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Purpose Only a few foreign companies have started significant R&D activities in China. Although these forerunners have opened the door, their experience now needs to be transferred to followers. The purpose of this paper is to use this experience to offer some guidance to foreign companies wishing to launch R&D activities in China.Design/methodology/approach The authors’ recommendations are based on their investigation into 50 existing foreign R&D centers in China and one pioneering experience into the management of one of those centers. The authors especially investigated the questions of location, people and intellectual property rights, and relationships with authorities.Findings Foreign companies wishing to do R&D in China will have to adapt to an environment different from those they are used to. The authors draw up recommendations that should help them to find their way. They particularly emphasize location in or close to clusters, the type of relationships to be developed with public authorities and with the communist party, the specific characteristics needed by workers in those centers, the need for a cautious intellectual property rights approach and the key role of returnees in R&D centers. These findings are based on previous experience and lessons learned directly by the authors as well as through meetings with R&D executives and managers of medium/large foreign companies or joint ventures s in China.Research limitations/implications The Chinese research, development and innovation landscape has evolved rapidly and has still not stabilized. Consequently, the authors’ recommendations, which capture best practices and recently learned lessons, are applicable for the next five years. Some of them might change in the future as the overall national and international situation evolves.Practical implications These recommendations offer guidelines to companies without R&D centers established in China for expanding their international technology strategy. They will help companies already operating successful R&D centers to better leverage previous investments and efficiently set up and operate R&D activities in China.Originality/value China has been on the R&D map for only a few years as exemplified by the surge of scientific publications and patent deposits, making China the country with the most patents in the world. No foreign company engaged in R&D can ignore this fact. Yet, few papers have been published with “how to?” guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care homes are a distinctive setting for the management of thermal comfort due to the expectations involving the provision of both a home environment and caring service. Based on six UK case studies, the care home setting is investigated for how owners, managers and staff understand thermal needs and how their management of thermal comfort is shaped. The core function of good quality care is understood as closely related to the provision of thermal comfort. The association between ‘old and cold' and the obligations that follow for the provision of care are deeply entrenched in activities: such as the provision of hot drinks, use of blankets and the non-stop operation of heating systems. The responsibility for the provision of ‘thermal care' for residents is challenging and complicated by the diversity of people living (and working) together, their occupation of communal spaces, and the interactions between the means of providing thermal comfort and physical safety. The wider implications are identified for the uptake of sustainable technology, patterns of thermal-related vulnerability and, most significantly, for how the ethics, agency and relationality of thermal care provision are to be understood. Future research needs and directions are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Mexico City Building Code (MCBC-2004) – Reglamento de Construcciones del Distrito Federal, Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal, 29 de enero de 2004 in Spanish – is a state-of-the-art code; the most comprehensive and advanced set of requirements in the country; and it serves as a model for codes in Mexico's regions. However, many recently built mid-rise dwellings seem too weak to withstand earthquakes, with evident structural deficiencies. Insufficient official mechanisms exist for supervising the design and construction of such new structures. This study evaluates current practice and compares it with the guidelines of the MCBC-2004 using a sample of structures of 150 buildings constructed after 2004. Structural analysis and design revisions were made for a subset of 20 buildings. This study confirms that a large number of new buildings in Mexico City do not have a reliable record of technical information. Therefore, it is difficult to reanalyse buildings to assess their earthquake performance. Many buildings have limited information making it impossible to verify their structural seismic behaviour. The analyses performed for those buildings with available information show that many would have inadequate performance during an intense earthquake, as they do not meet the minimum requirements in the MCBC-2004. To improve governance and actual outcomes, an institute is needed to improve construction practices and code enforcement particularly for residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is recognized that there is often a discrepancy between the measured fabric thermal performance of dwellings as built and the predicted performance of the same dwellings and that the magnitude of this difference in performance can be quite large. This paper presents the results of a number of in-depth building fabric thermal performance tests undertaken on three case study dwellings located on two separate Passivhaus developments in the UK: one masonry cavity and the other two timber-frame. The results from the tests revealed that all the case study dwellings performed very close to that predicted. This is in contrast with other work that has been undertaken regarding the performance of the building fabric, which indicates that a very wide range of performance exists in new-build dwellings in the UK, and that the difference between the measured and predicted fabric performance can be greater than 100%. Despite the small non-random size of the sample, the results suggest that careful design coupled with the implementation of appropriate quality control systems, such as those required to attain Passivhaus Certification, may be conducive to delivering dwellings that begin to ‘bridge the gap’ between measured and predicted fabric performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Frequent site energy consumption auditing is a potential strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing buildings. Such a strategy has been practised in Australia for nearly 15 years. This paper documents and analyses the effect of repetitive audits on measured site energy consumption. Using a self-constructed database of over 3500 audited disclosures representing over 800 unique office buildings, empirical models demonstrate that measured site energy consumption declines, on average, over the first five re-certification periods. The results also suggest a market average post-certification equilibrium in Australia of approximately 430 MJ/m2/year (120 kWh/m2/year) within approximately six years, if all else – including green management strategy – is held constant. Since GHG emissions from buildings in Australia are highly correlated with site energy consumption, such a result is comparable with meeting 50-year GHG mitigation targets reliant on the implementation of existing technologies. This suggests that repetitive auditing is a successful approach for motivating owners to invest in existing energy efficiency technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recast of the European Union's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive introduced the concept of nearly zero-energy buildings, requiring its adoption from 2021 by all new buildings and existing ones submitted to major renovations. European Union member states must also ensure minimum energy requirements for buildings in order to achieve cost-optimal levels during their life cycle. Cost optimality and nearly zero-energy buildings are important concepts in European Union energy policies. These concepts are related, but one is more focused on costs, while the other is more concerned with low energy consumption and on site-renewable energy harvesting. If these approaches result in major differences in the selection of the best package of retrofit measures, then the transition from the cost-optimal concept to nearly zero-energy buildings might be problematic. To assess the most cost-effective solutions to achieve net-zero, a building in Porto, Portugal, was analysed. This determined not only the most cost-effective retrofit solutions but also compared these net-zero solutions with those resulting from the cost-optimal calculation. Both approaches lead to similar results, indicating that the transition between ‘cost optimality’ to ‘nearly zero-energy buildings’ could occur in Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the increased usage of building information models (BIMs) during construction, has BIM become a medium for delivering as-built building information. It is important to maintain accurate and up-to-date information stored in a BIM so that it can become a reliable data source throughout the service life of a facility. Laser scanning technology is able to capture accurate geometric data in the form of a point cloud and to depict the existing condition of a building. Hence, point cloud data captured by laser scans can be used as references to update a given BIM. An important step during the update process is to match segments of elements captured by a point cloud to building components modeled in a BIM, so that the discrepancies between the two data sets can be identified. Typically, features depicted within point cloud segments and BIM components are used in the matching process. However, understanding is limited regarding which features enable the matching process and how these features perform. This paper describes six feature-based matching approaches that match segments of a point cloud to components modeled in a BIM. Next, it discusses the results of an experimental analysis conducted to evaluate the performance of different features used to match mechanical equipment and ductwork captured by point clouds to the corresponding objects modeled in an as-designed BIM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public health is often affected by societal decisions that are not primarily about health. Climate change mitigation requires intensive actions to minimise greenhouse gas emissions in the future. Many of these actions take place in cities due to their traffic, buildings, and energy consumption. Active climate mitigation policies will also, aside of their long term global impacts, have short term local impacts, both positive and negative, on public health. Our main objective was to develop a generic open impact model to estimate health impacts of emissions due to heat and power consumption of buildings. In addition, the model should be usable for policy comparisons by non-health experts on city level with city-specific data, it should give guidance on the particular climate mitigation questions but at the same time increase understanding on the related health impacts and the model should follow the building stock in time, make comparisons between scenarios, propagate uncertainties, and scale to different levels of detail. We tested The functionalities of the model in two case cities, namely Kuopio and Basel. We estimated the health and climate impacts of two actual policies planned or implemented in the cities. The assessed policies were replacement of peat with wood chips in co-generation of district heat and power, and improved energy efficiency of buildings achieved by renovations.Results: Health impacts were not large in the two cities, but also clear differences in implementation and predictability between the two tested policies were seen. Renovation policies can improve the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, but this requires systematic policy sustained for decades. In contrast, fuel changes in large district heating facilities may have rapid and large impacts on emissions. However, the life cycle impacts of different fuels is somewhat an open question.Conclusions: In conclusion, we were able to develop a practical model for city-level assessments promoting evidence-based policy in general and health aspects in particular. Although all data and code is freely available, implementation of the current model version in a new city requires some modelling skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In medical imaging studies, there is an increasing trend for discovering the intrinsic anatomical difference across individual subjects in a dataset, such as hand images for skeletal bone age estimation. Pair-wise matching is often used to detect correspondences between each individual subject and a pre-selected model image with manually-placed landmarks. However, the large anatomical variability across individual subjects can easily compromise such pair-wise matching step. In this paper, we present a new framework to simultaneously detect correspondences among a population of individual subjects, by propagating all manually-placed landmarks from a small set of model images through a dynamically constructed image graph. Specifically, we first establish graph links between models and individual subjects according to pair-wise shape similarity (called as forward step ). Next, we detect correspondences for the individual subjects with direct links to any of model images, which is achieved by a new multi-model correspondence detection approach based on our recently-published sparse point matching method. To correct those inaccurate correspondences, we further apply an error detection mechanism to automatically detect wrong correspondences and then update the image graph accordingly (called as backward step ). After that, all subject images with detected correspondences are included into the set of model images, and the above two steps of graph expansion and error correction are repeated until accurate correspondences for all subject images are established. Evaluations on real hand X-ray images demonstrate that our proposed method using a dynamic graph construction approach can achieve much higher accuracy and robustness, when compared with the state-of-the-art pair-wise correspondence detection methods as well as a similar method but using static population graph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety as well as productivity performance in construction is often poor due to congested site conditions. We lack a formalized approach in effective activity-level construction planning to avoid workspace congestion. The purpose of this research is to investigate and prototype a new Building Information Modeling (BIM) enabled approach for activity-level construction site planning that can pro-actively improve construction safety. The presented method establishes automated workspace visualization in BIM, using remote sensing and workspace modeling technologies as an integral part of construction safety planning. Global Positioning System (GPS) data loggers were attached to the hardhats of a work crew constructing cast-in-place concrete columns. Novel algorithms were developed for extracting activity-specific workspace parameters from the recorded workforce location tracking data. Workspaces were finally visualized on a BIM platform for detecting potential workspace conflicts among the other competing work crews or between material lifting equipment. The developed method can support