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A Modelling approach for evaluating the ranking capability of Situational Awareness System in real time operation. Modelling, evaluating and quantifying different situational assessment in real time operation, using an analytical approach for measuring the ranking capability of SWA system
In a dynamically monitored environment the analyst team need timely and accurate
information to conduct proactive action over complex situations. Typically, there are
thousands of reported activities in a real time operation, therefore steps are taken
to direct the analyst’s attention to the most important activity. The data fusion
community have introduced the information fusion model, with multiple situational
assessments. Each process lends itself to ranking the most important activities into a
predetermined order.
Unfortunately, the capability of a real time system can be hindered by the knowledge
limitation problem, particularly when the underlying system is processing multiple
sensor information. Consequently, the situational awareness domains may not rank
the identified situation as perfect, as desired by the decision-making resources. This thesis presents advanced research carried out to evaluate the ranking capability of
information from the situational awareness domains: perception, comprehension and
projection. The Ranking Capability Score (RCS) has been designed for evaluating
the prioritisation process. The enhanced (RCS) has been designed for addressing
the knowledge representation problem in the user system relation under a situational
assessment where the proposed number of tracking activities are dynamically shifted.
Finally, the Scheduling Capability Score was designed for evaluating the scheduling
capability of the situational awareness system.
The proposed performance metrics have been successful in fulfilling their objectives.
Furthermore, they have been validated and evaluated using an analytical approach,
through conducting a rigorous analysis of the prioritisation and scheduling processes,
despite any constraints related to a domain-specific configuration
Sustainable construction: a web-based performance assessment tool
The quest towards sustainable development, both nationally and globally, puts the
construction industry in the foreground as the main consumer of natural resources. The
industry has profound economic, social and environmental impacts. Sustainable
construction is one of the most important challenges faced by the construction industry
today. In the UK, sustainability is being driven and enforced by the government through
stringent fiscal policies and regulations, voluntary initiatives combined with naming and
shaming strategies. Stakeholders are becoming more aware of the global challenges and
are using their power to exert pressure on companies. Increasingly, construction clients
are demanding that their business partners submit: their corporate sustainability policies
with tender packages to demonstrate their performance in dealing with opportunities
and risks stemming from economic, environmental and social aspect of sustainability.
However, the lack of understanding of the concept and its practical application has been
a recurrent problem.
The conceptual confusion; its vagueness and ambiguity, the complexity of the myriad of
challenges and fluidity of the sustainability concept, compounded with the myopic
attitude of the industry, lack of clear-cut and practical framework are causing frustration
in the construction industry. Consequently, a number of sustainability management
frameworks have been proposed. There are probably more than one hundred
frameworks for sustainable business strategy. However, the majority of these are either
complicated to implement or lack sound theoretical base, effective change management
and completeness. These, therefore, do not make the situation any easier. Many are still
baffled as to what they should do and how they should go about affecting change. Corporate sustainability in the construction industry is a challenge to many companies.
The industry is still under-performing in each of the key themes of sustainable
construction and this has lead to a 'blame culture’ where each sector of the industry
allocates responsibility for its current failings to others (CIRIA C563, 2001). Such a
situation poses a need for a comprehensive, practical and easy to use tool that would aid
the implementation and management of sustainability at the core of business process.
The tool will complement the existing frameworks, which breaks down the strategic and
management issues into manageable components. This will enable companies to focus
on individual areas and identify actions needed to facilitate change. The problem is that
such a tool is virtually non-existent.
The main focal point of this research is the development of a tool to facilitate the
implementation, management and integration of sustainability issues at the strategic
level and promote wider uptake of the concept in the construction industry. This
requires a thorough understanding of the concepts of sustainable development,
sustainable construction and related issues as well as drivers, benefits, barriers and
enablers for achieving corporate sustainability. It also demands an examination of
existing management frameworks and collation of case studies from the early adopters
to establish critical factors for strategic and management issues involved in achieving
corporate sustainability. Through, diverse research epistemologies (quantitative,
qualitative and triangulation methods), the research established four main critical factors
and thirty-six sub-critical factors for achieving corporate sustainability. These factors
underpinned the development of a web-based prototype software (ConPass). This thesis
presents the development and evaluation ConPass Model and the prototype software
Sustainable Construction Engineering and Management
This Book is a Printed Edition of the Special Issue which covers sustainability as an emerging requirement in the fields of construction management, project management and engineering. We invited authors to submit their theoretical or experimental research articles that address the challenges and opportunities for sustainable construction in all its facets, including technical topics and specific operational or procedural solutions, as well as strategic approaches aimed at the project, company or industry level. Central to developments are smart technologies and sophisticated decision-making mechanisms that augment sustainable outcomes. The Special Issue was received with great interest by the research community and attracted a high number of submissions. The selection process sought to balance the inclusion of a broad representative spread of topics against research quality, with editors and reviewers settling on thirty-three articles for publication. The Editors invite all participating researchers and those interested in sustainable construction engineering and management to read the summary of the Special Issue and of course to access the full-text articles provided in the Book for deeper analyses
Opportunities And Challenges of E-Health and Telemedicine Via Satelite
The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the health scenario is instrumental for the development of sustainable services of direct benefit for the European citizen. The setting up of satellite based applications will enhance rapidly the decentralisation and the enrichment of the European territory driving it towards a homogenous environment for healthcare
State, Guanxi networks and social capital: The Politics of local governance in Shanghai
Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH
An Enhanced Evaluation Framework for Defence R&D Investments under Uncertainty
Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH
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