Sensing and Field Data Capture for Construction and Facility Operations

Collection of accurate, complete, and reliable field data is not only essential for active management of construction projects involving various tasks, such as material tracking, progress monitoring, and quality assurance, but also for facility and infrastructure management during the service lives of facilities and infrastructure systems. Limitations of current manual data collection approaches in terms of speed, completeness, and accuracy render these approaches ineffective for decision support in highly dynamic environments, such as construction and facility operations. Hence, a need exists to leverage the advancements in automated field data capture technologies to support decisions during construction and facility operations. These technologies can be used not only for acquiring data about the various operations being carried out at construction and facility sites but also for gathering information about the context surrounding these operations and monitoring the workflow of activities during these operations. With this, it is possible for project and facility managers to better understand the effect of environmental conditions on construction and facility operations and also to identify inefficient processes in these operations. This paper presents an overview of the various applications of automated field data capture technologies in construction and facility fieldwork. These technologies include image capture technologies, such as laser scanners and video cameras; automated identification technologies, such as barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags; tracking technologies, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless local area network (LAN); and process monitoring technologies, such as on-board instruments (OBI). The authors observe that although applications exist for capturing construction and facility fieldwork data, these technologies have been underutilized for capturing the context at the fieldwork sites as well as for monitoring the workflow of construction and facility operations.     

Effect of Gd3+ substitution on dielectric properties of nano cobalt ferrite

CoGd_xFe_2 ? xO₄ (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5) nano magnetic ferrite particles were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. The variation of dielectric parameters like dielectric constant, dielectric loss, capacitance and resistance for different Gd³⁺ compositions has been measured at room temperature for frequency dependence in the range of 100 Hz to 10 MHz using impedance analyzer. Results of measurements reveal strong dependence of dielectric parameters on frequency and Gd³⁺ ion content. Dielectric constant, dielectric loss, capacitance and resistance decrease with increasing frequency for all the CoGd_xFe_2 ? xO₄ compositions. Increase in Gd³⁺ ion composition in material, increases the values of dielectric constant, dielectric loss and capacitance while decreases the electrical resistance of nano-particles. A qualitative explanation is given for the composition and frequency dependence of dielectric parameters.     

Effect of lubricant on the formation of heavy-duty diesel exhaust nanoparticles

The effect of lubricants on nanoparticle formation in heavy-duty diesel exhaust with and without a continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) is studied. A partial flow sampling system with a particle size distribution measurement starting from 3 nm, approximately, is used. Tests are conducted using four different lubricant formulations, a very low sulfur content fuel, and four steady-state driving modes. A well-documented test procedure was followed for each test. Two different kinds of nanoparticle formation were observed, and both were found to be affected bythe lubricant but in differentway. Without CRDPF, nanoparticles were observed at low loads. No correlation between lubricant sulfur and these nanoparticles was found. These nanoparticles are suggested to form mainly from hydrocarbons. With CRDPF, installed nanoparticles were formed only at high load. The formation correlated positively with the lubricant (and fuel) sulfur level, suggesting that sulfuric compounds are the main nucleating species in this situation. Storage effects of CRDPF had an effect on nanoparticle concentration as the emissions of nanoparticles decreased over time.     

Effect of irradiation on the proteinase inhibitor activity and digestibility (in vitro) of safflower oilcake

Trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor activities of safflower oilcake were studied before and after irradiation. The various doses to which samples were exposed ranged from 7 Gy to 10 kGy. The trypsin inhibitor is inactivated at 42 Gy, whereas the chymotrypsin inhibitor remains active, even at the much higher dose of 10 kGy. Thein vitro digestibility values also showed a significant improvement after irradiation. Exposure to a low dose of 42 Gy is sufficient to improve the nutritional value of the oilcake.     

