A Cloud-Based Architecture for BIM as an Asset for Project Management

After more than 30 years of research, better solutions continue to be sought for nuclear power plant decommissioning and radioactive waste management. As some approaches are interesting, improvements are still required in order for them to become generalized solutions. This thesis is a part of a larger research project that focuses on developing robotic and automated technologies that could support the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ontario. The overarching research project is divided into four main tasks: (i) automatic scanning of parts of a nuclear power plant; (ii) creation of BIMs (Building Information Models) from these scans for integrated asset management, and decommissioning planning and analysis; (iii) non destructive evaluation of elements in the nuclear power plant; and (iv) packing optimization of the radioactive waste for its storage and management. This thesis concerns the second part of the project: creating BIM from the scans (point clouds) generated automatically by a robotic mobile platform. Using Revit® and Recap®, the point clouds are opened in the software and the BIM is created manually from them. A comparison with automatic recognition is made and the limits of both methods are analyzed in order to present the state of the art of automation in this process and the future improvements that can be done. Dividing this larger research project into four tasks is necessary but creates data management problems, representative of the decommissioning planning challenge. In fact all the data is collected separately with no common storage. Because of the size of this project, it appears possibly advantageous to create an interface where all the data can be shared and accessible by all allowed members. However, the confidentiality of some information must be respected. The security aspect of the developed cloud-based interface is introduced in this thesis and its different functions are presented. The working environment programmed here can be utilized as an approach for BIM-based asset and project management. To prepare for future modifications and generalization to other domains or fields of construction, it has the advantage of being customizable. Indeed, all the functions here are coded in Javascript and are designed for this nuclear power plant decommissioning project. But other functionalities can be developed and existing ones can be suppressed to suit perfectly another project

The Affordances of the Digital Medium : Users’ perceptions of digitalization

The aim of this administrative research is to identify the opportunities and obstacles associated with the exploitation of digitalization and digital services. The objective of the study is viewed from a user perspective, undertaken using a co-creation approach. The research material was collected in group discussions between participants in rural areas in Finland, as well as from the organizational environment of Finnish health care. Affordance theory, together with the concepts of the digital medium, and the co-creation of digitalization provide a theoretical framework for the research. The affordance approach provides a perspective to interpret the relationship between the user and the environment, where the aspects of the digital medium and the forming of the collective perception are also considered. By the theoretical framework, this doctoral dissertation responds to the following research question: what is the meaning of affordance theory for the utilization of the digital medium? The results of my study reflect citizens' views on digitalization and e-services. The participants’ attitude towards digitalization is described from the perspective of users, the environment, and digital applications. The model of participatory-deliberative design presented in the study enabled the multidimensional views of the topic. In conclusion, the perspective derived from affordance theory helps us to understand the factors that enable or prevent the utilization of the digital medium. However, the description also opens the cognitive process to the observer itself and to the development community. The increased self-awareness about one’s insights enables the user to be more flexible in controlling how to utilize the opportunities in the environment. Overall, increased awareness of the potential of the environment offers an opportunity to understand the views of others on the subject under consideration and to explain the underlying perception. The additional aspects of design and co-creation of the digital affordances support the successful discovery and implementation of the possibilities. The contribution of this research becomes apparent in unexpected events, as the increased digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates. The results also contribute to much more common surroundings and situations, as in the case of digitalization of welfare services.Tämän hallintotieteellisen tutkimuksen tavoitteena on digitalisaation ja digitaalisten palvelujen hyödyntämiseen liittyvien mahdollisuuksien ja estävien tekijöiden tunnistaminen. Käsiteltävän aiheen tarkastelu noudattaa käyttäjälähtöistä lähestymistapaa, joka toteutettiin yhteiskehittämisen menetelmää hyödyntämällä. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin Suomen maaseutupaikkakunnilta sekä terveydenhuollon organisaatioympäristöstä osallistujien välisistä ryhmäkeskusteluista. Affordanssiteoria yhdessä digitalisaatiotematiikan sekä yhteiskehittämisen lähestymistavan kanssa muodostavat tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen, joka tarjoaa tarkastelunäkökulman käyttäjän ja ympäristön välisen vuorovaikutussuhteen tulkitsemiseksi. Tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen kautta väitöskirja vastaa tutkimuskysymykseen, mikä merkitys affordanssiteorialla on digitalisaation hyödyntämiselle. Tutkimuksen tulokset ilmentävät kansalaisten näkemyksiä digitalisaatiosta ja sähköisistä palveluista. Osallistujien suhtautuminen digitalisaatiota kohtaan kuvataan käyttäjien, ympäristön ja digitaalisten sovellusten näkökulmista. Tutkimuksessa esiteltävä osallistavan deliberatiivisen suunnittelun (participatory-deliberative design) malli mahdollistaa aiheeseen sisältyvien moniulotteisten näkemysten esiin nostamisen. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että affordanssiteorian näkökulma auttaa ymmärtämään niitä tekijöitä, jotka mahdollistavat tai estävät digitalisaatioon liittyvät oivallukset. Affordanssien, eli ns. tarjoumien muodostumista kuvaava kognitiivinen prosessi tarjoaa lisääntyneen oivaltamisen mahdollisuuden sekä havainnoijalle itselleen, mutta myös kehittämisyhteisön hyödynnettäväksi. Kaiken kaikkiaan lisääntynyt tietoisuus ympäristön mahdollisuuksista tarjoaa mahdollisuuden ymmärtää muiden näkökulmia tarkasteltavaan aiheeseen ja selittää ajattelun taustalla vaikuttavia syitä. Tutkimuksen vaikutukset ovat hyödynnettävissä niin odottamattomissa tapahtumissa, kuten COVID-19 pandemian myötä tapahtunut ”digiloikka” osoittaa. Tutkimuksen näkökulma on myös sovellettavissa paljon yleisempiin tilanteisiin, kuten esimerkiksi hyvinvointipalvelujen digitalisoinnin tarkasteluun.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A knowledge acquisition tool to assist case authoring from texts.

Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a technique in Artificial Intelligence where a new problem is solved by making use of the solution to a similar past problem situation. People naturally solve problems in this way, without even thinking about it. For example, an occupational therapist (OT) that assesses the needs of a new disabled person may be reminded of a previous person in terms of their disabilities. He may or may not decide to recommend the same devices based on the outcome of an earlier (disabled) person. Case-based reasoning makes use of a collection of past problem-solving experiences thus enabling users to exploit the information of others successes and failures to solve their own problem(s). This project has developed a CBR tool to assist in matching SmartHouse technology to the needs of the elderly and people with disabilities. The tool makes suggestions of SmartHouse devices that could assist with given impairments. SmartHouse past problem-solving textual reports have been used to obtain knowledge for the CBR system. Creating a case-based reasoning system from textual sources is challenging because it requires that the text be interpreted in a meaningful way in order to create cases that are effective in problem-solving and to be able to reasonably interpret queries. Effective case retrieval and query interpretation is only possible if a domain-specific conceptual model is available and if the different meanings that a word can take can be recognised in the text. Approaches based on methods in information retrieval require large amounts of data and typically result in knowledge-poor representations. The costs become prohibitive if an expert is engaged to manually craft cases or hand tag documents for learning. Furthermore, hierarchically structured case representations are preferred to flat-structured ones for problem-solving because they allow for comparison at different levels of specificity thus resulting in more effective retrieval than flat structured cases. This project has developed SmartCAT-T, a tool that creates knowledge-rich hierarchically structured cases from semi-structured textual reports. SmartCAT-T highlights important phrases in the textual SmartHouse problem-solving reports and uses the phrases to create a conceptual model of the domain. The model then becomes a standard structure onto which each semi-structured SmartHouse report is mapped in order to obtain the correspondingly structured case. SmartCAT-T also relies on an unsupervised methodology that recognises word synonyms in text. The methodology is used to create a uniform vocabulary for the textual reports and the resulting harmonised text is used to create the standard conceptual model of the domain. The technique is also employed in query interpretation during problem solving. SmartCAT-T does not require large sets of tagged data for learning, and the concepts in the conceptual model are interpretable, allowing for expert refinement of knowledge. Evaluation results show that the created cases contain knowledge that is useful for problem solving. An improvement in results is also observed when the text and queries are harmonised. A further evaluation highlights a high potential for the techniques developed in this research to be useful in domains other than SmartHouse. All this has been implemented in the Smarter case-based reasoning system

