Automated generation of SPARQL queries from semantic mark-up

Previous work has shown that semantic mark-up of normative documents can be consumed directly by a rule-engine or can be automatically transformed to a number of existing rule representations. This work investigates the feasibility of automatically transforming examples of normative documents into SPARQL and testing the result against typical building information models. The desirability of using SPARQL is discussed

Unpacking Ambiguity in Building Requirements to Support Automated Compliance Checking

In the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, manual compliance checking is labor-intensive, time-consuming, expensive, and error-prone. Automated compliance checking (ACC) has been extensively studied in the past 50 years to improve the productivity and accuracy of the compliance checking process. While numerous ACC systems have been proposed, these systems can only deal with requirements that include quantitative metrics or specified properties. This leaves the remaining 53% of building requirements to be checked manually, mainly due to the ambiguity embedded in them. In the literature, little is known about the ambiguity of building requirements, which impedes their accurate interpretation and automated checking. This research thus aims to address this issue and establish a taxonomy of ambiguity. Building requirements in health building notes (HBNs) are analyzed using an inductive approach. The results show that some ambiguous clauses in building requirements reflect regulators’ intention while others are unintentional, resulting from the use of language, tacit knowledge, and ACC-specific reasons. This research is valuable for compliance-checking researchers and practitioners because it unpacks ambiguity in building requirements, laying a solid foundation for addressing ambiguity appropriately

A multi-representation method of building rules for automatic code compliance checking

In the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, design review is an important step that often leads to project delays, as the typical manual compliance checking process is error-prone and time-consuming. As an approach to accelerate this process and achieve a better quality of design, automatic compliance checking (ACC) has been researched for several decades. Rule interpretation and representation is a bottleneck of ACC. It focuses on the interpretation of regulations and the representation of them in a suitable computer-readable form. Despite extensive research efforts, a rule representation method that is suitable to represent all types of rules has yet to be proposed. To address this issue, this research proposed a multi-representation method that provides a “mix and match” for different representations and different types of rules, thereby representing all types of rules with suitable representations. This research is valuable to both academia and industry as it enables the representation of rules with less knowledge loss and more accuracy

Capabilities of rule representations for automated compliance checking in healthcare buildings

A suitable rule representation is essential to enable automated compliance checking of building design. It encapsulates engineering knowledge and facilitates an adequate interpretation of design standards. However, existing methods have achieved limited capabilities to represent rules for automated compliance checking. Thus, they merely worked for limited types of rules. This paper aims to identify capabilities needed for rule representation by using healthcare design regulations as an example. It can serve as a foundation for developing rule engines and compliance-checking systems in the future. A four-step process was used to systematically analyse six healthcare building regulations in rule-oriented and implementation aspects. The results showed 18 capabilities for healthcare rule representation, where 16 are required, and two are desirable. This research is valuable to researchers and practitioners by providing a checklist for future representation development and criteria for assessing rule representation methods

Linear Optical Quantum Computing in a Single Spatial Mode

We present a scheme for linear optical quantum computing using time-bin encoded qubits in a single spatial mode. We show methods for single-qubit operations and heralded controlled phase (CPhase) gates, providing a sufficient set of operations for universal quantum computing with the Knill-Laflamme-Milburn scheme. Our scheme is suited to available photonic devices and ideally allows arbitrary numbers of qubits to be encoded in the same spatial mode, demonstrating the potential for time-frequency modes to dramatically increase the quantum information capacity of fixed spatial resources. As a test of our scheme, we demonstrate the first entirely single spatial mode implementation of a two-qubit quantum gate and show its operation with an average fidelity of 0.84+-0.07.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Updated to be consistent with the published versio

Low dose ionising radiation-induced hormesis: Therapeutic implications to human health

The concept of radiation-induced hormesis, whereby a low dose is beneficial and a high dose is detrimental, has been gaining attention in the fields of molecular biology, environmental toxicology and radiation biology. There is a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of hormetic dose response not only in the radiation field, but also with molecular agents. However, there is continuing debate on the magnitude and mechanism of radiation hormetic dose response, which could make further contributions, as a research tool, to science and perhaps eventually to public health due to potential therapeutic benefits for society. The biological phenomena of low dose ionising radiation (LDIR) includes bystander effects, adaptive response, hypersensitivity, radioresistance and genomic instability. In this review, the beneficial and the detrimental effects of LDIR-induced hormesis are explored, together with an overview of its underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that may potentially provide an insight to the therapeutic implications to human health in the future

Capabilities of rule representations for automated compliance checking in healthcare buildings

A suitable rule representation is essential to enable automated compliance checking of building design. It encapsulates engineering knowledge and facilitates an adequate interpretation of design standards. However, existing methods have achieved limited capabilities to represent rules for automated compliance checking. Thus, they merely worked for limited types of rules. This paper aims to identify capabilities needed for rule representation by using healthcare design regulations as an example. It can serve as a foundation for developing rule engines and compliance-checking systems in the future. A four-step process was used to systematically analyse six healthcare building regulations in rule-oriented and implementation aspects. The results showed 18 capabilities for healthcare rule representation, where 16 are required, and two are desirable. This research is valuable to researchers and practitioners by providing a checklist for future representation development and criteria for assessing rule representation methods

