An openbim approach to iot integration with incomplete as-built data

Digital Twins (DT) are powerful tools to support asset managers in the operation and maintenance of cognitive buildings. Building Information Models (BIM) are critical for Asset Management (AM), especially when used in conjunction with Internet of Things (IoT) and other asset data collected throughout a building’s lifecycle. However, information contained within BIM models is usually outdated, inaccurate, and incomplete as a result of unclear geometric and semantic data modelling procedures during the building life cycle. The aim of this paper is to develop an openBIM methodology to support dynamic AM applications with limited as-built information availability. The workflow is based on the use of the IfcSharedFacilitiesElements schema for processing the geometric and semantic information of both existing and newly created Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) objects, supporting real-time data integration. The methodology is validated using the West Cambridge DT Research Facility data, demonstrating good potential in supporting an asset anomaly detection application. The proposed workflow increases the automation of the digital AM processes, thanks to the adoption of BIM-IoT integration tools and methods within the context of the development of a building DT.Innovate UK, Construction Innovation Hub, Centre for Digital Built Britai

BIM-tool development enhancing collaborative scheduling for pre-construction

Construction projects often suffer from backlashes in relation to poor plans and schedules. Especially pre-construction planning has been challenging due to a high complexity, an extensive amount of information, and a lack of site managers time to make the schedule. To solve these issues for pre-construction planning; new planning processes, methods and tools have been developed over the last decade. However, due to a disregard of the current planning processes these tools have been difficult to adopt in practice. In addition, these developed tools and methods are seldom developed from the user’s point of view. A promising development is the introduction of integrated planning as a concept in construction companies. It involves the use of BIM models in concert with a planning approach where the subcontractors engage in the planning. However, currently available tools are more geared towards experienced users such as expert planners and does not allow for a fully collaborative and integrated planning approach. While many current tools would tick many of the requirements identified, they still fail to address the base requirements from the collaborative work environment literature. This paper contributes with a user-centric design and development of a collaborative planning application showing the integration of the existing collaborative planning process. By adopting a socio-technical approach, the paper focuses on combining technology and processes supporting the users and their way of working in order to enable adoption of the solution. A design science research approach has been used to gather requirements and develop and evaluate the Visual Project Planner (VPP) application. The VPP application applies a collaborative, visual approach supporting interdisciplinary knowledge sharing between all parties involved where the subcontractors actively can contribute to schedule. The VPP application has potential to reduce time for pre-construction planning regardless of the planning approach used

Integrative Ansätze und bildgestützte Methoden für den Umgang mit Wertekonflikten und Entscheidungsdilemmas im biologischen Landbau

The integrity of organic agriculture and its promises are seriously questioned in discussions in the media, as well as in the internal conventionalization debate. To overcome situations which undermine credibility and development opportunities, there is a need for better dealing with value conflicts and faced dilemmas. For this purpose, science can provide more holistic approaches and methods for analysis and development processes, which better integrate human factors of the system. As neurobiology and psychology underline, emotions, inner images and unconscious drivers are influential factors of thinking and behaviour. With the development of the “value-image method”, the authors made experiences supporting this approach. Now there is a need to further develop more integrative, also images-supported tools and process design for dealing with value conflicts and decision dilemmas in a creative and constructive way. This also aims at the development and integration of a fourth dimension of sustainability

Contribution of agronomy to land management issues - A Comparison of five interdisciplinary PhD theses

