639 research outputs found
A case study of hybrid strategies to create value for a contracting business in the education sector in England and Wales
Successful hybrid strategies adopt service marketing principles although the adoption of those principles by construction marketers is not apparent. Through an interpretive inquiry approach attempting to capture multiple views in a case of successful strategic programmes for the primary school market, various value co-creation elements of the programmes are assessed according to four axioms of service-dominant (S-D) logic. The strategic programmes were found to create value by (1) developing new skills and knowledge, building relationships to leverage skills and close the knowledge gaps; (2) enhancing interactions through customer engagement, dialogue creation and enrichment, the use of BIM technologies and social networks; (3) strengthening many-to-many relationships through supply chain integration; and (4) assisting individual customers to define their value propositions and to evaluate them through free self-service systems, and products and services inquiries. Further research is needed to assess how customers value the various co-creation elements identified in the paperevidence for applying the generic value co-creation principles to marketing in construction
A framework for the utilization of Building Management System data in Building Information Models to bridge gaps between building design and operation
Research on digitizing the various aspects of a typical building project has been on the increase since the advent of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Most efforts build on information technology capabilities already achieved in the various professional domains associated with different stages of the building life cycle. It is predicted that BIM will help to drastically reduce errors, fast-track project delivery time and save implementation costs. As such BIM is now being utilized in the various professional domains and project stages. However, research suggests that the building operation and management stage is being left behind despite the abundance of data collected using building management systems (BMS) of varying degrees of sophistication. It is therefore important to consider exploring BIM applications that encompasses the building operation phase. This will enhance the evaluation of building performance in use and provide feedback to the design stage which could help eliminate design-related performance issues. A framework for utilizing feedback loops frombuilding energy consumption to inform and improve design and facility management in a BIM environment is therefore proposed. A prototype illustrating the framework is implemented in. NET framework interfacedwith a BIM-enabled tool and tested in the refinement of a pre-designed school using data from the operations phase of another school delivered previously. We conclude that the framework developed in this research can contribute to bridging existing gaps between the design, construction and operation phases of a building's life-cycle
Black Hole Production at LHC: String Balls and Black Holes from pp and Lead-lead Collisions
If the fundamental planck scale is near a TeV, then parton collisions with
high enough center-of-mass energy should produce black holes. The production
rate for such black holes at LHC has been extensively studied for the case of a
proton-proton collision. In this paper, we extend this analysis to a lead-lead
collision at LHC. We find that the cross section for small black holes which
may in principle be produced in such a collision is either enhanced or
suppressed, depending upon the black hole mass. For example, for black holes
with a mass around 3 TeV we find that the differential black hole production
cross section, d\sigma/dM, in a typical lead-lead collision is up to 90 times
larger than that for black holes produced in a typical proton-proton collision.
We also discuss the cross-sections for `string ball' production in these
collisions. For string balls of mass about 1 (2) TeV, we find that the
differential production cross section in a typical lead-lead collision may be
enhanced by a factor up to 3300 (850) times that of a proton-proton collision
at LHC.Comment: Added some discussion, final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D (rapid
communications
Teleparallel Gravity and Dimensional Reductions of Noncommutative Gauge Theory
We study dimensional reductions of noncommutative electrodynamics on flat
space which lead to gauge theories of gravitation. For a general class of such
reductions, we show that the noncommutative gauge fields naturally yield a
Weitzenbock geometry on spacetime and that the induced diffeomorphism invariant
field theory can be made equivalent to a teleparallel formulation of gravity
which macroscopically describes general relativity. The Planck length is
determined in this setting by the Yang-Mills coupling constant and the
noncommutativity scale. The effective field theory can also contain
higher-curvature and non-local terms which are characteristic of string theory.
