A state-of-the-art review on the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS)

The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been identified as a promising but challenging topic to transform information towards the generation of knowledge and intelligence. Achievement of integrating these two concepts and enabling technologies will have a significant impact on solving problems in the civil, building and infrastructure sectors. However, since GIS and BIM were originally developed for different purposes, numerous challenges are being encountered for the integration. To better understand these two different domains, this paper reviews the development and dissimilarities of GIS and BIM, the existing integration methods, and investigates their potential in various applications. This study shows that the integration methods are developed for various reasons and aim to solve different problems. The parameters influencing the choice can be summarized and named as "EEEF" criteria: effectiveness, extensibility, effort, and flexibility. Compared with other methods, semantic web technologies provide a promising and generalized integration solution. However, the biggest challenges of this method are the large efforts required at early stage and the isolated development of ontologies within one particular domain. The isolation problem also applies to other methods. Therefore, openness is the key of the success of BIM and GIS integration

Collaborative Lawyers' Duties to Screen the Appropriateness of Collaborative Law and Obtain Clients' Informed Consent to Use Collaborative Law

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

Collaborative Lawyers\u27 Duties to Screen the Appropriateness of Collaborative Law and Obtain Clients\u27 Informed Consent to Use Collaborative Law

Collaborative Law (CL) is an innovative dispute resolution process that offers significant benefits but also poses significant non-obvious risks. This Article provides a systematic analysis of these possible risks as identified in books written by CL experts, CL practice group websites, social science research, and bar association ethics opinions. In CL, the lawyers and clients sign a participation agreement promising to use an interest-based approach to negotiation and fully disclose all relevant information. A key element of CL is the disqualification agreement signed by parties (and sometimes by attorneys) which provides that both CL lawyers would be disqualified from representing the clients if the parties engage in contested litigation. CL is designed to encourage parties to stay in the process which can be good, though sometimes parties feel stuck there, having invested thousands of dollars and being at risk of losing their lawyer if the process terminates. Ethical rules require lawyers to inform participants about the risks of the process and screen cases for appropriateness under Rules 1.2 and 1.7 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Empirical studies raise concerns about CL lawyers\u27 compliance with these duties. This article is intended to help prepare CL lawyers and practice groups so that they can better educate potential clients and comply with their obligations to screen cases and help clients make informed decisions about use of CL. It is also intended to help policymakers in promulgating and applying relevant rules. Bar association ethics committees may find this analysis useful in writing ethics opinions and adjudicating possible complaints against CL lawyers. Similarly, courts may find this useful in adjudicating possible malpractice complaints

Ecosystem-Based Management and Refining Governance Of Wind Energy in the Massachusetts Coastal Zone: A Case Study Approach

While there are as yet no wind energy facilities in New England coastal waters, a number of wind turbine projects are now operating on land adjacent to the coast. In the Gulf of Maine region (from Maine to Massachusetts), at least two such projects, one in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and another on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine, began operation with public backing only to face subsequent opposition from some who were initially project supporters. I investigate the reasons for this dynamic using content analysis of documents related to wind energy facility development in three case study communities. For comparison and contrast with the Vinalhaven and Falmouth case studies, I examine materials from Hull, Massachusetts, where wind turbine construction and operation has received steady public support and acceptance. My research addresses the central question: What does case study analysis of the siting and initial operation of three wind energy projects in the Gulf of Maine region reveal that can inform future governance of wind energy in Massachusetts state coastal waters? I consider the question with specific attention to governance of wind energy in Massachusetts, then explore ways in which the research results may be broadly transferable in the U.S. coastal context. I determine that the change in local response noted in Vinalhaven and Falmouth may have arisen from a failure of consistent inclusion of stakeholders throughout the entire scoping-to-siting process, especially around the reporting of environmental impact studies. I find that, consistent with the principles of ecosystem-based and adaptive management, design of governance systems may require on-going cycles of review and adjustment before the implementation of such systems as intended is achieved in practice. I conclude that evolving collaborative processes must underlie science and policy in our approach to complex environmental and wind energy projects; indeed, collaborative process is fundamental to the successful governance of such projects, including any that may involve development of wind energy in the Massachusetts coastal zone or beyond. Three supplemental files of coded data accompany this dissertation

Ecosystem-Based Management and Refining Governance Of Wind Energy in the Massachusetts Coastal Zone: A Case Study Approach