Wissensgemeinschaften 2015: 18. GeNeMe-Workshop, TU Dresden, 25./26.06.2015: GeNeMe 2015, Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien

Unter dem gemeinsamen Dach „Wissensgemeinschaften“ werden nun zwei Tagungen mit sich gegenseitig ergänzenden thematischen Schwerpunkten zusammengebracht, die Lern- und Wissensprozesse im Spannungsfeld zwischen Organisation, Technologie und (Unternehmens-)Kultur verhandeln. Während die Konferenz „Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien (GeNeMe)“ organisationale und technische Perspektiven im Kontext von Virtual Enterprises, Communities & Social Networks thematisiert, liefert die zweijährlich stattfindende Konferenz „Professionelles Wissensmanagement (ProWM)“ der Fachgruppe Wissensmanagement in der Gesellschaft für Informatik (fgwm) einen breiten integrativen Überblick über die organisatorischen, kulturellen, sozialen und technischen Aspekte des Wissensmanagements.:1 Vorwort: Wissensgemeinschaften in Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft XII 2 Preface: Knowledge Communities in Busuness and Schience XVII Keynotes – eingeladene Vorträge 1 Knowledge Management – Advancements and Future Research Needs – Results from the Global Knowledge Research Network study 1 2 Leeds University Business School, Leeds, UK, 2 Beginnt die neue Arbeitswelt mit einer Abwesenheitsnotiz? 13 Hochschuldidaktik 2.0 1 Vernetztes Lernen an der Hochschule? Ergebnisse und Erfahrungen eines cMOOS 17 2 Smart communities in virtual reality. A comparison of design approaches for academic education 25 3 Flipped Classroom in der Hochschullehre der TU Dresden – Ein Work in Progress-Bericht 39 4 Konzepte für den Einsatz von E-Tutoren in komplexen E-Learning-Szenarien – Ein Erfahrungsbericht 45 Wissensmanagement I 1 Barrieren im interorganisationalen Wissensaustausch auf individueller Ebene – Ordnungsrahmen und Analysemethoden 55 2 GIS-based sales support by company knowledge reuse in the telecommunications sector 67 3 Praktische Entwicklung einer wissensorientierten Unternehmenskultur. Entwurf einer Zertifizierungsmethode 75 4 Supporting Knowledge Management Instruments with Composable Micro-Services 81 Communities 1 MeetingMirror – Unterstützung von Wissenschaftler-Communities auf Konferenzen 91 2 The SIFA community as a virtual learning space in OSH 101 3 Reflexion, Begleitung, Austausch – Die Online-Plattform StudentBodies-AN zur Prävention von Magersucht 107 Technologien, Methoden, Systeme 1 Gamification in der Hochschullehre. Herleitung von Handlungsempfehlungen für den Einsatz von Gamedesign-Elementen in der sächsischen Lernplattform OPAL 115 2 Gebrauchstauglichkeit und Nützlichkeit. Usability und wahrgenommener Nutzen digitaler Lernangebote S. 125 3 Barrierefreiheit im MOOC 135 4 Strukturierte Wikis – Konzept und Anwendungsbeispiel 141 Feedback, Austausch, Ideenfindung 1 Idea-Space: A Use Case of Collaborative Course Development in Higher Education 149 2 Onlinegestützte Audience Response Systeme: Förderung der kognitiven Aktivierung in Vorlesungen und Eröffnung neuer Evaluationsperspektiven 157 3 Mobiles Feedback – Praxisbericht zur Integration eines Audience Response Systems in eine Lehrveranstaltung als Instrument der Lehrevaluation 67 4 Jazz in der Stadt und Rock auf der Autobahn - von der kollaborativen zur kollaborativ-kontextorientierten Musikempfehlung 173 Education 1 Wissens- und Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement durch Kooperationen in Weiterbildungsprojekten 185 2 Lernen aus Erfahrung – vom agilen zum verteilten Präsenzteam 193 3 Development of an E-Learning instructional model for vocational training in Indonesia 203 4 A Survey of Teachers’ Media Literacy in Chinese Vocational Schools 209 Prozess 1 Welche Use Cases eignen sich für die Umsetzung in einem Enterprise Social Network? Eine Fallstudie bei der N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft 225 2 Kontextbezogene, workflowbasierte Assessmentverfahren auf der Grundlage semantischer Wissensbasen 237 3 Collaborative Knowledge Acquisition and Explorationin Technology Search 243 Wissensmanagement II 1 Assessing Informal Social Learning at the Workplace – A Revalidation Case from Healthcare 251 2 Wie Barrieren im Wissenstransfer überwunden werden können – Ergebnisse einer Studie zur Grundhaltung des Misstrauens oder Vertrauens 267 3 Integration von Topic Models und Netzwerkanalyse bei der Bestimmung des Kundenwertes 277 4 Wissensmanagement im Kontext öffentlich-rechtlicher Rahmenbedingungen: Praktische Erfahrungen aus einem Wasserverband 285 Adress- und Autorenverzeichnis 29

