Leonhard E. Bernold

The results of teaching evaluations are very often used by universities as a basis for personnel decision making, including promotion and tenure of instructors. The evaluations are commonly based on end-of-semester students’ ratings of their teachers through the qualitative Likert-type Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs). Unfortunately, research...

It has been found that back injuries represent one of the largest segments of worker injuries in the U.S. Only the common cold accounts for more lost work days. It impacts not only the health of individuals, it is also a huge economic burden to the industry due to medical cost, benefits, lost productivity, and absenteeism. However, the complexity a...

Purpose Research into the construction industry’s adoption of modern equipment technologies, such as remote-controlled trucks, excavators and drones, has been neglected in comparison to the significant body of research into the adoption of information technology in construction. Construction research has also neglected to adequately consider the i...

Output-oriented resource control in the traditional planning methods is still prevalent in construction industry. It frequently causes unpredictable wastes leading to deterioration of the sequenced supply chains. On the other hand, the use of feed-forward control offers the opportunity for prevention by ensuring the high quality of necessary proces...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of building components of a growing concrete structure and different building materials such as glass and steel on Wi-Fi signals propagation in a construction site. Wireless local area networks are considered effective tools to link the islands-of-communication in construction. Still,...

The course Introduction to Engineering (ITE) at The Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria (USM) was redesigned to provide an integrated and formative learning experience where students needed to apply contents from other first year courses to solve small but authentic engineering problems, all related to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Meshed...

The universal means of communication for engineers across the world are pencil sketches drawn on “napkins”. However, with few exceptions, the power of sketching to model reality is not used in engineering education. This paper presents the results of a pilot freshmen course “Introduction to Engineering” with modules that focused on developing this...

In the future workplace for engineers the effective operation within an interdisciplinary work team is paramount. This paper reports about the design and implementation of a freshmen STEM class, Introduction to Engineering, with a strong emphasis on fostering teamwork. Framed by an authentic project, namely planning a robotic mission inside the nuc...

The latest literature on quality management in the construction industry asserts that it has not been embraced as a holistic approach to improve overall performance. It is felt that management's insistence on punch-list inspection creates barriers to adopting the model that fosters a culture of constant improvement embraced by total quality managem...

En el marco de la propuesta de integración de contenidos en STEM para el desarrollo temprano de competencias profesionales del ingeniero y arquitecto UTFSM, financiada por el Plan de Mejoramiento de Programas de MECESUP (FSM1408-PM), incorporamos de forma inédita en la asignatura IWG101 Introducción a la Ingeniería del primer semestre del Programa...

Este artículo presenta los primeros resultados de un programa piloto de implementación de una experiencia de aprendizaje integrador STEM para estudiantes de Ingeniería de primer año. La estructura presentada comienza con una descripción del marco teórico y conceptos básicos de educación. Posteriormente se introducen, como un primer indicador de los...

Construction projects require the generation and communication of an ever-larger amount of information. Unfortunately, present project organisations do not foster proactive approaches to preventing costly production waste derived from communication problems. To address this, the effective exchange of information needs to be performed across all dif...

CPM and PERT are well established as the main tools to plan and control construction projects. However, the planning and control of construction field operations has to consider the minute-by-minute complexity of bringing multiple resources together to produce a work package. At this level, the quality of each resource has major effects on the prod...

CPM and PERT are well established as the main tools to plan and control construction projects. However, the planning and control of construction field operations has to consider the minute-by-minute complexity of bringing multiple resources together to produce a work package. At this level, the quality of each resource has major effects on the prod...

Researchers discuss barriers faced in implementing modern methods of construction in the UK and China. The description of the survey design highlights that the researchers did not consider all segments of the industry. By carefully selecting segments, the authors utilize judgment- or authority-based sampling, resulting in biased results. Instead of...

As the engineering faculty is encouraged to adopt authentic problem based teaching the need for students to re-tool their learning skills is increasing. One such skill is modelling the real world in a way that principles of math and physics can be utilized. This paper addresses two issues related to sketching for learning. The first section present...

Exploring and mining on the Moon is dependent on the availability of sufficient power to drive essential equipment and tools. One sustainable source of direct energy is the sun during a lunar day. However, energy required for manufacturing during the lunar night, lasting 17 Earth days, will require a means of storing this daytime energy. The focus...

