项目造价额与价差预备费进行计算,完成系统软件设计。结果表明,该系统能够有效管理矿山工程建设项目造价,并对外部的恶意攻击进行及时报警,系统具有有效性与安全性。     

Properties of gap-aggregate gradation asphalt mixture and permanent deformation

Aggregate of natural crush stone in hot mix asphalt is applied to gap gradation mixed with the AC-20 binder, in accordance with Marshall mix design. Laboratory tests were conducted, and the single-factor variance analysis (ANOVA) is employed to estimate the significance of the gradation mixture properties. Based on permanent deformation tests and analytical results, sieve of 2.36 mm may be omitted for nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) of 12.5 mm, and sieve of 4.75 mm may be omitted for NMAS of 19 mm, in the case of the shortage of aggregate.     

Applications of electronically facilitated bidding model to preventing construction disputes

When a lump-sum public construction project is implemented, disputes often arise concerning issues around the accuracy of contracted quantities, the acceptability of unit prices of cost items, and whether an “equal (or equivalent)” for a product (equipment or material) can be used. In Taiwan, contracted quantities and unit prices are primarily based on owner's estimations, and the trademarks of a product specified in a tendering documentation are only for reference. A contractor has to struggle for profit when the amount of work completed differs from the contracted amount, when change orders are priced according to the owner's estimates, and when inexpensive equals may be used. This work comprehensively elaborates the background of the current practice, and presents experience of applying an electronically facilitated bidding model to evaluating the bidder's submitted quantities, unit prices and equals in several practical projects in Taiwan. Results of this study indicate that the aforementioned construction disputes can be prevented or at least mitigated.     

Fractional alpha stable network traffic model and its application in QoS routing

It is not a simple and trivial work to set up an appropriate network traffic model. A fractional Alpha model is proposed in this paper and two proofs based on flow and session level, respectively, are given. Based on this model, the lower bound for the residual of the queueing distribution is deduced. Comparing the residual distribution function (RDF) based on our model with it based on other models, we find our formula matches the real RDF better. Based on this formula, we can predict the need for forwarding performance. Then a novel QoS routing algorithm based on this prediction is proposed. Last we demonstrate a simple example to denote how our algorithm can effectively improve the utility of bandwidth and amount of traffic and guarantee QoS.     

Spatio-Temporal Short-Term Urban Traffic Volume Forecasting Using Genetically Optimized Modular Networks

Abstract:   Current interest in short-term traffic volume forecasting focuses on incorporating temporal and spatial volume characteristics in the forecasting process. This article addresses the problem of integrating and optimizing predictive information from multiple locations of an urban signalized arterial and proposes a modular neural predictor consisting of temporal genetically optimized structures of multilayer perceptrons (MLP) that are fed with volume data from sequential locations to improve the accuracy of short-term forecasts. The results show that the proposed methodology provides more accurate forecasts compared to the conventional statistical methodologies applied, as well as to the static forms of neural networks.     

Repair evaluation of concrete cracks using surface and through-transmission wave measurements

Surface opening cracks are common defects in large civil structures like bridges. They allow penetration of water or other agents that result in loss of durability earlier than expected. Their repair can be conducted by the injection of epoxy material that seals the crack sides keeping out any aggressive substances in addition to the recovery of strength. In order to evaluate crack parameters before impregnation as well as to determine the final repair effectiveness, a combination of Rayleigh and longitudinal waves is applied. Rayleigh waves demonstrate the filling condition of the material into the shallow layer near the surface while tomography using longitudinal waves through the thickness yields information about the area inside the structure. Wave propagation dispersion features are exploited by the proposed tomography at different frequencies, demonstrating that higher frequencies lead to more accurate characterization.