Challenges and drivers for data mining in the AEC sector

Purpose: This paper explores the current challenges and drivers for data mining in the AEC sector. Design/methodology/approach: Following a comprehensive literature review, the data mining concept was investigated through a workshop with industry experts and academics. Findings: The results showed that the key drivers for using data mining within the AEC sector is associated with the sustainability, process improvement, market intelligence, cost certainty and cost reduction, performance certainty and decision support systems agendas in the sector. As for the processes with the greatest potential for data mining application, design, construction, procurement, forensic analysis, sustainability and energy consumption and reuse of digital components were perceived as the main process areas. While the key challenges were perceived as being, data issues due to the fragmented nature of the construction process, the need for a cultural change, IT systems used in silos, skills requirements and having clearly defined business goals. Originality/value: With the increasing abundance of data, business intelligence and analytics and its related concepts, data mining and big data have captured the attention of practitioners and academics for the last 20 years. On the other hand, and despite the growing amount of data in its business context, the AEC sector still lags behind in utilising those concepts in its end products and daily operations with limited research conducted to explore those issues at the sector level. This paper investigates the main opportunities and barriers for Data Mining in the AEC sector with a practical focus. Keywords: Business analytics, Data Mining, Data Analytics, AEC, Facilities Managemen

Solar photocatalysis for water disinfection: Materials and reactor design

As of 2010, access to clean drinking water is a human right according to UN regulations. Nevertheless, the number of people living in areas without safe drinking water is predicted to increase by three billion by the end of this decade. Several recent cases of E. coli and Cryptosporidium contamination in drinking water are also reported in a number of advanced countries. Therefore ensuring the potability of drinking water is urgent, but highly challenging to both the developing and developed world in the future. A combination of solar disinfection and photocatalysis technology offers real possibilities for removing lethal pathogenic microroganisms from drinking water. The time taken for the conventional SODIS process can be greatly reduced by semiconductor (e.g. TiO2, ZnO, nano-heterojunctions) based photocatalysis. This review addresses the fundamental reaction mechanism, advances in materials synthesis and selection and recent developments in the reactor design for solar energy driven photocatalysis using titanium dioxide. The major advantage of using photo-reactors is that they enhance disinfection by increasing photon flux into the photocatalyst. Other major factors affecting such efficiency of solar-based photocatalysis such as the illuminated volume/total volume ratio, catalyst load and flow rate, are discussed in detail. The significance of using immobilised catalysts over the catalyst powder in slurries is also highlighted. It is noted that, despite encouraging early field studies, the commercialisation and mass production of solar photocatalysis systems remains highly challenging. Recommendations for future directions for addressing issues such as mass transfer, requirement of a standard test method, photo-reactors design and visible light absorption by TiO2 coatings are also discussed

Creation of a hydrological modelling environment to assist in the decision making of water-related activities

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2007In South Africa, water is a scarce resource and it has become very important to manage this resource effectively. The State developed a regulating framework, under the hospice of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, which protects the country‟s water resources from over-exploitation by ensuring that it is protected, used, developed, conserved, and managed, in a sustainable and equitable manner. The laws and policies governing the use of water resources are contained in the National Water Act (South Africa, 1998), the National Water Policy (South Africa, 1997a), the National Water Resource Strategy, and the Water Services Act (South Africa, 1997b). In addition some water-related functions were transferred to Catchment Management Agencies and Water Users‟ Associations, and it is their task to ensure that the strategies, laws and policies are implemented. Effective water management can only be performed by making use of hydroinformatics which assists with simulations and estimations. As a result input data will be collected, added to a Relational Database Management System and output results generated. A Geographic Information System with the support of a geodatabase will allow users to store spatial and temporal data. The research project investigated different water-related data models (ArcHydro, Hydstra, GML, HYMOS, and WinHSPF), as well as hydrological modelling frameworks (BASINS, OMS, OpenMI, SPATSIM, and TIME) to determine whether they were adequate to assist with the decision making of water-related activities. It was found that these data models and hydrological modelling frameworks did not allow users to add new datasets to their existing data structures and in many cases only had a limited set of functions. For these reasons it was decided to develop a comprehensive, modifiable, geodatabase that will function in a modelling environment which will allow users to save their data in a centralised database. Additionally the functionality provided by other data models and modelling frameworks may be linked and used in the new modelling environment. A methodology that has been followed was to first establish the objectives of the research project, gather the necessary data, investigate various data models and hydrological modelling frameworks, determine the requirements for the modelling environment, design and create the modelling environment, design and create the geodatabase, and finally selecting the study area which will provide the research project with the necessary data. The following findings were made concerning the research project: firstly, that ArcHydro will be used as example data model to assist in designing the geodatabase. Secondly, that UML will be used as a development tool to assist with the development of the geodatabase. Thirdly, that the geodatabase will be generated from the XML schema and be made available to ArcCatalog. Fourthly, that data from different users/providers (Hydstra, Stats SA, Weather Bureau, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, etc.) be inserted into the geodatabase. Fifthly, that any other hydrological modelling framework may make use of the data stored in the geodatabase. Finally, ArcGIS was selected as GIS application and Microsoft Access as a storage area

