Development of a Remote Collaboration System for Interactive Communication with Building Information Model in Mixed Reality

Remote collaboration for construction site management is challenging. Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides the potential for remote collaboration based on its powerful data compatibility. Furthermore, the recently evolving Mixed Reality technology improves visual perception by superimposing 3D virtual BIM objects on real-world artifacts. This study proposes a remote collaboration system based on BIM in Mixed Reality. This system consists of three-unit systems: (1) Field Operator System (FOS), (2) Communication Server, and (3) Office Manager System (OMS). FOS was developed based on MR smart glasses for a field operator. The field operator can manipulate virtual BIM objects with finger-pointing cues and share the view with an office manager. FOS creates Mixed Reality Capture (MRC) video, the combined image of real-world images of existing artifacts in the construction site with virtual BIM elements superimposed on them, and sends it through the Communication Server to OMS. Thus, the office manager can see the field operator’s view through OMS based on a desktop or tablet PC. The office manager can give instructions to a field operator by voice through OMS. A user test was conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed prototype system. As a result of the test, it was found that most of the testers had a positive evaluation of the developed system. This paper discusses the development of the BIM and MR-based remote collaboration and the test results

Development of a Remote Collaboration System for Interactive Communication with Building Information Model in Mixed Reality

Remote collaboration for construction site management is challenging. Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides the potential for remote collaboration based on its powerful data compatibility. Furthermore, the recently evolving Mixed Reality technology improves visual perception by superimposing 3D virtual BIM objects on real-world artifacts. This study proposes a remote collaboration system based on BIM in Mixed Reality. This system consists of three-unit systems: (1) Field Operator System (FOS), (2) Communication Server, and (3) Office Manager System (OMS). FOS was developed based on MR smart glasses for a field operator. The field operator can manipulate virtual BIM objects with finger-pointing cues and share the view with an office manager. FOS creates Mixed Reality Capture (MRC) video, the combined image of real-world images of existing artifacts in the construction site with virtual BIM elements superimposed on them, and sends it through the Communication Server to OMS. Thus, the office manager can see the field operator’s view through OMS based on a desktop or tablet PC. The office manager can give instructions to a field operator by voice through OMS. A user test was conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed prototype system. As a result of the test, it was found that most of the testers had a positive evaluation of the developed system. This paper discusses the development of the BIM and MR-based remote collaboration and the test results

Formation of N-Ethylmaleimide (NEM)-Glutathione Conjugate and N-Ethylmaleamic Acid Revealed by Mass Spectral Characterization of Intracellular and Extracellular Microbial Metabolites of NEM▿

The extracellular and intracellular metabolites formed upon exposure of activated sludge microorganisms to a sublethal concentration of N-ethylmaleimide were monitored by liquid chromatography with ion trap mass spectrometry. The metabolite N-ethylsuccinimido-S-glutathione (m/z 433) was converted rapidly to N-(2-oxoethyl)-2,2-(propionylamino)propanamide (m/z 187) and N-ethylmaleamic acid (m/z 144)

Interfacially synthesized chlorine-resistant polyimide thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes

Chlorine-resistant polyimide thin film composite (TFC) RO membranes were prepared via interfacial polymerization of m-phenylene diamine (MPD) and 1,2,4,5-benzene tetracarbonyl chloride (BTC) and subsequent thermal imidization. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed that the use of a tertiary amine catalyst allowed the preparation of the polyimide films at below the glass transition temperature of the polysulfone support sublayer, thus preventing its degradation. The effects of annealing on the membranes performance were investigated. Increasing temperature and duration during the thermal treatment accelerated the imidization of the poly(amic acid) membranes and converted their amorphous structures to semi-crystalline structures, deteriorating their performance. The addition of a cross-linking agent, trimesoyl chloride (TMC), during the interfacial polymerization improved the membrane's performance. The polyimide thin film composite, reverse osmosis membranes prepared from MPD, BTC and TMC showed significantly enhanced chlorine resistance due to the elimination of chlorine-sensitive sites by the replacement of amide linkage with imide linkage.close3

