Building information modeling – A game changer for interoperability and a chance for digital preservation of architectural data?

Digital data associated with the architectural design-andconstruction process is an essential resource alongside -and even past- the lifecycle of the construction object it describes. Despite this, digital architectural data remains to be largely neglected in digital preservation research – and vice versa, digital preservation is so far neglected in the design-and-construction process. In the last 5 years, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has seen a growing adoption in the architecture and construction domains, marking a large step towards much needed interoperability. The open standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is one way in which data is exchanged in BIM processes. This paper presents a first digital preservation based look at BIM processes, highlighting the history and adoption of the methods as well as the open file format standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) as one way to store and preserve BIM data

EEF-CAS: An Effort Estimation Framework with Customizable Attribute Selection

Existing estimation frameworks generally provide one-size-fits-all solutions that fail to produce accurate estimates in most environments. Research has shown that the accomplishment of accurate effort estimates is a long-term process that, above all, requires the extensive collection of effort estimation data by each organization. Collected data is generally characterized by a set of attributes that are believed to affect the development effort. The attributes that most affect development effort vary widely depending on the type of product being developed and the environment in which it is being developed. Thus, any new estimation framework must offer the flexibility of customizable attribute selection. Moreover, such attributes could provide the ability to incorporate empirical evidence and expert judgment into the effort estimation framework. Finally, because software is virtual and therefore intangible, the most important software metrics are notorious for being subjective according to the experience of the estimator. Consequently, a measurement and inference system that is robust to subjectivity and uncertainty must be in place. The Effort Estimation Framework with Customizable Attribute Selection (EEF-CAS) presented in this paper has been designed with the above requirements in mind. It is accompanied with four preparation process steps that allow for any organization implementing it to establish an estimation process. This estimation process facilitates data collection, framework customization to the organization’s needs, its calibration with the organization’s data, and the capability of continual improvement. The proposed framework described in this paper was validated in a real software development organization

Swarm autonomic agents with self-destruct capability

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which in some embodiments an autonomic entity manages a system by generating one or more stay alive signals based on the functioning status and operating state of the system. In some embodiments, an evolvable synthetic neural system is operably coupled to one or more evolvable synthetic neural systems in a hierarchy. The evolvable neural interface receives and generates heartbeat monitor signals and pulse monitor signals that are used to generate a stay alive signal that is used to manage the operations of the synthetic neural system. In another embodiment an asynchronous Alice signal (Autonomic license) requiring valid credentials of an anonymous autonomous agent is initiated. An unsatisfactory Alice exchange may lead to self-destruction of the anonymous autonomous agent for self-protection

Swarm autonomic agents with self-destruct capability

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which in some embodiments an autonomic entity manages a system by generating one or more stay alive signals based on the functioning status and operating state of the system. In some embodiments, an evolvable synthetic neural system is operably coupled to one or more evolvable synthetic neural systems in a hierarchy. The evolvable neural interface receives and generates heartbeat monitor signals and pulse monitor signals that are used to generate a stay alive signal that is used to manage the operations of the synthetic neural system. In another embodiment an asynchronous Alice signal (Autonomic license) requiring valid credentials of an anonymous autonomous agent is initiated. An unsatisfactory Alice exchange may lead to self-destruction of the anonymous autonomous agent for self-protection

Inferring past refugia and range dynamics through the integration of fossil, niche modelling and genomic data

Aim: Reconstructing species' glacial refugial history and demographic changes over time has greatly relied on comparing inferences from multiple methods while not sufficiently acknowledging their limitations. Here, we aim to integrate as fully as possible complementary methods in ecology, genomics and palaeobiology to improve the reconstruction of species biogeographical history. Location: South-western Europe. Taxon: Cabrera vole (Microtus cabrerae). Methods: We compiled and mapped the raw fossil data of the Cabrera vole for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Mid-Holocene (MH). Alongside, we projected the calibrated ecological niche model (ENM) of the species' current distribution for the LGM, the Younger Dryas and the MH. Complementarily, we used previously obtained Genotyping-by- Sequencing data to evaluate the demographic history and range expansion patterns of all four Evolutionarily Significant Units of the species, in an integrative framework. Results: ENM-inferred refugial areas and genomic modelling consistently supported northern Iberian glacial refugia for the Cabrera vole. This contrasted with the higher fossil abundance of the species in southern and eastern Iberia and southern France from the LGM to the MH. Our results suggest that populations in areas with high fossil abundance went extinct, and were later replaced by northern Iberian populations such that they did not contribute significantly to the current gene pool. Main conclusions: Our integrative approach indicates how the range of the Cabrera vole fluctuated in response to environmental change during and following the LGM. Despite methodological limitations, the ENM and genomic approaches produced generally congruent results. Instead, the fossil record may misrepresent the ancestral distribution of this species and should be considered cautiously for ancestral distribution reconstruction, considering that it also reflects the fossilization conditions. Overall, our study supports the idea that integrative approaches are essential to provide an accurate and well-supported picture of historical refugial areas and range dynamicsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Flood response process knowledge of Lower Sava Valley communities in Slovenia