Space‐charge limited conduction in polyaniline films

Polyaniline emeraldine base (PANI‐EB) powder was synthesized by oxidative polymerization of aniline. The PANI‐EB films were prepared by the solution‐casting technique. The temperature‐dependent dc conductivity measured in the range 173–303 K suggests that the PANI‐EB is a quasi‐one‐dimensional disordered conductor. The current‐voltage characteristics of the PANI‐EB films measured in the range 333–383 K showed the SCLC mechanism. The SCLC parameters such as free carrier density (p₀), trap density (p_t), the ratio between free carrier density to the total carrier density (θ), mobility (µ) and the effective hole mobility (µ_eff) were calculated. The activation energy (E_a = 0.32 eV) and the Fermi level (E_F = 0.42 eV) were estimated. As well as these, the trap parameters such as the trap filled limit voltage (V_TFL), the shallow trap density (N_t), the depth of the dominant trap level (E_t ? E_v), the density of states within the hole mobility edge (N_v) and the characteristic energy (E_c) were also calculated and presented. The exponential type of traps distribution with large number of traps was found to be due to the disorder and moisture in the polymer films. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Performance analysis of the minimum variance beamformer

We present an analysis of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the output of the minimum variance beamformer. The analysis is based on the assumption that the signals and noise are Gaussian and that the number of samples is large compared to the array size, and it yields an explicit expression for the SINR in terms of the different parameters affecting the performance, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), interference-to-noise ratio (INR), signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), angular separation between the desired signal and the interference, array size and shape, correlation between the desired signal and the interference, and finite sample size     

Why can't a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality traits across 55 cultures.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 96(1) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2008-18683-004). Some of the sample sizes presented in Table 1 were incorrectly reported. The correct sample sizes are presented in the erratum.] Previous research suggested that sex differences in personality traits are larger in prosperous, healthy, and egalitarian cultures in which women have more opportunities equal with those of men. In this article, the authors report cross-cultural findings in which this unintuitive result was replicated across samples from 55 nations (N = 17,637). On responses to the Big Five Inventory, women reported higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness than did men across most nations. These findings converge with previous studies in which different Big Five measures and more limited samples of nations were used. Overall, higher levels of human development--including long and healthy life, equal access to knowledge and education, and economic wealth--were the main nation-level predictors of larger sex differences in personality. Changes in men's personality traits appeared to be the primary cause of sex difference variation across cultures. It is proposed that heightened levels of sexual dimorphism result from personality traits of men and women being less constrained and more able to naturally diverge in developed nations. In less fortunate social and economic conditions, innate personality differences between men and women may be attenuated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiplexed protein kinase assay

We report a novel protein kinase assay designed for high-throughput detection of one or many kinases in a complex mixture. A solution-phase phosphorylation reaction is performed on 900 different peptide substrates, each covalently linked to an oligonucleotide tag. After incubation, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine are chemically labeled, and the substrates are hybridized to a microarray with oligonucleotides complementary to the tags to read out the phosphorylation state of each peptide. Because protein kinases act on more than one peptide sequence, each kinase can be characterized by a unique signature of phosphorylation activity on multiple substrates. Using this method, we determined signatures for 26 purified kinases and demonstrated that enzyme mixtures can be screened for activity and selectivity of inhibition.     

Structural,ferroelectric and magnetic properties of BiFeO3-ZnFe2O4 nano-composites

ABSTRACT

Multiferroic BiFeO₃-ZnFeO₃ nano-composites in different composition were prepared by sol-gel method. Detailed investigations were made on the structural, magnetic and ferroelectric properties of these nanocomposites. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of distorted perovskite and spinel phases of BiFeO₃ and ZnFe₂O₄ respectively. Transmission Electron microscopy reveals the particle size and the elemental idea of pure ferrites. The particle sizes calculated using TEM of ZnFe₂O₄ is 20–30 nm and match with XRD result. An enhancement of polarization in nano-composites is observed from Polarization Vs Electric Field loops. Magnetic polarization versus Magnetic field curves indicates the improved magnetic properties.