project stakeholders, such as engineers, planners, construction managers, foremen and site supervisors and workers with the identification and visualization of the required or potentially congested workspaces. Therefore, it improves the foundation on how decisions are made related to construction site safety as well as its potential impact on a productive and unobstructed work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tornado simulator was built and tornado-induced mean aerodynamic forces on a gable-roofed building were numerically studied. Simulated mean flow fields and mean forces acting on a building model showed satisfactory agreement with those from experiments verifying the accuracy of the tornado simulator. Around the world experimental tornado simulators are very limited which makes estimating tornado induced forces much difficult. Therefore, examining whether or not there are any relationships between tornado induced forces and straight-line wind induced forces is the target of this study. After checking mean wind profiles below the height of building in tornado flow fields, a kind of spiral was found. This spiral is unique compared with profiles in traditional wind tunnel. Therefore a concept of volume averaged velocity was proposed and found to be the linkage between tornado induced mean forces and straight-line wind induced mean forces, i.e. removing tornado induced atmospheric pressures, the building in tornado experiences similar responses with those in wind tunnel if the direction of volume averaged velocity is same. Based on this finding, a method estimating the tornado-induced mean aerodynamic forces using the straight-line wind tunnel is proposed and the results transformed from the data base of the straight-line wind tunnel show satisfactory agreement with those directly calculated in the tornado simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – With strategies including flexible work practices, tenants are increasingly seeking flexibility in their physical office space and layouts. The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent investors address tenants’ changing demand for office space with reference to layouts in new and existing office buildings. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study comprising in-depth individual interviews with senior portfolio managers of all listed property trusts investing in the office sector in New Zealand was undertaken. Findings – The findings confirmed property investors incorporate several adaptive and flexible space design and specifications in their modern office buildings to enhance space flexibility and functional efficiency. These include adaptive building structures, efficient floor plates, flexible building services, advanced IT networking, high-quality building amenities and modern building materials. Building structures and layouts are designed to be modified quickly and cost effectively to address tenants’ changing needs. Implications affecting tenant demand for flexible spaces on their lease contracts were also identified. Research limitations/implications – The findings from this research have implications for management of office space. Although the data were sourced with reference to buildings located in New Zealand only, the findings are applicable to office buildings in other countries. Practical implications – The study provides an insight into design strategies adopted in modern office buildings to enhance space flexibility and functional efficiency. These findings are of practical application to professionals involved in the design, development, investment and valuation of modern office buildings. Originality/value – The paper provides in-depth insights into how investors meet tenants’ changing demand for physical space which is linked to delivering improved and stable market-driven returns to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes within porous building materials, water-filled soils pores and many other porus medias modeled by the cellular automation (CA). We propose an algorithm for counting isolated objects in random generate granular systems. The algorithm is based on a Leviald's cellular automation (CA). We use regular two dimensional network in which a pore is presented with uniform distribution. The algorithm is tested on various networks which are generated near the percolation threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of dynamic building envelope technologies, which adapt to changing outdoor and indoor environments, is considered a crucial step towards the achievement of the nearly Zero Energy Building target. It is currently not possible to evaluate the energy saving potential of innovative adaptive transparent building envelopes in an accurate manner. This creates difficulties in selecting between competing technologies and is a barrier to systematic development of these innovative technologies. The main aim of this work is to develop a method for devising optimal adaptive glazing properties and to evaluate the energy saving potential resulting from the adoption of such a technology. The method makes use of an inverse performance-oriented approach, to minimize the total primary energy use of a building. It is applied to multiple case studies (office reference room with 4 different cardinal orientations and in three different temperate climates) in order to evaluate and optimise the performance of adaptive glazing as it responds to changing boundary conditions on a monthly and daily basis. A frequency analysis on the set of optimised adaptive properties is subsequently performed to identify salient features of ideal adaptive glazing. The results show that high energy savings are achievable by adapting the transparent part of the building envelope alone, the largest component being the cooling energy demand. As expected, the energy savings are highly sensitive to: the time scale of the adaptive mechanisms; the capability of the façade to adapt to the outdoor climatic condition; the difference between outdoor climatic condition and the comfort range. Moreover important features of the optimal thermo-optical properties are identified. Of these, one of the most important findings is that a unique optimised technology, varying its thermo-optical properties between a limited number of states could be effective in different climates and orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate matter (PM) in buildings are mostly sourced from the transport of outdoor particles through a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and generation of particle within the building itself. We investigated the concentrations and characteristic of indoor and outdoor particles and airborne bacteria concentrations across four floors of a building located in a high-traffic area. In all the floors we studied (first, second, fifth, and eighth), the average concentrations of particles less than 10 μm (PM) in winter for were higher than those in summer. On average, a seasonal variation in the PM level was found for the first, fifth, and eighth floors, such that higher values occurred in the winter season, compared to the summer season. In addition, in winter, the indoor concentrations of PM on the first, fifth, and eighth floors were higher than those of the outdoor PM. The maximum level of airborne bacteria concentration was found in a fifth floor office, which held a private academy school consisting of many students. Results indicated that the airborne bacteria remained at their highest concentration throughout the weekday period and varied by students' activity. The correlation coefficient ( R) and slope of linear approximation for the concentrations of particulate matter were used to evaluate the relationship between the indoor and outdoor particulate matter. These results can be used to predict both the indoor particle levels and the risk of personal exposure to airborne bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Directive 