The population growth, technological improvements, and the need for repairing old or installing new utilities result in a high demand for trenching and drilling activities. However, penetrating the subsurface incurs the risk of damaging existing underground facilities because they were not properly documented, if at all. Ground Penetrating Radar (G...

One of the critical tasks in the construction industry is to accomplish the required levels of quality. In considering the quality as a managerial target, former methodologies stipulated that the ultimate goal should be focused on final quality. However, with the advent of total quality management, the dynamic approach began to grab the attention o...

The ever increasing complexity of construction projects asks for improved communication and automated data collection supported by continually improving electronic tools. Advances in information technologies enable us to link critical resources on construction sites, such as trucks and cranes, to the project website creating many opportunities to d...

The exploration and development of space will require energy that is reliable, ubiquitous, and economical to produce. The international space station relies on photovoltaics to generate electricity stored in nickel-hydrogen batteries for powering the station during the "night". This paper investigates an alternative technology designed to take adva...

While it is believed that over 1.1 million Asteroids are circling the Sun, NASA counts 853 Near-Earth Asteroids of at least1 kilometer in diameter. These celestial bodies are without atmosphere and most of them without ice. Important for economic mining is that the dry Asteroids contain fine regolith similar to the Moon.

Communication in construction still depends on a communication network much like the Romans used, face-to-face meetings and paper. Not surprisingly, this situation has been identified as an inhibitor to increasing productivity and a source of miscommunication, rework, and avoidable accidents. This paper will present a holonic construction managemen...

The management of vehicular supply of "perishable" construction material, such as concrete mixes, faces a series of uncertainties such as weather, daily traffic patterns and accidents. Presented in this paper is a logistics control model for managing a hauling fleet with interrelated processes at both ends and queue capacities. Discrete event simul...

Boosting the communication at the process level has been identified as a promising strategy to improve construction productivity, safety, and quality. However, the capacity of classic paper-based information flow at work-front limits the transformation toward a construction paradigm able to access a ubiquitous data network. For this reason, "inform...

The performance of terrestrial materials, tools and equipment has synergized over thousands of years. As the prospect of mining and construction in space increases mining and construction engineers are challenged to design and test technologies that will perform under conditions totally different from those on Earth. The Space Mining and Constructi...

The Building Information Model (BIM) serves as a framework to align all the project-related data, providing interoperability to store and retrieve information interactively. Unfortunately, the construction site itself is excluded from this interaction as the large amount of data requires high data transfer rates and ruggedized hardware. However, ad...

The tenet of TQM is the use of measurements to monitor an operation in order to avoid poor quality outputs. The construction faces unique barriers to utilize effective technologies to capture critical process data in real time. This paper presents the results of extensive field testing of wireless systems to study the effect of the "noisy" environm...

Assembly is the process in which two or more objects are joined together. An assembly manual is typically used to guide the tasks required to put together an artifact. As an emerging technology, augmented reality (AR) integrates three-dimensional (3D) images of virtual objects into a real-world workspace. The insertion of digitalized information in...

Effective engineering students have to be able to utilize a variety of critical study, metacognitive and communication skills. At the same time, teaching has to apply appropriate methods to foster understanding for all learning preferences. The first half of the paper presents data from engineering students in three different continents that compar...

Current construction practice is suffering from a lack of effective communication. Adopting a ubiquitous smart communication system which provides reliable information will assure operation performance. However the quality of a piece of information exchanged through project network needs to be appraised. An IT-based communication interface, the eCK...

Should management of the coastline be driven by government policy and strategic planning, with nation or state-wide targets for erosion and flood protection? Or should it be driven at a local level, with those people affected by coastal processes determining where money is spent to protect infrastructure and property? This paper explores the approa...

In an email from August 20, 2011the Chief Editor of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management wrote that the main criteria of an acceptable paper review were timeliness, objectivity, factuality, fairness, thoroughness, and professionalism. A request for clarification about the definitions of fair, objective, and thorough did not receiv...

Large class-size teaching has traditionally relied on lecturing in theatre style spaces with students transcribing what the teacher writes on the blackboard or projects onto the wall. Such lectures are commonly supplemented with tutoring sessions in which students are helped to complete homework assignments followed by graded tests. However, resear...

