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Cyber security for sustainable construction
Abstract
Information that is available in the construction process is meant to be protected at all cost. The confidentiality of this information is essential in securing the trust and the services of the individuals involved in setting up the rudiments that make up the project. This chapter explains the necessity to involve standard and efficient security measures in construction. In this way, measures such as big data have been introduced to give the industry a befitting icon that considers every scrap of information that pertains to the personnel involved, from the client to the project manager. The need for cyber security has always been debatable over the years. Some firms believe it is subject to hacking and that has called into question the reason it was created in the first place. Even with minor setbacks that might have been experienced in the past, the protection it provides is something to consider seriously. The various security protocols, coupled with the causes of incidents, cyber-related crimes and other issues have been discussed to give insight into how effective cyber security will benefit stable and economical construction practices.
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Blockchain technology enables distributed, encrypted and secure logging of digital transactions. It is the underlying technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is expected to revolutionize computing in several areas, particularly where centralization was unnatural and privacy was important. In the paper, we present research on where and how this technology could be useful in the construction industry. The work is based on the study of literature on open issues that exist in construction process management. These are than matched to the capabilities of blockchain.
We are motivated by the fact that construction projects involve a dynamic grouping of several companies. We study the degree to which the relationships among them are hierarchical or peer-to-peer and note that particularly in information intensive phases, centralization of information management was necessary because of technology. When using un-constraining technology, communication patterns among participants show a peer-to-peer nature of the relationships. In such environment, blockchain can provide a trustworthy infrastructure for information management during all building life-cycle stages. Even if building information modelling (BIM) is used, which assumes a centralized building information model, there is a role for blockchain to manage information on who did what and when and thus provide a basis for any legal arguments that might occur. On the construction site blockchain can improve the reliability and trustworthiness of construction logbooks, works performed and material quantities recorded. In the facility maintenance phase, blockchain's main potential is the secure storage of sensor data which are sensitive to privacy.
We conclude that blockchain provides solutions to many current problems in construction information management. However, it is more likely that it will be built into generic IT infrastructure on top of which construction applications are built, rather than used directly by authors of construction related software. It has a potential to make construction processes less centralized which opens needs for research in that direction.
The intelligent security monitoring of buildings and their surroundings has become increasingly crucial as the number of high-rise buildings increases. Building structural health monitoring and early warning technology are key components of building safety, the implementation of which remains challenging, and the Internet of things approach provides a new technical measure for addressing this challenge. This article presents a novel integrated information system that combines Internet of things, building information management, early warning system, and cloud services. Specifically, the system involves an intelligent data box with enhanced connectivity and exchangeability for accessing and integrating the data obtained from distributed heterogeneous sensing devices. An extensible markup language (XML)-based uniform data parsing model is proposed to abstract the various message formats of heterogeneous devices to ensure data integration. The proposed Internet of things-based integrated information system structure was applied for monitoring an actual pit excavation engineering site. Three early warning levels were implemented according to rules based on the threshold value, which determined the specific safety personnel to be notified. The proposed Internet of things-based integrated information system is demonstrated to improve the effectiveness of monitoring processes and decision making in construction informatics applications. Our work highlights the crucial importance of a systematic approach toward integrated information systems for effective information collection and structural health monitoring.
Buildings are the world's largest contributors to energy demand, greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, resource consumption and waste generation. An unmissable opportunity exists to tackle climate change, global warming, and resource scarcity by rethinking how we approach building design. Structural materials often dominate the total mass of a building; therefore, a significant potential for material efficiency and GHG emissions mitigation is to be found in efficient structural design and use of structural materials. To this end, environmental impact assessment methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), are increasingly used. However, they risk failing to deliver the expected benefits due to the high number of parameters and uncertainty factors that characterise impacts of buildings along their lifespans. Additionally, effort and cost required for a reliable assessment seem to be major barriers to a more widespread adoption of LCA. More rapid progress towards reducing building impacts seems therefore possible by combining established environmental impact assessment methods with artificial intelligence approaches such as machine learning and neural networks. This short communication will briefly present previous attempts to employ such techniques in civil and structural engineering. It will present likely outcomes of machine learning and neural network applications in the field of structural engineering and – most importantly – it calls for data from professionals across the globe to form a fundamental basis which will enable quicker transition to a more sustainable built environment.
Historically, Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS) were largely isolated from conventional digital networks such as enterprise ICT environments. Where connectivity was required, a zoned architecture was adopted, with firewalls and/or demilitarized zones used to protect the core control system components. The adoption and deployment of ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) technologies is leading to architectural changes to IACS, including greater connectivity to industrial systems. This paper reviews what is meant by Industrial IoT (IIoT) and relationships to concepts such as cyber-physical systems and Industry 4.0. The paper develops a definition of IIoT and analyses related partial IoT taxonomies. It develops an analysis framework for IIoT that can be used to enumerate and characterise IIoT devices when studying system architectures and analysing security threats and vulnerabilities. The paper concludes by identifying some gaps in the literature.
