Performance measurement applications in facilities management: An investigation into the future directions

Facilities Management (FM) is very frequently described as, “an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the buildings and infrastructure of an organisation in order to create an environment that strongly supports the primary objectives of that organisation”. The practical and strategic relevance of FM to organisations in all sectors of the economy is now increasingly recognised. Accordingly, organisations seek to improve their competitiveness by introducing a core business philosophy and restructuring to release senior management time and improve effectiveness. Managements have begun to realise that for organisations to benefit from their enormous investment in facilities, they have to begin managing them actively and creatively with commitment and a broader vision. Formulation of techniques that are capable of assessing “facilities performance” in terms of quality, cost and effectiveness, is therefore critical for “Organisational” and “FM” advancements. Research has emphasised that there is a clear need to measure FM performance which would integrate both the business and facilities domains. Accordingly, this paper summarises a literature review of current leading-edge performance measurement and management practices within facilities management organisations and conceptual models of performance measurement and management from other industries. Accordingly, the paper identifies the directions to develop performance measurement systems in FM with specific links to measure facilities relationships with those of the core business

Performance Trees: Implementation And Distributed Evaluation

In this paper, we describe the first realisation of an evaluation environment for Performance Trees, a recently proposed formalism for the specification of performance properties and measures. In particular, we present details of the architecture and implementation of this environment that comprises a client-side model and performance query specification tool, and a server-side distributed evaluation engine, supported by a dedicated computing cluster. The evaluation engine combines the analytic capabilities of a number of distributed tools for steady-state, passage time and transient analysis, and also incorporates a caching mechanism to avoid redundant calculations. We demonstrate in the context of a case study how this analysis pipeline allows remote users to design their models and performance queries in a sophisticated yet easy to use framework, and subsequently evaluate them by harnessing the computing power of a Grid cluster back-end.Accepted versio

Spectral Dependence of Coherent Backscattering of Light in a Narrow-Resonance Atomic System

We report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the spectral and polarization dependence of near resonant radiation coherently backscattered from an ultracold gas of 85Rb atoms. Measurements in an approximately 6 MHz range about the 5s^{2}S_{1/2}- 5p^{2}P_{3/2}, F=3 - F'=4 hyperfine transition are compared with simulations based on a realistic model of the experimental atomic density distribution. In the simulations, the influence of heating of the atoms in the vapor, magnetization of the vapor, finite spectral bandwidth, and other nonresonant hyperfine transitions are considered. Good agreement is found between the simulations and measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figur

Fast Ground State Manipulation of Neutral Atoms in Microscopic Optical Traps

We demonstrate Rabi flopping at MHz rates between ground hyperfine states of neutral $^{87}$Rb atoms that are trapped in two micron sized optical traps. Using tightly focused laser beams we demonstrate high fidelity, site specific Rabi rotations with crosstalk on neighboring sites separated by $8 \mu\rm m$ at the level of $10^{-3}$. Ramsey spectroscopy is used to measure a dephasing time of $870 \mu\rm s$ which is $\approx$ 5000 times longer than the time for a $\pi/2$ pulse.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Coherent Backscattering of Light in Atomic Systems: Application to Weak Localization in an Ensemble of Cold Alkali-Metal Atoms

Development of a theoretical treatment of multiple coherent light scattering in an ultracold atomic gas is reported. Specific application is made to coherent backscattering of a weak-radiation field from realistically modeled samples of ultracold atomic 85Rb. Comprehensive Monte Carlo simulations of the spatial, spectral, and polarization dependence of the backscattering line shape are made and compared with available experimental results

Measurement of Correlated Multiple Light Scattering in Utracold Atomic \u3csup\u3e85\u3c/sup\u3eRb

We report an experimental study of correlated multiple light scattering in an ultracold gas of 85Rb confined in a magneto-optic trap. Measurements are made of the polarization dependence of the spatial and spectral profile of light backscattered from the sample. The results show an interferometric enhancement sensitive to coherent multiple scattering in the atomic gas, and strong variations with the polarization of the incident and detected light. The spatial width and peak value of the enhancement are found to be dependent on the sample size. Comparison of all the measurements with realistic quantum Monte Carlo simulations yields a very good agreeme

Fast ground state manipulation of neutral atoms in microscopic optical traps

We demonstrate Rabi flopping at MHz rates between ground hyperfine states of neutral 87Rb atoms that are trapped in two micron sized optical traps. Using tightly focused laser beams we demonstrate high fidelity, site specific Rabi rotations with cross talk on neighboring sites separated by 8  μm at the level of 10−3. Ramsey spectroscopy is used to measure a dephasing time of 870  μs, which is ≈5000  times longer than the time for a π/2 pulse

People’s perception of climate change vulnerability and adaptation: Chila Union, Mongla Upazila, Bagerhat District, Bangladesh

Climate induced changes, such as extreme cyclone, devastating tidal surges, severe floods, treacherous river erosion, excessive rainfall, and overwhelming salinity intrusion, are occurring more frequently and in an unpredictable manner across Bangladesh. This study considers community perception of climate change vulnerability and the implementation of community based adaptation strategies. Data was collected from respondents in Chila Union, Bagerhat District, Bangladesh, an area subjected to frequent climate related hazards. The mainstream scientific literature suggests that the frequency and intensity of these hazards are likely to increase due to the effects of climate change. Despite this, many of the respondents within the target communities did not recognise that hazard frequency and intensity, and thereby their exposure to some of these hazards, would be impacted by climate change. Most notably, although salinity was widely recognised as a major problem for the community – agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, trees and plants, are all highly vulnerable – very few perceived an increased risk due to climate change. This suggests that communities such as those in Chila Union, do not foresee an increased threat from these hazards and thus may not recognise the need to further implement adaptation strategies. It was also evident from the survey that although a range of low-cost, indigenous technologies have been used as adaptation strategies within these communities, many rely exclusively or heavily on external assistance or aid, or reactive strategies, with little attempt to reduce the adverse effects of climate on their health and well-being through adaptive strategies, including simple mitigation techniques. It would thus appear that policy makers will have to make significant efforts in developing adaptive capacity within these communities to deal with the consequences of climate change