Improving Cost Estimates of Construction Projects Using Phased Cost Factors

Central to cost-based competition is the capability to accurately predict the cost of delivering a project. Most literature on cost estimation focuses on specific estimation methods as generic techniques and little attention has been paid to the unique requirements at each project stage. This note attempts to identify the critical factors for effective estimation at various stages of typical construction projects. Drawing from organization control theory and cost estimating literature, this note develops a theoretical framework that identifies the critical factors for effective cost estimation during each project phase of a conventional construction project. The underlying logic is that as a cost estimating effort progresses, both task programmability and output measurability improve. As a result, control effort will shift from input-oriented control to a combination of output and behavior control.     

Developing Cost Response Models for Company-Level Cost Flow Forecasting of Project-Based Corporations

The difficulty in applying the standard curve (S-curve) and cost-schedule integration (CSI) techniques for company-level cost flow forecasting in a project-based industry is the prerequisite of forecasting future unknown individual projects and contract classifications. By analyzing cost flows at the company level through a pool of macroeconomic and internal financial data, this paper proposes an innovative approach to firm-specific model estimation. First, a series of data transformations introduce linear relationships between cost, macroeconomic, and internal financial variables. Second, multivariate regression analysis is employed for initial model building. Third, for the purposes of model restructuring, a subsequent application of Yule–Walker estimates and incomplete principal component analysis is used. This paper uses a sample of four project-based construction firms to demonstrate model performance. Using this methodology, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of the forecasting models range from 0.27 to 0.60%. As such, the transformed cost, macroeconomic, internal financial data could strongly predict company-level cost flow forecasting. While converting the predicted cumulative cost data to periodic cost flows, the MAPE values were augmented, ranging from 7.04 to 17.55%, thus, requiring future research.     

Pretreatment of Highly Polluted Pharmaceutical Waste Broth by Wet Air Oxidation

The preoxidation of a highly polluted waste pharmaceutical fermentation broth using wet air oxidation (WAO) has been studied as a possible method for the effective removal of organics. The applied (pre)treatment method should enhance the biotreatability of the pharmaceutical fermentation broth in terms of reduced initial toxicity and higher biodegradability. Preliminary experiments in the pilot biological treatment plant were successful only at low organic loads, whereas the system collapses at higher ones. The characterization of the fermentation broth was started by common physicochemical analysis, whereas several bioassays were used to determine its impact on biological treatment plants and the environment. Toxicity prior to and after WAO was determined using the acute Vibrio fischeri test, measurement of inhibition of O2 consumption, and the Daphnia magna acute test. Ready biodegradability of the treated and untreated broth has also been assessed. WAO experiments were accomplished in the 2?L batch reactor at different temperatures (240/280°C) and operating pressures. WAO experiments confirmed reduction of the toxicity toward microorganisms, whereas oxidized wastewater was more toxic to daphnids. Biodegradability of the oxidized broth has also been enhanced. Further work has been focused on designing appropriate combination of WAO and biological processes.     

Off-Site Exposure to Respirable Aerosols Produced during the Disk-Incorporation of Class B Biosolids

Field experiments were conducted at a Class B biosolids land application site in central Arizona to measure, model, and source-track the off-site transport of aerosols emitted when biosolids were disk-incorporated into soils. Real-time PM10 monitoring provided time-resolved aerosol information sufficient for verifying both off-site concentration and off-site exposure time model results. Under the conditions considered and at a distance of 165?m from the aerosol source, biosolids disk-incorporation resulted in an intermittent exposure to biosolids-derived aerosol concentration between 15 and 40?μg/m3 and an inhalable biosolids dose between 2 and 8?μg. Transport modeling predicted that these doses will decrease with increasing wind speed. In addition, three DNA sequence-based biosolids source tracking methods were applied to aerosol samples and confirmed the presence of biosolids in aerosols at 5, 65, and 165?m from the aerosol source. Field measurements and modeling indicate that the nature of biosolids-derived aerosol exposure is a series of intermittent high concentration puffs, rather than a continuous low concentration.     

AssetCollector: a system for managing collections of cultural assets

In this paper, AssetCollector is presented, which is a system for managing collections of cultural assets. AssetCollector covers the needs of collection curators towards defining, populating and searching a collection in a flexible way, while supporting them in generating reports based on the collection’s assets and reusing them in order to build web sites and CD-ROMs. In order to support the above functionality, the system provides the content structuring subsystem, the content input subsystem, the search subsystem and the report subsystem. The use of the subsystems is straightforward and requires no technical skills from the curators. AssetCollector has been successfully applied for organizing various collections of cultural assets in Greece, such as archaeological sites, museums and published books. In the future, an evaluation procedure is planned in order to further refine the use of the system according to the targeted users’ needs. Furthermore, more import and export facilities will be provided, which will make the system compliant with widely accepted standards.     

ATM网络的可用比特率业务

本文介绍了可用比特率业务的业务特点，速率控制机制以及该业务存在的问题。     

基于TMN的接入网网管系统模型

本文介绍了 TMN 网管系统的体系结构,进而讨论了接入网网管系统的体系结构和管理接口的有关问题。     

灌溉与环境浅议

灌溉为人类带来了巨大的社会效益,也对环境产生了一定的不利影响,但目前对于灌溉的环境问题还处于起始阶段。文中从生态、土壤、水质、人群健康、水文地质、景观地貌等等方面分析了灌溉工程对环境的影响,试图引起人们在今后的多目标水资源开发中重视研究灌溉与环境如何达到协调平衡,为人类创造更好的生存环境。     

美籍华裔专家讲通信工程技术新动态

本文扼要介绍１９９５年北京中美工程技术研讨会通信组五位美籍华裔专家关于通信技术新动态的专题报告。一是宽带综合业务数字网的同步数字系列（ＳＤＨ）和异步转移模式（ＡＴＭ）；二是光纤通信系统的光放大器（ＯＦＡ）、波分多路（ＷＤＭ）、光电子集成（ＯＥＩＣ）、色散补偿和新型光纤；三是蜂窝网车载移动通信和全国性个人通信业务（ＰＣＳ）、时分多址（ＴＤＭＡ）和码分多址（ＣＤＭＡ），四是智能网（ＩＮ）体系结构、概念模型和业务管理系统（ＳＭＳ）；五是数字传输网的恢复（ＦＡＳＴＡＲ）、维护（ＴＭＰ）和供应（ＴＳＮＯＷ）三种管理平台，及综合网络管理系统（ＩＮＭＳ）。     

SMS——智能网的业务管理系统

本文叙述了智能网的业务管理系统所实现的３种功能：业务管理功能，网络管理功能和业务管理访问功能，还介绍了业务管理和网络管理之间的关系，ＳＭＳ的集中式和分布式两种体系结构及业务管理功能的设计方法和进一步研究方向。