Effective construction planning

This paper examines the relationships between construction planning efforts and construction planning effectiveness. The influence of the project's environment and organizational characteristics of construction firms on planning efforts and planning effectiveness is also investigated. A sample of 26 building projects was studied and the results were analysed using simple correlations. Three factors were found to have a significant effect on improving construction planning effectiveness: increases in planning time prior to commencement of work on site, the extent to which emphasis is placed on the determination of construction methods during construction planning and the frequency of revision of construction plans after commencement of work on site. Significant relationships were also found between project environment variables and organizational characteristics of construction firms and planning efforts and planning effectiveness. Implications of the results are that construction planners should systematically evaluate alternative plans, sufficient time should be allowed for proper planning, thorough reviews are needed whilst work is in progress, the planning effort needs to be relevant to the environmental context of the project and the firm should be appropriately organized. Suggestions are given for future research studies.     

Responses to the sensory properties of fat of neurons in the primate orbitofrontal cortex

The primate orbitofrontal cortex is a site of convergence of information from primary taste, olfactory, and somatosensory cortical areas. We describe the responses of a population of single neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex that responds to fat in the mouth. The neurons respond, when fatty foods are being eaten, to pure fat such as glyceryl trioleate and also to substances with a similar texture but different chemical composition such as paraffin oil (hydrocarbon) and silicone oil [Si(CH3)2O)n]. This is evidence that the neurons respond to the oral texture of fat, sensed by the somatosensory system. Some of the population of neurons respond unimodally to the texture of fat. Other single neurons show convergence of taste inputs, and others of olfactory inputs, onto single neurons that respond to fat. For example, neurons were found that responded to the mouth feel of fat and the taste of monosodium glutamate (both found in milk), or to the mouth feel of fat and to odor. Feeding to satiety reduces the responses of these neurons to the fatty food eaten, but the neurons still respond to some other foods that have not been fed to satiety. Thus sensory-specific satiety for fat is represented in the responses of single neurons in the primate orbitofrontal cortex. Fat is an important constituent of food that affects its palatability and nutritional effects. The findings described provide evidence that the reward value (or pleasantness) of the mouth feel of fat is represented in the primate orbitofrontal cortex and that the representation is relevant to appetite.     

Evolution of the microstructure in the hot rolling process

A thermomechanical finite-element model of flat rolling is coupled with closed form equations describing the process of recrystallization and is applied to study hot rolling of low carbon steel strips. Formulae for the recrystallized grain diameters, developed by various authors, are considered. Calculated diameters of the grains are compared with the results of the measurements carried out after experimental hot rolling of the carbon steel samples. Evaluating the accuracy of the calculations, using each of the expressions for the diameter of the recrystallized austenite grains, indicates that the relation of Roberts is closest to the measurements.     

The constitutive behaviour of a Nb-V HSLA steel in the temperature range of 900 to 975 °C

Isothermal true-stress true-strain flow curves of a Nb-V HSLA steel (0.13% C-1.55% Mn-0.028% Nb-0.059% V) are presented in this paper. Constitutive relations, valid at temperatures from 900 to 975 °C and at rates of strain from 0.005 to 5 s^?1, are derived. It is found that an Arrhenius-type equation, with a digital data bank storing its constants for different levels of normalized strains, represents the material's resistance to deformation adequately.     

Characterization of corroding aluminium alloys with electrochemical noise and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and spontaneous voltage fluctuation measurements were made on three orthogonal faces of 7039-T64 and 2519 aluminium alloy specimens during 10 day exposure periods into aerated 3% NaCl solutions. The spontaneous voltage fluctuations generated by the specimens were analysed with two techniques designed to reveal the stochastic character of these signals and their fractal dimension to establish practical correlation between noise measurements and the degree of pitting of the corroding aluminium specimens. Attempts were made to correlate the results of these analyses with parameters measurable by microscopic examination of the specimens or calculated from EIS measurements. During this study it was found that the slope of the voltage fluctuations and the depression angle of EIS results were both good indicators of the pit density observable on the corroded aluminium specimens.     

