DISTRIBUTED MODELING FOR ROAD AUTHORITIES

ABSTRACT A great challenge for road authorities is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their core processes by improving data exchange and sharing using new technologies such as building information modeling (BIM). BIM has already been successfully implemented in other sectors, such as architecture. But the civil infrastructure sector still lags behind. This paper reports the core findings of the research undertaken in an FP7 project called V-Con, Virtual Construction for Roads. In this EU-funded project, BIM technologies are being implemented at road authorities. Typical interest areas of the road authorities are the programming phase, in which requirements management and systems engineering play a key role, as well as the use and maintenance phase, in which asset management is essential. These processes require special attention in information management for road authorities. Furthermore, road authorities are interested in standardized "as designed" road information. IFC would be a good standard for this, but there is no "IFC for roads" yet. But road authorities are also interested in information about the context of the road, as usually defined in GIS. So GIS should be linked to the envisaged system as well. Finally, it was observed that there is a need in the infrastructure sector for so-called concept libraries, libraries with objects and concepts that can be located and managed on different levels (from project-specific to national and global). It was found that the support of such libraries requires changes in the way information modeling and exchange is commonly approached. The new approach is called "distributed modeling" and will be elaborated in this paper

Indoor air pollution, physical and comfort parameters related to schoolchildren's health:Data from the European SINPHONIE study

Substantial knowledge is available on the association of the indoor school environment and its effect among schoolchildren. In the same context, the SINPHONIE (School indoor pollution and health: Observatory network in Europe) conducted a study to collect data and determine the distribution of several indoor air pollutants (IAPs), physical and thermal parameters and their association with eye, skin, upper-, lower respiratory and systemic disorder symptoms during the previous three months. Finally, data from 115 schools in 54 European cities from 23 countries was collected and included 5175 schoolchildren using a harmonized and standardized protocol. The association between exposures and the health outcomes were examined using logistic regression models on individual indoor air pollutants (IAPs); a VOC (volatile organic compound) score defined as the sum of the number of pollutants to which the children were highly exposed (concentration > median of the distribution) in classroom was also introduced to evaluate the multiexposure \u2013 outcome association, while adjusting for several confounding factors. Schoolchildren exposed to above or equal median concentration of PM2.5, benzene, limonene, ozone and radon were at significantly higher odds of suffering from upper, lower airways, eye and systemic disorders. Increased odds were also observed for any symptom (sick school syndrome) among schoolchildren exposed to concentrations of limonene and ozone above median values. Furthermore, the risks for upper and lower airways and systemic disorders significantly increased with the VOCs score. Results also showed that increased ventilation rate was significantly associated with decreased odds of suffering from eye, skin disorders whereas similar association was observed between temperature and upper airways symptoms. The present study provides evidence that exposure to IAPs in schools is associated with allergic and respiratory symptoms in children. Further investigations are needed to confirm our findings