Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning

[EN] This paper describes a teaching innovation project that adopts the project-based learning approach to introduce civil engineering students to their future professional roles and tasks throughout the infrastructure life cycle. The successful development of the whole process and completion of the infrastructure in the best technical and sustainable conditions require a comprehensive view of the infrastructure life cycle. Courses on Project Design and Project and Business Management at the B.Sc. in Civil Engineering simulated practical experiences in bidding, design, estimation, preliminary analysis, and construction planning, linking theory to professional practice. This study describes the organization of both courses to implement the simulations. To analyze the experience from the student¿s point of view, a survey examined the students¿ perceptions of the achievement of higher-order learning and their comprehensive view of the infrastructure life cycle. In addition, the learning results were compared with the students¿ perceptions. Results indicated that students are aware of the learning improvement after performing the proposed activities. In addition, this approach helps the students to develop the professional competencies needed for the curricula. The coordination of the courses to align the learning activities with the life cycle phases enables students to deepen their understanding of the phases of the infrastructure life cycle while they acquire a comprehensive view of the process. In addition, this approach has improved the motivation and engagement of the students. This teaching innovation project is easily adaptable to other engineering curricula.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Teaching Innovation Project PIME/18-19/84).García-Segura, T.; Montalbán-Domingo, L.; Sanz-Benlloch, A.; Domingo Cabo, A.; Catalá Alís, J.; Pellicer, E. (2023). Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning. Journal of Civil Engineering Education. 149(1):1-13. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.2643-9115.0000072113149

Organisational challenges of the semantic web in digital libraries: A Norwegian case study

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine from a socio-technical point of view the impact of semantic web technology on the strategic, organisational and technological levels. The semantic web initiative holds great promise for the future for digital libraries. There is, however, a considerable gap in semantic web research between the contributions in the technological field and research in the organisational field. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive case study of the National Library of Norway (NL) is conducted, building on two major sources of information: the documentation of the digitising project of the NL; and interviews with nine different stakeholders at three levels of NL's organisation during June to August 2007. Top managers are interviewed on strategy, middle managers and librarians are interviewed regarding organisational issues and ICT professionals are interviewed on technology issues. Findings – The findings indicate that the highest impact will be at the organisational level. This is mainly because inter-organisational and cross-organisational structures have to be established to address the problems of ontology engineering, and a development framework for ontology engineering in digital libraries must be examined. Originality/value – ICT professionals and library practitioners should be more mindful of organisational issues when planning and executing semantic web projects in digital libraries. In particular, practitioners should be aware that the ontology engineering process and the semantic meta-data production will affect the entire organisation. For public digital libraries this probably will also call for a more open policy towards user groups to properly manage the process of ontology engineering

Definition and Representation of Requirement Engineering/Management : A Process-Oriented Approach

Requirements are important in software development, product development, projects, processes, and systems. However, a review of the requirements literature indicates several problems. First, there is confusion between the terms ?requirements engineering? and ?requirements management.? Similarities and/or differences between the two terms are resolved through a literature review; resulting in comprehensive definitions of each term. Second, current literature recognizes the importance of requirements but offers few methodologies or solutions for defining and managing requirements. Hence, a flexible methodology or framework is provided for defining and managing requirements. Third, requirements methodologies are represented in various ways, each with their respective strengths and weaknesses. A tabular view and hybrid graphical view for representing the requirements process are provided

Selection of ground motion prediction equations for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis based on an improved fuzzy logic

The fuzzy logic method has been used widely in civil and earthquake engineering, but there is no comprehensive point of view for utilizing fuzzy approach in order to obtain ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). Hence, fuzzy magnitude–distance method as a new approach for choosing GMPEs in the process of PSHA, is developed in this research through the selection of the ruling peak ground acceleration (PGA) of each common cell (the combined cell of earthquake intensity and site to source distance). The presented method reduces the need for engineering judgments in seismic analysis based on a newly developed benchmark. It enables designers to not only determine the range of acceptable fuzzy results but also introduces a concept which ensures the selection of initial well-suited GMPEs for the analysis