Combinatorial and computational mathematics: present and future

This book describes and summarizes past work in important areas of combinatorics and computation, as well as gives directions for researchers working in these areas in the 21st century. It contains primarily survey papers and presents original research by Peter Fishburn, Jim Ho Kwak, Jaeun Lee, K H Kim, F W Roush and Susan Williams. The papers deal with some of the most exciting and promising developments in the areas of coding theory in relation to number theory, lattice theory and its applications, graph theory and its applications, topological techniques in combinatorics, symbolic dynamic

Optimal allocation and operation of sewer monitoring sites for wastewater-based disease surveillance: A methodological proposal

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is drawing increasing attention as a promising tool for an early warning of emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19. This study demonstrated the utility of a spatial bisection method (SBM) and a global optimization algorithm (i.e., genetic algorithm, GA), to support better designing and operating a WBE program for disease surveillance and source identification. The performances of SBM and GA were compared in determining the optimal locations of sewer monitoring manholes to minimize the difference among the effective spatial monitoring scales of the selected manholes. While GA was more flexible in determining the spatial resolution of the monitoring areas, SBM allows stepwise selection of optimal sampling manholes with equiareal subcatchments and lowers computational cost. Upon detecting disease outbreaks at a regular sewer monitoring site, additional manholes within the catchment can be selected and monitored to identify source areas with a required spatial resolution. SBM offered an efficient method for rapidly searching for the optimal locations of additional sampling manholes to identify the source areas. This study provides strategic and technical elements of WBE including sampling site selection with required spatial resolution and a source identification method

Influence of carbohydrate addition on nitrogen transformations and greenhouse gas emissions of intensive aquaculture system

Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing segments of the food economy in modern times. It is also being considered as an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To date, limited studies have been conducted on GHG emissions from aquaculture system. In this study, daily addition of fish feed and soluble starch at a carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio of 16:1 (w/w) was used to examine the effects of carbohydrate addition on nitrogen transformations and GHG emissions in a zero-water exchange intensive aquaculture system. The addition of soluble starch stimulated heterotrophic bacterial growth and denitrification, which led to lower total ammonia nitrogen, nitrite and nitrate concentrations in aqueous phase. About 76.2% of the nitrogen output was emitted in the form of gaseous nitrogen (i.e., N and NO) in the treatment tank (i.e., aquaculture tank with soluble starch addition), while gaseous nitrogen accounted for 33.3% of the nitrogen output in the control tank (i.e., aquaculture tank without soluble starch addition). Although soluble starch addition reduced daily NO emissions by 83.4%, it resulted in an increase of daily carbon dioxide (CO) emissions by 91.1%. Overall, starch addition did not contribute to controlling the GHG emissions from the aquaculture system

Characterizing the bacterial community during aerobic stabilization of livestock manure. Why should feedstock not be aged before composting?

The compositions of bacterial communities and populations during aerobic stabilization of livestock manure have been investigated, focusing on how the aging of feedstock affected the bacterial diversity of the composting mass. The livestock manure was divided into two groups – aged and fresh, and then used to prepare the feedstock with additives. Composting experiments were carried out for 15 days using a pilot-scale batch reactor with vacuum-induced aeration. Two different aeration rates were applied to the batch reactor, and their effectiveness was evaluated. Changes in total heterotrophic bacteria count and moisture content were monitored. The associated changes in bacterial community compositions were characterized using 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing. The Firmicutes in the fresh manure decreased from 48 to 13% for the first ten days, and the dominant phylum shifted to the Proteobacteria (29%), Bacteroidetes (23%), Actinobacteria (20%), and others(15%). Under the given conditions, the use of relatively fresh manure was essential to preserve thediverse bacterial populations in the feedstock and enhance the bacterial diversity during aerobic stabilization.More research should be performed to investigate the degradability of emerging contaminants (e.g., antibiotics) in livestock manure using an engineered composting system providing well-controlled environmental conditions