The Role of Futureproofing in the Management of Infrastructural Assets

Ensuring long-term value from infrastructure is essential for a sustainable economy. In this context, futureproofing involves addressing two broad issues: i. Ensuring the ability of infrastructure to be resilient to unexpected or uncontrollable events e.g. extreme weather events; and ii. Ensuring the ability to adapt to required changes in structure and / or operations of the infrastructure in the future e.g. expansion of capacity, change in usage mode or volumes. Increasingly, in their respective roles, infrastructure designers/builders and owners/operators are being required to develop strategies for futureproofing as part of the life cycle planning for key assets and systems that make up infrastructure. In this paper, we report on a preliminary set of studies aimed at exploring the following issues related to infrastructure / infrastructure systems: • What is intended by the futureproofing of infrastructural assets? • Why and when to futureproof critical infrastructure? • How can infrastructure assets and systems be prepared for uncertain futures? • How can futureproofing be incorporated into asset management practice? In order to seek answers to the above questions, the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) has conducted two industrial workshops bringing together leading practitioners in the UK infrastructure and construction sectors, along with government policy makers. This paper provides an initial summary of the findings from the workshops (part presentation, part working sessions), and proposes a simple framework for linking futureproofing into broader asset management considerations. To begin, an overview of futureproofing and motivate the need for futureproofing infrastructure assets is provided. Following this, an approach to futureproofing infrastructure portfolios is presented that organisations in the infrastructure sector can use. Key barriers to futureproofing are also presented before examining the ISO 55001 asset management standard to highlight the interplay between futureproofing and infrastructural asset management. Finally, different ways by which an effective futureproofing strategy can enhance the value of infrastructure are examined

Exploring resilient observability in traffic-monitoring sensor networks: A study of spatial-temporal vehicle patterns

Vehicle mobility generates dynamic and complex patterns that are associated with our day-to-day activities in cities. To reveal the spatial–temporal complexity of such patterns, digital techniques, such as traffic-monitoring sensors, provide promising data-driven tools for city managers and urban planners. Although a large number of studies have been dedicated to investigating the sensing power of the traffic-monitoring sensors, there is still a lack of exploration of the resilient performance of sensor networks when multiple sensor failures occur. In this paper, we reveal the dynamic patterns of vehicle mobility in Cambridge, UK, and subsequently, explore the resilience of the sensor networks. The observability is adopted as the overall performance indicator to depict the maximum number of vehicles captured by the deployed sensors in the study area. By aggregating the sensor networks according to weekday and weekend and simulating random sensor failures with different recovery strategies, we found that (1) the day-to-day vehicle mobility pattern in this case study is highly dynamic and decomposed journey durations follow a power-law distribution on the tail section; (2) such temporal variation significantly affects the observability of the sensor network, causing its overall resilience to vary with different recovery strategies. The simulation results further suggest that a corresponding prioritization for recovering the sensors from massive failures is required, rather than a static sequence determined by the first-fail–first-repair principle. For stakeholders and decision-makers, this study provides insightful implications for understanding city-scale vehicle mobility and the resilience of traffic-monitoring sensor networks.This research is supported by the Ove Arup Foundation (Digital Cities for Change) and was conducted at the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) at the University of Cambridge

Digitalisation for smarter cities: Moving from a static to a dynamic view

This paper presents a critical review of the literature on smart cities informed by a sociotechnical perspective that views ‘smart city development’ as a dynamic change process that extends to both the technological apparatus of the city and the social environment that produces, maintains and uses it. The conclusions from the review are summarised in six propositions. The propositions contest the mainstream discourse that often culminates in a utopian vision where data collection, processing, analysis and sharing provide solutions to all urban problems and provide direction for the future advancement of smart city research and practice. Using the propositions as guidelines to underpin a multidisciplinary approach, the paper sets out a relational perspective based on notions of boundary spanning, coordination and management that can shed light on previously overlooked aspects of smart city transitions.This work was supported by the Ove Arup Foundation and the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction – CSIC [grant reference: RG89525], Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Gemini Principles

Up to 30% of annual spend across the built environment is lost in inefficiencies related to poor quality data1. This is seen in lost productivity due to underperforming economic and social infrastructure. Effective information management will enable better decisions, leading to financial savings, improved performance and service, and better outcomes for business and society per whole-life pound. To make this possible an information management framework is necessary. This paper seeks to build consensus on foundational definitions and guiding values – the Gemini Principles – and to begin enabling alignment on the approach to information management across the built environment.Funded by the Centre for Digital Built Britai

Modelling and analysis of electrical impedance myography of the lateral tongue

Objective: Electrical impedance myography (EIM) performed on the centre of the tongue shows promise in detecting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Lateral recordings may improve diagnostic performance and provide pathophysiological insights through the assessment of asymmetry. However, it is not known if electrode proximity to the muscle edge, or electrode rotation, distort spectra. We evaluated this using finite element-based modelling. Approach: Nine thousand EIM from patients and healthy volunteers were used to develop a finite element model for phase and magnitude. Simulations varied electrode proximity to the muscle edge and electrode rotation. LT-Spice simulations assessed disease effects. Patient data were assessed for reliability, agreement and classification performance. Main results: No effect on phase spectra was seen if all electrodes remained in contact with the tissue. Small effects on magnitude were observed. Cole-Cole circuit simulations indicated capacitance reduced with disease severity. Lateral tongue muscle recordings in both patients and healthy volunteers were reproducible and symmetrical. Combined lateral/central tongue EIM improved disease classification compared to either placement alone. Significance: Lateral EIM tongue measurements using phase angle are feasible. Such measurements are reliable, find no evidence of tongue muscle asymmetry in ALS and improve disease classification. Lateral measurements enhance tongue EIM in ALS

