Managing, Processing, and Communicating Information: What A/E/C/ Organizations Should Know

Global competition and advances in information technology (IT) are placing new demands on the management techniques used on architectural, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) projects. There are opportunities as well as challenges. The revolution under way in the fields of data sharing and transmission, information processing, and telecommunication technology is opening up new possibilities in the A/E/C industry for effectively meeting these market demands. The dynamic nature of construction processes, the interdependence of various participating entities, and the need for teamwork, flexibility, and a high degree of coordination suggest IT can be profitably employed for effective project management in the A/E/C industry. The distinctive features of A/E/C projects make the task of project management particularly appropriate for applications of IT tools.     

Simulation of Quantification Abilities Using a Modular Neural Network Approach

A novel modular neural network architecture and its application to the field of numerical cognition simulation are presented. Previous modular connectionist systems are typically constrained at one of two levels: at the representational level, in that the connectivity of the modules is hard-wired by the modeller; or at a local architectural level, in that the modeller explicitly allocates each module to a specific subtask. Our approach aims to minimise the constraints, thus reducing the bias possibly introduced by the modeller. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated through the successful simulation of the development of two quantification abilities, subitising and counting, amongst children. It is concluded that such a minimally constrained modular system may contribute to both the capturing of learnt behaviour, and the allocation of modules to subtasks according to the nature of the task.     

Review of Resistive Force Models for Earthmoving Processes

The force required to insert a tool into a medium is of major interest for the design and automation of earthmoving machinery. The present work reviews previous investigations on forces encountered during earthmoving processes by cyclic (but nonrotary) excavation machines. The objective is to integrate the formulation for cutting and penetrating forces to those for excavation. Common practices for characterizing an unfrozen medium and the associated tool actions are discussed, followed by a general overview of various models describing earthmoving tasks of penetration, cutting, and excavation. Observation and analysis of cutting and excavation models reveals that there is not a common ground for their validation, but it also identifies a core of key parameters, reduced in number and essential to any further excavation model. The paper suggests a normalized experimental verification and comparison of the models before they can be further used.     

Determination of silver in foods by neutron activation analysis

Silver has been determined in a number of foodstuffs by neutron activation analysis. The results range from <1 to 530 ng g^?1 dry matter and are highly variable, suggesting that random contanination of samples may occur. Higher concentrations of up to 31 ug g^?1 dry matter were found in wild fungi. From these results, supplemented by others, the British dietary intake is estimated to be 4.5 ug Ag day^?1, which constitutes no hazard to human health.     

Integrating a Decision Tree Perspective at the Operational-Level of BPM+

Decision trees are among the best-known decision-making techniques and have been used extensively for both data analysis and predictive modeling. BPM+ is a novel process modeling approach that helps represent business process models in a consistent and structured way to meet different stakeholders’ process representation needs. This paper reports on the outcomes of an ontological analysis of the potential use of decision-tree representations as a new BPM+ perspective for the operational level of abstraction. This new perspective effectively demonstrates how a specialized/operational BPM stakeholder perspective can be used to improve the existing organizational business process model repository.     

Numerical heat transfer study for a large rubber product

The physical processes of heat transfer are typically complicated in the curing of rubber. In this study, the image plot and the plot of the temperature profile were obtained in such an environment, and then compared with the finite element method (FEM), which is used in finite element analysis (FEA) software. A good agreement was observed, and the difference was less than 1% when evaluating the different curing conditions. This confirms that the correct curing time can be determined by studying the temperature profile, which will help to avoid the deterioration of the mechanical properties of thick rubber products.     

Chaos Synchronization in Josephson Junctions

In this paper, we have discussed the application of new nonlinear recursive controllers on Josephson junction (JJ) chaotic systems. Controlling bifurcation as well as chaos has been rapidly advancing in the last decade. Thus, emphasis has been placed on control design techniques which result in prescribed nonlinear performance dynamics for practical controlled processes. This study has shown that a nonlinear recursive controller is effective in controlling an undesirable JJ chaotic behavior. In addition to that, the synchronization of two JJ chaotic nonlinear dynamical systems can be used to advantage in communication systems. In fact, communication security is promising through chaos. Using nonlinear control method, we have demonstrated that it is possible to achieve synchronization in electronic circuits such as JJ. The study showed the effectiveness of the designed controller in communication signal synchronization. For the purpose of verification and comparison, we designed a control signal based on master and slave concept.     

Combustion characteristics of solid waste biomass,oil shale,and coal

In this study, a developed two-dimensional mathematical model was used to represent the physical model of the combustion process of olive cake and date seed, and solve the governing equations using finite-volume method. The simulation was performed using ANSYS/Fluent software in order to estimate maximum temperature, heating values and pollutants concentrations. The obtained results were compared with experimental results, and corresponding values of oil shale and coal. The experimental work of direct burning of olive cake and date seeds was performed using an existing circulated fluidized bed (CFB) unit.

It was found that the adiabatic flame temperatures were 1380 K and 839 K for olive cake and date seed, and 2260 K and 1080 K for coal and oil shale, respectively. The experimental results showed that the maximum temperatures were 1126 K and 723 K for olive cake and date seed, respectively. The lower heating values were 19,500 kJ/kg and 16,400 kJ/kg for olive cake and date seed, and 29,000 kJ/kg and 7000 kJ/kg for coal and oil shale, respectively.

Thus, biomass such as date seed and olive cake may be used as an alternative fuel in electrical power plants in olive- or date-producing countries, which may save 40% of fuel cost.