This paper focuses on the learning process of the flood-endangered communities in the Lower Sava Valley in Slovenia. In past five years, the communities faced several floods, which occurred because of the rain in central and northeast parts of Slovenia. Floods differed by their severity. On the first hand, the least harming caused only higher water levels of the major rivers, which cause isolation of couple of households. On the other hand, the most harming floods caused roadblocks, flooding the entire areas and communities. Hydrological and meteorological data, describing river dynamics and rainfall was gathered from the Slovenian Environment Agency database, while data describing the severity of the flood events from the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief database. To be able to simulate and assess floods` characteristics, we combined all gathered data into the singled database with the timeline of the flood events. We used data mining, process modeling and statistical methods to build up the simulation model, to compare simulation output with the real world data and to finally evaluate community learning process. Through the past floods, communities had the opportunity to learn about flood characteristics, how to properly react and protect the endangered property. We identified emerged tacit knowledge, which made possible some communities to reduce flood risk. We conducted preliminary semi-structured interviews with people who live in the flood-endangered areas to get the insight on the perception of the floods. Further, we designed fuzzy knowledge assessment system to evaluate which of the communities demonstrated the highest learning experience. We identified influence of the community knowledge on the response process and further try to optimize learning model, with the measures, extracted from the national strategic defense documents. The improved model revealed much higher self-reliance and flood resilience of the communities, when they are provided with more systematic learning about the floods and counter flood measures. Consequently, the whole flood response process workload significantly reduced according to the higher ability of the communities to resolve flood situation with no additional external support

Environmental risk analysis and management associated with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

CCS legislation is currently comprised of an overlapping network of international agreements and regional policies which form a strong basis for environmental protection for potential leakage of CO2 from underground storage sites. However, these legislative instruments form an uncoordinated legal basis for CCS with overly stringent liability provisions posing a significant barrier to stakeholder investment, technology development and future roll-out of commercial scale CCS projects. A number of insurance companies have recently developed different types of insurance mechanisms for covering CO2 storage facilities. Whilst these types of insurance policies are beneficial in encouraging the CCS industry in general, there are also drawbacks. Mostly, they only cover the CO2 capture facility during the operational phase of power plants or they solely cover the facility for 10 to 30 years after injection has been completed and storage sites have been sealed off. Furthermore, there is no standard regime for a comprehensive insurance mechanism for commercial scale CO2 storage facilities due to lack of enough information in regards to the long-term liability of potential CO2 leakage, type of risks involved in the technology of geological storage of CO2 and the likelihood of occurrence of these perceived. This research has identified the main risks associated with CO2 storage under geological formations and has developed a novel mechanism that enables the insurance industry to assess the risks of CO2 storage more effectively and therefore adjust their premium rates more in favour of CCS projects. In addition, this will also be beneficial for regulators in enabling them to regulate more effectively in order to incentivise stakeholder participation and investment in the CCS technology. The said mechanism has been developed using a range of systems engineering optimization techniques in order to assess the significance and criticality of the risks of CO2 leakage through the caprock and their likelihood of occurrence.Open Acces

The Embattled Social Utilities of the Endangered Species Act - A Noah Presumption and Caution Against Putting Gasmasks on the Canaries in the Coalmine

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is once again poised at the brink of what could become an illuminating national debate. The Act’s congressional reauthorization process is likely to provide the first major indicator of what the 105th Congress will or won’t do to environmental law generally. From the turbulent past and present of the ESA, this essay offers some reminders for the impending battles over the Act