Alcohol and cardio-respiratory deaths in Chinese: a population-based case-control study of 32,462 older Hong Kong adults

Background: In observational studies moderate alcohol use reduces cardio-respiratory mortality. However observational studies may be biased by many factors including residual confounding by unmeasured differences between moderate alcohol users and other groups or by changes in alcohol use with ill-health and aging. We used two different analytic strategies in an under-studied population, i.e. southern Chinese, to provide an assessment of the specific impact of moderate alcohol use on mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). Methods: In a population-based case-control study of all adult deaths in Hong Kong Chinese in 1998, we used adjusted logistic regression to compare alcohol use in decedents aged ≥ 60 years from IHD (2270) and COPD (1441) with 10,320 living and 9043 dead controls (all non-alcohol related deaths). We also examined whether the association of alcohol use with death from IHD or COPD varied with sex or smoking status. Results: Using living controls and adjusted for age, socio-economic status and lifestyle, occasional and moderate alcohol use were generally associated with lower mortality from IHD and COPD. However, using dead controls the protection of occasional and moderate alcohol use appeared to be limited to ever-smokers for IHD (odds ratio (OR) 0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46 to 0.73 for moderate compared to never-use in ever-smokers, but OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.50 in never-smokers), and possibly to men for COPD. High alcohol use was associated with lower IHD mortality and possibly with lower COPD mortality. Conclusion: High levels of alcohol use in an older Chinese population were associated with lower IHD mortality. Moderate alcohol use was less consistently protective against IHD mortality. Alcohol use was associated with lower COPD mortality particularly in men, either due to some yet to be clarified properties of alcohol or as the artefactual result of genetic selection into alcohol use in a Chinese population. Given the increasing use of alcohol in China with economic development, other designs and analytic strategies are needed to assess the impact of alcohol in this population, so that an evidence-based public health policy can be formulated.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Does economic development contribute to sex differences in ischaemic heart disease mortality? Hong Kong as a natural experiment using a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The male excess risk of premature ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality may be partially due to an unknown macro-environmental influence associated with economic development. We examined whether excess male risk of IHD mortality was higher with birth in an economically developed environment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used multivariable logistic regression in a population-based case-control study of all adult deaths in Hong Kong Chinese in 1998 to compare sex differences in IHD mortality (1,189 deaths in men, 1,035 deaths in women and 20,842 controls) between Hong Kong residents born in economically developed Hong Kong or in contemporaneously undeveloped Guangdong province in China.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Younger (35–64 years) native-born Hong Kong men had a higher risk of IHD death than such women (odds ratio 2.91, 95% confidence interval 1.66 to 5.13), adjusted for age, socio-economic status and lifestyle. There was no such sex difference in Hong Kong residents who had migrated from Guangdong. There were no sex differences in pneumonia deaths by birth place.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Most of these people migrated as young adults; we speculate that environmentally mediated differences in pubertal maturation (when the male disadvantage in lipids and fat patterning emerges) may contribute to excess male premature IHD mortality in developed environments.</p

Minimum pricing of alcohol versus volumetric taxation:which policy will reduce heavy consumption without adversely affecting light and moderate consumers?

Background We estimate the effect on light, moderate and heavy consumers of alcohol from implementing a minimum unit price for alcohol (MUP) compared with a uniform volumetric tax. Methods We analyse scanner data from a panel survey of demographically representative households (n = 885) collected over a one-year period (24 Jan 2010–22 Jan 2011) in the state of Victoria, Australia, which includes detailed records of each household's off-trade alcohol purchasing. Findings The heaviest consumers (3% of the sample) currently purchase 20% of the total litres of alcohol (LALs), are more likely to purchase cask wine and full strength beer, and pay significantly less on average per standard drink compared to the lightest consumers (A$1.31 [95$2.21 [95% CI 2.10–2.31]). Applying a MUP of A$1 per standard drink has a greater effect on reducing the mean annual volume of alcohol purchased by the heaviest consumers of wine (15.78 LALs [95$393.60 [95% CI 374.19–413.00]) and beer ($108.26 [95$552.46 [95% CI 530.55–574.36] and $163.92 [95% CI 152.79–175.03], respectively). Both a MUP and uniform volumetric tax have little effect on changing the annual cost of wine and beer for light and moderate consumers, and likewise little effect upon their purchasing. Conclusions While both a MUP and a uniform volumetric tax have potential to reduce heavy consumption of wine and beer without adversely affecting light and moderate consumers, a MUP offers the potential to achieve greater reductions in heavy consumption at a lower overall annual cost to consumers