Semantic correction, enrichment and enhancement of social and transport infrastructure BIM models

The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) models in the design, construction and operation of buildings and infrastructure is leading to a stronger focus on the quality of the models. Models may need correction, enrichment or enhancement to meet the expectations for quality and completeness, especially if models are to be taken as legal documents, for example for regulatory approval. Past work on semantic development has looked at specific scenarios such as scanned geometry or missing classification. This paper describes an innovative unified approach to the documentation of semantic expectations by actors in the AECO (Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operations) domain and the means to put them into effect. RASE (Requirements, Applications, Selections and Exceptions) semantic mark-up is used to make both the requirements and any supporting resources both human-readable and machine-operable. Two example models from industry, a motorway bridge and a healthcare space, are used to demonstrate applying geometric, schema and classification knowledge. This knowledge is represented in a number of different styles. This extends our understanding of the nature of the knowledge found in dictionaries, classifications and development specifications, demonstrating how this knowledge can be made operable. This bridges the gap between the application of static compliance knowledge and the accurate and efficient application of correction, enrichment and enhancement knowledge

Estimation of Thermal & Epithermal Neutron Flux and Gamma Dose Distribution in a Medical Cyclotron Facility for Radiation Protection Purposes Using Gold Foils and Gate 9

The aim of this study is to characterise the neutron flux generated directly behind targets used in medical cyclotrons. The characterisation process aims at determining the feasibility of using the generated neutrons for research purposes in neutron activation analysis. The study was performed by activating gold foils placed directly behind the cyclotron targets. The thermal and epithermal neutron flux were found to be 4.5E+05 ± 8.78E+04 neutrons cm-2 s-1 and 2.13E+06 ± 8.59E+04 neutrons cm-2 s-1, respectively. The flux value is the same order of magnitude listed in the manual produced by the cyclotron manufacturer. The results are encouraging and show high potential for using the cyclotron facility as a thermal neutron source for research purposes. However, it is important radiation protection procedures be followed to ensure the safety of researchers due to the high gamma dose rate measured directly behind the target at 2.46 Sv/h using an OSL chip during the beam on time

Genomic-Bioinformatic Analysis of Transcripts Enriched in the Third-Stage Larva of the Parasitic Nematode Ascaris suum

Differential transcription in Ascaris suum was investigated using a genomic-bioinformatic approach. A cDNA archive enriched for molecules in the infective third-stage larva (L3) of A. suum was constructed by suppressive-subtractive hybridization (SSH), and a subset of cDNAs from 3075 clones subjected to microarray analysis using cDNA probes derived from RNA from different developmental stages of A. suum. The cDNAs (n = 498) shown by microarray analysis to be enriched in the L3 were sequenced and subjected to bioinformatic analyses using a semi-automated pipeline (ESTExplorer). Using gene ontology (GO), 235 of these molecules were assigned to ‘biological process’ (n = 68), ‘cellular component’ (n = 50), or ‘molecular function’ (n = 117). Of the 91 clusters assembled, 56 molecules (61.5%) had homologues/orthologues in the free-living nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae and/or other organisms, whereas 35 (38.5%) had no significant similarity to any sequences available in current gene databases. Transcripts encoding protein kinases, protein phosphatases (and their precursors), and enolases were abundantly represented in the L3 of A. suum, as were molecules involved in cellular processes, such as ubiquitination and proteasome function, gene transcription, protein–protein interactions, and function. In silico analyses inferred the C. elegans orthologues/homologues (n = 50) to be involved in apoptosis and insulin signaling (2%), ATP synthesis (2%), carbon metabolism (6%), fatty acid biosynthesis (2%), gap junction (2%), glucose metabolism (6%), or porphyrin metabolism (2%), although 34 (68%) of them could not be mapped to a specific metabolic pathway. Small numbers of these 50 molecules were predicted to be secreted (10%), anchored (2%), and/or transmembrane (12%) proteins. Functionally, 17 (34%) of them were predicted to be associated with (non-wild-type) RNAi phenotypes in C. elegans, the majority being embryonic lethality (Emb) (13 types; 58.8%), larval arrest (Lva) (23.5%) and larval lethality (Lvl) (47%). A genetic interaction network was predicted for these 17 C. elegans orthologues, revealing highly significant interactions for nine molecules associated with embryonic and larval development (66.9%), information storage and processing (5.1%), cellular processing and signaling (15.2%), metabolism (6.1%), and unknown function (6.7%). The potential roles of these molecules in development are discussed in relation to the known roles of their homologues/orthologues in C. elegans and some other nematodes. The results of the present study provide a basis for future functional genomic studies to elucidate molecular aspects governing larval developmental processes in A. suum and/or the transition to parasitism