Negotiation‐based decision support model for utility relocations in transportation infrastructure projects

Highway projects in metropolitan areas often require that adjacent utilities be relocated to accommodate new or expanded highway facilities. Traditionally, utility owners have been responsible for their own relocations prior to highway construction. However, utility relocation delay was reported as one of the root causes of overall project delays in highway construction. In the USA, one strategic approach sporadically taken over the past 15 years by some state departments of transportation (DOTs) has been to combine utility relocation work with the highway contractor's scope of work. While the combined strategy offers many benefits, it does have its own set of challenges and disadvantages. Many of these difficulties involve disagreements between DOTs and utility owners over the appropriateness of the combined strategy for particular types of relocations. Hence, a negotiation‐based decision support model (DSM) for determining whether to use the combined strategy was developed to provide guidance to both DOTs and utility decision makers during the planning and design phases of highways. A literature review and interviews with experts from both DOTs and the utility industry were conducted to identify significant factors as well as their impact levels on the decision. A DSM aiming at synthesizing the factors and orchestrating the negotiation process for the decision was proposed and verified. As suggested by the model evaluators, the proposed DSM can improve the quality of this complex decision‐making process, especially for less experienced project managers or designers.     

How do people make a decision on bottled or tap water? Preference elicitation with nonparametric bootstrap simulations

People in the United States drink almost four times the amount of bottled water than they did 20 years ago, even though tap water supplies in the United States are considered to be among the safest in the world. To understand ‘how do people make a decision on tap or bottled water’, a consumer preferences survey was administered to the Civil and Environmental Engineering students attending a US university. The survey elicited information on participants’ preferences and real life attitude/preferences and included a multi‐criteria pairwise comparison. The pairwise comparison preferences were further analysed by integrating nonparametric bootstrap simulations to determine the underlying uncertainty. The results revealed that although safety issues were deemed most important, participants were also subconsciously aware of other crucial issues related to drinking water. These findings provide useful information for drinking water policy experts and water utilities about consumer perceptions of the relative virtues of tap and bottled water.     

Use of Geophysical Techniques for the Localization of the Restricting Zones of Permeability in the Bottom of Basin： Forecasting the Zones of Clogging

Measurements of dielectric parameters followed by permeability tests are performed on soil samples of infiltration basin. The dielectric parameters are obtained by TDR （time domain reflectrometry） measurements from which it is found that the measurement of the permittivity, the electrical conductivity and the relaxation time of compacted soil allows the mapping of the values of the coefficient of permeability at the surface of an infiltration basin. With the distribution of the coefficient of permeability, the areas of water stagnation can be detected before the basin filling. The study proves that the TDR measurements for the detection of these zones can be used for the management of infiltration basins for sustainable working and their remediation can be undertaken before the rainy seasons.     

Review of Urban Planning of Beijing(1949 – 1960): A Masterpiece of Planning History Study of Beijing at the Early Stage of the People's Republic of China

<正>Urban Planning of Beijing(1949 – 1960)Author: Li Hao Year: 2022Publisher: China Architecture & Building Press ISBN: 9787112281725(447 pages, in Chinese)The 1950s is an important period in terms of the urban planning history study of China. It is not only the initial and foundation stage of China’s modern urban planning, with profound influence on contemporary urban planning,     

City Model of Guilin and Object of Protection

The city model of Guilin,characterized by the unique integration of hills,rivers and city,is being sabotaged dur-ing the urbanization process.This article makes an analysis of problems facing Guilin and proposes measures fromthe planning point of view.These measures,including regional macrocontrol and microcontrol of the developmentareas,intend to protect the city's integrity,to propose development controls and to retain the local characteristics.     

Role of microorganisms in water purification of compounds of iron and manganese in a dense layer of sorbent–catalyst

The article contains assessment and contains experimental substantiation of the involvement of iron- and manganese-oxidizing microorganisms in the removal of manganese compounds from model solutions. Defined and identified are cultures of such microorganisms. The article has shown the efficiency of removing manganese compounds by the layer of a sorbent–catalyst under conditions of changing the temperature conditions for a long time.     

An Exploration of the Thinking and Method of the Revision of Beijing''''s Master Planning

This article introduces the new thinking andmethod of the revision of Beijing's master plan.The plannersmade new exploration and breakthroughs in such aspects asthe involvement of the general public in planning,the intro-duction of value concept,unified planning of both urban andrural areas,how to link with the future goals of development,etc.     

Experimental studies of the geosynthetic anchorage – Effect of geometric parameters and efficiency of anchorages

The soil reinforcement by geosynthetic is widely used in civil engineering structures: embankments on compressible soil, slope on stable foundations, embankments on cavities and retaining structures. The stability of these structures specially depends on the efficiency of the anchors holding the geosynthetic sheets. Simple run-out and wrap around anchorages are two most commonly used approaches. In order to improve the available knowledge of the anchorage system behaviour, experimental studies were carried out. This paper focuses on a three-dimensional physical modelling of the geosynthetics behaviour for two types of anchors (simple run-out and wrap around). The pull-out tests were performed with an anchorage bench under laboratory controlled conditions with three types of geosynthetic (two geotextiles and one geogrid) and in the presence of two types of soil (gravel and sand).The results show that there is an optimum length for the upper part of the geosynthetic for the wrap around anchorage.     