The number of experts who realize the importance of big data continues to increase in various fields of the economy. Experts begin to use big data more frequently for the solution of their specific objectives. One of the probable big data tasks in the construction industry is the determination of the probability of contract execution at a stage of its establishment. The contract holder cannot guarantee execution of the contract. Therefore it leads to a lot of risks for the customer. This article is devoted to the applicability of machine learning methods to the task of determination of the probability of a successful contract execution. Authors try to reveal the factors influencing the possibility of contract default and then try to define the following corrective actions for a customer. In the problem analysis, authors used the linear and non-linear algorithms, feature extraction, feature transformation and feature selection. The results of investigation include the prognostic models with a predictive force based on the machine learning algorithms such as logistic regression, decision tree, randomize forest. Authors have validated models on available historical data. The developed models have the potential for practical use in the construction organizations while making new contracts.
In this paper, we propose a predictive maintenance scheme for centralized HVAC systems by autonomous monitoring and analyzing their acoustic emissions. Our proposed solution allows a building to be retrofitted to monitor its HVAC without having to modify the existing infrastructure. Our approach is to employ an energy-efficient, low-cost, and distributed acoustic sensing platform to capture and process audio signals from HVAC systems. As part of this project, we develop audio models of a running HVAC system using a combination of unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques with a human-in-the-loop for fault identification and prediction .
In recent years, ‘Cyber Security’ has emerged as a widely-used term with increased adoption by practitioners and politicians alike. However, as with many fashionable jargon, there seems to be very little understanding of what the term really entails. Although this is may not be an issue when the term is used in an informal context, it can potentially cause considerable problems in context of organizational strategy, business objectives, or international agreements. In this work, we study the existing literature to identify the main definitions provided for the term ‘Cyber Security’ by authoritative sources. We then conduct various lexical and semantic analysis techniques in an attempt to better understand the scope and context of these definitions, along with their relevance. Finally, based on the analysis conducted, we propose a new improved definition that we then demonstrate to be a more representative definition using the same lexical and semantic analysis techniques.
Lean construction and construction automation are two of the important efforts to improve the performance of the construction industry. However, apart from a small number of scholarly articles and implementation prototypes, the lean and digital construction movements seem to be largely running independent of each other. This paper aims at exploring those connections between Visual Management (VM), a fundamental information management strategy in lean construction, and emerging technologies, demonstrating the synergy between the two concepts over potential implementation scenarios and establishing their conceptual connections in construction. Consequently, the hypothesis of the paper is there is a significant synergy between emerging technologies (construction automation) and visual/sensory information management strategies (Visual Management) in lean construction. The hypothesis is explored by (i) discussing how emerging technologies can support conventional VM tools and techniques and (ii) presenting a conceptual architecture to integrate emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, context aware and mobile computing, the use of drones and quadcopters, auto identification (AutoID) systems and laser scanning, to support lean construction and VM on construction sites. Futuristic scenarios for the implementation of the context-aware VM in application areas such as production control, production levelling, quality control, project planning and control, plant maintenance and safety control are examined from a lean construction perspective, alongside the presentation of a higher-level implementation architecture to integrate various VM and emerging technology components to support the implementation in a holistic picture. The use of such scenario based approach was found useful in summarising the technology components, their interconnections and possible implementation areas in relation with VM. This paper demonstrates how the integration of conventional and IT based visual management approaches is within reach and holds the potential to enhance the construction and maintenance phase of complex, large-scale construction projects by reviewing the synergies between operational VM concepts and IT.
The construction industry is responsible for 50% of the solid waste generated worldwide. Governments around the world formulate legislation and regulations concerning recycling and re-using building materials, aiming to reduce waste and environmental impact. Researchers have also been developing strategies and models of waste management for construction and demolition of buildings. The application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an example of this. BIM is emergent technology commonly used to maximize the efficiency of design, construction and maintenance throughout the entire lifecycle. The uses of BIM on deconstruction or demolition are not common; especially the fixtures and fittings of buildings are not considered in BIM models. The development of BIM is based on two-dimensional drawings or sketches, which may not be accurately converted to 3D BIM models. In addition, previous researches mainly focused on construction waste management. There are few studies about the deconstruction waste management focusing on demolition. To fill this gap, this paper aims to develop a framework using a reconstructed 3D model with BIM, for the purpose of improving BIM accuracy and thus developing a deconstruction waste management system to improve demolition efficiency, effective recycling and cost savings. In particular, the developed as-built BIM will be used to identify and measure recyclable materials, as well as to develop a plan for the recycling process.
