88,418 research outputs found
Construction: A guide to finding information
Guide to finding books and journal articles in the library for construction management studnets and staf
Deciding Orthogonality in Construction-A Lattices
Lattices are discrete mathematical objects with widespread applications to
integer programs as well as modern cryptography. A fundamental problem in both
domains is the Closest Vector Problem (popularly known as CVP). It is
well-known that CVP can be easily solved in lattices that have an orthogonal
basis \emph{if} the orthogonal basis is specified. This motivates the
orthogonality decision problem: verify whether a given lattice has an
orthogonal basis. Surprisingly, the orthogonality decision problem is not known
to be either NP-complete or in P.
In this paper, we focus on the orthogonality decision problem for a
well-known family of lattices, namely Construction-A lattices. These are
lattices of the form , where is an error-correcting
-ary code, and are studied in communication settings. We provide a complete
characterization of lattices obtained from binary and ternary codes using
Construction-A that have an orthogonal basis. We use this characterization to
give an efficient algorithm to solve the orthogonality decision problem. Our
algorithm also finds an orthogonal basis if one exists for this family of
lattices. We believe that these results could provide a better understanding of
the complexity of the orthogonality decision problem for general lattices
Target costing in construction: a comparative study
Target costing is an approach for the development of new products in the automobile industry, aimed at reducing their life-cycle costs while ensuring quality, reliability and other client requirements, by examining all possible ideas for cost reduction at the product planning, research and development and prototyping phases. Prior studies have attempted to adapt the manufacturing target costing process to the project-based nature of the construction industry. This paper aims to provide insights for future target costing implementations in the public sector projects. A qualitative comparison of three studies is performed through the lens of a set of target costing influencing factors. Similarities and differences revealed in the comparison suggest that factors related to supplier-base strategy and to the nature of customer are potentially relevant to future target costing implementations in public sector projects
Ditransitive verbs and the ditransitive construction: a diachronic perspective
This paper argues for the adoption of a construction-based perspective to the investigation of diachronic shifts in valency, which is a hitherto largely neglected topic in the framework of valency grammar. On the basis of a comparison of the set of verbs attested in the double object argument structure pattern in a corpus of 18th-century British English with the construction's present-day semantic range, I will distinguish between three kinds of valency shifts. It will be shown that the semantic ranges of schematic argument structure constructions are subject to diachronic change, and that the shifts in valency observed in individual verbs are often part of more general changes at the level of the associated argument structure constructions. The latter part of the paper explores frequency shifts in valency and constructional semantics
Women in construction: A study on leadership
The women participation rate in construction sector both in academia and
industry is very low, particularly at senior management level. The statistical analyses of
western countries reveal that while the numbers of women entering management positions
continues to increase, women remain under-represented in senior executive positions. It is
important to attract and retain professional women with good leadership qualification and
skills in the senior positions in order to maintain a good standard and professionalism within
the construction sector. In this context, this paper will examine the literature relating to the
educational and executive leadership in construction associated with Women. Focus will be
given on the reasons behind the under-representation of women both at educational and
executive leadership levels within the construction sector. The study also examines the
barriers faced by women entering senior executive position
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