The maximal dependence on In-Situ lunar resources is essential for the establishing and sustaining a future lunar base. One key need of such an enterprise is a reliable source of energy to power the many needed equipment and devices. This paper presents an effort to study the effectiveness of lunar regolith as an ISRU medium to store thermal energy...

Space agencies and most recently private enterprises around the world plan to build structures for commercial operations on the Moon. However, we have no design experience or building standards that apply to this "extreme" environment. Understanding the behaviour of viable building materials under lunar conditions is one important step. This paper...

Sketching in general engineering and science has been “outmanoeuvred” by computer graphics while still holding on in architectural engineering as a tool to think about spatial relationships, allowing the students to develop conceptual designs quicker than any CAD. Moreover, a recent paper reported that sketching helped students in geology develop c...

Colored markings on surfaces travelled by cars, trucks and even airplanes not only provide visual guidance to the operator but also leave space for emergency vehicles. The marked road stripes on the roads should be timely or suddenly repainted in accordance with road maintenance, reconstruction, and other environmental situations. When the road sur...

Concrete needs long time (28 day) for curing to reach enough strength in construction site. Also, it needs various materials. Thus, most of the construction sites in Extreme Environment select to deliver the prefabricated concrete modules. To construct structures on the Moon one has to select proper materials considering safety, cost, and procureme...

Much of the existing work in construction analysis focuses on determining the construction cost based on an allowable project duration. In this type of construction analysis, two important questions are not considered. First, is the construction cost minimized for the allowable process duration? Second, would a small change in the process duration...

Roads, airports, and parking areas worldwide depend on surface stripes as visual aids for the traffic. While much effort has gone into improving paints, their removal is still difficult and unsafe. This paper discusses the design, fabrication, and testing of a first semi-automated stripe removal prototype utilizing dry ice (CO2). Similar to high-pr...

Construction is the country's single largest manufacturing industry. However, it is a sector that lacks benchmarks against which to gauge performance. This modern thinking intends to provide insight to construction productivity improvement. Taking cues from manufacturing sectors such as computer, automobile and chemical companies, this book will ap...

Return of the Master-BuilderPlanning the Supply, and Resupply, of the Construction ProcessTop-Down Frameworks for Managing ProjectsBottom-Up Quantitative PlanningProcess Synchronization in the Supply ChainChapter ReviewBibliography

Building Simulation ModelsChapter Review

Background Behavioral Aspects of the Human MindIntrinsic versus Extrinsic MotivationMaslow's Needs-Based MotivatorsVroom's Expectancy TheoryHerzberg's Two-Factor TheoryMeasuring Job SatisfactionJob EnrichmentChapter ReviewBibliography

Descriptions of the Elements in Simphony Version 1.1.13Other Elements (Not Used in This Book)

Project Background Preparation Work: Understanding the Construction ProcessDeveloping the Simulation ModelRunning the Model and Deriving ResultsAnalyzing the OperationChapter Review

Generic Work Competencies for the Twenty-First CenturyManagerial Competencies of Productive OrganizationsGaining Competency through Learning and TrainingJob-Oriented Training and Competency DevelopmentBecoming a Learning Organization (LO)Chapter ReviewBibliography

Engineering Drawings: The Ancient Communications MediumCommunication Strategies Employed by OrganizationsLogistics of Project InformationChapter ReviewBibliography

Historical Recap of Key Management ConceptsFrom Measuring to Managing PerformanceA Corporation's Balanced ScorecardPerformance Management of the Supply ChainPerformance Management at the Task LevelChapter ReviewBibliography

Measuring National ProductivityBasic Relationships Affecting ProductivityFactors Related to Process ProductivityTaxonomy of Work TimeGauging Construction Process EfficiencyIdentifying Critical Impact FactorsSummaryChapter ReviewBibliography

Breaking Interoperability BarriersConstruction Becomes SustainableE-Construction ManagementLinking Up to Smart Construction EquipmentHighly Successful Engineering ManagersChapter ReviewBibliography

Is a Manager Also a Leader?Theories about Effective LeadershipPower and Problems of TeamworkBasics about CreativityChapter ReviewBibliography

Two Health Stresses that Affect ProductivityThe Engine That Drives-and Limits-Human WorkErgonomics in ConstructionA Modern Debilitating Disease: Job StressThe Silent Epidemic: Workplace HarassmentChapter ReviewBibliography

Anchoring technology to secure building structures has already been in use over 6000 years ago. In the Bronze Age boats were anchored with a large rock at the end of a rope. Anchors will undoubtedly play an important role in enabling not only the exploration of the moon but also in the construction of lunar facilities. Unlike the earth, the lunar s...

