Method for automated requirement checking in social housing projects

One of the possible strategies for improving the quality of construction projects is the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), which involves innovations in information technology and changes in critical processes. In the social housing sector in Brazil, the need to evaluate a large number of projects proposed for funding in a very short time frame is a major challenge. Automated design checking has been pointed out as one of the main opportunities for the use of BIM in the building industry. The evaluation of social housing projects by governmental bodies is often based mainly on the experience of construction professionals, which may result in lack of uniformity in the criteria adopted, and in a time consuming and costly process. The aim of this research study is to propose a method for automated checking of requirements for the design of social housing projects by using BIM. This method was tested in two housing projects funded by the Minha Casa, Minha Vida programme, and compared to the manual process. This investigation also makes contributions related to the understanding of the nature of the requirements involved in this type of project, and discusses the process changes needed to introduce automated design checking. Keywords: Design checking; BIM; Code-checking; Social housing projects; Low income housin

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Performance Evaluation System in the Public Health Care Sector: Some Novel Evidence from the Tuscany Region Experience

Since 80's the introduction of New Public Management principles has promoted the use of performance measurement to drive a more efficient, effective and accountable public sector. The adoption of a sophisticated and comprehensive multidimensional performance measurement system, which looks beyond traditional financial measures, based on organization strategies, such as the balanced scorecard, has thus been suggested. This revolution in the public management came together with the devolution processes that involved most European public health systems. Set within this context, in the last decade, each of the twenty Italian regions developed its own management tools. Among others, the Tuscan performance evaluation system (PES) has been valued as a particularly innovative and comprehensive system. This paper reports the novel experience of the Tuscan PES; in particular, it measures PES effectiveness and discusses the critical factors that could have led to the PES success. Five are the critical success factors identified by researchers: the visual reporting system, the linkage between PES and CEO's reward system, the public disclosure of data, the high level of employees and managers involvement into the entire process and the strong political commitment. All those factors run together to achieve better results; however, the process of development of the system plays a pivotal role. Scholars suggest the use of a constructive approach in order to gain effective changes in human organization. According to this stream of literature, this paper contributes by the novel experience of the Tuscan PES in addressing as a further fruitful application of the constructivist approach in healthcare

Co-Housing Rodents with Different Coat Colours as a Simple, Non-Invasive Means of Individual Identification:Validating Mixed-Strain Housing for C57BL/6 and DBA/2 Mice

Standard practice typically requires the marking of laboratory mice so that they can be individually identified. However, many of the common methods compromise the welfare of the individuals being marked (as well as requiring time, effort, and/or resources on the part of researchers and technicians). Mixing strains of different colour within a cage would allow them to be readily visually identifiable, negating the need for more invasive marking techniques. Here we assess the impact that mixed strain housing has on the phenotypes of female C57BL/6 (black) and DBA/2 (brown) mice, and on the variability in the data obtained from them. Mice were housed in either mixed strain or single strain pairs for 19 weeks, and their phenotypes then assessed using 23 different behavioural, morphological, haematological and physiological measures widely used in research and/or important for assessing mouse welfare. No negative effects of mixed strain housing could be found on the phenotypes of either strain, including variables relevant to welfare. Differences and similarities between the two strains were almost all as expected from previously published studies, and none were affected by whether mice were housed in mixed- or single-strain pairs. Only one significant main effect of housing type was detected: mixed strain pairs had smaller red blood cell distribution widths, a measure suggesting better health (findings that now need replicating in case they were Type 1 errors resulting from our multiplicity of tests). Furthermore, mixed strain housing did not increase the variation in data obtained from the mice: the standard errors for all variables were essentially identical between the two housing conditions. Mixed strain housing also made animals very easy to distinguish while in the home cage. Female DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice can thus be housed in mixed strain pairs for identification purposes, with no apparent negative effects on their welfare or the data they generate. This suggests that there is much value in exploring other combinations of strains

Cadophora margaritata sp. nov. and other fungi associated with the longhorn beetles Anoplophora glabripennis and Saperda carcharias in Finland

Symbiosis with microbes is crucial for survival and development of wood-inhabiting longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Thus, knowledge of the endemic fungal associates of insects would facilitate risk assessment in cases where a new invasive pest occupies the same ecological niche. However, the diversity of fungi associated with insects remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate fungi associated with the native large poplar longhorn beetle (Saperda carcharias) and the recently introduced Asian longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) infesting hardwood trees in Finland. We studied the cultivable fungal associates obtained from Populus tremula colonised by S. carcharias, and Betula pendula and Salix caprea infested by A. glabripennis, and compared these to the samples collected from intact wood material. This study detected a number of plant pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, and species with known potential for enzymatic degradation of wood components. Phylogenetic analyses of the most commonly encountered fungi isolated from the longhorn beetles revealed an association with fungi residing in the Cadophora-Mollisia species complex. A commonly encountered fungus was Cadophora spadicis, a recently described fungus associated with wood-decay. In addition, a novel species of Cadophora, for which the name Cadophora margaritata sp. nov. is provided, was isolated from the colonised wood.Peer reviewe

Why is management research irrelevant?

At least since 1980, there has been a practically continuous, but somewhat fragmented discussion on the relevance of management research. This discussion has addressed practically all fields of management; here, besides general management, operations management, project management and construction management are examined in more detail. Although many different proposals have been made to rectify the situation, no definitive resolution has been found. In this paper, it is argued that prior analyses have not reached the root causes of the irrelevance problem. By an analysis of the recent history of management research, the following novel findings are reached. First, the root cause of the irrelevance is argued to lie in the 1959 reports on American business education, written by Pierson and Gordon & Howell. Second, while the proposed direction in the 1959 reports was deficient in several ways, the rejection of production as an integral part of organizations and management has been perhaps the most damaging feature of those reports. Third, current research on management suffers from a variety of immediate causes for irrelevance, insufficiently recognized by the scholarly community. It is suggested that reaching the root causes for irrelevance will facilitate finding suitable cures

Discerning pig screams in production environments

Pig vocalisations convey information about their current state of health and welfare. Continuously monitoring these vocalisations can provide useful information for the farmer. For instance, pig screams can indicate stressful situations. When monitoring screams, other sounds can interfere with scream detection. Therefore, identifying screams from other sounds is essential. The objective of this study was to understand which sound features define a scream. Therefore, a method to detect screams based on sound features with physical meaning and explicit rules was developed. To achieve this, 7 hours of labelled data from 24 pigs was used. The developed detection method attained 72% sensitivity, 91% specificity and 83% precision. As a result, the detection method showed that screams contain the following features discerning them from other sounds: a formant structure, adequate power, high frequency content, sufficient variability and duration