Some applications to D-brane dynamics and generalizations to include the
coupling of ordinary Yang-Mills theory to gravity are also described.Comment: 31 pages LaTeX; References adde
Model Analysis of Time Reversal Symmetry Test in the Caltech Fe-57 Gamma-Transition Experiment
The CALTECH gamma-transition experiment testing time reversal symmetry via
the E2/M1 mulipole mixing ratio of the 122 keV gamma-line in Fe-57 has already
been performed in 1977. Extending an earlier analysis in terms of an effective
one-body potential, this experiment is now analyzed in terms of effective one
boson exchange T-odd P-even nucleon nucleon potentials. Within the model space
considered for the Fe-57 nucleus no contribution from isovector rho-type
exchange is possible. The bound on the coupling strength phi_A from effective
short range axial-vector type exchange induced by the experimental bound on
sin(eta) leads to phi_A < 10^{-2}.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex 3.
Topological Defects and CMB anisotropies : Are the predictions reliable ?
We consider a network of topological defects which can partly decay into
neutrinos, photons, baryons, or Cold Dark Matter. We find that the degree-scale
amplitude of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies as well as the
shape of the matter power spectrum can be considerably modified when such a
decay is taken into account. We conclude that present predictions concerning
structure formation by defects might be unreliable.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in PR
Diagnostic yield of rare skeletal dysplasia conditions in the radiogenomics era
Background
Skeletal dysplasia (SD) conditions are rare genetic diseases of the skeleton, encompassing a heterogeneous group of over 400 disorders, and represent approximately 5% of all congenital anomalies. Developments in genetic and treatment technologies are leading to unparalleled therapeutic advances; thus, it is more important than ever to molecularly confirm SD conditions. Data on ârates-of-molecular yieldsâ in SD conditions, through exome sequencing approaches, is limited. Figures of 39% and 52.5% have been reported in the USA (nâ=â54) and South Korea (nâ=â185) respectively.
Methods
We discuss a single-centre (in the UK) experience of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in a cohort of 15 paediatric patients (aged 5 months to 12 years) with SD disorders previously molecularly unconfirmed. Our cohort included patients with known clinical diagnoses and undiagnosed skeletal syndromes. Extensive phenotyping and expert radiological review by a panel of international SD radiology experts, coupled with a complex bioinformatics pipeline, allowed for both gene-targeted and gene-agnostic approaches.
Results
Significant variants leading to a likely or confirmed diagnosis were identified in 53.3% (nâ=â8/15) of patients; 46.7% (nâ=â7/15) having a definite molecular diagnosis and 6.7% (nâ=â1/15) having a likely molecular diagnosis. We discuss this in the context of a rare disease in general and specifically SD presentations. Of patients with known diagnoses pre-WES (nâ=â10), molecular confirmation occurred in 7/10 cases, as opposed to 1/5 where a diagnosis was unknown pre-test. Thus, diagnostic return is greatest where the diagnosis is known pre-test. For WGS (whole genome sequencing, the next iteration of WES), careful case selection (ideally of known diagnoses pre-test) will yield highest returns.
Conclusions
Our results highlight the cost-effective use of WES-targeted bioinformatic analysis as a diagnostic tool for SD, particularly patients with presumed SD, where detailed phenotyping is essential. Thorough co-ordinated clinical evaluation between clinical, radiological, and molecular teams is essential for improved yield and clinical care. WES (and WGS) yields will increase with time, allowing faster diagnoses, avoiding needless investigations, ensuring individualised patient care and patient reassurance. Further diagnoses will lead to increased information on natural history/mechanistic details, and likely increased therapies and clinical trials
Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities
A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by
the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an
explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were
chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in
2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that
time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the
broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles
could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII
program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the -factories and CLEO-c
flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the
Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the
deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality,
precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for
continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states
unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such
as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the
spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b},
and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical
approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The
intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have
emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and
cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review
systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing
directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K.
Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D.
Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A.
Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair
Quantitative trait loci associated with resistance to gray leaf spot and grain yield in corn
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
- âŚ