This work identifies the role of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the context of natural disaster management. Main applications of systems involving WSN and UAV are classified according to the disaster management phase, and a review of relevant research activities is provided along with the research and development challenges that still remain unsolved. The main objectives of this work are to present technical results useful to improve the wellbeing of people, and push the state of the art one step forward in the definition of a complete disaster management system.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is foreseen as a key element in the improvements of future construction's productivity. Currently, very few solutions allow the integration of as-built information into the model. This research explores the potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in linking BIM to the real world to improve the productivity. This paper presents a technical review of the main challenges in addressing the need mentioned above. Also, it presents potential use cases. The study concludes that two main areas are to be analysed in greater depth (1) autonomous indoor flight for a UAV and (2) the smart integration of collected data into the existing BIM software.
Abstract
The name drone, for the wider public, generally refers to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in military applications. Commercial drones are however light (1-5 kilograms) and small-sized (0.3-1 metres) remote controlled aerial vehicles made of plastic or carbon fiber and capable of carrying 0.5-10 kilograms payload. They are generally electric motor-driven and have four- (quadcopter), six- (hexacopter) or eight- (octocopter) propellers or they have the body of a miniature airplane (fix-winged design). Drones are getting a lot of attention in mainstream media in the past few years and have numerous commercial applications; most commonly aerial filming and photography, industrial quality control, search-and-rescue, security, safety, anti-poaching and trial postal delivery systems.
Commercial drones are also a new toolbox of innovative methods for transforming mining companies as a response of huge market change in recent years. Typical applications of drones in the mining industry include; aerial surveying, stockpile management and surveillance of mining installations, leach pads etc.
The application of drone photogrammetry for aerial surveying is also a rapidly developing field in science, natural resource management and mining. This method was first described by Eisenbeiss 2009 for photogrammetry computer processing of images acquired by a digital camera attached to a small commercial drone. Since then numerous researchers have used drone-based photogrammetry for geological mapping of outcrops (Vollgger & Cruden 2016, 2014, Bemis, et. al, 2014, Vasuki et al., 2014).
However reports on using drones for pit mapping and geological modeling in open-cut mines are still rare, probably because it is still an ongoing in-house development program for most mining companies.
In this paper we summarize our results using a miniature low cost consumer drone; a quadcopter in open pit mining environments to create high-resolution pit and bench maps and 3D photo-realistic geological models. The models are integrated into state-of-the-art 3D geological modeling software platforms. We demonstrate how first order geological features, on the deposit-scale, can be mapped and digitized into geological models from drone mapping. Such drone models can supplement typical geological tasks in open pit mining environment such as pit surveying, geotechnical surveying, geological and structural mapping, bench mapping and various other tasks.
Research has shown that the construction industry will face workforce shortages that will increase delivery cost and completion time. The purpose of this paper is to first identify and synthesize the
fundamental factors impacting recruitment and retention of the potential construction workforce. A qualitative approach was employed in order to collect and synthesize known factors related
to workforce development and capacity building for the construction industry. The paper then
presents a conceptual framework for conducting research on capacity generation of a sustainable
construction workforce—by considering the impact of family unit and cultural values, career path perceptions, higher educational attainment, and professional career advancement. In addition, the paper proposes some directions for future study to bridge and, in particular, reduce the skills gap in the construction industry.
The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveying is now widespread and operational for several applications – quarry monitoring, archeological site surveys, forest management and 3D modeling for buildings, for instance. UAV is increasingly used by land surveyors especially for those kinds of projects. It is still ambiguous whether UAV can be applicable for smaller sites and property division. Therefore, the objective of this research is to extract a vectorized plan utilizing a UAV for a small site and investigate the possibility of an official land surveyor exploiting and certificating it. To do that, two plans were created, one using a UAV and another utilizing classical land surveyor instruments (Total Station). A comparison was conducted between the two plans to evaluate the accuracy of the UAV technique compared to the classical one. Moreover, other parameters were also considered such as execution time and the surface covered. The main problems associated with using a UAV are the level of precision and the visualization of the whole area. The results indicated that the precision is quite satisfactory with a maximum error of 1.0 cm on ground control points, and 4 cm for the rest of the model. On the other hand, the results showed that it is not possible to represent the whole area of interest utilizing a UAV, due to vegetation.