2010/31/EU stated that by the end of 2020 all new buildings should be nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEB). Since such buildings require a low quantity of energy for heating, they can utilize energy from the return line of a District Heating (DH) system. Further, this new type of buildings can successfully be integrated into the fourth generation of heat distribution technology, which is the new trend in the DH industry. On the other hand, existing building stock has a service lifetime of around 50 years, indicating that the required supply temperature in the DH system cannot be lowered beneath a certain level. Hereafter, together with new types of buildings and different policies, this could lead to changes in heat demand profiles of the DH system. The above-mentioned situation in the building market will lead to changes in heat load profiles and unavoidably influence the performance indicators of energy conversion units. Therefore, the focus in this paper was devoted to operation analysis of ethanol-based a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant with combined cycle technology under changeable demand conditions and different temperature levels in the DH system. In this paper different temperature levels of the DH system together with two temperature control strategies were considered. Further, the analysis included different heat demand profiles. The analysis was performed in Aspen HYSYS simulation software and data post processing was made by MATLAB. The results found that effective plant operation is highly dependent on heat load profile. Temperature control strategies did not induce a significant change in overall power production in CHP. The decrease in the supply temperature did not show a significant impact on plant performance. However, increase in temperature difference between supply and return lines led to higher power production and better overall plant performance. Further, it was concluded that it is rather difficult to operate CCPP connected to low energy building stock. This means that the CCPP is suitable for high-density heat areas, while it has poor energy performance indicators in low heat density areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficient passive designs and constructions have been extensively studied in the last decades as a way to improve the ability of a building to store thermal energy, increase its thermal mass, increase passive insulation and reduce heat losses. However, many studies show that passive thermal designs alone are not enough to fully exploit the potential for energy efficiency in buildings: in fact, harmonizing the active elements for indoor thermal comfort with the passive design of the building can lead to further improvements in both energy efficiency and comfort. These improvements can be achieved via the design of appropriate Building Optimization and Control (BOC) systems, a task which is more complex in high-inertia buildings than in conventional ones. This is because high thermal mass implies a high memory, so that wrong control decisions will have negative repercussions over long time horizons. The design of proactive control strategies with the capability of acting in advance of a future situation, rather than just reacting to current conditions, is of crucial importance for a full exploitation of the capabilities of a high-inertia building. This paper applies a simulation-assisted control methodology to a high-inertia building in Kassel, Germany. A simulation model of the building is used to proactively optimize, using both current and future information about the external weather condition and the building state, a combined criterion composed of the energy consumption and the thermal comfort index. Both extensive simulation as well as real-life experiments performed during the unstable German wintertime, demonstrate that the proposed approach can effectively deal with the complex dynamics arising from the high-inertia structure, providing proactive and intelligent decisions that no currently employed rule-based strategy can replicate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) as-built geometric models are useful for many building assessment and management tasks. However, the current process of creating such models is labor-intensive. A significant amount of manual work is required to register the remote sensing data captured from multiple scans into one scene (i.e., scene registration). To automate the registration work, several research studies have been developed to automate the registration process by the detection and matching of common visual features in consecutive scans. This paper investigates the effectiveness of different combinations of common visual feature detectors and descriptors that have been widely used in the scene registration of 3D buildings. The evaluation criteria include registration accuracy and speed. The feature detectors and descriptors have been tested in a total of 31 realistic building scenarios. The results show that the combination of the scale-invariant feature transform feature detector and descriptor reached more accurate results than the others. The fastest speed is achieved by the use of an oriented binary robust independent elementary features (ORB) detector in combination with the speeded-up robust features or ORB descriptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage buildings are highly prone to long term damage from the microclimate, scourge and vandalism, which can result in damaged materials, structures, painting and cultural heritage items. This study will focus on finding the displacement of wood structural members through the use of a 3D laser scanner and the 4D concept of time. The results will compare the scans from different periods to find the difference (if any) in the structural member position. Wood structures usually consist of numerous wood members connected to form the structure. However, these members can be damaged in various ways such as physical mechanisms, chemical reactions, and biological corrosion. When damage to the wood structure occurs, the structural displacement can be affected, and if affected severely, can lead to a building collapse. Monitoring of the structural displacement is the best way to discover damage immediately and to preserve the heritage building. However, the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law in Taiwan prohibits the installation of monitoring instruments (e.g strain gauge, accelerometer) in historic structures (heritage buildings). Scanning the wood structure with 3D lasers is the most non-intrusive method and quickly achieves displacement through visualization. The displacement scan results can be compared with different periods and different members to analyze the severity of damage. Once the 3D scanner is installed, the whole building is scanned, and point clouds created to build the visual building model. The structural displacement can be checked via the building model and the differences are measured between each member to find the high risk damaged areas or members with large displacement. Early detection of structural damage is the most effective way means of preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The façade opening design has a comprehensive influence on the building performance in daylighting, solar heat gain and natural ventilation. This study is aimed to investigate the influence on integrated energy consumption on an operational level, conducted through computer simulation techniques based on EnergyPlus in combination with Fluent. To facilitate the model establishment, an automatic generation program has been developed by MATLAB. With this program, three aspects of façade configurations under different sheltering conditions have been modelled. The simulation results show that opening area, prior to opening positions, is a greater foremost influential factor on total energy consumption under different