An editable live ETL system for ambient intelligence environments

This paper describes early studies and results about the design of a system for supporting domain experts in managing data streams coming from a set of sensors and services at the base of ambient intelligence (AmI) environments. Domain experts can use the proposed system to creatively elaborate their needs and ideas about the type of data-flow to be generated for monitoring emergency situations and combining physical and social sensors. Moreover, they can conduct different analysis by considering their contextual information (space, time, thematic)

Encouraging the Acquistion of Drawing Skills in Game Design: a Case Study

Undergraduate, Interactive Games Design (IGD) courses offered by technical universities in the UK recruit students who are not required to have art or design backgrounds. However, they need to be able to represent their creative ideas. Observations at the University of Gloucestershire have shown that many students find difficulties in expressing their ideas in a visual manner as they do not have adequate drawing skills and eventually some focus on coding and some withdraw. This thesis investigates the links between game design and drawing skills, examining concepts of creativity, learning, design communication and education. To establish the basis of this problem, it was necessary to gain an insight into students‘ and tutors‘ viewpoints and interpretation of this course. Using an interpretive philosophical framework, a mixed method approach was chosen to allow for greater opportunity to understand the phenomenon. Within an action research paradigm, the research was carried out in an evolutionary manner. The extent of the problem was established by eliciting tutors‘ insight from other institutions both arts and technical based. A case study was set out to study two cohorts of students. This identified the problems reported by students and the impact of these on students‘ attitude and motivation. The nature and necessity of drawing skills for sketching storyboards were explored by gaining views of students, tutors and industry professionals. The effect of the tutor-led Art interventions at UoG was investigated. The research identified criteria to assess the quality of storyboard communications and finally a framework for an e-learning object to develop storyboard communication skills was specified. This study revealed that obtaining visual skills is fundamental in order to be able to draw or use rapid prototyping techniques for storyboarding. This needs to be addressed in a specified module or several sessions. It appeared that the design of an art intervention (tutor-based or e-learning object) for IGD students, needs to address the issues of confidence and teamwork alongside with the learning materials in a constructive and gamified style and as interactive as possible in a structured goal-based manner. It would also benefit from Active learning teaching style

Interface Fantasies and Futures: Designing Human-Computer Relations in the Shadow of Memex

This dissertation is about how designers, experimental writers, and innovative thinkers have imagined both computer interfaces and the human/machine relations that might emerge through engagement with different kinds of interfaces. Although futuristic thinking about digital media and their interfaces has changed over time, we can isolate some constants that have persisted through almost all mainstream practices of interface design, particularly in American culture. Drawing from a historical trajectory that I associate with Vannevar Bush and his speculative invention, which he called “memex” in a 1945 essay, I name these constants sterilization and compartmentalization. They are two tendencies or values that I identify in mid-20th-century dreams of mastering information spaces by mastering their interfaces. My project shows how individuals and groups have reinforced or resisted these values in the engineering and design of computer interfaces, both speculative and real. The urge to sterilize and compartmentalize computers has directly and indirectly shaped what we expect and demand from our computers (and the things we make with them) today, and these values trace the horizon of what human-computer relations could be possible in the future