During recent years, gamification has become a popular method of enriching information technologies. Popular business analysts have made promising predictions about penetration of gamification, however, it has also been estimated that most gamifica-tion efforts will fail due to poor understanding of how gamification should be designed and implemented. Therefore, in this paper we seek to advance the understanding of best practices related to the gamifica-tion design process. We approach this research problem via a design science research approach; firstly, by synthesizing the current body of literature on gamification design methods and interviewing 25 gamification experts. Secondly, we develop a method for gamification design, based on the gathered knowledge. Finally, we conduct an evaluation of the method via interviews of 10 gamification experts. The results indicate that the developed method is comprehensive , complete and provides practical utility. We deliver a comprehensive overview of gamification guidelines and shed novel insights into the overall nature of the gamification development and design discourse.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology is already part of the construction industry and is considered by professionals as a very useful tool for all phases of a construction project. BIM technology, with the particularly useful 3D illustrations which it provides, can be used to illustrate and monitor the progress of works effectively through the entire lifetime of the project. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have undergone significant advances in equipment capabilities and now have the capacity to acquire high resolution imagery from different angles in a cost effective and efficient manner. By using photogrammetry, characteristics such as distances, areas, volumes, elevations, object sizes, and object shape can be determined within overlapping areas. This paper explores the combined use of BIM and UAV technologies in order to achieve efficient and accurate as-built data collection and 3D illustrations of the works progress during an infrastructure construction project.
Construction sites need to be monitored continuously to detect unsafe conditions and protect workers from potential injuries and fatal accidents. In current practices, construction safety monitoring relies heavily on manual observation, which is labor-intensive and error-prone. Due to the complex environment of construction sites, it is extremely challenging for safety inspectors to continuously monitor and manually identify all incidents that may expose workers to safety risks. There exist many research efforts applying sensing technologies to construction sites to reduce the manual efforts associated with construction safety monitoring. However, several bottlenecks are identified in applying these technologies to the onsite safety monitoring process, including (1) recognition and registration of potential hazards, (2) real-time detection of unsafe incidents, and (3) reporting and sharing of the detected incidents with relevant participants in a timely manner. The objective of this study was to create and evaluate a low-cost automated safety monitoring system to assist in the construction safety monitoring process. This paper presents a framework for this safety monitoring system as a cloud-based real time on-site application. The system integrates Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based location detection technology, Building Information Model (BIM)-based hazard identification, and a cloud-based communication platform. Potential unsafe areas are defined automatically or manually in a BIM Model. Real-time worker locations are acquired to detect incidents where workers are exposed to predefined risks. Then, the safety monitoring results are instantly communicated over a cloud for effective safety management. Through a real-world construction site case study, the system successfully demonstrated the capability to detect unsafe conditions and collect and analyze the trajectories of workers with respect to potential safety hazards. The results indicate that the proposed approach can assist in the construction site monitoring process and potentially improve site safety.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that has gained significant traction as an economic instrument. Despite its rise, it has received little attention from the scholarly community. This study is one of the first studies to examine Bitcoin’s use as a complement to emerging markets currencies; more specifically, I analyze the value and volatility of Bitcoin relative to emerging market currencies and explore ways in which Bitcoin can complement emerging market currencies. The results suggest that Bitcoin has characteristics that make it well suited to work as a complement to emerging market currencies and that there are ways to minimize Bitcoin’s risks.
Adoption of new technology in building inspection works has proven to be very crucial and has improved efficiency and effectiveness in this regards. Tools and techniques in building inspection and condition survey continuously evolved trough times. The tools and techniques adopted mostly first has been successfully applied by others technical field such as civil engineering, manufacturing etc.. As UAS has been successfully adopted by many technical professions such as geotechnical engineering, land surveying, civil engineering etc. a practical use of UAV for building surveying and facilities management yet to explored. The present paper intend to explore the viability of UAS application for building inspection with the advantage it has especially in inspecting and collecting data at difficult to reach area such as roof, ceiling, gutter and recording data for large building complex. With the accurate and comprehensive inspection data collected, perhaps it could guide building surveyors or facilities managers in diagnosing building defect effectively, suggesting possible remedies, solving issues and making decision precisely. The present paper provides a comprehensive review of possible application of small UAS in building inspection and facilities management related uses by reviewing the similar application and identifying their features that suits facilities management’s nature of practice. Challenges faced by building and facilities management organisation to apply UAS in their building condition survey routine that are identifying suitable tools other than normal visual tools to be attached, finalising arrangement on site during inspection and limited skill of existing personnel to deal with the equipments.
