Impact of the BuilderTrend Project Management Software on a Small Scale Residential Building Firm

For a smaller construction firm to maintain viability within the market place, it must adopt effective and more efficient means of promoting sales, managing subcontractors, and meeting increasingly short schedules in order to keep pace with competitors. The intent of this research is to compose a case study on a small-scale general contracting firm that is currently in the process of implementing the management software, BuilderTrend. It aims to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the firm’s standard practices prior to implementation, followed by an analysis of the software’s impact on key performance indicators including sales and project documentation. It will also address challenges faced during the product implementation process as well as potential barriers to the projected growth in the product’s utility. The study will then proceed to predict key factors that may reduce or increase benefits over a projection of two years, establishing a qualitative range of plausible outcomes in relation to utility over time

Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

International audienceIntermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range 100−105 M⊙, between black holes (BHs) that formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most energetic gravitational-wave sources accessible by the terrestrial detector network. Searches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo did not yield any significant IMBH binary signals. In the third observing run (O3), the increased network sensitivity enabled the detection of GW190521, a signal consistent with a binary merger of mass ∼150 M⊙ providing direct evidence of IMBH formation. Here, we report on a dedicated search of O3 data for further IMBH binary mergers, combining both modeled (matched filter) and model-independent search methods. We find some marginal candidates, but none are sufficiently significant to indicate detection of further IMBH mergers. We quantify the sensitivity of the individual search methods and of the combined search using a suite of IMBH binary signals obtained via numerical relativity, including the effects of spins misaligned with the binary orbital axis, and present the resulting upper limits on astrophysical merger rates. Our most stringent limit is for equal mass and aligned spin BH binary of total mass 200 M⊙ and effective aligned spin 0.8 at 0.056 Gpc−3 yr−1 (90% confidence), a factor of 3.5 more constraining than previous LIGO-Virgo limits. We also update the estimated rate of mergers similar to GW190521 to 0.08 Gpc−3 yr−1.Key words: gravitational waves / stars: black holes / black hole physicsCorresponding author: W. Del Pozzo, e-mail: [email protected]† Deceased, August 2020