For long term space exploration it will be necessary to build a safe infrastructure and experimental research facilities for human scientists providing efficient working conditions and protecting against the environment. To construct structures on the moon one has to select proper materials considering strength and cost of production and supply. Co...

Humans' unique use of tools originated with their capability to observe, to link causes with effects and to conduct trial and error experiments. Experimental research today is still using these same basic elements albeit augmented by sophisticated tools and methods. Researchers conducting scientific experiments in the construction arena, however, f...

Road facility is the most fundamental infrastructure for traffic and various information for smooth traffic is included in road surfaces. Various information included in road surfaces should be often removed and reinstalled by partial damage and aging. In addition, the existing road surface information should be removed in order to mark new informa...

Computers are becoming essential tools for integrating design, planning, fabrication, and construction. Computer-controlled construction equipment is poised to receive information from data generated in the design phase. The robotic execution of construction operations, however, depends on complex models for autonomous and intelligent control. This...

Computers are essential in the development of robotic systems for construction. The introduction of such systems creates many challenges to researchers, equipment manufacturers, and users alike. This paper presents a new initiative to study critical issues related to the establishment of a robotic masonry system. In particular, the paper discusses...

It is likely that the first structures suitable for human habitation on the Moon will be surface structures. This is because without an adequate infrastructure, especially power sources, it is very difficult to do any construction. Once we have a presence on the Moon we will be able to begin to use local resources to supplement imported materials f...

Peer review of teaching is assumed to be an excellent tool, next to student evaluation, to measure the quality of a professor. This argument builds on the fact that only peers can understand the material of the engineering discipline and are up-to-date with the practice. On the other hand, virtually no engineering professor has had any training in...

Excavating and installing utilities between the narrow walls of a trench are hazardous. The main causes of accidents are tools and materials that fall into the confined space and the instability of the trench walls if not properly supported. Two research teams from Korea and the US worked for several years on developing technological interventions...

How do we begin to expand our civilization to the Moon? What are the technical issues that infra-structural engineers, in particular, must address? This paper has the goal of providing an overview of this fascinating area of structural engineering. Published work of the past several decades about lunar bases is summarized. Although many hundreds of...

A large amount of information is generated, shared, and exchanged during a construction project. However, several studies have shown that effective communication in construction is seriously hampered due to a lack of appropriate data channels, inaccurate data transfers, long delays, etc. Web-based and wireless communication technologies, however, o...

Peer review of teaching is assumed to be an excellent tool, next to student evaluation, to measure the quality of a professor. This argument builds on the fact that only peers can understand the material of the engineering discipline and are up-to-date with the practice. On the other hand, virtually no engineering professor has had any training in...

The safe and efficient operation of large equipment depends heavily on the skill of the operator. However, very little is known about how to evaluate what makes an operator safe and productive. This paper presents a quantitative approach for assessing the performance of backhoe operators. The approach takes advantage of electronic sensors that are...

The results of a survey conducted by the ASCE Wireless Construction Committee are presented. The goal of the effort is to better understand how much construction contractors have advanced in adopting information technologies in general and wireless communications in particular. Responses were collected from 152 U.S. and 31 Korean firms. It was foun...

Tele‐robotic operation, which allows an operator to control a mechanical tool from a safe distance, provides a technical alternative to installing buried pipes within the confines of a hazardous trench. However, the handling as well as the jointing of the many different types can't be easily replaced by remotely controllable devices. While large co...

Today's non-invasive technologies for locating buried utilities can be considered as ancient. However, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has recently received significant attention from the scientific community since it showed great promise in detecting landmines. Yet, the complexities of the underground, especially in inhabited areas, makes “seeing-t...