An introductory literature review highlights the growing attention within the processes taking place at farming region and landscape scale beside the classical spatial scales at cultivated/experimental plot level. This recent evolution in agronomy finds its origin in newly emerging land management issues. Meanwhile, geography and other disciplines are stressing the need for a greater integration of multifunctional agricultural activities into the decision-making processes at the various levels of land management, such as provinces, municipalities or watersheds. This requires also that studies on farmland management include explicitly the different environmental and social contexts influencing farming activities. In this paper we aim to analyse how recent agronomic oriented research are facing and supporting various land management issues. We have compared five interdisciplinary PhD theses examining their definitions and methods of analysis for: the farming system, the local land management issues at stake, the spatial scale selected for the study, the stakeholders' involvement and the interaction with other disciplines. Common issues which emerged from this comparison are delivery of agro-environmental services, sustainable land management and landscape conservation. Multiple spatial levels were considered, which included at least one administrative unit of policy decision/implementation. Consequently, the explicit (re)definition of some agronomic concepts and methods was needed. Regarding the interdisciplinary framework, the theses have stressed the interactions among agronomy, geography and ecology. All theses aimed at delivering tools for decision-making support, mainly in the form of cartography. Nevertheless the participation of local stakeholders was generally included as a final step; herewith the settings of stakeholders' involvement were various. In conclusion, we discuss how the produced knowledge has enhanced the land management issues in local planning tools. On these bases, we stress finally the issues at stake to strengthen the roles and contributions of agronomic oriented education and research to agricultural land management and development. (Résumé d'auteur

The use of information technology in human resource management in American enterprises

Theoretical background: The ongoing development of information technology (IT) has caused IT solutions to be increasingly applied in human resource management (HRM). The implementation of such solutions is highly advantageous to enterprises because they streamline the provision of services to job candidates and employees, and save time and money. This is particularly important for high-tech enterprises using the latest scientific and technological advances and innovative solutions.Purpose of the article: The objective of the study was to examine the use of IT tools in recruitment and selection, development and training, motivation, talent management and personnel services. Research methods: The research employed the case study method. Documentation analysis, interview techniques and observations were carried out in enterprises. The paper describes three case studies of high-tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley in the United States.Main findings: High-tech enterprises in Silicon Valley deploy a wide range of IT tools for recruitment and selection, development and training, motivation, talent management and human resource (HR) services, thus supporting personnel management processes and increasing the efficiency of administrative tasks. The type and scope of the applied IT solutions depended on the size of the company. Large enterprises had a tendency to integrate specifi tools used in HR processes into one employee management system. The research showed a number of advantages regarding IT tool implementation in HRM, such as improved HR management efficiency due to data integration, obtaining a better match between employee competences, their development capacities and company demands. Moreover, the use of IT tools increased employee engagement in the performance of tasks. The implementation of IT tools in HRM produces certain limitations since technologies can be static and information can be transferred in one direction only. Therefore, face-to-face relationships, opportunities for sharing opinions between employees and prospects for development are essential in enterprises because they impact employee engagement.Theoretical background: The ongoing development of information technology (IT) has caused IT solutions to be increasingly applied in human resource management (HRM). The implementation of such solutions is highly advantageous to enterprises because they streamline the provision of services to job candidates and employees, and save time and money. This is particularly important for high-tech enterprises using the latest scientific and technological advances and innovative solutions.Purpose of the article: The objective of the study was to examine the use of IT tools in recruitment and selection, development and training, motivation, talent management and personnel services. Research methods: The research employed the case study method. Documentation analysis, interview techniques and observations were carried out in enterprises. The paper describes three case studies of high-tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley in the United States.Main findings: High-tech enterprises in Silicon Valley deploy a wide range of IT tools for recruitment and selection, development and training, motivation, talent management and human resource (HR) services, thus supporting personnel management processes and increasing the efficiency of administrative tasks. The type and scope of the applied IT solutions depended on the size of the company. Large enterprises had a tendency to integrate specific tools used in HR processes into one employee management system. The research showed a number of advantages regarding IT tool implementation in HRM, such as improved HR management efficiency due to data integration, obtaining a better match between employee competences, their development capacities and company demands. Moreover, the use of IT tools increased employee engagement in the performance of tasks. The implementation of IT tools in HRM produces certain limitations since technologies can be static and information can be transferred in one direction only. Therefore, face-to-face relationships, opportunities for sharing opinions between employees and prospects for development are essential in enterprises because they impact employee engagement

