Interactive estimating for building contractors

The objective of this work was to develop a computer-aided estimating system to meet the specific requirements of the British building industry. The sponsor was the National Research Development Corporation. The project comprised: -a review of existing commercially available computer-aided estimating systems suitable for use by building contractors to establish the need for the project; -a review of computer applications in the construction industry to establish the context in which computer-aided estimating systems could be applied; -the development of a computer-aided estimating system specification for a system, INTEREST BUILD (INTERactive ESTimating for BUILDers), suitable for programming work by computer programmers; -an appraisal and review of available classification systems for use with the estimating system; -the development of a classification specifically for use with the INTEREST BUILD system against which performance data could be filed and retrieved; -the collection of estimators' performance data suitable for use in demonstrating and testing the system; and -the demonstrations, testing .and assessments of the INTEREST BUILD.system. <~,. Five commercially available estimating systems were investigated and none were found to fully meet the needs of building estimators. A review of computer applications for contractors revealed that existing applications in order of popularity were: accounting; network analysis; costing; cash flow forecasting; estimating; NEDO formulae; valuations; and discounted cash flow. [continues

Understanding creative design processes by integrating sketching and CAD modelling design environments: a preliminary protocol result from architectural designers

This paper presents the results of a preliminary protocol study of the cognitive behaviour of architectural designers during the design process. The aim is to better understand the similarities and differences in cognitive behaviour using Sequential Mixed Media (SMM) and Alternative Mixed Media (AMM) approaches, and how switching between media may impact on design processes. Two participants with at least one-year’s professional design experience and a Bachelor of Design degree, and competence in both sketching and computer-aid design (CAD) modelling participated in the study. Video recordings of participants working on different projects were coded using the Function-Behaviour-Structure (FBS) coding scheme. Participants were also interviewed and their explanations about their switching behaviours were categorised into three types: S→C, S/C↹R and C→S. Preliminary results indicate that switching between media may influence how designers identify problems and develop solutions. In particular, two design issues were identified.  These relate to the FBS coding scheme, where structure (S) and behaviour derived from structure (Bs), change to documentation (D) after switching from sketching to CAD modelling (S→C). These switches make it possible for designers to integrate both approaches into one design medium and facilitate their design processes in AMM design environments

Strategic planning schemes of mixed-use developments to support urban regeneration in South Korea

노트 : 19TH ANNUAL PACIFIC-RIM REAL ESTATE SOCIETY CONFERENCE, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA, 13-16 JANUARY 201

Implementing construction innovations

The need to gain a competitive advantage stimulates many construction organizations to exploit innovative products and processes. The high level of uncertainty associated with innovative construction leads many construction organizations to focus on the application of traditional construction processes and products. Implementing construction innovation often involves experimentation, iteration and refinement of activities that are reliant on volatile information. Although several decision support models have been developed to assess new technologies, innovation as an implementation process has received less attention. This paper presents several tools to assess the value of technological innovation. It also presents a conceptual model, which is currently being developed, that deals with the effectiveness of innovation implementation phase. The proposed model is a decision support tool that models different implementation scenarios. The model uses influence information, managerial and technological benefits to control the implementation phase

The introduction and management of innovative construction processes and products

To gain competitive advantage, companies have to innovate and improve continuously. Exploiting innovative products and processes requires effective management. Construction organizations should exhibit specific characteristics to stimulate new technology and to overcome the expected barriers to innovation. This paper draws together several aspects of the management and introduction of innovative processes and products within a quality management framework. The implementation of innovation requires rational decision making when considering a company’s projects and the uncertainties inherent in innovation. This may be aided by a decision system which simulates the benefits of short-term flexibility and efficiency for project based work to verify long-term performance and to achieve the desired step changes

Cognitive Information Processing

Contains research objectives and summary of research.Madeline Moses FundNational Science Foundation (Grant GK-33736X1)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM19428-02)Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Purchase Order G-33196Associated Press (Grant)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-07

Cognitive Information Processing

Contains research objectives and summary of research on eight research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-74-C-0630)National Science Foundation (Grant GK-33736X2)National Science Foundation (Grant EPP74-12653)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 P01 GM19428-03)National Institutes of Health (Grant 3 PO1 GM19428-03S1)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-07)Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Purchase Order G-33196 #2Associated Press (Grant

Cognitive Information Processing

Contains reports on seven research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant SED76-81985)Graphic Arts Research Foundation (Grant)Providence Gravure, Inc. (Grant)Associated Press (Grant)National Institutes of Health (Grant 1 RO1 GM22547-01)National Institutes of Health (Grant 1 PO1 AG00354-01)Health Sciences Fund (Grant 76-11

DNA and Plaintext Dependent Chaotic Visual Selective Image Encryption

Visual selective image encryption can both improve the efficiency of the image encryption algorithm and reduce the frequency and severity of attacks against data. In this article, a new form of encryption is proposed based on keys derived from Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and plaintext image. The proposed scheme results in chaotic visual selective encryption of image data. In order to make and ensure that this new scheme is robust and secure against various kinds of attacks, the initial conditions of the chaotic maps utilized are generated from a random DNA sequence as well as plaintext image via an SHA-512 hash function. To increase the key space, three different single dimension chaotic maps are used. In the proposed scheme, these maps introduce diffusion in a plain image by selecting a block that have greater correlation and then it is bitwise XORed with the random matrix. The other two chaotic maps break the correlation among adjacent pixels via confusion (row and column shuffling). Once the ciphertext image has been divided into the respective units of Most Significant Bits (MSBs) and Least Significant Bit (LSBs), the host image is passed through lifting wavelet transformation, which replaces the low-frequency blocks of the host image (i.e., HL and HH) with the aforementioned MSBs and LSBs of ciphertext. This produces a final visual selective encrypted image and all security measures proves the robustness of the proposed scheme