sheltering conditions. In the meanwhile, the east and west sheltering walls exert a considerable influence on daylighting and natural ventilation. Compared with unsheltered façades, the cooling energy consumption in transition seasons could drop by 4% in the west-side sheltering condition, while increasing by 12% in the east-side sheltering condition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recently, three-dimensional design and computerized numeric control shaping technology have been applied to most free-form buildings, and materials like iron, timber, expanded polystyrene, and textiles have been used in formwork. However, these techniques have been found to incur costs at least 10 times the budgeted amounts, in most cases because the forms or moulds used to produce free-form concrete segments were used only once and could not be recycled, and it took a lot of time and workers to produce them, resulting in reduced productivity and increased construction cost and time. To solve these problems, this study investigates the status of free-form concrete buildings and suggests directions for future technology development. Following these suggestions would enable manageable construction cost and time in the future design of free-form buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aggregate derived from shabath stone is showing prospective application in construction as an alternative to coarse aggregates. Concrete is a mixture of cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. It plays a vital role in the development of infrastructure, viz., buildings, industrial structures, bridges, highways, etc., leading to the utilization of large quantities of concrete. This leads to examination of the admixtures to improve the strength of the concrete. On the other side, cost of concrete is attributed to the cost of its ingredients, which are scarce and expensive, thus leading to the usage of economically alternative materials in the production. These requirements have drawn the attention of researchers to explore new replacements for ingredients of concrete. The present paper focuses on investigating the characteristics of M40 grade concrete with partial replacement of cement with Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) and coarse aggregate with shabath stone, with addition of steel fibers. The cubes were tested for compressive strength. The results revealed that the partial replacement of cement with GGBS and the coarse aggregate with shabath stone helped in improving the strength of the concrete substantially compared to nominal mix concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic loads are occasional forces that may occur during the life time of a building. Buildings should be able to withstand seismic loads due to minor earthquake without total collapse. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the difference in the structural behavior of building frames due to change in the orientation of columns under seismic loading. Altogether six models were analyzed, which consists of G+5, G+7 and G+9 buildings considering rectangular column oriented about major axis and minor axis. Response spectrum analysis was carried out in STAAD_Pro V8i software. The result parameters, such as base shear, natural period and maximum displacement, are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of measurements of signal transmission loss at 2.5 GHz through 10 urban buildings. This allows the characterization of different types of buildings by effective attenuation constants and consideration of the contribution of the transmitted signal in microcell coverage predictions. Power delay profiles (PDPs) of the received signal were also measured and used to determine the time dispersion parameters of the channel, including the mean excess delay and the rms delay spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel after-disaster building damage monitoring method is presented. This method combines the multispectral imagery and digital surface models (DSMs) from stereo matching of two dates to obtain three kinds of changes: collapsed buildings, newly built buildings and temporary shelters. The proposed method contains three basic steps. The first step is to focus on the DSMs and orthorectified images preparation. The second step is to segment the panchromatic images in obtaining small homogeneous regions. In the last step, a rule-based classification is built on the change information from iteratively reweighted multivariate alteration detection (IR-MAD) and height to extract the three kinds of changes. To further improve the accuracy of the results, a region-based grey-level co-occurrence matrix texture measurement is used. The proposed method is applied to monitor building changes after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the obtained results are further evaluated both visually and numerically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning organizations have recently initiated planning academies to increase citizens’ capacity to effectively engage in city and local planning activities. Yet, the success of these programs is largely unknown. This article seeks to address this gap in knowledge by proposing an assessment framework to identify increased civic engagement capacity using three tiers of outcomes. The results of a multicase study suggest that this model of public outreach and education programming is successful at realizing improvements in individual human and social capitals that translate into effective citizen engagement measured as actions taken by participants to improve community conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new model, Solar Energy on Building Envelopes (SEBE) for estimating shortwave irradiance on ground, roofs and building walls is presented. SEBE adopts a 2D raster modelling approach to derive 3D irradiance information, which makes it possible to compute extensive areas up to city scale. High resolution digital surface models (DSMs) are used to describe the urban geometry and additional DSMs including 3D vegetation structures can also be incorporated. Inclusion of vegetation is shown to be essential when modelling irradiances for wall surfaces within the urban environment. To obtain a detailed description of input forcing conditions, the model utilizes observed hourly data of shortwave radiation as meteorological input information. The model is evaluated for a tilted roof as well as for a wall location in Göteborg, Sweden. The overall performance of the model is high, both for the roof and wall evaluation point. Application of the model is exemplified by 3D visualisation and city scale model output presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the ecological modernization (EM) framework to analyze China’s green building program. EM focuses on the effective institutionalization of environmental objectives into respective political and economic systems, and thus provides valuable insights into the roles of the state and other stake holders in environmental regulation. Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese government has advanced an aggressive green building campaign, which is distinguished by its speed, scale, and evolution from one of voluntary participation to a top-down implementation through administrative hierarchies. While this has resulted in a remarkable growth of green building projects, questions remain about the effectiveness and sustainability of such a state-centered approach. Though interviews with officials, planners, architects, real estate developers, and property managers in several Chinese cities, data analysis of the green building stock, and surveys of architects, this paper analyzes Chinese green building patterns and situates such patterns among the contradictory motivations of different levels of government and their relationships to different stake holders. This research finds that the top-down state apparatus is not sufficient to overcome these contradictions and the profit motives of the property developers. However, many under-developed opportunities exist to leverage property developers, building professionals, and the public to engage in green building practices. In the end, I argue that the state must embrace reform to build flexible and collaborative movements with other parties with strong public participation. China’s ecological modernization process may feature a stronger state and faster changes, but it is not exempted from the need of political modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a generative design approach using constraint-based programming to handle the space configuration for ceiling mounted fan coil systems in buildings. This work utilises and builds on the result from previous projects presented in Medjdoub et al. [(2003). Generation of variational standard plant room solutions.Automation in Construction, 12(2), 155–166] and Medjdoub [(2009). Constraint-based adaptation for complex space configuration in building services.ITcon, 14, 724–735.]. In Medjdoub [(2009). Constraint-based adaptation for complex space configuration in building services.ITcon, 14, 724–735], we have presented a hybrid approach using case-based reasoning and constraint satisfaction problem approach to deal with the space configuration and pipe routing of complex design problems for ceiling mounted fan coil systems in buildings. One of the limitations of the aforementioned approach is that the solution generated is defined only geometrically. In this work, we have redefined the case library by describing each case as a graph of design constraints. This new definition of the cases supports the generation of parametric solutions, where further interactive modification can be done by the user while maintaining all the design constraints. This brings benefits in terms of increasing the quality of the solution by providing the user the possibility to make the appropriate modifications using his/her heuristic knowledge. Finally, this approach has been benchmarked using real scenario design projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A series of transboundary crises and disasters has increased pressure on European states to cooperate in the realm of crisis and disaster management. The European Union has taken an active role to connect national capacities of member states. Little is known, however, about the compatibilities of national civil protection systems. This article attempts to fill that void. We draw on a comparative study on 22 European states and highlight similarities as well as patterns of variation. We explore how different states define the role of government during crises and disasters; we map the administrative structures and procedures in place to provide civil security. We also assess the quality of these systems. Our findings reveal that administrative responsibilities, legal frameworks and operational practices differ markedly, as the national systems are rooted in national contexts and historical experiences. In the light of our findings, we contemplate what role the EU can play to build joint transboundary crisis management capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genetic enhancement of wild animals and plants for characteristics that benefit human populations has been practiced for thousands of years, resulting in impressive improvements in commercially valuable species. Despite these benefits, genetic manipulations are rarely considered for noncommercial purposes, such as conservation and restoration initiatives. Over the last century, humans have driven global climate change through industrialization and the release of increasing amounts of CO2, resulting in shifts in ocean temperature, ocean chemistry, and sea level, as well as increasing frequency of storms, all of which can profoundly impact marine ecosystems. Coral reefs are highly diverse ecosystems that have suffered massive declines in health and abundance as a result of these and other direct anthropogenic disturbances. There is great concern that the high rates, magnitudes, and complexity of environmental change are overwhelming the intrinsic capacity of corals to adapt and survive. Although it is important to address the root causes of changing climate, it is also prudent to explore the potential to augment the capacity of reef organisms to tolerate stress and to facilitate recovery after disturbances. Here, we review the risks and benefits of the improvement of natural and commercial stocks in noncoral reef systems and advocate a series of experiments to determine the feasibility of developing coral stocks with enhanced stress tolerance through the acceleration of naturally occurring processes, an approach known as (human)-assisted evolution, while at the same time initiating a public dialogue on the risks and benefits of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is clear that the current industry process needs to improve in order to routinely deliver comfortable low-carbon buildings. Overheating in buildings designed to be of low energy is one of the key symptoms of current problems. Many initiatives aim to improve building performance and the industry process. A selection of these initiatives are reviewed including: the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive; the Green Star, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and National Australian Building Environmental Rating Standards (NABERS) rating schemes; the Passivhaus standard; the Soft Landings process and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The BIM approach is being actively promoted based on the assertion that the building industry process has stagnated compared to other industries suggested as productivity benchmarks such as the electronics industry. This study highlights the potential role that could be played by BIM as a framework to address the performance gaps, and suggests that processes from the BIM benchmark industries should be investigated for potential adoption. The organizational context and processes of the electronics industry are described, and it is proposed that they could be usefully adapted to reduce the scale and impacts of the building industry performance gap. Key conclusions are that public domain performance data are important, and that the adoption of a quality systems approach will be required to deliver the intended performance in practice, eliminate overheating and avoid excess energy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present project demonstrates a way to improve construction processes, with improvement understood in terms of increased productivity. To achieve this objective, the research presented here relies on discrete event simulation models to analyze transportation logistics, as well as distribution and storage of structure- and foundation-related materials for two reinforced-concrete buildings in Bogota, Colombia. Analysis of the case study can be divided into three phases. In the first, construction processes were characterized, and a field study was conducted via data collection and video/photo recordings. In the second, simulation models were created for the real scenario, with deficiencies and opportunities for model improvement diagnosed and different theoretical scenarios proposed. In the third and final phase, these theoretical scenarios were compared using models to determine their strengths or weaknesses versus the real construction scenario. Based on the comparative study carried out, discrete event simulation allowed for the integration and behavioral observation of all variables affecting the construction process. As a result, deficiencies became conspicuous; in turn, improvements were readily identified in order to establish the best scenario from a cost-benefit perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Days, an innovative initiative to foster community service and civic engagement at the