Following the events of March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, significant quantities of radioactive material were released into the local and wider global environment. At five years since the incident, much expense is being currently devoted to the remediation of a large portion of eastern Japan contaminated primarily by radiocesium, yet further significant expenditure will be required over the succeeding decades to complete this clean-up. People displaced from their homes by the incident are now increasingly keen to return, making it more important than ever to provide accurate quantification and representation of any residual radiological contamination. Presented here is the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a laser rangefinder unit to generate a three dimensional point-cloud of an area onto which a radiation contamination map, also obtained concurrently via the unmanned aerial platform, can be rendered. An exemplar site of an un-remediated farm consisting of multiple stepped rice paddy fields with a dedicated irrigation system was used for this work. The results obtained show that heightened radiological contamination exists around the site within the drainage network where material is observed to have collected, having been transported by transient water runoff events. These results obtained in May 2014 suggest that a proportion of the fallout material is highly mobile within the natural environment and is likely to be transported further through the system over the succeeding years.
Sustainable buildings offer numerous social benefits including improved health and productivity for occupants. This study adds to this growing body of knowledge to suggest benefits extend to influence occupant consideration for sustainability. In an undergraduate civil engineering senior “capstone” course, students were given a mock request for proposal to design a new campus building. Over the course of a semester students (n=120) worked in groups of four to develop detailed drawings including documentation for Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of Silver or better. Class sections were randomly selected to work within a newly constructed LEED Gold building or a 60-year-old engineering building. Among these groups, students who worked in the LEED building were more likely to achieve a higher LEED score on their final project (p=0.04). Scores were less varied, more likely to meet the Gold standard and likely to include similar features as the building they were designing within. Students’ final grades were compared and found not significant (p=0.3). These results suggest working within sustainable buildings can influence design considerations for more sustainable buildings.
Internet-of-Things (IoTs) envisions to integrate, coordinate, communicate, and collaborate real-world objects in order to perform daily tasks in a more intelligent and efficient manner. To comprehend this vision, this paper studies the design of a large scale IoT system for smart grid application, which constitutes a large number of home users and has the requirement of fast response time. In particular, we focus on the messaging protocol of a universal IoT home gateway, where our cloud enabled system consists of a backend server, unified home gateway (UHG) at the end users, and user interface for mobile devices. We discuss the features of such IoT system to support a large scale deployment with a UHG and real-time residential smart grid applications. Based on the requirements, we design an IoT system using the XMPP protocol, and implemented in a testbed for energy management applications. To show the effectiveness of the designed testbed, we present some results using the proposed IoT architecture.
What if every part of our everyday life was turned into a game? The implications of “gamification.”
What if our whole life were turned into a game? What sounds like the premise of a science fiction novel is today becoming reality as “gamification.” As more and more organizations, practices, products, and services are infused with elements from games and play to make them more engaging, we are witnessing a veritable ludification of culture.
Yet while some celebrate gamification as a possible answer to mankind's toughest challenges and others condemn it as a marketing ruse, the question remains: what are the ramifications of this “gameful world”? Can game design energize society and individuals, or will algorithmicincentive systems become our new robot overlords?
In this book, more than fifty luminaries from academia and industry examine the key challenges of gamification and the ludification of culture—including Ian Bogost, John M. Carroll, Bernie DeKoven, Bill Gaver, Jane McGonigal, Frank Lantz, Jesse Schell, Kevin Slavin, McKenzie Wark, and Eric Zimmerman. They outline major disciplinary approaches, including rhetorics, economics, psychology, and aesthetics; tackle issues like exploitation or privacy; and survey main application domains such as health, education, design, sustainability, or social media.
What if every part of our everyday life was turned into a game? The implications of “gamification.”
What if our whole life were turned into a game? What sounds like the premise of a science fiction novel is today becoming reality as “gamification.” As more and more organizations, practices, products, and services are infused with elements from games and play to make them more engaging, we are witnessing a veritable ludification of culture.
Yet while some celebrate gamification as a possible answer to mankind's toughest challenges and others condemn it as a marketing ruse, the question remains: what are the ramifications of this “gameful world”? Can game design energize society and individuals, or will algorithmicincentive systems become our new robot overlords?
In this book, more than fifty luminaries from academia and industry examine the key challenges of gamification and the ludification of culture—including Ian Bogost, John M. Carroll, Bernie DeKoven, Bill Gaver, Jane McGonigal, Frank Lantz, Jesse Schell, Kevin Slavin, McKenzie Wark, and Eric Zimmerman. They outline major disciplinary approaches, including rhetorics, economics, psychology, and aesthetics; tackle issues like exploitation or privacy; and survey main application domains such as health, education, design, sustainability, or social media.