Assessment of airplane design, fabrication, and repair

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 43).Engineering programs are most often classes dedicated to how to design things, while the topic of reverse engineering or problem solving is rarely discussed. This unequal presentation of two sides of the same discipline limits the student's ability to completely understand the engineering process. This paper discusses all stages of airplane design, fabrication, and repair, and attempts to provide a comprehensive view of the overall procedure instead of just one aspect. In most cases, the Boeing 747 is used as an example, though most commercial aircrafts are built in a similar fashion. Once it has been decided to build a new airplane, the design stage can begin. The progression through conceptual design, preliminary design, and detail design can take anywhere from a few to several years depending on the complexity of the model. The fabrication stage slightly overlaps the detail design phase as coordination between engineering and manufacturing occurs. With one exception on the wing panels, the entire airplane is put together manually. This type of build process naturally leads to mistakes by human error. In order to remedy these problems, engineers inside the factory take responsibility for restoring the airplane to its original designed capacity. In this paper, each stage of airplane development from initial concept to final certification is presented in detail to offer a well-rounded assessment of the airplane construction industry.by Lauren Stolar.M.Eng

Improving enterprise business processes with systems analysis and design methodologies and tools.

Enterprises have to be organized in a business process oriented way. This is in order to be successful in a changing and challenging business environment including uncertainty and complexity in managing business and manufacturing processes. The main objective of this thesis is to implement comprehensive modelling methodologies and tools that capture all useful information included within the enterprise business processes. This has been achieved first through implementing the Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) methodologies and tools for integrating the business design processes. The implementation should recognize the enterprise organization view, data and information view, function view, and also product/service view. Such recognition is required in order to improve the reuse of business process models for the implementation of workflow management applications. The implemented design methodologies have been demonstrated through two case studies, including the modelling of business and automotive manufacturing processes. In Addition, the Architecture of the Integrated Information System (ARIS) has been presented in both implementations using ARIS tool set. The ARIS implementation has assisted in supporting analysis for potential changes, specifying requirements, and also supporting the modeled business processes systems level design and integration activities. Results of using the selected graphical design languages with the systematic explanations of modelling the business process functions and activities revealed the need for implementing comprehensive SAD methodologies. Also, the SAD methodologies have assisted with integrating the enterprise through modelling its business activities, technology, and human elements involved. The benefits and disadvantages of each modelling methodology and tool is studied and discussed in detail in this thesis.Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .K39. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1475. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

GPR Application – Non-destructive Technology for Verification of Thicknesses of Newly Paved Roads in Slovakia

AbstractThe paper focuses on the use of non-destructive testing technology for measurement of asphalt and unbound pavement structure layer thicknesses for quality control and quality assurance within the context of civil engineering project handover process. In addition to layer thickness information, the pavement roughness was also verified using 3D accelerometer technique and IRI parameters were calculated and analyzed. This presentation summarizes the technology and results of a project where a special section of highway R2 Žiar nad Hronom bypass in the length of 5.2km was selected for the non-destructive testing. The processing and interpretation consists of extensive data sets presented as longitudinal profiles from survey of each lane of road. The designed layer thicknesses of the road were then compared with measured thickness data. In addition, a comprehensive presentation of the results in GIS view was produced to ensure the subsequent decision-making process easy to execute

Testing as a Service on Cloud A Review

Software testing is an important part of software engineering life cycle. Software testing is a process used for evaluating an attributes or capability of program and makes sure that it meets the requirements. The application building techniques have changed and has adapted to newly emerging technology of cloud. Cloud computing has changed t he way of obtaining computing resources, and also has given a new direction to manage and deliver computing services, technologies, and solutions. Cloud computing not only brings new business opportunities, but also causes some majo r impacts on software testing and maintenance. Cloud computing creates an opportunity that offer s testing as a service (TaaS) for SaaS and Cloud s. This lead to a new phase shift in conventional testing thereby identifying new issues, challenges and needs in software testing, particular in testing Cloud s and Cloud - based applications. This paper gives a comprehensive view on Testing as a Service. Also a comparative view towards conventional testing and Cloud testing is also considered