City University of New York's new Guttman Community College, encourages students to perform volunteer work around the city. What makes the program unique are opportunities for students to take self-directed excursions and enjoy free resources in the city--activities not usually associated with service-learning. Including a component that the students identify as "Fun Day" in a program dedicated to volunteer service strengthens the program and increases the enthusiasm of the participants. This essay examines reflections completed by the students after participating in Community Days, considering their initial expectations and apprehensions, their experiences in unfamiliar environments, and the connections they draw between community service and "fun." These reflections suggest that the two program components reinforce one another in building social capital. Independently navigating unfamiliar areas of the city challenges them and builds their sense of autonomy and control. Successfully completing new challenges, however simple--whether serving meals in a soup kitchen or riding the Staten Island Ferry--gives them an experience of earned success. Because Guttman allows the students agency to decide how (and ultimately if) they will participate, they take full possession of their accomplishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air conditioning energy consumption in summer represents a challenge in many areas with hot and humid climates. Passive cooling with thermal storage in phase change materials (PCMs) is a very effective way to improve thermal stability of the rooms with light-weight envelope. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate experimentally that it is possible to improve the thermal comfort and reduce the energy consumption of a building without substantial increase in the weight of the construction materials with the inclusion of PCM. This work aims at presenting an overview of the key researches in the field of use of PCMs in buildings and presenting a green approach for their uses in building envelopes with specific implementation on the case of hot humid regions. Thermal behaviour of wall integrated with two different types of PCMS Polyethylene glycol (PEG) E600 and Capric Acid (C10 H20 O 2) was compared by measurements and calculations. Three test cells were built for comparative investigation of the efficiency of passive cooling with the use of the PCMs. This paper deals with the results of experiments carried out in the test cells and possibilities of activation of PCMs for effective passive cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhancement of the energy efficiency of existing buildings represents an important task, specifically addressed by the European Directives. Among the currently available technologies to achieve this issue, the combined generation of heat and power (CHP) is found. Its higher efficiency with respect to the separate production of heat and power mainly depends on the occurrence of a profitable use of the cogenerated heat. This technology is now rapidly spreading because of its benefit from both the energy and the environmental sustainability points of view. However, in order to properly size the CHP system capacity and operation strategy, some specific design rules have to be identified. In particular, the CHP systems optimal design requires the building energy loads to be known on a hourly time scale. In the present paper a simplified procedure for estimating the hourly energy load for space heating and cooling of existing buildings is applied to the assessment of building cooling, heating and power systems energy performance. The results, obtained for a complex nine storey building located in six representative climates, point out that the suggested method allows to estimate the primary energy savings index with an approximation error, averaged over the considered combined generation system capacity range, less than 2.8% and 3.3% in continuous and time scheduled plant operation, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the workers and technology in the 19th-century construction of the Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The social and political impact of the canal's construction is analyzed, logistical difficulties in obtaining building materials and supplies caused by water, sand, and mud are examined, and the dewatering techniques and technology used to keep the canal dry during its construction are described.

Among the first US railway companies to use the electric tractor and elevator in freight-handling buildings, the Chicago Junction Railway (CJR) primarily served industries in the rapidly growing Central Manufacturing District. CJR freight-handling services were initially provided in single-storey, and subsequently multi-storey, brick and mill buildings, using hand trucks, with only limited storage and warehousing space available. Labour cost savings, and changes in the scale and flexibility of freighthouse operations, possible with the electric tractor and elevator, allowed the CJR to meet the demand for increased freight-handling and warehousing capacity by augmenting older facilities with multi-storey, integrated freighthouse and warehouse buildings, latterly built with steel-reinforced concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a theoretical model to understand the ways in which organizations can increase employees’ voluntary intrapreneurship and motivated business information seeking and sharing, scouting, via relationship building. Three management strategies—managerial receptiveness to innovative effort, employee empowerment, and communication symmetry—have been tested for their effects on quality of organization–employee relationship (OER), and the effects of OERs on employee’s intrapreneurship and scouting. A survey was conducted with 528 employees of organizations that have a minimum of 300 employees in the United States. Results suggest that organizations become innovative and adaptive to the organizational environment as they cultivate relationships with employees because they can motivate employees to engage in voluntary intrapreneurship and scouting in and around the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a new conceptual model to better understand the internationalization process of firms, especially those from rapidly developing East Asian economies. The model is illustrated through a comprehensive analysis of the internationalization process of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC). A comparative case analysis of the development of HMC's five major foreign subsidiaries shows both capability building through sequential investment from the headquarters' perspective and heterogeneous development of operational knowledge at the subsidiary level. The research emphasizes the importance of the post-FDI phase of subsidiary development to the study of firm internationalization, and highlights the process of decision-making and learning as the key to understanding the sequence of investments in subsidiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the classification provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), the damage level of buildings impacted by the 2011 Great East Japan tsunami can be separated into six levels (from minor damage to washed away). The objective of this paper is to identify the significant predictor variables and the direction of their potential relationship to the damage level in order to create a predicting formula for damage level. This study used the detailed data of damaged buildings in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, collected by MLIT. The explanatory variables tested included the inundation depth, number of floors, structural material, and function of the building. Ordinal regression was applied to model the relationship between the ordinal outcome variable (damage level) and the predictors. The findings indicated that inundation