Impact of Building Information Modeling Implementation on the Acceptance of Integrated Delivery Systems: Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

In recent years, building information modeling (BIM) has been increasingly employed by the architecture, engineering and construction industry worldwide as a result of digital government initiatives. In spite of some promising early evidence on the benefits of BIM, the momentum of this top-down drive should build upon after-implementation empirical evidence. Through the structural equation modeling analysis of survey returns from 145 Chinese BIM-enabled projects, this research demonstrates that BIM’s degree of implementation can positively affect the acceptability of integrated project delivery (IPD) in the future via increased perception of the need for supply chain incentivization and improved communication quality enabled by BIM. Rolling out BIM on a wider scale may yield an additional benefit in lowering the barrier to the implementation of IPD systems. This finding can serve as evidential support for government mandates that require the compulsory adoption of BIM in public projects

Generalized Filtering Decomposition

Session 7International audienc

Integrating financial data over the Internet

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).This thesis examines the issues and value-added, from both the technical and economic perspective, of solving the information integration problem in the retail banking industry. In addition, we report on an implementation of a prototype for the Universal Banking Application using currently available technologies. We report on some of the issues we discovered and the suggested improvements for future work.by Howard W. Pan.M.Eng

Taurine protection of PC12 cells against endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by oxidative stress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Taurine is a free amino acid present in high concentrations in a variety of organs of mammalians. As an antioxidant, taurine has been found to protect cells against oxidative stress, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this report, we present evidence to support the conclusion that taurine exerts a protective function against endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced by H₂O₂ in PC 12 cells. Oxidative stress was introduced by exposure of PC 12 cells to 250 uM H₂O₂ for 4 hours.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It was found that the cell viability of PC 12 cells decreased with an increase of H₂O₂ concentration ranging from approximately 76% cell viability at 100 uM H₂O₂ down to 18% at 500 uM H₂O₂. At 250 uM H₂O₂, cell viability was restored to 80% by taurine at 25 mM. Furthermore, H₂O₂ treatment also caused a marked reduction in the expression of Bcl-2 while no significant change of Bax was observed. Treatment with taurine restored the reduced expression of Bcl-2 close to the control level without any obvious effect on Bax. Furthermore, taurine was also found to suppress up-regulation of GRP78, GADD153/CHOP and Bim induced by H₂O₂, suggesting that taurine may also exert a protective function against oxidative stress by reducing the ER stress.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, taurine was shown to protect PC12 cells against oxidative stress induced by H₂O₂. ER stress was induced by oxidative stress and can be suppressed by taurine.</p

The Large-scale Distribution of Cool Gas around Luminous Red Galaxies

We present a measurement of the correlation function between luminous red galaxies and cool gas traced by Mg II \lambda \lambda 2796, 2803 absorption, on scales ranging from about 30 kpc to 20 Mpc. The measurement is based on cross-correlating the positions of about one million red galaxies at z~0.5 and the flux decrements induced in the spectra of about 10^5 background quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that: (i) This galaxy-gas correlation reveals a change of slope on scales of about 1 Mpc, consistent with the expected transition from a dark matter halo dominated environment to a regime where clustering is dominated by halo-halo correlations. Assuming that, on average, the distribution of Mg II gas follows that of dark matter up to a gas-to-mass ratio, we find the standard halo model to provide an accurate description of the gas distribution over three orders of magnitude in scale. Within this framework we estimate the average host halo mass of luminous red galaxies to be about 10^{13.5} M_solar, in agreement with other methods. We also find the Mg II gas-to-mass ratio around LRGs to be consistent with the cosmic value estimated on Mpc scales. Combining our galaxy-gas correlation and the galaxy-mass correlation function from galaxy-galaxy lensing analyses we can directly measure the Mg II gas-to-mass ratio as a function of scale and reach the same conclusion. (ii) From line-width estimates, we show that the velocity dispersion of the gas clouds also shows the expected 1- and 2-halo behaviors. On large scales the gas distribution follows the Hubble flow, whereas on small scales we observe the velocity dispersion of the Mg II gas clouds to be lower than that of collisionless dark matter particles within their host halo. This is in line with the fact that cool clouds are subject to the pressure of the virialized hot gas.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, submitted to MNRA

