Excellentia Eminentia Effectio

"In these pages you will learn about the fascinating research endeavors that each of our faculty members is undertaking. We have divided their research into the broad categories of health, sustainability, information, and systems. While we recognize the imperfect nature of categorizing research that, by its very nature may be interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary, we nonetheless believe it will be helpful as a way to see the depth and breadth of our research endeavors within each grouping. As you read the profiles on these pages, I know you will begin to appreciate that, taken as a whole, the research spectrum at Columbia Engineering is exceptional and that, as our professors go about their work, they are at the cusp of making breakthroughs that will have a major impact on the way we live our lives today and tomorrow.

Introduction to construction dispute resolution

Leading construction experts have identified Productivity, Innovation, Cost Control, Safety, and Litigation Expenses as critical areas in need of improvement in the construction industry of this next century. In the United States alone, $60 billion are spent every year on lawsuits, of which the construction industry accounts for nearly$5 billion. The fact that these construction litigation expenditures have increased at an average rate of 10% per year for the past ten years is one of the primary motivations for this book. This reality has generated the need to develop new Dispute Avoidance and Resolution Techniques (DART) with the aim of curving this cost spiral and improving productivity. Fueled by this need, and as projects throughout the world continually achieve higher levels of complexity, the field of construction dispute resolution has exploded with innovative ways to prevent conflict and resolve disagreements. Companies have found that in highly competitive markets, the resolution of disputes has become a key to forging stronger and longer-lasting relationships with their clients. As a result, the construction industry has been in the forefront of the development of DART. This book presents and reviews a significant number of new and innovative ways to promote collaborative environments and resolve disputes in construction. This includes some practical applications of DART in the construction industry throughout a number of nations. The aim is to provide the reader with data to support the successes or failures of these techniques in multiple cultures. In effort to ground the material in this book, some examples are presented of how the material relates to current construction projects. These examples will be referred to as cases. Not all the information specific to the project has been presented, as they are only included to correlate theory with practice. They are also not included to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of dispute avoidance and resolution procedures. In addition, some names or facts may have been changed for confidentiality reasons. Each of the relevant chapters will open up with an introduction of facts to the case and leave the reader with some questions to ponder while reading the chapter. At the end of each chapter the case is revisited relating the chapter information to the project situation. This introductory book is divided into 12 chapters. The first chapter describes the construction industry, focusing on its size, structure, relationships and sources of conflicts. Chapter 2 presents a background for the evolution of construction DART. It also presents a brief review of the reasons behind the apparent large number of disputes in the construction industry, and identifies characteristics that make the construction process adversarial in nature. The final section of Chapter 2 looks at two different proposals for the organization of DART in the construction industry. It selects the concept of the “Dispute Resolution Ladder” (DRL) to organize and present different techniques found being used around the world. Chapters 3 through 9 present the state of the art review of DART in the construction industry following each of the stages of the DRL defined in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews techniques in the Prevention Stage with examples of mechanisms that can mitigate and discourage disputes during the construction process. This chapter highlights the role the owner plays in the introduction of dispute avoidance and resolution clauses in construction contracts and as a promoter of honest communications between the parties to the project. Chapter 4 reviews the concept of Partnering. Although not a Stage in the Dispute Resolution Ladder (DRL), Partnering was developed to change the adversarial approach to the construction process, with the aim to improve job performance and reduce conflict and confrontation. This concept integrates dispute resolution with other communication and collaboration techniques that have resulted in a significant reduction in the number of conflicts in those projects in which it is fully implemented. This chapter introduces the essential phases of the system, and its key components. Chapter 5 examines the Negotiation Stage in the process of dispute resolution in construction. This chapter offers three different approaches to improving the outcomes of negotiations: Step Negotiations, Structured Negotiations, and Facilitated Negotiations. The introduction of neutral third parties begins in Chapter 6, with the Standing Neutral Stage; a concept based on the incorporation of an unbiased, knowledgeable party as an instrument to resolve disputes efficiently and effectively as soon as they develop. Chapter 7 examines the Non-Binding Phase of the DRL, covering Mediation, Advisory Opinion, Fact-based Mediation, Minitrial, Summary Jury Trial, and Voluntary Settlement Conference as the available DART techniques. A significant acceptance of non-binding dispute resolution mechanisms is reflected in the number of variations that have developed, as these procedures represent the last stage of the DRL in which the parties have control over the outcome of the dispute. Chapter 8 examines approaches where a third party issues a final award to settle the dispute. These approaches correspond to the Binding Dispute Resolution Stage in the DRL. Arbitration, the most common form of binding resolution procedure, is reviewed, together with three other developments that can prove advantageous to a project that might be inclined to minimize arbitration. Finally, as part of this review of DART in construction, Chapter 9 looks at Alternative Litigation and Litigation as the last Stage in the DRL. This Stage corresponds to a dispute resolution procedure of “last-resort,” and is examined together with three techniques that can help reduce the amount of resources spent on court proceedings (i.e., time and money). Chapter 10 presents the concept of a Conflict Management Plan for projects. In all arenas of construction, conflict is evident, but being able to quantify the degree of conflict is challenging. Taking into consideration, the causes and results of the most common conflict situations, a conflict management plan can be designed from the DART presented in the previous chapters. The probability of conflict occurring is assessed along with the impact that each conflict may have on the project. A preventative strategy is developed to reduce the probability of conflict occurring and a resolution strategy is planned to minimize the impact of conflict if it does occur. The resulting Conflict Management Plan will help owners and contractors to evaluate the interactions among participants and actively involve everyone in the dispute resolution process. Following the presentation of all the material in the book, Chapter 11 analyzes a light rail transit project in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This case study is included to promote discussion on the methods to avoid claims and resolve disputes used in the project. This project made use of preventative measures such as Partnering as well as a predefined dispute resolution system. Analyzing this project allows the reader to envision how new and innovative techniques can be implemented into the industry. Finally, Chapter 12 gathers the conclusions of the book. First, it summarizes the DART techniques. Second, it highlights the importance of alternative dispute resolution in construction worldwide and how cultural conditions have affected the selection of the DART, based on the examples presented throughout the book. Finally, this chapter suggests areas for further study in the field of construction conflict, dispute avoidance, and alternative resolution methodologies