The 21st century is witnessing a fast-paced digital revolution. A significant trend is that cyber and physical environments are being unprecedentedly entangled with the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has been widely immersed into various domains in the industry. Among those areas where IoT would make significant impacts are building construction, operation, and management by facilitating high-class services, providing efficient functionalities, and moving towards sustainable development goals. So far, IoT itself has entered an ambiguous phase for industrial utilization, and there are limited number of studies focusing on the application of IoT in the building industry. Given the promising future impact of IoT technologies on buildings, and the increasing interests in interdisciplinary research among academics, this paper investigates the state-of-the-art projects and adoptions of IoT for the development of smart buildings within both academia and industry contexts. The wide-ranging IoT concepts are provided, covering the necessary breadth as well as relevant topic depth that directly relates to smart buildings. Current enabling technologies of IoT, especially those applied to buildings and related areas are summarized, which encompasses three different layers based on the conventional IoT architecture. Afterwards, several recent applications of IoT technologies on buildings towards the critical goals of smart buildings are selected and presented. Finally, the priorities and challenges of successful and seamless IoT integration for smart buildings are discussed. Besides, this paper discusses the future research questions to advance the implementation of IoT technologies in both building construction and operation phases. The paper argues that a mature adoption of IoT technologies in the building industry is not yet realized and, therefore, calls for more attention from researchers in the relevant fields from the application perspective.
The first edition published in 2010. The response was encouraging and many people appreciated a book that was dedicated to quality management in construction projects. Since it published, ISO 9000: 2008 has been revised and ISO 9000: 2015 has published. The new edition will focus on risk-based thinking which must be considered from the beginning and throughout the project life cycle. There are quality-related topics such as Customer Relationship, Supplier Management, Risk Management, Quality Audits, Tools for Construction Projects, and Quality Management that were not covered in the first edition. Furthermore, some figures and tables needed to be updated to make the book more comprehensive.
In this fourth edition of New Aspects of Quantity Surveying Practice, renowned quantity surveying author Duncan Cartlidge reviews the history of the quantity surveyor, examines and reflects on the state of current practice with a concentration on new and innovative practice, and attempts to predict the future direction of quantity surveying practice in the UK and worldwide. The book champions the adaptability and flexibility of the quantity surveyor, whilst covering the hot topics which have emerged since the previous edition’s publication, including: the RICS ‘Futures’ publication; Building Information Modelling (BIM); mergers and acquisitions; a more informed and critical evaluation of the NRM; greater discussion of ethics to reflect on the renewed industry interest; and a new chapter on Dispute Resolution. As these issues create waves throughout the industry whilst it continues its global growth in emerging markets, such reflections on QS practice are now more important than ever. The book is essential reading for all Quantity Surveying students, teachers and professionals. It is particularly suited to undergraduate professional skills courses and non-cognate postgraduate students looking for an up to date understanding of the industry and the role.
The collaboration is the main aspect of very large organizations. Meeting rooms are the main enablers of collaboration. However, most organizations face challenges in using their meeting rooms effectively due to lack of efficient and affordable systems. All the traditional purely software-based solutions are not enough to meet the demands of today’s organization. So our aim is to incorporate the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into the meeting rooms based on many different types of research. Our proposed system will help every organization those who want to convert their traditional meeting spaces into a smart meeting space without spending too much money and space. Our proposed system is based on sensors, microcontrollers and minicomputers. We have selected best of available devices keeping the price and portability in mind. This proposed system will be capable enough to display real-time room occupancy status, room booking and management, generate notifications and the control of room environment from a remote location.
As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China is confronting a great challenge to mitigate its carbon emissions. The construction industry is one of the major contributors to the carbon emissions in China. This study investigated the driving factors of the changes in the carbon emissions in the Chinese construction industry by using the structural decomposition analysis method and the data from the World Input-Output Database. The results show that the total final demand contributed most (131%) to the increase in the construction carbon emissions, while the energy intensity offset the largest part (108%) of the increase during the whole period. The production structure and final demand ratio contributed 49% and 35% to the total increase in the carbon emissions between 1995 and 2009, respectively. The carbon factor had a very small decrease impact (7%) on the carbon emissions between 1995 and 2009. The trends of the effects of driving factors during 1995-2009 and the contributions by industries to the effects of driving factors between 1999 and 2009 have been further explored. This study can help the Chinese policymakers formulate more effective policies for mitigating the construction carbon emissions.
As-built documentation is valuable to assist decision-making in project control, and building operation and maintenance applications. Given the importance of as-built documentation, the quickly maturing technology of building information modeling (BIM), an object-oriented information-integration platform, has led to the emergence of concurrent as-built documentation during the construction phase. However, in the current practice, integrating construction records into BIM remains a challenge due to their heterogeneous and unstructured data formats. This paper presents a work breakdown structure (WBS)-based database design to enable the creation of a dynamic multi-dimensional BIM database to incorporate construction records in a timely manner. In this study, the construction records were defined as additional dimension, and a WBS code-based automated linking mechanism between construction project tasks and BIM objects was created to generate the multi-dimensional BIM database. The automatic linking mechanism and the WBS-based dynamic multi-dimensional BIM database were tested and verified through the implementation of a real construction project schedule and a BIM model. The test results illustrate that the newly created method is successful in incorporating construction records collected during the construction phase to generate a dynamic BIM database for generating complete as-built documentation.
