Advanced SBAS-DInSAR technique for controlling large civil infrastructures: an application to the Genzano di Lucania dam

Monitoring surface deformation on dams is commonly carried out by in situ geodetic surveying, which is time consuming and characterized by some limitations in space coverage and frequency. More recently microwave satellite-based technologies, such as advanced-DInSAR (Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry), have allowed the integration and improvement of the observation capabilities of ground-based methods thanks to their effectiveness in collecting displacement measurements on many non-destructive control points, corresponding to radar reflecting targets. The availability of such a large number of points of measurement, which are distributed along the whole structure and are characterized by millimetric accuracy on displacement rates, can be profitably adopted for the calibration of numerical models. These models are implemented to simulate the structural behaviour of a dam under conditions of stress thus improving the ability to maintain safety standards. In this work, after having analysed how advanced DInSAR can effectively enhance the results from traditional monitoring systems that provide comparable accuracy measurements on a limited number of points, an FEM model of the Genzano di Lucania earth dam is developed and calibrated. This work is concentrated on the advanced DInSAR technique referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) approach, benefiting from its capability to generate deformation time series at full spatial resolution and from multi-sensor SAR data, to measure the vertical consolidation displacement of the Genzano di Lucania earth dam

On systematic approaches for interpreted information transfer of inspection data from bridge models to structural analysis

In conjunction with the improved methods of monitoring damage and degradation processes, the interest in reliability assessment of reinforced concrete bridges is increasing in recent years. Automated imagebased inspections of the structural surface provide valuable data to extract quantitative information about deteriorations, such as crack patterns. However, the knowledge gain results from processing this information in a structural context, i.e. relating the damage artifacts to building components. This way, transformation to structural analysis is enabled. This approach sets two further requirements: availability of structural bridge information and a standardized storage for interoperability with subsequent analysis tools. Since the involved large datasets are only efficiently processed in an automated manner, the implementation of the complete workflow from damage and building data to structural analysis is targeted in this work. First, domain concepts are derived from the back-end tasks: structural analysis, damage modeling, and life-cycle assessment. The common interoperability format, the Industry Foundation Class (IFC), and processes in these domains are further assessed. The need for usercontrolled interpretation steps is identified and the developed prototype thus allows interaction at subsequent model stages. The latter has the advantage that interpretation steps can be individually separated into either a structural analysis or a damage information model or a combination of both. This approach to damage information processing from the perspective of structural analysis is then validated in different case studies

Expert systems and the emergence of teledesign

This paper considers the extent to which the amateur use of expert systems for home design challenges traditional views of the design process. The issues are examined in the context of competing definitions of design. The emergence of a design process characterised as ‘teledesign’ is then considered, wherein retailers provide a CAD/CAM service to consumers, allowing the latter to use expert systems to modify template designs and get products fabricated to their own specifications. Such a system may be seen to empower consumers as designers, rather than just selectors of products, and would differ considerably from established paradigms of design, manufacture and consumption, such as that given by Baudrillard

Designing a novel virtual collaborative environment to support collaboration in design review meetings

Project review meetings are part of the project management process and are organised to assess progress and resolve any design conflicts to avoid delays in construction. One of the key challenges during a project review meeting is to bring the stakeholders together and use this time effectively to address design issues as quickly as possible. At present, current technology solutions based on BIM or CAD are information-centric and do not allow project teams to collectively explore the design from a range of perspectives and brainstorm ideas when design conflicts are encountered. This paper presents a system architecture that can be used to support multi-functional team collaboration more effectively during such design review meetings. The proposed architecture illustrates how information-centric BIM or CAD systems can be made human- and team-centric to enhance team communication and problem solving. An implementation of the proposed system architecture has been tested for its utility, likability and usefulness during design review meetings. The evaluation results suggest that the collaboration platform has the potential to enhance collaboration among multi-functional teams

A RESTful API for exchanging Materials Data in the AFLOWLIB.org consortium

The continued advancement of science depends on shared and reproducible data. In the field of computational materials science and rational materials design this entails the construction of large open databases of materials properties. To this end, an Application Program Interface (API) following REST principles is introduced for the AFLOWLIB.org materials data repositories consortium. AUIDs (Aflowlib Unique IDentifier) and AURLs (Aflowlib Uniform Resource locator) are assigned to the database resources according to a well-defined protocol described herein, which enables the client to access, through appropriate queries, the desired data for post-processing. This introduces a new level of openness into the AFLOWLIB repository, allowing the community to construct high-level work-flows and tools exploiting its rich data set of calculated structural, thermodynamic, and electronic properties. Furthermore, federating these tools would open the door to collaborative investigation of the data by an unprecedented extended community of users to accelerate the advancement of computational materials design and development.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Roles in construction projects: analysis and terminology

Standard form contracts are typically developed through a negotiated consensus, unless they are proffered by one specific interest group. Previously published plans of work and other descriptions of the processes in construction projects tend to focus on operational issues, or they tend to be prepared from the point of view of one or other of the dominant interest groups. Legal practice in the UK permits those who draft contracts to define their terms as they choose. There are no definitive rulings from the courts that give an indication as to the detailed responsibilities of project participants. The science of terminology offers useful guidance for discovering and describing terms and their meanings in their practical context, but has never been used for defining terms for responsibilities of participants in the construction project management process. Organizational analysis enables the management task to be deconstructed into its elemental parts in order that effective organizational structures can be developed. Organizational mapping offers a useful technique for reducing text-based descriptions of project management roles and responsibilities to a comparable basis. Research was carried out by means of a desk study, detailed analysis of nine plans of work and focus groups representing all aspects of the construction industry. No published plan of work offers definitive guidance. There is an enormous amount of variety in the way that terms are used for identifying responsibilities of project participants. A catalogue of concepts and terms (a “Terminology”) has been compiled and indexed to enable those who draft contracts to choose the most appropriate titles for project participants. The purpose of this terminology is to enable the selection and justification of appropriate terms in order to help define roles. The terminology brings an unprecedented clarity to the description of roles and responsibilities in construction projects and, as such, will be helpful for anyone seeking to assemble a team and specify roles for project participants

Apperceptive patterning: Artefaction, extensional beliefs and cognitive scaffolding

In “Psychopower and Ordinary Madness” my ambition, as it relates to Bernard Stiegler’s recent literature, was twofold: 1) critiquing Stiegler’s work on exosomatization and artefactual posthumanism—or, more specifically, nonhumanism—to problematize approaches to media archaeology that rely upon technical exteriorization; 2) challenging how Stiegler engages with Giuseppe Longo and Francis Bailly’s conception of negative entropy. These efforts were directed by a prevalent techno-cultural qualifier: the rise of Synthetic Intelligence (including neural nets, deep learning, predictive processing and Bayesian models of cognition). This paper continues this project but first directs a critical analytic lens at the Derridean practice of the ontologization of grammatization from which Stiegler emerges while also distinguishing how metalanguages operate in relation to object-oriented environmental interaction by way of inferentialism. Stalking continental (Kapp, Simondon, Leroi-Gourhan, etc.) and analytic traditions (e.g., Carnap, Chalmers, Clark, Sutton, Novaes, etc.), we move from artefacts to AI and Predictive Processing so as to link theories related to technicity with philosophy of mind. Simultaneously drawing forth Robert Brandom’s conceptualization of the roles that commitments play in retrospectively reconstructing the social experiences that lead to our endorsement(s) of norms, we compliment this account with Reza Negarestani’s deprivatized account of intelligence while analyzing the equipollent role between language and media (both digital and analog)