Surviving and Thriving in the New World of Web Aggregators

This paper examines the development of aggregators, entities that collect information from a wide range of sources, with or without prior arrangements, and add value through post-aggregation services. New Web-page extraction tools, context sensitive mediators, and agent technologies have greatly reduced the barriers to constructing aggregators. We predict that aggregators will soon emerge in industries where they were not formerly present. Through studying over a hundred existing and emerging aggregators, we present a model for understanding the aggregator's strategic interaction with the incumbent. We also suggest different business models as possible aggregator entry points into an industry and describe their impact

Modeling Dual Pathways for the Metazoan Spindle Assembly Checkpoint

Using computational modelling, we investigate mechanisms of signal transduction focusing on the spindle assembly checkpoint where a single unattached kinetochore is able to signal to prevent cell cycle progression. This inhibitory signal switches off rapidly once spindle microtubules have attached to all kinetochores. This requirement tightly constrains the possible mechanisms. Here we investigate two possible mechanisms for spindle checkpoint operation in metazoan cells, both supported by recent experiments. The first involves the free diffusion and sequestration of cell-cycle regulators. This mechanism is severely constrained both by experimental fluorescence recovery data and also by the large volumes involved in open mitosis in metazoan cells. Using a simple mathematical analysis and computer simulation, we find that this mechanism can generate the inhibition found in experiment but likely requires a two stage signal amplification cascade. The second mechanism involves spatial gradients of a short-lived inhibitory signal that propagates first by diffusion but then primarily via active transport along spindle microtubules. We propose that both mechanisms may be operative in the metazoan spindle assembly checkpoint, with either able to trigger anaphase onset even without support from the other pathway.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Migration of a sphere in tube flow

The cross-stream migration of a single neutrally buoyant rigid sphere in tube flow is simulated by two packages, one (ALE) based on a moving and adaptive grid and another (DLM) using distributed Lagrange multipliers on a fixed grid. The two packages give results in good agreement with each other and with experiments. A lift law L=CUs (Ωs— Ωse) analogous to L=ρUΓ which was proposed and validated in two dimensions is validated in three dimensions here; C is a constant depending on material and geometric parameters, Us is the slip velocity and it is positive, Ωs is the slip angular velocity and Ωse is the slip angular velocity when the sphere is in equilibrium at the Segré–Silberberg radius. The slip angular velocity discrepancy Ωs— Ωse is the circulation for the free particle and it changes sign with the lift. A method of constrained simulation is used to generate data which is processed for correlation formulas for the lift force, slip velocity, and equilibrium position. Our formulae predict the change of sign of the lift force which is necessary in the Segré–Silberberg effect. Our correlation formula is compared with analytical lift formulae in the literature and with the results of two-dimensional simulations. Our work establishes a general procedure for obtaining correlation formulae from numerical experiments. This procedure forms a link between numerical simulation and engineering practice

Dinaciclib as an effective pan-cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor in platinum resistant ovarian cancer

Background: Ovarian cancer (OC) is amongst the most lethal of common cancers in women. Lacking in specific symptoms in the early stages, OC is predominantly diagnosed late when the disease has undergone metastatic spread and chemotherapy is relied on to prolong life. Platinum-based therapies are preferred and although many tumors respond initially, the emergence of platinum-resistance occurs in the majority of cases after which prognosis is very poor. Upregulation of DNA damage pathways is a common feature of platinum resistance in OC with cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) serving as key regulators of this process and suggesting that CDK inhibitors (CDKis) could be effective tools in the treatment of platinum resistant and refractory OC.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of CDKis in platinum resistant OC models and serve as a predictor of potential clinical utility.Methods: The efficacy of CDKi, dinaciclib, was determined in wildtype and platinum resistant cell line pairs representing different OC subtypes. In addition, dinaciclib was evaluated in primary cells isolated from platinum-sensitive and platinum-refractory tumors to increase the clinical relevance of the study.Results and conclusions: Dinaciclib proved highly efficacious in OC cell lines and primary cells, which were over a thousand-fold more sensitive to the CDKi than to cisplatin. Furthermore, cisplatin resistance in these cells did not influence sensitivity to dinaciclib and the two drugs combined additively in both platinum-sensitive and platinum-resistant OC cells suggesting a potential role for pan-CDKis (CDKis targeting multiple CDKs), such as dinaciclib, in the treatment of advanced and platinum-resistant OC