Augmented and virtual technologies both play vital roles in the construction industry. Augmented technologies, however, have a higher benefit when compared to virtual. The two technology types are discussed; with their similarities and differences explained. The past, present, and future is described. Some benefits to using augmented technology are discussed. The drawbacks are mentioned, with the way to correct them detailed
This paper presents a computer vision-based algorithm that automatically detects the components of an interior partition and infers its current state using 2D digital images. The algorithm relies on four integrated shape and color-based modules, which detect studs, insulation, electrical outlets, and three states for drywall sheets (installed, plastered, and painted). Based on the results of the four modules, images are classified into five states. The proposed method was validated using three image databases of indoor construction sites captured by a quadcopter (a type of unmanned aerial vehicle), a smartphone, and collected from publically available sources on the internet. The method's high accuracy rates, its fast performance, and applicability to different contexts such as automated robotic inspection are indicative of its promising performance. The visual detection results can potentially provide situational awareness for construction trades, provide future progress tracking systems with information on actual state, and help leverage the use of image processing at indoor sites.
Weed mapping at very early phenological stages of crop and weed plants for site-specific weed management can be achieved by using ultra-high spatial and high spectral resolution imagery provided by multispectral sensors on-board an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). These UAV images cannot cover the whole field, resulting in the need to take a sequence of multiple overlapped images. Therefore, the overlapped images must be oriented and ortho-rectified to create an accurate ortho-mosaicked image of the entire field for further classification. Because the spatial quality of ortho-mosaicked images mainly depend on the flight altitude and percentage of overlap, this paper describes the effect of flight parameters using a multirotor UAV and a multispectral camera on the mosaicking workflow. The objective is to define the best configuration for the mission planning to generate accurate ortho-images. A set of flights with a range of altitudes (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 m) above ground level (AGL) and two end-lap and side-lap settings (60–30% and 70–40%) were studied. The spatial accuracy of ortho-mosaics was evaluated taking into consideration the ASPRS test. The results showed that the best flight setting to keep the spatial accuracy in the bundle adjustment was 70–40% overlap and altitudes AGL ranging from 60 to 90 m. At these flight altitudes, the spatial resolution was quite similar, making it possible to optimize the mission planning, flying at a higher altitude and increasing the area overflow without decreasing the ortho-mosaic spatial quality. This study has relevant implications for further use in detecting weed seedlings in crops.
Internet of Things: Principles and Paradigms captures the state-of-the-art research in Internet of Things, its applications, architectures, and technologies. The book identifies potential future directions and technologies that facilitate insight into numerous scientific, business, and consumer applications. The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm promises to make any electronic devices part of the Internet environment. This new paradigm opens the doors to new innovations and interactions between people and things that will enhance the quality of life and utilization of scarce resources. To help realize the full potential of IoT, the book addresses its numerous challenges and develops the conceptual and technological solutions for tackling them. These challenges include the development of scalable architecture, moving from closed systems to open systems, designing interaction protocols, autonomic management, and the privacy and ethical issues around data sensing, storage, and processing. Addresses the main concepts and features of the IoT paradigm. Describes different architectures for managing IoT platforms. Provides insight on trust, security, and privacy in IoT environments. Describes data management techniques applied to the IoT environment. Examines the key enablers and solutions to enable practical IoT systems. Looks at the key developments that support next generation IoT platforms. Includes input from expert contributors from both academia and industry on building and deploying IoT platforms and applications.
Although it is often stated that the energy consumption in buildings accounts for more than 30% of total global final energy use, only a few studies analyze updated data about the current building energy consumptions or focus on comparing different countries. Similarly, models that predict future trends in building energy demand often use contrasting algorithms which result in diverse forecasts. Scope of this paper is to present and discuss data taken from several studies about the building energy consumptions in US, EU, and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries and to provide an updated inventory of useful figures. Comparisons among countries are used to show historical, actual, and future energy consumption trends. Data presented by the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Program, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the International Energy Agency are compared with national reports as well as with research studies. The variety of the approaches used in each of the previous sources was considered fundamental to allow a complete review. The paper shows that the total building energy consumptions in BRIC countries have already overcome those in developed countries, and the continuous increase in the building stock of the BRIC countries creates an urgency for promoting building energy efficiency policies in these countries. At the same time, the policies actually adopted in developed countries are insufficient to guarantee a significant reduction in their building energy consumption in the years to come. In the current scenario, at least a doubling of the global energy demand in buildings compared to today’s levels will occur by 2050. To avoid this forecast, cost-effective best practices and technologies as well as behavioral and lifestyle changes need to be diffused and accepted globally.