Integration of Ecosystem Services into Land Use Planning in Mozambique

Atumane, A., & Cabral, P. (2021). Integration of Ecosystem Services into Land Use Planning in Mozambique. Ecosystems and People, 17(1), 165-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2021.1903081The Ecosystem Service (ES) concept needs to be expressed and communicated effectively to be successfully integrated into decision-making. In this paper, we conducted a review of relevant documents to Mozambique’s spatial planning by performing a content analysis based on ES categories. Results revealed that of the seven Land Use Planning (LUP) documents analyzed, only the National Development Strategy referenced ES explicitly. However, all documents made implicit references to provisioning ES. Five out of the seven LUP documents referred to regulating and cultural ES. None of the LUP documents made any explicit or implicit references to supporting ES. A Strengths, Weakness Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis towards ES integration in LUP based on these documents showed that the major strength was acknowledging the need to preserve ecological equilibrium and ensure sustainability. The periodical revision of tools and participatory approaches in LUP opens opportunities for integrating ES into LUP processes. This integration could be achieved by establishing a SEA legal framework based on LUP and Environment legal frameworks assisted by a set of common planning tools that consider ES as an additional indicator applied to spatial planning in Mozambique.publishersversionpublishe

On using Markov decision processes to model integration solutions for disparate resources in software ecosystems

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The software ecosystem of an enterprise is usually composed of an heterogeneous set of applications, databases, documents, spreadsheets, and so on. Such resources are involved in the enterprise’s daily activities by supporting its business processes. As a consequence of market change and the enterprise evolution, new business processes emerge and the current ones have to be evolved to tackle the new requirements. It is not a surprise that different resources may be required to collaborate in a business process. However, most of these resources were devised without taking into account their integration with the others, i.e., they represent isolated islands of data and functionality. Thus, the goal of an integration solution is to enable the collaboration of different resources without changing them or increasing their coupling. The analysis of integration solutions to predict their behaviour and find possible performance bottlenecks is an important activity that contributes to increase the quality of the delivered solutions. Software engineers usually follow an approach that requires the construction of the integration solution, the execution of the actual integration solution, and the collection of data from this execution in order to analyse and predict their behaviour. This is a costly, risky, and time-consuming approach. This paper discusses the usage of Markov models for formal modelling of integration solutions aiming at enabling the simulation of the conceptual models of integration solutions still in the design phase. By using well-established simulation techniques and tools at an early development stage, this new approach contributes to reduce cost, risk, development time and improve software quality attributes such as robustness, scalability, and maintenance

Transforming identities and co-constructing careers of career counselors

New theories for practice, which take account of contextual shifts such as labor market volatility, are essential for maintaining the professional status of career counseling. Career construction theory (CCT), as an exemplar of an innovative, contextually sensitive approach not only provides a way of making sense of the turbulent landscapes in which career transitions are taking place, but also provides practical tools to facilitate individual adaptation to change. However, development and evaluation of new theories and related tools have tended to overlook the career development and support needs of career counselors in the adoption and integration of these approaches into their practice with clients, as well as into their own career development. Here, the focus is on supporting the continuing professional development of career counselors as crucial for the enhancement of practice, through the provision in 2017 of an open access online learning program relating to the changing world of work, with facilitation of dialogue and reflection. The adaptive responses of an international group of participants facing challenges of identity transformation in the workplace, which emerged as they worked through the online learning resource, are examined. Four hundred and two international participants registered, with 86 actively engaging in the course, which was made available over three months, with content analysis of their online dialogue providing insights into the processes of psycho-social adaptation to the career-related challenges they faced. The learning design and course delivery were underpinned by the theory of professional identity transformation (PIT), with a commitment to supporting participants both individually collectively to shape their evolving roles and identities in ways compatible with their life themes. In order to progress toward that goal, processes of co-construction, also central to career construction theory, emerged strongly from the content analysis of data