While there are as yet no wind energy facilities in New England coastal waters, a number of wind turbine projects are now operating on land adjacent to the coast. In the Gulf of Maine region (from Maine to Massachusetts), at least two such projects, one in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and another on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine, began operation with public backing only to face subsequent opposition from some who were initially project supporters. I investigate the reasons for this dynamic using content analysis of documents related to wind energy facility development in three case study communities. For comparison and contrast with the Vinalhaven and Falmouth case studies, I examine materials from Hull, Massachusetts, where wind turbine construction and operation has received steady public support and acceptance. My research addresses the central question: What does case study analysis of the siting and initial operation of three wind energy projects in the Gulf of Maine region reveal that can inform future governance of wind energy in Massachusetts state coastal waters? I consider the question with specific attention to governance of wind energy in Massachusetts, then explore ways in which the research results may be broadly transferable in the U.S. coastal context. I determine that the change in local response noted in Vinalhaven and Falmouth may have arisen from a failure of consistent inclusion of stakeholders throughout the entire scoping-to-siting process, especially around the reporting of environmental impact studies. I find that, consistent with the principles of ecosystem-based and adaptive management, design of governance systems may require on-going cycles of review and adjustment before the implementation of such systems as intended is achieved in practice. I conclude that evolving collaborative processes must underlie science and policy in our approach to complex environmental and wind energy projects; indeed, collaborative process is fundamental to the successful governance of such projects, including any that may involve development of wind energy in the Massachusetts coastal zone or beyond. Three supplemental files of coded data accompany this dissertation

Divergent Organizational Change in Hospitals: Exploring how hospital leaders and employees can contribute to successful outcomes.

This thesis consists of three papers that aim to increase our understanding of how divergent changes to organizational structures and management systems in hospitals may be handled by leaders and employees in order to achieve outcomes that contribute towards organizational goals of service quality improvement. Reforms, new policies and the continuous large- and/or small-scale changes aiming for service quality improvement that they manifest in within hospital organizations have been identified as a move away from professional dominance and autonomy, and a move towards a health care system where managerial and market logics are influential. These changes have challenged the organizing principles of professional power in decisions regarding hospital organizational structures and management systems, and professional services are increasingly subject to organizational reform, budgetary control and managerial supervision. Organizational changes that break with existing institutions in a field of activity are defined as divergent. Despite decades of managerial logic initiatives, health care organizations are still heavily influenced by the professional logic. Introducing changes that are based in a managerial or market logic into the work of health service professionals could therefore be considered as divergent, and potentially conflictual, organizational change which would be met with resistance rather than readiness for change and willing participation. We know from previous research that quality improvement initiatives in hospitals very often fail to produce the intended results. We also know that involving health care professionals in processes aimed at improving hospital services is widely considered as a critical factor for achieving goals of quality improvement. However, the most widely documented reaction to divergent change from clinical staff is resistance or active opposition to new arrangements, and this is often identified as the reason for failure in achieving the improvements that change projects aim for. There are few studies of successful outcomes of divergent changes in health care organizations. There are also few empirical studies of professional engagement in such organizational change efforts. This means that there is an identified need for studies that shed light on how successful outcomes occur in a variety of contexts and related to a variety of different types of changes, as well as for more in-depth research on how divergent changes may be handled by hospital leaders and employees in order to achieve outcomes that contribute towards organizational goals of service quality improvement. This thesis raises the two following research questions: How are frequent organizational changes in hospitals and middle manager change-oriented leadership related to organizational and employee outcomes relevant to hospital service quality? How can hospital leaders and employees contribute to processes of implementing divergent changes to organizational structures and management systems in order to achieve outcomes that contribute towards organizational goals of service quality improvement? The first question is answered by Paper 1, titled “Changing to improve? Organizational change and change oriented leadership in hospitals.” The second question is answered by Papers 2 and 3, and an overall discussion of the findings from all three papers

Designed and emerging affordances in tutor-learner multimodal interactions via videoconferencing for second language learning and teaching: an activity theoretical approach

Videoconferencing for L2 learning affords the unique possibility of online synchronous interaction with L2 expert speakers using web-camera, microphone and text chat; pin marking students’ errors on the oral recordings; generating online feedback, etc. However, distance learning mediated by technology also presents inherent complexities due to multiple spaces, timescales, cultures and norms that are different from a classroom environment. This makes the study of affordances important to inform videoconference embedded L2 pedagogy. An affordance designates an action possibility, positive or negative, that is offered by an object or environment to an actor in the environment. Few studies have analysed the emergence and realisation of affordances in learning environments with substantial socio-cultural, pedagogical and technological components. Drawing on Cultural Historical Activity Theory, this thesis investigates the emergence and realisation of linguistic, pedagogical, technological and socio-cultural affordances in tutor-tutee multimodal interactions via videoconferencing. Master’s students (teacher-trainees) of French as a foreign language from a French University interacted online via videoconferencing with undergraduate Business students learning French at an Irish University over a period of 6 weeks. The tutor-tutee online interactions generated a multimodal corpus that provided the data for this activity-theoretical study. Activity systems at the macro, meso and micro levels were modelled, and the designed and emerging affordances were identified. Furthermore, new actions emerged to overcome manifestations of contradictions at the macro inter-institutional interaction level and at the micro level of moment-to-moment tutor-tutee interactions. The findings reveal that the design of pedagogical and technological tools, institutional norms and the division of labour within and between institutions triggered multi-level intra and inter-systemic contradictions. These were resolved by the creation of novel mediating tools and models as well as more learner-centred pedagogical interactions. Consequently, a taxonomy of technological, pedagogical and social affordances is suggested to help inform videoconference embedded L2 pedagogical design and teacher training