In spite of considerable research about the poor retention rate of undergraduate engineering students, we still have an inadequate understanding of the factors that affect students' decisions to remain in engineering programs and their ability to perform well enough to be retained. Although continued study is needed of external factors such as curr...

The pipe manipulator is a way to solve the safety, quality and to efficiency problem in the pipe laying construction site, and enhance the technology of pipelaying. The work principle of holding and jointing device of the pipe manipulator was established. The calculating method for the pressure force between pipes and the clamp pad was described. A...

Educational experts, past and present, urge engineering colleges nationwide to transform their pedagogical paradigm from a predominantly lecture- to an inquiry-based teaching approach. Written comments by two seniors, deploring having to read and write in a required course of an ABET accredited program, highlight a common expectation of today's stu...

Engineering education is challenged to usher in new approaches to preparing its students for their professional careers. Many blue-ribbon committees call for systematic modifications in research universities to clear the path for cross-disciplinary learning communities. In this context, the paper investigates the effect of student ratings as a meas...

Student-centred as well as lifelong learning, require vastly different study skills than those needed to succeed in today's mainly lecture-based engineering classes. This paper presents the result of a survey that assessed the study skills of engineering freshmen. Because surveys do not capture how students actually use their study skills, this stu...

Currently, backhoe excavator operators have to depend on color-coded markings applied by utility locators to expect the location of utilities buried in the ground. As accidents prove time and time again, this method is unreliable. While more efforts should be spent on subsurface engineering and as-built documentation, excavators should have their o...

Wireless technology offers a first efficient avenue to communicate data within a construction site in real time. This paper presents the integrated wireless site (IWS) concept that is based on a meshed communication network that not only reaches almost every location of a site but is also connected to the World Wide Web. Lessons learned from instal...

As we have learned from history, settlers in a new "land" depend on the effective use of ISRU in order to ensure a sustainable presence. Even explorers who tried to traverse large spaces on earth with plentiful provisions ended up being fed and saved by aborigines, natives of the land, who had learned to adapt to the environment within they lived....

Wireless local area networks offer new opportunities to establish effective communication channels between the many production units on a construction site. Having managers, workers, operators, mobile construction equipment and even tools communicate with each other as well as with off-site resources would open new information arteries critical to...

This paper presents the results of a survey of the use of wireless and advanced information technology applications in the construction industry. Responses were recorded from 58 construction managers around the world. The results of the survey indicate that construction companies are beginning to employ tools like CAD, web portals and the Internet...

Much of the inhabited terrestrial underground consists of sands, clays, and gravel mixed with stones, tree roots, construction debris, and of course, utilities. While the sub-spaces on Moon and Mars do not yet contain utilities or construction debris, they are made up of material that could provide in-situ resources essential for sustaining human c...

Energy sector capital projects typically cost hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars. Managing the engineered equipment is important not only because of their high dollar value but also because the long manufacturing lead times often drive the overall project schedules. In recent years, several supplier alliances have been successfully i...

The proper functioning of the subsurface infrastructure is vital for the public, industry, and government. As is demonstrated almost daily, small disruptions or malfunctions of public utilities, such as power, gas, or phone, can result in catastrophic events on local, regional, or national levels. This paper addresses a known weak point in protecti...

In 2001, a survey found that 87% of engineering professors in the United States spend the entire class time lecturing to a passive group of students material that is copied down and never looked at again. This paper presents the results of scientific inquiry and keen observations all leading to the same conclusion: engineering education has to refo...

The strength of housing construction has a profound effect oil the national economy and the society. As a consequence. achieving high productivity, quality, and safety are considered of high priority for this industry segment. This paper proposes to replace the traditional management approach for site operation with a management philosophy that has...

The labor-intensive construction industry has a very high accident rate. One of the key reasons for this is the exposure of workers to a hazardous environment such as heights, confined narrow spaces, and exposure to health threatening fumes, dust, and noise. The installation of utilities underground was necessitated by the emergence of centers of p...

The demand for new buried utilities is growing with new construction, reconstruction, and the growth of the subsurface infrastructure worldwide. As a result, contractors are busy digging and trenching into the ground in order to bury new pipes. Because the machinery for placing the new utilities underground, such as backhoe excavators, trenchers, a...