A Resource-Based View (RBV) of Singapore as A Pre-Eminent Wealth Management Centre

Singapore is a world recognised financial and wealth management centre, and one of the best in the Asia-Pacific region. The fast growth of the world’s private wealth is boosting the wealth management sector, making this segment of the financial industry very attractive. Both big and small players are concentrating their efforts in this direction. Singapore has benefited from this growth. The question asked is “how and why is Singapore attracting the private wealth and institutions?” Especially when put in the context of Singapore competing against Hong Kong in the Asian region. The Resource-Based View (RBV) of strategy, argue that the success of a firm depend on internal resources. These resources may vary from human, financial, physical and technical resources, to name a few. The RBV is used here to examine the link between Singapore’s internal resources and its performances as the fastest-growing wealth management hub. Singapore Inc., as it has been referred to, has many resources that can give a competitive advantage to the island-state, however for this particular analysis, a positive reputation is selected as a resource that may provide the attributes (valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and imperfectly substitutable), required by the RBV to give a sustainable competitive advantage to Singapore

Blockchain for Cities—A Systematic Literature Review

Blockchain is considered one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. Numerous cities around the world are launching blockchain initiatives as part of the overall efforts toward shaping the urban future. However, the infancy stage of the blockchain industry leads to a severe gap between the knowledge we have and the actions urban policy makers are taking. This paper is an effort to narrow this rift. We provide a systematic literature review on concrete blockchain use cases proposed by the research community. At the macro-level, we discuss and organize use cases from 159 selected papers into nine sectors recognized as crucial for sustainable and smart urban future. At the micro-level, we identify a component-based framework and analyze the design and prototypes of blockchain systems studied in a subset of 71 papers. The high-level use case review allows us to illustrate the relationship between them and the four pillars of urban sustainability: social, economic, environmental, and governmental. The system level analysis helps us highlight interesting inconsistencies between well-known blockchain applicability decision rules and the approaches taken by the literature. We also offer two classification methodologies for blockchain use cases and elaborate on how they can be applied to stimulate cross-sector insights in the blockchain knowledge domain

BIM and sensor-based data management system for construction safety monitoring

Purpose This research aims to investigate the integration of real-time monitoring of thermal conditions within confined work environments through wireless sensor network (WSN) technology when integrated with building information modelling (BIM). A prototype system entitled confined space monitoring system (CoSMoS), which provides an opportunity to incorporate sensor data for improved visualization through new add-ins to BIM software, was then developed. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was undertaken to compare and contrast between the performances (over a time series) of various database models to find a back-end database storage configuration that best suits the needs of CoSMoS. Findings Fusing BIM data with information streams derived from wireless sensors challenges traditional approaches to data management. These challenges encountered in the prototype system are reported upon and include issues such as hardware/software selection and optimization. Consequently, various database models are explored and tested to find a database storage that best suits the specific needs of this BIM-wireless sensor technology integration. Originality value This work represents the first tranche of research that seeks to deliver a fully integrated and advanced digital built environment solution for automating the management of health and safety issues on construction sites. </jats:sec