City Planning Act of The People''''s Republic of China

Adopted by the 11th Session of the Stand-ing Committee of the Seventh National Peo-ple's Congress on December 26,1989.Chapter Ⅰ General ProvisionsArticle 1This Act is formulated to define the sizeand development orientation of a city,torealize the goal of economic and social devel-o pment of the city,to map out the city'splanning and to carry out construction tomeet the needs of development for socialistmodernization.     

The Protection of the East Tombs of the Qing Dynasty and the Restoration of Historic Environment

The general planning is aimed to protect the historic relics and their environ-ment while paying attention to the overall restoration of historic environment onthe basis of historic and present characteristics of the East Tombs of the Qing Dyn-asty.Attention should also be paid to the coordinated development in other as-pects of socio-economic and tourist constructions.     

Identification of key competences of design‐builders in the construction market of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)

Design‐builders play a vital role in the success of DB projects. In the construction market of the People’s Republic of China, most of the design‐builders, however, lack adequate competences to conduct the DB projects successfully. The objective of this study is, therefore, to identify the key competences that design‐builders should possess to not only ensure the success of DB projects but also acquire the competitive advantages in the DB market. Five semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews and two rounds of Delphi questionnaire survey were conducted to identify the key competences of design‐builders. Rankings have been assigned to these key competences on the basis of their relative importance. Six ranked key competences of design‐builders have been identified, namely: (1) experience with similar DB projects; (2) capability of corporate management; (3) combination of building techniques and design expertise; (4) financial capability for DB projects; (5) enterprise qualification and scale; and (6) credit records and reputation in the industry. The design‐builders can make use of the research findings as guidelines to improve their DB competence. These research findings will also be useful to clients during the selection of design‐builders.     

n the analysis of results. ①Scores of clinical

equivalent scale and memory quotient in the MCI group were significantly lower than those in the healthy control group [(11.14±3.86),(18.35±6.58)points;(14.63±5.46),(19.95±4.50)points;(15.96±5.08),(21.90±4.48)points;(18.73±6.21),(25.15±4.25)points;(15.59±5.05),(24.75±6.16)points;(83.00±9.19),(     

A Primary Analysis of the Morphology Formation of the Market Towns in the Region of Rivers and Lakes to the South of the Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River

The market towns in the region of riv-ers and lakes to the south of the lowerreaches of the Yangtze River in China havelong focussed people's attention upon theirunique formal structures.In this region ofrivers and lakes,its natural morphology is in     

Control of eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs by means of Pre-Dams—II. Validation of the phosphate removal model and size optimization

A calculation procedure for the mean monthly rates of orthophosphate elimination in pre-dams was presented in Wat. Res. 21, 829–838. The validity of this model is checked by means of 17 data sets from 15 existing pre-dams. The calculated and observed elimination rates exhibit a rather high degree of accordance. The application of the model leads to the possibilities: (1) to predict the orthophosphate elimination of designed pre-dams of a particular size (Wat. Res. 21, 829–838) and (2) to determine the optimum size of a pre-dam that results in the required rate of P-elimination (Wat. Res. 21, 839–842). Both these possibilities are prerequisites to a proper selection and combination of the various measures of eutrophication control. When eliminating the nutrients in pre-dams the disadvantage as compared to other possible measures for controlling non-point sources of phosphorus and nitrogen is, that the efficiency, on an annual average, is relatively low (PO₄-P: ∼ 60% at optimum size and in a temperate climate), but the decisive advantage of pre-dams is the minimum operating expenses.     

A Summary of the Symposium of the International Housing Issue

The Ministry of Urban and Rural Con-struction and Environmental Protection(MURCEP) of China and the UN Centerfor Human Settlement jointly sponsored asymposium on the international housing is-sue from June 9 to 15,1987 in Kunming,China.The symposium was an importantevent co-sponsored by China and the U.N.Center for Human settlement in the Interna-tional Year of Shelter.lts main topic was:to     

The Conceptual Framework of the Development of Pudong,Shanghai

On April 18th,1990,Premier Li Peng officially proclaimed that the Central Party Com-mittee and the State Council had approved to develop and open the Pudong District.This is agreat decision and is of strategic significance,particularly in terms of the social economic zonepolicy in the district.     

Existing Conditions and Development of the Coastal Townships of Shanghai

Ⅰ.Existing Conditions and Char-acteristics of the Coastal Belt Townshipsof ShanghaiThe coastal belt of Shanghai is com-posed of 6 counties (i.e.the Baoshan,Chuansha,Nanhui,Fengxian,Jinshan andChongming) which have a total area of3,701 km~2(63% of the total suburban area)and have a total population of 3.54 million(63.8% of the total suburban population).Within these 6 counties,there are 5 county     

Comparison of Techniques for Prediction of Mechanical Strength of Firefighters’ Protective Clothing Using Near-Infrared Spectral Data

Fire Technology - As most textile tests are destructive, non-destructive test (NDT) methods are needed to evaluate in-use firefighters’ protective clothing and to provide guidance as to when...