In recent years, green building (GB) has become the flagship of sustainable development, leading to a number of published works on the topic. This paper examines GB research trend in construction management (CM) through analyzing selected GB research papers published in 10 selected CM journals from 1990 to 2015 (as of end of August). The analysis is conducted in terms of the number of annual GB research publications, contributions made by various countries, institutions and authors, and research topics covered. The analysis reveals an increasing GB research interest in recent times, implying that the importance attached to GB by the construction industry is accelerating. The findings also indicate that during the studied period, researchers from developed economies such as the US, Hong Kong, the UK, Singapore, Italy, and Australia contributed most to promoting GB research. Developing countries such as China, Egypt, and Colombia also made good efforts to promote GB research. Research topics covered tend to focus on GB project delivery and developments, GB certifications, energy performance, and advanced technologies. Research gaps are discussed with directions for future research proposed. This study may serve as a valuable platform for both industry practitioners and researchers to appreciate GB research trends and developments.
This paper presents an optimized method to employ a multirotor for collecting images to generate a 3D map of an area of interest with attention to man-made structures in the area. A genetic algorithm is combined with space partitioning methods to find an optimized path to ensure complete coverage of a desired area with necessary overlap for generating a 3D map. This path provides for the collection of detailed information of man-made structures within the area and also consider areas of avoidance and adjust for problematic terrain (such as tall vegetation). The result is a flight path for a multirotor that includes waypoint, altitude, heading, and camera angle for all points along the flight path. This allows for the collection of all necessary images to produce a 3D map of the area with high resolution models of the buildings within the area.
The creation of underground space is an integral part of urban infrastructure development because it provides a way to accommodate denser urbanization while maintaining the quality of metropolitan life. To be successful, large-scale underground construction in cities must be performed safely with minimal impact on economic activity. A detailed record of construction activity is needed to complement and correlate with measured excavation response. This paper presents novel imaging and software used in conjunction with traditional documentation methods to capture progress of the Transbay Transit Center (TTC) excavation in downtown San Francisco. A handheld digital camera, high-definition hard-hat-mounted action camera, and unmanned drone-mounted camera were used to acquire excavation geometry during progressive stages of construction. Raw two-dimensional imaging data were converted to three-dimensional construction staging models. A social media platform used as a communication tool among project personnel, generated data that were mined for construction-history information. The virtual models and social media data supplemented with field notes and drawings were used to develop a higher-fidelity digital archive that can be used to efficiently capture and preserve detailed construction history.
Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as devices for traffic data collection exhibits many advantages in collecting traffic information. This paper introduces a new vehicle detecting and tracking system based on image data collected by UAV. This system uses consecutive frames to generate vehicle's dynamic information, such as positions and velocities. Four major modules have been developed: image registration, image feature extraction, vehicle shape detecting, and vehicle tracking. Some unique features have been introduced into this system to customize the vehicle and traffic flow and to jointly use them in multiple consecutive images to increase the system accuracy of detecting and tracking vehicles. Field tests demonstrate that the present system exhibits high accuracy in traffic information acquisition at different UAV altitudes with different view scopes, which can be used in future traffic monitoring and control in metropolitan areas.
Defect data contains knowledge about specific work conditions. In order to prevent reoccurrence of defects, a data feedback mechanism is required. However, most defect data are stored in unstructured ways, resulting in the fundamental problem of data utilization. This paper proposes a novel framework by using BIM and linked data technologies for sharing defect data between heterogeneous data sources in a new way. To demonstrate, a defect ontology is developed, work context information is extracted from BIM models, extracted BIM data is converted to RDF format, and SPARQL queries are implemented. The proposed approach could help BIM software applications to take into account information stemming from the defect management domain. Also, it can reduce data search time and improve the accuracy of search results as well. Therefore, this framework may enable reductions of defect occurrence and improvements in current defect management practices.
Virtual currencies are in vogue mainly due to two factors. First, as a protest against authority-driven monetary policy decisions and second, as alternatives to deficits in some monetary systems arising out of political instability or other causes. Assuming that virtual currencies indeed (partially) replace national currencies as payment vehicles, we attempt, in this article, to integrate the virtual currency supply and demand into the Keynesian money market framework. This article presents a few results for the central banks and outlines problems that may result for monetary policy formulation. Since this is the first such attempt to model a national money market as a combination of nationally-issued currency and globally-issued virtual currency, certain simplistic assumptions have been made. Nevertheless, the model offers directions on the impact of virtual currencies on the monetary system and the national money market. Additionally, the paper integrates the official standpoints of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on this topic.