Application of Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Contractor’s BIM Practices to the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Construction Management Program

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) contractors play such a crucial role in the construction and design phase of building a project; their success or failure can drastically affect the project\u27s overall success. MEP contractors’ use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the construction industry has grown exponentially over the past decade. This paper will expand on the utilization and practices of BIM by MEP contractors. This information functions as a foundation for my research into current professional BIM trends as they relate to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s (SLO) Construction Management (CM) curriculum. Cal Poly SLO’s CM department has designed the current curriculum to thrive on the continual implementation of current industry practices. Understanding how MEP contractors are implementing BIM, in today’s industry, helps the department prepare the next generation of Cal Poly CM students for success. This research will outline how MEP contractors use BIM in their construction processes and whether the implementation of BIM has affected MEP workflow. This research will be compared to how the CM department has designed the curriculum for the ‘Specialty Contracting’ (CM 411) course. Information will be compiled from surveys sent to MEP Contracting employee’s (Senior Project Engineer or higher), students who have taken or are currently taking CM 411, and research of the course learning objectives defining the course. An important element of this research is to provide a better understanding of the gaps still existing between the Cal Poly CM department curriculum and the MEP contracting companies desired level of BIM fluency in their employees

Edge-Driven Mechanical Microplate Models of Strike-Slip Faulting in the Tibetan Plateau

The India-Asia collision zone accommodates the relative motion between India and Eurasia through both shortening and pervasive strike-slip faulting. To gain a mechanical understanding of how fault slip rates are driven across the Tibetan plateau, we develop a two-dimensional, linear elastic, two-stage, deformable microplate model for the upper crust based on the behavior of an idealized earthquake cycle. We use this approach to develop a suite of simple India-Asia collision zone models, differing only in boundary conditions, to determine which combination of edge forces and displacements are consistent with both the slip rate measurements along major Tibetan faults as well as the geodetically observed extrusion of crustal material toward Southeast Asia. Model predictions for the Altyn Tagh (1–14 mm/yr), Kunlun (3–10 mm/yr), Karakorum (5–12 mm/yr), and Haiyuan (3–5 mm/yr) faults are in agreement with geologically and geodetically inferred slip rates. Further, models that accurately reproduce observed slip rate gradients along the Altyn Tagh and Kunlun faults feature two critical boundary conditions: (1) oblique compressive displacement along the Himalayan range front west of the Shillong plateau, and (2) forcing in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the ratio of internal-block potency rate to the total potency rate for each microplate ranges from 28% to 79%, suggesting a hybrid view of deformation in Tibet as simultaneously localized on major faults and distributed at length scales <500 km.Earth and Planetary Science

Furthering the understanding of silicate-substitution in α-tricalcium phosphate : an X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance study

High-purity (SupT) and reagent-grade (ST), stoichiometric and silicate-containing α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP: ST0/SupT0 and Si-TCP x = 0.10: ST10/SupT10) were prepared by solid-state reaction based on the substitution mechanism Ca3(PO4)(2-x)(SiO4)x. Samples were determined to be phase pure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Rietveld analysis performed on the XRD data confirmed inclusion of Si in the α-TCP structure as determined by increases in unit cell parameters; particularly marked increases in the b-axis and β-angle were observed. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) confirmed the presence of expected levels of Si in Si-TCP compositions as well as significant levels of impurities (Mg, Al and Fe) present in all ST samples; SupT samples showed both expected levels of Si and a high degree of purity. Phosphorus (31P) magic-angle-spinning solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) measurements revealed that the high-purity reagents used in the synthesis of SupT0 can resolve the 12 expected peaks in the 31P spectrum of α-TCP compared to the low-purity ST0 that showed significant spectral line broadening; line broadening was also observed with the inclusion of Si which is indicative of induced structural disorder. Silicon (29Si) MAS NMR was also performed on both Si-TCP samples which revealed Q0 species of Si with additional Si Q1/Q2 species that may indicate a potential charge-balancing mechanism involving the inclusion of disilicate groups; additional Q4 Si species were also observed, but only for ST10. Heating and cooling rates were briefly investigated by 31P MAS NMR which showed no significant line broadening other than that associated with the emergence of β-TCP which was only realised with the reagent-grade sample ST0. This study provides an insight into the structural effects of Si-substitution in α-TCP and could provide a basis for understanding how substitution affects the physicochemical properties of the material

Comment on "Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition in Supercooled Yttria-Alumina"

A Comment on the Letter by Adrian C. Barnes et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 225702 (2009). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply

Transport and optical gaps and energy band alignment at organic-inorganic interfaces

International audienc

Detection of first-order liquid/liquid phase transitions in yttrium oxide-aluminium oxide melts

We combine small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) with aerodynamic levitation techniques to study in situ phase transitions in the liquid state under contactless conditions. At very high temperatures, yttria-alumina melts show a first-order transition, previously inferred from phase separation in quenched glasses. We show how the transition coincides with a narrow and reversible maximum in SAXS indicative of liquid unmixing on the nanoscale, combined with an abrupt realignment in WAXS features related to reversible shifts in polyhedral packing on the atomic scale. We also observed a rotary action in the suspended supercooled drop driven by repetitive transitions (a polyamorphic rotor) from which the reversible changes in molar volume (1.2 ± 0.2 cubic centimeters) and entropy (19 ± 4 joules mole–1 kelvin–1) can be estimated

Cultural theory and the dynamics of organizational change: the response of housing associations in London to the Housing Act 1988

The aim of this article is to consider the most effective way of conceptualizing a sector that has undergone radical change: the UK voluntary housing sector. The article considers existing accounts of housing associations and classifies these into five analytically distinct groups: practitioners, historical accounts, managerialist approaches, network theorists and institutionalist accounts. The main contention is that each of these is limited in explanatory potential, primarily due to their neglect of culture. This article proposes a more detailed framework for developing an understanding of the substantial changes affecting housing associations since the 1980s; that offered by "grid-group cultural theory". The article provides longitudinal qualitative data obtained from London housing associations to support the contention that organizational change can most usefully be understood by reference to the cultural themes of hierarchy and individualism. The article contends that cultural theory offers the opportunity to develop a systematic analysis that accounts for institutional history and organizational differentiation