depth, structural material, and function of building were significantly associated with the damage level. In addition to this new type of model, this research provides a valuable insight into the relative influence of different factors on building damage and suggestions that may help to revise the classification of current standards. This study can contribute to academic tsunami research by assessing the contribution of different variables to the observed damage using new approaches based on statistical analysis and regression. Moreover, practical applications of these results include understanding of the predominant factors driving tsunami damage to structures, implementation of the relevant variables into the proposed, or alternative model in order to improve current damage predictions by taking into account not only inundation depth, but also variables such as structural material and function of building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, rapid urban expansion building on landgrabs has become ubiquitous in China. The pursuit of urban-centered economic growth has created crises of land deprivation and rural identity in Chinese rural society. Land-related protests have become the focal point of movements for the protection of Chinese farmers' rights. Drawing on ethnographic materials concerning a series of influential protests over landgrabs in Wukan village, this paper presents a critical rethinking of the economy and an examination of how the restoration of villagers' collective identity has led to communal resistance that has successfully reclaimed governing power and social order, sowing the seed of hope for a better life. A revitalized and reinvented clan system organized around extended kinship networks has played a critical role in reconstituting the collective identity of villagers. The Wukan events constitute the first steps in an ambitious project to turn around farmers' subordinate and vulnerable role within China's relentless urbanization. In this process, the economy has been redefined so as to give greater importance to the livelihood and the well-being of the marginal groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of a research data management infrastructure for a large interdisciplinary research project is presented here, based on well-established Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial ( FOSS4G) products such as MapServer, MapProxy, GeoExt and pyCSW, as well as the (not primarily geospatial) open source technologies Typo3 and CKAN. The presented implementation depends primarily on the demands for research data management infrastructure by the funding research agency. It also aligns to theory and practice in Research Data Management ( RDM) and e-Science. After the research project and related work in the field of RDM are introduced, a detailed description of the architecture and its implementation is given. The article discusses why Open Source and open standards are chosen to implement the infrastructure and provides some suggestions and examples on how to make it easier and more attractive for researchers to upload and publish their primary research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges faced by rural mental health supervisors are myriad and highlight the need to make specific training and support available in rural areas. This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of such a program. Forty rural supervisors attended a one-day training program and six supervisors participated in a six-month follow-up peer group supervision program. Pre- and post-test results revealed a significant improvement in overall self-reported supervision competencies and a drop in feelings of burnout. This structured program provided a convenient, effective, and affordable means to enhance supervision in rural areas. Implications for mental health providers, educators, supervisors, and future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research will be involved in molding condition of temperature, pressure etc. in addition to improve strength and heat of combustion test of the solid fuel product by the adhesives with barley husk after pyrolysis. The results can serve as a reference to the barley husk solid fuel production process design. In sequence, take extrusion molding technique and sintering, the lightweight Buildings are produced for the carbon ash from the solid fuel after combustion utilization. More than finding a suitable formula, this study also conducted analysis on product performance and developed technique to improve process and product performance, as an important reference for future studies. In this study, the variation factors of the solid fuel produced from the barley husk was 3 × 3 × 3. The solid fuel produced from the barley husk used chemically modified starch adhesive, molding temperature and pressure as variation factors. ANOVA multifactor analysis of variance was conducted for the significance level of below 5%. Response to commercial demand, In this study the best formula for the A: S:C= 0.9: 0.4: 6. and sintering temperature 850°C. The surface area and strength is not significant impact. However, the sintering temperature for the surface area and the strength of the impact is significant. However, lightweight building materials is an important consideration for density basis, when low sintering temperature, the lower the density of help on the production of lightweight building material assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The physical trial assembly of a complex steel structure is very expensive in terms of time, costs and logistics. For this reason, the trial assembly of the structure in a virtual way, starting ideally from the data contained in the structure BIM, represents a worthwhile alternative to the physical one. In this paper an innovative method for the virtual trial assembly, based on the Generalized Procrustes Analysis, is proposed. This method allows to find out the optimal analytical least squares assembling of the various built elements. The technique permits to verify the feasibility of a structure assembly, and the fulfillment of the design geometries, starting from the real data obtained by an accurate metric survey of the fabricated elements. The method has been applied to a real case, and the obtained results largely satisfy the prefixed research objectives. At the end, some comments will be given in order to further improve the proposed method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The suitable management of residual usage period for building cranes is impossible without fatigue failure analysis and fatigue assessment of their steel structures. The present paper presents a methodology for calculation of residual usage period of building crane steel structures. The proposed method includes determination of weak points of crane steel structure, working cycle analysis, stress history analysis and calculation of the real stress history parameter for a selected weak point (element), on the basis of which is calculated residual usage period for building crane according to the new European standard EN 13001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the purpose of comparative analysis, this study adopted the point of view of the consumer to verify consumer experience in terms of a satisfaction scale that was based on the concept of consumer experience when commissioning contractors to work on, or designers to design, residential refurbishment. The results indicated that the overall fitness indicator for the satisfaction scale of consumer experience on various types of residential refurbishment, as well as reliability and validity indicators for various aspects of residential refurbishment, were within the acceptable range. This means that the consumer experience satisfaction scale for residential refurbishment, as measured in this study, proved to be both reliable and accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]