Typical pattern of the Kaufman-Assessment Battery in children with developmental language disorder

In this study we used the Kaufman-Assessment Battery for children (K-ABC), which assumes a dichotomy of sequential versus simultaneous processing of intelligence, in order to describe the typical pattern of processing in 25 children with normal nonverbal intelligence and developmental language disorder (DLD) of the phonologic-syntactic subtype, a mixed receptive-expressive DLD with grammatical and phonologic deficits. The results of the K-ABC showed a significant deficit in auditory sequential processing, whereas simultaneous processing was normally performed.     

The effect of process and material parameters on the coefficient of friction in the flat-die test

The effects of process and material parameters on the coefficient of friction in the flat-die test were examined. Low carbon steel, a hot-dip galvanized steel and ExtraGal?,¹ another hot-dip galvanized steel were used in the tests. As the die surface roughness increased, the coefficient of friction increased most of the time. Under some conditions an optimum roughness was evident. The bare steel produced the highest coefficient of friction in the majority of the tests. The hot-dip galvanized steel and the ExtraGal? alternated as the material that produced the lowest coefficient. The speed and load effects, found in other applications, have been confirmed, in general: the coefficient decreased for increases in load and speed in most cases. The contact rarely appeared to be starved of lubricants. In most instances the die made of the hardened tool steel created lower coefficients of friction than the cast iron dies. The results can be best understood in terms of micro-plasto-hydrodynamic lubrication, aided by the flow of the lubricants in micro-channels.     

Quantitative analysis in nanoliter wells by prefilling of wells using electrospray deposition followed by sample introduction with a coverslip method

In contrast to performing assays on a substrate using immobilization techniques, wet analysis in nanoliter-sized wells allows quantitative monitoring of enzyme-based reactions by measuring luminescence with time. However, a suitable dispensing method is required to accurately deposit stabilized enzyme solutions into nanoliter wells in such a manner that the enzyme activities are preserved prior to and during measurements. Furthermore, an efficient method is required to add sample liquid to these wells in such a manner that evaporation of assay liquid is completely prevented during sample introduction and monitoring. A powerful methodology is presented in this paper allowing quantitative analysis of enzyme-based reactions in identical nanoliter volumes on-chip. In a first step, picoliter amounts of protein solutions are deposited as uniform dry dots into wells using our reported electrospraying technique (Moerman, R.; Frank, J.; Marijnissen, J. C. M.; Schalkhammer, T. G. M.; van Dedem, G. W. K. Anal. Chem. 2001, 73, 2183-2189.). The silicon chips are then stored at temperatures as low as -80 degrees C. At the time of analysis, a sample solution is slid into the wells using a coverslip. With the edge of the coverslip, sample solution is pushed across the wells at a speed of 1.5-2.5 cm/s to prevent carryover of reagents to neighboring wells. Evaporation of assay liquid from the wells is prevented because the coverslip seals the wells and "bonds" to the chip by adhesion forces. Electrospraying appears to be an excellent method to deposit enzyme solutions containing up to 20% (w/v) of trehalose without being hampered by clogging of the capillary or splashing of droplets. After being sprayed on-chip (silicon nitride), the enzymes pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase remained stable for a period of 1.5-2 months at a storage temperature of -20 degrees C. The coverslip method completely prevented evaporation for minutes up to hours allowing monitoring of enzyme-based reactions in arrays of nanoliter wells.     

Measurements of friction in cold flat rolling

The effect of reduction, rolling speed and material properties on the variation of interfacial frictional and normal stresses in the roll gap during cold flat rolling is studied. The results confirm the conclusions of earlier research, emphasizing the dependence of the coefficient of friction, and hence the interfacial shear stress, on the process parameters. Preliminary experiments, using mineral oil with 1% oleic acid as lubricant, show the possible existence of hydrodynamic lubrication, at least over part of the contact area. The validity of the data is substantiated by comparing the roll separating forces, measured by transducers located under the bottom workroll, to those obtained by integrating the measured roll pressure distribution over the arc of contact. The comparison is found to be favorable, indicating that in spite of its shortcomings, the embedded pin technique gives reliable measurements.