An investigation into the biosynthesis of proximicins

PhD ThesisThe proximicins are a family of three compounds – A-C – produced by two marine Actinomycete Verrucosispora strains – V. maris AB18-032 and V. sp. str. 37 - and are characterised by the presence of 2,4-disubstituted furan rings. Proximicins demonstrate cell-arresting and antimicrobial ability, making them interesting leads for clinical drug development. Proximicin research has been largely overshadowed by other Verrucosispora strain secondary metabolites (SM), and despite the publication of the V. maris AB18-032 draft, the enzymatic machinery responsible for their production has not been established. It has been noted in related research into a pyrrole-containing homolog – congocidine –due to the structural similarity exhibited, proximicins likely utilise a similar biosynthetic route. The initial aim of this research was to confirm the presumed pathway to proximicin biosynthesis. Following the sequencing, assembly and annotation of the second proximicin producer, Verrucosispora sp. str. MG37, and genome mining of V. maris AB18-032, no common clusters mimicked that of congocidine, casting doubt on the previously assumed analogous biosynthetic routes. A putative proximicin biosynthesis (ppb) cluster was identified, containing non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) enzymes, exhibiting some homology with congocidine. NRPSsystems represent a network of interacting proteins, which act as a SM assembly line: crucially, adenylation (A)- domain enzymes act as the ‘gate-keeper’, determining which precursors are included into the elongating peptide. To elucidate the route to proximicins, activity characterisation of the four A-domains present in ppb cluster was attempted. The A-domain Ppb120 was shown to possess novel activity, demonstrating a high promiscuity towards heterocycle containing precursors, in addition to the absence of an apparent essential domain. This discovery refutes previous work outlining the core residues which dictate A-domain activity, while also presenting a facile route to novel heterocycle-containing compounds. Despite extensive work, A-domains ppb195 and ppb210, were ineffectively purified in the active form – informing future work into A-domains activity characterisation. Finally, the ppb220 A-domain which lies at the border of ppb, was inactive suggesting over-estimation of the cluster margins. To confirm ppb220 redundancy and confirm ppb boundaries, CRISPR/Cas gene editing studies were done. The gene responsible for the orange pigment of Verrucosispora strains was initially targeted and successfully deleted, and ppb studies commenced. The research here refutes the previously presumed route to proximicin biosynthesis; the ppb cluster instead comprises enzymes exhibiting unique activity and structure. The findings represent the foundations for allowing exploitation of chemistry exhibited within the proximicin family. The novelty exhibited can be utilised in the search for antimicrobial clinical leads, by allowing the production of compounds containing previously inaccessible heterocycle chemistry

Economic Feasibility, General Economic Impact and Implications of a Free Trade Agreement Between the European Union and Armenia

This study of the feasibility, costs and benefits of a free trade agreement between the EU and Armenia was conducted from July 2007 to April 2008 under contract with the European Commission. The first meeting in Brussels in September 2007 with Staff members of Directorates-General for Trade, External Relations, Economic and Financial Affairs, Internal Market and Services, Competition, Enterprise and Industry proved indispensable in our work on this report. During mission to Yerevan in October 2007 the consultations were held with a number of ministries, research institutes and business organizations. We greatly benefited from consultations with the representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Customs State Committee, Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia, National Institute of Standards, Wine Producers Union, Ministry of Finance and Economy AEPLAC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armenian Development Agency UNDP, IMF and the World Bank. The European Commission Delegation to Armenia provided us with extensive information, consultation on key policy issues and organizational support, for chich we are very grateful. Several authors contributed to this study. David Dyker is the author of the introductory section (chapter 2) and the analysis of services sectors (chapter 7). Michael Emerson is the author of section on regional integration scenarios (chapter 3) and he also provided very valuable comments on all chapters in this study. Sveta Taran, Peter Holmes and Michael Gasiorek are the authors of chapter 4 employing the Sussex Framework to study the impact of FTA. Michael Gasiorek and Peter Holmes also provided valuable comments on the CGE modelling section. Evgeny Polyakov, Andrei Roudoi as well as Gevorg Torosyan contributed to the chapter on the institutional and regulatory harmonization (chapter 5). The team from the Global Insight including Andre Jungmittag, Vicki Korchagin, Evgeny Polyakov and Andrei Roudoi supervised the implementation of the survey and completed the analysis of the survey results (chapter 6). Also the same team from Global Insight contributed chapter 10 on sensitive sectors. The implementation of the survey of NTBs was conducted by AVAG Solutions under the supervision of Vardan Baghdasaryan and Melik Gasparyan. The analysis of FDI flows and their likely trends following an FTA was prepared by Malgorzata Jakubiak, while the estimation of the potential FDI flows was completed by Alina Kudina (section 8.4). The CGE analysis (chapter 9) was prepared by Maryla Maliszewska, who also acted as the project manager and the editor of the study. Finally, conclusions are a collective work of all the authors. Sierz Naurodski and Elena Kozarzewska provided an excellent administrative support. I would like to take his opportunity to thank them all for their cooperation, valuable contributions and comments.European Neighborhood Policy, free trade agreement, institutional harmonization, EU, Armenia