Estilos de vida en relación a la alimentación y hábitos alimentarios dentro y

Lobos, G (Lobos, German). Univ Talca, Fac Ciencias Empresariales, Escuela Ingn Comercial, Talca, ChileResumen Objetivo: Distinguir tipologías de consumidores en base a su estilo de vida en relación a la alimentación en las principales comunas de la Región Metropolitana de Santiago, Chile, y caracterizarlas según sus hábitos de consumo de alimentos dentro y fuera del hogar, características sociodemográficas y su nivel de satisfacción con su alimentación. Material y método: Se aplicó un cuestionario estructurado a una muestra de 951 personas en las principales comunas de la Región Metropolitana de Santiago (más de 100.000 habitantes). El instrumento de recogida de información incluyó una adaptación del cuestionario de estilos de vida en relación a la alimentación (FRL) y la escala SWFL (Satisfaction with Food-related Life). Se consultaron los hábitos de consumo de alimentos dentro y fuera del hogar y variables de clasificación sociodemográfica de los encuestados. Resultados: Mediante análisis cluster se distinguieron cinco tipologías con diferencias significativas en los cinco componentes obtenidos del FRL, con análisis factorial de componentes principales. Las tipologías presentaron distinto perfil de género, edad y nivel socioeconómico y difirieron en los puntajes obtenidos en la SWFL. Se diferenciaron en la frecuencia en que la persona almuerza, toma once y cena en su hogar. Respecto a las comidas fuera del hogar, las tipologías se distinguieron según la frecuencia de comidas en restaurantes, locales de comida rápida y en la compra de comida preparada. Conclusiones: Un estilo de vida en relación a la alimentación con baja implicación y disfrute de los alimentos se asocia con un mayor nivel socioeconómico y menor edad de las personas. Adicionalmente, se asocia con comportamientos alimentarios poco saludables y no beneficiosos para las personas, como una mayor frecuencia de comidas en restaurantes y de compra de comida preparada, junto a una menor frecuencia de comidas en el hogar, lo que estaría influyendo en un nivel inferior de satisfacción con la alimentación

Disaster Management Education through Higher Education – Industry Collaboration in the Built Environment

Effectively responding to the current and dynamic construction labour market requirements is a major responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs). HEIs aim to reduce the mismatch between what they deliver and what is required by the industry. Built environment professionals require continuous update of knowledge and education in order to effectively contribute to disaster management. However, the complex and multidisciplinary nature of disaster management education pose a challenge to the higher education institutions to make them more responsive to the industrial needs and to prepare the students for careers in disaster resilience. Adopting a lifelong learning approach would be appropriate for HEIs to maintain a through-life studentship and to provide disaster related knowledge and education on a continuous basis to respond to the labour market requirements. However, incorporating lifelong learning approach within the system of higher education is not easy and straightforward for HEIs. This is mainly because of the formal and bureaucratic nature of HEIs that acts as a barrier for providing effective lifelong learning education. In resolving this issue, HEIs are increasingly relying on the benefits associated with fostering close collaboration with external organisations such as industries, professional bodies and communities. In this context, this paper discusses the role of HEIs in providing disaster management education, the challenges associated with it, and the way of addressing the challenges through the higher education industry collaboration

The use of mixed collagen-Matrigel matrices of increasing complexity recapitulates the biphasic role of cell adhesion in cancer cell migration: ECM sensing, remodeling and forces at the leading edge of cancer invasion

The migration of cancer cells is highly regulated by the biomechanical properties of their local microenvironment. Using 3D scaffolds of simple composition, several aspects of cancer cell mechanosensing (signal transduction, EMC remodeling, traction forces) have been separately analyzed in the context of cell migration. However, a combined study of these factors in 3D scaffolds that more closely resemble the complex microenvironment of the cancer ECM is still missing. Here, we present a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of the role of cell-ECM interactions in cancer cell migration within a highly physiological environment consisting of mixed Matrigel-collagen hydrogel scaffolds of increasing complexity that mimic the tumor microenvironment at the leading edge of cancer invasion. We quantitatively show that the presence of Matrigel increases hydrogel stiffness, which promotes ß1 integrin expression and metalloproteinase activity in H1299 lung cancer cells. Then, we show that ECM remodeling activity causes matrix alignment and compaction that favors higher tractions exerted by the cells. However, these traction forces do not linearly translate into increased motility due to a biphasic role of cell adhesions in cell migration: at low concentration Matrigel promotes migration-effective tractions exerted through a high number of small sized focal adhesions. However, at high Matrigel concentration, traction forces are exerted through fewer, but larger focal adhesions that favor attachment yielding lower cell motility